Defixion

Creeping Curses refers to two separate Greco-Roman manifestations. The first, in 'Creeping,' refers to the myth of Minthe who was a Naiad nymph who was once the proclaimed lover of Hades. Due to her jealousy of his second lover Persephone, Minthe was transformed into the mint plant either by Demeter, Persephone, or Hades. Mint was used to mask the scent of the putrefying dead in sacred funerary rites, and as bodies of the dead were connected to the chthonic (belonging to the earth) Hades, that is how mint became associated with the Underworld.

The second part, or 'Curses,' relates to the prevalent occurrence of ancient Roman "defixiones" or "curse tablets." These were often thin sheets of lead in which a curse was written upon. They could be placed under the starting plates of athletes in races/competitions to make the athlete lose, or thrown into sacred sanctuaries of chthonic/gods of the dead to appeal for a person's demise. Sometimes they were hidden within the walls or under floors of a space, presumably a space where the target frequented, to cause their end.