"We have fallen upon hard times. We are lost, beset, alone, and afraid. We need help. The problems seem so overwhelming and insoluble that we look to God. Amulets, talismans, and magical jewelry provide a beautiful, tangible bridge between us and the unseen, ever-present God. They are prayers we can hold in our hands; something to hold onto when we seek help and protection from above.
"From earliest times, human beings have felt the need to concretize their connection with their God. There are rock paintings and stelae that speak to this need, many dating back thirty thousand years. These huge stelae were the Gods at that time; they were worshipped and feared. Even then, with these visually present and powerful Gods, and well-established forms and rituals for propitiating the Gods, people needed a personal way of connecting to the divine. Small personal amulets and talismans have been found in archeological digs all over the world, dating back thousands of years. Some are written or scratched on rock or metal, and some are simply pierced stones or beads.
"At first the Gods ruled with fear. Human beings were sacrificed to appease them, but then came a change: The entire Old Testament chronicles the emergence of a new way of consciousness. It tells of the One God who is the Creator of All, a God who creates man with free will and in God's own image. The stories of the Old Testament tell of a continual process of separation and individuation as human beings veer between the old way of fear and appeasement, and the new way of individual responsibility and choice.
"The unseen, all-powerful monotheistic God of the Old Testament requires us to make our own choices based on a careful understanding of our own experience. In the face of the difficult tasks of becoming conscious and individuated, the human need for something tangible to hang onto (or to literally hang on oneself) persists. Amulets, talismans, and magical jewelry continue to be a vital connection between human beings and God."
