Hexing. Jinxing. Cursing. Bad juju. Whatever you want to call it, it is the act of inflicting harm on someone through magickal means. It is also the first thing that comes to other people minds when you say that you’re a Witch – as well as the source of their crappy jokes. (“Oh, don’t make her mad, she’ll hex you!”) Every book worth its salt will tell you not to hex or jinx because of the threefold karmic return and how there are other ways to solve the problem without having to resort to astral nasties. Even here on this blog I’ve said, “Don’t do it.”

Why am I not for hexing? Because it isn’t right to throw a monkey wrench undeserved into someone’s life. And people who believe hexing is fine and does it usually portray controlling personalities or become that way in my experience. Do I believe that some people need their just desserts? Yep. The same way that I believe some people can’t see how they are wrong in any given situation and would much rather cast a harmful spell than correct their own attitude. I would totally be for cursing if it didn’t give such ample room for douchbaggery.

Now, note I said “undeserved”. I believe that if you do bad things, bad things happen to you in return. While what is considered bad is a manner of perspective – a man stealing bread, for example – some people are thoroughly wronged. An example could be someone that Person A trusted totally betrayed them by being instrumental to Person A getting robbed or burgled. It’s not Person A’s fault, they didn’t know they were getting set up, and in response (after going to the cops and such), they want to jinx that person as payback. I have friends who have been through such a situation and that’s the route they took. I couldn’t diss them at all about it as my friends weren’t being wonton, as in attacking any ol’ random person out of anger. And if they weren’t sure, the jinx would be left open-ended to the attack the person or people responsible for the bad deed, whoever they are. Are my friends right in what they’re doing? Maybe, maybe not but they are not some derpy teen with a random spellbook and completely over-emotional. They are people who have already tried to be the nice guy and are at the end of their rope. The police may not be cooperative, the problem person may have decided to cause a ripple effect in their damage, etc etc., these are reasons that are valid. It is understandable why some people hex – why, it’s even part of how I got into Witchcraft.

Yep. I said it.

I think I made mention in my very first or second column that one reason why I got into Witchcraft (besides inherent interest) was that I wanted to hex my bullies back in high school. The school administration wasn’t doing anything, I wanted to simply be left alone and not so cruelly picked on. I didn’t care if the spell would kill them or not, I just wanted the bullies to go away. I’m tellin’ you, I rather chill with the Taliban than be around my bullies. You want to see what terrorism looks like? Just peer inside your schools, bin Laden would be taking notes. I never did hex any of my bullies because I was taught through the books I found that this is not the right way to use Witchcraft but it’s not like the thought never crossed my mind…over and over and over and….

Whether to harm or not has crossed my mind numerous times before as a Witch and also as a marital artist. There are tons of times I have figured life would run a lot more smoothly if I just jinxed someone submissive or put them in the hospital. The reason I haven’t done either is because I’m a person that would bobsled like a penguin with a turbo jetpack down the slippery slope. It’s good to have some self-restraint. Plus there have been countless times I have thought I was the right one when in the end it turned out I wasn’t. Yay for avoiding damage control and the super excessive guilt over realizing that actually I might have been the jerk. I don’t think I’m the only one who has been in such a situation.

Now, I have never jinxed and I am pretty solid in the “Don’t jinx” group because I wouldn’t feel right telling people that they are perfectly in the right to jinx people because, honestly, I don’t feel that way. Plus, you never know the mindset of the people you’re talking to and last thing I need is to give them a pass – or what they perceive is a pass – to cause harm. That’s part of why I don’t put spells up here, too. I don’t want some mentally unstable person tripping upon it and doing Gods-know-what with the info. What my friends do is of their choice, I wouldn’t supply them with a curse or anything because that’s not my ethics. If they say they’re going to do it, I’m just going to check in for a second as their conscience. I’ll just ask why and for the details to check and double check that they are truly the wronged party. After that, they’re on their own.

This is my opinion on jinxes. Karmic spells, otherwise known as grey magick, have a different opinion from me. Karmic spells serve mainly as a karma audit and responds as such. I’ve not casted those (Never had a reason to) but I’m not really against it, unless used way too loosely. It’s okay but only as a last resort – as spells should be – and barely used, if ever. The upshot of karmic spells that jinxes don’t have is that A) You’re not adding additional energy into someone’s life, just using whatever is already available by their own actions and B) The karmic spell audits both the good and the bad. This means that a person could be someone good generally but have a bad day and passed that on to a Witch via a run-in. So the Witch is moody and pissed now and cast the karma spell. Because the person is usually a good person and the spell is an audit on both sides, the person might actually have an exceedingly nice amount of good things happening to them and perhaps a few bad things because the person being targeted isn’t Jesus. To the chagrin of the Witch that preferred to have something bad happen, she or he may learn a lesson too through the whole ordeal. That, I favor over a hex because it’s a bit more fair than just plain putting bad happenings into someone’s life, whether they deserve it or not.

Another reason why I prefer karma spells over hexes is because not everyone knows they’re fouling someone else. I have been in the position where I didn’t know I was being a pest to anyone and I’m sure there are plenty of people out there like that, not deliberately trying to wrong someone, just makes a lot of awkward mistakes. It’s not fair to them that they should be wrongfully punished for something they didn’t know that they were doing. Some people have thinner skins than others, some people have absolutely no filter between their brain and their mouth, some people just are crappy with social interactions, etc. People are people and people are different – and annoying.

Now, are hexes all inherently evil via the use of devils and such? No, not at all. All it is, is the intent to disrupt and cause harm or worse through magickal means. Spirits and otherkin not necessary. I don’t bother with hexes though and same with most of my practicing friends. Too much to concern myself with and you need a particular mindset to go to the point of jinxing someone. Nothing is wrong with being miffed. Nothing is wrong with being fair and leveling the playing field either. But be fair, use karmic spells instead. The potential jerk factor drops by a considerable lot.

Okay peoples! This is the last column before the installments and I would like to tell people that if you have not submitted for the 2nd annual Samhain Pickers, please do so now! Samhain Pickers is a giveaway where I pick three people to do divination for with one of these styles:

– Tarot
– Cartomancy
– Dream Interpretation

Yes, yes, if you were here last year then you would know that I had slightly more selections but here’s the thing, I’m actually moving to a new apartment so that means limited time to do stuff. Still want in? Great! Send me an email (look on the About Me/Contact Me Page for info) with your

– Name
– Email
– What type of reading would you prefer (Choose One)

I will pick the three winners using Random.org’s number generator. Each email counts as an entry and a number. If you are the first email I get, you’re #1, thirteenth email I get, #13 and so on and so forth. That way it’s extremely random for the reader and easier to pick for me. I will draw winners on Oct 31 and we’ll go from there. Also, unless otherwise stated, there will still be the Black Witch vcast chat on Ustream. 9 PM EST, be there!