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Apotropaic magic (From ) or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superstition or out of tradition, as in good luck charms (perhaps some token on a charm bracelet), amulets, or gestures such as crossed fingers or knocking on wood. Many different objects and charms were used for protection throughout history.
Objects were often used in these rituals in order to facilitate communication with the gods. One of the most commonly found magical objects, the ivory apotropaic wand (birth tusk), gained widespread popularity in the Middle Kingdom (c. 2040 – 1782 BCE). These wands were used to protect expectant mothers and children from malevolent forces, and were adorned with processions of apotropaic solar deities. The cowroid amulet (imitating the cowrie shell) was also used to protect pregnant mothers and children, and was typically incorporated into a woman's girdle. Scarabs for the Children (2020), Maria Nilsson,17
Likewise, protective amulets bearing the likenesses of gods and goddesses such as Taweret were commonly worn. Water came to be used frequently in ritual as well, wherein libation vessels in the shape of Taweret were used to pour healing water over an individual. In much later periods (when Egypt came under the Greeks Ptolemies), stele featuring the god Horus were used in similar rituals; water would be poured over the stele and—after ritually acquiring healing powers—was collected in a basin for an afflicted person to drink.
Another way for protection from enchantment used by the ancient Greeks was by spitting into the folds of the clothes.
Ancient Greeks also had an old custom of dressing boys as girls in order to avert the evil eye. Apollodorus, Library, note 10
, flanked by and showing her belt clasp of serpents; the pediment of the 580 BCE temple of Artemis in Corfu. Archaeological Museum of Corfu.]]People believed that the doorways and windows of buildings were particularly vulnerable to the entry or passage of evil. In ancient Greece, grotesque, satyr-like bearded faces, sometimes with the pointed cap of the workman, were carved over the doors of ovens and kilns, to protect the work from fire and mishap. Later, on churches and , or other grotesque faces and figures such as sheela na gigs and were carved to frighten away and other malign influences. Figures may also have been carved at fireplaces or chimneys; in some cases, simple geometric or letter carvings were used for these. When a wooden post was used to support a chimney opening, this was often an easier material for amateur carving. To discourage witchcraft, rowan wood may have been chosen for the post or mantel.
Similarly the grotesque faces carved into (and their earlier counterparts, made from , Rutabaga or ) at Halloween are meant to avert evil: this season was Samhain, the Celtic people new year. As a "time between times", it was believed to be a period when of the dead and other dangerous spirits walked the earth. Many European peoples had such associations with the period following the harvest in the fall (for instance the Celtic calendar).
A similar use of phallic representations to ward off the evil eye remains popular in modern Bhutan. It is associated with the 500-year-old Buddhist tradition of Drukpa Kunley.
An example of the use of shiny apotropaic objects in Judaism can be found in the so-called "Halsgezeige" or textile neckbands used in the birthing customs of the Franco-German border region. Shiny coins or colourful stones would be sewn onto the neckband or on a central amulet in order to distract the evil eye. These neckbands were worn by women in childbirth and by young boys during their Brit milah ceremony. This custom continued until the early 20th century. (2025). 9783796546075, Schwabe Verlag. ISBN 9783796546075
Other types of mark include the intertwined letters V and M or a double V (for the protector, the Virgin Mary, alias Virgo Virginum), and crisscrossing lines to confuse any spirits that might try to follow them.
At the Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn, a flower-like pattern of overlapping circles is incised into a stone in the wall. Similar marks of overlapping circles have been found on a window sill dated about 1616 at Owlpen Manor in Gloucestershire, as well as taper burn marks on the jambs of a medieval door frame.
The marks are most common near places where witches were thought to be able to enter, whether doors, windows or chimneys. For example, during works at Knole, near Sevenoaks in Kent, in 1609, oak beams beneath floors, particularly near fireplaces, were scorched and carved with scratched witch marks to prevent witches and demons from coming down the chimney.
Marks have been found in buildings including Knole House, Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Tower of London, and many churches. A collection of over 100 marks – previously thought to be graffiti – was discovered in 2019 on the walls of a cave network at Creswell Crags in Nottinghamshire. Gainsborough Old Hall has 20, the most of any English Heritage property, concentrated in the servant's quarters alongside curses about the owner William Hickman.
Peisistratus hung the figure of a kind of grasshopper before the Acropolis of Athens as apotropaic magic. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Fascinum
In Roman art, envy was thought to bring bad luck to the person envied. To avoid envy, Ancient Rome sought to incite laughter in their guests by using humorous images. Images such as large phalluses (see fascinus), deformities such as hunchbacks, or Pygmies and other non-Roman subjects were common. Romans saw deformity as comical and believed that such images could be used to deflect the evil eye.
In Europe, apotropaic figureheads carved onto the prow of sailing ships are considered to have been a replacement for the sacrifice of a thrall during the Migration Period by Saxon and Viking sailors, to avoid bad luck on the voyage. Dredging the Thames under London Bridge led to the discovery of a large number of bent and broken knives, daggers, swords and coins, from the modern period and dating back to Celtic times. This custom seems to have been to avoid bad luck, particularly when setting off on a voyage. Similarly, the burial of an old boot or shoe by the lintel of the back door of a house seems to have had a similar intention.
In Ireland and Great Britain, are traditionally thought to bring bad luck. Many people repeated various rhymes or to placate them.The children's TV series Magpie preserved these rhymes as its theme song into the 1970s.
Apotropaic marks such as the initials of the Virgin Mary were scratched near the openings of buildings in England to ward off witches.
Also in Ireland and Scotland, bonfires were lit for the festivals Beltane and Samhain, and 18th–19th century accounts suggest the fires, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. In some areas, torches of burning Scots pine or turf from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them. In central and northern Europe, bonfires lit on Walpurgis Night and at Midsummer were also believed to ward off evil.
Among Serbian names are many apotropaic names (zaštitna imena, ), such as Vuk () (and its many derivatives) and Staniša ().
Historical Chinese given names sometimes had apotropaic meanings, such as in the case of Huo Qubing (霍 去病, Qubing ), or Xin Qiji (辛 棄疾, Qiji ). Some traditional Taiwanese names referred to domestic animals such as buffalo (水牛) and dog (狗, 犬), or humble elements of the landscape such as soil and water (土, 水). They conveyed contentment with a peaceful and low-profile life.
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