Apotropaic magic
（重定向自Apotropaism）
![The ancient blue and white Nazar boncuğu symbol, a stylised eye thought to avert the evil eye, appears on this Turkish Airlines airplane](/Images/godic/202412/21/Nazar_boncuğu_tailfin0920.jpg")
![This apotropaic wand shows a procession of protective deities. Such a wand would have been used in rituals associated with birth and were perhaps used to draw a magical circle around the mother and child. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.](/Images/godic/202412/21/Egyptian_-_Magic_Wand_Depicting_a_Procession_of_Deities_-_Walters_715100920.jpg")
![The Gorgon, flanked by lionesses and showing her belt clasp of serpents, as depicted at the west pediment of the 580 B.C. temple of Artemis in Corfu on display at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu.](/Images/godic/202412/21/Gorgon_at_the_Corfu_Archaelogical_Museum0920.jpg")
![A 12th-century Sheela na Gig on the church at Kilpeck, Herefordshire](/Images/godic/202412/21/Kilpeck_Sheelagh_na_Gig0920.jpg")
Apotropaic magic (from Greek apotrepein "to ward off" from apo- "away" and trepein "to turn") is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of vague superstition or out of tradition, as in good luck charm (perhaps some token on a charm bracelet), amulets, or gestures such as crossed fingers or knocking on wood. The Greeks made offerings to the averting gods (Ἀποτρόπαιοι θεοί: Apotropaioi Theoi), chthonic deities and heroes who grant safety and deflect evil.