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(art by Scarday on DeviantArt)

The old magic can do a lot in terms of protection and healing, but it can also be very dangerous, capable of nasty curses and the like. It’s a volatile form of magic like that, and quite capable of falling victim to corruption, either from outside evil such as hags and fiends, or the wielder’s own vindictiveness.

And so, there are those that learn how to fight against these old ways. Stereotypically, these are often divine casters like inquisitors that seek to defeat these insidious foes, but that does come with some unfortunate baggage. (There’s a reason that inquisitors have been replaced by thaumaturges in 2E)

Some, however, find that the best way to combat dark magic is to learn similar mystic arts, alongside martial skill. In the past, we’ve looked at the Hexcrafter, which combines magus arts with the old ways to let a magus cast hexes. Today, however, we look at the Hexbreaker, a magus that learns counterhexes to dispel curses and even turn such foul arts back upon their caster.

They might be part of an old ways tradition to curb the most wicked among their number, or they might be newer, arising from other sources that simply seek to be rid of such malice. Either way, they demonstrate exceptional skill at countering the dark arts of spellcasters and other curse-bearing creatures.

Protecting themselves and others from curses means reacting quickly, and these mystic warriors learn an art of channeling their arcane reserved to disrupt a curse spell, malevolent hex, or similar ability as it is used, potentially negating it. It does not, however, have any effect on accursed auras that certain creatures have, however. Additionally, they can potentially learn spells to properly remove curses and break enchantments.

They can also expend even more arcana to turn the curse back on the caster, delivering an ironic punishment to them.

There are also two new arcana they can learn. The first lets them expend even more arcana to help guarantee their success in countering such cursed magic.

The second, however, causes dangerous feedback when they counteract or remove a curse, wracking the body and mind of the curse-layer.

A few ordinary arcana also suit them well, particularly those that are effective against other casters as well as blessing their weaponry against particular types of foes.

This archetype is specialized, but simple, offering a way to counter hags, witches, and other foes that specialize in curses and dark magic. As such, I would build to be an anti-caster that disrupts enemy magic regularly, using their anti-curse abilities as a nice bonus for the right situations.

Exactly what these warrior-mages experience with the old magics are will color exactly why they went into this art and how they view them. Perhaps they hate all practitioners of witchcraft, regardless of their intent, or maybe they have a deep, intimate understanding of the old ways that other witch-hunters might not?

Chasing the rumors of a curse-slinging witch, the inquisition sent some of their agents and a “heathen specialist” to hunt them. However, upon arriving they find the home demolished, apparently by a giant slug. The inquisitors are disappointed, but content to move on, but the specialist isn’t so sure the witch is dead… or that they are indeed a heretic at all.

Adaros have a long history of conflict with hags and sea witches seeking to use their people as tools of vengeance against surface people, so they have learned much about curse magic to turn aside their dark magic and destroy them, their greatest warriors often recognized as “Spellbiters”

Some doodles from my patreon!

First in my Mini Lessons in Traditional Southern Folk Magick is Hex Breaking, also called Root Severing.

The first things you should do is determine if you feel someone specific has sent you the Evil Eye or Miasma. This can be done via divination from yourself or by someone on your behalf (which is oftentimes for me the more effective choice).

If so, the best way to stop them is to take a jar or bowl and add meat or something sugary like honey to it. Then you will write that person’s full name along with their Rebirth Name if you know it onto a bay leaf and add it to the container, stating that you name the substance for that person. Then take it to a field, clearing, somewhere off your property you know nature will snack on it and dump the contents on the ground. Put the lid on the jar and walk away and return home without looking back.

If you are unsure of who it is specifically, then another effective method is to create a decoy. This is a witch bottle with blessed water, urine, fingernails, hair, and blood (if you’re comfortable) added to the jar, along with rosemary. Then bury this jar in the furthest west side of your property. This confuses and distracts the Miasma sent for you and acts as a decoy where it will be sent before it gets to you, as hexes generally come at places from the west.

You must cleanse your sacred space, your home, your altar, and yourself. Take all tools used for your jars like spoons or used jars and soak them in blessed water or salt over night. Dispose of used water and salts off property. Self cleansing can be done with smoke, but a good aura combing is ideal and is more effective: use a black or wild cat or rabbit bone or selenite if you work with crystals. Comb through your aura until you feel different, then place that item into salt overnight.

Any wards, sachets, protection charms, sigils , etc need to be taken down and refreshed or remade.

After you have done all the tasks you need to, let it go. The best thing you can do while the energy dissipates is to stay in a positive disposition, as the Nasties won’t have any food around without your darker vibes or fear.

To see results takes about a week. It isn’t like the movies where everything is better immediately, although you should feel at least a small shift in the energies around you.

I hope this helps some of you out there. Please feel free to send me a question in my ask box.

Books read in 2020

#4: Hexbreaker, by Jordan L Hawk

Rainbow Kitty

I’ve been working on and off since last summer on some silly pictures of the Hexworld boys at Pride, with settings based on some parade-day photos I took last year. Not quite done all of them - injury put me behind schedule. But here’s the first one!