#talisman

• Abgar / Abgarus — The name borne by several kings of Edessa (historical Syria), the most famous in Romanian Christian ethnomedicine being Abgar V Ukhamâ. According to apocryphal legends found in old folk healing books, he suffered from leprosy and was cured after receiving a letter and a cloth bearing the face of Jesus (Mandylion). Abgar's Letter circulated for centuries in Romanian villages as a sacred talisman, worn around the neck by the sick to ward off plague, epilepsy, fevers, or difficult births.
• Amulet — A small object, often engraved, carved, or crafted from precious materials, stones, or metal, to which popular superstition or religious beliefs attribute a magical power to protect the owner against evil spirits, illnesses, and bad luck. It represents an archetypal cult element, used since antiquity as a symbolic shield worn around the neck or kept in living spaces.
• Amulet — A small object (stone, metal, medallion) to which popular belief attributes magical properties of defense against illnesses, evil spirits, or misfortunes. Unlike a talisman, which is considered a magnet for luck and positive energies, the amulet is assigned a predominantly defensive role, functioning as a spiritual shield worn around the neck, on the wrist, or placed inside a dwelling.
• Apotropaic — An object, symbol, ritual, amulet, or magical formula used since ancestral times to repel evil influences, ward off malevolent spirits, and neutralize curses or the evil eye. As an adjective, it describes any decorative or cultural element invested with a symbolic function of divine or magical protection against dark forces.