This post is inspired by Question #9 on this list.

It often amuses me when the topic of cursing comes up. Among many witches — especially eclecstic Wiccans — there’s an almost knee-jerk impulse to denounce the very idea of cursing and insisting that no witches do it. Which simply isn’t true, by the way. While I certainly understand the impulse — after all, who wants to go on being depicted as someone who throws hexes around like trashy insults — it’s simply not true. Cursing is a part — even if only a tiny part — of many witchcraft traditions. It is an option — and sometimes an ethical option — that we witches have available to us.

What I also find interesting is that many who instantly decry curses seem — to me at least — to have very separate set of ethics when it comes to working magic than the ethics they might apply to the rest of their lives. As someone who posits that any distinction between magic and so-called “mundane acts” are arbitrary and meaningless, this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Of course, I also think that it bears exploring what exactly we think of when we talk about “curses.” What is the criteria for determining that a given magical working is a “curse”? Do we apply it consistently? I’m personally inclined to include anything that causes harm or interferes with free will. By that definition, I would argue that even binding spells — which many of the witches who will emphatically tell you that you must never curse anyone are okay with — are actually curses then. They are designed to prevent someone from being able to do something. That’s effectively interfering with their free will to do that thing. In fact, I find it interesting that when Gardner wrote about a binding spell he witnessed, the person leading the rite had to work themselves into a “killing rage” in order to the spell. That sounds pretty extreme to me!

That leads me to considerations beyond ethics when it comes to cursing. Curses bring a toll. To curse someone, I would need to tap into energies and currents and let them through my body and soul that I’d normally rather not expose myself to. So in addition to determining whether that the situation makes the choice to curse a particular person ethical, I must determine if doing so in a particular situation is worth allowing that kind of energy into my life.

Note that this is not the same as worrying about harm coming back to me “three times” like some sort of karmic boomerang. I pretty much think that idea is bullshit. But there are other, more nuanced and personal consequences that can result.

Also, most curses — and again, this includes binding spells — also tends to tie you to the person the spell is against. Even if it’s just the continued emotional need to know if it worked. Even if it’s just keeping that person in your mind. Sometimes, it’s just better to let these things go.

Personally, I’ve performed a handful of binding spells and one curse of the “may you forever be miserable” type. I don’t regret any of them. And if I think that another situation merits — or even demands it — me working magic toward such a goal again, I will do so. But I fully expect such situations to be incredibly rare.

As for associating with other witches who curse, I’m more inclined to explore how a particular person approaches the ethical implications of cursing and make a decision about how I feel about associating with that particular person. It’s not a simply yes or no question to me.