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

Apr 18, 2008

    1. As of now, they're not on my night stand, but when they were, I'd turn their heads so that they were looking at the wall instead of me. I'm probably going to do that again.
       
    2. My views on dolls having souls or personalities of their own:
      I believe that they do have their own personalities. I'm not sure should I call it their soul or not. But definitely a personality of their own. No matter how cool I make one of my boys to be, he still ends up being a blur-block and when separated from either me or his twin, he'd immediately give the "i'm gonna cry buckets" look.

      Do you put your dolls to bed?
      If I played with them for the day, I generally go "ok...you guys sleep first. Nights~" and give each of them a kiss(sometimes I get lazy and give my first and smallest boys instead). I don't put them to bed because of the ying energy thing...I didn't know about that actually. I put them to bed first because...it feels right...? I don't know...I do it instinctively.

      Tradition:
      No traditions here. None of my family members are into dolls. Actually...the only dolls I happen to like are ABJDs. Because moving, talking and blinking dolls scare me.

      Routine:
      My routine when it comes to my dolls are to chat with them, watch videos together or surf the net for some dolly stuffs together. The routine only happen when I uncover them. They mainly sit under layers of cloth on my bed.

      Superstitions:
      I have a few doll friends telling me that their dolls have been possessed before and stuffs. Mainly it happened when they visited areas said to be haunted or it was during the Hungry Ghosts period. Frankly speaking, I am worried. But everywhere there will be some spirits moving around. I would avoid haunted areas if I have my kids. But if it's the Hungry Ghosts period, I'll just pray hard that none decided it would be fun to stay in my dolls. I have a feeling that it wouldn't work out as my kids have some kick-ass attitudes. And if they do get possessed, I think I'll just act psycho on my dolls and hope that would drive the spirits out?

      Belief:
      I know of 2 people who can hear their own and others' dolls speak. Sometimes when I'm in the half-asleep and half-awake mode, I can hear whispers coming from the direction of my dolls on my bed. And they are definitely voices that I have never ever heard before. Only twice have I "heard" my dolls directly asking me to sleep or to ask if I'm alright. Both times were when I was very sleepy, but have yet to doze off.

      Do you feel your doll is an individual all its own or one that you developed and created on your own?
      I believe that it is an individual on its own. My dolls didn't turn out like what I expected them to be. So I gave up. I make them act as the characters or change the story to fit them.

      Is your ABJD something you would consider a family heirloom?
      I'll most likely tell my own children and husband, "when I die...if you want to keep them, keep them. If you want to sell them, do so. But don't separate the couples(I have 1 couple right now...might be having some soon?). If you don't want to do anything, just bury/cremate them with me."
       
    3. Oh, what a lovely thread!

      Hm, when it comes to the idea of souls, I believe that all living things, plant, animal, etc., have a soul, whatever its current spiritual evolution. In the case of inanimate, non-organic/living objects, I believe that they can, one way or another, accquire/develop a soul of its own. Hence, I do believe that BJDs can have souls. Not all of them may have souls, but I do believe that there do exist BJDs that have souls.

      How they accquire such souls, I'm not so sure. I do think there are many ways in which it can happen. As many have mentioned, the fact that BJD creators and owners pour so much of themselves into the BJDs may be part of how they can accquire a soul. Then there's the idea that entities can simply decide to inhabit the BJD's, bringing some kind of life to it that people can sense. Perhaps other ways in which they can accquire souls is through the material from which they've been made. Who knows?

      I don't believe any soul is either better or worse than any other soul. Certainly, there are souls that are less evolved than others, in that they may be very young, with very little experience, and, hence, they have a lot to learn and will likely have many lives to live before they have the quality of older, more evolved souls who have lived many lives, learned many things, and, in some cases, are ready to move on from the circle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Hence, a BJD's soul is no more nor no less worthy of having an afterlife, whatever that afterlife may consist of, than any other soul, in my opinion. (I have to mention, here, that my beliefs on the afterlife are actually quite complex, and beyond the scope of this discussion; suffice it to say that I believe that the nature of one's afterlife depends on a variety of factor's, from one's personal beliefs to how well one lived one's life, etc.)

      Before I go further, I suppose I should mention that I'm Pagan--Wiccan, in particular. As such, I've encountered the idea of familiars, before, but I haven't run accross the idea of a doll being a familiar. In fact, the idea never even occurred to me until I met my own BJD. But after just a few days of getting to know her, I couldn't help but feel a little strange about my doll, as if there was something in the back of my mind that was just on the tip of my tongue, close, but just out of reach. It wasn't until I discussed her with a friend did that idea did cross my mind, and it was her, in fact, who actually posited the idea that the reason why I felt so strange about her was because she might be a kind of familiar to me (I was surprised that she'd even think of something like that, given her very definite Christian faith). That struck me as an odd idea, and in a kind of playful manner, I turned to my doll and asked her if she was my familiar, and her expression went from neutral to a mysterious smile on her face, as if she were happy I finally figured it out. So, I decided to roll with the idea. Apparently, one way or another, my doll accquired a soul/spirit/entity/or what have you that seemed to bond well enough with me that it considers itself my familiar. Fine with me. I'm just thrilled that my dolly seems to be one of those with a soul of her own.

      I have a place for my doll in my room when I go to bed, and I take her out and place her on my desk when I'm up and about. While her strings are loose, I have her lying on her side, facing me. I had put her so that she was facing my computer, at first, after I had loosened her strings as I'm planning to do a few mods to her body, as she used to just sit facing the computer, when she could hold herself up, but for some reason, I felt genuine displeasure at her being turned towards the computer. She wants to face me. I told her I'm not quite all that interesting, but she doesn't seem to think so, so once, again, I just rolled with it, and have her facing me.

      I plan to take her to classes with me, when the new quarter starts, this fall, because I find her presence calming. I have a phobia of dogs that morphed into agoraphobia, a while back, and while the many people walking all over the campus makes me feel a little better about walking about there, I found that, after defending me against my friend's dog, I just feel more comfortable having her with me.

      Lately, I was thinking that, well, if a BJD can house a familiar, then a BJD can be used to represent a deity, as well, so I've been looking around the internet for dolls that made me think of my God and Goddess. I've found some really nice candidates, but they're all quite expensive, unfortunately.

      --EDIT--

      After reading through this thread, I realized I had forgotten to answer the question regarding my doll (and future dolls) as heirlooms. If and when my husband and I decide to have children of our own, my hope is that my dolls are passed down through the generations. I would love, at the very least, Kyouko and her boyfriend, who look like me and my husband, to be kept within the family to watch over, guide, and protect them. I think I've mentioned this in another thread, but I can even see my husband and I, at the very least, haunting these dolls, playing little pranks on our children, putting the dolls into, ahem, compromising and horrifyingly embarassing positions (after all, isn't it a parent's job to tease their kids, every now and then?), of course, only when important company is over, such as an aspiring suitor. Ah! The joys of parenthood! I almost can't wait!
       
    4. Chae-ri sleeps, well, not with me exactly, but she has her own little blue futon that is laid out beside my pillow on my bed. It folds up into a chair for her to sit on when I'm on the computer (my comp is right by my bed, hehe convenient) and folds out into a nce bed for her.

      On the subject of souls...i personally believe that everything, living or not, organic or man-made, has a spiritual essence of some sort. I don't think Chae-ri is conscious or can act on her own, but I believe she "houses" some aspect of my own personality with which I have imbued her. I believe the same for all my dolls. Each one has her own particular persona and character, but in the end I believe it all comes from me, consciously or subconsciously.
       
    5. I think that naming a doll after a deity or spirit is inviting it in. Whether that is cause of actual spiritual energies, supernatural happening, religious phenomenom or just psychological projection is down to the individual to decide. (I am a psychologist myself though I am also very spiritual)

      The doll I am awaiting is to represent an aspect of my personal faith (or will when I finish modding him).
       
    6. I have always had a tendency to anthropomorphise my belongings, especially dolls and plushies and such, because I was an only child and a very sick child, so most of the time my plushies and dolls and other toys were my only non-adult playmates.

      But it has never been so strong as it is with my BJDs. BJDs seem and feel "almost alive", and they seem and feel to emit this strong aura of precense unlike any other doll I've ever encountered (and as a doll collector I've encountered quite a many).

      So yes, I can't help but to feel BJDs have a soul or a spirit of sorts. I also believe they can protect their owners from bad (supernatural) happenstances. I really don't know why I believe so, it just feels like they do protect us.

      I'm very religious, but I have never really thought about the BJDs souls going into Heaven... I think they are a bit different in that, as I believe their souls are partly a part of our own that we have given them. So when something happens to them, that spirit (because I think that's a better word for it), is released and returns back to us.

      When I buy a second hand doll, it feels like there is already something there (a feeling that doesn't come so strongly with a new doll), a remnant of the spirit, if you like to think it as such, and then, living with me, that reshapes the doll's spirit, and it is in a way reincarnated into the character I have chosen. That is also what I believe will happen to my dolls when one day I part with them. That is why I have no problems about thinking my children and their children, or someone else, having my dolls one day when I'm gone. I have decided that my dolls will be heirlooms, given either to my daughter (and her future siblings, and also their future children) or to some of my friends who are in this hobby, depending on the doll and the character a bit, when I'm gone.

      And how does this reflect on my routines with the dolls?

      I talk to them, either out loud or in my toughts, depending whether I'm alone with them or not. Because I'm quite certain they hear me even when I'm not talking to them out loud. Naturally, they don't response :lol: but occasionally I do get a feeling that the doll might have an opinion on the topic - new clothes can look dashing and splendid, but I still might get the feeling the resin darling absolutely does not like them.

      I also say good night to them and send them a little goodnight kiss from my study door before going to bed myself, and I say byebye to them at the door if I leave for a trip. I also have a tendency to say apologies to them if I feel I have somehow neglected them lately.

      I really don't know how much of this is just fancy make-belief I just like so much that I want to believe in it, and how much is such that I really really really belive in it. I can't tell the difference because I don't know. But nevertheless, it makes me happy and gives me a good feeling, so that's all there is to it. I love my BJDs deeply, so I think these beliefs kinda go with the territory ;)
       
    7. I am pretty superstitious. I won't go into a lot of details but I do believe that any object can hold a soul or at least an energy of their own or put onto/in them- be they doll or computer or a book. As an empath myself, I find I'm very sensitive to emotional energies around me- be they from other people or imprints left onto objects, so I often find myself blocking out (or trying to) lot of the stuff out so I don't have sensory overload, for this reason I do not do well in crowds of people.

      I talk to my dolls (and some of my other belongings), though not as much as I used to. But as for superstitions for my dolls... besides talking to them I don't do much else. I keep them sitting up where ever it is I store them. I do want to put a protecting stone in their head and a protective symbol somewhere on their body, but I haven't gotten around to it. Because they are in the same room that my mate and I sleep, I so make sure they aren't facing the bed so it wouldn't feel awkward during any "intimate" moments. >.>()