BajaNuts
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a house karma or superstition question
A house we were looking to buy in El Centenario had something really funny about it.
It had not been lived in for at least 5 years that we could tell. It was in a dilapidated state, in a totally Mexican quadrant of the town. Houses
stacked next to each other, most without proper infrastructure.
In the yard and on the 1st floor roof balcony were lots of little bags of dry pinto beans. Most looked like about 1/2 cup of beans in a sandwich
baggie and then tied shut with a couple of larger bags in the yard. It appeared they had been thrown over the chain-link fence into the yard and onto
the roof.
I asked a gringo friend who's been living in Centenario for about 10 years, what it was, he just shrugged and said "witchcraft?".
Anyone have any idea what the beans are for? Maybe that spooked us because even though the original deal fell through, we were offered the place at
about half the original price, and we just felt it had bad karma and walked away.
Love to hear some other stories of house karma Jesse referred to on the other post.
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Cypress
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Bob H
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNuts
Anyone have any idea what the beans are for? |
GAS!
Bob H
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Gypsy Jan
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After a Search
This is what came up (BTW, I don't use Google-don't like it).
This may be something of a belief that covers different countries:
"In Japan, during the festival of Setsuben, beans are scattered in dark corners and entrances of the home to drive out evil spirits."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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JESSE
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Well,
I mentioned house karma or vibe in another post, because i have never lived or worked in an old home before. Our last location was in an old house and
at night, when everybody or almost everybody left, it would get very uncomfortable there, chills up your spine kind of stuff. There where noises wich
we could never figure out where they came from. Shorts that no electrician could fix. etc
Our new location is also an old home, in fact, its a lot older than the previous, but here you never get that vibe. Sometimes i walk outside in the
courtyard late at night on my way to get a snack from the kitchen , and its so
peaceful and nice i want to take out my telescope and stay there looking at the stars all night.
I told the landlord about it, and he told me that his family had lived there for 100 years, and they where very loving, easy going, and good. I also
mentioned my experience in the other location, and he told me that the family that used to live there had a lot of problems. And was surprised that we
did well on that location based on the fact that over the years, many businesses had been there before and nobody was ever sucessful.
If your going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in a property, at the very least, you need to spend some time on figuring out if your going to
able to sleep well there, right?
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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I bought my first mexican house in GN...for very cheap...and it had been abandoned a very long time too. When I asked the neighbours why...they told
me a little girl had fallen from the balcony onto the spiked picket fence below and impaled herself.....ewww. We had a wonderful time living in that
house for several years...no problema.
Funny thing was that years later I found out that the neighbours were just making this story up so I wouldnt buy the house as they didnt want a gringa
in the barrio...hahahah
then a young man hung himself next door and this place has been vacant a good long time.
The San Roque cabin has that FEEL GOOD vibe to it and turns out, it was always the party house in the village where everyone gathered to play music,
cards and drink tequila...the legend lives on!
[Edited on 6-14-2009 by shari]
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Gypsy Jan
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I Think
That you are a very smart and sensitive person and that you are willing to pay attention to the subtle, not-really-obvious things.
I work hard (cough) every day just to understand what our dogs communicate to each other, with body language and energy.
There is so much going around us that is submerged in the clutter of our own obsessive concerns with the never-ending noise and chatter that
surrounds our daily lives.
[Edited on 6-13-2009 by Gypsy Jan]
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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Mulegena
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spirits of the land live on
... or so I believe.
My family home in Alta California is on a hill where local Indians still gather acorns. There is water in the meadow and old grinding holes; the
earth is rich with oily residue. All these indicate the past presence of human habitation.
We still hear footsteps on the stairs at night-- doesn't frighten anyone-- it just happens.
When my father grew ill I noticed things in the house were inexplicably moved. This stopped when he died. The day he died I found all the upstairs
doors and windows open; this was in January snow. A black cat stalked the property weeks before he died, then was never seen again.
I don't claim to understand or even interpret these phenomena; I just have observed that they are.
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Woooosh
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Before we had the house blessed, I used to see a old man wandering around inside my house some nights. I would wake up suddenly and see him. I'd try
to catch up to and follow him and he'd just disappear. My family is sensitive to these things. I wasn't scared, I just wanted to see if I could help
him find his way out. With all our locks and alarms I knew it was not an intruder. My nephew said someone would tug on his ear at night to wake him-
but he never saw anyone. We had the house blessed and the problem was gone. When I mentioned it to my neighbor (crazy likes company) he said an old
man had died on the lot a few year before I built the house. I guess the old man couldn't find his way out of what I built around the site where he
died. I tried to forget about that- thanks. geeesh... LOL
Once a month or so I'll see a woman get out of her car and dump a watermelon into the ocean- I figured that was a fertility thing. My Mexican family
is into a lot of things, but thankfully witchcraft isn't one of them. I did have a female mexican witch as a co-worker once and she scared the
bejeezus out of me at times. Luckily she liked me and watched out for me.
[Edited on 6-14-2009 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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oladulce
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Mulegena
My family home in Alta California is on a hill where local Indians still gather acorns. There is water in the meadow and old grinding holes; the
earth is rich with oily residue. All these indicate the past presence of human habitation.
... The day he died I found all the upstairs doors and windows open |
I used to work with a nurse who spent time on a Reservation in AZ. She said in that culture when someone dies they open the doors and windows of the
room for the spirit to escape.
When I worked in the ER, the "critical care room" where the most acute patients were treated was in the interior of the department. Since this is
where the sickest patients were treated, this is where most expirations occured.
If I was involved in the care of a patient who died, once we finished our work, I tried to take a few minutes to stand on the automatic door pad at
the ambulance entrance so it would stay propped open a bit. It allowed me to decompress a little so I could return to work, while honoring the life of
that patient.
Co-workers began asking what I was doing and I explained the Native American releasing of the Spirit belief. Others started joining in and it became
our gesture to quietly stand on the mat to open the ambulance door a few minutes before we returned to the madness.
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longlegsinlapaz
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Wooosh, Mulegena & Oladulce, thanks for the thought-provoking feel-good posts!
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Woooosh
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| Quote: | Originally posted by longlegsinlapaz
Wooosh, Mulegena & Oladulce, thanks for the thought-provoking feel-good posts! |
Really? Baja ghosts make you feel good?  Me too. The unexplainable gives us
hope.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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longlegsinlapaz
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It's a subject I've read about a lot & while I don't have any personal experiences, I do find it to be extremely intriguing. IMO, there are too
many well-documented stories/experiences for me to be writing it off as hogwash!
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BajaNuts
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I've spent some time searching for Mexican superstitions and specifically those involving beans and didn't find much on Mexican superstitions in
general.
Jesse- your viewpoint is interesting and very "telling" from two similar locations with 2 different vibes.
And Oladulce, That is a great subtle tribute to those you were caring for.
It sounds like some have feelings about locations and locations have feelings that some can pick up.
Mulegena & Wooosh; special things happening or were happening. I guess it all comes down to a basic belief in something more, or other
possibilities.
Maybe the neighbors were trying to bring good spirits to the house we were looking at? I dunnno...... Other than gas, I still have no idea what the
beans may before. But that's OK.
I find it interesting this subject doesn't get a lot of responses. And that's OK. It is intended to talk about vibes and superstitions ins Baja.
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Mulegena
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exerpt from Magic and Mysteries of Mexico by Lewis Spence
"The statement that fortunes were told with grain is worthy of passing notice. Grains of maize or beans were used to discover whether a patient would
get well, and the patroness of those diviners who used this medium was the golden Tozi, though the casting of grains was usually performed before an
image of Quetzalcoatl, the patron of magic."
This shows that beans were used historically in Mexican magic. How it has evolved in modern-day practices is unknown to me at this time. I'll ask
around.
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LOSARIPES
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Its all in your mind. The more you dig, the more you find.
If you don't dig, nothing you'll find.
You can sleep with your doors open should your spirit need to part,
just beware of the thieves who might give you a surprise.
Beans... never heard of them being used for anything else other than
eating..... food.... you know?
... de la olla
... guisados
... fritos
... refritos
... charros
... puercos... etc.
Never heard of them being wasted on witchcraft. ... ajos (garlic) yes... keep the Vampires away. Very effective. Water also has several applications
I hear but don't know the details....
Aripes
God bless America
and Baja tambien
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BajaDove
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Please! Garlic doesn't work on vampires. Some don't particularly like it but it won't scare them away. ole wives witchcraft.
If its not where it is, its where it isn\'t.
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