by A.C. Fisher Aldag
Unfortunately, there comes a time when users of magickal energy must learn to do rituals for dispelling, which means removing harmful or baneful spells, or for banishing negative energies. Someone may have deliberately used words of power or magickal actions to cause us problems. This is sometimes called a curse or hex. They might have knowingly raised energy with the intent of doing harm. Or it might have been an inadvertent, unconscious action. A coworker or neighbor might feel jealous of our position or our material wealth. Someone who is undergoing relationship troubles may be angry that their love life is encountering difficulties, while our life seems easy by comparison. A person with an axe to grind might even want to purposefully harm us. This is a sorrowful state, but occasionally, it happens.
Other people’s negative energy can affect our job, our transportation, our position of authority within our community, or even our home and family. Yet before we conclude that someone is deliberately performing magick to cause us harm, we must first look at other problem areas. Are we doing our best? Is our job performance satisfactory? Are our once docile children going into puberty and becoming independent? Is our relationship suffering from neglect? Is our home or our vehicle undergoing normal wear and tear, and can it be repaired on a mundane level? If the same awful thing keeps happening repeatedly, you should analyze what might really be occurring. If you keep getting fired for tardiness, that isn’t the result of baleful magick … that is on you. However, if an event happens repeatedly that is beyond your control … several car wrecks, constant illness with no discernable cause, a long string of sorrowful events … there just might have been some deliberate spell workings with the intent to cause you misery. Or it may simply be the result of the unintentional anger or jealousy of a person you interact with in everyday life.
Do divination to attempt to determine the source of baleful energy. Is it something that you caused by your own actions? Is it a “stuff happens” situation? Or did some person deliberately inflict a curse on you? Use your intuition. Listen to your inner voice. Consult your guides, the spirits, or your deities. You might want to go to a neutral party for divination, readings and advice. Talk with trusted friends or family members. Even if they do not believe in magick, they might have some insight about who is upset with you, and who might be throwing harmful energy your way.
Some magick users insist that the source of negative magick must be known. Think about who in your life may be causing you problems. Has a relative changed their attitude toward you? Was a coworker passed over for promotion? Are you arguing with anyone? In most cases, it isn’t always necessary to know who the culprit is; you can banish negative energies, dispell, and shield yourself to prevent further mishaps, without knowing who caused the trouble.
Even if you realize who has cast a harmful spell, it is imperative that you do not retaliate. Sending negative energy back to the source can sometimes “bounce”, gaining force, so that it comes back to you stronger and more harmful than before. The “threefold law” is not a law like “do not jaywalk”, the threefold law is a law like gravity. It is a magickal occurrence. Sending destructive power anywhere runs the risk that you will be the recipient of three times (or nine times, or a hundred times) the “bad” energy… even if you weren’t the original sender. It can also harm the culprit’s family, friends, loved ones, including innocent children, who had nothing to do with casting negative magick. No matter how angry you get, please do not curse anyone else. Be careful that in a ritual, you do not say anything like “I wish so-and-so would drop dead”. Your words have power, and in a sacred space, your words can become magickally charged.
If you know who has cast a harmful spell, you may first try speaking to them privately, or writing to them online. Ask them what is wrong, if you have done anything that has caused them pain. Determine if you have inadvertently hurt their feelings or given them trouble. Discuss matters with them candidly. This may be enough to end the conflict, and thus end the bad feelings that may have inadvertently caused negative magick. Some issues can be resolved by negotiation. And some cannot. If you are absolutely certain that someone has performed a baneful spell on purpose – you have a witness, or the person has bragged to their friends – and you confront them with no result, then you might have to take more drastic measures.
Again, do not retaliate. Do not send bad energy or hurtful magick back to the source. Do not curse, and do not maim. Negative energy can be removed in any number of ways, and the magickian who has bespelled you can be blocked from doing further damage. Curses can be broken. All of this can be done without causing further harm.
Dispellings can be performed at any time, but during the late night or early morning of the waning moon is best. Thursday or Saturday, days associated with justice, reaping and protection, are the most auspicious. Colors can include very bright hues which are high on the spectrum, such as white and yellow, which deflect light. Conversely, dark blues, dark green and brown are associated with Earth, as in, “earthing the power”. Dark blue robes may help to invoke the image of justice. Dispelling is best performed alone or in a group of trusted friends, covenors or family, but ensure that the person who instigated the curse is not present! The rite should be done in a safe, protected sacred space, with rituals performed to sanctify, purify, and seal in power, which will be released and allowed to dissipate. If indoors, open a window to allow baleful energies to escape. Tools include salt, blessed or consecrated water, a feather fan, broom or wand, an athame, sword or other edged weapon, sage or other incense known for clearing a space, and purification and cleansing of a person. You may also wish to have music or percussion instruments, such as bells or drums, and paper and pen for writing.
Perform your usual rite to create and purify sacred space. Invite your ancestors, elementals, guides, deities or other holy beings. After invocations, be sure to thoroughly seal your temple or sacred place … cast circle, summon wards or guardians, close off the area to intrusion. You may wish to do double the magick to encase your ritual area. Sprinkle salt and consecrated water around the perimeter. Envision a fortress or castle, or an impenetrable bubble made of unbreakable material, or crackling electricity surrounding your sacred space. Draw a circle in chalk. Or sweep the perimeter of the room with your broom, whisk the air with a fan. Light candles. Use oils or incense with a strong, purifying scent. Perform whatever rites normally used for your own protection. Use sound barriers or visual cues that represent safety.
Now for the working itself … ritually cleanse and purify yourself as your tradition decrees. Smudge with smoke, perform sacred drumming or chants, aspurge yourself with water, sprinkle your head with salt, hold ritual objects, absorb baneful energy in an egg, let the negative power flow into a crystal or other holy item, envision baleful energies draining out through your feet to be absorbed harmlessly by the earth. Keep the candles, lanterns or incense burning. As you do this, simultaneously draw, write down your intent, or speak words of power. Do not use a journal, book of shadows, or other permanent record. You will want to destroy what you’ve written or drawn in the course of the ceremony. Speak words such as, “I intentionally banish any curses, hexes, baleful energies or harmful magick. Let it be gone. Remove it from me. Cast it forth hence-from.” Or write some of the conditions that have become difficult for you, with the words “Remove” or “End”, such as “End trouble at work, remove problems with my transportation.” You may wish to safely burn papers in the fire during the rite, or wait until afterward to dispose of them. Visualize the harmful energy as a dark bird flying away, up to the roof, fluttering around, trapped. Or a slimy sea creature, swimming to the perimeter. You might concentrate on an image that signifies cleansing and healing to you … a waterfall, a soothing balm, a clear pool of water, being immersed in pure sound waves or laser lights that sandblast any curses away. Feel the harmful situation draining away into the power objects, or to the edge of your ritual space.
Perform some action to raise power. Drumming, dancing, spinning in place, tying knots, burning a candle, singing, chanting, marching around the edge of your sacred space, playing loud music. This is to fuel the ritual, to remove the curse or to actually perform the dispelling. Continue to speak or write your intent. Then suddenly, release the wards or open an escape route, or make a hole in your protective circle, as would be done for releasing a cone of power. Erase a portion of the chalk. Sweep away the salt. Envision a door opening, a blank space, a drain, a lid lifted off a pot, or an empty place where negative energy can escape. If you have created a bubble, let it burst, and the negative energy is drawn away, as if into a vacuum. Let wards fall. Or chase hexes into the jaws of your guardians. Raise your arms and drop them, or abruptly halt your drumming, dancing, chanting or singing. Cut off the music. Chop away at envisioned difficulties with your edged weapon. Wad up the paper with your drawing or writing, or set fire to it. State intent through one or two easy words, such as “Curses leave!” or “Hexes begone!” or “Troubles END!” Don’t be afraid to shout.
In the ensuing silence, visualize the problems leaving through the hole, or being absorbed by the power object, or being washed away in water, earthed, or cleansed by fire. Chase it away, out the open window, with a wand, feather fan or broom. If you have done the working by burning words on paper, wave away the smoke. If you have caught negative energies in a crystal, egg or power object, it must be discarded or thoroughly cleansed at a later time. Deliberately make the statement that the negative forces will cause no further harm. Say “Earth the power” or “Wash away this curse, let it be cleansed, let it be changed”, or say “Remove (problem) from this plane, cast it forth hence-from.” Ensure that the energy won’t return, or go forth to harm some other person. Deliberately state that the vanishing curse will cause no further harm. Smudge, aspurge, sprinkle salt, and cleanse your sacred space again. You may wish to take a ritual bath or shower. Light more incense. Put on a fan.
After you’ve released and completely purified your ritual area, it is time to thank unseen entities and / or deities, and allow them to return to their homes. You might wish to make an appropriate offering. Devoke and dismiss according to your tradition. Discard any scraps of burned paper, pour water out where it will not cause problems – not into a plant or down the drains of your home. Sweep salt and dust outdoors. Extinguish candles. De-sanctify your sacred space appropriately. Take down a ritual circle, speak words of power that clearly indicate that the rite has ended. Afterward, cleanse power objects thoroughly, including any items used to trap negative energies, and ritual tools used for the dispelling. Scour cauldrons used for burning papers, wash chalices or aspurgers with mild soap. Immerse crystals in water, or place the object in running water such as under a downspout or in a stream, keep it outdoors in sunlight or under the moon for several nights.
At some later time, you may wish to perform a blessing and healing ritual, to invoke good, positive, beneficial conditions to replace the energy you’ve just removed. Nature abhors a vacuum. You want to ensure that blessings and optimal situations fill the void that has been left … not more curses! Ask your guardians and deities for assistance. Draw positive energy to you. If you can emotionally and mentally do so, without prejudice, you might also wish to ask for blessings and healing for whoever has cursed you. If you believe that the person is actually good at heart, but acting under duress, you may wish to ensure that they know they caused harm to you. The individual might become mentally aware that their actions were hurtful to you, which may cause them to review their conduct and change their behavior. Approaching the situation with love and good intentions may be a very positive solution. (Blessing rites will be covered in a subsequent article, or look some up online.)