Superstition or protection, we're not sure. Either way, these collective traditions are said to ease the mind and protect the spirit…from spirits.
Cultures all over the world, across millennia, have used many substances, objects, symbols, and ritualized actions to ward off potential unseen harm. Whether the threat of harm is real or not, these "apotropaic" solutions seem to treat the anxiety at least. At the end of the day, one of the major facets of our job as investigators is to mitigate the worries of our clients, and that looks different for everyone. We've highlighted just a handful of interesting tactics for you.
Substances
Whether solid, liquid, or gas, there are multiple substances that have been attributed to cleansing away evilness or healing harm done by spirits.
Salt
In the wise words of Sam and Dean Winchester, "GET THE SALT"!
Salt is famous across dozens of religions for its purifying properties. It may be linked to protection for a variety of possible reasons:
It represents permanence due to its preservation qualities (killing bacteria, so why not demons too?)
It's an immutable and incorruptible element, making it pure. Malevolence has been identified as an impurity in the spirit, making purity something more powerful than a corrupted force.
It has cleaning properties, associating it with the cleansing of darkness and the resulting scoured cleanness
Its status value in history
Pertinence in lore; the beginning importance of salt in spiritual contexts are up for debate but likely much of its continued use comes from tradition and commonality itself. It appears as a solution in many holy scriptures. Cultures would salt the earth where massacres had taken place, throw salt over their shoulders, etc.
Sometimes, things, like salt, may carry power because of thousands of years of infused intention and a stronger universal placebo effect. Or maybe ghosts just prefer sugar.
Smoke
Smoke is also associated with preservation qualities and cleansing. People use the smoke of sacred plants that are also associated with protection (cedar, sage, rosemary, Palo Santo, etc) to waft away evil.
The act of smoke clearing (not to be confused with Smudging, a closed indigenous practice with its own set of very distinctive ritual features), has been used for thousands of years. Some believe that smoke cleanings actually invoke good spirits, the smoke carrying the message for help across the veil, while expelling bad ones (with the help of the good spirits).
The correspondence of appropriate herbs and substances mostly comes from lore, with some basis in science and symbology. Things like sweetgrass become metaphorically attached to sacred concepts like mother earth because of its long flowing hair-like appearance, personifying it with feminist healing qualities. It also contains scientific medicinal properties, while carrying millenia of folklore.
The usage of smoke may also be quite literal: with the smoke becoming a metaphorical and literal obstruction to vision, breathing, and scent, only to dissipate and provide new clarity.
More recently, it may have become related to warding because it's been found that the burning of certain herbs, like havan sámagri, can potentially kill airborne bacteria (defense and healing). Holy smokes.
Water
Water, or 'holy' water, is likely the most common cleanser. This likely comes from its simplistic qualities becoming associated with purity, and the fact that it often contains other protective substances like salts and other healing minerals. Our bodies need water in the most quintessential way; clearing out our systems and rejuvenating our energy reserves. It makes sense to link this vital substance with power and repair.
When blessed by someone with spiritual authority, it becomes infused with intention from them and benevolent spirits (god, angels, etc).
Metaphorically, water can be visualized as washing away evil forces. Water is what we use to clean things, including ourselves. It's combined with a surfactant like soap, or salt, to scrub and slide away dirt, and apparently negativity.
Brick Dust
The powder of red brick is used predominantly in Vodou to create a protective barrier (much like salt and graveyard dirt can be). Red is the color of warning and blood sacrifice, while the brick signifies the home and space being protected. Bricks are made of clay, dirt, and protective minerals like iron and ash.
Objects
Many objects are worn, adorned, and used in ritual as a way to banish negative entities.
Iron & Silver
Things like horseshoes, or iron more largely, are believed to create protective boundaries. Iron would be used in fences to encircle cemeteries to contain their spirits. It's a native metal, meaning it's found naturally in its pure form. It was pretty accessible to most and so it was commonplace to use it for superstitious means. Most of its current spiritual impact comes from historical lore.
Silver is another 'pure' metal used in protection against all kinds of entities. It's able to detect poison (sort of) while simultaneously being hypoallergenic and gentle with us, making it our friend and the enemy of toxic forces. It's associated with the moon, because of its appearance and correspondence in mythology, making it take on the protective associations of the moon as well.
Many other gems are said to have protective qualities, like onyx, quartz, limestone, etc.
Masks
Scary masks and displays like Jack-o'-lanterns are said to scare away evil spirits. Obviously in Western culture, these things evoke the thought of Halloween, or Samhain. Things like Oni, Kuba, or Hannya masks are used to portray scary spirits who may intimidate real evil spirits. The spirit being portrayed may be known as the totem spirit, being represented through materials used and symbolic significance to the individual and their ancestors. Masks are used for honoring, guiding, authority, and membership as well. Masks are said to infuse the human with the spirit world, embellishing them with added abilities.
More literally, masks like plague and cholera masks were used to protect against plagues and illness. Masks can contain and be designed with healing and protective materials.
Mirrors
Many people use reflective surfaces like mirrors to reflect malintention back at the sender or to scare the entity away with its own reflection. Many cultures believe mirrors can trap souls, covering them to keep evil spirits away. They can also be made of protective materials like silver.
Actions
Certain rituals are performed in conjunction with protective objects and substances to will evil away. Things like praying, chanting, wearing makeup, making hand signals ("rock on devil horns"), and burning & throwing things have been used to apply the energies of defensive intention.
Symbols
Symbols may be drawn from universal form or created from sigil-making to mark off an area safe from evil. Religious symbols like crosses and pentagrams carry great impact from millenia of mass belief.
Body parts like eyes and hands can be drawn to protect against forces like the evil eye/curses and mean spirits. The Hand of Fatima/Hamsa contains a central eye that watches out for evil.
The metaphorical value of these practices, like the water 'washing away' impurity for example, pose a good example of ways the brain can gain control of its own anxieties by externalizing the issue in an abstract way (anxiety then becomes an "evil spirit"). Either way, the placebo effect works. Or maybe ghosts do exist and they really don't like these things, but we take it with a grain of salt. Get it?
Either way, the lore surrounding wards is complex and fascinating and we'd be lying if we said we don't have any comfort items brought along to Investigations. Maybe there's room for folklore and science. When in doubt - GET THE SALT!
Happy hunting, follow our adventures here!
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