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

i mean, so are you arguing that magic on other people Should Not Be Done Without Their Consent, Ever? that is a valid standpoint that a lot of people hold, im just clarifying

i mean ultimately, like - casting a binding spell isnt the same thing as literally in-person going to their house and cutting their phone lines or whatever, yknow? this is upg speaking, but in my mind magic is just little things to tip chance one way or another, and often doesnt have an oblique, direct impact, but thats just my onion

edit: i know you said its hyperbolic but addressing this too: casting magic on someone without their knowledge is a completely different level than your forced sterilization example imo, just because the former generally wont have as lasting an impact, and frankly the subject of it will never know about it unless you tell them, whereas forced sterilization is literal bodily harm

 

A brand new pen that writes well and a small scented candle with a drop of caligraphy ink dripped into it, along with a lot of caffeine, turned out to be the spell for a 4 day writing spree that churned out 10,500 words, give or take. The pen ran out of ink at about the same time as the candle burned down to nothing, which is either meaningful or a fun coincidence.

This brings the number of working spells I know up to three.

ETA: I'm going to wait a while before I try this one again. Seven hour writing sessions are hard on the back.

 

any of yall fuck with flying ointment or diviner's sage before? looking for anecdata before i try it out

 

....what are those things?

eta: sorry, I know that's not a helpful answer to your question, but I just--I've NEVER heard of those before and especially 'flying ointment' is making me picture some odd things.

 

Flying ointment is a psychotropic mixture of plants, usually containing belladonna. I wouldn't recommend it, because you don't necessarily know (how much of) what's in it and it can be pretty toxic.
Diviner's sage is probably referring to salvia? In which case, from what I've heard, it's okay and not particularly dangerous but also kinda requires a certain mindset and being very careful with dosage, it's similar to fly agaric in that way (though much more powerful) and the main reason why people stopped using it recreationally after that somehow became a trend several years ago.

Disclaimer: I Have Never Done Any Drugs In My Life so that's all from online research and hearing some sides of witchy Tumblr bitch about safety.

 

Yep, that's pretty much my understanding as well. If after some research you do decide to try one or both i'd reccomend having a sober friend hang out with you to make sure you're ok and talk you down if you wind up on a bad trip.

 

i was thinking of makjng my own ointment or buying from sarah anne lawless, from what ive heard her stuff is extremely mild and a good way to test it out but i thought id see if any of yall had experience w it before

 

Anecdotal kinda cool thing: it turns out that one really simple face/body scrub (1:1 table salt and olive oil by volume, you've just got to remember to wash it off with soap afterwards) I tried is actually pretty great for more than just physical cleansing. Then again, I suppose self-care itself interacts with magic stuff in pretty important ways too.

 

ohhhh that sounds nice i might try that

 

Do alternative remedy things go in here or in a different thread? Because I've had sceptical family members have weird experiences with reflexology and I'm wondering if other people have too. I got curious and am going myself.

 

I mean I'd class a lot of altmed stuff under "weaponized placebo" so I don't see why not???

 

Well, my family are usually pretty sceptical, but my mum knows a lot of alternative therapy people through her work, and my nan tried reflexology. According to her, the reflexologist used it as a diagnostic tool more than a treatment, and was able to tell a level of detail that Nan hadn't told her and that she wouldn't be able to tell just by looking. My sister told me, after I mentioned this, that she'd had a similar experience; her reflexologist asked her if she had sinus problems, she said no, and the next day she came down with a sinus infection. I'm wondering if the reflexology caused the infection a la Chuck Palahniuk's "Footwork", but my dad says reflexology can't possibly do that or people would die by walking over gravel.

 

I went to see a reflexologist today, and it was relaxing as just a foot massage, but as a diagnostic tool it was... weird. I guess she could have guessed about my back problems from seeing me walk, but probably not, she didn't see much of me walking. She knew about my bladder problems and said it might be related to a lymph system issue, so I'm drinking more water and I'll see if it makes me feel any better. She said I had an eye problem, and I had noticed my distance vision getting worse recently. Bah. I have specs but I hate wearing them. What's weird is she knew about a problem with my wisdom teeth, but got it on the wrong side. Maybe I should keep a close eye on my other teeth just in case.

 

Question that's been bugging me: how do you make sacrifices? In an anecdata way, not a "what's the right way" sense.

I've heard that, for food sacrifices, you never eat/drink what you've sacrificed because it defeats the whole purpose. You're not giving anything up.

But I've also heard from other people saying that under specific circumstances, it's alright. For instance, I have a friend who's a brittle type 1 diabetic who makes little honey cakes for sacrifice. Sometimes her blood sugar can drop to dangerously low and she needs to eat something sugary right fucking now. The way she sees it, intent and the time it took her to make the cakes are part of the sacrifice as much as the literal sacrifice of not eating the food. And her god(s) would much rather her be healthy and functional and able to uphold her end of things than passed out on the floor potentially needing a hospital visit. So if she wakes up critically low, with her altar closer than where she keeps her glucose, she might take a honey cake (and ask forgiveness/permission) so she can bring herself up to functioning and able to maintenance her condition, instead of stumbling to the kitchen or through her bag and either injuring herself or crashing lower from the time spent and passing out. (I've seen both "makes sense, you do you" and "that's bad, wrong, and terrible and you're doing sacrifice wrong" in response but. People can do wixcraft however they want imo) I just wanna know what your rules for your own sacrifices are because the differences interest me.

Also what do you do with old sacrifices? Do you count the cleanup (like if you bury or burn it) as part of the sacrifice? At what point do you clean up altar sacrifices?

 

The not eating and why reasoning varies on tradition and practice. For me it's because they consume the pith of the food in question and it becomes toxic. Also it's rude to eat someone else's food after you gave it to them, what the fuck is wrong with you? As opposed to like 'you aren't giving something up'. It's entirely about personal safety and also hospitality rules. Hospitality rules in general own your entire existence with Gaelpol.

As for cleanup I bury things, drown them, or burn them. For offerings that are of a non-food variety (think tools, poems, books, jewelry and the like) I break the object or otherwise render it too fucked to be used by people and then bury it. Though with my poems I will often burn the paper they are written on. Again, the idea is partly that it's theirs now and partly because if it is broken over here it will be fixed and ready to use over there, and vice versa. This also applies to like yourself. Broken legs here are fixed there and so on. Altar objects are different and just left to stay on said altar but they are Theirs now and not mine. I am no longer allowed to use those objects without express permission. Honestly I should probably break them to some degree.

Time spent left out varies depending on what it is. Some liquids I let evaporate. Others I pour out quicker to prevent like souring milk and molding tea. Objects I'll let sit for a day or so. Poems, assuming I even wrote them down, are recited and then almost immediately burnt.

Regarding sugar levels since I have low ones...Even during a crash I would not touch food I offered to the Gods and Ungods. Not just for politeness' sake but because I really, really, REALLY do not want to get ill off toradhless food and/or piss Them off. I'd rather take bumps and bruises over that shit.

 

i think the best way to handle that is to make sure that you have access to something nearby your bed - closer than your alter is - to Emergency Consume If Necessary

 

the idea that you can't do anything with sacrifices other than idfk toss them out or something has never sat well with me. i wouldn't eat it myself but i have done something like offer up little cheesey biscuits and then put them out for the birds. i don't... i can't wrap my head around what aeon said where the 'spirit' of the thing is now gone and just leaving it seems wasteful. if i had a way to burn things to ashes i would be fine doing that because there's no useful thing left (unless you compost your ashes) but i don't... burying is okay in my brain apparently but i have nowhere easy to do that either.
then again i am a piss-poor pagan who's done shit-all in the way of worship lately for various reasons and whose attitude to the gods has always been 'you cool, hang out if you like, but if you don't like the way i do things then you can go, my worship won't be any use to you anyway'

 

There's a crossroads shrine across from the corner store here that popped up a few days ago. It's not, as far as I can tell, a vehicular death memorial. Those usually included crosses, flowers, candles... This is just three short rows of open, variously full bottles of assorted alcohol arranged in front of the crossing light. I've also seen my share of "oh shit it's the cops drop the booze" and it doesn't look like this.

I was going to take a picture for dad but I got the feeling that would be... rude? Unwelcome.

 

Met an odd woman while waiting for the bus. It wasn't super weird that she could guess I'm Irish/Scottish, I'm paler than hell and my hair was wet so the red was showing. But she knew I'm so by way of being Ulster-Scots, that we have the same eye color even though I was wearing my shades. That I can smell it before it storms and feel it under my skin when it's going to rain.

It was. A very strange experience. There were other things I can't words very well, about masks and rivers and how I "already know." Except I don't know what it is I already know.

She wasn't always very coherent and initially I was going to write her off as someone to listen to for politeness's sake but. She knew things.

Brb questioning reality

 

If she was one of Them I hope things stay fine on your end...