by OgunKin

In an ever changing community of mystics, the subject of curses has remained taboo and this for good reason. Morally, many people will convince you that curses are ‘bad’ because they stem from evil intent, acts of jealousy and malice perpetrated in complex ceremonious rituals. While I strenuously object to the use of cursing magik, there are instances (especially within those that dedicate themselves to the use of centralized energy casting) where you may be susceptible to a curse or mistakenly cast curses in anger. One, in practice, must be familiar with the beast they wish to avoid, in order to properly know when such negative energy is being directed towards you or being built up within you in dangerous levels.

I have read in many of the Otherkin forums that there is a certain hesitation when it comes to the practice of physical casting (spells and cantrips that require preparation and earth based components.) This, of course, is a matter of personal preference; and while certain people may believe one is limited to what they can do if they do not practice physical casting, the defense against curses becomes quite easy. As an energy propenant, one must simply believe in practice that the curse cannot effect you, practice being the key word. In Haiti, voodoo priests are not limited to creating zombies and binding people’s souls to his bidding. The voodoo priest is a respected member of any village as a healer and a councilor and from this develops the power necessary for his more powerful subconscious spells to work. If the man that healed your canker sores marks your door with a fire sigil in retaliation, that person will be more susceptible to believe in that power (and whatever retribution that follows). While not only limited to energy casters, the defense against this type of curse becomes easier with the limited belief one has in it. Practice becomes important because even if your belief negates the curse’s initial power, you must be aware of seeds of doubt that can build within your will. For example, Puerto Rico, a mainly Christian community, still retains its ties to Chango and Santero magik. An example within my own family can shed some light on my point.

A cousin, strictly Catholic, ended a long relationship with a woman who came from a family of Santeria practitioners. In a heated argument, the young woman told him, “If you cannot be with me, you will be with no one.” Although many of us can claim they have heard this from exes, my cousin’s knowledge of her ability set these words in different context. While the physical spell cast is merely supposition, he succumbed to the curse, and in a month’s time, was in a near fatal car accident. (As a side note, my cousin survived this crash. Three days after the crash, the young woman’s mother was killed in a bus accident. She was a Santera, and it was assumed that she was the woman who cast the curse. As all experienced practitioners know, when dealing in curses, the rule of seven is in effect. While his death was averted, hers was payment for the intention sent. This can be easily seen as either a real spiritual retribution or subconscious suicide by a practitioner aware that the spell did not complete.)

While the defense of curses is strictly centered on ones own personal beliefs and the spiritual tally of our karmatic offences, the accidental casting of curses is something that may be especially dangerous with the state of mysticism today. The abandonment of earth binding rituals and directed spell casting has left many people with their own energy as the only working pool of magik ability. In this way, your spirituality remains at a state of readiness one can not easily monitor; because of this, words begin to draw significant power especially in moments of intense emotion. If an argument sparks you to wish a truly heinous thought and you express it with no hesitation, you may, without knowing, cast a rather powerful curse. I am in no way suggesting that a moment of heated argument can change a simple outburst into an energetic malice, you must always be aware of the person that may be affected. Remember, enraged, the words alone do not carry the most force, it is the expression of the face, the tension of the body, the anger in the eyes that can become, in essence, the components to the curse. If the argument occurs between lovers, such knowledge of each other’s abilities may in turn create a fertile breeding ground for unconscious retaliatory magik.

So what do you do if you believe a curse is affecting you? Your course of action may not seem very clear; one immediately wishes to know who sent the curse, why the curse was sent and what its intention could possibly be. These questions can be more detrimental than helpful, for while you may desperately want the answer, that desperation will just fuel the substation of the curse. Firstly, you must be comfortable with your own abilities, and thus, your own methods in cleansing your aura (be this as simple as a meditation session or as complex a multi component bath.) The second step is often times difficult to accept: you must come to terms with forgiveness and accept the anger that was implanted into this malignant seed. By doing this, the curse no longer has power over you, you can accept all things happening as a matter of course, and the curse, which can only work by breeding the idea of contempt and anger within you, has only one place to go. Where the anger was originated. This knowledge must not be on the forefront of your mind when both cleansing and forging the curse, for if you focus on the return of the ill spell you are no longer breaking the curse, you are rebounding the energy. It will not harm the caster, it will simply amplify the effect on you. It may seem cliché, but peace is the only option and while striking defensive postures and retaliating in turn may be a temporary knee jerk reaction, it will only create a ‘pen pal’ correspondence of magik. There is always someone that believes a little bit more than you do, there is always someone that is willing to give up more to do you harm. The game of good and evil aside, the higher path will offer you safety, if not the satisfaction of knowing those that wish ill for you have gotten their just rewards.