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Writer's picturevishal kumar

Evil eye

Updated: Apr 15, 2023

The evil eye is a symbol that has appeared in our society for a very long time. Many people believe in it and also think that it has a lot of power. According

EVIL EYE

to our society, the evil eye is basically bringing in a supernatural belief in a curse. This curse is brought by a rather malevolent glare. It’s said that glare is given to a person when they are not aware.

A short history of the evil eye

According to researchers, the notion of an evil eye dates more than 5000 years ago and it’s presented in a large array of cultures and religions. However, Christians, Muslims, and Jewish people tend to be the ones that believe in the evil eye idea the most. Although the notion was presented for quite some time, the earliest belief in it is predating the Greek and Roman times.

In fact, the first time this idea was presented was during the Chalcidian times, since their drinking vessels during the 6th century BC had the evil eye symbol. During those times, the symbol was representing apotropaic magic. During that time it was found very often in the Mediterranean region, and people thought that anything with the evil eyeinscription or art on it will lead to injury or misfortune. But there were also people that thought this was the power of the supernatural and people creating it wanted to harm other people, no matter if they were innocent or not.

Some of the first iterations of this particular symbol were found on clay or ceramic products. However, it ended up surpassing any expectations and you could even find it on glass beads in 1500 BC. With that in mind, the symbol became very popular between ottomans, Romans, greeks, Persians, and even Phoenicians.

Was the evil eye notion common in ancient times?

Yes, it seems that around 40% of the world at that time believed in the evil eye and its power. Of course, every culture had a different belief when it came to the evil eye and what it actually represented. West Asian, Mediterranean, and Balkan people were the ones that actually believed in this the most. Many used talismans and amulets as a way to eliminate the evil eye and its bad omens.

We had the Eye of Horus as a concept of an evil eye, and that one was bringing in good health and protection. The Greek evil eye however was protecting against malevolent gazes, while some other statues from various temples were using the evil eye concept as well. During Roman times, people even believed that an entire tribe could harness and use the evil eye, and thus they were extremely worried and skeptical about the evil eye and its power.

Why did people use cures and protective talismans against the evil eye?

The curse of the evil eye was said to be very powerful, which is why people have always tried to create and use all kinds of talismans to ward off this curse. They were creating balls or disks that were using white and blue, concentric circles. These were talismans in the Balkan region and West Asia, and these were put on boats and in a variety of places. The idea behind them was to have eyes staring at the sorcerer that would want to use the evil eye in a negative manner.

The type of talisman described above is known as hazard or hamsa, and it’s seen in Turkey. In fact, a lot of people in the country are using it and they still have that belief that the evil eye can be very powerful and try to take their livelihood and other similar things from them.

Christians think that the evil eye can be found in some passages in the Bible, like Luke 11:34 for example. That’s why cross necklaces are worn by people with a Christian belief, as a way to protect themselves against Satan.

Should you wear jewelry to protect yourself against the evil eye?

The short answer is that it all comes down to your belief and religion. As you can see, only some religions are bringing in the idea that the evil eye exists and some people have a massive belief in this particular thing. So it’s all a matter of different things adding up. With that being said, having protection against evil is crucial and it can indeed make a huge difference.

It never hurts to have any type of protection, and if you do believe there is an evil eye out there, then having additional protection is needed, there are jewelry pieces to help with that. Some people use the evil eye as a pendant, to protect themselves against evil, and it certainly makes a visual impact. The eyes are the most powerful part of the human body for a lot of people. That’s why having such a piece of jewelry has a powerful meaning and it has the potential to bring in a difference.

Can the evil eye really cause harm?

The evil eye is a human look that many believe is able to cause harm to either something or someone. Of course, there’s no real way to prove that, but over the years people have continually focused on believing this might actually happen. This is why we have evil eye jewelry as the means to protect us against any possible malevolent stares like that. Needless to say, there will always be people with maleficent intentions, so having that extra protection does matter.

As we said, there’s no real way to prove it, but supernatural harm is said to cause quite a bit of damage. For some people, it’s just a minor injury, for others even disease or death. Either that or just misfortune and a string of bad luck happening all the time. This is one of those situations that can appear and it can only get worse in the long term.

Other things you should know about the evil eye

There are some cultures that believe the evil eye can be cast accidentally, so not just on purpose. However, if it’s intentional, it usually stems from envy. That’s why you can see a rather envious gaze from a hostile person that wishes you harm in one way or another. Another important thing to consider here is that praise and compliments can sometimes attract the evil eye.

Simply put, if you are beautiful, talented, successful, or happy, then you are at risk of getting the evil eye or some point. That’s why in some countries like Palestine or Romania it’s still felt as unlucky to say that a child is beautiful, as that might attract the evil eye. Even in Italy during the medieval times, there were safeguarding wishes that would accompany any compliment, just to keep the evil eye away.

Conclusion

The evil eye notion has been around for thousands of years and many people still believe in it up to this day. Of course, it can’t be proven, but over the years there were a lot of people that had success and happiness, but all of that went away after others shared a maleficent glaze. While it can’t be scientifically proven, the evil eye is believed to exist, so having evil eye protection in the form of jewelry is a very good idea!

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