determined to “get the Eye upon me”1 through conscious autosuggestion. The next morning,
I had actually that feeling of exhaustion, a sense of an inner void and a total lack of body
control.
I called my friend “S” -who is occasionally practicing coffee telling- and asked her to “read
the coffee” for me because I was not feeling well and needed a “de-eye-ing”2 session. She
laughed at me and told me that she is not any good at this, that she does it for fun and that I
could not expect any serious outcome concerning my situation. I told her that I always
trusted her and that I really wanted to follow the procedure. She finally accepted but
demanded no recordings of her face and voice.
I picked “S” up from her place at 9 am. I had already with me a plastic shopping bag with a
camping gas stove, a bottle of water, kitchen paper, 2 plastic water cups, 2 small Greek
coffee cups, 1 tea spoon, a sugar jar and a coffee pot. We made a stop at a local store and
bought fresh cut Greek coffee and some Easter cookies.
We then drove up Sygrou avenue, parked the car at Koukaki area, walked up to Filopappou
hill and finally arrived at the church of Agios Dimitrios Loubardiaris next to Pnyka.
It was a windy and cloudy morning but we decided to lay our utensils on a wooden bench in
the church yard. After “S” made the coffee, we lit our cigarettes, took our cups and sat
under a kiosk watching the pine trees and talking about stuff.
By the time I had drunk enough of my coffee, “S” took my cup and turned it over on a
napkin. After a while, the coffee marks in the cup were dry and “S” begun to try to figure out
how the complicated figures were connected to my present situation.
I can’t say I remember much. I was trying to listen to what she had to say and make my own
associations. I only came up with two short lists of the things that were spoken this morning.
The first list is about some concrete things and the second list is about some abstract things:
Concrete:
Road
Round faced man
Words
Rude occupational therapist
A swaddled baby
A female figure
Reins
A second baby
Long trip within the country
Unemployed husband
A mirror
A brachiosaurus
Spiritual galloping
Abstract:
Choice
Sewerage administration offices
This that will come
An “S”
An “H” and a “Z”
Notion
ΟΑΕΔ (Manpower Employment Organization)
An opening in the middle
A means in public service
Pressure
Encounters
A two month labor contract
Two grooms at the same time.
1 the “Eye” (Μάτι),: “You have the Eye upon you” is an expression, with roots lost in time, which has been used in Greece and some parts of Asia Minor and which implies that a person after having been exposed to the ample view of many other people, they experience physical weakness and a feeling of low energy levels without any pathological causes.
2 “De-eye-ing” (ξε-μάτιασμα): The process through which one can take away “the Eye” from another and make them feel better. The “de-eye-ing” methods are various and have been verbally
communicated through the ages. They usually appear in the form of small rituals with the use of olive
oil, water, salt, a piece of clothing, palm reading, short sayings, coffee telling etc.
