As a witch who is (somewhat) active in the community, I’m always prepared to deal with being hexed or cursed. It’s inevitable that I say something that someone somewhere doesn’t like or just my mere existence annoys them.

By and large, curses do nothing to me. I set up active protections against them with various fail safes and often the curses don’t even touch me.

But sometimes I let them.

Why the hell would I do that? That’s easy. I want to see what they’ll do. I want to see how far someone is actually going to go. I want to see how my protections alter, break, or mutilate the curse from it’s original form to what it actually does. I want to test my skills and meet somewhat head-on the person who wants to ruin my life.

The most honest answer is because they usually aren’t worth my time. Why would I go out of my way to answer what is, essentially, a minor inconvenience? Annoying, sure, but not worth me devoting time and energy to. There are always assholes in the world and most of them aren’t worth the time they think they’re worth.

If a curse slips through one of the openings I leave then I usually notice in a day or two that the effects have started. The effects are usually very minimal – shit breaking randomly, inability to get anything done despite attempts otherwise, and so on. It’s the kind of day where you say fuck it and go back to bed. It’s the magical equivalent of having to drive someone to the airport on short notice. You’re not mad about having to drive said person but you’d rather stay in your sweats and watch the last three episodes of your Netflix marathon.

I do have lines that I don’t allow to be crossed. For example, a curse might be more insidious than expected – often because the caster is a malicious piece of shit rather than doing something they feel is right or just. If a curse begins to act in a more serious manner or begins to hurt other people in my family rather than simply mildly inconveniencing me, then I destroy them. Just bouncing the spells back at them isn’t enough. I might actually break out the cursing materials and give them a taste of their own spells. And my curses rarely miss.

Keep in mind this: I actually would do considerable mundane harm to an enemy if there weren’t legal restrictions otherwise. I’m not afraid to say that. So when the debate “you shouldn’t cast a spell to do something you wouldn’t do without magic” I can actually answer, “but I actually would.” I am aware of that less-attractive side of myself. I acknowledge it and use it as needed.

It’s something to consider though. Why are you being cursed and how would you deal with those curses without your protections? How would you deal with that person if they decided to use non-magical means to hurt you? Don’t you want to see what they attempted to do? Sure, you can use divination but curses can be written to not be divined.

Curses are most often weakest after they’ve taken effect. People don’t think to protect the curse from being dismantled. They assume the curse will cause enough damage without taking that step. It’s like sending out heavy artillery without having ground troops to protect it – foolish and once destroyed, you’re fucked because you’ve pulled out the big guns and lost.

Maybe I’m just not a nice person or maybe I’m more combat-willing than other practitioners. I’m willing to use my magic to harm as much as I am to heal. I know that goes against many people’s practices but I think it’s certainly an option and point of view people should be aware of. We’re not all nice here. And we need to protect ourselves with that in mind.