Mal De Ojo- The Evil Eye

While enjoying an afternoon with my family at our J-Meen’s (Mayan healer) house, Don Luis, who is his son-in-law and protege, walked with me through their medicinal garden describing the uses of all the flora and fauna. There were several plants used to protect against mal de ojo.  I wasn’t sure I understood what the true translation of mal de ojo was. Bad of eye didn’t make sense to me. When I got home I went to my Spanish dictionary. It gave me: jealousy. Then it dawned on me that you could also define mal de ojo as “the evil eye.”

So I began to ponder mal de ojo as a spiritual problem I hadn’t given enough thought to before, but ought to. Physical and psychological  manifestations will result for the jealous type. For instance, studies have been done on a people experiencing jealousy, revealing that it can literally be blinding. Psychologically, someone experiencing a heightened level of jealousy can become consumed with grief, anger, and delusion, not being able to eschew the mental possession. Whether unintentional or not, mal de ojo targets a victim out of jealousy, with dark spiritual energies. Folklore says that it often happens to children, therefore they are given talismans to wear for protection.

Countless cultures around the world warn about the evil eye since antiquity, and talismans and remedies that protect against it.  The Judaic Hamsa (meaning five, thought to represent the five books of Torah) a symmetrical hand with two thumbs on either side and an eye in the middle, is often worn on a bracelet of 40 red knots. There are similar bracelets worn in Mexico called Azabache.  The evil eye is quite feared by many around the world, believing that it can cause terrible luck, sickness, and death. Another amulet used traditionally in Mexico is the ojo del venado or “eye of the deer.” It is a seed that resembles just that, and is known to have aphrodisiac, shamanic, and psychotropic properties since it contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT) as well as other alkaloids. It’s magic is usually reserved for wearing it as protection.

Our J-Meen family knew that we were victims of mal de ojo and that we were surrounded by this type of negative energy. Their way of helping us arrive at spiritual realizations such as this is not direct. It takes much discussion and gentle guiding from a healer to illuminate what the dis-ease is, what it is caused by, and how to ask God and the good spirits for aid. We have had many treatments and prayers to ward off negative energies. We burn copious amounts of copal, and wear stones such as amber, obsidian, and jade to keep evil away and our sacred energies within. The karmic repercussions of giving the evil eye are bound to play out in this small part in the drama of life. Right thought and right action are helpful tools in protecting yourself from this karmic reaction, as well as being a victim of the evil eye. In the new year and new era may God bless us so that we may be able to live out our divine purpose and help others do the same, and protect us from mal de ojo.