Reasons not to cast a curse or wish someone ill

Throughout history one of those with magical powers have tried to use the, to harm others. The methods include pointing bones, hexes and the evil eye. Maybe you think the idea of a curse is all nonsense and the apparent cases where curses have worked are due only to autosuggestion. Even so I want to argue that trying to throw a curse is a bad idea in many ways. Even if it is all nonsense.

For myself I have read too much, seen too much, experienced too much to discount the possibility one person can affect another in ways normally called paranormal. Even with “normal” methods body language and attitude can be used to destroy someone psychologically. Here I lump all these things into the catch all term of “Magick”

I try not to give moral or ethical reasons because there are always hard cases that make any general rule hard to apply. I argue that the main reason for not trying to use such powers, if you believe you have them, or to harbour thoughts of revenge and violence towards someone, is to harm yourself.

The holocaust defines World War Two. Many of the lower level participants involved in the “special treatments” did not start as monsters. They slid into evil by degrees, one small step after another till it was too late to go back. The concentration camp guards may have started by treating their prisoners harshly, which made it easier to regard them as less than human, which made it easier to herd them into gas chambers. Every little act of evil made the next, worse, act easier.

Everything you do changes you. Ill wishing someone change you for the worse. Putting a curse on someone, even if you fail, or even wishing them ill makes you a worse person. Do you want that? DO you want steadily to become less than totally human? Is your self respect high enough to prevent you lowering yourself to what is effectively the same thing as administering poison.

Ignore the above point. Curses, like the death penalty, risk wasting potentially valuable human beings, and, like the death penalty, if you find your reason was wrong, undoing your actions could be a little difficult. Remember people change. It is more creative and challenging to neutralise their actions. or just to get them out of your life.

Ignore both those points. Curses are almost always a simple, uncreative and inelegant solution to a problem. Difficulty with a neighbour? Cast a spell to get them to move to somewhere you will never see them again. Or to move you to somewhere you want to be where they will never go. Trouble with a workmate? A spell to get them promoted sideways to a remote office. Or create a talisman to turn any attacks on you, conscious or unconscious to your advantage.

Ignore that point too. A curse involves energy, your mental energy. Thoughts of revenge take up energy you could use for better things. Magick involves plain vanilla physicist type energy if it is to affect the physical world, with a risk of blow back. That is a simple matter of Physics. Think of putting a bullet into someone's head and having it go out the other side, ricochet off a pipe and then go into your skull. Not what you intended. Think of a ricochet affecting innocent parties, maybe someone you love. Even if you you don't believe in psychic powers carrying negative thoughts around damages you. I have a friend who has an an enemy, and every time my friend has a bit of good luck his enemy falls ill with hatred. No Magick involved.

If you are into the Law of Attraction you believe that what you focus on turns up in your life. If you focus on harming someone your unconscious cannot tell you want this for someone else, and the harm you intend may turn up in your own life.  Yes. aspects of the Law are very "New Age" but for some people it seems to work.

Finally what if the intended victim is magickally adept and can send the curse right back at you.

I have given several reasons for not trying harm others magickally, or to think negative thoughts about someone. For me the mot important one is the corrupting effect it has on you. The other reasons are important but less compelling. If attacked (non physically) by someone I would prefer to frustrate all their efforts and see them get more and more annoyed till they realise they are wasting their time. Even better I would prefer to turn enemies into friends. That would require negotiating with them in real life and could be far harder than simply flinging a hex their way. But more satisfactory.

Of course there are those who appear to be able to throw a curse without harm to themselves. Generally they are detached from the situation. Magicians throwing a curse on someone for money, or a tribal elder who decided a rapist, whereabouts unknown needed execution. Often they pass the task to a random spirit.

Bottom line. In a civilised society the only valid reason for binding or harming someone, magickally or otherwise, is to defend yourself or someone else. Failure to do this can cause problems: had the banks been restrained in time we may well not have had a recession. In many cases a creative solution can be found which harms no one. The curse is and must remain a last resort. No matter how satisfying it would be to see someone writhe in agony.