The most dangerous curse is the one we pronounce on ourselves

But the sanctuary is not an ordinary place; it is a dedicated space with a moral seriousness that does not bend to human convenience. [Istock]

You do not need a ritual to come under a curse. In many of our communities, when misfortune strikes, when a business collapses, a family fractures, or a public figure falls from grace, the instinct is almost automatic: we look outward.

Someone must have bewitched them. An enemy must be at work. An elder must have spoken ill. We search for a curse that originated elsewhere.