What is a curse?

A curse is a spell that is directly targeted at a person or place and is meant to cause harm. There are many such spells, but they can be broken down into categories.

1. The entropy or chaos curse: This spell causes probabilities to vastly tend to do the target harm, ranging from bad luck to death. The trademark of this curse is that there is no rhyme or reason to the harm caused, it just results from things generally "going wrong". If a whole string of things keep going spectacularly and improbably wrong, there is a good chance there is an entropy curse at work.
2. The binding: This spell causes an inability to act in the target. It may manifest psychologically as depression or anxiety, or it may operate by simply making none of your plans come to anything. If you find yourself drastically unable to act upon your choices in the world, then you might be under a binding.
3. The lesson: Some users of magick want to dispense justice, and whether this is right or wrong, they are willing to use magick to do it. The specifics of these curses are always retributive and the casters of them love to "make the punishment fit the crime". Thus when the target is a thief they will be stolen from, a user they will be used, etc. If you find yourself suddenly and consistently a victim of "your own medicine", you might want to look around for a nearby witch with a good-guy badge.
4. The special-purpose curse: This is a catch-all category for things like "a sending of rats" or the "evil eye". These spells are usually specific, have a great deal of lore associated with them, and are generally spectacular in their results (there is nothing subtle about your house being infested with dozens of rats). In this case, each spell has its own hallmark signs, but they are all very spectacular. If you start having stuff out of a horror movie happening, you have a special-purpose curse.

How do I know if I am cursed?

People who are simply having a bad time in their lives often think they are the victims of curses. Knowing whether you are, in fact, cursed requires some careful self-examination. You must ask yourself if you are being honest and whether what is happening is just coincidence or self-sabotage. If, after that, you really believe that what is happening might in fact be caused by magick, there are ways to check. If your area has an occult store or local pagan group, you might be able to find help there, or use the simple divination method below (Note: this method uses the same principle as a Tarot deck, but uses a normal deck of playing cards. If you want to use Tarot cards, remove the Major Arcana and use the same method with the remainder).

1. Sit down with a deck of playing cards. Take the jokers out and set them aside.
2. Shuffle the cards slowly, not using the normal method of card-game shuffling. Shuffle intently and focus on all of the reasons why you think you are cursed, remembering everything that has occurred. After a few minutes of this, focus on your question: "Is what is happening to me the result of a curse?" After a little while of this, stop shuffling.
3. Deal out the cards in this fashion: start pulling cards from the top and laying them out in a pile. If you pull an ace or reach a stack of ten, stop.
4. Do this three times for a total of three stacks. You will end up with 0-3 aces.
5. If you have zero aces, you are not cursed (yay!). If you have one, there is a one in three (33.3%) chance you are cursed, two aces a two in three chance (66.6%) and three aces means you are definitely cursed (99.9%).

What to do?

If you are cursed, then it is most likely low-end magick practiced by an amateur. Professionals are generally occupied with more important things. However, amateurs can have a lot of raw power even when their technique is lacking, and their curses can be very dangerous. There are a couple of ways to deal with a curse. The first one is to become an initiate in some tradition of magick and learn to protect yourself. This is not for everyone (no matter what some of the books may say, not everyone is suited to magick) and is extremely time-consuming, difficult, and brings its own dangers. The second way is to use a simple spell that anyone can do without real training.

Simple Curse-Breaker

• Items needed: the target, a tub of water large enough to submerge and wash the target (or enough water to wash down the area if a location), a large quantity of sea salt
• Best times: New Moon, a Thursday, noon, midnight, dawn, dusk (any time associated with transitions)

1. Fill the tub with water. Temperature should be comfortable for a long soak if the target is a living thing.
2. Open and hold up the container of sea salt.
3. Clear your mind and say the following words while concentrating on what they mean to you. Say them slowly, confidently, and meditatively: "In the names of my ancestors, my gods, and myself, I call upon thee, oh creatures of Earth and Water. Come forth, cleanse "name of target" of all evil and alien magicks, and restore them (me, it) to balance and health. By our wills combined, so mote it be."
4. Pour the salt into the water. Use a lot.
5. Keeping your mind in that calm and meditative state, submerge or wash the target slowly. If you are the target, get in the tub and simply lay back and soak. Relax. Let everything slip away.
6. Do this for at least ten minutes. When you are done, drain the water away down the drain and rinse it off the target. It is absolutely necessary that all of the saltwater is washed off of the target!
7. When you are done, say the following in the same way you did step 3: "I thank thee, oh creatures of Earth and Water, in the name of myself, my gods, and my ancestors. Be released to your homes, doing no harm on your way, and return to me with glad hearts when next you are summoned. By our wills combined, so mote it be."

The downside of this is that it is limited in its scope and power and that sometimes it won't be able to defeat a more powerful curse. If this happens, seek a professional to help you, because you won't be able to deal with it without real training.

Conclusion

A curse is serious business, and dealing with them can be scary for a person not used to the world of magick. The good news is that magick is just like any other technology for causing change and its principles can be learned and taken advantage of without becoming an expert. Just like it is possible to diagnose and medicate your own headache without being a doctor, it is possible to apply simple magickal techniques to help you protect yourself and take better control of your life. Good luck!