liminalwings

[liminalwings]

I wish Americans fucked with more foreign music. You don’t have to know the language to appreciate a good record. Folks in other countries listen to our music and don’t speak a lick of english. Music needs no translator

[liminalwings]

[liminalwings]

reblog if you're corny and insufferable

[liminalwings]

I want to work on something more elaborate but basically what I want to say comes down to this:

Too many people waste their time staying informed about things they'll never change while ignoring the vast amount they could - and that is only to the benefit of everyone they profess to be against.

My recommendations:

Block ads - they track and sell your data on and offline; they're whole goal is to further capitalism/consumerism

Get off of social media entirely (especially Meta platforms) or move to decentralized platforms; decentralized ones at least aren't optimized to keep you on them

Leave streaming platforms (Netflix, Spotify) limit or avoid endless content platforms (YouTube). They have a vested interest in you not feeling satisfied, tiring you out so all you can do is consume them.

When you do consume, switch to more free/low cost media from collective sources like libraries (books, DVDs, music, Kanopy or Hoopla) and direct from creators (indie books, zines, games, etc). This supports your community and cultivates valuing exchanges outside of commercial factors.

Learn about security and privacy issues - consider degoogling, switching to Linux, using a safer phone OS or downgrading your phone, infosec online, etc.

Mask as often as possible with the best quality mask you can afford. This is not as effective at blocking facial recognition as has been reported but it does limit spread of many deadly viruses and saves lives.

Create an archive and back it up of work you enjoy or find useful. Have ways to access it completely offline. Prepare for an internet that is controlled by autocrats or cut off entirely. Make it so you can share it with friends and family if need be.

When you're less influenced by tech and business oligarchies, you're better able to think critically for your own and other's benefits. When you value spending time and consuming outside of their reach, you aren't a cog in their machinery - spending that time feeding them content they can train AIs on and spy on you to sell you to others. When you care about privacy and security and take measures to protect yourself, you help others who have to take those measure to protect themselves because they're targeted - activists, marginalized groups etc - by making it less easy to flag those people. When you mask you protect yourself and others from disease while the health care system is getting attacked and dismantled.

These are meaningful and concrete ways of assisting others that are getting completely ignored in favor of more performative ways of "helping" or not helping at all. And I just...wish people knew it wasn't all or nothing.

You do not have to consent to autocracy. You can resist it.

[liminalwings]

Clean House Powder

Intent: To cleanse a dwelling of negativity, “heaviness,” stale energy, bad atmosphere, etc.

Ingredients:

Lemon Peel

Solomon’s Seal Root

Cayenne Pepper

 Arrow Root

Blue Vervain

White Oak

Sage (any color)

Salt (both black & white)

Materials:

Mortar & Pestle (or spice grinder)

Funnel

Mesh Strainer

Collection Dish

Container

Note: Powdered versions of most herbs are available online. I recommend such sites as Starwest Botanicals and Penn Herbs for the quality products at reasonable prices. Also, if you can get your hands on a good spice grinder, you can make your own powder from dried herb products. Grind each ingredient separately to produce fine powder. Sieve the material through the mesh strainer into the collection dish; this removes the larger unground pieces and gives you cleaner powdered herb. (Pro-Tip: Putting a funnel under the mesh strainer reduces lost material and makes collection much easier.) Combine the component powders in the collection dish, mix well, and bottle immediately. For volume, go heavier on the less expensive or more easily available materials like Lemon Peel, Cayenne, and Salt. Otherwise, combine in more or less even amounts. Sprinkle a pinch in the corner of each room to dispel heaviness and clear the air, so to speak. Useful for spring cleaning and touch-up jobs throughout the year. Add to floor washes, incenses, or charms for general cleansing and purification of the home.

[liminalwings]

I'm 2500 words into this document that's basically just world-building notes and some story excerpts I don't want to lose in the abyss of my brain.

[liminalwings]

if you're in the throes of cosmic despair i cannot recommend museums enough. art or science or history it doesn't matter. oh we're all connected, all of us and everything, throughout all time and space, and no one, no one, no one is alone? awesome. that's what i thought i just wanted to make sure.

[liminalwings]

the weed dispensaries should ask if you would like to round up your purchase to donate to PBS. and if you say yes you get to scan a QR code that gives you 30-day free access to the full run of antiques roadshow. this is how drugs can win the war on drugs again.

[liminalwings]

Enchantment Checker Pendulum Board

I certainly didn't come up with the idea of creating a pendulum board specifically to check up on enchanted objects. But I lost my last one and needed to work up a quick one this morning, so I thought I'd share.

Basically, it's a pendulum board designed to help you get a quick read on your enchanted objects, spell vessels, and spirit vessels.

The numbers 1-10 on the side represent the current level of energy or enchantment within the object. My labels of "dead empty" to "god-like" are arbitrary - I made them up based on past experience.

Even mundane objects tend to have a background level of energy. Try using a board like this to experiment with the power level between your enchanted and unenchanted objects.

Because I work with elemental and planetary energies, I included these symbols. If I charged a candle but forgot what I charged it with, I can use the board to see what the heck I did with it and how much energy it has.

This is IMO the most fun part of these boards - using symbols or words to determine more about what kind of power an object is imbued with. A Norse polytheist might want to include the nine realms of Yggdrasil, for example :) Or you can use words like "healing," "protective," "harmful," and so on.

The picture symbols below show me if I need to take any actions, or if something specific happened. While I don't feel like sharing all of the symbols I used, the slice of cake represents feeding the object, while the bed represents taking the object off active duty and letting it rest.

It might be helpful to include a symbol which indicates you need to do further divination or communication. This way, you know if the board is insufficient and you need to directly communicate with the object or use a different system.

I use it by placing the object nearby, hovering my pendulum over the object for a moment, and then going over various categories on the board.

Although I can directly read my objects, using a board like this is way lower energy for me.

It's also easier for me to communicate if I know the topic at hand, or if the object actually has anything to say to me at all.

It's kind of a waste of energy for me to establish a line of communication to an enchanted object, only for it to be like, "nah, I'm good!"

The board will tell me if anything is wrong, like if the object needs to be recharged, and I can just do that. Or, if I do need to further investigate, the board will give me a lead on what topic to discuss - this makes things easier on me too

Variations of this board are basically endless :)

In the past I used to have lots of variations of them. If you don't like to draw, you can just use full words or sentences to indicate categories.

You can also discover lots of fun stuff and evaluate your own energy work and enchantment skills.

I think it's a great tool for learning and exploring energies. And really handy and practical too, if you've collected like 20 spell vessels you need to deal with one day, and the day has come to evaluate and process all of them.

[liminalwings]

That feeling when you're in the middle of working and you get hit with the Creative Stick. No stocking, must world-build. D:<

[liminalwings]

also pls tag the first game you remember playing

[liminalwings]

for anyone in the UK, needing to access discord and unable or unwilling to provide an ID:

[liminalwings]

A Reminder to my U.S. Witches -

Whether you're a private practitioner or a witchy business owner, it is now more important than ever to KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.

Wicca as a religion is officially protected by Freedom of Religion under the First Amendment. This extends somewhat to other less organized pagan religions as well as the general state of Being A Witch, which is also protected by Freedom of Speech.

But we must remember that this only protects you from PROSECUTION, not PERSECUTION.

You have the legal right to present as a pagan or witch in public spaces and technically you cannot be discriminated against in the workplace for such things. However, we all know how that kind of bigotry disguises itself and the way things are going, resources for reporting and resolving such grievances may soon be in short supply.

You also have the right to own and operate a pagan-oriented or witchcraft-related business, provided that you obey all applicable tax codes and consumer protection laws. (This is why we have to mark so many of our goods and services as "For Entertainment Purposes Only," and I strongly suggest updating your disclaimers to include additional language if need be.)

Again, as we've seen, this doesn't always protect business owners from harassment or help them with seeking reparations if there's trouble. But it's important to know, as more and more "proclamations" roll out from the "new management," that executive orders do not immediately or fundamentally change the law.

This is nowhere near a comprehensive explanation of the constitutional rights and laws applicable to witches and pagans currently living in the United States. I urge everyone to familiarize themselves with all applicable laws in their area which deal with public gatherings, small businesses, consumer protection, public transit, loitering, search & seizure / "stop & frisk," and anything related to being detained by law enforcement for any reason.

Familiarize yourself also with social and legal resources in your area, just in case you or someone you know needs them. Talk to the elders in your local LGBTQ organizations as well - we've been there before.

Most importantly, build links and relationships with trusted people around you, whether it's your neighbors or your colleagues or like-minded people in the community. We all need to be looking out for each other and the more we know, the better we can protect ourselves, our homes, our livelihoods, our communities, and our rights.

(If anyone has any applicable links or information, PLEASE add them in comments and reblogs.)

Stay safe!

[liminalwings]

Truly though- there is no criteria for being a witch other than to do witchcraft. Anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong.

I am a crafter, I do not craft every day. I am a dancer, I do not dance every day. Even my day job that I get paid for does not insist that I be working every day.

Anything worth doing is worth taking a break from. Burnout is a bitch. Fallow fields serve purpose for the next harvest. Not everything you do has to be a grind.

Take a nap.

[liminalwings]

Hi all! I want to boost Birdie Sam, self-described as a Tlingit 2spirit multi-media artist, speaker, educator and content creator. Birdie goes by showme_yourmask across all social media (Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads).

I've known and deeply admired Birdie for a couple years. They are a tireless climate and Indigenous justice activist, as well as a skilled and inspiring artist. Also a maker of awesome wearables: I've been a fan of their orca-focused activist pins and stickers for a long time!

Birdie's father, Bob Sam, is a lifelong repatriation expert and cemetery caretaker in Alaska, who has dedicated his life to bringing home Indigenous people who were taken from their homes, died, and were buried and forgotten far away.

Recently Bob has experienced housing upheaval among other difficult things, and Birdie is flying him from Alaska to their home to stay with them while he rests and heals.

Birdie is trying to raise $2,000 to support their father—an extremely achieveable goal, already at $797 raised!

If you have anything to give, please consider supporting Birdie and Bob! It would be great if you could match my $5 donation!

You can also support Birdie by becoming a patron or purchasing from their shop, and just generally engaging in their content!! Thank you so much!

[liminalwings]

Recipe Roundup in Review

In years past, I posted a two-month series of recipes suitable for the autumn season, which everyone seemed to enjoy very much. I’ve been too busy this year to make up a new queue, so I thought I’d compile a big long list of links for anyone who’s looking for recipe ideas this fall.

Update: I’ve posted more recipes since the original roundup and I’ve added those additional links to the list below. I’ve also done my best to mark which ones are vegetarian (🌿) or could be easily altered to be so. (Some could also be altered for a vegan diet using egg, milk, or butter substitutes.) Recipes which may include alcohol as an ingredient are also marked (🍷).

Some are fall-themed, others are for more wintry occasions. But all are designed to make the most of the season and keep our hearts and bellies full as we face the coming cold. Enjoy!

Appetizers, Sides, & Snacks

A Pair of Stuffing Recipes 🌿

Asparagus Salad 🌿

Baked Apples 🌿

Beets with Cloves and Cinnamon 🌿

Bree’s Cheddar-Garlic Mashed Potatoes 🌿

Bree’s Homemade Colcannon 🌿

Carrot Fritters 🌿

Cheese & Bacon Pinwheels

Cheese Toasties 🌿

Cranberry-Orange Sauce 🌿

Fish Cakes

Irish Stout Apple Fritters 🌿🍷

Oatmeal & Potato Bread 🌿

Parsnip & Apples 🌿

Pumpkin Seeds 🌿

Sprouts au Gratin 🌿

Soups

Butternut Squash and Pear Pottage 🌿

Cheese Soup & Dumplings 🌿

Chestnut Soup 🌿

Garlic Soup 🌿

Gingered Pumpkin Soup with Molasses Cream 🌿

King’s Arms Tavern Cream of Peanut Soup 🌿

Mashed Potato Soup 🌿

Mushroom Soup 🌿

Entrees

Acorn Squash with Cinnamon and Honey 🌿

Bree’s Baked Ziti

Bree’s Crockpot/One-pot Chili 🍷

Bree’s Fried Chicken Parmesan

Bree’s Honey Baked Salmon

Bree’s Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole 🍷

Bree’s Roast Chicken with Apples and Potatoes 🍷

Bree’s Sesame Ginger Chicken

Bree’s Turkey Hash Casserole

Dill-Crusted Salmon

Irish Stew 🍷

Meat Patties in Crust

Michaelmas Goose with Sage & Onion Stuffing 🍷

Pan Haggerty

Pumpkin Plenty 🌿

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Orange & Onion Sauce

Rosemary-Orange Beef

Savory Yuletide Pie 🌿

Spiced Pot Roast 🍷

Stuffed Acorn Squash 🌿

Stuffed Braised Beef

Surry Sausage, Squash, & Apple Bake with Savory Streusel Topping

Xanodrian Beef Stew 🍷

Welsh Potato Pie 🌿

Welsh Trout in Bacon

Baked Goods

Applesauce Buttermilk Biscuits 🌿

Barm Brack 🌿

Beer-Bacon-Onion Muffins

Caerphilly Scones 🌿

Christiana Campbell’s Tavern Sweet Potato Muffins 🌿

Drop Scones 🌿

Gingered Pumpkin Muffins 🌿

King’s Arms Tavern Apple Cheddar Muffins 🌿

Tea Table Goodies

Apple & Potato Cake 🌿

Apple Raisin Cider Teabread 🌿

Bree’s Cranberry Pumpkin Bread 🌿

Faerie Cakes 🌿

Irish Apple Cake 🌿

Irish Apple Teabread 🌿

Irish Whiskey Cake 🌿🍷

Isle of Wight Farmhouse Cake 

Marmalade Loaf 🌿

Porter Cake 🌿🍷

Seed Cake 🌿

Shortbread 🌿

Welsh Crumpets 🌿

Desserts

Apple Fritters 🌿

Baked Apples 🌿

Bramble Dessert 🌿

Bree’s Easy-Peasy Molten Chocolate Cake 🌿

Bree’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Chocolate Liquer Glaze 🌿🍷

Chranachan 🌿

Christmas Plum Pudding 

Beverages, Jams, and Sauces

Eggnog 🍷

Hot Buttered Rum 🌿🍷

Mulled Cider 🌿🍷

Samhain Wine Cup 🌿🍷

Wassail 🌿🍷

Blackberry & Apple Jam 🌿

Irish Whiskey Marmalade 🌿🍷

Bree’s Dad’s Sauce Recipes 🍷

Delectable Dressings 🌿

Sources

Celtic Folklore Cooking (Asala)

A Kitchen Witch’s Cookbook (Telesco)

A Witch’s Brew (Telesco)

Kitchen WItch’s Guide to Brews and Potions (Telesco)

The Kitchen Witch (Soraya)

Witch in the Kitchen (Johnson)

The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook (Gonzalez)

Favorite Meals from Williamsburg (Turgeon)

Holiday Fare: Favorite Williamsburg Meals (Gonzalez)

The Very Best of Irish Traditional Cooking (Lennon and Campbell)

An Irish Country Cookbook (Taylor)

And of course, a selection of family recipes, shared with all of you for the joy of the season.

Happy Cooking!

Image Credit

[liminalwings]

GenAI v. not GenAI round up.

So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.

Pro GenAI websites/Programs:

Facebook

Instagram

X/Twitter (Remember, Grok gives people cancer)

Threads

Pro Writing Aid

Grammarly

Duolingo

Google Docs

Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.

Youtube (taking advantage of people who are hearing impaired. ==;;)

Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law.

Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)

Canva Takes and feeds their machine.

Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine.

Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.

Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.

Neutral ground:

Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai

Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.

Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots).

Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.

Strong positions against AI:

Scrivener (Creator vowed against AI) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.

LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Word. Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)

Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener) for the same features of Premium. You choose.

yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener which is saying something.

Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a British-based company.

Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the Creator,is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.

Clip Studio Paint added AI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.

Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. US company. Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts.

Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.

Krita open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.

Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ person took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.

Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)

Affinity (Designer, etc) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos. The UX is messy, I dislike the program and regret paying for it. Inkscape and Krita are better UX and do the same thing. The forums aren't as friendly since there has been an onslaught of people seeing it's supposed to be a replacement for Photoshop and Illustrator, but the programmers aren't present. The people on the forums are often on edge about this assertion. And the capabilities of the program don't outshine basically Krita or Inkscape capabilities (both free). What is usually intuitive is not. UK company. If you're going to pay for a program, go for Clip Studio Paint which rivals Corel Painter.

Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation.

Handmade vowed against AI and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)

Proton (to replace Google Suite) as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) Vowed against AI. They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN.

But you need a pro website...

Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/

Use cloudflare:

Use Nightshade:

https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html

which will poison the algorithm

Use Glaze:

Take Away:

The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.

And why not help that along?

I don't want to give cancer to poor people [Link] or make the planet burn faster [Link]. So GenAI collapse is everything I dream of. GenAI apocalypse is not.