Lmst

I often wonder why people in the past seemed to always have a compass handy. Sure, I always carry a photographic scale and measuring tape, but I record stuff. I can't make up my mind whether this is "just #graffiti" or whether the top one might be #apotropaic. #compassmark #DuiskeAbbey

Two marks made with a compass in a medieval doorframe the upper a quatrefoil, the lower a circle. A photographic scale on the left.

ALLEGED UNJINX
DOUBLE LUCK
👇👇👇
https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/72112868-alleged-unjinx-double-luck-dark?store_id=274792

#luckyshirt #luck #teepublic #teeshirt #tshirtart #luckart #apotropaic #digitalart #graphicart

It is said that the rowan tree can provide protection against malevolent beings. Hang a sprig above your door and you’re set.

It’s possible we all need to get one. Just saying.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan#Folk_magic

#RowanTree #FolkMagic #Evil #Fascism #Witchcraft #Folklore #Apotropaic #Magic #Scotland

Honiton, Devon

Two thatched grade II* cottages C17 or earlier. Old thatch c. 4' thick. Replacement thatch roof set on old walls with new ridge to allow original timbers to be left in situ. Cat skeleton found, probably apotropaic.
📸 : Brian Ralph

#Devon #Thatch #Apotropaic

A roof stripped of most of its thatch apart from the ridge, which is everal feet deep. The main area of the roof is covered in a green taupaulin. There is scaffolding at the front of the house from which ladders go across the roof.

A roof devoid of any covering with the original timbers still in place.

Reroofing in progress with new wood over the old.

A 'pss, pss, pss,' with emphatic,
finger-down, flinging of the hands
usually does the trick. Disbands
the offenders. Sure, dramatic,
but sound. Everyone understands.

Painting SOLD at https://xxyxxy.com

#apotropaic #quintilla #poetry #painting

Painting of what could be a hillside or hole in the ground. Bright dots ascend, or descend, from or in front of it.

Okay, so there's a joke in the xBiking community about having "Talismans" on your bike, and I want to turn into the skid and take it a little more literally. I already have a Nazar on my saddlebag, but I'd love to inscribe some wards/glyphs/sigils/runes as I build it up, and I'm looking for ideas.

I'm building the wheels, and wheelbuilders already frequently hang a loop around the hub, so that could be an interesting place to hang something.

Etching protective glyphs along the fender is kind of what got me down this rabbithole.

I know rotating circles are supposed to be powerful, so inscribing something along the rims might be interesting.

I'm open to ideas from any culture or tradition, but would prefer to avoid christian/angelic iconography. Just not my speed.

This bike is moving in a bit of a goblincore direction, and I'd like to lean into that.

I'm open to trading mechanic expertise for favors, or skillsharing!

#XBiking #BikeToot #WitchCraft #Apotropaic #Magick #Talisman #goblincore

Whatever you think of the taste and its position in the culinary hierarchy, parsley’s role in folklore and magic is significantly more dramatic, bringing together life, death, love, and demons like the very best of operatic metal albums.

https://wildhunt.org/2024/08/banish-demons-and-slay-your-enemies-with-parsley.html

#herbs #herbalism #myths #folklore #herblore #apotropaic #kitchenwitch #recipes #pagan

🐍🐲 1 Feb is #SerpentDay #Antinous #Agathodaimon (Blessed Spirit) statue at Berlin #AltesMuseum. A beneficent #apotropaic #serpent emerges from a #cornucopia to gaze up adoringly at #Antinoos, and who can blame the #snake? The statue's face originally had inlaid #gemstone #eyes!

"Charmless": repost of some short #FlashFiction I wrote in 2016 about a response to an #apotropaic image. Is it as charmless as it's made out to be?

https://zenrinji.wordpress.com/2023/08/23/charmless/

Two-sided .925 sterling silver talisman with the face of Terrible Humbaba on one side, and his epithet in Sumerian cuneiform on the other.

Humbaba / Humwawa is a giant monster made by Utu the sun, and set by the god Enlil to protect the cedar forests where the gods lived. "When he looks at someone, it is the look of death."[Gilgamesh and Huwawa] "Humbaba's roar is a flood, his mouth is death and his breath is fire! He can hear a hundred leagues away any [rustling?] in his forest! Who would go down into his forest!"[Epic of Gilgamesh]

Some texts describe his face as leonine, others say he is more exotically monstrous. My image is based on photographs clay figurines which were carried for protection.

Each piece is hand-made, cast and finished from a mold which I also made. Each piece is unique, with unique variations in texture and finish, including some small defects which are an inevitable part of the process.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/691330566/humbaba-huwawa-protection-two-sided

#OccultArt #TalismanicJewelry #Witchcraft #Pagan #Jewelry #ArtJewelry #JewelryArt #WitchJewelry #Humbaba #Humbawa #Apotropaic #MagicalJewelry #JewelersOfInstagram

Front and back views of a brass talisman. The front features the hideous face of Terrible Humbaba. The back shows his name in cuneiform.

Front and back views of a silver talisman. The front features the hideous face of Terrible Humbaba. The back shows his name in cuneiform.

This naive-looking #Roman face pot fragment doesn't look so innocent up the other way. For the Romans, the phallus was a protective symbol but, like today, it was also used for humour. It's in the Museum of London, which is currently relocating to west Smithfield #apotropaic #phallus #FacePotFriday

A rectangular fragment of a face pot, with large lumpen eyes either side of a thick long nose, which terminates above a bearded mouth with a large lower lip. Inverted, it might be interpreted as male and female genitals approaching each other.

From this description, it seems to me that these fish-icons became a type of an #apotropaic #charm with a very specific narrow protective purpose. Which explains the weird medium, which goes against everything that we typically know about icons (normally, artists would try to paint icons on something as permanent as possible, which fish quite obviously is not!)

But these fish were akin to beads and tiny icons people place in their cars these days. Designed for #luck, not necessarily for prayer.

Two more icons on fish; photo from a museum exposition.

I was initially skeptical of this story, but it proved to be real! At some point (around 18 - early 19 century) in #Ukraine, artists painted #Orthodox #icons on... dried #fish !

How come? TLDR: these icons were used a sort of a very special professional #protective #charm by a particular type of traveling #merchants. For a bit more details (and illustrations), see the thread below 👇

#history #art #magic #apotropaic #iconography #icon

two icons painted on flat flounder-like fish

Nice!

RT @priesthousewh@twitter.com

#Museum30 #Hidden has to be our cache of childrens’ shoes discovered hidden round the chimney. Brought to light when the museum was restored, they’re probably #apotropaic, placed there to stop evil spirits entering the house. They’d work in conjunction with our many #witchmarks

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/priesthousewh/status/1589198474507014144