Did you ever find out that your house was shielded from evil spirits by an ancient spell? I know, right! By now, I should not be surprised anymore by the underlying sub-plot of mystical, spiritualist beliefs I keep stumbling on in photos, texts, mementoes. Like pictures of ancestors where all the eyes have been pierced with a needle. This time though, it was hidden under the tiles. Literarily. Spells? Wards? Call it superstitions if you balk at the idea. That is exactly what we found out while re-tiling our entrance hall in Claviers. Quick online research, an avalanche of green stones later and a confirmation: the piece of malachite buried right under our threshold has to be intentional.
Of course, it has to be my grandfather’s doing; after all, malachite was his youth, his life.
Malachite is the ore from which you extract copper. Katanga sits on enormous reserves of it. My grandparents crisscrossed the region in the late 20s and early 30s to find more of it. Maybe you remember the Malachite Manglers of the Xmas 1919 dinner menu? Or the photos from Camp Lubitshako? So, sure, there is that; it may be a souvenir from their life there. A piece of Africa they brought back with them. A piece of malachite to welcome them back every time they entered their new home in Claviers.
Was this already their custom in their hut in the 30s, in their bungalow in the 40s?
Maybe. Or is it more than that? A superstition. An ancient belief.
Because malachite is more than a mere souvenir, more than a semi-precious stone, more than just copper in green form. Since ever, since the Ancient Egyptians at least, malachite is a spiritual cleanser, a protection of the soul against assorted evil and evil intentions, worn as amulets or buried as wards. A ward that spans millennia, from ancient African magic to new age crystal lore. A spiritual shield, literally deployed at our threshold! Very similar practices and beliefs to Chinese Feng Shui or Indian Vastu – unsurprisingly as always.
And why would it not be both at the same time, a memory and a ward?
The care taken to position and hide the light green malachite stone under the entrance. The pride of place another piece of dark malachite had in my grandmother’s curio cabinet. And add our family’s congenital propensity for spiritualism. Too many hints to ignore.
This house is protected.
The malachite has been left in peace and rests now under the new tiles. Until the next generation.
Even the walls tell us their hopes.
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