Tag Archives: curses

Black Salt

Black_Salt
Black salt is a mixed preparation of salt and a few choice items that turn that salt from its usual white color to a black color. You can Google recipes for it, and there are also people who manufacture it, usually by somehow adding a pigment to the salt that turns it black. Some other names for Black salt is also Sal Negro (Spanish for Black salt) and Witches’ Salt. In this case the witches being referred to are not the contemporary followers of a neopagan religion, but rather the historical and folkloric “witch” a figure, sometimes supernatural in nature, who use supernatural powers to do harm to people and places in various ways.

As the names suggest, the primary use and purpose of black salt is to curse or perform harmful magic. A common secondary purpose is used to drive away people from your home. This is also a form of a curse, although a curse done to protect oneself and property from the person who is already causing harm. It is similar to hot foot powder in that sense, as hot footing someone is also a type of curse meant to drive someone away, whether that person is vexing neighbor, a bothersome coworker, or a conniving love rival. Ultimately both are curses, are not in anyway beneficial, benevolent, or really kind acts to be engaging in, however necessary they may be for one’s personal health, wealth and well being. Remember that the color most often used for cursing is Black. And the historical and folkloric image of witch (whose salt this is) is a supernatural agent of harm and evil. Black salt is used to curse, and sometimes that curse is used to drive away other evil beings, but the essence behind it is cursing and doing harm.

There seems to be a new fad of promoting black salt as something not as bad. I have read online various indications of use black salt for protection, by laying a circle of black salt around your home. This is a technique one might do with regular salt, as salt is protective, and purifying. Black salt, however, is the opposite of that. Laying a circle of black salt around your home would probably only curse you and start ruining any peace or prosperity in your home, instead of protecting you from harm.

Elsewhere I have read suggestions to use black salt with the dead and with ancestors. That concept is also ignorant usage of black salt. For one, a great number of methods and styles of venerating ones ancestors and conjuring up the dead indicate not to use salt. This applies to any kind of salt, not just regular salt. While the various metaphysical explanations behind this are multitude, it still comes down to one thing. Don’t do it. The ancestors and the dead don’t like salt. For the few methods that do use salt, one should keep in mind that it is unique to that culture and tradition, and the salt they use is going to be regular salt, not black salt.

I have also read suggestions of using black salt with gods, usually gods of war, death, the underworld. Again, I find this to be incorrect, although there could be an exception. The exception would be calling upon that specific god to bless the black salt, before you go out and use it to drive away evil or to curse. That is not the same as using blacks salt in devotion and veneration of the god or gods in mind

It is possible that in your personal work, you might find a spirit that wants to have black salt in it’s presence. If that is the case, then do so, but remember that it is unique to you, and unique to your practice, and in no way reflects traditional uses and folklore behind black salt and if you do write about it, you should make that clear to your readers.

I have even read people suggesting to bathe in black salt, although I suspect this might be a recommendation for a special kind of salt that is mined from the ground, which has a dark gray to black color to it. That would function as normal salt, not as the special mixture known as “black salt” which is salt mixed with things

How to identify a curse

In my experience with a few clients who have come to me, indicating that they are cursed. When a client gives an indication, I take their claim with utmost seriousness, but I also have a battery of questions that I usually ask, seeking to identify what is going on. Often types, the client is not cursed (which is to say, another conjure has actively been casting spells to do harm to my client) but maybe experiencing some crossed conditions brought about by another source. Depending upon the answers, it helps to inform me on how to proceed with aiding the client.

The first question I like to ask is asking for evidence. As in most magic, successful curses will require that the target have some kind of direct interaction with the magical ingredients of the curse. This can take many forms, but commonly this will appear as:

Powders (often mixed with local dirt, but not always) that are sprinkled or dusted on the target, or in places where the target will walk over, touch, sleep, or interact with in someway. One client, while staying with his older sister, used to wake up with powder on him every morning, because his older sister was actively casting harmful magic on him, and using his vulnerability to curse him with magical illnesses.
Loss of personal effects – When the targets personal environment cannot be reached often, sometimes items that carry the essence of the target will be utilized instead. This will also take many forms, but often the target will find that any hair from a hairbrush is gone, used undergarments are missing, personal hygiene items are missing, used socks are also missing. If the person being targeted is not that very close, sometimes even less noticeable items might disappear, like used tissues or paper towels, any paper with a signature on it, or used and unwashed eating utensils (like plastic or spoons, knives or forks). This can be hard to notice, but it can be used.
Discovery of unusual items in your personal environment – besides powders, sometimes dolls or containers (usually bottles or jars, but also mojo hands can be used as well) will be found, that contain substances, that are usually unpleasant smelling, and are filled with items. These are usually planted in your environment, often near where you walk, or near where you sleep. Some very old time and special containers might be hollowed eggshells, which were then planted or broken against the home of the target. When it comes to dolls, they are often buried, in a box that resembles a coffin, and included with dolls will be pins, needles, nails, and unpleasant smelling herbs and minerals, and animal derived substances.
It is these items that I usually inquire about first, as this is a very clear sign that you are actively being cursed.

Not all curses need to be worked directly, and so there are other signs that are telling of magic being used to harm. This is usually involved with timing. Just as there are times when working certain forms of benevolent magic is useful, so there are times where working malefic magic, that will strengthen it. Some of those times are:
When the moon is waning. The period of the full moon, when it goes to be smaller and smaller, until it disappears from the night sky completely. The idea being that is the moon is lessened, so will the target of the curse experiencing wasting or weakening.
Tuesdays and Saturdays – In astrological lore, Tuesdays are ruled by the planet Mars (If you look at Spanish, Italian of French, it is clearly indicated in their names) and Saturday is ruled by the planet Saturn. Both of these planets are considered “malefic” or planets whose influence can easily be worked towards harmful and evil ends.
Sunset and Nighttime – These times are also used to work harmful magic, especially at night, after midnight, until an hour before dawn. The symbolism of the setting sign being also the weakening of beneficial powers, while the late hours of the night are times that people perform magic, often for harmful purposes.

If you do notices that crossed conditions often return or become worse during this time, which is often a strong indication that someone is actively cursing you, although usually from a distance, as they may be unable to come close to.

After questioning for these arrangements, it then becomes necessary to talk about whom. Often, the client will have an idea of who may be actively cursing them. Jealous neighbors, angry family members, vengeful ex-wives and husbands, bitter co-workers are often the sources of curses. Sometimes, they might undertake the work themselves, but it is equally likely that they will hire a worker to perform the work for them, and supply them with powders, bottles or other means of affecting the target. When it happens that a client is unable to recall any enemies that might target them, sometimes it becomes necessary to recall recent past experiences and look for any slightly odd or unusual behavior. Some people, who are enemies, might be working to maintain a façade of friendship, in order to be close to the target, collect personal effects, and deliver the curse using items and powders. Enemies who resort to these measure might also employ the giving of cursed gifts, items that the target might like and appreciate, but have been tricked to deliver the curse and inflict crossed conditions. The most common version I have heard of this is giving jewelry, necklaces or bracelets that the target likes. When they wear the jewelry, they dress themselves in the curse.

The actions of a curse may also make themselves known. As the actions themselves are often difficult to tell apart from physical illness, or just routine rash of bad luck, until they become very pronounced, it is often difficult to confirm a curse using this method. The best identifiers are:

Medical anomalies – if the curse is affecting your health, you should visit a medical doctor. Often times, the curse does not give a clear reason why the target is suffering health problems, and a clear cause cannot be located by medical professionals. Some medical afflictions do not have simple remedies, and come with chronic ailments, medical professionals are often able to identify these illnesses, and recommend a continuous treatment for chronic illness. Magical illness often only shows the symptoms, but the physical cause is not found, despite repeated tests and examinations. Also, medical treatments, while they might give very temporary relief, often become unable to cope with the curse, especially during times when harmful magic is being worked, as the magical illness becomes stronger during the waning moon, Saturdays, etc…

Mental anomalies – This often takes the form of intense nightmares at first, which only grow in strength is the curse grows in power. The nightmares may become so bad, that insomnia develops, further weakening the target. Anxiety and depression that is continuously not responding to psychological and medical treatment, as well as a general listlessness, or mental “confusion” where none existed before, that causes the target to disassociate from friends, co-workers, family and sources of aid and support. You might also find any bad habits or neuroses becoming stronger, from excessive unhealthy eating to alcohol and drug consumption that becomes overwhelmingly more apparent (especially to people who care about you) when it wasn’t there before. Often when the target visits mental health professionals, they are unable to identify exactly the cause, and treatment seems to produce very little effect or have very little success when a curse is the cause of mental illness of affliction.

As I indicated, these are often the hardest means of identifying an active curse, although the presence of medical and mental illness, along with other identifiers is usually a sure sign of magic being used to harm. If medical and mental illness are present, but with out other signs, the crossed conditions might be coming from another source,

The final method of detecting and identifying an active curse is by a spiritual or psychic reading, also called divination. The many forms of divination generally include the ability to indicate when a curse is active, or the reader maybe familiar with methods of identifying curses. While one should always be careful of fraudulent readers who engage in schemes (usually involving burning candles) to separate the people from their money. Not all readers also perform magic, and not all conjures and rootworkers doing readings outside of the context of performing magic. A reading will often confirm what is present from the other signs of being cursed, and in cases where person doing the cursing is not clear, might also give an indication of where the harmful magic is coming from, instead of a generic “black cloud” that hovers over the target. A curse comes from somewhere, and can often be traced or divined.

If you do find that all of these signs are present, you are very likely the subject of a curse or jinx. While in the early stages, a target might be able to break the curse themselves, when it has progressed, you should avail yourself of magical and spiritual assistance.