#all aspects of culture and science

[tacozebra051]

s1

i’m watching this documentary about halloween and there’s a part where they’re explaining that ghost stories got really popular around the civil war no one could really deal with how many people went off and died and

the narrator just said 

“the first ghost stories were really about coming home”

fuck 

[teaboot]

One of the most bizarre feelings imo is finding out about a prejudice you didn't know existed

Like. I only recently found out that there's areas IN MY OWN COUNTRY where discrimination against Italian people is a genuine problem

Like

I definitely know WHY I always assumed Racism was a prejudice more dependant on differences in skin colour but holy shit damn yeah okay so there's also ultraviolet racism too huh, we're all just drinking the shitty bitch water then

[aceofwands]

idk man I just think of all the franchises you could try to make the Next Big Thing by creating a bunch of new shows and movies, maybe don't pick the one with the notoriously nitpicky obsessed with canon fandom ?? if you don't plan on applying any sort of consistency to the world, characters, alien cultures, entire ethical and moral framework of the universe, etc etc ????

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Antiusurpation and the road to disenshittification

THIS WEEKEND (November 8-10), I'll be in TUCSON, AZ: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

Nineties kids had a good reason to be excited about the internet's promise of disintermediation: the gatekeepers who controlled our access to culture, politics, and opportunity were crooked as hell, and besides, they sucked.

For a second there, we really did get a lot of disintermediation, which created a big, weird, diverse pluralistic space for all kinds of voices, ideas, identities, hobbies, businesses and movements. Lots of these were either deeply objectionable or really stupid, or both, but there was also so much cool stuff on the old, good internet.

Then, after about ten seconds of sheer joy, we got all-new gatekeepers, who were at least as bad, and even more powerful, than the old ones. The net became Tom Eastman's "Five giant websites, each filled with screenshots of the other four." Culture, politics, finance, news, and especially power have been gathered into the hands of unaccountable, greedy, and often cruel intermediaries.

Oh, also, we had an election.

This isn't an election post. I have many thoughts about the election, but they're still these big, unformed blobs of anger, fear and sorrow. Experience teaches me that the only way to get past this is to just let all that bad stuff sit for a while and offgas its most noxious compounds, so that I can handle it safely and figure out what to do with it.

While I wait that out, I'm just getting the job done. Chop wood, carry water. I've got a book to write, Enshittification, for Farar, Straus, Giroux's MCD Books, and it's very nearly done:

https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Adoctorow+%23dailywords&src=typed_query&f=live

Compartmentalizing my anxieties and plowing that energy into productive work isn't necessarily the healthiest coping strategy, but it's not the worst, either. It's how I wrote nine books during the covid lockdowns.

And sometimes, when you're not staring directly at something, you get past the tunnel vision that makes it impossible to see its edges, fracture lines, and weak points.

So I'm working on the book. It's a book about platforms, because enshittification is a phenomenon that is most visible and toxic on platforms. Platforms are intermediaries, who connect buyers and sellers, creators and audiences, workers and employers, politicians and voters, activists and crowds, as well as families, communities, and would-be romantic partners.

There's a reason we keep reinventing these intermediaries: they're useful. Like, it's technically possible for a writer to also be their own editor, printer, distributor, promoter and sales-force:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#intermediation

But without middlemen, those are the only writers we'll get. The set of all writers who have something to say that I want to read is much larger than the set of all writers who are capable of running their own publishing operation.

The problem isn't middlemen: the problem is powerful middlemen. When an intermediary gets powerful enough to usurp the relationship between the parties on either side of the transaction, everything turns to shit:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/12/direct-the-problem-of-middlemen/

A dating service that faces pressure from competition, regulation, interoperability and a committed workforce will try as hard as it can to help you find Your Person. A dating service that buys up all its competitors, cows its workforce, captures its regulators and harnesses IP law to block interoperators will redesign its service so that you keep paying forever, and never find love:

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2024/02/13/1228749143/the-dating-app-paradox-why-dating-apps-may-be-worse-than-ever

Multiply this a millionfold, in every sector of our complex, high-tech world where we necessarily rely on skilled intermediaries to handle technical aspects of our lives that we can't – or shouldn't – manage ourselves. That world is beholden to predators who screw us and screw us and screw us, jacking up our rents:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/yes-there-are-antitrust-voters-in

Cranking up the price of food:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/04/dont-let-your-meat-loaf/#meaty-beaty-big-and-bouncy

And everything else:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

(Maybe this is a post about the election after all?)

The difference between a helpmeet and a parasite is power. If we want to enjoy the benefits of intermediaries without the risks, we need policies that keep middlemen weak. That's the opposite of the system we have now.

Take interoperability and IP law. Interoperability (basically, plugging new things into existing things) is a really powerful check against powerful middlemen. If you rely on an ad-exchange to fund your newsgathering and they start ripping you off, then an interoperable system that lets you use a different exchange will not only end the rip off – it'll make it less likely to happen in the first place because the ad-tech platform will be afraid of losing your business:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/save-news-we-must-shatter-ad-tech

Interoperability means that when a printer company gouges you on ink, you can buy cheap third party ink cartridges and escape their grasp forever:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Interoperability means that when Amazon rips off audiobook authors to the tune of $100m, those authors can pull their books from Amazon and sell them elsewhere and know that their listeners can move their libraries over to a different app:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/audible-exclusive/#audiblegate

But interoperability has been in retreat for 40 years, as IP law has expanded to criminalize otherwise normal activities, so that middlemen can use IP rights to protect themselves from their end-users and business customers:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

That's what I mean when I say that "IP" is "any law that lets a business reach beyond its own walls and control the actions of its customers, competitors and critics."

For example, there's a pernicious law 1998 US law that I write about all the time, Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the "anticircumvention law." This is a law that felonizes tampering with copyright locks, even if you are the creator of the undelying work.

So Amazon – the owner of the monopoly audiobook platform Audible – puts a mandatory copyright lock around every audiobook they sell. I, as an author who writes, finances and narrates the audiobook, can't provide you, my customer, with a tool to remove that lock. If I do so, I face criminal sanctions: a five year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine for a first offense:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

In other words: if I let you take my own copyrighted work out of Amazon's app, I commit a felony, with penalties that are far stiffer than the penalties you would face if you were to simply pirate that audiobook. The penalties for you shoplifting the audiobook on CD at a truck-stop are lower than the penalties the author and publisher of the book would face if they simply gave you a tool to de-Amazon the file. Indeed, even if you hijacked the truck that delivered the CDs, you'd probably be looking at a shorter sentence.

This is a law that is purpose-built to encourage intermediaries to usurp the relationship between buyers and sellers, creators and audiences. It's a charter for parasitism and predation.

But as bad as that is, there's another aspect of DMCA 1201 that's even worse: the exemptions process.

You might have read recently about the Copyright Office "freeing the McFlurry" by granting a DMCA 1201 exemption for companies that want to reverse-engineer the error-codes from McDonald's finicky, unreliable frozen custard machines:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/28/mcbroken/#my-milkshake-brings-all-the-lawyers-to-the-yard

Under DMCA 1201, the Copyright Office hears petitions for these exemptions every three years. If they judge that anticircumvention law is interfering with some legitimate activity, the statute empowers them to grant an exemption.

When the DMCA passed in 1998 (and when the US Trade Rep pressured other world governments into passing nearly identical laws in the decades that followed), this exemptions process was billed as a "pressure valve" that would prevent abuses of anticircumvention law.

But this was a cynical trick. The way the law is structured, the Copyright Office can only grant "use" exemptions, but not "tools" exemptions. So if you are granted the right to move Audible audiobooks into a third-party app, you are personally required to figure out how to do that. You have to dump the machine code of the Audible app, decompile it, scan it for vulnerabilities, and bootstrap your own jailbreaking program to take Audible wrapper off the file.

No one is allowed to help you with this. You aren't allowed to discuss any of this publicly, or share a tool that you make with anyone else. Doing any of this is a potential felony.

In other words, DMCA 1201 gives intermediaries power over you, but bans you from asking an intermediary to help you escape another abusive middleman.

This is the exact opposite of how intermediary law should work. We should have rules that ban intermediaries from exercising undue power over the parties they serve, and we should have rules empowering intermediaries to erode the advantage of powerful intermediaries.

The fact that the Copyright Office grants you an exemption to anticircumvention law means nothing unless you can delegate that right to an intermediary who can exercise it on your behalf.

A world without publishing intermediaries is one in which the only writers who thrive are the ones capable of being publishers, too, and that's a tiny fraction of all the writers with something to say.

A world without interoperability intermediaries is one in which the only platform users who thrive are also skilled reverse-engineering ninja hackers – and that's an infinitesimal fraction of the platform users who would benefit from interoperabilty.

Let this be your north star in evaluating platform regulation proposals. Platform regulation should weaken intermediaries' powers over their users, and strengthen their power over other middlemen.

Put in this light, it's easy to see why the ill-informed calls to abolish Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (which makes platform users, not platforms, responsible for most unlawful speech) are so misguided:

https://www.techdirt.com/2020/06/23/hello-youve-been-referred-here-because-youre-wrong-about-section-230-communications-decency-act/

If we require platforms to surveil all user speech and block anything that might violate any law, we give the largest, most powerful platforms a permanent advantage over smaller, better platforms, run by co-ops, hobbyists, nonprofits local governments, and startups. The big platforms have the capital to rig up massive, automated surveillance and censorship systems, and the only alternatives that can spring up have to be just as big and powerful as the Big Tech platforms we're so desperate to escape:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/23/evacuate-the-platforms/#let-the-platforms-burn

This is especially grave given the current political current, where fascist politicians are threatening platforms with brutal punishments for failing to censor disfavored political views.

Anyone who tells you that "it's only censorship when the government does it" is badly confused. It's only a First Amendment violation when the government does it, sure – but censorship has always relied on intermediaries. From the Inquisition to the Comics Code, government censors were only able to do their jobs because powerful middlemen, fearing state punishments, blocked anything that might cross the line, censoring far beyond the material actually prohibited by the law:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/22/self-censorship/#hugos

We live in a world of powerful, corrupt middlemen. From payments to real-estate, from job-search to romance, there's a legion of parasites masquerading as helpmeets, burying their greedy mouthparts into our tender flesh:

https://www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/visas-hidden-tax-on-americans

But intermediaries aren't the problem. You shouldn't have to stand up your own payment processor, or learn the ins and outs of real-estate law, or start your own single's bar. The problem is power, not intermediation.

As we set out to build a new, good internet (with a lot less help from the US government than seemed likely as recently as last week), let's remember that lesson: the point isn't disintermediation, it's weak intermediation.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/07/usurpers-helpmeets/#disreintermediation

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en (Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified)

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Do you have a list of good sex ed books to read?

BOY DO I

please bear in mind that some of these books are a little old (10+ years) by research standards now, and that even the newer ones are all flawed in some way. the thing about research on human beings, and especially research on something as nebulous and huge as sex, is that people are Always going to miss something or fail to account for every possible experience, and that's just something that we have to accept in good faith. I think all of these books have something interesting to say, but that doesn't mean any of them are the only book you'll ever need.

related to that: it's been A While since I've read some of these so sorry if anything in them has aged poorly (I don't THINK SO but like, I was not as discerning a reader when I was 19) but I am still including them as books that have been important to my personal journey as a sex educator.

additionally, a caveat that very few of these books are, like, instructional sex ed books in the sense of like "here's how the penis works, here's where the clit is, etc." those books exist and they're great but they're also not very interesting to me; my studies on sex are much more in the social aspect (shout out to my sociology degree) and the way people learn to think about sex and societal factors that shape those trends. these books reflect that. I would genuinely love to have the time to check out some 101 books to see how they fare, but alas - sex ed is not my day job and I don't have the time to dedicate to that, so it happens slowly when it happens at all. I've been meaning to read Dr. Gunter's Vagina Bible since it came out in 2019, for fucks sake.

and finally an acknowledgement that this is a fairly white list, which has as much to do with biases with academia and publishing as my own unchecked biases especially early in my academic career and the limitations of my university library.

ANYWAY here's some books about sex that have been influential/informative to me in one way or another:

The Trouble With Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life (Michael Warner, 1999)

Virginity Lost: An Intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences (Laura M. Carpenter, 2005)

Virgin: The Untouched History (Hanne Blank, 2007)

Sex Goes to School: Girls and Sex Education Before the 1960s (Susan K. Freeman, 2008)

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (Mary Roach, 2008)

Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution (Revised Edition) (Susan Stryker, 2008)

The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women (Jessica Valenti, 2009)

Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex (Amy T. Schalet, 2011)

Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality (Hanne Blank, 2012)

Rewriting the Rules: An Integrative Guide to Love, Sex and Relationships (Meg-John Barker, 2013)

The Sex Myth: The Gap Between Our Fantasies and Realities (Rachel Hills, 2015)

Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Tranform Your Sex Life (Emily Nagoski, 2015)

Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men (Jane Ward, 2015)

Too Hot to Handle: A Global History of Sex Education (Jonathan Zimmerman, 2015)

American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus (Lisa Wade, 2017)

Histories of the Transgender Child (Jules Gill-Peterson, 2018)

Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights (Juno Mac and Molly Smith, 2018)

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex (Angela Chen, 2020)

Pleasure in the News: African American Readership and Sexuality in the Black Press (Kim Gallon, 2020)

A Curious History of Sex (Kate Lister, 2020)

Boys & Sex: Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent, and Navigating the New Masculinity (Peggy Orenstein, 2020)

Black Women, Black Love: America's War on Africa American Marriage (Dianne M. Stewart, 2020)

The Tragedy of Heterosexuality (Jane Ward, 2020)

Hurts So Good: The Science and Pleasure of Pain on Purpose (Leigh Cowart, 2021)

Strange Bedfellows: Adventures in the Science, History, and Surprising Secrets of STDs (Ina Park, 2021)

The Right to Sex: Feminist in the Twenty-First Century (Amia Srinivasan, 2021)

Love Your Asian Body: AIDS Activism in Los Angeles (Eric C. Wat, 2021)

Superfreaks: Kink, Pleasure, and the Pursuit of Happiness (Arielle Greenberg, 2023)

[honestlymysticalexpert]

Astro-Observations.

I realize having 2H-8H, 4H-10H, and 6H-12H placements is common for women. And being feminine houses explains alot.

And in that way, 10H would represent the martriachy while the Guru in the philosophical 9H would represent patriarchy.

I think Aquarius is the archetype of the absolute masculine and Pisces the absolute feminine.

I've noticed air pairs up well with water and earth with fire. Air understands intensity as much as water does. Where air is a hermit and water a healer. Also water recognizes air is crazy like pixie crazy, whereas being entertained by the fact that they're the lunacy crazy, but they only under-estimate air. 🍃 this psycho-active game is what keeps the two going. Fun pair.

Air and earth at first seems boring, but the more they peek underneath the unmoving stability and silence of earth, they realize a humor that's hard to forget. And because air is timeless in the end, earth with it's tranquility wins the air to earth. Air brings a breeze; and this becomes a tropical 🍹 love.

The stubborn unmoving nature of earth is well understood by the inspiring nature of fire.

----I believe any synastry could work, and should if it was meant to be, and not to leave anything to fate 🍃 but even the most difficult like 8H 💄 synastry has worked in numerous cases for different individuals.

---I think the 4H 🏡 as one of the angular houses is very important since it's home and home is where the heart is. And the heart is the store for all our spiritual and earthly treasures. So it would make sense that originally cancer was ruled by ♃ Jupiter the planet 🌏 of abundance 💰.

Generally Jupiter for a woman's chart denotes the "earthly treasures" through the 🕺 Husband, and representing foreign cultures goes to say literally the woman as a home maker is accepted native to all cultures, belonging to none and therefore. The 9H being where the woman gets a culture they'll marry into, men as suitors, and residents of the 9H house. HENCE the 9H placements.

As for the man ; the Venus position indicates where they marry from. Nature and background of the woman in their 4H.

Literally the only axis that matter for a woman are the ones mentioned above concluding 1H-7H, 3H-9H, 5H-11H, to be the ones that matter for the man. And so the placements in it, infact this is relative and common on most Natal charts.

The mars 💉 placements show our actions, traditionally represented by scorpio(feminine) and the Aries (Masculine).

Also Mars is where we get adrenaline from, things "energize" us, ENERGY. ⛮ Meaning for the men the (ethereal) appeal comes from how consciously awake they are, and for the woman, the transformation they can do, as home makers in building Inheritance, as well as "the shared resources."

----The 8H, of shared Inheritance goes ahead to be a shadow of the 12H 🌊 what proceeds the eternity of a soul. Where Venus is exalted in Pisces again making it the highest archetype of a woman, in being the "golden alchemist of love". Compassion. Women are Soulful according to the 12H.

And ⚙ according to the 11H the epitome of the masculine, men are revolutionary. Fathers of civilizations. And because it all fair in love and war. Love is also a feminine form of civilization.

Fire and earth belong together too, like air and water.

That being said all chaos return to order, and all order is born from chaos. Therefore each harmful aspect in a birthchart appears to be neutralized by a uniquely powerful order in the chart. I think that makes astrology a "divine" science.

Edit; am thinking Leos have to be self sufficient because they are primarily ruled by the sun. "The father" in astrology and therefore being the energy of sustenance it will and must show in them and on them in a certain way. "Boss vibes" 😎 ✅

[alpaca-clouds]

Worldbuild Differently: Unthink Religion

This week I want to talk a bit about one thing I see in both fantasy and scifi worldbuilding: Certain things about our world that we live in right now are assumed to be natural, and hence just adapted in the fantasy world. With just one tiny problem: They are not natural, and there were more than enough societies historically that avoided those pitfalls.

Tell me, if you have heard this one before: You have this fantasy world with so many differnet gods that are venerated. So what do you do to venerate those gods? Easy! You go into those big temple structures with the stained glass in their windows, that for some reason also use incense in their rituals. DUH!

Or: Please, writers, please just think one moment on why the fuck you always just want to write Christianity. Because literally no other religion than Christianity has buildings like that! And that has to do a lot with medieval and early post-medieval culture. I am not even asking you to look into very distant cultures. Just... Look of mosques and synagogues differ from churches. And then maybe look at Roman and Greek temples. That is all I am asking.

Let's make one thing clear: No matter what kind of world you are building, there is gonna be religion. It does not matter if you are writing medieval fantasy, stoneage fantasy, or some sort of science fiction. I know that a lot of atheists hate the idea that a scifi world has religion, but... Look, human brains are wired to believe in the paranormal. That is simply how we are. And even those atheists, that believe themselves super rational, do believe in some weird stuff that is about as scientific as any religions. (Evolutionary Psychology would be such an example.)

What the people will believe in will differ from their circumstance and the world they life in, but there is gonna be religion of some sort. Because we do need some higher power to blame, we need the rituals of it, and we need the community aspect of it.

Ironically I personally am still very much convinced that IRL even in a world like the Forgotten Realms, people would still make up new gods they would pray to, even with a whole pantheon of very, very real gods that exist. (Which is really sad, that this gets so rarely explored.)

However, how this worship looks like is very different. Yes, the Abrahamitic religions in general do at least have in common that they semi-regularily meet in some sort of big building to pray to their god together. Though how much the people are expected to go into that temple to pray is actually quite different between those religions and the subgroups of those religions.

Other religions do not have this though. Some do not have those really big buildings, and often enough only a select few are even allowed into the big buildings - or those might only be accessible during some holidays.

Instead a lot of polytheistic religions make a big deal of having smaller shrines dedicated to some of the gods. Often folks will have their own little shrine at home where they will pray daily. Alternatively there are some religions where there might be a tiny shrine outside that people will go to to pray to.

Funnily enough that is also something I have realized Americans often don't quite get: Yeah, this was a thing in Christianity, too. In Europe you will still find those tiny shrines to certain saints (because technically speaking Christianity still works as a polytheistic religion, only that we have only one god, but a lot of saints that take over the portfolios of the polytheistic gods). I am disabled, and even in the area I can reach on foot I know of two hidden shrines. One of them is to Mary, and one... I am honestly not sure, as the masonry is too withered to say who was venerated there. Usually those shrines are bieng kept in a somewhat okay condition by old people, but yeah...

Of course, while with historically inspired fantasy settings make this easy (even though people still hate their research), things get a bit harder with science fiction.

Again, the atheist idea is often: "When we develop further scientifically, we will no longer need religion!" But I am sorry, folks. This is not how the human brain works. We see weird coincidences and will go: "What paranormal power was responsible for it?" We can now talk about why the human brain has developed this way. We are evolved to find patterns, and we are evolved (because social animal and such) to try and understand the will others have - so far that we will read will in nature. It is simply how our brains work.

So, what will scifi cultures believe in? I don't know. Depends on your worldbuilding. Maybe they believe in the ghost in the machine, maybe there si some other religions there. You can actually go very wild with it. But you need to unthink the normativity of Christianity to do that. And that is... what I see too little off.

[totaly-obsessed]

Nerves

Alessia Russo x reader request

-> Reader navigates the uncertainties of her career, academic studies, and the pressures of her first senior England camp, finding solace and comfort in her relationship

➳ Masterlist

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

As a female football player your future career was not guaranteed - one wrong step and all this could be over. Your dream and passion since childhood days could be over.

Anxious as you were, you decided to do something on the side, educate yourself further, and so that it wasn’t as far off from your day job, you had started to study sports science two years ago. The choice of study had been made quickly, after all, you couldn't imagine a life away from the pitch.

Alessia, your girlfriend, stood fully behind you - ready to drive you to the few in-person lectures you had. The blonde would do anything for you. Washing dishes, doing the laundry, sweeping, cooking? One little smile from you and the housework-allergic striker turned into a housewife.

Being called up to your first-ever senior England camp had not been in the plans. Sure it was always something you thought about, especially when Less left for the camps, but you never thought that you would make it this far.

Your girlfriend however had a feeling that you would join her this time - and she was proven right when Sarina called you. The blonde jumped up and down in celebration, pulling you up with her. But once she saw the tears streaming down your face, you were in her strong arms, ready to dry them with her sweater.

The weeks leading up to camp were anything but relaxing - one exam after the other. And they wouldn’t stop for a couple of days either. 

Alessia had been watching you wear yourself thin, most days were filled with practice, media, recovery, and games. Nights were spent studying methods to reduce the risk of sports injuries and strategies for rehabilitating injuries when they occur as well as analyzing the social and cultural aspects of sports participation, organization, governance, and marketing.

If the half-Italian was honest, she didn't understand most of the things you were reading about. Making one flashcard after the other in desperate attempts to get it in your head as she watched the circles under your eyes darken.

The day you left for camp she had been hopeful that things would change from now on. You were out of the comfort of your home, confronted with new and old acquaintances and friends.

But of course, it didn't go as planned.

“Are you sure that you even have a girlfriend, Less?”

You had barricaded yourself in your room for the third evening in a row, trying to prepare for the last exam as well as you possibly could.

“We’ve been over this Tooney, just a few more days!”

The following Monday Alessia had woken you up early, shaking you softly as a paper stuck to your cheek. You had fallen asleep on the desk, and by the look of the untouched bed, this probably wasn't the first time either.

“Buongiorno amore mio, è ora di svegliarsi!” Time to wake up? No that couldn't be.

But a glance at the watch on the wall confirmed your girlfriend's words, you really had to get up now. “Thanks, Lessi.”

A soft peck on the lips later and your girlfriend was willing to help you get ready, or rather gather your things and pack your bag while you were in the bathroom. 

The car ride to your Uni had been peaceful. Just you and Alessia. It hadn't been like that for a while as you were always studying.

“I’m sorry for being a shit girlfriend lately, Less.”

The blonde's head snapped over so fast that you couldn't even blink. “Don’t you dare say that! You’ve been such a good student, and after this, I won’t let you go that easily.”

“Less, eyes on the road!” your clumsy girlfriend had filled with sudden rage at your guilt, headed straight towards a tree on the side of the road.

“Whoops.”

Alessia could see an immediate difference in you when you sat down in her car again. You felt happier. Not a single word was lost in regard to the exam when it had been all you could talk about before. 

While you felt freer you still looked and were incredibly tired, something even Tooney could see, who had been excited to get your lively person back. She missed her go-to person when Less was boring and wouldn’t run around like a crazy person with her.

So when you refused to play darts with her, clinging to your girlfriend on a couch, she was incredibly disappointed. 

“C’mon, I just got you back - play with me before you go back to fucking London!” But the brunette's whining just earned her a shove from her best friend.

“Leave us alone Ella.”

A whisper went through the room, everyone quietly watching as they glared at each other while you snuggled deeper into Lessi’s neck, desperate to sleep.

“No fair! You have her all the time!” She looked like a little kid whose toy had been taken away. And in a way it had been.

“I don’t care Ell-”

“Okay, off Ella!” It was Mary who pulled the angry chihuahua off Alessia's legs and now pointed up at the stairs, “You two, upstairs!”

The blonde didn’t hesitate and stood up, careful not to jostle you too much as she made her way up the stairs. Ella could only watch, mouth wide open, as you waved her goodbye, your head resting on your girlfriend's shoulder.

“You brat!”

[ambermotta]

Offerings: What's, How's, When's, and Why's

Below are some of the most common questions regarding offerings!

Disclaimer: Long post. This is based on my experience and research. I don't claim to know the absolute truth.

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TL,DR: A lot of things about offerings are flexible, subjective, and depend on culture, personal beliefs, and mundane constraints. While there are general considerations and guidelines, you will always have to do deeper research in order for the offerings to fit what you are doing and what is within your reach.

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Why make Offerings?

There are many ways to see offerings and it can vary depending on personal beliefs and religion. Some of the most common reasons people make them:

Energy exchange: you give something to receive something. This can be seen as payment, fair trade or as a way to keep balance.

Thanksgiving: you give offerings as a way of giving thanks

Honoring: you give offerings as a way to pay respect

All of the above

When to make Offerings?

It is advisable to make offerings whenever you are doing spiritual work with any kind of spirit. You can make the offering before, during or after your work.

You can also make offerings a standalone thing for praising, honoring or thanksgiving spiritual beings.

What happens to the offerings? "Why do spiritual beings need food"?

Spiritual beings also use energy. Just as you use energy to do any activity, spirits also use energy for their own purposes. When you make an offering you are offering them energy, just as when you eat you are fueling your organic needs.

If you are asking a spirit to help you they may even use the energy from your offerings to fuel the magic needed for what you asked.

They don't need energy to live like we do (they don't die), but we all use energy in some way for some purpose. When you give proper offerings, aligned with the energy you need and the type of work, you can make your magickal workings stronger and develop deeper bonds with the spirits.

The spirits are not going to literally eat food you give them, but you may notice changes in "how it feels/looks like" that are subtle.

For example, when I was a child my parents pointed out that when flowers (such as a rose) are used in strong, successful magical workings they dry after a while but the petals don't fall. It tends to preserve its original aspect.

Of course, it's not an exact science, but you may observe some weird things.

How long should I leave offerings out?

Depends. Some rituals and traditions may ask you to leave them for a few days, some are to be consumed during or after the ritual. If not specified you may leave them for a day or dispose of them the next morning. Non-organic offerings may stay at the altar indefinitely or for long periods of time before being dispatched.

How to dispose of offerings?

This varies with culture and religious beliefs, so look for what was traditionally considered respectful. However, it's also important to take into account your reality, and if you are in doubt you can try to ask the spirits themselves what is the ideal way of disposing of them.

Some cultures bury their offerings. For example, in hellenic paganism it is (traditionally) believed offerings to chthonic deities should be buried and never eaten.

Some cultures don't mind you eating and/or drinking the offerings yourself after the rite is done. In Kemeticism (again, traditionally) eating offerings is preferred as to not waste food. If you are under financial constraints and cannot afford to throw away food this can be a good way of giving offerings while also avoiding waste. Of course this only applies to edible offerings, eaten right after you are done with your ritual. Please don't ingest anything that could be spoiled, illegal (such as underage alcohol consumption) or toxic.

Leaving it in a clean space in nature. This can be controversial and/or illegal depending on where you live and what you are disposing of, so make sure to get that checked out. In some cultures it is traditional to dispose of offerings even if they contain non-organic matter, but I advocate for only disposing in nature organic, non-toxic offerings. Times have changed, nowadays we must be more responsible of what we throw in nature and the effects it can cause.

An alternative to disposing in nature is to dispose of it on garden plants, if you have them, or re-use what would be wasted in some way. This can be an option for smaller offerings and folks with location restraints.

Dispose of them in the garbage. This can be controversial but I don't see it as an issue. If someone has something that makes the other options impossible or a big hassle, should they just not give offerings? I personally don't think so. Anyone is welcome to disagree, but respect the reality of other folks.

Non-organic, devotional offerings may also be kept in your house or garden in a dedicated/sacred space.

Offerings can also be burned. Always be careful handling fire, be aware of accidents and make sure to do research about what you are burning since some things can release toxic chemicals when burned.

Side note on eating offerings: Some spiritual beings like to share food and drink with you as a way of bonding and celebration. In some cultures, it is traditional to share in food and drink for specific rituals. It also may not always be appropriate to eat food on certain occasions.

What to offer?

The most traditional offerings are that of food and I personally like these the most. However, offerings are not restrained to that! You can even give them a more devotional meaning by, for example, offering an action, a song, art (poems, pictures, dance, etc), incense, a candle, water, or your time and energy.

Some offerings are pretty generalist and work for a lot of stuff, such as water, candles, bread, flowers and fruits. You can use these when you are short on supplies or when you are not entirely sure what you should offer.

But ideally you will want to offer something whose energy aligns with your purpose and the spiritual being you are working with. For example, you could offer lilies or white roses if you are doing work associated with peacefulness, but if you want passion you might want to pick red roses and cinnamon instead.

There will be times where you will have to improvise. You don't have to go without giving an offering just because you don't have exactly what you wanted to use. Yes it's better to have everything aligned, but sometimes you may feel the urge to do an offering at an inopportune time and you'll need to be flexible. This is why it's always good to have some generalist ingredients laying around.

How to make offerings?

Again, this can vary with culture and religion. You will have to find out what is the best way for your culture and beliefs.

But if you are unsure, here is a general setup:

Gather your offerings and everything you'll need for what you're doing.

Ideally cleanse and protect yourself and the environment you're in. If you have a space dedicated for offerings it's even better.

Remember you can give offerings before, during or after spiritual workings. Know at which point of the process you'll make the offering before you get started.

When you are ready to make your offering, start by saying a prayer and/or saying a few words. Try to tune in with the energy you are making the offering for. Here you can declare why you are making this offering and what you want (if applicable). Remember offerings have many uses, so here you can give praise, express your thanks and/or petition something to the forces you are making the offering for.

After making the offering you can meditate and try to tune in with spirits and what they feel. You can try talking to them. You can also carry on with whatever you planned to do.

Finish your ritual in a way you see fit and thank the spiritual beings involved.

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Final considerations!

Please, PLEASE make sure what you are offering and disposing of is LEGAL to acquire and dispose of.

Be conscious about the environment .

There needs to be a balance between honoring tradition and your reality living in the modern era.

To give offerings is to give energy. Make sure you are "feeding" the right spiritual beings, and not just being exploited for energy. Protections first, offerings later.

Be mindful of any potential accidents, especially concerning fire, children and pets. Be careful with potentially toxic offerings accessible to children, pets and wildlife.

Thank you for reading and best of luck in your practice ♡

[yuurei20]

Malleus Facts Part 46: Humans (pt2)

Malleus seems to shift between using the word “humans” and “children of man," though the word "human" will sometimes be removed from his dialogue on EN.

Malleus has a voice line of how “it speaks well of humans that they strive so hard to master such basic tasks” as running and flying.

He says that he cannot understand the meaningless things that humans do at times, which is what makes them so interesting.

Malleus says that he does not experience any particular excitement on his birthday because fae age for many years without any significant changes to aspects like their appearance.

“If anything, I find it strange how happy humans get about their birthdays…A human’s birthday represents the point at which another precious year of their limited lifespan is over. I can’t comprehend how someone could consider that cause for celebration.”

Malleus also comments on how he finds it fascinating that humans pass down their culture and expand their civilizations over generations to compensate for their fleeting lifespans.

After Trey explains the science behind fireworks to him Malleus says that it never occurred to him that humans would use their advanced technologies for amusement: “I don’t understand humans. Wouldn’t it be much faster to find a mage?”

Trey says that the fireworks look even more beautiful because of all the craftsmanship involved and Malleus says his perspective is fascinating.

[cantsayidont]

When attempting to critique the values of a long-running franchise like STAR TREK, it's important to draw a distinction between superficial issues and structural ones.

"Superficial" in this sense doesn't mean "minor" or "unimportant"; it simply means that an issue is not so intrinsic to the premise that the franchise would collapse (or would be radically different) were it changed or removed. For example, misogyny has been a pervasive problem across many generations of STAR TREK media, which have often been characterized by a particular type of leering-creep sexism that was distasteful at the time and has not improved with age. However, sexism and misogyny are not structural elements of the TREK premise; one can do a STAR TREK story where the female characters have agency and even pants without it becoming something fundamentally different from other TREK iterations (even TOS, although there are certainly specific TOS episodes that would collapse if you excised the sexism).

By contrast, the colonialism and imperialism are structural elements — STAR TREK is explicitly about colonizing "the final frontier" and about defending the borders, however defined, of an interstellar colonial power. Different iterations of STAR TREK may approach that premise in slightly different ways, emphasizing or deemphasizing certain specific aspects of it, but that is literally and specifically what the franchise is about. Moreover, because STAR TREK has always been heavily focused on Starfleet and has tended to shy away from depicting life outside of that regimented environment, there are definite limits to how far the series is able to depart from the basic narrative structure of TOS and TNG (a captain and crew on a Starfleet ship) without collapsing in on itself, as PICARD ended up demonstrating rather painfully.

This means that some of the things baked into the formula of STAR TREK are obviously in conflict with the franchise's self-image of progressive utopianism, but cannot really be removed or significantly altered, even if the writers were inclined to try (which they generally are not).

What I find intensely frustrating about most modern STAR TREK media, including TNG and its various successors, is not that it can't magically break its own formula, but that writer and fan attachment to the idea of TREK as the epitome of progressive science fiction has become a more and more intractable barrier to any kind of meaningful self-critique. It's a problem that's become increasingly acute with the recent batch of live-action shows, which routinely depict the Federation or Starfleet doing awful things (like the recent SNW storyline about Una being prosecuted for being a genetically engineered person in violation of Federation law) and then insist, often in the same breath, that it's a progressive utopia, best of all possible worlds.

This is one area where TOS (and to some extent the TOS cast movies) has a significant advantage over its successors. TOS professes to be a better world than ours, but it doesn't claim to be a perfect world (and indeed is very suspicious of any kind of purported utopia). The value TOS most consistently emphasizes is striving: working to be better, and making constructive choices. Although this can sometimes get very sticky and uncomfortable in its own right (for instance, Kirk often rails against what he sees as "stagnant" cultures), it doesn't presuppose the moral infallibility of the Federation, of Starfleet, or of the characters themselves. There's room for them to be wrong, so long as they're still willing to learn and grow.

The newer shows are less and less willing to allow for that, and, even more troublingly, sometimes take pains to undermine their predecessors' attempts along those lines. One appalling recent example is SNW's treatment of the Gorn, which presents the Gorn as intrinsically evil (and quite horrifying) in a way they're not in "Arena," the TOS episode where they were first introduced. The whole point of "Arena" is that while Kirk responds to the Gorn with outrage and anger, he eventually concedes that he may be wrong: There's a good chance that the Gorn are really the injured party, responding to what they reasonably see as an alien invasion, and while that may be an arguable point, sorting it out further should be the purview of diplomats rather than warships. By contrast, SNW presents the Gorn as so irredeemably awful as to make Kirk's (chronologically later) epiphany at best misguided: The SNW Gorn are brutal conquerors who lay eggs in their captives (a gruesome rape metaphor, and in presentation obviously inspired by ALIENS) when they aren't killing each other for sport, and even Gorn newborns are monsters to be feared. Not a lot of nuance there, and no space at all for the kind of detente found in TOS episodes like "The Devil in the Dark."

[taliabhattwrites]

"materialist" is a really great word for indicating "only the aspects of this ideology that flatter me, but presented as though they are comprehensive and unquestionable."

I think this would be a more cutting jibe if I hadn't gone through decades of academic literature where the respected scholars who set the discursive parameters on how my culture is discussed in the West all were kind of blatantly making shit up.

We're talking stuff like "Oh, this practice doesn't mean X, it's actually something subtly different and culturally-specific, called <the literal Hindi word for X>."

I've read about the "gender-expansivity" of Hinduism, the "docile nature" of "real" Indian women, and the "enlightened attitude" of people towards gender-variance. All claims made without a shred of substantiation, which might as well be describing an alternate dimension or a fantasy setting if you're someone who actually grew up in the place(s) discussed.

So no, "materialism" is a word that means "let's try to make sure our assertions describe reality, perhaps by empirically observing reality-as-it-is instead of basing entire subfields on wild conjecture". If you talk to any number of overworked and straining marginalized grads in the social sciences, you'll quickly learn that this is very much not the norm in the hallowed institutes of knowledge-production, and is in fact an idea that is rather frowned upon.

[elysiansparadise]

Hi again! Can you tell me what does Jupiter in 9th house mean besides being drawn to religion and philosophy? Already thank you for the answer!

Hello love. Sure, I can tell you about this placement.

Jupiter in the 9th house

This astrological position shows a native with a fascinating mind, not only because of the high intelligence they have, but also because of the inquisitive attitude that the wearer has. They tend to be curious people, quick to learn and with immense enthusiasm for new and complex ideas. They are attracted by the strange, the new, what is not as simple as it seems. They are fascinated with intellectual challenges, with what keeps their mind in constant learning. They feel driven by that desire for personal growth, to know themselves and create a path in which to become the person they aspire to be. They question everything around them from a very young age. Many of them, although they appreciate points of view different from their own, will always seek to find what resonates most with them, they seek to define the truth on their own. It is worth mentioning that these natives, from a very early age, have that sense of justice deeply embedded in them, not hesitating to speak their minds when something is not correct under their moral compass. Likewise, they will never try to control other people, allowing them to express themselves and be authentic.

They tend to be people with a lot of knowledge in different areas and can stand out a lot for their intelligence and skills in a specific area. It predicts great success for them in their college student years, whether due to the experiences they will live, socially or academically. Academically they may not have significant problems, and, if Jupiter is well aspected, they may be easily liked and appreciated by teachers. These natives will be good at research, teaching, psychology or in general any activity that puts their mind into action. Many of these natives have a passion and talent for writing, and may be presented with the possibility of publishing or presenting their work to others. It is very likely that these natives have the ability to learn languages, as well as a taste for cultures other than their own. There are great possibilities of traveling abroad, attracting friends, mentors or influential people in your lives who come from other countries. They will not like simplistic or very mundane concepts, as they will prefer to choose to delve into the depths of something, and this not only applies to their interests, but also to themselves and other people. Something that is said a lot about this placement is that long trips are not only exclusive to the physical, but also to the spiritual and personal.

With Jupiter in this house it is common for people to choose to study things related to the humanities, social sciences, law or topics related to the law. Many of them have the philosophy of either doing things well or not doing them at all, and that is something they apply in different areas of their life. Despite how open-minded they can be, they are very blunt and clear people when it comes to their beliefs. They have very well defined what they want and do not want in their lives and what they are not willing to experience again. They may have a strong inclination towards spirituality and the search for universal truth. People can explore different religions, spiritual practices or even philosophical currents. Being in one of its domicile houses, Jupiter can shine easily, bringing luck, opportunities and a lot of wisdom to the life of the native. Ideas are very likely to come spontaneously to your minds, especially when you least look for them. They can easily be inspired by things that others don't see appeal or greatness in. They know how to appreciate the little things in life.

[unpickled-olive]

Realizing that, while I like Destiny lore, what I love is Seth Dickinson's writing.

The Final Shape was a lovely story and the characters' archs were all emotional and satisfying. Maybe a nostalgic tear was shed for Cayde bonding with his reformed, resurrected killer.

But the things that have kept me coming back for 9 years were missing. I thought there'd be concrete answers about the Traveler, or some more thorough insights into the Witness, or even good lore on the Dread. I was hoping for another great lore book to join the ranks of Books of Sorrow, Unveiling, Mysterious Logbook, Marasenna, Last Days of Kraken Mare, etc. Some philosophy and horror, a genesis or exegesis or thorough backstory on a yet unexamined character/species.

Sadly, I didn't find those. The Dread's origin is that the Witness made them. Do they think and feel? TBD. The Traveler's conclusion was something like "you just have to have faith <3." Fine for the characters, but not for the readers/players of a 10-year-old mystery.

There's some nice things. The Micah-10 Traveler interpretations are cool, as is her origin story. And the foreshadowing still has me excited for the Dreadnaught, a yet unseen Disciple, etc. But I think key parts of what made Destiny lore so alluring for me are diminished.

Maybe it's the layoffs at Bungie. Maybe it's new writers going in a different direction. Either way, the aspects of sci-fi/space fantasy—ancient mysteries, metaphysical warfare, _____—have taken the back seat to personal drama that frankly isn't that interesting or fleshed out.

Maya could be an interesting antagonist, but she needed more backstory than "this simulation was evil or something" and more nuance than "the Vanguard are coercive, so I will coerce all of humanity." Why not explore what her presence means for the Vex, or the other simulations helping Praedyth escape the Vault?

The Witness trying to sway various characters was fine, but that has been covered so many times, especially in Beyond Light.

All that said, back to Seth: their absence in TFS made me realize how huge their presence in the lore was for my love of Destiny. I finally went and read their original works. What an incredible writer.

First, I read Exordia, the first/only entry into a dark mindfuck of a space opera. Its horrific in abstract ways: mysterious alien monoliths that poison reality around them. It's horrific in grounded ways, too: the alien invasion plays off of parallels with the Anfal campaign and the US involvement in Iraq. It's campy at times (with a villain who shouts "I love genocide!") but also profound. There's souls and date, but also math. There's also my favorite trope: mysterious, ancient architects.

After that, I read Baru Cormorant—all three books in a month. It's tragic and inspiring and genius. Originally I couldn't get through the first chapter because of the "fantasy" label. I've already read Earthsea and wasn't in the mood for wizards on boats. But I had the wrong impression. Understandable, because there is just no succinct way to label it.

Is it even fantasy? Honestly, I still don't know.

What it is is its own world. One that the inhabitants haven't fully mapped. One whose past is a must and whose future is uncertain. It's about hegemony. It's about purpose, obsession, and revenge. It's about revolution and community.

The colonizer culture is a kaleidoscope of different influences. Seafaring. Peri-industrial. Eugenic. It strikes me as something like 17th century Britain with a 20th century grasp of science. They don't have guns, but they do have both Greek fire and lobotomies. The story plays with different cultural views on indigenous rights, race, sexuality, and gender in ways that commentary real life while serving as interesting world building.

This story also weaves an insane amount of intellectual concepts into it. But rather than bog it down, they lift it up. The fate of the republic hinges on a myriad of different questions: is evolution Lamarckian or Darwinian? Can mathematical proofs usurp cultural hegemony? How do economics influence history? Most importantly, can you destroy the enemy from within before it destroys you?

It is not just cerebral, but tragic and heartbreaking. I saw the end of the first book coming, and yet I was devastated by the last chapter. Crushed like no ending has ever really crushed me. I didn't want it to happen.

There will likely be some time before the final book comes out, which is understandable. So much research goes into these. So many plot threads need to be woven together. So many mysteries not yet confronted.

This is all to say: if you like what I like about Destiny–thorough examinations of ancient mysteries, sci-fi takes on souls and magic, fantasy takes on science and technology, obsessive characters and vividly fucked up monsters, cancer and math as motifs, metaphors manifesting, and genius characters written by genius authors–give Seth Dickinson a chance.

[bouquetface]

Vedic Astro Notes 4

accuracy is influenced by entire chart.

this post doesn’t take into consideration all aspects, signs & depositor placements. all that is needed for personal accuracy. this is a general post.

4th House Ruler in 11th House:

Your family specifically the mother adds to your gains. They help grant your wishes.

Indicator of gaining through home related activities - ex: real estate.

4th Ruler is 8 away indicating the mother or home goes through a death/rebirth transformation. You could move very far or your parents could have divorced. These are just examples, your exact situation depends on entire chart.

If Jupiter is the ruler, you gain through homes and teaching. You can teach the people about the home or in the home. You can become an advisor. Your parents wisdom will help you gain. ex: they are business owners, watching them work later inspires you to begin your own business.

4th House Ruler in 9th House:

You can have a religious family. Yet, you can desire to explore other cultures, religions, countries, etc.

Teachers could have felt like parental figures to you.

You can live far from the birthplace. This doesn't always mean in a different country, you can simply be in a different city. You can leave your mother for education or life experience.

If Saturn is the ruler, you could have been at a distance from your mother.

Saturn can delay your education unless aspecting planets like jupiter or mercury. Saturn is putting restrictions in this area: tuition costs could make it difficult to continue. personal matters could take your focus away from education. education can become extremely difficult when you try to get higher education.

8th House Ruler in 10th House:

Generally, this shows mixed perception of your reputation. You can receive sudden rises in career. However, depending on entire chart this can be sudden downfalls in reputation.

Your work can involve research. You have to dig deeper for the truth. This can manifest in many ways - ex: marketing field - you must research to understand how certain demographics will react to certain products. OR science field - you research using the scientific method. Or law/crime field - you investigate.

If Mars is the ruler, you can have a physically active career. You could be a police offer, in the army. You could work for the government. You are an authority figure in your career.

Rahu conjunct Saturn in 7th

Rahu alone in 7th can give a unique/non expected partner. When conjunct saturn, it can give a spouse that is a lot older than the norm. This is because rahu amplifies the sign & planet it touches. This is not the only possible manifestation of this placement.

Rahu here still makes it likely the spouse could be from foreign lands or different culture.

Rahu conjunct Saturn in my experience is an indicator for a delayed marriage or marrying someone a lot older. Rahu brings taboo.

Accuracy will depend on full chart.

Planets 2 away from Venus

A common method in vedic is to check 2 away from your venus to see the MAIN thing you gain through marriage.

ex: Venus in 2nd H, Mercury is in 4th H. After marriage, you gain a home/land, a communicative & busy home life. You could desire education - going back to school, reading more, researching new hobby. This is the MAIN thing you gained not the only thing, likely it is the most significant gain for you.

ex: Venus in 6th H, Moon in 8th H. After marriage, you can gain a private home/family lifestyle. You are likely to have children soon after marriage. This is the MAIN thing you gained not the only, likely it is the most significant gain for you.

ex: Venus in 4th, Saturn in 6th. After marriage, you gain new responsibilities. And I know this doesn't sound fun, however, it is not a bad thing. Possible reasons for the increased work can be: you get pets, you want to save for a new home or renovate your home. Check sign for more insight.

ex: Venus in 8th, Jupiter in 10th. After marriage, you gain a lot. You could find good career opportunities and advancement. You can gain status and feel more confident about your reputation.

4th H ruler in 4th H

This suggests someone is confident and secure in their personal life and home life.

You can have loyalty to your home and family. You can have a good connection and interest in your ethnic background/family roots.

If mercury is the ruler, you can have communicative and busy home and family life. You can have educators/teachers in the home/family.

Sun conjunct Jupiter in 12th House

You may meet the husband in foreign lands. Your children could be born in foreign lands.

Your husband is likely to religious. They can be educated and/or educate you on their religion, culture or career. If sun is the lowest degree, it controls the conjunction which can make the spouse a bit arrogant due to their intelligence&education. They can be self righteous about their religion too.

At some point in life, you can be separated from your family - specifically the father. This can be due to a move and/or fights.

Sun conjunct Moon

You can become a determined person. The house and sign will show what you are determined on and how you get it.

You are independent and spiritual/religious with this placement.

If sun is the lowest degree, sun is controlling the conjunction. This indicates you are stoic, you struggle to express emotions, you are more introverted. You can have alone type hobbies like yoga, working out alone, reading, walks, etc.

Venus in Dhanishta Nakshatra

In a woman's chart, venus is you as a wife. In a man's chart, venus is your wife.

The wife will love music. She may even play an instrument. She may enjoy attending concerts.

Whether you are the wife or husband, you can make more money and are happiest when you are helping the spouse. The wife can help you in making wealth. I’ve seen this in the d9 chart’s of couples who work with each other later in life. ex: opening a cafe together.

For full accuracy one would have to check the pada and the ENTIRE chart. This is general info.

[deepmochi]

Pluto in Aquarius

Let's talk about Pluto in Aquarius, and what we can expect.

Since Aquarius is an air sign, we will see more information to hold us and others accountable, especially people who has power to help or change the world.

This air sign presents valid and real information. A lot of mysterious or secrets are coming, but usually these are an open secret.

Aquarius represents rebellious acts to society and want to change for humanity. In Pluto, this air sign comes and say "hey, what are you doing for others?!" This will be predominant to known people like celebrities and politicians. The reason for this is Aquarius' logic. If I give you, I should receive soemthing, right?

Common folks could make a change, but the rich is overlapping our small steps. We aware now, though.

Many "secrets" are going to be reveled to the public. Secrets that are open. For example, many conspiracy theories are been revealed as actual truth.

This time would be more logical. By logic, I'm meaning be reasonable. Don't trust words, see actions. So, if 2+2 = 4, the result is clear.

Celebs culture would be dying. Slowly, be are seeing them as what they are, some evil and greedy people, or just ordinary people with bad tendencies.

Your favorites will show their true values. So be careful who you idolize. Aqua is more humanitarian. We can detect people with narcissistic and evil aspects.

Government and all the previous power institutions are gonna be renew. Some will fall and other rise.

The citizens are tired of lies and suffering. Many protests are coming. Rebellious acts too, not all is good.

Ai and technology advances are coming. Protect your information and use it wisely. Possible laws against the use of Ai and internet services will come, but it takes times.

Saturn in Aries will play a role in a more fire approach too. Many aggressive approach on online communities will be present. People would be more bold than before.

A more raw and honest approach is appreciated by the public. However, some people will think is safe to push hidden agendas (not good at all).

People will behave more aggressive, especially online communities. Online comments are become aggressive more than normally.

A new creation or invention would occur. Something for all of us; I mean, it involves our wellbeing.

Sexuality topics will be present. More acceptability but also scary things will come.

People would try to explore their fashion style and sense of self more. Creating a more individual approach than collective.

Old institutions and religions cult will fall. People will question their foundations.

Weird things make occur, like there is a eccentric part to Aquarius. New things coming that are not ordinary at all.

Gen Alpha trends will increase. Very interesting trends will come.

Renewing and a more open concious will arise, collectively.

Spirtual people are not perceived as weirdos anymore. Still, not everyone is being truthful.

More restrictions will come because powerful people will get mad that they cannot control the masses as before.

Individual take and better understanding of some communities. I respect you period...

Digital job offers are increasing, but being more socially in real life will be a challenge.

People would try to help others through technology, but it will be blocked by media.

Friendly people (truly) would be so appreciated. "Nice privileged" might be a new thing.

At the beginning, people will be more selfish; later on, the goal is working together. Since the "i need boundaries" will be misunderstood by many.

The big countries will be experience some issues. A new chapter will come, a new potency.

More investigations and questions about power will arise.

Something new for good or bad through science.

Alien contact...maybe through technology.

Spirtual attacks and stuff related are truth. Protect your heart and mind.

Restructuring political institutions and movement. People want changes!!

A new law to protect children and innocents against predators will come.

Society will questioned money 💰 and its structure?! A possible new economic system.

And more...these were some ideas / examples I got.

What we know, recently?!

For example, the expose of private jets carbon emissions. It was a privilege in the past to won a Jet. Now, we cuestioned why rich people use it constantly?! The planet's condition is so bad, and look the Superbowl. Many celebrities and rich people travel there in their private jet, more especially 525 private jets were there for a GAME?! Crazy. Meanwhile some of us a collective take the bus to work or study or share a taxi. Funny, we need to use less plastic to protect our planet. Then, they use their private jets for fun times.

This type of information is known since Aquarius is ruled by knowledge and humanitarian actions. Nowadays, we has access to this info, and we know by now that rich people is selfish.

It's not shocking so far. We as a collective are called to acknowledge and questions those with resources and power. However, the way we act is different. Remeber, Aqua is a unique sign.

Another example: Just look at the scandals during January 2024, the Epstein list news, Nicky Minaj and Megan thee Stallion beef. In both cases, people are like damn they have money and use it for what? Evil creatures.

Example: For Nicky and Megan's case, people are asking Nicky why she defend her husband and brother for being the sexual offender?! Is she crazy? Again the info isn't hidden. Minaj is married, and it isn't a secret. Actually, we already know about this. You can seach on internet, but the collective didn't accep it. When Pluto was still in Capricorn surviving is necessary. Even with the war, we know is happening, but we need to still need to pay our apartment, buy groceries, or study. Unfortunately, we, common folks, citizens aren't not the answer. Pluto comes questions us?

We make them famous, are these people returning the favor to society? Why rich people doesn't can't help if they have the resources? They can do something, but they don't do it. WHY? BECAUSE they don't care, they're are selfish. This is why people are posting their sides. Expect more and more people sharing opinions and technology advances too.

Note: not everything is set on a stone. Take what resonates. If doesn't resonates, IGNORE IT!