WHAT IS EVIL EYE?

WHAT IS EVIL EYE? WHAT IS BLUE EYE?

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The evil eye is a malicious glare given to someone out of spite, malice or envy, which brings misfortune, suffering or just general bad luck to the recipient of the look. The belief is that the malevolent look holds such power that it is able to bring harm to the person that it's aimed at.

The evil eye's meaning stems from the concept that people who do well and achieve great success in some way attract envy from the people around them. The look or glare given by the envious people manifests into a curse that brings misfortune to the receiver, who is usually unaware of the malicious gaze upon them. Most cultures believe that jealousy is the main source of the evil eye.  

EVIL EYE OPERATORS AND THE MEANING OF THE INSTRUCTIONS

Amulets depicting the evil eye bead appeared in Mesopotamia and were created as apotropic talismans that have the power to reflect or prevent bad effects. Amulet's Middle Eastern forms are often known as a Sumerian word meaning 'evil', 'seeing' or 'attention' and are made with blue beads containing white and blue concentric circles representing the eye. This kind of beaded evil eye jewelry is very popular among tourists.

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THE COLORS USED IN  EVIL EYE AMULETS

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While the most popular choice of evil eye amulet is a cobalt blue colour, which provides karma and fate protection, the evil eye meaning can vary slightly depending on the colour of the bead. Different colours represent protection in specific areas: light blue offers general protection, dark green protects happiness, red beads protect courage and transparent beads protect your clarity and mindfulness. People can choose the colour of the beads depending on whether they need more protection in a specific area or stick with the common blue colours for more general protection against the evil eye. 

It is still a tradition in many places to present an evil eye talisman at occasions that call for good luck or fortune, such as house warmings, new businesses and when babies are born.

HİSTORY OF THE EVİL EYE 

While it's difficult to trace the origin of the evil eye superstition, the use of evil eye amulets can be dated back to 3300 BC and to one of the oldest Mesopotamian cities: Tell Brak. Alabaster idols featuring carvings of eyes were excavated in the area and are regarded as the earliest forms of evil eye talismans.

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Egypt - The typical blue beaded versions only began appearing around 1500 BC as the production of glass developed and improved. High levels of oxides in the Egyptian mud resulted in the cobalt blue colour when glazed. The Turkic people then started using blue beads, as they associated the blue colour with their sky God, Tengri. These early beads are thought to have influenced the design of the evil eye beads used today.  

Greece - The legend of the evil eye itself can be traced back to ancient Greek and Roman texts, and is also mentioned in the Bible and Quran. In ancient Greece and Rome, the evil eye was a great threat to people who received a lot of praise or admiration, especially if it was more than they deserved. The evil eye's meaning, in this case, was that it would cause the person to bring about their own downfall as they become too proud after being praised. Any disease that had no known cause was attributed to the power of the evil eye.  

It was believed that the gods and goddesses used the evil eye to punish people who had become too proud.

THE MEANİNG OF THE EVİL EYE IN DİFFERENT CULTURES 

The power of the evil eye is still widely believed in, even if just for superstitious reasons, so there are numerous myths about its origin and various methods of protection against it found in different cultures.  While the evil eye's meaning may vary slightly from culture to culture, the general idea of the curse is the same.

Judaism - The evil eye meaning in Judaism follows the idea that if a person has a negative attitude and feels envious instead of joyful when other people succeed, then that person is dangerous to others. On the other hand, it works vice versa, someone with a positive attitude will rejoice in other people's success and wish them well.  

Islam - In Islam, it is thought that too much praise will bring harm because of the evil eye. If praises are made, they will say "Masha'Allah", meaning God has willed the good fortune, to avoid the negative effects of the evil eye.  

Hinduism - The evil eye meaning in India is very powerful as the eye is believed to be the strongest point of energy in the body. Because of this Hindu belief, the evil eye curse is taken very seriously. It is believed that even an 'admirable' glance can bring misfortune and cause their cow milk supply to dry up, so people will even offer milk to people with an 'admiring' eye to avoid any negative effects. Hinduism also regards women as the most frequent source of the evil eye so women will often wear black paint on their eyelids for protection and to prevent themselves from being the source.

Turkey - In Turkey it is still a traditional custom to bring an evil eye talisman to babies as it is believed that young children are the most vulnerable and the most susceptible to the evil eye.  

Brazil - The evil eye meaning in Brazil is slightly different to other places and is known as the "olho gordo" or "fat eye". Sincere compliments are not thought to do any harm or bring about the curse of the evil eye, but if the compliment is insincere it will put the receiver at risk.

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