#SHOUTOUT ! / psa.

[samwisethewitch]

What Non-Pagans Need to Know About Fiction Featuring Pagan Gods

In light of Marvel's Loki show dropping a second season and a new Percy Jackson series on the horizon, I want to say some things about how fandom spaces can be respectful of real-life pagan religion.

Let's get one thing out of the way: literally no one is saying you can't enjoy fiction that uses pagan gods and heroes as characters. No one is saying, "Stop writing stories about our gods." In fact, many ancient cultures wrote fiction about their gods -- look at Greek theater or the Norse Eddas. The act of writing fiction about the gods is not offensive in itself.

But please remember that this is someone's religion.

The gods are not "just archetypes." Their myths are not "just stories." Their personalities are not a matter of artistic interpretation. For many pagans, the gods are very much real in a literal sense. I don't think Thor is a metaphor or a symbol -- for me, Thor is a real, autonomous spiritual being who exists outside of human perceptions of him, and who I have chosen to build a relationship with. Even if you are a hardcore atheist, I would hope you could at least be respectful of the fact that, to many modern pagans, the gods are both very real and very important.

When authors are not respectful of this fact, they reduce the gods, these very real objects of worship, to fictional characters. And here's the thing about fictional characters: they are fundamentally tools for authors to use to draw a desired emotional response from an audience.

Dracula's personality and behavior is wildly different depending on who is writing him, because different authors use Dracula to create different reactions in their audiences. In the 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi, he's equal parts alluring and disturbing, a symbol of America's mixed desire and disdain for foreigners. In Nosferatu, he's more strictly frightening and disgusting. In Francis Ford Coppola's movie, he's a tragic, romantic figure clinging to the last scraps of his humanity. In Netflix's Castlevania, he's an incredibly powerful being who has grown bitter and apathetic in his immortality. All of this is Dracula, and all of it is fine, because Dracula is not and never has been a central figure in anyone's religion.

Let's take a look at what happens when authors give this same treatment to real gods:

In Hellenic polytheism, Apollo is one of the most beloved gods, both historically and today. Apollo loves humanity, and humanity loves him back. He is the god of sunlight and of medicine, but also of poetry and song. He is one of humanity's most consistent defenders when one of the other gods gets wrathful. And while he does have dangerous or wrathful aspects of his own (he's also the god of disease, after all), he's also kind and soft with humanity in a way other gods often aren't, at least in some historic sources.

In the Lore Olympus comic series, Apollo is a villain. He's characterized as an abuser, a manipulator, and a violent man child. LO!Apollo is downright hateful, because the author wants us to hate him. Lore Olympus is a retelling of a myth about an abduction and forced marriage. Lore Olympus is also a romance. In order to get the audience to sympathize with Hades and root for his relationship with Persephone, Rachel Smythe needed to make someone else the villain. Apollo is the most obvious and extreme character assassination in Smythe's work, but several other gods (notably Demeter) also get the asshole makeover to tell the story Smythe wants to tell.

Here's where this becomes a problem: Hellenic polytheism is a fairly small religious community, while Lore Olympus is a massively popular webtoon with 1.3 billion views as of August 2023, print books available from major retailers, a TV adaptation in the works, and a very active online fandom. Rachel Smythe currently has a MUCH bigger platform than any Hellenic polytheism practitioner. Smythe and other authors are shaping how modern culture views the Hellenic gods, and that has a very real impact on their worshipers.

This means "Apollo is an abusive asshole" is becoming a popular take online, and is even creeping into pagan communities. I've personally seen people be harassed for worshiping Apollo because of it. I've seen new pagans and pagan-curious folks who totally misunderstand the roles Apollo, Hades, and Persephone play in the Hellenic pantheon because of Lore Olympus and other modern works of fiction.

There are tons of other examples of this in modern pop culture, but I'll just rattle off a few of the ones that annoy me most: Rick Riordan depicting Ares/Mars as a brutish asshole hyped up on toxic masculinity; Rick Riordan depicting Athena as a mother goddess; Marvel depicting Thor as a dumb jock; Marvel depicting Odin as a cold, uncaring father; DC depicting Ares as purely evil; whatever the fuck the Vikings TV show was trying to do with seidr; the list goes on.

All of these are examples of religious appropriation. Religious appropriation is when sacred symbols are taken out of their original religious context by outsiders, so that the original meaning is lost or changed. It requires a power imbalance -- the person taking the symbols is usually part of a dominant religious culture. In many cases, the person doing the appropriation has a much bigger platform than anyone who has the knowledge to correct them.

When Rick Rioridan or Rachel Smythe totally mischaracterizes a Greek god to tell a story, and then actual Hellenic pagans get harassed for worshiping that god, that's religious appropriation.

Religious appropriation is a real issue. This isn't just pagans being sensitive. To use an extreme example: Richard Wagner and other German Romantic authors in the 19th century used the Norse gods and other Germanic deities as symbols in their work, which was a major influence on Nazi philosophy. Without Wagner, the Nazis would not have latched onto the Norse gods as symbols of their white supremacist agenda. To this day, there are white supremacist groups who claim to worship our gods or who use our religious imagery in their hate movement. We are still reckoning with the misinterpretation of our gods popularized by Wagner and other German Romantics almost 200 years ago.

Again, no one is saying you can't enjoy fiction based on pagan mythology. But there are a few things you can do to help prevent religious appropriation in fandom spaces:

Above all else, be mindful that while this may just be a story to you, it is someone's religion.

Recognize that enjoying fiction based on our gods does not mean you know our gods. You know fictional characters with the same names as our gods, who may or may not be accurate to real-life worship.

Do not argue with or try to correct pagans when we talk about our experience of our gods.

Don't invalidate or belittle pagan worship. Again, this mostly comes down to recognizing that our religion is totally separate from your fandom. We aren't LARPing or playing pretend. Our sacred traditions are real and valid.

If you see other people in your fandom engaging in religious appropriation, point out what they are doing and why it isn't okay.

Please tag your fandom content appropriately on social media. Always tag the show, movie, book, etc. that a post is about in addition to other relevant tags. This allows pagans to block these fandom tags if we don't want to see them and prevents fandom content showing up in religious tags.

For example, if I'm posting about Athena from the Percy Jackson books, I would tag the post #athena #athenapjo #percyjackson #pjo. You get the idea.

And if fiction sparks your interest and you want to learn more about the actual worship of the gods, you can always ask! Most pagans love talking about our gods and trading book recs.

If you are writing fiction based on real mythology, talk to people who worship those gods. Ask them what a respectful portrayal would look like. If possible, include a note in your finished work reminding audiences that it is a work of fiction and not meant to accurately portray these gods.

[upathosarts]

yeah idk

[stripedstarsblueflags]

let me be clear: this blog is NOT a safe space for lando haters. i’m sorry if that rubs you the wrong way, you’re free to block/unfollow.

“he bottles his starts” “he’s not as good as max” “he’s only good cause he’s got a rocketship of a car” “piastri has more potential” “he throws away opportunities” “he should’ve won and he fucked himself over” YOU DON’T THINK HE KNOWS THAT? even with all the PR training he has no poker face in interviews. he has moments, more and more frequently, where he radiates self-hatred. he isn’t out here protesting all the criticism, he’s taking it personally– way too personally– and people keep heaping it on harder and harder as if that makes a difference??

jesus christ people are coming after him like he’s making mistakes on purpose to spite them. i get it if you don’t like the fans– i don’t like them either. i’m talking about the hordes of mainly girls, often underage, who treat him like the next harry styles and drop really creepy/inappropriate comments in his posts and overall contribute to the “overhype” image. but then your beef is with the fans.

scraping the bottom of the barrel for every single excuse to put him down, to deny his performances, to nullify any single good result he comes up with is not going to change the numbers. he’s second in the championship. he’s won two races. he’s one of three drivers out of twenty he’s won more than one race, and lewis’s second win was after the disqualification and max is max. “he got a free pit stop in miami” “he just has a better car than max” okay, take it up with the FIA if you’re so upset.

i don’t really share my opinions on socials. i mostly just share other people’s memes and drop charlos-themed comments on instagram, and i’m new to tumblr but i try to stay in my own stupid little rpf lane. but now i just need to vent. if that makes you mad then like don’t read this far i guess??

my voice doesn’t matter. like, at all. i don’t have the full picture and i never will, and i physically can’t have any more of an objective opinion than anybody else who’s experiencing this all from the other side of a television screen. but i don’t like bullies. i personally don’t like it when people take it upon themselves to find the chinks in someone’s armor and sharpen their teeth. confidence, self-assurance, faith, the ability to silence everyone else’s voice is just as vital to an athlete as their strength and endurance. max verstappen has shown the power in mental/emotional invulnerability. lando doesn’t have that, and if anything it’s getting worse.

f1 isn’t structured to be fair. it is what it is. if you don’t like who’s winning, watch a different sport.

[daemon-in-my-head]

Gortash symbolises humanity. Bear with me.

He is a researcher, a scientist, an inventor. He is progress personified. He constructed the Steelwatch from nothing, and he discarded all ethics to do so. And while vile, that is something that has been done a lot in the past. Humans have ever since crossed the line in the name of research and progress. They have done unspeakable things, all in the name of 'advancement' and knowledge. Especially those who had certain degrees of power or in not exceptionally peaceful times, ethics are the first thing that is discarded to conduct research properly. And that is precisely what Gortash does. He ranked his desire for progress higher than personal attachments or sentimentality, and in its name, he's done unspeakably sadistic things in his 'lair' like countless did before him.

But that's not the only thing. Gortash is a tyrant, a conqueror. He invaded places people already existed in and claimed these places, their treasures and their people for himself—something humans love to do and still do to this day. And he was also an arms dealer. The thing that allowed humans to suppress even those physically stronger and more advanced was weaponry. The thing that allowed progression to this degree is where his roots lie.

He paid attention in his history lessons. He made sure to learn from Sarevok's failures. Perhaps even the shortcomings of Bane's old chosen. But even despite, or perhaps because he knew that history, he made the mistake of repeating it. He was so focused on not repeating Sarevok's mistakes that he forgot the other downfalls others have had to experience. Exactly how humanity continues to learn of its own history but always gets focused on specific parts, and as such, he forgot some others and was bound to repeat them just like we're currently repeating mistakes that have happened before.

There is also Gortash's dismissal of the Netherbrain. His 'how bad could it be'-stance. He dismissed a force of nature, dismissed natural evolution because he thought himself above it, kept silent about it, and as such allowed a plague to spread through the sword coast. Something that has happened repeatedly in our past. The last time wasn't even that long ago, if we're honest.

Even the god he serves, his patron, is the only 'humane' one out of the dead three. Bhaal is a force of nature. He is death itself. Myrkul is almost an eldritch being. He's the explanation for what happens after death, and how to defeat the unknown. But Bane is human. His domain is human. Conquest, rulership, tyranny, worship. Those are human things. These are desires only humans have in that way.

But most importantly, he reigned in and controlled the weapon that is Durge. After their murder spree, and after their worship and temple management, he was the one who stilled Durge's hand. Who reminded them of their own humanity. Who insisted they were human. He became their ties to humanity to them.

So, Gortash symbolises humanity, but simply all it's flaws. He's the brutality, the ruthlessness, the endless desire and strive for progress. The desperation to be 'more'. The cruelty we display in the name of power and knowledge. The sheer lack of compassion, empathy and humanity that only humans are capable of.

And now, this also makes it really funny that he needs to die for you and your companions to succeed. It's almost like you need to kill off that cruelty in a last act of brutality to embrace a 'peaceful' future.

Expect if you're durge cuz you're fucked regardless but that's a diff topic.

[sincerely-sofie]

Have you ever heard the tragedy of darth plagueis the wise?

[underlash-owl]

birthday shoutout !

"do we have to do this?"

"ofc we do she literally sent me this a month ago"

"that doesn't mean anything"

"shut up you wear a bathrobe outside as a LAYER"

happy birthday to @kisdydrms ! hope you had a great 20, and we wish you a greater 21 :D

no text, no mod ver! utc

im starting to regret how i drew this...

[disruptxrr]

once again saying that sending anon hate is embarrassing as fuck, if you’re gonna be a goddamn faggot and get your panties in a twist over a he/she at least grow some balls and put your fucking name to it

anon hate is awesome and great when the person receiving it is a piece of shit and deserves it (homophobic, racist, a pedophile, shit person etc etc) BUT I DIDNT DO SHIT! LEAVE ME ALONE.

[frilledshark-enthusiast]

U HAVE TO TAGE SAD THINGS IN FICS!!!!! Even if it’s not a traditional trigger like sa it’s still important, character dying of old age, TAG IT, character gets TERMINAL ILLNESS!!!! TAG IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why u may ask! Because some people (me) are babies that need happy endings or they will cry and think about it for the next month and that’s what TAGS are for, that’s what the FILTRATION SYSTEM if for!! ITS AO3s BEST BUILT IN FEATURE, ITS ONE OF THE MANY THINGS THAT MAKE IT BETTER THEN WATTPAD AMD IF U DONT TAG UR FICS CORRECTLY ITS USELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hanalghilan]

obiwans -> hanalghilan

[fortitudina]

*OOC. ------ My ass is mildly lazy at times so I'd like to give a big shout out to @tuppencetrinkets for their work at providing wonderful icons and screencaps! My Icons are going to be a mixture of square and rectangle ( all rectangular ones are from the lovely being tagged above! ). I like to write above making my blog look aesthetically pleasing. So, whilst I make most of my own icons, I simply have too many muses to constantly make icons for which is why I'm giving this little shoutout, so that I still have some icons to go with my posts, especially for those muses that have been lowkey hard to find square icons for, or screencaps for.

[rose-from-ashes]

Random thing but I love, love, love acting as a sort of narrator in threads, or a 'game master', whether in one on one interactions or in actual group games via text. It's one of my favorite things to do and it's a quick way to guarantee fast and enthusiastic replies, allowing me to set up scenes, areas, settings, crowd groups, or events, not as a power trip, but because I love seeing the other writers get to have their characters react to things, and I love their ooc reactions especially if I manage to delight them by placing details to allow their ooc or ic interests and talents take the spotlight. There's no better high for me than the people I'm writing with getting to shine and enjoying themself without having to worry about the responsibility of controlling the setting and such.

So, if you ever want to place your character in a specific environment or situation, with or without a companion (one of my muses to accompany them), please! Hit me up!! I will go all out!!

[variksel]

some wips of a new ref for my boy miska from my comic (unfamiliar hours on webtoons and tapas xo) !! yall why is anatomy so hard. i hate it soooo much also old refs of him there 👇 xo hes been around for 4+ years now and he mightve not changed a lot but my style sure has !

[sweet-faerie]

Character PSA

I will be making this because my good friend has encouraged me to start putting my foot down! This doesn't affect any of my threads but I'd appreciate if the people I write with please read this: Fu Xia is electively mute. She mainly talks with telepathy at all times but there will be times she physically talks. I will differentiate these when the time comes!

How it works/appears in verses: -In PE/ER, Xia is not mute, typically quiet due to depression. -In her Celestial time as Jingshen she is still talking when Jingwei was still the red/white phoenix. -During the time of the Empyrea, when she was sent away is when her mutism began. -During St. Freya, Fu Xia was talking normally, only telepathically to people who knew the real her aka Bronya and Fu Hua. No one knew of her telepathic abilities/preference outside of these two because she didn't want anyone knowing about them. As well, Fu Xia does have a severe ED. Her body does not require any form of self-care to remain healthy and alive. As such, she does not eat anything, maybe only small-small snack sized portions out of respect and how she just can't bring herself to do so. Do not try to force her to eat, this an actual disorder and will take legitimate time to help, she would be barely alive without her powers. Fu Xia also has sleep problems! she hasn't slept in thousands of years due to night terrors, she can not fall asleep easily and if she does, she will still have nightmares until her Post Ch. 25/35 arcs. KYOMI: Kyomi and Nix will be spoken of separately! No more of the Kyomi/Nix. They are the same person but this is different points of her life! Kyomi is the default verse where she is in the SoQ trying to save her world. Nix is her post-default where she is in her FD/"spirit" form where her world is destroyed and she's now just a drifter in the SoQ.

[uncle-fruity]

Look. I went through a very significant period of burnout, and part of that burnout was the pressure of having to be Constantly Available to people online. So much so that it (among other things) contributed to the trauma that made me leave a lot of social media sites forever. I didn't want to seem like I didn't care when I was physically/emotionally/mentally unable to answer my friends! I stressed over this and went out of my way to respond to texts and DMs and everything else at a detriment to my mental health and my general wellbeing. It was hard to "turn off" with my anxiety that everyone would think I was ghosting them or ignoring them out of neglect for our friendship. But, like, texting takes time and energy! Writing a message takes time and energy! Assuring someone that I'm just tired and need a break takes time and energy! And if five people are looking to chat with me, it takes 5 times as long to respond to them that I'm unavailable to do so. It was completely overwhelming.

So, not wanting to continue overextending myself and not wanting to give my loved ones the wrong idea, I came up with a solution that has worked well for me. I *always* tell people up front that it can take me awhile to respond to things, and that it's never personal. That it's okay to text me multiple times if they have stuff to say, because it will sometimes take me days or weeks to respond (no, literally), but that I do usually screen my messages to make sure I'm not missing something time sensitive. If it's an emergency, they should say so or they should call me directly. And that they should let me know if my silence is upsetting them or if they feel like it's personal so we can talk and I can reassure them of their importance in my life.

And you know what? Directly communicating that I have trouble answering messages immediately has helped me tremendously with that anxiety, that feeling of obligation, AND with my friends' feelings surrounding it. I explain that it's usually because of executive dysfunction or because I'm overwhelmed/overstimulated or because sometimes I genuinely do not look at my phone/messages for hours at a time because I prefer to be present with the people & things physically around me (something that most people who have spent time with me know about me because I am present with them & not always looking at my phone). Not only that, but I stress to them that I will never hold it against them if they can't get back to me immediately. They don't have to apologize if it's been a couple days. They don't have to explain themselves unless they want to.

This has worked well for me in general. There are always gonna be people who distrust your explanations or who are going to conveniently forget what you told them and take it personally, but honestly? I told them what to expect and I told them why to expect it and I invited them to tell me if it was ever affecting their emotions. At that point, if someone is mad at me for being active online and not actively talking to them, that's kind of a them problem that they should talk to someone about. No one is entitled to your time! And the people who can't understand your need for personal time and who get angry when you set boundaries & expectations are often not the people you really want to be going out of your way for anyway.

So, yeah. It is my recommendation that y'all should talk to the people you love about your messaging habits/limits/boundaries before it becomes a problem at all, epsecially if you're someone like me who really cannot handle constant communication. It's totally fair that you might not be capable of responding, or just might not want to right at that moment. The reasons people project onto your behavior without even talking to you about it are THEIR problem to figure out, not yours to fix. But the people who love you and understand the issue will give you the space you need without feeling like it's a them problem. It also helped me stop assuming that all my friends secretly hated me for something I found extremely difficult/impossible to keep up with.

Just some lived experience & advice! Take it or leave it~ and best of luck to y'all out there trying to navigate tricky social situations when all you need is to dissociate for a couple hours 💜 I feel for you & I love you.

People don’t owe you their downtime! And I don’t mean this in a harsh way, but in a “quit breaking your own heart” way.

It’s so easy to see a friend “active” and reblogging on tumblr, or maybe making a status update on Facebook and feel hurt they haven’t replied to our messages.

Different things take different energy. And someone being “online” but not actively talking to you does not mean they no longer love or care about you.

[percy-phone-ze]

Found my old blog from high school/college that I thought I had deleted. Dear goodness.

[top-shelf-tender]

{{IT’S @sirserpentine’s BIRTHDAY!!! Please go wish my sweet buddy Lune a happy one~!!}}