Fatal power of spellbound eyes

In folk medicine in BiH all mental illnesses were called džanbola (from the Turkish word „can/džan“ – soul), and it would come through as a result of the detrimental activity of evil spirits – Jinn. Among the most difficult ailments were considered the ones caused by direct contact with demons („naletio na džinsko kolo – he came across a circle of Jinn“, „udario ga džinski vjetar – he got struck by demonic winds“ etc.), for example when a diseased would fall victim to specific mental states such as hysteria, paranoia, schizophrenia, epilepsy, etc.




According to Bosnian Imam/healers and stravarke a man can get seriously ill from fear, black magic, namet, nagaža, ograme, zgranila, letame (so called “džinski šamar-demonic slap” pareza facialis – Bell’s palsy) and spells. However, from all of the above, spells are considered to be the most widespread disease.
Fear from the destructive power of a spellbound gaze is deeply embedded in the collective consciousness of many cultures in the world, whether primitive or developed societies, and among the Bosnian folk it is most evidently presented in the following statement: “As soon as he looks at you, he disrupts everything, you can’t curdle cheese nor douse a fire!”.
As we have mentioned spells are common among people, far more than black magic, possessions or for example red wind. It appears always as a negative side effect when one has excessive emotions. Often, Imam/healers claim, it happens that parents cast a spell on their child, despite the great love they feel for the child, since “whatever a man does too much, it is not good nor healthy!”.


What is actually a spell and how does it work?

In his book “Power of thinking in scientific life”, William Walker states the following: “Science has confirmed the strength of spells by conditioning so called theory of magnetism. It is, actually, holding a strong inner desire with the help of the eyes, because of the ability of the eye not only to see but to feel as well, in this case, the final extreme ferocity of the gaze. As evidence to this, in a theatre or a place where people sit one behind the other, gaze into the back of someone’s head who is sitting in front of you. Persistently watching at the lower part of his nape wish inside of yourself, very hard, for him to turn around. Notice that the person will suddenly turn and look exactly at the place you were looking at him from. This exercise is shown as very successful among people which know each other, and less among people which are strangers. Similarly, it is more successful in women than in men, since women react better to such types of influence. The better you know a person the faster this will work.”

I am of the opinion that a spell, but also other paranormal appearances, have a direct connection with the astral body, our spiritual doppelganger who is also a link between the world of humans and spirits (1). What we call supernatural powers such as clairvoyance, telekinesis or spells are nothing more than the ability of our astral body which has the ability to penetrate into the higher spheres. Through the “third eye” i.e. as it is called in Bosnian occult practice – “star”, we are connected to the universe but also the spiritual world (see. “Illyrians – Europe’s greatest mystery”).  From there we draw all our knowledge and information. But, since further explanation would take too much space and would somewhat distance us from our main topic it will suffice to say the following.

According to some technical definitions the human body is nothing else than a collection of condensed energy, which has its own clearly determined way of acting. Every time when it comes to disruption of the normal flow of energy, primarily because of some overemphasized emotion, usually negative, our body accumulates that negative energy on some part of the body, where a disease then appears, or simply it “throws out” that excess energy in order to reset i.e. normalise. Which is somewhat identical to our physiological needs. If that expulsion of excess energy happens –visually through the eyes or orally through the mouth – at the moment when we are praising someone or when we envy someone, the energy will be automatically directed at “the target” and it will become spellbound. It is, also, an answer to the question – why do we get spellbound every time when someone lauds us or when someone openly or secretly envies us?

Hence, the power of spells is a native occurrence among all humans, it has nothing to do with specific character traits, sex, physical appearance or national affiliation. In folk belief there are sort of cultural animosities towards individual groups for which is then claimed that they have an evil gaze like the Roma people, but also elderly women, men without beards (ćosavi), bearded women, etc. (2). Actually, the symbol of evil amongst people were always those people which for some reason did not fit into the societal order or yet persons with lighter or more difficult physical deformities, whose appearance caused fear and prejudice, especially in rural areas.

Writing about spells, Leopold Gluck states that the belief in them is present among the entire Bosnian people, but, especially among the Bosniaks and Čifutima (name for Bosnian Jews), which claim that one can cast a spell “without looking” with only a word, and what is worse is that you can put a spell on yourself. When you laud someone because of his characteristics, physical or mental, when you are in awe of someone because of their animate or inanimate property, whether he heard it or not, you can put a spell on him. Even when you think of yourself as hard working, rich, you can put a spell on yourself. The above mentioned belief completely explains why dozens of prophylactic gestures appeared among these people whose sole purpose, during conversations whether important or unimportant, was to block or annul eventual spells by knocking on wood with the index finger or spitting to one side.



(1) Best informed about the definition of the body and the soul were our forefathers the Bogomils whose doctrine about the soul, representative of heavenly energy and physical body the personification of demonic force, clearly talks of the dualistic strength which creates life. Mission of every human is to achieve a balance of good and evil inside of himself, not allowing any of the forces to prevail. When that happens, and usually when weevil prevails, various evils occur among which are the influences of the evil eye.

(2) Traditional understanding which type of eyes can cast spells, i.e. their colour, is based on a very simple template. Namely, researching the available literature for acquisition of information which would help me in writing this modest work about folk medicine in BiH, I discovered that it primarily depends on geographic position and genetic structure of a people. A generally accepted thesis is that the evil eyes or spellbound eyes are determined on the colour of the iris which is least represented or is not present at all. Since there is a very small percentage of people with black irises among the Bosniaks, dark eyes especially combined with dark hair are considered to be evil. That’s why it is still today believed that one should beware dark eyes “since they can easily shoot through a person, to their heart and lead to death!” On the contrary, in Turkey, as well as in the entire Middle East, spellbound eyes are blue eyes and blonde hair.

Using measuring against fear

Fear i.e. fright can be caused by numerous factors such as a dog’s bark, lightning strike, fire, water, bad news and other factors. Often it is the culprit for numerous life difficulties and failures since it makes a person insecure and prone to withdrawal, underestimation of oneself. If for example a child gets scared during the first months of its life can often be the main reason why a child has difficulties making its first steps or walking in general.

Fright can appear anywhere or at any time, but there are specific situations when we are directly exposed to it, as in case of some danger. If a person feels drowsy during the day and suffers from insomnia at night, is irritable, prone to depression and anxiety, then it is often believed that he is a victim of a suffered shock. There are some alarming signs that fear is excessively present in a human and those are nightmares. Stravarke reveal that if a person dreams of a horse or some other animal that attacks him, is a certain sign of a great fear which continually takes over the body and mind.

It is interesting to note that in Latin America fear is called susto, which is literally translated as “loss of spirit” and according to the local curanderosa (healers), susto is a disease caused by one or more traumatic experience. Symptoms include unrest, lethargy, depression, insomnia and irritability. Each of them agree that it is a very bad state for a human’s spirit. Especially worrying fact is if the frightened person awakes tired, has heavy legs and often feels loss of fluids in the body, especially in the mouth.

Bosnian stravarke in the past used a method more often than today which annulled the effect of fear in a diseased person, the method included measuring the length of the frightened person’s body. There are a few calls such as “odsjecanje krajčice”, “urezivanje krajčice”, “mjerenje skrate” or more simply “mjerenje od straha”.

Procedure of checking if the diseased person’s body is contorted out of fear was performed in the following way in the past: the diseased person is lying on the ground or floor, face down with spread arms and legs. Stravarka takes a grain of barley and carefully breaks it into four equal parts. These miniatures pieces are placed under the palms of the diseased person and under the left and right leg. As it is evident in this example she is following an ancient magical rule to always begin and end with the right side, which is considered to be positive and divine*, i.e. the first piece is placed under the right palm, the second under the left leg, the third under the left palm and the fourth under the right leg.

When she finished the first part of the ritual the stravarka goes into measuring the length of the diseased person by measuring diagonally from the right hand using a wool thread, top of the middle finger, until the left foot, i.e. top of the thumb. During this the thread is tightened in order to get a precise length. Then the beginning of the thread which was on the top of the middle finger is placed in the left hand, also on the top of the middle finger and the one which was on the left foot is placed onto the right one – thumb. The thread is again tightened, as in the first case. If it turns out that there is even a minimal difference between the first and second measuring (measure) the stravarka brings a final conclusion – the diseased has fallen ill from great fear! But, if it is established that both measures are of the same length it is said that the diseased person suffers from another ailment.

In the third and final phase of the ritual, which is conditioned by a correct diagnosis, if the diseased is overtaken by fear and his body has contorted i.e. shrunk because of it, stravarka cuts the wool thread with scissors or a knife into nine equal parts and later she throws them at the closest intersection. After the diseased carefully raises from the ground, stravarka takes a broom and the same way she placed barley pieces she mows them towards the four sides of the world, repeating a short exorcist formula: “Run fear, a cow will sting you!”. After that she draws out four straws from the broom and also she throws one by one into the four sides of the world, following the path of the sun (clockwise), in order to influence the healing process with such a ritual gesture. While leaving the stravarka home he must strictly abide by the rules of not looking back, because of the belief that the spirit of disease can interpret the gesture as a sign of weakness and return into the body of the diseased.



*All magical forms of curing in Bosnian folk medicine are based on the fight against the forces of “left side” – evil spiritual beings, caused of disease and bad luck – and through ritual gestures and actions domination of the “right side” is intensified on which according to mythological belief angels and other clean and positive forces dwell.  

Power of a human hand

As already written, our hands, tips of fingers and our palms, have an outstanding ability to receive and send energy. That’s why we shouldn’t be amazed that we have lines on our palms and that our fingers are adorned by a unique imprint which confirms the primordial thesis that we all are unique beings, whose body is nothing else but a condensed energy, the same energy we call life.

Knowledge about the manipulation with that energy was never completely lost, it is present in numerous segments but people today have difficulty in recognising it and even greater difficulty in understanding it. Ritual movement of hands and feet are an ancient practice in Bosnian occult tradition. The following examples from practice show how knowledgeable were stravarke in the basis of energy’s magic.

Namely, as a stravarke Ajša B. told me once while she is uttering exorcist formulas it will not have a healing effect if the person which is being healed has his legs or arms crossed. Allegedly, the person is blocking itself and prevents the transfer of energy.


It is interesting to mention that people still today, especially older women, are afraid of those guests who enter the house holding their arms crossed behind their back and once they enter the home they cross their hands on their chest. With this, according to experienced stravarke they’re practicing black magic and invoking evil and bad luck to that family. That’s why the housewife should repeat this short formula which will prevent them in their intent and better yet reverse the evil:

What you are thinking and doing,
you shall see it on your body,
if god wills, veledalin amin!

Refusing or stopping the transfer of negative energy in Bosnia was well known in the middle ages, probably in the ancient age, and the proof that our forefathers the Bogomil were acquainted with the rules of energy magic is best presented on the reliefs of individual tombstones – raised right hand, palm facing the observe, while the left hand is behind the back.



Namely, as Bosnian stravarke claim if we turn the palm of the right hand towards a negative person, to observe them through spread fingers of the hand, that person then won’t be able to hurt us with an evil gaze or thoughts. Actually, we are disabling the transfer of negative energy i.e. magical attack.




However, the palm also has incredible healing properties. From experience it is familiar that every man, as soon as he feels pain places his palm immediately on the painful place with the desire to ease the pain. This reaction is instinctive. If a man feels back pain, he won’t think about placing his hand on his back, the hand will go by itself without him thinking about it. That is a reflex similar to the one which makes our eyes blink when something flies towards our face. All people hold their hand on a painful spot, even both hands if the pain is stronger. If the pain is unbearable, people press that place. Often times we can see a diseased unconsciously massaging the painful place on a leg or some other part of the body wanting to use ritual movement to “break” the pain with a massage and energy of the palm.

No one is asking themselves why is this so and if there is some purpose behind this, however I believe that most people would say that they feel better while holding their hand on the painful spot. That’s because people have the ability to heal with the help of lifeenergy, which comes from space, since prehistory, but only rare individuals can use it consciously. We need to mention an important thing which is – every man can cure with his palms, no matter the age, from a small child to an old man. Education level is unimportant, intelligence, social status, neither race, nationality nor religion.

Fingers – energetic tentacles

Since our birth, and probably before that, we use our hands and fingers in order to coordinate them with our brain, which receives our messages through nerve endings on our fingers which we send and in such a manner it harmonizes with energy. In such a way the body is communicating with the mind with the goal of establishing a natural balance. A child in its earliest phase of life experiences first senses and cognition through its fingers which is an inborn human technique of learning. Fingers of a small child are often spread since in such a manner it receives the necessary energy from the world which surrounds it, and while it is sleeping it often sucks on its thumb.

A new-born baby hold their thumb in their mouths while sleeping in order to substitute the energy of the belly button through which they were connected with their mother. Thumb is therefore a symbol of a mother (female – life energy), while the other four fingers, somewhat divided from the thumb, symbolise male energy. In Islamic tradition they are represented through prophet Muhammad, son in law Alija and his sons Hussein and Hassan. Together the five of them represent a holy family presented through a well-known amulet “hand of Hazrat Fatima” or shortened “Fatima’s hand”, for which it was believed that it is universal since it protects from evil and also draws good fortune, business opportunities and helps in love. Besides, the middle finger of the hand signifies our consciousness, index finger our identity and beliefs, ring finger emotions and pinkie subconscious mind.

Finger and magic

Thumb of the right hand in Bosnian magic is called the strongest finger and that’s why it is used in numerous exorcist rituals, for example, when a mother wants to remove the effect of spellbound eyes, she would wet her right thumb with the saliva from her mouth and she would then stroke the child’s forehead uttering this basma: 


Cast a spell, got him hooked, 
with my formula it recedes, 
if god wills, veledalin amin!


At the end of the ritual she touches the heel on her right foot three times with the thumb, with this she is signalling, ritually, the departure of evil.     

Similarly, in love magic a woman which wants to tie her man down with passion and lust will take a sugar cube and a new sowing needle. First she stabs her right thumb with the needle and places a drop of blood on the sugar cube. She then stabs the thumb of her left leg, then the thumb of her left hand and in the end the thumb of her right leg. Each time she places a drop of blood on the sugar cube, the sugar cube will be placed into the husband’s coffee for him to drink. Ritually the process of intersection is actually an allusion to overlapping or crossing of two bodies, two hearts and two souls. The spell is based on the belief in the great love power from the blood of female fingers (thumbs), which can stimulate passion and intimate closeness of partners.

Magical influence of other fingers is not negligible, for example, the pinkie on the right hand is especially lucky when it comes to commerce. According to one famous craftsman from Sarajevo, Ćamil K. it is known that there are customers versed in the secrets of magic and they’re using certain ritual actions in order to lower prices of items. They touch the desired item three times, in secret, with the pinkie of their right hand. If we wet the tip of our middle finger with saliva and with it we stroke our partners lips we will stimulate desire and passion, etc.

Connecting fingers into a circle

Fingers are used individually or all together, as in examples of love magic where one wants to create feelings of closeness and desire for intimacy by looking at the desired person through spread apart fingers. The most important characteristic of fingers are the tips which transfer energy, which can be demonstrated by citing an example from spiritual medicine. Imam or a spiritual healer which wants to transfer beneficial power of the prayer onto water, would submerge the fingers of his right hand into the water and he would then pray. Such water, charged with positive energy is later consumed by the diseased in order to cleanse his body from negative energy.
 

What is especially important to note is that it is necessary to be acquainted with a very simple ritual which can be performed by connecting the tip of one finger with the other. Of course, you should know that in every exercise the fingers are always connected i.e. they touch the tips in order to form a shape of a circle – symbol of life energy, one which is constantly renewing itself.
 

For starters I’ll mention a couple of exercises which you can practice in order to convince yourself that you can help yourself.  For example, when we connect the fingertips of one hand with the other we harmonise energy in ourselves. In such a way we easily achieve calmness of our mind, we strengthen concentration and attention is focused on our heart and breathing. With these simple movements we slowly get the ability to see issues in a new light and find a solution for it. If we connect fingertips of one hand in one cup, and we do the same with the other hand, then we’re consciously creating a blockade which prevents the influence of someone else’s energy towards us.   

Middle finger signifies the head and consciousness. Connecting fingertips of the thumb and index finger we influence our consciousness, we “feed” it with energy and regenerate it. It is an extremely important exercise for students or people exposed to great stress.
 

Pinkie is connected to our subconscious mind but also the afterlife, which is shown by practice of breaking a boys pinkie who died uncircumcised. When we’re emotionally unstable, unlucky, depressed then it is desirable to connect the thumb with the pinkie, especially right thumb with the left pinkie, so that the tips of fingers are touching.
 

Between the thumb and index finger the zone of the stomach is located. Touching that part of the body, folk healers are checking whether people have stomach issues. Old Bosnian women had a custom of pulling one finger at a time while repeating prayer Fatiha, a few times in a row, each finger individually “dragging” it forward. When they finish these movements with both hands, they shake their fingers. With this simple process, which could be called a massage, they favourably influence circulation and metabolism.  

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.