Customer Reviews

Body Guards: Protective Amulets & Charms

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The book, Body Guards: Protective Amulets and Charms, written by Desmond Morris is an absolutely enchanting view on the healing and protective beliefs of many cultures around the world. If you are interested in the mystical properties of protective amulets, crystals, religious symbols, ect. then this book would be a wonderful addition to your home library. The section in the book concerning the protective properties, history, and meaning of many religious symbols was very facinating, many of the artifacts shown I had never even heard of before. The jewelry shows a fine example of design and style, the craftsmanship of some of these adornments is stunning. This book will inspire you to search out new methods of healing and you might find a new found respect for the beliefs of others all over the world.

When I began searching for ideas and images to add talismans and amulets to my artwork, I searched a number of books and settled on two. This is one of the two. Many of the books out there have a lot of text and some line drawings, but I wanted color and clear photos as I'm visual - and I want to use the ideas in visual art. I have found this book as helpful as any book out there. I checked it out of the library, and bought it right away and have been very happy with it. Don't worry that it's about witchcraft - that is absolutely not the point of this book. It's informative about the various ways that we humans have used images and objects to protect us, for luck, and sometimes to injure others - but rarely the latter. Superstition is not a silly thing - it's part of being human and has been from pre-history. Some of it is religious in nature, or became religious in nature. Some might say that religious images are superstition, and vice versa. The point is not religion versus superstition, it's a serious look at the objects that we humans have found comforting or helpful. I highly recommend it to any artist who wants to add something iconic to his work.

This is a beautiful book. It is filled with interesting facts about superstitions old and new. It Is easy to read. Do you want to know how the cross became popular? That plus many more every day symbols are descried and explained.