The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter (21 page)

Like Dee, some modern crystal-ball readers use their globes to attempt to communicate with the spirit world (see
The Veil
). Others tell fortunes or try to locate missing persons. Most use procedures similar to those followed in earlier times, although their preparations are not as rigorous. Careful attention is given to the appearance of the room, and the reading is usually performed under subdued lighting. The crystal ball is usually a perfect sphere of about four inches in diameter and may be white, blue, violet, yellow, green, opalescent, or transparent. Traditionally, the ball rests on a stand of highly polished ebony, ivory, or boxwood. When a reading is given, the seer may place the ball on a table or hold it in the palm of the hand against the background of a black cloth.

Today, crystal balls are often associated with the commercial storefront studios of self-described psychics or itinerant fortune-tellers who, like Professor Marvel in
The Wizard of Oz
, claim to be able to “see all and know all.” Although the art of scrying no longer has the universal respect it did in ancient times, it still plays an important role in many cultures. Most notably, the current Dalai Lama was discovered through scrying by a committee of monks who searched for his identity by gazing into Lake Lhotso in Tibet.

hen our parents told us not to curse, we didn’t consider it a matter of life and death. And, of course, it wasn’t. In modern usage, “cursing” generally means saying something vulgar or profane. While it may be offensive, and it is certainly bad manners, it is hardly fatal. In earlier centuries, however, a curse was much more than a swear word; it was considered one of the most powerful and dangerous forms of
magic
, intended to bring pain, suffering, illness, or even death to an enemy. That’s undoubtedly why the Ministry of Magic recommends that curses not be taught until the sixth year of a wizard’s education. After all, the last thing a teacher would want is a young hothead uttering curses against a classmate who got better grades.

The practice of cursing enemies has existed in cultures around the world for thousands of years. Curses can be spoken or written. A typical form of oral curse involved calling on the aid of a supernatural being such as a
demon
or god and then outlining each grim detail of the victim’s intended fate, as in this spiteful curse from the fourth century: “I call thee, evil spirit, who sittest in the cemetery and takest away healing from man. Go and place a knot in [the victim’s] head, in his eyes, in his mouth, in his tongue, in his throat; put poisonous water in his belly. If you do not go and put water in his belly I will send against you many evil angels. Amen.” Such curses were thought to be effective whether yelled in someone’s ear or whispered from hundreds of miles away. Written curses, however, were usually considered more powerful than the spoken variety, since they could live on long past the moment of their creation.

Ancient curses have survived from as far back as the fifth century
B.C.
, though presumably their intended victims are long dead. They were inscribed on “curse tablets”—sheets of lead, pottery, or wax bearing the victim’s name, the desired outcome of the curse, some
magic words
, and the names of demons who were to assist in carrying out the curse. A simple curse tablet might be inscribed with the words “As this piece of lead grows cold, so will John Smith.” The tablet would then be buried in the ground, and as it cooled to the temperature of the earth, John Smith was expected to feel his own body temperature drop until he died. The most powerful places to bury curse tablets were believed to be places of death: fresh graves, battlefields, and sites where executions were held. They could also be dropped into wells, which were thought to be entrances to the underworld. For additional potency, a nail was often driven through the victim’s name, or the tablet might be bound tightly in wire.

From ancient times to modern, those wishing to harm an enemy often sought help from a professional—a village
wizard
or
witch
with a reputation for creating and delivering effective curses. People who knew they had been cursed often felt symptoms, probably because the fear and anxiety instilled by the very notion of a curse were enough to bring on nausea, vomiting, headaches, insomnia, and other ills. If the victim was not too incapacitated, he or she might seek out another wizard to undo the curse and perform a countercurse. In villages where there was just one wizard, however, he would get the business of both parties, earning a tidy sum.

Curse tablets were widely used in ancient Greece and Rome. Archaeologists have uncovered various types of tablets, some requesting the painful death of an enemy, others aimed at merely muddling the brains and tying the tongues of political opponents or legal adversaries. One tablet was intended to ensure the outcome of a chariot race by cursing the horses and drivers of the opposing team! Although curses were officially disapproved for private use, they were apparently acceptable when administered by public officials against criminals, enemies of the state, or military opponents.

During the Middle Ages, the use of governmental curses declined, but curses delivered by the poor and downtrodden were believed to be quite powerful, especially when the anger that inspired them seemed justified. The Beggar’s Curse, uttered against those who refused to give alms to the poor, was widely feared for centuries.

One of the most famous curses of all time—the “Mummy’s Curse” on the tomb of King Tut in Egypt—is probably no more than a myth. Legend has it that when the British archaeologist Howard Carter opened King Tut’s tomb in 1922, he ignored an inscription reading: “Death Shall Come on Swift Wings to Him Who Disturbs the Rest of the King.” Only a few months later, Carter’s financial backer, Lord Carnarvon, died unexpectedly of an infected mosquito bite. (Death on swift wings indeed!) Five more people who had been present at the opening of the tomb also passed away during the next twelve years.