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| image credit - "Bottle Tree Light" by chelle |
The reason why trees are sometimes adorned with special items is for protection of the home and family within. Furthermore, coupled with the protection, is the result of some really nice decorated trees. If you love trees and glass art, you may very well like these three ideas.
We have bottle trees, evil-eye trees and witch balls. The witch balls are not hung on trees historically. However, I do hang some of mine outside on trees. They look beautiful hanging from trees, and I am sure I am not alone in doing so.
What are Bottle Trees?
Bottle trees are trees decorated with glass bottles, literally. Bottles are either placed on the branches of existing trees, or the whole tree is made with a main support beam (trunk), branches and glass bottles placed on the ends of the branches. When colored glass is used, both are quite beautiful to look at.
Bottle Tree Origin:
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| Colorful Tree Bottles - set of 6 Click photo to see on AMAZON |
Bottle trees were first thought to appear in 9th century Africa, although, we now know that bottle trees originated much earlier and go as far back as Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, as early as 1600 B.C.E. when hollowed, colored glass was invented. The use of the bottle trees in Africa and ancient civilization, however, is the same, and this is also where we see the first concept of a "genie in a bottle."
The "djinn," Arabic for "genie," and other spirits thought to be evil, could be captured in the bottles. The idea is that the evil spirits would become mesmerized by the beauty of the glass. They would then slip inside and become trapped in the bottles. Therefore, the bottles were simply traps. Consequently, upon the morning light of the sun, the evil spirits were destroyed. Therefore, the bottles kept the family protected.
Beauty of Bottle Trees:
Enjoy a couple more photos of bottle trees before we move onto evil-eye trees. :)
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| image credit - photo titled "Grandidier's Baobab" by Bernard Gagnon |
- Please note that the baobab tree is commonly referred to as The Bottle Tree too. While we will be most definitely discussing the baobab tree soon since it is the African Savannah Tree of Life, it is obviously different that the bottle trees we are learning about here.
- There are also two other bottle trees in Australia, both of which also have swollen, water-filled trunks.
What are Evil-eye Trees?
The evil-eye is meant to protect from "the evil eye of envy" of a person or persons. An envious eye is one that looks as if it would cause harm to get what another has and the owner of the envious eye wants. So, it is much more (worse than) jealousy. (In fact, "envy" makes it to the top dead cardinal sins list where "jealousy" does not. There's a difference.*) You can think of an evil eye as being similar to a gargoyle. A gargoyle also protects. It's fighting against evil with evil.
Origin of the Evil Eye:
The origin of the evil eye centers around ancient classical Greece, Rome and the whole surrounding Mediterranean area.
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| Click pic to see on Amazon |
Evil eyes continued to move into Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It is also common to see evil eyes through Central and South America. We are finally seeing more and more evil eyes here in the United States, although, most protective pieces are that of those found in jewelry.
* The terms "envy" and "jealousy" are often used interchangeably as synonyms. However, they are not. They are very different. If someone is envious of something, he or she may want it so much so that he or she wishes harm to the person who has what is wanted. Jealousy is wishing you had what someone else has, but it stops there. No harm is wished upon the owner.
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| image credit - photo from pixabay |
What are Witch Balls?
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| image credit - photo titled Glass-blown Balls" by Kayla Sawyer |
are hanging glass balls with glass filaments within. They are meant to work as the bottles of bottle trees do. That is, to capture evil entities. Evil spirits are attracted to the beauty of the orb. Inside are long glass filaments. The evil entity becomes absorbed into the orb and is then, therefore, trapped within the filaments. Origin of Witch Balls:
Hanging glass witch balls originate in 18th century England. It was common to see countryside homes with witch balls hanging in doorways and in windows. The idea most likely stems from the origins of the bottles of bottle trees.
I find it important to note that sometimes people think a "witch ball" is designed to keep a "witch" away. This is untrue. A witch is not thought of as an evil entity, quite the opposite.
The term "witch" in 18th century England simply meant "country dweller." It was in the countryside where most still hung onto their earth-friendly, pagan roots. The word witch also has word origins connected to "wise-women." That is, a witch was the healer of various cultures.
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| image credit - photo by Random Michelle titled "Witch Ball" |
