But the term "apotropaic" is generally used of expulsive ceremonies in which a whole community takes part.    From Wordnik.com.  [Introduction to the History of Religions Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV] Reference

This action had undoubtedly an apotropaic intention.    From Wordnik.com.  [RITUAL IN RELIGION] Reference

They might have wondered if the gesture was as apotropaic as they'd always believed.    From Wordnik.com.  [Bridge of the Separator]

For example, death and funeral customs among many peo - ples have an essentially apotropaic function.    From Wordnik.com.  [RITUAL IN RELIGION] Reference

The apotropaic term here is the obscure name argolai, which is what the snakes are said to be called.    From Wordnik.com.  [nomen omen] Reference

Secondly, bells were long thought to possess apotropaic powers, or the power to ward off evil spirits.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2009-07-01] Reference

They were doubtless recited during rituals of atonement prompted by misfortune, or, were of an apotropaic kind.    From Wordnik.com.  [SIN AND SALVATION] Reference

… The carving which induces the magical substitution has not only a sheltering (or passive, apotropaic) role to play.    From Wordnik.com.  [Experience, Figuration, the Avant-Garde, My Grouse : Ange Mlinko : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation] Reference

Lizzy L, #498: Well, apotropaic devices include amulets, crucifixes, etc--any small portable object charged with the Power of Folklore.    From Wordnik.com.  [Making Light: Open thread 136] Reference

According to N. Kellens, its decoration of dotted circles is rather peculiar, as this motif is usually considered to be a kind of pagan apotropaic symbol against disaster.    From Wordnik.com.  [Interactive Dig Sagalassos - Macellum Report 3] Reference

The apotropaic remedy used to kill the vampire was to exhume the body of the supposed vampire and, if the body was un-decomposed, remove and burn the blood-filled heart or the entire body.    From Wordnik.com.  [Bloodsucking Yankees] Reference

If the sacrificial system of ancient Israel is a real system of real apotropaic magic designed to stave off cosmic chaos with blood, could the New and better Covenant replace it with mere symbols?.    From Wordnik.com.  [How I Became a Sci Fi Catholic, Part 3] Reference

And this is perhaps Shelley's most profound comment on the myth -- that Perseus's shield, that all apotropaic devises for that matter, have little efficacy against the potency of images, particularly feminine ones.    From Wordnik.com.  [Shelley, Medusa, and the Perils of Ekphrasis] Reference

What is odd about Achilles 'shield in this context, however, is that it does not contain an apotropaic image, but an encyclopedic vision of the Homeric world, filled with narrative scenes rather like those we find on Keats's urn.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ekphrasis and the Other] Reference

Okay, if it had an integrated apotropaic eye and a top tube pad with the phrase "My Big Fat Greek Fixie" embroidered on it we might be getting into Trail of Tears 2K8 territory, but as it is it's just a relatively subdued blue and white.    From Wordnik.com.  [Fixedgeargallery...of Out With the Old, In With the New] Reference

For example, Bonfante intelligently explains apotropaic device in her 2006 book, while De Grummond and Simon chose to spend that year shovelling more b.s. about "ugly Etruscan monsters", selling out to mass marketing and mystery-based sensationalism.    From Wordnik.com.  [Suri, the saga part 1] Reference

Examples of human apotropaic vehicles occur in the ancient civilized world.    From Wordnik.com.  [Introduction to the History of Religions Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV] Reference

This is plausible; Chinese statuettes often have apotropaic inscriptions, and this may have been the Chinese word.    From Wordnik.com.  [LXer Linux News] Reference

The "Eumenides" means the kindly ones, the euphemistic, apotropaic name for the Furies, who appear onstage in the play.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Nation: Top Stories] Reference

Known to antiquarians as apotropaic figures, they suggest the existence of a force that is considerable and often hard to control.    From Wordnik.com.  [Signs of the Times] Reference

In ancient Greece the statues functioned as a form of apotropaic and were placed at crossings, country borders and boundaries as protection.    From Wordnik.com.  [Kuklas Korner] Reference

And among the apotropaic customs of the Celts - their attempts to ward off the forces of death - included costumes and jack-o'-lanterns, and much that we would recognize in the modern holiday.    From Wordnik.com.  [Yale Daily News - Latest Issue] Reference

The term is apotropaic magic.    From Wordnik.com.  [RCIA Presentation: The Old Testament] Reference

Lemuria, the, apotropaic element in, 374; prohibition of work in, 602.    From Wordnik.com.  [Introduction to the History of Religions Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV] Reference

Anthesteria, the, apotropaic element in, 374; prohibition of work in, 602.    From Wordnik.com.  [Introduction to the History of Religions Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV] Reference

They were: catenate, hyaline, longanimity, apotropaic, delitescent, and fecundate.    From Wordnik.com.  [Making Light: Open thread 136] Reference