Black magic (especially for South Asians)

In My Humble Opinion
1

If anyone has lived in South Asia for any decent amount of time, he or she begins to realize just how pervasive paranoia about black magic (kala jadoo) and the evil eye (nazar) is.

Now, you can consult people (aamil) who will help others get rid of black magic, avert the evil eye, and bring back (or bring, if it never was there before) success and advancement. Learning white magic is easy.

Where do people learn black magic?

I think that part of the answer to the above is simple superstition: people believe that there are hordes of people (including and especially relatives and other people around one) who secretly and maliciously practice black magic, which would explain calamities, lack of success or wealth or advancement, etc., while in reality the reason is just life. Like, people blame black magic when the culprit is life’s uncertainties. So, white magic is a sham to rip people off, while black magic is simply in people’s minds.

Two examples:
A relative of mine had a very serious nervous disorder, and was basically wasting away. His father stayed (and stays) at home while his mother is a doctor. Despite nothing being out of the ordinary (everything happening to him was explainable by his condition), his parents were convinced someone cursed him and had him possessed by a demon, which demon killed him. The reason someone cursed him was because he was so popular, nice, intelligent, etc. Rather than blaming an unfortunate disorder, they found comfort in blaming their son’s condition on black magic. In one way, it boosts them (“we are so good people are cursing us”) in a perverse way.

Another example:
A cousin of mine got married, and he moved to their home’s newly-completed second floor. My cousin’s wife and my cousin’s parents didn’t get along. It wasn’t long before the majority of my relatives were accusing the bad blood between my cousin (and his wife) and my cousin’s parents on black magic by my cousin’s wife. (Forget the fact that my cousin’s parents treated him like dirt.)

Still . . . I wonder if there is any such thing as black magic, and if people practice it, how and where they learn.

So, any answers?

2

Strange, someone with ** Sauron ** in their name is asking about black magic?? :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, their are two ways in which people typically learn black magic. First of all, there are a number of cults operating in secret that worship dark and terrible gods. These cults recieve the methods on how to use various eldritch powers from these gods. They then pass along this knowledge to new members, often writing books detailing how to twist and defile nature to their will.

The second method comes about when these occultic tomes fall into the hands of non-cult members, who use them to teach themselves the eldritch arts. This method can be more dangerous than the above method, as novice practisioners won’t have a more experienced sorceror keeping them from making a stupid mistake. Of course, these guys don’t have to worry about their “friends” in the cult deciding the new guy should be the weekly sacrifice; the dark arts are inherently dangerous to both the user and the used.

A third, much rarer method is when an independant occultist goes about researching black magic by themeselves, without doing cookie-cutter magic from a book, or getting the info from a eldritch god. This sometimes blurs with method two, when the occultist uses older text to create their own, authoritative work. Abdul Alhazred is the most famous of these types of occultist, composing the * Necronomicon * which is STILL one of the best texts on the subject, centries since it was written. Still, even Alhazred was eaten by a demon, so be careful if you decide to mess around with the eldritch powers.

And if anyone does want to go with the worship a dark god route, well :wink: hint hint, nudge nudge. :

3

Strange, isn’t it, that regarding black magic, magic, folk magic, and superstitions of the people of Africa, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Europe, and the Americas there is much written and known and much interest, but very little regarding South Asia, the Middle East, etc.

WRS

4

It’s not hard to learn Black Magic. As a white girl in the Midwestern US, I’ve been exposed to it enough to pick some up. I wouldn’t use it, but I know where to find the spells, ingredients, etc. Mostly the difference in White and Black magic is the intention.

I know that a lot of people on this board don’t believe in magic, ghosts, etc. I do. It’s part of my beliefs. Thus, I would appreciate people not coming on here and telling me that it’s all a bunch of hoogey-moogey and that I’m supposed to be “fighting ignorance, not spreading it.”

That being said.

I’ve done WM for myself and a few friends. Things like Devil’s Shoestring in a pocket to help getting a job, a lemon with pins in it for good luck, helped my mom exorcise her new house, things like that.

OTOH, I know some BlM (didn’t want to use BM for obvious purposes). I’ll never, ever ever ever use any of it, I just know how. I consider love spells and curses to be BlM. Stuff like breaking people up, making someone fall in love with you, bad luck, and having their car break down.

How did I learn this stuff?

By reading books and talking to other people. There’s a lot of magical knowledge to be had in the world, if you know where to look for it. Surprisingly, a lot of ingredients can be found in my local grocery store. Whatever’s not there is, again, not hard to get ahold of.

It’s just as easy to learn BlM as it is to learn WM. Just need to know where to look.

Now, is there such a thing as Black Magic? I think so, but not everyone does. That’s up to you to decide. I think it’s kind of like believing in God (not to offend anyone). You can touch it, there’s not much out there to prove it to you, so you either believe in it or you don’t.

Sometimes, in cultures immersed with belief in the supernatural, people can often have the “So and so cursed me, ow, I’m getting sick.” Mind over body kind of thing. Placebo effect. If sugar pills can make someone feel better because they believe they will, why wouldn’t a spell to do the same thing, as long as they believe?

So, hmm. Yeah. I hope that answered a few questions. I haven’t really studied BlM in depth.

5

Well, according to my mother (who’s very much into this stuff, and does all the aamil stuff) nazaar can be done by anyone - a compliment that’s not meant, jealousy about someone’s wealth or success, etc etc, if articulated will cause nazaar to fall on the person.

Say, for example, I was jealous about someone’s academic success, and articulated a false compliment to them regarding this, then that would cause nazaar to hit the person in question (we would say inke koi ji nazaar lagi vey ai - literally he’s been hit by someone’s stare).

Its all very strange, and quite paranoid really. If a child becomes ill for a prolonged period of time with no obvious cause, its said to be because of nazaar; if something goes horribly wrong, its because of nazaar.

However, that said, according to my (late) grandmother, the best way to foil dark magic curses, is to simply accept them wholeheartedly when they are placed on you. The act of acceptance not only negates them, but reverses their effect.

Hey, I have a strange family.

6

I agree on the notion of Intent. If you consult books such as the Key of Solomon, or the dreaded and terrible Necronomicon you will see that the incantations and speels are designed to harness the power for your will. Bad will=black magick. Most are self taught, or seek out someone within the community to learn from.

7

Sigh Wish I’d seen this earlier…

The current Necronomicon, IIRC, was compiled in the ‘70’s by a bunch of Lovecraft fans, based on existing ceremonial magic texts such as The Clavicle of Solomon and the Grimoire of Honorius. It’s sort of a pastiche of earlier works mixed with outright invention (if I actually cared enough, I could probably analyze the Necronomicon and have a fair to middlin’ good chance of identifying most, if not all, of the original texts…but I don’t.)

Abdul Alhazred and the Necronomicon were invented by Lovecraft as a literary device. Really. Honestly. No lie. Anybody who tells you otherwise is a rank idiot and not worth listening to.

I don’t know very much about Asian magic, aside from the shamans, unfortunately. Simple stuff like basic divination and ghost stories. However, I have been a sometime student of occultism for quite a while, depending on availability of resources, so here’s some useful generalizations I came to…

I would expect that malign spells would parallel commonly known benign ones, except harmless or helpful ingredients are replaced with actively harmful ingredients, and some word reversal/inversion takes place - saying the words backwards to reverse the spell’s effects, or inverting the meanings of words - substitute the word harm for help, for example. I would also expect demons to be invoked rather than angels/demi-gods, but that really depends on the mythos.

The substitution of ingredients and words seem to be the basis of most mal ojo/brujeria/black magic, more elaboration would probably depend on how imaginative the sorceror or his/her instructor were, what were their available resources, and how big their audience. Other than proscribed rituals of forbidden deities, that is…and I’m thinking of real ones like the thuggee cult of Kali, the cult of Angra Mainyu/Ahriman, and some of the rituals of Santeria/Voodoo.

And yep, there ARE people who actively practice these sorts of things. But then, there are people who think nothing of sexually molesting a toddler, as well. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew. There are some very interesting sociological theories as to why, as well, ranging from rebellion against society, through revenge, and down to pure sadism.

To sum up, then, Does Black Magic Exist…depends on your perspective. The power of belief is incredibly strong, and if you truly believe you will die once cursed, well then…you will. I can equivocate for hours on this one.

How Do People Learn/Practice it? Reversal of existing white magic spells, invocation of malign spirits rather than good ones are most common.

Do People Really Do It? Yep. For recent examples, see some of the news on muti murders in London and Africa - from what little I know about African magic, if you’re using unwilling human body bits, you aren’t doing anything nice. South American/Caribbean drug gangs are using the nasty elements of Santeria/Voodoo for establishing and retaining control of their gangs and turf. Wouldn’t be terribly surprised to see the same in rural Asia, but detailed news in English on that sort of thing is hard to come by.

8

My grandmother still believes in Black Magic and my mother as well to a little extent. They are both from Laos. It doesn’t surprise me that my grandmother does but what boggles me is that my mother does. She’s a western educated Registered Nurse. On patients she doesn’t use any of the “voodoo magic” but does so on herself all the time. One of them is to ritually bleed herself when feeling depressed/sad/ill. She ties off her fingers and pricks the end of it with a needle. Then lets the blood drip into a bowl of water. I constantly give her shit about it all the time. Its annoying to see that.
My grandmother is really weird. She is supposedly a christian, but still does alot of the animal sacrifaces and paganish rituals.

9

I wear a taweez with Ayat-ul-kursi. Why, because I like it. But if i felt like I was bothered by something I’d just say my quls and not really dwell on it, because such is life and you are going to encounter different ppl through the course of your life. I have heard a lot of stories about jadoo and have cousins who were born and raised in the west who have witnessed such things and even they said if they havent seen it with their own eyes they would never have believed it. I suspect some of the stuff attributed to black magic is probably jinns.

10

These answers have been very, very helpful. Thanks. :slight_smile:

It seems interesting that even educated people will believe in black magic and use superstitious means to ward it off or break any spells that might be cast on them. My Mom will not hesitate to say a prayer and blow it on me if something very bad or good happens.

I have not seen any examples of black magic with my eyes, but I do believe that there is power in such suggestions: mind over matter is a very powerful thing. And, considering the world-view that people who believe in black magic have, it even makes sense.

However, I still doubt whether, empirically, saying certain words or performing certain actions can have an affect. There are lots of people who say that one’s words have power in them (something about vibrations and whatnot), and that actions also have an impact on the various levels of reality around us. But I don’t know.

As far as South Asia is concerned, there are many people who openly display religious art and jewelry. This isn’t for piety but for protection - such items deflect any black magic that may be targetted their way.

Another interesting note is that I read that some people can cast the evil eye unintentionally. It’s either something that is extrahuman - such as evil spirits or gods cursing someone being praised or having succes - or human, such as people casting the evil eye intentionally or unintentionally.

(Anecdote: When I was in high school, I was really, really mad at one guy, and so checked out a book on talismans and attempted to cast a curse on him using a blade of grass. Nothing happened to him, and at the time I blamed it on the possibility that he might say the four Quls or some other prayer that would protect him. Also, I did a curse against Saddam Hussein, but nothing happened, which I then blamed on him being protected by some regular prayer or religious article.)

Even if I wanted to learn about black magic, I doubt I’d be able to from those of my culture here. I live in the metropolitan area of a large US city, and not in a Pakistani or Indian city/village. If I ask any of my relatives, they’ll freak and probably start blaming bad luck on me.

Considering things aren’t working out perfectly in my life, more so now than before, I find almost calming attempting to blame it on evil sprits or upset ancestors.

WRS