Texts you do not want to receive

[rachelmanija]

From my neighbor:

"Were you perchance burning sage outside your door? There's some still lit out there."

I bolted out and discovered the landing (atop a flight of stairs) completely filled with smoke, and the neighbor apologetically explaining that he had to stamp it out because it had set the welcome mat on fire.

Needless to say, I had not been burning sage.

So, apparently someone walked up a flight of stairs, set a bunch of sage on fire, and took off. What the actual fuck.

Comments

[mildred_of_midgard]

Googled it and found that burning sage is one way of doing smudging (of which I'd heard but am not familiar with the details--will defer to others more knowledgeable). Someone thinks this will help with the pandemic? Maybe?

Though I note that this page specifically says:

Be careful with sage when it’s lit. If you aren’t careful, burns and even fire is possible. Have water nearby.

Never leave burning sage unattended. Make sure to put your sage bundle out completely after every use.

Someone is not heeding proper smudging practices or common sense!

[rachelmanija]

But why smudge outside MY door? It's a tiny landing with just two doors, and neither me nor my neighbor was doing it.

[mildred_of_midgard]

If I believed in a woo attractor, I would say you have one, but I don't, so...I am at a loss for anything other than anti-plague endeavors at randomly chosen doors, or just possibly smudging by someone who knows you. If the latter, I really have no idea whether they're trying to help out because they like you, or they feel you have "bad energy" of some sort that needs clearing up (or some combination of the two).

It's hard to rationalize the irrational with so little data!

Remember when you got those three egg-shaped rocks, and someone (skygiants?) recommended telling your parents you'd put one in a tree, buried one, and put one in a body of water (iirc)? Clearly we need to call on the woo consulting services again!

[rachelmanija]

YES. I will remember the magic egg-shaped rocks until I die.

[mildred_of_midgard]

I will remember the burying one, putting one in a tree, and putting one at sea (or something like that) until I die! I was impressed.

The funny thing is I knew immediately what you were talking about because I have one, but only because I like mineral stores and thought it looked like a neat addition to my collection of rock-like objects, not because I think they're magic.

[thistleingrey]

Agreed--my first thought was that it sounds like helping or hindering a witch. :/

[yhlee]

What the hell?!

Rachel, I'm so glad you're moving...

[slashmarks]

It doesn't make any sense to me in combination with sage in particular, but my first thought when someone is leaving burning, magically significant ingredients outside someone's door is an attempt at a curse. ETA: Or some kind of attempted "correction" given what people actually say about sage. (Folk magic is a research interest of mine, although kind of a minor one.) Of course they're far more likely to burn the building down.

You said this was on the landing; is there any kind of controlled access/locked front door in your building? Or is the area totally open? I am concerned this is not going to be a one time event, regardless of motivation.

[slashmarks]

A second, much more mundane possibility just occurred to me. Could this be the not-handyman's method of dealing with hornets?

[rachelmanija]

No, he's long since come and gone and removed the hornets without resorting to sage. They were also on the other side of the building.

The stairs and landing are totally open. I can't think why anyone local would attempt to curse me - I do have enemies but they're not in LA. And I especially can't think why anyone would want to now specifically.

[lilacsigil]

I was about to ask this, too - it is supposed to get rid of bugs, though I've never seen it used for hornets.

[rachelmanija]

The thing is that the landing isn't near anyone but me and my neighbor, and neither of us did it.

[lilacsigil]

This is very strange and I hope it's a one-off!

[havocthecat]

Would someone be cursing her, though, or cleansing her vibes? Smudging is typically a purification tool.

I mean, this sounds ridiculous, you're not in the least bit in need of it, but I was the girl my Evangelical and Pentecostal junior high classmates thought was a Satanist because I played D&D and read fantasy novels, so, I mean. Not entirely un-ridiculous that someone would get the wrong idea.

(I was not actually the bad influence amongst my friends, and yet! And yet!)

[rachelmanija]

But who local to me would a) know, b) think it's Satanic?

[twistedchick]

Sage burning isn't satanic. It isn't "woo". It's part of a lot of Native American tribal practices.

Also -- if you haven't had a good look at the leaves to be sure it's actually sage? It could be pot. Too many of my friends have been busted for having sage smoke in their cars, when the cops thought it was then-illegal marijuana.

[rachelmanija]

I was referring to the comment that someone might think me reading fantasy books was Satanic. Given that whoever burned the sage walked up a flight of stairs in someone else's apartment, lit it, and took off leaving my welcome mat on fire, I don't think they specifically were following Native American tribal practices.

It's definitely not marijuana - I'm extremely familiar with that smell.

[starlady]

Uh I'm glad you're leaving, and no mistake.

I do think this is at attempt to curse (or possibly purify) you and I don't like it.

[rattfan]

I'd have to check with a Wiccan whose knowledge is more current than mine, but yeah, my thoughts also went to purification. It is also a traditional Aboriginal practice to "smoke" a dwelling or a place - not sage, I forget what with - to get rid of evil spirits.

In RPG terms, you'd be what's known as a "weirdness magnet". :-)

[princessofgeeks]

This is batshit! WTF!

Maybe they got the wrong place or something. ???

[sartorias]

Definitely time to exit that building!

[ellenmillion]

That is bizarre!

[movingfinger]

Do you have a ba gua mirror? Would you feel comfortable putting one over your door or, better, on the landing facing the stairs? (Disclosure: I know about them because I read a ton of feng shui books at one point and then began noticing them all around the city.)

[rachelmanija]

No, I don't have anything like that. I think I'll just take it as my cue to pack faster.

[movingfinger]

Suggested the mirror as a "piss off, protected" signal to the woo woo person, not an effective countermeasure, it's clearly time to just get out of there. Your Real Garden is waiting for you!

I could not believe how drawn-out packing was last time I moved, and how much more material I used than I had estimated! Double-triple-quadruple amounts of padding and paper and about a third or half again the number of boxes. So many trips down to U-Haul to buy another slab of them. My only suggestion besides "lots of that packing stuff" is to NOT sort and triage if you are in a hurry, apart from anything obviously useless you've been meaning to discard anyway. A lot of people say that you should sort and discard when packing, but I found it overburdened the decision circuits and added extra stress.

[rachelmanija]

Unfortunately sorting and triaging is the part I actually enjoy, so while it would be faster not to, it would also deprive me of the reward for doing it.

[havocthecat]

It is a very good thing that you are leaving. I do have to say.

[heavenscalyx]

Sage is traditionally a tool of purification. (Smudging is specific to certain Native American groups but has been appropriated by white new agers and pagans. There are purification traditions involving sage from white Euro ethnic groups, but of course white people prefer appropriating terms/concepts.) Anyway, not an herb generally utilized for cursing. Unless there are other herbs in the bundle, I suspect maybe someone was trying purification and maybe the smolder got out of control and they panicked, or were high and forgot it, or something like that.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Actually, being high would explain a *lot*. Best theory I've heard so far!

[lydamorehouse]

As a practicing witch (someday I'll get it right!), I agree. Sage is used for purification, but rarely to curse. In fact, if someone was burning sage in front of my door, I would actually assume they were hoping to protect me.

Ironically, in my circles sage is most commonly used in a house blessing... so, I mean, is someone moving into your place soon? Maybe they were hoping to pre-welcome the space and then realized you were still living there?

I don't know! It's still really, REALLY weird... at least you didn't have to run out naked to put the fire out!

[rachelmanija]

AFAIK the landlord doesn't have a new tenant yet. I'm not moving out till December 31.

[oracne]

WTF.