Ways of the witch (a guide to witchcraft)

Baneful work

Note from somnia: I'm working on digitising my book of shadows, when it's done would you guys want to see it so you can see all my personal notes?

Chapter by: Hypnos

Alright let's get the elephant out of the room. Baneful work, this is what a lot of non-witches think of when you say witchcraft. Which says a lot about his witchcraft is demonised. But contrary to popular belief, baneful work isn't all that bad.

So what is it? Any work that invokes harm or misfortune. So hexes, cursed and jinxes etc. obviously you do want to be mindful when doing baneful work, don't go around hexing people over nothing.

My general rule on when it's ok to cast something baneful is this:

Have they hurt me/ someone I care for?
Have they apologised and meant it?
Have they made the effort to change?

If the answer is no, and this harmful person hasn't done anything to better themselves then it's free reign. Some people need a kick in the right direction, to face the consequences of their own action at times. By all means hex abusers, egotistical liars, power hungry evil snakes. They're the ones who deserve a baneful cast, don't go harming people you simply had a little spat with, or disagree on something small. Always be logical and mindful when doing this kind of magic. And ALWAYS use heavy protection, if you mess up and it backfires on you then you'll be suffering the consequences meant for someone else.

So what's the difference between a jinx, hex and curse?

A jinx is something simple to inconvenience the victim. Something to mildly annoy them. First thing that comes to mind is calcifier from howls moving castles' jinx "may all your bacon burn" nothing too harmful just annoying. Usually they're a one off thing, very short lived.

A hex is meant to cause bad luck and ill intentions. Maybe they'll miss an important phone call, loose their keys, their car battery dies etc. these last a little longer, maybe a week or two.

A curse is the worst thing you can cast, it is meant to cause physical and emotional harm to the victim. These can last years or even lifetimes. Generational curses are probably the worst thing you can do to a person, because it harms not only them but their whole bloodline. You'd have to be an absolute monster to have a generational curse bought upon you, they're rare because they're so extreme.

So how do they work?

Really you can use any method, an incantation, a spell jar, an effigy of the person, a sigil, anything. The most popular method seems to be the sour jar, which is a way to hex someone using sour and spicy ingredients, sharp objects and something to do with the victim (their name, a photo, something of theirs etc).

When it comes to jinx's they're usually incantations or sigils. Something quick and easy. In fact here's a few I find pretty good:

"May you step in water while wearing socks"
"May you step on a stray Lego brick"
"Your teacher shall round your grades down"
"You shall be stung by a bee/bitten by and ant"
"Whatever ill intent you wish upon me shall come back to you tenfold"

See what I mean by inconvenient but not outright harmful?

Now I can't dictate anyone's craft, but I would advice against using curses unless the circumstances are dire. A jinx and a hex will eventually fade away, but a curse sticks with a person for someone's a whole lifetime. Unless the victim is a pure monster like a serial abuser or something, stick to a hex. Curses are powerful, and if something goes wrong and it backfires you'll be feeling the pain of it.

However... if you happen to have a male abuser you wish to curse... you didn't hear this from me but there is one particularly nasty one that if you're AFAB can't backfire on you.

Use something like a cucumber, banana, any long and uh... anatomically shaped. Cut it open longways and put something to do with the abuser inside. So a photo, their name, a hair or nail from them etc. then cover that shit in the spiciest and most sour things you can find. Stab it with rusty nails and broken glass, anything sharp. Then tie it all tightly together and bury it someone really far away from you. Even better, add some harming sigils to it as well.

That will ensure they'll have performance issues for a very very long time. And if you're AFAB then it can't backfire on you because you don't have the anatomy for it. If you're AMAB? Be sure to use A LOT of protection, just in case.

Now I've been telling you all these things that can happen, how can you tell if you've been a victim from baneful work? There's plenty if methods but the most common one is the egg method.

Take an egg, give it a quick cleanse then rub it over your body. Then crack it in a bowl, the way the yolk forms is a form of divination that'll tell you what's going on. Basically if it looks normal, you're fine and you can eat that egg no problem. If you find white clots then it's a sign something is affecting you, that could be baneful magic or just something internal but either isn't a good thing and it's time for a cleanse and extra protection. If you find blood, that's a curse. You REALLY want to cleanse hardcore and try any methods you can to remove the curse. Then you can dispose of the yolk, clean and cleanse the bowl and move on.

That's just one way, there's tons out there to try, so just do what works best for you.

Ok moving on and wrapping up...

Baneful work isn't all pure evil like people make it out to be, as long as you're being mindful, using protection and only using it on people who actually deserve it, you'll be fine. There's nothing wrong with giving people the consequences they deserve. You just need to be prepared to face your own consequences if they ever come to you.

That's all the basics on baneful work, and a few free methods for you.

Rest well :)