#Highly developed medicine is indistinguishable from magic

[immoren]

That sure is one of the panels of the all time

[aerial-jace]

Thinking Hollyleaf thoughts this morning related to the thing I mentioned yesterday about thinking of her religiosity and hm... (Most of these ideas are kind of against canon or at best could be in canon with some mental gymnastics. But it's fun to think about this.)

So to recap, her arc would go something like going from being a child who sees religion as all-or-nothing to growing into an adult who understands religion in a way like the 4Cs framework (Creed, Code, Cult [synonym for worship], and Community).

Hollyleaf obviously privileges code above all else, that's just how she is. And of course community is important to her. No clan cat, no matter how atheist they are, can live without that C. Hollyleaf is highly principled and I don't think she's the kind to place her individual identity as a ThunderClan cat above her morals. And yet the reason these morals are good is ultimately that they keep the peace among all clans. Code and community feed into each other.

And in this way, she isn't too disimilar to how I view Mothwing's religiosity. Mothwing has come to see the religion of the clans for the sociological function it serves. She sees her effort of going through the motions of being a religious leader in spite of not believing because the ultimate result of upholding peace and order among clans is good. During her brief run as a medicine cat apprentice, Hollyleaf might very well have picked that up directly from Mothwing or at least have gotten the seed of an idea that would eventually grow into that.

Could Hollyleaf be yet another atheist cat? Why not, if she deems creed and cult as less important? Why not eventually have her outgrow them? That could very well be her perspective, that belief in and worship of StarClan is a means to an end, a way for young cats to develop the proper reverence to the Warrior Code and the structures of clan life. This is a stark contrast to Mothwing's own brand of religious atheism where belief is the only element left out and outwardly she's basically indistinguishable from a clan cat. Meanwhile, Hollyleaf prizes the moral standard of her religion above all and may even be dismissive of religious practices not rooted in the Code.

How does Jayfeather react to all this? This is his sister denying something that's very real to him and has had a large impact on his life. Does it matter that it was (potentially) Mothwing who planted these ideas on her? He's always been at the very least dismissive and judgemental of her for being a medicine cat who doesn't believe in StarClan. As a religious leader of ThunderClan how much does he even care about enforcing orthodoxy in the average citizen?

And before anyone questions how Hollyleaf can believe in her siblings having magic powers but disbelieve StarClan, it's a quite simple concept. Belief in magic=/=belief in any specific afterlife or higher power. Atheist cats are very much capable of grasping the concept of the magical elements of the world like nine lives and magical powers and all the rest without cognitive dissonance. It's not them being obtuse when the evidence is plainly in front of them, it's them not attributing the same cause to the magic.

[linnea-quinn]

[ EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT VEELA ]

An Informative Research Document Compiled by The Librarian’s Consortium of Higher Magical Theory, Narrative Preservation, & Knowledge Procurement

Shelved in UK Catalogue: Magical Species: Beings: Veela

Edited by: Sr. Librn. Benjamin Arnold, Intake Officer, European Division {editor’s notations in braces}

In Muggle Folklore

Referred to colloquially as samodiva or samovila in the Veelan country of origin, Bulgaria, the Muggles’ perception of the Veelan race has been fraught with misconception. Locally equated with mythology surrounding fae, forest spirits, and wood nymphs, a brief compilation of relevant Muggle beliefs about Veela is as follows:

The name samodiva is formed by combining two separate words, ‘samo’ and ‘diva’. The former means ‘alone’, whilst the latter ‘wild’, or ‘divine’, hence the name literally means ‘wild alone’. The first part of the creature’s name signifies its avoidance of human beings, whereas the second indicates her wild or divine nature. {In truth, the Veelan race are highly secretive in what they share about their kind with magical and Muggle communities alike.}

The samodivi are always described as extremely beautiful women who never age. {Not quite factual; see sec. below: “Lifespan” for facts regarding Veelan aging.} They have long, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Their attire consists of a long white gown made of moonbeams. Other legends depict them as ethereal maidens with long, loose hair, and in some cases, wings, typically dressed in free-flowing, feathered white gowns, which give them the power of flight. {Perhaps a historical perception of the Veelan Harpy form.}

Stories about the samodivi often portray them as being harmful towards human beings. Although these creatures enjoy dancing, especially when accompanied by the music of a kaval or shepherd’s pipe, they often either seduce or kidnap a shepherd to obtain that music. If an unfortunate human stumbles on the samodivi whilst they are dancing, he would be enticed to join them. The human, not being able to keep up with their pace, would die of exhaustion. Beginning at midnight and finishing at dawn, their dance symbolized the raw energy of both nature and the supernatural world. {No truth to the menacing intent behind this myth, but the Veela’s Dance has been known to evoke a trancelike response in some humans; see section below: “Active Abilities.” Also calls to mind the ritualistic birthing practices of Veela; see section below: “Veelan Conception & Birth”}

Some legends depict samodivas with an affinity for fire. They have the power to bring about drought, burn a farmer's crops, or make cattle die of high fever. It is said that, when angered, a samodiva can change her appearance and turn into a monstrous bird, capable of throwing fire at her enemies. {Another early reference to the Harpy form.}

They are usually hostile and dangerous to people. Men who gaze upon a samodiva fall instantly in love or in lust. Sometimes a samodiva would seduce a person, commonly a shepherd or a trespasser in her forest, and take them for her lover. However, in doing so, she would take all of their life energy. The person would then become obsessed with the samodiva and chase her relentlessly, unable to think of anything else. The samodiva, fueled by the energy stolen from her admirer, would then proceed to torture the person until he died of exhaustion. {See sections below: “Active Abilities” & “Passive Abilities” for facts which could have inspired such myths.} 

A samodiva's power is believed to come mostly from her long (usually blond) hair. A samodiva would sometimes give a small portion of it to her lover to strengthen her control over him via its magical effects. However, if her hair is damaged in some way, she will either disappear entirely or be stripped of her powers and beauty. {Little truth to this myth beyond the magical properties contained in Veelan hair, which is infrequently used as a wix wand core.}

A samodiva's close connection to the forest makes her knowledgeable about magical herbs and cures for all illnesses. It is said that if a person managed to eavesdrop on a gathering of samodivas he could also gain knowledge of these remedies. In many stories, this is exactly what the hero is forced to do to save a loved one, as a samodiva would never share her secrets willingly. In Macedonian folklore, samovila's are often seen that they have the ability to hurt people or to heal them. {See section below: “Passive Abilities” regarding accelerated healing.}

Veelan Conception & Birth

The process by which Veela bear children is not fully understood, but what we do know is that to become pregnant, a Veela must copulate with Intent, in sync with the Natural Harmonics of the area, and after a ritual involving one full Moon Cycle.

Births of newborn Veela commonly happen late evening or early morning while the moon is still visible. The birth of a full-blooded Veela is a dedicated occasion that involves a number of members of the community at once, as neither the conception nor birth are as typical as Humans. The birth of two full-blooded Veelan twins is a rarity amongst the species, and is a highly coveted, sacred occurrence.

Due to the mishap of the Birth of the Twins, the birth is overseen by members of the community to ensure no nefarious acts are occurring, that those involved are protected, and that the ritual can take place comfortably beneath the moon. The presence of a matriarch for the Veelan bloodline being sired is preferable during the birthing ritual.

Lifespan

A common misconception regarding Veela is that they are immortal; in truth, Veela do age, albeit very slowly in comparison to humans and even wix lifespans. Full-blooded Veela average a lifespan of one thousand years, while a half-blooded Veela will average 500-600 years. 

A Veela will mature at a rate comparable to humans through “puberty”; roughly 12-17 years after a Veela’s birth they will experience the most growth and development of their passive abilities, and after approximately eighteen years, a Veela is considered fully mature in their society, and will not appear to significantly age until the last 20-50 years of their life. It is likely this quality that perpetuates the myth of Veela being eternally youthful.

Passive Abilities

Known for their beauty, a Veela’s allure is in fact biological; most humans are drawn to Veela, and have been often noted to experience lust and desire while in the presence of a Veela at a heightened or even sometimes overwhelming rate. 

Full-blooded Veela possess the ability to transform into a winged, part-bird Harpy-form when enraged, and while in this form they can shoot fireballs from their hands. This shifted form has not been recorded as passed on to part-Veela historically; however, there are several cases of noted affinity to birds in particular, which is theorized to stem from the Veelan Harpy form.

Veelan blood has accelerated healing properties, which means those of Veelan descent heal from cosmetic wounds more rapidly, have difficulty maintaining piercings and tattoos, and are rarely known to contract common illnesses. Historically, Veelan blood was highly sought after by wix, often hunted for and sold on the medicine circuit to aid in healing. Veelan blood is noted to smell irresistible to vampires, and possess a drug-like high on vampires who consume it. Lesser known about is the healing qualities a Veela’s saliva can have on a human wound; in fact, the modern practice of kissing an injury to “make it better” comes from a very old Veelan medicinal practice of kissing an injury to heal it. 

Veela are generally highly in tune with the natural world, including plants and animals, and most report being more comfortable the closer they are to nature. Veela also reportedly possess a latent ability to sense energies that are not perceptible to most humans in a physical way, but it’s a sense that must be nurtured and developed; most Veela have been known to channel these mysterious energies into their own form of wandless magic. 

Active Abilities

The Veela Charm

“You have to feel it. It’s like fog; gentle and delicate, but enough for you to sense against your skin. It has its own waves, its own currents, and you, my darling, have the power to guide it. You can slip it into the minds of Men and haze them, make them believe whatever you desire, and bend them to your will to act however you see fit. Or, you can wrap it around despair and smother it where it stands, press it into wounds to cloud and ease their pain. It is up to you to choose how it is used, but however you choose— do it with conviction.”

Also known as glamouring or charmé, the act of imposing a Veela Charm on a human or Being involves drawing in express emotional energy from another and then pushing it back into the mind of the person being Charmed, along with the power of the Veela’s will. Those that are experiencing strong or otherwise turbulent emotions are significantly easier to Charm, due to the emotional expenditure they’re putting out. This is especially true of emotions related to desire and anger (’passions running high,’ related to the duality of the Veela’s alluring female form and the rage-fueled Harpy-form), but can be true also of jealousy, anxiety, sadness, worry, joy, disgust, fear, hatred, love, etc.

The nature of the Charm causes the person being Charmed to be susceptible to a Veela’s suggestion, to varying degrees; for the average or half-blooded Veela, the effect equates roughly to intense emotional coercion or persuasion, that when administered properly is often indistinguishable from the Charmed’s own wants and decisions. Those under the influence of a Veela Charm are noted to experience rosy vision, and an intensified desire to please the Veela who is Charming them by doing what they suggest. Full-blooded and more powerful Veela are able to gain such control over the mind of the Charmed, however, that they can fully persuade the subconscious to their own will, effectively altering the Charmed’s perceived reality. For all Veela, the ability to generate and impose a Veela Charm is a learned skill that can be developed and mastered with practice and time.

The most powerful among the Veelan race who experience the highest level of control over their abilities are even able to perform a Veela Charm on other Veela, though this practice is highly frowned upon in Veelan society {see subsection below: “Sins”} 

Less common but still practiced amongst some Veelan circles is imbibing non-sentient lifeforms, such as flowers and plants, with traces of the Veela Charm, which causes anyone in near proximity to the item to experience a highly diluted emotional effect based on the will of the Veela who performed the Charm.

The Veela’s Dance

When full-blooded Veela perform together in a ritualized dance, the effect on humans has been characterized as mesmerizing and even hypnotic, in such a way that those watching will enter a trancelike state in which they experience a loss of words, and will sometimes try to impress the Veela in foolhardy ways.

Link of Kin

Originally known as vrŭzka na krŭvta, or “bond of blood” in Bulgarian, the Link or Nexus of Kin is a phenomenon of consciousness connection between Veela in the same bloodline. While Linked, a pair or group of Veela experience an intense magical empathic connection which allows them to feel each others’ emotions on a sensory and telepathic communicative level, as well as share memories. This process is known to be calming and meditative--a heightened zen-like state similar to the ease Veela naturally feel in the presence of other Veela, but exponentially more powerful the more Veela are Linked. The “blood connection” is thought of as sacred and spiritual to Veela, whose long lifespans place particular gravity on family, lineage, and collective memory.

The Link of Kin is a learned process; however, very rarely, a Veela will be a Nexus Born Natural. Such a Veela would, from the earliest development of their abilities, experience an involuntary empathic connection with humans and other Beings, drawing in emotional energy with noticeable physical sensation, as well as sensing the “lifeforce” of the consciousness of others, and sometimes unintentionally mirroring or reflecting drawn-in emotions that are not their own. A Born Natural’s abilities are notoriously difficult to control and require dedicated focus and training to master, lest the Veela become overwhelmed by the constant influx of outside energetic stimuli.

Cold Iron

It’s been shown through some limited study that both passive and active Veelan abilities can be lessened, minimized, and even warded off entirely through the controversial use of cold-forged iron.

A process known only by Goblinkind and kept highly secretive by the same, the cold iron must be forged using a precise process, and then bound to the wix’s aura for the relative immunity to Veelan abilities to be effective. Any slip up in this process can result in disastrous, irreparable damage to a person’s aura. {Recommend further testing and study on the effects of cold iron in relation to Veela and wix.}

Veelan Society

Veelan society is largely matriarchal, with Veelan male offspring being something of a rarity in terms of percentage. Because of the long lifespans of Veela, a Veelan matriarch’s successor is selected prior to their death, and can be chosen from any of the matriarch’s Veelan kin, regardless of their age; often, a new reigning Veela matriarch will be selected based on merit and their contributions to Veelan society as a whole. 

Similarly, the death of any Veela is considered a great loss to the societal collective, and as such, the death of a Veela is mourned internationally. All Veela are made aware of their passing and permitted a compulsory mourning period for their fallen kin.

Sins

A set of rules taught to and followed by all Veela which, should they be broken, are considered Sin(s);

None should use the Charm against another Veela. Despite being difficult to achieve, if done the consequences can be exile or even death, depending on the nature of the Sin.

No other Beings are permitted within or around the spaces owned by a brood without prior approval by the Matriarch.

Veela & Other Beings

Veela & Were-Beings/Half-Breeds

With their connection to the moon and close relationship with animals themselves, Veela and Were-Beings tend to get on surprisingly well; they manage to find a common ground on many fronts, their Harpy blood lending to a softness and kinship.

Veela & Vampires: Siblings

{NOTE: THIS SECTION HAS BEEN MARKED AS SENSITIVE AND RESHELVED FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS}

...

{For further study, known Veelan Bloodlines, historical succession disputes, or notable Veelan figures and historically significant events, please consult Appendices A-E of the catalogue Magical Species: Beings: Veela.}

[transhumanitynet]

DNA Tests Tailor Transhuman Technological Developments

“We will transcend all of the limitations of our biology.” –Ray Kurzweil

Approximately 9000 years ago, hunters and gatherers were lactose intolerant. Their bodies couldn’t process milk after infancy. However, when they began to herd animals instead of simply hunting them, they developed gene modifications allowing their bodies to continue creating the enzyme that allowed them to digest milk during adulthood.

Traditional evolution is glacially slow. It can take thousands of years for genetic modification to take hold and provide positive effects. Medical and genetic technology is rapidly advancing and is quickly outrunning natural genetic evolution. Altering the human body through gene therapy will be a viable remedy to disease, birth defects, aging, and even death. Humans will direct their evolution through biotechnology.

Josiah Zayner, Ph.D. is a biohacker, biochemist, and biophysicist who has worked for NASA. Zayner is the first person to edit his genes by performing a full body microbiome transplant in efforts to heal his gastrointestinal condition.

A documentary called ‘Gut Hack’ documents the process. Also, Zayner successfully created a fluorescent beer by engineering jellyfish proteins. He’s shared his achievements by placing his biohacking curriculum online to aid other transhumanists in editing their genetic codes.

Biotechnology

There are many arguments about the morality of merging technology and human experience. Authorities worry about gene modifications to avoid criminal charges. Religious fundamentalists are concerned about the ethical question of genetic revisions and social scientists warn us about the increasing technological divide between the haves and have-nots. Despite the criticism, biotechnology isn’t going to disappear but expand, greatly influencing human evolution.

Currently, biohacking is mainly reserved for wealthier people with the time, training and medical insurance to support them. Most consumers struggle in identifying the best DNA tests and to stay abreast of current research.

Gene editing isn’t without dangers. The science is still very new. Zayner admits having regrets about his experiments after the CEO of Ascendance Biomedical injected himself with an untested herpes treatment in 2018 during a live-streamed conference.

The transhuman movement is in its’ infancy. It’s difficult to imagine a future without humans merged with technology. Targeted DNA editing and biotechnology hold the greatest promise for eliminating diseases like Tay Sachs, Sickle Cell Anemia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Type 2 Diabetes, Cystic Fibrosis, Huntington’s, HIV, and many inherited disorders.

These advancements aren’t science fiction. The University of Alberta regenerated horsepox without any living sample of the disease. Many experts believe the future of bioengineering will reduce faulty genetic makeup to routine gene modifications.

The CRISPR kits are an affordable, convenient way to attempt to alter specific genes. CRISPR is defined as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats as a family of DNA sequences found in genomes of prokaryotic organisms like bacteria. However, these kits are recent developments and may be inadequate in completing successful genetic revisions.

The Cyborgs of Now

Humans haven’t figured out how to balance technology, nature, and genetics. Yet, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to meeting the three supers of transhumanism: super longevity, superintelligence, and super well-being.

The invention of the internet has made information more accessible than ever before. The limits to information are those of the researcher instead of the resource which makes super intelligence almost a reality.

Lance Armstrong admitted to using smart drugs to heighten his performance during the Tour de France. Armstrong used Erythropoietin (EPO). Erythropoietin is a hormone that increases the production rate of red blood cells. Red cells carry oxygen to the muscles which determine performance.

Many athletes engage in somatic gene therapy to bulk up their muscles or speed up the healing process after an injury. Medical science has relied upon technology for decades to repair limbs, bodily senses, and organs. For example, the pacemaker was developed in the 1970s and has saved millions of lives, functioning as a highly successful advancement in biotechnology.

Artist, Neil Harbisson was born with achromatopsia which prevents him from seeing colors. A fiber optic sensor attached to a microchip was implanted in his skull which allows him to see colors. The implant even has a Bluetooth function that allows friends to send him colors from their phones. Harbisson claims, “it feels like a six sense.” Future genetic therapies could identify the genes associated with achromatopsia making implants obsolete.

A software engineer and amputee, Vic Vawter used technology to restore his missing leg. The technology used to decipher brain signals into physical movement is called Targeted Muscle Reinnervation (TMR). TMR powers Vawters’ prosthetic leg.

The TMR software was originally created for upper-limb prosthetics. In 2003, Vawter changed that to become the first to utilize the advancement for the lower extremities. In 2012, Vawter climbed 2100 steps in Chicago’s Willis Tower with his mind-controlled, bionic leg.

Technology allows humanity to speed up evolution. Diseases, epidemics, and other vulnerabilities of the organic body may one day be a distant memory. However, right now the tools to increase overall health and well-being are being honed through genetic information and DNA tests.

  Super Well-Being

Today, the best DNA tests provide a panel examining an individual’s DNA from a health and wellness perspective. Many kits offer different focuses providing insight in improving longevity, energy levels, digestion, flexibility, strength, stamina, sleep patterns, and weight management.

These tests can help improve diet and fitness routines, identify nutritional needs and food sensitivities. The DNA tests illuminate how an individual processes carbohydrates, proteins, and fat, and while creating in-depth reports on sleep needs and the impacts of stress.

Humanity may need to wait for more technological advancements when it comes to choosing how tall we’ll be or the color of our eyes, but super-powering wellness is a reality of today. There are many rewards to DNA testing. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of an individual according to their genetic codes is just one of the influences of transhuman technological development.

Resources

D.T. Max 2017,’How Humans are Shaping Our Own Evolution, Accessed 24 March 2020, <https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/04/evolution-genetics-medicine-brain-technology-cyborg/>

Erica Orange, Jared Weiner, & Eshanthi Ranasinghe, 2019, ‘8 Billion MEcosystems. Transhumanism becomes Reality,’ Omidyar Network, Accessed 24 March 2020, < https://www.omidyar.com/blog/8-billion-mecosystems-transhumanism-becomes-reality>

Michael Garfield, 2018, ‘The Future is Indistinguishable from Magic,’ Medium, Accessed 24 March, 2020 < https://medium.com/@michaelgarfield/the-future-is-indistinguishable-from-magic-5b9596a4ea>

Alex Pearlman, 2015, ‘Geneticists are Concerned Transhumanists Will Use CRISPR on Themselves,’ Vice, Accessed 24 March 2020 < https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d7yzmm/geneticists-are-concerned-transhumanists-will-use-crispr-on-themselves>

Robin McKie, 2018, ‘No Death and an Enhanced Life: Is the Future Transhuman?’ The Guardian, Accessed 24 March 2020, < https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/06/no-death-and-an-enhanced-life-is-the-future-transhuman>

Sarah Zhang, 2018, ‘A Biohacker Regrets Publicly Injecting Himself with CRISPR,’ The Atlantic, Accessed 24 March 2020, < https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/biohacking-stunts-crispr/553511/>

Victor Tangerimann, 2017, ‘The Future is Here: Six of Today’s Most Advanced, Real-Life Cyborgs,’ Futurism, Accessed 24 March 2020, < https://futurism.com/six-of-todays-most-advanced-real-life-cyborgs>

  This post is by Guest Author: Madison Brown.

DNA Tests Tailor Transhuman Technological Developments was originally published on transhumanity.net

[mindthewolves]

differential diagnosis of common problems in fic*

*not just fanfic, but you don’t see that much original fic from people just starting out because Gatekeepers

disclaimer – this is not a “god this is terrible writing how could you do that ever” but a “we all have blind spots and maybe would benefit from getting a beta reader” and yes, ofc that includes me too. also these are general Story Things as separate from Issues of Representation Things.

other writers, hello and feel free to chime in!

content:

characters that exist solely for another character’s development. write people as people, not objects.

relationships in which A Modicum of communication would save you 20 chapters of angst

infodumping, extensive and conspicuous exposition, the like

on the other end of the spectrum, not grounding the scene (can’t visualize what’s going on)

extreme violence without reason or as a shoddy excuse for character development, particularly as highly gendered tropes

perfection (I see this with kara a lot in supergirl fic. she’s invulnerable, with super strength, super nice, drop-dead gorgeous, and secretly a scientific whiz kid AND ALSO can paint you something to sell at Sotheby’s. this has gone too far.)

songfic with the entire song written out in the middle of the story while the plot slips through your fingers or random lyrics interspersed throughout. ditto poetry. ditto quotes by people who are supposed to lend Weight and Gravitas to the fic

medicine/science that is indistinguishable from magic. R&D takes a long time. you do not defibrillate for asystole. (hello, flash. i’m looking at you.)

the telepathic narrator: in which the POV jumps back and forth between characters (most commonly love interests) with every other sentence

see related cheat code: “character A knew that character B was feeling/thinking X, Y, and Z” just no

precocious toddlers Wise Beyond Their Years or grown-ass adults with the intellect and emotional maturity of children (again, unless done for effect)

extensive author notes that prescribe exactly what you should take away from the fic and what things were Supposed To Mean. stories do not work like that; they’re open to interpretation, AND they should stand on their own without explanation

formatting:

why is there extra white space on ao3 you guys

block text of more than ~5 lines per paragraph, i cannot read it

italics where they shouldn’t be; it’s like listening to an oddly accented musical line

weird formatting of glosses for non-English words

each character’s reaction/description should go with their dialogue

if character A is speaking:

incorrect: “What movie do you want to watch?” character B shrugged.

correct: “What movie do you want to watch?”

character B shrugged.

changing verb tense in the middle of a story

spelling and word choice:

the epithets, cease and desist. it’s distracting and it reduces your character to a single aspect (usually of their appearance) that is (usually) not relevant to the scene at all. particularly egregious: epithets based on race/ethnicity

unclear pronouns, esp with f/f or m/m ships

its =/= it’s, pls google. the first is possessive and the second is “it is”

their/they’re/there and your/you’re, remember google is your friend

lets =/= let’s and all other verbs in this pattern: the first is the verb conjugation (-s) for he/she/it in present tense. the second is “let us”

reign =/= rein. you reign over a kingdom but you “rein in” an impulse. like a horse.

taut =/= taught

weary =/= wary

bawling =/= balling

adverse =/= averse, you are “averse to” pickles but go out in “adverse” weather

it’s “another think coming” rather than “another thing”

there seems to be some confusion over the words lay and lie. you lie down on a bed, past tense lay, present participle lying, past participle lain. you lay an object down on a table, past tense laid, present participle laying. these are not the same word, despite the spelling overlap.

misspelling your character names. really?

that word does not mean what you think it means

see also: i looked this up in the dictionary no one will know it but ppl will think i am Smart

for the reader/audience side of things:

how to comment (an example, not an absolute)

thank the writer. fics are not tangible but they are still gifts

what did you like about the fic and why?

other things you’d like to see, meta about the characters, lines that stuck with you, what worked and what didn’t

if you want to offer suggestions and they are not constructive, stop right there. hard stop.

if you have constructive criticism, drop an ask and see if that’s something the writer is even interested in. you don’t walk up to someone who’s wearing a pair of gloves they just knitted and say, “that row of stitches, it’s going the wrong way.” keep in mind that ao3 or tumblr may not be the place for unsolicited critique, especially from strangers online with no established credentials. concrit is like dark magic and not to be tampered with lightly. people who actually know how to give it are probably not the people who roll up in your comments with Demands

should I even comment?

if you read The Thing, leave a comment. support your writers. it’s not just paying it back or being a good fandom citizen. language is about connection – we write to be read. the fic is the ask; the comment is the answer

fic is not a one-way street or it doesn’t have to be

& I promise that even a well thought-out comment will take a fraction of the time it took to write the actual fic

also if you are a reader who wants to write, or a reader who wants to read better, commenting (i.e. thinking about what makes fic work and putting that into words) will help up your game too

for betas and critique partners:

the diplomatic critiquer

more references

read fic that you admire, take it apart, see how it works

be clear about what the writer is looking for w a beta read AND what the beta reader is willing or able to do. for me this comes in three tiers: 

1. content editing, story problems, representation problems

2. sentence and paragraph-level problems: internal echoes, issues w writing voice, things that don’t make sense, etc. 

3. copyediting: spelling and grammar only

motion to add an opt-in “yes, looking for concrit” box on ao3

sites for critting original fic: critique circle, critters

[highlaryy]

Manufacturing SMART Vaginas: Cyborgs And The Future of The Ubiquitous

This is an old piece of work that I reworked. I got rid of the bits I didn’t think was relevant while retaining some older parts. It’s safe to say that while discussing Haraway and the Cyborg Manifesto, that a bio-essentialist critique would emerge. I tried my very best to bear that in mind while I was re-working this essay (that I wrote more than a year ago as a baby feminist btw). I understand that the very definition of vagina is extremely essentialist and therefore very problematic. However, writing about the reproduction of machinist and masculine interpretations of “woman”, essentialist language was unfortunately what followed.

If there are any womxn or non-binary trans folx out there reading this and have some tips on how to write in a more anti-essentialist, de-centralizing manner whilst engaging in topics like the vagina, please do drop me a message. I would really love that <3. That being said, enjoy reading.

The political, the social, and the body are topics very often undervalued in technological advances. That is because it runs counter to what the public understands as the purpose and use of technology – being that it will elevate humanity to a position devoid of all social problems.

There is an assumption that the ultimate goal for the advancement of technology is to somehow alleviate labour – labour within the workforce, labour of the personal, and essentially the labour of our bodies. It is assumed that the progression of technology will and can, quite magically, create a world in which all of our problems will disappear. Quite contrarily, the acceleration of technology appears to only be the means to a utopian solutionist end. When in reality, technology shrinks labour into extremely limiting and constricting gendered boxes; quite the opposite of what it aims to solve.

The perception that the elements of body, society, and technology live in distinction from one another, and from politics of gender, are inherently problematic, as is the idea that one is capable of absolving the other. Our understanding of technology as a solution is ultimately part of the wider problem. As long as this notion remains uncontested, social and political issues will remain sidelined in technological approaches, and will continue to perpetuate a form of invisible labour on our bodies, and reproduce these normative gendered approaches within new technology.

SMART Janet Smart

Sarah Kember describes this very paradigm colliding gender with the technological world as one that is ubiquitous, so far as to link women’s bodies directly to its ubiquity: everywhere, and everyWEAR; constantly subjected to scrutiny, regulation, and self regulation, to produce ever more productive and ever more “perfect” versions of ourselves through devices we come in contact with. Kember images an indistinguishable relationship within the gendered realm of ubiquitous technology and female bodies.

Describing Janet Smart in her book “iMedia”, Janet Smart being a metaphor for the many, if not all ubiquitous women in the world, Kember refers to SMART technology as a medium of feminized labour. She connects the labour of Janet as a [female body] merging with the environment around her. Janet moves from her SMART bed, to her SMART kitchen, to her SMART toilet, where there’s a SMART mirror inscribed with a digitised to-do list full of unsurprisingly heteronormative tasks ahead of her i.e. shopping and baking. All this and more before Janet even gets to brush her teeth or make her morning coffee.

Even though the idea of having a choice is apparent, and Janet is presented as a creature of independence, it is an illusion of agency that has been painted for her by automation and SMART tech. She is inevitably being manipulated by her environment and subsequently policed by it. She alters her behaviour throughout the day, restructuring her manipulation into a facade of the agency of productiveness (Kember, 2015:81). This is labour, 

“Janet doesn’t get to choose, as she lives through her day, she becomes an agent of her own reconstitution as a political subject” (YouTube, 2017).

While the idea of a ubiquitized SMART Janet, subjugated to producing feminized labour via her body does indeed seem like a thing that has been born out of modern technological advancements, it is certainly not new. Neither is it solely tied to contemporary automation and technology.

The Paradigm of Hysteria

During the 1800 – 1900s, women who experienced symptoms ranging from anxiety and irritability to vaginal lubrication and abdominal pains were often subjected to the diagnosis of Hysteria. This was a condition in which doctors believed only the interventions by androcentric and heterocentric medicine could absolve. Such interventions were not only bodily intrusive, but were often focused on the ““normal” het-erosexual […] penetration of the vagina” (Maines, 2001:23) as a form of treatment or cure.

The diagnosis of hysteria in women in 1800s was so widespread that physicians began employing the use of technology in order to help relieve themselves of the fatigue caused by giving therapeutic massages. Technology became a way for doctors, or therapists, to expedite the process of inducing, or producing a female orgasm. Incorporating technology into the practice, many of the treatments evolved from manually administered massages to include hydro massages to the womb, clitoral electromechanical vibrators, and penetrative dildos. These apparatuses were designed to alleviate the laborious task of producing a female orgasm, gesturing to notion that women were in essence, incapable of being an autonomous agent to their own pleasure and understanding their own bodies.

The medical world was turning to new technology to administer a wide array of treatments for what they believed were symptoms of chronic hysteria, to which the cure was to produce an orgasm (ibid:22-25). Thus became the most widely understood, ubiquitized, and embodied technological use against the female body, routinely exercised through the most politicised location on the female body – the vagina. This phenomenon was later defined by Foucault as the “hysterisization of women’s bodies”, referring to the disease paradigm that framed female bodies as one constantly regarded as highly sexual and an object of public and medical knowledge, as well as a matter requiring control (Foucault, 1990:11).

Technological advancements made to treat hysteria during this period of “hysterisization” continued to proliferate, with an array of devices spilling out of the medical market made to tackle the various challenges posed by the perceived failing capabilities of a functional orgasming female body.

In the 1900s, Freud concluded that women were only capable of two types of orgasms, a vaginal orgasm and a clitoral orgasm, the latter of which was deemed by him as “immature” and “infantile”. He asserted that women who could not achieve, or produce an orgasm through vaginal penetration were stunted as result of arrested development in the juvenile stage (Freud,1975). This became a widely accepted notion for which set hysteria treatment, and the technology that accompanied it, on a new trajectory, one for which we now know was a pseudo claim to a psychoanalytic and scientific revelation.

Nevertheless, Freud’s “revelation” in psychoanalysis resulted in a fundamental shift within hysterical treatment. More focus was thereby placed on the vagina as the appropriate contributor to an orgasm, and technological approaches to treating hysteria began to evolve to fit that shape as well. The conclusion made by Freud created the socialized belief that female sexuality and the only acceptable route to female pleasure was situated strictly in the vagina through penetration. Hence turning the role of the clitoris in the understanding of female orgasms and arousal into one that was largely misunderstood and disregarded. The vagina became the sole vessel to which hysteria treatments were to be administered.

Machine\Vagina

Much like the labouring, ubiquitous, female body as described by Kember, the technology that arose during the ‘period of hysterisization’ is similar. When measuring the efficiency of the technology for hysterical treatment, the characteristic merging of capabilities between the vagina, its ability to produce orgasms, and it’s aiding technological counterpart is apparent.

The productivity of the machine administering the orgasm is measured hand in hand with the efficiency of the vagina that is able to produce one. The interwoven language of capabilities between technology and vagina thereby becomes almost indiscernible, where the description of one can no longer be distinguished from the other; the machine that labours well is only as good as a vagina that orgasms efficiently. This is further articulated in Maines’s book where the language describing optimal productivity of the vagina at the time was attributed to an almost factory-like commodity, outlined by it’s ability to churn out orgasms in a 

“less capital intensive[…] more reliable, portable” manner (Maines, 2001:30).

It is therefore understood that within the paradigm of hysterisization, the female vagina is simply another component to which capitalistic mediums and technology can, and will ultimately relieve. Whereby if the sole goal is to produce an orgasm, then the machine, already exemplary in its form, will facilitate that goal until it is achieved. However, it is only under capitalist masculine interpretations can this happen.

The woman who is unable to have a vaginal orgasm through penetration is perceived as inadequate, a product of her own affliction; immature, unhuman, hysterical and faulty. She is to work harder, just as a machine, to diminish the body’s hysterisization, and to induce in herself a vaginal orgasm. She is to continuously labour, through her vagina, an ever more flawless, ever more effective version of her orgasming self, without ever engaging with the very organ on her body that delivers orgasmic pleasure – the clitoris. And if she fails, she is just as faulty as the machine that fails along with her.

This collision between body and machine is ubiquitous in its development. Women were unconsciously producing, through machine intervention, a labouring vagina intertwined with its physical and social environment, capable of readjusting itself to mitigate hysteria diagnosis within the body and away from medical damnation. The woman ultimately doesn’t have a role in mediating her own sexual pleasure, and as Kember describes, is turned into an agent of her own political and social subjugation.

Hysterization Within New Technology

While hysteria treatments no longer exist, and the violence of hysterisization has since been forgotten by the medical community and the public, it appears that the technological paradigm that had attempted to “curb” hysteria diagnosed in women have not been at all eradicated. But rather, repositioned from the hands of doctors, and subsequently placed in the hands of women themselves.

There is a growing emergence of SMART technology that exists today that supposedly allows women a new sense of closeness with their bodies through datarizing and monitoring algorithms. Connected via applications on their SMART phones and other devices, the experience of interacting with such SMART technology is often presented as highly personalized; where women can hold the reigns of technology quite literally, in the palms of their hands.

Such SMART technologies range from sex toy apps to period tracking apps, and stake a claim on the ability to improve the sexual and bodily health of women. They are often marketed with an emphasis on offering women the ease, convenience, and agency to use such apps to their own satisfaction and benefit. However, these “benefits” only remain to serve as a perpetuating structure for technology that surpasses women themselves in understanding the capabilities of their own bodies.

The notion of SMART technology first became prominent in the 1990s, originally a diagnostic method developed to cope with computer failure. SMART, or ‘Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology’ was categorized as technology that was able to predict computer failure and produce a diagnostic report before it happened as a preventive measure. According to the Encyclopaedia of Information Science and Technology, smart technology refers to 

“technologies (includes physical and logical applications in all formats) that are capable to adapt automatically and modify behavior to fit environment […] is also capable of learning, […] using experience to improve performance, anticipating, thinking and reasoning about what to do next, with the ability to self-generate and self sustain” (Igi-global.com, 2017).

It is under the capacity of “behaviour development” and “performance improvement” do these SMART devices continue to exist. But only in bid to alleviate female bodies from its perceived bodily limitations, and to elevate it to that of which is recognized as socially adequate and functional. It disregards the autonomy of women in defining what is a functional body is for and within themselves.

The technological endeavour to meet these developmental goals fail however, to consider that when capabilities of SMART get inscribed with the intentions of capitalism, a system that ensures the economic profit and political gain of those in power, it inevitably reproduces existing, damaging gender normative and heteronormative models.

SMART technology, while striving to counter real problems faced by women such as infertility, sexual non-pleasure, bladder control, and recovery from childbirth, continue to sustain an incredibly disconcerting sociopolitical dimension parallel to that of the hysterisization period.

The Elvie

One embodiment of such SMART technology is the Elvie, an award-winning pelvic floor exercise tracking device. Built to be small and discreet, it resembles a streamline silicon pod, similar to the size of a pebble. It is capable of feeding and receiving strings of information to, from, and between human and machine, as well as process data within itself. When inserted into the vagina, the Elvie sits inside of the body, and engages with the user via Bluetooth. In the form of an app on one’s iOS or Android phone, one is then able to play a series of “games” ranging in difficulty involving an on-screen gem.

The SMART functions of an Elvie work by utilizing the pelvic floor muscles in the user’s vagina. Once the pod is placed in one’s vagina, it registers the force applied by the user’s pelvic floor muscles and translates the information to the “game”, allowing you to lift, pulse, or even hit moving targets on your phone.

The data collected is so sensitive that an LV score (a measurement in Newtons of the amount of force being applied to the pod) is fed to back to the user, allowing her to be aware of, and therefore altering the strength exerted by the pelvic floor muscles in her vagina (Elvie.com, 2017).

Comparing Elvie to what is traditionally regarded as SMART technology, it is similarly able to produce diagnostic reports, or “instant bio feedbacks” of one’s pelvic floor muscles to its user. But while the tracker is the device producing the diagnostic reports, it is inevitably the vagina that labours, creating an environment for the tracker to then evaluate. The information collected is then transmitted to the bearer of the vagina, who uses the data to then decide whether or not to exert more or less force with her pelvic floor muscles.

Ultimately, it is the vagina that then adapts, labouring a modified version of itself in a cycle of human/machine dependent self-sustainability. Because of its active participation in this continuous loop of receiving and sending data, the latter definition of SMART technology – “capable of learning, […] using experience to improve performance, anticipating, thinking and reasoning about what to do next” – is fulfilled, not by the tracker, but by the user’s vagina. Without the labour of the vagina, the tracker is unable to complete the cycle of data feeding and receiving in its entirety.

The occurrence of inter-dependent data production between technology and vagina therefore creates an effect whereby the definition of SMART technology is allocated to the vagina and its user, rather than the tracker, due to its ability to carry out and complete the function of adapting and improving performance. SMART technology developed for devices like the Elvie is consequently understood as yet another imagined route of feminized labour through which women are presented with the promise of self improvement, while preserving the illusion of autonomy and agency.

According to an article by elle.com promoting the pelvic floor exercise tracker, 

“weakening of the pelvic floor can also have a negative effect on one's sex life […] When you strengthen this area, it is easier to get a tighter grip during sex, which makes for a more pleasurable experience for all parties involved” (Strauss, 2017). 

Even with a list of long term health benefits like organ prolapse and urine leakage prevention, the Elvie persists to advertise with a strong emphasis placed on the benefits of increased vaginal sexual pleasure in women (Elvie.com, 2017).

While advocating for a more pleasurable sexual experience, the Elvie routinely excludes the discussion of the clitoris and the role it plays in delivering female pleasure. Choosing instead, to focus primarily on the vagina. Like in the case of hysteria treatments, vaginas continue to be viewed as the dominant route for sex and pleasure.

The Elvie renders its user a tool for self regulation, morphed into the gatekeeper of her own oppression, and reinforcing the same systematic patriarchal definitions of bodily fulfilment sustained in the 1800 – 1900s. It frames the vagina as the only viable route to improving the sexual or reproductive health of female bodies. What Foucault characterized as the “hysterisization of women’s bodies” has thereby not been redefined, but instead, reoriented through SMART devices.

It seems the labouring vagina remains ubiquitous, even in the contemporary technological sense of today. Through the use of technologies like the Elvie, women are transformed into a mere device of capitalist, masculine intention – a SMART vagina – inevitably fused with the very resolution as the technology aimed at relieving its perceived limitations.

SMART Vaginas: Human or Non-Human?

The example of the Elvie explicitly outlines a diffusion between machine and body. As the device sits inside of the vagina, the distinction between what is ultimately embodied grows obscured. With the added cycle of data receiving, adapting of environment within the vagina of its user, and the subsequent feeding of information back to the machine, the division between female bodies and the functions of what characterizes SMART technology become inseparable.

The formation of SMART vaginas – neither machine, neither body; not adequately female, yet not male enough either – can therefore be recognized as the compounding of various dualisms: body and technology, human and non-human, physical and digital, feminized and masculinized, material and immaterial. The binary boundaries between what is prescribed agency and what isn’t, what is imbued power as opposed to subjugation, and what ultimately is conceived in social reality becomes increasingly vague while examining these SMART technologies and their interactions with women.

The thresholds of utility between one blends into the other, and vice versa, becoming entangled within and between. They envelope layers of both gendered and technological discourses concurrently – the ubiquitous everywhere and everyWEAR, infused simultaneously with patriarchal intentions and capitalistic reproduction, turning women into neither human nor machines; simply as yet another endlessly labouring subject of unattainable outcome. Women live undeniably, and ubiquitously, both as human and machine; essentially as cyborgs, to which SMART vaginas are simply another symptom of.

One of the earliest descriptions of a cyborg was outlined in the 1960 issue of the journal Astronautics, "Cyborgs and Space" by NASA scientists Manfred Clynes and Nathan Klein. It was a term coined by them to describe a cybernetic organism: a human-machine hybrid capable of complementing the onset of space exploration. The word “cyborg” was an amalgamation of the words “cybernetic” and “organism” and was derived from the field of cybernetics, which delineated the discipline of feedback, control, and organism at the time.

Consistently cybernetic, its purpose was to create an environment that laboured a freedom from humanly limitations in order to enlarge and expand the human experience. Simultaneously melded with the meanings of organism, a cyborg was a being imbued with technological and mechanical properties that potentially coexisted, but were still considered mutually exclusive to one another.

“The purpose of the Cyborg, as well as his own homeostatic systems, is to provide an organizational system in which such robot-like problems are taken care of automatically and unconsciously, leaving man free to explore, to create, to think, and to feel” (Clynes, M.E. and Kline, N.S., 1995).

The cyborg was envisioned at the time as exclusively male, with a strong emphasis on leaving the world of freedom to explore, create, think, and feel, entirely for men. The cyborg of Clynes and Klein’s imagining is therefore an entity of patriarchal consciousness. While women, in part excluded from the formation of its definition, and by omission, a contributor to its dream, become an unsuspecting labourer to the patriarchal masculine purpose of a cyborg.

While undoubtedly a cyborg herself – a body able to be lived in as well as apart from it’s mechanical conception, attached but still separable within the definition of what is cybernetic and what is organism – she continues to re-appropriate its purpose as one of the same. It thus disregards the politics and sociality of womanly consciousness for which it is a part of, unconsciously reproducing itself as an illusion of agency and autonomy. Clynes and Klein’s cyborg therefore produced, in effect, what Sarah Kember reiterates as the ubiquitous paradigm of feminized labour in technology.

Donna Haraway and The Ubiquitous

Donna Haraway, a prominent contemporary scientific scholar, theorist, and feminist thinker, provides a more nuanced, and perhaps offers a more forgiving reality for cyborgs and the SMART vagina. She characterizes the cyborg as being entangled between human and machine, where the line between what is technology and what is human can no longer be so clearly distinguished. Unlike Clynes’ and Klein’s, the purpose of which Haraway’s cyborg serves cannot be quite as easily outlined as well.

Haraway continues to expand on the failure to purpose a cyborg in the quote, 

“machines were not self-moving, self designing, autonomous. They could not achieve man's dream, only mock it. They were not man, an author to himself, but only a caricature of that masculinist reproductive dream” (Haraway,1991:10). 

To her, cyborgs are not neutral subjects, unlike machines.

A thing like the SMART vagina produces in itself a masculinist “dream” – the perfectly functioning vagina – but simultaneously mocks it, as the perfect vagina is only as perfect as the machine that is able to produce one. In this definition, the “dream” is completely diminished, or eradicated, along with the premise that built it. Haraway’s cyborg thereby lives not within but between and around these “promises”, suspicious of the very definition man aims to build of it.

SMART vaginas can therefore be interpreted under this very understanding as cyborgian entities that exist simultaneously as a creature of lived social reality, as well as a creature of fiction – just as Haraway imagines a cyborg to be. It is compounded by its many limitations of gendered and capitalist nature, concurrently an unrealistic imagining of a simply unachievable outcome.

Through the understanding of Haraway’s cyborg, we can also begin to interrogate the ambiguity of a SMART vagina as one that tears down the essentialist boundaries through which it is projected to exist, creating a framework that departs from essentialism and binaries, and replaces it with one that includes more porous feminist genealogies of technology, labour, body, gender, and capitalism within its discussion. It is Haraway’s cyborg that seeks to tear down the binaries and dualisms between the politicized male/female, feminine/masculine, human/non-human, and to depart from their patriarchal limitations. Essentially the genesis of a cyborg that lives out of a radical and feminist praxis.

Indeed, there is an expanded argument that occupies the masculine conception of technological approaches, as with the conception of the SMART vagina through ubiquitous devices described in earlier parts of this essay. Beginning with the description of the feminized labour of Janet Smart as a tool of subjugation within the technological world, to the unconscious hysterization of women, there is a ongoing discourse that supports the formation of feminized labour around and within the cyborgian woman as she exists within systems of masculine intention.

Such discussions of gender and feminist politics as it intersects and interacts with the technological realm of innovation and SMART should not be disregarded. All definitions between human and non-human get entangled and become crystallized in the making of a cyborg, and the making of the cyborg is certainly nuanced and complex.

However, the intention is not to suspend the discussion as iterated earlier, but rather, to embody Haraway’s vision of the future cyborg as one that can be built on top, or over that. I want to conceive of the SMART vagina not simply as a creature inescapable from the fact of a masculinized social reality, but one that can be reimagined to reject the very notions surrounding it.

In her seminal book, “Cyborg Manifesto”, Haraway describes the overlapping regions between technology and organisms: 

“We are all Chimeras, theorised and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; inshort, we are cyborgs. Cyborgs are our ontology”. (Marciniak in Haraway,1991:1). 

She displays an acknowledgement of the deeply-embedded existence of the non-human and human; that all social, political, and bodily functioning of the non-human and human are intwined within that of what we understand as reality. Haraway continuously dwells on ambiguity between the two by emphasizing the limits of what is perceived as natural and artificial, consequently redefining the cyborg as an entity that doesn’t exist simply within binaries and dualisms, but rather, envelopes all.

The cyborg, according to Haraway, reconsiders rigid, hegemonic structures of what we understand as human and in turn, develops a characterisation of a post human cyborg that undermines these very structures. The breakdown of boundaries between stern categories like animal-human, organic-machine, and physical-nonphysical is what contributes to the formation of what she considers to be cyborg – inherently a disloyal and blasphemous subject. It is within Haraway’s theories that one may come to recognize the cyborg as non-linearly conceived, just as a SMART vagina isn’t an innate product of nature or society either.

The SMART vagina reorganizes ideas about the cyborg as metaphor, but also restructures its history, social reality, and physical existence as entangled. It thus becomes embodied in an ephemeral space of conception instead. SMART vaginas are indeed inescapable as a subjugated figure; a product the masculine and patriarchal “dream, but it is also an evolving subject of the politics of body, society, gender, and feminism.

While it is recognized in Clynes’ and Klein’s cyborg and SMART devices like the Elvie as occupying the techno-patriarchal dream of freedom and agency of female bodies; labouring unendingly in the pursuit of the goal of freedom and perfection, it is simultaneously in Haraway’s imagining of a cyborg that recognises the SMART vagina as persistently defiant – refusing a reproduction of the patriarchal dream, insofar as to mock it. The cyborg as embodied in the SMART vagina breaks down the implications of a biased, patriarchal system, and forms itself around the understanding of Harawarian cyborg instead. It is consequentially enmeshed and entangled in mechanical properties, while reproducing women and the vagina as a reimagined feminist, posthuman subject of technology and the future.

In ‘Simians, Cyborgs, and Women’ Haraway elaborates that, 

“[t]here is nothing naturally female that ties us together as women” (Haraway, D. and Teubner, U., 1991). 

Everything created as “woman” is inherently part of systems of binaries created by masculinist and patriarchal forces, just as it is with the cyborg of feminized labour. While the conception of SMART vaginas seem to be one that outlines this “dream”, unconsciously producing a subjugated body of feminized labour, it is inevitably Haraway’s contextualising of a cyborg that allows for its porous qualities to be brought to focus. Replacing it in the realm of a “dream” and diminishing it as a masculine cyborg, and instead, as more of a Harawayan one.

The Future of SMART Vaginas and The Ubiquitous

The effect of machine and human merging is certainly not something that belongs exclusively to contemporary times. Evident during the hysterization period that occured in the 1800s – 1900s, cyborgs have always been part of the history of technology as it intersects with the politics of gender, taking on insidious roles in the lives of women through technological devices.

From hysteria to the ubiquitous, women have been engaging with the layered social and political dimensions of technology that evolved from medically administered and heterocentric treatments employed with vibrators, to the now ubiquitous use of SMART.

Today, technology still insists on telling women who we are, what we can be, what we can do with our bodies, and where we can go in the future. The existence of SMART vaginas, Elvies, and other devices that reiterate feminized labour have been permeating our human condition for a long time, and there is a framework that needs to be established for the gendered, feminist, and cyborgian discussions within it.

While Kember images the ubiquitous (Everywhere, and everyWEAR) within technology in the subjugation of women and the unconsciously labouring female bodies, Haraway imagines a human and non-human merging in a different light; one that mocks these hegemonic and heterocentric systems – a feminist cyborg counter-force.

The vision for a cyborgian future as described by Haraway is radical, non-linear, and calls for a porous landscape of existence. It is enmeshed within all encompassing definitions of science, nature, gender, and body, and thus a product of a posthuman world concerned not only with what binaries and dualisms are, but subsequently breaking them down, and embracing the various multiples that exist within it.

“Feminists re-appropriate science in order to discover and to define what is ‘natural’ for ourselves. A human past and future would be placed in our hands” (Haraway, D. and Teubner, U., 1991).

Alas, both Kember and Haraway outline the importance of recognizing gender and feminist politics within the discourse of technological approaches. The SMART vagina should not remain uncontested as key to the genesis of discussions within cyborgian realities like emerging SMART technology and the ubiquitous. It is of cyborgian nature, and holds within that, the many interpretations of body/technology, human/non-human, physical/digital, feminized/masculinized, material/immaterial. It is entangled as part of the cyborg anthology that will pave the way for future feminists to understand gender politics within new technologies.

Devices such as the Elvie are becoming more readily available to women, and have the power to potentially perpetuate social beliefs of a certain gendered existence and patriarchal feminine subjugation. 

Thus, we need to continue to be suspicious of the technological world while still remaining enthusiastic about what it can mean for us. We must continue to hold on to feminist genealogies that aren’t engaged with and talked about enough, and to tear apart the ubiquitous. To engage in questions that of which technology brings with it – whose world is it making better? Ours or somebody else’s?

If we are to achieve Haraway’s dream of a cyborgian existence, it is necessary to interrogate, recontextualize, and destroy the hegemonized language of technology that exists within the masculinised spaces. We must be attentive in refuting existing technologies that politicize gender, and redirect them into expanding categories of what is cyborg and what is posthuman. Undeniably, we need to continue to rebel and queer the techno realm of “female” work, and expand the future of work itself as they are set out in current debates of innovation and tech acceleration. Essentially, the furthering of feminist work.

Bibliography:

Clynes, M.E. and Kline, N.S., 1995. Cyborgs and space. The cyborg handbook, pp.29-34.

Davidson, A.I., 1987. How to Do the History of Psychoanalysis: A Reading of Freud's" Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality". Critical Inquiry, 13(2), pp.252-277.

Elvie.com. (2017). Your most personal trainer - Elvie. [online] Available at: https://www.elvie.com/ [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

Foucault, M., 1990. The history of sexuality: An introduction, volume I. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage.

Freud, S. and Strachey, J., 1975. Three essays on the theory of sexuality (Vol. 5008). Basic Books.

Haraway, D., 1991. Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieeth Century. Simians, Cyborgs and women: The reinvention of nature, pp.149-181.

Haraway, D. and Teubner, U., 1991. Simians, cyborgs, and women (p. 203225). na.

Igi-global.com. (2017). What is Smart Technology | IGI Global. [online] Available at: http://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/smart-technology/38186 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

Instagram.com. (2017). www.elvie.com (@hello.elvie) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/hello.elvie/?hl=en [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

Kember, S. (2015). IMedia: The Gendering of Objects, Environments and Smart Materials. 1st ed. England: Palgrave Macmillan, p.81.

Kember, S., 2003. Cyberfeminism and artificial life. Routledge.

Maines, R.P., 2001. The technology of orgasm:" Hysteria," the vibrator, and women's sexual satisfaction. JHU Press.

Strauss, E. (2017). I Used a "Fitbit for the Vagina" and It Changed My Sex Life. [online] ELLE. Available at: http://www.elle.com/life-love/sex-relationships/a31308/elivie-kegel-exercise-app/ [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

Twitter.com. (2017). Elvie (@helloelvie) | Twitter. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/helloelvie?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

YouTube. (2017). Ubiquitous Women: Everywhere, Everywhere, and Everywear. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VpDPTplGY4 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

YouTube. (2017). re:publica 2015 - Sarah Kember: Sex, Lies and Smart Cities. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w326aMfcZDQ [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

YouTube. (2017). Women Sync Their Vaginas To Their Smartphones. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GRwbiZSihA [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

Other readings:

Wired.com. (2017). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://www.wired.com/1997/02/ffharaway/ [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017].

Jones, M., 2017. Expressive Surfaces: The Case of the Designer Vagina.

Ahmed, S., 2010. The promise of happiness. Duke University Press.

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/kgoal-loop-kegels-trackers

[heksbabe]

The basics of herbs

I have spent the last few days reading and here’s the basics of what i found out!

Herbs have enormous magical power, because they hold the earth’s energy in them. Each herb has unique properties that can enhance one’s magical goals. Herbs also may have medicinal properties. You can draw from the herbs when performing a spell, in cooking, baths, or anything else really.

If you grow herbs harvest them in the morning after the sun has dried the dew but before the heat of the day sets in. Use a sharp magical knife (a bolline) to cut herbs; the knife should be consecrated specifically for this purpose. Thank the plant for its gift, and offer it something in return, perhaps some water, organic fertilizer or mulch. Harvest only the amount of herbs needed, except when pruning the plants, to ensure healthy growth for the following season.

Something else I have learned is that roots - often the most magically potent part of the plant - once chopped or powdered are fairly indistinguishable one from the other. It is not uncommon for unethical for ignorant vendors to substitute one root for another. If you need a distinct root, buy the whole root and grind and powder it yourself, even thought this can be difficult and time consuming. This is the only way to guarantee that you are receiving what you want. The only way to maintain control over what may be a pivotal ingredient.

The Unwritten Basics:

Certain herbs (or oils) act as a catalyst to other herbs.  They provide the “kick in the pants” that power up the formula.  

Other herbs act as “focusing” herbs.  You combine various herbs into a formula and then add one of these herbs to bring them together and “focus” the intent. 

Some herbs are “re-focusing”.  They help to change the vibration in a given situation and shift it elsewhere.

Then there are herbs which are “Controlling, Compelling or Commanding” -  used when you really need to assert your will over a situation. 

And some herbs are “Power” herbs - they boost and enhance  the witch’s own innate power.

Ague Weed:  a protection herb.  Also called “Boneset”. Agrimony:  acts as a deflective shield; sends back bad vibrations Angelica:  highly protective. In fact, sometimes too effective!  Carry as an amulet.  Also used in exorcism.  Brewed into a tea and sprinkled in the corners of a house to keep evil away.  Can be used at the beginning and closing of rituals for blessing and banishing.  Also called “Archangel”. Anise:  Raises vibrations to the highest possible psychic level.  Good for bringing about changes in attitude (re-focusing), for astral travel, dreams, crystal gazing and meditation.  In a pillow, it is said to keep away nightmares. For any type of clairvoyance or divination or mental exercises.  Anisette (liquor) is used during Voodoo initiations to anoint the head.   Apple/Apple blossoms -  for love.  Delicate, faintly seductive.  More of an Invitation than a Proposition.  Also used for peace and general contentment.  Used for success.  Add to the bath to aid relaxation.  Also used for fertility  Ash -   Very protective, cleansing and refocusing. Asafetida: one of the strongest banishing herbs (also the stinkiest!) . Burned to drive away evil and destroy manifestations.  Used for exorcism and purification. Alfalfa - for success in money matters.  Used for money drawing and to insure against poverty.  A traditional “luck” herb. Not powerful enough to be used alone, this herb “plays well with others” helping to reinforce other luck and money herbs while adding a bit of protective insurance. Allspice - a catalyst.  Works on higher planes for good or evil.  Tends to affect the mind and thoughts of the person on whom it’s used, for instance luck or success in the form of a brainstorm.  Frequently employed in luck, love and psychic areas; also good for money and general success.  Althea - (marshmallow root) mild and gently commanding.  More of a “persuasion"  herb.  Burned in combination with other herbs, for example w/ roses and apple blossoms for a subtly forceful love incense.  Said to be a particular favorite of “nice” spirits. Ambergris - (the real stuff is illegal  and unethical to use!  However, a good quality synthetic seems to work well)   A strong sexual compellent.  Used to lend power to other herbs. Bergamot- brings luck through intuition.   Bistort - for success in financial matters Balm of Gilead:  Highly protective power herb, especially in love matters.  Energizing and grounding at the same time. Barberry - used for hexing.  Brings bitterness, sourness.  Sprinkled around the premises to bring bad vibes and quarrels.  On the flip side, it is used with vetivert and Bay leaves to protect against bitterness - but that’s risky.  Said to work for good grudgingly and delights in hexing. Bayberry -very powerful for hexing when combined with other hexing herbs.  Casts a gloomy depression.  Conversely it is also used for money and prosperity - especially collecting money that is owed.  Often used as an Attraction oil for men. Basil - for money and success.  Soak in water for 3 days, then sprinkle about a place of business. Also used for purification and protection and to remove obstacles in love and create harmony.  Dispels melancholy and attracts friends. Bay:  powerfully protective - even when used alone.  Also a power and commanding herb. Used for banishing. In some traditions, used for hexing.  Combined with other herbs for love and money rituals.  Burned to induce visions.  The leaves are put under a pillow for inspiration and prophetic dreams.   Benzoin - added to other herbs to focus their energies and lend power.  Used for communication and improving the thought processes.  Combine with cinnamon for business success.  Also used for purification. Can be added to an incense to heighten its effectiveness.  Never add to hexing herbs! Bergamot - protection and prosperity.  Brings luck through intuition. Used with other herbs to bring psychic and prophetic dreams. Betony:  for banishing and removing negative energy. Blueberry:  Protective and associated w/ treachery and deception.  It does not return the treachery  - just keeps it from reaching you. Bindweed: for binding another.  It smothers the intentions of others.  Used in both hexing and protection. Bistort:  used for fertility (often carried to help concieve a child) Also used for money drawing when combined with Juniper and Allspice.  Also good for divination. Borage: lends courage, uncovers dishonesty and helps conquer a situation Broom Tops: purification, protection, to raise and calm winds. Throw into the air to raise the wind; burn the herb to calm them.  Also boiled in salt water and used to keep poltergeists and evil spirits away.  Black Snakeroot:  an X-rated love herb, often used by men.  Also to destroy unwanted love (burn with artifacts of the person whom you want to leave you alone)  Also burned with adam & eve root to make love spells more effective. Buchu leaves:  used for psychic development   Cherry blossoms: bring honesty Chamomile:  excellent for luck, prosperity, money and gambling.  (Wash your hands with the tea before playing cards.)  Calms the nerves and gives energy in adversity.  Often used in Uncrossing formulas. Caraway Seeds:  protective, particularly in the area of health.  In love - is said to attract a lover (in the physical sense) and cure fickleness.  Also used to strengthen the memory. Carnation:  protection and spicy energy. Add to a Power incense or toss into a formula where you want to “spice” things up a bit.    Camphor:  to totally cleanse and banish.  Used to ward off unwanted advances from others, in healing and to stimulate psychic senses. Cardamom: a love herb, used for Romance.  Has some commanding and compelling properties in the area of love.  Also acts as a catalyst to other herbs. Civet:  (another illegal and unethical oil.  Again: use a good synthetic.  It still works!) a commanding and compelling ingredient (especially in love).  Powerful, non-selective . Often used in Power oil. Clove: a strong, forceful, compelling herb.  Commanding. Acts as a catalyst when combined with other herbs. Used when force or power is required.   Cinnamon:  a catalyst that doesn’t mind baneful recipes.  Used in money drawing, for concentration and spells for love and passion .  Sometimes used in healing or clairvoyance. Cedar:  psychic and protective.  Has a way of keeping psychic channels open while protecting the operator.  Use to anoint the 3rd eye. Cherry Blossoms: cheerfulness, light heartedness and good humor. Associated with honesty.  Good for concentration in study. Capsicum (Cayenne):  a catalyst of great strength and negativity.  Chili powder works similarly, but has more to do with controlling that activating.  Used to reverse evil and return it to the sender. Coriander: used for love, yet Very protective in these matters.  Good for people who want a somebody, but aren’t sure who.  Added to Perfect Mate recipes.  Works for slow, steadily developing relationships. Citronella:  for attraction.  Good for attracting friends and business. Cumin:  attracts peace & tranquility when sprinkled across doorways each Sunday before noon.  Used also to control infidelity and in this way has a gently binding effect. Calamus rt: a controlling herb, powerful enough to be used alone or in combination with other herbs.  Use to control a person or situation. Calendula:  induces dreams.  Used for legal difficulties and for money.  Has a mild, gentle action.  Add to the bath to win admiration and respect from others.   Dogbane:  swings both ways - it can be used to remove deception or to     create it, depending on which herbs you combine it with. Deerstongue:  one of the most widely used psychic herbs, it is fragrant, efficient and white magical in effect.  Screens bad vibes.  Often used by homosexuals to attract others (combined with musk, civet, ambergris and echinacea) Dill :  has the ability to lull or defuse a situation.  Often used to calm children. Devil’s Bit:  commanding and compelling.  May be used to command or compel love, luck or success depending on what it is combined with.  Protective, it works similarly to Low John.   Dragon’s Blood:  Power and protection.  Thought by many to only work for “good”.  That’s nonsense! It’s uses are almost limitless.     Elder:  a commanding herb which influences a situation (or person) on a subtle but powerful  level.  Also highly protective. Elecampane:  for love charms of all kinds. Eucalyptus:  highly protective in all areas of health.  Also used for purification. Eyebright: used for clairvoyance and to see fairies. Elm bark: stops slander and gossip. (the type I’m referring to here is called “Slippery Elm”)   Fennel:  a controlling herb and also a “twisting” herb.  Better for removing hexes than protecting against them.  It’s action is unpredictable.  Use this when you want to effect a change in a situation.  If you’re familiar with astrology, think of the influence of the planet Uranus here. Frankincense:  associated with the male principle as Myrrh is associated with the female principle.  A mixture of both in an incense creates a balance.  It is a good “white” magical base to receive other herbs or oils.  Often used for protection or in money drawing recipes.  Long used as a divinatory offering, in consecration and to raise the spiritual  vibrations of a place. It aids in meditation and is used to obtain blessings and general prosperity. Five Finger Grass: (cinquefoil)  Old standby for money spells.  In fact, most money incenses don’t seem to work as well without it.  Combined w/ soot, it has been used for hexing.  It has also been used for protecting.  Often used as a bath herb toward this purpose. Works better for protecting against negative influences than removing them. Fenugreek:  a seed of the sun, used for all manner of luck and success spells.   Frangipani:  an attraction or “drawing” herb.  Use to bring things to you.  Also used to command trust and gain the confidence of others. Foxglove:  exposes lying and forces honesty.   Grains of Paradise:  carry strong luck connotations. Galangal:  highly versatile and only slightly less powerful that High John or Jalap.  Known as Low John, its action never proceeds in a straight line, but takes on unexpected twists and turns.  It accomplishes its functions through devious means.  Creates a powerful force for affecting change and is often used in legal difficulties. Ginger: basically a fiery catalyst but also used to induce passion.  A good catalyst to add to formulas for romantic love. Geranium:  used to lift the spirits and banish negativity.  Protection, love, healing and fertility are all in the domain of this herb.   Heliotrope:  another sun herb.  Carries a vibration of luck.  Attracts wealth and protects against physical harm.  Used in healing, clairvoyance and finding lost objects. Honey:  binds and attracts, seduces.  Often used in incense to bind the other ingredients. Honeysuckle:  attracts friends, business and instills confidence.  Used for money, prosperity and clairvoyance.  Traditionally symbolizes the “bonds of love” and is excellent when working on a problem of infidelity.  A potent and sneaky commanding ingredient - the iron fist in the velvet glove.    Hawthorn:  used for protection, purification and banishing.  Some identified it as “the tree of hope” and to the Romans it symbolized marriage. Hazel:  used for wands but also for reconciliation.  Quickly lessens hostilities between people.  Two twigs tied together w/ red or gold thread to form a solar cross were used for a good luck charm.  Draw a circle around you with hazel if in need of protection.  Used for fertility and wisdom and in divining rods for finding lost objects. Hemlock:  one of the foremost hexing agents. Added to any oil or incense to change its meaning (for example to Luck oil to deny good luck) Hellebore:  works similarly to henbane but likes to pull the rug out from under the operator so use with caution!   Hyacinth: used to transmit on psychic planes a feeling of joy and playfulness.  Frequently used as a follow-up to uncrossing rituals to replace negative vibes with positive ones.  Attracts love, luck and brings peace of mind and restful sleep. Heather:  protects.   Hyssop:  anointing, blessing, consecrating, protecting and purifying.   Irish moss:  a success herb w/ long term benefits.  Slower in action but good for secure and steady growth of prosperity.   Jasmine:  essentially a seduction herb.  More sexual than romantic.  Symbolizes the mysteries of the night.  Sometimes used for meditation, to relax, for dreams or even to aid in childbirth.  In love recipes it is used lightly in combination with other ingredients unless you just want a sexual affair. Juniper berries:  a power herb which happens to work quite well in areas of luck, good fortune and success.  Legendarily associated with Jupiter, it is often used for male virility.    Lavender:  cleanses, protects and shields from bad vibrations and negativity.  Used for uncrossing and love, it’s particularly effective in helping with marital problems or relationships.  Soothes problems between parents and children and is an excellent protecting herb for babies and children. Lemon or Lemon blossoms:  fiery, zesty and active.  Often employed as a catalyst in luck recipes since it sets off other herbs.  Also used for “drawing” or “attracting” something to you. Often used in love formulas both for attracting and repelling. Licorice:  a commanding herb.  Used by the Egyptians as an aphrodisiac. Lemon Verbena:  a traditional luck herb, it has the ability to convert bad luck to good.  It is positive, protective and cleansing.  A strengthening herb added to others to give extra power.  Also used as an “attraction” herb. Lemon Grass:  used to aid psychic powers. A two-sided herb: on the one hand calming, good for deepening meditation or trance. Excellent to add to a general “Power” formula for general ritual work.  On the other hand it has been used by some as a hexing herb primarily aimed at making someone’s life complicated and full of problems.  Go figure! Lilac:  good for inducing “far memory” and recalling past lives.  Also good for clairvoyance in general.  Brings peace & harmony.  Excellent for uncrossing.  Tends to promote the positive aspects in the herbs it’s combined with. Lobelia:  Like most of the poisons, this expresses “hate” while other hexing herbs express “anger, contempt or dislike”.  Results with herbs like this one are always nasty, but never predictable. Lotus:  a common additive to psychic incenses.  Said to reach the highest realms of mystical insight.  Associated with Egyptian magic. Lily of the Valley:  used for calming and blessing. Lime:  To keep a lover faithful.  Used by men for attracting women.  Has some “drawing” or “attracting” abilities in other areas. Conversely, has also been used to “sour” a relationship. Lovage:  an “Attracting” herb.  Used to draw customers to a place of business or to attract others in general.  The root acts as a catalyst to other herbs while exerting a stabilizing influence at the same time.  An excellent love herb. The leaf is highly cleansing.   Marjoram: protective - especially in matters of love.  Often used in love and friendship charms or for protecting the house. Mint:  a common additive to love incense - though I don’t know why since it tends to clear the head, not fog it.  Spirits love the scent of mint and a dish set out will tend to attract them.  Used in prosperity and money formulas.  Also excellent for psychic matters and studying. Mistletoe:  Although used in many love recipes, it is really a commanding/compelling herb.  Used since ancient times for protection. Musk:  (real musk is illegal and unethical to use. A good synthetic may be used instead)  commanding and compelling, particularly in sexual areas.  Help for self confidence, assurance and strength.   Myrtle:  love, fertility, protection and healing. Masterwort: power, strength and courage with good protective qualities.  An excellent herb to use in plain “Power” formulas. Mimosa:  a commanding herb which also inspires courtesy in others.  Use to anoint purple candles. Used to bring prophetic dreams and in healing. Motherwort:  a protecting herb which works almost Too Well - indeed, rather like a mother who will often protect you even against things you don’t want protecting from. Mugwort:  clairvoyance, summoning spirits, manifestations, dreams and for consecrating any items used in this manner. Mullien:  lends courage in difficult situations.  Tends toward the “"somber side"  often substituted for graveyard dust - often used when a matter needs to be "laid to rest” .   Neroli:  (bitter orange) a magnetic oil used for attracting. Orange or Orange Blossoms:  attracting, drawing, used to bring things to you or into your life.  Works better than lemon or lime in this sense, The blossoms especially are used in attracting love. Orris:  a focusing herb, used to focus the power of other herbs it is combined with.  Also used as a “love herb” Oakmoss:  a power herb which belongs to Jupiter.   Patchouli:  an herb of power and manifestation, for materializing one’s wishes.  Its job is to make things happen, to bring results “down to earth” quickly and powerfully.  Used for lust or sensuality rather than love.  It has no conscience of it’s own so combine carefully with other herbs.  Often added to money formulas. Pennyroyal:  Cleanses and protects.  Brings harmony and is helpful in times of domestic unrest.  Peppermint: use to create change and get things moving.   Pine:  excellent for cleansing and uncrossing, protecting or refocusing.  Energizing and grounding at the same time.  Poppy Seeds: for dreams, visions clairvoyance and dark moon activities.  Also used for fertility and prosperity. Queen of the Meadow: helps create new opportunities Rose:   love.  What you mix with it determines the kind of love. Rosemary: binds things (or people) together in a loving, gentle manner. Used in pillows for dreams and visions.  Also used for purification and protection, mental alertness and stronger memory.  Often used in sea rituals. Rose Geranium:  powerful protection and subtly commanding.  Reverses misfortune and can be used with other herbs to bless a new home. Rue:  highly protective.  Guards against negative energies and gets things moving in a positive direction. Often used in consecration rituals.   Sassafrass: Commanding and twisting.  Used to free you of another’s power over you or in legal battles for a favorable outcome. Sandalwood:    used to heighten spiritual vibrations, to cleanse, heal and protect.  Often used to stimulate clairvoyance. (the rest of my notes on this one are too badly burned to decipher…) Slippery Elm:  a highly focused protection herb, especially effective at controlling gossip or slander. Snakeroot:  “psychic divorce"  herb.  Use when you want to be ride of a person or thing. St. Johnswort:  emergency first aid protection herb.  Works quickly to reverse negativity and quiet animosity or arguments between people. Tends to absorb and "ground"  negative energies. Sweetpea:  an attraction oil used to draw friends or lovers, loyalty and affection. Solomon’s Seal:  an uncrossing herb associated with luck and wisdom. Brings hunches, intuition and dreams. Strawberry:  used (sparingly) to draw fortunate circumstances into one’s life. Squill root:  very powerful for money Thyme: a favorite with the spirits, it encourages positive vibrations and actions.  Used for protection (especially from the negative energy of others), for courage and for cleansing.   Tormentil:  (blood root) a commanding herb  that can be used for good or ill.  Often used to command respect. Used equally often in cursing and protection and frequently in love matters. Tonka bean:  combination of commanding and catalyst, often used for love or prosperity.  Just plain lucky! Protects against poverty.   Vanilla:  a compelling herb, used in areas of love and money especially. In love, it acts on a more physical level - lowering the guard, lulling the senses and subtly seducing. Vetivert:  (khus khus)  Excellent for uncrossing, protecting, cleansing and then refocusing.  Technically a power herb, it may be used to strengthen hexing formulas but its greatest ability is in Un-hexing.  Powerful and efficient. Violet:  (Old fashioned sweet violet)   for truth.  Guards against deception and creates an atmosphere of trust and honesty.

[immoren]