amulet
Sep 14, 2026
The Threshold Must Be Guarded
A look at the old European practice of laying salt and iron at doorways to bar witches, spirits and the fae from crossing into the house.
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Sep 13, 2026
The Guardian Cat of Bubastis
A visit to the ruined temple town of Bubastis, seat of the cat goddess Bastet, and a look at how a working household animal became a ward against unseen harm.
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Sep 6, 2026
The Hammer Carried Close
A small cast pendant, shaped like a hammer with a short handle, was worn at the throat across Viking-age Scandinavia as protection against the disorder of the world. I went looking for what it actually meant to those who wore it, and found the answer was never quite settled.
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Aug 14, 2026
The Line Nothing Crosses
A short account of the salt circle, a protective boundary drawn against unwelcome spirits, and why so many unrelated traditions arrived at the same substance and the same shape.
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Aug 9, 2026
The Rearing Cobra of the Delta
A journal entry on Wadjet, the cobra goddess of Lower Egypt, whose rearing form once guarded the brow of every pharaoh and still guards the doorways of the dead.
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