Greenlandic Inuit used amulets to bring them strength and protect them against danger and evil forces and spirits. Amulets prevented and protected against disease, ensured a long, healthy life, as well as bringing luck in hunting.

The notion of spirit flight is long established in Inuit culture. In this 19th century amulet from Pribiloff Island we see the theme of transformation, both of flight into the heavens as a bird and descent to the bottom of the seas as a seal.

Amulets were of invaluable assistance to the Inuit in virtually every activity. Children as well as adults used these charms, as it was felt children were especially vulnerable to the forces of the universe.

Unlike cultic practices in connection with the deities, which had relatively minor significance, taboos, amulets, and songs were fundamentally important to the Inuit. Most taboos were imposed to separate the game from a person who was tabooed because of birth, menstruation, or death.

To ask the spirits for assistance, the Inuit made rules, rituals, and amulets (charms) for hunting. Traditionally, they used carvings and sang hunting songs to lead a hunter to a specific animal, like a caribou, or to call a herd of animals to the hunter.

The notion of spirit flight is long established in Inuit culture. In this 19th century amulet from Pribiloff Island we see the theme of transformation, both of flight into the heavens as a bird and descent to the bottom of the seas as a seal.

Tools and amulets typically depicted animals or events, like hunting, in order to make the animal spirits, which enjoyed attention, happy. The Inuit believed that the better the skill and artistry in a piece, the more likely an animal was to return and feed the people (Furst and Furst 1982, 137).

One area of Inuit artistic expression during the historic period was the making of amulets. Before the advent of missionaries, amulets were part of the people's daily life.

To ward off evil spirits people of the Inuit culture created amulets. Amulets were an item from the natural world that can be in its original form or modified. For example, an eagle's claw, a tree branch and a seashell for protection against evil. Amulets were used to protect the wearer from evil, as well as reveal their eternal essence.

These charms and amulets made of ivory, bone, wood, skin or stone were imbued with magic and so transformed into objects on in beauty. (1) Today, most Inuit are Christian, so the angakkuit are not as important as they once were.