A Curse Jar should look as you’ve been treated or how you have felt. (make it as disturbing and gross as you can)
Note: If you prefer to use magickal timing, you might look up the most effective day, and planetary hour to lend power to your spell.
Steps to Performing a Curse Jar or Bottle Ritual:
Define Your Intent.
Select a Container.
Choose Your Jar’s Contents.
Fill Your Jar.
Seal Your Jar.
Meditate on Your Intent.
Finish Your Spell.
Step 1: Define Your Intent
The first and most logical step in a curse jar spell is to define your intent. Your intent is what everything in your spell will revolve around. As per usual with magick, your intent should be:
Specific: Focus on precise goals (i.e. no wishing, no generalizing, no multi-purpose spells for 12 different things).
Realistic: Make sure those goals are attainable (no Dungeons & Dragons or Harry Potter fantasy stuff).
Ethical: I’m not going to say what is or isn’t ethical, but you should certainly consider your spiritual ethics and think about the consequences of your actions.
Once your intent is determined, you can begin to design your curse jar spell—namely, what kind of things you need to put into it to achieve your goal.
Step 2: Choose a Container for Your Curse Jar Ritual
Basically, any kind of container can be used for a spell. I have to admit upfront that I’m not entirely comfortable using containers made of plastic, but opinions vary on its effectiveness. I prefer glass, though people use clay and other materials. As long as it has no cracks and a tight-fitting lid or cork, you’re golden.
To find a suitable bottle, scrounge around the house or at thrift shops. Consider using anything from mason jars, baby food jars, and mayo or pickle jars to old salad and oil bottles.
Note: Make sure you cleanse and consecrate the container you’re going to use, as well as all the items you plan to fill it with.
Paint Your Curse Jar (Optional)
If you want, you can paint your curse jar in a color that corresponds with your intent or with symbols and images. This is not necessary, but any little help can give you a boost—plus, it keeps anyone who might stumble upon your curse jar from seeing the contents.
Step 3: Choose Your Curse Jar Spell Contents
Deciding on the contents is basically the ‘meat’ of this magickal working. While there is no limit to what you can choose to include, it’s important to select things that will help you work toward your ultimate goal. I like to choose things from the following categories:
A Personal Item:
A photograph, hair, nail clippings, blood or other personal item is crucial to your spell. You could also use a name written on paper. This should be of the person you are casting the spell on—so if you’re casting the spell for yourself, you’d use your own picture, item or name. If casting the spell for a friend or someone else (such as a spell to get a bully to leave you alone), you would use their photo, name or item.
Written Intent or Prayer:
There is a lot of power in words, so I always find it helpful to write my intent on something and slip it into the curse jar. If you are seeking the aid of a deity in your jar spell, you can write a note to them asking for their assistance.
Liquids:
Generally, the bottle should contain some liquid, but which liquid you choose depends on your intent.
Urine is used for protection jars and jars to break a curse, but can also be used for manipulative spells over others.
Vinegar is used to curse or harm others or to ‘spoil’ something. Safety note: vinegar jars can explode—so don’t fill it to the top, and keep the jar wrapped in cloth or towels (unless you’re burying it).
Ammonia is used for ‘cleansing’, when you want to banish negativity or malevolent entities, or when you wish to start anew with a ‘clean slate’. Safety note: never burn candles on ammonia and do not place ammonia jars near heat, as it can be explosive and flammable.
Tinctures, infusions, oils, etc. can be used for a multitude of purposes, such as yula for death or ruin and the like. Naturally, you should choose something based on your intent—for example, a breakup spell might include a tincture, infusion or oil made from breakup herbs like black pepper or red pepper flakes.
Toilet Water can be used, you can also use lemon/lime juice, alcohol, bleach, or gasoline.
TIP: Get creative and mix a herbal infusion with it to give it more of a boost.
Solids:
Like with liquids, there are different types of solids that you can choose from based on your intent. You can be pretty creative with this! Here are a few examples:
To break a curse, jar spells usually include items like rusty nails and glass shards.
To break up a couple, the caster might add some cat hair and some dog hair to the mix—to make the people fight like ‘cats and dogs’ (again, though, think about your ethics!).
To curse a person, jar spells usually include items like pins/needles, used coffee grounds, ashes, quartz crystal, used cigarettes, coal, coffin nails, graveyard dirt, rat poison, black pepper, red pepper kitty litter, dead flies.
Herbs and Crystals:
Two items that are both magically powerful and easy to come by are crystals and herbs. You can find a variety of them anywhere, and they are able to carry the energy that you’ll want to put into your spell. Below, I include a quick reference chart for herbs and crystals that you can refer to if you’re new to working with them.
That said, I highly recommend studying up and familiarizing yourself with some basic herbs and/or crystals you might have access to (my chart only scratches the surface). The more you work with herbs and crystals and get a feel for them, the more skilled you will become at spellcraft.
At the end of the day, just use your noggin and think of things that give off the kind of energy you’re interested in raising. They’ll be even better for your spell if they’re personally meaningful to you (vs. only using items that are commonly associated with your goal).
Note: Remember, just as you cleansed and consecrated your curse jar, so you must do with the items that you plan to fill it with. If the objects you have chosen are not spiritually clean (i.e. on an energy level), your spell will be less likely to help you attain your goal.
CRYSTALS AND HERBS YOU CAN USE IN THIS RITUAL:
INTENT: Banishing
Crystals, Gems, Metals: Obsidian, jet, black tourmaline, smokey quartz.
Herbs, Flowers, Roots: Clove, dragon’s blood, garlic, hot pepper.
INTENT: Binding
Crystals, Gems, Metals: Jet.
Herbs, Flowers, Roots: Agrimony, knotweed, spiderwort, witch hazel.
INTENT: Cursing/Hexing
Crystals, Gems, Metals: Rusty nails/screws, pins/needles, quartz, kitty litter, glass/mirror shards.
Herbs, Flowers, Roots: Red pepper, lemon, ashes, dead flies, coffee grounds, black pepper.
INTENT: Curse-Breaking
Crystals, Gems, Metals: Onyx, clear quartz, selenite.
Herbs, Flowers, Roots: Angelica, bloodroot, boneset, mandrake, salt, sage, rue.
Step 4: Fill Your Curse Jar
After having grounded and centred yourself, pick up one item at a time (or place it on your pentacle) and charge it. Charging empowers the item with your personal intent while stirring and stimulating the item’s own natural energy that you’re trying to tap into.
Note: You do not need to cast a circle for this spell, but if you wish to do it within a ritual circle, you may. If you wish, you may also invoke a deity for assistance.
As you add items to your curse jar, chant to raise power. For example, while filling your curse jar, you might say something such as, “By the power of Earth, Air, Fire and Water; By the Power of the sun, moon and stars; With the blessings of the Ares God Of War, I charge you, magnetic hematite, to attract bad luck to my enemies.”
Words of Power:
When I prepare a spell, I always like to plan a chant to say while I’m casting it. Chanting is a great way to raise energy. You can find a chant in a book or online, or you can make up your own. It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare to be effective. Something simple works just fine, like:
“Heed this warning, away you go, do not disturb, I wish to be left alone.”
“With rabbit’s foot and magick verse, I turn around this wicked curse.”
”What you’ve done to me may it happen to you threefold. Let karma have its way.”
As long as it suits the occasion and is meaningful to you, it’ll work.
Rhythm and rhyming can help you memorize it quickly before you start, and then you can really get into it like a mantra when you’re casting. By letting it spill from your lips effortlessly, it bypasses the conscious part of your brain and taps into your source of power—that part of the mind that sends the energy toward your goal.
Step 5: Seal Your Curse Jar
When you’re finished filling your curse jar, you can seal it right away (and then burn a candle on it if desired), or you can burn a candle in the open mouth of the jar and seal it that way.
Note: Candles are not necessary for curse jar spells, but I find it adds yet another boost of power if you combine it with candle magick. If you choose to incorporate a candle into your curse jar spell, find one of the appropriate color and dress it (see the article above for more details) before burning it in the mouth of the curse jar or on top of the sealed jar, letting all the wax meltdown. You can burn multiple candles on a jar over a course of time for an ongoing project.
Step 6: Meditate on Your Intent.
Meditate on having acquired your goal. Don’t envision yourself wanting your goal, or you leave yourself in a perpetual state of wanting; envision yourself having your goal. What will life be like, how will you feel, when it is done?
Hold onto your visualization for about 20 minutes, or as long as you can.
Step 7: What to Do With Your Curse Jar Now?
There are a few different options now that you’ve cast your curse jar ritual. Basically, you can bury it, hide it, toss it in water, keep it on your altar, or dismantle it. Which you choose depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
Bury the curse jar if . . .
You want your jar to be a ‘magnet’ of sorts to continue to draw negativity to your target (bad luck, sickness, death, etc.). Bury it on the property of the person you’re casting on and be done with it.
You are trying to rid yourself of something (or remove something positive from the person you’re casting on), like happiness or money. Bury the jar at a crossroads, don’t look back, and (ideally) never return.
You are casting a spell on another unbeknownst to them (but remember your ethics!). Bury it on their property—ideally somewhere they cross over every day, like beneath their doorstep.
Note: If you were doing some major cursing to harm another, you could bury it in a graveyard.
Hide the curse jar if . . .
You want to bury it, but burying it is not an option. In this case, just hide it deep in the home somewhere—inside a wall, in the junk closet, or wherever it won’t be disturbed.
You plan on dismantling it sometime in the future, which will disengage the spell when done properly.
Toss the curse jar in water if . . .
Using it to banish or exorcise any entities, or if you are working with any ‘questionable’ entities. Running natural water sources will purify it and protect you from their return.
It’s successfully cursed a person, or removed someone from your life, etc.; this is an alternative to burying it at a crossroad.
TIP: If it floats, puncture the cap with a hole or tie it to a weight.
Keep the curse jar on your altar if . . .
Your goal is an ongoing one that you’d like to keep working on. You can continue to burn candles over the mouth of the curse jar or shake it while saying your chant to keep it working for you.
Alternatively, if you have a shrine to your God/dess and sought their aid, you can keep it there. Again, shake it occasionally while chanting to keep the power going.
This is actually a good option for spells that are going to require a great deal of time and effort—for example, if you were to do a curse jar spell to help you get rid of a bad neighbour, you might keep it on your altar until they leave your neighbourhood. You might repeat your chant, burn a candle or shake it the night before exams. This is better than making a new spell.
Dismantle the curse jar if . . .
The spell’s power is no longer necessary and you’d like the effects to stop. For example, if you cast a curse jar spell to break up a couple because you wanted to be with that person instead. Now, they are single and you don’t want to attract to them while you are dating them. So you would dismantle the spell.
To do this, remove the contents and bury them at a crossroads or into running water, clean the container and dispose of it. With proper cleansing, you could re-use it.
WARNING: It’s not generally a good idea to dismantle a jar used for cursing or hexing, or one for breaking a curse or hex, unless you really know what you’re doing. Just bury it at the crossroads or in running water and be done with it.
Do Not Burn Your Curse Jar!
One thing I do not recommend is throwing it into a fire, as is mentioned in some sources. This was, in particular, a method of cursing and curse-breaking; the Witch would throw the curse jar into the fire and when it burst, it meant the curse was working (torturing the person it is cast on) or it meant the curse you were lifting has broken.
This is not necessary, and not a safe option at all. However, if you do dismantle a curse jar spell and have some components leftover (ribbon, paper, etc.), you could burn those items after it’s dismantled if you have a safe means of doing so.
I hope that this was informative and helpful. If so, tell me in the comments below. Share with us all the pictures of your jars and how they worked for you.
No comment yet, add your voice below!