Lately I’ve had several people come to me expressing a desire to curse...particular people. Traditionally, curses come into favor when people feel that more direct/public/legal means of seeking justice fail them and they feel disempowered. It is no surprise that they are coming back into fashion in times like these. I’ll teach you a few methods for slinging a hex, but what you do with them is up to you.What
Hexing/cursing is the final recourse for the marginalized, disenfranchised, and dispossessed. It is what you do when the last straw has finally broken the camel’s back, or at least it should be. Before casting a curse you should, if you are safe to do so, follow every legitimate path for finding a solution to your problem. Attempting to curse someone/something before trying more traditional problem solving methods, when they’re available to you, rarely ends well for anyone. Cursing is not what most people would call a “good” thing to do. Cursing/hexing causes harm and there are consequences for sending harm out into the world. You need to be prepared to deal with those consequences when they come - and they will come. As Dorothy Morrison says, you need to be “wicked pissed” before casting a curse. You have to mean it with every fiber of your being, consequences be damned.
Why
Once you’ve determined that you are “wicked pissed” and willing to accept the consequences, you need to determine just what you want to accomplish. There are generally two reasons to cast a curse: 1) to stop bad things from happening/continuing, and 2) to punish someone for causing harm.
I generally discourage people from cursing for the second reason because it rarely helps. Most people do bad things when they’re in pain. Hurting someone who is in pain does not tend to encourage them to behave better; it mostly makes things worse. Further, miserable people rarely need help from me to destroy their lives; they do a fine job of it on their own. Someone needs to have done something really bad (e.g. hurt a child, incited terrorism, massively subverted justice, etc.) for me to encourage hexing them for punitive reasons. There are, of course, many ethical/moral reasons not to do this. I leave you to make your own decisions there.
Cursing in order to stop “bad things” from happening is a much less morally ambiguous thing to do. When things get bad enough and you really care about the situation then you need to get proactive. In its best incarnation, a curse should be the magickal equivalent of punching a nazi in the face. Of course, you must keep in mind what I said earlier - making miserable people more miserable rarely stops them from behaving badly. Be very mindful of the potential consequences of your magick and only do things that will actually help the overall situation - not just feel cathartic. For example, you might want to stop a serial rapist by making him impotent. This might just make him angry and more prone to violence, thus making the situation worse rather than better. A more effective curse might be one aiming to get the perpetrator caught and convicted. If your goal is to stop a bad situation then you MUST calm your anger and really think things through in order to get the best results. Take the long view of things. Take the time to do some divination to determine the best course of action; consult your elders and ancestors; get advice from people you trust. Make sure you feel that you truly need to do what you plan.
How
There are nearly infinite ways to cast a curse. Here are just a few ranging from “morally dubious” to “you’re going to do what?!” You can google any of these types of spells and find dozens of examples of various execution methods, so I won’t belabor the details here. Further, you can add extra power to these spells by calling on various deities, ancestors, allies, etc. according to your own personal practice.
Passive-Aggressive Hex
Rather than doing something directly to the target or your ire, you bless their opposition. For example, instead of cursing the person who robbed you, you bless the police and prosecutors to get the person caught and convicted. This is positive magick to send blessings to the people doing good work rather than sending negative energy to the people causing harm. This type of working is great when you have one specific bad situation you want to remedy, though it won’t stop the perpetrators from doing something different later.
Binding
The classic way to stop someone from doing bad things is to bind them. (See my previous post on binding) You make a representation of the person or organization/corporation causing the problem, then you literally bind it with cord to energetically immobilize it. I like to make a poppet representing the person/thing to be bound and then bind it with marine cord (it has no stretch/give whatsoever). You can also use toys, action figures, etc., to represent your target. Once you’ve tied your representation I recommend wrapping the whole thing in aluminum foil (shiny side in) and then putting it in the back of the freezer until the situation is resolved.
Mirror Spell
Your traditional mirror spell is one in which you use a mirror to literally reflect someone’s negative actions back on themselves. This is a straightforward retribution spell - your target gets harmed precisely as much as they harm others, no more no less. This spell tends to escalate the situation. Remember, when people who tend to take out their anger on others are harmed they will probably take it out on others. If the house is already on fire then throwing gas on it won’t really make much of a difference, but if it’s not on fire yet it certainly will be afterwards. Choose your actions accordingly.
Destruction Spell
This is the “as seen on tv” curse. This is where you do you damndest to rain hellfire down on your enemies. There is no moral ambiguity here. If you’re going to do it, own it. Your intent is everything in this spell and you’d better be freaking livid. If you are even the tiniest bit unsure of what you want to happen then this is not the spell for you. Make a poppet/doll out of black fabric (the little craft squares of felt you get at the craft store for a dollar are great for this). Fill the poppet with straw/grass/something itchy put a picture of the target inside the doll and sew it up. Write on the doll with a sharpie all the terrible things the person has done (the silver ones are great for writing on black). Alternatively, you can write everything out on paper and sew it inside the doll or even embroider it on the fabric. Then destroy the doll as violently as possible, allowing all your rage and pain to flow into it and then burn the pieces. Yes, there is often energetic backlash for doing this sort of thing depending on the exact nature of your intent and what energies you normally work with. The further this type of energy is from your normal practice the more difficult it will likely be for you. Moreover, this type of working can create an energetic link between you and your target - be sure you really, really want to do this.
These are just a few examples of common curses. If you’re really, really angry and committed to doing this type of work I encourage you to get creative and execute them in a way that feels right to you. Magick is an art, so do something beautiful - even when it’s hideous.
If you have any questions about specific things you want to do feel free to email me emily @ e-carlin.com or send me a message via Tumblr (where you can be anonymous). Keep in mind that I will not advise people to do things that are illegal and all discussions are purely theoretical.
Here are a few resources:
Poppet resource
How to tie a monkey’s fist/rope ball
Cursebook
