The Evil Eye

366 Pages·2013·11.29 MB·English

by  Frederick Thomas Elworthy

THE EVIL EYE
AN ACCOUNT OF THIS ANCIENT AND
WIDESPREAD SUPERSTITION

BY
FREDERICK THOMAS
ELWORTHY

J. MURRAY; LONDON
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1895
The Evil Eye By Frederick Thomas Elworthy.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II. SYMPATHETIC MAGIC
CHAPTER III. TOTEMS, PORTENTS, TREE-WORSHIP
CHAPTER IV. SYMBOLS AND AMULETS
CHAPTER V. THE GORGONEION
CHAPTER VI. CRESCENTS, HORNS, HORSESHOES
APPENDIX I
APPENDIX II
CHAPTER VII. TOUCH, HANDS, GESTURES
CHAPTER VIII. THE CROSS
CHAPTER IX. THE MANO PANTEA
CHAPTER X. THE CIMARUTA, SIRENE, TABLETS
CHAPTER XI. CABALISTIC WRITING--MAGICAL
FORMULÆ
CHAPTER XII. SPITTING, INCANTATION, AND OTHER
PROTECTIVE ACTS. PIXIES
APPENDIX III
1 The Evil Eye By Frederick Thomas Elworthy
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
THERE be none of the affections which have been noted to fascinate or
to bewitch, but love and envy; they both have vehement wishes, they
frame themselves readily into imaginations and suggestions, and they
come easily into the eye, especially upon the presence of the objects
which are the points that conduce to fascination, if any such there be.
1
We see likewise the Scripture calleth envy an evil eye."
So wrote one of our greatest philosophers, and on the same subject he
says: "Of all other affections, it is the most importunate and continual; .
. . therefore it is well said: 'Invidia festos dies non agit,' for it is ever
working upon some or other. It is also the vilest affection and the most
depraved; for which cause it is the proper attribute of the Devil, who is
called 'The envious man that soweth tares amongst the wheat by
night.'"
fascination
As to the word , even in Bacon's time it had acquired its
modern sense, implying the influence or effect we now associate with
animal magnetism. Notwithstanding this, the word was used by
various writers down to the end of the seventeenth century in its
original, technical meaning, as an alternative for "evil eye." Nowadays
it has practically lost its older sinister sense, and except among
scholars has retained only the pleasant one in which Bacon used it.
A fascinating person now, is one wbhewo icthcharms delightfully, who excites
feelings of pleasure, who is in every way attractive. Similarly in our
everyday talk the alternate word has retained only in polite
society its pleasant side. A bewitching woman is one who excites the
passion of love alone, and the simple use of either synonym conveys
now no implication of malevolence to the conventionally educated.
The quotation from Bacon with which we started well marks the
progress always going on in the development of word-meanings. In
the Elizabethan age, to fascinate or bewitch had in literature even then
arrived at a double position, applicable to either love or hate; whereas
in earlier days these words were wholly confifnaesdci ntoa tmioanleficence in
signification. This of course only applies to literary language and polite
society; among the peasantry the Latin form, , is unknown,
1 Bacon, Essay IX. "Of Envy."
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2 The Evil Eye By Frederick Thomas Elworthy
witch witching
while everything relating to or still bears an evil sense
only.
In proof of all this we have only to compare the modern colloquial
significance of the terms fascinating or bewitching, as used in speaking
of a person by the educated, with witch, witching, or the west country
dialectal "wisht," as used by the peasantry.
The belief that there is a power of evil working, which is ejaculated (as
Bacon says) upon any object it beholds, has existed in all times and in
all countries. It was adopted and sanctioned alike by the Fathers of the
Church, by mediæval physicians, and all writers on occult science;
while in our own day it still exists among all savage nations, and even
2
here in England in our very midst. Heliodorus makes Charicles say of
his host: "I fancy an envious eye has looked upon this man also; he
seems to be affected much in the same manner as Chariclea. Indeed I
think so too, I replied; and it is probable enough, for he went directly
3
after her in the procession."
The origin of the belief is lost in the obscurity of prehistoric ages. The
enlightened call it superstition; but it holds its sway over the people of
many countries, savage as well as civilised, and must be set down as
one of the hereditary and instinctive convictions of mankind.
The stories that might be adduced of the constancy of the belief in a
blighting power of influencing other persons, and of controlling events
injuriously to others, even. in these days of board-school
enlightenment are almost infinite. Here, in Somerset, the pig is taken ill
and dies--"he was overlooked." A murrain afflicts a farmer's cattle; he
goes off secretly to the "white witch," that is the old witch-finder, to
ascertain who has "overlooked his things" and to learn the best
antidote, "’cause they there farriers can't do no good."
A child is ill and pining away; the mother loses all heart; she is sure the
child is overlooked and "is safe to die." Often she gives up not only
hope but all effort to save the child; the consequent neglect of course
hastens the expected result, and then it is: "Oh! I know'd very well he
2 Theagenes and Chariclea (Trans. 1789), vol. i. p. 145. Heliodorus, Bishop of Tricca in Thessaly, about A.D. 380,
was a very firm believer in the evil eye, and frequently refers to it in his works, no doubt faithfully reflecting
the opinions of his day.
3 See an article on the "Evil Eye" in Chambers's Encyclopædia. For numerous quotations on the subject
see New Eng. Dict. s. v. "Evil Eye."
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3 The Evil Eye By Frederick Thomas Elworthy
would'n never get no better. "’Tidn no good vor to strive vor to go agin
it." This is no fancy, or isolated case, but here in the last decade of the
nineteenth century one of the commonest of everyday facts.
in situ
The author of the pious graffito (still ):--
Things seen is Intempural,
Things not seen is Inturnel,
West Somerset Word-Book
referred to in the , p. ix, is a man far above
the average in intelligence. He lodged where the daughter of the family
had some obscure malady. She became a patient at the County
Hospital, but only grew worse. In this case the mother does not at first
seem to have believed in occult influence, but went about and spread a
report that "they'd a-starved her maid, into thick there hospital"! At
the same time the writer ascertained that the girl had been all the
while receiving extra nourishment. She was removed, and of course
grew worse. On speaking to the lodger about the starvation theory, he
said: "Oh! I knows 'twaddn that." "What do you think it was?" "Oh! I
knows." After many times declaring "I knows," he at last said: "Her was
overlooked--her was; and I knows very well who don'd it." After much
persuasion he mentioned the name of a poor ignorant old woman, who
certainly did not bear the best of characters. The whole family
devoutly believed that the girl's death, which happened very soon, was
brought about by this old woman. No doubt a century or two ago she
4
would have been burnt as a witch.
Several cases of precisely the same kind are well known to the writer
and his family--especially relating to children. Visits have been often
paid to the sick children of persons whose names might be given,
where "’tis very wisht vor to zee the poor chiel a-pinin away like that
there." Not much is said to strangers, but those who know are
perfectly aware of what the mother means.
Beshrew your eyes,
They haveM oe'ercrhloaonkt' do fm Vee nainced divided me;
One half of me is yours, the other half yours.
4 A l o n g a c c o u n t o f a prosecution of a white w,i tAchc, tw ihioi .p Srecte. n2d.e d that a woman was ill of a "bad wish" in a
case much like the foregoing, is given in Pulman's Weekly News, June 14, 1892. Similar reports are frequently
appearing in the local press. At this moment (October 1894) two persons are dying in Wellington parish (one of
phthisis!) who firmly believe, and are believed, to be suffering solely from having been "overlooked."
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4 The Evil Eye By Frederick Thomas Elworthy
5
The imputation by St. Paul, that the foolish Galatians had been
spellbound, meant that some evil eye had "overlooked" them and
worked in them a blighting influence. It was an apt allusion to the then,
and still, universally prevalent belief in that power of "dread
6
fascination" which the writer of the Epistle so well knew they would
comprehend, and he therefore used it as a striking metaphor.
Abundant testimony exists in the oldest monuments in the world that
among the ancient Egyptians belief in and dread of the evil eye were
ever present; their efforts to avert or to baffle it, both as regarded the
living and the dead, who they knew would live again, were perhaps the
most constant and elaborate of any, of which we can now decipher the
traces.
We see evidence of this in the very beginning of Egyptian mythology.
7
Ptah, the Opener, is said to be the father of the gods and of men. He
brought forth all the other gods from his eye, and men from his mouth-
-a piece of implied evidence of the ancient belief that of all emanations
those from the eye were the most potent.
How strong the feeling was among contemporary Orientals, the many
8
passages in Scripture referring to it distinctly prove. Indeed it is
found in the literature of every people, in every land since history
began to be written. No science, no religion, no laws have been able to
root out this fixed belief; and no power has ever been able to eradicate
it from the human mind; so that even amongst the cultivated and the
enlightened it still exists as an unacknowledged, mysterious half-
belief, half-superstition, which nevertheless exercises, though secretly,
a powerful influence on the actions of mankind.
We in these latter days of Science, when scoffing at superstition is both
a fashion and a passion, nevertheless show by actions and words that
in our innermost soul there lurks a something, a feeling, a superstition
if you will, which all our culture, all our boasted superiority to vulgar
5 See Lightfoot, Epistle to the Galatians, iii. 1, p. 133.
6 The expression of St. Paul, though translated "bewitched" in our A. V., is in the Vulgate fascinavit, precisely
the same as that used by Virgil (post, p. 10). In the Septuagint also the sense of the passage is identical,
referring to the influence, so well understood, of the evil eye, On this see Frommannd, Tract. de Fasc. p. 11.
7 E. Wallis Budge, The Nile-Notes for Travellers in Egypt, p. 77.
8 e.g. Deut. xxviii. 54, 56; Job vii. 8; Psa. xxxv. 21; Prov. vi. 13; Isa. xiii. 18; Lam. ii. 4; Ezek. ix, 5. Especially also
Prov. xxiii. 6, xxviii. 22; Matt. vi. 22, 23, xx. 15; Luke xi. 34; Mark vii. 22; Psa. liv. 7, lix. 10, xcii. 11, with many
others.
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5 The Evil Eye By Frederick Thomas Elworthy
beliefs, cannot stifle, and which may well be held to be a kind of
9
hereditary instinct.
Popular Antiquities Magic
Everyday Book
Not only do the pages of Brand's , Brewster's ,
and Hone's , as well as the local press, provide endless
stories and examples, which we need not here repeat, but the more
modern publications of the Psychical Research Society also record
plenty of them; at the same time the latter throw over them a glamour
of quasi-scientific investigation.
Among the Greeks, who got their art and many of their customs from
Egypt, the belief was so univefarssacli ntahtaito they had a special word to
10
express this mysterious power, βασκανία, whence, all authorities
11
say, comes the Latin word .
invidere
invidia
This latter word Cicero himself discusses, and explains as , to
look too closely at: hence , envy, or evil eye, the instigator of
most deadly sins--the vice which is even now most frequently named
in connection with its sequences, "hatred, and malice, and all
uncharitableness."
fascinatio
12
Delrio and Frommannd trace the Greek word to Chaldean, and
discourse upon the etymology as well as the meanings of at
great length, in language and allusions unfit for reproduction, which
are, moreover, beside our present purpose. It may, however, be
remarked that Frommannd throws much light upon the ancient ideas
connected with the evil eye, and with the means taken to baffle it,
backed up by an array of authorities such as no other writer on the
subject has brought together, but of such a nature that we can only
13
here direct the student to the book itself. Many objects to be seen in
Egypt, Greece, and Italy, especially at Pompeii, are by this
9 "In spite of the schoolmaster we are still as firm believers in witchcraft and the evil eye as were the shepherd
swains of Theocritus and Virgil, and many who, if directly questioned on the subject, would indignantly deny
the impeachment, are none the less devout believers in such occult powers."--W. F. Rose, Somerset and Dorset
Notes and Queries, vol. iv. June 1894, p. 76.
10 In Modern Greek this is κακὸ ματί.
11 Tractatus de Fascinatione, Christian Frommannd, Nuremberg, 1674, p. 4; Nicolo Valletta, Cicalata sul
Fascino, Napoli, 1787, p. 12; Potter, Archæologia Græca, 1824, i. 414; Lightfoot, Ep. to Gal. 1890, p. 133, who
all give long lists of authors and quotations in support of this etymology.
12 Disquisitionum Magicarum libri sex, Auctore Martino Delrio, Societatis Jesu presbytero. Moguntiæ, apud
Johannem Albinum, 1603.
13 Potter's Archæologia Græca will be found a mine of information; indeed it would be easy to load our pages
with references to authors classical and mediæval, but sufficient indication is here given for the student to find
all that has been written on the subject.
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6 The Evil Eye By Frederick Thomas Elworthy
ciceroni
extraordinary treatise made to assume an entirely different shape and
signification from those given them by the guidebooks or the .
It was firmly believed by all ancients, that some malignant influence
darted from the eyes of envious or angry persons, and so infected the
air as to penetrate and corrupt the bodies of both living creatures and
inanimate objects. "When any one looks at what is excellent with an
envious eye he fills the surrounding atmosphere with a pernicious
quality, and transmits his own envenomed exhalations into whatever
14
is nearest to him."
It has also been fully believed, both in ancient and modern times, that
many persons by the glance of their eye have caused injurious effects,
without their consent and even against their will, so that in some cases
15
mothers would not venture to expose their infants to the look of
their own fathers.
16
A story is related of an unhappy Slav, who with the most loving
heart was afflicted with the evil eye, and at last blinded himself in
order that he might not be the means of injury to his children.
Frommannd (p. 10) draws attention to the very remarkable passage in
Deut. xxviii. 54, in confirmation of the possession of this terrible power
acting against the will of the possessor.
17
Jahn remarks upon this, that as smell, speech, bodily presence and
breath work their influence upon those with whom they come in
contact, so in a yet higher degree does the glance from the eye, which,
18
as all know, affects so much in love.
Domestic animals, such as horses, camels, cows, have always been
thought in special danger. In the Scotch Highlands if a stranger looks
admiringly on a cow the people still believe she will waste away from
14 Heliodorus, Thea. and Char. i. 140. There can be no doubt that Saul was believed to have the evil eye when
we read: "And Saul eyed David from that day and forward" (1 Sam. xviii. 9). In the context we see all the
circumstances we have been describing--envy and its consequences.
15 Jahn, "Ueber den Aberglauben des bösen Blicks bei den Alten": Berichte der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften
zu Leipzig, 1855, p. 35.
16 Woyciki, Polish Folk Lore (Trs. by Lewestein), p. 25.
17 Ut supra, p. 33.
18 In Ireland the belief has always existed, and in old legends we are told of King Miada of the silver hand, who
possessed a magic sword, but who nevertheless fell before "Balor of the Evil Eye" (Elton, Origins of Eng.
Hist. 2nd ed. p. 279).
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