That was my childhood, and it scared me so much that I still can't look in mirrors at night unless I turn a light on. I run out of the room if any of my friends try to do it. I HATE the dark... But if it is outside and dark then it's fine, just not in buildings :/ and I did all those spells as a kid and they were just for fun and we all knew they would not work, but we liked pretending
"The cure for anything is saltwater: sweat, tears, or the sea" ~Isak Dinesen
I have a lot of contact with the people into this, since 2010ish. The "become a mermaid" thing has been around since 2008. -he age is anywhere from preteen to 18. A few are older, in their 20s. It "seems" harmless,, but I have seen some people do dumb stuff. There is one website that is very popular, run by these so-called mermaid princesses, who were such in a past life. They have been trying to get their tails for years and of course haven't gotten them. They even Had a plan to meet up last year...one of them stole $600 from her dad and planned to meet her "sisters" in New York. She was caught boarding the bus, thanks to her dad watching Facebook. Its a mix of dumb kids, bad parenting, and not keeping your kids off the net and/or knowing what they are doing. Nowdays most are into shifting, sans werewolf style.
Most of them I feel are smart enough not to do dumb stuff, but with most teens and the net, there are the liars, attention whores, and very gullible kids who will do nearly anything and believe anyone.
I wrote a long "study" of this "subculture" last year, but it focuses more on the community and how they intend to become mermaids more than the stupidity factor.
OMG when I was in fifth grade all of my friends were doing this! xD I'm pretty sure even I did it, lol. It's really popular with 10-11 year old girls, from what I remember, and pretty much every girl I know remembers that phase. And it wasn't just mermaids, it was also like vampires, werewolves, dragons, etc. Most of the spells were just like 'Sit in a bath tub and say these super hella magic words and you will grow a tail'. Of course none of them worked, so everyone just moved on a few months later. But yeah, I've never heard of it getting to the point of telling young girls to drown themselves :-/ That's just insane.
They/Them/Their
Speaking of kids getting WAY into mythological beings, to the point of danger mentally and physically.. two 12 year old girls stabbed their friend 19 times so they could be "proxies" for SlenderMan and live with him in the woods. This is what I'm talking about. Kids can go over the line. (This morning the story on this page was totally different and said nothing about mental illness- the attorney contacted MSN to change the title and the story.) That's because given the right life circumstances, kids can believe things to such a depth that they will put themselves and others in danger physically or mentally. This is one example of many, though sadly this escalated to extreme violence and almost in loss of life. This is why when I see kids doing everything they can to convince other kids that you can become a mythical creature, I step in and say something. Because I HAVE seen kids telling other kids that you have to breathe in water to become a mermaid, and other dangerous things, like drinking only salt water for a month to become one.
I saw that story on Facebook today and it just broke my heart that something like that could happen. And for the last part about breathing in water and only drinking salt water, I've never heard of it getting that bad. Like I said, when I was a kid it was just sitting in a bathtub and chanting 'I want to be a mermaid' ten times, stuff like that. It's just crazy that any of that stuff could even happen.
They/Them/Their
I agree, most of it is pretty harmless, and it's just kids having fun and being kids. But when people ask me why I get so worked up over something so innocent, with kids convincing other kids they can become mythical beings.. this is why.
I'm with Iona completely.
Ever since I was a kid, I've had a history of psychotic episodes and hallucinations; they're not nearly so frequent now, but from the time I was 13 to about 16 was... A really, really dark period for me. The hallucinations were at their worst and to this day I still can't look back on any of it and decipher what was real, what was a hallucination, there's huge blank gaps in my memory. During that time I became convinced that I was something nonhuman and different. Maybe it was because I was dealing with a really shitty living situation at home mostly caused by my mental illness mixed with the intense bullying I was experiencing after moving to a new city, but I was desperate to be something "special" and started spending all of my free time online on websites like these "How to Really Become A Demon/Werewolf/Vampire/Witch/Fairy/Dragon/etc" websites with other people who shared these same delusions. It became an unhealthy obsession, led to a lot of problems with my relationship with my family members and honestly only exacerbated my illness and made the hallucinations even worse. I began to think that I was spending time with-- and even in full-on relationships with-- a group of people who never actually existed, and there are weeks worth of these weird detailed memories of me being in a place that doesn't exist (which is extra scary, because I was still in junior high / high school at the time... What the fuck was I actually doing in school while these hallucinations were going on?).
Around the time I turned 15, the hallucinations started to fade. The people I was supposedly seeing, the places I was supposedly visiting, they just never happened anymore. My "transformations" into a demonic dragon were no longer happening, and by the time I was 16 the reality of my situation was starting to hit me and the thought that I'd just been a very sick, broken girl and that nothing that had happened to me was real was too much to bear.
By the time I graduated from highschool, at 18, I had attempted to kill myself three times-- First by hanging, second by cutting, third by overdose.
I'm doing a lot better now, six years later, but I still struggle with suicidal depression and anxiety. While my self-esteem has improved, I am still picking up the pieces from those years where I had been obsessed with this idea that I wasn't a human, could turn into a dragon... And every time I see websites like this cropping up, convincing young people that they can really turn into werewolves and dragons and demons and so on, I get nervous. I get scared for the people who are going to be drawn into this; because many of those people are young and desperate to be something special, the way I had been when I got drawn into it. I was lucky I made it out of that phase alive; how many others didn't? How many others won't?
People defend this stuff saying "Kids will be kids, they're just having fun!" "They're not SERIOUS, stop worrying about it!" but that doesn't matter-- many of the people who post these things, about spells and suicidal "rituals" to become some mythological creature, actively end up enabling and encouraging desperate people like me to actually go through with it. Some may actually kill themselves, and many more who don't will become mentally and emotionally scarred like I am. And it's not something that should just be brushed off with "it's just for fun" or "kids will be kids."
The recent Slenderman-related stabbings may be an extreme example of the things that can happen when young people become obsessed with rituals and mythological creatures, but from my personal experience with other people in this "underworld," it's really not that far off from the things that do happen.
Sorry for the rambling, just... This sort of stuff is kind of a raw spot for me.
I'm the one with the actual education and training in this field and I'm telling you kids believing this in an unhealthy way is an issue. There are studies and then the defined developmental stages back it up too.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Thanks for sharing your story, Tieri. I too have seen friends go into full on delusions and even hallucinations about them being dragons and other such things.. I've spoken to health care professionals and it's actually not uncommon for people in bad life situations (toxic parents, abusive families, bullying, trying to cope with depression or other mental health issues with little or no support system, ect). It doesn't make you "crazy", it just means exactly what you said- that more than anything that person just wants to be special, and/or they want to be in control of something in their life. So badly that they separate from reality. Coming back into reality from a separation like that can be devastating emotionally, too. Because you have to face the fact that you're not special, and that you let yourself believe all of that to such a degree that you do feel crazy. But like I said it's actually not uncommon.
Only one friend of mine I don't think ever snapped out of it.. he was 25 and believed he was a dragon and had fantastical magical "powers". His delusions started to spread.. he had a wife, kid on the way, and then wife and unborn child died.. neither of them ever existed. He too attempted to take is life several times. I and others tried to get him help but he wouldn't listen, and didn't want help. Instead he became a raging alcoholic (and he's type II diabetic, so extremely bad mix). He lost nearly all of his friends because he'd beat the shit out of someone when they would say that his wife didn't exist. In the end we couldn't help him. He was also very manipulative emotionally and a compulsive liar, so that didn't help. I know he's still alive, but other than that.. no idea.
Does anyone know of people with mermaid-specific delusions? The worst thing I have seen from people online is claiming to be a mermaid princess, and stealing money and running away (which I mentioned earlier). Altho there is plenty of "I am a mix of this that and the other thing", desperation for spells, believing anyone they come across, etc.
Another bad thing is the liars these kids can be. There is a picture of a girl's supposed tail that most wannabes who come across take it as real. This girl is an idol to many wannabes, but she hasn't been seen on the net for a year. Everyone thinks she ran away to the sea. She has given so many kids "hope" and then vanished. I can't tell if its editted or a costume tail. If I posted here someone might be able to tell?
I feel like it is a phase for many, and that the delusional ones are in the minority. Not that it makes what people have experienced any less worse or anything. I used to be really paranoid so I can relate to the stories here. Just what I think from what I have seen solely on the net.
Sent from my LG-D520 using Tapatalk
Here is a link to the pic on a mer-wannabe's tumblr: http://cowgirlofthemountain.tumblr.c...e-mermaid-girl
That picture looks like she's shopped a tail from the Mermaids: H2O Just Add Water Series:
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/pho...6-1020-727.jpg
I think a lot of the mermaid delusion stuff, past a certain age, tends to bleed into the Otherkin subculture (I don't know if we have any Otherkin people around on this forum?) I'm never too sure how to feel about Otherkin. On the one hand, I totally get that need to feel special, different. On the other hand, it seems like a slippery slope into a bad place. (Then you've got Otakukin, where the delusion is complete, and that is some scary shit, let me tell you.)
Well if someone could find the source I could go to the wannabes who believe her and show them she was wrong. I talked to some 4chan folks and they were no use, sadly.
Sent from my LG-D520 using Tapatalk
My mer-sona involves acquiring my tail through magical tattoos, the legacy of a sea hag, and a young girl who died attempting the "mermaid spell". Granted, I am not a professional merman so I have not addressed this background with children. One of these days... okay years... I will write the story down as "Inklings: a Merman's Tale".
(Formerly known as Æolius)
ok, I'm going to be a bit off-topic here for Tieri's sake, and anybody else who maybe still suffers from having had similar experiences.
Disclaimer:
This post contains potentially upsetting pagan wisdom.
Non-Pagans, do not read!
It's a tricky subject, especially as it's so hard to distinguish from "mere" delusions, but some of the things Tieri is describing do sound like the Astral Plane.
The astral plane is a place which cannot be seen or reached into by sane, sober, or untrained persons
still, it's there, and wiccans, druids, shamans, and the wise (wo)men of many ancient cultures practiced reaching out to it, conversing with its inhabitants (usually seen as spirits, fairies, or pagan gods) for guidance, knowledge and healing.
Traveling into the astral plane in your mind is called pathworking.
It takes lots of practice and is usually done in a trance.
Some practicioners have a totem animal, or are/turn into a certain creature/animal in their spirit form.
Sometimes, people tap into the astral plane by accident.
This happens usually by taking hallucinogenic plants, drugs, or medicine which can have such effects.
There are also certain groups of people which are more susceptible to the "Otherworld",
most notoriously so smaller children, and teenage girls.
There have been intensely and scientifically studied cases of teenage girls around who strange and inexplicable things were happening, which remain a mystery to this day.
However, usually with the end of puberty, these effects ceased, and whatever the girls had been able to see/sense, and do, vanished sometime around adulthood.
^^
The abovementioned things are very different from the childish "spells" and make-believe of children's games discussed earlier in this thread.
Just don't bash yourself for having had such experiences, because it's nothing unknown nor uncommon, and while it may also have been the result of unhappy circumstances, it sounds a lot like wiccan pathworking/pagan trancework done by accident.
Odd. I didn't develop fairy-sight until I was in my 40s.
(Formerly known as Æolius)
I'm not sure what you mean... the source for the tail? Here are some side by side comparisons you can show people, if that would help. The first one is Kissing Midnight's "tail" the second are from H2O.
I don't watch the show at all, so I don't know if she pulled it from a certain scene or shot (it's on Netflix, I believe, if you want to do some sleuthing of your own). But I'm pretty sure the tails are the same, or very similar. I think those tails were put up for sale, but I'm not sure; it's possible she could actually have one, or a similar one.
Bookmarks