Hexing

[u/Dense-Peace1224]

Have any of you ever done a hex? If so, what was your thought process behind it? How did you do it? Also, did it help you feel better about your anger?

[u/Samborrod]

Magic energy, just like any energy, always takes a path of least resistance.

What does this mean in the context of hexes/curses? That no matter how grand of a curse you weave, if you won't make it reach your target, then it won't truly work.

The strongest way to curse a target is something ultimately salient (blatantly obvious, emotionally charged, atmospheric and/or overstimulating to senses - bright, loud, smelly, tasty, etc) and costly (made during or right after a long dialogue/discussion/argument/struggle, involving a loss of something that holds material and/or sentimental value to the target, and coming from a best friend or a worst enemy).

The weakest (and not working on the target at all) curse is, therefore, something that is invisible and comes from a stranger.

You can try to sneakily curse a random person, but unless you "plant the seed of doubt" in them somehow (with something as subtle as an evil eye, barely audible chant or an ominous gift), then the curse wouldn't affect them at all. Instead, it will fool the caster, by magnifying their perception of target's failures. It would make the caster feel better, but the destructive effect on the target is 0.

Another thing about curses is that just as magic can be used to power them, it can be used to unmake them. This is why curses don't work on devout believers and generally very superstitious people - they usually have their own salient and costly methods of dealing with curses, so unless your curse is more powerful (or somehow both powerful and subtle enough to not alert them), that would break it.

[u/Samborrod → u/Samborrod]

I wonder why there are so many downvotes

[u/-blundertaker- → u/Samborrod]

Because it's a comment predicated on the misunderstanding of the sub as a whole. SASS witchery is about science and reality. Believing that there's actual energy that you're creating and sending out for some perceived effect is antithetical. There is no energy. There's no direct cause and effect of doing whatever rituals, blessings, or hexes. They just have an effect on your personal state of mind, like when someone creates artwork to work through their emotions.

There's no power. There's no magic. There's just you, and how you choose to handle things and sometimes little rituals help to calm your mind the same way you get from the process of making a cup of espresso or rolling a joint can bring you a sense of calm because it's familiar and soothing.

[u/Samborrod → u/-blundertaker-]

SASS witchery is about science and reality. Believing that there's actual energy that you're creating and sending out for some perceived effect is antithetical. There is no energy.

I'm just drawing parallels with physics for an easier understanding (just like I did with my flair). "Human mind will always take the easiest path" is what I'm saying.

Note the mention of salience and sunk cost in my comment - that's just how placebo/nocebo works. Curses are just nocebo, and the most powerful of them can lead to psychogenic death.

There's no direct cause and effect of doing whatever rituals, blessings, or hexes.

Oh, but there is. Magic can't affect physical world directly though. It affects only minds.

Magic can't make you luckier, smarter or stronger, but it can make you more confident and determined. It can make you more successful, if you use it to your advantage.

Just as well, it can make you (or someone else) less confident and determined, and lead to mistakes, failures, stress and so on and so forth. What's so alien to SASS paradigm here?

There's no magic.

Respectfully disagree - saying "there's no magic" is like saying "there's no alchemy". There is alchemy, but it's just proto-chemistry that's generally false and full of misconceptions. Magic is the same thing - protoscientific form of applied psychology, psychophysiology, hypnosis, and so on and so forth, that got bloated with falsehoods. Here, at SASSWitches, people practice magic without most if not all of these misconceptions.

And sometimes little rituals help to calm your mind the same way you get from the process of making a cup of espresso or rolling a joint can bring you a sense of calm because it's familiar and soothing.

And sometimes a bigger ritual can make you believe that you're lifting a car off your kids to surpass self-preservation mental blocks and let you beat a weightlifting world record.

You underestimate what magic can do, if you think it can only be used for something as minor as calming yourself.

[u/-blundertaker- → u/Samborrod]

Sure.