A talisman, amulet, or fetish is an artificial object that is believed to have a soul or to be endowed with power. It is worn or worshipped as a protection for personal safety. By wearing these supposed symbols of power and protection, people give them credibility and trust.
Amulet comes from the Latin amuletum, meaning to repel. An amulet is a power-charged object for protection against magical or demonic danger. Talisman comes from the Arabic tilasmun and the Greek telesma and means firstly completion, consecration, then also appropriation spell.
Amulets and talismans are all objects and parts from the organic and inorganic world, to which the ancient, primitive or modern man attributes a power charge. The effect of fetishes, amulets, talismans is enhanced by inscriptions, especially the magic word. The fact that this cult has its roots in the magic of paganism
is important for the treatment of fetishism today.
Fetishism is not only a phenomenon of ancient and primitive religions, but also a phenomenon of modern superstition. Fetishism is not only a phenomenon of ancient and primitive religions, but also a phenomenon of modern superstition. The worship of hair, feathers, nails, horns, claws, teeth, spiders, scarabs, little pigs, laurel, garlic, stems, threads, cords, tassels, ribbons, flint, spearheads, etc. in the ancient world and among primitive peoples, there is a parallel in the worship of four-leaf clovers, lucky pennies, lucky mushrooms, lucky pigs, horseshoes, lucky letters, amulets, relics, Easter water, mascots, board animals, chimney sweeps as symbols of good luck, and in the fear of owls, ravens, spiders, black cats, old women, the stopping of the clock, the number 13 and the like as messengers of bad luck.
Occult objects such as amulets, talismans, fetishes, mascots, celestial letters, letters of fortune, letters of fire, idols and all the cultic objects of non-Christian religions are points of crystallisation for demonic powers. Rationalists laugh at this and do the devil’s business with it.
Missionary wives have often reported that from the moment their husbands hung the devil masks in the living room at home, there was discord and strife in the family. It is extremely foolish and shows a great lack of experience for missionaries, in their enthusiasm for collecting, to bring home devil masks and other cult objects from the mission field and to hang or place them in their homes.
The pagans who are converted know immediately that they must destroy their idols. When a small revival occurred in Liberia in 1913 under a preacher named Harris, the people immediately threw away their idols. When a revival started on Rote Island in the last ten years through Pastor Zacharias, the people destroyed their idols and even burned the houses where the idols were. They said that the atmosphere of the houses was defiled by the idols.
(Source: “Occult ABC” and “Christian Counselling and Occultism”, Dr. Kurt E. Koch)
