Good Luck Charms Research Articles

A systematic review on biological and medicinal properties of Ehretia rigida (Thunb.) Druce (Ehretiaceae) in Southern Africa

Wild plants are widely utilized as important sources of traditional medicines and food. Ehretia rigida (Thunb.) is one such plant species that occurs naturally in southern Africa and different parts of the plant have nutritional, cultural, and pharmaceutical importance. The current study is aimed at providing information on the medicinal and biological properties of E. rigida. The current review assessed the existing literature on the biological properties and medicinal uses of the plant. The study revealed that the leaves, twigs, stems, bark and roots of the plant are mainly used for ritual purposes, as traditional medicines for infertility, headache, abdominal pains, chest pains, pain, skin cuts, sprained joints, newborn baby infections, a good-luck charm, fire-making and rain-making ceremonies, warding-off enemies and dangerous animals and as ethnoveterinary medicine. The phytochemical evaluation of the species showed that it is characterized by allantoin, ?-amyrin, ?-amyrin, ?avonoids, phenolics, saponins, tannins, ?-sitosterol and 1-triacontanol. The pharmacological properties of different crude extracts demonstrated anticholinesterase inhibition, antifungal, antibacterial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. This review highlights the pharmaceutical and health benefits of E. rigida in different countries of southern Africa. Therefore, detailed ethnopharmacological evaluations of the species focusing on phytochemistry, pharmacological properties, toxicological evaluations, and in vivo and clinical research investigations are recommended.

‘Tsaraka’ (Good Luck Charm): An Expository Appraisal of its Usage in Sarkanci

Hausa land lies within the North-West of Nigeria and the southern part of Niger. Despite the low nature of rainfall distribution and the insistent drought which befell the zone, there exist streams, rivers, and lakes, which traverse the area. These water phenomena are filled up with water during the rainy season. This provides quite a good number of fishing grounds stocked with freshwater fish. Examples include among others, the river Rima, Haɗejiya, and the river Niger which entered into Nigeria at Bahindi, having crossed several West African countries. The natural lakes that exist include the Nato, Kalmalo, and Saru, to mention but a few. There are also several man-made dams, examples of which include among others, Bakalori, Goronyo, and Kainji. Smaller earth dams also abound. The availability of fishery resources paved the way for fishing activities to strive in Hausa land. Hausa professional fishermen ‘Sarkawa’ put into practice some cultural traits among which is the ‘tsaraka’, a good luck charm that they prepare to solicit for luck and success of getting a good catch during fishing expeditions. It is this culture of ‘tsaraka’ practiced by the ‘Sarkawa’ (professional fishermen) while executing ‘sarkanci’ (professional fishing) that this paper explored and analyzed. The primary information is sourced directly from Sarkawa through a survey. Obtained data is completely analyzed and discussed. The paper has found out that despite deep acceptance and practice of Islam as the religion of ‘Sarkawa’, up to the present time, various forms of good luck charms are still being prepared and put to use by the Hausa Fishermen, to invite luck and enhance good catch while fishing.

Aprovechamiento tradicional de mamíferos silvestres en Pitzotlan, Morelos, México

Se analiza el conocimiento etnozoológico que conservan los habitantes de Pitzotlán, relativo a los mamíferos silvestres. Mediante técnicas etnozoológicas se registró el aprovechamiento de 6 órdenes, 11 familias y 20 especies, de las cuales el 55% de las especies tienen los siguientes valores de uso: alimentario (100%), medicinal (45%), animales de compañía (18%), ornamental (18%), amuleto (18%) y en la fabricación de herramientas (9%). Su explotación se lleva a cabo mediante la cacería de subsistencia, en este caso se utilizan armas de fuego (100%), perros (36%) y resorteras (18%). El venado cola blanca y el tejón fueron las especies más utilizadas, registrando un Índice de importancia cultural de 1. Debido a diferentes acciones de mejoramiento del hábitat y a la implementación de normas para el manejo de la fauna, los habitantes han registrado un incremento en las poblaciones de venado cola blanca, tejón y jabalí. Se discute la importancia de los mamíferos como recurso alimentario y medicinal, así como rescatar y valorar el conocimiento tradicional con la participación de la población para generar estrategias de conservación y formas de aprovechamiento racional de estos mamíferos, en beneficio de la comunidad.

Soprano Tough Orange, and: The Bear, and: Snowover

Soprano Tough Orange, and: The Bear, and: Snowover Susan Mitchell (bio) Soprano Tough Orange With a stutter and a sneeze,that's how, with catch ascatch can, with a quick spritz of cologne, a shakeof good-luck charms. Where theycan, that's where, and if there is a better place thanalong this highway, how woulda flower know? Like Day-Glo bunnies they catch on, like a crazeof orange balloons trailingcars of newlyweds, they honk the byways and center lane.A highway goes faster than anyflower in the world, knocks heads off deer, sheers rockclean through. A seed takes offlittering commotion tizzies and mango pops at everyservice plaza. Because they growout of wrappers blown from fries and Mr. Fizziesbecause they blareeverywhere, let me not take for granted a millionbells and whopper torches,let me not forget [End Page 19] each carrot thrust—though howsomething ends is asmysterious as how it begins. Blessed be orange for its brashand brazen, for its boldme too, me too. Blessed be orange because itdespises nothing. In its honorlet me not forget the acrid smoke of bloom and bust.Boombox of colors, promiscuousmusic blaring station to station, let me mercy the seedthat does not orange, that landscrooked or double spins through an open windowto swizzle my arm on the wheelwith its C above high C. [End Page 20] The Bear Oh, give us a thumbs up, give us a hwar and a hwil.For my last meal I will eat oysters and mother of pearl. I have seen it perched on a railing,front and hind legs drawntogether as if by the invisible. Its huge prints wear no seat belts and fillwith ice by morning. See how it rears up in reflections, window by window. How it floats above the East River and looks intoa hospital room, its muzzle bigas 42nd and Broadway. Oh, give us a thumbs up, give us a hwar and a hwil. Because of the bear, the operating room dimmed to twilightbelow zero, my arms crossed over my chest. Who knew the way was corridor under corridor, eachabsence to be learned by heart. To suffer the claws and feel no pain. To be strewnlike berries and seeds. Oh, give us a thumbs up, give us a hwar and a hwil. When the muscle was cut I gnarled.There is no alone like alone. Why the bear appears to some in broad daylightand not to others, I have no idea. To beget the bear—but what do I know of bear or beget?Oh, give us a hwar, a thirl, a whirl. [End Page 21] I know only warble and glisten,the bird stuck in its throat. The unmade I left unmade. Let us not regret regret. [End Page 22] Snowover To stomp through drifts of snow and listenfor the crunch, crisp and swote. Like biting into an apple with our feet. How wonderful to spend day after day in a trainof snow, a whole car just for you and me. How wonderful not to feel compelled to thinkof a better word than wonderful. To search the Internet for the crunchand creak of someone walking through snow. Cranch if we lived in the seventeenth century. Snow falling on yards of junk, on rustingengines and factories. On huge roots that could push up a city. What a joy to say quinquangular and stretchmy mouth around your mouth. To teeter the ridges between quartz and hunch.To prolong the crunch and say backstitchand eldritch, hotchpotch and crouch. What is it like to be a rootsucking up rain, dirt, and snow fallingwithout purpose or goal? Penetrating into the oldest covenants.Lapping the blood of billions. Is there laughter in the hereafter? Do you envy the rat its tailwith over two hundred scales? [End Page 23] What a whiff of snow rushes the headphones. Oh, honeybunch, if I met you in my sleepwould we lapspoon the possible? Would we push up a whole...

Estudio etnozoológico de las aves y mamíferos silvestres asociados a huertos frutícolas de Zacualpan de Amilpas, Morelos, México

Esta investigación es un estudio etnozoológico basado en el análisis del conocimiento tradicional de los habitantes originarios de la comunidad de Zacualpan de Amilpas, Morelos, México, respecto a las aves y mamíferos silvestres que se asocian a los huertos frutícolas. La metodología se realizó en cuatro etapas: contacto con las autoridades correspondientes, reconocimiento de informantes clave, recorrido de huertos, realización de entrevistas y muestreos para la observación y contrastación de las especies identificadas por los sujetos informantes. Se registraron 34 nombres comunes de aves, pertenecientes a 26 especies, 6 órdenes y 15 familias; el orden con mayor número de especies fue Passeriformes y las familias más representativas son Tyrannidae e Icteridae. Para los mamíferos se reconocieron 16 nombres comunes, pertenecientes a 18 especies, seis órdenes y 10 familias, el orden Carnívora y la familia Mephitidae los que poseen mayor número de especies. Los valores de uso registrados fueron: alimentario, medicinal, ornato y amuleto. Se destaca el uso de la escopeta y resortera para la caza de las especies. La población reconoce tres servicios ambientales (dispersión de semillas, depredación de insectos y polinización), que 16 especies realizan. Se concluye que la revaloración del conocimiento tradicional local es importante para el uso, manejo y conservación de las aves y los mamíferos asociados a los huertos frutícolas tradicionales.

Jewels, Gems, and Magic Stones: The Uses of Stones in Natural Magic in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, many people believed that rocks and minerals possessed magical properties. For example, rubies were used to treat disorders of the blood, while topaz was used to ward off demons. This paper describes the supposed properties of these stones and their uses as medicine, as good luck charms and protective amulets, and as a means of working magic.

An Anatomy of Tradition: The Case of the Charitêsion

Abstract This paper traces continuity and change in the structure and formulation of Demotic, Greek, and Coptic charitêsia (“good luck charms”) in Roman Egypt. Drawing on the theoretical work of Roy Rappaport and Catherine Bell, it argues that the producers of these charms created a sense of tradition by echoing and modulating pre-established forms of incantation. The resulting products combined both elasticity and specificity so as to be at once recognizable in a broad cultural context and relevant to specific audiences.

Kissing the mezuzah and cognitive performance: Is there an observable benefit?

A mezuzah is a small case affixed to the doorframe of each room in Jewish homes and workplaces which contains a tiny scroll of parchment inscribed with a prayer. It is customary for religious Jews to touch the mezuzah every time they pass through a door and kiss the fingers that touched it. However, kissing the mezuzah has also become customary for many secular Jews who think of the mezuzah as a good luck charm. In view of a recent revelation that kissing the mezuzah entails a health hazard, the present paper inquires whether it also has some observable benefit. In an experiment conducted among non-religious mezuzah-kissing economics and business students confronted with a logic-problem exam, some were allowed to kiss the mezuzah before taking the exam, whereas the others were asked not to do so or could not do so because it had been removed from the room doorframe. The experiment revealed that participants who did not kiss the mezuzah performed worse than those who kissed it, and that the stronger is one's belief in the mezuzah's luck-enhancing properties, the better he performs when he kisses it but the worse he performs when he does not.

The Effects of Political Socialization in Event Marketing on the Youth: —The Three Little Pigs and Good Luck Charms Campaigns in Taiwan's 2012 Presidential Election

Event marketing allows a brand to target an audience by creating or enhancing an image through association with a particular event. In the political arena, a party is also a brand, and a campaign can be considered a series of event marketing activities. This study explores if the two major event marketing activities of the 2012 Taiwan presidential election campaign, Three Little Pigs and Good Luck Charms, might have impacted on young voters’ preference for the respective parties and their perception of the parties’ images via political socialization. An online survey was applied with a random sample of 815 drawn from InsightXplorer’s Cyber Panel database. The results demonstrated the significant effects of political socialization by media, family, and peers in that when people encountered the campaign events more often in the media and had more discussions with their families and peers, they were more likely to have a positive attitude towards the party and perceive the party image positively. Additionally, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters and non-Kuomintang (KMT) supporters were more likely to perceive Three Little Pigs as positive for the DPP, while KMT supporters and non-DPP supporters tended to believe that Good Luck Charms had positive impacts for KMT.

A late witness to Valentinian devotion in Egypt?

Among the spells with Christian elements published in Papyri Graecae Magicae is a charitesion or “good luck charm,” Papyrus Wessely Pragensis Graecus no. 1. 1 The spell concludes with an acclamation to Jesus Christ that is remarkable for its long series of epithets. These have thus far eluded satisfactory explanation. Several of the epithets recall language used in Valentinian writings to express the relationship between Father and Son in Valentinian protology and soteriology. This paper presents evidence to support reading the acclamation as an expression of Valentinian devotion, and discusses the significance of such an acclamation in a spell that may have been written in the fifth century, taking into account the scribal features of the papyrus.

Traditional-medical knowledge and perception of pangolins (Manis sps) among the Awori people, Southwestern Nigeria

BackgroundAnimals have been used as medicinal resources throughout human history. Majority of wildlife used in traditional medicines is taken from the wild; hence demand by traditional medicine is a cause of over-exploitation of wild animals. Indiscriminate use of endangered species portends grievous implications for biodiversity conservation. This study investigated the dynamics of the use of pangolin in trado-medicinal preparations amongst the Awori people.MethodsForty traditional Yorubic-medical practitioners (tymps) selected through stratified random-sampling technique were interviewed using open-ended questionnaires. Various aspects of the utilisation of pangolin in traditional medicinal practices were investigated. Data collected were analysed using simple frequencies and percentages.ResultsAn average of 1.6 pangolins were utilised per tymp per month. About 43% of respondents contracted hunters for deliberate searches for the animals. More than 92% believed that pangolins' abundance is steadily decreasing. Above 97% reported a continuous decline in the size of pangolin. Pangolin was used in treating 47 conditions. Situations accommodated included those that can be treated by orthodox medicine like rheumatism and venereal diseases as well as some that are out of range for orthodox medicine including kleptomania and good luck charms. Some substitute animals like gorilla are under a greater conservation threat than pangolin.ConclusionsUtilisation of pangolin in traditional medicine has no consideration for sustainability. Awareness should be created on people as regards the implications of unsustainable depletion of medicinal resources. Efforts should be intensified on ex-situ breeding of pangolin while subjecting the scales and other parts to laboratory studies to determine the bioactive constituents.

Albinism in Africa: Stigma, Slaughter and Awareness Campaigns

Oculocutaneous albinism is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a lack of pigment in the hair, skin, and eyes. Albinism is caused by defective or absent tyrosinase, an enzyme necessary for melanogenesis. Although rare in the western world, albinism is quite common in sub-Saharan Africa, likely as a result of consanguinity. Albinism has long been associated with stigma and superstitions, such as the belief that a white man impregnated the mother or that the child is the ghost of a European colonist. Recently, a notion has emerged that albino body parts are good-luck charms or possess magical powers. These body parts may be sold for as much as $75,000 on the black market. As a result there have been over 100 albino murders in Tanzania, Burundi, and other parts of Africa in the past decade, which is now beginning to garner international attention and thus prompting novel legislation. To ameliorate the plight of individuals with albinism in Africa, a coordinated effort must be organized, involving medical professionals (dermatologists, ophthalmologists, oncologists), public health advocates and educators, social workers, human rights and antidiscrimination activists, law-enforcement agencies, and governmental support groups. The main issues that should be addressed include skin cancer prevention education, stigma and discrimination denouncement, and swift prosecution of albino hunters and their sponsors.

Rabbits' feet and four-leaf clovers

Rabbits' feet and four-leaf clovers

‘Frosty Morning’, ‘Patchwork Quilt’, ‘Irish Mist’, and ‘Pistachio Ice Cream’ Ornamental White Clover (Trifolium repens L.)

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is an annual or short-lived perennial found throughout temperate regions of the world (Gibson and Cope, 1985). Originally native to the Mediterranean (Ellison et al., 2006), white clover grows in a wide range of temperatures and in nearly any soil type provided there is enough moisture and sunlight (Gibson and Cope, 1985). In addition, white clover is a frost-tolerant species with little frost damage observed on leaves after exposure to mild frosts (up to –5 C) (Caradus, 1995; McCully et al., 2004). The plant has a prostrate growth habit (Leffel and Gibson, 1973) and spreads along the ground through stolons. White clover is primarily grown as forage for livestock (Van Keuren and Hoveland, 1985), but the plant has also been cultivated for ornamental use. Ornamental cultivar development in the species is possible primarily because of the many attractive leaf marks that are expressed. The attractive foliar marks, combined with its low, spreading growth habit and frost tolerance, makes white clover ideal for development as an ornamental bedding plant. In addition to the attractiveness of white clover developed for ornamental use, there is also folklore associated with the plant that could make it more appealing to ornamental consumers. White clover might have been the ‘‘shamrock’’ plant used by St. Patrick to teach Christianity in Ireland (Kennedy, 1919). White clover also has a long history of being used as a token of good fortune. White clover was believed to ward off evil spirits by the Celts (Taylor, 1985). Nearly 150 years ago, Masters (1869) described girls using fourleaf clovers as ‘‘a token of perfect happiness.’’ In the early 20th century, finding a four-leaf clover was a sign of good luck or a sign that a girl would soon meet her future husband (Beckwith, 1923). To this day, people search for four-leaf clovers to keep as a good luck charm. In 2002, an ornamental white clover breeding program was initiated at The University of Georgia with the goal of developing cultivars with highly ornamental phenotypes and improved persistence in the Southeast. Four white clover cultivars, Frosty Morning (tested as genotype 04-O-2), Patchwork Quilt (tested as genotype 04-O-6), Irish Mist (tested as genotype 04-O-33), and Pistachio Ice Cream (tested as genotype 04-O53), were developed at The University of Georgia. These cultivars have unique phenotypes that are distinct from other commercially available ornamental white clover cultivars. After 2 years of evaluation in the field, the four genotypes were found to be comparable or superior to two commercially available ornamental white clover cultivars, Dragon’s Blood and Dark Dancer, in terms of survival and stand quality in the southern United States (Tables 1–3). Thus, the four released cultivars were approved for release by The University of Georgia’s Ornamentals Release Committee in 2008 for use as ornamental annuals or short-lived perennials (Fig. 1).

Through the Prism of Slave Art: History, Literature, Memory, and the Work of P. Sterling Stuckey

Previous articleNext article No AccessThrough the Prism of Slave Art: History, Literature, Memory, and the Work of P. Sterling StuckeyJason YoungJason Young Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of African American History Volume 91, Number 4Fall 2006P. Sterling Stuckey: In Praise of an Intellectual Legacy A journal of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/JAAHv91n4p389 Views: 25Total views on this site Copyright ASALHPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Equilibrium, and: Shikata ga nai, and: What Remains, and: Over the Moon

Equilibrium In Sacramento, I was a newspaperman, but now I stuff newspapers into cracks around the door frame, between the floorboards and into knotholes to keep sand, wind and rattlesnakes out of our barracks. Here at Topaz, the Jewel of the Desert, I have become a carpenter. I use my hands to make life in the camp bearable for my family. When we arrived, our shack held nothing but four army cots. For mattresses, we were given bags to be filled with straw. I salvaged lumber from the yard to build crude furniture – a table, chairs, and a few shelves. Emi borrowed a broom and swept out the dust, then sewed curtains by hand to hang in the window. My son made a pull toy from the lids of tin cans. Mama came with us. She was an Issei and a poet. One day she wandered into the desert and never came back. I fashioned a box with no nails to hold her ashes. Emi made an ikebana from tumbleweeds. [End Page 88] Beneath the shadows of barbed wire, I have discovered the beauty of tools. How a plane can subdue the harshness of wood, its cold steel a comfort in my palm. How a level, with its bubble that does not freeze in winter, can offer levity. I have learned how to face a sandstorm with a strip of cardboard plastered with glue, then to use this sandpaper to smooth out the incongruities of our lives. I have been shown the miracle of precision and balance – how a hammer can straighten out the bent backs of nails and make them useful again. Shikata ga nai Rage was not something we were allowed to feel at Gila River and before that, when we were herded into horse stalls. We followed, obedient citizens bound in by barbed wire and silence. Shikata ga nai. It can't be helped. My father was a 'no-no man,' checking 'No' on the government's Loyalty Questionnaire – 'No' to giving up his rights – and was taken away by the FBI to a detention camp for criminals. We never saw him for three years. Shikata ga nai. [End Page 89] After eight months in the internment camp, my brother joined the Army. Fred was swoony. All the girls adored him. In the photograph of us together, he's standing proud in his uniform. I'm wearing my best lacy blouse. Mother and the other women in camp each sewed a stitch for a thousand-stitch sash, a good luck charm to keep him safe. Fred and his friends joined the 442nd. All Nisei. All sent to Italy. All dead. Shikata ga nai. After the war, General Stilwell pinned a Distinguished Service Cross to my blouse. Yes, the same lacy blouse. Mother stood like a ghost behind me. She was not allowed to receive her son's medal. She was an Issei, an enemy alien. Shikata ga nai. [End Page 90] What Remains They loaded us onto trucks bound for the camps took our homes, our possessions, our land just because we were Japanese – Japanese Americans. Two suitcases were all we were allowed for clothes photos, keepsakes – twenty years of our lives in America. Your grandfather was taken right off his fishing boat. I was cooking the evening meal when they came. Your mother sat at the kitchen table studying for a test. That night I cut strips of cloth from garments I had to leave behind. And from them I sewed this quilt. Each stitch, a remembrance – each square, rectangle a tribute to nature's bounty in the desolation of Heart Mountain. I stitched in the comfort of kasuri, the smell of wood smoke on rain-black nights, of days when rain fell soft and even as my child's breath. I stitched in triangles of flowers from my wedding kimono. And as I quilted, I whispered their names: kiku, hagi, kikyô chrysanthemum...

Spotting a fake

To the Greeks they were tears of the gods; to the Romans they were shards from the stars; and to Indians they were good-luck charms that warded off illness, thieves and forces of evil. Today, diamonds are still the ultimate gift when it comes to expressing love and commitment. And with the oldest diamonds being just over three-quarters the age of the Earth, the famous advertising slogan “A diamond is forever” holds true more than most.

The Roman Iron Age Tar Loaf From Albertsro, Sweden

This paper presents results of the analysis of a tar loaf from the Iron Age settlement of Albertsro, Södermanland, Sweden. The results are compared with the descriptions of previously found Scandinavian Bronze Age tar loaves (Harz Kuchen). The Albertsro loaf was analysed both chemically and morphologically, and was found to consist of birchbark tar together with pieces of birch-bark and animal fat, both probably added to give the loaf a more easily workable consistency. The loaf corresponds well in both appearance and content with other tar loaves a thousand years older. The place where it was found, in one of the roof postholes of a long house, and its date, in the Early Roman Iron Age, make this loaf a rather unusual artefact. It was probably deposited as a building sacrifice, perhaps as a good luck charm for the house and the area, and it may be an indication that some form of handicraft which involved the use of tar took place in the area. The paper concludes with a proposal that the Scandinavian tar loaves were produced as one stage in the processing of wood, leading to a material for the sealing, jointing and decoration of tools.

Scooping, raking, beckoning luck: luck, agency and the interdependence of people and things in Japan

This article focuses on the circulation and consumption of Japanese commodities invested with an informal, domestic form of spirituality, translated as ‘luck’. Tambiah has argued that the dissemination of spiritual power objectified in Thai Buddhist amulets reflects the ‘differential power distribution’ and ‘social control’ vested in an hierarchically ordered lay society. My Japanese case study suggests that commodification of religious forms enables a more democratic diffusion of spirituality. Good luck charms are neither sacred nor secular; they challenge the supposed divide between the aesthetic value and utility of objects. They are part of extended networks of human and non‐human agents, but through their various trajectories they also retain an independent agency rooted in their material properties.

Myths and mandrakes.

J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets1 includes a scene in which the hero and his friends are in a greenhouse, taking instruction from Professor Sprout on the re-potting of mandrakes. To protect their hearing, the class is equipped with earmuffs. In an age ever more preoccupied with medicinal herbs, mandrake is the herb that time has forgotten, the word more readily associated today with a column in the Sunday Telegraph or the American strip cartoon Mandrake the Magician. Mandrake the Magician (1934) was the first super-powered costumed crime fighter, the forerunner of Superman, Batman and, most recently Spiderman, but even this icon of the 20th century had his origin in antiquity, for the unlikely source of his creator Lee Falk's inspiration was a poem by the 17th century English poet John Donne2. Donne's subject was fertility: ‘Goe, and catche a falling starre, Get with child a mandrake roote’. And the origin of the mandrake's association with fertility is truly ancient, surfacing first in chapter 30 of the Book of Genesis, where the childless Rachael asks her sister Leah for the loan of the mandrakes which her son had brought in from the fields. Much later, this fertility myth received support from the medieval doctrine of signatures, which suggested that God had provided all plants with a sign indicating their value. Mandrake has a long and frequently bifid taproot whose shape sometimes resembles the body of a man (Figure 1). Believing this to indicate reproductive power, our ancestors took to sleeping with them under their pillows at night. Figure 1 Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum). Sibthorpe: Flora Graeca (1808) Others, however, began to wonder whether the possession of roots might not bring them success in other areas as well—wealth, popularity, or the power to control their own and other people's destinies, and took to wearing them as good luck charms. Not surprisingly, the Church frowned upon this practice and when, during her trial in 1431, Joan of Arc was accused of having a mandrake about her person, the suggestion helped send her to the stake3. Mandrake was, of course, far from being the only plant with an anthropomorphic root. The herb had another property, however, for the root contains hyoscine a powerful alkaloid with the ability to cause hallucinations, delirium and, in larger doses, coma. Mandrake's use as a surgical anaesthetic was first described by the Greek physician Dioscorides around AD 60, and its use as a tincture known as mandragora, or in combination with other herbs such as opium, hemlock and henbane is described in documents from pre-Roman times onwards4. It was the presence of this alkaloid, as well as the shape of the root, that led to the mandrake's association with magic, witchcraft and the supernatural. Mandrake roots became highly sought after in their native Mediterranean habitat, and attempts to protect them from theft are thought to have been the source of the second mandrake myth, which stated that a demon inhabited the root and would kill anyone who attempted to uproot it. Over the centuries, elaborate rituals developed to avoid what became known as the mandrake's curse, the most famous of these requiring the assistance of a dog (Figure 2). Later elaboration of this legend attributed the herb's lethal power to a shriek or a groan emitted by the mandrake as it was uprooted, and suggested that death could be avoided either by a loud blast on a horn at the critical moment or by sealing one's ears with wax. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the earmuff is more in keeping with current health and safety regulations. Figure 2 The mandrake's curse. After being shown a tasty morsel (far right), a hungry dog is tied to the root of the mandrake. From a safe distance, the hunter throws the food in front of the dog, which lunges forward, uprooting the herb. The dog dies at sunrise ...