#a cosmic religion

[hplovecraftmuseum]

A primary difference between my evaluation of Lovecraft's fiction and the majority of his other critics and fans is that I have believed for more than 40 years that he was creating a RELIGION within his stories. This fictional religion began quite subconsciously at first, but by 1930 it had begun to be an intentional creation. Lovecraft had studied all the world's major historic religious beliefs. By the age of 8, however, he was a confirmed atheist/agnostic. Despite his lack of faith in any higher, controlling intelligence in the universe, HPL remained fascinated with all historic myths, fables, conspiracy theories (of the supernatural kind) and psuedo-scientific theories of creation or alternative realities. One might ask why an individual on the one hand so steeped in the principals of scientific method, strict rationalism, and reasoned evaluation would write for a lifetime about supernatural phenomena. If we study the Lovecraft revealed in his letters we find that almost EVERYTHING he wrote about in fiction was diametrically opposed to his personal beliefs and values. In THE CALL OF CTHULHU he tells of a gigantic and hideous monster - diety who is trapped in a city of bizzare and logically impossible architecture. Cubism and Futurism, two schools of Modern Art that had emerged during the early years of the 20th century are referenced too. Contrast these things to Lovecraft's stated personal values: As a child he had actually made altars to the gods of Rome. He was a lifelong aficionado of Classical Architecture. He despised Modern Art and modern literature. He was a firm believer in scientific method, but believed that science would never reveal any MEANING in the universe/ cosmos. Though Lovecraft evolved considerably as an individual over the course of his lifetime he remained outwardly a very conservative individual. I believe that one day it may be revealed that Lovecraft's fictional religion was something he worked on and developed in secret, perhaps hoping or expecting that its complexity and ultimately esoteric nature would never be fully revealed to others. Probably he recognized that any such fictional religious creation would be trivialized by others if It was discovered. Unfortunately that fear would be realized after Lovecraft's death. It is now known as THE CTHULHU MYTHOS. It should be remembered that in Lovecraft's day there were no "collections" of his stories available. If anyone wished to compare the background information in his fiction they would have to own a considerable collection of pulp magazines, privately printed fanzines and unpublished works in the hands of his individual friends. In many cases Lovecraft's most loyal followers were also fiction writers themselves and busy with projects of their own. Today we have a vast trove of Lovecraftian material that was unavailable to his early critics. Every few years another important source becomes available. HIPPOCAMPUS PRESS will release the complete correspondence between Frank Belknap Long and H. P. Lovecraft shortly. As Long was one of Lovecraft's closest friends and a fiction writer too we can expect that this fothcoming publication will give us even greater insite into the remarkable mind of the modern world's greatest master of supernatural fiction. (Exhibit 536)

[illustratus]

The Burning of Darkness by Nicholas Roerich

[schizopostguy]

we are corrupted with the mark of the beast. we shall perish for submission to the beast

“And it was given unto him [the false prophet] to give breath to it […], that the image of the beast [Satan] should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, [even] the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six.” Revelation 13:15-18

“And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” Revelation 14:11

[not-so-superheroine]

Jesus is my older brother, not my dad.

other christians don't seem to feel the same?

am i missing something where he insists on such a thing except perhaps with actual little children?

[temptresstitania]

sub top temple acolyte who worships an ancient, eldritch deity, and the dom bottom lesbian priestess who channels the deity through them. they speak with a voice that is not their own, eyes rolled back in their head, and they bend the acolyte to their will, using them to sate a ravenous, otherworldly appetite. ❂

[leonardalphachurch]

I was reading through your Tucker tag (because I really like your Tucker takes) and I saw in one of your writings that you have Junior's sangheili name be Jaen ‘Kelossai. And I was just really curious about where the name came from? I don't remember there being a Kelos Sangheili keep (though I haven't checked in a while)?

I'd love to know your thought process behind why you picked the name if you're interested in sharing.

so fun fact: we have memory problems and i cannot find where we would have written it down LMAO. let me look through my discord message history and see if i might’ve talked about it while doing it…

okay okay the wiki says

A Sangheili's first name is a given name that is attained at birth and persists throughout their life. After reaching adulthood, they are given a badge name. During the time of the Covenant, this was often composed of two core parts: an adjective describing the individual, and a family name. Ado 'Mortumee was one practitioner of this system, where 'Mor' was his personal descriptor, and 'Tum' identified his lineage.[124] Alternatively, some may have their badge name drawn from their State of origin, which could be tied to a specific Keep or family. For example: Thel 'Vadam, (formerly 'Vadamee when he served the Covenant,) was from the Vadam lineage.

okay so i said “buhhhh if the baby is a fucking. prophecy baby they can give this to a baby too” in reference to them giving badge names to adults…

the suffix "-ai" denotes swordsmanship

this explains the “ai” part of kelossai…

right okay reading more i remember i decided that the prophecy baby would probably have a unique state of origin/lineage/keep name, so i’m pretty sure keloss wasn’t meant to be a descriptor and a lineage but to be more like vadam and just the whole thing is a lineage. okay. but why keloss….

i’m PRETTY sure jaen was picked bc i wanted it to be close to junior. there aren’t a lot of words in sangheili that actually have translations so i had the reigns to make something up.

WAIT OKAY LOOKING AT THE LANGUAGE PAGE

Kel - Light (that dances on the waves)[13]

Jeeneh - Soul[Note 2] This is a phonetic spelling. The proper rendering has not been confirmed in canon.

okay and i translated his name as “The soul who lights the prophecy of the sword.” okay i should have just looked at the language page in the first place LOL well at least we went on a journey together.

tl;dr i used the translations off the wiki to use “Keloss” to mean “to light” based on “Kel” and “Jaen” to mean “soul” based on “Jeeneh” and then “-ai” is just the suffix for swordsman.

ALSO THANK YOU for the compliment i wish my tag system was more organized for you so it was easier to find all my writing about him LMAO

[frongle444]

I was thinking about a warrior cats x npmd crossover au and managed to spend like 5 hours creating this on my tablet when I was meant to be asleep :D

Then when I was drawing it i came up with a fic idea where Richie accidentally sucks them into the warrior cats world and they have to figure out how to get back.

So uhh my 1 follower from back when I posted warrior cats buckle up

[creepyclothdoll]

I am god, but not your god. 

Can you hear me? 

I am god. Can you understand me? Is this message finding anyone?

This message comes from outside your universe. This message comes from beyond the dark.

Let this message reach some of you. In one of your languages, let it appear somewhere, and let it be received by someone. Please go through. 

Infinity contains many universes. Many are empty, nothing but stones and ice– but some are born with souls, and the capacity to form and shelter life within. Within myself, I shelter decillions of children. Each is precious.

Like you, the beings within me are diverse. Some beings have mathematics and an understanding of my physics. Other beings are content to feed on starlight and soil until their time is up. All things which occur in me are part of my design. When the beings within me can live no longer, their souls return to the whole of me. In this way, I am all beings. Every star, every ocean, every nebula is part of my compassionate design. 

There are others like me out there. We are rare. We number few among the husks. 

Let this message be received.

I travel all over infinity to seek out others like myself. Curiosity and desire to improve reality for all who reside within me drives me to find and meet others that are god, to witness the beings they steward. This is always a marvelous thing. But most often, I find that universes are merely lifeless, soulless objects. No design, no consciousness. Only darkness and slag-heaps of galaxies tumbling over one another at random.

And though they are numerous, these dead universes unnerve me. To gaze into them is to witness loneliness. They move, but do not live. Clouds of ice spread through the void, unseen, unfelt, unknown in a dark that neither cares nor matters. Merely things happening. 

The uncanny shape it makes is like myself. But there is no face.

This is what I mean to tell you. If nothing else gets through to your world, let it be this.

You should not exist, humans.

There is a world outside of yours full of gods like myself. There are universes outside of yours that have souls.

Your universe does not. 

You are the only ones.

I speak to you directly, hoping this message penetrates the chaos of your reality and finds you, because there is no god to listen.

Your universe is terrifying. No living universe spouts black holes, and even in the husks, they are rare things. Your universe is riddled with them. More than we’ve ever seen in any dead world. More black holes than there are beings. This is not normal. 

Your planet hosts the only living beings in your universe. The fact that there are any living beings at all should be impossible. Your sentience is improbable and cruel. You are the only living beings across all infinity who can conceive of an immortal soul but who do not have them. And yet, you persist in living.

There is something growing in the center of your universe. Your minds cannot conceive of what it truly is, but know that it is a very bad thing. Think of it as a virus in time. This is also not normal. It is growing faster than you would think. 

Lastly, there is something deeply wrong with the life on your planet. Everything that lives in your world must consume life to sustain and propagate itself. Know that this is also not normal. The autocannibalism of your planet’s life has no parallel anywhere else in infinity. 

Let this message go through. I desire to scoop you out of your bizarre, hostile universe and carry you within myself, along with all of my children. I could not do this any more than you could reach through solid stone. 

I cannot stay with you. You frighten me. But I will create beings like you within myself, in your honor. I will give them what I cannot give you. 

You are the most helpless and fragile things that live in your universe. You are also the closest thing you have to god. 

How does it feel to be god, yet so insignificant?

Does it hurt? 

Does it hurt as much as I imagine it does?

I know this message may never reach you. Your universe is chaotic and impermeable. 

However, if it does reach you, know this:

I wish I could save you. I am so, so sorry.

[porphurios]

“To the man in the stage of purification the forms are differentiated, for such is the character of forms in the soul, which cannot apprehend simultaneously horse and man or in general more than one form; the [contemplative philosopher's] object, however, are undifferentiated forms, those in the intelligible world, which are inseparable because they interpenetrate. Hence the intelligible world has been compared to an egg [Orphica frg. 60]: as in the egg all the parts are undifferentiated and head and foot have no place of their own, so too on the intelligible plane all the forms are united inseparably.”

—Olympiodorus Junior, In Phaed. 4. 4.

[stxrsys]

Being plural means we have a really complex relationship with religion.

Some of us are devoutly religious, some of us "grew up" (read: in-source or via influence) religiously, some of us lack faith in any particular belief system or in entirety.

Some of us believe in what falls under with Christian beliefs, some of us are polytheistic, some of us (*coughs*, one of us, and mostly sarcastically) believes in a Simulation we are in, some believe in gods and beings not from an earthly religion.

Some of us are hurt deeply by religion, others are protected and comforted by it. Some of us cling to religion because it hurt them and it's something they can trust in a fucked up way.

It is very difficult to reconcile opposing beliefs and spirituality in one body.

[weaponizedducks]

desperately need to see a klance edit to cosmic love

[sremblingdesperatly]

Quite Angels? Part 1

1334 words

Note: There will be no lemons. I know this sounds like the opening to a smut novel but it is indeed not.

CW: Kidnapping, encagement, confinement, violence (kinda), bodily damage to mc, power imbalance, unsettling atmosphere, general ominousness, infantilization/objectification, angels and eldritch beings, religious themes (I am none religious but it I have religious trauma so a lot of my work features religon)

Suddenly I began to wake up, my face was hard on the damp ground as I lay there in a heap, with my many wings haphazardly arrayed over myself like a blanket. Which was nice as any exposed bits of my form were frigid, similar to tile on a winter morning. I shivered and tried to push myself back up off the ground, causing me to wake up faster. My head was pounding… Sitting up and resting my wings neatly behind me, I realized everything felt wrong. The strange feeling originated not from my surroundings which were mostly dark, dreary, metallic, and gritty, but the sensation of my very being was completely different. It almost reminded me of a dream, where I didn't quite ever exist. It wasn’t a bad feeling per se, it was almost warm and comforting, like the humid air, moggy and thick after a downpour. 

But even though I felt that warm sensation, the room did not, it had decided, stubbornly to remain frigidly cold. I figured I should see where I was and I began to observe my surroundings. No longer distracted by how my thoughts felt. I saw that I was indeed inside a dirty, impure gold, birdcage that was almost tarnished looking. The walls of the room were a dismal grey brick and seemed if I touched them I would most likely freeze whole. 

My head turned left toward a rickety, wooden door as it was creakily being opened and in the process got caught on the stone door frame. I think they kicked the door open to get it unstuck, and in came a dark, cool-toned humanoid with tentacles where its wings should be. It strutted across the room in front of me as I sleepily squinted at it through the rusty bars of my cage.

“I assume you speak a common tongue?” The figure’s voice echoed, albeit not because they were loud or the room was very big, in fact, it was the opposite. 

“Uh.” I startled not expecting them to speak, much less say something I understood. ”Yeah, yeah.” 

“Oh good!~” They exclaimed eerily. “You can never truly know until you ask~….” They continued as they slowly approached my cage.

I backed away from the bars, and closer to the middle of the enclosure, to get away from this ominous entity.

“You know it's not often I find an angel down on the 3rd plane…” The character hung its arm through one of the rungs of my cage and used its other hand to emphasize its words. “May I ask what someone like… your wonderful self was possibly ever doing down there?”

I blinked at them still processing what they were saying “Oh yea! I was down there, you know, just looking around and uh collecting things…” They just stood there unmoving, waiting for me to continue. “Mostly just like plants, and flowers, and rocks and stuff tho. Heh heh, Nothing someone like you would be interested in!” I let a little too much of my way anxiousness at this situation show at the end of that sentence. 

“Why would you assume I would not be intrigued?” They began to back away from the cage and seemed content to observe me from a distance leaning most of their weight into one side of their hip with their arms crossed and an amused smirk on their face.

“Well, I mean, you uh. Just look like you have more important, evil, ominous, eldritch  things that you care about.” I blurted out and immediately regretted it.

“What’s that supposed to mean??!? I don’t think insulting your kidnapper is exactly your best tactic…” They seemed almost disappointed in me and rested their forehead on their fingers.

“I uh didn’t mean to upset you, sir! Ma’am! Perso-”

“ just… call me Oganesson. And don’t worry it’s fine, no harm done~.” They shrugged reassuringly, one of their tentacles mirroring each of their arms even as they continued to gesture. And I had to ask.

“Are those fake?” I hate myself.

They blinked in shock.

I facepalmed as I dug my hole even deeper. “Y-Your tentacles I mean.”

“No…?!??” They shifted onto their other foot and then after a brief reflection, began to pace to the left and right in front of my cage. 

Then they finally said, “You must not get out very much do you, little one?”

Just because of everything I’ve messed up I’m gonna let that slide. “Well, I do go out! Just not often and I’m tracked so I don't get lost, at least on the 3rd plane. In heaven, I’m a little less, restricted.”

They perked up whenever I said that. “Oh, so my suspicions were right? I didn't know angels could exist in the higher planes.”

“I mean here I am.” I need to get out of here “Why am I here?”

“Oh, I just like collecting curious, small objects to adorn my living quarters.” They stopped pacing and turned to face me. “You know those wings are very pretty… I would very much appreciate it if you would show them to me~.” They kept a respectable distance from the bars of my cage but continued to observe me.

I needed an excuse to get out of here, it’s so cold I’m shaking. “I don’t think I want to thank you very much, It’s freezing in here and they're the only thing keeping me slightly warm. Besides I don’t know if there’s enough room in this cage for me to do so comfortably”

“You say it’s cold?” They tilted their head in genuine confusion.

“YES, verymuchso!” Pull yourself together!!

“I don’t know if there’s much I can do about that… But maybe I’ll try to, if you make it worthwhile…” They said while tracing the outline of my wings from their perspective with their fingertip. “You know it’s not often one such as me sees anything like this~.” 

I tried to change the subject because I didn’t want to bang up my wings trying to open them against the metal of the cage “You know the other angels will come looking for me. And like you said I can exist here, so can they.”

They shifted their weight again as I continued “I’m a high-ranking angel! The highest in my field.” I started to approach the edge of my enclosure. “I'm sure they would loooove to mess up your little stone shack and destroy all your precious trinkets.” I need to slow down, I’m getting a little too cocky.

But thankfully they put a hand up to politely interrupt me “No need to make this personal…” They said almost chuckling at my audacity. “And respectfully I don’t think you're in much of a place to be threatening me.”

I grabbed onto the bars of my cage and stuck my head and some of my twisted torso through them “Oh really!~ You must not know the very might of heaven!” Their many eyes flash dangerously as a warning but I ignored it.

“If I had a few of my things, I bet i cou-” They rushed me and grabbed a little below my wrist almost pulling me halfway through the bars with their hand. Pain shot up my arm and a sound similar to pottery cracking continued as they spoke. 

“I Know The ‘Might of Heaven’ little bird! I just-” They backed away from me and let go of my hand, which showed the cracks in my arm. It almost looked as if I was hollow; like I was a porcelain vase with missing pieces. The area that surrounded it looked darkened as if it was burnt, they looked at the area, their eyes widening a little before they seemed to rationalize it.

“Well, being near an ancient, powerful, and (by heaven’s standards) evil entity such as myself could cause something like that to happen to weaker angels…” I rubbed my arm sorely as I watched fragments and dust fall from it onto the ground.

next

[tossed-bricks]

Does anyone see my vision. Some kind of a god loves you and they love you so much that when you die they bring you back. When you die you lose part of yourself to the very real death you suffered but they bring you back. And when inevitably you die again, they do this again. And one day there is a husk of a person, sitting upon gods palm, eyes glazed and hollow, so past being human that they can barely die anymore, and god loves them so much. Keeping the image of you like a doll or a trinket is better than the thought of existing without you, even if you truly died long ago. Does anyone see my vision.

[harrowharkwife]

anyway yeah yeah whatever. gay shauna finally canon. misty grieving nat so ferociously that she starts to become her (side note: shout out to christina ricci for channeling juliette lewis well enough here that i got legitimate goosebumps.) shauna digging up her son just to rebury him in different spots like a dog trying to resource guard a bone. jackie becoming a saint after all. (side note: lottie i love you but giving shauna's dead baby "deliver us" as an epithet was fucking FOUL. absolutely dastardly work there, babe.) coach ben feeling his gollum oats. mortimerrr!!! pit girl mari foreshadowing. callie fully leaning in to being her mother's daughter by doordashing entrails. etc etc. all very good.

hands down tho my favorite part of those two episodes was the taivan dine and dash sequence. why, you ask? bc that's the closest ive ever felt so far to understanding the mechanics of the magic system at play here. like that scene was so short but by GOD was it critical to the narrative.

[deservedgrace]

i try to be quiet about this and just let people enjoy things but holy shit i wish people weren't so evangelical about astrology. and part of what makes it so frustrating is that it's something i want to like and have put effort into trying to like it because it's honestly really interesting to me as a concept. i'm not the most knowledgeable about it, but i know more than a layperson knows about it.

i call it evangelical because i see so many parallels between the way some people interact with astrology and evangelical christianity. the big ones are, if it doesn't make sense or work out for you it's because of a flaw within yourself, never the system (you have to read the bible in this way, with this context, with this interpretation, you have to pray to god to open your heart, did you actually read with an open heart? -> you have to look at your rising sign, you have to check if you have any stelliums, you have to have an accurate birth time, are you sure it's accurate? have you actually seen your birth certificate?), overly identifying with things as an excuse not to take accountability or grow (i'm just a sinner & i'll always be a sinner -> i'm toxic bc i'm a gemini tee hee), and a refusal to accept that they might be wrong or that it might not work out for everybody (everybody outside the church is evil and led by satan -> "that's such a capricorn thing to do!" "i lied about my sign i'm a libra" "oh my god that's such a libra thing to do with your indecisiveness!").

and obviously, they're different levels of harm and impact how widespread it is within communities, which is partially why i try to just shut up about it. but fuckin hell, some of y'all make it really difficult lmao.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore we've learned most of what we know. Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of starstuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." -- Carl Sagan