Spirituality

Practical Magic's Owens family curse traces back over 200 years, ahead of the sequel

The curse driving the Owens family in Practical Magic (1998) and its coming 2026 sequel dates back more than two centuries, according to JustWatch, which traces the origin to the family's first witch, Maria Owens.

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Maria Owens and the origin of the curse#

According to JustWatch, aunts Frances, played by Stockard Channing, and Jet, played by Dianne Wiest, tell young Sally and Gillian that Maria Owens escaped a public execution while pregnant and expected the man she loved to come find her. He never showed up, so she cast a spell on herself to stop loving anyone again, JustWatch reports, and that spell turned into the curse that kills every man an Owens woman loves.

The upcoming sequel follows Sally's now-grown daughters, played by Maisie Williams and Joey King, as they learn what it costs an Owens woman to fall in love, JustWatch reports.

Astrology columns treat love as a matter of timing#

Away from fictional curses, the Hindustan Times love horoscope for August 19, 2026 frames romantic outcomes as a matter of pace and honesty rather than magic, advising that singles weighing whether to pursue someone should not rush the decision but also should not avoid an important conversation.

The same column tells readers with a stalled romantic situation to decide what they are willing to accept if a partner keeps them waiting without offering clarity, adding that patience is healthy but endless uncertainty is not.

Rituals framed as intention, not guarantee#

Outside the fictional Owens curse, real-world love spell practices are framed by their own practitioners as symbolic rather than causal. En Pareja notes that a love ritual is a spiritual belief, not one supported by scientific evidence, and that there is no proof a spell can make a specific person fall in love or that a relationship will appear as a result.

For believers, En Pareja adds, such rituals serve as a personal way to focus intentions and reflect on what someone truly wants from love, rather than as a mechanism expected to produce a result.

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