Apotropaic Magic
If you ever begin to study folkloric magic you’ll soon discover practices rooted in folklore, history, and hypocrisy. You might be scratching your head right now but hypocrisy is throughout magic...especially one of my favorite kinds of magic, apotropaic magic. Apotropaic comes from two greek words meaning ‘to ward off’ and ‘to turn’. Still confused? Apotropaic magic, then, is magic that turns away other kinds of magic. In fact, apotropaic magic was often practiced by the very same people hoping to ward of witches and magic from their homes.
Apotropaic Magic, generally, is magic meant to keep away evil...although it can often be used to guard against magic at large. Typically, apotropaic magic was practiced through symbols, particularly symbols hung outside of and around the home or worn on the person for protection.
Going back to ancient Greece, symbols can be found carved, burned, or painted into homes, particularly liminal spaces in the homes like fireplaces and windows. The three basic shapes were typically a VV shape, circles, and pentacles. One of the most popular was a combination of circles called the Daisy Wheel. It was believed that this complicated shape, six circles on top of each other creating a kind of flower, would be followed endlessly by evil spirits and witches so that their magic could not enter. They were often created to ward off evil spirits and bad magic, even though those that created might not consider themselves practitioners of magic.
One of my favorite examples of apotropaic magic is something we covered in Season 1 of The Midnight Library - Mysterious Mummy Cats. These were cats, sometimes beloved members of the family who had crossed to the other side, buried in the walls of people’s homes. It was believed that by embedding the cat in the walls it would protect the home from misfortune, the evil eye, and, in some cases, even witches. It is interesting to note that those who buried these pussycats in their walls would not claim they had ever done magic. Apotropaic magic was so embedded into the history and culture of small towns for decades, even centuries, that this practice likely seemed like a practical way of guarding your home...kind of like adding a security system.
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, as quoted in Gaia, describes the power and wide belief in apotropaic magic: “Witches’ marks are a physical reminder of how our ancestors saw the world. They really fire the imagination and can teach us about previously held beliefs and common rituals. Ritual marks were cut, scratched or carved into our ancestors’ homes and churches in the hope of making the world a safer, less hostile place. They were such a common part of everyday life that they were unremarkable and because they are easy to overlook, the recorded evidence we hold about where they appear and what form they take is thin.”
Although apotropaic magic might not seem as common today, you’d be surprised in the ways it still surfaces. For example, have you ever worn or displayed a hamsa hand or the evil eye symbol? If some, consider yourself a practitioner of apotropaic magic.
The above image depicts Daisy Wheels inscribed at Bradford-on-Avon via historicengland.org.