From time immemorial, true love has always been hard to come by. For someone to fall in love with another person, it takes affection, patience, trust, understanding, loyalty and respect. These are some of the things that drive love between two people.
Due to circumstances beyond people’s control over their partners when in love, there are hindrances to love that affect the affection, trust, understanding and loyalty in relationships.
To ensure that the love lamp keeps burning in a relationship, some people resort to use of traditional medicine mostly known as ‘juju’ or love portions. It is believed this is done to sustain and nurture the relationship.
In Malawi, it is believed that many people in successful relationships have used such juju in one way or the other. People are believed to use juju to find a partner, keep a partner or curse their ex-partner for revenge purposes.
They do this by wearing juju as make-up or body cream concoctions. Yet others carry odd “locking” objects in their pockets or hand bags and others still take juju by way of drinking bitter concoctions usually prescribed by a witchdoctor.
In some cases, people have confessed to being requested to provide personal items of their partners to initiate juju love on them. Perhaps this could explain why things such as panties, hair or pictures of partners are often used to start and complete a spell and ensure true love flows between the two love birds.
For some in the diaspora, either for work or studies, they tend to use juju to lock their wives so that no man can sleep with her while they are away.
However, the use of juju is shrouded in secrecy. It is a practice which is usually done without the knowledge of the other party. The afflicted partner is the one who goes in search of juju to fix the relationship. This then makes juju to be a onesided affair that yields disastrous results.
Juju, just like medicine, has side effects. Rumours abound about people running mad, turning into different wild animals or having an insatiable love for their partner. Some do unbelievable acts such as following their partner anywhere they go and even doing some chores which society prescribes as either not manly or womanly enough simply because they have been bewitched with the spell of juju love or for using the love concoctions wrongly. Or is it miracle love as it were.
Whatever the case, love juju is used to control a person’s life, mind and wealth. And, according to some sources, such juju is very hard to break or get out of.
Many marriages believed to have been built on juju have ended in very disgraceful and shameful manner. Trust and respect have also been affected in such relationships. If truth be told, love is natural. There is no “miracle love”.
In 1 Corinthians 13: 5-7, people are taught to understand that love is patient and kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
It always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. Above all, love is not manipulative.
In this regard, love should never be used to get others to do what you want. That smacks of selfishness and manipulation as it contaminates our love for another. It is, therefore, important for people to treat the issue of love very carefully.
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