Is Cursing Evil? Will I Go To Hell If I Perform Enemy Works? ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

Is Cursing Evil? Will I Go To Hell If I Perform Enemy Works?

Human skulls and other human remains are used in crossing and enemy works (Photo courtesy of Ariel Marzan).

First of all, both Tim and I are not lady-hearted workers. The term 'lady-hearted' describes those conjure doctors who choose not to engage in any hurtful enemy work such as crossing, hexing, jinxing, and cursing. It is important to note here that this is not a derogatory term. It is merely a way for them to declare where they draw their lines ethically and morally.

As I said, we perform aggressive rootwork against our clients' enemies and are willing to hit hard with powerful curses if the divination says so. Yet we are also competent at removing curses, uncrossing clients, and restoring blessings after being magically or spiritually assaulted.

Curses, hexes, crossings, and other dark concepts are often and erroneously considered 'evil' because of a lack of understanding. While it is easy to mindlessly dismiss as unbecoming behavior of an average practitioner, I think it's worth remembering that certain things deserve such treatment like:

- Cursing an unhealthy habit or addiction. - Hexing a debilitating and recurring illness. - Or destroying a bad attitude.

All of this is, of course, ignoring that some people deserve to be crossed. We have no problem with it because God has no problem with it.

In the Bible, God has the power to both bless and curse human beings and even other creations. These powers were demonstrated throughout the Scriptures. Humans who are made in God's likeness can also curse individuals and whole classes of people.

Curses can be absolute or conditional. An absolute curse is meant to have an immediate effect. A conditional curse only becomes efficacious when certain conditions are met, or some terms are violated.

So what is a curse?

A curse is a verbal or demonstrative invocation pronounced or performed to bring detriment or destruction to another. More than a threat or an ill wish, a curse is assumed to have the power to make the desired destruction a reality. Two elements make up the logic of cursing: a magical or symbolic view of condition which conjure workers can facilitate through crossing or enemy works; and 'formalism' - the concept that a speech act has power, regardless of intention, justification, or authority. While some assume that the power of the individual strengthens the efficacy of the curse, even curses uttered unintentionally by ordinary people were believed to have the potential to be harmful.

Crossing and hexing in Hoodoo tradition is NOT inherently 'evil,' irresponsible or unethical, or whatever, so we don't believe that we would go to hell if we tried to cross someone or something that deserved to be crossed. Cursing is magic just like any other - yes, it can be performed with pure egoistic, aggressive, malevolent, and hostile energies as the reason behind it. Still, it can also be beneficial and protective. It's not just used much because most people incorrectly thought its purpose is mainly for harming or mischief.

The exact mechanism of crossing varies from one practitioner to another. As noted above, a curse can manifest simply because of an utterance. Crossing, however, generally requires more effort. Hoodoo, aping Central West African magical practices with Judeo-Christian and Native American influences, requires ritualistic gestures and specific procedures, materials, and prayers. Timing and astrological correspondences can also increase or mitigate the power of a curse.

The practice of cursing is still with us, obviously. In the African-American tradition, some Christian pastors are known to curse individuals they and their congregation loathe or abhor. In a much-publicized event during World War II, celebrated African-American preacher and gospel singer Rev. J. M. Gates put a curse on Adolf Hitler. The curse is chanted in a Baptist sermon cadence, a capella, call and response style. Gates is accompanied by two parishioners, an alto woman, and a bassman; their responses are timed together but independent.

Though I agree that cursing is destructive magic, sometimes destructive energy must be used to help resolve a situation or move someone to a better place or position. It can be used to destroy something and recycle it so that it can grow again. Sometimes, that's the only way to stop them from harming you. And sometimes, it's the only way to make them see the light of a difficult situation so they can change their views.

This form of magic, though, is like hot burning coal. You can see a lump of hot coal; you know it can be harmful and can do damage, but that does not mean you can't use it for something beneficial or productive. Yes, you can never hope to hold it in your bare hands and feel comfortable with it, but you can use some tools to pick it up and use it. The same is true when it comes to hexes and curses.

That being said, crossing still shouldn't be taken lightly and certainly not for inexperienced, mentally/emotionally imbalanced beginners and children. It's vitally important to understand both the power of humans in creating vibrations and the nature of the spirits one is working with. Many people will call in destructive energy, yet if they don't know how to protect themselves through appropriate prayers or other procedures or if they don't realize that when energy is summoned, it must be instructed to depart when it's no longer required, or they can find themselves in very uncomfortable circumstances.

Now, before I end this article, I would like to take this chance to tell everyone reading our blog that Tim and I have not put any curse or hex on our personal detractors, adversaries, business competitors, and people who slander our families or us for a very long time (6 plus years ago was the last). We are too busy making spiritual supplies and casting spells for our clients and too oblivious about your affairs and insecurities, so DO NOT blame us for your life failures and misfortunes.

Some people claim to be magic practitioners or psychics but also claim that malefic magic based on their imagination has power over them. Because they have let their mind run wild, they attribute every inconvenience to every person to this false curse. Let me put this bluntly: What happened to your intelligence? There is no curse - never has been one - simply because we have no time for these bullshits! Stop believing in falsehoods and lies. And stop trying to remedy problems by making up your visions, readings, and self-diagnosis. Tim and I have already been accused of hexing other people and businesses. Shame on you, people who spread lies. Accepting it tells the world that you believe in your own delusion, and all of you, in the process, curse yourselves.

See, What Our Path Is

Being immensely interested in African diaspora religions and Folk Catholicism, we primarily honor our ancestors, Church saints, angels, folk saints, and Afro-Caribbean spirits such as loas and orishas. If we absolutely have to put a label on ourselves, we prefer the label of “Folk Judeo-Christian” as we live according to the customs and traditions of conjure workers and root doctors from the Deep South and syncretic followers of Christ in various nations of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Our spirituality includes West African-based Caribbean-style tradition as well as Esoteric Christianity and Yoruba religion. Generally, we practice Gullah folk magic popularly known in the Deep South as Hoodoo or Lowcountry Voodoo; the ancient wisdom founded by Orunmila in Ile-Ife called Ifa, and a bit of Lihim na Karunungan (Filipino Esotericism or Philippine Mystery Tradition).

Respect, What Hoodoo Is

Despite visible evidence of Central West African, Islamic/Moorish, Native American, Judeo-Christian, European, and even a few East Indian/Hindu, Chinese, and Latino/Caribbean retentions, influences, and admixtures, this does not mean that Hoodoo is an open and unrestricted system of eclectic magic.

Conjure, and Rootwork is rooted in African-American culture and Folk Protestant Christianity. Any practitioners of Hoodoo who did not grow up within African-American culture should still have a fuller understanding and high regard for its origin.

In the beginning, the early conjure doctors were entirely Black. The students were all Black, the elders were Black, the teaching was Black, and they focused only on Blacks as their audience. But other races were accepted when they had also been brought into the Hoodoo community and learned the tradition. Even so, we should still acknowledge that Hoodoo, Conjure, or Rootwork is not ours but only belongs to the Black community. We are just believers who are grafted into their rich yet humble tradition and, by word and deed, embrace genuine African-American folk spirituality and magic. This is all we can do for all the blessings we received from God and our Black ancestors.

Hoodoo's lack of religious structure and hierarchical authority do not mean that any person or group can appropriate or redefine it. If one cannot respect Hoodoo as it is and for what it is, then please, do not play with it.

Learn, How Conjure Is Worked On

Authentic Conjure is not all about blending and selling oils and casting spells online to make money. Hoodoo has its own spiritual philosophy, theology, and a wide range of African-American folkways, customs, and practices which include, but are not limited to, veneration of the ancestors, Holy Ghost shouting, snake reverence, spirit possession, graveyard conjure, nkisi practices, Black hermeneutics, African-American church traditions, the ring shout, the Kongo cosmogram, ritual water immersions, crossroads magic, making conjure canes, animal sacrifices, Jewish scriptural magic, enemy works, Seekin' ritual, magical incorporation of bodily fluids, etc.

Unfortunately, they are currently missing in marketeered or commercial Hoodoo, as they are being removed, disregarded, or ignored by unknowing merchants who simply want to profit from an African-American spiritual tradition, thus reducing Hoodoo to just a plethora of recipes, spells, and tricks.

Tim and I are completely aware that we are not African-Americans, so we are doing our best to retain and preserve the customs and traditions of the slave ancestors to avoid unnecessary conflict with the larger Black-Belt Hoodoo community and prevent them from labeling us inauthentic outsiders and our practice as mere 'cultural misappropriation.'

Accept, Who We Are

The byproduct of eons of slave history, Black supremacists believe that only people with African or African-American blood are real Hoodoo practitioners and are often inclined to consider themselves as the elite of the Hoodoo community; a place in which they believed that Whites, Latinos, Asians or any other races who do not have Black ancestry do not belong. Black supremacists are prone to be very hostile towards both “outsiders” and those accepting of them, fearing that their promotion and acceptance would dilute or even negate the Black identity of Hoodoo.

Although we do understand why some Blacks hold this stance, since a lot of people nowadays are misappropriating many aspects of Hoodoo and teaching the spiritual path even without proper education and training (for purely monetary purposes), we would, however, want to say that not all non-Black Hoodoo practitioners are the same.

WE respect what Hoodoo is, and we never try to change it, claim it as our own, disregard its history, take unfair advantage of it, speak against the people who preserve it, and mix it with other cultures (like our own) and call it Filipino/Pinoy Hoodoo, Gypsy Hoodoo or Wiccan Hoodoo because there are no such things.