Protection or Paranoia?

To open up a discussion of the Evil Eye is to tread in tricky territory, and Jolique has only hit the tip of the iceberg here. For although an understanding of the Evil Eye belief (and religion in general) explains a number of different adornment traditions around the world, it also explains much of the fear, hatred and paranoia that exist among cultures.

Left: The pentagram: often mistaken as a symbol of evil or satanism, the pentagram (a stylized version of the Parturient Woman symbol) is actually a symbol which protects against evil.

Religion, government and other institutions have the important benefit of maintining cohesive social structures, which help to retain peace and balance within society.  But cohesiveness sometimes breeds exclusivity. Thus, those outside of our "institution"—our religious temple, political movement or caste—may become the targets of jokes, missionaries, the KKK, or worse, nuclear warheads. Although the crosses around our necks and the veils across our faces, may give us a feeling of solidarity and protection, we must not forget our lengthy, tainted history of prejudice, persecution and pogrom. Perhaps instead of focusing on how to protect ourselves, we should ask, whom do we wish to protect ourselves from?

April, 2000

Bibliography:

-Binder, Pearl. Magic Symbols of the World. New York: The Hamlyn Publishing Group, Limited, 1972.
-Gravel, Pierre Bettez. The Malevolent Eye: An Essay on the Evil Eye, Fertility and the Concept of Mana. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1995.
-Maloney, Clarence, ed. The Evil Eye. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.
-Sichel, Marion. Japan. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
-Siebers, Tobin. The Mirror of Medusa. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
-Taylor, Timothy. The Prehistory of Sex. New York: Bantam Books, 1996.

Photo Credits:

(1) Perseus and Medusa. Museum, Palermo (Photo. Alinari), in George Henry Chase and Chandler Rathfon Post's A History of Sculpture. (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1925), 66.