Blue Eye Bead (Nazar)
It’s time to talk about my favorite type of magical charm. I’ve been meaning to do a little more about charms and image magic for a while now.
Blue eye beads have a long history as protective charms across various folk magic traditions. The practice began and remains popular in Turkey, where such an amulet is referred to as a nazar. It has since spread to folk magic traditions throughout the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere, including Hoodoo practices in the US.
Beads and charms such as those shown above are carried or displayed as magical protection, primarily to ward off the “evil eye”, which is predominately associated with jealousy. They may be found as jewelry, over doors, in shops, on walls in homes, and even as decorations in vehicles.
Any representation of a blue eye, even as simple as a sketch with a blue pen, with proper intent can be used as a protection against negative energy and hexes.
The necklace at the top of the photo is made with beads from Ankara, Turkey, by a friend who spent ten years there.
The hand shaped charm I acquired from a botanica in New Orleans. The hand image itself is known as a hamsa, another protective icon of somewhat less clear Middle Eastern or North African origin. The two are sometimes but not always combined in the above fashion.
The larger bead on the right is a more traditional Turkish style.
