Welcome back Drew,
Witchcraft and the occult is full of people who want to bend the rules so it’s more a matter of the morality of the person than if something is “taboo". Yes there are spells that exist for both purposes. The question is - is it wise to perform them?
I am personally against hexing anyone, for any reason. There’s going to be extraordinarily bad karma waiting for you if your spell succeeds - and even attempts to circumvent said karma will inevitably fail. Karma isn’t like a “god” you can hide from. It’s physics. Hard to fight against, impossible to win. This is a key thing to understand, yet a lot of people don’t get it.
Reflective magick is enormously difficult to perform safely, and by itself can become extremely risky. Which is why I still advise against it. I will explain why:
Intent is the problem. If your mindset is 100% on self-defense and not the desire to hurt your attacker, in theory you should be safe. However, if there is even an ounce of revenge behind your action from the moment you make the decision, to the moments after the spell’s completion, you will get karmic whiplash. Some of that person’s hex may break through, or the karma will come back to you in some other way.
There’s also the possibility that your attacker also has a reflection spell ready. Maybe they know you’re a witch too and set it up as a “counter-defense.” What do you do in that situation? Hope that your mirror is better? What if you forgot to set up a shield just in case? What if your shield wasn’t strong enough when the hex rebounded again, now stronger? That’s when it becomes a truly dangerous situation. I’ve heard horror stories, and no it’s not hyperbolic. They do happen.
My advice is to take your own safety into consideration.
Inevitably someone here will disagree, but whatever. My conscience is clean. Like Sedim points out, there are many ways you can defend yourself without intentionally bringing someone to harm. Shielding is a good, simple way. That’s what I would recommend for beginners.
Apologies for the length. Karma is a matter I’ve been studying deeply and though I know it wasn’t your intent, this question bothered me. Cheers. 