Gayane Melkonyan, a lawyer for a Moscow firm, bought a miniature khachkar (a stone Armenian shrine in the form of a stele with carved crosses on it) in a souvenir shop in Yerevan. The woman brought the decorative shrine home to Moscow, not even suspecting that she could conceal an original souvenir.
The effect, as they say, was not long in coming. It all started relatively harmless: Gayane fell ill - an ordinary cough, low temperature, dizziness. Her family members also began to feel unwell. However, no one dared to think that the shrine, albeit decorative, could somehow mystically influence the well-being of its owners. Then the snowball of misfortune only grew larger, and the damage it caused was amazing.
A month later, Gayane's son Ashot, a young man without bad habits, a practicing lawyer, got up at night to drink water and fell down dead from a heart attack. The ambulance arrived quickly enough, but they could not pump the guy out. After another three months, under mysterious circumstances, Gayane's beloved uncle, Armen, died.
The woman was in despair, since she simply could not find a rational explanation for what was happening. As a believer, she turned to the priests. Gayane did not receive an exhaustive answer from her confessors. She had no choice but to look on the other side - she called the psychic.
An expert on the supernatural, after listening to the tragic story of a long-suffering Armenian woman, almost immediately established the reason - the very khachkar bought in the souvenir shop. The psychic said that buying a cross-stone is like bringing a grave cross or a funeral wreath from the cemetery to the house.
According to her, such things have a strong energy of the world of the dead and are a kind of portal to another world - hence all the troubles. On the advice of the medium, Gayane threw away the ill-fated souvenir. After a few days, everything worked out. However, the relatives could not be returned.
- Khachkar is a unique thing that carries the values of Christian Armenia. The souvenirs are not intended for the religious process. They do not keep any "sacraments" - this is pure symbolism. And to say that a certain "esotericism of the symbol" can bring trouble is frivolity. It's the same as buying a dragon figurine in China and saying that it somehow influenced your destiny.
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Any object has a certain energy and can somehow affect a person's life. I personally do not believe in it, but even if it is, it cannot bring it “to death,” said Vartan Mushegyan, President of the Union of Diasporas of Russia.
Timofey Bazhenov on superstitions and insect corpses
We talked with the famous Russian traveler, author and host of the programs "Wild World", "Bazhenov's Tales" and "Bazhenov's Rating" Timofey Bazhenov.
- What shouldn't you bring from your travels? I am not superstitious at all and I believe that objects cannot be the cause of real problems. These are just coincidences. The main thing is not to bring dried mammals: inside their corpses there may be some Asian disease, for example.
It is also not worth carrying fruit: this violates the law and may have a bad effect on the body. And in no case should you bring exotic animals: they will most likely die,”Timofey said responsibly.
It is clear that the popular Russian traveler thinks financially and no oriental artifacts, African masks, crosses seem to him to be things that can influence the course of life.
“I think so because I am a fairly educated person, besides a believer, and my convictions forbid me to make such assumptions. I am skeptical about mysticism. Everyone knows that I lead a peculiar way of life, and if the legislation is not violated, then you can bring whatever your heart desires."
In November, Timofey is going to Cambodia, then to Laos and Vietnam, but he has no plans to bring himself anything, because, according to him, he has nowhere to put souvenirs at his home.
Voodoo sorcerer and face with nails
To complete the picture, we turned to Master Gahan, a representative of the Community of African Voodoo Wizards in Russia, who has been practicing for over 30 years, including 20 years in the African tradition.
The master immediately warned fans of travel to the lands of the Moors that one of the most dangerous things is old masks, which show that they were used earlier: “You can notice brown spots from blood, some sticky residues, abrasions. Even if the mask was washed, traces of its participation in the rituals will be noticeable."
Also, Master Gahanu said that African souvenir bazaars are full of beautiful fakes, and when you see that the mask has just been cut, you can take it.
A representative of African sorcerers said that there really were cases when the brought souvenirs were the cause of not only misfortunes, but also death.
In particular, the sorcerer calls on to beware of masks in the form of a person's face, pierced with nails:
“These are attacking masks, they are beautiful, creepy, and they are charged with evil. As a rule, people buy them for private collections, as they are not cheap. In such cases, it is usually not the owner who dies, but his family members, often children. While the parents are at work, the child plays with the mask. And the energy of the body is easily damaged. And even if the mask is then thrown away, human suffering will not stop."
- There are some stone crosses that cannot be kept at home, maximum - in a remote corner of the garden. They contain spirits attached to nature or to the family of the deceased. It's the same as bringing the cross from the grave for pseudo-ritual practices - literally opening the door to the cemetery in your own house, - concluded Master Gahan.
Souls Trapped in Objects and Miktlansihuatl
But psychic Daria Mironova, for example, encourages travelers to be wary of mirrors and edged weapons: “Mirrors have memory. They reflect the so-called subtle fields. If the mirror is old, then it remembers more and the more mysterious its memories. In other words, the psychic says that the tragic events that occurred in someone's life can be projected onto yours.
Each weapon, according to Daria, has a sacred energetic meaning, and usually such souvenirs lead to the destruction of a person's fate. And various blades or Egyptian plates can lead to financial ruin.
- Often the soul is locked in the object. Hanging the amulet, for example, in the bedroom, you can destroy the family or just get sick.
An anomalous expert will clean an item if you are unsure of its origin, but really want to bring it home:
“Best cleaned with water, salt or fire. Take a jar and cover it with sea salt for three days, then put it in sunlight. And if the object is large, it can be fumigated with incense, myrrh or sandalwood - the energy of fire and air."
Daria told about a very recent case from her practice, when a young family returned from a trip to Egypt with a Nefertiti mask. After some time, the husband began to cheat, and the couple separated in terrible scandals. It was later revealed that it was not Nefertiti, but the goddess of destruction Miktlansihuatl. And the mask was not from Egypt, but from Mexico.
The psychic also dispelled the myth that various kinds of historical coins bring good luck. On the contrary, according to the medium, coins can cause poverty, and it is much better to bring "all kinds of toads or scarab beetles" from travel.
Anything can be …
However, Igor Grigorievich Yakovenko, a member of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a culturologist, philosopher and writer, has a completely different opinion about purchasing souvenirs:
- It is not worth bringing to those who believe in it. Yes, there are things that science cannot explain. Mysticism, conspiracies, curses - all this has no rational explanation. I have heard that there have been unusual cases related to the purchase of souvenirs. Therefore, it is still worth thinking before taking and taking it home, - said the specialist.
In other words, there are many phenomena in the world, the nature of which is difficult to explain, and often simply impossible. Sometimes the root cause of failure or misfortune can be a banal coincidence, and sometimes something more. To believe or not to believe is always up to you, but it is better to be warned. After all, forewarned means forearmed.
