#Prayers Review

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Review: Spiritual Cleansing by Draja Mickaharic

If there's one book I would always go back to or always look back to or recommend to others it is this book! Seriously, that's how good this book is. To start with, this book is the best because it is direct, to the point, and only 100ish pages. I honestly have to put the following "warning" that the author himself puts in the start of the book:

Because some of these things sound simple and interesting, don't get an idea to “do a variation.” When you try to work “magic” using only your own enthusiasm you are treading in dangerous waters.

How do I sell you on this book? that's a funny way of me saying that this is the best book you will have in your library as a starting beginner. First let me mention some stuff from the book, which is evil eye being the first chapter and get dealt with so swiftly with a beer bath and there's no extra mystification or complicated procedure being given. As this whole book the procedures are simple but application of them consistently will proves their benefits. In the Arbatel itself we find the following:

God and Nature have ordained all things to a certain and appointed end: so that for examples sake, they who perform cures with the most simple herbs and roots, do cure the most happily of all. And in this manner, in Constellations, Words and Characters, Stones, and such like, do lie hid the greatest influences or vertues in deed, which are in stead of a miracle.

Protection while asleep, psychic, attacks, and stuff related to sleep and protecting your loved ones can be seen here where you can help someone who can't help themselves like a child or someone who's too weak to protect themselves at night.

My Favorite Chapter(4) is the bath/spiritual baths chapter. Every part of the bath from beginning to end is filled with gems and wisdom that you will not regret. 4 Cleansing baths, 12 herbal bath, 6 household items baths, 2 love baths, and 4 nut baths, like what's MORE I can say except mention the bath he got the most testimony out of! To add ¼ cup bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to the regular bath water is an amazing cleansing bath both physically and spiritually :) of course praying, doing it with the instructions and so on is the best you can do!

Special mentions go to chapter 6 for teaching how to cleanse with an egg and not making it some tiktokized or 30 seconds or 2 minutes version of it. What can I say more is that it is a VERY amazing chapter, for all kind of cleansing emotional or spiritual, for eyestrain, for protection while asleep, cleansing your home, cleansing the sick, and cleansing your pet!

I will jump over chapter 7 and 8 despite them being EXTREMELY good and mention that chapter 9 is a MUST READ. Mainly these methods of washing the head or feeding the head are used to work with the non-physical part of the human mentation, not exactly a replacement for psychology or psychiatry or medical treatment of mental illnesses but it is an AMAZING addition to anyone who's healthy but feel slightly "off".

The last chapter and appendix is about finding spiritual practitioner to help you, and what Draja describe as "Recommended System of Treatment for General Therapy", I am honestly just going to say good read the book, it isn't that long and the weight of it is in gold with how much jam-packed it is with technique you would pick up from here or there. Go buy it, pirate it, I don't know just get it and see for yourself!

[fictionadventurer]

The worst part about reading in a genre where you have low expectations (in this case, Christian historical fiction) is that when a book impresses you, you have no idea if it's actually good or if you're just overly impressed because it was a fraction of a degree better than the usual garbage.

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

I am returned! Crazy things happened on hiatus, and here is a play-by-play:

Spent the bulk of September with our dogs at my great-aunt's lake cottage (which is a 15-hr drive from here), due to the abundance of birthdays this month.

Shortly after arriving, I got a cold from my sister, which as per usual, turned into bronchitis, which lasted the entirety of the vacation (I still have the cough).

Around midnight on the eve of our departure, I had a gallbladder attack (first one since early spring).

Except it was way worse. Like, I couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't even cry.

Called 911, got in the ambulance, and the pain suddenly vanished in the space of a minute.

The wee mountain hospital didn't have imaging equipment beyond a CT scan and the Dr. was like "If the pain is gone, you shouldn't expose yourself to that much radiation" (which I appreciated)

My labs were normal, so we conclude this must've been the passing of the gallstone. Big, if true.

I take hydrocodone and we all go to sleep.

In the morning, my mom and sister pack my stuff for me and my parents and I drive the 15 hours back home so that dad can make it to a job interview the next day.

During the last 45 minutes of the journey, my mom's very very old & frail chihuahua experiences a sharp decline in his already poor constitution.

I'm knocked out on hydrocodone, but my dad is up all night with the dog, and in the morning, he takes him to the vet to be put down.

My mom is devastated, this dog was adopted to be her bedside companion during chemo twelve years ago.

My dad's interview goes well.

I still have bronchitis.

Two days later, my sister (who stayed longer at the lake house to clean up) drives back to her home in Southern GA, but for hurricane Helene reasons, the highway is closed and she gets lost.

She finally makes it home to find her power is out, for hurricane Helene reasons (it's still out)

Three days later (last night), I have another brutally painful attack (clearly I'd NOT passed the stone), so my parents drive me to the ER.

Am able to get an ultrasound there, which confirms I still have either many gallstones or one huge one, but my labs are still normal.

Unfortunately, this makes sense because I underwent some rapid drastic weight loss after my attack in the spring.

ER Dr. thinks my pain is instead being caused by gastritis for genetic reasons (which reminded my mom that as a teenager she passed out at work from gastritis).

He prescribes me a trio of gastritis drugs.

I'll be going to a trusted functional medicine doctor next month because my dad got the job (an amazingly good job, praise God) and we can afford it at last. My hope is that this Dr. can point to causes beyond genetics for the gastritis and also get rid of the stones once and for all, even if that means going on Ursodiol.

My dad's new job requires him to move to the Middle East in three weeks.

Oh, and my personal Instagram account (which was about to become the cornerstone of my small business) was inexplicably terminated during my hiatus and I have no means of getting it back besides writing to the state Attorney General.

[leonieanderson]

For a while, we just held each other. Whatever this moment is called, I’ll remember it forever.

aftermath by Leonie Anderson ©️2024

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Interview from The Paris Review

W. S. Merwin, The Art of Poetry No. 38 Issue no. 102 (Spring 1987)

INTERVIEWER

Do you see a connection between poetry and prayer?

MERWIN

I guess the simple answer is yes, if only because I think of poetry as an attempt to use language as completely as possible. And if you want to do that, obviously you’re not concerned with language as decoration, or language as amusement, although you certainly want language to be pleasurable. Pleasure is part of the completeness. I think of poetry as having to do with the completeness of life, and the completeness of relation with one’s experience, completing one’s experience, articulating it, making sense of it.

[Follies of God]

[ilikereadingactually]

Monk and Robot

A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

please read these books. like right now, request them from your library, order them from your local indie, borrow them from a friend. they're swift and bright and breathtaking. they brought me, for a little while, to a world so quiet and gentle it's almost impossible to imagine--and even in this softest future, being human still comes with pains and sorrows, existential and mundane. these books comforted me the way Dex the tea monk comforts everyone who comes to them for a tailored brew and a cathartic conversation; these books comforted me the way the robot Mosscap comforts Dex in a moment of crisis. these books comforted me the way Dex and Mosscap comfort each other, because even when we think we need for nothing, we're still struggling with the need to understand ourselves, and to be understood.

as you might imagine, i cried a lot. i want to mail a copy of these to every person with the political or financial or positional power to make significant change in the ways we treat our environment. i want to become a disciple of Allalae, the god of small comforts. i want to tuck these books into bed with me and rest.

the deets

how i read it: i read both of these from the library via Libby, but i'm adding them to my definitely-buying list. i regret not buying both the last time i was in a bookstore, i want them in my hands more fiercely than most other books right now.

try this if you: want to imagine a better post-apocalypse, long for beautiful books where not a lot happens (this is what i said to my best friend, right before she told me to read these), enjoy thinking about the human condition, or are tired.

a line i really liked: read: a line that made me weep lavishly

Dex would never forget. "You walked out of the woods, and you said, 'What do you need, and how can I help?'"

Mosscap smiled at this. "I remember, yes."

"Well, I didn't know then," Dex said, "and I still don't. But what I do know is...you help. You're helping me figure it out. Just by being here. You help."

"Then we have the same answer," Mosscap said. "I don't know, either. But you are my best help, Sibling Dex."

[widevibratobitch]

my god. skinny people really just have like. No Idea huh just absolutely not a single clue lmao it's almost funny to watch fr but then id lie if i said i wouldn't fucking kill to be able to be that ignorant

[goood-books1]

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[elliepassmore]

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: cozy scifi, character-led stories, LGBTQ+ characters A Psalm for the Wild-Built review Dex and Mosscap have returned to civilization in this book and are now on their way to visiting the numerous cities and towns interested in meeting Mosscap. I liked getting to see more of the world the characters inhabit. We saw some of it in Monk & Robot 1, but Dex and Mosscap travel much more in this one and we get to see forest villages and the sea and Dex's family. One thing I really enjoyed about the last book that comes back in this one setting-wise is that each town adapts itself to its environment. It was neat getting to see the different adaptations and how different villages had different beliefs about how to live. Dex is more satisfied in this one, having found a place of peace in Monk & Robot 1. That being said, being back among other people puts their ability to sit and just be to the test. When they traveled before it was as a tea monk, and now that they're traveling again, Dex feels the responsibility to continue being a tea monk even if that's not what they want at that point in time. I will say, I did enjoy the tea monk aspect of book 1, but I also understand that Dex is on a journey to figure out how they fit in the world and how to exist for the sake of existing rather than to exist for a purpose/cause (a continuation of their dilemma from book 1). Mosscap continues to be its curious and funny but wise self. I liked seeing how it approached these new environments and new people, especially since Dex is really the only person Mosscap has engaged with. Mosscap itself has some existential questions to deal with in this one, and I actually thought it was quite interesting to read. For me, and for Dex, the dilemma is nothing, but for Mosscap it poses genuine questions about growth and decay and what's natural (especially for a human vs a robot). I liked getting to meet Dex's family in this one. We're only with them for a short time, but it was cool to see the environment and people Dex grew up around and the way they interacted with their family. I also think it's always interesting to see what people close to the main characters say/think about them, so that was a good addition too. Overall this was a good addition to the Monk & Robot saga and I do hope we get more books since I enjoy reading about Dex and Mosscap's adventures and really love the cozy scifi nature of the books.

[nats-reads-reviews]

My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby 4/5 ⭐️

This is the third book by S.A. Cosby I've read and though all his books have similar themes - prejudice, small southern towns, justice, race, and crime - each story is unique and pulls me in so quickly. He has such a good way of making the reader feel like you know the characters personally. All his books have had the ability to make me laugh in the most unexpected ways - this one was no different. I really liked the characters and plot. I thought Nathan, the main character, was a very balanced hero. He’s not perfect, he’s done wrong, but ultimately he seeks justice through the means that are accessible to him. I loved his friendships with his cousin Walt and his friend Skunk. His romantic relationship with Lisa was refreshing in the sense that not all love stories need to turn into something serious - sometimes it’s just the right person entering your life at the right time. S.A. Cosby is undoubtedly one of my favorite authors.

[ome-magical-ramblings]

My Review of The Greatness of Saturn

A Therapeutic Myth

The frequency of my writing have been decreasing as I have had my focus on my life, deepening my practice and so on. I hope that this review serve as a initial summary and representation of everything I got out of this myth without spoilering it...because why would I? it would ruin the story for you! In Any case I wanted to start this on a good start. The whole book is surrounding the Sade Sati Period or 7 and a half years where Saturn goes the sign before, in, and after the moon's natal placement, that means it spend 2.5 years in each sign. Saturn is slow and he makes it very apparent when he goes into it. For reference this is focused on the jyotish/sidereal astrological period and not on the usual less gloomy Saturn's return.

I am honestly surprised by how powerful myths can mesh and seep into our life that they become these forces that's almost a channel or a gateway for the deities and spirits to reach us through, it honestly make me think of the stories of prophets, and other mythological stories which moves us and where we really need to throw ourselves head first into them to really feel what they mean, their sorrows, happiness, and all the emotions of the stories to really be there. Anyway back to the book itself, I was mind blown by it's effect on me and my life as I started to get into the myth itself I was genuinely HOOKED during my travel and in the airplane I felt like I was seized/possessed by it and couldn't put it down almost like the spirit within the whole myth was carrying me with it. It definitely had a lot of impact considering the personal situations I was going during the time of reading it. The invocation of delay, slowness, and wanting to move but not being able to move was apparent to say the least, Saturn really makes time slow down to a halt and whatever seemed like a small time start expanding to feel like an eternity, but enough of that. The stories of the planets from Sun to the lunar nodes was quite a thriller from first chapter until the ninth then it took a very sudden turn. The Begging of the universe were Bali the asura(and future Indra) gave the land back to the devas it felt like it was setting up the scene for the theme of Time, the theme of inevitability but not of fatalism. The whole story took a very dark turn for the protagonist of the story (King Vikrama) and everything about it was about accepting the conditions, working with them, and so on. Again it is this consciously aware of the situation and the wavering faith that made King Vikrama fall into that situation even though he did the proper astrological remedies he regretted and felt uncertain of what he was doing, he really accepted his fate and fell into fatalism that threw him into that.

Ducunt volentem fota, nolentem trahunt

The fates lead him who will; him who won't they drag.

Had he accepted Saturn in the beginning, the king would never have had any problems (or at least they would have been fewer), for once he accepts, all is well. It was necessary though that someone be dragged through the depths of Saturn's "play," that the rest of us who can learn from his example might be exempted from the worse of it. Like Jesus, who was crucified that we might be saved, King Vikrama asks that others be spared his Misery.

I know, I haven't really said anything about the story or what not because I really want you to read it and go through it yourself. Other than that the aspect of the Graha/planetary forces become more of this apparent and conscious relation with the planets, we start to become more aware of it and thus more receptive to positive possession instead of being negatively possessed by it. In the end we are all getting possessed by all the forces and a thousand thing in a way, and just like that maybe we want to get possessed by positive forces instead of letting whatever come through pass through us. In a way I want to finish this review that this book have pulled forces in my life I wouldn't have been able to pull with my own ritualistically consecrated hands nor would I conceive of a way that would let me wrangle and subjugate the forces myself, the great supreme power of the myth was shown to me in action, in real life, and in words.

Salutation to Lord Saturn, I bow to him who's great Kona (the Angle), Antaka (the Terminator), Raudra (the Fierce), Yama (Death), Babhru (the Tawny), Krishna (the Black), Shani (the Slow), Pingala (the Tawny). Manda (the Slow), Sauri (the Sun's Son); reverence to that Son of the Sun who, when thus constantly remembered (by these names), removes all Afflictions. May Lord Saturn have mercy on us.

[4giorno]

sooooo unsatisfied

[beneaththetangles]

And the stories continue on and on and on! This week, we review the latest volumes for several of our favorite series on Beneath the Tangles, from those that have just started publishing like Riviere and the Land of Prayer and You and I Are Polar Opposites, to series a little further along like Akane-banashi and Solo Leveling, to manga way further along in their runs like Rainbow Days and The Way of the Househusband. Check out our reviews below and let us know what you’re reading these days!

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Akane-banashi (Vol. 7) • Oshi no Ko (Vol. 7) • Rainbow Days (Vol. 11) • Riviere and the Land of Prayer (Vol. 2) • Solo Leveling (Vol. 9) • The Villainess Is the Heroine’s Biggest Fan (Vol. 2) • The Way of the Househusband (Vol. 12) • What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? (Vol. 5) • You and I Are Polar Opposites (Vol. 2) • Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (Vol. 15)

[ynfg-review]

Yume Nikki Fangame Reviews: Answered Prayers

Website | Wiki | Play online

Answered Prayers was first released in 2010 by Klaufir, and features a girl called Fluorette who explores the spirit world from a forest shrine. As of August 2024, the game has no endings implemented, but Klaufir has indicated that it is in active development and has been working on an update.

Atmosphere: Combining folklore and calm natural environments with neon lights and glitchy cyberscapes, Answered Prayers is an extremely atmospheric game.  There’s a sense of peace and beauty to many of the worlds, but their mysterious emptiness makes you wonder whether you’re really wanted there. The music and sound design does a lot of work to take the feel of Answered Prayers to the next level, working very closely with the graphics to create fully realized environments. It probably has my favourite soundtrack of any YNFG.

Exploration: Answered Prayers is a fairly small and unfinished game, but this sort of works to its advantage. The fact that there aren’t many worlds several layers removed from the nexus means that it’s not nearly so annoying to retrace your steps if you hit a dead end as it is in some fangames. Although not every area is well connected, there are some cool routes to take and connections to unlock. I feel that the game is so beautiful that it’s worth playing just to soak up the atmosphere of the worlds, even if there’s not loads to explore.  

Art: This game has really beautiful graphics, and is extremely good at expressing the feeling of the environments it represents – the snowy world feels cold and crunchy, the nexus feels sunny and peaceful, and the weirder environments have an evocative simplicity to them. Every area in the game is interesting to look at and has its own unique aesthetic.

Storytelling: Although unfinished, Answered Prayers hints at a developed narrative. There are repeating visual motifs throughout the worlds which give a really mysterious feel to the environments, and there’s a small amount of dialogue. The game doesn’t have many events, but there’s some information on the YNFG wiki which suggests that the dev has a complex backstory and setting planned out.

Horror and CWs: Answered Prayers has very little gore or body horror, but there are a few areas which have a creepy or threatening feel. There is a hell-maze like world with aggressive and bloody chasers, but they’re peaceful everywhere else in the game. The most significant content warning I can think of is the number of brightly flashing areas, and a spider that functions as a teleport.

Best thing about it: Wandering around almost any of the worlds and taking in the graphics and soundtrack. It’s a lovely game to just be in, rather than focusing on hunting for connections and effects.

If you like… Collective Unconscious, Touhou Project, Studio Ghibli (gives me Laputa vibes especially).

[scientistswishingwell]

So a while ago I was working at the little town bookstore (as you do, more stories about that sure to come) and I got so invested in a particular author (Alix E. Harrow) that I went and stalked her Instagram for a good long time while the store was quiet. And I found that she had recommended a book that wasn’t out yet, but was going to be out in a few days. It was Becky Chamber’s Psalm for the Wild Built.

And oh, oh boy, did that book change me. There are some people out there that you will meet who reach right into your body with their words and physically alter how your brain works. I was going through a rough time when I read this book, and I wept on the back porch of my parent’s home in the dappled shade of sugar maples and it was the first time I’d cried tears of happiness and relief in… a long, long time.

I recommend that book to everyone I met. It is my comfort book. It is a warm hug from someone you miss. It is a kind word from a stranger. It is a cup of tea on a rainy day and a glass of lemonade on a hot one. You ever want to feel seen, instead of observed? Comforted and encouraged instead of force-fed horrors? Reassured that people are good, and goodness finds a way, and small comforts are not luxuries to be ashamed of but essentials to be shared with anyone willing to sit by your table? Go read this book. It took me less than two hours to read.

It is not magical, it does not force a strange world upon you. It simply looks at you softy, offers you a drink and some food, which it has made itself but is happy to share, and tells you that it sees you, that you are real, and you are being cared for.

The second book came out a year later and I read it as soon as I could get my hands on it. It was equally comforting, and it challenged me to think about what I was giving to myself, and question whether enough of that was kindness. It challenged me to think about my faith, both in something greater than myself and something that was shared equally among everyone I will ever know. And once again, this time sitting in the dimly-lit kitchen of my first apartment, I wept tears of relief and joy. It was okay to feel how I was feeling. My grief had been seen, validated, and held in someone’s hands like glass until I could place it on the shelf of my experiences: never gone, but finally in its place.

This book of small comforts and gentle joys and big questions inside of small people made me feel safe. My greatest struggles have been with anxiety, with never feeling safe, and this book, for days at a time, made me feel safe in my own mind and body. Becky Chambers managed, in about 150 pages, to write a story that changed how my brain worked.

I’m pretty sure these are the best books I’ve ever read. And they came to me exactly when I needed them. I’m looking forward to what comes next.

[periodically80s]