Amulets of our Lives. The Tradition of the Thing as Comfort, Guide, Pathway. For Fortune and Fetish.

A shell in our pocket, a smooth stone kept in the bureau drawer, under the liner; perhaps a coin from a far place. Read the history of amulets, things that we do not part with, and that, eventually seem to attach as though they wanted to remain. A long-forgotten bit, re-seen.
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Things that go with us.

For gypsies, the ability to "see" through things, by means of things, facilitated by things, to sense truths perhaps in things, or find the way among many paths because a thing indicated this direction or that, all a part of long tradition and culture. How different from us. Any different in substance, or just in smaller aspects of form.

Book of experiences.

Go back to the 19th Century through this book, Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling, by Charles Godfrey Leland, 1891, online at ://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/gsft/gsft17.htm/ That site is to Chapter XIV, entitled "Gypsy Amulets." The author takes us to London, where there is an Indian Gypsy, Nano. who had much to say of the origins of a particular broad-bladed knife the author held dear, and substantiation for what he said - such knives were used for execution, and the author came across others. Follow the accounts of knives in gypsy lore, the sharp tip and its significance, what pointed gifts really bring (quarrels), the charm that results from the sticking of the knife into the table (that signifies piercing someone's heart, not the table).

Amulets.

For luck, perhaps a Maria Theresa silver dollar, 17th to end of 19th centuries, currency, Arabian peninsula and elsewhere. See its history at ://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=3&id=6038/. This Austrian "thaler" was high in silver content, good for jewelry, Maria Theresa had 16 children so it was hoped its holder would become pregnant, and men kept it for the luck of the double-headed eagle on the back. The site references a book on the amulet use of the Maria Theresa thaler. The Saudi Riyal replaced it. Also used in Ethiopia, see ://ethiopundit.blogspot.com/2004/08/salt-to-thalers-to-birr.html/ Thaler. Dollar.

More: Interest in the author's fossil shark's tooth, a shell, and shells of the revered sea snail is especially revered; an Indian arrow-head, but of no value was a mere English sixpence with a hole pierced. The author was in Homberg (Hamburg?) at the time, and the police allowed no gypsies to remain in Homberg, so he lost touch with one group before he could give them his amulet. He gave the shell to another, a young girl who expressed absolute faith in the power of it. He had said it would do her no good unless she had faith, and her response was faith in the thing itself. He passed it on to her.

The Object: From symbolism to embodiment

Our religions, too, ascribe a sanctity to things - we are all of a piece. Just touch the image, kiss the icon, you will be healed. Rub the toe of the Bishop.

Gregory of Nin, Croatia, 10th Century Bishop. Rub the toe. Sanctity there.

When does the symbol cross over, into becoming an amulet where an aspect of deity resides. From page 237:

And it will last, while one fetish endures, that the hierophant will call it a mere "symbol," and the ignorant worshipper, absolutely unable to comprehend him, will worship the symbol as the thing itself—as he is really expected to do.

Examples: The shell

Veneration of the shell: That appears also in our art, "Venus on the Half Shell," do an Images search. Conch shells, the large ones with the sound of the ocean, or, some say, a voice inside, that mysterious sound some traditions, especially the Jewish, call the bath kol, see ://www.bible-history.com/isbe/B/BATH+KOL/. But it recurs. The voice that tells you which way to go. Or is inaudible, when you want to know. But you hear something. The conchomateia oracles use such a shell. Hearing can be deceptive. We can deceive by ear.

In the Lord of the Flies, by William Golding in 1954, a novel (routine in school curricula), a conch shell is the horn to call the group, a symbol of order, of civilization, civilized behavior, see ://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/themes.html/

Our interest: the Hindu, if the Roma or Gypsies originated in that area, see ://www.economicexpert.com/a/Conch:shell.htm/. It is there. The conch shell is the announcer, the sea-oriented bugle for military alerts and religious practices.

Recognizing things with power.

Killing victims to get luck, to get luck back perhaps, to ensure a strong foundation. Part of western culture as well as others. Read pages 241 ff- remember, this is entirely online.

Gypsies among Witches.

Witches to gypsies are not horrible, evil servants of the devil (once immutable dogma). Just women with supernatural powers, using them as they wish.

Witch's cage, Levoca, Slovakia (Inquisition period)

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Trace the "witch" flying in storms, that may have begun as an image of one riding to clear the air of plague, and when plague persisted, blaming her; to images from the Algonquin Indians of the great bird, a giant eagle, Wuch-ow-sen, stirring up storms and thereby actually healing the air, clearing it. When the eagle was hindered by a magician, the people died. Or to the Hebrew Azrael, Angel of Death. Track western humanity's history of barbarous beliefs.

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What we did is far worse than what any gypsy believed, is that so? Who does the harm here, except as perpetuated in the mind of the persecutors.

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The gypsy witch in the tower of Homberg: read at page 245-46. The raven, the little black granny, all that remained from the smoke of her burning. Come here, save me as well, cries the girl in the tower.

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The witches' tower in Heidelburg was taken down.

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Heidelburg, Germany. No witches' tower left.

Then go to Rouen, France:

Tower, Rouen. Joan of Arc, Witch, was held there

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Gypsy forms in theater and literature.

Find gypsy roots in theater, and literature. This, from page 248, after a long presentation of Punch and Judy and Faust plays, puppeteers and stage.

This is the true Faust drama of the Middle Ages, with the ante-Shakespearian blending of tragedy and ribald fun. But this same mixture is found to perfection in the early Indian drama—for instance, in "Sakuntala"—and it would be indeed a very curious thing should it be discovered that the gypsies, who were in all ages small actors and showmen of small plays, had brought from the East some rude drama of a sorcerer, who is in the end cheated by his fiend. Such is, in a measure, the plot of the Baital Pachisi or Vikram and the Vampire, which is borrowed from or founded on old traditions, and the gypsies, from their familiarity with magic, and as practical actors, would, in all probability, have a Faust play of some kind, according to the laws of cause and effect. In any case the suggestion may be of value to some investigator.

Bosnia, Slavonia, Hungary, beliefs and those beliefs transported into the minds of rulers and lore. Queens wanting cradles made of seven kinds of wood, or to be made by blind people for luck. Then, of course, the thunderbolt and its meaning. Look in any culture, probably. To the Slavonian gypsies, a connection between the thunderbolt and a prehistoric axe form. Not unique. Cultures sharing. Serbian gypsies - the double nut, making a heart shape - a powerful amulet, encased, like a casket, a shell, with mystical directions - plant it and ..... Jack and the Beanstalk?

Other cabalistic signs. The serpent. Track it not only to gypsies, but to Egyptians - gyptians. Gypsies. Names. Links. Even to Brahma.

O, internet. What surprises await the nimble-fingered clicks. The lightish rub on the touchpad. AAh.. Now I see....