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EveryJaadu

Cursing and harm

Curses, hexes and sorcery as people describe and fear them, with the counter-magic against them.

Cursing and harm are the part of magic that societies fear most. This page describes curses and sorcery as beliefs, and the social role of fear and accusation, and does not give instructions. The evil eye, the curse tablets of the Greek and Roman world, Hebrew and Arabic writings on harmful magic, sorcery in Melanesia and Africa, and the European witch are all part of this subject. Most of the harm recorded is that done to people accused.

What is believed

Many cultures hold that envy, anger or hostile ritual can bring illness, loss or death to a victim. The beliefs differ: in the Mediterranean, the evil eye needs no intent. In Azande society, studied by Evans-Pritchard, witchcraft was an inherited substance that explained why misfortune struck one person and not another. Greek and Roman lead curse tablets, often addressed to gods of the underworld, show the belief was written down in antiquity.

Accusation as social force

Where harm is feared, accusation follows. Anthropologists have shown that charges of witchcraft often follow tension inside a family or village, such as inheritance, jealousy or a sudden death. Accusers are usually in conflict with the accused, who is more likely to be old, poor, widowed or marginal. The belief can enforce norms and also destroy people. People also fear being accused, since an accusation can arrive without warning and can follow a family for generations.

Persecution and its present

European and colonial American witch trials, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, put tens of thousands to death, including the Salem trials of 1692. The practice has not ended. Mobs and families still attack accused people in parts of Africa, India, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere, and Saudi Arabia has executed people for sorcery. Albino people have been killed for body parts in East Africa. Several states are drafting or enforcing laws against accusation itself.

Counter-magic and scholarship

Where harm is feared, so is protection: amulets, cleansing, and a specialist who can say who sent it. Scholars see curses as a language of grievance, and psychologists have documented the nocebo effect, in which belief in harm can bring on real distress. A person who is afraid should seek medical and social help, and talk to someone they trust. People who believe they have been cursed should be helped to find practical support, including from health services, and not left alone with fear.

Cursing and harm on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindTraditionRiteCharmOracleSubstanceBeingFigureTextIllusionBelief
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
OccasionWeddings and betrothalFestivalsBirth and childhoodDeath and remembranceHarvest, farming and weatherNew yearInitiation and coming of ageIllness and misfortuneJourneys and voyagesEveryday use
StandingLivingRevivedFadingHistoricalLegendaryPerformed
OrderBest knownA to ZNewestLiving first
🇪🇬 EgyptCurse A spoken wish for misfortune to befall a person or placeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇵🇱 PolandWitch trials in Poland A historical record of sorcery prosecutions and executions in Poland from the 15th to the 19th century.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇹 ItalyWitches of Benevento A medieval Italian legend of witches gathering under a walnut treeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇳🇴 NorwayWitch trials in Norway A wave of executions and legal persecution for sorcery in early modern Norway.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreBamberg witch trials A mass execution campaign in a German prince-bishopric that killed around one thousand people between 1623 and 1632.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomSpectral evidence Court testimony based on visions of spirits during historical witch trialsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇳🇱 NetherlandsWitch trials in the Netherlands A historical record of prosecutions and executions for sorcery in the Dutch Republic.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreAzazelעזאזל A desert place and fallen angel linked to the Yom Kippur scapegoat ritualFigure · Cursing and harm · Cleansing and purification Historical 🇪🇸 SpainBasque witch trials A seventeenth-century Inquisition campaign against alleged witches in the Basque Country.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇹 ItalyWitch trials in Italy Historic legal proceedings against alleged witches across Italian states from the 14th to 18th centuries.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇸🇪 SwedenTorsåker witch trials The largest mass execution of witches in Swedish history, carried out in a single day.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇱 Israel and 2 moreLeviathanלִוְיָתָן (Livyaṯān) A primordial sea monster from ancient Near Eastern myth and biblical textBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇩🇪 GermanyTrier witch trials A series of mass executions in the Holy Roman Empire between 1581 and 1593.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇫🇷 FranceWitch trials in France A fragmented history of legal persecution for sorcery across French regions and centuries.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomSamlesbury witches Three Lancashire women acquitted in a 1612 trial linked to anti-Catholic propagandaBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇳🇱 NetherlandsCornelius Loos A Catholic priest who publicly opposed the European witch trials of the late 1500s.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇪🇪 Estonia and 1 moreWitch trials in Latvia and Estonia Early modern persecutions of sorcery and paganism by Baltic German authoritiesBelief · Cursing and harm · Cleansing and purification Historical 🇮🇱 IsraelNumber of the beastἈριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου A biblical number linked to a prophetic figure and interpreted through ancient letter values.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇳🇴 NorwayVardø witch trials A major Scandinavian persecution of women accused of sorcery in 17th-century NorwayBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇸🇪 SwedenWitch trials in Denmark A history of legal executions and local panics against sorcery in early modern Denmark.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇱 Israel and 2 moreBelialבְּלִיַּעַל A Hebrew term for worthlessness that evolved into a demon of darkness in Jewish and Christian texts.Being · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesSalem Witch Trials A colonial legal crisis where over two hundred people faced accusations of sorcery in Massachusetts.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇪🇬 EgyptLucifer A Latin name for the planet Venus that became an epithet for the Devil in Christian traditionFigure · Cursing and harm Historical 🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreWitch's mark A bodily mark believed to prove a pact with the Devil during early modern witch trialsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇩🇪 GermanyWürzburg witch trials A mass execution of hundreds in a German Catholic principality during the Thirty Years WarBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreMedieval European magic A broad category of ritual and natural practices in the Middle Ages, blending healing, divination, and religious belief.Tradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomSt Mark's Eve An English folk custom to witness omens of death and future marriage on the eve of a saint's feast dayRite · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomPendle witches A 1612 series of English witch trials that resulted in ten executions near Pendle Hill.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEuropean witchcraft Historical beliefs in harmful magic and the resulting trials across EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇫🇷 FranceLouviers possessions A seventeenth-century French convent case of mass demonic possession and witchcraft accusationsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇷 GreeceGelloΓελλώ A Greek demon of infancy and a class of beings blamed for infant death.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDusios A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreCurse of Ham A biblical story used to justify slavery and racial discriminationBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇫🇷 FranceTempestarii Medieval figures accused of controlling storms and the beliefs surrounding them.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreReligious aspects of Nazism The study of how Nazi ideology borrowed religious forms and esoteric beliefs to build a political movement.Tradition · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreDivine retribution Supernatural punishment by a deity in response to anger or wrongdoingBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇫🇷 FranceLoudun possessionsaffaire des possédées de Loudun A 17th-century witchcraft trial in France involving alleged demonic possession by Ursuline nuns.Belief · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreSerpent seed A fringe belief that Cain was the offspring of Eve and the Serpent, creating two distinct human lineages.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇷🇴 RomaniaTanacu exorcism A 2005 Romanian Orthodox ritual that ended in a nun's death and a murder convictionRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇱 IsraelNumber of the beastἈριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου A biblical number linked to a prophetic figure and interpreted through ancient numerologyBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇸 Iceland and 3 moreDeal with the Devil A cultural trope of trading one's soul for worldly favours in exchange for demonic aidBelief · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical

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The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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