They've been about like that. Hordes of them sweeping across the deck, or singular specimens dropping down on my keyboard while I type. Jumping spiders, tarantulas, little cobweb spiders. Oh how they have presented their many-eyed faces and pronounced as one "Someone's shitting on your lawn." Once in a while they seem to be the agents of the curse, generally they seem to warn of it.And so, as is a good and just course of action, I whip out Gager's "Curse Tablets" and scrape up a few ideas.
It got me thinking about justifications on curses. When is it okay to curse? When is it okay to retaliate? For me: I don't tend to whip out curses unless someone is raping, murdering or molesting children OR throwing curses. At which point I tend to bind AND curse as a way of saying "stop shitting on my lawn."
I haven't got a problem targetting someone for someone else, but for myself, every time I have thought of doing something evil to someone who did me wrong, I have looked at them and had to conclude that they have fucked their life up so bad that anything I do to them could never top what they do to themselves. So I end up deciding against it.
ReplyDeleteAs for someone else cursing me, I have certainly experienced some attempted attacks, one of which was quite frightening, but all of them were ineffective and easily gotten rid of. I do feel I have the protection of Datura Spirit and the Dark Spirit of the Crossroads, for which I thank them. They are probably doing all the heavy lifting on that score.
I reserve my straight-up, "I will DESTROY YOU" moments for major corporations and individuals who rape, murder, or hurt children.
ReplyDeleteI will, however, attempt to magically annoy you should you start seriously pissing me off. (I don't know. In this hypothetical situation, you'd probably have to visit and kick my cat. Or try to date my best friend when he has a girlfriend, and then act stupid when I tell you to go fuck yourself.) At that point, I'll probably be focusing on a deity or spirit and say something like: "Gee, Baphomet, it's a terrible shame about Susan being beset by Mormons and solicitors, is it not?"
But I really only break out the heavy-duty ju-ju for serious reasons. There are only so many reasons to say: "I think we should nuke 'em from Orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Scylla, I am wondering, why do these manifest as spiders?
ReplyDeleteIn terms of cursing... I have never done it. Most of the folks who have seen fit to do wrong to me have been self-basting turkeys that I did not even have to shove into the oven, as it were. I have some real problems with empowering someone who has done wrong, by letting them take up brain cells that could be used for more important tasks, like planning how to cut them out of my life completely. That's my quirk.
That whole adage about giving someone enough rope comes to mind. If they're running around cursing out of cruelty, or being assholes, willy nilly, they've already set themselves on a course for negative outcomes. Whether I righteously hex or curse them, or not.
I will however do variations on binding and blocking, if necessary. Or confusing the hell out of them. But only if the desired result justifies me wasting my time even thinking this much about 'em. This is just picayune stuff, though.
Raping, murdering and molesting... well, that requires retaliation.
I'm not one to toss some war water or goofer dust or anything, but I will sling less curses if someone annoys me sufficently. It takes a *lot* to annoy me that much.
ReplyDelete@ Harold - I've only thrown the first stone once or twice, curse-wise. It was an incident where someone went above and beyond the call of douchebaggery and my two instincts were to physically harm them, or curse the everloving piss out of them. Everloving piss it was.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, my preferred "curse" is actually a spell to reveal hidden motivations. I've cast it and seen someone pop off "Oh, I'm not interested in (girl) I just want to get in her pants- WHY DID I JUST SAY THAT OUTLOUD!?"
@ Faust - There are only so many reasons to nuke someone from orbit, but I think my curses tend to either be "any time you fuck up you'll make yourself suffer" or scorched earth scenario. I try to reserve the latter for "the big three" or if someone has deployed the same on me. Though, there has been an instance where I "lead coffin"d someone, and salted the earth where it lay. Mostly? Anal Itch Curse.
@sara - Spiders? I don't know. I honestly don't. It's always been that way. Even though I live in the woods I never really see a lot of spiders (even during seasonal shifts). I first noticed the correlation when I already knew there was someone acting against me. Spiders would show up, and shortly thereafter I'd start having things run through my head that were very much NOT my "voice", if that makes any sense.
Now, if I see just OMGWTFSPIDERS and something doesn't feel "right", I do some divination. Usually a name will come up, or a series of very unkind words. Incidentally, I really ought to do a post on "Scrabbination" - divining with scrabble tiles.
Thus far, simply the realization that "shit ain't right" has almost totally changed the situation. I guess ol' Scylla's getting lazy.
Thanks, that makes perfect sense, Scylla.
ReplyDeleteMakes me wonder if everyone has a trigger animal that 'shit ain't right', actually. I have a soft spot for spiders and my yard is packed with them as a result of that, they know a Spider Grandmother aficionado when they spot one, I guess.
I should also add, I've, uh, cleared the way for someone to be a real jackass with the worst ever case of verbal diarrhea. I think some situations call for 'enhancing' a body's personality, perhaps. Somewhere along the lines of your spell to reveal hidden motivations. Nothing worse than the truth sometimes :)
@sara - I used to be downright terrified of spiders, but now I can tolerate them as long as they aren't the kind that can/will do me harm.
ReplyDeleteI'm still not fond of them. I understand them, and their symbolism, but I'm just -... we don't get along. I am known for having gotten into a verbal dispute with someone being "ridden" by a Spider-spirit, ending in the mention of RAID by myself... By the same token, I feed large garden spiders, I try to be kind to them.
-sneaks in-
ReplyDeleteI love spiders. I have them everywhere around my house and I always try to make room for them. There's a lovely brown an creme orb-weaver with a huge web right outside my bedroom window who has been happily living there for a few months. I got to watch her mate (and the males fight for her). It's impressive what she catches. We have sac spiders and black widows here too that occasionally take up residence in my bedroom with me. They're fun to watch, too.
As far as curses go, I learned from a few very tragic experiences to be very careful with them. I rarely, if ever, will do something like that on behalf of another and almost always save the true "curses" as an absolute last resort. I do, however, employ a series of ubervicious wards, bindings and other such protections. Pokey things don't usually get messed with and I feel morally justified with having provided a "warning". Heh.
Anyway, I'm glad I found you. I'm bookmarking your blog. It's an excellent read and quite thought-provoking. :)
My anti-Mormon mojo works pretty well. There's a bunch of pairs on bikes around here. They have never darkened my door, for some odd reason. I like that. I have to figure out what part of the country you live. I can't stop thinking about the Tarantulas now. They seem cool and people have them for pets. But, I would lay an egg or something if I saw one in the bath tub or my bed. Tarantulas? So glad I dropped in here before bed.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I'd love to see a post on "Scrabbination" (Scrabblomancy?).
ReplyDeleteBetween Scrabble tiles and "random letter generators" it's not hard at all to get rather interesting information from the aethers. Once upon a time a random letter generator spat out a person's full name. Needless to say, I bricked in my chair.
ReplyDeleteOh god, i thought only I had this thing with spiders, see everytime the shit is going to breakdown they show up to me, but i'm not sure if it means that i'm beeing cursed.
ReplyDelete