In my office, and my home, you will notice some eye catching décor. I usually decorate with witchy aesthetic, but I do have some not so witchy. I've always been drawn to the Nazar, even before I knew what it was.
Light colored eyes, in my immediate family, belonged only to my mother, sister and myself. My grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins had brown eyes. Now, as a young girl, I was immensely shy. Adding insult to injury, my eyes were large (they still are, but my face got fatter). Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, except for the fact that I was complemented fairly regularly on my eyes, which made me extremely uncomfortable. Often times, I would glare, sometimes I would glare then cry. I did not like attention at all.
The glare was what my grandmother called my dagger look. She said, "If your eyes could shoot daggers, the world would be dead." It would be years later that I would learn about the Evil Eye. Though, not long after this, I started drawing and doodling eyes.
I was living on the west coast in 2001, and I had a friend who happened to be from Turkey. She would often talk of her family, and when her mother was planning a visit, she asked me to come meet her. Her mother spoke no English, but she was the most inviting and endearing woman. As my friend introduced me, her mother was very focused on me. She was intense, but awed. She started speaking rather quickly in Turkish. My friend translated. Her mother was really drawn to my eyes. She was saying I had the Nazar. My friend told me her mother said I had the evil eye, and they brought me to a wall hanging in the next room. They told me, the Nazar, the Evil Eye, is a protection against the curse of the evil eye. It was a common belief in Turkey, Afghanistan, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon as well as Southern Italy. It is said that light eyed people are able to give the evil eye curse, so the Nazar was devised to protect from it. The evil eye curse could cause harm, disruption, bad luck and ill health.
I told them about what my grandmother had said when I was little, and her mother gave me a small Nazar charm. It was to be
my protection. That started my love of the Nazar. I was very concerned that I may have inadvertently cast the evil eye curse as a child, so I had them tattooed not long after, on my back, so I'd always have the protections on me. Making it all the more real to me is that my genealogy includes a few of these very superstitious countries where the evil eye is
prominent.
I keep several Nazars in my home, in my office and in my car, on my keys, and various other places around me. I add to them often.
What are your thoughts on the Nazar?
I've always been drawn to the Eye of Horus which I believe is from Egyptian culture but sounds very similar to Nazar.