Silver for protection?

Question

I grew up with the belief that wearing sterling silver chains, bracelets and/or rings would protect you from accidents or bad luck. Has anyone else heard this and where did this idea come from?

Answer 1

In some pre-christian beleifs silver was a holy metal, that of the Gods. It wasn't a gold holy symbol you wore, it was a silver one. Silver is "pure".

Could come from that.

And I can't even remember when I heard that one from now, might've been a documentery on TV.

Answer 2

Yes I have, my aunt bought me a silver bangle as soon as I was born to ward off evil spirits/bad luck, she also placed an half crown into my palm on the day I was christened (for the younger end reading this, silver and old money), my aunt was Italian so whether that was something to do with her thing about silver I don't know, on my wedding day I had an old silver sixpence in my shoe for good luck and my husbands uncle gave me a silver dollar the first time he met me, he was also of Italian descent, so though I was brought up to and still believe silver is a token of good luck and an aid to ward off evil spirits I haven't really thought why people believe in it, I know the Native American Indians are big on silver for tokens of luck and warding off bad luck, maybe we should look up some of their web pages to see if we can find anything out, I know I have always felt protected so for me it works.

Answer 3

No thats vampires and werewolfs that your protected from, but you're only covered for the werewolfs if the silver is in bullet form.
Accidents and bad luck are exactly that, an accident is an unforseen mishap and bad luck is a,,well ,more unforseen mishaps I'm afraid,, all the silver in the world isn't going to stop you bumping your head on the kitchen cupboard door.

Answer 4

ive never heard that one. it is true though. i only wear silver jewelry and the only time that i get bad luck is when im not wearing my ring. and the bad luck piles up so i try not to wear it for too long and then take it off. all the bad luck that the silver is preventing comes crashing down as soon as u remove the silver from ur person. i always take small breaks from silver every 30 min.

Answer 5

Silver is the feminine metal. Gold is masculine. Silver is representive of the moon while, gold is that of sun. There are many legends that surround these metals. But, silver is to be more protective than gold or any other metal. These legends came from many areas, Greece, Mid East, Central and Western Europe. It just depends on which area you were from.

Answer 6

I've only heard that silver is a 'blessed' metal because it was used to betray the Lord (Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave).

For this reason it is legendary against mythological creatures, werewolves, vampires.

As for luck? Unless you believe that 'silver attracts silver' and therefore increases wealth.

Many people carry favorite, good-luck silver coins.

H

Answer 7

My faimly has the same belrif of silver protecting them agaist not only bad luck but bad spirits. I am not sure when or where this first came into being but it hasserved my family well through out the years

Answer 8

It is an strange belief to give to the matter the power of protect you. matter that is inanimated that has no capacity of thinking or decide then how can protect? I can understand that you believe wearing it makes you feel sure, but it is you who gives you the feeling of being safe.

Answer 9

According to some folks, a silver "Mercury" dime with a leap-year date (e.g. 1940) is especially propitious. These Mercury dimes do not really depict the Roman god Mercury, according to coin collector John Montierth ([e-mail]) but "even though the coin in question was officially designed as Winged Liberty, everyone looks at it and thinks Mercury." Skip Floyd ([e-mail]), another coin collector, adds this information: "On March 3, 1916, the U. S. Treasury adopted the Winged Cap design of Adolph A. Weinman from a public competition. Weinman also won the award for the Half Dollar design. Not only is the face not that of Hermes or Mercury, it is NOT MALE. The portrait of Ms. Liberty is of Elsie Stevens, Mrs. Wallace Stevens." All that aside, the common name for this coin is still the Mercury dime, and that's how people who use the coin in conjure work refer to it.

A preference for the Mercury dime rather than another silver coin as a gamblers' charm makes a lot of sense when one recognizes that Mercury was the Roman god who ruled crossroads, games of chance, and sleight of hand tricks -- and as such he was equivalent to the African gambling and crossroads spirit variously called Ellegua, Legba, or Eshu, who had the same domain of influence and was known as the keeper of crossroads. Althouggh the figure engraved on the dime was long ago changed to that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, many folks still prefer the old-style dime -- one hoodoo man i talked to told me, "You need a Mercury dime to do you any good at all."

As for why a leap-year date on the coin is luckier than another date, i suspect that it is the rarity or unusualness of a leap-day (one day out of 1461) that recommends the leap-year coin to long-shot gamblers. In making gambling charms, some practitioners combine the leap-year dime with the added unusualness of a two dollar bill, also of a leap-year date, if possible. Again, it is the comparative rarity of this bill that suggests winning against long-shot odds.

The contents of mojo hands vary with the inclinations of their makers, but a typical silver dime gambling charm might consist of a Mercury dime, a small John the Conqueror root, a bit of sugar, and a lucky hand root (a wild orchid root with finger-shaped protrusions that evoke the idea of manual dexterity when playing dice), all wrapped in a leap-year two dollar bill and placed in a red flannel bag. To activate the mojo, its contents would be anointed with some sort of good-luck oil, perhaps red Fast Luck, Three Jacks and a King, or Van Van -- or, as some folks have done, with the urine or menstrual blood of their beloved.

Another hoodoo use for the silver dime is to wear one or at the ankle as a warning device and apotropaic charm: if the coin turns black, an enemy has laid out goofer dust, hot foot powder, or crossing powder and you have stepped in it, but it will prove harmless to you. Since formulas for these malicious powders often contain sulphur, which turns silver black on contact, the dime's seemingly magical power is based in practical chemical knowledge. Similarly, a silver dime worn at the trhroat will turn black is someone tries to poison your food; the dime can alkso be tested by holding it briefly in the mouth to see if it tarnishes. with

Dimes are also used to counteract a curse in hoodoo practice. Typical recipes involve boiling a dime or the filings from its milled edges in water or milk and drinking the liquid to "kill" the effects of occult poisons such as graveyard dirt, goofer dust, rattlesnake eggs, or snake-shed dust,

The following documentation on silver dimes comes from "Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork," a 5-volume, 4766-page collection of folkloric material gathered by Harry Middleton Hyatt, primarily between 1935 and 1939.

Answer 10

Ive hear about copper bracelets being good for your health but not silver???