CURSES - EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW

[Annabelle]

So you guys all believe in clarity and power of the will/intention above the expensive (or numerous) equipment... It would be really amazing if it is so.
But i slightly doubt in it. Whenever somebody does something bad to us, some injustice, harm, anything... We feel horrible hate toward that person this moment, even few hours/days later, sometimes even a months later. In that hate we are sending to him/her very negative energy from our thoughts, even loud spoken words.
And do we curse that person with all this? Do we harm him with our horrible hateful thoughts and loud spoken words full of hatred and fire? Rarely. Very, very rarely. And believe me - we all think more then serious in these moments.
1h

[Likes2Read]

It depends on whose lore you believe. I read in multiple places that Italians believe you can accidentally put the mal occhio, evil eye, on someone just with jealousy. It’s why they don’t pay a compliment without adding a blessing. “What a beautiful baby, God bless her!” “Congrats on your new car! Drive it in good health!” I grew up hearing it, and internalized that method of complimenting, but I never knew there was a reason behind it beyond mere good manners.

I personally believe in the “You have to INTEND something to happen, good or bad, before any kind of directed energies get sent out that’ll have impact” theory.

And yes, by that theory, the zero-tools person with real skill at visualizing and directing intent is going to outperform the one who Buys All The Things and thinks the tools alone will get the job done.

Magick doesn’t care if someone is rich or poor, and it doesn’t depend on Big Bucks to get the job done. That’s why magick is not the sole purview of the rich. Anyone can learn to create their own tools, from scratch, if they so desire. They don’t need to go bankrupt buying someone else’s creations.

[Alys-RaccoonReadings]

You also need intention, focus and action of some kind most of the time.

[Alys-RaccoonReadings]

I mean. In a way it’s kind of like potty training a little boy. There’s a huge difference between peeing while standing up and getting it in the toilet.

[Likes2Read]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

With or without tools, intention and focus make a difference. Consciously focused and directed energies are like a jet engine. It gets you from point A to point B, with deliberation.

Randomly-sprayed energies are more like a balloon you blow up and let go... it goes PFFFFFFFFFFFFFF as it randomly flies all over the place, but who knows where? It won’t go far from where it started, and it’ll eventually end up depleted and deflated on the floor, without having had much effect.

If we learn to direct our intentions and energies without tools, imagine how much more effective our tool use will be, compared to what happens if we try to make the tools do all the work.

[Alys-RaccoonReadings]

THE BALLOON IMAGE AND SOUND ARE DELIGHTFUL IN MINE EYES!!!!!

[Annabelle]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

With or without tools, intention and focus make a difference. Consciously focused and directed energies are like a jet engine. It gets you from point A to point B, with deliberation.

Randomly-sprayed energies are more like a balloon you blow up and let go... it goes PFFFFFFFFFFFFFF as it randomly flies all over the place, but who knows where? It won’t go far from where it started, and it’ll eventually end up depleted and deflated on the floor, without having had much effect.

If we learn to direct our intentions and energies without tools, imagine how much more effective our tool use will be, compared to what happens if we try to make the tools do all the work.

Exactly. That's the right answer for my case. Maybe we have nasty thoughts and speech about that person, but without it focused AT that person like a laser ray - it pffffff's. 1s Our frustration about someone who hurted us and negative energy thrown into the universe isn't enough.

Thanks for the answers guys, all of you were helpful, now i know better what to do in my future hexes. 2wk

[Alys-RaccoonReadings]

I thought this article (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbecke ... elves.html) on curses we place on ourselves and their removal was very interesting:

I’m not sure how widespread self-cursing is. Most times we don’t realize what we’re doing even after it’s done. And self-curses tend to be rather embarrassing – it’s not something most of us want to talk about. But I know it happens – I’ve done it myself. I’ve also successfully removed a curse I placed on myself. So I think the matter is worth a deeper look.

Idle words are not curses
Self-help gurus warn us to watch our self-talk. They’re not wrong. If we hear something frequently enough – no matter where it comes from – we will often start to believe it. Particularly when we move into “always” and “never” language (“I always screw this up” “I’ll never have a decent life”) we can set ourselves up for failure.

But there’s a huge gap between words spoken in anger or in depression and an actual magical working. If words alone could work magic, thousands of bad drivers would burst into flames on a daily basis.

Beyond that, an obsession with careless words is often a form of toxic positivity and victim blaming.

Words can have great power, but they require the proper context to be anything more than idle chatter. You did not create a curse just because you said bad things about yourself.

Words plus desire is magic
A cliché reminds us that talk is cheap. You can say anything, whether it’s true or not, whether you mean it or not, whether it’s harmful or not.

But put desire behind the words and something changes. Desire adds power....

Desire isn’t a want. It isn’t a whim or a fancy. Desire flows from a deep, primal need. That need may be short-sighted and fulfilling the desire may have serious unintended consequences, particularly if it’s done in a reactive manner. But it’s deep and it’s real.

Most self-curses begin as a desire expressed in words. “I never want to see that again.” “I want my ex to come back to me.” “I just want to be normal.” These aren’t mere words. They’re words with power behind them – the power of desire.

Words plus desire plus will is strong magic
A simple look at the state of the world shows that desire – no matter how strong – is no guarantee that change will happen. Some of that is because even the strongest magic has limits. If you’re trying to stop a hurricane – or change an unjust society – you’ll quickly find out that while you may be strong, the storm is stronger.

On a personal level, though, getting results requires more than saying “I want.” The Universe is not full of servant spirits waiting to bring us what we ask for. Neither is it full of demons waiting for us to ask for the wrong thing so they can give it to us and then delight in our misery.

Defining “will” can be difficult, particularly in a magical sense. My best definition is choice plus commitment. Will is saying “out of many possibilities, I choose this” while also saying “and I will do what is necessary to make it a reality.”

Words powered by desire start the engine of magic. Will shifts the transmission into drive.

When we want what we say we want badly enough to work toward it, we start to get results.

And if what we say we want isn’t what we really want, or if it’s something harmful? We get it anyway.

And that can be a curse.

Is it a curse?
Most times when people say “I think I’ve been cursed” what they really mean is “I’ve made a long series of bad choices and it’s a lot easier to blame it on some witch I don’t like than to admit I need to re-evaluate my decision making processes.”

Still, sometimes it really is a curse. And sometimes it’s a curse you put on yourself.

As always, when you suspect something has a magical cause, first eliminate all mundane possibilities. Mundane problems are best solved with mundane solutions… and mundane solutions are almost always simpler and more reliable than magical solutions (even though they may be harder to achieve). Do divination to help you find the cause, whatever it may be.

If you suspect you’ve cursed yourself, I recommend a series of contemplative meditations to call up old memories. Understanding what you did, why you did it, and why it was ultimately bad for you will go a long way in not only helping you remove the curse, but also in keeping you from making the same mistake again.

A ritual to remove the curse
Most self-curses are a form of binding. We don’t really want to harm ourselves. We just want to restrict ourselves and what comes into our lives in a way that seems right at the time, but that ultimately does more harm than good.

[If you’re thinking of self-harm, please read Living With Thoughts of Suicide – A Personal Story (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbecke ... story.html), or at least the TL;DR Summary at the bottom of the post. That’s a different matter than the unintentional self-harm we’re discussing in this post.]

Fortunately, bindings are relatively easy for the magician who created them to undo. This is a method I’ve used with good results.

The working
Begin by casting a circle, calling the spirits of the elements and directions, and inviting the land spirits and ancestors to join you and add their magic to yours. If you don’t have a standard way of doing this, use the Opening and Invocations from one of the Solitary Rituals (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/rituals). If you regularly work with a deity, invite Them and ask for Their help.

Do not call someone based solely on function – the Gods are not vending machines. If you need the help of a God and don’t know who to call, now’s a good time to start forming a relationship with Someone.

You will need something to represent yourself: a picture, a doll, some object you identify with strongly. It may get damaged during the working (particularly if it’s a picture) so choose mindfully. Hold the object in your hands: touch it, feel it, look at it. Say three times “this object is me and I am it.”

Take some cotton string or cord and wrap it around the object that is you. Wrap it as tightly and as many times as seems appropriate. As you do, say “this cord represents the curse I have placed on myself, the restrictions and limitations I created.” The more specific you can be with these words (“this represents my desire to live the life my mother wanted me to live and to meet her expectations”) the better. When you’re done wrapping, tie it tightly and cut the excess cord or string.

Spend a few minutes looking at the bound photo or other object. Feel the bindings that surround you and constrain you. They’ve been there for a long time – now you’re aware of them. Now you can do something about them.

Cutting the bonds
When you feel the curse in your body, use a knife or scissors and cut the cords all the way through. If you have a special knife you keep for cutting material things for magical reasons, use it. If you don’t, an ordinary knife will do just fine. As you cut, say “I sever and release the bonds I placed upon myself.” Add other words to customize the working to your particular situation.

Feel yourself growing loosed and free.

Now place the cut cords in a cauldron or other fire-proof container and set them on fire. It may help to use a bit of 91% rubbing alcohol as a fire starter. Watch them burn and feel the curse burning with them. Feel yourself completely free, ready and able to make new choices better in alignment with your deepest desires and your true will.

When the cords are completely burned, say “the curse is broken and I am free to live as I choose to live.”

Hold the object used to represent yourself and say three times “this photo/doll/etc is now only a photo/doll/etc. It is it and I am me.”

End the ritual. Thank all the spiritual persons who watched and aided your rite, then open the circle.

When the fire has cooled safely, gather the ashes into a bag of some sort and tie the bag shut using fresh cord. Now dispose of the remains somewhere out of your house and off your property. When I did this, I drove to a nearby convenience store and dropped the bag in a public trash can.

Moving forward
This ritual will remove a self-imposed curse. It will not undo all the damage that curse has caused you over the years. But it will allow you to open yourself to paths and possibilities that were closed off. And that will begin the process of healing, and of building a better, more fulfilling life going forward.

[Alys-RaccoonReadings]

This article (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbecke ... rsing.html) felt like a good fit for this thread. Frankly, it's such a valuable read that I'm pasting almost the entire thing here. It covers a LOT of the recurring questions and points that pop up every time we as a group of forum users discuss cursing:

A Modern Pagan Guide to Cursing

...One of my goals with this blog is to be the voice of reason, even about topics most people consider unreasonable. I think we need a reasonable look at cursing, hexing, and other forms of malefica.

A witch who cannot hex cannot heal
Cyndi Brannen of the Keeping Her Keys blog had a good post on this last year. It points out that magic is like all forms of power: it’s inherently neither good nor bad. It simply is. What makes it good or bad is how and why we use it. And like applications of mundane power, there are always unintended consequences – there is no such thing as “harm none.” Intention is not everything and filling your spells with disclaimers (“for the good of all with harm to none”) does more to weaken your magic than to protect you from metaphysical blowback.

Still, there’s a difference between losing control of your car and accidentally hitting a pedestrian and intentionally running over a pedestrian. One is a potential side effect we can work to avoid, while the other is intentional harm.

But if you drive a car, you are capable of intentionally running over a pedestrian, even if you’d never do it.

Cursing is the equivalent of punching someone in the face
Either you believe magic is real or you don’t.

I see some people throwing curses because it makes them feel better to strike back at someone they’re mad at. And then when the curse takes hold, they’re upset because they hurt another person. They never would have admitted it, but it’s clear they didn’t think the curse would do anything… at least not anything serious.

Magic doesn’t always work in the way we would prefer, and it rarely works as directly as it’s portrayed in fiction. But it works – do the spell right and you’ll get the results.

If you wouldn’t punch someone in the face, you shouldn’t curse them.

Of course, sometimes we work magic instead of punching them in the face, because they’re bigger and stronger and physically attacking them would end very badly for us. That’s a different matter.

But if you’re not ready to see someone walk away with a broken nose that you caused, you shouldn’t throw curses at them.

The Three-Fold Law and the Strawberry Jam Effect
The Three-Fold law is a Wiccan principle that says whatever you send out comes back to you three times, good for good and ill for ill. A lot of the “you should never curse!” people quote the Threefold Law like it was holy scripture.

The problem is that I see no evidence it works as described. And karma is a Hindu concept that doesn’t work the way most Westerners assume it does. There is no cosmic scorekeeper and even a casual look at the world shows that most people don’t get what they deserve, whether positive or negative.

At the same time, I see ample evidence for what John Michael Greer called “the Strawberry Jam Effect” – you can’t work with it without getting it all over yourself.

You can – and should – practice good magical hygiene. Cleanse regularly, keep your shields up, and never summon demons inside your house. But if you spend more than a trivial amount of time dwelling on pain and suffering, you’re going to keep some of that pain and suffering with you even after you’re done spellcasting.

Think about what your curse will cost and decide if it’s worth it – before you cast it.

Cursing is rarely the best strategic move
A quote that dates to the early 1600s says that living well is the best revenge. In almost all cases I don’t want those who’ve done me wrong to suffer nearly as much as I want to do well myself. So if I have a certain amount of energy to expend (whether magical or physical) I’d rather spend it building me up than knocking them down.

Even if there’s an active conflict, it’s generally easier and more reliable to protect yourself than to attack someone else. Shielding is part of my daily routine, and in difficult times I increase it. Charging a protective amulet is easier and more reliable than sending demons to attack someone. I prefer to pray for strength and deliverance for myself rather than for the Gods to smite my enemies… although imprecatory prayers did not originate with Christians.

The most important part of any magical working is target selection. What do you want most: suffering for your enemy or success for yourself?

Witchcraft is the recourse of the dispossessed
Sooner or later, though, there comes a time when protecting and uplifting yourself isn’t enough. Someone is punching you in the face, magically, metaphorically, or perhaps even physically. And while I prefer to respond strategically and non-violently where ever possible, at the end of the day I am not a pacifist.

Witchcraft is the recourse of the dispossessed, the powerless, the hungry and the abused. It gives heart and tongue to stones and trees. It wears the rough skin of beasts. It turns on a civilisation that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Peter Grey – Apocalyptic Witchcraft

Historically, people have turned to witchcraft because ordinary avenues of power were closed to them. They were female or poor or both, religious minorities, or people who had powerful enemies. If they couldn’t get what they needed through ordinary means they got it through extraordinary means.

If someone is harming you and you can’t make them stop through ordinary means, why wouldn’t you use magic? Why play by the rules when the rules were written by those who have demonstrated their intent to oppress you and others?

Cursing is violence, and like all violence it’s expensive, messy, and brings collateral damage. But if the only other choice is submitting to oppression, then cursing is the right thing to do.

A progression of baneful magic
A quote from Wonder Woman say “don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it.” While that was said from the perspective of someone in a position of greater power, it remains a good guide to working baneful magic.

Begin with ordinary effort. Can you remove the problem? If so, you’re done. Where it will work, ordinary effort is always more reliable than magic.

But if ordinary effort won’t fix the problem, work protective magic: shielding, warding, protective amulets, and asking for the protection of your Gods and other spiritual allies.

The next step is reflective magic: mirror spells and such, to send whatever your enemy is doing back at them. Unlike some, I don’t believe this is an example of “harm none” but it is a low-intensity working that can solve your problem without a huge confrontation.

Moving up the scale, next try banishing. Conjure up a great job for them – in another state. Or use one of the many hotfoot spells from traditional witchcraft. Don’t hurt them, just get them out of your way.

They won’t stop and they won’t leave? It’s time to bind them. A binding constrains someone from doing something. Freezer spells are good for this, though I prefer to create a poppet and tie it up with cord.

Some people think binding crosses an ethical line. I see it as the next rung on the ladder. The absolute autonomy of the individual human is not an inviolable law of Nature.

The more aggressive curses
If binding doesn’t work (or more likely, if it doesn’t work completely) then it’s finally time for the more aggressive curses. Even here I recommend a progressive approach (“don’t kill if you can wound”) rather than jumping straight to deadly magic.

A killing curse is the moral equivalent of pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger. There are times when lethal self-defense is necessary and appropriate. At any other time, shooting someone is murder. While the law isn’t always a reliable guide to ethics (frequently it’s anything but that) the reasoning behind the law is useful.

If you believe magic is real, treat these curses like you’d treat a loaded gun.

If you don’t believe magic is real, why are you reading this post?

I’m not going to provide you with a list of curses. I’ve found that by taking a progressive approach I rarely need to resort to binding, much less to aggressive curses. And the few times I have, I’ve written custom spells for that specific situation. Developing your own curse will help focus your will toward your goal… or convince you that you don’t really want to do it.

Cursing is the big hammer in the toolbox of the magician. You don’t need it often, and if you try to use it when you need a smaller tool you’ll just make things worse.

But when you need it, you need it.

[blairwitch]

This article (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbecke ... rsing.html) felt like a good fit for this thread. Frankly, it's such a valuable read that I'm pasting almost the entire thing here. It covers a LOT of the recurring questions and points that pop up every time we as a group of forum users discuss cursing:

A Modern Pagan Guide to Cursing

...One of my goals with this blog is to be the voice of reason, even about topics most people consider unreasonable. I think we need a reasonable look at cursing, hexing, and other forms of malefica.

A witch who cannot hex cannot heal
Cyndi Brannen of the Keeping Her Keys blog had a good post on this last year. It points out that magic is like all forms of power: it’s inherently neither good nor bad. It simply is. What makes it good or bad is how and why we use it. And like applications of mundane power, there are always unintended consequences – there is no such thing as “harm none.” Intention is not everything and filling your spells with disclaimers (“for the good of all with harm to none”) does more to weaken your magic than to protect you from metaphysical blowback.

Still, there’s a difference between losing control of your car and accidentally hitting a pedestrian and intentionally running over a pedestrian. One is a potential side effect we can work to avoid, while the other is intentional harm.

But if you drive a car, you are capable of intentionally running over a pedestrian, even if you’d never do it.

Cursing is the equivalent of punching someone in the face
Either you believe magic is real or you don’t.

I see some people throwing curses because it makes them feel better to strike back at someone they’re mad at. And then when the curse takes hold, they’re upset because they hurt another person. They never would have admitted it, but it’s clear they didn’t think the curse would do anything… at least not anything serious.

Magic doesn’t always work in the way we would prefer, and it rarely works as directly as it’s portrayed in fiction. But it works – do the spell right and you’ll get the results.

If you wouldn’t punch someone in the face, you shouldn’t curse them.

Of course, sometimes we work magic instead of punching them in the face, because they’re bigger and stronger and physically attacking them would end very badly for us. That’s a different matter.

But if you’re not ready to see someone walk away with a broken nose that you caused, you shouldn’t throw curses at them.

The Three-Fold Law and the Strawberry Jam Effect
The Three-Fold law is a Wiccan principle that says whatever you send out comes back to you three times, good for good and ill for ill. A lot of the “you should never curse!” people quote the Threefold Law like it was holy scripture.

The problem is that I see no evidence it works as described. And karma is a Hindu concept that doesn’t work the way most Westerners assume it does. There is no cosmic scorekeeper and even a casual look at the world shows that most people don’t get what they deserve, whether positive or negative.

At the same time, I see ample evidence for what John Michael Greer called “the Strawberry Jam Effect” – you can’t work with it without getting it all over yourself.

You can – and should – practice good magical hygiene. Cleanse regularly, keep your shields up, and never summon demons inside your house. But if you spend more than a trivial amount of time dwelling on pain and suffering, you’re going to keep some of that pain and suffering with you even after you’re done spellcasting.

Think about what your curse will cost and decide if it’s worth it – before you cast it.

Cursing is rarely the best strategic move
A quote that dates to the early 1600s says that living well is the best revenge. In almost all cases I don’t want those who’ve done me wrong to suffer nearly as much as I want to do well myself. So if I have a certain amount of energy to expend (whether magical or physical) I’d rather spend it building me up than knocking them down.

Even if there’s an active conflict, it’s generally easier and more reliable to protect yourself than to attack someone else. Shielding is part of my daily routine, and in difficult times I increase it. Charging a protective amulet is easier and more reliable than sending demons to attack someone. I prefer to pray for strength and deliverance for myself rather than for the Gods to smite my enemies… although imprecatory prayers did not originate with Christians.

The most important part of any magical working is target selection. What do you want most: suffering for your enemy or success for yourself?

Witchcraft is the recourse of the dispossessed
Sooner or later, though, there comes a time when protecting and uplifting yourself isn’t enough. Someone is punching you in the face, magically, metaphorically, or perhaps even physically. And while I prefer to respond strategically and non-violently where ever possible, at the end of the day I am not a pacifist.

Witchcraft is the recourse of the dispossessed, the powerless, the hungry and the abused. It gives heart and tongue to stones and trees. It wears the rough skin of beasts. It turns on a civilisation that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Peter Grey – Apocalyptic Witchcraft

Historically, people have turned to witchcraft because ordinary avenues of power were closed to them. They were female or poor or both, religious minorities, or people who had powerful enemies. If they couldn’t get what they needed through ordinary means they got it through extraordinary means.

If someone is harming you and you can’t make them stop through ordinary means, why wouldn’t you use magic? Why play by the rules when the rules were written by those who have demonstrated their intent to oppress you and others?

Cursing is violence, and like all violence it’s expensive, messy, and brings collateral damage. But if the only other choice is submitting to oppression, then cursing is the right thing to do.

A progression of baneful magic
A quote from Wonder Woman say “don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it.” While that was said from the perspective of someone in a position of greater power, it remains a good guide to working baneful magic.

Begin with ordinary effort. Can you remove the problem? If so, you’re done. Where it will work, ordinary effort is always more reliable than magic.

But if ordinary effort won’t fix the problem, work protective magic: shielding, warding, protective amulets, and asking for the protection of your Gods and other spiritual allies.

The next step is reflective magic: mirror spells and such, to send whatever your enemy is doing back at them. Unlike some, I don’t believe this is an example of “harm none” but it is a low-intensity working that can solve your problem without a huge confrontation.

Moving up the scale, next try banishing. Conjure up a great job for them – in another state. Or use one of the many hotfoot spells from traditional witchcraft. Don’t hurt them, just get them out of your way.

They won’t stop and they won’t leave? It’s time to bind them. A binding constrains someone from doing something. Freezer spells are good for this, though I prefer to create a poppet and tie it up with cord.

Some people think binding crosses an ethical line. I see it as the next rung on the ladder. The absolute autonomy of the individual human is not an inviolable law of Nature.

The more aggressive curses
If binding doesn’t work (or more likely, if it doesn’t work completely) then it’s finally time for the more aggressive curses. Even here I recommend a progressive approach (“don’t kill if you can wound”) rather than jumping straight to deadly magic.

A killing curse is the moral equivalent of pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger. There are times when lethal self-defense is necessary and appropriate. At any other time, shooting someone is murder. While the law isn’t always a reliable guide to ethics (frequently it’s anything but that) the reasoning behind the law is useful.

If you believe magic is real, treat these curses like you’d treat a loaded gun.

If you don’t believe magic is real, why are you reading this post?

I’m not going to provide you with a list of curses. I’ve found that by taking a progressive approach I rarely need to resort to binding, much less to aggressive curses. And the few times I have, I’ve written custom spells for that specific situation. Developing your own curse will help focus your will toward your goal… or convince you that you don’t really want to do it.

Cursing is the big hammer in the toolbox of the magician. You don’t need it often, and if you try to use it when you need a smaller tool you’ll just make things worse.

But when you need it, you need it.

thanks for posting this. ive been looking into curses and trying to figure out the reliability of the three fold curse for those who dont follow wicca. so is it safe to say that the issue would moreso come from you casting while in an emtional state and not cleansing afterwards than energy coming back to you?