Also called el ojo, ojo, evil eye (Latin America), azabache bracelet, ojo de venado
The Latin American evil eye, believed to strike babies and small children who are admired too strongly. Families prevent it with a touch from the admirer and a red bracelet or jet azabache charm, and treat it with an egg sweep and prayer.
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Take care: A sick baby needs a doctor first; the folk cure can sit beside medical care but never replace it. Bracelets, beads and charms are choking and strangulation hazards, so never leave them on a sleeping or unattended infant, and keep the raw egg away from the child and wash hands after.
In Yucatán and elsewhere the protective bracelet often carries a large brown seed called ojo de venado, deer's eye, usually on red thread. Babies are thought too weak to resist a heavy look, so the seed draws it away.
Uses: ojo de venado seed, red thread
Babies receive a bracelet or pin with an azabache, a small fist or bead carved from jet or made of black or red coral. Jet amulets against the evil eye were popular in Spain, especially around Santiago de Compostela, and crossed the Atlantic with Spanish settlers.
Uses: jet fist charm, gold chain or pin
A curandera sweeps the egg over the patient with prayers, then breaks it into water under the bed. An egg that looks cooked or shows an eye confirms the diagnosis. The fuller egg cleanse for adults is described on the limpia con huevo page.
Uses: egg, glass of water, prayers, sometimes herbs such as rue or pirul
Mal de ojo is the most widely reported folk illness among Mexican and Latino families, according to nursing and anthropology literature. Unlike Mediterranean versions, it is usually caused without malice: a strong gaze or too much admiration from an adult is enough to make a baby sick. The historian Alfredo López Austin noted that it is hard to separate Spanish from Nahua roots, since both cultures had beliefs about harmful looks.
Anthropologist Margaret Clark described the belief among Mexican Americans in California's Santa Clara Valley in the 1950s, and medical workers still learn about it so they can work with families respectfully. Folklorists read it partly as a way of explaining sudden infant illness. Its cures blend Catholic prayer, Spanish jet amulets and Indigenous healing, and they remain a living family practice across the Americas.
An open right hand, often with an eye in the palm, hung in the home or worn to push back the evil eye and bless a household.
A blue glass eye bead hung in the home or worn on the body so that envious or admiring looks are caught and reflected before they can do harm.
Two rowan twigs bound into an equal-armed cross with red thread and placed over doors, byres and cradles to keep witches and fairies out.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
