The last time I was hexed I ended up in hospital. It was probably my own fault for not taking the threat seriously. I should have known better, seeing that the hexer was my mother and I had already seen at close quarters what she could do.

It’s surprising when you say things like this to people just how many have experienced something similar in their own lives. Of course if you haven’t then the very idea of being attack psychically is going to seem faintly ridiculous, if not totally mad. But the fact is that in my experience, an awful lot of people have either had direct experience of it, or know someone who has.

This is where I part company with the‘An it harm none, do as thou wilt’ brigade. Live in the real world. There are people out there doing harm on a physical level and getting away with it, and it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to realise some are doing exactly the same on a psychic level.
Also you don’t even need to be fully aware of what you’re doing in order to launch a pretty scary attack on a third party.

But back to the last time I was hexed. I was nine months pregnant and I was preoccupied with the coming baby. Probably I wasn’t paying attention to what was happening around me (normally, believe me, I do). I had gone out for a walk when I felt this terrible burning pain in my back. It was quite incredible, like having a red hot rivet pushed into the spine. I remember looking back and seeing my mother standing in a window staring at me. There was no mistaking that look – I’d seen in many times before and knew what it meant. She was hexing me.

Now at this point I can well understand if the more sceptical among you think that the whole thing was brought on by fear, but I wasn’t afraid of her. I had my own powers but on this occasion these weren’t enough. She had caught me off guard for once, a bit like being ambushed. I was nowhere near her house and hadn’t expected her to see me (she was visiting a friend).

Within three days I was in hospital awaiting emergency surgery on my back – and no, the baby hadn’t been born yet. When she was, she was born with a birthmark on her back (and we aren’t a family that seems to have birthmarks) – in exactly the same place as I had felt the hex on my own back.

Being hexed was a pretty horrible experience. It’s not like simply being ill or needing treatment. There is a dark, violent core within a hex, something utterly malevolent and destructive.

Seeking the Green by Tylluan Penry, published soon by Capall Bann. For more info - watch this space!