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.
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.