The tone of a bell carries farther than any painted sign can reach. This quality, namely to penetrate space and to occupy it acoustically, has led cultures on nearly every continent to endow bells, small bells, cymbals and similar instruments with a protective function.
Tradition describes the sound of bells not primarily as an acoustic stimulus, but as an influence upon a kind of reality that is only conditionally accessible to everyday life: a sound that perceives the invisible and forces it to withdraw.
As means of protection, bells differ from amulets or protective substances in that their effect is bound to the moment of ringing.
A silent bell has a different status in tradition than one that is being rung. Bells therefore belong to the category of sound and light means: active, ephemeral, dependent on the act of being used.
In tradition, the sound of bells is regarded as a means to drive away harmful spirits and demons, to mark sacred or protected spaces acoustically, and to secure transitions such as night, the turning of the year or death in a ritual manner.
The tone of the bell is described as unbearable to evil, because it embodies order, community and sacredness. Small bells served the same function on a smaller scale on animals, children and doors. According to tradition, the protective effect unfolds in the ringing, not in the mere presence of the bell.
The oldest evidence for bells with an apotropaic function comes from the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean. Small bronze bells have been found in graves and on garments, whose ritual significance is suggested by inscriptions and grave goods.
The Old Testament describes how the high priest wore small golden bells on the hem of his robe, which sounded as he entered the Holy of Holies, presumably to keep evil spirits away and to announce the presence of the priest.
In medieval Europe an extensive bell symbolism developed. Church bells were baptised, blessed, given the names of saints and inscribed with Latin inscriptions against lightning, storm and the devil. Popular belief credited the ringing with driving away storm demons, accompanying souls on their way to the beyond and hindering witches at their work.
The formula vivos voco, mortuos plango, fulgura frango, which in English means roughly “the living I call, the dead I mourn, the lightning I break”, is found on numerous German church bells and sums up the threefold function: to create community, to accompany the dead, to ward off evil.
In Japan, temple bells, the Bonshō, play a central role in the purification of impurity and the warding off of evil spirits.
At the turning of the year, especially at Shōgatsu, the New Year festival, bells are struck 108 times, a number that corresponds to the 108 human desires that are to be dissolved by the sound.
Small wind chimes and bells, Furin, sound in summer and, according to popular conviction, are meant to keep ill-bringing spirits at a distance.
In Tibetan Buddhism the hand bell, Drilbu, belongs to the basic repertoire of ritual objects. It is used together with the Vajra and is regarded as the embodiment of wisdom and emptiness. Its sound is meant to dissolve obstacles, drive away demons and purify the space for meditative practices.
Tradition explains the protective effect of the bell tone in various ways, which nonetheless resemble one another at their core. The sound of bells is regarded as an expression of order, community and sacred authority. Whatever is hostile to these values cannot endure the sound.
In sources shaped by Christianity, the sound of bells stands under the protection of the blessing and embodies the presence of God or his saints. Demons and evil spirits flee from what is alien to their nature.
In Far Eastern traditions the tone is described as a vibration that dissolves or breaks up disharmonious energies. In popular belief of Germanic and Celtic character, noise in general was regarded as protection: beings that seek silence and darkness are disturbed by loud sound and forced to flee.
A second explanation emphasises the sound wave as a physical influence upon subtle levels: the tone strikes not only the ear, but acts upon layers of reality that are not perceptible to the ordinary senses.
This description is found in shamanic traditions worldwide, which use the drum and the singing bowl as instruments to reach other states of consciousness and there to address or drive away harmful beings.
Europe: church bells, front-door bells, cattle neck bells, bells on prams and cradles. In alpine customary practice, processions with bell costumes and masks at the turning of the year are connected with the purpose of driving away the evil spirits of the old year.
Japan: temple and shrine bells, Furin wind chimes, Kagura bells in Shinto rituals. The Miko, shrine priestesses, use bells in dance to make the gods present and to purify the space.
Tibet and Nepal: rituals with the Drilbu, singing bowls and Dorje. In popular belief, singing bowls are also used for the purification of spaces, by directing their tone into every corner of a building.
West Africa and Afro-American traditions: bells and rattles on ritual garments and masks of the Egúngún society mark the presence of the ancestors and keep disturbing spirits at a distance.
India: temple bells (Ghanta) are struck at the beginning and end of the Puja ritual. Tradition describes the sound as pleasant for the gods and unpleasant for demons, because it imitates the vibration of Om.
Tradition describes the sound of bells as especially effective against beings that prefer silence, darkness and disorder. According to various traditions, these include:
Spirits of the deceased who have not found their place, so-called restless or unbound dead. In many European regions church bells were rung to guide souls safely into the beyond and to keep them from lingering among the living.
Demons and harmful spirits that dwell in houses, on paths or in certain places. Especially at night, at the boundaries of the year and during thunderstorms, these beings were regarded as active and the sound of bells as a means to bar them from the space.
Witches and people who work harm. In medieval and early modern popular tradition in Europe, the ringing of bells was regarded as effective against harmful magic, because it interrupted the influence of the person working harm or disturbed her at her work.
Nature beings that act at boundaries and thresholds, such as Alps, water sprites and similar figures, which according to popular description show a sensitivity to noise.
More precise assignments of which classes of beings from the lexicon are linked with the sound of bells can be found in the Protection Compass.
The practical application of bells as means of protection follows certain patterns in tradition. Bells are used at the beginning and end of rituals, to open and close the space.
They are placed at thresholds: front doors, stable entrances, windows. They are struck at particular times, especially at nightfall, during thunderstorms, at the turning of the year and at the death of a member of the community.
The limits lie in the fact that the sound of bells erects no lasting barrier. It acts in the moment of ringing and for a limited period afterwards.
A bell that has not been rung for weeks has, according to popular understanding, no active protective effect any more, even if its presence possesses a certain symbolic presence.
Not every threat is regarded as sensitive to sound. Beings that are expressly associated with noise and disorder cannot be driven away by sound.
And the effect depends, according to many traditions, also on the intention of the one ringing: a mechanical sound of bells without knowledge of its purpose is regarded as less effective than a conscious ritual ringing.
Related key terms: protective bells sound of bells small bells sound warding off church bell.
The sound of bells as a protective principle is found in cultures that had no knowledge of one another. Whether the Tibetan Drilbu, the Japanese Furin or the central European church bell: the conviction that sound changes something in a space and disturbs harmful influences is an experience that arose independently.
The iWell Guard takes up such lines of protective tradition and unites them in a worn object. It does not ring, but it carries the memory of these principles with it, as part of a consciously designed protective practice.
Personal experiences may vary. Not a medical device. No promise of healing.
