In
Traditional British Old Craft we do curse – not very often but when it
is necessary to resort to a Higher Law and we have exhausted all other methods
of obtaining justice. Like the character in How Green Was My Valley who
was dissatisfied with the outcome of a legal dispute saying: “We’ve tried
English law, now we’ll try a bit of Welsh law!” before going out to thump a
neighbour! It was also an observation
confirmed by Keith Thomas in Religion and the Decline of Magic,
concerning a method of obtaining justice for those who did not have a voice in
a court of law.
This does
not mean, however, that Old Crafters go around cursing with impunity. There is always a price to pay and
any experienced magical practitioner accepts the consequences of their actions.
A curse thrown in a fit of rage or jealous pique might be extremely effective,
but a knee jerk reaction might also rebound on the sender if the proper
procedures aren’t in place. The old
saying about revenge being a dish best served cold suits the witch’s approach
to cursing but, more often than not, they will not expend the energy necessary
for a successful curse when a bottling or binding can be just as effective.
Research
for By Spellbook and Candle revealed that when it comes to the most
virulent of curses, you can’t beat Christianity when it comes to throwing
examples that can last for generations and make witches appear as rank amateurs
in the game!
‘The
Cursing Litany’, translated from the ancient Egyptian by Margaret Murray,
however, is probably the most deadly of all, because it is not only aimed at
the living, but also the obliteration of a person’s spirit and memory after
death This particular curse requires
the participation of two or more people: one to speak the curse, the other(s)
to repeat the refrain ‘Mayest thou never exist’.
Mayest thou never exist, may
thy ka
never exist,
may thy body never exist.
Mayest thou never exist.
May thy limbs never
exist. Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy bones never
exist. Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy words of power never
exist. Mayest thou never
exist.
Mayest thou never
exist. Mayest thou never exist.
May thy form never
exist. Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy attributes never
exist. Mayest thou
never exist.
May that which springs from
thee never exist.
Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy hair never
exist. Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy possessions never
exist. Mayest thou never
exist.
May thy emissions never
exist. Mayest thou
never exist.
May the material of thy body
never exist. Mayest thou never exist.
May thy place never
exist. Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy tomb never
exist. Mayest
thou never exist.
May they cavern never
exist. Mayest thou
never exist.
May thy funeral chamber
never exist. Mayest thou never
exist.
May thy paths never
exit. Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy seasons never
exist. Mayest thou
never exist.
May thy words never
exist. Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy enterings never
exist. Mayest thou
never exist.
May thy journeying never
exist. Mayest thou never exist.
May thy advancings never
exist. Mayest thou never
exist.
May thy comings never
exist. Mayest thou
never exist.
May thy sitting down never
exist. Mayest thou never
exist.
May thy increase never
exist. Mayest thou
never exist.
May thy body never
exist. Mayest
thou never exist.
May thy prosperity never
exist. Mayest thou
never exist.
Thou art smitten, O
enemy.
Thou shalt die, thou shalt
die.
Thou shalt perish, thou
shalt perish, thou shalt perish.
By
contrast, a more ‘homely’ and user-friendly curse is The Gage, an interesting adaptation from the Walter de
la Mare poem of and used in revenge for the killing (or deliberate injuring) of
a pet dog, The Gage offers an example of an extremely powerful curse.
For example:
“O mark me well!
For what my hound befell
You shall pay twenty-fold,
For every tooth
Of his, i’sooth,
Your life in pawn I’ll hold.”
Here we are bringing
down a curse that is twenty times the number of teeth in the
dog’s mouth, which for an average healthy, adult dog is around 42. This means that the magical practitioner
must weigh in the balance whether the punishment fits the crime. After all, it would
be rather extreme if someone had merely given your dog a clout for attempting
to ravish their prize-winning bitch. That said, this curse used against any act
of cruelty against a dog - intentional or unintentional - might be seen to be
justifiable. Cursing, like most areas of magic, is a question of personal
responsibility and/or morality but once thrown cannot be retracted and even the
mildest accident magnified 20 x 42 is going to have serious
repercussions.
My own personal favourite is the curse of the Hell Hounds,
also known as the ‘Curse of Macha’ and adapted from the version in E A
St George’s The Book of
Ghastly Curses. This appears to be
a very old witches’ curse that calls upon the spectral Hell (or Gabriel) hounds
that normally accompany the Wild Hunt.
These ghostly hounds are a widespread and integral part of British
native superstition to such a degree that the mournful howl as an omen of death
has almost reached the status of cliché in folklore writing. The victim experiences the sensation of being
harried and pursued, especially during the hours of darkness, and the fear of
being torn apart.
Gather up a magic spell, summon forth the hounds of
hell,
Over sea and over land, answer to a witch command,
Changing moon from bright to dim,
the hounds of hell must follow him.
Gather up a magic rite, hounds of hell go forth
tonight,
Follow him where he shall go, follow hounds, the
witch’s foe,
Where he lies the blood will mark.
Changing moon from bright to dark.
Gather up a magic spell, follow him, O hounds of
hell,
He who betrays must bleed, hounds of hell behold the
deed,
Changing moon from bright to dim,
hounds of hell shall follow him.
Cursing,
however, is not always the answer to an insult or injury and it is important to
remember three pertinent points: (1)
Curses once thrown cannot be retracted and may rebound on the sender; (2) there
is always a price to pay by the sender; and (3) an effective curse
requires a tremendous application of physical and psychic energy and can be
extremely debilitating for the sender.
So why go to the bother of cursing when a bottling or binding can
be just as effective.
No comments:
Post a Comment