The True Nature of Spells and Curses [Reflection] #RecentLearning

What kind of "spells" do you know?

For example, "Tekumaku Mayakon, Tekumaku Mayakon" is the spell Akko-chan chants when she transforms in the nostalgic anime "Himitsu no Akko-chan".

More recently, there is the magic spell "Expecto Patronum" (Come, guardian spirit) used in the "Harry Potter" series.

Spells are not limited to the world of anime and movies; they are also used in real life.

The phrase "Pain, pain, fly away," which mothers chant when their child gets a minor injury, is a famous example of an incantation (omajinai).

It seems this is expressed in English as "Pain, pain, go away!" or "It hurts, it hurts, fly away." The underlying idea is very similar, isn't it?

According to the explanation in the Nippon Daihyakka Zensho (Nipponica), it seems to be something chanted when wishing for something, for better or worse.

The phrase "Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san. If you have arrived, please come here," which was popular among elementary and junior high school students during the Showa era, could also be called a spell.

The True Nature of a Curse

The words for "spell" (jumon) and "incantation" (omajinai) both use the character for "curse" (noroi). A spell is the active manifestation of a "curse"—a "thought" or "intention"—into action.

When we hear the word "curse," we often have a scary image, like the "cursed videotape" from the horror movie "Ring," where Sadako appears.

There are also works like "Jujutsu Kaisen" that deal with "curses born from human negative emotions," so the interpretation of "curse" is diverse.

I thought about what a "curse" really is, and I hypothesized that it might be a "fixed idea" that was born within oneself or planted by someone else.

Meanwhile, I watched a video on the YouTube channel "Jump Channel" where a ghost storyteller explained "curses," and I became convinced, thinking, "That's almost the same as my hypothesis."

※ [Viewer Discretion Advised] This contains a somewhat scary story by a ghost storyteller, so please refrain from watching if you are sensitive to such things.

As the storyteller says, if friends fight and one insults the other by saying "You're annoying," the other person is hurt emotionally. That can also be considered a form of "curse."

This is just my personal opinion, but it is highly likely that the true nature of a curse is "trauma" (emotional wounds) or "bias" (fixed ideas).

My own experience with a "curse"

I have loved singing since I was in nursery school, and I often hummed the theme songs to Astro Boy and Gigantor.

However, when I was in the second grade of elementary school, we had to sing one by one in music class, and when my turn came to sing the song from the textbook...

I will never forget it. Ms. S-moto, a female teacher, said with a bitter smile:

"What is with you? You sound just like Barb Satake."

The classroom erupted in laughter, and I felt so embarrassed I could have died. (*Barb Satake was a male singer popular for his low, husky singing voice.)

Ever since then, I became bad at singing in front of others. I also grew to hate music class, so my report card grade stayed at a '2' for a long time.

It was as if I had been put under a curse by the words, 'You sound just like Barb Satake.'

However, one day, something unexpected happened that resolved my aversion to music.

When I entered public junior high school, the music teacher, Mr. A-da, was an eccentric man. He told us for our singing test, 'You can sing whatever song you like.'

Even though I was bad at music class, I was really into folk songs, so I thought, 'Anything is okay? Alright!!' and got motivated.

While everyone else chose songs from the music textbook, I sang Shigeru Izumiya's 'Nemurenai Yoru' (Sleepless Night) a cappella with great passion, even though it was out of place. The teacher looked puzzled, asking, 'That's an unusual song, isn't it?', but I was satisfied.

Furthermore, for the recorder test, I played the theme from the movie 'The Magnificent Seven' by ear and felt a sense of accomplishment.

To my surprise, my music grade on my report card went up to a '4' that semester. I grew to like music class, became comfortable singing in front of others, and by the time I entered high school, I was even playing guitar and singing at the school festival.

Looking back, it was an experience where I was cursed by an unexpected happening, but broke the curse by taking on challenges with a positive attitude.

This time, I started by wondering what kind of 'spells' exist and reflected on 'curses.' I wrote about my '#RecentLearnings' that a curse might actually be a form of 'trauma' or 'bias' triggered by a specific event.

Thank you for reading until the end.

#RecentLearnings #Spells #Curses #Charms #JujutsuKaisen

The image is 'Title: Abstract vs. 3D @Bing + Prompt' Creator: Haruhiko Akanemachi