Animal Guardians and Symbolism

Although I have touched on the symbolism of certain animals in my previous posts, there are a wealth of animals, whose powers and attributes could be passed to the wearers of an amulet of talisman in their likeness or made from some part of them. You can find an animal to represent any aspect of yourself you would like to enhance and focus on or to protect you from any type of negative occurrence. I admire Karin Roy’s take on suing animal symbolism so rather than using the lists of totem animals or shamanistic spirit animals, so prevalent on the internet, I have comprised a list of my own, with animals who’s “powers” could be attributes that we would like to cultivate or that could protect us in modern day situations. The one animal amulet I own of is the dragonfly, which symbolises transformation and elevation through learning, understanding, and growth.

The jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula, is almost immortal. At times of stress, it can turn itself back into a polyp, effectively turning back time, there seems to be no limit to how many times it can do this transformation. this could be a representation for seeking the child within us or remaining young at heart as well as the obvious power of longevity.

The sea cucumber is a lesson in fluidity, to get through a small space, it can transform into a liquid, then back into solid again. It may also hod the secret in maintaining collagen elasticity.

The platypus has an extra awareness of other living things nearby by using electrolocation, it picks up the tiny electrical signals in the muscles. The platypus has evolved to be perfectly adapted to his surroundings with totally unique solutions.

The Rhinoceros beetle has super strength and can lift many times his own weight, the male shows great courage and perseverance when it comes to wrestling an opponent. The Dung beetle is also strong and shows perseverance, it uses the moon and stars to navigate when pushing it’s dung ball to its nest.

Salamanders and axolotls have the best self healing powers, they can regenerate and regrow parts of their bodies and even parts of their internal organs.

Sloths are also very fast healers and have an incredible immune system. perhaps some people may be offended, though if presented with a sloth as an amulet, I will have to research this further! I wouldn’t, I am particularly fond of them.

The female box turtle, packages the males sperm inside her shell until the time is right, she then fertilises herself. The power to judge the right time for life-changing decisions is to be applauded.

Chitons cling to rocks in the pudding surf like limpets. They have a hard armour to protect them. They have hardiness and tenacity in the face of adversity and rough times.

Hen chicks chirp to alert siblings to food being available, so they can share in it, this selfless act helps to ensure survival of the whole family.

The Ibycus Rachel, also known as the ninja slug, has a small shell, not big enough to crawl into but has a long tail, which it wraps around itself to sleep. It is also the cupid of the slug world, shooting darts which secrete hormones at potential mates.

Hummingbirds are the most manoeuvrable fliers in the bird world, able to flit from one place to another at amazing speeds and agility They have an ability to sniff out the sweeter things in life and stamina enough to fly 500 miles non-stop. A talisman for the busiest of people.

The salmon uses the earth’s magnetic field to guide it back to it’s exact place of spawning after years at sea. An amulet to give to a loved one who is off travelling the world.

Feel that I have not quite exhausted this subject and will probably add to it as I find interesting animals to add. The animals I have chosen for their aesthetic appeal as wells their attributes. They are all creatures which will be interesting to interpret into jewellery.

Charms and Protection for Fertility, Childbirth and Infants

This is another area which I will be looking at making amulets for, looking at it from a point of view of the needs in todays world, but certainly incorporating some of the animal symbolism and stones found in this blog.  All three of these will always be concerns for most of us, and perhaps, the giving of a charm or amulet, is a way of making those who cannot actually help with the practicalities of fertility or childbirth, feel like they are helping in some way. I would prefer to make protective amulets for children, who can understand and use the symbolism themselves, for example to feel less afraid, rather than for protection of infants.

A symbol of fertility and of childbirth, perhaps because of their obvious resemblance to the female genitalia are cowrie shells. They have been used for millennia and can be seen to have been used for this purpose in the south Pacific, the Mediterranean rim, including Egypt, Africa, the Middle East, Japan. They have been formed into necklaces, bracelets, hung from belts or girdles, placed in the home, replicated in pottery and held in childbirth.

The Egyptian Ankh has been attributed with many origins, meanings and powers. One of these is that is it a representation of the male and female genitalia and is, as such used as a fertility charm. It’s meaning as a hieroglyph is “life”.

Frogs and fish are both animals which represent fertility, perhaps their prolific egg-laying helped with this symbolic view of these creatures. The British museum has amulets of each of these from early Amazonian culture.

The japanese had particular box-shaped netsuke, like this one from the Met Museum, New York, in the shape of  a dog (Inu Hariko), traditionally given to young women for fertility and a good marriage.

The deer is another animal, which is linked with sexuality and fertility, the stag in rut is particularly potent spectacle. Amulets made from deer antler or made to resemble a deer have long been used for fertility. A Roman recipe for protection against miscarriage includes the deer’s penis: A woman is guaranteed never to miscarry if, tied round her neck in gazelle leather, she wears white flesh from a hyena’s breast, seven hyena’s hairs, and the penis of a stag. (Pliny the Elder, Natural History 28.98; translation W.H.S. Jones) I don’t feel that I shall be making one of those, can’t see much of a market for it or an aesthetic value, either

In Switzerland, the ladybird is said to deliver babies, much like our stork, they are prolific egg layers and are seen as a symbol of fertility and good luck.

In the Seychelles, grows a fruit, the Coco De Mer, which looks like a female’s buttocks while the flower looks like a penis. Needless to say this is seen as an aphrodisiac and a fertility symbol. The coco de Mer is quite rare and sought after, so amulet jewellery is made in the shape of the fruit.

Mistletoe was revered by Druids and Celts as it grew on the sacred oak, they believed the juice of the berries represented sperm of the oak. The use has been incorporated into Christmas tradition and we still kiss beneath a sprig of it, hung from the ceiling.  Hawthorn is another plant which amulets have been made from to promote fertility, especially in Italy and Greece. In some areas of Greece, brides wear a Hawthorn wreath. In Rome, Hawthorn amulets were used to protect infants.

Lapis lazuli and rose quartz are the two main gem stones used for fertility amulets, lapis lazuli is also used to protect infants and is also known as the “child’s stone”

In addition to some of the objects above, which can be used for both fertility and childbirth, further protections at childbirth are: Bloodstone, also known as chalcedony, a black and green stone with flecks of red. Thought in ancient Egypt to be the blood of Isis, it was very much a women stone, used to ease childbirth or menstrual cramps and to prevent miscarriage.

Bear claw amulets protect a woman in childbirth, whereas wolfs tooth amulets protect a child from fear. These can still be found for sale easily on the internet, This one from https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/177005952/bear-claw-real-claw-pendant-front-bear?ref=market

Protection for Travellers and Hunters

Travelling has always been a risky business and also projects a person into the unknown so it is small wonder that protective amulets have been worn or carried for the express purpose of protecting a person whilst travelling. It would definitely help allay the uncertainty of what is around the corner, as well as possibly providing a link with home or loved ones, if the amulet was a present from someone close. Protection for travellers is, without doubt, an amulet I will be looking at making.

Moonstone, emerald and topaz are amongst the stones which are seen to offer protection for travellers. The association with the moon seems strong in amulets for travellers. Topaz was favoured by the Romans, known as the “stone of strength”. The Persians favoured emeralds, worn on the left arm on a green cord. Aquamarine was the stone to use to protect sea travellers, as it was said to have come from Neptune’s palace.

Some talismans were more complex in their making and had a precise recipe. Writing of talismans in his book The Occult Sciences (1891), Folklorist A. E. Waite stated:

“2. The Talisman of the Moon should be composed of a circular and well-polished plate of the purest silver, being of the dimensions of an ordinary medal. The image of a crescent, enclosed in a pentagram, should be graven on the obverse side. On the reverse side, a chalice must be encircled by the duadic seal of Solomon, encompassed by the letters of the lunar genius Pi-Job. This talisman is considered a protection to travellers, and to sojourners in strange lands. It preserves from death by drowning, by epilepsy, by dropsy, by apoplexy, and madness. The danger of a violent end which is predicted by Saturnian aspects in horoscopes of nativity, may be removed by its means. It should be composed on a Monday, when the moon is passing through the first ten degrees of Capricornus or Virgo, and is also well aspected with Saturn. Its consecration consists in exposure to a perfume composed of white sandal, camphor, aloes, amber, and pulverized seed of cucumber, burnt with desiccated stalks of mugwort, moonwort, and ranunculus, in a new earthen chafing-dish, which must be reduced, after the operation, into powder, and buried in a deserted spot. The talisman must be sewn up in a satchel of white silk, and fixed on the breast by a ribbon of the same colour, interlaced and tied in the form of a cross.

However, his bibliography seems to contain the work of other folklorists of the time and one cannot be absolutely certain of his source for these talismans as I cannot find any previous historical record for these. However, it is true to say that much of superstition is passed down as folklore and myth, rather than historical fact.

I prefer the idea that the giver or recipient of a talisman should be the one to charge it with positive thoughts, wishes or prayers. The maker only designates the purpose. The symbolic gesture of washing it in pure water before charging it makes it more personal to it’s owner

Amongst the animals used to protect the traveller were dolphins and lions, the former to protect sea travellers particularly.

The lion for those facing perilous journeys.

This is an ancient Egyptian amulet, housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Foot amulets, especially carved from orange stone were popular in ancient Egypt and in Scandinavia, they are still popular in Sweden an protect the wearer from injury to the limbs.

The St. Christopher medal is one of the best known protective symbols of the west. The most popular history is that he was a very strong Caanite, who, when seeking Christ, took advice from a hermit, who told him to assist people across a dangerous river. One day he helped a child and struggled with the weight. When the child told him that he was that heavy because he bore the weight of the world, Christopher realised it was Christ he was carrying and the child disappeared and the weight lifted. St Christopher is no longer seen as a saint by the church but his popularity has not diminished. He is depicted with a staff in his hand and a child on his shoulder. I am not, however, convinced that the medal form of jewellery is something I would like to emulate but did not think these should be omitted from my blog because of their popularity.

In Icelandic books, it is written that the Vikings had a symbol, the “Vegvisir” which was said to be able to prevent travellers from getting lost.

But was this a magical symbol or a form of compass? The vikings were believed to have used sunstone compasses to navigate, akin to a type of sundial. Another Norse symbol given to travellers is that of Fenrir, the demon who will one day destroy the world, bound. These are still popular today, a kind of Norse St. Christopher medal, this one from http://www.tgdesign.no/shop/product/995-anheng?tm=viking-shop/solv-2

Natural Objects as Talismans

Many natural materials have been used as amulets over thousands of years, due to their appearance, colour or properties. Fossils, stones and plants being some of these.

Out of all the fossils, my personal favourite and one of the most widely used is the ammonite, which gets its’ name from the Ancient Egyptian goat god Ammon, who’s horns it resembles. There is evidence that stone age man used ammonites as amulets. The Ancient Egyptians used them to evoke dreams or trance state (Rattcsh, C and Muller-Ebeling, E. The Encyclopedia of Aphrodisiacs. Google e-book found at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QHZnAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false), this spread to Ancient Greece and Rome, where an ammonite placed beneath the pillow was protection against insomnia and bad dreams. A coin which has been dated 480BC, reads “The horn of Ammon, which makes beautiful dreams”. Some Romans believed that a pyritised ammonite can enable one to predict the future in a dream. From fossil folklore at the Natural History Museum in London, at nhm.ac.uk, in England, two legends arose around holy people turning a snakes into stones. St Hilda, who was a Saxon abbess in Whitby in the seventh century, was said to have cleared the ground to build the abbey from an infestation of snakes by praying.

Often heads were carved into the ammonites to make them ore saleable. St Keyna, in the south of England had the same power attributed to her.

In India, black limestone ammonites found in Nepal are called Saligrams and are sacred to the hindus as a chakra stone of the god Vishnu, Eight dividing lines of the chambers represent the eight chakras of absolute completeness and the eightfold path of enlightenment. Vishnu is often depicted holding the saligram.

In Feng Shui and Taoism, ammonites are seen as amulets to attract abundance and wealth. In New Guinea, tribes people carry them as amulets for hunting and growing. I have a small collection of ammonites which will be used in some of my jewellery. their mathematically perfect spiral and smoothness

Belemnites were thought to be thunderbolts or thunder stones, left when lightning strikes the earth, and, as it was said that lightning never strikes the same place twice, they were used as protection against being struck by lightening.

Toad stones are the fossilised teeth of the fish Lepdotes. They were often set into rings and jewellery in bitten to protect against poison and stings.

In Malta, Fossilised teeth of another fish, Sargus, was said to be serpents eyes from serpents cursed by the shipwrecked apostle, St. Paul. They were set in gold and given to papal envoys to Malta, even Henry the 5th of England owned some. Again, these were worn as protective amulets.

Crystals and gemstones are used as talismans, in jewellery, as protection or to bring about required circumstances. There are many books, charts and websites dedicated to these in the guise of New Age spirituality, such as this one.

The colours of gem stones can also be linked to the seven chakras and are used to stimulate the chakras when worn as jewellery or used in meditation or massage.

I will take a closer look at a few of the more prominent stones and ones which I would like to incorporate in my work.

Jade has been regarded as the most precious of stones in China for millennia, thought to have been the solidified sperm of the Chinese Dragon, it it often carved into shapes of animals or flowers and used in different forms as an amulet to protect from early death or from bad fortune, also as a charm for good fortune,for everlasting love and much more. It is still widely in use today. One of the earliest to be seen at the British Museum is a coiled dragon from the Hongshan culture from around 35000BC

Turquoise is one of the most popular stones, thought by the Aztecs to be the stone of the gods and linked by them and other native American tribes to the sky gods and rain. It has been used to guard the wearer against bad luck, failure, poverty to ensure success in hunting. In Turkey it was carried by horsemen to protect from injury from a fall. With other blue stones such as lapis lazuli, it was believed to have a regenerative power and was often used in jewellery and in amulets bound in a mummy’s bandages. The most common of these being the Djed Pillar, like this one at the British Museum, symbolising stability and endurance.

Plants and trees are among the natural objects used as amulets. This is unsurprising as many plants and trees have medicinal uses as well as bearing fruit or being edible. I found this beautiful illustration of the sacred trees of Ireland on http://imgarcade.com/1/ancient-irish-alphabet/.

The early Celts and native Americans believed that each type of tree had an essence which could be tapped into. Amulets carved from wood are wearable items which still maintain the essence of the trees that came from. The tree itself is also a sacred symbol, which crosses many continents, seen widely as the tree of life.

As parts of some plants can be short lived, representations of them have been widely accepted of bearing the same power, especially when worn as jewellery. The chilli pepper being one of these, used originally to protect against the evil eye and against infidelity, later as a good luck charm especially in Italy. Red plastic ones are commonplace, but the shape was also copied in gold or silver and morphed into a horn type pendant, known as the “corno”.

Shamrocks and clovers are other plants, which are short lived in their natural form. Sometimes they are encased in resin or glass, or pressed to make them more enduring, but often are recreated in metals, bejewelled, painted or enamelled as a widely accepted representation of the plant and as a good luck charm.