Binding & Cursing

Binding and cursing are often frowned upon in magical circles. Many people like to believe they’ve been bound or cursed, but the truth is that very few people can do a decent binding or curse and of those who can, even fewer would bother.

In binding, the idea is to prevent another person from doing something. Binding them from doing harm is a popular concept thanks to the 1996 movie The Craft. Binding someone to prevent them from telling a secret is another. It seems simple enough and well-intentioned too. However you must not forget that you will be bound along with them as you are the channel for the magic. You must be absolutely certain that you are right. There can be no doubt. The love spells that focus on a particular person are a binding. You want that one person, so you do a spell to make him or her come to you and love you. Then you’re stuck with them. They might be a total prat, might not be all that they seemed, or as my friend found, they might be violent and abusive. Unfortunately because of your binding, you’ve bound them to you and it’s not that easy to get rid of them.

For best results, a personal link is required for a successful binding. A photograph will suffice but hair, blood, nail clippings, clothing or a signed document work better. A doll or poppet can be stuffed with these, along with herbs or other materials. Baptise the doll with their name, every name for that person that you might know— full name, nicknames, online alter-egos, as many ways of clearly identifying that person that you can come up with. Then bind them with anything you desire; cord, chain, or even a piece of barbed wire. After they’re bound, seal it and deal with it as you will.

Paper cutout figures can work just as well. Write the person’s name in the middle and what you are binding them from and fold it up tightly. It can be secured with paperclips if you like.
Cursing is ill-wishing someone. Again, there is a chance that you will suffer alongside them, so be very careful before trying this.

In the past, I have been somewhat creative in my cursing. I cursed someone to feel compassion for the victims of their actions. For me this wasn’t a problem, I am fairly compassionate by nature, but for him, it was a curse. Another person I’ve used this curse against committed suicide. I struggled with it for a day or two, but after thinking it through and processing things I came to the realisation that I was not responsible for her death. I wanted her to realise what she’d done and take responsibility for the damage she’d caused. How she chose to cope with that was completely on her and from what I hear, the consequences of her actions were catching up with her in other ways that were even less pleasant for her.

If you are going to curse, you first need to be sure that you mean it. You might want someone to have a nasty car crash, but if you aren’t also prepared to see them die slowly and horribly from cancer then you don’t really mean it. Even if you have the power to perform a curse of this magnitude, you need to think about a few things before you consider it. Working with dark energy is one thing. Cursing death is tantamount to murder. It’s no different from the person who chooses to use a gun, only this time your weapon is magic.

A family member of a friend was receiving death threats from someone. While she has cursed him, she has done it in such a way that the curse will only take effect if he crosses a boundary that she’s set around that family member and others that are close to him.

I’ve been accused of curses that I haven’t performed. My partner’s ex-wife believed that I was going to curse her when she started making trouble for him. In all honesty, why would I bother? She was doing it all to herself without me wasting any of my time and energy, what was the point?

Most of the time, if left to their own devices, people that you would consider binding or cursing manage to do it to themselves quite nicely. Some will suddenly realise that they’ve driven everyone away and maybe it was something they’re doing, some won’t. It’s never their fault as they’re perpetual victims. Cursing someone like this will only reinforce their mindset and behaviour. It won’t teach them a lesson so there’s no point wasting your energy.

There’s one last thing I want to say on this topic. In the Craft there is a saying, “if you can’t curse, you can’t heal”. Effectively what this means is that you need to destroy the illness in order for the healing to begin. You need to be balanced and work with both sides.

—Debbie Dawson, The Common Sense Spell Book