Witchbusted #2 - The Matchstick Curse Test
My First Encounter:
I was scrolling the witch groups on Facebook, when I came across a post asking for help. The photo featured a bowl full of water and two burnt matchsticks floating on the surface, with a caption asking if the procedure was done correctly. Curious, I read the comments for more information.
What is it?
It is a curse-detecting spell circulating on Witchtok. Iāve seen it done with burning the matches, not burning the matches, and even using q-tips. The way the materials settle on the surface of the water is supposed to give you the answers as to whether you are cursed or not. The general rules are if they are apart, youāre fine ... if they touch, someone tried but it did not work ... if they cross, you are cursed.
Why it doesnāt work -- the SCIENCE:
The way you apparently know youāre hexed with this method is if the matches cross. The unlit matches and q-tips will usually float on the surface of water, since they are both made of light materials -- they have less density than the water. Once they hit the water, it is physically IMPOSSIBLE for the materials to cross on their own. So unless you drop them that way, a controlled variable, the matches will never cross, meaning that this method is already unreliable.
You are welcome to assume that based on your intention the matches were meant to fall that way. But hear out the rest of my research first:
Where did this come from? The research:Ā (Sources are linked)
It took me a long while to find anything concrete. The first hit I got was on the r/witchcraft forum, where someone was asking how this ritual even worked, because the person that made the video didnāt explain. General consensus: WitchTok was unreliable with information and this spell was most likely made up for views.Ā
The next hit was for a completely different take on this ritual, which involved specific steps, five burning matches, and shaking them up in a jar to read the ashes after they settled on the bottom.Ā Ā
I found another matchstick curse detection article, but was very suspicious of the website. Things that stood out were how the website header buttons were for weird articles on the ābest wallpaperā. I quickly realized it was a Russian website and my intuition started to think it was less that they were attempting to be shady and more like they were hiding in plain site.Ā I was solemnly reminded that there are still countries that exist where witchcraft is punished by death. Sure enough, after some googling, I found a few examples of how witchcraft is perceived in Russia, such as this article about two men that tried to kill a young woman and her small children. I noticed the methods listed matched the previous website, with variations.Ā In this version, itās three matches burnt all the way to the ends. If they disintegrate, youāre cursed. If they stay whole, youāre fine.Ā
The next hit I got laid out the Tiktok version to a T, or an X, or a V ... š This article outlines the exact method being shared on Witchtok, and it was the only one I found that matched. Upon further inspection of the website, it appears to be a clickbait site that pulls sensational stories and spells from trends on the internet. The first red flag: the name of the website is Mysteries24. They are trying to draw people in withĀ
to generate ad revenue. Take a look at their āadvicesā page if you donāt believe me. Notice how all articles are written by one person and the subject matter is more along the lines of a Ripleyās Believe It or Not season than shared knowledge from someone who practices the Craft. Both of these are major red flags.
I found an Italian version of the spell that involved oil on water, passed down to the blogger from her grandmother. The specific curse detection mentioned was the Evil Eye.Ā
My final piece of evidence came in the form of a Factsheet from Project Education of Roma Children in Europe, a society dedicated to teaching the youngest generations the old ways of Romani culture that have been lost through relocation and persecution. In Chapter 2.3, MarkĆ©ta HajskĆ” speaks on the Jakhendar, the Evil Eye, and how to detect it. The ritual is called jagalo paƱi,Ā ācoal waterā.Ā Ā
āThe belief in jakhendar āthe evil eyeā is widespread among the Roma in Slovakia. It represents an example of magical thinking which is common still today. Curse by the evil eye is generally caused by the look of a person during which evil forces are transmitted through his or her eyes to the affected person who as a result feels weak or uneasy. These signs of being cursed are diagnosed during a ritual by means of jagalo panĢi, ācoal waterā, which is prepared by the ritual leader. The cursed person is then ritually treated with the coal water. The cause, the symptoms, and the treatment of the curse by the evil eye vary widely from locality to locality. However, the main characteristics of the curse as well as the consecutive stages of the following ritual are the same.ā
There are two ways to do this ritual:
āAccording to the first type of the ritual, a pot of hot or boiling water is needed into which a certain amount of coals are thrown one by one. this can be considered a more archaic method of diagnosis of the evil eye. When there is a suspicion of the evil eye, clean water is taken, preferably fresh from the well. Regarding the water, it is especially important that no one drank from it. Someone begins to throw the coals into the water while a participant of the ritual is counting negatively: anĢi jekh, anĢi duj, anĢi trin... āneither one, nor two, nor three...ā Elsewhere, the negative counting is even reverse: anĢi enĢa, anĢi ochto, anĢi efta... āneither nine, nor eight, nor seven...ā According to some Roma, the live coals should be thrown into the pot with an upturned knife or the hand. If the coals fall to the bottom of the pot, it means that the person has been in- deed harmed by the evil eye, and therefore he or she must be treat- ed with the coal water in order to ward off the curse. the more coals fall to the bottom, the more the person is cursed. In some localities, the roma make a cross by means of two straws which are placed over the pot, and the coals are thrown into the water through this cross. the number of coals used in the ritual varies from family to family. the most common number is three or nine.ā
āThe second type of the ritual is a simplified version of the first: Instead of hot water, cold water is used. In some places there are no restrictions on the ritual purity of the water; for instance, it does not matter if it is not completely fresh. Instead of coals matches can also be used and instead of a pot a plastic cup.Ā Nevertheless, there are restrictions on the ritual purity of the cup. It is washed both before and after the ritual and it should not be used for any other purpose. Shortly before the ritual, the cup is filled two times with water and emptied. After the cup is filled for the third time, the water is left in it. the number of matches ranges from three to twelve. Similarly to the treatment with coals, the number of matches is most commonly three or three times three, that is nine. in some romani communities, the number of match- es corresponds to the degree of curse. However, it must always be a multiple of three, that is three, six or nine.Ā The matches are gradually fired before throwing them into the water. The ritual leader must proceed with care by burning the matches completely. Often it is important that the matches are lighted from each other: When the first match is getting burnt down, it is used to light the second one, then the third and the fourth one. all matches are thrown into the water after extinction. In some localities, only the burnt parts of the match are thrown to the water, so the unburnt ends are broken off. If the matches fall to the bottom of the cup, the person is said to be cursed. even a single match which fell to the bottom can be a sign of the evil eye. However, if all the matches sink, it is considered to be an instance of a strong and dangerous curse. the ritual of throwing the matches into the water is accompanied by a ritualised speech act. Meanwhile the matches are thrown to the water, the ritual leader recites a magic formula such āas sar kerav avka sig te nasĢlĢolā -- while i am doing this, may (all evil) quick disappear -- or āsar kerav sig te predzĢalā -- while I am doing this, may (all evil) quick go away. Naturally, there are several local variants of this magic formula. In some Romani families, the Lordās Prayer is prayed instead, or yet elsewhere the ritual murmuring of the word āsaint, saint, saintā. It is also a common practice that both the ritual leader and the cursed person is completely silent during the whole ritual which is only interrupted by the ritual leader when reciting the magic formula.ā
Source:
(clicking the following link will immediately download the .pdf to your phone / computer)
http://romafacts.uni-graz.at/get_pdf.php?file=pdf_docs/ROMANI_CULTURE/English/C_2_3_evil-eye.pdf
Conclusion:
The matchstick / q-tip test originated from an old world Evil Eye detection spell from Eastern Europe. Variations exist across cultures (Italian / Russian / Romani / Slovakian). There was no reliable information found to back-up the crossing of the sticks as the method of detection. All detection stems from the sinking of the ashes.Ā
The method circulating on Tiktok is not only physically impossible, but is a clear example of someone inaccurately simplifying an old ritual, rebranding it as their own without any credit to the original ritual or cultures, and then spreading the misinformation for views.
WitchTok Matchstick Curse Detection Spell Status: Witchbusted āØš¤š
ā ļø Cross-reference anything you find on social media that does not source itās information. ā ļø
As always, though ...Ā
Do your own research.
Make up your own mind.
Take no oneās word for anything,
not even mine.
Until next time,Ā
