Safeguard your doors. After all this cleaning, the last thing you want is for any more crap to cross your thresholds. And because harmful energy shouldn’t cross either, you’ll need to prepare a 50:50 mixture of red brick dust and table salt. (Since you’re only going to sprinkle a little of the substance under each of your outside doormats, you won’t need a lot; in fact, a cup of the mixture ought to be more than enough to do the trick.) If you don’t have red bricks at your disposal, obtain one from your local building supply. Then put it in a heavy paper bag, and pulverize it using a hammer.
Safeguard your property. If you live in a house, sprinkle salt around the outside perimeter of the property. If an apartment, townhouse, or condo is more your style, sprinkle the salt around your baseboards or inside wall edges instead.
So, you’ve cleaned your home. You’ve gotten rid of every last shred of that bothersome energy. All that’s left to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy that wonderful new feeling coursing through your home. Right?
Not exactly.
Remember that box of clutter? While some of you will undoubtedly leave that for another time, I urge you to tend to it now. It won’t take but a few minutes to toss out what you don’t need, and put the rest away. If you don’t, you’ll only be providing a breeding ground for additional problems. And after all the trouble you just went to, I seriously doubt that you’ll want to do that!
WASH THAT CRAP RIGHT OUT OF YOUR LIFE
Now that you’ve got a clean house, it’s time for a nice hot bath. Already showered? That’s not a problem. Just as with the rest of the psychic baths mentioned in this book, you’ll need to be clean before you step into the tub. Unlike the others, however, this one is meant to be long and luxurious. And even though its purpose is to cleanse you of any psychic crap that may still be clinging to you and crossing you up, it’s meant to be enjoyed. Before you’re done in fact, you may even find yourself reaching up with your toe to turn on the hot water again.
While you won’t have any problem obtaining most of the items on the materials list, finding blue balls may be somewhat of a hassle if you don’t know what you’re looking for. To compound the problem, metaphysical and occult retailers occasionally sell these little goodies under other names. So, to avoid confusion, it’s probably a good idea to explain exactly what they are. Blue balls are nothing more than small, round, button-like balls made from compressed, powdered bluing. (It’s the same stuff that folks used to put in the final rinse to whiten and brighten white laundry.) And if, by chance, your local retailer doesn’t carry them? Liquid bluing can still be purchased online.
THE BLUE UNCROSSING BATH
Materials:
2 blue balls (or 1 tsp. liquid bluing)
1 tsp. jasmine petals (or 2 drops of jasmine oil)
1 tsp. lemon peel
1 tsp. rose petals
1 T. salt
1 tsp. thyme
Vanilla candles (optional)
Bubble bath (optional)
Place the first six ingredients in the filter cup of the automatic drip coffeemaker, and add a full pot of water. When the brew cycle is finished, add the contents of the pot to a hot tub of water, and mix well. If you’ve opted for bubble bath and candles, put them to use now as well.
Completely immerse yourself at least three times in the water, then sit back, relax, and say the following prayer:
Oh Virgin Goddess, Maiden pure,
Look down on me and lend your cure
To heal my life, to heal my soul,
To heal my body from the toll
That wretched magic’s wreaked on them,
Wash them clean like sparkling gems.
Eradicate now every trace
Of psychic filth and quickly chase
All remnants of this nastiness
Far from me where it can’t press
Against or block me any more,
Uncross my life and lock the door
On future problems of this kind,
Bar and keep them well confined.
Oh Virgin, keep me close to You,
Protect me in the things I do.
And with Your blessings shower me,
As I will, so mote it be.
Soak, relax, enjoy your bath. Towel dry when finished.
SECURITY IN A BOTTLE
It’s often hard to know who our enemies are, or if we even have any. But the fact of the matter is that even the most wonderful folks in the world have a few. It’s not that they did anything to hurt anybody. It’s just that jealousy and misconception seem to run rampant within the human race, so we never know who might be annoyed at our successes or who might delight at the thought of our personal demises.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to avoid any possible aggravation and stop enemies in their tracks. And all it takes is making the Witch’s Bottle described below. If you’ve opted to bury it on your property though, take note: You’ll want to prepare another if you sell the property or decide to move away.
THE WITCH’S BOTTLE
Materials:
Small glass jar with a tight-fitting, screw-on lid
An assortment of sharp objects (Broken glass and pottery shards, razor blades, rusty nails and screws, pins and needles, and wood splinters are all good choices.)
Personal taglocks (A snippet of your hair and/or your fingernail clippings will do nicely.)
Your urine
Optional for women only: a tissue containing a few drops of your menstrual blood
Optional for men only: a tissue containing a few drops of your semen
Duct or electrical tape, or melted wax
Fill the jar at least half full of the sharp objects, place the taglocks on top, and if you wish, add the blood or semen. Finish filling the jar with your urine, and screw the jar lid on tightly. Then seal the lid well with tape or wax.
Since it’s important that the container remain intact, tradition holds that it should be buried at least a foot deep on your property and as close to the front door as possible. If you live in an apartment though, what’s traditional may not be at all feasible. In that case, simply put the jar out of the way—the back of a cabinet or closet, or on a dark shelf works well—and leave it there to do its thing.
FIXING THE MOTHER OF ALL SCREW UPS
No matter how well we research our facts nor how careful we try to be, we’re eventually going to screw up. It’s just a part of the human condition. And there’s no place our screw-ups shine more brightly than in the hexes and curses arena.
That’s because standing up for ourselves doesn’t always come easily. Most of us really do take an awful lot of crap before finally deciding to do something about it. And even then, we don’t get in a hurry. We go about our business, gathering the facts and exploring our options. We peruse the details with the same sort of attention we might exhaust on a multi-million dollar business venture. And then, when we’re sure that everything’s in order, we start the magical process, feeling absolutely safe in the fact that we’re completely justified in our actions and that our target (damn his rotten bananas!) deserves every shred we’re doling out, and then some. If we weren’t and he didn’t, things would never have gotten to this point. So, we do our thing and go on along our merry ways, never giving it a second thought.
But then one day, it happens. An ugly head breaks through the muck, stares us right in the face, and blinks. And we—those same folks who felt completely justified in damning that target’s rotten bananas—can barely catch our collective breath as we gasp in horror. For there, right in the eyes of the beast, we see our mistake: The target was undeniably innocent. He was never even involved in the fiasco that damned near ruined our lives. Instead, he was just another innocent bystander; just some good, old Joe who was in the wrong place at the right time. A good, old Joe who we forced to pay for someone else’s infractions with a close encounter of the very worst kind. And there we sit, shivering and shaking and wracking our brains, in a desperate search of some way to fix things,
wondering how in the hell we could’ve been so wrong.
To start with, today’s world is an interesting place. With its high-flung technology and far-flung virtual realities, some might even say that it’s nothing short of amazing. But living in such a world also has complications, the most problematical being that because things are seldom as they appear, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction. Now take that problem and factor in a fact-finding mission, a little logic, and a few rounds of he-said-she-said, and add them all together. I can nearly guarantee that the sum of those components isn’t going to be at all within the scope of reason. Reasonable or not though, it appears to be truth. And because it appears as such, we act on it as such—only to discover later that it was the most wretched mistake we ever made.
While that takes care of how easy it is to screw up—and hopefully, has illustrated just how important it is to factor in gut instinct as well as the facts—we still have a problem on our hands: How in the hell do we fix the mess we made? More to the point, though, is it even possible?
Fortunately, it is. Please understand though, that it won’t be easy, regardless of how simple the instructions appear. There’s absolutely no way to convey the degree of difficulty involved in rectifying something like this. So, just be prepared to work long and hard, and as some effects can never be truly erased, be willing to repeat some steps you’ve already taken over and over to ease the problem if the need arises.
THE POPPET AND PACKET RACKET
If the magic you worked involved the use of a poppet or a packet (a mojo or gris gris bag, or a collection of objects), feel fortunate. The good news is that it’s one of the easier types of magic to unravel. But don’t breathe that sigh of relief just yet. The bad news is that you’re going to have to retrieve the objects and destroy them. And if you buried them—or even worse, already destroyed them—that could present a problem.
But just for grins, let’s say that you haven’t destroyed the objects, you know exactly where they are, and you can put your hands on them. In this case, breaking the magic is only a matter of destroying the objects. You’ll only have one shot at this though, so you’ll need to do it correctly.
Destroying a Packet: While there are many techniques, I believe that the most thorough way to break the magic is to completely dismantle the packet. Start by removing the contents piece by piece. Set each piece on fire and allow it to burn to ash, then continue with any other pieces one at a time. When nothing else remains, burn the bag or packet covering if there is one. Finally, toss the ashes into running water to disperse them.
Destroying a Poppet or Doll: Remember how you marked the object with the target’s name? Well, the first order of business is to get rid of that. So, mark through it with a heavy, black permanent marker, and continue to work until none of the identifying name shows through. Once that’s done, remove any identifying marks if possible. Finally, burn the doll to ash and toss the remains in running water.
PUTTING A HEX OR A CURSE IN MAGICAL REVERSE
If you’ve resorted to this section, you obviously can’t retrieve the remnants of your original spell. You may have delivered a curse on the power of words alone. You may have opted to go the gift route and delivered something with a built-in hex. In either case though, you have absolutely nothing to work with that’s going to be of any help. This means that you’re going to need a lot of resolve, some serious focus, and the tenacity of the most willful bulldog. But if you’re willing to work at this, there’s no doubt you’ll succeed.
The first thing you’ll need to have in hand is a copy of any words (incantations, evocations, verbal curses, etc.) that you may have said while casting the original spell. If you kept a copy of it, grab it now, and thank the Gods for making you so anal-retentive. If you didn’t though, do your best to call it up, and spend some time writing it down.
Next, obtain an old, knitted sweater. The color isn’t important. Neither is the size. In this case, only two things matter: 1) You have never actually worn the sweater, and 2) you’re willing to reduce it to yarn. If you don’t already have something suitable on hand, check your local thrift shop.
Once you have the sweater, gather the paper on which the incantations are written and a black permanent marker. Now write the words on the sweater. It’s not important that they’re legible; it’s only important that they’ve been written on the sweater and that you have done it yourself. Use the front and back if necessary.
When you’ve finished, perform the ritual below. Know that this may take some time—depending upon the size of the sweater, it may take several hours—so be sure to allow enough to do the job well.
CURSE UNRAVELING RITUAL
Materials:
1 black/white reversible candle (If you can’t find one of these, substitute a white candle which you’ve colored completely with a black permanent marker.)
1 yellow candle
Uncrossing Incense
Charcoal block
Fire-proof dish
Cauldron or fire pit
Scissors
Sweater
Light the reversible candle and visualize the magic reversing itself. Light the yellow candle and see the effort meeting with success. Then light the charcoal block and sprinkle the incense on top.
Now sit in a comfortable position in front of the cauldron or fire pit. Using the scissors, cut the neck and cuff ribbing away from the sweater and toss them into the receptacle. Locate a yarn end on the garment and begin to unravel the fabric, saying something like:
The magic cast now falls away
As I unravel it today,
(name of target)’s life is now returned
As magic in the cauldron’s burned.
By all the power of Moon and Sun
I remove all harm; so be it done.
Continue to repeat the chant as you unravel the sweater, stopping occasionally to snip off the loosened yarn and set it aflame in the cauldron. Continue the process until the sweater is completely unraveled, burned, and reduced to ash. Either discard the ashes in running water or scatter them on the winds.
PART TWO
When footsteps come
Within the night
And you’re beset
By doubt and fright
Just hold fast within
That hour
For to the Witch
All fear is POWER
(© 1998 David O. Norris)
CHAPTER 7
THE BAD, THE NASTY & THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY
BEFORE WE BEGIN...
While I’ve used the terms “hex” and “curse” interchangeably throughout this book, I’ve done so as a matter of convenience. But it’s important to note that most practitioners don’t use them in that fashion. They view the terms as two entirely separate entities with completely different meanings. And I’d be remiss in my duties as an author if I failed to share this information.
For most practitioners, a curse relies solely upon the spoken word or, in the case of the Evil Eye, a personal gesture. They say that nothing else is necessary when cursing someone, as the emotion behind the words or act is the force that drives it. Of course, this means that the curse must be delivered with a heaping helping of anger or hatred to hit its mark—and even more to have true staying power.
According to this same contingent, a hex is the product of a spell or ritual. And while it is certainly directed and powered by the emotional state of the practitioner, it also makes use of additional aids such as personal effects, powders, washes, charms, and so forth. Of course, putting a ritual together takes a lot more time than simply letting a few words fly from the tongue. But even so, having this extra help is often well worth the effort for the practitioner for a couple of reasons: First, it allows for a cooling off period and time to think things through before actually putting the magic in motion. Second, there’s no need to shoulder the whole burden of driving the magic to its mark since the properties of other ingredients assist with that. And third,
it completely eliminates the need to come to a screeching halt right in the middle of a good hissy fit, just in order to curse the target. All things considered, it’s no wonder that hexes have become the more popular form of magic for these particular practitioners.
But here’s where things get dicey. There’s another magical sector that subscribes to the “hexes for good or bad” theory. It’s their belief that a hex is nothing more than a symbol and, as in the case of Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs, can be used to deliver magic on both ends of the spectrum. A curse, they say, is any magic powered by the fuel of ill-intent.
There’s also a sector who believes that if the desired result even borders upon the unsavory, a related Bible verse must be incorporated into the effort to achieve effectiveness. Another sector believes that specific deities must be called upon to get results. And so on. And so on. And so on.
Trying to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong is enough to make your head spin. After months of research, though, I did finally come to a conclusion: No matter how you slice it or dress it for the altar, it’s still all a matter of semantics. Everybody’s right. Nobody’s wrong. So when it comes to choosing a school of thought, just pick whichever most closely resembles your own way of thinking, and know that you’ll do just fine.
No matter how many schools of thought there are nor how diverse the thinking, there is, however, one common thread that runs through all. Simply put, it’s this: Focus is key when it comes to working magic. And nothing—not taglocks, nor potions, nor the Deities, Themselves—is going to make your magic work if you can’t manage it successfully. So if you’re having trouble with this, I urge you to work with the exercises listed at the end of Chapter 4 before going any further. Otherwise, the magical collection that follows isn’t going to do you one damned bit of good. It’s only going to serve to waste your time and energy—and no one I know has enough of either to waste.
Utterly Wicked: Curses, Hexes & Other Unsavory Notions Page 13
