Witchcraft Asks 9: Do you curse? If not, do you accept others who do?
I want to answer the second question first: YES. Absolutely. I'm not judging you for cursing. I understand that some people find it acceptable to hex or curse: abusers, harassers, unethical or cruel people, etc. I'm not saying whether it's "acceptable" or not, because I don't believe that that's in any way up to me. I absolutely don't approve of hexing or cursing that harms innocent people or is done out of sadism or cruelty, but I would say that pro-curse witches typically operate with integrity and responsibility.
Do I curse? I would say no, not generally speaking. If you consider binding someone from doing harm cursing, then-- yes, I do curse. In an extreme situation out of self-defense, I could envision myself cursing, but I could also envision myself choosing a different path. I believe that I will never be sure what actions I'm willing to use until I'm in a particular situation. For example, you never really know if you'd be willing to take the life of an attacker who is threatening your loved one until you're actually in the situation.
For all the situations of my life so far, I don't see any need to curse. I believe that all actions in life have consequences of some kind. The consequence may be your own increasing comfort with revenge, or it could be social consequences of revenge, or it could be unintended direct consequences of the curse itself, etc.
I'm sure you've all heard the expression that holding onto anger is like clutching a hot coal-- only the angry gets hurt. It is often helpful to victims to forgive their abusers/attackers/etc for the wrong done against them. I believe that acting with aggression, even retributive aggression, often does more harm to the caster/acter than it does good.
What kinds of things can you do instead of cursing?
🐁 Cleansing and (mundane and magickal) protection for yourself
🐁 Cleansing and (mundane and magickal) protection for your loved ones
🐁 Attracting/binding certain things to the victim, such as something the victim lost from the aggressor
🐁 Working towards creating distance (physical, social, emotional, etc) between the victim and aggressor
🐁 Binding the aggressor from doing harm
🐁 Meditating or praying that the aggressor be well, happy, and peaceful (loving kindness meditation), knowing that many people harm others because of their own disease or damage
🐁 Healing anything the aggressor damaged (physical injury, anxiety, etc)
🐁 Informing other people honestly and sincerely of the aggressor's actions in order to protect them (including employers)
🐁 Ceasing communication with people who don't believe the victim or are continuously toxic even after being asked to stop (e.g., a friend who refuses to believe that your ex was abusive)
🐁 Taking legal action against an aggressor, if relevant, especially to recover something lost from the victim or to protect others from the aggressor
🐁 Taking social justice action against the type of harmful behavior done by the aggressor (e.g., raising awareness about a particular type of harassment and why it's harmful)
🐁 Casting to induce or promote positive characteristics in the aggressor (e.g., empathy, compassion, kindness)
