Search

This paper presents a novel method to access lived religion and magical practices of a Medieval congregation via sermons combined with material culture. Previously, scholars have dismissed sermons as having low 'truth value' due to the copying inherent in the genre. In this paper, I first examine how one Danish sermon was adapted from a German model to fit a local context. This adaptation reveals specific local practices that the preacher thought were relevant to his congregation. Secondly, I demonstrate how several practices described in the sermons are mirrored in surviving non-normative material evidence such as amulets and incantations in manuscripts. This interdisciplinary combination of sermon studies, magic studies, archaeology, and medieval studies yields an as-yet-untapped source group. The paper concludes that 1) sermons can indeed be used as sources for magical practices and lived religion, and 2) they can be used as sources for practices that did not leave material evidence. Finally, discussions of the importance of material evidence in sermon studies and how magical practices were both locally anchored and part of an international network are broached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) is a crucial intervention for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation who are unsuitable for long-term anticoagulation. Amulet and Watchman are the most implanted devices worldwide for performing LAAC, and the aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive comparison focusing on their efficacy, safety, and short- and long-term outcomes. The Watchman device, the first to gain FDA approval, has been extensively studied and demonstrates significant reductions in stroke and systemic embolism rates. The Amulet device, a newer alternative, promises enhanced design features for more efficient appendage sealing. Current data highlight that both devices offer similar efficacy and safety for LAAC. While the two devices differ in terms of intraprocedural complication rates, they offer similar short- to long-term outcomes in terms of peri-device leaks, device-related thrombosis, and mortality. Both devices are indicated for patients who are unable to tolerate OAC, given their similar risk and safety profiles. Newer clinical studies are directed at establishing the efficacy of both devices as the primary method for stroke prevention in AF as an alternative to OAC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background UK guidelines for managing adults with Stevens–Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN), published by the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) in 2016, outline a set of audit standards. Objectives To audit current management of SJS/TEN in adults against standards in the BAD guidelines. Methods BAD members were invited to submit data on five consecutive adults with SJS/TEN per department over an 8-week period in 2022. Results Thirty-nine dermatology centres in the UK (29%) participated, and data for 147 adults with SJS/TEN were collected. Within 24 h of the diagnosis being made or suspected, the following were documented, per 147 submitted cases: Severity-of-Illness Score for Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (SCORTEN) for 76 (52%), list of medications for 113 (77%) and timelines for commencement/alterations of medications for 104 (71%). The initial assessment was documented of the eyes by an ophthalmologist in 71 (48%), of the mouth in 130 (88%), of the genital skin in 103 (70%) and of the urinary tract in 93 (63%). During the first 10 days after a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of SJS/TEN, daily assessments of the mouth were documented in 26 of 147 cases (18%), of the eyes in 12 (8%), and of the urinary tract and genital skin in 14 (10%). At discharge, a drug was declared to be the cause of SJS/TEN for 130 of 147 cases (88%), while 9 (6%) were thought to be secondary to infection. Eleven of 147 (8%) had no response to this question. Documentation regarding advice was present on avoidance of the culprit drug in 76 of 130 declared SJS/TEN cases (58%), and on requesting a MedicAlert® bracelet/amulet in 9 of the 147 cases (6%). Conclusions This audit suggests that a clinical review checklist might be needed to enable colleagues to maintain standards outlined in the guidelines, including documentation of SCORTEN, daily assessments of mucosal areas, and advice to avoid culprit drug(s) and to request a MedicAlert® bracelet/amulet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The only figurative object found in the 1980 salvage excavations at Qlaʿ is a tiny figurine in the shape of a lion, summarily carved in black basalt stone. Although its weight accords with the Judahite sheqel standard, we believe that the lion was an amulet and not a scale weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egyptian Faience, a revolutionary innovation in ancient ceramics, was used for crafting various objects, including amulets, vessels, ornaments, and funerary figurines, like shabtis. Despite extensive research, many aspects of ancient shabti production technology, chemistry and mineralogy remain relatively understudied from the 21st to the 22nd Dynasty, belonging to a recovered 19th-century private collection. The fragments' origin is tentatively identified in the middle Nile valley in the Luxor area. Our study focused on a modest yet compositionally interesting small collection of shabti fragments to provide information on the glaze's components and shabti's core. We found that the core is a quartz and K-feldspars silt blended with an organic component made of plastic resins and vegetable fibres soaked with natron. The studied shabti figurines, after being modelled, dried, and covered with coloured glaze, were subjected to a firing process. Sodium metasilicate and sulphate compounds formed upon contact of the glaze with the silica matrix, forming a shell that holds together the fragile inner matrix. The pigments dissolved in the sodic glaze glass, produced by quartz, K-feldspars, and natron frit, are mainly manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu) compounds. The ratio Cu2O/CaO > 5 produces a blue colour; if <5, the glaze is green. In some cases, Mg and As may have been added to produce a darker brown and an intense blue, respectively. Reaction minerals provided information on the high-temperature firing process that rapidly vitrified the glaze. These data index minerals for the firing temperature of a sodic glaze, reaching up to a maximum of 1050 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the birth care beliefs practiced in a Punjabi village. Birth care is an important practice that ensures a safe and uncomplicated birth for both mother and child. The study presents an in-depth exploration of the human–divine connection and its symbolic manifestation in birth care rituals in rural Muslim communities. Utilising unstructured interviews with midwives, mothers, elderly women, and an imam, the research sheds light on the essential role of religious prayers, Quran recitation, charity, as well simulative imagery and amulets within the cultural care system of rural Punjab. Words, symbols, objects, and symbolic expressions emerge as powerful tools in facilitating faith healing and enhancing its perceived efficacy. The research deepens our understanding of the faith-based birth care process and highlights the essential interdependence of the human– divine connection and symbolic expression (manifestation of belief) within faith-based birth care practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses two recent publications by art historians Susan Gagliardi and Matthew Rarey, which provide unique perspectives on the study of power objects and amulets in West and Central Africa and across the Atlantic world. Gagliardi challenges traditional categorizations of art objects and emphasizes the researcher's positionality in acquiring knowledge, while Rarey focuses on the cultural and historical context of objects and materials. Gagliardi's work explores the gendered participation in male power associations, while Rarey examines the significance of amulets in the lives of enslaved Africans. Both books offer valuable insights into the study of these often misunderstood objects and their cultural and historical significance. [Extracted from the article]

Drawing upon Stanley J. Tambiah's idea of "world conquerors" and "world renouncers," this article examines the Burmese political festival (nainganyei pwe) as a ritual, affective, and material space where former political prisoners reinterpret violence and engage in forms of collective and personal "world‐making." The article focuses on one practice in particular: the ritual wearing of white shirts by the 88 Generation. It is argued that there are psychological benefits to donning this symbolic attire. Like sacred amulets described by Tambiah, the white shirt provides ontological security to former political prisoners. For leaders (gaungzaungs) in the movement, the white shirts are integral to how they create and embody power, becoming conduits of charismatic authority. Within the context of the nainganyei pwe and when combined with other "technologies of the self," the white shirts create a feeling of inviolability and allow survivors of political violence to reassert personal and collective agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Much information about the early periods of south‐western Anatolia consists of data obtained from graves and finds therefrom. The amulet of meteoric iron that is the subject of this article was found in the Kesikservi cemetery, on the Bodrum peninsula, and dates to Early Bronze Age I. It was unearthed in the pithos grave of a male aged between twenty and twenty‐five years that is one of the richest such burials in Western Anatolia: it also contained five vessels, lids, a golden spiral, silver bracelets, a necklace of electrum and agate beads, and pieces of arsenical copper, all of which indicate his elite status. The amulet is the earliest dated find of meteoric iron from Anatolia, and demonstrates the existence of advanced metallurgy in the region during the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evil eye, the harmful effects of the envious gaze, is a common superstitious belief in many societies around the world, including Turkey. Since ancient times, people have developed a wide variety of practices and rituals to ward off the evil eye. It is generally believed that the evil eye is motivated by one of the most challenging emotions, envy. The discussion of envy has a long history in psychoanalysis. Unfortunately, psychoanalytic self-psychology has neglected envy and confined it to the concept of fragmentation products. This paper aims to contribute a self-psychological understanding of an envy-related cultural concept, the evil eye. The evil eye-related phenomena in Turkey, such as the harmful potential of gazes, the use of talismans and amulets for protection, and the fear of praising and exhibition, are discussed from a self-psychological perspective. Several short clinical vignettes delineating the evil eye in clinical practice are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amulet known as higa, which reproduces a hand gesture known by the same name, belongs to an ancient family of Mediterranean amulets intended to prevent or counteract the evil eye through an obscene display. From the Renaissance to almost the present day, its use in the Iberian Peninsula became remarkable both as an amulet and as a piece of jewellery. It is argued in this article that this appears to be a consequence of how there was a progressive resignification of the protective obscenity of the amulet since the Middle Ages, which led to its association with the sphere of Marian devotion. This research analyses the history of the higa amulet, the nature of its protective function, and the peculiarities of its use in the Iberian area, and shows the coherence of its use with the Catholic worldview in the periods of its greatest popularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF), mechanical occlusion of the left atrial appendage (LAA) using a permanently implanted device may be an effective alternative to oral anti-coagulants (OAC). To facilitate left atrial appendage closure (LAAC), multiple percutaneous devices have been proposed. Watchman Generation 2.5 and Amplatzer Amulet are the two most popular used devices for preventing stroke in patients with NVAF. We sought to compare safety and efficacy outcomes between Watchman 2.5 and Amplatzer Amulet in patients undergoing LAAC procedure. Methods: We carried out a comprehensive and systematic search of the databases PubMed and Scopus, for all studies that compared the safety and efficacy of Watchman 2.5 and Amplatzer Amulet devices, from inception, till June 2023. We performed the statistical analysis using Review Manager (V.5.4.1 Cochrane Collaboration, London, United Kingdom). The safety outcomes of interest included device success, device-related thrombus, device embolization perioperatively and at follow-up, perioperative pericardial perfusion events, and perioperative cardiac tamponade events. Efficacy outcomes were all-cause mortality perioperatively and at follow-up, cardiovascular (CV) mortality at follow-up, stroke, major and minor bleeding events at follow-up, transient ischemic attack (TIA) in follow-up period, thromboembolic events in follow-up period, and peri-device leakage in perioperative period. All data was analysed using a random-effects model, and presented as risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs). Results: Regarding safety outcomes, device success was non-significantly reduced in Watchman group when compared with Amulet (RR 0.99, p = 0.57; I2 = 34%). In contrast, device-related thrombus was non-significantly increased in Watchman 2.5 group in comparison to Amulet (RR 1.44, p = 0.11; I2 = 0%). There was no significant difference between the devices in terms of device embolization in the perioperative (RR 0.36, p = 0.38; I2 = 22%) and follow-up (RR 2.24, p = 0.13; I2 = 0%) periods. Likewise, there was no significant difference in the risks of pericardial effusion (RR 0.98, p = 0.98; I2 = 0%), and cardiac tamponade (RR 0.65, p = 0.76; I2 = 62%) perioperatively. Regarding efficacy outcomes, no significant difference was observed in all-cause mortality between devices perioperatively (RR 0.51, p = 0.32; I2 = 0%) and at follow-up (RR 1.08, p = 0.56; I2 = 0%). CV-mortality was non-significantly reduced in Watchman group when compared with Amulet (RR 0.57, p = 0.20; I2 = 0%). The Amulet device was not superior to the Watchman device in terms of stroke at follow-up (RR 1.13, p = 0.63; I2 = 0%). Sub-group analysis showed comparable ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke events between two devices. Furthermore, at follow-up, there was no significant difference in major (RR 1.06, p = 0.63; I2 = 0%) and minor bleeding events (RR 1.81, p = 0.17; I2 = 0%) between the two devices. No difference was observed for trans-ischemic attack (RR 1.89, p = 0.24; I2 = 0%) and thromboembolic events (RR 0.96, p = 0.96; I2 = 0%) at follow-up. No significant difference was observed between devices for peri-device leakage in perioperative period (RR 2.16, p = 0.05; I2 = 0%). Conclusion: The data suggested that LAAC is safe and efficacious procedure irrespective of device used, with generally low complication rates. Watchman generation 2.5 remains non-superior to Amplatzer Amulet in terms of safety and efficacy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beliefs about supernatural phenomena that have no scientific basis are called paranormal beliefs (Lyons, 2005). Religions may have a significant influence on the development of paranormal beliefs; therefore, the current study compared and contrasted paranormal beliefs among Muslims and Buddhists. Both Islam and Buddhism believe in the existence of jinn or ghosts; however, the beliefs about ghosts are different in the two religions. Buddhists believe that some humans are transformed into any of seven different types of ghosts and that one may safeguard oneself against ghosts by using ghost traps. They also believe in ghost marriage, i.e., a marriage between deceased people. Islam proposes three types of jinn, and these jinn can be categorized as either believers (Muslims) or nonbelievers (Kafirs). Muslims believe that jinn can cause mental and/or physical harm to human beings through possession, causing misfortune, or inflicting sickness. Islamic teachings testify to the harmful effects of the evil eye. Islam allows verses of the Holy Qur'an to be worn as charms or amulets to safeguard against the evil eye and jinn. However, the true teachings of Buddha prohibit all types of charms and amulets; Buddhism does not believe in the evil eye or possession by supernatural forces. We observe that cultural influences play an important role in shaping superstitious behaviors as both Muslims and Buddhists of the South Asian region wear specific kinds of amulets and charms to treat different physical and mental diseases. Similarly, going to living saints and touching their feet and other practices are performed by people of both religions in the subcontinent. Moreover, certain phenomena such as a black cat crossing one's path or the shattering of a mirror are considered signs of misfortune and curses by people of both religions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the increase in the usage of 'symbolic ritual wrist bands' as symbols of power, protection, and healing in neo-Pentecostals seen as resonating with the religio-cultural practice of ritual bands in African primal religions. The study demonstrates that such practices indirectly satisfy the deep yearning of traditional communities who maintain a strong feeling of the versatility of symbolic ritual bands. The fact that most Africans remain deeply ingrained in their religio-cultural environment where it is believed that ritual bands attended to their spiritual and physical needs, the usage of symbolic wrist bands in most neo-Pentecostal churches is seen as bridging the gap created by missionary Christianity. This study employs the missio-cultural theory to explore the extent to which neo-Pentecostals are reconceptualising the idea of ritual wrist bands in the practice of African Christianity. It concludes that the neo-Pentecostal proliferation of wrist bands is relevant in the spiritual, psychological, social, cultural and theological missionising effort in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Serie III, Historia Medieval is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This note focuses on recent discussions on gemstone amulets from Late Antiquity through insights offered in two contributions to the volume Textual Amulets from Antiquity to Early Modern Times: The Shape of Words (Theis and Vitellozzi 2022). After a general presentation of the volume, I turn to the first two chapters, penned each by one of the volume’s editors. Paolo Vitellozzi’s paper examines the evolution of the textuality of magical gems in light of speech act theories and taxonomies elaborated in earlier secondary literature. Vitellozzi also analyses the complex interaction of medium (the gemstone), text and image in the course of this evolutionary process, showing how writing progressively assumed magical efficacy. In the following paper, Christoffer Theis analyses a specific category of magical gems, namely those which represent divinities with multiple heads. Theis’ observations implicitly complement Vitellozzi’s conclusions on the textuality of gemstone amulets. In the final paragraphs of this note, I briefly comment on Christian amulets and isopsephisms.

This article explores the value of amulets and magical ostraca for New Testament textual criticism. We begin by defining amulets and magical ostraca and describing how New Testament text is recorded on them. We then survey which amulets and magical ostraca were used in twentieth-century critical editions of the Greek New Testament and why these categories were added and then subsequently removed from the Kurzgefaßte Liste. After presenting the status quaestionis on these artifacts, we describe a shift in New Testament textual criticism toward an increasing appreciation of and curiosity about the social milieu of those who used the biblical text. This has generated fresh perspectives on the value and merit of amulets and magical ostraca, which justify their inclusion in the ECM, CBGM, and the Kurzgefaßte Liste. We discuss the necessary stipulations for the inclusion of these items and explain why the "talisman" and "ostracon" categories in the Kurzgefaßte Liste have been resurrected. Finally, we bring the Kurzgefaßte Liste up-to-date by cataloging amulets up to T39 and magical ostraca up to Os30, outlining how their inclusion affects already cataloged witnesses and how images and transcriptions of these new additions are already accessible in the NTVMR (New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern Levant comprises a patchwork of diverse landscapes and communities whose connectivity fluctuated with the reorganization and termination of various economic, political, and social networks, at times expressing more similarity than difference among sites and regions. During the Iron I, communities in the southern Levant experienced the dissolution of Egypt's colonial network, resulting in a range of responses. Building from previous research, this article utilizes the newly developed Corpus of Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant database to survey all stamp seals from excavated contexts dated to the Iron I to explore how the withdrawal of Egyptian power from the region affected the consumption of stamp seal amulets related to seal type, iconography, and stylistic date of production. Some highlights from that study are presented here to situate consumption practices within the broader landscape and to nuance our understanding of community response in the wake of political reorganization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mature Harappan period urban centre of Gandi Umar Khan is located to the west of Dera Ismail khan city in the Gomal Plain of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the Northwestern South Asia. Discovered in 1997, the site of Gandi Umar Khan was excavated jointly by the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar in 2003 and in 2004. Four cultural periods have been identified namely the Tochi-Gomal, Transitional, Kot Diji and mature Harappan ranging in date tentatively from 3300 to 1900 BC, based on relative chronology from identical sites in the region. In addition to a large number of cultural artifacts such as ceramics, figurines, metal objects and tools, about 1504 beads, pendants, seal and amulets made of stone, bones, terracotta, shell, copper alloys, gold and glass were also discovered during these excavations. Here focus is made only the beads from the site. The extensive study of these beads is fascinating because they can provide significantly more information about populations' mining and technological abilities, as well as their economic and social activities, that we can imagine. Besides, they help us dating and contextualizing other material. The study examines the bead collection in the context of materials utilization as well as its typology, origin and cultic significance. The purpose is to know a better understanding of the significance of the Gandi Umar Khan site in the Gomal Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological research carried out at Dâmbul Morii settlement led to the discovery of 15 dwellings. In their inventory, 30 pieces identified were made of clay. All artifacts that were not plastic representations wereincluded in this category. In this study, we want to make a presentation of these artifacts, and thecontext of the discovery, to give us a picture of their functionality. Unfortunately, this task is hampered by thelow number and fragmented state ofthe pieces. The artefacts discovered at Dambul Moriican beclassified in the category of household items (clay weights, spindle whorls, clay balls, clay tokens), as well as ornament items (beads, clay disc, en violon idol, amulets, etc.). Some of them can also be used in some ritual activities, such as amulets, or clay balls, or for other purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of social taboos excluding bleeding women from church spaces, a Byzantine uterine amulet references the gospel story of the healing of the bleeding woman for those needing alternative means for aid. The word "and" begins its Greek inscription. This seemingly insignificant detail signals a resourceful and local application of authoritative tradition, rather than a rote or mistaken reproduction of the gospel text. The amulet's specific use of "and" contributes in multiple ways to the amulet's authority through its materiality, recitation, repetition, and embodiment. The amulet repackages the healing of the bleeding woman within its own text, images, and material, bringing new authority parallel to – and even in place of – church access. This essay explores the epigraphic grammatical peculiarity of beginning with "and" as an intentional, meaningful transformation of gospel rhetoric into power for the individual, with implications for a niche epigraphic tradition on this and other uterine amulets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amulets found in burial urns of the Carthaginian tophet are discussed in terms of frequency of occurrence, and the nature and chronology of their material composition. Amulets were added in only 31 % of the urns studied, exclusively to urns containing human remains, with glass, faience, gold and silver the most common materials used. Chemical analysis of a selection of glass and silver amulets identified the primary origin of raw materials used in their manufacture. The primary glass used for the tophet amulets has its origin in the Levant and/or Egypt, from at least two different production centers in those regions. This does not exclude the likely existence of local secondary workshops where primary glass was colored and shaped. The silver in the amulets shows a diachronic shift in raw materials usage, from western Mediterranean sources in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE to eastern Mediterranean sources (possibly combined with Iberian sources) in the sixth and fifth centuries. Some objects could be positively linked to sources in Laurion/Kea and Siphnos, while others may have derived from the mixing of ores or the recycling of older materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very few cylinder seals are reported from South‐East Arabia. This paper reports on two cylinder seals that were found as heirlooms at Mleiha, UAE. The first is a Neo‐Assyrian seal with a ritual scene: kneeling worshippers around a tree of life. The second is a seal of local manufacture. The positioning of its image, a human figure holding an Arabian horned viper, is turned 90°, questioning whether it was ever used as a seal or rather worn as an amulet or bead. Local seal production and seal use are discussed. Seals from the Iron Age II suggest that the object is of local production, as does the iconography that can be linked to Iron Age snake cults in South‐East Arabia. Comparable snake representations are, however, occasionally still found in the Mleiha/PIR period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction to the essay forum "The Jewish Recipe." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The god, "Elkunirsa" (written: SP d sp I el-ku-ni-ir-sa i */ l qn r /),[110] is the well-known West Semitic god El, who bears the epithet I qn r i "creator/begetter/possessor of earth."[111] The use of the cuneiform sign el in the majority of instances in the myth for the spelling of the first component in the theonym is significant.[112] At present, it is the earliest known attestation of the common word for god in combination with the West Semitic divine epithet, though there are other texts from attusa that mention the deity and are likely contemporary. All areas of knowledge belonged to him which meant that Iya/Ea was the deity of incantations, rituals, healing, medicine, dreams, and magic.[66] On this amulet, the snake in relief on the left side (i.e., to the back or behind this deity on the obverse) is a symbol stressing the chthonic nature of the male character. Due to the fluidity envisioned within the concept of divinity in the ancient context,[70] Isimu is an extension of Ea on the one hand; on the other hand, Ea's extention is Ea.[71] With the equation of Iya/Ea with El, the imagery invokes this conceptional move. For over two millennia (ca. 1400 bc-200 ad), the worship of a god known as Elkunirsa is attested. All of this underscores the significance of the appearance of the Janus-headed deity on Barrakib's orthostat at Zincirli.[73] The linkage of Iya/Ea with Syrian El may perhaps be envisioned on a number of levels.[74] The "craft" of the two deities is manifest in the creation of the life, whose culmination point is human beings.[75] Both deities are gods of magic and, therefore, the means for humans to obligate divinity through conjuration. [Extracted from the article]

The article covers the topic of amulets and their production at hobby clubs in institutions of out-of-school education. The importance of studying amulets that have regional specificity is determined. The symbolic meaning of the images created in amulets and the symbolism of their colours are revealed. The features of Slobozhanshchyna amulets related to local beliefs and rituals, as well as the differences in plants in the local landscape, the traditions of making amulets, and the skills of local artisans to make amulets, are highlighted. The names of the folk art masters of the Slobozhanshchyna region, who specialize in manufacturing amulets from natural materials, are given. Methodological recommendations are proposed for decorative and applied art class leaders, which relate to collecting, storing, and preparing natural materials - herbs. A systematic description of making amulets made of herbs with primary schoolchildren – “Circles with a Bird” and its symbolic meaning is described. The description is supplemented with a visual series that conveys the technical techniques of working with herbs and the sequence of work. The author concluded that making amulets, which involves delving into the customs and rites of one’s people, has a decisive influence on forming students’ national consciousness, feelings, and values. Hobby clubs in institutions of out-ofschool education have significant opportunities in it. The diversity of students’ interests allows them to create various decorative and applied art products, including – amulets with a socially substantial message – to present to soldiers, loved ones with good wishes, etc. Making amulets becomes a stimulus and motivation for students: to get involved in art projects, where they study and research folk traditions and rituals by making amulets; and visit exhibitions of local history and art museums to expand their knowledge and gain artistic impressions and experience (virtually and, if possible, “live”); participate in or initiate ethnic festivals and competitions; explore family traditions. The author’s work will be helpful to art teachers in formal and non-formal education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents selected testimonies of the cult of archangels in Late Antiquity. The accounts of martyrdom and various inscriptions are analysed, primarily from North Africa, Asia Minor, Egypt and Nubia. They have been taken mainly from the “Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity” database. Examples of both orthodox and syncretistic piety invoking the intercession of archangels are shown. The special role of the Archangel Michael has been underlined. Considerations on the admissibility of depicting angels in the Christian art of Late Antiquity are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a rare surgical procedure involving the removal of a displaced Amplatzer Amulet occluder, a device used in cases of atrial fibrillation. The surgical intervention included the extraction of the occluder, coronary artery bypass grafting, and closure of the left atrial appendage. The article emphasizes the infrequency of complications like this and highlights the importance of carefully selecting patients for procedures involving left atrial appendage occluders. The collaboration between cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons played a crucial role in achieving successful outcomes. [Extracted from the article]

In traditional Romanian society, where the vast majority of the population was illiterate, writing remained mysterious and inaccessible. For the peasants from the Romanian village, writing and the book have acquired separate meanings, being used in a particular way through magico-religious rituals. In order to defend against the action of evil forces and for the healing of the sick body, the traditional community instituted ceremonial, apotropaic and thaumaturgical practices, involving a set of alternative uses of writing. The clerics played an important role in consolidating these practices. The village priests made the written amulets (apocryphal texts, prayers and incantations) intended to be worn closest to the body to ward off unclean spirits which could cause harm to women who had just given birth and to the new-born. Books and writing were seen as repositories of healing forces that could ward off disease and trouble. In the Romanian rural society, between the two World Wars, it was still believed that evil spirits, agents of disease, could be drawn from the sick person's body with the help of “healing letters” (rom. “răvașe de leac”), containing prayers, various religious symbols, names of saints but also magic formulas, often presented in an enigmatic and incomprehensible way. The formulas are written upside down, from right to left, then from left to right (like the famous palindrome “Sator arepo tenet opera rotas” or “Abracadabra”) or distributed in geometric figures (spirals, triangles, crosses). These “healing papers”, with a strong iconic charge, were applied to the body or the text and the image were drawn directly on the skin of the sufferer. Drinking water in which one had washed a plate on the surface of which healing formulas had been written or swallowing the paper on which magic formulas were written were other common practices. Romanian ethnologists have documented the survival of these practices until the mid1970s. Similar practices are found in other parts of Europe.

In this article, the author takes a closer look at the finds of sea shell ornaments in the early Middle Ages, based on artefacts discovered at two sites (Nos. 2 and 4) in Kruszwica. The four pendants in question come from settlement levels dating from the 11th to the 12th centuries. A malacological analysis suggests that the ornaments reached Kruszwica from the Mediterranean area (Acanthocardia tuberculata and Bolinus brandaris), and probably the Red Sea (Monetaria moneta), and from southern Poland (Turritella sp). These objects had been in use for a long time, as evidenced by the microtraces and damage visible on their surface. During the early medieval period, among the various species of shells that were ‘imports’, money cowrie shell ornaments with the most ‘exotic’ origins were the most common in Europe. It is highly probable that during this period of time, they were used in the exchange/trade and their value as a female symbol object and an amulet. Most likely, the shell pendants reached Kruszwica via trade routes that have been previously documented, alongside other artifacts. These ornaments provide additional evidence of long-distance trade.

In this article, I present an interpretation of violent episodes in the pastoral poetry of the third-century Latin author, Nemesianus. Drawing on comparison to depictions of sexual violence on apotropaic amulets and art, I argue that Nemesianus intended his own poetry to showcase the apotropaic power of pastoral songs and pastoral books. In so doing, Nemesianus continues a tradition of ancient pastoral authors who expended considerable effort to compare their hexameters and themselves to magical spells and practitioners of magic. I conclude with some thoughts on the Good Shepherd motif on sarcophagi roughly contemporary with Nemesianus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can emancipatory, decolonial histories of science be extracted from objects collected from—or made visible to history by—the archives of colonialism? To answer this question, this essay presents the case study of a rhinoceros horn amulet (qarn al-khartit), an ethnographic object collected by the British anthropologist Winifred Blackman during her fieldwork in Egypt in the late 1920s. Markedly decentering the traditional colonial history of how the rhinoceros horn was collected and displayed as an object in European museums, the essay follows the trail of the rhinoceros horn back to the site of its collection in Egypt to reveal a strikingly different story: one of non-Western histories of science/magic/medicine, gender, race, and enslavement, all set against the backdrop of Egypt's imperial pursuits in East Africa. The essay proposes the method of decolonial materialism to "read" objects, like the rhinoceros horn, as archives of scientific knowledge otherwise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author interprets a triangular amulet from the original period of Zincirli's excavations. He argues that the schematic, linear decoration covering the piece related to astral imagery, most likely the lunar deity Su'en with specifically bovine imagery. The pseudo-script "inscription" covering one of the sides of the amulet was understood to be a magical spell. Based on this hypothesis and in combination with comparative figurine iconography, the author further suggests that the amulet was specifically worn by a woman as a protective aid in childbirth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Stratum Plus Journal is the property of P.P. Stratum plus and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the use of protective charms among the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) in the megacity of Lagos. The use of charms, which vigilantes refer to as African traditional security methods, involves the deployment of amulets to protect the human body from bullets (Ayeta) and sharp forces (Okigbe) as well as for use in territorial fortification, crime investigations, interrogation, and punishment. Informed by the new materialist notion of actor-network theory, I analyse how in the setting of the VGN's oath-taking ritual performances, vigilante subjects, priests, charmed objects, and traditional deities have formed a dynamic relational network. I argue that the configurations of this relational network have redefined vigilantes' security practices and generated new social relations with their communities, which reinforce and consolidate their authority. This article also examines how some VGN leaders articulate the discourses of Africanisation and heritagization to explicate their adoption of charm practices. I suggest that the aforementioned discourses are conscious strategies employed to ease the tension that arises from the mixture of security practices with elements of traditional religion by VGN members, most of whom are adherents of institutionalised Islam and Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that John Chrysostom's Homily against the Jews (Adv. Iud. 8), preached at Antioch in 387 ce , is produced as a response to the popularity of Antiochene Jewish healers among John's congregants. As a solution to the perceived problem of Christians seeking out Jewish healing, John develops a model of anti-medicinal martyrdom by which he calls congregants to seek out death by fever. The article is split into three sections. The first section situates the argument amidst recent scholarship on Antiochene space, religious affiliation and ambiguity, and John's rhetorical strategies. The second situates John's anxiety regarding the religious ambiguity of amulets and other medicinal practices alongside late ancient Antiochene material culture. The final section provides a close reading of Adv. Iud. 8 that underscores how John uses biblical exempla to produce his model of anti-medicinal martyrdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The first inquisitorial trials were against Muslims and Jews. Later, they focused on women, especially caregivers. Progressively, they were linked to witchcraft and sorcery because of their great care, generational and empirical knowledge. The historiography of health in the 15th-18th centuries still has important bibliographical and interpretative gaps in the care provided by women. Objective: To analyse the care provided by healers as health providers, accused by the Inquisition, justifying the importance of nursing in the diversity of community care in the 15th-18th centuries. Method: A scoping review was conducted following the Dialectical Structural Model of Care (DSMC). A database search was conducted for the period 2013-2022. Bibliographic and legislative resources were used. Cases and convictions from Castilla la Nueva were found in the National Historical Archive and the Diocesan Archive of Cuenca. Results: The concepts of healer, witch and sorceress envolved during the study period. They reflect and reveal the collective imaginary of the social structure. They had healing laboratories, practised psychological and sexual care. They used to accompany their therapeutic action with prayers and amulets. They shared their professional activity with their main denouncers, doctors, apothecaries and priests. They were usually women in socially vulnerable situations, who did not conform to social stereotypes. Conclusions: They were predecessors of today's nursing, they overcame sociocultural difficulties, although they were condemned for it. Healers did not manage to regulate their profession, but they acted as agents of health in a society that demanded them while participating in the "witch-hunt". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bird bones were rarely used for production of artifacts, due to various reasons—they were much smaller and thinner than bones of mammals usually selected for tool production; they also have specific shapes and fine structure, inadequate for the majority of common artifact types. They were occasionally used for some specific objects, such as flutes, pipes, needle cases, and amulets. When it comes to the Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age periods in south‐eastern Europe, bird bone artifacts are rare; only few have been discovered thus far. In this paper, we will present one additional finding of a bird bone artifact, from the site of Zók–Gradina, situated in present‐day Hungary. Excavations carried out in 1920 by the National Museum in Belgrade revealed a multi‐period site, with major parts of the stratigraphic sequence belonging to the Late Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age Vučedol culture (2900–2500/2400 BC). Vučedol layers yielded relatively large quantities of worked bone, including one artifact produced from a bird bone, that will be presented here. The object in question was produced from the right radius of a Cygnus sp.; it is in the shape of an elongated tube; carefully cut at both ends. The function of this item is uncertain—it may have served as some sound‐producing instrument (flute), or it was some sort of a handle or needle case. It is interesting to note that bird representations, in particular, ornithomorphic vessels, are among the specific traits of the Vučedol culture; therefore, the choice of a bird bone for the production of this artifact may have had a certain symbolic significance as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the causal relationship between coming of age and intratemporality—the experience of multiple times conflated as past, present, and future commingle. It examines Ebenezer Scrooge's reformation, read as a belated coming of age, in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843) and the more typical coming of age of assorted children in two of E. Nesbit's time-slip novels, The Story of the Amulet (1906) and The House of Arden (1908). Both authors correlate personal growth with the experience of time-slip and the conflation of multiple times within the self. Indeed, as these characters visit other times, journeys that contest the notion of the present as apart from past and future, they come to embody intratemporality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several scholars have different opinions regarding the law of the Rabu Wekasan amulet that lives in the Javanese Muslim community. However, despite these differences, the East Javanese Muslim community still carries out and uses amulets to carry out these rituals. This research aims to determine amulet users' perspectives on life, mindset, and worldviews, especially in the Sempen, Sumbertengah, Mumbulsari, and Jember communities. Using data collection techniques such as interviews, observation, and documentation, researchers use a rational choice theory, where a person's actions are primarily determined by values or choices. The research results reveal three typologies of amulet users' mindsets: 1) Tabarrukan, using the Rabu Wekasan Amulet as a wasilah (intermediary) to ask for protection from Allah; 2) Economic aspect, using Rabu Wekasan amulets to protect their economic level from losses; and 3) Social aspect: using Rabu Wekasan amulets to maintain peace and public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Historia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The lead plaques of the so-called Danubian Riders significantly outnumber their stone counterparts. In the last fifteen years several new items have been discovered in Sofia and its surrounding territory. The reliefs have identical form and iconography which suggests their manufacturing in the same workshop that should be located in Serdica according to the recent finds. The archaeological context of the monuments provides good evidence for the date of the reliefs in the last quarter of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th c. AD. Several characteristics of the plaques suggest their use rather as phylacteries and personal amulets or in domestic shrines. The growing influence of Christianity most probably is the reason for discarding the discussed reliefs of the Danubian Riders around the middle of the 4th c. AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]