Find your talisman DE

The collection

All 32 talismans

Filter by wish or by tradition, or search for a name. Every entry tells where a talisman comes from, what it means and how it is worn.

32 talismans

Through time

Landmarks in the history of talismans

  1. Stone and Bronze Agesc. 3200 BCETriskeleTriple spirals are carved at Newgrange in Ireland
  2. c. 3000 BCEAnkhThe ankh sign appears in early Egyptian writing and art
  3. c. 2300 BCEEye of HorusWedjat eye amulets appear in Egyptian burials
  4. c. 2000 BCEScarabScarab amulets and seals spread across Egypt
  5. c. 1500 BCEEvil EyeEarly glass eye beads are made in Egypt and Mesopotamia
  6. c. 1325 BCEOuroborosTail-biting serpents encircle a figure on a shrine of Tutankhamun
  7. Antiquityc. 700 BCEOmOm is praised in the early Upanishads
  8. c. 500 BCEPentacleThe pentagram is linked to the Pythagoreans as a sign of health
  9. 221 BCEChinese Lucky CoinsQin unification makes the round coin with a square hole standard across China
  10. c. 190 BCELunulaThe Roman playwright Plautus mentions the lunula
  11. 79 CESator SquareSator squares are scratched on walls at Pompeii before the eruption
  12. Middle Agesc. 800 CETriquetraTriquetras decorate the Book of Kells
  13. c. 900 CEMjölnirThor's hammer pendants are worn across Viking Age Scandinavia
  14. 988 CEHorseshoeSaint Dunstan dies; later legend ties him to the lucky horseshoe
  15. 1348HamsaA hand is carved on the Gate of Justice at the Alhambra in Granada
  16. 1352Cowrie ShellIbn Battuta records cowries used as money in the Mali Empire
  17. Early modern1620Four-Leaf CloverSir John Melton writes that four-leaved grass brings good fortune
  18. Modern times1817SankofaThomas Bowdich collects an adinkra cloth in Kumasi
  19. 1852Maneki-nekoA beckoning cat appears in a woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige
  20. c. 1860VegvísirThe vegvísir is recorded in the Icelandic Huld manuscript
  21. 1929DreamcatcherFrances Densmore describes Ojibwe spider web charms