Curse

A Curse (呪詛) is a type of magic, cast with the wish to bring harm or misfortune on its target.

Principles
There are various methods which can be used to cast a curse. A common method is through Infection Magic which uses a person's blood, fingernail, hair or another body part to affect the person themselves. One of the most famous methods of applying this is through harming a doll made of straw, wax or corn, with part of the person attached to it. This traditional method has no real origin behind it, but has spread into various folklores and cultures, such as with Voodoo and Japan's Ushi no Koku Mairi. The and the  are two Egyptian-based means noted to be capable of applying curses.

There are various curses which take undirected resentment or jealously and use magic to make it into an invisible arrowhead or bullet. Countless numbers of these travel around the earth all the time like high speed wireless internet connections.

As well as curses which are direct at specific people via various means, there are also many stories concerning items which bear a curse which falls upon those who come into possession of them. An example of this is that of a cursed jewel or precious metal which would kill each of its owners.

A common concept in many cultures both eastern and western is the curvature of a curse. There are various methods which enable one to divert the path of a curse, such as having a straw doll take the target's place or escaping inside a magic circle drawn on the ground to divert the enemy's aim. Perhaps the most famous magic phrase, (アブラカダブラ), is included in magic circles and charms, in order to perform a curse reversal (呪詛返し). When an enemy casts a curse, it will divert it or send it back at the enemy, as such it is widely known as a protective charm.

Aleister Crowley is a notable user of curses, who developed a technique which uses the curse reversal effect of Abracadabra and the curvature of curses to capture one of the many existing curses flying around and redirect it onto an enemy. During the destruction of the Golden Dawn, the magicians who survived being struck down by Aleister were said to bear a curse that took away their possibilities for success in life, dooming their choices to end in failure for the rest of their lives.

Three Stories Arc
The actions of Yamisaka Ouma were motivated by his desire to save a woman who had fallen victim to a curse.

Agitate Halation Arc
During his clash with Kumokawa Seria, Tsuchimikado Motoharu made use of the Ushi no Koku Mairi curse, applied through one of her eyeballs which he had plucked out.

Kamisato Rescue Arc
When Kamijou Touma, Misaka Mikoto, Karasuma Fran and Toyama Luca were investigating the core of the Anti-Art Attachment, Aleister Crowley made use of a curse reversal circle to direct a lethal curse onto Mikoto.