The Crafts: Wixes, Spells, and the Weaponized Placebo Effect

Ah, that makes total sense, and also is pretty cool! Thanks for explaining it to me. :)

 

I am ridiculously insensitive, or at least, I don't notice any sensitivity... which is amusing because pretty much any one who knows me in person and does energy work says I am actually SUPER SENSITIVE. The current hypothesis is that since I got overloaded due to sensitivity as a kid, I've just blocked shit out and can never sift through whatever is hitting me to figure out what I am receiving. It sounds like a bit of bollocks, since my mom is the one who is sensitive in my opinion - passing by a church in Salvador de Bahia, she stopped and went in and started crying. Apparently it had seen a lot of pain and sadness. Similarly mom ended up feeling kind of ill when we were in Rome and entered the coliseum, she couldn't wait to get out.

It doesn't help that I am really bad at noticing my discomfort, because I just end up processing it as something to put up with. "Oh I am feeling cold and uncomfortable" report my hands. "Eh, just put up with it, same old same old" goes the subconscious part of my head and suddenly two hours later I consciously go "woah I have been cold and uncomfortable for way too long how did I not notice this". Outer stuff is even harder because my general attitude is to put up with small discomforts to the point that I don't notice them, but I have noticed some areas that are... stagnant, so to speak. Dad and I were discussing how we avoid one park on our walks with the dogs because we find it stuffy and trapping, which doesn't make sense visually or spatially, it is a nice circular park with trees and stuff, except that it feels stagnant.

 

of course! I'm always happy to explain Abenaki stuff that I know about so that people might understand, though my knowledge is limited as I wasn't raised in the culture but rather by my nana, who was taken from Abenaki culture at age ten and so only knew so much about it.

 

Id like to hear more about it, if you feel like talking. :)

 

well, do you have anything in particular you'd like to know? I could talk about pipes and smoking (that's kind of a traditional thing that happens at powwows and the like, though we smoke more than just tobacco), or I could tell you our particular traditions with dreamcatchers and smudging, or I could talk about how powwows go and what can stop a powwow and what is necessary for the powwow to go on, or I could talk about the little bits that I know of our mythology. I can't really say too much about what the paths entail, mostly because I don't know a ton about each one yet; all I know is that they're different.

 

I would personally love to know about powwows, since I don't know what they really are and am curious. I could talk about chayar in the Andes in return as a type of cultural exchange? :)

 

Man, i dont think i know enough to even ask legitimate questions yet, tbh. All those things sound super interesting though... I guess maybe smudging would be my first choice? I do a fair amount in my own work, so itd be interesting to see how another tradition does it? Im more interested in practices than mythology, though both are hella shiny.

//totally unhelpful

Edit: i would love to hear about chayar too! Sorry, i just get really excited about other traditions. Its cool to see how different groups approach the same problems/situations.

 

I'll talk about powwows first, and smudging second. and I would love to hear about chayar in the Andes!
so basically, @Raire , powwows are a gathering, a way to meet together, and they involve dancing and singing and food and are usually two days, and everyone's particular place in the powwow and the meaning of the powwow for them is defined by themselves. so for me, when I go to a powwow, I'm there to partake in listening to some singing and seeing people dance and eating food, and meeting other people and just generally having a good time; it's not a super spiritual experience for me like it might be for other people. now there are a few things that can end a powwow early. for one thing, there's a ceremonial sacred fire that must be kept going at all times; there always has to be a person watching it, and if that person lets the fire go out, then the powwow's over. additionally, if a feather falls from a bird, a woman cannot touch it, a warrior must be fetched to pick up the feather and hand it to the person (warriors are traditionally men). if a woman touches the feather, the powwow's over. I know there's one other thing that can end a powwow early, but unfortunately I've forgotten what it is, sorry!!
now as far as dancing and singing goes. the dancers for the non-inter-tribal dances typically wear regalia, which cannot be called a costume because that would be insulting to them. regalia is made by the person who wears it, traditionally, so that it is unique to each dancer. if a piece of regalia falls off, then the dancing is paused until it can be properly retrieved. if an eagle feather falls off or is dropped, the dancing is stopped until the feather can be properly retrieved and be paid respects, because eagle feathers are sacred and if you drop it then respects must be paid to it. now there are a few rules around regalia:
- don't touch someone else's regalia without permission
- don't touch the dancers, period
- don't take pictures of them dancing
- don't take pictures of them in their regalia without permission
- make sure your regalia is "safe" before a powwow, as in, intact and ready for dancing
all pretty common sense, I would think. now, an inter-tribal dance, as I mentioned, is a dance where everyone is free to join in, regardless of wearing regalia because it's not a traditional dance, it's just a dance for everyone to join in to. sometimes there are dancing competitions and sometimes there aren't, and the drum groups are the ones who play all the songs at the powwow and make up songs/play traditional songs for the dancers to dance to. there are often dances for young children, which are always adorable, and sometimes there are honor songs played for people at/coming back from war, and there can be songs played as sweetheart songs, which are ladies' choice; during one of these songs, a woman will ask that special someone to dance with her.
lastly, some powwow etiquette:
- don't talk while an elder is speaking
- don't sit in the chairs around the dance area, those are for the dancers
- dress appropriately--nothing too revealing for ladies or men
- always ask before taking a photo of another person
- listen to the mc, he will tell you when to take off hats and caps for traditional dances
- bring money in case a blanket dance is announced, as during a blanket dance a blanket is passed around and you are expected to donate a few dollars (that money goes to the drum group or person being honored)
- always ask people around you to explain things you don't understand, as most people at a powwow are eager to share their knowledge.
that's all I can really think of for right now! I hope that wasn't too much!!

and now about smudging, @Lissiel
basically, we always smudge with a feather, an abalone shell, and sweetgrass and sage. certain other things can be added into the mix for various reasons, like birch or cedar or berries or lavender, but for the most part, white sage and sweetgrass are the two used for general smudging.
when you're smudging, you put your sage and sweetgrass into the shell, and then light it with a natural fire, aka nothing created by gas, it's gotta be a match or something similar. you use the feather--typically a feather from your family bird, in my case a turkey feather--to blow the smoke around the area you're smudging. and then, when you're done smudging that area, you smudge yourself, either by yourself or with help from someone else.
and that's the basics of smudging for us!

 

additional thing I forgot about powwows @Raire
when you enter you are given a tie of tobacco
any time someone gives you information or compliments you on something you give them some of your tobacco, which they keep, and they may gift you with tobacco in return.

 

@alex @Lissiel
Chayar is a verb for making an offering to the Pachamama. Pachamama is basically Gaia, the Mother Earth, the one who provides crops and home and shelter for her children. Offerings to her are usually done by "chayando", which requires the sprinkling of the offering, since it is usually alcohol! I think chayar comes from either Quechua or Aymara, but I wouldn't be able to tell you. To make a chaya, you take your glass of alcohol, as pure as you can get it (mixed drinks are frowned upon), usually an aguardiente of some sort, singani, vodka, or sometimes wine, and you sip a bit in a toast to the Pachamama, then sprinkle some of the alcohol on the ground, or upend the entire glass depending on the situation.

Apart from being an offering for Pachamama, one does chayar pretty often in several situations. When you are going to travel, you do it right before you set off to ask for good luck and safety, and right when you are arriving into, say, a different area or section of the trip. When you move in to a new home, you have to chayar the house to ask for a blessing and to offer your respects. The idea is to chayar in the outermost corners of the rooms, but you can do it in every corner to ahem, cover all your bases. My brother recently moved into a house for his last year of college, and my dad suggested he do a chaya for the house on the same day as the housewarming party.

Related to chayar and to offerings for the Pachamama and appropriately timed, August is the month of winds, changes, of renewal, because of the seasonal change and the start of planting season. It's a very important month to make offerings! It is most auspicious to do it on the first of August in some areas, but offerings happen throughout the entire month. Because it is the month of winds, it is a good time for cleansing, often of the entire house, of the family, of yourself... spiritual and physical. If you want to start something new and big in your life, this is a good month. If you want to redecorate your home, this is a good time to clean it, chayar, and then paint it. Some people even consider it a good sign if an ailing relative dies at this month, as it means he goes to Pachamama, kind of like a seed, but I know less of this since it isn't something I've really seen or heard of.

But in August, you don't just chayar, you have to prepare a mesa (offering) to her (while mesa means table in Spanish, I doubt that is the origin of the offering's name). On a big piece of paper you put several ah, hm, parts of the offering, a lot of certain plants (don't ask me the names I don't know), colorful strands of llama wool, sweets that are often in the shape of objects, more plant matter, usually flower petals, etc. Coca leaves are a standard for offerings in the Andes, that goes there too! The mesa is then folded and wrapped up so you have a flat package to take with you home. More often one goes to the mercado de brujas (the witches' market) to buy a prepared mesa or have one prepared for you if you have certain aspects you want to cover, and then take it home. When you are ready to make the offering, the family comes together to chayar the mesa, sprinkling with alcohol after your sip and making wishes for the year, and the you set the mesa on fire and let it burn out to send the offering to the Pachamama.

This is mostly based on Bolivian traditions, specifically from the city of La Paz. Traditions can vary a lot from region to region, but this one is pretty widespread, with different permutations.

 

Thanks for sharing with us @alex! It is interesting to hear and compare different traditions. I should probably ask dad if he knows about the Abenaki, since he is an anthropologist and worked with/knew some anthropologists in different parts of the USA, but more likely not as he knows more peoples closer to New Mexico, way further south than whwere google tells me the Abenaki were located/are located/I don't know.

 

of course! thank you for sharing with us as well, @Raire! I love learning about traditions I don't know about. if your dad knows anything about the Abenaki that would be really cool! but yeah, we're mostly located up north in the USA, like Maine, for example, that would be where the Eastern Abenaki are located, and Vermont, that would be where the Western Abenaki are located, and some places in Canada, although we aren't officially recognized as a tribe in America (boo), whereas in Canada the Abenaki are a currently recognized tribe.

 

Arriving late and sadly without starbucks: mom said I used to see auras when I was a kid, and some of my old drawings she held onto have colors around people and animals. This was waaay back, when I was around 4, so I don't remember much. But dad's mentioned it as well and despite being Crafty he's actually pretty skeptical. I don't know if I forced myself to stop so I could be more normal (parents mentioned one of my teachers thought it was Weird and had asked them about it) or if it shifted to being expressed as Feelings about people. I know sometimes when I'm in a bad state and my mental control is shot I get vague colored halos around people/animals/some objects.

(Of course I saw auras. Why wouldn't I? I'm already enough of a goddam mary sue, what's a few more things?)

Also I'm going to post the last part of the Terrifying Thing story soon. I've just also started working on my whole life story in ITA and they're both huge spoon drains. But I haven't forgotten!

 

I had a talk with a friend of mine today that I found rather interesting. Basically she ran into the fact that I view the various Celtic cultures are definitely separate cultures. Gauls are not the Irish and so on. This led to her asking how people can take goddesses of the hearth and blacksmithing with associations with cows named Brghid, Bride, Briganntia and so on could reasonably considered to be entirely separate entities. I had to explain that, no, I do think that they are all the same person.

There is an issue running about the various polytheist and pagan communities regarding soft vs. hard polytheism. Soft polytheism involves the idea that gods are aspects of singular gods. So, say, let's look at Guanyin. Guanyin is an aspect of a single god. Avalokitesvara is an aspect of that same god as is Hayagriva (the Buddhist Hayagriva who is an entirely different person from Hindu Hayagriva). Soft polytheism from a pagan standpoint tends to be short hand for "the gods are aspects of the Horned God and the Mother Goddess" from what I've seen. Hard polytheism meanwhile is the view that these various gods are definitely separate figures. So Mars and Ares are two entirely different individuals, as an example of a hard polytheistic view.

Now the actual issue here is that there seems to be a lack of nuance. I am going to guess a good deal of this stems from the fact that a lot of recon polytheists are trying to distance themselves from certain kinds of neopagans and neowiccans. Namely the very fluffy sort and/or those who have very soft polytheistic views. So at times we run into the issue where Brighid and Bride get viewed as two separate goddesses even though it is very likely that they are the exact same individual, just worshiped by two different cultures. Now Bride and Brighid being the same person doesn't mean that the Scottish and Irish are exactly the same and have no cultural place gods that are exclusive to them. It just means that Brighid happened to have traveled about and she was revered by more than one culture.

If Christian God and Muslim God are both the same entity then why would Bride and Brighid not be?

This is very different from saying that Brighid and Hestia are the same person though. If you peel through things like associations and stories while you'll find similarities the two do seem definitely distinct enough to be considered their own people. At least I think.

Hard and soft polytheism are lovely and useful terms but I do feel that there is a lack of nuance they bring about. A nuance that is important to keep. So here is this rather badly formed rambling about this.

 

@Lissiel said I should check this thread out, so here I am. It might take me a while to catch up, but it's been an interesting read so far.

I'm kind of uncertain about religious and spiritual things right now. Ever since I was a kid I decided that I would figure out what I believed based on what evidence I experienced, especially evidence that I could prove. One would think that would mean I'd lean more toward atheism in that case, but my life has been weird.

The only things I'm sure of are:

• Ghosts are real and they can probably interact with physical objects (see: library ghost among others, but the library ghost was the one that was undeniably proven to me because witness and I inspected the scene thoroughly to make sure it wasn't a prank or a mistake).
• Energy work could be real because I've found no medical explanation for a few things I can do (I will describe these later and would love any medical explanations) but I've been told that a lot of it is explained by energy work things.
• Curses/something to summon evil spirits/something along those lines is probably a thing (Dad and I subconsciously abandoned and closed off the master bedroom of our last house and its attached bathroom because they started to feel super creepy, but he didn't tell me until years later about the pentagram his ex drew on our driveway right before things got weird...so...IDK).
• A girl in my D&D group in college was never wrong at high or low to the point where the DM announced that consulting her in a high or low situation was cheating (I'm serious--she was only ever wrong maybe once or twice, but she got it right at least a few hundred times and a good few dozen of those were in a row when the DM got frustrated and tried to test her one session...which was, I think, the event that made him decide that consulting her was cheating), so whatever that is is real.
• I've been a proficient lucid dreamer for as long as I can remember (this, I might argue, is mostly a science thing since there are studies by Stanford scientists that prove lucid dreaming is a real thing) and am only very rarely non-lucid.
• My best friend in high school claimed to have been possessed by two different spirits (and one gave me proof one day at her expense, so I'm not sure if it would be physically possible for that to happen with DID or if the only explanation is that she was telling the truth).
• Probably more things, but these are what first come to mind.

Again, weird life. I'm probably closest to being agnostic or just spiritual in general. If I do believe in gods, then I probably believe in something similar to what gods are in my dream cannon. Dunno. I'm still trying to figure things out.

I've always loved folklore, mythology, legends, etc and I always love learning more about things along those lines. Ghost stories really scare me, though, so I try to avoid them. I also try to avoid locations that are supposedly haunted because I don't want any proof that they are. One time was enough for a lifetime.

I've been more open to other supernatural things being real ever since the ghost thing happened. If I need to make a decision about any kind of IRL supernatural thing, I tend to go off of my knowledge from my 20+ years of experience as a lucid dreamer. A lot of things I know about supernatural things from dreams have carried over to real life pretty accurately so far. If I got into that I'd be talking for a very long time, but there are some interesting implications (especially about "gods," a sense that has so far been specific to dreams, and a language that has so far been specific to dreams) if all of it carries over. I've played meditation-related games and visualization games for as long as I can remember, which might have had an effect on the odd physical things. Also, someone once tried to have me visualize what my friend who they liked was doing. They were insistent that I might be able to do so. It was a couple years after the ghost thing, so I was more open to the possibly of unnatural things existing. I gave it a try and that led to an odd thing that my friend verified. Basically, it kind of worked except I saw what I call her "core" instead of her physical self. I also came across her guardian spirit guy thing and he was nice, but said (and I paraphrase) I needed to leave because I was a noob and wasn't skilled enough to be doing what I was doing safely. The verification was that I later told her about it all and accurately described what her guardian guy looked like when she had never told me (I know she didn't just change the description to match it because she has since shown me older records she's made of his appearance) and I saw some things about her that she had also never told me...so...yeah...never trying that again. Also, the guy who asked me to do it in the first place turned out to be a creepy stalker. Many regrets. I also have logs that prove the verification part, but I don't want to share them because my friend wouldn't want me to since a lot of what was discussed was very personal and I was an idiot for letting myself be talked into even trying what I did. In my defense, I never expected it to work and I never thought it would work the way it did if it did work.

One of my best friends was Wiccan. I think she worshiped the Goddess (Mother Goddess?). I know she had an alter and a small indoor herb garden. She would sometimes ask if I wanted her to do spells on my behalf (usually negative ones to people who were hurting me or putting me into danger IRL). I would always decline because I was worried about how that would effect her for casting it and me for condoning it since both negative dream control (basically the dream equivalent to casting negative magic) and condoning it can cause real changes in dreams. Also karma.

I like to think that I'm a very skeptical person (I don't fully believe any supernatural thing without some kind of proof), but too many weird things have happened in my life for me to not take a few precautions just in case.

 

Weird physical things I'd love explanations for:

• You know that feeling you might get when you see something awesome happen in a movie and it makes you feel like your blood is rushing through you from your head to your toes and it gives you goosebumps? I can make myself experience that sensation at will. If I start it at the crown of my head and down my spine, then it makes my body heat up (very useful during one winter in college when my heater was busted). If I start it at my chest and down my front, then it fills me with a feeling of safety. Goosebumps happen either way. I assumed for a long time that it might be a circulation thing, but IDK how it would work if it is. I'd love any medical explanation for this. My energy work friend says that the crown and down the spine one that heats me up sounds like something called "prana."
• Control my pulse if I concentrate on it. My dad can do this too. Both of us have proven it when hooked up to heart monitors. This could be normal for all I know.
• When I was young I had a horrible case of pneumonia. I could barely breathe and during the worst of it I hallucinated (was manic?), had night terrors, and couldn't control myself for a week. I don't remember any of this week aside from how it ended, but I was told about it after the fact. My memories of the end of the week start with me laying in my bed and being terrified of everything. There was no logical reason, I was just feeling extremely afraid. My dad came over and offered to let me listened to calming music in the hopes that that would help. Based on his reactions and body language, this state of constant fear had been going on for a while. He let me borrow his CD player and headphones and played me some Enya. It was terrifying. The music was the scariest thing I'd ever heard. I didn't really feel like I was in control of my body or its reactions at all. I felt like a small part of myself watching from the back of my head and seeing myself be terrified while I wasn't really. I'm not sure how better to explain it. I could tell that what was happening was probably something chemical related to the pneumonia. I decided that this--the chemical problem and constant state of terror--needed to stop. I willed it to stop. Then I felt like my brain released chemicals in response to that (but how would that even be possible? It was probably a hallucination from the sickness) and the fear was very suddenly gone, I felt like I was back in control of myself, and I was back to normal aside from having trouble breathing. After that, I decided the scary Enya song was my favorite song ever even though (or maybe because) it still made me feel irrationally afraid when I heard it. I think deciding I liked it was my way of rebelling against the sickness that once caused me to fear it. It also became less scary over time, which was probably another result I was after. The question here is related to how the crap I was able to just turn off a state of sickness-induced sheer terror that had lasted a week? This has always seemed weird to me.

 

@Parsley I'm very curious about your dreams/dream world. as a lucid dreamer myself, I find it interesting that things from your dreams have carried over to be true in real life and would like to hear more.

I have no explanation for the physical things.

also, similar experience to share: my dad decided to play with a ouija board in the basement when he was by himself and then I refused to go in the basement because weird shit starting happening down there, like the lights flickering, and me hearing the voice of a person and getting visions of a girl in the basement of our home. I don't think it was psychosis-based because this was prior to me having any psychotic symptoms, and the timing of the stuff is just weird, especially given that my dad also experienced that stuff and also considering that up until that point I considered ouija boards malarkey. the visions thing has happened to me before with other stuff I'd rather not go into right now, but yeah. inclined to believe that was a real experience.

 

@Parsley youve got good sense, i like you. Suspect you'd make a hell of a witch if you wanted to.

Look up remote viewing. Its easy to go bad places, so unless there's something you really really need to know i dont recommend doing it anymore? But it might help you understand what happened with your friend; its real enough for the us gov to have teams trained in it, so its not that woo woo.

Good on you for not letting your friend do curses on your behalf. Hell to the yes on their almost never being worth the cost. (Why is it always friggin wiccans? I mean, there are a lot of sensible wiccans too, but it seems to me that the gleefully cruel ones and the "i cast magic missile!" wackos always seem specifically to be wiccan instead of other traditions. Its weird!)

You can totally clear curses if that comes up again. Its sounds like you're not still in the house, but just fwiw.

 

I don't really have a dream world. I go to a lot of worlds. I only ever go to the same one twice if it's a different time. I could talk about this subject forever and it would take a very long time to explain how my dreaming works, how my dreaming abilities work, etc. I'll try to write something up about it at some point. The IRL crossovers mostly have to do with how I've found that what I've learned on my own about dream control matches up with a lot of things my friend has said about energy work. I've also found that I can sometimes help her figure out things with that by mentioning how I'd do the thing if it was dream control. Her guardian spirit guy also seems to have a similar job to the one I do in my dreams, so I can sometimes help give my perspective on stuff he says or does that she's trying to understand. My kind of dream control is kind of weird by LDer standards (I've spoken to at least a hundred LDers and I've only met one other who uses a similar kind of control), but it seems to be the norm for guardian spirits based on her experiences with him. Fighting, flying, etc are the norm for most LDers. My skills have always been focused on sensing my surroundings as accurately as possible, keeping things from sensing me, and being able to handle any situation non-violently (her guardian differs here because he's kind of vindictive).

Note to self about dream things I want to talk about at some point:

• "Gods"
• The dream language (see if I have an old post about it on the LDing forum I used to frequent)
• The "scanning" sense (or so my friend who uses similar control named it--it was a lot shorter and more accurate than the name I gave it as a kid, so I use his version)
• That analysis of dream control I did (remember to consult my most experienced LDing friends about how to explain things better because it really confused the newer LDers the last time I presented it--I can't assume people will understand what the crap I'm talking about just because it's normal for me)

My dad claims that he doesn't believe in supernatural things, but any time Ouija boards come up (in a movie or whatever) he makes me promise to never touch, let alone use one. Also, when I told him about the library ghost thing he told me about two ghosts in the family. His aunt and uncle adopted three kids over the years--two boys and a girl. One of the boys had asthma. One night, their house caught fire and burnt down. The asthmatic boy died before the flames reached him. The other boy wasn't so lucky. Only the parents and the girl managed to get out. His aunt and uncle decided to rebuild the house in the exact same layout in the exact same place. Ever since then, two two boys have haunted the house and it was normal for the family and just an accepted thing (which leads me to wonder if my acceptance of the library ghost as a normal thing after she proved she was real was somehow a genetic thing). My dad stayed the night in the new house once and nobody thought to tell him that his cousins were not quite as gone as he thought they were. He was staying in the basement and had to use the bathroom. When he headed up the stairs, he saw the two of them standing at the top looking down at him.

He seems to be in heavy denial about it half the time, though. It seems to have really spooked him. It probably didn't help that his aunt and uncle gave him his cousins' clothes that had been salvaged from the fire. His family was poor enough that he didn't have much of a choice and had to wear them. The burnt smell never fully came out.

There was also another time when a family friend said that my dad's dead brother visited her as a ghost and said my dad was in a lot of financial trouble and asked if she would give him some money to help him out. This was around when we lost our house and stuff. He hadn't told anyone but me about it yet and he only told me because I found the paperwork by accident.

So, yeah. Ghosts seem to be a family norm. I wish someone had warned me about that before I had my first encounter with one. -__-

 

Bored so I feel like mentioning little bits of devotional things I do for my gods. Recently I went and bought a little necklace of the Mando symbol. I'm very fond of the Mando'ade and Traviss based their culture at least partly on the various Celtic cultures. They have things like the clan based thing with a high king equivalent (the Mand'alor is basically the Mando Ard Ri) and so on. So the Mando'ade does get me thinking about the gods and so I wear this thing around as a sort of physical and constant reminder of them. As well as an outward showing of them and the values they uphold.

Whenever I am out if I have something to drink I always make sure to pour out a bit of the drink to the gods and ungods and the ancestors. It's rude not to. It would be like if I just started eating in front of my guest. So it's a small act of devotion and respect but it means a lot. So I feel anyway. I also will drop bits of food for them as well.

What I really need to get good at on that note is not picking up food I drop. I am just kind of trained at this point to pick it up and either eat it or throw it out. Which. Is not a thing I should be doing. If you drop food it's a sign that They're hungry. That little bit is theirs now. Leave it to Them. And maybe even set aside a bit more food. It's only polite.

And the last simple little devotional thing I'll do is that when I pass ponds and fountains I'll toss in a coin if I have one. Usually a penny. Pennies just feel right for that sort of thing. I may not have magic wells but I do have fountains and such and there are surely spirits living in those. They need coins because they like shiny things, darnit.