Italian Witchcraft: Jinx, Evil Eye and Hex

This is the second chapter dedicated to Italian folk witchcraft. I will explore the theme of Envy as a social force and “beauty” as a vulnerable state, together with the evil eye tradition. You will come to understand the symbolic and functional differences between various practices and how one can protect oneself through ancient popular ritual traditions. You will also find an entire section dedicated to ten rites of protection, cleansing, and the removal of misfortune, situated within what can be broadly defined, in anthropological and historical terms, as fascinatio. The so-called “sfascino” in Italian, which includes malocchio (evil eye), jettatura (jinx), and fattura (hex), refers to the practical system of removal of such influences. The information that follows is strictly limited to practices that are shareable and, for me, discloseable. Some traditional practices belong to closed traditions and, consequently, I am not able to share them.

I want to anticipate that, throughout the reading, there will be references to religious elements that belong to the very structure of these traditions. For this reason, I encourage you to keep an open mind and maintain a clear distinction between the theological level and the ritual level, which do not always coincide and often follow different logics. If you approach folk magic, it is useful to know that you will frequently encounter religious references, which are integral parts of the symbolic system in which these practices developed over time. In many areas of the Mediterranean, the religious and ritual dimensions coexist and intertwine continuously, without one necessarily excluding the other. I also remind readers that the rituals presented here all come from folk tradition and, above all, from family connections, which makes it highly likely that you will not find them elsewhere. Enjoy the read

To fully understand the vision of a world now very distant from our own, it is necessary to understand where certain traditions originate.