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.
🇯🇵 JapanKodama木霊
A tree spirit in Japanese folklore that brings misfortune if the host tree is harmedBeing · Cursing and harm Living
🇮🇳 IndiaWitch-hunts in India
Violent persecution of people accused of witchcraft, mostly women, in rural IndiaBelief · Cursing and harm Living
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreScapulimancy
Divination using animal shoulder blades, practiced across Asia and the Americas.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Living
🇮🇶 Iraq and 1 morePazuzu𒀭𒅆𒊒𒍪𒍪 (pà.zu.zu)
A Mesopotamian wind demon and protective amulet against child-harming spiritsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 7 moreSatanic panic
A moral panic over unsubstantiated claims of Satanic cults abusing children in the late twentieth centuryBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 2 moreGermanic seeressvǫlva
Diviners and sorceresses of early Germanic and Norse societyTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Revived
🇮🇶 Iraq and 5 moreLove magic
Rituals and spells used to attract, preserve, or end romantic relationships across many cultures.Tradition · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Historical
🇯🇵 JapanInugami犬神
A Japanese spirit of dog possession and folk sorceryBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomBlack dog
A spectral hound from English folklore that signals death or guards the living.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 2 moreDukun
A traditional healer and spirit medium in Indonesian folk practiceTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇯🇵 JapanKitsunetsuki狐憑き
A Japanese folk belief in which a fox spirit enters and controls a human host.Belief · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreTrial by ordeal
An ancient judicial test where a dangerous physical trial determined guilt or innocenceRite · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 3 moreChangeling
A substitute left by supernatural beings in place of a stolen human child or adultBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary
🇧🇷 Brazil and 1 moreQuimbanda
An Afro-Brazilian religion focused on male and female street spirits for worldly mattersTradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomWitch bottle (sample)
A stoppered bottle set out against curses.Charm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreBhootभूत
A restless spirit of the dead in South Asian belief and folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Living
🇬🇷 GreeceWitchcraft in ancient Greece and Rome
Ancient beliefs and practices of magic, curses, and love charms in the Mediterranean worldTradition · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Historical
🇵🇱 Poland and 3 moreStrzyga
A female demon in Polish folklore, linked to owls and vampiric traitsBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇫🇷 FranceTempestarii
Medieval figures accused of controlling storms and the beliefs surrounding them.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreFrog coffin
A Finnish folk magic burial of a frog in a tiny coffin to steal luck or reflect harmRite · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇳 ChinaChinese sorcery scares
A series of moral panics in Imperial China driven by fears of magical harm and hair cuttingBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka and 1 moreSanni Yakumaසන්නි යකුම
A traditional Sinhalese exorcism ritual featuring eighteen masked dances to banish illness-causing demons.Rite · Healing · Cursing and harm Living
🇮🇪 IrelandDeath coachcóiste bodhar
A spectral carriage that signals an unavoidable death in European folkloreBelief · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇺🇬 UgandaKilling of disabled children in Uganda
The ritual murder of disabled children in parts of Uganda for body parts and perceived benefitsRite · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Bhoot: Anilbhardwajnoida, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dukun: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Rabisu: editor Austen Henry Layard , drawing by L. Gruner, Public domain, source
- Gazu Hyakki Yagyō: Toriyama Sekien, Public domain, source
- Trial by ordeal: James Sibree, Public domain, source
- Changeling: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Witch-hunts in India: Granger, Public domain, source
- Scapulimancy: Albert Peter Low, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Strzyga: Filip Gutowski, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Witchcraft in ancient Greece and Rome: Wilhelm Tischbein, Public domain, source
- Satanic panic: Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), Public domain, source
- Germanic seeress: Emil Doepler, Public domain, source
- Love magic: Kölner Meister [ 1 ] The artist is an unknown lower Rhenish artist. [, Public domain, source
- Inugami: Sawaki Suushi (佐脇嵩之, Japanese, *1707, †1772), Public domain, source
- Sanni Yakuma: Michael Gunther, CC BY-SA 4.0, source