In the case that casters know what they are doing, and are not simply engaging in a puerile fantasy role-play, by far the most commonly observed effect of so-called death curses are random acts of violence, sickness, and decay in the life of the target.
These incidents range from ominous signs to brushing shoulders with death, to sometimes years of exquisite fuckery that won’t, however, kill the target. I have friends who have gone from one close encounter with Death to another narrow escape for years. They are hounded, but nothing seems to kill take them out.
Conversely, I also have friends who have tried to kill themselves so many times and stupidly seek out danger in ways you think would surely kill them, but it won’t. They are just not meant to go just yet, and that’s one of the mysteries of life and death.
I’ve gotten people into car accidents, both my working intentionally against them, but also strangely by doing nothing at all least once. I was blamed for it, I guess correctly, as I suspect it was my own defenses that foiled whatever they were up to.
Most of the time, even these lethal incidents are survived, because the magic simply doesn’t have the mandate for its full internecine effect. There is a number of reasons for this, but let’s illuminate the main one:
Perhaps because such an outcome was never fully accepted or intended by the caster.
See, extinguishing lives under any circumstances is a big deal. It’s what all the classical moral dilemmas are about, and every major medical university has got a department of Medicine Ethics for this very reason.
Most people when they curse someone want to see something other than death. Something that brings them more satisfaction on an emotional level. They want to see suffering and devastation, humility, and sometimes, redemption. Yes, redemption. Many times it would be the preferable outcome if the target of their curses abandoned their evil ways, or simply got out of the way of goodness and peaceful living.
In such cases, when the desired outcome is to punish someone so that they can be redeemed, put pressure on them through the cause of justification, the proper term would be a Punishment or Justice working rather than baneful magic. Baneful magic simply doesn’t care, it only intends to fuck it up. Sometimes, people have false pretenses and rationalizations that make them believe they are acting on a cause that is justified, but since they are self-deluded, their pettiness will foil the outcome. You can’t petition the powers of magic for a justice work or to punish someone when the crime that you believe happened did not happen, or its gravity is minor. This is another major reason why ‘curses’ don’t work.
Most people will have trouble standing by their own Works of Darkness in the sense that they have decided to carry this Working out, and not some Higher Power. This is why Justice Magic is the only acceptable form of Black Magic used by the White Magicians. I know that spoke a conundrum. I am well aware of that. The way I see it, the White Magicians are fooling themselves. They, too, use maleficia, they just don’t admit that to themselves and others. They limit themselves by stating that they never intended to cause harm, but what does that even mean. We are taught as children not to hurt plants and little kittens. The world of adult affairs is way more complicated. It’s hard. It’s messy. There are no black-and-white answers, where one can just refer back to authority. That’s what adulthood is all about – taking responsibility, the full weight of one’s risky choices.
White Magicians, in my opinion, resent this terrible weight and they shake it off of their shoulders by simply stating that ‘they are not the ones who have the right to decide who lives and who does not’. But that’s exactly what wielding power is. It’s what the Kings and the Judges and the Magicians do. They decide matters of war, we decide who gets to live, for better or worse.
What is really going on, is the White Magicians in their consummate hypocrisy don’t want to take on the responsibility of being the judge and the jury in the arena and giving spirits the thumbs up. When you take on that responsibility and state your intent successfully and it becomes manifest, you become the first murderer in the likes of Cain, the Father of Witches. He is called the Progenitor of the Witch Blood for a reason. The Black Magician bloodline was started and propagated always by the consummate act of breaking law and order, by breaking the natural flow of life.
It’s the Triumph of Will over Nature.
(Triumph of the Will, infamously, is the name of classical Nazi movie propaganda. It was shot by Leni Riefenstahl in 1935.)
This is the reason why you will still to this day run into various iterations of ‘initiation requires a Sacrifice’. There’s a quaint legend among the conspiracy-minded of the Internet who look up celebrities whose child, spouse, or sibling died prematurely, allegedly so that their Pact with the Devil could be sealed in blood. This sinister legend goes directly back to Cain, the First Murderer who was banished but given special powers with the Mark of Cain. Much of biblical lore revolves around the principle of Blood Sacrifice, enacting taboos, and vendettas. It’s a bloody rite. One of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated. The Bible is the Book of Lies. It shows all the secrets, but with so many detours that it becomes a strange labyrinth to navigate. Entire centuries got lost in it.
Excellent!
I remember hearing someone say they don’t curse anyone, however; the tonality of their energy says differently – intense jealousy and ill wishing.
They hide behind the verbiage of taking the higher road.
Which, in and of itself is a curse using their words to demonize and shame the other party, attempting to make themselves look lily white in character.
Well, even the laity/muggles/the profane can and do curse. All it needs is to be spoken, or written. In the presence of the target, or in their absence. Doesn’t matter. Jealousy, envy and hatred generate what is known as the Evil Eye, which is universal to humanity. Anybody can do that. It is not technically a curse, if not spoken, but still ill-will can manifest.