Uterine amulets often bear the short in scription hystèrikôn phylaktèrion. Many others have inscriptions derived from a longer Byzantine incantation: “Womb, black, blackening, as a snake you coil and as a serpent you hiss and as a lion you roar and as a lamb, lie down.” The magic formula was supposed to calm down the uterus and help it shrink. 6th-century Coptic papyrus contains a charm to control hysteria: “Make the womb of so-and-so, who bore so- and-so, relax into the natural position, and be uninflamed.” Yet another possible formula was: “Set the womb of so-and-so in its proper place, you who lifts up the disk of the sun. The charms and incantations were used for a variety of uterine problems: childbirth, contraception, afterbirth, labour pains, severe menstrual bleeding, etc.
Such amulets should be seen in the context of the belief that the womb is animate, a demon, an animal that constantly needs to be tamed. A bronze amulet in the British Museum (5th-6thcenturies) asks: “Why do you munch like a wolf, why do you devour like a crocodile, why do you bite like a lion, why do you gore like a bull, why do you coil like a serpent, why do you lie down like a tame creature?” Occasionally, the hysteria formula is followed by the phrase “Eat and drink blood!” Stopping the bleeding was of ten essential, for example to save an unborn child. The purpose of the formula was to make the demon-hysteria’ devour’ the blood. A uterus can swell dangerously and either retain or discharge large quantities of blood. It was seen as a creature with tentacles that can reach out to other parts of the body, including the throat. In view of this combination of swelling and tentacles, the womb came to be symbolised by, among other creatures, octopuses and sea urchins. They are ‘gorgonian’ representations of the uterus, which also appear on para-and pro-to-Christian amulets and in feminine incantation culture, including in Berber textiles.
-Barbara Baert, Interruptions and Transitions: Essays on the Senses in Medieval and Early Modern Visual Culture
{arm} {head} {cut} collage 8.5” x 11” 2022
The Bloody Hem ink and collage 11” x 17” each 2022
Medusa Amulet collage 8.5” x 11” 2022
