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

probably, although atm im in the smack dab middle of the biggest city in germany (ok not really smack dab middle, i'm outside the ring by 4 subway stations)

... although one of my friends buries his offerings in the soil behind our university's computer science institute.

 

Not sure cake is good for birds. Maybe bury it?

 

^ depends on the kind of cake. No chocolate, for example. Burying it is probably best.

 

Ok so how many of you here involve language in your shit. How so and why? What are your frameworks behind it? What kinds of word based practices and rituals do you have and what are they for?

 

Some poetry, here. There's something weaving-focusing in wording the spells in rhyme, gives them power and cohesion.

 

Not... structuredly, as such, but I have noticed I tend to repeat words out loud or mentally when I put my energy into something (as opposed to accepting/taking energy from one of my shinies). The first that comes to mind is reinforcing my wards (which, hah, I just mistyped as "words")-- a sort of... chant, I guess? Mantra, maybe? "This place is safe, this place is mine, this place is protected," repeated until it feels like the point in question is 'fuelled up' and ready to go for another while. Always got to get to the end though, can't chop off after 'mine' or whatever. (...sort of want to keep track of how long that takes, or if the number of repetitions is regular. Dunno if I'll remember.)

 

But why and how?

So for me the actual way in which paritta works is that it's a form of merit making and transference. By reciting the suttas of the paritta sincerely you are reciting truth. Truth that can help people not suffer. Which is an act that generates merit. This merit is then taken and transferred out onto others. This is where the power is coming from. Merit being...what you get out of positive karmic acts. So if I give a hungry person food I get some merit for this. This merit will then come to fall and I'll get something good out of it. By transferring merit to others you're essentially giving them a kind of karmic bumped protection wise.

Another example of how it works is that hearing the truth is just detestable to demons and cruel gods like Mara. It hurts them and demoralizes them because they realize just how very weak they actually are. In the case of someone like a monk sincerely chanting with understanding this effect is doubled. Because now it's not just the words telling them that their game is weak. It's someone who clearly understands that it is and why. They can't win here and they come to know that and so run off.

I'm just curious about if there's more to the why's and framework to how the rhyme gives that power.

Hmm. That kind of reminds of how poetry can be used not to just express Truth but also change it or influence it with my Gaelpol shit. So basically the way it is works is that arbitrary or no words, particularly poetry, can capture the essence and truth behind things as they really, truly are. You're basically trying to become inspired by or possessed by beings that have that level of wisdom so then you can take that Truth and share it for the world to hear and know. Hence why fíli were involved in divination practices. They're basically taking divine knowledge and wisdom and wording it in a fashion that maybe we here can get.

I'm not sure why the gods are as fond of music and poetry as they are but they are and that's one of their preferred ways of expressing this.

However there are other times where poetry can then be used to make something that isn't true true because of how True the statement is. So while my tree in my backyard might not be a bíle the way that the oak at my campus is if I were to get three symbolic representatives of the Three Realms and then chant about how the tree very much IS a bíle it can be made one. Because while it in fact isn't a bíle the statement is true. And because it's true it can then be turned into fact.

 

This bit feels most like what I'm doing-- a reinforcement of the goal, of what I Want to be true more than what is currently happening.

Spoiler: tangential? Anxiety says this gets a spoiler for some reason so here's a spoiler re specific situation

The wards in question came about because something in a certain area of the house felt particularly aggressive; now that I've got a shield up, so to speak, rather than flinching away from it, who/whatever it is has chilled out considerably, and what little negative poking I get feels more like testing the boundaries to see if I'm still paying attention than actual malicious intent. (And one particularly Weird instance where it felt like whatever-it-is was focusing on something else but was still Present.) The wards feel more like... reinforcing a boundary? Which makes sense, I guess, if boundaries are social 'walls'. "Really, Carl, we talked about this, this is my space, you don't get to come in here and start wrecking my things just 'cause you're feeling bratty."

...mh. Kind of want to figure out a divination-type thing to learn more about this whatever that seems to have settled in (or, hell, to have been here all along, the house ain't that old and even as a kid I would avoid the spot in the room that now pings as Theirs), but. Blrrh. How Do, just leave me to my shiny rock friends and general mood influences.

 

Yeah that is pretty much how it works for me in basic. I want this thing to be true than what currently is and because there is wisdom and Truth behind what I want to be fact BY GOD I AM GOING TO MAKE REALITY DO IT FOR ME.

Spoiler: spoilering because you did too

Hrmmm. You could do readings about it yes? Either directed toward it in particular or something else that you do trust. Though given what you've said the latter seems a better bet. Keeping the wards up sounds like a good idea either way. My personal first inclination is GIVE IT FOOD OR SHINIES but...

that is my answer to all problems

"I keep getting sick..." GIVE IT SHINIES AND FOOD.

"The house wight/spirit/whatever hates me and is mean..." GIVE IT SHINIES AND FOOD.

"GRANDMA DIED" GIVE IT SHININES AND FOOD. EVEN THOUGH THESE TWO THINGS PROBABLY AREN'T RELATED AT ALL.

This is what happens when you're paranoid and in with what is basically the supernatural mob.

 

Spoiler unnecessary, just brainbugs going "but!! offtopic how dare, we are talking about Words not Other Things, quick hide the tangent".

"How Do readings, what is divination" is basically the first stumbling block; the wards are the first thing I've actively set up, rather than just... keeping around because they Feel Nice. (I think I have what I do with my rocks further upthread from my initial delurk, I can go grab for what the refrance if needed. Basically I'm pretty passive weaponized placebo-type, keep shinies around because Weird Sensory Input.) If I did figure out a method of talking to it, would probably just be along the lines of "what is even going on here, what (if anything) do you want" than trying to convince them to go elsewhere, so... dunno if talking to a "trusted" power (rocks?? is there rock divination? I don't think any of my current shinies have pinged me as communication-flavored, but I could try something out with the friendly ones maybe??) would really do anything useful. Feels kinda rude, actually, like... dragging a third party in to play messenger pigeon rather than just finding tools so that we can communicate more effectively.

Giving it food might not work too well, because indoors, and not a good place for Randomly Flowerpot for burying shinies. Liquids maybe? Hm.

 

Ah. I didn't mean having the third play messenger bird. More asking the trusted power for advice on the situation. Kind of like how you'd ask friends or family with advice on how to defuse a social dispute. Like that.

As for how to divine...There's a lot of ways you can do that. Tarot is one of the more common ones now. But you also have things like stichomancy. Basically ask a question and open a book and point at a randomly chosen word or sentence. Then interpreting how that relates to what you asked. Alternatively you could put symbols that are meaningful to you on dice and roll away and interpret the results. Some people do bone based reads. Basically throwing them and interpreting how they fall and why. Sticks/staves/dice can be done similarly. Dreams are a thing too. Ask questions before bed. Head to sleep. If you recall a dream really look at that and how you feel about it and interpret it. Oracle based divination is based on...things you see? Like with fríth I go and look outside my door and make note of the sights and sounds I see. Then make an interpretation of that. You could even theoretically make a method based around casting your precious rocks and reading their positions and such. That would be your own method though so making a thing. As opposed to a built up method like tarot or stichomancy.

 

...that makes sense in context, but is also a thing I would not have considered because the physical-world equivalent is not a thing I do unless forced :P

Dreams probably won't work, I don't tend to remember them until/unless they repeat a few times (at which point I will somehow be able to feel "oh yes, I've seen all this before, XYZ happened, let's try something different this time"), but I'll have to poke at some of the others. Strichomancy, maybe, there is a large bookshelf near The Spot...

Anywho, thanks for humoring the derail!

 

Sure thing!

 

Follow-up on that note, since I had some time this morning and attempted stricho. Results are... eh, not encouraging, but also what did I expect? Dude likes to talk through pictures apparently, even though there aren't a lot of illustrations in the shelves I was picking from. Is not terribly friendly, but also got the impression he was... sort of entertained by me even asking questions? Also more distinctly masculine-feeling now that I'm paying attention.

Spoiler: specifics

"Who are you?": A crying man holding an axe, dialogue-caption reading "I curse you!" So. That's a great start.
"Do you want to be here?": A photo of a smile. Taking that as a yes?
"Do you want to hurt me?": A photo of a 7th-century Saxon sword, with the distinct impression that he was laughing at me. Uh. Also taking that as a yes. Admittedly may have been a stupid question after turning up "I curse you" earlier...
And, finally, "Can I do anything to make you happier?": the one and only actual prose line from this... session? "He wanted nothing more than to take Laurence and fly away," which I took as a "go away". Can't tell if he means in the long term or just that he was tired of answering questions, so I might try again later to see if food and/or shinies are appropriate gifts.

 

Jesus.

 

Yikes. I think I'd be calling a priest at that point.

 

Yeaaaaah. Me I'd be going DAAAAAAD. DAD THIS THING IS BEING MEAN TO ME IN MY HOUSE.

Also thinking about people I know whose solution to angry house guests like that is to just scream at them and loudly refuse their bullshit. Like the end of The Babadook but real and instead of living in the basement it actually leaves.

 

Ehhhh again, with wards up he'd been pretty chill for a good few months til I started poking him with a stick actively bothering him with questions. The arrangement has basically felt like "if you don't bother me I won't bother you," which I... probably disturbed a little this morning. Food is apparently an acceptable apology, I just need to figure out a way to leave the offering without a cat stealing it or the carpet getting fouled with decomposing/molding/whatever food :T

 

I cover bowls I stick food in with books and such to keep the cats out of it. My dudes don't seem to mind.

 

I'm fairly sure this is more suggestibility on my part than anything else, but... I've had a bad depressive relapse recently. I assembled a sort of half-hearted altar attempt in my room, and the worst two bouts of my depression (as in up crying all night over completely trivial things) were when I put a real knife on the altar. I have never self-harmed with a knife or anything like that, and I thought the knife in question was really awesome; it's a hunting knife with a deer's foot for a handle which belonged to my grandfather, and it's in a sheath so I can't accidentally do any harm with it. When I put it back in the drawer where I usually keep it, the depression eased. This happened twice; I put it away, then put it back out. Same thing. Mmmayyybe I'll just stick with my wooden toy dagger on display for now.