#I've read these books so many times now that I have expert knowledge on these random side characters

[stravagatefaster]

RIP Carlo (literally) and Alfonso (figuratively), I would say you will be remembered but clearly not

[ozzgin]

Dear Ozzgin,

Is your new addition to the repertoire, the yandere android, a Mixture of Experts like GPT-4.5, or something else entirely? Would his performance / 'humanness' degrade if he were talking to another machine (an inhuman one, not designed to be Spacer-ly human) for a long time?

Any random lorebits on Spacers you did not include but would have had you felt less constrained?

Hah, okay, I see you've gotten into the technical aspects. I'm about to go on a ramble so I'll do a cut here for everyone else to not clog your feeds. Feel free to read if you're into this kind of stuff. :D

First, I just wanted to point this out because I've read your hashtags and comment: the CCD sensors were a bit of an asspull because it's one thing I'm more knowledgeable about, but I don't feel like it'd be a realistic choice, if I am to be nitpicky. They're expensive to produce and are mostly used for really high performance work (telescopes), but a humanoid robot wouldn't need such advanced digital imaging for daily life use. So, you know, it's arguable whether or not there are better alternatives when it comes to a mass-produced agent processing the immediate environment.

Now to your actual question: I've used the machine learning approach because this is currently our most advanced way of developing AI, but it would not be enough to explain the Android's perfect understanding of human speech. ChatGPT analyzes sentences and their meaning purely based on grammar and associations, but there's many examples of it struggling against anything more intricate than literal context. So yeah, that kind of sarcastic dialogue and implied meaning is wishful thinking of times far away sadly. I'm only wildly guessing he wouldn't struggle with today's impediments. There's a black box somewhere in there that fills the gaps and variables we don't have.

If at some point you find yourself with time to spare, I'd recommend reading the book directly. It's very interesting to see how people viewed the "future" back then, and you will detect a lot of optimism regarding computers - such as Daneel (the original Android) being a flawless human. Funnily enough, the book was published shortly before the Dartmouth Conference, so Asimov was this close to discover that language recognition is, in fact, a terribly tangled business and not as simple as they had originally expected.

I think I covered the basics when it comes to Spacers, but then again I cannot tell how easy it is to follow for someone that isn't familiar with the original work. I also didn't want to reproduce every fact, mot a mot, from Caves of Steel, especially since this is less about politics and more about romance. I'd suspect the people reading the story are not too bothered by the only briefly mentioned murder. Cause is less important when the effect is a tall robot boy with a crush on you 👀 if you feel me.

Anyways, I'm very glad you like the story, every now and then I'll insert little facts and technical details - as it usually is when you study Physics and CS but have no friends in the field - so it's definitely nice to have someone recognize the stuff! :)

[vitsa-didicoy]

Good evening, I was wondering if you had any good sources for people trying to learn/reconnect to Romani culture? I’ve been trying to learn more lately as my great grandmother left Europe during ww2 and was only allowed to keep her new children (in our current country, the one she fled to) if she didn’t tech them her language, religion or anything really (same with her new husband who was a refugee from another country). Wouldn’t even tell grandma what country she was from to narrow it down, but we recently found out about her eldest kid in Denmark. Would you know of any reputable resources I could access?? There’s a lot of bull shit floating around the internet and I’d hate to be misinformed

I'll start this by apologizing ahead of time for the length, as there is so much information that I feel is important when you are wanting to reconnect with Romani culture. Also, I'm not an expert and a didicoy myself. I do not have Romanipen and do not speak for all Romani. I am just someone who wants to help Roma and didicoy alike with their struggles.

First thing to understand is that Roma are not a monolith (obviously) and that our culture, religious practices, food, clothing, music, art, etc. all varies from vitsa to vitsa and even family to family. There are similarities of course, but never assume that just because one vitsa does one thing that means that its universal. A lot of gadje that try and write Romani characters get this wrong.

Some of our biggest similarities, though, are what keep us together across vitsas, especially our language, our oppression, and our Romanipen. Romanipen is a serious thing, often dictating whether you're "truly" Romani or a gadjo. Whether or not someone has Romanipen is based on whether they speak Romani Chib, were raised in a Romani community, follow Romani laws and traditions, know Romani history and oppression, etc. Because of the importance of Romanipen, some vitsas do not consider didicoy (Roma who were raised in gadjekane society and do not have Romanipen) as Roma and consider them to be gadje. This does not mean didicoy can never be accepted back, but it does mean that there is a lot of work that goes in to reconnecting with the culture.

So, where can you start? In my opinion the easiest way to start learning is through Florian Tacorian. He's Kalderash Romani and he talks about Romani culture, language, traditions, and oppression, including rating characters that represent Romani people in fiction. He's very digestible for gadje and didicoy to learn from. His YouTube channel is found here:

Once you feel comfortable with the info you learn from him, you can delve deeper by reading books about the Romani experience. Many Roma have written their experiences and history into published works (I'll link a list later in the post), but one that I've personally read from is Ian Hancock. He's Romanichal from Britain and he now teaches linguistics and other subjects at the University of Texas in Austin, TX.

Ian Hancock's works:

I suggest: We Are the Romani People and Pariah Syndrome

And here's a compiled list of Romani authors if ever you want to extend your knowledge to other experiences:

Furthermore, I truly believe that advocating for Romani Rights and learning from current events is half of learning about Roma as a whole. Our oppression is on-going with public opinion of Roma being wholly ignorant at best and vehemently hateful at worst. Reconnecting should also be spearheaded by a desire to uplift Romani voices and to advocate for equal rights. To be more educated on current Romani events, the European Roma Rights Centre is the best place for it.

European Roma Rights Centre:

Next, the most desired part of reconnecting I'd say, is learning Romani Chib. The reason you may not see easily accessible lessons for Romani Chib is because it is closed, meaning only Roma are allowed to learn it. This doesn't mean lessons for didicoy don't exist and there are resources available to learn Romani Chib. Personally, I'm learning American Kalderash from Ronald Lee's books. Even though I'm not Kalderash (at least to my current knowledge), it is still a useful dialect to learn, especially if you live in North America and want to converse with other American/Canadian Roma.

Keep this in mind, pretty much each vitsa has its own unique dialect and, based on the region, each dialect may have different loan words from the country that that vitsa resides in. Ronald Lee will not teach you how to speak every dialect, but, if you get the ground work in and talk to more and more people, you may be at least able to understand what someone from a different vitsa is saying using context clues and thus build your own vocabulary.

Link to Learn Romani by Ronald Lee:

Link to it's sister book, Romani Dictionary (English - Kalderash) by Ronald Lee:

Lastly for this section, community is a huge thing for Roma, it's the biggest thing that has kept us alive through being exiled, persecuted, enslaved, and assimilated completely in the over 1,000 years we've been out of India. It's also something that many didicoy have a big problem with, considering the points above on how hard it is for didicoy to be accepted by Roma. It's not impossible, nor is it hopeless however.

Some Roma will take pity on you because you didn't choose to be raised a gadjo, some Roma will see you as an aspect of racism and be defensive, some won't care and treat you on the basis of your character instead, and some will just ignore you. Again, Romani people are not a monolith and 10-12 million minds all with different lives will have incredibly varied opinions.

It is key to keep this mind and most importantly, to be neutral about this internally. You did not choose for your ancestors to undergo persecution, you did not choose to be raised in the dark about your heritage, and you did not choose to be born with mixed blood.

The best you can do when approaching the community is to be respectful, but engaged. As a didicoy you both can't be entitled to practice every aspect of the culture, but you also can't be too afraid to try what you're allowed to. If you are unsure of your place, ask. If you have a question about a practice, ask. If you are interested in aiding and actually being a cog in the community, you can also just ask. "No" is not a bad word and understanding why you're rejected if and when you are is a good mindset to have when you're trying to build trust in the community, too. On the flip side, if you are presented an opportunity to practice within the culture, take it. If there are Romani events in your area with an open invitation, visit and actually experience first-hand. Talk to people, tell them your intention and if you are genuine, you'll get farther than you might think.

As for online communities, I suggest starting with r/Romani on Reddit. There are a lot of posts from didicoy asking about where to start, like you. Read the comments on those posts and you'll see a lot of advice from Roma with all different experiences. And don't gravitate towards the advice that makes you feel good, just the advice that makes logical sense to you.

r/Romani:

Again I'm sorry that this is not only so long, but also that it took so long to get out. When answering these questions, I try to help with any aspect that I can, but I still want people to engage with the community themselves. I wish you the best of luck and I hope that you find the answers you've been looking for.

We are all in this together. Te aves baxtalo 💙❤️💚

[fudgelling-away]

You are my favourite sans person, so i wanna ask you, what do you think his singing voice would sound like??? I don't know if it would be similar to his speech which I imagine is like a deeper baritone sort of thing, OR, he's one of those dudes who sounds drastically different depending on what he's doing.

he's sexy either way though🤫🤫

I've been thinking about this ask for the past several days 😳

That is such a sweet thing to say!!! Thank you for telling me this, I appreciate you reaching out so much!

---------------------------

To answer your question, I think Sans would be very skilled in modulating his voice.

I imagine him being an expert in communication - that means not only having an uncanny ability to read your face like an open book, but also being able to masterfully control his own expression and the message that his voice and his body language send.

(note: this has nothing to do with controlling emotions, that's a whole another topic)

That's also why his ability to lie is straight up scary. This man could sell you the most otherwordly ideas in a believable way and you would never know.

Sans is scary. The power he wields IS scary, and I do not mean piercing bones. He's one scary little cookie and I love him so much-

Also, isn't it amazing that he never uses those talents to abuse others? We as the Players commit atrocities and treat the in-game world like our playground. There are also all these other characters who misuse their strength and influence in a destructive, careless way. And on the other side there is Sans. Intelligent, powerful, both in battle and in soft skills.

He is so- ah, you know what I mean?! He could, but he doesn't! He's got all the abilities necessary to become the scariest predator ever seen, and he chooses not to.

But I digress.

HAVING SAID ALL THAT, I think he would be a very good singer in his natural vocal range.

As I have mentioned before, he can read you very well. That means he recognizes each tiny change in your voice. In the game we can also see the way his text speech changes, many times, in different ways. It, of course, is not THAT important - we are discussing headcanons anyway ♡ But I really like that about him, too.

I don't see anything stopping him from using all that knowledge and talent to sing well (if he wanted to).

---------------------------

I'd love to share with you who is my voice for Sans, but I can't. He actually is a singer. I have never seen him linked to Sans in any way whatsoever, so I really don't want to put his name out there.

But that's such a good voice... Oh man...

It's deep, of course, but with a totally unique timbre. I have never heard any voice similar to it, and it's so... It's so pleasant to my ears! It's smooth, and ahhh I can't explain it. It has got that special something... Those undertones that feel and taste like SANS. That relaxed, though positive and attentive manner of speech. Ah. I am obsessed with it.

And I have found it by a total accident. Several months ago I was driving, minding my own business, there was radio playing in the background, and at one point they started to play an old song from the 1980s.

30 seconds in and I'm like, oh shit. No.

1 minute in and I am starting to sweat.

No.

no

no no no-

YEEEEEESSS!

[IMAGINE: A STREAM OF HAPPY EXPLETIVES]

That was an epiphany.

The feeling was euphoric.

SANS

sans sans

ASDDASDASFSSASA

I have no memory of the rest of the drive, but THAT VOICE.

I came back home. I looked up the radio station on the internet. I checked what they played an hour earlier.

And I found out who it actually was.

Immediately I went searching for some recorded interviews and yesss, there they were, perfectly available on youtube...

I spend a couple of hours every week listening to those interviews while I am working or drawing. That voice is ingrained in my brain now. That's my Sans' voice.

I am so sorry I can't show it to you.

--------------------------- Let me know what YOU think! ♡

I love to read different headcanons and ideas.

[whathorselegs]

I just finished reading the beast bsd manga and I'm just a bit curious about smt. If dazai made all of these universes from the book. Why couldn't he just make a universe where everything goes right since the book can make anything into a reality. Or am i just dumb (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

I'm probably not the best person to ask this because I have not read the light novel yet. I've read most of the manga and watched the movie a good while back.

But from my understanding of the book, Dazai didn't create any of the universes, they all existed as possibilities within the book simultaneously. The Beast universe is just one of many that exist within the book.

As for the book's rules from the main storyline, you can't just write anything you want in the book an have it come true. It has to make narrative sense and you have to be able to guide it into fruition.

The Decay of Angels, couldn't simply write "The world turns on the Agency and blames them for mass terrorism" they had to take careful steps to set up the scenario they wrote in the book. They had to manipulate the members of the Agency to be in the right space at the right time, for the book to take effect. Only then did reality change.

Similarly Dazai had to guide things within the Beast world, otherwise it would have all been for nothing as the book can't change things without help. The steps he took had to be achievable, he couldn't just vaguely write "Oda is alive and well." and have it happen.

Now if I'm just theorizing why Dazai didn't write a perfect world, I'd say it's because that wasn't his goal. His goal was to make a world where Oda was happy and writing his novel. So Dazai made ruthless and selfish decisions to achieve that goal. Technically speaking, he achieved that, so in his eyes you could say he did create a world where everything went right, but only for his ideal version of Oda. It didn't matter how many other lives were messed up along the way.

Dazai is a very tragic character in Beast. He hurts other people he cares about to control one outcome for a man he never got to know and I think he knows that. I think that's why he ends it the way he does. For all his tried to do for Oda, he was rejected and hated for it. He succeeded, but he lost. His perfect vision was achieved and he forgot to include himself in it.

Dazai didn't write a world where everything goes right, because he wasn't capable of doing so.

And that's my understanding from my limited knowledge of the Beast universe and the rules of the book. But as I said, I am by no means an expert in either.

[sabakos]

might be a silly question, but can you give any recs for readings on Plato and ancient philosophy in general for someone who haven't read anything from ancient philosophy outside from some Plato Dialogues and Aristotle metaphysics? Should I just go read Pierre Hadot?

Oh, please don't read Pierre Hadot. I mean, you can if you want I guess but he's very much the sort of person who went off and made a bunch of strong claims that are highly controversial and not really backed by evidence, but got repeated by many other people because they seemed interesting. Admittedly I'm biased since I do hate it when people try to draw parallels between philosophy and psychotherapy, but you generally want to stick more on the beaten path of interpretation than that.

I'd also shy away from most people who are recognizably famous philosophers; Heidegger or Derrida or Hegel or Popper's interpretations of Plato will usually tell you more about those people than they will about Plato, what you want are people who specialize in history of philosophy and/or classics, who can read the original Ancient Greek and publish papers and books mostly on the history of philosophy; People who are publishing in subject-specific encyclopedias such as the Oxford Handbook and Cambridge Companion are generally the people whose other papers and books you want to read.

For a general overview of ancient Greek philosophy (where I assume you'd want to start), I happen to like Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, which was originally a podcast (which is still airing!) and now has been published into a series of books. Probably any other general history of philosophy published in the past 50 years by an academic historian of philosophy other than Bertrand Russell (a fine philosopher, but a useless historian) will be useful as well. But Adamson is good because he avoids over-simplification and doesn't gloss over, well, the gaps between Plato and Aristotle (4th century BCE) and Augustine (4th century CE) as many general histories of philosophy and even many treatments of Ancient Greek philosophy are wont to do.

Also, for more in-depth works, the HOPWAG website has a bibliography of academic works for every single episode that generally includes the cutting-edge books written by the most recent experts in the field. I rarely think I'd be able to come up with a better list or recommend anything that I think is a glaring omission for any subject I've read more in-depth on. These can, however, vary in difficulty and assumed background wildly, so don't get too discouraged if you download or borrow a book and it's referencing many people you're not familiar with or expecting you to read Ancient Greek - just go to a different source. At the risk of too much quartz and feldspars here, I generally think that most of the works cited there are pretty comprehensible for a beginner who has some knowledge of the basic Ancient Greek philosophical schools and people.

(I apologize if it seems like I'm leaning really hard on a podcast of all things here, I promise it genuinely is a really good resource run by a professional historian of philosophy and even with all of my reading beyond it, I'd simply be hard-pressed to outdo it!)

For Plato specifically:

I'd especially recommend The People of Plato by Debra Nails - This is a prosopography, which is a reference work that lists all of the people who appear as characters in the dialogues along with all of the other independent sources (i.e. from close to the time of Plato and not derived from the dialogues) attesting their existence, including inscriptions and other historical evidence that you'd never know about otherwise. As with any work like this, take any conclusion that seems like it's debating with and overturning prior scholarship with a grain of salt. But on the whole, for questions like "who is Lysis" or "who is Gorgias" it's generally a good resource.

Almost every work by Plato will also have several commentaries written by Plato scholars written in or translated into English, many of which will be from the past few decades and reflect the most recent scholarship. These are often rather technical and get more into the weeds than you might want if you haven't read the dialogue they're about, but they also will usually outline the dialogues and break them up into parts in a coherent and consistent manner, which makes for an easier time reading them even if you just skim the commentary.

Many of these authors assume a bit more background knowledge, but a few scholars I especially like are John Dillon (Heirs of Plato, The Middle Platonists), Holger Thesleff (Platonic Patterns), Harold Tarrant (Plato's First Interpreters, Thrasyllan Platonism). A lot of this probably reflects my own interests more than being a shortlist of the very best Plato scholars out there. But the history of ancient philosophy is not a terribly large field, it's somewhat easy to get an idea who the big names are and which people write accessibly and which ones are more difficult.

[seraphim-soulmate]

I needed to send another email to a government program and when checking if I'd attached the proper documents, started crying pretty hard because I didn't fully realize what I'd been sending these people. I fully read the documents that I've just been sending as proof of my disability and it tore me apart while building me back up.

One document is a testament to every treatment I tried, written by the pain clinic, with all the results of every treatment. Every consult I went to, another update about what I'd been trying. it's not absolutely everything either, bcs there were months that I didn't go to the pain clinic so they didn't get an update. I did SO much and fought SO hard to get myself help, to try to feel better. And it's all there, in that document. And I'd gaslight myself into thinking my problems weren't that bad, that I was being excessive or making things up. That I didn't have a right to articulate my needs and get them met, that I wasn't even allowed to have needs. I had to work, actually work on, in therapy, finding out my most basic needs. Then communicating them. Without dismissing myself or belittling myself or thinking I'm bad or my needs are bad if someone cannot meet them. Now I have to work on communicating them in a way that doesn't sound like an order, and communicating them early enough that I don't feel a need to articulate them like an order.

There's also of course my psychiatrist's letter which is hard-hitting too. The fact that I helped write the rough draft only makes it even more painful, but in a good way. The last sentence, after pages of my diagnoses and how they impact me, is "despite his many problems, he presents a beautiful resilience associated with a strong desire to improve his life conditions and to better integrate into society." When you've just read the medical report from the pain clinic, then the one from the psychiatrist, I don't know who wouldn't be shaking in tears after that tbh. Especially with the knowledge of where I was at in life, that I was caretaking for my grandmother the entire time that I was struggling myself, and that I was alone. I had friends, and I cannot be more grateful for those who stood by me, but not having family is hard. Knowing your parents don't understand and can't help is hard. I'm glad my dad tried, that he's gotten better at believing me again. He was the one who actually came to me with the idea that it might be fibro, but that was such a scary diagnosis at the time, for the fact that it was psychosomatic and for the fact that there was no relief, that it took me a bit to accept that he was trying to help. And then I looked into it more. And I went to the pain clinic. And I got so so so very lucky making an appointment, I got one for the following week because of a cancellation. I would have had to wait months otherwise.

Knowing I did that, by myself, alone. I researched conditions and symptoms and medications and treatments and therapies and the list goes on! I became a micro-expert in my field of disability, because you have to if you want to know what your doctors are doing to you and what you can do in response. Advocating for yourself as a disabled person and fighting with doctors is one of the most fucked up things I got from this experience. Some of them are absolutely repugnant.

I searched for all the medical professionals, I reached out to them, I booked the appointments, I reached out to get help going to the appointments so I would have a witness to how doctors treated me, I tried again and again and again, despite so many treatments failing or even worsening my pain. It's so weird to look back on that and think that I didn't just do nothing about my condition, that I was more active and engaged in my care than most disabled people are (or can be, no diss to disabled ppl who cannot get access to care).

I'm proud of that, of everything I've done, but it's also deeply fucking sad. I did that all alone. I didn't get a diagnosis when I was younger, I didn't have the support of my parents. My mom didn't book doctors appointments for me, she didn't take me to them, she didn't hold me when I was weeping with pain and grief and loss. She's proud of me, for everything I've accomplished, because she's now seen people with my conditions who struggle more than I do and she realizes now how excruciating it is for me to be here- to exist. Realistically I know it was easier for me to do it without her, she lives in the middle of nowhere and would have been more of a burden than help, but it's still hard. It's hard that I cannot count on my parents for this, to literally take care of me. Idk if it'll ever not be hard, if I'll ever forgive them for not listening to me all those years I cried out for help to be met with silence, or worse, accusations of lying. Of making it up for attention.

But I'm a success story. I'm living, breathing, being human, being loved and loving, and dealing with it all as it comes. I get to wake up another day and see how the sun reflects off the leaves, I get to see another sunset, I get to see the snow, I get to go to the park, I get to craft, to create, to play. I get to be part of other people's stories. I get to discover my own story.

[rosetintedgunman]

February 14th

It was a very busy evening at the Moonlight Roller. Many couples had decided to choose the venue as their date night. And why wouldn't they? Those who favoured the cheesy holiday would be rewarded with bright, heart-shaped decorations, special deals that were literally too good to be true, and plenty of activities to encourage a good night out.

Except... Wilford wasn't anywhere to be found.

That was rather unusual. After all, wasn't this a holiday that was made just for him? It seemed someone else had drawn this conclusion - the person whose home he had crashed.

Dante was not one to observe Valentine's Day, but it was one of the rare times he allowed himself to indulge in a simple pleasure from his human life and read a romance novel on the couch. Wilford was on the floor, one hand holding a joke book in the air as he debated on whether he wanted to read it.

It was... surprisingly peaceful, taking the reporter's eccentricity into account. In fact, it took some time before Dante realised something rather important:

It was a good question, and one that Wilford didn't immediately answer. Instead, he placed the book on his lap and slumped against the piece of furniture.

"I don't think I'm th' expert of love I always claim ta be." Wilford leaned his head back until it lightly pressed against the arm of the couch. "I mean... I know I cared fer Celine an' all, but that love was fake since she didn't love me back. I was just an escape."

-

Dante hummed, closing his book to give his friend attention. "This isn't like you. Normally you'd redirect your attention to your love of your friends."

"True, but I can't really have friends hangin' in a date night zone tonight, can I?"

"I doubt it would be a helpful night to find someone single."

"Nah. With how things have been fer me, it's th' best time ta find that lover, or somethin'. My days are in order, I've barely fallen into other times, an' I'm on a good no-kill streak. I'm practically safe as a baby! But...." The humour in his voice disappeared, leaving a sense of deflation behind. "It's almost as though me bein' like this makes me feel like I gotta keep an eye out an' protect th' chickies."

"The... 'chickies'?"

"Yeah! All th' younger folks goin' through th' loops!"

"I don't think you need to worry about 'age difference' between us and adults of consenting age when those of our fate are unable to feel the progression of time in the same way."

Wilford put his book down so he could roll sideways until he was kneeling against the side of the couch. "What if they think I'm old an' not hot?"

The entity quirked an eyebrow. "You sound ridiculous right now."

"What if I'm losin' my hotness radar an' I can't find anyone of my type 'cause I dunno what that is anymore??" Truly, what a rotten fate!!

Unfortunately, Dante was not the person to lament to. "You act like I know the answer to your problems."

"Yeah. Yer smart."

"But about a matter such as love? I grew up in a loveless family and died a bachelor. I'm not a fountain of knowledge."

Wilford slumped forward until his chin bumped against the couch. "Yeah, I 'spose... I'll get all that figured out in time." That appeared to be the end of it, as his eyes half-focused on one of the back cushions. "Ya think I ever found love in between then and now?"

Dante didn't know the answer. However, he had to give some sort of response.

"Romantically? I think you did. I'm sure you'll remember something about it that will help you remember your 'date skills'."

Wilford chuckled, moving his gaze to Dante. "Yer a good friend, y'know that? I'm gonna help ya find a date. Least I can do." Wilford's offer did not go down well.

"I can barely tolerate myself most days. I won't subject anyone else to do likewise."

[hedgewitchgarden]

While growing in popularity, tarot is often misunderstood because it's often portrayed in pop culture as a form of predicting the future (with a tendency towards the ominous). But that's not an accurate depiction: In fact, reading tarot cards can be a way to connect to your higher self or intuition.

"The tarot doesn't tell you what is going to happen — it isn't about taking away your agency — it outlines possibilities so you can take the actions you know can help bring about the future you want," says Mark Horn, author of "Tarot and the Gates of Light, A Kabbalistic Path to Liberation," who has taught at tarot conferences across the US and offers private readings and classes.

If you're interested in reading tarot, one way to learn is by picking up some books to start. "Long before I learned tarot with a teacher, I started my journey with tarot books," says Horn. "You can learn at your own pace, review when you need to, and it's a lot less expensive to have three or four books from experts who can give you a range of thinking about the cards." 

Plus, "[books are] also helpful for those times when you get stuck, something many new readers experience a lot — psst…even seasoned pros have those moments!," says Theresa Reed ("The Tarot Lady"), a professional Tarot card reader, podcast host, and author of "Twist Your Fate: Manifest Success with Astrology and Tarot" and "Tarot: No Questions Asked – Mastering  the Art of Intuitive Reading." "I do recommend having more than one tarot book. This way, you have different points of view, which can broaden your interpretative skills." 

Even professional readers continue to buy and use tarot books to expand their knowledge. "I've been reading cards for more than 50 years now and I continue to buy tarot books," says Horn. "In some ways, tarot is like a jewel with many facets — each book, each teacher will give you another facet with beautiful insights."

Whether you're a true tarot beginner or already own multiple tarot decks, we have book recommendations for all skill levels, according to professional tarot readers.

The 9 best books for learning to read tarot cards:

X

[ninevoltheartmusic]

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Best-of lists vs. natural discovery

Although I have been obsessed with music as long as I can remember, I've often felt like an impostor when it comes to talking to other music nerds. I often feel like my knowledge isn't encyclopaedic enough, like not having listened to the Beatles' entire catalogue somehow gives me less of an authority to listen to any music at all. That's why, many years ago, I asked for the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die for Christmas.

The book does what it says on the tin – it compiles 1001 albums that the editors deemed most noteworthy or important from the 50s to today. My copy, published in 2009, only has a handful of albums from the early 2000s, but I felt like I could handle modern music – it was the stuff from years ago that felt harder to sink my teeth into without a guide. It felt like a great starting point to me at the time. "If I listen to all these albums, surely I'll know enough to count myself as a 'real' music fan," I thought.

The problem was that listening to 1001 albums is a gargantuan task. Even at one album a day, the project would take nearly 3 years. One listen is hardly enough, so the project requires a massive time commitment. I've never been great with consistency, especially when I was younger, so my attempts fell flat. I'd listen to a few albums, not get too excited by them, and forget about the book for a while, then start the process again. Most of the time, it felt like homework rather than something truly enjoyable.

Flipping through the glossy pages, I imagined that I was looking into the future, seeing a version of myself who held all this knowledge and had a complete musical map in their head. Each album is accompanied by a blurb explaining its place in music history, offering some connections to other artists or genres. I was convinced that if I read the entire book cover to cover and engrained each album into my mind, I'd be an expert. The homework would be worth it. I just wasn't sure what use expertise was when what I loved most about music was finding a connection.

In most cases, listening to one album a day doesn't provide enough time to truly connect. Some albums have taken me years of occasional listening to fall in love with them (Gerard Way's Hesitant Alien, for example). It's not always about the sound itself; whether an album resonates often has more to do with hearing it at a time in one's life where something about the lyrics, the mood, the energy just clicks for one reason or another. At that point in time, the album is just right. Even giving a new album a few listens in a day before moving onto the next one feels like inadequate time to see if it sticks.

In the years since receiving the book, I have never stopped finding new music. Instead of following books or lists, I've come across new artists more organically through recommendations from friends, from Spotify, from seeing a band live and loving the opener. After not thinking about 1001 Albums very much for several years, I'm now coming back to it and realizing that so many of the artists that I'd never heard of when I first cracked the spine are now some of my favourites – I didn't need a book to introduce them to me, after all.

I do still want to listen to all of the albums someday. In the interest of trying this project again, I've made a spreadsheet where I can keep track of everything – what date I first listened to the album, how much I liked it, my first impressions, etc. I have yet to fill out the first entry, but I'm not going to hold myself to any timeline this time. Listening to something just to tick it off a list isn't terribly satisfying, to me. A mixture of organic discovery and list-following feels like the way to go, following natural interest and looking to the list when I'm unsure of what to listen to next.

I still feel like an impostor sometimes, even though I recognize most of the names in 1001 Albums now. (In fact, many of my more recent favourites don't feature in any iteration of the book at all.) I still haven't listened to the entirety of the Beatles' back catalogue, and I might never get around to it. But I've learnt that that's the nature of being a music fan; it's impossible to know everything. I'd rather follow my natural interests and find music that I deeply love and connect to than claim an encyclopaedic knowledge that stops at the surface. Being a music fan is about learning and always having more to discover. There are no pre-requisites to being able to say what one likes. I'll never be someone who finds their favourite albums and stops there, keeping the same songs on repeat forever, and I'm comforted by knowing that as long as I live, there will always be great music to hear for the first time and fall in love with when it hits just right.

[ihatetbrlists]

Review #29: Financial Feminist

Financial Feminist, by Tori Dunlap

From my TBR? Nope, read the day after discovering it.

First book of 2024 and my first book about financial education as well. Lately, I've been getting really into this sub-genre of YouTube channels and blogs about financial education content specifically directed at women. This book was recommended by Bitches Get Riches in one of their recent articles.

I picked it up expecting it to be something like Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Pérez but more specifically about discrimination in the workplace or the wage gap but it's actually an actionable guide to getting your finances together as a woman.

Now, I'm not an expert. This is, after all, the first book I've read about financial education. But I do think that someone with a bit more knowledge than I do would have found Financial Feminist to be pretty basic. I did too, at least for some chapters.

The book covers what your relationship with money should look like, how to get out of debt, how to budget, how to start investing, how to negotiate for a raise, how to be a feminist consumer (kind of) and more.

Considering that there are also many mini-essays by other (I assume) famous authors in the field, the book doesn't have the time to get into detail about any of these topics, giving us a bird view. That's fine for stuff like "how to budget" but not for the chapter about investing or ethical consumerism, something I would have really enjoy reading more about.

This book is at its best when it's explaining step-by-step how to get out of debt, create an emergency fund and set a budget — and even then, it assumes that the reader already has a high income. Jessica, the fake person we follow the financial journey of, earns 4k and budgets almost 1k for her fun money every month. In what world does the average reader of this book have 1k left after accounting for necessary spending and debt repayment

This book is also very US-centered and I'm not American. In the chapter Investing (my favorite) (since I know nothing on the subject) I had to leaf through a lot of talk of Roth IRA and 401k and you'll die in poverty if you don't start investing NOW. Useless to me, but at least it made me appreciate the social security in my country.

Other things that didn't pass the vibe check:

there are various mentions of how people of colour or LGBTQAI+ members or people with disabilities have it even worse than white women, which is not the same as actually discussing their challenges.

the author mentions Dave Ramsey disparagingly a bunch of times — like, we get it, he is Bad (and you are therefore Good).

lastly, the author used this book to self-promote her other products. Which, fair, I suppose. But also very annoying (you know when you are watching a video on YouTube when the Youtuber starts going off on a tangent that is so obviously a prelude to the inevitable "and that's why I use whatever product I'm supposed to be sponsoring". That's what some paragraphs felt like)

Verdict: This could be a good book for you if you know nothing about financial independence and want a light read. But if you want to save a few bucks, you can probably find the same information by scouring the author's blog.

[stonewallsposts]

16 personalities questions: 6-9

6. At social events you rarely try to introduce yourself to new people and mostly talk to the ones you already know 

I'm the opposite of this. I actually go out of my way to find the people I don't know and introduce myself. This happened recently at a 'margarita hour' at our office. We had sent out some invitations to the other businesses on our floor. When people started showing up, I wanted to make sure and greet them and welcome them in. I made a point of asking their names and then trying to remember them. If I saw someone standing off by themselves, I would go up and talk to them. I did this a lot at the church I go to. Not as much anymore, since I'm not part of the leadership, but I will still introduce myself to people regularly if I don't recognize them, and ask them who they are, if this is their first time, etc.  

I know I already mentioned some of this earlier in another response.  

Related to this, but not quite the same, I love being in a group and having us all participate in the discussion. I know it's common for people to split off into subgroups, I do this too. But I really try to bring everyone in to the discussion. I'll note during the conversation if someone is not participating, and try to ask them their thoughts. But part of the deal is recognizing when people are more comfortable NOT being integral to the conversation, but just partaking by watching. Then I need to leave them alone. Thankfully, we have a very social office environment, precisely because many of us are fairly outgoing. There are a few that tend to hang back and observe, but most of us participate freely in the conversations. 

7. You prefer to completely finish one project before starting another 

Classic creative personality, in my opinion, is to lurch from one thing to the next. I have this tendency. 

Now, if we're talking about a work project, then I would prefer to finish it up, then move on to the next thing. But unfortunately, inasmuch as my projects sometimes require input from others, I'm not in control of this. I have to turn a project over to someone else until they give their input, and often that means I have to wait. Until then, I can't just sit, so I have to switch gears and do something else. 

Overall, I'm pretty good at time management, and I am totally a self-starter. This is partly because I worked for myself for 22 years, partly because it's my personality. 

When it comes to my work projects, I would prefer to finish one, then move to the next. It just doesn't usually work that way.  

When I'm reading, I tend to do one book at a time. The only time I vary from this is when I'm just not very interested in one, then I might start a second one and work through it at the same time. But I generally prefer to do one at a time. 

In much of my other interests, I will move from one thing to the next. I've often said I'll never be an expert in anything, because my interests are too scattered. I learn a little about the thing that catches my interest, then move on once I'm satisfied that I've gotten enough knowledge about the thing. With some things, I return consistently and get better over time. With other things, I learn a little, then leave off and it's all good. I tend therefore to have a little knowledge about a lot of different things, but no particular expertise in anything, because I lack the particular character trait that causes people to focus on that one thing.  

In the summary of this, I do find myself wanting to finish a project before I start another, at least in some areas, particularly work and reading. In many other areas, I don't care.  

8. You are very sentimental 

My first question was, what exactly does this mean? The definition of sentimental is: prompted by feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia. 

Wikipedia has this to say: originally indicated the reliance on feelings as a guide to truth, but in current usage the term commonly connotes a reliance on shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason. 

If I'm relying on the first definition, I don't know if I rise to the level of 'very' sentimental, but I'll try to offer some examples of where I am on this. I remember specific dates of things that happened. I have marked them on my calendar. I remember moments and little things that mean something to me. Maybe everyone does this, I don't know. So it's hard to say if I'm in the normal range, or towards 'more sentimental', but can certainly be prompted by tenderness, sadness or nostalgia. 

I'm also pretty bad at hiding my emotions . I try, and have actually done pretty well at it in some instances, but people are often able to read my impatience, for example, on my face. Again, I'm not sure where this would fall in consideration of the statement, but it feels like it is part of the equation. 

If I'm relying on wikipedia, I mean, it sounds bad, but maybe I'm guilty of it. Even my choice of words- guilty... like it’s a crime or something to rely on emotions, would speak that it's not good to be sentimental. But of course they word it not just 'emotions' but "shallow, uncomplicated emotions", "at the expense of reason". Who would want to admit to being driven by "shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason"? That doesn't sound like a stable person.  

The question though isn't whether I like the way it sounds, it's whether I'm like that or not. I hope I'm more driven by reason, and in many areas I probably am, but there are other areas where I clearly am not. Just like overeating when I know I'm supposed to be on a diet, I know there are things that I should give up, that would be the reasonable thing, but which I just can't seem to let go of.  

That, as a matter of fact, does lead to some instability.  

There are some areas where people might consider me rather dead to sentiment. For example, with my father's passing. There are people who really seem to have a hard time with death, with the loss. I don't. I just accept that the deceased had their time, I am thankful for it, and now it's over. Where my aunt, for example, has built a mini-shrine to her deceased husband in the room where he was, I just think it's kind of weird.  Now granting, I've not lost a spouse. That is the closest relationship we'll have in this life, and my aunt and uncle didn't have any kids so he was her everything. But even so. I just can't relate to people who want to hang on so much. I'm sure lots of people would consider me heartless because of this. I don’t think I am, I just view it more rationally, in my opinion. 

We are watching a show right now where the guy loses his wife. For the first year he was so distraught he could hardly move, and even five years later, he is still stuck in a sort of paralysis in some areas. It just drives me nuts. I can't understand this. I'm sure my attitude could be both a strength and a weakness, but I'm just as sure that lots of people would still consider me heartless because of it. 

So in an attempt at analyzing where I fit on this spectrum, it would depend perhaps on the definition, but I think while in general I'm probably in the middle, there are areas where I'd probably lean towards the more sentimental.  

9. You like to use organizing tools like schedules and lists 

I use schedules and lists for work, but not for much else. I suppose that's because by nature I'm a little more disorganized than is good for me. But having worked for myself for many years, I learned to do what I had to in order to make sure I accomplished my work on time.  

Outside of work, I don’t really organize as much. I used to manage projects when I was involved in leadership at church, and for that, I would have to sit down and figure out what had to happen, when each step along the way should be happening, and then set up milestones and progress reports to make sure it was all moving along as it was supposed to. But I don't do that job anymore.  

I occasionally have to manage a project for the HOA where I live, but nothing that really requires so much planning. And without needing to plan stuff, I don't need organizing tools. 

I suppose there are other areas of life that require organization. I try to be relatively organized in general with my stuff. I didn't grow up that way. My mom was constantly "looking for" some thing or other that was needed. When I was well into adulthood, a friend mentioned that she always had a place for everything, and put it there. So she never had to go looking for a thing. She only had to go to the place where it should be. I had never heard that before but I immediately loved the entire concept. To be honest, I was already well on my way to being more organized, probably as a reaction against the way I grew up, but this time I decided that it was going to be the way to live my life.  

I can't say I manage it perfectly. There are things that I have to get so rarely that I don't always remember exactly where the place is...but in general, I do try to stay organized with household or workplace items. 

Same holds true for my computer files and folders. I try to put things in logical places. 

But as a kid, I was always a forgetful. I used to regularly come home from school without my jacket, at which point my mom would say: David, where's your jacket? I would sheepishly look down and notice I didn't have it, and then mutter I must have forgot it. To which my mom would reply: I swear David, if you didn't have your head screwed on, you'd forget that too! I heard that about a thousand times growing up. But I was always had a thing for keeping my room as uncluttered as possible. I would at times, haul in one of the big trash cans from outside and then just pitch a bunch of stuff I didn't want anymore. Mom would see this and go out and root through it and pull stuff out that she didn't think I ought to be throwing away. I know the statement didn’t list 'organizing tools like trash cans', but I would think trash cans can be organizing tools, right? 

The last two points then are related to organizing in the sense that, as a kid, I was really forgetful, which would be evidence that I'm not naturally super organized, and yet, I don't like clutter, which would be evidence that I at least want to be organized. That's the way I'm seeing it anyway. 

[reginarubie]

Dark Daenerys, the biblical series

So, since it has become such a big hit (reaching the four parts) I've decided to dedicate a whole post only to the four parts which compose the small series of biblical-referenced metas about dark Daenerys and the possible parallels or foils between her and some figures of the Bible.

A premise is very much in order.

While being Italian and a catholic, I am in no way an expert on the subject of biblical studies, not beyond what I've learned during the formative years of catechism (and I was the catechist's terror, tbh) and eventual studies and researches I did in school (when we studied, last year of high school, the Paradiso — the third cantica of Dante's Divina Commedia — and later when I studied canonical law at university) and the researches I did for these posts (with infos that can be found on the net) so I do not presume to hold the truth of this matter, nor the truth of what can be found in the Bible as it is extremely layered and profound, filled with meanings lost to us due the change of time, culture and shifts in the beliefs from when the books were first written and interpreted, to now.

So, this whole series was born because I suddenly realised something I had known, but not connected with Martin's work, all along. I've had classical studies before university (I studied latin and greek and literature and communication — both medias and in books — and such) so my knowledge in these matters is pretty broad but also pretty superficial (unless I've done researches for each matter, like in this case, and I still claim not to know enough anyway) as my studies took then another direction when I chose my university.

Having studied latin, and the Divina Commedia, I was perfectly aware that Lucifero (the name of the devil after the fall) means ‘bringer of light’ (portatore di luce), but it took me a bit to remember that ‘lightbringer’ (the one who brings light) is basically the same thing written in reversal — I am not a native speaker, after all, so some hues of the language still escape me; so when I was casually scrolling on the dark Azor Ahai theories I was suddenly hit as if by a bolt by the realisation that his sword, the mystical sword supposed to bring the dawn was called exactly like Lucifer (lightbringer) and that many associated that with Drogon — Lucifer, btw, is considered to be connected with the star of the dawn (the Morning Star).

From thereon it was almost as fever, for I did the post and suddenly ever piece seemed to fit together like a glove. And I am in no way claiming that GRRM did this purposefully (tho he might have), nor to hold the complete and utter, absolute truth about this; but knowing he was raised a catholic and how much of a well read man he is, it is not unthinkable that he might have been influenced even on a subconscious level by the biblical figures. After all, all stories (especially epic ones) recur around the same kind of archetypes and characters — pariah, messiah, dark heroes, etcetera — which are the same that can be found in some passages of the Bible. I mean, if I — who am not as well read, but was raised catholic and did some studies on the matter — could reach this conclusion it is not out of the realm of possibilities that in someway this played some part in the characterisation of his beloved characters.

Another premise might be in order.

While I do believe Daenerys is en route to become the last standing villain, or be seen as such by the people and by those who will come after her, I do not think she's only clean-cut a villain. She's a charismatic character, with flaws and strong points — she's clever, funny and charming, she can be empathetic and she's strong; she can also be ruthless and cruel, she can be cold and turn her gaze away, she can be too singleminded — and I don't believe Martin has a clean-cut cartoonish characterisation of her descent into darkness in mind (like the one we got during the show); most probably it will be heart-wrenching and tragic, as it is supposed to be, as that is the way, it seems to me, this is about to go down. This is why, when I speak of Daenerys I always take into account both her young age, her traumas and her attempts to do good things, as well as her darkest traits.

But, as I am in no way an expert, I am always open to others, who know better (or simply have a differing opinion) to say their own on this matter because it's totally possible that I've missed some detail which may hint in a different direction, or that there are other things I may ignore and that may play a part as well; so any input will be greatly appreciated!

part one: il portatore di luce; lightbringer and Lucifer, the parallels between Daenerys (possible other Azor Ahais) and the biblical figure of Lucifer

part two: Daenerys and Christ — foils; why her message and actions are not the same as Christs

part three: Daenerys and the Antichrist — he who denies the Father and the Son (also why Daenerys does not fit the Great Deliverer thematic)

part four: is Daenerys using freedom the same way ‘Lucifer’ supposedly uses the notion of free will? in this we also dissect the real reason behind her ‘freeing the Unsullied’ and her campaign east.

[eyeballjazz]

First of all I've been binge reading your fics whenever I get some free time so huge kudos to ya <3

Second, I've got a fun lil ask for ya: domestic headcanons for HB/PI and SS/DD :D

how do they share all their houses' chores? We all know HB is probably an amazing cook and DD looks like an organization freak but what about the rest? Does anyone besides HB knows how to cook a proper meal? We need to know!!

Well, hell!

First of all, thank you so much this is so sweet! Absolutely makes my day to know you’re enjoying my work. I hope you get lots more time to read soon, bro!

And second I’m about to go ON so I’ll chop the post here, but I’ve got headcanons old and new cooked up for you:

As I’m sure you’ve noticed I like writing about buildings so I can tell you exactly what everyone’s houses are like. The whole Crew lives across from each other on a block in the center of their territory, Slick and Droog in a Victorian townhouse and Hearts and Clubs in a duplex that’s broken into two railway style spaces. Slick would live shoebox if it was up to him, so thankfully Droog has very opinionated taste and likes spending his husband’s money enough to buy a whole antique for them to live in. 

I don’t have to tell you that cooking is huge for the Crew. They’re a small family of Italian uncles, so cooking is a major factor of their lives. 

As skill goes Droog is the best cook out of anyone. He’s self taught but for the very basics and some old family recipes his mother drilled into him back in Tuscany. And like everything with Droog, he’s someone who grew up dirt poor and now desperately wants to show off taste and affluence by being a highbrow snob. That means his skill for cooking has driven towards very elegant, subtle cuisine, lots of French influence (he says it must have been Italian, originally, but the French got famous for it somehow), and small portion size. Think of the fanciest restaurant you've ever been to and how teeny the serving sizes were and then imagine it was cooked by someone who is ferociously closeted and you’ve got it. 

Despite all that, Droog has not had working taste buds in at least thirty years because he’s smoked two packs a day since he learned to walk. Slick, likewise, had a bad smoking habit and quit for the kids so he’s not swimming in buds either. Add to that the fact that he’s had his nose broken so many times he’s functionally lost his sense of smell and you’ve got a match made in heaven. 

Lucky them, Karkat and Aradia get the spoils of Droog’s great cooking and are the picky eaters their fathers wished they could have been as boys. Droog is very proud to have snotty kids. So it is his great displeasure when, instead of having a single scallop lightly seared in browned butter then dusted with rosemary and thyme, the kids just want peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But both happen regularly. 

Hearts is a close second but of a very different school. He learned to cook primarily from his mother, who is a master of Southern cooking and made sure her boy knew how to do for himself before she let him leave her home. The rest he learned as a cook in the army, and then later from Droog after Hearts insisted he learn some real Italian recipes since his father never cooked when Hearts was a boy. Hearts still has a habit for cooking for a literal army and so he often cooks for the whole family. 

His food is mostly soul food/American southern and he seasons hard and often. One might even say it is dangerously flavorful, and everyone agrees it is extremely fortifying. It’s even strong enough to get through to Droog, who can (with the addition of hot sauce) taste it and secretly wishes Hearts would offer to teach him a thing or two.

Too willful to learn, Slick is a very low third place. He doesn’t care about food much and burns most things he tries to cook out of impatience. Plus, he hasn’t needed to learn since he married Droog so why start now?

Pickle Inspector, dead last, can’t so much as fry an egg. He loves food and knows the locations and operating hours of every restaurant and pub and gas station hot bar in the city. But cooking itself eludes him. He does occasionally try to go vegetarian but folds immediately when offered the chance to have a big beautiful meal he didn’t have to cook himself.

This matches up perfectly with Hearts’s master plan, which is to feed Pickle Inspector to within an inch of his life. And Pickle, like a stray cat, loves the attention and knows where the free food is. Hearts insists he’s too skinny and will often say ‘Just have a little,’ and then hand him a plate with half a lasagna on it.

HBPI is a ‘you cook, I clean’ split. Self conscious of his lack of cooking knowledge Pickle does every dish in the house whenever he sneaks in (read: breaks in) to spend time with Hearts and Tavros. And very often when he breaks in he tries to carve out some time to spend playing DnD with Tavros, with an ambition to get him and Hearts in a game so they can show Hearts a more kinetic version of fantasy than having a read a lot of books by nudists from the 60’s.

Because they may or may not be out as a couple to the Crew, Pickle and Hearts don’t get to spend a lot of time out on Hearts’s front porch together, although kicking back on the porch is one of Hearts’s favorite things to do. But, every so often, they take their coffee together out on the porch way before anyone else is awake. They watch the city all in blue together, right before the sunrise.

SSDD and chores are much more complicated.

Droog is fastidious, meticulous, and intense about cleaning. He also uses it to avoid or ignore any emotions he may be feeling so their Victorian is constantly spotless. Droog does all the kitchen chores, all the rewarding dusting of art pieces, mantles, and mirrors, and looks after the kids to make sure they learn how to keep their own spaces clean.

He dumps all the chores where you actually chance getting dirty on Slick. Taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, cleaning the bathrooms, washing the cars, touching anything weird, bugs, that’s all Slick.

Slick also looks after their garden, not for any love of plants but because he’s gotten himself into an all out war with a warren of rabbits that want to eat Droog’s spices and tomatoes. The war has been multi-generational for the rabbits and they’re too invested to pull out now. Slick is the only person who really looks after the garden, Droog assumes ownership of the plants but doesn’t care about them beyond having fresh basil to cook with.

Slick’s contempt for the bunnies and ferocity in keeping his husband’s plants alive have made him an unwitting expert on what a good spice garden needs. Like Droog, his feelings for the whole thing aren’t tied to love for the plants but instead pride and anger. Droog, meanwhile, loves seeing Slick do violence in his name and will often watch his tantrums in the backyard whenever one of the tomato plants gets chewed up.

Whew, this got long quick. Since it’s already so long, I’ll leave you with one more hc which is that Pickle Inspector knows how to juggle. Thank you again for the great questions, this was so fun!!!

[crazycatsiren]

The "advanced" witch

This post that I read, really struck a chord.

I've been asked before, what it's like being an experienced or "advanced level" witch. And honestly, I never quite know how to answer this. Every now and then, I get a specific question of how do I do this or where did I learn that, and I have to really think about it. It's like driving a car. Some of it becomes automatic after a while. I don't even remember exactly how I learned to read tarot cards. It's just something that I've been doing since forever ago. A lot of the stuff, I've been doing for long enough, that I don't even think about anymore. Stuff that I just do. Stuff that's just there, in my head, in my system, a part of me. I never had a grimoire or a spell book. If it weren't for my blog, I probably still wouldn't be writing things down.

I started tarot reading 13 years ago, and decided I wanted to be a witch 10 years ago. To be perfectly honest, I feel like I'm just now starting to "get it". Sometimes, it feels like a lifetime has passed, and I don't remember when being a witch became as natural as breathing.

Yes, I was a beginner once. We all were. Everybody has to start somehow, from somewhere. Without beginners, there are no experts. But when I first started walking this path, the world was a different place. Social media wasn't a thing. Life felt a lot simpler back then. Let me just say, with all sincerity, that I applaud the new/beginner witches of today. You are braver than I was back in my days.

With all my heart, I love having this blog, and I have no intention of departing Tumblr anytime soon. But I will go ahead and admit, what you see on Tumblr is only a glimpse of the witch that I am. That's not to say I have no intention of sharing more. But it does mean that every bit of what I do share is carefully considered.

I have walked away from many debates and arguments, as well as blogs I thought were worth following. Not saying I have a thin skin. I'm in my mid 30s now. I've kind of been there and seen that. I'm a big girl. I've been through a lot and I can handle a lot more. But let's face it, I'm getting old here, and I'm a spoonie. I just don't have the mental and physical energy for internet drama. The truth is, I also don't want to share something that's personal, that's important to me, that's been cultivated by many years of practice, faith, and spirituality, only to be pounced head on by someone who's jumped on the latest cultural appropriation bandwagon or who's picked up on the most recent WitchTok fad.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm far from thinking that all or even most baby witches are trend followers or bandwagon jumpers. I have learned quite a bit from the younger folks who are newer to this whole thing, believe it or not. But the one advantage that we old farts who've been around and at this for a while do have, is life experiences. You pick up so many things along the way as you go through life, and that's something that only time will give you. I've traveled to and lived in many places. I've spent a lot of time with a wide array of people, who know a wider array of people. I've learned from them what can't be found in books or on websites. I've built many connections across the globe that have withstood time and distance. I can just talk with those people, who know more of what they're talking about than the majority of the internet, than the bloggers and influencers who might have a bit more time on their hands, than the keyboard warriors who can't seem to distinguish between popularity and authenticity.

I will say though: much of being a witch is learned and done by doing, by experimenting, by exploring. A little bit of luck, and a lot of perseverance. It wasn't easy for me in the beginning. I had no one to guide me, and resources available to me were few and far in between. So much of the knowledge I have gathered throughout the years, I did by trial and error, as well as a good deal of guess work, and then revising and tweaking back and forth along the way. This journey is deeply personal and very individualistic. Along with studying the craft, you're studying yourself. You're figuring out who you are and how your craft fits into your being. You're discovering what works for you and what doesn't. You're deciding what to keep and what to discard. This is hard to be taught. It's why if someone who's brand new to witchcraft were to approach me and ask me to teach them everything I know, I'd have to sit down and have a chat with them about why I can't simply do that. There are some things that I can walk you through, some things that I can go over with you, and some things that I can show you. But it's true that you can lead a horse to water and not make it drink. Am I willing to impart my wisdom and experience? To a degree, yes. But all the instruction and training in the world won't do much, if you don't use it, develop it, and expand it, along with stretching your potential, on your own. And it's not the same for everyone, when they're ready to make the next leap, or answer the next calling.

(Art by minland4099 on DevianArt.)

[thegrapeandthefig]

hi!! im here fishing for thoughts from more experienced dionysians including yourself. what were some of your first signs of Him? since my fairly recent strange infatuation with him (i have researched many deities in my time as a witch, mainly goddesses, he is one of the first gods, another being Apollo and the last being Cerunnos/Pan)

since, i have been inspired to write more, and have been dreaming more often/more imaginative dreams. I've also been fascinated by more or less modern books/writings about him. (I've realized much of my nature was already quite dionysian) what else should i be looking out for, though? in what other ways can i call to him? im just absolutely infatuated, and i want more

thank you!! sorry for the text wall ;p

For context, I started doing divination about 5 years before having any interest in paganism. In hindsight, the tarot deck I ended up having should have been my first big sign, but I completely missed it at the time. Several years later, I was a history major who did historical reenactment on my free time. It's my interest for the reenactment side that got me to look into roman period reenactment (I lived in a city that had been won over by Julius Caesar in 56BC) and then the rabbit-hole led me to the pagan side of the Internet. Looked interesting, and since I was already experienced with divination, I gave it a try.

So my first approach was my own interpretation of a reading that hinted towards a deity of excess and the realization that the Bacchus card was one of the most important features of this particular deck (it replaces the Hierophant lol), to the point of being on the deck box. Which I knew, but never paid attention to. I truly have not really considered other pantheons than the greco-roman one so my heart was set on that, at the very least.

That wasn't enough to convinced me so I asked for more, which leads to my magpie UPG. Long story short, I had to walk to someone's house on that day and kept seeing magpies everywhere and they'd follow my path. Looked it up and found a questionable link between them and the roman Bacchus. At the time I rolled with it and went "okay, fine, I get it." and just jumped in.

This first part was longer than I thought it'd be. To comment on the infatuation: it's a normal step. I've been there and you're far from being the first person I'm saying this to. In my experience, it fades -or you get used to it- after a few months. But the initial euphoria is totally not unheard of. It's a good drive to get you searching and discovering. 

When it comes to contact, I used meditation a lot in the beginning, and recorded whatever came up in a journal. This is something you can try. Divination is also central, and meditation can be a good complementary type of it. In either case, I cannot stress enough that you record everything somewhere. Stuff that happen now might make sense years down the line, so if you don’t have them written down somewhere, you can’t look back and spot the meanings. 

It’s also important to realize that stuff won’t always make sense right away. Or you might understand something in a way now, but then later realise you’ve only scratched the surface. This is fine, and honestly normal. Experience matters in how you understand and perceive things, so my advice is to keep an open mind, and -this is a hard one- understand that your knowledge is limited, no matter your level. This is why I advise research. Not because I want worshipers to be experts, but because sometimes what people think is UPG is actually very well recorded and there’s more to it. The paradox of this religion is that the more you know, the more you know how much you don’t know. 

I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me again if this rises questions or if I can help with anything.