What are Curses?

Curses

A “curse” (Tagalog kulam) is an illness obtained through the power of the evil one. It is often sent by someone to a victim by reason of hatred, envy, or jealousy through a spell conjured by an occult practitioner.

Picture taken from http://spiritualhealingcenter.com/?p=23

The Exorcism Prayer of St. Cyprian Bishop-Martyr of Nicomedia (A c. 304 AD) to break Curses and Magic lists things that a conjurer does to send maledictions. And renowned Exorcist Rev. Fr. Gabriel Amorth gives the following distinctions of curses:

Types

As to purpose

1.      Amorous – to obtain the love of a person or to destroy the object of amorous feeling’s relationship with others so as to free that person in order to obtain his/her love. In Pilipino this is gayuma.

2.      Poisonous -  to cause physical, psychological, familial, or economic ruin on the victim.

3.      Binding – to block action, movement, relationships.

4.      Transference – to transfer to the victim the hideous things usually in the form of torments performed on a doll or photo of the person targeted.

5.      Putrefaction – to procure a sickness leading to death, usually there is a rotting of an internal organ involved.

6.      Possession – to conjure a demon and command it to possess the victim.

As to method

1.      Direct – where the curse is introduced to the intended victim through an object which would touch the body of the person such as by way cursed food or drink.

2.      Indirect – where the curse is performed in an object that represents the victim such as a voodoo doll.

As to operation

1.      By puncture and torture – using pins, nails, hammer, blade, fire, ice, bugs.

2.      By tying or binding – with laces, knots, bridles, ribbons, bands, hoops, chains.

3.      By putrefaction – burying the object, throwing it to the sea where it cannot be found. The cursed object is symbolic of the victim. At times the cursed object is an animal sacrificed to the demon that would deliver the curse.

4.      By malediction (Tagalog sumpa) – wishing ill directly upon the person, or on a photo, or a symbol.

5.      By Satanic rite – using a Satanic cult or black mass perfomed with the purpose of inflicting mortal harm on the intended victim.

As to means

1.      With hexes and spells – puppets or meat with pins, bones of the dead, blood, toads, chickens, insects.

2.      With cursed objects – gifts, plants, pillows, dolls, ribbons, talismans

3.      With an evil eye, a touch of the hand, an embrace, a breath

4.      With a telephone – whether in silence, a word, a breath, or something else.

(Reference: Gabriel Amorth, “The ways and the means of Evil”, Memoirs of an Exorcist: My Life Fighting Satan. Trans. Marco Tosatti. Kindle Edition. Piemme. September 16, 2014)

How is one a victim of a curse?

Real conjurers of curses are intrinsically of a diabolic source. Hence the power is from the Devil. A curse’s power over a human being (the victim/s) is dependent on the openings present in them. The more openings the victim has the deeper the effect of the curse. Hence, it can be safely inferred that if a person is affected by a curse the person is already pre-disposed to it.

Protection from Curses

The protection from a real curse can only be something that is supernatural or divine in nature. Therefore, the first protection is protection on the level of the soul, in this case, habitual sanctifying grace. The person should therefore not be in a state of sin, specifically mortal sin. Now grace is restored in the soul through repentance and the sacrament of reconciliation. The second protection is protection on the level of mind and will, and here the practice and life of virtue –prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice strengthened by the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity play a crucial role.  The virtues of faith, hope, and charity are fortified by actual grace received through regular reverent reception of the sacraments and development of a regular prayer life. The devout use of the sacramentals of the Church, greatly aid in protection of mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, habitual sanctifying grace in the soul, actual graces, virtues life, sacramentals are to be present as one in the person if they are to prevent curses from affecting them. If the curses are sent to a properly protected person, the curse will bounce back to the conjurer.

The story of the conversion of St. Cyprian of Nicomedia to Christianity from being a very powerful sorcerer gives us insights on how curses work and how prayer and fasting are able to twart them.

(cf. http://oca.org/saints/lives/2000/10/02/102835-hieromartyr-cyprian-of-nicomedia)

CASE STORY: When a Curse, the Occult, Despair, Sadness, Lust, Anger, Hatred, and Unforgiveness Meet

There was this case of a family of three fine ladies --the wife and mother is a university graduate from a known catholic university, the eldest daughter a university graduate from a well known state university, and the youngest daughter also an alumna of the university the mom went to. Their life story was completely turned upside-down, when the husband passed away while the two girls where still studying. Used to having the husband around and making decisions, the mother missed terribly his presence. Thinking that she could not continue raising the girls on her own, she thought of consulting the dead husband through a medium every time she needed an advice. Now this medium that she contacted is known among occult circles as a very powerful sorcerer. He is known likewise to be a philanderer. The mother feeling secured with the readily available spiritual presence of the husband eventually agreed with the suggestion of the medium to perform a ritual in the house so that the husband will remain with them, as if he never left.

Meanwhile, as the medium became a regular visitor in the house, two things were happening to each of the daughters. The medium was starting to take fancy on the eldest one, and she knew it. And the youngest daughter was beginning to be suspicious of his motives. Every time the man would visit the house, a seance would be done. And the youngest would resent his presence. One day things turned sour as the mother no longer wanted to have the man come to the house. For she too already had clear suspicions regarding the intentions of the man in relation to the eldest daughter. Before the man left, he invoked a curse over them: "Your youngest daughter will be the cause of the death of you and your eldest daughter." That then abruptly ended the relationship with the family and the medium. But it was the beginning of their very painful calvary.

Cognizant of the power of the sorcerer, the youngest daughter decided to counter it by learning how to cast spells and hexes with formulas and instructions coming from the internet. She tried first on casting spells on some people and seeing that it seemed to work started to immerse herself on the darker recesses of the black arts. She also befriended an Australian whom she met in one of the witchcraft online forums. The online friendship blossomed into a love story. After finishing college, the girl pursued the man in Australia in the hope that she would finally settle there with him. The love story turned into another nightmare, but not until she learned more spells and hexes from him. Later on, the man revealed that he is a satanist and would like to seal their love in a satanic ritual. The girl did not approve of this and so went back to Manila, devastated and resentful.

Illustration from http://therebelgod.com/art/torment.jpg

Feeling betrayed and made complicated by the series of unfortunate events that befell her life, she started to harbor hatred and resentment on her mom and eldest sister by blaming them as the cause of her misery. Had the mom not invited the medium, had the sister not had amorous relationship with him, she would have had a normal life, with work, and career. To add to her misery she would  also have nightmares and this would cause her to be more jittery during day time. This then would take its toll on her soon enough to develop what seemed like some psychiatric condition. She manifested the following -- obsessive-compulsive behavior to collect trash, she would use raw violence against the mother and sister, she would prevent the mother and sister to go out of the house making them literally prisoners at home. She would scream, she would shout, she would throw things, enter into tantrums. It was becoming exactly hell for the family. Was the sorcerer's curse coming into fulfillment?

On calm moments she would agree to be taken to a psychiatrist or neurologist for examination. She was diagnosed with having a kind of mental problem, but it could be treated by medication and readily available procedures. However, not withstanding the increase in dosage of medication and treatment procedure, the girl was not improving in a significant manner. Finally after months of treatment, the doctor soon gave up because any higher dose of medication may risk permanent damage on her.

The girl also developed an aversion to the sacred. She would sense if her mom or sister were praying or planning to pray or to go to mass. She would suddenly scream telling them to stop. She would attack them if they would attempt to pray. Even if they would be praying silently, her negative reaction would be quick. Her obsessive-compulsive behavior started to worsen, and soon every corner of the house became storage for things that should have been thrown into the trash bin a long time ago. Her nightmare worsened. No sooner had she closed her eye when specters would appear in her dream. Her night and sleeping moments turned into a nightmare itself.

Could this be demonic? It had all the possible reasons for it to be. Could it be a classic psychiatric case? It had signs of it. Is this a combination of psychological-psychiatric-demonic at the same time? It is certainly possible.

This case would become something very difficult for AMOE to decipher and the healing very slow in coming. In all analysis if it is demonic in nature, then the demon had taken hold of the three in a single noose, and the sorcerer did cast a powerful curse on them.

The case is still ongoing, some visible improvement is already observed after at least five exorcisms. But it is still a long long long way to go, not until the memories have been healed. For in this case a curse, the occult, despair, sadness, lust, anger, hatred, and unforgiveness held these three women captive to the devil.