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Ringing the devil's doorbell

 
 
Hieronymus
04:16 / 30.09.02
Okay. I'm neckdeep in an magical realism/ Orpheistic story. And I've got a mortal character who needs to enter Hell. What rituals/ tricks/ methods would a guy use if he was going the Dante route? I've noticed a wealth of river-entry modes of travel but I was thinking something more.... O Brother Where Art Thou-ish? Something bluesy? If that makes any sense at all.
 
 
William Sack
08:00 / 30.09.02
Bluesy? Just take your guitar to The Crossroads.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
08:41 / 30.09.02
Play a Screamin' Jay Hawkins album backwards?

Sorry, I'll try to think of something a bit more sensible.
 
 
We're The Great Old Ones Now
09:17 / 30.09.02
Guitar to crossroads is the devil coming to you. Getting to Hell itself...hmmm...

Brother Where Art Thou, you'd have one of those rope-driven raft things they use in the South of the US at small rivers, and a thin, speachless man to take you across, maybe playing an accordion with a broken concertina-box, so it makes a ghastly noise.

Otherwise, I'd say the Blues answer in was the Whisky bottle. Smoke and drink and set the whisky in fire, then drink it down/pour it over yourself, and step into the darkness, or something.

Don't forget that if you drink of the water, you forget - v. blues, too.
 
 
William Sack
10:02 / 30.09.02
Whisky? Yes, I like that. Very blues. Also, thinking of O Brother Where Art Thou in terms of its Homeric and Greek mythological echoes - a trip to hell for the Greeks is not something to be undertaken lightly. It's no (return) trip for the merely inquisitive, and very few undertook it (Orpheus, Herakles, Persephone, Aeneas, Odysseus a handful more?) and only as a last-resort stepping stone to a greater goal. I half-remember something about the association between the Eleusinian Mysteries and trips to hell involving prolonged and complex rites of purification, intoxication etc. I'm pretty sure that something involving whisky, drunken perdition, a Robert johnson pact (though I hear what you say about the crossroads Nick) might give you an authentic and bluesy trip to hell. Sorry - mind-splatter.
 
 
Hieronymus
12:40 / 30.09.02
I like that whiskey idea a lot, Nick. Would a whiskey fire circle (with the leftover hooch sucked down by the character) make sense as the opening to a descending staircase? It has to be very formal, in that the character used to have a backdoor way in but now he as to approach through the front gates and request admittance.
 
 
Hieronymus
13:49 / 01.10.02
*bump of creative desperation*
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
14:02 / 01.10.02
Well, the Golden Bough....which is wood. Which could be a guitar, or a shotgun stock. And, since no birds fly over Lake Avernus, a shotgun could work quite nicely...
 
 
William Sack
14:25 / 01.10.02
The more I think about it the more I love the whisky thing. Its flammability, its Lethe-like effect, its etymology - uisge beatha - water of life, and its bluesyness seem perfect for your requirements such as I understand them. The ritualistic use of intoxicants is such that I'm sure you can create a strong element of formality if that's what you are going for. Good luck.
 
 
grant
16:50 / 01.10.02
I like whiskey, but also like the river.

And "whiskey river" is a definite location on the blues map of the metaphysical world.

You'd have to be carried across the river, definitely, by somebody or something.
 
 
cusm
17:13 / 01.10.02
Blusy/Robert Johnson stuff harkens to Hoodoo. Drawing from that area, pour whisky on the ground in a cross (crossroads) rather than a circle, and light it on fire. Drink some, blow the rest into the flaming crossroads to open the gate.

Interesting followup to whatever rite: rather than opening a physical special effects gate, have a beat up taxi driven by a wicked looing Rasta pull up to give the man a ride. He of course, asks for 2 silver dollars as the fare, as he drives him across the railroad tracks to the Wrong Side of Town.
 
 
Hieronymus
22:31 / 01.10.02
I could kiss each and every one of you. Thank you. This helps immensely.
 
  
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