Magical words: scrolls for protection and healing

[Ge'ez]. Two Ge'ez healing scrolls.

€ 800.00

Ge'ez healing scrolls of a kind often commissioned for both Christian and Muslim women, traditionally written using a combination of words (often invocations of saints) and images, both abstract and of figures, especially figures with staring eyes. In 19th and 20th century examples these scrolls often begin with a prayer for St Susenyos, who offers protection against the malevolent Werzeleya, quote extracts from the Gospels, and may even invoke the aid of Alexander the Great.

Medical scrolls are an ancient tradition in the Horn of Africa and especially associated with Amhara and Tigray communities in Ethiopia, where (along with neighbouring Eritrea) Ge'ez has been a liturgical language among Orthodox Christians for millennia. Though, as this implies, Ge'ez healing scrolls were a Christian practice, Ge'ez healing scrolls have been recorded for the use of Muslim women as well: rather than remaining a staunchly Christian-only practice, they were incorporated by whole communities in which these scrolls long had a role in protecting the welfare of individuals and households.

An entire house could be protected by one very long scroll, but shorter scrolls like these would be used by an individual seeking a cure from an ailment, and carried with the patient. As the recipients were often women, it is not uncommon to find scrolls dedicated to curing illnesses of pregnancy or menstrual cramps, but others may be less specific, and comprise a series of prayers and liturgical texts for the health of the soul.

On one of our two scrolls, the scribe has left a blank space in the midst of the opening lines which introduce each new section or prayer, perhaps leaving room for a practitioner to write in a preferred invocation, name of the recipient, or other custom details.