All ancient objects were magical charms. [1] Since anything connected with the body could become a fetish, the earliest magic had to do with hair and nails. [2] A world so filled with charms did much to destroy all personal ambition and initiative. [3]
The primitives believed that a ceremony of consecration caused the spirit to enter the image; likewise, when certain objects were blessed, they became charms. [4] Charms were employed to insure a happy and fertile marriage. [5]
Charms and relics are impotent to heal disease, ward off disaster, or influence evil spirits; the belief in all such material means of influencing the spiritual world is nothing but gross superstition. [6]
Magical charms were concocted from a great variety of things: human flesh, tiger claws, crocodile teeth, poison plant seeds, snake venom, and human hair. [7] The ornamental type of personal effects originated in the wearing of charms. [8] Primitives rubbed charms on infections, then discarded them and supposedly experience a cure. [9]
See also: UB 88:5.