Stories
- In pictures
Moles’ feet, dried frogs and other folk medicines
Early-20th-century folklorist Edward Lovett made it his mission to discover the nation’s beliefs and superstitions, collecting amulets from cottage cupboards up and down the country.
- Article
A symbol of a lost homeland
The story of one protective amulet from Palestine reveals a complex tale. Encompassing the personal history of an influential doctor and collector, it provides a window onto dispossession and exile, and the painful repercussions that are still felt today.
- Article
The ancient doctors who refused payment
The NHS might only be 70 years old, but the idea of free healthcare goes back to Ancient Greece, when devout doctors provided their services without charge.
- Article
The evil eye and social anxiety
The ‘look’ of the evil eye is believed to bring bad luck, illness or even death. This ancient curse might be deliberate, inflicted with an envious glare, or it could be accidental, the result of undue attention or excessive praise.
Catalogue
- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
M0006102: Mandrake amulet
Date: 16 February 1939Reference: WT/D/1/20/1/51/1Part of: Wellcome Trust Corporate Archive
- Digital Images
- Online
Heart amulet.
- Digital Images
- Online
Walpurgis oil, amulet.
- Books
- Online
Amulets and superstitions : the original texts with translations and descriptions of a long series of Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Hebrew, Christian, Gnostic and Muslim amulets and talismans and magical figures, with chapters on the evil eye, the origin of the amulet, the pentagon, the swastika, the cross (pagan and Christian), the properties of stones, rings, divination, numbers, the Kabbâlâh, ancient astrology, etc., bySir E. A. Wallis Budge ... / with twenty-two plates and three hundred illustrations.
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir, 1857-1934.Date: 1930
- Digital Images
- Online
Spanish amulet; shells.
