firewitchcafe

[firewitchcafe]

Hello dear friends, 🌟

I'm Mahmoud Jihad from Gaza. My family and I have lost everything—our home, my university, all of it. Now, we find ourselves living in a flimsy tent after losing everything. I was studying Information Technology and supporting my family, but now we are left with nothing. 😔

We are enduring unimaginable destruction and desperately need your help to survive. 😭 Even a small donation can make a huge difference. Every single contribution is a spark of hope in this dark time. ✨

Our campaign has been verified by: @beesandwatermelons ✅ #190 and @gazavetters ✅ #63.

You can make a difference by supporting us through this GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/463cbf01

From the depths of our hearts, thank you. Let's rebuild our lives together. 🙏❤️

Thank you so much for your generosity and support!

Your donations will directly help us in rebuilding our lives. Thank you again for your kindness and generosity! 🌹

.

[firewitchcafe]

Cultural Appropriation in Pop Paganism: What Not To Do

In modern media—and in modern witch craft—there are various circumstances of cultural appropriation. Sometimes by choosing to try something new you might be immensely appropriating something and never realize. So, it's important to keep a sharp mind and research, especially if you're a pop witch.

Most forms of media have something based on another culture. For example, Genshin Impact and Avatar the Last Airbender based each Nation on one or more cultures, even if it's not immediately obvious. When something takes root in another culture, you need to stop and think: "Is it okay if I work with this?"

Some things, like figures based on Arabic deities and historical figures, are generally okay to work with. Other things, like figures based on closed cultures, such as Lilith or Native deities, are not.

When picking up work with a pop figure, you are expected to research it just as well as you would research something in traditional witchcraft, and keep in mind all effects of you working with something.

Some questions to ask yourself, might be: Does this stir discourse in the cultures it's based on?

If it stirs discourse, am I part of the culture it's based on?

Is this character misrepresenting/whitewashed/negatively representing their original figure?

Is this based on a real world practice? If so, does it belong to a closed culture?

What are this culture's rules for outsiders partaking?

Does the source material forbid outsiders from partaking?

At the end of the day, a culture might just simply have rules for you to use something.

Like with white sage—as a native, native tribes don't actually forbid you from using it, we just ask that you obtain it from a culturally appropriate source, such as a native seller or home grown. Some tribes might ask you to smudge properly, and if a local tribe does, then please research how to do so. We also, in general, ask you not to kill the flame, as you would be killing a spirit.

It might just be simple as that. But for some things, it might be outright forbidden for you to do something.

Don't abuse pop culture to get around that.

[firewitchcafe]

🚨URGENT🚨

Please stop ✋🚨 you're the only hope to save a child🥺

My son Mohammed is in critical condition after being shot by Israeli drones. He has been taken to the operating ⛺️ and urgently needs treatment outside the Gaza Strip.

I need your help please share and donate!

Help us provide the care he needs.

No matter how small your donation is, it can save Mohammed.

Donate now:👇👇

https://gofund.me/b0a82c94

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✅️My campaign is vetted by el-shab-hussein & Nabulsi's, my number verified on the list is ( #355)✅️ 👇

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#Palestine #gofundme #operation olive branch #save palestine #gfm #gaza strip #gaza #free gaza #free palestine #gaza genocide #donations #support #ceasefire #please donate #people helping people #send hlep #please help #gazaunderattack #gaza help #Youtube #hazemsuhail #vetted #verified #palestine fundraiser #crowdfunding #palestine aid #mutual aid #signal boost #important #artists on tumblr s

[firewitchcafe]

this Thanksgiving consider donating to Indigenous Women Rising a native run org that helps native/indigenous women in the US access abortion and reproductive care

[firewitchcafe]

Since the holiday toy drive post is circulating again, I figured this would also be helpful! Food insecurity is such a massive problem in America, in general, and if you have the means to help feed others, I think you should take that opportunity. Here are some other tips:

1. If you’re planning on donating items from your own pantry, please check the expiration dates on the packaging. Think of your donations as gifts to bestow, not castoffs to be rid of. It’s awful to think of people feeling like they got scraps someone else just didn’t want. Everyone deserves dignity with their meals.

2. If you’d rather give money to a food bank, that’s also great since they buy food in bulk and know what items are most wanted/needed!

3. Not everyone has access to appliances like stoves or microwaves or hot plates so if you can donate items that don’t need to be heated up, that would also be greatly appreciated!

🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽

[firewitchcafe]

much better footage of the haka that shut down parliament today

[firewitchcafe]

just found out that there is a sudanfunds website! like gazafunds, it is a compilation of funds for people facing genocide

[firewitchcafe]

never kill yourself. i spent my sunday staying up all night playing a furry fishing game because some random person on the internet decided to sit down behind me and dedicate the next three hours of their life to playing undertale music on a shitty 18 fret guitar. the beauty of this world cannot possibly be overstated.

[firewitchcafe]

I know most of tumblr is thinking about the USA right now. but fuck the nz government right now too. tomorrow, the treaty principles bill, the 'worst, most comprehensive breach of Te Tiriti in modern times' is being introduced to parliament early, because there were activations planned country wide and the cowards decided to pull it forwards. fuck this government. a friend of mine had to go home early, crying. I've been in shock all day since it came out.

check on your Māori friends, e hoa mā. see what they need. see how you can help. everyday, we see and experience racism. from people around us, up to our government. community care will save us.

[firewitchcafe]

If you haven’t started already, start archiving/downloading everything. Save it to an external hard drive if you’re able. Collecting physical media is also a good idea, if you’re able.

Download your own/your favorite fanfics. Save as much as you can from online sources/digital libraries. Recipes, tutorials, history, LGBTQ media, etc. It has been claimed, though I can’t find the exact source if true, that some materials about the Revolutionary War were deleted from the Library of Congress.

It’s always better to be safe than sorry and save and preserve what you can. Remember that cloud storage also is not always reliable!

Library of Congress - millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, manuscripts.

Internet Archive - millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Has been taken offline multiple times because of cyber attacks last month, it has recently started archiving again.

Anna's Archive - 'largest truly open library in human history.’

Queer Liberation Library - queer literature and resources. Does require applying for a library membership to browse and borrow from their collection.

List of art resources - list of art resources complied on tumblr back in 2019. Not sure if all links are still operational now, but the few I clicked on seemed to work.

Alexis Amber - TikToker who is an archivist who's whole page is about archiving. She has a database extensively recording the events of Hurricane Katrina.

I'll be adding more to this list, if anyone else wants to add anything feel free!

[firewitchcafe]

Chai tea bag + lil but of brown sugar + apple cider packet + 16 oz. mug of hot but not quite boiling water

it will not Fix You but like. maybe. maybe.

[firewitchcafe]

IF YOU LIVE IN THE US, PLEASE READ THIS

Posting this from the bird app since I hope it can help people.

People have been contacting the White House directly to demand a recount, especially since there has been evidence that not every ballot has been counted and will be thrown away if it hasn't been cured.

The link to contact the White House is here!

The following screenshot comes from here!

If you need help writing something, check under the cut! I've provided a prewritten response from one of the replies!

"I am a concerned citizen, and I need you to hear me. I urge you to recount the ballots from this election and investigate election interference. Bomb threats have been called into multiple polling locations, causing some to close early. Domestic terrorists have burned ballot boxes. An unprecedented number of ballots have been rejected and require curing. There have been reports of polling officers allowing voter intimidation in and outside of polling places across the country and an estimated 20 million mail in ballots are unaccounted for. In addition, many people have reported that ballots were not counted for suspicious reasons such as signature invalidation which is information that vote counters do not have access to. These events have occurred in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Georgia, for instance."

Feel free to add and change what you want, this is just a base for you to work off of.

[firewitchcafe]

im seeing a lot of "queer people dont kill yourselves" posts and yes, i agree but also poc folks dont kill yourselves. you're needed in this space just as much as the white folks are. we will get through this hand in hand together

[firewitchcafe]

one of the best ways i’ve found to combat that inherent depressive pessimism without veering into toxic positivity territory is simply the phrase “i’m open to the possibility”

this particularly works with anything negative i’ve forecasted. “i woke up feeling like shit today, so my day is gonna suck” isn’t a particularly helpful thought, but “it’s a great day to be alive!!!!!” feels hollow and insincere when i have a pounding headache & am running on three hours of sleep

instead i’ll tell myself, “i really don’t feel good right now, but i’m open to the possibility that coffee and breakfast might perk me up a bit.” or “i’m in a lot of pain today, but i’m open to the possibility that my workday might still have fun parts despite that”

sometimes, when your impulse is to slam the door on anything good, but you’re not exactly up to going out & hunting it down yourself, leaving the door open just a crack makes all the difference

[firewitchcafe]

[firewitchcafe]

refraining from a lot of election joke posting and instead I just donated $55 USD to gaza soup kitchen and i encourage anyone else to consider donating even a couple of dollars to the people who will be affected the most from whatever outcome happens

you can also donate to care for gaza here

[firewitchcafe]

❗️Nevada voters - this is going to sound weird, but PICK UP YOUR PHONE if an unknown number calls.

**Lots of signatures on ballots are not matching and your ballot may need to be fixed.

TLDR; yes, signature matching is an antiquated way to verify ballots but it is still being used. Reportedly thousands of ballots here need to be cured. Answer the phone!