-
Discussion
-
Very often, the question comes up of how one can determine whether or not harmful magic or the evil eye is present. The general response to such a question is to turn to divination.
In the interest of describing exactly *how* one would divine the presence of harmful magic, especially for fledgling witches, I’m making this post. What follows will be a list of a variety of methods for detecting the presence of harmful magic or the evil eye. Everyone works differently in their own practice, so not all of these methods may appeal to you.
I would say that none of these methods should be taken in isolation or to the exclusion of considering signs and symptoms of harmful magic in one’s daily life. In other words, you should expect to see things like a string of bad luck, objects often being broken, smelling smoke or foul odours with no obvious source, interpersonal conflict out of the blue, etc. Also note that these things can be due factors other than harmful magic, whether that be a challenging transit or just the plain old ups and downs of life.
The stark reality is that harmful magic being done on someone is actually not very common. It does happen, so knowing how to detect and cleanse from it is paramount, but it is often overhyped online.
Many systems of divination are complex and require considerable study and practice to get a good handle on them. Because of that, some of what I will describe will be somewhat general and schematic.
Some of these methods may also be familiar to you in a different form and that’s perfectly fine. This list isn’t the only way to do things. This list is also not exhaustive: if you have a method that you prefer that’s not listed, please do consider sharing it in the comments. Also note that these are methods for confirming whether or not harmful magic or the evil eye is present, and not necessarily how to remove it or reverse it.
* **The Match Test**
* This method requires a clear glass of water and a box of matches. Simply hold two matches in your hand and focus your question on whether the evil eye or harmful magic is present. Then, drop both matches in the glass of water. If the matches touch or cross each other, the evil eye or harmful magic is said to be present. If they remain separate without touching or crossing, the evil eye or harmful magic is said to *not* be present.* **The Olive Oil Test**
* The method requires a clear glass of water and some olive oil. An eye dropper may also be handy. In this test, the glass of water is passed around the head of the person suspected of being affected by the evil eye or harmful magic. Following that, three drops of olive oil are dropped in the water. If the drops of olive oil come together to form one large drop on the surface of the water, the evil eye or harmful magic is said to be present. If the three drops remain separate, then the evil eye or harmful magic is said to *not* be present.* **Tarot Cards**
* The way that people read Tarot cards varies quite a bit, so below are just some of my observations. Creating your own Tarot spread(s) to determine the presence of harmful magic is also recommended. As always, the context of the surrounding cards and positions in the spread will provide greater insight.
* **RWS Decks**: When asking the cards to confirm the presence of harmful magic, look for the presence of the Hanged Man, the Devil, the 5 of Cups, and the 8, 9, and/or 10 of Swords.
* **Marseille Decks**: When asking the cards to confirm the presence of harmful magic, look for the presence of the Magician, Hanged Man, the Devil, 7 and/or 9 of Wands, and the 4 and/or 10 of Swords.
* **(Grand) Etteilla Decks**: When asking the cards to confirm the presence of harmful magic, look for the presence of card N° 6, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, and/or 53, especially in combination.* **Lenormand Cards**
* Charge the Stars to be your focus card for magic. Pose the question of whether harmful magic is present. You can do a line of 3, 5, 7 or a Mini Tableau (“Box spread/3×3”). Look in particular for the presence of the Snake and the Book, but the Clouds, Scythe, Coffin, and Cross are also suggestive.* **Playing Cards**
* **Note**: I read in the French style with a deck of 32 playing cards. This will only apply to that system.
* Look for the Jack of Spades (Valet de Pique)! Hogier carries the explicit meaning of harmful magic being done (given the appropriate context, of course.) Also look to the rest of the numbered Spades as well as the 7 and/or 9 of Diamonds in your combinations.* **Tea Leaf and Coffee Reading**
* Prepare your drink and sip it while focusing on your question. When only a sip remains, turn the cup and invert it on your saucer as per usual. Look to the symbols towards the bottom of the cup near the cup handle and on the right side of the cup. Which symbols will vary from reader to reader, but I would look for symbols of weapons (knife, gun, etc.), reptiles (snake, lizard), nocturnal animals (owls, bats), and other negative signs like bones or skulls.* **Geomancy**
* Fairly straightforward: Look to the 1st Mother, the 8th House, the 12th House, the Judge, and the Sentence. You might also look to the 1st and 2nd Witnesses.* **Astrology**
* Cast your horary chart using the time, date, and location that the question of whether there is harmful magic is posed. Check to see if the ruler of the 12th and 1st houses are the same, or if there is any contact between the rulers of the 1st, 12th, or Moon. Where there is, it is traditionally indicative of harmful witchcraft.* **Egg Cleansing**
* This method has become rather commonly resorted to. Divination by egg is like any other system of divination: it requires study and practice to get a handle on. When people are primarily interested in cleansing and don’t know how to read an egg, I always tell them to go ahead with the cleansing and skip reading the egg. Looking for information online can be a great place to start, but trying to find a definite answer in moments of crisis is not helpful, and can often lead to an inaccurate reading.
* That said, the signs you might look for include cloudy or discoloured water; a foul smell; the presence of blood; faces; birds like owls; a yolk that looks somewhat grey, red, or black; the yolk floating in the middle or top of the water; or a yolk that looks warm or cooked. Usually, a combination of these signs would be looked for, rather than just a single sign in isolation.
* There are a variety of spiritual illnesses that can be diagnosed with an egg in Mexican curanderismo and brujería. Not all of these conditions are the result of harmful magic or envy. Knowing the different illnesses and how to differentiate between them comes from study and practice. Even among those with experience reading egg cleansings, a secondary method of divination may be used for confirmation. This nuance and complexity to reading the results of egg cleansings is why I generally don’t recommend it to those new to the practice, contrary to online trends.I think that more or less covers the more popular systems of divination, minus runes. I don’t cast runes, so I’ll let those who do comment on possible ways of detecting harmful magic while casting runes.
There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of other ways to determine if harmful magic is present. If you have any favourite methods that haven’t been listed, or variations of the methods that I have listed, please leave them down in the comments!
-
Ways of Confirming the Presence of Harmful Magic: 101
updated 1 year, 3 months ago
2 Members
·
9
Replies
-
I didn’t know the tarot card method. I’ve just gotten into Italian folk magic so I’m familiar with some of the others. Just did my usual three card spread and no harmful magic says the cards.
-
Excellent post!
-
Very informative! The tea leaf seems pretty cool. I’d be interested to see if there are any books out there on the topic.
-
Apparently in India it is actually a bit more common (not extremely) for people to hire others to cast what they like to call “black magic” on other people, at least from what i’ve heard
-
Speaking as a horary astrologer and geomancer, out of a total of maybe 20 charts for clients convinced they were cursed (it’s not a common question), I’ve only had one show up a positive. The great thing is it’s a dead quick chart to cast – look for an aspect between L12 and L1/the Moon, and if so does L12 have any actual power over the querent (i.e. is the querent in their power) and bob’s your uncle. I’ve never personally taken L1 and L12 as the same significator as being a confirmation – I am not my dog if L1 and L6 are the same, and I follow that logic throughout. That might just be me, though!
Even the chart that showed a curse worked out to be more of an ‘evil eye’ sort of curse emerging from hatred without intent to curse on closer inspection, so was an easy fix for the querent. If I recall, a pretty basic spell using iron and a ritual shower to feel like she’d got rid of any residue and she was all good.
As time goes on, I’m led to believe that people get worked up about the idea of being cursed far more often than anyone actually bothers with cursing people, let alone doing so with lasting impact. It’s so easy to break these sorts of minor curses that you might as well do so whether it’s confirmed by divination or not, as you’ll feel better regardless.
-
-
Most excellent! Thank you for sharing! I use my pendulum. The match test & olive oil test were new to me. I knew this could be divined with cards, I just haven’t used mine for that before. I’m just most comfortable with my pendulum. Thank you for the 101 💓
-
Thankyou for sharing such fascinating insight. Some of these I knew of and my grandmother read tea leaves and taught me a bit. So many others I hadn’t heard of.
-
Thanks for this! Always good to know 🙂
What happens if one needs to cleanse and remove anything negative ?? Xx
