I pirated a GOM book... oh fuck! HELP!

Hi @Leo_Gopal!

Welcome to the forum, please follow this imp:

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Also, friendly reminder to all that this is the forum of a publishing company, so let’s stay away from suggesting piracy is okay, many thanks! :+1:

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I meant is ok if you pay for it once you can

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Eh, a spell like a book curse does not really discriminate based on intention, but by action. If it is designed to be triggered by theft, it will trigger upon so, regardless if one intends on paying for it later. I will say GOM went the nice way in terms of book curses, as the medieval examples were not as kind.

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I’m going to respectfully disagree since the possibility of someone reading a friend’s book, a library copy, or (most common of all) bought secondhand where NO money goes to the authors, all exist, and I doubt theyld trigger anything despite the book being read by somneone who’s not its legal owner. :thinking:

Yet authors make their grimoires to be highly collectable items, in limited editions, with the implicit re-sale value (none of which goes to the content creator) in mind.

That’s why I believe the spirits overseeing these default to intent, but that’s just my view. :smiley:

Good point, GOM actually specified in their FAQ that their curse was geared towards a specific type of theft being illegally downloaded and distributed through said means, so i would not imagine it would trigger by those means.

Older examples of book curses do not really specify the means of theft so they likely would trigger in those conditions. But that was also a time when a book was worth its weight in gold in itself, where the information is of value more than the actual good today.

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Thanks, I don’t know their work but it seems we have a better picture of this now:

So, the magick is like “safety catch on, will not work” but then if OP and others buy the book, that lifts - definitely no “damndation” or anything of that kind though. :smiley:

:+1:

Also one could not freely sell or buy copies of them, even if they were just limited to physical copies.

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Yup, as opposed to “If anyone take away this book, let him die the death; let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever seize him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen” that was written on the back of a Bible in 1172, which i wouldve felt bad for someone grabbing the book to chase down the owner of it back in the day.

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Nah, your magick just won’t be as effective until you do. I made that mistake but it’s also how I discovered really bitchin magick when I was first starting out. It was the 3rd title I ever read and went “wow, this author is amazing. I want more.” Then I found their whole catalogue and I’m admittedly a complete fanboy

Those fuckers are on a level most serious magicians dream about getting to and they’re masterful teachers that layer their work. They keep it simple so it’s easy to write off as beginner books

Anyway, I pirated their Chaos Magick book and worked it for a few months before I ever heard of the curse. Then I freaked out and ended up buying it. You’ll be fine, just definitely buy the thing because depending on which one you might end up with a bit of a woodie problem if you don’t…

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Well, from my personal experience, I know the curse does work and is not simply a mind thing because there was a time when I pirated their books (which is not okay and I don’t pirate anymore), and I found out about the curse one day through divination before I even knew that they curse pirated downloads. But I also found out through divination what @DarkestKnight said, it’s not a destructive curse. Which was confusing to me at the time and I could not tell the purpose of the curse from the reading. But like you, I still had success with the magick regardless, but now that I bought their books I can definitely tell an improvement in the effectiveness of the magick.

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Should I delete the notes I took from when I read the pirated version?

No. Your notes are fine.

There is no curse. Damon Brand said this.

He said the only curse on the books is just that you may develop a poverty mindset by pirating books because you feel stingy about paying for something.

It’s just a mindfuck. That’s literally all it is. You do it to yourself.
Damon Brand said this on the Gallery of Magick Blog.

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In the post you’re referring to, he said they they “hardly even need to curse anyone” because piracy comes from a mindset of poverty (Which can especially hinder wealth magick workings), so that is the self-curse he is referring to, but it is implied that they also curse pirated copies through ritual, that becomes clear from his other comments. And in the FAQ for ‘Master Works of Chaos Magick’, if you look at the old comments on the FAQ (Till you get to a person asking for advice on how to protect creative works through a curse) Adam Blackthorne says that the ritual they did to curse pirated copies was a large group ritual.

Before I concede to your argument, can you link those posts please?

The first comment and Adam’s reply to it is what I’m referring to.

That’s interesting. I see where you’re coming from.
Thanks for the link.

I downloaded a lot of E.A’s works online when I was 16, if there’s a curse in them then I had no clue because everything was okay with me and my magick. I’m now in the process of deleting my copies and actually buying the books since that was always my plan when I had enough money.(Already deleted the copies, still in the process of buying all his books)

Does deleting the books break the curse? Or is there anything else I’d need to do? I haven’t noticed anything wrong with my magick in the last 4 years of having the books, I don’t know if or how I’ve been affected, but since this is the first time I’ve heard of cursed books I’m cautious of the steps to remove them.

You’re fine. The Gallery of Magick put it out there that there is a curse on their work that makes it ineffectual to discourage piracy.

As far as I’m aware, Koetting didn’t do that, and he even gave away free e-copies of his work to those who bought the original edition of the Collected Works so the chances are good those are making the rounds on the interwebs.

If in doubt, though, deleting the pirated files would remove any curse, as would buying a legitimate copy.

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I did it when I was 17. I was desperate for awnsers. I was only a kid and I got results. If there was a curse on it I would’ve known or maybe these ancient gods understood I was just a kid and desperately wanted this knowledge. I have all of Ea’s books and courses bought currently.

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