Positive energy/prayers needed please. I'm scared.

The Cauldron's server is expensive and requires monthly payments. Please become a Bronze, Silver or Gold Donor if you can. Donations are needed every month. Without member support, we can't afford the server.

Or donate directly via Paypal

This message board is The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's SMF Archive Board. It is closed to new memberships and to posting, but there are over 250,000 messages here that you can still search and read -- many full of interesting and useful information. (This board was open from February 2007 through June 2011).

Our new vBulletin discussion board is located at http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/ -- if you would like to participate in discussions like those you see here, please visit our new vBulletin message board, register an account and join in our discussions. We hope you will find the information in this message archive useful and will consider joining us on our new board.

[Petrichor]

The neighbors are still waging their hate campaign. I don't know what I did to piss them off or why they hate me. They're hateful, vicious, and violent all on their own, but why ME? They're complaining to the city about me. They don't like my yard, so now I have to spend several thousands of dollars putting in new sod. I don't have several thousands of dollars. I'll be lucky if I can pay my mortgage in a couple of days. They're quite serious in their threat to drive me into the street to die.

And I don't know what I can do about it!!!

This is killing me. And I've no recourse. There's nothing I can do.

Have they actually gone to the city and the city came back to you and said you have to do something about it? I can't tell from your post if they have or if you're just freaking out.

If not I don't think that you have much too worry about on this front. It depends on the laws in your city but at most I think they just fine you although I don't know what happens if you don't pay the fine but they don't throw you in jail for not paying the fine either. They probably won't fine you either unless your yard is a health hazard and leaking oil or something. The city can't kick you out of your property.

Don't worry, probably what will happen is your neighbors will complain and the city will go "uh huh, uh huh, yeah." and then maybe the city might do something about it in a few months if they feel like it. Or they might not even follow up on your yard if there are no health hazards involved.

You are in a hard situation and you have every reason to be as stressed out as you are but when new and potentially bad developments happen you need to take a step back and really ask yourself if this is a genuine threat. Try not to react to everything by panicking automatically or you're going to ruin your health in the long term and that's totally the last thing you need right now is to get sick. IF the city does follow up on you worry about it then but don't add to your worries now.

It sounds like your neighbors are trying to intimidate you anyway that they can (in their own petty way) and maybe even intimidate the rest of your neighbors too. Don't let them get to you!

[catherine]

The neighbors are still waging their hate campaign. I don't know what I did to piss them off or why they hate me. They're hateful, vicious, and violent all on their own, but why ME? They're complaining to the city about me. They don't like my yard, so now I have to spend several thousands of dollars putting in new sod. I don't have several thousands of dollars. I'll be lucky if I can pay my mortgage in a couple of days. They're quite serious in their threat to drive me into the street to die.

And I don't know what I can do about it!!!

This is killing me. And I've no recourse. There's nothing I can do.

I'm sorry, Straycat. I still don't understand why you think they can get away with this harassment. Is there some kind of community ordinance that says you have to maintain your yard in a certain way? For example, the community that I live in will fine you if your grass is too long, or if your yard is a health issue for the rest of the neighborhood, but they can't force a resident to plant grass. Or, are you dealing with a home owner's association? Some communities do have standards that everyone has to meet, but usually you will know about that before you purchase the property. Also, I'm still unclear about why they think they can use your property without your permission. I'm sure there is something you can do, but you have to find out what the local ordinances are first and make sure that you're in compliance. Then, maybe you should go after them for harassment.

[Petrichor]

I'm sorry, Straycat. I still don't understand why you think they can get away with this harassment. Is there some kind of community ordinance that says you have to maintain your yard in a certain way? For example, the community that I live in will fine you if your grass is too long, or if your yard is a health issue for the rest of the neighborhood, but they can't force a resident to plant grass. Or, are you dealing with a home owner's association? Some communities do have standards that everyone has to meet, but usually you will know about that before you purchase the property. Also, I'm still unclear about why they think they can use your property without your permission. I'm sure there is something you can do, but you have to find out what the local ordinances are first and make sure that you're in compliance. Then, maybe you should go after them for harassment.

Yes some one else who agrees with me on the harassment. Definitely look up the harassment laws. Call the police all the time and ask them file a report every time your neighbors harass you and make your own detailed records with dates of their harassment.

[Straycat]

Yes some one else who agrees with me on the harassment. Definitely look up the harassment laws. Call the police all the time and ask them file a report every time your neighbors harass you and make your own detailed records with dates of their harassment.

I got a threatening letter from the city two days ago. Today I got an even more threatening letter, registered mail signature required. I have to clean up all the garbage in my yard and all of the trash and garbage that I strewed all over the alley. If I don't do this, I will be fined thousands of dollars.

There is no garbage in my yard! There is NOTHING in the front yard. NOTHING AT ALL. And I got the second threatening letter AFTER I very carefully mowed the front yard and trimmed the weeds. So I am entirely clueless as to what they're after.

As for the back yard, there is no garbage. I take my garbage out and put it on the curb once a week like all of my neighbors do. The next morning, it's gone. There is no debris. I have some tomato cages on my back porch and some garden tools, but I wouldn't classify a rake or weedeater as garbage. I have a compost bin and a couple of neatly bagged bags of leaves by it. I also have some firewood and kindling stacked in a couple of piles. All of this has been there for almost five years. I've never heard that any of this was against the law.

And that bit about my throwing garbage all over the alley?  THERE IS NO ALLEY! I have an odd shaped lot, and it backs up onto three other back yards. So I may be in debt several thousand dollars because I refuse to clean up an invisible alley.

Some posts ago, I mentioned that it didn't look like my protection spells were working. It's NOT a matter of disbelief. During the rituals and afterward, it felt like they were solid. Then I get blindsided by yet another attack. So, no, it doesn't look like they're working. I was hoping for some suggestions as to why. Does it take time to take effect? Should I continue to do it every night? Is there some other kind of ritual or spell that I should be doing that will resolve this problem better, faster?

I'm not trying to launch both barrels at them. I was trying to avoid that. I tried asking politely. When they started threatening me, I called the police. I tried protection rituals. I'm still being attacked. So what in all-fired Hades do I do now?

And my original problem -- the fact that I need to pay my bills and mortgage and my money's drying up, that I wanted magical help/advice on -- is still there. (If the Universe would cooperate by throwing a lot of money at me, that would take care of the above problem. I'd just move away. To a nicer place. With high walls. And gentle neighbors who travel a lot.)

Btw, I quoted. See? See? I was a good girl.

[Star]

Btw, I quoted. See? See? I was a good girl.

This is actually a situation where you probably could've skipped it, since it's an update about an ongoing situation.  As I said elsewhere, if you're unclear about what we're requiring from you, please contact me via PM and I'll help clear it up.  We don't want to be annoying about it, and I'm sorry that we have to keep bugging you about it when you've clearly got bigger problems in your life, but we do need you to follow the rules when posting here just like everyone else.

Re: the letter from the city, I'd do something similar there:  contact the person or office at the city who sent the letter and ask them to explain to you exactly what it is that they're asking you to do, since it's unclear (and especially since it appears to involve an alley that doesn't appear to exist).  The cynical side of me is wondering if the letter is even genuine, or if it's part of the ongoing harrassment--was it on official letterhead and so forth?  Even then, I wonder if someone could've "borrowed" or duplicated the letterhead.  Maybe look up the department/official online and see if the contact info matches?  The other thing I'm wondering is whether someone called in a false report and the city just took their word for it without coming out to check.  Either way, a call to them to ask what's going on would probably help at least help you figure out what it is that the city wants from you, and might do better than that.

[Jenett]

I got a threatening letter from the city two days ago. Today I got an even more threatening letter, registered mail signature required. I have to clean up all the garbage in my yard and all of the trash and garbage that I strewed all over the alley. If I don't do this, I will be fined thousands of dollars.

There is no garbage in my yard! There is NOTHING in the front yard. NOTHING AT ALL. And I got the second threatening letter AFTER I very carefully mowed the front yard and trimmed the weeds. So I am entirely clueless as to what they're after.

Definitely second the asking to talk to someone in the relevant department directly. Also, if you have a digital camera (doesn't need to be a great camera: a phone camera would do it...), take photos of how it is right now that clearly show all the relevant aspects. (Digital cameras will carry a date/time stamp, which might be helpful.)

Some posts ago, I mentioned that it didn't look like my protection spells were working. It's NOT a matter of disbelief. During the rituals and afterward, it felt like they were solid. Then I get blindsided by yet another attack. So, no, it doesn't look like they're working. I was hoping for some suggestions as to why. Does it take time to take effect? Should I continue to do it every night? Is there some other kind of ritual or spell that I should be doing that will resolve this problem better, faster?

It's really hard to tell via an online discussion without a *lot* more detail about exactly what you did, how it was framed, etc.

That said: if you are not getting the results you want, it might be a good time to look at other alternatives. A few things worth considering:

- One of the things I've experienced with protection/warding spells in particular is that they work best when I am taking optimal care of the place I'm protecting.

That doesn't just mean 'safe', but that effort put into making things clean, tidy, organised, etc. pays off big time on the magical side as well as the mundane one. Even if you think your back yard is perfectly tidy, it might be worth looking to see how you could make it even more so, for example. Are there simple things you could do that would make it look well-tended? (For example, moving all of your tools to somewhere where they aren't visible - even if they are appropriate to have, they can still look cluttered to other people.)

- Another thing about protection spells is that they can be complicated when someone is using tools that reach outside the area you're protecting - for example, if someone has reported you to the local city authority, you would need to make sure that your protection work included that.

In this case, it might be more use to do work for clear communication and understanding in your conversations with the city, so that it's clear to them that you're sincerely trying to figure out what's up, appreciate their help, and so you can resolve this in your favor.

Does your town/city have anything like an ombudsman? It might be very helpful to talk to someone like that and say "There's a pattern of harassment from one set of neighbors: I'm concerned that this report is a part of that. I do want to resolve it, but I'm honestly confused about what my next steps need to be." (It would help a great deal if you have records of the previous harassment - and if you don't already have digital shots of things like them parking in your driveway, that'd be a good thing to start adding - don't make a big fuss about it, just take the shots from your front door or whatever and keep notes. (It'd be good to be able to read the license plate, for example, and see the shape/color of the car.))

But it's very clearly a complex situation, and there's something going on with it that is very resistent to other means of dealing with it. That means you have to get a bit more creative - and also that your own documentation of the problems has to be superb, because that will help make it clear what's going on to other people who have the ability to help you. (Remember that your local police and government are probably also underfunded and overworked: they may not realise how complex the situation is and how much you've tried to do already without some help to make it clear.)

[Straycat]

This is actually a situation where you probably could've skipped it, since it's an update about an ongoing situation.  As I said elsewhere, if you're unclear about what we're requiring from you, please contact me via PM and I'll help clear it up.  We don't want to be annoying about it, and I'm sorry that we have to keep bugging you about it when you've clearly got bigger problems in your life, but we do need you to follow the rules when posting here just like everyone else.

Re: the letter from the city, I'd do something similar there:  contact the person or office at the city who sent the letter and ask them to explain to you exactly what it is that they're asking you to do, since it's unclear (and especially since it appears to involve an alley that doesn't appear to exist).  The cynical side of me is wondering if the letter is even genuine, or if it's part of the ongoing harrassment--was it on official letterhead and so forth?  Even then, I wonder if someone could've "borrowed" or duplicated the letterhead.  Maybe look up the department/official online and see if the contact info matches?  The other thing I'm wondering is whether someone called in a false report and the city just took their word for it without coming out to check.  Either way, a call to them to ask what's going on would probably help at least help you figure out what it is that the city wants from you, and might do better than that.

I'm sorry I broke your rules again. I apologize for continuing to break them over and over. God knows I'm getting plenty of rules and rule breaking these last several weeks.

I'm just going to stop posting entirely. I give up. I've tried and tried, and I guess I'm just too damn dumb to figure it out. :-(

[Star]

I'm sorry I broke your rules again.

No--you didn't break any rules this time--there's no rule against quoting when you don't need to.  In fact, when in doubt it's better to quote; we'd rather you did quote when you don't need to than the other way around.  I was only trying to help clarify for you, that's all.  I'm sorry if it came across as a reprimand; it certainly wasn't meant as such.  (At least about the quoting.  Maybe it was meant as a tiny bit of a reprimand about the sort of passive-aggressive tone, but that wasn't about breaking rules either, it was just me being frustrated because it sounded like you thought asking you to follow the rules was really unreasonable of us.)

I'm just going to stop posting entirely. I give up. I've tried and tried, and I guess I'm just too damn dumb to figure it out. :-(

Please don't.  You're not dumb; you just need some help figuring out what we're trying to get you to do.  Which is totally understandable, since our rules are different from most forums' rules.  I'm offering you that help if you will just take it.  I can't help you if you just throw up your hands and say "this is too hard", though.

I...  I'm sorry, but I don't feel like you've tried.  You've made some mistakes, OK, that happens.  But as it becomes obvious that you're just not understanding what it is we want from you, you don't seem to be making any effort to change that by asking us for clarification or explanation.  You just keep apologizing and then moving on, and never really doing anything to improve your understanding.  We will help you understand--we certainly don't expect you to read our minds and just magically know what we want!--but we can't do that if we don't know what it is that's confusing you.  We need some help from you in order to be able to help you get back on track here.  We need to know what you need from us just as much as the other way 'round.

PM me.  Seriously.  I'd like to help.  My weekend is a little busy, but I've got the rest of the work day today at least and after that I'll get back to you as quickly as I can.

[Lailoken]

My advice...document EVERYTHING!!!

First, find out if those letters are authentic.  If so, have the city explain to you how they can send letters regarding garbage that doesn't exist in your yard and garbage in an alley that doesn't exist (forgetting the fact that no one could prove it was your garbage all over the alley since it doesn't exist anyway) based solely on a phone call from a neighbour.  Hang on to those letters!

Take weekly date/time stamped photos of your yard.

When the neighbours park in your drive or block your drive, take date/time stamped photos of the car with the license plate visible.  Call the police and a towing company.  The police will probably look at this as low priority, but at least you'll have a paper trail if you have to get a restraining order or go to court.  If they do come out and have your neighbours remove their cars at say 3pm, then half an hour later the cars are back, those time stamped photos will come in handy.  It may be low priority for the police, but once they see this lack of respect for them, they be pissed.

When your neighbour has one of her screaming fits, video tape her.  Stay calm, don't threaten her, on or off camera.  Call the police.

Same thing with the debt collector, document everything.  If you have a digital recorder, let them know that the conversation is being recorded.  As far as I know, as long as your let me know you're recording, it's not illegal.  Request only mail/written communication.  Have them put everything down in writing (I'd like to see them send you a letter threatening you with jail time!).

It's going to be a lot of work on your part, but this is your health and well-being we're talking about...too much is never enough.  Your only concern is protecting yourself, so having to get up and take pictures and videos all the time, constantly having to call the police and a towing company is a pain, but you need to do what you can (legally) to take care of things.  Speaking of which, I'm not exactly sure what your protection spell entails, but to me, a protecting spell will keep me from harm and my house safe from intruders/vandals.  It wouldn't stop them from parking where they will, yelling at you from the street, having neighbourhood meetings about you.  I say keep up with the protection spell, but think about a binding or banishing...something that directly focuses on your neighbours behaviour.

As for the job hunt...have you tried any spells for that?  I used a spell for success and prosperity to great success once (while still putting out resumes and interviewing).  I ended up with multiple job offers, a few coming from companies I didn't even send resumes to!

[Petrichor]

Yes I'm agreeing with everything everyone has said so far. And you must not give up because then you will really lose. Harassment is a crime. You can go to jail for it. Anything that's worth keeping is going to be hard work even with magic(k) involved. But you must call the police whenever they start harassing you and request that they file a report every time you call to help build a case against your neighbors in addition to keeping your own records of these events.

[Tags:]

Jump to: Please select a destination: ----------------------------- About The Cauldron ----------------------------- => Rules and Regulations => Cauldron Announcements ===> Volunteers Needed: Site Assistants and Projects => Introductions => Board Questions, Suggestions, and Feedback => Chat and CauldronMUX Support => Test Board ----------------------------- Religion and Philosophy ----------------------------- => Paganism For Beginners => Books and Other Resources => Pagan Religions => Pagan Spirituality => Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology => Worship and Ritual => Holidays and Festivals => History and Religion => Faith in Everyday Life => Philosophy and Metaphysics => Non-Pagan Religions and Interfaith Discussions => Miscellaneous Religious Discussions ----------------------------- Magic and the Occult ----------------------------- => Magic and the Occult for Beginners => Witchcraft, Hoodoo, and Folk Magic => The Western Magical Tradition => Chaos Magic => Lodges and Other Magic Organizations => Miscellaneous Magical Discussions ----------------------------- Special Interest Groups & Special Discussions ----------------------------- => Special Topic Discussions => Chavi Memorial Chronic Illness SIG => General SIGS ===> College Pagans SIG ===> Cooking SIG ===> Divination SIG ===> Home and Garden SIG ===> Pagan Parents SIG ===> Teen Pagans SIG => Religious SIGS ===> Asatru and Heathenry SIG ===> Cauldron Cill ===> FlameKeeping SIG ===> Hazel and Oak: A Celtic Polytheism SIG ===> Neo-Druidry SIG ===> Reformed Kemeticism SIG ===> Ta Hiera Hellenic Polytheism SIG => Book/Media Discussion Boards ===> Academic Book Discussions ===> Pagan Religion Book Discussions ===> Magick Book Discussions ===> Fiction Book Discussions ===> DVD/Video Discussions ----------------------------- Life, the Universe, and Everything Else ----------------------------- => Pagan Announcements => Prayer and Energy Requests => News and Politics ===> Religious News ===> Non-Religious News ===> Political Discussions => Social Discussion Boards ===> Art, Poetry and Writing ===> Books ===> Computers and the Internet ===> Crafts and Hobbies ===> Family Life ===> Gaming ===> Health and Medicine ===> Humor and Quizzes ===> Music, Television, and Film ===> Pets ===> Science and Technology ===> Sports and Recreation