Though this may upset some of you reading this I have something very important to tell you: YOU ARE NOT CURSED! You have not been hexed and no one has laid the voodoo down on you. Nor have you been hoodooed, vodee-o-doed or otherwise maliciously messed with by magickal means.

I could make a fortune if I wanted to by removing curses and hexes like the charlatans do. It’s so easy to convince someone that the bad luck or less than stellar good fortune in their lives is someone mucking about with black magick trying to ruin them.

Most people would rather hear that they are hexed or cursed than hear the truth. If it is a curse then it is not their fault that their life is a mess. It is someone else doing this to them. They are the victims of a malicious attack.

Every day someone writes to me to tell me that they are cursed. Today someone who clearly needs medical attention wrote to me asking me to remove a hex as if that was what was making them sick.

Your Suburban House-Witch has been around the block a time or too and I must tell you that in my many years of spellcasting I have yet to actually come upon anyone who has been successfully cursed by an outside source. Perhaps someone may have intended to do so but ultimately the only person who can curse you is you.

Yet curses still exist. In fact I offer an old Stregha curse on my site. Does it work? Perhaps. I have never cursed anyone so I don’t know but I am sure there are those who have used the curse and at least felt that it was a success and ultimately that is the goal. As much as I can tell you with certainty that you are not cursed, I can also tell you that curses are not something I would ever fool around with - just in case. That is how I deal with the Dark Arts - with a hands-off policy.

Here is what I know about curses:they are never cast arbitrarily. Plus they require 100 times more focus and will behind the intention than a positive spell. If someone truly wants to devote a huge chunk of their time and focus to cursing you; be assured that you will know who this person is and why they feel so wronged and it will be a big one. Like stealing their husband or wife or taking their money or ruing their life in some way. In other words it is rare for someone to curse another who is completely innocent of any wrongdoing.

So before you write to me to tell you that you are cursed (which I know you are not); think it through.

Think about what you could have done that could have destroyed someone’s life. Because that is the only reason anyone would ever spend time, energy, will and money to curse another. And it won’t work anyway unless you actually BELIEVE it will. If you do believe it - you will be in effect, cursed.

I am telling you that you are not cursed. Honestly. Because your life is not the way you want it or because you went to some witch/astrologer/psychic charlatan who told you, you were cursed (and they can get rid of it for $500) does not in any way mean that you are cursed.

There is one certain, surefire way to know 100 percent that you are not cursed.

Don’t do anything to someone that you would not like done to you. Do unto others. If you give compassion and lovingkindness that is what you will get in return.

No one curses a nice person.

Let me tell you about my witches armoire.

The cabinet that holds all of my spellworking supplies that include herbs, oils, candles, crystals, curios, parchment and various ritual items has never been truly organized. I had a system that involved ziplock freezer bags for many items, plus some Rubbermaid boxes I got at Wal-mart.Everything was dismantled when I moved and now I’ve got 26 boxes waiting to go back into the armoire.

The cabinet is enormous. It is 9 feet tall with doors that look like they belong on a Spanish Abbey. This armoire wants to be filled with incense and herbs, powders and potions. It begs to be opened and its contents rifled through for the right candle and spell oil.

In addition to the armoire, I have a newly dedicated temple/meditation space that will be used for spellcasting and Buddhist meditation. It is not a huge space (9×6) but large enough for my altars and my well-worn zafu and zabuton (that is getting more than a little flat as a matter of fact!). This small room has the benefit of being part of my bedroom suite, so for the first time I will not have to bring supplies to another part of the house from the armoire. It will not be large enough to have more than one other witch with me when casting but with my new large backyard and soon to be outdoor altars (and fire-pit), we will be able to commune with nature as intended.

I am not sure how plentiful the pagans are in Central Florida (where I just moved), especially as this seems to be the Baptist Capital of the state. Nothing against them, though I’m fairly certain they would not be so tolerant of me.

We’ll see how the neighbors react too to a chanting, dancing witch in her backyard under the Full Moon at midnight.