Amulet

An amulet is a small object with the power to protect the wearer against misfortune. It is usually worn around the neck. The objects which are used to make an amulet are thought to have special abilities; part of the human or animal body, roots or seeds, precious stones and metals, coins, or religious symbols. Most often a stone or piece of metal is used, usually with an inscription or figures engraved on it. Popular amulets are the rabbit foot and the cross. A talisman stimulates the positive, while the amulet protects against the negative.

A different kind of amulet is the written amulet. The holy word or sentence is powerful when spoken, but also when written. In some cases even more because it works automatically and permanently. It was generally believed that the more mysterious the writing (i.e. obscure symbols, strange languages) the more powerful the amulet was supposed to be. Another popular form of the amulet was the bindrune, in which several runes were brought together into one "super-rune", which was supposed to have much greater magic powers than the runes separately.

The use of amulets is very old. The ancients Egyptians wore them, and so did the Greeks, where it was called phylakterion. In primitive and ancient cultures, the amulet was thought to be protection against both natural and unnatural misfortune: diseases, snake-bites, the evil eye, demons and wizardry, etc. The popularity of amulets was great amongst Christians. So great even, that in 721 the Christian church forbade the making and wearing of them completely. Throughout the Middle East the practice of wearing amulets is almost universal.