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The Evil Eye
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TITLE (EDIT)
The Evil Eye |
DESCRIPTION
The evil eye is paranoia whose victims are diagnosed on the basis that they see plots everywhere and constantly expect the worse.
[1,440 words] |
AUTHOR
Norman A Rubin |
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Correspondent (Israel) for the Continental News Service writing under the headline "Dateline - Middle East". Free-lance writer for the past sixteen years writing on various subjects - Near East culture and crafts, archaeology, history and politics; religious history and rites, etc.. Norman A. Rubin has been featured in publications world wide - Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Dateline, Esra, Israel - Coin News, Minerva, Oriental Arts, etc. England - Ararat, Good Old Days (White Birches Publications), Letter Arts Review, Queen of All Hearts, etc. USA - Spotlight, Japan - International B, Hong Kong - Archaeological Diggings, Australia etc. - Norman A. Rubin can be found on the Web - asianart.com with articles on Japanese Ghosts and Chinese Snuff Bottles - bibarch.com on the subject of musical instruments in the Bible, etc.. For comments on his writing, Norman A. Rubin (Israel) can be addressed to talabar@zahav.net.il
[August 2003] |
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (24)
Darkness In Death And Dissolution (Short Stories) Retribution through the power of the judge of hell upon the act of murder. [2,447 words]
Death The Intruder (Non-Fiction) The rule of Father Death in the time of the Great famine in the Renaissance period. [1,688 words] [History]
High Tension (Short Stories) The short story tell of an elderly woman who thinks light bulbs leak. The copy will give the background to her life and the reason why she thinks light bulbs leak. [1,901 words]
Islamic Metalwork (Non-Fiction) The History and background to metalwork in the Muslim world. [2,193 words] [Art]
Leonardo Da Vinci, Science And Engineer (Non-Fiction) Leonardo da Vinci was known as a 'Renaissance Man' - a man who sought to develop skills and acquire knowledge of human endeavor. [2,112 words]
Murder By The Numbers (Short Stories) - [2,227 words]
My Uncle Louie, The Goniff (Short Stories) A humourous piece of a man who finds hard luck in the committing of criminal acts. Always falling foul of the law. [1,847 words]
Pretty Mary Ellen (Short Stories) A missing little girl disappears and found dead after being violated by a sexual maniac. [1,588 words]
Scorn, Thy Name Is Woman (Short Stories) This is a story of murder committed by a meek little man upon his nagging and complaining wife when the cup of his misery of her wagging tongue overflowed... [2,360 words]
Simple Jack (Short Stories) A backward youth had been jailed for the accidental death of his mother he committed by crushing her in his arms. The mother was in pain as she was suffering from terminal cancer and the youth held he... [3,144 words]
The Curse Of The Moloch (Novels) The novel "The Curse of the Moloch" is about a serial killer by the name of Jeremiah Micaiah, whose victims were women with reddish hair. He was born, through rape, in a coal-mining district. Brought ... [70,061 words]
The Curse On The Bones Of Quzma, Son Of Salimu (Short Stories) A short story. [1,557 words]
The Devil's Curse (Short Stories) A group of lumberjacks, sitting around the warmth of a fireplace, listening to a tall tale spun by an elder. The story is about Mad Mike, a logger and his chase by the devil in the ferryboat on the ri... [1,824 words]
The Elves And The Preacher (Short Stories) A modern version of the fairy story which tells of a goodly cleric and how he copes in difficult times... [1,603 words]
The Empty Room (Short Stories) Loneliness in a furnished room except for memories. [2,359 words]
The Enigma Of Woman (Non-Fiction) Love and Women are the brightest solution to all enigmas. [1,683 words]
The Ghost Story Of Yotsu-Ya (Short Stories) The reader is brought to Japan during the era of the emperors - The story, based on Japanese folklore, tells of the unfaithfullness of Yotsu-ya, a warrior in the code of Bushido, towards his wife Oiw... [1,961 words]
The Human Form Divine - Norman A. Rubin (Non-Fiction) Ancient sculptures, statuettes and figurines of wide-ranging artistic interpretations of the human form were a way in which man translates the revelation of his many gods. These representations, mode... [2,659 words] [Mystical]
The Marching Man (Short Stories) A holocaust survivor driven to madness in search of his family lost in the melee of the second world war. [2,001 words]
The Spirit Of The Buccaneers (Short Stories) Fantasy piece which tells of a travel writer during a trip to Eastern Canada. He is trapped in a fierce rain shower and is forced to take shelter in a large stone mansion, which turned out to be a pir... [3,621 words] [Fantasy]
The Watch Cat (Short Stories) The story of a black alley cat who adopted an Israeli family and became their 'watch cat'. [1,123 words]
The Word Is In The Law (Non-Fiction) The law is the word even our sexual life. [1,365 words]
Under The Full Of The Moon (Short Stories) A love goddess looking for new seed for the renewal of life. [1,771 words] [Erotic]
When Mad Mike Cried (Short Stories) The story of a hard-boiled detective who shed a few tears at a funeral of a friend when he remembers the incident of robbery and death... [1,832 words]
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The Evil Eye
Norman A Rubin
(In most cultures there is the extreme fear of the 'Evil Eye'. They recite incantations, give signs, and will do everything possible to avoid its fateful curse.)
"It is related, O auspicious one, that there lived in the city of Bagdad, after the reign of many Khalifahs and before the reign of many others, a wicked and vile sorcerer with an 'Evil Eye'." This story from the 'Thousand Nights and One Night' continues by telling of the misery caused by the curse of this 'Evil Eye' of the sorcerer. The devilish man would only look at his victim with a baleful eye, mutter incantations and then cast a spell over him: "By the powers of darkness, demons, devouring beasts..."
The 'Evil Eye' is an idea conceived by many cultures throughout the world, and though it originated around the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, it has spread wherever superstitious belief is in force. (1) Amoung certain peoples, the conception of the ‘Evil Eye’ is so strong to the point of paranoia. Even an innocent look is suspected of wishing harm; the more so if it is accompanied by a compliment or two. The offender, the 'Jettitore' (endowed people) on the threat of bodily harm, is then asked to spit on the ground to annul the threat of the "Evil Eye'; while the offended will make one of those gestures against it - the 'mano' or the 'figa'. The gestures, with its two extended fingers (index and little finger) which rudely signifies sexual intercourse, and according to wellknown authorities, "that they will divert the object of the 'Evil Eye' by tempting it with sexual desire."
The 'Evil Eye' is often depicted as a 'Single Eye' (2), the one that sees for its own benefit. But is is also known as the 'Double Eye' to account for the fact it hides evil under the mask of friendship. In later folk-lore this myth was linked to witches who, according to their victims, could be recognized by their having two pupils in each eye; who glared with both evil eyes on those who pried into her secrets. This fear is with us today as many men continue to avoid the stare of a strange woman.
Envy was believed to be one of the causes of the 'evil eye', it was considered unlucky to have one's belongings praised: The use of some qualifying phrase such as, "As God wills" or "God bless it" to annul its envious threat is still in use in some European countries. The 'Mishnah' (collection of Jewish oral laws) confirms that the 'Evil Eye' is brought upon by jealousy, which turns to hate. The evil that it causes can affect both the offended and the offender; and one should avoid the 'Evil Eye' of jealousy. Thus, a religious Jew, when asked on his health or welfare will answer "Blee Ayin Rah" - Without an evil eye"; namely he is satisfied with his condition and will not look with envy on a person in a better situation. In Spanish tradition, one should accept the fate of the 'Evil Eye' with the hope that its curse will be limited and that it will pass quickly.
The fear of the 'Evil Eye' is so great amongst various cultures that persons, that seem to be inflicted with its curse, will go to extremes to be protected. There is an injunction in Slovakia, "never give a child the breast after it is weaned", for fear that its desires will become implacable and look with an evil eye on other things that is forbidden to enjoy. In many countries children will baptized in secret, given sacred or holy names, or their body will be disguised in varied ways in order to protect them from the 'Evil Eye' with its curse of disease, disablity or death. Peoples from the Balkan States to the Middle East are convinced that garlic pods worn around the neck or hung on windows will protect them from the 'Evil Eye'; and in the Translyvania region of Roumania, garlic offers extra protection from werewolves and vampires. An Italian, on the other hand, when threatened with the 'Evil Eye' will give the 'Salutis' gesture with the middle finger extented horizontally (3); this is the intention to impale the eye of the ill-wisher. An Arab will be protected from the 'Evil Eye' by displaying a 'Hamsah', a small open hand symbol at the entrance of his home: The hand is a perennial symbol of the five basic precepts of Islam - profession of faith, prayer, pilgrimage, fasting and charity.
Now, if one has the curse of the "Evil Eye' cast upon him (or her) one should take the neccessary precautions or a spell will be woven and ill wind will follow the recipient. Only confrontation and war measures are taken based on countermagic to deceive or defeat the evil eye and to save the endangered person. The use of a mirror or a reflecting ornament or a specific colour, preferably red or blue, may blight the source by reflecting the evil glance. An outstretched hand may stop its rays.
According to the Talmud (fundemental code of Jewish and civil laws), whoever is afraid of the 'evil eye' should stick his right thumb in his left hand and his left thumb in his right hand proclaiming: "I, so and so, son of so and so, am the son of Joseph, who the evil eye may not affect." This is to avert the evil eye by putting it to shame.
There are other means of combating the 'evil eye' through attempts to absorb the devastating glance and neutralize it by diverting its stare from the intended with interesting objects hung between the eyes of the endangered person, e.g. precious stones, or tails of small animals.
Survival of this widespread fear of the 'evil eye' has even entered into our society with many true stories of people being bewitched (4). Who knows, maybe you will be the next person to feel the curse and its consequences of misery and destruction. "The 'Evil Eye', the eye of fire, is the eye of higher preception; it burns all that appears before it..." ...... Beware, you have been warned...
NOTES:
1) "The world of spirits and demons have been a companion of all civilizations up to the present day. Amoung the civilizations of the Ancient Near East the distress and fear of the sick man caused him to create amulets and incantations to supress the forces of evil or the spell of 'Evil Eye' that caused the illness. Occasionally the incantation is directed against a specific illness by name. For example on an amulet found in Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee reads, "An amulet proper to heal Ya'itha the daughter of Marian from fever and shiver and other evil wishes."
2) "The single eye is either symbolic of evil or of ill-wind or envy."
3)"The chief talisman against the 'Evil Eye' has long been the phallus symbol, which is inscribed the name of the owner, that which weaves a spell over an ill-wish and leaves it bound to the author of all satisfaction."
4) "At Jewish weddings a precious glass is broken at the end of the ceremony as a preventive measure against the 'evil eye' and evil spirits from entering into the union of the couple."
REFERENCES:
1) The Eye - The Seer and the Seen - Francis Huxley
2) Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols - J.C. Cooper
3) Exhibition - "Illness and Healing in Ancient Times" - Reuven and Edith Hecht Museum, University of Haifa, Israel - Ofra Rimon, curator.
4) Encyclopedia Judaica, Ketter Publishing Co., Jerusalem
SIDEBAR
Russian scientists have recently shown that the human gaze has immense physical energy and the eye emits high frequency rays of wavelength - 80 micrometers. Envy, jelousy, hatred, malice, contempt, hostility, astonishment and exaggerated admiration are all transmitted through the eye.
Biblical Og of Balshaam, Julius Ceasar, Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolph Hitler and Sadaam Hussien were amoung the few said to have possessed the 'Evil Eye'. It is said that - their breath caused wind; their length is a thousand miles; their aura if of evil and illwind. As living beings they have human faces, a scaled snake-like body, and livid in colour. They guard treasure, lust after young women, extol the muscular prowness of the male; by blowing they turn the air in the cold of winter; and by exhaling their foul breath they cause the withering of the land and of peoples.
"When I look lower I espy; Hadst thou the wicked skill
By pictures made and marr'd, to kill. How many ways mights thou perform they will?
(Witchcraft in a Picture - poet Donne)
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2002 Norman A Rubin |
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
July 2002 |
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
3838
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