#OK just because I'm not religious please dont think this is meant as a personal attack

[lovelylovelyartist]

I saw a video of a painting of Mary being restored, recently. I'm not, nor have I ever been a religious person, but it got me thinking- Why have I never seen Mother Mary grieve like a mother after the Crucifixion?

I've seen plenty of art of Mary holding Jesus after he'd been taken off the cross. But in those, The Virgin Mary feels so, idk, detached. She looks sad, but she's also accepted it. She is serene in her grief, heavenly and beautiful.

To me, Mother Mary is that. She's a Mother.

She held her baby. Raised him with a husband that loved them. Kissed his wounds and wrapped him in hugs when Christ- he was human, so he had to be a child- had a fall. She taught him about his Father, and the future God had prepared for him.

Did she know? She knew she would be pregnant with God's child, the angel told her she would bear the savior to humanity, but did she know how he would die? Did she know that he would be flogged viciously, his beard pulled out, made to wear a crown of thorns, then forced to carry his execution method over nearly a half a mile? Did her heart not break, hearing her son cry out his dying words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

And even if she did know, would that have made it hurt any less?

IDK, I'm no religious scholar, I'm not even christian/catholic/whatever. I'm thinking of the Jesus documented in history, and the people in his life. but even if I was religious, I'd feel sad, maybe even a little angry for Mary. That she's not allowed grief, that in art she's not allowed to be anything other than the beautiful, serene, loving Virgin Mary.

(zoom for better quality, tumblr is a dumpster fire. I'm pretty happy with this, i tried using digital acrylics in Rebelle instead of watercolors like I usually do. added with the canvas texture, it makes for a cool look)

[willow-salix]

OK, I'm going to put something out there, hate me if you want but I honestly dont care.

Can everyone PLEASE STOP using the word witch in a derogatory way? Please.

It's insulting, it's hurtful, it's rude and it's not true.

Now I understand that you might not want to swear, that you might not want to call someone a bitch or a twat, I get that, but calling them an evil witch does NOT make it better.

Witchcraft is a religious practice, it's the act of enacting change through ritual and prayer, exactly like many other religions.

Being a witch is what someone is, it's part of their religious practice and I am getting freaking sick to the back teeth of people using it in a derogatory way.

We are not evil. We are not the bad guys, society, fiction, the media and the church have painted us this way. You wanna know what we were? Your healer, your midwife, your friend, that's what we were and that's what we are still. We are NOT EVIL. We are NOT BAD.

Witchcraft is a religious practice, and if you would not say anything derogatory to anyone else, if you would not even think to say anything nasty about a Muslim, a jew, a Christian, a Buddhist, because that's wrong, that's intolerant, that's nasty, then stop doing it to us.

I understand that it's learned behaviour, that it's something that's done a lot, but it's time we stood up for this and changed that.

This is a subject that makes me very very angry and I'm getting sick to the back teeth of having to spell this out to people.

If you wouldn't say it to or about any other religion don't do it to us!!

It's not exactly rocket science now is it?

Here are just a few examples of what we deal with, this article was from the start of the pandemic when England was on lockdown...

The newspaper refused to print a retraction because, and I quote "because it wasn't aimed at any one individual personally therefore it wasn't derogatory it was satire."

Where during that pandemic did you see papers making fun of Muslims for not being able to attend their celebrations? You didn't, they were praised for staying home. Christians? Praised for going online. That or religious services were allowed inside because religion , but us, being outdoors, was not.

The pagan police association got involved, the police said it was a hate crime. Yet nothing was done about it because ours is a religion that is dismissed, ignored and used as canon fodder for jokes and attacks and no one cares.

We have a yearly meet up, Witchfest, biggest witch festival in Europe, in Croydon, London. The last time we had one we had protestors holding crosses and basically screaming at us and hurling abuse at us. If that had been any other religion they were attacking it would be all over the news and people would be yelling about how intolerant and nasty it was. With us we got nothing. Police didn't even come. Mostly because we are not evil and we just didn't engage and ignored as best we could while being insulted.

We invuted them in for tea as it was very cold, but we're evil and will kill them, right?

I was on webtoon the other day, a character threw a hot cup of tea in their love rivals face. Cue the screaming of burn the witch, sizzle bitch. I politely asked people to think about what they were saying and how it would look to us. Did they care? Did they fuck.

Back in the days when I actually tried watching Coronation Street there was this...

This is just a small example of the shit we put up with on a daily basis.

At school I was attacked, verbally and physically for being a witch, I'm talking bibles thrown at my head, hair set on fire.

At work, in the job I currently work in, I had a customer point out my pentagram, ask me if iw as Jewish and when I said no I'm pagan, he asked what that meant, I said I practice witchcraft he started screaming at me in my shop of how I was evil and shouldn't be working in a store that caters for children.

I run a pub meeting for pagans to meet in the community, I've had abuse there too, and unfortunately it's normal.

We are the forgotten and ignored religion when it comes to tolerance and respect.

So, what I'm saying here, in short, is that we are not a joke, we are not something that should be insulted and used as a cheap plot point. We are not there to be made fun of or abused because you can.

We are valid! We count! We are just as worthy of support as any other religion.

Please think twice before you use witch as an insult again. Be nice, be kind, don't use us in a derogatory way.

Thank you.

[pocmuzings]

hi g! i am an admin of an rp and i really strive to make it as inclusive as possible so muns of all fcs feel welcome. i'm curious to know, when you are looking for an rp what do you look for in terms of admins making it inclusive? this isn't meant to be pointed at all, i am just genuinely looking to improve!

i feel like i answer this a fair bit , and honestly my answers don’t change too much ? there��s a plethora of things u can do , and by no means  are these definitive . these are things ive noticed make me feel more included , or Safe to join a rp . speaking as a woc , and somebody in the Cursed tz . .

if ur an admin ..  u should absolutely be playing a diverse character . please for the love of god . u should be the example of what the rp is about and what u wanna see . if ur char is just a cis whitey . . that just doesnt cut it for me ! thats not what i wanna see in 2021 !

when asked for most wanted fcs . . really name some ‘ unpopular ‘ fcs . aka faceclaims of colour . faceclaims that are gender diverse , body diverse , religiously diverse , different able bodied , etc , etc , etc !!! put these fcs in the forefront ! push for them ! strive to see them !

if somebody joins ur rp as a ‘ non popular fc ‘ aka . . a fc that isnt a whitey , or like . .zendaya . pls put in extra effort to plot and rp with them ! pls pls pls. because i guaranteed for the most part , especially in an established rp , they will be ignored otherwise ! if ur rp is super inclusive ooc , then this most likely wont happen , but also . . most rps arent super inclusive ooc lets be 100 here . 

either write skeletons for chars that are DIFFERENT and ‘ challenging ‘ to some , or ENCOURAGE these characters to be written . write more smooth talking business men who are indian ! write characters who are hard of hearing ! write characters who wear hijabis ! who are ethnic but have great relationships with their parents ! write characters who are in wheelchairs , or are sexy and confident in their plus sized bodies . write characters who are black women who are soft , but still strong . write gentle black men . write a  trans man , write a nonbinary god , etc , etc . defeat the stereotypes ! turn them on their head ! there are guides ! there is so much out there ! we can create the world we wanna live in , so why fill it with boring white cis , hetero normative ppl ???

know what ur gonna do with ur characters , plot wise . if ur rp has a plot , thats fantastic ! but . . u probably have to carry that momentum . ppl join ur rp bc they probably LIKE the plot and wanna explore the plot . so how r they characters gonna be involved ? whats their part in it all ? how will it help them develop ? what plot drops / tasks / events can u host that will make ppl do more with their chars and be more active ? 

don’t have an ooc chat . just don’t . please . they’re so cliquey , they literally always are . those who like ooc chats are usually the ppl who r cliquey , im being honest fjknfjn . there is no point in having an ooc chat , really either . ppl can add each other on discord at any time , for free , if they want .

have clear boundaries . what can and CANNOT be rped . what fcs can and CANNOT be used . have a very very clear line . no lazy ‘ no taboo plots ‘ or ‘ no big plots without talking to admins ‘ ‘ no triggering topics ‘ ‘ no deceased fcs ‘ . no . u need to get in the nitty gritty . u need to ensure ur harbouring and keeping a safe space for those entering ur rp

be friendly , as an admin . be firm . but also , be very very open and candid and honest . if something goes wrong ? its so fine , and honestly v human , to post abt it ! if there’s drama ? its rlly good to address it and talk abt it amongst ur rpers . listen to ur rpers , if theres a problem . create open communication . maintain it . show that u care and want to help , when u can help , whilst also maintaining ur own sanity !

advertise ur rp for different timezones ! if ur entire ooc list is just rpers in the united states . . look .  nothing wrong with it , but firstly , make sure everyone in the rp doesnt think america is the whole world ( the rpc  / america rlly thinks its the whole fucking world sometimes ) . this means , dont make fun of ppl for spelling things differently ( honestly im  just australian and this guy once made fun of me for spelling it as ‘ offence ‘ not ‘ offense ‘ . like . . ok im not american . the whole world isnt america kjfnjf ) . this doesn’t mean u need to be online at bizarre hours or ruining ur sleeping pattern , but try and get an admin thats in a diff timezone to help cover things ! or just make sure ur rlly advertising ur rp at allll times of a day . including when us ppl are usually asleep ! try and encourage other muns in other timezones to apply ! and when they do apply , pls try ur best to include them and make sure theyre not left out of everything !

theres probably a lot more but this is what first comes to mind for me , personally . this are usually my ‘ green signs ‘ ( go go go ! ) for a rp ! when i see this stuff on a main , or by an admin . . i feel very Warm n fuzzy .