Quick Specs
- Type: Wall hanging with a tree of life ring and eye beads
- Size: 9 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches
- Ring: Silver-toned band with a textured border, holding a tree with more than a dozen small eye beads at its branch tips
- Top: Round filigree frame holding one large eye bead
- Below: Four small round eye charms on short chains; round blue eye bead on a longer chain
A Ring of Branches Ending in Eyes
The ring is the center of the piece: a wide silver-toned band, textured with small star-like flowers, around a tree of life with a thick trunk, roots that curl into scrolls at the base and a crown of curled branches. Each branch ends in a small round eye bead, more than a dozen in all, so the crown looks like a canopy of blue eyes. Above the ring, a round filigree frame holds one large eye bead, deep blue and ringed in white and pale blue around a black pupil. Four small round eye charms swing from short chains along the bottom of the ring, and a longer chain between them carries a round deep blue eye bead with a white ring, a light blue center and a black pupil. The hanging measures 9 1/2 inches long and 3 1/2 inches wide, and the ring takes up most of the width. The tree is cut in open spaces, so the wall or window behind it shows through the branches. A chain at the top lets the hanging swing from a single hook.
The beads belong to the evil eye belief, the idea of a curse brought about by a malevolent glare, usually inspired by envy. Wikipedia notes that blue disks with concentric circles are common talismans in West Asia and the Balkans, and the beads on this hanging are circles within circles: a dark blue field, a ring of white, a center of light blue and a black pupil. They appear in three sizes, tiny at the branch tips, medium on the short chains and full-size at the bottom, so the same eye repeats from the crown of the tree to the end of the chain. In Turkey such beads are called nazar boncuğu. Placed at the end of each branch, they turn the tree into a pattern where the symbol repeats in every direction, and the filigree frame above, with its own large eye, caps the design. A museum catalogue says amulets against the eye are worn or carried, and a hanging of this size gives the same motif a place on the wall.
Practical Ways to Display It
The ring is the largest part, so give it a plain wall with some space around it: above a console table, beside a door, over a desk or at the end of a hallway. At 3 1/2 inches wide it reads from across a room, and the small eye beads in the branches reward a closer look. A window works too, since the open spaces in the tree let daylight through. Slip the chain at the top over a small nail or hook, and leave clear space below the ring so the four eye charms and the long chain can swing. It also makes a good gift for a new home, because one hook is all it takes. For more pieces made to hang, see my wall hangings collection.
How to Hang and Care for the Tree of Life Ring
Three steps cover choosing a spot with room, hanging the chain and dusting the branches.
- Choose a Spot With Room
Hold the hanging against the wall and step back to see how the ring fills the space. At 9 1/2 inches tall and 3 1/2 inches wide it suits a wall with some clear space on each side. Check that nothing sits close enough to touch the four small charms or the eye bead on the long chain when they swing.
- Hang the Top Chain
Set a small nail or hook into the wall and slip the chain at the top over it. Let the hanging settle for a minute and look at the ring. It should hang upright, with the tree facing straight out. If the ring leans, move the chain one link along the hook until the trunk stands vertical.
- Dust the Branches
Dust the ring with a soft dry brush every few weeks, working into the curled branches and the textured border where dust settles. Wipe the eye beads and the charms lightly with a dry cloth. Take the hanging down before you paint or clean the wall around it, and put it back once the wall is dry.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock this hanging because the eye beads at the branch tips turn a tree of life into a pattern of eyes, and a ring this wide holds its own on a plain wall. The evil eye belief is a living folk custom in Turkey and many other places, and the tree of life belongs to each tradition that uses it. This hanging is a decorative reference to both, never a stand-in for the customs of the people who keep them. If you grew up with the nazar, follow the way your family gifts and hangs it. If it’s new to you, read about where it comes from before you decide what the eye means in your home. For more pieces that carry the eye, see my evil eye collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
No single tree is meant. A museum catalogue uses the name for a stylized sacred tree on a 9th-century BC Assyrian palace panel from Nimrud, and Wikipedia lists the Norse Yggdrasil among its tree of life examples; both Wikipedia and a world-history reference describe Yggdrasil as the great tree at the center of Norse cosmology. Each tradition reads its tree differently, so what it means on your wall is yours to decide.
Wikipedia and a university page on the nazar agree on dark blue, white, light blue and black in concentric circles or teardrop shapes, sometimes with a yellow or gold edge. The large beads on this hanging use the first four colors, and the small charms around the ring repeat the same circles at a smaller size.
Folk accounts treat a cracked or broken bead as having done its work. A university page says the bead is believed to have absorbed a particularly strong negative force and should be replaced as soon as possible, and Wikipedia describes a strong nazar that hits the wearer breaking the bead. Customs differ by family and region, so follow your own family's practice if you have one.
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