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 Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇪🇬 EgyptCurse A spoken wish for misfortune to befall a person or placeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreWild Hunt A spectral chase across Europe led by a mythic figure and ghostly riders.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptCurse of the pharaohs A belief that disturbing ancient Egyptian tombs brings illness or death to the living.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 3 moreIfritعفريت A class of powerful chthonic spirits in Islamic tradition and folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇳 India and 3 moreDakiniḍākinī A goddess figure in Hinduism and Buddhism, ranging from flesh-eating demoness to enlightened energy.Being · Cursing and harm · Power and authority 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

🇫🇷 France and 3 moreWitches' Sabbath A legendary gathering of witches described in early modern trial records and folkloreBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇪 IrelandBodach A Gaelic trickster figure used to frighten children and warn of deathFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇯🇵 JapanTsukumogami付喪神 Household objects that gain a spirit after reaching their hundredth year in Japanese folklore.Being · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇸 Iceland and 1 moreNornsnornir Fate-weaving figures from Norse myth who shape human destiny and tend the world tree.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomPricking A method used during European witch trials to locate a supposed insensitive mark on an accused person.Rite · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇸 SpainDirectorium Inquisitorum A 14th-century manual for inquisitors on heresy, magic, and trial procedureText · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇱 IsraelUrim and Thummimהָאוּרִים וְהַתֻּמִּים Sacred lots used by the ancient Israelite High Priest to reveal divine judgment.Charm · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇮🇶 Iraq and 1 morePazuzu𒀭𒅆𒊒𒍪𒍪 (pà.zu.zu) A Mesopotamian wind demon and protective amulet against child-harming spiritsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomBoggart A malevolent household spirit from northern English folkloreBeing · 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 🇬🇧 United KingdomGwyllion Welsh spirits that lead travellers astray and are feared in mountain folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇫🇷 France and 3 moreChristian Kabbalah A Renaissance effort to read Christian theology into Jewish mysticismTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cursing and harm Historical

🇦🇺 AustraliaKurdaitchakwertatye A ritual executioner and feathered shoes of the Arrernte people in Central Australia.Tradition · Cursing and harm · Power and authority 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 KingdomBlack Shuck A ghostly black dog from East Anglia folklore, often seen as a death omen or a terrifying apparition.Belief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreUpiórупіор A demonic spirit from Slavic and Turkic folklore that is believed to return from the dead to feed on the living.Being · 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

🇷🇺 RussiaBlack magic Magic traditionally defined by malevolent intent and selfish purposesBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇭🇹 HaitiBois Caïman The sacred site where enslaved Africans planned the Haitian Revolution through a Vodou ceremony.Rite · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇯🇵 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

🇺🇸 United StatesSalem Witch Trials A colonial legal crisis where over two hundred people faced accusations of sorcery in Massachusetts.Belief · 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 🇼🇸 Samoa and 1 moreAitu A Polynesian term for spirits, ghosts, or calamityBelief · Cursing and harm 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

🇩🇪 GermanyAlp A Germanic spirit that presses on sleepers and drinks milkBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity 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

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreTrial by ordeal An ancient judicial test where a dangerous physical trial determined guilt or innocenceRite · Cursing and harm Historical 🇳🇴 NorwayVardø witch trials A major Scandinavian persecution of women accused of sorcery in 17th-century NorwayBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇸🇪 SwedenMora witch trial A 1669 Swedish mass execution driven by child testimony and European hysteriaBelief · 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 🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreWitch trials in Finland A historical record of legal persecution for magic in a region where men were common targets.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇨🇳 ChinaGu蛊 A venom-based poison and black magic practice from south ChinaSubstance · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇸🇪 SwedenWitch trials in Denmark A history of legal executions and local panics against sorcery in early modern Denmark.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇯🇵 JapanYōkai妖怪 A vast class of supernatural spirits and entities in Japanese folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇿🇦 South AfricaSympathetic magic A magical principle based on imitation and contact to influence the worldTradition · Protection · Healing 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

🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreLouisiana Voodoo An African diasporic religion practiced in Louisiana from the 18th to early 20th centuriesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomPaisley witches A 1697 Scottish witch trial ending in mass execution after a child's illness sparked local panic.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇩🇪 GermanyPhilipp Adolf von Ehrenberg A German prince-bishop who directed a massive witch-hunt in the 1620sFigure · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇶 Iraq and 1 moreRabisu A wind spirit in Akkadian myth sent to correct human transgressionsBeing · Cursing and harm · Cleansing and purification Historical 🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 moreWitch trials in Hungary A centuries-long series of persecutions for sorcery that ended with imperial decree.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Rabisu: editor Austen Henry Layard , drawing by L. Gruner, Public domain, source
Black magic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eliogarcia/ (nick in flickr:creo que soy, CC BY 2.0, source
Number of the beast: William Blake, Public domain, source
Trial by ordeal: James Sibree, Public domain, source
Louisiana Voodoo: I cropped, original authors are Ridpath, John Clark, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Witch-cult hypothesis: Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
Alp: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Curse of the pharaohs: Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Mora witch trial: Unknown author Unknown author contemporary artist, Public domain, source
Witch trials in Denmark: Rigsarkivet - Danish National Archives, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Sympathetic magic: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5, source
Curse: Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain, source
Pricking: Heinrichkramer, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Upiór: Віщун, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Salem Witch Trials: unattributed, Public domain, source
Directorium Inquisitorum: Nicolás Eymerich, Public domain, source
Norns: file: James Steakley ; artwork: Gustav Heidenreich, Public domain, source
Boggart: Katolophyromai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tsukumogami: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Dakini: Didier Descouens, Public domain, source
Lucifer: Gustave Doré, Public domain, source
Witch's mark: T. H. Matteson, Public domain, source
Urim and Thummim: Rijksmuseum, CC0, source
Würzburg witch trials: Sweet Chily, Public domain, source
Kurdaitcha: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Medieval European magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Wild Hunt: Peter Nicolai Arbo, Public domain, source
Ifrit: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Yōkai: Kyosai Kawanabe (河鍋暁斎), Public domain, source