omnist-angels

[omnist-angels]

Some of Hekate's More Gentle Epithets

Abronoê ‘Gracious-minded’, ‘Providing Grace’, ‘Gracious’ Arêgos ‘Helper’ Atala ‘Tender’, ‘Delicate’ Boôpis ‘Cow-eyed’ Deichteira ‘Teacher’, ‘Revealer’ Ekdotis ‘Bestower’ Epaine ‘Awe-Inspiring’, ‘Glorious’, ‘Sublime’ Eranne ‘Lovely’ Erannos ‘Lovely’ Êrigeneia ‘Daughter of morning’, ‘Early-born’ Erôtotokeia / Erototokos ‘Bearer of love’, ‘Producing Love’, ‘Who Bore Love’ Eukoline ‘Good Tempered’ Indalimos ‘Beautiful’ Kalligeneia ‘Bearing Beautiful Offspring’ Kalliste ‘Fairest’ Kore ‘Maiden’ Kydimos ‘Glorious’ Maera ‘Shining’ Makairapos ‘Blessed-one’ Megiste ‘Greatest’ Melinoe ‘Soothing One’ Ourania ‘Celestial’, ‘Heavenly’ Paggennêteira ‘Mother of All’ Paiônios ‘Healer’ Pammêtôr ‘Mother of All’ Pandôteira ‘All-giver’, ‘One who gives everything’, ‘Bestower of Everything’, Bounteous’ Pantrephô / Pantrophos ‘All-nurturing’, ‘All-sustaining’, ‘who feeds all’ Phaennô ‘Brilliant’ Phaesimbrotos ‘Bringer of light to mortals’ Phaethô ‘Radiant’ Phoebe ‘Bright’ Polyboteira ‘Generous Giver of Nourishment’ Rhododaktylos ‘Rosy-Fingered’ Terpsimbrotos ‘Delighting men’, ‘One who delights mortals’, ‘Gladdens the hearts of men’ Tlêtê / Tletos ‘Patient’ Zootrophos ‘Nourisher of Life’

(Source)

[omnist-angels]

I don't know who (if anyone) needs to hear this, but witchcraft isn't sacred to every practitioner. It's not always filling some spiritual void they had, or becoming a huge part of their life and identity. It's not a religious experience for a lot of witches. Not everyone takes it super seriously at all times.

It can be a hobby. It can be a casual thing. It can be something fun they do every now and then.

Just because it's a certain thing for you, don't expect everyone else to feel exactly the same way.

[omnist-angels]

On All Souls day, pray for your departed loved ones. Pray for those who you never knew in life. Pray for those souls who are forgotten by everyone. Pray and help them to find their way. 

[omnist-angels]

By Tania Morozova

[omnist-angels]

Remember those in prison.

[omnist-angels]

Byzantine silver cross pendant, 10-11th century.

[omnist-angels]

hi did you know that ancient mesopotamians buried their dead under the floors of their own houses to always be close to them? i can't write a poem about this but by god i will write a master's thesis

[omnist-angels]

An aroace reading of Genesis 2

My therapist recommended “This I Know: A Simple Biblical Defense for LGBTQ Christians” by Jim Dant, and it’s so refreshing to hear simple, concise rebuttals to the simple, concise arguments people have for being queer and Christian.

In reading this booklet, I came across the rebuttal for “iT’s AdAm AnD eVe, NoT aDaM aNd StEvE”:

The Challenge

The creation story of Genesis 2 explicitly and exclusively defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The Response

The creation story of Genesis refers to humanity’s need for companionship and God’s care for that need. It was never intended to establish heterosexual parameters for marriage.

Dant goes on to say that, in parading the animals before Adam, “God was presenting real options for companionship and community.” Ultimately, though, “complete community” is only found between human beings.

In part because of my evangelical upbringing, I had always interpreted Genesis 2:7-24 as a blueprint for marriage, and thus I should expect to get married at some point in my life. But not long ago I discovered I’m aroace and don’t actually want to get married–so Genesis 2 became a threat.

Now to hear that this passage actually defines humanity’s need for companionship and community? Liberating.

It’s freeing to know that my friendships are considered companionship. That my platonic and familial relationships can meet my need for community. That I’m not broken; that I fit within God’s design.

[omnist-angels]

You know, it’s really a shame how little queer theology discusses the relationship between Jesus, the apostles, and the women who supported them (do all the Marys, Martha, Susanna, and the others have a collective title?).

Here you have this massive nonsexual/nonromantic relationship between a bunch of people from all over this one ancient Roman provenance, and we don’t discuss how queer and holy and important it was/is? Like, really?! Why don’t we talk about this more?

It seems like a great starting point for polyamorous theology, or queerplatonic theology, or found family theology, or community theology. (There’s probably some others I’m not thinking of at the moment.)

I’ll just continue being frustrated by how much of queer theology focuses on a very specific set of allocis queer experiences.

[omnist-angels]

A Wish?

A Prayer?

An Invocation?

May Loki,

the timeless Spirit of Transformation,

who cherishes solidarity and inner sovereignty as devotion,

bring us the will to be ourselves

as we choose to become new.

[omnist-angels]

Attention aces, Christians, and Christian aces! Jesus himself said that being asexual is a gift and should be accepted!

Matthew 19:10-12 (The God's Word Translation) says:

"The disciples said to him, 'If that is the only reason a man can use to divorce his wife, it's better not to get married.'

He answered them, 'Not everyone can do what you suggest. Only those who have that gift can. For example, some men are celibate because they were born that way. Others are celibate because they were castrated. Still others have decided to be celibate because of the kingdom of heaven. If anyone can do what you've suggested, then he should do it.'"

Obviously, they did not have the word "asexual" in ancient Judea, so he had limited vocabulary to use in a society that was not really aware of asexuality, but saying that someone is "born celibate" sounds an awful lot like asexuality to me! (Other translations stick with the King James Version translation of eunuch instead of celibate, but that translation does not really make sense, even if it's the same point being made, as you cannot be born a eunuch in the sense that this society would have understood being a eunuch.)

Not only does Jesus acknowledge that asexuality is a natural part of humanity that people are born with, but he calls it a gift! And says that it is something that we should accept in ourselves and in others!

I hope that this is something that helps my fellow aces accept themselves and is a comfort in a world that tells us that we are broken and need to be fixed. You are precious, valid, and loved!

(Also, if Jesus acknowledges that asexuality is natural and something that people are born with, it stands to reason that every other sexuality is also natural and something that people are born with)

[omnist-angels]

As a theology student, an inordinate portion of my mind was set to contemplating the nature and methodologies related to finding a state of grace ("sanctification," etc.).

Little did I know, I had always been in a natural state of gra(y-a)ce.

[omnist-angels]

Hello, just wondering if you could elaborate on "good theologies can exist without love." The phrase "God is Love" is so crucial to modern Catholic theology in general, so I'm curious about how you deal with that.

PS if you're interested in non-cisgender theology, maybe you could just seek out specifically trans theology books? Maybe you've already tried that, IDK

Look Anon, I’m going to ask you some questions, and you don’t have to answer them, (heck they’re not even specifically targeted at you) but I do want you and everyone else who bases their theology on the phrase “God is love” to seriously think about my questions and consider them.

Why do you think God can be limited to a single human emotion like love? Why does God have to be love and not some other human emotion like joy, or anger, or sadness? Heck, why limit God to anything human at all? Why can’t God be physics? Why can’t God be whatever it is that whales sing to each other about? Why limit God to anything we can even begin to understand? And if God is love, then where does that leave loveless aros like me?

Also, the word that gets translated into “love” in that fragment of 1 John 4:7, that word is αγάπη, (agape). And... Look, only Christians translate “ αγάπη” as “love”.

The Ancient Greek word “αγάπη” doesn’t translate into English well. Technically, we can’t translate it properly because we are too far removed from the Ancient Greek understanding of that word. We lack the cultural and social knowledge to fully understand or translate what the writer of 1 John meant when they wrote “ό θεός αγάπη εστίν”. Just because some translator somewhere down the line decided that that phrase should be translated to “God is love” doesn’t that that’s the most accurate or even a good translation. Heck, I think it’s pretty common knowledge that the Bible has been poorly translated on multiple occasions throughout history. For all we know, this phrase could be one of those times, especially since that word “ αγάπη” only gets translated as “love” in Christian contexts.

And this one fragment of a verse in 1 John is the only place in the Bible that argues that “God is love” and, again, it doesn’t even really say that. The rest of the Bible argues that God is so many other things than just love.

I think that a lot of Christian theologians got hyperfocused on this one fragment of a verse for at least two reasons.

1. It simplifies God and makes Them easier to understand and easier to use. Considering how subjective the definition of “love” is, focusing on only this one phrase makes it easy to define God as whatever you what God to be, rather than acknowledging what God really is.

2. I’m going to be honest, raising “love” to the same level as God reeks of arophobia, amatonormativity, and loveless antagonism. And considering that, statistically speaking, it is highly likely that most (if not all) of the theologians and translators who base their work on “ό θεός αγάπη εστίν” meaning “God is love” are not loveless aros, it’s incredibly difficult to argue that arophobia, amatonormativity, and loveless antagonism didn’t play a role in this whole mess.

As to what good theologies that exist without love look like, any conversation on that would have to begin with an understanding of just how normalized arophobia, amatonormativity, and loveless antagonism are, and what loveless aros’ experiences of lives without love are really like. And I don’t even want to try to summarize that all here.

As far as trans theology books go, I have quite a few of them on my to-be-read list, and I am very glad that they exist. But 1. They are still a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of cis queer theology that exists, and 2. Quite a few of them still tend to have a very binary bend, because most of the trans community likes to talk about things in terms of the binary. So yes, those books are good, but the situation is not as good as it should be.

Okay, this got long. I don’t know if it made sense. Either way, thank you anon for allowing me to express some of the reasons why the focus on the phrase “God is love” in Christian theological circles bugs me so much.

[omnist-angels]

Hey friends, I'm looking for resources directed at Queer Theology resources designed for Ace/Aro people! I'm looking to add what I find to my server to help out my wonderful friends on the Ace/Aro spectrum, so the help is super appreciated 💜

[omnist-angels]

as an aromantic religious person sometimes i feel like "love" just isn't the right word for what we're talking about. like i feel like there's human love and then divine Love, and that just encompasses so much more. Divine Love is caring about everyone even if you don't love them. It's something deeper. Whereas human love is generally put on a scale with "romantic love" at the top. I think God's love is very much lovequeer.

[omnist-angels]

there needs to be a lot more ace and aro voices in the queer christianity and queer theology communities. like im so serious, not all queerness is centered on sex or eroticism, and there could be really interesting takes on so many elements of christian theology as they relate to queerness without defaulting to "these two people of the same gender were romantically involved." there's obviously nothing wrong with that, but the fact that it's the go to in queer theology and queer biblical studies circles is so annoying. ace and aro christians please speak up about your perspectives! im begging!

[omnist-angels]

As an Irish-American AND a person struggling with mental disorders, I feel like I gotta talk about Saint Dymphna of Ireland

Much of her history is unknown and based upon word of the mouth. She’s the patron Saint of those struggling with epilepsy, mental disorders, and victims of incest.

Her feast day is May 15th.

She was born around the 7th century in Ireland as the daughter of a Celtic Pagan Cheiftain and Christian Woman. According to legend passed through oral tradition, her mother passed when she was 14. As Dymphna grew up she came to strongly resemble her mother. Her father was grief stricken and looking to remarry. Driven by madness, he attempted to marry her, but she fled with her priest Gerebernus and others to Gheel (modern-day Belgium).

They dedicated their lives to serving the poor and sick and established a chapel. Unfortunately, her father tracked down her whereabouts. He offered his marriage once again and she refused, leading for her ordered execution.

She was martyred at the age of 15 and due to her unwavering faith and compassion for those struggling around her, she was venerated as a saint in the medieval periods.

Her story honestly means so much to me, in a way indescribable with words. It’s just the aura of her, y’know?