Vintage amulet wallhanger Wrathful Spirit

In Himalayan regions, images of freightening faces of wrathful spirits and deities can be found everywhere at the entrances of temples and homes. Being the physical houses for these wrathful entities, masks such as these are obviously not seen as mere decorational pieces on the wall. They are regularly fed with offerings from ghee, wodka, milk or incense smoke.

In both (Tibetan) Buddhism and (Shaivist) Hinduism, they often represent the images of the fierce, wrathful aspects or forms of buddha's, bodhisattva's, deva's and deities (beings that have thus both a peaceful, friendly appearance and a forceful, horrifying form). In Tibetan Buddhism they can also be the images of dharmapala's; spirits and gods originating in the Tibetan pre-buddhist indigenous Bon-tradition, that are said to be 'tamed' by Padmasambhava in the 8th century CE and then sworn an oath to protect the buddhist dharma ever since.

The wrathful deities are portrait as terrifying, demonic-looking beings, often further adorned with gruesome ritual attributes and symbolic decorations such as (human) bones and skulls and other items associated with the charnel grounds.

But as terrifying as they might appear, they actually are often driven by compassion. They are very strong and powerful protectors and guides for those on the path to enlightenment, embodying the power and force needed to go forward and overcome and transform all obstacles on the way. They fight against all kinds of demons and evil and in Tibetan Buddhism especially against the enemies of Buddhism. 

But not always are these freightening faces specifically to be associated with the wrathful aspect of an identifiable deity. They can also be more ‘random’, general, anonymous wrathful faces working from the age old adage of “scaring away evil forces with an even more terrifying and forceful one”. And because the depictions of these more general wrathful spirits are of course not bound to the restrictions of the iconography of a certain specific deity, their depictions often consist of the most gruesome details their artist could come up with; the most demonic facial expressions combined with sharp teeth, a devilish pair of horns, skull ornaments etc.

Images from wrathful deities and spirits have also found their way into some classical shamanic lineages, such as the lineage of Spirit of Wolf. Here they are also associated with Erlik Han, Lord of the Underworld, and as such mostly used by black shamans.

In this wallhanger the face of the Wrathful Spirit is combined with the symbol of the trident, an ancient symbol that is now commonly known in for example Hinduism and Buddhism as an important (symbolic) weapon of a variety of tantric deities to fight against evil, but the symbol of the trident pre-dates those traditions by centuries, having been found in prehistoric petroglyphs all over the world. In this wallhanger the trident increases the protective power of the wrathful deity, showing his power and granting him authority over all kinds of evil. 

This wallhanger amulet comes from Tibet and is made from a heavy metal alloy, mostly brass. It weighs a heavy 592 grams. The mask is attached to a piece of dark brown leather and decorated with some green and red beads on leather straps.

This amulet is not a new, straight-from-the-factory, one; it lived a whole life already before it came to us. So of course some traces of its age can be seen here and there. For example; it looks like the area where the mask meets the trident has been damaged and restored at one point in its life. But of course it can still be used as a powerful protective amulet on the walls of your altar space, practice or living room.

Sizes (measured including the leather background); 42 centimeters high, 12 centimeters wide.