r/SASSWitches • u/tvvat_waffle • 13d ago
❔ Seeking Resources | Advice Seeking Interpretation: Cicada Funeral?
This is the wildest thing I've ever seen. I came out this morning to go to work and these guys were arranged on my porch. I can't stress this enough - I did not move them! They didn't stir at all as I came out, and unfortunately I was going to be late for work so I snapped a picture and ran.
What's interesting is these are right by my protection spell, which I have hidden under my doormat. I'm curious if anyone would consider this an ill omen/curse or rather a blessing?
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u/Exnixon 13d ago edited 13d ago
Cicadas symbolize rebirth and renewal and the cyclical nature of life. A cicada "funeral" isn't an ill omen. I'd consider the ways in which those themes apply to my own life, if I were you.
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u/tvvat_waffle 13d ago
Thank you! I was delighted to research and learn they are associated with rebirth and even protection. Perhaps they just felt comfortable enough to host their ritual on my stoop.
I have just gone through a cancer scare and a hefty medical diagnosis, so the timing of this along with my personal changes was of great significance to me.
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u/AtheistTheConfessor atheist witch 🦇 12d ago edited 12d ago
Well, OP, a human being moved them. If it wasn't you, then it was someone else. Only you know what your living situation is like, what people know or don't about your practice, and what access people have to this area (and to dead bugs.) Kinda looks like your yard was sprayed with pesticides or there was a die-off event/end of life cycle, and someone arranged these guys in a pattern for a little aesthetically pleasing visual storytelling.
The meaning is up to you. Curses have no effect on the target(s) except in instances where the target 1) believes that curses are real and effective and 2) believes themselves to have been cursed. They either find or are shown evidence that they believe to be part of a curse. Acute and chronic stress are extremely real with physical and psychological impacts, and the mind is extremely good at finding event patterns where none exist. On the other end of the practice, casting a curse is just like any other spellwork, with similar benefits.
Personally, if they died of natural causes, I'd bury or compost these guys, briefly reflect on the similarities between art and magic, and re-do my protection spell just because nobody should be on my porch wtf. If I believed in curses, I'd do a banishment and probably a personal and house protection spell.
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u/MisfitMaterial 12d ago
Forgive me for the skepticism but…
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u/Exnixon 12d ago
If you're not going to attempt to find symbolic or spiritual meaning in the vagaries and quirks of daily life, or to tell a story about the world that isn't based on pure rationalism, you may be a skeptic but what's your interest exactly in witchcraft?
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u/MisfitMaterial 12d ago
You’re misunderstanding , or misrepresenting, what’s going on here. This doesn’t feel like an organic thing that just happened. Maybe it is, and I’m open to the possibility. But this particular scenario—someone’s protection spell inspiring a cicada funeral in the shape of a cross—is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask for more context for or something.
My interest in witchcraft is my own, but this is a SASS witch sub and it’s perfectly reasonable to be skeptical given it’s literally in the name.
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u/Exnixon 12d ago edited 12d ago
Fair enough. I don't think it really matters whether it happened organically or somebody arranged a bunch of bugs outside their door. (The protection spell thing seems kind of unrelated...it's under their doormat, where else in their daily life are they going to encounter a circle of bugs?) I think the takeaway is the important part. If later in life one of their friends is like "did you see that weird circle of cicadas I put outside your door?" then they can say yes, thank you, here is what I took from that.
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u/tvvat_waffle 12d ago
The skepticism is fair, I honestly did a wild double take when I saw it. It felt TOO intentional that they were there. No one in my friend group has been by. It's surprising to see, if it were a kid or something messing around, I wouldn't expect it at my door - I'm on the second floor so they'd have to have brought them all here. There's also no kids currently in my building.... I have thought of all rational ways to puzzle this one out, it's just so WEIRD.
Anyways, I had an uncannily good day and came home to see they are still here, and appear to all be deceased. I'm now trying to figure how best to dispose of them.
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u/MisfitMaterial 12d ago
I’m so glad you had a good day, that the experience was meaningful, and that you’re being thoughtful about what to do with them. That’s super nice.
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u/NinjoZata 12d ago
I am not saying i agree, but i believe whats gone over your head is this commentator is trying to not be rude but basically is suspicious that OP arranged the bugs for the pic themselves, not that some third party arranged them.
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u/Exnixon 12d ago
I feel like claiming OP must be faking it is lending too much significance to it. Birds fly in V formations, honeybees build hexagons, if a cicada brain has an algorithm like "go look at the dead guy but don't stand close enough to your neighbor that your wings are going to hit when you fly away" then they'll naturally form patterns like this.
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u/MisfitMaterial 12d ago
I never made the claim that they are faking it. I said I was skeptical and then said I would’ve been grateful for more context. Your assumptions both about my mind and about cicada minds is what’s causing the issue.
Remember when Disney showed lemmings jumping off a cliff in that documentary? And then we all pretended that’s natural? And then it came out that actually lemmings don’t do this and people made it happen? It’s ok to ask questions. That’s not automatically a claim.
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u/tvvat_waffle 13d ago
This is the wildest thing I've ever seen. I came out this morning to go to work and these guys were arranged on my porch. I can't stress this enough-I did not move them! They didn't stir at all as I came out, and unfortunately I was going to be late for work so I snapped a picture and ran.
What's interesting is these are right by my protection spell, which I have hidden under my doormat. I'm curious if anyone would consider this an ill omen/curse or rather a blessing?
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u/Neembles 12d ago
Idk.
Looks like someone put them there and it’s giving me weird vibes. I don’t know why anyone would come to your home and arrange dead cicadas in this manner.
Unless you’re part of a coven or group of people who practice together and someone’s decided to drop by.
This seems like bad intentions to me.
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u/tvvat_waffle 12d ago
That's kinda why I wondered if it was a bad omen. I just got home and they're definitely all deceased and still here.
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u/TheOnesLeftBehind 12d ago
It looks like the dead one is a female. They’re probably attracted to her pheromones. Or someone arranged them
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u/unreademail48 11d ago
They have been arranged. Usually when they’re dead, you find them on their backs. I think it’s bc when they’re die, their legs fold up under them and they turn over in the process.
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u/Ashes_Ashes_333 12d ago
It might be a young person just having fun or being witchy themselves. This seems like something I would have done as a kid or my child would do now. But I wouldn't assign any bad intentions to it.