Long ago, the ancient kabbalists revealed a powerful technology of protection. Its purpose is twofold: to protect us from the envious looks of others, and to help us eliminate feelings of jealousy and resentment in ourselves. The technology is the Red String: a strand of red wool worn around the left wrist. The negative energies of jealousy and envy emanate through the eyes - which gave rise to the very vivid and very ancient term, the Evil Eye.
According to the kabbalists, this form of negative energy can affect our lives and well-being. It can hold us back from achieving our destinies and it can also cause us to lose what we have already achieved.
Worn around the left wrist, the Red String works in the same way as the vaccines of modern medicine. When we receive a vaccination against a disease, a weakened strain of the illness is integrated into the vaccine. Spiritual immunizations are based on a similar principle. Kabbalah teaches that colors have specific frequencies and energies. Red, for example, is the color of danger. By binding a Red String to ourselves in a very specific manner, we shield ourselves against the dangerous negativity that might be directed our way - a spiritual vaccine against the destructive forces of the Evil Eye.
The color red is one part of the technology. The rest begins in Israel, where a length of Red String is wound around the tomb of Rachel, the matriarch of the Bible. Rachel is considered by kabbalists to be the mother of the world, and her greatest desire is to defend all of her children from evil. The Red String is brought to Rachel’s tomb where it is infused with her force of protection - for no power is stronger than a mother’s natural protective love. But each and every Red String must undergo this process in order to be considered an authentic form of protection against the Evil Eye.
The Red String is individually sized and worn around the left wrist. The left side of the body has been identified by kabbalists as the area where energy enters. The left arm and hand pertain to the concept of receiving; the right arm and hand embody the power of imparting. Negative forces, therefore, enter the body through the left side. By wearing the Red String on the left wrist,negative energies are intercepted at the precise point of entry.
The string is tied in a carefully prescribed sequence of seven knots, each of which symbolizes a separate spiritual dimension that infuses our reality. It’s important that someone who loves us - someone we deeply trust - ties the string around our wrist. As they do, we should ask for the power to radiate kindness, compassion, appreciation, and absence of the Evil Eye to everyone around.
Rachel Tomb ( Outside ) Rachel Tomb ( Inside ) Process of winding around
Bethlehem Rachel's Tomb with
appropriate Hebrew Prayers
Famous people wearing red string: