The Evil Eye (updated)

Many cultures all over the world share a common belief in a type of curse or hex that is transmitted (usually) unwittingly through a glare or  glance in which the caster is filled with envy, praise, or covetousness. It can also be transmitted, intentionally or unintentionally, by people with green or blue eyes — which is why protective charms to ward against this curse are so often blue, green, or turquoise.

The evil eye is also called the invidious eye, the envious eye, ayin ha'ra (Hebrew), malocchio (Italian), mal ojo (Spanish), jettatore (Sicilian), the stink eye (Hawaiian), nazar (Turkish), and bla band (Farsi).

While the eye itself is a receptive sensory organ, the power of the evil eye is insidious in its ability to send curses outward in a projective manner often unbeknownst to the own doing the cursing. In a traditional context, the person who sends the curse does not necessarily intend the afflicted target any harm. They simply admire and covet what they don’t already have. For this reason, mothers in cultures where a belief in the evil eye is prevalent might respond, “Oh, but he’s got dirt on him,” when told their baby is beautiful. Without saying something seemingly “mean,” the child might attract the evil eye and become sick — or even die!

Perils related to the evil eye include wasting, illness, blight, injury, plain bad luck, and possibly death.
Charms against the evil eye are sometimes also simply called “the evil eye” and take the shape of a blue, green, or turquoise circle banded in white to represent the eye. Various hand gestures and horns (with their phallic connotations) are also reputed to ward against the evil eye.  Eyes, hands, and horns have all been fashioned into jewelry, charms, and art that can be displayed on bodies, in homes, and in vehicles to offer the most possible protection against the threat of this malevolent glare.

Amulets and Talismans

A Sator square talisman.

A talisman is an object which purports to contain certain magical properties which would protect the possessor from evil or harm or provide good luck. The word comes from the Arabic word Tilasm and
ultimately from the Greek word teleo which means "to consecrate."

Amulets and talismans are often considered interchangeable despite their differences. An amulet is an object with natural magical properties, whereas a talisman must be charged with magical powers by a
creator; it is this act of consecration or “charging" that gives the talisman its alleged magical powers.  The talisman is always made for a definite reason whilst an amulet can be used for generic purposes such as averting evil or attracting good luck.

According to The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a magical order active in the United Kingdom during the late-19th and early-20th  centuries, a talisman is:

“a magical figure charged with the force which it is intended to represent. In the construction of a talisman, care should be taken to make it, as far as possible, so to represent the universal forces that it should be in exact harmony with those you wish to attract, and the more exact the symbolism, the easier it is to attract the force."

It is generally agreed that a talisman should be created by the person who plans to use it. They also recommend that the person making the talisman must be familiar with all the symbolisms connected to all the different planetary and elemental forces. In several medieval talismans, geomantic signs and symbols were used in relation with different planets. These symbolisms, which are frequently incorporated into geomantic divination, also have alchemical implications. Other magical associations, such as colors, scents, symbolism, patterns, and Qabalistic figures, can also be integrated in the creation of a talisman. However, they should be in  synchronization with the elemental or planetary force selected to represent the talisman. It is also feasible to augment a personal touch to the talisman through adding a verse, inscription, or pattern.

The Sator square talisman shown above was popularly used during Ancient Rome to protect against house fires.

The Toad Bone Amulet

Witches are infamous for deriving a bit of their power from a magical amulet known as The Toad Bone. The toad bone is first mentioned in Pliny's Natural History, and it disseminates throughout the western world from there. We are primarily interested in the motif of the Toad Bone in the British Isles, and its influence on American folk Craft. Given below is a first hand account of the Toad Bone ritual by Albert Love (b.1886) published in 1966.

‘Well, the toads that we use for this are actually in the Yarmouth area in and around Fritton. We get these toads alive and bring them home. They have a ring round their neck and are what they call walking toads. We bring them home, kill them, and put them on a whitethorn bush. They are there for twenty four hours till they dry. Then we bury the toad in an ant-hill; and it’s there for a full month, till the moon is at the full. Then you get it out; and it’s only a skeleton. You take it down to a running stream when the moon is at the full. You watch it carefully, particular not to take your eyes off it. There’s a certain bone, a little crotch-bone it is, it leaves the rest of the skeleton and floats uphill against the stream. Well, you take that out of the stream, take it home, bake it, powder it and put it in a box; and you use oils with it the same as you do for the milch. While you are watching these bones in the water, you must on no consideration take your eyes off it. Do [if you do] you will lose all power. That’s where you get your power from for messing about with horses, just keeping your eyes on that particular bone. But when you are watching it and these bones are parting, you’ll hear all the trees and all the noises that you can imagine, even as if buildings were falling down or a traction engine is running over you. But you still mustn’t take your eyes off, because that’s where you lose your power. Of course, the noises must be something to do with the Devil’s work in the middle of the night....’ "

This description of the Toad Bone ritual contains many of the elements common to Toad Bone folklore, primarily the stripping of the toad's flesh by placement on an anthill, and the ability of the Toad Bone to float upstream.

In Haggard (ed., 1935, pp. 13-14) we read the following account of the full toad-bone ritual. This version is recounted by an old Norfolk poacher, who states that he had learnt the charm from his grandmother, a person who was quite evidently a typical rural wise-woman. The indications given in the text for the ages of the poacher and his grandmother probably locate the grandmother’s version of the charm approximately around 1850.

‘There was one charm she told me of wich was practiced wen any one wanted to get comand over there fellow creaturs. Those that wished to cast the spell must serch until they found a walking toad. It was a toad with a yellow ring round its neck, I have never seen one of them but I have been told they can be found in some parts of the Cuntry. Wen they found the toad they must put it in a perforated box, and bury it in a Black Ant’s nest. Wen the Ants have eaten all the flesh away from the bones it must be taken up, and the person casting the spell must carry the bones to the edge of a running stream the midnight of Saint Marks Night, and throw them in the water. All will sink but one single bone and that will swim up stream. When they have taken out the bone the Devell would give them the power of Witch craft, and they could use that power over both Man and Animales.’

Natterjack Toad (Epidalea calamita, formerly Bufo calamita)

The toad in question is the British walking toad, the Natterjack Toad, beloved by Doreen Valiente. Natterjacks have short legs that give them a distinct "walking" gait, and possess a yellow line trailing down their back which could be the "yellow ring" sought for.

The Toad Bone was a common element of the society of the Horseman's Word, a group associated with folk magic.

I am indebted to the late Andrew Chumbley for his treatment on the Toad Bone, The Leaper Between, which is, alas, no longer available online other than via the Google Wayback Machine.