Psalm of Afflictions

The Talmud (Shevuot 15b) calls Psalm 91 and the preceding verse “the song of afflictions” and claims it can ward off demons. This text appears at the top of the amulet, interspersed with both angelic and Divine names. The first eight and a half verses of Psalm 91 are also written in a inner concentric circle around the angel at the amulet’s center.

 

Evil Eye

An incantation to repel the evil eye, attributed to the 18th-century scholar Rabbi Hayim Yosef David Azulai (acronym Hida). The formula begins by listing thirty-five types of evil eye, including “bad eye,” “yellow eye,” “man-and-wife eye,” and the catch-all “all kinds of evil eye existing in the world.” Twenty types of “good eye” are invoked to empower the incantation, which declares:

Depart and be gone, banished, scattered, and driven away, and flee from this house, this city, this woman, and this child […], and you shall have no power over the woman or child, neither by day nor by night, neither waking nor dreaming. (Gross Family Collection, 027.011.722)

This part of the amulet was evidently intended to protect mother and baby from as many dangers as possible. The incantation incorporates a cardinal direction and element (fire, air, water, or earth) associated with the amulet.