Curses

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Revision as of 16:46, 27 Jan 2005

Curses are generally understood as magick spells (frequently of a vulgar kind and lacking elaborate ceremony)often found in old stories, fairy tales, or gypsy folklore, which are employed to cause various maladies or problems to the recipient or victims thereof. The parallel operation in ecclesiastical magick is the anathema.

In the historical practice of cursing, effigies sometimes have been used, the victim being brought pain or similiar injury by the application of pins/needles/heat, or other such damage to the doll in a similiar fashion. Such dolls were popular by witches of the middle ages, as noted in Daemonologie(1597) by King James I of England:

To some others at these times he (the Devil) teacheth, how to make Pictures of waxe or clay: That by the rosting thereof, the persones that they beare the name of, may be continuallie melted or dryed awaie by continuall sicknesse.

Classical medieval curses include burying eggs or livers of animals beneath the ground under a waxing moon and cursing the victim to 'rot' with it, his or her life being supposedly drawn out along with the waxing moon and rotting meat.

Curses pronounced upon ones death-bed are assumed to be more powerful, as all of the life force is put into the curse. A classic example is of the fabled curse of the final Grand-Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, who when burned at the stake in 1314 with him and his order accused of 'heresy' was purported to shout "Vamehk Adonai!" to curse those who he beleived had falsely accused him and his brethren. Several weeks afterwards, the king Phillip IV of France, who had been thought to have organized the capture of the templars in order to attain their wealth after he had lost his in exile (upon which he had sheltered with the Templars in sanctuary for some time) died of a sudden illness and several months later, the Pope Clement V and his prosecutor Guillaume de Nogaret supposedly died of strange causes.

With a definite article, "the curse" denotes menstruation, suggesting that the English curse may be related etymologically to the Latin cursus, meaning "run" or "flow," from which derive such words as course, discourse, cursory, cursive and excursion.

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-magckal spells (usually of a vulgar kind and lacking elaborate ceremony)often found in old stories, fairy tales, or gypsy folklore, which are employed to cause various maladies or problems to the recipient or victims thereof.
+'''Curses''' are generally understood as magick spells (frequently of a vulgar kind and lacking elaborate ceremony)often found in old stories, fairy tales, or gypsy folklore, which are employed to cause various maladies or problems to the recipient or victims thereof. The parallel operation in ecclesiastical magick is the '''anathema'''.
-Effigies were classically used, the victim being brought pain or similiar injury by the application of pins/needles/heat, or other such damage to the doll in a similiar fashion. was dolls were popular by witches of the middle ages, as noted in ''Daemonologie''(1597) by King James I of England:
+In the historical practice of cursing, effigies sometimes have been used, the victim being brought pain or similiar injury by the application of pins/needles/heat, or other such damage to the doll in a similiar fashion. Such dolls were popular by witches of the middle ages, as noted in ''Daemonologie''(1597) by King James I of England:
+<blockquote>To some others at these times he (the Devil) teacheth, how to make Pictures of waxe or clay: That by the rosting thereof, the persones that they beare the name of, may be continuallie melted or dryed awaie by continuall sicknesse.</blockquote>
+Classical medieval curses include burying eggs or livers of animals beneath the ground under a waxing moon and cursing the victim to 'rot' with it, his or her life being supposedly drawn out along with the waxing moon and rotting meat.
-"To some others at these times he (the Devil) teacheth, how to make Pictures of waxe or clay: That by the rosting thereof, the persones that they beare the name of, may be continuallie melted or dryed awaie by continuall sicknesse. "
+Curses pronounced upon ones death-bed are assumed to be more powerful, as all of the life force is put into the curse. A classic example is of the fabled curse of the final Grand-Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, who when burned at the stake in 1314 with him and his order accused of 'heresy' was purported to shout "Vamehk Adonai!" to curse those who he beleived had falsely accused him and his brethren. Several weeks afterwards, the king Phillip IV of France, who had been thought to have organized the capture of the templars in order to attain their wealth after he had lost his in exile (upon which he had sheltered with the Templars in sanctuary for some time) died of a sudden illness and several months later, the Pope Clement V and his prosecutor Guillaume de Nogaret supposedly died of strange causes.
-classical medieval curses include burying eggs or livers of animals beneath the ground under a waxing moon and cursing the victim to 'rot' with it, his or her life being supposedly drawn out along with the waxing moon and rotting meat.
+With a definite article, "the curse" denotes menstruation, suggesting that the English '''curse''' may be related etymologically to the Latin ''cursus'', meaning "run" or "flow," from which derive such words as '''course, discourse, cursory, cursive''' and '''excursion'''.
-noteably, curses given upon ones death-bed are assumed to be more powerful, as all of the life-force is put into the curse. A classic example is of the fabled curse of the final Grand-Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, who when burned at the stake in 1314 with him and his order accused of 'heresy' was purported to shout "Vamehk Adonai!" to curse those who he beleived had falsely accused him and his brethren. Several weeks afterwards, the king Phillip IV of france, whom had been thought to have organized the capture of the templars in order to attain their wealth after he had lost his in exile (upon which he had sheltered with the Templars in sanctuary for some time) died of a sudden illness and several months later, the Pope Clement V and his prosecuter Guillaume de Nogaret supposedly died of strange causes.