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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask you if you believe in black magic or getting jynxed by someone with an evil eye?

131 replies

WonderingHead · 23/08/2011 11:50

This is a serious question, but I know I will get a few joke type answers, so I am asking in advance if we can have a serious discussion about this.

I know to some people it may seem like something out of Harry Potter, but I do believe in black magic. Without going into too much detail, I have met many people who have had bad luck in their life, where people in their family have suddenly died, or died after a bad illness (which seems normal), but then they have had other strange things happen to them, like blood splatters on their clothes out of the blue, or finding strange charms with pins in them under their bed or chairs in their house or finding balls of hair in their rooms or where they work. I have also had a few problems in my life, that I believe were the work of someone in my family cursing me out of jealousy. This is not in England.

I know a family member, who fell ill on his wedding day. He'd get pains all over his body and high fever and the doctors couldn't understand what was wrong. After a few weeks, his wife found a round ball made out of fabric with pins in it under his office chair in their house. It was found that it was a bad luck charm and the day it was thrown away, the man became better again.

I am just wondering if any of you believe that you could be harmed by someone through black magic or even get jynxed by someone who is jealous of your good fortune. I know it sounds unreal, but in some countries, such as Nigeria, black magic is a normal occurrence.

What do you all think?

Ready to be ridiculed.

OP posts:
Paschaelina · 23/08/2011 11:53

No ridiculing here. Just my opinion: No.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 23/08/2011 11:55

From the perspective that 'jinxed' and 'cursed' people can feel so gripped and captured in the belief that they are 'doomed' that they start working steadily on their own downfall, yes. Otherwise, no.

Pamplemoussse · 23/08/2011 11:55

No

However the power of suggestion can be profound

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 23/08/2011 11:56

... and that round ball sounds like a 'pin cushion' to me. I'm always losing mine.

Original poster
WonderingHead · 23/08/2011 11:57

Why would you put a pin cushion under your chair and stick it there?

OP posts:
Empusa · 23/08/2011 11:58

No.

fluffyanimal · 23/08/2011 11:58

In some countries, such as Nigeria, black magic is a normal belief. This leads people to see meaning in coincidence and to allow the very powerful human mind to play tricks on them (in the same way as placebo medicines work, for example).
There is no such thing as magic, black, white or purple with green spots.

AMumInScotland · 23/08/2011 11:58

I think that it can work if you believe in it, and know about it. So, if you know that someone has jinxed you, and you believe that you will have bad luck or get ill, then it is likely to happen. But I think it is your belief that makes it work, not the jinxing itself.

Beyond that, no I don't believe in it - most bad things that happen are just bad luck, and we tend as humans to look for patterns because we find it hard to accept that things just happen randomly, so we associate the bad luck with other people's actions.

sue52 · 23/08/2011 11:58

No. Some people are more prone to hysteria than others.

ObiWan · 23/08/2011 11:59

I think it's a cultural thing. If you are brought up in a society wher belief in such things is prevalent, you will be more susceptible to being spooked by a pin-cuision.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 23/08/2011 11:59

Why would I put my tomatoes that I bought yesterday in my yankee candle basket? I don't know, but I did. It seems quite a sensible place for a pin cushion actually.

ObiWan · 23/08/2011 12:00

Someone ha put the evil-eye on my spelling Blush

Empusa · 23/08/2011 12:00

I did read something before about how people if told they were cursed, were more likely to notice bad things happening and/or cause bad things to happen.

If they were "cursed" but not told, then they carried on as normal, noticing no difference.

Very much all in the mind.

Salmotrutta · 23/08/2011 12:01

Definitely down to whether you believe in all that mumbo-jumbo stuff.

The power of suggestion and all that.

QueenofJacksDreams · 23/08/2011 12:02

WonderingHead I'm not going to ridicule you at all but I'm Pagan I don't belive in white magic or black magic just grey magic its what you intend for the magic to do that makes it 'good' or 'bad' but then I also belive in the rule of three whatever you dish out returns to you 3x as powerful so I don't think any true Pagan or Wiccan would actually set out to perform 'bad' magic.

As for other religions who knows it could be quite possible I've heard of amazing things done via Vodun as I enjoy studying other religions beliefs, no one can truly know if its real or not just what their belief is and how they act on their beliefs is up to them.

So to finish off, Do I belive in the possibility of people being cursed? Yes. I belive people can turn their own spirtual energy and that of the world around them into whatever they wish and some people unfortuntly wish harm on others. There are certain things you can of course do to protect yourself from harmful energy but for the most part the best thing to do is to not get involved as much as you can.

Original poster
WonderingHead · 23/08/2011 12:04

That's interesting about it being all in the mind. I do partly believe this too.

But what about the people who claimed they'd have splatters of blood on the clothes during the day out of nowhere? These people were really spooked by it all....surely someone can't dream up things like that?

OP posts:
ObiWan · 23/08/2011 12:05

Actual blood, or pasta sauce, or squshed fly?

Or, ahem, leakage?

Empusa · 23/08/2011 12:06

Out of nowhere? I doubt it's out of nowhere. Maybe it's not blood, or it's blood from something mundane like a nosebleed, or maybe, yes, they did imagine it.

Honestly the human mind is a strange an impressive thing. I really must find one of my books, it goes into stuff like "stigmata" where people, when convinced enough, could make it appear on their bodies. Your mind can do all sorts.

lachesis · 23/08/2011 12:08

No.

BabyDubsEverywhere · 23/08/2011 12:10

Honestly....i find all belief systems the same really. Yours is no more ridiculous than anyone elses, or my DD's belief in pink unicorns.....

Bearskinwoolies · 23/08/2011 12:10

No.

ripstheirthroatoutliveupstairs · 23/08/2011 12:10

I don't believe in it personally, but know one woman who is absolutely convinced it is all true. She is Thai and extremely superstitious. She has told me tales of menstrual blood being used to bind a man to a woman, aborted foetus' having magical powers etc. Most of the things she belives are really gruesome, I can't remember one instance of her magic being used for good.
Her DD and mine were BF at school and DD often went to play at her house.
One day DD came home with a plastic amulet with dirt in the back of it. The other woman had given it to DD to keep the spirits away.
It ended up hanging on the back of her bedroom door as a sort of compromise.

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic · 23/08/2011 12:11

I believe in the placebo effect and that the mind is a very powerful thing. I don't believe in magic and I say that as someone who makes 'anti-hex bags' as a hobby.

Pandemoniaa · 23/08/2011 12:12

I'm also a pagan and my beliefs are similar to QueenofJacksDreams. I don't believe in hell (that's a Christian construct) and therefore dismiss the Devil and Satanic works. I don't practice the craft (actively) but certainly, none of my friends that do set out to perform negatively charged magic.

On the other hand, as someone whose DP once taught a course based on the seminal tome "Witchcraft, Oracles & Magic Among the Azande" (as a result I appear to have taken the course given the exhaustive tuition discussions we've had on this subject) I don't dismiss the cultural influences of what is commonly described as "black magic".

I'd also say that suggestion can go an extremely long way to affect what people think is their fate.

Cheria · 23/08/2011 12:13

I believe that magic, or energy, can be harnessed to do good or bad. So yes in a roundabout way I would believe in curses etc, but think referring to it as black magic etc is too simplistic.