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Author Topic: Gargoyle issues  (Read 3060 times)

Genevra

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Gargoyle issues
« on: January 29, 2016, 06:37:15 am »
First off, if this post doesn't belong here, feel free to move it. That said, let's move on to the gargoyle.

This is not the average gargoyle. It's a long story, but please read? The gargoyle in question came into my life waaay back in high school, about 1999, at a Ren Faire in Minnesota. I purchased it from a guy selling a huge variety of plaster gargoyles. This one stood out as I'd never seen one like it. As I was in my goth stage, I was of course obligated to buy it.

This particular gargoyle stands about a foot high, has bat-like wings, knobs down it's spine all the way to it's long tail, and a vulture like beaked face, with the beak partially open. It has large eyes on the side of it's head. The the front feet are hand like with large claws and the back feet are cloven hooves. It appears to be holding a ball in it's front feet and does not have a chain like most gargoyles do.
I had it for several years until I made a really bad move in both geography and personal life. Somehow, it got lost in the move.

A few years later I was looking at adds on Craigslist. And...there it was. It had ended up in a Goodwill in the neighboring town, where someone had purchased it, and, then, having outgrown it, decided to sell it on Craigslist. Of course, I had to go buy it from them. After careful inspection, I realized it was actually MY gargoyle. The same chips, the same repair to a wing...it was my gargoyle. What are the odds....

And then several more years passed uneventfully. Until about a month ago, when I moved into a new apartment. My formerly neutral if slight creepy gargoyle began to feel...malevolent. Just a bit. I can't decide if it's my imagination (I have several anxiety disorders so I spook pretty easy). My partner can't feel a thing off it, good or bad. The bad feeling didn't start until I put it up on the book case where I had happened to also set some sweetgrass I'd unpacked. I would say if an in-animate object could be pissed, it was. The gargoyle "seems" happier on the floor (and away from the sweetgrass)

With the odd and improbable history of lost and found and the suddenly negative energy, I am concerned. What do I do? Send it to another home? Live in fear of it? Try to cleanse it, which might piss it off more? Why would it change from neutral to scary? Is a gargoyle good or bad? Is one that looks like that good or bad? Help! Before it eats me in my sleep....

Allaya

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Re: Gargoyle issues
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2016, 07:05:55 am »
Quote from: Genevra;185925
First off, if this post doesn't belong here, feel free to move it. That said, let's move on to the gargoyle.

This is not the average gargoyle. It's a long story, but please read? The gargoyle in question came into my life waaay back in high school, about 1999, at a Ren Faire in Minnesota. I purchased it from a guy selling a huge variety of plaster gargoyles. This one stood out as I'd never seen one like it. As I was in my goth stage, I was of course obligated to buy it.

This particular gargoyle stands about a foot high, has bat-like wings, knobs down it's spine all the way to it's long tail, and a vulture like beaked face, with the beak partially open. It has large eyes on the side of it's head. The the front feet are hand like with large claws and the back feet are cloven hooves. It appears to be holding a ball in it's front feet and does not have a chain like most gargoyles do.
I had it for several years until I made a really bad move in both geography and personal life. Somehow, it got lost in the move.

A few years later I was looking at adds on Craigslist. And...there it was. It had ended up in a Goodwill in the neighboring town, where someone had purchased it, and, then, having outgrown it, decided to sell it on Craigslist. Of course, I had to go buy it from them. After careful inspection, I realized it was actually MY gargoyle. The same chips, the same repair to a wing...it was my gargoyle. What are the odds....

And then several more years passed uneventfully. Until about a month ago, when I moved into a new apartment. My formerly neutral if slight creepy gargoyle began to feel...malevolent. Just a bit. I can't decide if it's my imagination (I have several anxiety disorders so I spook pretty easy). My partner can't feel a thing off it, good or bad. The bad feeling didn't start until I put it up on the book case where I had happened to also set some sweetgrass I'd unpacked. I would say if an in-animate object could be pissed, it was. The gargoyle "seems" happier on the floor (and away from the sweetgrass)

With the odd and improbable history of lost and found and the suddenly negative energy, I am concerned. What do I do? Send it to another home? Live in fear of it? Try to cleanse it, which might piss it off more? Why would it change from neutral to scary? Is a gargoyle good or bad? Is one that looks like that good or bad? Help! Before it eats me in my sleep....

 
I think if a close friend had managed to lose track of me while moving to another city and I had to couch-surf for several years before they found me again and THEN later moved to a new apartment without consulting me and then made me use a really uncomfortable mattress that smelled bad...

...I would be justifiably pissed off. Especially if said friend then tried to blame me for the hard feelings.
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Aisling

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Re: Gargoyle issues
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2016, 07:32:47 pm »
Quote from: Genevra;185925
With the odd and improbable history of lost and found and the suddenly negative energy, I am concerned. What do I do? Send it to another home? Live in fear of it? Try to cleanse it, which might piss it off more? Why would it change from neutral to scary? Is a gargoyle good or bad? Is one that looks like that good or bad? Help! Before it eats me in my sleep....


Gargoyles are not inherently good or bad; they just are what they are. They can be happy, grumpy, or downright pissy. My experience is that they tend to be protective and, in doing so, tend to give off a hackle-raising energy that bothers some people

That said, if you feel like it's scary or going to do harm to you, then by all means, find a new home for it where it will be appreciated and welcome.

"The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you." -
Neil deGrasse Tyson

Genevra

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Re: Gargoyle issues
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2016, 11:12:17 pm »
Thanks, both of you, for replying.

Quote from: Allaya;185929
I think if a close friend had managed to lose track of me while moving to another city and I had to couch-surf for several years before they found me again and THEN later moved to a new apartment without consulting me and then made me use a really uncomfortable mattress that smelled bad...

...I would be justifiably pissed off. Especially if said friend then tried to blame me for the hard feelings.


I can see your point here, except about the mattress...I think I missed something there. Do you mean sweetgrass? Cause I think that smells good, and he wasn't on it, just near it and why would he object to something that shares his job description? But, if I'm going to work from the premise that my gargoyle is sentient, I can understand him being upset. But why suddenly now? I'm not so sure about that premise, partially because it's unsettling. But assuming he thinks, there seem to be gargoyle etiquette rules? I did not know this. The most I can find on their behavior, if they do have behavior, is that they come alive at night to drive off evil spirits. There's more to their lore, but I'm guessing you know it already?

 
Quote from: Aisling;185964
Gargoyles are not inherently good or bad; they just are what they are. They can be happy, grumpy, or downright pissy. My experience is that they tend to be protective and, in doing so, tend to give off a hackle-raising energy that bothers some people

That said, if you feel like it's scary or going to do harm to you, then by all means, find a new home for it where it will be appreciated and welcome.


Hm. Well, up until recently I considered it a neutral plaster sculpture of a gargoyle, so maybe, again considering the idea that he is sentient, he doesn't feel appreciated or welcome. However, I've "known" this gargoyle for nearly 20 years (minus the 2 or 3 that he was missing) and he's always behaved like...well...plaster. A little creepy, but nothing to set off alarm bells. Even when I found him after he was missing, I got no vibes from him, good or bad.

So, is a "behavioral change" in a sculpture indicative of anything?

I don't want to give him up, since I've had him for so long, even if I'm a little nervous about going in my living room now...

So, my thoughts are that somehow my gargoyle got a huge glob of badness stuck to it, the kind of badness that is a bit aware of itself. My ex from a few years back thought it was fun to bait demons in his spare time, so I don't think this is out of the realm of possibility... No odder than self-aware plaster, after all.

And if it's not that, how do I make friends with my gargoyle again, or is that not possible?

Scales

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Re: Gargoyle issues
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2016, 02:25:48 am »
Quote from: Genevra;185965


 
I'd do a sort of banishing (severity based on what you think- if you think it was nothing but an object before, strip it down, but if you can see it as sentient, just focus on that odd bit, right?), clean it up (/touch it up), and give it a nice shelf, maybe with an offering/present (I'm not an expert on gargoyles, but I'm sure someone else would know a good starting spot for what).

PiscesMoon

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Re: Gargoyle issues
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2016, 04:10:02 pm »
Quote from: Genevra;185925
With the odd and improbable history of lost and found and the suddenly negative energy, I am concerned. What do I do? Send it to another home? Live in fear of it? Try to cleanse it, which might piss it off more? Why would it change from neutral to scary? Is a gargoyle good or bad? Is one that looks like that good or bad? Help! Before it eats me in my sleep....


Since the odds are so overwhelming of you finding your old gargoyle again, I would think he sort of belongs to you...unless you really are starting to live in fear of him.

Could it be his malevolence is actually directed to the new flat, rather than you? Perhaps there is an energy there that is making him annoyed, since it seems to be a recent thing. The sweetgrass could have stirred that up, perhaps...just a thought.

Is he cross if you put the sweetgrass down on the floor near him, or is it only when he's on the bookcase?

Genevra

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Re: Gargoyle issues
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2016, 01:47:55 am »
Quote from: PiscesMoon;185980
Since the odds are so overwhelming of you finding your old gargoyle again, I would think he sort of belongs to you...unless you really are starting to live in fear of him.

Could it be his malevolence is actually directed to the new flat, rather than you? Perhaps there is an energy there that is making him annoyed, since it seems to be a recent thing. The sweetgrass could have stirred that up, perhaps...just a thought.

Is he cross if you put the sweetgrass down on the floor near him, or is it only when he's on the bookcase?

 
An update for anyone still interested. I'll preface this with a question. Do you think a protective "creature" like a gargoyle, that has always seemed to be no more than a plaster statue, "wake up" to it's role as a guardian?
I tested the sweetgrass again, both with him settled up on the floor and perched on the bookcase. No reaction. He didn't seem cross at all. Prior to this, I had been talking to my partner about finding him a new home and we both felt this wave of loneliness from him! So she decided to go actually talk to him. Yes, talking to a statue is odd. But sometimes it can be necessary, it seems. The sweetgrass provoked no reaction. I have the oddest feeling it simply startled him at first. I guess I never have had it around him, after all, and it has a strong energy all it's own. So, we gave him a stern talking to, and a few shiny things since that is what I had the impression he'd like. And then.....the next day....our neighbor got arrested! Taken out of the building in handcuffs. I think that just might be the energy that both woke him up and make him seem so hostile. Whatever the neighbor was doing, it must have been enough to set him off. All is quiet now. I still feel some energy from him, but it's a quiet watchfulness and I'm not scared to touch him or go in the living room anymore. I'll continue to keep an eye on things, but I think it's ok now.

Scales

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Re: Gargoyle issues
« Reply #7 on: February 06, 2016, 02:40:24 am »
Quote from: Genevra;186205
An update for anyone still interested. I'll preface this with a question. Do you think a protective "creature" like a gargoyle, that has always seemed to be no more than a plaster statue, "wake up" to it's role as a guardian?
I tested the sweetgrass again, both with him settled up on the floor and perched on the bookcase. No reaction. He didn't seem cross at all. Prior to this, I had been talking to my partner about finding him a new home and we both felt this wave of loneliness from him! So she decided to go actually talk to him. Yes, talking to a statue is odd. But sometimes it can be necessary, it seems. The sweetgrass provoked no reaction. I have the oddest feeling it simply startled him at first. I guess I never have had it around him, after all, and it has a strong energy all it's own. So, we gave him a stern talking to, and a few shiny things since that is what I had the impression he'd like. And then.....the next day....our neighbor got arrested! Taken out of the building in handcuffs. I think that just might be the energy that both woke him up and make him seem so hostile. Whatever the neighbor was doing, it must have been enough to set him off. All is quiet now. I still feel some energy from him, but it's a quiet watchfulness and I'm not scared to touch him or go in the living room anymore. I'll continue to keep an eye on things, but I think it's ok now.

 
This seems great, and yes, I think him 'waking up' (and being confused and a bit annoyed at first) is possible and makes sense in this situation.

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