Schadenfreude -- a magical perspective

Journals, Group Rituals & Free Readings
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For those who don’t know what this is, the name is German. Interestingly, we don’t have an English equivalent. The closest perhaps being ‘sociopath’. :rofl:

schadenfreude

/ˈʃɑːd(ə)nˌfrɔɪdə,German ˈʃɑːdənˌfrɔydə/

noun

noun: Schadenfreude ; noun: schadenfreude

  1. pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune.

“a business that thrives on schadenfreude”

So, here’s where the magic comes into it.

I recently performed a curse to make an ex friend (now enemy) barren. Her biggest wish in life is to have a kid, despite the trainwreak that she is. She isn’t willing to enter into a relationship with somebody, not since she had a bad break up 10 years ago. So she has to rely on sperm donors.

Now, travel restrictions plus her gran’s health issues (who she cares for and is paid by the government to do so) has prevented her from doing this. Add to that she is hitting close to 40 (though you’d think she was closer to 20 with the way she acts) meaning her window to get knocked up is closing fast.

I put my will into the world, to ensure she will never bear children. To take that which she desires most.

Now, I’m not sure if the spell worked but she randomly messaged me pictures of her pets the other day. I was going to ignore it, but I wanted an indication, to see if stuff had happened.

So I asked how she was, and if she’d like to catch up.

To which she replied, “No, my life has been really shit lately. I just want to be alone.”

I know this doesn’t mean the spell worked, but all the same, I got an extreme energy kick from her misery. It made me happy, gleeful, almost as if I had fed on her misery to nourish myself.

The second story I have to tell, doesn’t involve spells. I met a guy, and while I don’t normally swing for guys (I’m all about the ladies, really. I “identify” (ugh) mostly as a lesbian, but under the right conditions I might swing the other way.
Such was this time… only, I found out he had a shit ton of baggage. He wants to get back with his ex, despite the fact that his ex emotionally abuses him and is controlling, and cheated on him, eventually getting knocked up. And the weak cunt wants to go back to that?

So after three times hooking up, I ended it. I felt the lustful chemicals in my brain forming an attachment to him, when in reality, he is a poor wretch of a man and to get caught up in his sewer would be the equivalent to self-empowerment suicide. He wasn’t even a good lay really, no wonder I prefer women.

What amused me is that he insists he wants to “make it work” with this other bitch, yet I was the one who had the “balls” to put a stop to it. His weakness began to repulse me… there’s a person I hate more than the abuser, and that’s the one ridden with “stockholm syndrome”, happy to take it in the arse and be abused no matter what. Pathetic.

Anyway, we agreed to be friends and to stop fucking around. Only yesterday, he become lustful and wouldn’t stop hitting on me, trying to cop a feel here and there.

That is when I gave him a serving. I told him straight out, I will never fuck him again and don’t come running to me.

And there it is… I derived great pleasure from denying him my loins, and outlining how much of a disaster he is.

I saw him not long after, he’s miserable.

It made me happy, and once again a surge of energy rippled through me, nourishing my will… which is scary, cause I really do want him as a friend. :rofl:

Thoughts?

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Reads like a dear diary entry - moved to Journals.

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This is a really interesting concept I’ve been looking into for years. My understanding of the idea is a little different: I think that your definition is missing the idea of a comeuppance, someone is getting what they deserve. So the feeling of glee at their pain includes an idea of a sense of justice or karma.

There is also the sense of comparing … their pain makes you much happier with your own lot in life. It’s funny when someone slips and falls gloriously down the stairs because it’s not us, and some of the pleasure is relief that it’s not us!

It also can serve to distract you from your own pain.

None of those ideas incorporate a sense of sociopathy. That idea essentially includes an inability to empathize, so the focus isn’t so much getting pleasure from another’s misfortune, that’s just a potential side effect.

And then there’s sadism, where you get pleasure out of causing another person pain. With schadenfreude, you aren’t necessarily the cause. I suppose a sadist could also feel schadenfreude, but there’s no necessary connection.

Just some thoughts.

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German language allows for combinations that other languages just don’t. The language is inventive in that combos can also be juxtapositions. Combinations that seem at first to be disparate are particularly effective at addressing oxymorons. Take the word current in vogue, Schadenfreude (“joy in another’s misfortune”). The contrast between the “damage” or “hurt” of the determiner ( Schaden ) with the primary “joy” ( Freude ) adds an ironic dimension to the already rich combination.
This kind of grammatical sleight-of-hand that German allows can greatly convey a complex concept even in one word. Take the noun das Werdende . It began with the verb werden (“to become”), but a couple of manipulations result in a relatively pithy noun that requires a mouthful when translated to English: “that which is in the process of becoming.”
Then there’s a great favorite, Verschlimmbesserung . This construction doesn’t just present contrasting concepts. It also employs a playful use of German’s grammatical structures to tie them together. The word begins with two verbs – verschlimmern (“to worsen”) and verbessern (“to improve”). It then conflates their prefixes ( ver- ), and adds the suffix ( -ung ) to turn it into a noun. This process compresses an idea that only a wordy English translation can unpack: “an intended improvement that makes things worse.”