Most people have something. A stone in a pocket worn smooth from handling. A key that opens nothing anymore. A grandmother's ring on the wrong finger. They don't always have a word for what they're doing — but they do it anyway.
We asked our community what they carry for protection, luck, and connection. Over 150 people answered. What came back wasn't a list of recommended crystals. It was something stranger and more human: bay leaves tucked behind credit cards, a vial of a lover's hair, a mother's ashes in a miniature flask that someone's daughter once chased across three shops in a panic when it went missing.
Something in us wants a physical anchor for the invisible things we're trying to hold: safety, memory, love, the presence of people no longer here.
People have carried objects for protection for as long as there are records of people doing anything. Hag stones, iron keys, dried herbs, coins — the specific objects change across cultures and centuries, but the instinct doesn't.
Here's what our community is carrying — and what the history and lore of protective magic says about why it works.
