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What superstitions or beliefs do you have about your ABJD...

Apr 18, 2008

    1. Kataanos, i understand your feeling. My boy wasnt that 'hurt' but because he was my 1st doll i was very careful when looking at every detail to see if he was 100% ok like the previous owner said so. There where many problems with him tho... he had marks on his resin, his eyelashes were falling off, he had a little smudge on his face up, he was dirty, yellowed and those were the 2nd things i noticed on him, 1st thing was that he was gorgeous tho. I got really upset he couldn't put him his arms and i thought it wasn't a common thing. The more i said out loud all the 'problems' i found on him, the sadder he seemed to get... and that made me want to cry as well. I also don't know much about his past and i don't want to. I think it's important to give a 2nd hand doll a new life. But honestly, i don't think i'll ever be able to part with him, just because of those emotions i see in his eyes everyday.

      Blue Ghost, doll-owner schitzophrenia XD ... i think about that sometimes 'it is just me, am i going crazy?' ... might be actually ><

      Vanilla.Sky, i like 2nd hand dolls for that reason. It's like adopting a child in need. I would much rather do that than having one of my own. I believe that whatever energy a 2nd hand doll brings, can be turned into a positive one.
       
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    2. Saaya-chan, I hope so. I really can't stand second hand things sometimes, feel wierd and I never buy any antiquary for this reason
       

    3. That is SO freakin' cute. :aheartbea

      @Rhoswyn: Uwah, I was reading your posts and thinking to myself, "Lordie, this person says so eloquently my thoughts!"

      Also, a clarification for you guys, since this seems to have hung some of you up.

      The third question I asked -- "Assuming there is a heaven... etc"... Please note that it says ASSUMING. That means to step out of your personal belief and moral shell to pretend for a milisecond that you are the sort of person who believes in a 'heaven' concept. Once we've gotten that speed bump out of the way, you can answer the question without fear of feeling labeled as religious (if that's your concern).
       
    4. :blush thank you ^///^

      I don't understand the concept of 'heaven' because it is a religious thing after all and each religion have their own concept of it. Even if i was to pretend i believed in one i wouldn't know which sort of heaven that would be :sweat ... i know some people don't think thing animals go to heaven, so why would dolls? If they don't go to heaven, where do they go tho? I don't know... is confusing, so i don't really know how to answer that. Lets say I 'believe' all 'souls' go to the same place, including dolls'.
       
    5. ^-^ Hee. Okay, I understand now.
       
    6. My thoughts exactly. It's one thing to take care of your doll because it's an investment and another to actually love it. I get warm fuzzies just reading about that.
      First of all, thanks ^_^ I'm flattered.
      Second of all, thanks for clarifying. I pretty much got what you were saying there but I wanted to say some more.
      (( :: coughIPOSTOOMUCHcough:: ))
      If dolls had souls I'd think them perfectly worthy of going to heaven, maybe even with their owners. They're some of their owners' dearest companions. If I could bring one of my fictional characters to life and actually be friends with them, it'd be the same one I'm turning into a doll. They're just that beloved.
       
    7. Interesting topic! I personally do not believe in heaven, souls, etc. But there is something about ABJDs... They do seem lifelike, and I can understand why so many people identify a soul within them, but it's not really my cup of tea. However, I will say that ever since I was a little girl, I always felt sorry for toys that got broken or thrown away. I made sure that my old toys were given to thrift shops or charities so they could go to a new home. It just seems like dolls, toys, etc bring people happiness, and it's a waste to see that potential joy go in the trash bin.

      BTW, I do believe one can love inanimate objects like dolls. I have a bond with my dolls; they're so expressive and beautiful and they inspire me in my fiction writing...
       
    8. When I first owned a doll that was modelled on myself, I got attached to it, in a nearly almost but not quite spiritual way. It was similar practice to owning a poppet of yourself and adorning it etc for magickal purposes, in brief.
      Since then I have chosen not to go down this road again, simply for the reason that its alot easier when it comes to selling them on! I dont like the feeling of getting attached to something 'inanimate', I personally dont feel the need to keep things forever, unless theyre my partner ;)
       
    9. 1.) Do ABJDs have souls?

      Souls no,but strong energy yes.
      Think about it,we put so much of ourselves into our dolls.
      We want them to look a certain way,wear certain clothes.
      We give them a voice.
      Dolls feel like they have souls because they have so much energy put into them by us!



      2.) Do the souls 'feel' different depending on the mold & maker of the doll?

      I believe that the face says a lot about a doll.
      If he looks sad,happy,evil,fun.

      The look of the doll determines how we see it.




      3.) Assuming there is a heaven, would a doll soul be just as worthy as any other soul to join it?

      I don't see why doll and owner can't go on together.
      After all ancient Egypt's kings kept all of thier belongings for the after life.



      4.) If you don't agree that a doll's soul is 'less than' a human being's soul, why?

      Because they are a piece of us in so many ways.
       
    10. I'm not sure what BJDs have, but I think any inanimate object that takes up a human or creature-like form has some sort of aura or "soul" (I use this term fairly loosely) in them. My family, or specifically my mom, believes in spirits or lost souls inhabiting inanimate objects because the more human-like the item looks, the better it can house a spirit (or so she says). She says 95% of all extremely realistic toys and objects (like BJDs) will house a spirit of some sort and 5% will not.

      I'm not sure if I completely buy into this superstition, but I may be putting this hobby on hiatus until I get into college... I've had really bad luck for the last few months especially and during the most critical period of my school career too.
      Perhaps I will believe in my family just this once and see how everything goes...
       
    11. I belive everything has it's own energy and aura, BJD especially. I do tend to believe they have souls in their own way...which is why i'm currently upset for trading my Ryeon, but we are not bonding and i think it would be better for him to go to a better suited home and be played with, so he can be....happier (have a happier energy). Whatever emotions you put into an object can effect the people around it, that's why I NEVER give a "gift" of malice or spite, karma can be a bitch.
       
    12. my mother has a LOT of su[ersticions. Last weeks she came into my house with incense to purify it. She saw my dolls and said that i should remove them or get some holy water, as she could perceived negative energy on them... that has deeply upset me :(
       
    13. I'm not religious or spiritual in any way, so I don't really make any connection like that to my dolls. Since I don't believe people have souls, I don't believe my dolls do either, heh. It doesn't take anything away from them, though.^^
       
    14. I'm not religious, but I am spiritual. I hadn't thought of that. I believe in no god or goddess, but I do believe in good and evil spirits, whether something governs them or not.

      Keeping fresh sprigs of sage in my doll's head wouldn't be a bad idea. Sage wards off evil, is famous for such. I believe a doll has a soul, whether it is like yours and mine, or a creation of the owner's imagination.

      Not necessarily like Korean horror movie-souls, but attitudes. Personality.
       

    15. I agree with the sage and the herbal protection, I dont think they have souls, but they do posses the energies of whoever made them and the energies they absorb of us too. I think i will keep them with rosemary and lavender too ^^
       
    16. I agree with the energy thing. :)

      It might just be superstition, but seeing as what happened to my house after we
      took good care of it (Was cold, dark and moody and yes someone lived in it, now people say this house "lives" in a positive way.), I think that any "object", to put it
      bluntly, can develop some sort of soul. It might just be the energy you send into it,
      making it more alive. Same goes for BJDs and because of their human appearance
      they will have an even more lively appearance because of all the love and energy it
      has gotten from it's owner. I think it may also affect the doll's personality.
      For example, if you spoil your doll too much, you have a chance your doll will turn all
      bratty and spoiled. ;3
       
    17. I picked out two parts of the OP because I thought I could discuss those the best.

      A) I agree with the no deity names idea. I have a pet named after a deity, but an open shell like a doll feels too akwardly... well... open!

      B) I think my BJD was an open shell that was given a personality by me. However, once they've had that personality for a while, I think it sort of sinks into who they are. What makes them real to me is if the owner feels they are real. Thus, if they were to get a new owner their personality could change.
       
    18. The only soul my dolls have is in the feelings, emotions, and 'realness' that I project upon them. I believe it all to be projection, and without me, my doll would be a hollow piece of resin. I'm definitely the first to call shenanigans, as I find it hard to believe that even humans have souls, much less dolls... but, that's a far more controversial topic for another day and another forum.
       
    19. I can't really say I believe my dolls have souls. If they do I don't think they're nearly as complex as the human soul and they probably don't go anywhere special when the doll "dies" (falls apart...whatever). Maybe they do, maybe they don't, I don't know.

      But what I do believe is that my dolls have a certain life to them. Granted they don't move, breathe or talk, but they look happy some days, irritable on others. Sometimes they cooperate for photoshoots, other days all they want to do is flop over and lay on the floor. They reject wigs and clothing that I try to force them in and they seem sad or bored when I leave them alone for too long. Sometimes it's hard to say if it's just my anthropomorphizing imagination or if the dolls are actually expressing themselves in the only way they know how.

      Whatever it is, they seem alive in a sense and I try to treat them as such. I do believe that a doll can be possessed, but only if it's been treated negatively (abused, abandoned, etc.), so to prevent such a thing from happening, I treat my dolls with love and respect. I also believe a well-loved doll can ward off negative energy, so I like to be around mine when worried or upset, and I always keep Hansel next to me when I go to bed with troubled thoughts. When he's around, I don't have as many nightmares.

      In the end, I would say I'm not a very superstitious person, but I do have my little beliefs and quirks. Dolly rituals and possession prevention sounds like some fun and interesting stuff, but you won't find me sprinkling my dolls with holy water or stuffing their heads with herbs. I think love and affection are enough to keep the evil spirits out.
       
    20. I believe that objects can have energy attached to them. I invest so much emotion, energy into my dolls (as well as physically handling them) that to me they do form their own sort of something. Their spirits or personality stems from me, but become something greater. I think abjds kind of invite this -- being human like, they're easy to relate to and treat differently from other objects.

      I don't have any particular rituals or superstitions, really. However, the way I interpret the nature of my dolls does impact how I handle them. For instance, I don't leave them sitting around naked and bald, and I don't keep them boxed up. Decisions about reshelling a character or selling a doll are more...serious, I guess -- I don't feel right about making decisions about them on a whim. In short, I treat them with more respect than I would other things that I own. I have a couple that I'm thinking about rehoming, so I packed them up for awhile to help me decide what I want to do. Before I packed them up I took off all their things and also removed their eyes to help separate the energy/personality/whatever from the doll body.