Examples of curing fear

Fight against fear is not simple and often requires a lot of patience. This is best evidenced by stravarke whose work experience is full of various cases. Stravarka Emina Hadžihasanović told the following story to a journalist of a Sarajevo magazine:

-I was melting lead to a man, he was imprisoned by četniks (name for Serbian paramilitary army which committed the most war crimes in BiH), he was imprisoned in a concentration camp and was tortured, also a grenade exploded in his building. He was ready to die. He couldn’t walk normally any more. He wasn’t able to go alone anywhere, so he took his child with him everywhere he went. He couldn’t even go to the toilet without the child taking him there. He was a butcher by trade, a good man. He asked doctors for help but they couldn’t help him, his medical results were good but he couldn’t walk straight. I have molten 77 lead pieces for him and he recovered. He is now working in a butcher shop on Ilidža.

Obviously the issue of great fear in a man requires great effort, which is evidenced by another case from the practice of this stravarka:

-There was once a woman. And an ox wanted to kill her, but he didn’t. And due to such a shock she fell into a coma. From that day she always slept a little and fell into a coma a little. It happened that no matter where she was, she would feel a bit weak, she would then fall to the floor. She would fall unconscious. Here, there are 79 leads that I molten for her until now and now the condition has gotten better, she only feels like this maybe once a week. While I melt a couple more she will recover completely. There is only cure in melting lead. Doctors are oblivious. They’re looking – all is good, all is nice and a person cannot function normally. Fear resurrects in the body and all is negative. It strikes the legs and arms and the head, everywhere. You melt three lead pieces – and it feels as if you took it with your hand and threw it away, everything disappears. From the old days the lead melting ritual was practiced, it is a part of our Bosnian tradition for ages.




Illyrian inheritance

For the lead melting ritual, which is familiar in numerous Balkan countries, but also Middle East such as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iranian anthropologists believe that it stems from the Illyrian warriors, which spread it across the Roman empire while serving its armies, to all corners that the powerful, ancient Empire covered. That is why the Turks, Arabs, Persians and the Jews took it over, which confirms that we are dealing with an effective and efficient ritual for annulling fear, spellbound eyes but also magic.

Curiosity which is among the folk usually connected with the gift of divination and lead melting is that both techniques are often a gift of supernatural forces to an individual. Namely, knowledge about lead melting, according to a stravarka, it often comes “in a dream”, i.e. the stravarka to be dreams it. One of such examples was the already mentioned Emina Hadžihasanović:

-I dreamt that I will die. And my house in the dream is placed on a high hill. I was looking for someone to say the prayer Yasin for me, and I couldn’t find anyone. I then placed a blanket next to this bed and I lay down to die. I started uttering Yasin and three mubina (chapters) of Yasin I finish, and I die. When I woke up in the morning, I remembered the dream and what had happened, I then went to an Imam on Vratnik to tell him what had transpired.

He said: It is good for you that you dreamt it if you are going to melt lead. I never did, I said, but I can start. From there I came here, there was a woman there – she went from one doctor to the other. She was struck by it, she couldn’t move. She said: I dreamt last night that you will melt lead for me. I smiled and said: I have never molten lead for anyone. She said that I shall to her, now. I said when this is the case then I shall. She entered the house through the stairs on her knees. She couldn’t bend her leg. There I took a spoon and I started melting lead. When I have finished melting lead for her for the third time, she suddenly rose up and started walking. She lived for another three-four years and died. And from that day on I melt lead.


Doctors cannot cure fear

Stravarka Hadžinca from Potur in Travnik is another one of the rare people which haven’t received much attention from internet portals and media in general. During an interview with a journalist, Hadžinica revealed some of the secrets of this ancient technique.

-This is no divination, it is useful, but there are people which think otherwise, and I wouldn’t like if you would reveal my identity. I wouldn’t like it because of my family either, you know how it is, she explained. She says that people come from all over the place, from central Bosnia, Zenica and even Sarajevo. Everyone comes with his own story and his own troubles. From workers, up to doctors, politicians and singers. It is a tradition to charge for lead melting. Someone gives some money, someone a present, but for everything to be complete, a reward must be given. That’s why lead cannot be molten by closer relatives which live in the same house. Although it is popular belief that this ancient exorcist skill is solely practiced by women, lead can be molten by men, but they say that it is not appropriate for a man to melt lead for a woman, because of the conservative society.

The ritual with lead without a doubt stems from shamanism which is based on animism. Probably because of its somewhat mysterious power of transformation, to change from solid into the liquid state and reverse, the lead spurred ancient Illyrian shamans to try and change the state of the diseased with the help of lead, through a magical ritual. Besides, stravarke, but also some Imam’s, which practice this method, agree that lead has a lethal power towards humans but also demons. Namely, as a rifle bullet can kill a man so too can lead in a shamanistic ritual kill i.e. more precisely trap energy of a spirit and so remove it from the diseased person.

In three consecutive lead melting rituals, the figure of lead does actually come out in a form similar to the thing that caused the fear.

-Women come to me and they don’t know that they’re afraid of their husband. I reveal this immediately and I tell her – you are afraid of your husband! Of course, sometimes I find a figurine which shows that the husband is afraid of his wife. To remove the fear it is important to find the cause.


She helps only to those that need such a help

When talking to other stravarke with which I had the opportunity and pleasure to talk to, I came across an identical opinion. Each of the categorically claim that everything that is shown in the lead can no longer hurt the diseased person.

-Lead melting will always help to the one who is a case for it, i.e. who is full of fear or some other negative energy, and if his problem cannot be solved by the ritual then he will have no use from it, said Mevlida O. from Velika Kladuša, one of the stravarka which inherited her knowledge from her mother in law.

-No one knows how old this custom is. I feel sad because it is dying out, there are no young women which would like to learn it, and there are few of them that could – says Hadžinica and she explains the stern predispositions: the one which is experienced in lead melting, gives to the student izun, i.e. permission. The woman needs to be pious, with a covered body and it would be good if she is educated, especially in an Islamic spirit. She doesn’t have to go to Hajj, but as Hadžinica says, it won’t hurt.

Continuing the discussion stravarka Hadžinica said that they brought her a singer which sang in a nearby restaurant.

-He says, I don’t know what is wrong with me, I just want to quarrel?! I thought tha someone must have frightened him. I melt lead for him, and each time a figure of a man shows. I ask – who scared you? He then told me everything, that he accepted a friend in his house so he can spend the night there, but in actuality the man was a crook and he wanted to rob him. The singer kept quiet about this event and kept the fear to himself, but when the problem escalated he came to seek help.

Coffee beverage of destiny

Divination from a coffee cup is probably the best known mantic skill in the world. Even though ways of preparing coffee, worlds most favourite refreshing beverage, changed over centuries, residue is also less and less seen in our cups, human desire for decoding signs of destiny, especially divination with coffee, stayed unchanged since the Persian times, where this type of divination originated.
 

Since the time of the discovery of quahve (literal translation of this word is “refreshing”) bush in Yemen and Ethiopia many centuries ago, coffee became a pleasure for all layers of society. Because of its taste it inspired numerous devoted minds and a brilliant statement by Talleyrand, Napoleon’s minister, which read “coffee black as the devil, hot as hell, clear as an angel and sweet as love!”
 

Whether we call it kahva, kafa, coffee, kafe it is always a call for socialisation and discussion, and sometimes even a flirt. That’s why it’s positive social effect is undeniable. Similarly, without a warm cup of morning coffee many of us couldn’t literally open their eyes and start their day and as such it represents a beverage for awakening consciousness, cognition and strength to keep moving. With coffee many think of things that they need to do that day since it awakens concentration and gives strength to muscles.
 

Coffee is without a doubt a magical beverage and we shouldn’t be surprised that on the territory of today’s Iran decided to divine from the residue of coffee, especially since coffee had numerous effects on people. It is quite evident that this unknown diviner didn’t even suspect that with his imaginative inspiration he accidentally opened up a road to world fame to one of the most prominent divination methods.
 

With the advent of the Ottomans to the Balkans, drinking coffee became widespread and then a sudden interest for this divination method increased. Because of its availability divination with coffee became entertainment of idle women and girls who desired to reveal their luck in love.
 

Since the old days such diviners were called among the folk gledalice or faletarke. That divination with coffee residue is given full attention and effort is best proven by the ceremonial performance of coffee preparation, even before the main divination which occurs once the finished cup is turned upside down, the diviner would interpret the appearance of the foam, whether the coffee got spilt, etc. But, after drinking an unsweetened cup of coffee the atmosphere would become tense and people would wait anxiously for the diviner to take the cup in her hand and begin her presentation.

Sugar cube for better interpretation

Ritual of designating a coffee cup in Bosnia works as follows; let’s say that the client’s name is Melina. After drinking coffee, the diviner takes the coffee cup and asks the client what specifically she would like to know. Usually people would say what their burning issue is such as love issues, work, home or marital relationships, exams, trips, and the like. If we’re talking about love then the name of the loved person must be used. We’ll take for example that the man which interests Melina is called Edvin. Since she gathered the necessary info the diviner offers the cup to the client, so that the client can blow in it, then she turns the cup clockwise and says quietly;

Melina drinks this coffee and dedicates 
in the name of Hazrat Fatima and Hazrat Alija,

their din and iman,

god’s knowledge, and this cup,

to her destiny with Edvin.

If there is any it should be shown,

and if there is none let it be known!

For the readers which do not understand the meaning of the word din and iman the shortest explanation is the words faith and belief. This so called fal-basma (divination formula) is interesting because the words Hazrat Fatima and her husband Ali, daughter and son in law of prophet Muhammad are mentioned, in folk belief of Iran and Turkey to the two of them people ascribe divination capabilities with the help of beans and coffee.
 

The cup is then turned upside down on the small saucer and a sugar cube is placed on top of it. In the past there was a custom that the client before the divination process places a bank note underneath the saucer whit which he intends to pay the divination, to which it was usually said “to luck” i.e. for the cup to “open up” better. The money would be taken by the diviner before the process of divination started. After five minutes, which is quite enough for the spilled figures in the residue to take form and dry, the diviner turns the cup and places the sugar cube in her mouth or slowly breaks it and during the divination process places pieces of it on her tongue. It is not an accidental gesture, instead it has its logical and motivational sense. Namely, as sugar is usually a candy and favourably effects mood of people, it is evident that the diviner , with such an incentive be in a much better mood for divination.
 

Before the interpretation places which have special characteristics are clearly defined, this especially relates to the bottom of the cup which is called the “house” but also “heart”. Everything above the bottom, which is located on the walls of the cup, is characterised as “circle of destiny”, it begins from the handle and goes in circle, clockwise, ending at the starting point. Figures on the edge of the cup or close to it represent the present and those in the middle or at the bottom of the cup symbolises the future. The side which the client used to drink the coffee symbolises the sex, in this case female, and the one opposite male sex.

 

Traces of negative energy
 

Show of love, mutual feelings, engagement, marriage are those, they could be called as such, classic one such as heart, ring, sun, rose and the like. Besides, to all those which are interested in this divination skill, more or less are familiar with most of the symbols therefore I will use this opportunity and transfer some extraordinary interpretations of the cup according to some Bosnian coffee diviners. They’re extremely valuable, since they’re a result of empirical knowledge, and can help in detecting individual hidden motives and their consequences. Namely, it is known that with each mantic skill one can find out what is eventually behind an issue which is troubling a person. Their radius is pretty extensive; from the accidental contact with negative energy, where we can mention spellbound eyes, targeted evil (magic, chronic envy, curses) or even destructive influence of one’s own thoughts )mental blockade, fear, shock). All the mentioned forms influence a person in a different way, his physical and mental state, and with that his own destiny.
 

As a person which has been practicing esotery I’m inclined to warn you that towards the issue of possible negative influences you should approach carefully and before you conclude anything eliminate all possible causes. Or simply said, don’t judge hastily if in one divination (cup) you see some of the below mentioned symbols.

Repeat divination after three or more days and if you see an identical sign then you have little room to doubt.

 

Signs of negative influence

 

Collection of little dots on a plate can implicate that someone has placed dirt from a grave on your threshold.

Black cat implies presence of black magic. When that symbol is seen in a cup one should consider in detail what is located around it, in order to discover from whom or from which direction it is coming.

A figure of a bat reveals that you are a victim of love magic, you must inquire to whom do you feel attracted lately or towards whom you have undefined feelings.

Eye is a sign of a curse. Someone has placed a curse on you and you probably have symptoms: frequent yawning, you have headaches, you have sudden shivers or temperature fluctuations and the like. You should immediately talk to a person with blue eyes which eliminates evil so that such a person can remove the curse.

Knife is a warning sign and it is advising you to offer sacrificial animal (kurban) or give alms. This will help you to remove current or to protect yourself from recent adversity.

Rabbit is a symbol which points that you urgently need to saliti strahu (melting lead) and the best indicator is desperation and abrupt dreams – poor quality of sleep, insomnia.

The key is the sign of being blocked. When that sign is pronounced (large) in the cup then it reveals that everything you start will go with difficulties or you will find constant hurdles.

Spiders web reveals mental issues of a person or that she is currently located in a crisis of some sort.

Rock is a warning that a person (client) is suffering from depression, and even thought of suicide.

Arabic letter – when in the residue one spots one of the signs which unusually resemble an Arabic letter it is a sure sign that the client is under protection from a higher power, he is protected by angels or God himself.

 

You must turn the cup upside down because of curses
 

b In the end, Bosnian diviners recommend to turn the cup upside down as soon as the divination process is done since, allegedly, “it is not good” for someone to look at it from the side. – Someone can curse your cup and nothing will come to be, one of them reveals, Nisveta Č. from Velika Kladuša.

Divination using an eyelash

In Bosnia there is an interesting divination among the Bosnian with the help of an eyelash. When someone notices that someone has lost an eyelash, he picks it up using his thumb and index finger and says to that person: "make a wish!" Then both of them make a wish, each their own, and then both of them blow three times into the connected fingers which are holding the eyelash. Then they choose fingers, i.e. one says that his is the index finger and the other the thumb. The person that held the eyelash separates the fingers and looks on which finger did the eyelash stay glued. Finger which has the eyelash forecasts that the wish will come true to the person who chose that specific finger. To make sure that it will be so, the eyelash is placed on the chest, underneath the clothes, and is brought with them in order not to lose it.