The Meaning of the Evil Eye
In folklore and the occult the evil eye is generally thought to be a sign of trouble. Few, if any, will agree that there is an accurate definition of the evil eye. To some the curses of the evil eye might be more accurately associated with old wives’ tales.
The belief in the evil eye is ancient. Virtually every culture has referred to it. The oldest references to it appears in the cuneiform texts of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, around 3000 BC.
The ancient Egyptians used eye shadow and lipstick to prevent the evil eye from entering their eyes or mouths. Both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible mention the evil eye.
Superstions surrounding the evil eye still strongly persist in Mediterranean countries such as Italy, and in Mexico and Central America.
The evil eye is either involuntary or deliberate. In the first incidences the persons do not intentionally use the evil eye, and usually are not aware they are doing so. No wrong doing or revenge is sought to another person.
The deliberate or malevolent use of the evil eye is called «overlooking.» This is thought to produce such misfortunes as illness, poverty, injury, loss of love, or even death. In the Middle Ages witches were said to give anyone who crossed them the evil eye. Also they were thought to be able to bewitch their convicting judges with it, and this was why they were made to walk backwards toward the judges.
Almost anything could cause the notion that some person possessed an evil eye. If someone looked too long or lingering at one’s children, or possessions, or livestock. If a child got sick, or some possession was lost or stolen, or some animals died, then the person was really suspected of having an evil eye.
If the evil eye and its effects could not be driven away then the victim thought he or she really had trouble, then it was time to consult an older and wiser woman — usually a family member — hoping she knew a secret cure.
The evil eye can be listed as one of the earliest prejudicial signs. A stranger in a village or town was most susceptible of suspicion. Any person having an unusual characteristic could easily find himself in this category, such as a blue-eyed person among brown-eyed people, or people having body deformities. Some people were said to have been born with a permanent evil eye, corrupting everything they looked at. Also they were often called demonic possessed.
It is said the evil eye is most likely to strike in good or fortuitous times. Many believe good fortune brings bad. Small children and animals are most vulnerable. In many villages it was not considered wise to let children be seen too much. Likewise possessions were not to be overly displayed or successes should not be bragged about.
Animals under the curse of the evil eye were said to be «blinked» in Ireland during the 19th. century. The local wise woman or witch was sought out to produce a cure.
Protection
Cures against the evil eye’s curses are practically as ancient and numerous as the curses themselves. The primary cure or defense against the evil eye is the amulet. It can be fashioned out of most kinds of material. For witches the most «common shapes are frogs and horns, the latter of which suggests both the powerful Mother Goddess (a bull is her consort) and the phallus.» The fig amulet, a clenched fist with the thumb thrust between the index and middle fingers, also suggests the phallus.
The ancient roots and the use of the phallus amulet dates back to the Romans and their phallic god, Priapus. Another name for this god is Fascinus, from ‘fascinum’; the evil eye is occasionally called «fascination.» The Romans employed the phallic symbol as a defense against the evil eye. Today Italian men still hold their genitals to ward off the evil eye or any misfortune. One is apt to wonder is such an action is not only a legendary carry-over but also a psychological assurance and comfort.
Spitting is thought to be a powerful aversion of the evil eye. This is a holdover from the Greeks and Romans.
There are many other defenses against the evil eye including tieing bells to horses’ harnesses, tieing red ribbons to children underwear, surrounding gardens by jack beans, the shamrock is used in Ireland.
In Hindu lore, barley is used to avert the evil eye. This is an universal remedy supplied by the gods and the symbol of the thunderbolt of Indra, god of war, thunder and storms.
Other cures against the evil eye include reciting secret incantations usually passed down from mother to daughter within a family. Cures in Greece, where the evil eye is called «Vaskania,» and Italy include incantations plus dropping a few drops of olive oil in a bowl of water (occasionally salted). The oil may scatter, form into blobs or sink to the bottom. The formations are then interpreted to determine the source of the attack. Once this is done, more oil is added to the water while reciting the incantations and making the sign of the cross on the victim’s forehead. If this fails, a powerful sorceress is sought for a more effective cure.
Anonymous experience
My experience with the Evil Eye took place in the spring of 1977 in a large northern California city over a three or four day period. Therewere two separate incidents, with two separate individuals as the source of the Evil Eye, though I am positive they were acting as a team. The incidentstook place within three or four blocks of each other in the downtown area.
Both individuals were female, but were not human. The odd thing is thatthey both looked completely human, except for one non-human characteristic they both shared (besides the Evil Eye, which I will describe below): theyboth had skin that was the same color as the whites of their eyes, which had the same coloration as the whites of human eyes. In other words neitherone had any melanin in their skin, but they were not albinos. Their hair, eyebrows and irises had normal coloration (although I saw only the irisesof the second one, as described below). In all other respects (except for the Evil Eye) they appeared as normal human females. Both dressed similarly:white, short sleeve button down blouses, and plain dark blue skirts that came below the knee. Though this was in 1977, their clothing reminded memore of what a woman office worker might have worn in the early 1960’s. It looked out of place in 1977.
The first one I saw was 5’10» or 5’11» tall, with brown shoulder-lengthhair and bangs. She was not slender. She was big-boned, with thick legs. The second one was about 5’4″ or 5’5″ tall, with short black hairand no bangs. I guess I would describe her build as between slender and normal.
The first one I saw as I entered the main post office in downtown area. I was in the habit of going to this post office around noon each day tomail a package. Because I walked there, I always entered from the same door. In retrospect I am certain that it was waiting for me as a target for reasonswhich I will describe below. I entered from the east entrance into the east-west running lobby from the bright mid-day sunlight into a dim interior, withthe service counter being at the far west end of the lobby, and with a foyer to my left where a south entrance from the street came in. I was lookingstraight ahead towards the service desk I was headed for, but something very white in the dim light caught the corner of my eye and I turned tolook to see what it was. I saw an odd sight. There was this large woman with extremely white legs standing against the west wall of the foyer asthough she were being measured (with her heels, back and hands flat against the wall), except that her head was hanging down so that I thought she waslooking at the floor in front of her feet. I couldn’t be sure of just where she was looking, though, since her bangs were hanging down covering hereyes. The reason I say it was an odd sight is the way she was standing. There was no logical reason for her to be standing that way. She was notslouching. Her back and feet were straight against the wall. There was no one around her. She was not looking around, and she did not look up whenI came in. She did not look up at all. In fact she did not move at all in the time I stood looking at her, which was for maybe half a minute. Whatdid happen though, as I watched, was that I felt a very strong feeling of hatred emanating from her to me from under the bangs. It was so strong itis better to describe it as a physical flow of energy, and in fact I am sure it was a flow of energy. The flow steadily grew stronger as I watchedand was directed to my stomach, which was probably the highest part of my body that she could see from under her bangs.
After about half a minute I decided I had seen all that I was going to see. During this time there was a man and a woman who entered separatelyfrom the south entrance I was facing and passed between the alien female and I as I stood facing her. Neither one seemed to take any special noticeof either of us. After awhile I decided against approaching her, but instead to finish what I had come into the post office for-to send a package. AsI was standing in line I was still mulling over the incident, and decided it was definitely weird enough that I would approach her on my way backout. I could not see her position from where I was in line, but when I finished I went back, turned the corner and found that she was gone. I wentoutside and looked for her on the streets, but she was nowhere to be seen.
That was the end of the first incident.
The second incident happened either two or three days later. I do not remember which, but remember is that it was not the next day. This timeI had already mailed my package and was walking away from the post office. I was two or three blocks away. I was walking on the sidewalk on the southside of the street in the easterly direction, and was about in the middle of the block when I felt an odd, uncomfortable feeling between my shoulderblades. I was puzzled by it, thinking at first it was just some sort of body ache or twinge I had never felt before. But it grew steadily stronger,and after a few seconds I thought I’d better turn around to see if there was something behind me causing it. There was. When I turned I saw walkingdirectly behind me about 12 to 15 feet away, and with her gaze fixed right on the area where I had felt the uncomfortable sensation, the second, shorterwhite-skinned female as described above. She immediately dropped her gaze to the sidewalk in front of her and turned and stepped over towards thestreet where she stood behind two normal human women who were talking to each other and watching traffic looking for a chance to jaywalk across thestreet. The alien stood directly behind them, but I do not think either was aware of her. The odd thing was that the alien kept her gaze fixed onthe sidewalk in front of her and never looked up at the traffic as the women in front of her were doing. I walked back towards it, and I was a littleangry, because I realized this was something similar to the first experience. It wasn’t hard to make the connection between them, and I wasn’t happy aboutit. I walked back to within about 6 feet of it. I would have approached further and probably had some kind of confrontation with it, but I didn’twant to involve the two women it was standing behind. I thought that I might draw it away from them if I walked away and got it to follow. So I turnedand walked on about 50-80 feet, then turned around suddenly. It was gone. I walked all the way back down the block and looked around on the side streets.I did not see it. It had disappeared.
I received the same type of hateful energy flow from this second one, except that it was much stronger. It grew stronger with time, as did thefirst one. Like the first one, she could not continue the hateful flow while looking at me directly.
After the first incident it did not occur to me that there might be a second incident coming. After the second time I expected to see more ofthem. I was on the lookout for them for several weeks. I have never seen another one in the 30 years since then. I have seen only those two.
Observations:
– The flows were coming out of their eyes.
– The flows steadily grew stronger once started.
– The flows were VERY hateful. They were WAY more hateful than anything I have ever experienced, or even heard of anyone experiencing.
– Both individuals seemed to handle their gaze as though handling a weapon by pointing it at the ground in front of their feet when not in use (though this is just speculation in the first case, since I did not see its eyes).Conclusion:
– This is what has been described as the Evil Eye. Though I do not understand how it was done, the eyes seem to have been the delivery mechanism for this nasty, hateful, «Evil» energy.
– The Evil Eye is preventable by turning around IMMEDIATELY when anything uncomfortable that has never been experienced before is felt on the middle of the back. The delivery cannot continue when the deliverer looks at the face of the receiver.
– This preventative strategy can and should be promoted to others WITHOUT any mention of the Evil Eye.
– The term Evil Eye sounds more scary and interiorizing than the actual mechanism/incident is.
– This complete story should not be generally related because it could put light-complexioned, innocent people, at risk of injury, etc. by the less-than-fully-analytical of our population. In fact there is no light-complexioned person whose skin is anywhere as white as the whites of their eyes. Albinos could also be put at risk. This is completely unnecessary because the solution-to simply turn around- is completely workable and maybe even more workable without an understanding of what to expect to find there.
– If a person asks what they will find there, on being told to turn around immediately if they feel something between their shoulder blades, they can simply be told that that is unknown.
– The first individual stood as she was to the side of my line of sight and in the manner in which she stood because she was giving me a test to see how I would respond to something unusual or out of the ordinary. She was doing this because she knew her partner would have to get close to me to do her «work», and she wanted to see if she would be safe from me. The bigger one did the first test in case I was not safe. She would have been more capable of defending herself physically from anything they might have thought I would have done to her. (She was bigger than I was, but I am bigger than the second, shorter one).
– The second one looked like she could definitely have run faster than the first one, which she might have need of doing in some cases.
– The second one was probably following me from the post office the whole time and waited to start the Evil Eye delivery until she found the two women waiting to cross the street that she could use as a shield if necessary (it was necessary). So the delivery did not start until two or three blocks away from the post office. Probably the reason I did not receive the Evil Eye the next day after the first incident was that there was no convenient «shield» available as I left from the post office that day.
Alan G. Hefner and Demetrius Drystellas
Source: 4.