A Witch's World of Magick (21 page)

V, 14. Charm to repel sorceries or spells.
… 4. Take hold by the hand and lead away the spell back to him that prepares it! Place it in his very presence, so that it shall slay him that prepares the spell!
5. The spells shall take effect upon him that prepares the spells, the curse upon him that pronounces the curse! As a chariot with easy-going wheels, the spell shall turn back upon him that prepares the spell!
6. Whether a woman, or whether a man has prepared the spell for evil, we lead that spell to him as a horse with the halter
… 10. Go as a son to his father, bite like an adder that has been stepped upon. Return thou, O spell, to him that prepares the spell, as one who overcomes his fetters!
11. As the shy deer, the antelope, goes out to the mating (buck), thus the spell shall reach him that prepares it!
12. Straighter than an arrow may it (the spell) fly against him, O ye heaven and earth; may that spell take hold again of him that prepares it, as (a hunter) of his game!
13. Like fire (the spell) shall progress in the teeth of obstacles, like water along its course! As a chariot with easy-going wheels the spell shall turn back upon him that prepares the spell!
¹¹⁵

Here again we find clear directives for the clearly identified spells of the enemy to be reflected back. Orders such as “lead away the spell back to him that prepares it,” “the curse upon him that pronounces the curse,” and “return thou, O spell, to him that prepares the spell” are quite clear—the same energies incorporated into the original curse are to be hurled directly back upon the curser, just as powerful, just as strong, as if they had met their intended mark. As in Egypt, so too in India was the reflective power of words and a reversal of intentions used to prevent, thwart, and break a variety of curses.

The Pennsylvania Dutch also made use of reflection magick, though their methods were quite different than those of Hindu or Egyptian magicks. In a collection of folklore gathered by John George Hohman, originally published in the nineteenth century, a technique of counteractive magick is described that highlights the unusual quality of the Pennsylvania Dutch techniques:

If you are calumniated or slandered to your very skin, to your very flesh, to your very bones, cast it back upon the false tongues. Take off your shirt, and turn it wrong side out, and then run your two thumbs along your body, close under the ribs, starting at the pit of the heart down to the thighs.
¹¹⁶

It seems here that the efficacy of such actions is primarily in their oddity, which gives the whole operation a reversing quality. In addition, when the slanderous energies of the gossipers hits the rather backward, reversed version of their target, these energies are reflected back, just as if the gossip was looking at itself in the mirror. Whether it’s mostly the oddity or mostly the mock reversal that tricks the gossip is impossible to determine. What is clear, however, is that we have here a doubly reflective, doubly reversing action that works to stop ill wishes fast, sending the malicious intentions back from whence they came with a very simple, easy-to-perform act of multi-layered reflection magick.

Other studies of cursebreaking through reflection are also challenging to define in terms of most active ingredients. One such example is the aforementioned Curse of the Bambino, one of the best-known, longest-running curses in baseball history. Legend has it that the curse was set in the off-season of 1919–1920, when the Red Sox sold star player Babe Ruth, nicknamed “the Bambino,” to the Yankees. At this early point in baseball history, the Red Sox had won five of the first fifteen World Series and were expected to continue to do well. After trading Ruth, though, the team hit a downward spiral that continued for ages, with the Red Sox failing to win the World Series title time and time again. It took until 2004 for the Red Sox to break the curse and once again reclaim the World Series title.
¹¹⁷
Credit for the curse’s reversal is split. Some believe the Curse of the Bambino was broken at a game on August 31, 2004, when an especially wayward foul ball hit by Red Sox player Manny Ramirez hit a young fan in the face and knocked out two of his front teeth. Although the battered onlooker was a Red Sox fan and an avid supporter of Manny Ramirez, he had connections to Babe Ruth through the fact of living on Sudbury farm, land that was once owned by the baseball legend.
¹¹⁸
Sending a baseball hurtling into the face of this Red Sox fan turned Babe Ruth representative may have mirrored and thus reversed the harmful effects of the original Curse of the Bambino.

Others tout the reflective power of words as the true charm that broke the famed curse. Shortly prior to the 2004 Red Sox win, a Boston street sign warning against a “Reverse Curve” was vandalized and changed to state, instead, “Reverse the Curse.”
¹¹⁹
The city was so wary of jinxing their home team that they left the graffiti in place until after the Red Sox had secured the World Series title. Whether it was the foul ball or the sign that did it, we’ll never know, but through either a reflective word or a reversing action, reflecting a curse away from its target is a powerful and effective defense.

Using reflection as a means of countermagick and cursebreaking doesn’t have to be a complicated operation. As we’ve seen in these examples, it can be as simple as using reflective language, reflective intent, bizarre actions. Through the reflection principle, your magick becomes a mirror to confuse, reverse, and reflect the original spell or curse so that it’s sent back upon its caster.

Covering All the Bases

In addition to the widespread use of body-derived ingredients, destruction of the curse object, overpowering, and reflection as effective means of cursebreaking, another commonality apparent in countermagick practices around the world is the act of “covering all the bases,” as it were, making a counter-spell more effective by increasing the chances that the nature of the original spell will be correctly guessed. An example will serve to better illustrate this principle; take a look at this countercharm offered in the
Atharvaveda
:

V, 31. Charm to repel sorceries or spells.
1. The spell which they have put for thee into an unburned vessel, that which they have put into mixed grain, that which they have put into raw meat, that do I hurl back again.
2. The spell which they have put for thee into a cock, or that which (they have put) into a goat, into a crested animal, that which they have put into a sheep, that do I hurl back again.
3. The spell which they have put for thee into solipeds, into animals with teeth on both sides, that which they have put
into an ass, that do I hurl back again.
4. The magic which they have put for thee into moveable property, or into personal possession, the spell which they have put into the field, that do I hurl back again.
5. The spell which evil-scheming persons have put for thee into the gârhapatya-fire, or into the housefire, that which they have put—into the house, that do I hurl back again.
6. The spell which they have put for thee into the assembly-hall, that which (they have put) into the gaming-place, that which they have put into the dice, that do I hurl back again.
7. The spell which they have put for thee into the army, that which they have put into the arrow and the weapon, that which they have put into the drum, that do I hurl back again.
8. The spell which they have placed down for thee in the well, or have buried in the burial-ground, that which they have put into (thy) home, that do I hurl back again.
9. That which they have put for thee into human bones, that which (they have put) into the funeral fire, to the consuming, burning, flesh-eating fire do I hurl that back again.
10. By an unbeaten path he has brought it (the spell) hither, by a (beaten) path we drive it out from here. The fool in his folly has prepared (the spell) against those that are surely wise.
11. He that has undertaken it has not been able to accomplish it: he broke his foot, his toe. He, luckless, performed an auspicious act for us, that are lucky.
12. Him that fashions spells, practises magic, digs after roots, sends out curses, Indra, shall slay with his mighty weapon,
Agni shall pierce with his hurled (arrow)!
¹²⁰

When it comes to cursebreaking, there are clear advantages in knowing the curser and/or knowing the nature of the original curse. If you know the curse-caster, for example, you might include a bit of the person’s hair or saliva in your countercharm. Likewise, if you’re aware that the spell was put into a conjure bag and hidden somewhere in your house, you’ll have a good idea of where to find the object and if you locate it, you can simply destroy it. Knowing something about the curse and its caster will definitely make things easier for the witch trying to break the spell, but such information is not an absolute necessity. In the principle of covering all bases, we find a crafty way magicians have worked around the challenge of a lack of information about the curse to be broken.

In the above example from the
Atharvaveda
, a string of possibilities as to the nature of the curse are exhausted, from “The spell which they have placed down for thee in the well” to “that which they have put for thee into human bones.” Several general descriptions of the identity of the curser are also included as a means to cover all bases when the specific identity of the curser is not known: “He that has undertaken it,” “Him that fashions spells, practises magic, digs after roots, sends out curses.” The phrase “By an unbeaten path he has brought it hither, by a (beaten) path we drive it out from here” is another means of identification—place of origin is an effective way to define the identity of the target of a spell, and even though the place named here is a vague “unbeaten path,” it’s named, nonetheless, and sufficient to make a positive identification of curse and curser alike. In this way, the likelihood of happening upon the identity of the curser and the nature of the original curse are greatly increased, giving the countercharm a much better chance for success. We see also in this example the reflection principle again at work, in the words “that do I hurl back again.” Do you recognize any other methods of cursebreaking in this formula?

The Malay of southeast Asia also made use of the covering all the bases principle, as illustrated in this excerpt from a shaman’s incantation intended to oust the demon of disease from a patient:

Where is this genie lodging and taking shelter?
Where is he lodging and crouching?
Genie! if thou art in the feet of this patient,
Know that these feet are moved by Allah and His Prophet;
If thou art in the belly of this patient,
His belly is God’s sea, the sea, too, of Muhammad.
If thou art in his hands,
His hands pay homage to God and His Prophet.
If thou art in his liver, It is the secret place of God
and His Prophet!
If thou art in his heart,
His heart is Abu Bakar’s palace.
If thou art in his lungs,
His lungs are ’Omar’s palace.
If thou art in his spleen,
His spleen is ’Usman’s palace.
If thou art in his gall-bladder,
His gall-bladder is ’Ali’s palace.
¹²¹

In this example, we find that every possibility for where the evil spirit of the illness might be currently lodging is enumerated, from the heart, to the lungs, to the belly of the inflicted. By accounting for as many possibilities as can be imagined, there is a greater chance that the baneful energy to be counteracted can be positively identified, located, and controlled.

There’s another little trick being played in this charm that’s also worthy of note. By dedicating the various body parts of the victim to divinities such as
’
Ali,
’
Usman,
’
Omar, and God, the practitioner is hoping to entice these more powerful beings to intervene—yet another example of overpowering as a means of cursebreaking, and yet another instance of multi-layered magick being applied to produce the best chance of success.

Common Threads and New Perspectives

From overpowering to reflecting to destroying an object of magick, we’ve explored throughout this chapter many methods for breaking curses and otherwise counteracting unwelcome spells. We’ve learned that body-derived ingredients can provide a potent medium through which to break a curse, and we’ve also seen how curses and spells can be sent back to their origin through application of the reflection principle. We know also that curses and spells can be overpowered, rendered null and void by magickal energies that are much stronger than the original sorcery that is to be undone. So too can simply making amends and restitution to the offended party provide closure to a spell and liberation from a curse, just as destroying an object housing the magick provides quick end to the charm and instant relief. You understand the advantage of covering all the bases with your countercharms and cursebreaking formulas, and you know a variety of ways to go about your magick. Even though actual curses are rather rare these days, cursebreaking methods can be adapted to a variety of magickal workings, making it beneficial and worthwhile to master such techniques.