Incantation Bowls
What?
Incantation bowls are a form of protective magic like the nazar 🧿 or hamsa 🪬. Incantation bowls feature powerful inscriptions, which vary from Psalms to angelic invocations. Jews have created similar folk magic objects across the Middle East and beyond for thousands of years.
Who?
The first incantation bowls were made by Jews, although the custom gained traction among Christians, Muslims, and Mandaeans, another ethnoreligious group indigenous to the Middle East. Most bowls historically were written in Hebrew and Aramaic, followed by Mandaic, Syriac, Arabic, and Persian.
When?
Most incantation bowls were made between the years 500 and 700, around the time of the Babylonian Talmud.
Where?
Incantation bowls are found across Mesopotamia in modern Iraq and Iran. Other similar forms of Jewish magic tradition have also been documented across the Middle East and North Africa.
Why?
In antiquity, incantation bowls were buried face-down outside owners’ homes to protect them from demons and other forms of ill-fortune. Today, they are used as contemplative and conversation-starting Jewish decor.