Cursing and Other
Magickal Manipulations
Hate. Love. Revenge. Retribution. These are topics every witch comes up against sooner or later. When I was a baby witch in the 1990s, there was a heavy-handed emphasis on “an ye harm none” as well as the threefold law. The threefold law states that whatever magick you send out into the world will come directly back onto you with three times the strength. These rules are still followed by many witches today. The threefold law certainly forces a person to consider their intent very carefully before casting a spell, which is important. However, I could never find an explanation for how or why exactly the energy tripled and then came back, and as a person who likes to know the why of things, it just never sat right with me. That being said, of course curses aren’t meant to be cast carelessly, and for that reason the threefold law is useful. You must carefully weigh your intentions and dig deeply into yourself about why you want to perform a curse and then only do so when it’s truly necessary.
We can’t pretend that shadow energies such as rage, vengeance, jealousy, and conflict don’t exist. They are clearly visible in nature and within us. Anyone who claims to never experience a feeling of ill will toward another is straight-up lying. Despite this, cursing should always be a last resort because there are often surprising repercussions. If you harm other people, even when you think they deserve it, remember that it creates a ripple effect and will impact everyone around them, including you. This can take some very unpleasant forms, so please think long and hard prior to cursing and consider performing a binding spell instead.
Binding versus Cursing
Binding and cursing are two very different things, although they’re sometimes confused.
Binding, in magick, is a means of stopping someone from an action or behavior by energetically restraining them. Cursing, on the other hand, is to actively send destruction or misfortune to someone.
Some people avoid cursing entirely and believe that binding someone is always a preferable solution, because it lacks the harmful intent of a curse. Binding spells are used to render someone ineffectual without actually hurting them. However, some people argue that binding is a form of harm all on its own because it is interfering with the will of another, hindering their actions. Where you stand on this is your own choice.
In a bad situation, consider performing a binding spell before heading straight for the curses. Binding is a gentler approach in that it involves much less negative thought and energy. When performing a binding, you don’t have to feel hatred, rage, or sorrow as you do in cursing. However, with cursing, you do have to feel and express those emotions, which can be draining and painful for you and those around you.
Simple Binding Spell
This simple spell is to stop a person from engaging in behaviors that are hurting others or themselves. With binding, you do not decide how or why they stop, but rather squash out and mute the energy that is causing them to act destructively in the first place.
materials
Object representing the problem (for example, a picture of lips for gossip)
Black thread, string, or ribbon, enough to cover the object completely when wound around it
Cast a circle, invoke deity, and imagine the object infused with the actions you wish to stop. This can appear as an erratic, spiky energy field surrounding it or as a heavy, oppressive vibration when you hold the item. Visualize the behavior you wish to stop. Wrap your black ribbon or string around the object tightly. As you do so, imagine it stifling the energy. Wrap the string around and around until none of the object is visible, thus trapping the energy. Tie 3 tight knots. Now their negative actions will be detained.
Close the circle. Hide the object until the problem passes and then recycle the materials.
If you perform a binding spell on an especially destructive person but it doesn’t work, you can repeat it during the next moon cycle or turn to cursing.
This raises the question, why curse at all? Can’t you just perform a binding spell when someone is a problem? Yes, you can. But if the person’s will to commit hurtful actions is stronger than your binding spell, you may need to think about cursing.
What about Karma?
You may have heard that performing a curse will bring “bad karma.”
The word karma has been overused and misunderstood in Western culture for a while now. People say things like “karma’s a bitch” anytime they feel slighted, which is a way of dumping accountability onto an unseen force. They also erroneously link karma to good or bad luck. The word karma originated in India and actually means that your actions and intentions in this life and your past lives shape what your future lives will be. It’s a belief in ethical retribution that spans lifetimes. For example, if you live a life of altruism and service, you will be rewarded in your future lives, whereas if you spend this life being materialistic or hateful, you will experience suffering when reborn. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism all believe in karma as applied to the long-term spirit rather than immediate earthly experience. In other words, karma is not crouching in a corner, filing its nails and waiting for a chance to ruin someone’s day for cheating on a test or cutting people off in traffic.
Common Sense
Like attracts like. This isn’t as cut and dry as literally getting back exactly the same thing you send out. It has more to do with common sense. If you spend all your time feeling angry and blaming your misfortune on others instead of looking inward to try and fix it, you will attract more negative situations. If you’re searching for someone to blame your problems on instead of solving them, you will find that person. If you go looking for trouble, then trouble is exactly what you’ll find. On the flip side, if you are kind to others and act intelligently and honorably, you’ll find your life is much calmer and easier. People will be more inclined to help you or be kind back. Didn’t we all learn this in kindergarten?
If you find that every spell you want to cast is a curse, or you feel like every person you meet has wronged you, maybe everyone else isn’t the problem. If you spend your days angry and hateful, it’s time to look inward and figure out what’s causing it before just going out and throwing curses willy-nilly.
Before Cursing, Take a Look in the Mirror
If someone is actively abusing you or others, they deserve to be cursed and worse.
However, it’s not always that simple.
When you feel the desire to curse someone who isn’t an overtly harmful, destructive beast of an abuser, it is important to stop and really take a look at yourself first. If we’re honest, the desire to curse is often all about us and has very little to do with the object of our intent.
Disliking a person is normal. Maybe someone flaunts their material possessions in a way that is galling. Maybe they’re dating someone you like. Maybe they have the job you secretly want or are spoiled and ungrateful for what they have. Maybe they just have a really annoying personality. Irritating as these things are, none of them warrant throwing a curse.
Often people we dislike personify a quality of ourselves that we are ashamed of. They force us to see something in us we wish we didn’t.
If in your shadow work you do not find the answer within yourself regarding bad blood between you and another person, and your reasons for wanting to curse them turn out to not be all about you, then—and only then—is cursing or hexing an appropriate action. Before going ahead and cursing someone, try doing the tarot reading on page 68 to gain insight into your true motives. If, underneath your dislike, the situation is all about your own insecurities, cursing isn’t an option; those feelings are your own pattern that will come to you again and again in life until you face your shadow and deal with them.
Here is a brief meditation to do when deciding whether or not to curse someone.
1. Perform a relaxation technique like the one described on page 57.
2. Imagine your enemy standing or sitting in front of you. Really see them. Look at the color of their eyes, the texture of their skin. Feel the warmth coming off their body. See them as the human they are.
3. Allow yourself to feel whatever comes up. This will probably be negative feelings. Allow this feeling to wash over you as much as necessary, as you have to work through it to get to the next part. After the initial rush of emotion, you should be able to shift your focus away from your feelings.
4. Now, put yourself inside your enemy’s body. Move your consciousness into their form. Imagine you are inside their body. Your arms and legs are now theirs. Your mouth and teeth are theirs. Feel their clothes on your body.
5. Look through their eyes at yourself. What do you see? Don’t project your own feelings onto this—allow yourself to feel things naturally. How do you appear through their eyes? What part of your body do they focus on most? Are you talking or silent? Is there a certain feature or action the image of you is doing to draw your attention? How do you feel when looking at yourself from their perspective?
6. Write down your impressions. Be honest. What do they feel when they look at you?
This exercise is a way of creating empathy between yourself and your enemy. It may be uncomfortable to put yourself in the body of someone you dislike. However, if you can get past that and relax enough to see a different picture, you may just learn something important about yourself and realize that cursing isn’t necessary at all. You may discover that you understand their behavior, damaging as it is. You may also recognize that they are living in their own self-imposed cursed state, which is often the case for harmful people.
This is why doing your shadow work is imperative before proceeding to cursing. The meditation and divination in Part 1 of this book set you up to really know yourself and your motives. Skipping your inner work will result in carelessly casting curses with harmful consequences for you and others.
If you perform this exercise and it doesn’t result in any form of empathy or understanding that can help you resolve the problem, consider binding and then cursing.
Remember, cursing is a last resort. It is only appropriate in extreme cases. What warrants an extreme case is your own decision. Cursing takes a formidable amount of energy and is best reserved for important situations where there is no other recourse. Sometimes a person simply can’t be stopped without something brutal occurring to them directly. Some people will not stop hurting others until they get a taste of their own medicine or will not be swayed from their destructive path unless they stumble and fall. Sometimes your curse is the thing they trip over.
When You’ve Been Cursed
We’ve all had those days or weeks where literally everything seems to go wrong, and we may jokingly say, “I think I’m cursed!” But what if you suspect you really are?
For this to happen, you must have had contact with someone who is inclined to perform witchcraft of some kind or at the very least is able to create very powerful thoughts. If you believe you’re cursed and spend time worrying about it, your fear opens up your energy field for it to actually occur.
Sometimes you will know that someone has sent a curse your way simply because you’re an experienced witch and you can feel it. Other times it’s not quite that clear. Here are some typical signs that someone’s sending bad magick your way.
• You experience random physical pain. Experiencing body pain that flares and then disappears with no underlying health condition could be a sign that someone is messing with your energy body and it’s manifesting in your physical form. Of course, go to a doctor if you have serious pain.
• You feel lethargic, mental cloudiness, and fatigued seemingly for no real reason, and the feelings don’t go away.
• You have vivid nightmares.
• Little accidents pile up. You stub your toe, your cat gets sick, you break your favorite mug, and then your car breaks down all in one day. Unusual levels of discord can be a sign that your energy is being tilted askew by someone on purpose.
• Pets act strange. Animals can sense low-energy forms and may be acting odd around you as a result, by cowering, barking, or acting like they see something you do not.
• Relationships breakdown. Small irritating fights keep springing up between you and your loved ones, often over nothing in particular yet you’re annoyed at each other all the time.
• You keep losing things.
• Ongoing colds and minor health issues occur one after another and never abate.
• Communication breaks down. You may feel all of a sudden that other people are not hearing you as they normally would, or your influence over other people is altered in some way. Sometimes it’s as if they can’t even hear or see you.
• All the plants in your home or garden die for no apparent reason.
• There is obvious evidence. If you find a jar of nails and urine on your property, consider yourself cursed!
These are just some examples of ways a curse can affect you. Typically, it takes an unusually powerful person to create physical illness in your life, and if you think you’re sick, of course go to a doctor as well as perform a ritual. For smaller curses, like those mentioned here, you can do several things:
• Create a protective barrier around yourself every morning. Before you begin your day, meditate on seeing a strong shield all around you that no one can permeate. Negative energy pings off this sphere like stones off a roof. At the same time that you are surrounded by the shield, make sure you see your inner self lit up from within, strong and healthy.
• Perform protection spells.
• Carry a mirror charged with deflective energy.
• Take cleansing ritual baths.
• Cut energetic ties to the person who has cursed you during your dark moon ritual.
• Write the name of the suspected curser on a bay leaf and burn it.
• Perform a home cleansing ceremony and then pour witch’s salt all around the perimeter of your property.
Bear in mind that your mental powers are just as strong as any curse, and if you wish to blot out bad energy, you absolutely can with repeated visualization.
Negative Emotions in Magick
There’s a general belief that feelings of anger, rage, and repulsion are “negative,” and not only should we avoid talking about them, we should never express them. It follows that we should certainly never apply them to our magick. It’s believed that involving these feelings in a spell or in daily life will bring upon us retribution and punishment. On a social level, shunning these bad feelings is considered polite. There is a heavy pressure on us from childhood to be nice, to play the peacekeeper, to turn that frown upside down. We’re told to stay positive at all costs, including the detriment of our own well-being or that of others. We’re taught to “turn the other cheek” when someone treats us terribly or when we witness injustice. None of this actually helps anyone.
The thing is these darker feelings are a part of your whole experience in life. Just as you experience birth and death, you also experience all aspects of light and dark. This includes emotions. Anger and other so-called negative feelings can be used in magick just as love, joy, and gratitude can.
When you’re casting any kind of spell, feeling and directing an emotion is the most important part of energy work. You visualize, you feel the emotion in all its purity, and then you direct it into the spell. If you lack emotion in your spells, they will simply have no power.
Anger
Anger can make powerful energy for use in protection spells, reversals, and curses. Allowing yourself to feel and express anger through magick, rather than trying to repress it, not only makes for very powerful workings but also helps you let go of these difficult emotions because you’ve given them an outlet.
Have you ever noticed that when you are in close proximity to an angry person, you can actually feel it? Even if they do not speak or express themselves, you just know they’re angry. It comes off of them like a stink. Without even realizing it, you might tiptoe around them, avoid them, or try to placate them without them having to say a word. That’s how tangible the energy of anger is. It affects the behavior of others just by existing.
When you’re driven to curse someone, there is often some kind of anger spurring it on. Don’t shy away from this; it is useful. When you are doing spells for vengeance, or even for protection, pouring your anger into it will make it work better. During spells of this kind, allow yourself to feel all your rage, dislike, and hate. Gather it up in a ball of terrible energy and release it into your curse. Believe me, it works!
Revulsion
Since there are quite a few spells in here using the carcasses of insects and a few other unsavory items, I thought I should talk about the power of disgust. For example, while making the fly ointment explained later in this chapter, it’s natural to feel utterly grossed out while crushing flies and putting them in oil. Because that ointment is used to put a curse on someone and make them seem unappealing to others, the grosser you feel while making it, the better! That feeling of disgust will transfer into the oil, empowering it with exactly what you need.
That being said, feeling revulsion when trying to do a love spell isn’t appropriate, so if you really are grossed out by certain ingredients and can’t get over the feeling, perhaps switch to the plant-based alternative. Feeling like you want to gag during a love spell is never going to work out. You can channel disgust and revulsion into a curse just like you did with your anger, using the same visualization and energy-transference technique.
Sadness
Sadness can be transferred into spells, but it is a low-energy vibration. That means the impact it has on magick can be slower moving than other emotions. You can integrate it into a reversal spell when sending someone back the hurt they’ve caused you. Occasionally, sadness is like a punch in the stomach, and you can use the pangs of grief you’re experiencing to send that feeling to another person who for some reason deserves it. Crying during ritual, even in meditation sometimes, is not uncommon. Sadness is just as much a part of life as happiness. Allowing yourself to feel sadness and direct it toward something in a spell can also be part of healing.
Jealousy
No one likes to admit it, but very often the root of dislike is jealousy. Jealousy is a hideous emotion. It consumes us inside like a disease. It makes us behave in ways that are hurtful to others, it ruins relationships, and it destroys us from the inside out, tainting everything we touch. It makes people behave so badly that if you indulge in it too much, you may just find yourself on the receiving end of a curse!
Jealousy is a completely internal emotion that is not about anyone but you. Cursing and binding others will do nothing to tame the green-eyed monster churning up your guts, and it will only keep coming back until you deal with it. That’s why I’m putting a spell right here for it.
Spell for Transmuting Jealousy
While having ingrained jealousy issues tends to run more deeply than something that can be solved with a single spell, this working can aid you in your journey to overcoming it.
materials
Garden or pots of dirt
Flower seeds or bulbs
Dark moon water (seepage 43)
Death candle (see page 51)
Sit at the place where you will plant the seed or in front of the pot of soil. Have the seeds or bulb in your hands. Breathe onto them while feeling the pain of your jealousy. Let your jealousy flood you in all its ugliness. See it as a sickly yellow glow flowing out of your energy body, into your breath, and into the seeds. Infuse the seeds completely with the feeling.
Hold the seeds up to the waning or dark moon. Say:
I give these seeds over to the darkness.
Take my pain and absorb it into the great cauldron
To be transformed.
As these seeds grow and break out of their shells,
Together we will grow and blossom into something beautiful instead.
Plant the seeds in the earth according to directions. Pour a cup of dark moon water on top of them. Light the death candle nearby and let it burn. Spend some time allowing yourself to feel the jealousy raging through you. Send it into the candle flame to be burned until you are tired. You can let the candle burn out or place it in the earth (if outdoors) close to the seeds. Remember to water and tend to these seeds to ensure that they grow and flower. It may take a lot of work and attention, but so does changing your jealousy pattern. Allow nature to transform the energy into something new and better.
Curse Tablets for Vengeance against Thieves
Curse tablets, also known as defixiones, are historically a very common way to hinder one’s enemies. Defixiones have been discovered by archeologists under temples in Europe and Greco-Roman areas quite recently.10 A curse tablet is a sheet of metal, often lead, upon which pictures and words are carved detailing how, why, and when misfortune should fall upon someone. Invocations of deities and spirits of the dead were engraved on the tablet, along with drawings of said deity alongside the targeted person. Curse tablets contained surprisingly specific words of intent, outlining the exact punishments the maker wished to bestow upon their enemy. They often said, “May (name) suffer from the following ills,” followed by a list of terrible things. Some request that if the thief doesn’t return what they stole that they suffer and die as punishment. Sometimes the tablets were used in binding spells and had imagery of snakes or ropes tying the hands and feet of a person. The defixiones would be rolled up and nailed shut, then placed somewhere that the dead would be able to receive it, such as in graveyards, down deep wells, beneath temples, or in other places associated with the underworld.
In history, the majority of curse tablets seemed to focus on stolen items, so this spell will continue in that vein. The idea is to bind a person and make a statement to spirit that they must return what is yours or suffer the consequences of your choosing. They may have stolen material things from you or something intangible such as trust or recognition that is rightfully yours.
materials
Stylus or chisel for engraving
Thin sheet of metal. You can buy very thin tin or copper sheets at craft stores. It must be thin enough to easily be rolled up by hand.
3 rusty nails
Hammer
3 coins
Death candle (see page 51)
Lighter or matches
Cast your circle during the dark moon in an area where you can see what you are doing by the light of the death candle. Light the candle, and using your tools, carve a rough picture of your enemy into the metal. You can engrave their initials or name on it. Next to them draw your chosen deity. Then draw snakes twining all around the image of your enemy.
All around the pictures write the following: “(Name), you have stolen from me the following things,” and make a list. Then write, “I bind you from taking anything more from me and command you to return what is rightfully mine. If you do not, you shall experience the following,” and add what you think is just as their punishment. Either they lose the same thing that you lost, get arrested, or have some other similar experience you feel is fitting. On the next page is a drawing of a curse tablet I made as an example.
When your engraving is complete, using a nail or other sharp tool, pierce the forehead of your enemy’s picture. Say aloud:
(Name), you will return what is rightfully mine or the equivalent.
Remove the nail.
Roll the tablet up and hammer in the rusty nails to shut the roll in three places. As you hammer each nail, say:
Spirit, bring me justice.
Close the circle.
Go to a graveyard or other liminal place you feel connects you with spirits. Recite aloud what you have written on the tablet. Bury or hide the tablet. Scatter coins in thanks to the spirits of the area, and then walk away. What is rightfully yours, or something of equal or better value, will be returned to you.
Spells to Cause Impotence
One of the things that witches have long been blamed for—along with crop failures, diseases in livestock, miscarriage, illness, and basically everything else —is impotence in men. Yep, they blamed that on us too!
I’m sure there were in fact spells cast many times to spurn the unwanted advances of men or to render a cheating lover unsatisfied; however, I also think that it was just a convenient way to blame yet another problem on women and our so-called evil.
In the spirit of cursing, here are two modern spells to cause impotence. Typically, they’re used as revenge against someone who was unfaithful or to ruin their future sexual relations. Bear in mind that the results of this spell are not physical and won’t necessarily impact their actual body but rather their sex life in general.
These spells traditionally make use of phallic imagery and are therefore aimed at men, but if you use your imagination, you can certainly tweak the spells to be aimed at a person of any gender.
Impotence Spell #1
materials
Rotten cucumber or zucchini
Black cloth, large enough to wrap the finished product
Marker
Knife
Personal effects of the target such as hair, fingernails, a piece of their handwriting, or a small object they’ve touched
3 tablespoons cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons witch’s salt (see page 49)
3 tablespoons death oil (see page 48)
Lighter or matches
Death candle (see page 51)
3 feet black string
Lay the cucumber on the black cloth and cast your circle.
Using the marker, write the target’s name on the cucumber. Use your visualization to transfer the image of the target’s anatomy onto the cucumber. Try to get one of similar size and shape. Holding an image of their private parts in your mind, use your ritual knife to cut a line from one end of the cucumber to the other, creating an open lengthwise slit. Make the slit about halfway through the width the cucumber, but do not cut it completely in half. Imagine hearing an anguished scream in your head as you cut. Shove the hair, fingernails, or personal effects into the slit and say the target’s name 3 times.
Feeling as much anger as you can, pour the cayenne pepper powder into the slit of the cucumber. Imagine it burning. In your mind, see your target unable to sexually perform. Imagine how they would feel when it happens, and pour that emotion into the charm.
Next add a generous helping of witch’s salt all along the cut vegetable, and imagine it sizzling the life out of it the way salt kills a slug. Then take your death oil and saturate the cucumber completely. See the death oil snuffing out all the life, vitality, and fertile energy of the phallic symbol.
Place your death candle in the slit of the cucumber, making sure it is pressed in securely upright, and light it.
As it burns, spend time thinking about how angry you are, transferring it into the object before you. Again, imagine how you want them to feel when experiencing your curse, perhaps humiliation and dissatisfaction. Do this until you feel relieved of your feelings and the candle burns out.
Wrap the whole thing up securely in the black cloth and tie it up with string.
Release your magick circle. Throw what remains in the garbage.
Impotence Spell #2
materials
Black taper candle or penis-shaped candle, available at magickal shops
Black cloth measuring 1 square foot
Knife
Several drops of your own menstrual blood (optional)
1 tablespoon death oil (see page 48)
13 pins, or 1 pin for each month or year you spent with the person
13 small shards of broken glass
Small photo of the target
3 feet black string
Lay the candle on the black cloth. It is not for burning but is the phallic symbol in the spell.
Cast your circle.
Infuse the candle with the essence of your target, visualizing it as representing their anatomy. Carve their name into the candle with your knife.
If you choose to, anoint the candle with your own menstrual blood while focusing on the negative aspects of the blood, specifically the old belief that it kills everything it comes in contact with. See the death energy in that blood soaking into the person’s anatomy.
Now break the candle in the middle and imagine the target’s scream. Essentially, their penis is now “broken.”
Lay the candle on the black cloth. Pour death oil into the broken part of the candle, and imagine it seeping into it and killing all the life energy it touches. Imagine the target experiencing impotence and all its associated emotions.
Heat up your first pin in the flame of a candle and then shove it through the black broken candle. See it searing through the target’s anatomy and stopping the blood flow. Repeat this with all the pins.
Place the shards of broken glass around the black candle. As you wrap it in black cloth, gently press them into the exterior of the candle. Bind it all up with black string and release the circle.
You can keep this hidden somewhere or throw it away.
A Miscellany of Curses
Money Owed Dirt Spell
If someone owes you money or goods but isn’t paying up, this spell is meant for them. The dirt included in the spell should be from the land of the actual bank their money resides in. If the bank doesn’t have dirt or grass near it, like in many urban places, try to get pebbles or other natural debris from directly around the building.
materials
Piece of paper on which you wrote the amount owed
Coin with their name painted onto it
Hair or fingernails of the person if possible
½ cup bank dirt
2 feet black thread
Cast your circle and lay the paper in front of you. See the number amount you have written. Visualize yourself receiving the amount of money from the person and what you would do with it. See money going from their hand into yours.
Place the coin and personal effects of the person on the paper and cover them completely with the bank dirt. This connects your visualization to their bank account.
Fold the paper all around the contents so they don’t fall out, and bind it tightly with black thread. This act of binding ties their money to you, ensuring that, one way or another, you will get what is owed to you.
Spend some time feeling the energy of the packet you’ve created. You’ve trapped the person, their finances, and the amount they owe you all together. They will not be free with their finances until they pay you.
While you don’t get to decide how or where they get the money, just know that it will come to you.
Close the circle.
Hide the charm, and once you get what you are owed, untie it and dispose of it.
Bad Neighbor Curse
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of living in close proximity to toxic people, then you know how horrible it can be to have a bad neighbor. I don’t mean someone who you can generally ignore and go about your business, but the kind of neighbor who actively seeks out ways to make your life unhappy. Maybe they disagree with your lifestyle or they simply have no other way to entertain themselves. The “why” isn’t your problem—your problem is stopping them.
If you have a neighbor who is intentionally making your life a living hell and you genuinely don’t deserve it, this spell is to get rid of them. This could take the form of them moving away or their life changing in such a manner that they can no longer be bothered with you. Again, how it happens isn’t your problem, only that you stop them from causing you further harm.
The spell below uses dirt from your neighbor’s yard. If you live in an apartment building or shared housing, replace this with some dust or debris taken from near their doorway or living space. Bits of dirt and dust get tracked in all the time, and all you need is a pinch.
materials
A pinch of dirt from the target’s yard, gathered at night when they won’t see you doing it
Jar with tight lid
13 pins
Several shards of broken glass
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
Vinegar (enough to fill the jar)
Gather your materials on your altar during the dark moon. Have the dirt sitting in the jar. Cast your circle.
The dirt in the jar represents your neighbor. It is their home life and their existence within their house. You are essentially going to put things into the jar, which will symbolize putting various influences into their home, and then you’re going to shake it up every day until they are compelled to move, or at the very least their attention will be diverted away from you so they’ll leave you alone.
First, hold the pins in your hand and focus on their sharp points. Drop them in the jar.
Carefully hold the broken glass and see the tiny cutting edges, all the miniature ways it can slice. It was once whole but is now shattered and dangerous. Add this to the jar. Contemplate the cayenne pepper and its burning, irritating qualities, and add it to the jar.
Look at the vinegar. It kills germs and eats through matter like grease and lime. Pour it into the jar and fill it up.
Tighten the lid.
Give the jar a shake, and see how the contents are disturbed, sloshing around with the sharp pointy pins and broken glass, like they’re slicing and stabbing through it. Every time you do this, imagine your neighbor’s house being shaken up from the inside out, struck through with energy that makes living there unbearable.
Close the circle.
Keep the jar hidden, and every day give it a shake. Watch the sharp objects swirling around, and visualize your intention.
When your desire manifests, throw the ingredients away and recycle the jar.
This spell can be tweaked and changed for different intentions. If you wish your neighbor love and happiness in their home, instead of adding pins and glass to the dirt, add rose petals and seashells, and instead of vinegar, use sweet fruit juice. Sugar can replace the cayenne pepper.
Blood and Corn Curse
As mentioned, menstrual blood has been used in witchcraft in many ways. It has been deemed disgusting, filthy, and shameful for a long time. While this is a negative connotation that needs to be debunked, it’s still a very old trope whose energy can be drawn upon in magick.
For this working, we will focus on the negative beliefs around menstrual blood, the same beliefs that made people in times past so utterly terrified of it. We can bring the spirit of that into hexing or cursing someone in a terrible way. Menstrual blood is, after all, dead cells that your body is expelling, and it does contain death energy.
This spell draws on the belief that menstrual blood could kill entire crops of grain. You’re going to destroy a whole crop of bad behavior.
materials
Knife
Fresh or dried ear of corn with the leaves peeled off
1 tablespoon or more menstrual blood in a container
Lighter or matches
Death candle (see page 51)
Cast your circle and invoke deity if you wish.
Using the knife, remove kernels of the corn from the cob in the shape of the person’s initials. The more anger and wrath you feel, the better, as you violently cut their initials out of the vegetable. If you feel like calling them mean names and curse words while you work, by all means do so.
Hold the corn cob in your hands and think about exactly what they’ve done that makes you angry and vengeful. Imagine them doing the very thing that irks you most, calling up the feeling in your heart. Send the hateful feeling from your heart, down your arms, through your hands, and into the corn. The corn now holds the energy of their wrongdoing.
Now hold the container of blood in your hands and see it the way so many people in the past did: as diseased, dead cells carrying death, as a substance that can decimate entire fields of crops. See this substance as death, terror, and plague—a curse unto itself, for that is what it’s often called.
Cover the corn with blood as much as possible, especially in the initials. Get it in between the kernels, destroying every single one, and see now the person becoming sickened to their very soul. Draw upon the repulsive reputation of the blood and imbue the person with that feeling. Pour illness, death and repugnance all over them and all they touch.
Now light your death candle and drip wax onto the corn cob, sealing it completely, encasing the noxious curse. As the wax hardens, the curse takes physical form.
Close the circle.
Wash your hands.
Bury, compost, or dispose of all the materials except the knife, which you can thoroughly wash and reuse.
The terror and repulsion you’ve released on your enemy will manifest in the person’s life, not necessarily as a physical illness but in some other way that stops their behavior.
Fly in the Ointment Spell
There is an old idiom about “the fly in the ointment.” The fly in the ointment describes someone or something that may appear minor but is tainting the whole. The whole can be a relationship, situation, family, or workplace. The fly in the ointment is a tiny annoyance that turns everything around it toxic, eventually ruining a good thing. It spreads problems throughout a group. If the problem is one particular person, putting fly ointment on their belongings will expose them for what they really are and stop their progress.
This spell can also be applied to a place or thing you feel has dangerous energy, such as a building that attracts bad luck and misfortune. If there is an object causing fights among family or friends, as can happen when people fight over inherited items or money, the fly in the ointment can be applied to the problematic object.
materials
2 dead flies (substitution: 2 pieces rotting garlic)
Mortar and pestle
3 tablespoons oil, such as olive or jojoba
Small jar or bottle with a tight lid
Cast a circle.
Crush the flies in the mortar and pestle while focusing on how disgusting they are. See the diseases and germs carried by the flies, give yourself the shivers, and let yourself be horrified. The more repelled you are the better. After all, this is to be used to signify a rank and horrible person or thing. Add the oil 1 drop at a time and make a thick paste. You only need a very small amount of this ointment, and there is no need to make extra. When you have charged the mixture with all the nasty energy you can, seal it in a small jar or container. Release the circle.
This oil is meant to be put on a person or thing in order to send out an energetic marker or signal that will intuitively alert others to stay away. The gross energy of the ointment will send out a nasty warning vibration. This can prevent the offending person or thing from making any more headway on their destructive path. Naturally, it would be difficult to put this oil on an actual person, so instead you can put it on their belongings (just a tiny amount so they don’t see it); near their home or property; near where they work, such as on their desk or their locker; or even on their vehicle. If none of this is possible, you can use a photo of them and put the oil on that instead.
Dispose of any leftover ointment and don’t forget to wash your hands!
Mosquito Spell to Stop an Energy Vampire
This spell is to stop a human energy sucker. This person is someone who takes and takes and never seems to give anything in return. This can take the form of the classic “energy vampire,” which is a person who seems to just suck the life force out of you, leaving you drained and irritable while they become more and more animated and powerful. It can also be used on someone who is draining any of your resources, such as money, sympathy, and time.
materials
Dead mosquito (substitution: picture of mosquito)
Small paper bag
Sprig of mosquito-repellent herbs, such as 1 or more of the following: lavender, citronella, lemon balm, basil, peppermint, and rosemary
3 feet black ribbon or string
Mentally connect the bug with the image of the person who is leeching off you: their face, their voice, their smell. Then imagine their clingy, manipulative actions and unwanted behavior. Pour it into the mosquito. Now the mosquito represents their behavior.
Place the dead mosquito in the paper bag.
Charge the herbs to represent protection. Imbue them with repellent, protective qualities. Rub them lightly over your skin or in the air close to your body to symbolize your protection from the person, and then add them to the bag.
Roll the top of the bag down bit by bit, squeezing the air out of it, while imagining the person’s influence getting smaller and smaller. As you squash the bag in your hands, imagine you have squashed their nasty intentions flat.
Now take the black ribbon or string and wrap it around and around the paper bag until it is completely covered and restrained. Tie a tight knot in the black ribbon.
Close the circle.
Get rid of the charm as far away from you as you can. A garbage bin off your property is a good place for something like this.
Firefly BS Curse
We’ve all met someone who puts stars in our eyes and blinds us to reality. Some people do this intentionally, while others are completely unaware of the effect they are having on us. This spell is to get rid of the power of someone who is stopping you from thinking straight. This can be an extremely charismatic person who is a liar and cheater but who continuously manages to suck you in again and again. It could be someone who is putting on what you suspect is false friendliness for you, making empty promises to keep you around, or otherwise blinding you with fake niceties in order to manipulate you. This spell is to strip away the glamour they’re throwing at you so you can see the truth.
We so often see what we want to see, especially when we are blinded by love. When we love someone, we can teeter easily into being taken advantage of, lied to, or manipulated. Unfortunately, deep down you sense when this is happening, but the person keeps just enough of a pleasant veneer over things to keep you hooked and fooled.
When you find a dead firefly whose light is extinguished, use it to take the stars out of your eyes.
materials
Small photo of the person, no larger than 5 by 7 inches
Dead firefly (substitution: remains of a burned-out match)
Lighter or matches
Cauldron or fireproof vessel
Fold or roll the photo of the person around the dead firefly. Imagine them surrounded by their lies and falsehoods. These can appear around their face in your mind as stars, lights, or sparkles that obscure their true nature. Little by little, remove the stars in your mind, until all that is left is their true image without the dazzle.
Burn the photo and firefly in the cauldron and say:
The light is out,
The glamour stripped
Off of your act,
Illusions ripped
Away from what
Has kept me blind.
I see the truth
That lies behind.
Bury the ashes afterward.
Wasp Spell to Disarm a Harmful Person
Ever heard the saying “kill them with kindness”? This spell is meant to stifle the hateful influence of an enemy with pure sweetness. Their poisonous behavior is represented by a wasp or hornet.
For the purpose of this spell, we are focusing on the stinger, the poison and the pain a wasp can cause. A wasp can relentlessly sting again and again, just like a toxic person can cause harm repeatedly without consequence. It is this association, and the fear many people feel when near a wasp, that we are using in this spell. Regardless of the big ecological picture, emotions elicited by wasps are strong and therefore powerful in magick. As always, use a wasp that you find already dead in this spell.
An interesting wasp fact is that when they sting, they release a pheromone that alerts other wasps to their distress and causes them to join the attack. This is a lot like how a negative person can sometimes have themselves a team of like-minded followers who support them.
materials
3-inch square of paper
Pencil
Empty jar or bottle with an airtight lid
Dead wasp
Something to represent the person, such as an item of theirs that they have touched or worn, their hair or fingernails, or, if all else fails, a picture or their name
1 cup honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, or even sugar dissolved in water to make a very sweet liquid
You’re going to suffocate the negative behavior out of the person with sweetness. Cast a circle and see the individual in your mind. Write out a list on your paper of what they have done to you that is wrong. This can be a personalized letter to the person (don’t worry—no one ever has to read it) or just your angry thoughts. The more you put into it the better. Rant it all out onto the paper. Fold it with the writing facing out and put it in the jar.
Hold the dead wasp in your hand. Reflect on its sting. Think of how the person has stung you. Think of the others they have drawn in to also sting and torment you. Think about their toxic, poisonous behavior and send it into the wasp. Place the wasp and the photo or personal effects of the person into the jar.
Now take your honey or syrup and hold it up to the light. See how golden and warm it is. See its sweet energy and, in it, the power of goodness. Fill it with positive, sunny thoughts until it is glowing with them.
Then pour the syrup over the wasp and paper and picture. Feel the honey literally drowning all the energies attached to them, stifling them down to nothing. See the honey invade every pore and fiber of those items, taking them over and nullifying them completely, drowning and killing them. Cover the objects entirely and close the lid.
Spend some time looking at the saturated wasp and paper. Sweetness has voided all their power, and their poisons are wiped out.
Close your circle.
Keep this jar in a safe place until the person has stopped bothering you. When the situation has passed or they have moved on, pour the honey out somewhere off your property and recycle the jar.
10. Daniel Ogden, “The Curse Tablets: An Overview,” in Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome, ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 4.