The fine art of cursing.

No. I don't mean using the enormous amount of swear words in my vocabulary. I mean casting curses on people and things.

You know...like the curse of Tutankhamen's tomb or the one on the beautiful Hope Diamond or Kohinoor in the British crown. 

I mean a true curse. Something bad that will happen to the individual or associates that will cause harm. It is supposed to frighten away those who think to ignore it.

It doesn't.

If worded carefully, the curse will last probably until the death of the cursed. I'm all for that.

The elder women in my family were adept at casting curses. They were succinct on what would happen to the trespassers aaand they lasted until the death of the betrayer.

Like for instance. Someone stole something from my  Ukrainian grandmother. She wished that the perpetrator could get cancer and die. On a specific body part the normally does not get cancer. The person died of cancer of the ring finger.

Another potent curse was put on a man who double-timed my own mother. It was a death curse, to be sure, as mom was really pissed.

He died alone, penniless and hated. Shortly thereafter.

He deserved it.

But in order to accurately curse someone or thing (nobody does good things) one must be specific. Name the person to be cursed specifically. Word the curse and its limits exactly. Don't generalize.

Make the punishment sincere and hard. Death is good, so is an incurable disease to a specific body part. State how long the curse will last...forever is vague. A date or year is really good.

Then say it out loud. For the world to hear, but not in a really public place where strangers might hear you and call the police. It isn't against the law to curse, but you might get pulled in for psychiatric study.

Then so it.

Yes, I tried to cast a curse on someone.

I think I went a little overboard, because it came back on me. I guess I did something wrong.