Madagascar ...... Mohara ( Ody ) : A Sacred spirit amulet shrouded in mystery ! - Horn - Mohara amulet / - Sihanaka or Madagascar - Madagascar

Unique, . . . . . . . not often offered on the international market, especially Catawiki. This tribunal item is called a Mohara (Ody) and was and . . . . . . is still used extensively on the island of Madagascar. Even today this item is still used in the deep south and in some places in the highlands. The cattle thieves in the south still ( called Dahalo) use this item frequently because they believe it would protect them from the bullets, or make them invisible for the Gendarmerie and therefore these items are prohibited. *** I heard rumours of sorcerous horn charms, which everybody agreed had great powers to do good as well as bad, but which nobody admitted to own or to know where to find. *** These are the first words from the blog of Anders Norge Lauridsen MA in Anthropology. Read his full story in: https: //ethnographica. net/2017/01/31/mohara-material-spirits-of-the-sihanaka/ https: //www. researchgate. net/publication/339253578_Inscrutable_Spirits_of_Madagascar_and_the_Concept_of_Subjunctivity_Semikolon_Journal_of_History_of_Ideas_Philosophy_and_Semiotics On photo number 6 you see a pair of Mohara displayed in a museum in France The Ody, amulets and talismans In Malagasy spiritual practices, the magical object or ody establishes the link between the world of the ancestors and that of the living. This "talisman" with many shapes is mainly composed of organic materials. Made and then consecrated by the ombiasy, the sorcerer-therapist, it is then passed on to its future owner(s) . Protective ody are used to preserve the union of a couple, to make its owner fillerable, to protect children from too early mortality or to ensure victory in conflict. Other ody act in a votive dimension, in order to bring wealth, prosperity and good health to the owner(s) . The Malagasy spiritual is intimately linked to the relationship with ancestors. It has remained paramount in the life of the islanders, despite colonization and the installation of missionaries. This tribunal item is made from the horn from the holy ZEBU It houses objects such as coins / nails / cartridge cases / wood sticks / and sometimes small mini-figure from wood and all these sacred items are fixed with a mixture of sand, blood,eggs,clay and topped of with a mixed of holy earth and honey Jun 21, Letter O: Ody mohara, talismans from Madagascar (Allons-à-expo ©) "I received from Madagascar a fetish or grigris which the native wizards use to treat the sick. This fetish consists of a properly hollowed out bull's horn in which one squeezes any magma, for example honey and fat, which is used by wizards to anoint the sick parts. The ody mohara is a powerful intercessor who makes it possible to listen to the voice of the ancestors. Worn on oneself, like an amulet, or placed in a specific place in the house - if this ody mohara collectively belongs to a family - it acts to bring protection and prosperity to its owner (s) . His power is so great that he can also give advice and reveal an individual's desires through his dreams. The ody mohara, usually made of a zebu horn or wood, often decorated with pearls, contains all kinds of elements used to nourish it so as not to weaken its power. In this horn are usually stuck scissors amalgamated with castor oil, leaf remains, sacred dust as well as a small carved figure presumably designating the owner of this magical ody object. The ody mohara are acquired and then passed on from generation to generation; their owners command respect, like the diviners who often own several. This Mohare is manufactured around 1950 This is a unique opportunity to own a rarely offered sacred item from the island of Madagascar Feel free to google the item Mohara Oby Will be shipped registered and insured STORY If any of you doubts the power of my talisman, come near and shoot me . . . If the Malagasy did not have, as we have said, a temple, a special place to meet and pray on certain fixed dates, if they had neither idols nor representation of the divinity, each of them, we can say, had his ody, his fetishes, his talismans, his particular gris-gris, more or less numerous, to which he attributed, however with certain restrictions, powers, special virtues which were conferred on them by God or by its emissaries; they were often composed of the most disparate and heterogeneous objects that chance had made them pick up under particular conditions or that the mpisikidy, the diviners, had indicated as endowed with efficiency and which they carried either locked in ends horn or in small sachets, either simply tied with a string to the forehead, neck, upper arm, wrist, chest, above the knee or ankle. One day my father and Samat (the most important settler on the West Coast of Madagascar at the time) were talking about gris-gris. and de- talismans, with Zabely, one of the heads of the independent king of Menabé and that the latter showed his ody basy, his talisman which, he said, protected him against bullets, Samat offered him two barrels of 10 kilos of powder each , if he let him shoot at him from a distance of twenty paces and if he was not wounded; he accepted without hesitation. But Samat did not want to shoot him and proposed to shoot a plank to which the talisman would be hung, promising to pay the stake of the bet if it was not made; he did not accept this proposal. “You white people,” he said, “maybe you have more powerful talismans than ours, but you, Sakalava,” he added, addressing those around him, “I don't tell you. fear not; if any of you doubts the power of my talisman, let him approach and shoot me”. Everyone celebrated the virtues of his ody basy and no one accepted the proposal. mr. G. GRANDIGIER In Madagascar, ancient beliefs and customs AFRICANIST JOURNAL, 1932