"Malocchio", "Mal Oje", "Ayin-hore",  "Drishti", "Mati", "The Evil Eye".

Different languages have different terms to express the same thing: the belief that the eyes can be used to curse another person or affect their life negatively. The belief in the evil eye exists in cultures all over the world and can be found as far back in human history as ancient Sumeria.

WHAT IS THE EVIL EYE?

The evil eye is a form of curse that is cast through a malevolent glare.

It is usually the result of envy, of jealously so strong that its energy consumes the person and is projected outwardly through the eyes, affecting the victim.

The results vary, especially considering that the evil eye often affects one thing specifically (what the person who gives the evil eye is envious of) instead of having a general effect: from headaches and vomiting to stomach aches and more serious health symptoms, bad luck, fighting with your significant other, damage of property, injuries etc.

It is usually not done deliberately (although in some cultures/traditions, there are ways people use to train themself in how to use the evil eye to cause harm).

But if given by a person who has the natural ability to easily give the evil eye and if this person is particularly envious, the effects can rival a deliberate curse placed upon someone.

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HOW TO REMOVE THE EVIL EYE

There are many different ways to remove the evil eye curse.

The method I'm going to present here is the one I personally use. In many traditions they believe that for those methods to work, one has to either learn them from a person of the opposite sex (a mother can teach her son for example) or the person has to figure it out on their own by observing how someone else is doing it and without asking any questions.

Personally, I don't believe there is any loss in effectiveness if one learns the method from a person of the same sex (or from an article on the internet, as is the case here).

However, the way I learnt this method was by observing older women in my extended family when they worked on removing the evil eye, so -since they weren't allowed to explain how they do it exactly- chances are my method is slightly different than what my mom or aunt uses.

This accounts for the many variations one can find for every basic method of evil eye removal, as well as for the different beliefs on how these methods can be used (many people will tell you for example that you cannot remove the mati from yourself; someone else has to do it) as well as in the actual result from the method used (the method I'm going to present for example is used by some people just for diagnostic purposes when they're trying to find who gave them the evil eye, while I use it both to find the source and remove the influence).

This method if particularly useful when you want to remove the evil eye from babies and small children too, as it doesn't involve them doing anything (in fact they don't even have to be in the same room for it to work).

WHAT YOU NEED

• 9 whole cloves

• needle

• lighter

• ashtray or small ceramic bowl

• a glass of water

Take a clove and while thinking of a person you suspect has given you (or the person you are working on) the evil eye, push the needle through the head of the clove downwards.

Use the lighter to light the clove. This is where a short prayer to get rid of the evil eye is inserted, usually "Jesus Christ, have mercy on me" or "Jesus Christ, have mercy on (name of person)".

If the clove pops or even bursts, then it means this person actually gave you the evil eye. Otherwise, the clove will burn normally.

Remove the clove from the needle and put it in the ashtray or ceramic bowl and then repeat the process with 7 more cloves, since you may not have found the person immediately and also since there may be other people who have given you the evil eye too.

The last clove is usually used to signify any person you may not have even thought of, but who may actually be the culprit.

When you've burned all 9 cloves, rub the burnt cloves in the bowl with your finger (be careful if they're still hot) and with the ash draw a small cross on your forehead, saying "In the name of Jesus Christ, all evil is now removed from me!".

Then throw the burnt cloves into the glass of water and then dispose of the water and cloves (I usually drain the cloves and throw them in the trash and just empty the glass in the sink).

The needle is used to pin down the person who gave you the evil eye and the evil eye curse itself that is affecting you, so that it can be removed when the clove burns.

This isn't a method to send the energies back to whoever did this to you; you simply pin their influence down so that it can be removed. It doesn't affect the culprit in any way.

Fire is used to remove the influence from you, and water is used to remove any remaining traces of it from the cloves, as well as because of water's cooling properties.

The small cross drawn on the forehead completes the process by marking and then calling on the Divine to protect the person, especially since it will take a while for the symptoms to completely disappear.

Something you may notice -as it is very common when you begin to remove the evil eye from someone- is that both the person affected and the person who is doing the removal may start yawning.

This is usually taken as a sign that the person was indeed affected by the evil eye (as not all methods have a diagnostic part to determine if the person is actually affected; some people simply use specific prayers for example) and that the influence is now being removed.

Another common thing when removing the evil eye from someone else is temporarily experiencing the same symptoms as the person affected (if they had a nasty headache for example, you may suddenly get a nasty headache).

This won't last long though, and if you have any methods you use in healing work to avoid transferring the other person's illness or pain to you instead of removing it (a common issue new healers experience) then you can use it here too.

NOTES

• Although the original method calls on Jesus Christ, I have used it effectively by calling to other deities too and even to the Highest Divine in general, so if you want to try it but don't feel comfortable calling on Jesus, feel free to adapt the wording to suit your belief system (or the belief system of the person you're trying to rid of the evil eye).

• The cloves used are usually 3 or 9, but I sometimes use a lot more than 9 if I suspect that multiple people may have given me the evil eye (I tend to be easily affected when I'm feeling off or very low on energy). I still use sets of 3 though instead of any random number, and the last one is always used to cover any person I cannot specifically name.

• Sometimes one clove is not enough to fully remove someone's influence, especially if is very strong, so if you really suspect it all comes from one specific person and especially if the clove bursts instead of just making a popping sound, use the next clove for the same person again and keep doing that until you get a clove that doesn't pop, then move on to another person.

• You can use this method to get the evil eye off of someone who is not physically present.

• Some people can naturally affect others using their gaze. It doesn't mean they hate you and want to harm you, or that they even know they're doing it, so use discernment and don't go around cursing people just because you used their name with a clove and it popped, or get paranoid that people secretly hate you.Shit happens, someone who generally likes you may be having a very bad day and maybe they thought something bad or envious while looking at you. It doesn't always have to mean anything. I once accidentally gave the evil eye to a classmate I really liked, just because her mom allowed her to do something when mine didn't. Five minutes later, she was on the floor screaming, feeling as if someone had driven a nail into her ear. I didn't want to hurt her or take anything away from her, all I wanted was to go to a party. So...yeah, it may not even be about you really, it may be the result of someone's energy lashing out for purely personal reasons.*

• If you're using this to remove the evil eye from yourself, I suggest that -after removing the evil eye- you also use your preferred method to balance yourself and restore your energy levels (I use the Pillar and Spheres) as well as some kind of blessing and protection product (I use holy water and Fiery Wall of Protection).

• You don't have to walk around with a black cross on your forehead! You can wash it off after a few minutes. Or don't wash it off, put a weird costume on and creep people out. Whatever.**

* If you're interested to know how this story ended, I had to tell the girl I had given her the evil eye and why it happened, convince her to call her mom and ask her to remove it (we were on a school trip abroad at the time) and then figure out a way to save my social life by persuading her I didn't hate her (she didn't really know me that well) and that I wasn't crazy (she didn't believe in anything magical or supernatural).

Sometimes I miss my teenage years. This is not one of those times.

** If you actually do that, send me pictures.

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