Are You Cursed?: Detecting Curses & Their Origins
As a witchy blogger and shop owner, I get a lot of questions about curses, where they come from, and how to detect them. It seems like everyone wants to know if their run of bad luck, their new cold, or their recent car accident can be traced back to a supernatural source. Easily eighty- to ninety-percent of my emails from clients and prospective clients are questions about curses.
Here’s the good news: curses, while always a hot topic in the magical community, are really not as common as many people might think they are. There are, of course, practitioners who specialize in curses and hexes. And you may occasionally make someone angry enough that they mutter (or tweet) the threat of a curse in your direction. But the overwhelming majority of what we think might be the manifestation of curses in our lives can be chalked up to bad luck.
So, with that in mind, how does one know when they’re actually cursed? What is a curse? What are the tell-tale signs of being cursed? And what can one do to protect themselves from curses?
What is a Curse?
Fun Fact: The definition of a curse might vary from practice to practice. What one tradition or practitioner considers a curse may be categorized in a different way by another tradition or practitioner. There are many, many subcategories of baneful magic and not all of them may qualify as being curses. And all of them vary from practice to practice.
For the sake of simplicity, we are using the word “curse” in this post to refer to any magical working that is directly intended to bring someone harm, loss, blockages, or pain. This, of course, does not include the many kinds of magic which can indirectly cause harm—such as binding spells, conditional spells, reactive magic, etc. Harm, loss, blocks, and other inconveniences can occur as the byproduct of any spell, but that does not make them curses necessarily.
What Are the Signs of a Curse?
The effects of a curse will vary depending on how it was designed to work and what the caster’s intentions were. Most of the time, when people reach out to me asking about whether they could be cursed, it is because they are experiencing some kind of loss or blockage in their life. This usually means that they’re experiencing relationship difficulties, health issues, or money problems—but the signs can also be more subtle. You might notice more frequent nightmares, difficulty with divination and spell casting, or simply a feeling that something is…just off.
A curse can attack any area of a person’s life. We typically see them depicted in movies and television as being focused on a target’s love life or physical health. And those are probably some of the most common applications of curses from real-life witches as well. However, a curse can impact any part of your life—waking or otherwise—meaning that the presence of a curse in one’s life can manifest in numerous ways, in any area.
The complaints that we receive from clients and prospective clients who believe they might be curses are varied. Some may report a sudden, unexplainable headache; inexplicable dental issues; or gastrointestinal problems. Some experience trouble with technology, vehicles, plumbing and other items that were working fine just a week ago. And others may report losing jobs, housing, or savings suddenly. When things like this happen, it is in our nature to look for a reason. We have a natural inclination to look for a problem we can solve to make the pain and struggling go away. When we can’t find that, when we can’t find a natural cause that we can control and reverse, it can be almost wishful thinking to begin to wonder if maybe we are cursed.
Finding Out if You Really Are Cursed
Most of the time, a person who believes they might be the victim of a curse is not. Most supposed curses can be traced back to bad luck or misfortune. But how do we rule out natural causes, human error, and bad luck? How do we discover if a person is actually the victim of a curse or baneful magic? Most of the time, the answer to this question is divination.
Perform a reading in whatever way you feel you are best at doing so. Tarot and oracle decks are some of the most commonly used divinatory methods throughout the magical community—but they are not the only methods out there. For personal readings, it is important to use the methods that work best for you, whether you favor Tarot, oracle decks, dreamwork, omens, sortilege, or some other technique. Record your findings. Wait a day, or maybe a week. Perform another reading. And compare the notes.
Your reading may reveal the presence of a curse and, if so, further divination may reveal the curse’s origins and nature (which will be helpful when you get to the work of dismantling or removing the magic). However, it is more likely that your reading will not reveal a curse at all. It, instead, point to the presence of entirely natural causes like someone’s dishonesty or human error; or alternative magical and energetic origins, such as energetic blockages or inherited energy patterns. Your reading may also fall on the inconclusive side. Often, a reading will point to anger, resentment, and negativity as the source of discord in a person’s life, but fail to clearly identify where the negativity is actually coming from.
If your readings and signs deliver a conclusive message (either a curse or not a curse), you can perform further divination to help determine your next steps. If a curse is detected, this means discovering its origins and how best to counteract it. If a curse is not detected, this means discovering the origins of the trouble—natural or supernatural—and determining the best course of action for improving your situation. If your readings are inconclusive, keep trying. Keep notes of every reading and every session. Experiment with different ways to keep notes. And compare your readings to create a clearer picture of the situation.
Curse-Detecting with Cartomancy
Cartomancy is a very popular means of divination, which can be performed with Tarot cards, playing cards, and oracle cards. It can also be performed with self-styled cards featuring words and symbols. There are many spreads available for detecting curses and pinning down their origins. Here is a very simple one that is intended to answer basic questions about the source of negativity, blockages and other inconveniences that could be attributed to a curse.
I – Is there a curse or baneful magic on me? This placement provides the most direct and most basic response to your curse-detecting questions. Querents who are, indeed, cursed by expect to find cards here which not only represent strife and sorrow, but also action and direction. A number of Swords cards, for example, might be an indicator of an active, in-progress or attempted curse (depending upon the individual card and the other cards in the reading). You may also find cards here which appear to represent forces or individuals in your life. This is not necessarily an indicator that that person has placed a curse on you, but may be a sign that this person or force is a source of some kind of negativity.
II – More information. This space in the reading provides room for a built-in clarification card. It is intended to provide additional information about the curse or baneful magic that may be at work in your life. This is included because you want to get a very clear picture of whether you are cursed and, if so, what kind of magic is at work in your life. Utilizing these two cards together can help to give you a clear negative or affirmative answer than one card alone. If, at this point, your reading points to the presence of a curse, continue the reading as described below. If it does not, you can continue the reading, using the remaining cards to read about the effects of the other forces in your life. Or, you can reshuffle and redo the reading from start, focusing on negativity, blockages, and strife instead of on curses. Simply replace the first two questions with questions about the origin and nature of any force (natural or supernatural) causing trouble in your life.
III – How will it manifest? This placement in the spread will provide some insight on how you can expect any curse that is on you to manifest (if at all). Use this card to help identify the areas in your life that baneful magic may be affecting, or to confirm the effects you already feel. You may also find card here which indicate a curse’s failure to produce any effects at all.
IV – Where did it come from? This placement represents the source of the turmoil in your life. If you have a confirmed curse in your reading, this card will help you to understand who cast it and how it came to be on you. If not, this hard will provide some insight into the exact cause of your trouble. Look for cards that may elucidate mistakes or missteps that were made, relationships that had turned sour, or even ancestral causes.
V – How can I counteract it? Use this placement to seek advice on how to counteract the curse or trouble in your life. This may involved magical or mundane action, so keep an open mind when reading.
Seeking a Second Opinion
Whenever I have done this kind of divination for myself, I always make a point to seek a second opinion from a fellow diviner that I know well and trust. This is important to me personally, because it helps to eliminate confirmation bias, which is a common, unintentional occurrence when reading for oneself. Even as experienced readers, we may have a subconscious inclination to read our cards, signs, and omens in a way that confirms what we wish for or what we already believe to be true. Done correctly, seeking a second opinion helps even veteran diviners to check their work for confirmation bias and reevaluate their interpretations if they need to.
If you decide it’s important for you to seek a second opinion on your curse-detecting reading, I recommend doing so with a blind or semi-blind reading. In a blind reading, the reader performs the reading without knowing what questions the querent has. The querent may let the reader know how many questions they have or give them a general idea of what the reading is about, but will not divulge the actual questions. Instead, the querent should write down their questions and keep them private, cross-referencing the list when receiving the reader’s notes and feedback. In a semi-blind reading, the querent may provide the reader with the same list of questions that they used in their own personal readings; however, they should not divulge the results of any previous readings or give any background information on the subject. Keep it on a need-to-know basis. Once again, keep notes of the results of these readings and compare them to your own to form a complete picture of the situation.
When seeking a second opinion from a reader (as well as with performing your own readings), be sure to use discernment and sound judgement. Don’t let anyone scare you or sweep you away. And certainly don’t let anyone use a reading to pressure you into purchasing additional services or courses, or into owing them favors.
If It Isn’t a Curse, What Is It?
Most of the time, it’s not a curse. There are numerous natural and supernatural forces which can cause a person to believe that they are cursed. Most of the time, the root of a given problem is completely natural. If you are struggling with money, limited cash flow/access or spending habits may be the sole cause of the issue. Relationships may struggle because of dishonesty, infidelity, communication issues, or busy schedules. Promotions can be missed because of lack of qualifications, favoritism, or unfairness.
The simplest answer is usually the most likely—and that usually means that the cause is natural. In other cases, trouble can be of supernatural or spiritual origin without being an intentional, directed act of baneful magic. Disruptive energetic patterns and curses can be inherited from ancestors. Our own spells can sometimes backfire, causing curse-like effects.
Whatever the cause, negativity in one’s life can be counteracted by a combination of mundane and magical efforts. Magical workings are a necessity when it comes to dismantling supernatural forces against us; but they can also be valuable tools to help us gain better control over the natural forces in our lives. It is important to use mundane efforts to manage the ongoing effects of any negativity in your life and to repair whatever damage you can. Using both magic and mundane means at the same time, in tandem with one another offers the greatest chances for success in both efforts.
Disclaimer: Each of the Crowsbone writers and guest bloggers has their own magical background, beliefs, traditions and practices. These post represent the opinions, research and beliefs of the individual writers. We do not believe that they represent beliefs and rules associated with all magical practice or witchcraft; nor do they represent the beliefs and opinions of all of the Crowsbone community.