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108 JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA denies the importance of boundaries reported exteroceptors. It assumes that the identity of two "separate" objects may be established within the mind of the one who does the magic and that the identity so established, one confirmed by intent signified by words and demonstrated in an action, will conveniently serve to bring about results desired for guiding action. The maleficent power of the knots is usually manifested in the dreadful infliction of impotence on the bridegroom. Often the mere suggestion that a spell had been worked could cause impotence through emotional tension. Therefore, a person knowledgable in the art of corrective magic was always on hand on the wedding night to "untie" any impeding knot. The following accounts, reported by various people from the Doxario region in central Greece and quoted by Richard Blum and Eva Blum (18-19), are illustrative of the fear and effects of binding spells at weddings: One thing I know about is the binding curse at weddings. Some people do it for fun, others because they dislike or envy the girl or the boy. Sometimes some other woman, one who wanted the boy for herself and didn't get him, will curse the couple. The way they do it is to tie knots, or to make a lock, or pretend to; then, when the thing is done, the groom can't go near the girl. He'll be impotent. Then the couple has to find someone who knows how to dissolve the curse and to unbind them. This curse is very bad because the people suffer so. Another woman reports: The enemies of either the bride or the groom might do magic, you know, bewitch and tie them. . . . My friend admitted that she was having a terrible problem because her husband could not go near her. All this time, each time he wanted to have intercourse he could have an erection, but when he got on top of her all his power left him. They both suffered a lot from this, especially the man.
Apotropaic Devices in Greek Wedding Rituals 109 Nothing could help, so finally they went to a magician who told them that the girl was tied. Someone, who had wanted to harm her, had locked a door and said some magic words during the ceremony. To break the spell the magician had to say some magic words too; then they had to cross water ... Afterwards, the magician found the magia, and gave them to the couple. They've locked the magia in a trunk: and now nobody can harm them anymore. The husband is cured. Studies also show, however, that there are certain knots to which a positive power of healing and protection is ascribed. These are often used to counteract binding spells and evil magic. Thus a knotted cord, which the bride tied around her waist, or a piece of fishing net she wore in her sash or inside her lingerie during the wedding ceremony, were regarded as protective devices against binding spells. In Epiros and on the islands of Lesbos and Imbros, the newlyweds were often advised to carry on their person or to put under their pillow or mattress, among other charms, pieces of fishing net when they went to bed at night, as the following narrative from central Greece (Blum and Blum, 19) illustrates: At weddings when they do the binding curse the bride must be very careful. She should have some charm on her; it's some polluted thing, or some key, or a net with forty knots in it. To have the polluted thing she should wear under her clothes a string or a net that her parents wore when they had intercourse. These were supposed to ward off the danger of evil binding. While it is possible that the fishing net drew its magical virtue from its association with water and salt, themselves healing and protective agents, it is also possible that its efficacy against binding spells derived from its knots." The efficacy of the knots as protective agents, like the eye painted on stones and beads, is based 16For the use of salt and knotted objects as curative and apotropaic devices in rituals associated with the ill effects of the evil eye in Europe, South Asia, and other parts of the world, see Clarence Maloney, ed., 110-112; J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough (London: Macmillan, 1951), vol. 1, 394 ff.
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