#and I would love to see more talk of Native mythology and beliefs

[the-goddess-of-chaos-eris]

Don’t forget those who were here before you, angel. You may have won against some being who calls themself the One above All, but I’d like to see you take on someone like me, or, Hell, Zeus, Odin, Unetlanvhi..better yet, I’d like to see you go up against your princes or the Ares Goetia. Let’s see what your capable of, Lulu~

[she smiled a bit teasingly at the nickname]

*drops a fish on your head* Enjoy!

[Eris gags]

What in Tartarus!? I- LUCIFER YOU ΣΚΥΛΑ-

[little-witchys-garden]

Why I love using cats in my witchcraft

I love cats, they're one of my favorite creatures and one of the few creatures I love using in my witchcraft.

I love cat symbolism, cat figures, cat themed things, cat magick, connecting with cat spirits, and allowing my own pet cats in my witchcraft.

So let's talk about cats!

The spiritual symbolism of Cats:

cats are symbolic of rebirth and resurrection, per their nine lives. Because they are nocturnal, they are also associated with darkness independence, guardian energy, the esoteric, and mystery, elegance, curiosity, independence, protection, magic, and other notable qualities.

Divine cats connect with:

Bastet

Sekhmet

Eros

Nergal

Mafdet

Kasha

Wadjet

Mishipeshu

Nyx

Selene

Ceridwen

Palu

Dawon

the yule cat

The cat sithe

Brighid

Ovinnik

Hecate

Li Shou

Ai-Apaec

Bòge cat

Freya

Maneki-neko

Tezcatlipoca

Kapitángan

And that's not even all not them!

Different cats have different meanings:

Yep that's right! We all know the black cat = bad luck thing but did you know there's lots of superstitions around cats? I'll name a few!

Black cats are bad luck unless you're a sailor or a witch then they're good luck.

For sailors white cats were bad luck!

Calico cats in Japan are actually seen as good luck and even luckier if they have a bobbed tail!

It is bad luck to cross a stream carrying a cat.

If a cat purrs at nothing, a ghost is in the room.

Bathing a cat will cause it to rain.

A cat at a wedding is a good omen

If you can pluck a pure white hair from an all-black cat without being scratched, you will be lucky all your life long

Cats can see death

Fishermen’s wives believe that their husbands will be safe at sea if a black cat is kept in the house

A kitten being born the same day as your baby means your baby will have a lucky life.

Blue eyed cats are good luck

Cats spread gossip so they should not enter rooms where private discussions are taking place.

When you see a one-eyed cat, spit on your thumb, stamp your palm with your thumb and make a wish.

Killing a cat means 17-18 years of bad luck

If a cat jumps across a grave, that corpse will return as a vampire.

If a cat sneezes three times, someone else is going to catch a cold.

If a cat has kittens in your house, it is a sign that your house has no evil spirits

If you head off on a journey and see a cat on your left side, it is a sign of good luck.

Visiting a home with a cat? Kiss the cat for good luck.

And that’s just a few cat superstitions!

Cats in witchcraft/spirituality in history:

Cats were feared and thought to indicate the presence of evil, either being the Devil himself, or a witch in disguise, a demon, a faery in disguise, undead, immortal or a ghost.

As early as the 13th century, the Catholic Church linked cats to Satan, heretics, witches, pagans, demons, ghosts, the fae, vampires and zombies. Over time during slavery of both the Irishs and Africans the church connected them too hoodoo, voodoo and Irish paganism though it was mostly because slaves would keep these creatures as cherished companions during their years of slavery since cats were a plenty and often times were from/born on the plantations. Cats also had a connection to native Americans as well! Many cats essentially pregnant Cats get abandoned by their owners left on many reservations, these abandoned cats become the devoted pets and mouse hunters on reservations helping in keeping rodent populations down And with that came native based spiritual beliefs around cats! Cats have been beloved and faithful companions of the oppressed for centuries!

Also just adding in feng shui cats are seen as protectors and good luck!

Cats also are symbols of femininity, queerness, ABC being on trans spectrum.

There's so much more about cats in mythology, folklore, superstitions, witchcraft and other spiritual beliefs!

So if you wanna add animal symbolism into your craft then the protective, lucky and mysterious cat might be for you!

Artists name on photo!

[phantomskeep]

Hey, just so you know, w*ndigo are a sacred Navajo concept that non Navajo aren't supposed to talk about. They represent a very specific Navajo belief and popular media that use w*ndigo are appropriating a false idea of them. You should use either a different monster or make up your own creature

Heyhey! I'm not looking to offend anyone, but I've done a fair bit of research into the wendigo as far as legends, folklore, and general-ness goes. What I was able to find on where the wendigos originate from, I did not see any mention of the Navajo people - however the Cree, Ojibwe, and general Algonquin speaking tribes are the ones who came up the most. These tribes were in the general New England area, whereas the Navajo are more from the southwestern US area. Whenever I did some digging between the Navajo cultures just now I couldn't find any mention of the wendigo/windigo.

Again, I'm not trying to appropriate or offend anyone. I have done a LOT of research on the topic of wendigos because the lore behind them is just really cool to me (it's been a bit of an obsession of mine for like a decade now haha). While I cannot say I have spoken to members of the tribes who the legend of the wendigo/wendigo conditions originate from, I can say that I am open to speaking with any members of them.

Anon, if you yourself are a member of the Navajo people, or any Algonquin-speaking people, or even want to share with me where you got this information from I would really appreciate it! I am more than willing to learn and correct any behaviors. However, in the meantime, I'm going to stick with the research that I have done which does not mention the term "wendigo/windigo" being a term non-Navajo/Native Americans are supposed to mention. I'm going to include some links that I have used on my wendigo research below, just in case anyone else is as interested as I am :)

Links: wikipedia "The Windigo in the Material World" "Windigo: The Flesh-Eating Monster of Native American Legend" - a documentary on PBS "More Than Monsters: The Deeper Significance of Wendigo Stories" "The Mythology and Misrepresentation of the Windigo"

Some books that I have also read (just in case haha): "Owls and Cannibals: Two Anlgonquian Etymologies" by Ives Goddard "Dangerous Spirits: The Windigo in Myth in History" by Shawn Smallman

There's a lot of other scholar articles, books, and websites/documentaries I've consumed but uhh... I don't really keep a running list at this point, haha. Just wanted to point out that I did NOT make that post without being informed. If anyone is a Native American/knows a lot about Native American culture and wants to put their two-cents in here please do! Like I said - I'm always down to learn and make any corrective actions so long as there is proof that those actions will be the correct ones to make.

Editing to add: To be fair, if I did have to change Danny into any other creature that I know of you better bet my Hannibal-loving ass would make him a ravenstag which is basically just a wendigo in deer form. Look them up, they're cool as hell.

[frogcatwcbiologyreweite]

Hello, you can call me Froggy!

I am bisexual & Gender fluid teen from Poland,15 years old, and use She/They   pronouns. Sorry for grammar and punctuation errors, English is not my native language, and unfortunately I have dyslexia and dysorthography, but I will do my best for my work to be understandable for you! :) In this side-blog I will post Warrior Cats characters designs, as well as a lot of things from my wc-Biology rewrite, I will probably also analysis warriors books and stuff. 

This is more of my ‘main blog’ then my actual main blog @frogcat7 where I don’t really do anything, perhaps I will post my other xenofiction designs there but I am not sure yet. But I have also other side-blog @frogkingtheorginal where I post a whole lot of things (by far most are wof doodles). I don’t really care for spoilers, but I don't feel confident talking about topics I don't know well yet, so here are warriors books I have read already: tpb, tnp, po3, oots, dotc (3 books out of 6), SE: Tallstar’s R, Yellowfang’s S, Crookedstar’s P, Bluestar’s P, Firestar’s Q, SkyClan’s D, Crowfeather’s T, N: Cloudstar’s J, Mapleshade’s V, Goosefeather’s C, Blackfoot’s R, Leafpool’s W, Mistystar’s O, Dovewing’s S, M: Tro Scourge, Tigerstar and Sasha, Ravenpaw’s P, Graystripe’s A, SkyClan atS, FG: The Ultimate Guide, ShS: Spottedleaf’s Honest Answer.

So, now I’ll tell you quickly about the rules of my blog, but don’t worry, there wouldn’t be a lot of them 🙂: 

Do: 

> I am very open for questions 😁, and I would really love to see conversations and debates in the commentary section :), Respond to posts as much as you want, that will really motivated me.

> I would try to respond to as many questions as possible, though I can't promise to get to all of them. 

> If you see a mistake, or something I may do better, don’t be shy and write to me constructive criticism, this project is my first as big one🙂. You can write your ideas I will appreciate it as well.

> “Can I use X in my project?” Of course, but don’t forget about credit 😁!

Don’t:

> I am only human and a minor one in addition, so, I can make mistakes, so, please don’t be mean, I will block mean accounts. 

> I respect your opinion, so, I expect you to respect mine. Everyone have different look on warriors characters, books or plot, so, live and let live!

> Peadophiles and so, do not interact, (such entities will be blocked as well).

> The biggest crime (for me) is if you use my work and say its yours. This is not only harmful to me, but also to your creativity, so, remember about it!

ASKBOX STATUS: open  😁/        currently at: 0 asks

                         Biology, Details, Headcanons!

My main and most comprehensive passion project is The Warrior Cats Biology Rewrite, a correction of Erin Hunter’s Warrior cats series which will take place in the western part of US, and in particular in the region of northern California and southern Oregon, it mostly aims to: 

> Correct the natural world of Warriors. So, eliminate all the weird, terribly unnatural things that they made in canon (so turtles in mountains, hyper aggressive foxes etc.)

> Spice up Warrior cats belief system and mythology, and diversity  it a bit more to not be so, plain and boring. And to create more interest to them thru legends and myths

> Create more details and story to the timeline of Filed Guides and basically everything before TPB, as well as create more lore and sympathy to the long forgotten background characters [ I don’t really think (at least by far) that I will do it in the ‘long post’ form, it’s more likely that all of this will be thrown into the Hedcanons folder]

> I will try to improve plot later (probably) but it seems to me that I will not take it very seriously, because there are just too many great blogs that are already doing really great job. And I’m not really interested in this that much. I just wanted to say that no cat will be deleted in my rewrite, and sooner I will add OC to it, but I will try not to do that, and better work with cats that are already there.

So, for the long time I wanted to do a Warriors rewrite, But I also wanted to make a designs blog, so, I combine it. For the characters I want to do all of them, and by all I mean really ALL, not only main and background cats, but every creature that has a page on the wiki, also the not named ones like The Stranger from dotc, or The Rat King. But also to give more atmosphere to what I do, I planned to draw all the really, really forgotten cats, that some of even don’t have a page about them. Like The random ginger molly with kittens from Sun Trial, or Thunder’s siblings. 

In this rewrite I will also use ideas made by others, as I find them magnificent. Those things are: @cryptidclaw ‘s Titles Idea and their meaning, and mostly a lot of @bonefall ‘s stuff, like the Clan and Tribe Meow, The politics ideas, so Fire Alone, Thistle Law etc. and other cool stuff. And I'm sure I'll change or expand some of these things. I will treat them a bit like a progenitor for my own projects. When I will use something from someone, I will tag this person’s name. But when there will be a coincidence (’cause there can be one), like in my rewrite Frost’s and Brindle’s mother is Trans FtM Tawnyspots and their sire is Featherwhisker, and in Bonefall’s Feather is also their sire, I will not tag them. 

Sorry ‘cause I won’t post stuff regularly. And I have big problem with motivation but I wish I won’t lose it on this project 🙂

And in the end I just want to say Big thanks to all blogs that are an inspiration to me, and that’s being @cryptidclaw , @fatal-rewrites-warriors , and @bonefall , they are really cool, and if you want I really recommend checking them out!

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

that poc ask reminded me, i was doing research on all of the characters backgrounds and was so shocked at how the writers were able to make characters who were chinese, creole, cafre/moroccan, arab/north african, malian, vietnamese, japanese, jewish, native american, black, and so many more im probably missing so BORING. im black, and dont get me wrong i hate in your face representation, but you can tell thomas just throws all these nationalities and ethnicities in as if theyre extra points he can earn. you cant know that any of the characters are so diverse unless you go onto the wiki or you rummage through his tweets. i take great pride in my culture so its just annoying he takes pride in having such a diverse cast but that means nothing if you dont do anything with it.

I don’t want to act like I’m the authority on this, but my personal theory is that Astruc wants the show to be easily digestible for viewers despite also claiming his cast is so diverse to gain attention. Remember when he actually said something along the lines of “I’m not racist, some of my main characters are people of color!” when someone (albeit very rudely) accused him of being racist?

This theory of mine is kind of backed up with the idea that despite basing some of the heroes and Akumas on folklore, Astruc’s team really seem doesn’t do a lot of research on culture from other countries.

Oni-Chan is a good example. Aside from an admittedly decent character design, her powers don’t really match up with the Oni seen in Japanese mythology other than Oni-Gokko (tag, only the person who is “it” is called an Oni), but that’s really stretching it. She doesn’t use a club for a weapon, she doesn’t use any sorcery or elemental powers. She basically has the same powers as Lady Wifi. Thematically, Oni-Chan is closer to the Namahage, people who dress up in Oni costumes and threaten to kidnap children if they don't behave, similarly to what she was doing by hunting down Lila.

You really could have done a lot more with this concept, like if the Lucky Charm of the episode was something related to beans (a common practice in Japan during the Setsubun festival to bring in good fortune at the start of Spring), or peaches (a reference to the Momotaro fairy tale, where the titular Oni-fighting hero was born from a giant peach).

There’s also Weredad, an Akuma who just has a fairy tale motif despite it not really lining up with Tom’s character. I get that they were already going to have a baker-themed Akuma later on (even though that Akuma is also a waste of potential with his powers), but I just don’t get why they throw in so many fairy tale cliches in with this Akuma like the single rose or the damsel in distress role Marinette plays. What if instead, he was based off the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk? It’s just a mess of an Akuma concept

If you want to see an example of a show having fun with the concept of fairy tales, I’d check out Episodes 34 and 35 of Kamen Rider Ghost. You’ll get a little lost as it’s right as the series’ final arc is starting (and that’s not getting into a really creepy scene in Episode 34), but once you get to Episode 35, it becomes an absolute blast.

And then there’s Anansi, one of the worst Akumas of the series from a conceptual standpoint. Anansi in African folklore is a trickster by definition. The reason we have stories today according to African folklore is because Anansi managed to capture four extremely dangerous creatures for the Sky God Nyame (he tied Onini the Python to a palm tree branch, trapped the Mmoboro Hornets in a gourd, lured Osebo the Leopard into a pit, and got Mmoatia the Fairy stuck to a doll covered in gum tree sap), who traded his stories to Anansi in response. Even then, his wife Aso gave him a lot of advice on how to trap these creatures, and is sadly forgotten in modern interpretations of Anansi. As a result, since Nyame gave all of his stories to Anansi, every story told today is by definition, a “Spider Story”.

Anansi in the show... is the complete opposite. She’s a dumb brute who has to be told where the Miraculous are, and the closest thing she does to any trickery is trapping Alya and Cat Noir in one of her webs. It makes you wonder why Nora even adopted the title of Anansi in her boxing career in the first place. 

Why base an Akuma off someone known for deception and trickery and make them a complete idiot? For the love of God, you had a template to base this Akuma on because Static Shock had an episode all about a superhero themed after Anansi! Sure, a later episode with the character took a few liberties when discussing the folktale, but it’s still more accurate than what Miraculous Ladybug did.

To me, it just reinforces my belief that the only reason Astruc has characters of several ethnicities in his show is for social brownie points. If he actually cared about diversity or introducing folklore to children, he and his team would actually do their research on properly representing various cultures.

I’m just saying, when a PBS Kids cartoon with a talking moon as the main character does a better job at teaching children about various cultures in every episode than your show that only talks about other cultures in a handful of episodes, your writers might need to rethink the way they do their research.

[purplehoodiesimon]

i was just gonna pick another butterfly to learn about, but then i was talking to sandi, who told me that in Finland, the first butterfly you see in spring represents what your year is going to look like (basically bright colors are good, dark colors are bad) and naturally this got me curious, so today's butterfly ask is all about superstition and mythology, which i figured you would enjoy. i'm very sorry if this ask is overwhelmingly long - i got a bit carried away. oops.

most commonly, butterflies are known for their connections with transformation, rebirth, death, good luck, and, in nearly every culture, the soul. this remains fairly consistent across different cultures, although some have other associations as well.

first up is the Irish belief that white butterflies are dead children's souls. in the 1600s, it was actually illegal to kill white butterflies because of this. similarly, in Germany, all butterflies are said to be dead children's souls, and in Japan, white butterflies are souls of any age.

black butterflies may mean an approaching death/recent death, a restless soul, an oncoming thunderstorm, or bad luck and curses. other death omens include seeing one at night, seeing three together, or having one land on your shoulder. killing the first butterfly you see won't kill you, but it is said to be bad luck.

in some Native American cultures, they believe that butterflies deliver prayers and wishes to the Great Spirit. if you set the butterfly free, your wish will be granted. in some Pueblo tribes, the legend is that the Creator felt sorry for the children, who were destined to grow weak and wrinkled, so he gathered beautiful colors from nature and put them in a magical bag. when the children opened the bag, butterflies flew out, more beautiful than the children had ever seen and with delightful songs. the songbirds, jealous of the butterflies, when to the Creator, who took away the butterflies' ability to sing, which is why they're beautiful but silent. the Blackfeet believe that butterflies deliver dreams, and would embroider a butterfly to tie into their child's hair at bedtime and sing a lullaby asking the butterflies to come and put the child to sleep. other tribes have different beliefs regarding the butterfly as well, but it is almost always a positive symbol.

my tarot deck has three cards with a butterfly on them: the six of wands, the eight of swords, and the two of pentacles. in the rider-waite deck, butterflies are found on the king and queen of swords. i don't have anything more for this, i just thought it was interesting.

some cultures see butterflies or specific types of butterflies as the spirits of their ancestors. these butterflies are to be treated with respect.

in both Irish and Mayan/Aztec mythology, butterflies are associated with fire. for the Irish, they had a connection to tiene-dhe'/dealan-dhe' (i'm not sure which is correct, sorry), the fire of the gods. in Mayan and Aztec mythology, butterflies represent Xiutecutli, the god of fire. also in Mayan and Aztec mythology, the goddess Iztpapalotl (rejuvenation by sacrifice) is referred to as the Obsidian Butterfly, and Quetzalcoatl is said to have come to earth in chrysalis form and then transformed into a butterfly.

both the Scots and the Russians believe that butterflies are witches in disguise, although the Russians say any butterfly, and the Scots say only red butterflies.

for sailors, seeing a yellow butterfly meant that they might die on their next voyage.

okay that's all i've got. i hope you're having a good day 💜🦋

Holy shit dude I am literally vibrating I love mythology. I especially love when superstitions and beliefs are similar like that across cultures, it really is an amazing part of humanity that we all separately (or non separately, influence happens) came up with these ideas across the world.

The only butterfly mythology I can contribute is that Psyche in Greek mythology was goddess of the soul and was often associated with butterflies and/or had butterfly wings.

Thank you so much Theo, I LOVE this and uh ironically there is something to do with butterflies and souls in my rough draft of chapter 3 and perhaps I will work some of this mythology stuff in 👀

[bogwitchmediaconsumption]

loups-garoux, my beloved

ok i meant to write this a while back but life got in the way etc etc so here it is: loups-garoux thoughts!

fucking ace. i've only started listening to big finish this year, and i've been doing it at a pretty slow pace all things considered. i've gotten through the first 20 of the main range so far, and i think this is easily top 3 maybe top 1 of them(competing with sword of orion for #1 and standing alongside fires of vulcan). I'll just start by saying WOW the world building in this story is incredible.

the brazilian desert, the casual mention of how they farmed out the amazon, the way that the starting moments inside robotic terminals immediately draw towards the idea that our locale is a somewhat lifeless place, and then prove it IS but not in the way you suspected? amazing. the desert being populated by wolves, the train takeover? it just makes it feel like this wild and untrodden terrain that perfectly ties into the lupine story of aggression and archaic battle politics.

a story that's aided so incredibly by it's characters. all of the side characters introduced in this story are just awesome and so interesting. ileana is a really cool character because she acts the way she acts for a reason, rather than out of some plot narrative damsel in distress way? not that she's REALLY a damsel but like, she tries to avoid action and be very respectful and stuff because of her past with pieter and she's come to believe that her life is best lived in other ways.

i also think this is what makes her such a great love interest for the doctor? the doctor is a character that's known so much loss and pain and rage throughout all their lives that someone else who's old and knows that life is the perfect fit. the fact that they're both trying to put a good presence out there in the world, to heal themselves and deal with their pain(especially 5, who's lost his companions to harsh disagreements and death). i love the little exchange between them where ileana(i think) says "i'm so much older than you could know" and the doctor basically just responds with "try me". once it's established, it feels so natural as a relationship that would turn romantic, the doctor tries to comfort ileana and prevent her from losing control of her anger because he knows that she doesn't want to while she provides a kind of old and wise companionship that the Doctor hadn't really gotten up until that point. Closest was Camica from The Aztecs, but 1 leaves her behind.

i also really love the way the story deals with love for the TARDIS crew. both 5 and Turlough(i haven't mentioned him yet but god he's a delight in this story) fall in love with someone that they meet in the wastes of Brazil, but they simply cannot stay with them. the pairs get cute and poignant moments, as do 5 and Turlough talking about their feelings, but ultimately they all recognize that they aren't on the same page and have to leave the relationship behind. Turlough and Rosa get a very fun uppity story that shows them taking shots at each other and gradually comfortable with each other while 5 and ileana naturally come together as the oldest and wisest people in the party(much like 1 and Camica, actually). just absolutely lovely, so good.

ok this already feels so long but i have so many more thoughts so i will quickly spitball

turlough was amazing and i think his self-preservation being such a focus in this story was really interesting for him

rosa subtly weaving in some native-american mythologies and beliefs was AWESOME, i love native american culture so much

the whole thing about their spirits being tied to the earth and pieter dying because rosa took him into the forest was a little ????? but i'll rule of cool it away because it does allow for a good character moment for rosa and him

i stand by what i said before, ileana is probably one of my favorite love interests for the doctor, and though i doubt it'd ever happen i'd love to see them meet again

ok bye

[supercantaloupe]

okay yeah actually, i’ll bite. i’ve got some of my own thoughts about the unsleeping city and cultural representation and i’m gonna make a post about them now, i guess. i’ll put it under a cut though because this post is gonna be long.

i wanna start by saying i love dimension 20 and i really really enjoy the unsleeping city. i look forward to watching new episodes every week, and getting hooked on d20 as a whole last summer really helped pull me out of a pandemic depression, and i’m grateful to have this cool show to be excited about and interested in and to have met so many cool people to talk about it with.

that being said, however, i think there is a risk run in representing any group of people/their culture when you have the kind of setting that tuc has. by which i mean, tuc is set in a real world with real people and real human cultures in it. unlike fantasy high or a crown of candy where everything is made up (even if rooted in real-world cultures), tuc is explicitly rooted in reality, and all of its diversity -- both the ups and downs that go with it. and especially set in new york of all places, one of the most densely, diversely populated cities on earth. the cast is 7 people; it’s great that those 7 people come from a variety of backgrounds and identities and all bring their own unique perspectives to the table, and it’s great that those people and the entire crew are generally conscious of themselves and desire to tell stories/represent perspectives ethically. but you simply cannot authentically represent every culture or every perspective in the world (or even just in a city) when your cast is 7 people. it’s an impossible task. this is inherent to the setting, and acknowledged by the cast, and by brennan especially, who has been on record saying how one of the exciting aspects of doing a campaign set in nyc is its diversity, the fact that no two new yorkers have the same perspective of new york. i think that’s a good thing -- but it does have its challenges too, clearly.

i’m not going to go into detail on the question of whether or not tuc’s presentation of asian and asian american culture is appropriative/offensive or not. first of all, i don’t feel like it’s 100% fair to judge the show completely yet, since it’s a prerecorded season and currently airing midseason, so i don’t yet know how things wrap up. secondly, i’m not asian or asian american. i can have my own opinions on that content in the show, but i think it’s worth more to hear actual asian and asian american voices on this specific aspect of the show. having an asian american cast member doesn’t automatically absolve the show of any criticisms with regard to asian american cultural representation/appropriation, whether those criticisms are made by dozens of viewers or only a handful of them. regardless, i don’t think it’s my place as someone who is not asian to speak with any authority on that issue, and i know for a fact that there are asian american viewers sharing their own opinions. their thoughts in this instance hold more water than mine, i think.

what i will comment on in more depth, though, is a personal frustration with tuc. i’m jewish; i’ve never really been shy about that fact on my page here. i’m not from new york, but i visit a few times a year (or i did before covid anyway, lol), and i have some family from nyc. nyc, to me, is a jewish city. and for good reason, since it’s home to one of the largest jewish populations of the country, and even the world, and aspects of jewish culture (including culinary, like bagels and pastrami, and linguistic, like the common use of yiddish words and phrases in english colloquial speech) are prevalent and celebrated among jews and goyim alike. when i think of nyc, i think of a jewish city; that’s not everybody’s new york, but that’s my new york, and thats plenty of other people’s new york too. so i do find myself slightly disappointed or frustrated in tuc for its, in my opinion, rather stark lack of jewish representation.

now, i’m not saying that one of the PCs should have been jewish, full stop. i love to headcanon iga as jewish even though canon does not support that interpretation, and i’m fine with that. she’s not my character. it’s possible that simply no one thought of playing a jewish character, i dunno. but also, and i can’t be sure about this, i’m willing to bet that none of the players really wanted to play a jewish character because they didn’t want to play a character of a marginalized culture they dont belong to in the interest of avoiding stereotyping or offensive representation/cultural appropriation. (i don’t know if any of the cast members are jewish, but i’m assuming not.) and the concern there is certainly appreciated; there’s not a ton of mainstream jewish rep out there, and often what we get is either “unlikeable overly conservative hassidic jew” or “jokes about their bar mitzvah/one-off joke about hanukkah and then their jewishness is never mentioned ever again,” which sucks. it would be really cool to see some more good casual jewish rep in a well-rounded, three-dimensional character in the main cast of a show! even if there are a couple of stumbles along the way -- nobody is perfect and no two jews have the same level of knowledge, dedication, and adherence to their culture.

but at the same time, i look at characters like iga and i really do long for a jewish character to be there. siobhan isn’t polish, yet she’s playing a characters whose identity as a polish immigrant to new york is very central to her story and arc. and part of me wonders why we can’t have the same for a jewish character. if not a PC, then why not an NPC? again, i’m jewish, and i am not native, but in my opinion i think the inclusion of jj is wonderful -- i think there are even fewer native main characters in mainstream media than there are jewish ones, and it’s great to see a native character who is both in touch with their culture as well as not being defined solely by their native-ness. to what extent does it count as ‘appropriative’ because brennan is a white dude? i dunno, but i’m like 99% sure they talked to sensitivity consultants to make sure the representation was as ethical as they could get it, and anyway, i can’t personally see and glaring missteps so far. but again, i’m not native, and if there are native viewers with their own opinions on jj, i’d be really interested in hearing them.

but getting back to the relative lack of jewish representation. it just...disappoints me that jewishness in new york is hardly ever even really mentioned? again, i know we’re only just over halfway through season 2, but also, we had a whole first season too. and it’s definitely not all bad. for example: willy! gd, i love willy so much. him being a golem of williamsburg makes me really really happy -- a jewish mythological creature animated from clay/mud (in this case bricks) to protect a jewish community (like that of williamsburg, a center for many of nyc’s jews) from threat. golem have so often been taken out of their original context and turned into evil monsters in fantasy settings, especially including dnd. (even within other seasons of d20! crush in fh being referred to as a “pavement golem” always rubbed me the wrong way, and i had hoped they’d learned better after tuc but in acoc they refer to another monster as a “corn golem” which just disappointed me all over again.) so the fact that tuc gets golems right makes my jewish heart very happy.

and yet...he doesn’t show up that much? sure, in s1, he’s very helpful when he does, but in s2 so far he shows up once and really does not say or do much of anything. he speaks with a lot more yiddish-influenced language than other characters, but if you didn’t know those words were specifically yiddish/jewish, you might not be able to otherwise clock the fact that willy is jewish. and while willy is a jewish mythological creature who is jewish in canon, he isn’t human. there are no other direct references to judaism, jewish characters, or jewish culture in the unsleeping city beyond him.

there are, in fact, two other canon jewish characters in tuc. but...here’s where i feel the most frustration, i think. the two canon jewish humans in tuc are stephen sondheim and robert moses. both of whom are real actual people, so it’s not like we can just pick and choose what their cultural backgrounds are. as much as i love stephen sondheim, i think there are inherent issues with including real world people as characters in a fictional setting, especially if they are from living/recent memory (sondheim is literally still alive), but anyway, sondheim and moses are both actual jewish people. from watching tuc alone you probably would not be able to guess that sondheim is jewish -- nothing from his character except name suggests it, and i wouldn’t even fault you for not thinking ‘sondheim’ is a jewish-sounding surname (and i dislike the idea/attitude/belief that you can tell who is or isn’t jewish by the sound of their name). and yeah, i’m not going to sit here and be like “brennan should have made sondheim more visibly jewish in canon!” because, like, he’s a real human being and it’s fucking weird to portray him in a way that isn’t as close to how he publicly presents himself, which is not in fact very identifiably jewish? i don’t know, this is what i mean by it’s inherently weird and arguably problematic to portray real living people as characters in a fictional setting, but i digress. sondheim’s jewish, even if you wouldn’t know it; not exactly a representation win.

and then there’s bob moses. you might be able to guess that he’s jewish from canon, actually. there’s the name, of course. but more insidious to me are the specifics of his villainy. greedy and powerhungry, a moneyman, a lich whose power is stored in a phylactery...it does kind of all add up to a Yikes from me. (in the stock market fight there’s a one-off line asking if he has green skin; it’s never really directly acknowledged or answered, but it made me really uncomfortable to hear at first and it’s stuck with me since viewing for the first time.) the issue for me here is that the most obviously jewish human character is the season’s bbeg, and his villainy is rooted in very antisemitic tropes and stereotypes.

i know this isn’t all brennan’s fault -- robert moses was a real ass person and he was in fact jewish, a powerhungry and greedy moneyman, a big giant racist asshole, etc. i’m not saying that jewish characters can’t be evil, and i’m not saying brennan should have tried to be like “this is my NPC robert christian he’s just like bob moses but instead he’s a goy so it’s okay” because...that would be fuckin weird bro. and bob moses was a real person who was jewish and really did do some heinous shit with his municipal power. i’m not necessarily saying brennan should have picked/created a different character to be the villain. i’m not even saying that he shouldn’t have made bob moses a lich (although, again, it doesn’t 100% sit right with me). but my point here is that bob moses is one of a grand total of three canon jewish characters in tuc, of which only two humans, of whom he is the one you’d most easily guess would be jewish and is the most influenced by antisemitic stereotypes/tropes. had there been more jewish representation in the show at all, even just some neutral jewish NPCs, this would not be as much of a problem as it is to me. but halfway through season 2, so far, this is literally all we get. and that bums me out.

listen, i really like tuc. i love d20. but the fact that it is set in a real world place with real world people does inherently raise challenges when it comes to ethical cultural representation. especially when the medium of the show is a game whose creatures, lore, and mechanics have been historically rooted in some questionable racial/cultural views. and dnd is making progress to correct some of those misguided views of older sourcebooks by updating them to more equitably reflect real world racial/cultural sensitivities; that’s a good thing! but these seasons, of course, were recorded before that. the game itself has some questionable cultural stuff baked into it, and that is (almost necessarily) going to be brought to the table in a campaign set in a real-world place filled with real-world people of diverse real-world cultures. the cast can have sensitivity consultants and empathy and the best intentions in the world, and they’ll still fuck up from time to time, that’s okay. your mileage may vary on whether or not it’s still worth sticking around with the show (or the fandom) through that. for me, it does not yet outweigh all the things i like about the show, and i’m gonna continue watching it. but it’s still very worth acknowledging that the cast is 7 people who cannot possibly hope to authentically or gracefully represent every culture in nyc. it’s an unfortunate limitation of the medium. yet it’s also still worthwhile to acknowledge and discuss the cultural representation as it is in the show -- both the goods and the bads, the ethically solid and the questionably appropriative -- and even to hold the creators accountable. (decently, though. i’m definitely not advocating anybody cyberbully brennan on twitter or whatever.) the show and its representation is far from perfect, but i also don’t think it ever could be. still, though, it could always be better, and there’s a worthwhile discussion to be had in the wheres, hows, and whys of that.

[leonardovaldezz]

What would u do if u could change anything about anything in the series?

I’m gonna assume you’re talking about Hero’s Of Olympus, since I want to talk about it. Let’s start with the relationship each of the 7 had with one another/character dynamics.

Percy. We know who he is, we’ve met him before, we’ve lived through his adventure with him. He’s a shithead, we love this about him, but he’s also kind and loving. Percy would’ve made an effort to get along with everyone, to be friends and goof off to help everyone feel better. Which is why all of this shit Rick created with Jason being his Roman counter part and them being rivals, the two “macho men fighting for power to lead the pack” makes NO goddamn sense. And quite frankly smells HEAVY of toxic masculinity the entire series could’ve gone without. They would’ve been friends. Maybe not the best of friends because Jason has Leo but they would’ve been those two dumb jock friends and that narrative bettween them would’ve made the story so much more fun and interesting than pitting them against eachother.

Annabeth. The trope Rick created with Annabeth being a know it all, smartest person in the group is a disservice to her character and makes her shallow. She’s the daughter of a goddess of wisdom, wisdom recognizes intelligence when it sees it, and the fact that all Annabeth thought about Leo during the entire book was that he was annoying is VERY dumb. They could’ve had a really good friendship, two nerds playing off of one another’s intellect to create things that could benefit everyone on their journey. Or even Leo just convincing her to help him make stupid shit like a toaster that can toast eight pieces of bread at once. I would change how rigid Annabeth is, loosen her up just a little bit and make her friendship with Leo the type of thing where they constantly feed off of one another.

Piper. Her entire character arc revolved around being beautiful, being Native American, and Jason. Firstly, we’d have to throw away all the stereotypes and general horrible things that Mr. Rick Ross (read: Rick) did to her character. Like the whole feathers in her hair thing. There are better way to incorporate Piper being Native American, there were so many missed opportunities to intertwine Greek mythology and Native American beliefs. Secondly, in order to get rid of the. Frankly, shit, way Piper dealt with beauty is to first address the way the Aphrodite cabin as been treated through the entirety of the PJO universe. Instead of writing Aphrodite children like frilly little things that can’t stand to get their hands dirty and Piper being “not like other girls uwu”, I would’ve written them as deceptivly beautiful. Deceptive in the fact that no one expects them to be strong, cruel, to be able to hold their own. Knights you mistake for damsels in distress, and before you realize you’re wrong they’ve already defeated you. You can be strong and feminine, and femininity isn’t the only way to be beautiful, so I would’ve explored that too. And Pipers arc on beauty would’ve been different in the sense that she realizes she doesn’t have to like pink and glitter in order to be beautiful, and that even if she did like those things, that’s okay. Let girls be feminine without demonizing them for it.

Hazel. God Hazel was done so dirty. First, she’s thirteen, so no Frazle shit, jot that one down. Her and Frank being really good friends would’ve been so much better and allowed her to grow as a person without throwing her into some serious romantic relationship so young with someone so much older. I would’ve written Hazel as very cautious, specifically around her white friends. She comes from the 40’s of course she wouldn’t be buddy buddy with them immediately, and I think that would be a valid concept for the books to explore. And besides, her realizing later on that things really are different and times really have changed would be such a heartwarming thing to experience. Her breaking out of her shell and leaving that shit behind her to be unapologetically her. Actually exploring the racism and prejudice in the world instead of ignoring it and erasing the experiences of black people and black youth in this world is problematic and we won’t be doing that here smh. I wouldn’t make it the core of her character because that’s wack but it also wouldn’t be something that’s just never talked about. That being said, I would’ve made her relationship with Leo SO GREAT. They could’ve been dumbasses together running around the ship playing stupid games like hide and seek. Once again, instead of that romance shit, I would’ve built their friendship. Let the girl have fun, she’s 13 for gods sake.

Jason. The essence of his character was to be Percy Jackson’s Roman counterpart, which IS WACK. It made him VERY boring and one sided, so away with that! The Jason I had hopes for and wanted to see was, in simple words, a blond Himbo Jock!!! He loves his found family (Piper, Leo, and later the rest of the seven) and he PROTECT!! He and Percy would get in mock fights and wrestle sometimes because Percy says something very stupid and Jason simultaneously wants to laugh and shake him and he and Leo have the type of friendship where even the last few barriers come down and they are unapologetically themselves with one another. Jason learning that he doesn’t have to be a grown up and that he doesn’t have to have such a rigid sense of responsibility and that it’s okay to have fun sometimes, things Leo and Percy teach him. He grows into himself and realizes that he’s not JUST a son of Jupiter, and he doesn’t have to be a leader all the time. It’s okay to let go of the reins, and be stupid.

Frank. Rick made him... so forgettable. Firstly, the fatphobic blessing of Mars shit. We can hit next on that shit: the blessing of Mars but Frank goes from chubby to chubby with muscle because believe it or not a lot of fat people have muscles!! The arch with him wanting to be a child of Apollo is VERY interesting and something that should’ve been played up more within his arc until he realized he didn’t have to prove to anyone how manly he is, that you don’t HAVE to be aggressive and manly to be a child of Mars. Once again: Rick was on some toxic masculinity shit. Frank being okay with being a big teddy bear is enough for me. Also fuck the burning stick of life things stop putting a time limit on teenagers lives that’s bullshit. His relationship his Hazel was rushed and shallow, and quite frankly (ha) they should’ve just been friends.

Last but not least: Leo. Leo’s relationships with EVERYONE could’ve been better. He was treated as the comic relief, an annoyance, someone everyone could barely stand to be around, and instead of bettering his relationships with everyone Rick thought killing him off and then bringing him back with a love interest was the best thing to do. He was the treated as an emotional whipping board and then gave his life to save everyone on some sacrificial lamb shit which is a fucking cop out. In my head, Leo would’ve remained single, he would’ve felt like an outcast in the beginning, yes, but his friends would have actually noticed and reminded him that they value him as a person. I would’ve also built Leo’s arc so that he realizes the only validation he needs from anyone is himself, and that he wasn’t responsible for his mother’s death. I would’ve also written him realizing he has a support system amongst his friends, and he doesn’t need to overexert himself trying to fit because he’s already one of them. Leo has an inferiority complex and that was the core of him sacrificing himself, he felt like, if anyone, it would be him. He felt that he wasn’t as important as any of the other 7. He wouldn’t have died so other people could live, his life would’ve mattered to everyone including himself.

[stupid-damn-harp]

Notes for “Rural Boys Watch the Apocalypse”

“Your hand’s in mine”

This poem doesn’t explicitly state the relationship between the two boys, and this adds to it. The two characters could be in a romantic relationship, and this choice comes with a variety of implications given the traditional christian liturgy that’s repeated throughout the poem. If this is the end of the world, where will these two gay boys end up? Are they thinking about their afterlife? Are they wondering if they can stay together? Whether they’ll be with their family? There’s so many questions that these boys might be thinking of if they’re in this sort of relationship. They could also just be very close neighbors. Later in the poem he specifies his “doomsday neighbors,” which might be a sign that the other boy and his family might be the other neighbors, or it might have just been explaining the neighbor’s behavior. Another option could be that they’re best friends that are so comfortable with each other that holding hands feels comforting, but not completely natural because the narrator thought it was important to point it out. 

“waters turnin' to blood”

The two boys obviously share the same or similar religious views, and are probably at least somewhat learned or devout in their faith. I grew up reading the scriptures and I can’t say off the top of my head what a biblical apocalypse looks like - but this boy can, and relates it to the other boy, expecting him to also understand.

“But there are only the fallin’ stars”

I’m struck that the “only” thing is the falling stars. It’s almost as if he’s saying that the rest of the world has already ended, already vanished from his view and his mind. All he can see is the stars falling, and it doesn’t matter anymore if the rest of the world or the people around him still exist. He’s somehow writing himself and the other boy off as unimportant in the face of this global catastrophe. This line also stands outside of any stanza, forcing us to pay attention to the entire phrase and inviting a degree of separation from the stanzas before and after. There are only the falling stars, and that’s important. More important than what this boy thought would happen, more important than telling where the initial warning came from. The present events hold more weight.

"'Least the weather channel warned us about it,"

I wonder why the weather channel is the one that predicted this apocalypse? He mentions falling stars, which might be under their jurisdiction, but I feel like higher-up governmental agencies would be in charge of announcing and predicting the literal end of the world. 

“are loadin' the back”

If the stars are falling, and this is the end of the world, where do these neighbors think they’re going? Where do they think that they’ll be safe?

“under large whitewashed crosses”

This line is especially striking given the religious imagery throughout the entire poem. Jesus was a middle eastern Jewish man, and that’s something that many Christians in America conveniently forget. Many people in this religion spread around views that those with darker skin are children of ham (as we see in the Poisonwood Bible) or suggest that the native american people are really the descendants of the Lamanites, so their darker skin was a curse from God. These crosses that the neighbors are taking with them embody all of these harmful beliefs. The religion itself is whitewashed. The crosses are described as large, and I’m having trouble modulating that size within my own thoughts. On one hand, they have to be small enough to fit within the back of a pickup truck. But, are these crosses large as in “human sized and could be used for their original purpose”? Large as in “larger than handheld so they seem giant, but they’re best suited for yard decorations”? Either way, I’m taking it as a symbol of how contemporary christians take up the most space in religious discussions in America and quite often interpret anything different from their blatantly obvious beliefs as an attack on their faith. Think Boomers yelling about the “war on christmas” type. These crosses are not only whitewashed but they’re large too, visibly screaming to anyone looking in their direction that the drivers of the truck belong to the Christian faith and that they’re going to be confrontational about it. Everything else is stacked under the crosses, giving them the most significance and the most visibility.

“I wanna see ‘em”

Honestly, this line slightly confused me. These women seem quite knowledgeable about the events foretold in the bible. But it’s also stated in the bible that human beings never see angels or God’s true form because we wouldn’t be able to handle it. Surely they must know that? Do they think that these rules will be lifted simply because the world is ending? Are they hoping to see these wonders even though it would have untold consequences on her own mortal form? Don’t get me wrong, I would also love to see an angel in their full and confusing glory, but I don’t have enough of a death wish to actually follow through with that.

“their calloused hands”

Interesting imagery here. Typically angels are described using delicate and ethereal words, or sometimes words that just remind us that angels are spirits and don’t have physical bodies. But the word “calloused.” Calluses imply hard work. Calluses mean rough hands, dirty feet, and tough love. Calluses mean a physical body that is growing stronger. There’s nothing delicate about calluses. There’s nothing inherently holy about calluses. The working class has calluses, and the so-called “perfect” bodies of models and influencersnever have calluses. But here these heavenly beings are, rough hands and all. Perhaps he’s envisioning someone he knows as an angel, and thus opted for the more human-feeling approach. Perhaps he’s hoping that the people of earth are fighting to stay here, fighting to continue living, and the mere act of carrying these writhing and fiery people causes so much work for the angels that they develop these human characteristics of calluses. Perhaps he’s hoping that he’ll become an angel over some darker fate. I’m not sure what implications were intended with this line, but it feels beautiful and wholly human to me, and I love it for that.

“stupid damn harp”

This is the first of two instances where the narrator uses the phrase “stupid dumb” to describe something of the archangel Gabriel’s. Both times he isn’t describing Gabriel himself, just things that he possesses in traditional stories. This could be a nervous boy making jokes in an unsure time as a coping mechanism, but it also could be the author showing his own disillusionment with the traditional christian stories and traditions. 

Additionally, the combination of “stupid” and “damn” here is pretty interesting. In Christian mythology, any deity in heaven (e.g. God, angels, Jesus, etc) possesses all the knowledge in the universe. This boy referring to the archangel’s belongings as “stupid” doesn’t reflect this. It almost feels like he wants to criticize the angel himself but he knows there might be consequences, so he settles for calling his iconic harp and tunic the words he wants to call the angel himself. He’s also using the word “damn,” which in biblical contexts typically has hellish connotations. If someone is damned, then they’ve been condemned to hell. The archangel Gabriel is the literal antithesis of that idea, so it’s interesting to see this word applied to anything involving him at all. 

“moanin’ like a sinner in hell”

This comparison continues the interesting dichotomy between heaven/hell that we find throughout the poem. The doomsday neighbors’ truck not only holds large whitewashed crosses, but also sounds like someone suffering in hell. Weirdly enough, it seems to give us a view at the sort of Christians that think they’re doing God’s work (holding the whitewashed crosses), but once they get started towards their destination, it becomes more and more obvious that they’re not being entirely truthful (sounding like a sinner in hell). 

I’m also struck by the mildness and neutrality in this sentence. Usually when someone’s talking about those in hell, the verb used is “screaming,” not “moaning.” Is this wishful thinking on the narrator’s part, or just a description of the truck’s engine using terminology he already knows? The narrator doesn’t seem to be passing judgement with this comparison either, it comes across as an observation rather than a condemnation of the neighbors’ actions. His family chose not to leave, their family is leaving right now, and those two actions aren’t compared or judged here.

*

This poem was chosen for the anthology because of the twisted biblical themes tempered by a slight homoerotic vibe. From the beginning of the Abrahamic religions to today, LGBt+ individuals have been left out of religious contexts at best and damned to hell at worst. Given the author’s experience as a gay trans man, I’m reading the narrator and the other “rural boy” as lovers. The poem contains many instances where the narrator invokes sacred and profane imagery in reference to the same objects or beings, and gives a new sort of “hot take’ on the biblical apocalypse - contributing perfectly to the theme of altered religion.

*

Bibliographical Information:

This poem was posted on Tumblr, and the original source is reblogged below. 

[godsofhumanity]

GODHUNTER by AMY SUMIDA | REVIEW

okiee this was recommended to me by @inkleaves ^-^ uhmm so i have a LOT to say about this book. spoilers under cut.

OVERVIEW: “Godhunter” is the epithet given to a young woman named Vervain who uses witchcraft and magic to go around committing deicide in order to save humanity from gods who drain their energy to gain immortality and other godly attributes. However, when Vervain is recruited by the Norse god Thor, she finds herself in an alliance with the people she originally considered her enemies, as they work together to save the world from the maliciousness of the Aztec god, Huitzilopochtli.

RATING: 2/10. i’m giving it a low rating because it doesn’t really have too much to do with mythology, but i did like its general portrayal of most deities even though this book was insanely cringey and dumb.. now, even though under the cut, i’ve kinda bashed the book quite a bit, i still have to admit that i’d be lying if i said i didn’t have fun reading it. i stayed up to 1 AM trying to finish it because i had to find out what the protag’s next stupid decision would be,, all in all, if you like trash/cringe fiction- this is for you.

WARNING: even though this book is a YA novel, I’d say there’s a definite emphasis on the adult part of “young adult”... Certain scenes and themes are inappropriate for minors.

AVAILABLE ON: pdf link here ^-^ ((i think it downloads immediately if you click))

THINGS I LIKED:

the book is cringe.

great diversity in terms of the god cast. i learned about some new deities that i was previously unfamiliar with, so that was cool

Brahma (Hindu deity) wears a Gucci belt as part of his attire ^-^

whatever Estsanatlehi and Tsohanoai (Native American deities) had going on.... they were really cute and wholesome

THOR-HORUS BROTP AGENDA!!!!!!!! everyone who follows me already knows how keen i am about this idea of all the war deities hanging out together (fite club), and this novel served up exactly that. disappointing that Huitzilopochtli wasn’t a part of it, but i am settling for Thor and Horus’ several centuries old friendship.

Horus’ falcon tattoo detail.. i LOVE the idea of the gods having their sacred animals tattooed,, it’s so awesome!!!

Pan... i liked the way he still had his little horns, and he was kinda chaotic and fun.

in general, the descriptions of the gods were so pleasant and so cool.. i really liked the way that pretty much all the gods were beautiful,, this is very much in line with my own idea of how the gods look, and i think it makes sense, because they’re meant to be charismatic, compelling beings- beings that you worship, beings that you praise- why would they be anything but beautiful? and even if they were considered ugly by other gods, that’s only in comparison to other deities.. from a human perspective,, i just can’t see how any mortal could consider a god to be anything less than perfection,, idk

in particular- i really enjoyed the descriptions of Huitzilopochtli in his debut. i know he’s a piece of shit in the novel, but i LOVED the way he was described with his war-frenzy being triggered by blood, and the way, as god of the sun, his body almost glows, and heats up as though you’re looking into the sun itself, and the only way he can cool it down is by bathing in blood... WOWOWOWOW it’s just such a neat and fantastic visual description. his physical appearance really paid tribute to Huitzilopochtli’s original domain and attributes.

i also liked the linking between Huitzilopochtli being the Father of Vampires.. links between Aztec culture and vampirism is a trope that i didn’t originally suspect, but have become exposed to quite a bit as of late,, and i think that it’s quite a clever little plot. i liked that Huitzilopochtli also debunks superstitions about the sun, garlic, crosses, holy water etc.

Huitzilopochtli as the villain. the man makes a BRILLIANT villain- his motives are very clear and also, i thought, justified, albeit unoriginal. his presence is quite terrifying, and the reader does worry for Vervain’s safety whenever she’s with him- which is good! this means that he fills out his role as a villain well. tbh,, i did love Huitzilopochtli from the moment of his debut, but he got knocked out of my books during a certain temple scene and i have some thoughts about that in the next section.

when Vervain wakes up after the temple dream with Huitzilo, and she relaxes because it was just a dream, but then she looks into the mirror and sees bite marks on her neck!!! CHILLS! now THAT was good writing- it was unexpected, and served well to navigate into the next part of the plot.

Odin and Huitzilopochtli holding a ted talk on “how to create panic and discord among the humans”, and the gods having to bring certain meals depending on what the first letter of their names were.

Vervain’s pop-culture references, and her weaponry- especially the gloves that have blades in them that get released when she swings her hand downwards. very cool, i want them.

casual appearances from Vladimir Putin (yes, i said Vladimir Putin)... i couldn’t stop laughing when i read that Huitzilo was trying to kill Putin’s daughter to instigate a war...... asdhshajdhasdjfhjdhf insane

also i know Vervain was trying to mock Huitzilo when she nicknamed him “Blue”,, but like.. that’s a really cute name and it wasn’t even insulting.. yeah, that one backfired on you Vervain... if anything, that just made it seem like she actually had affections for him and i feel like probably in part is the reason why he felt encouraged to pursue her.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE/THINGS THAT DIDN’T MAKE SENSE AND/OR CONFUSED ME:

the book is cringe.

it reads like a 15 year old’s fantasy AU where she’s a humble young woman, unextraordinary- yet somehow, she is the muse of every man’s desire. handsome, ripped gods who never wear clothes are laying themselves down at her feet,, and she is just overwhelmed by the choices before her; and all the while, she has to balance a complicated love life with her duty to save the world (since she’s the only one who can).

Vervain as a protagonist. idk how old she’s meant to be, but since the book is in first-person, and the reader is exposed to her innermost thoughts,, i’ve gotta say- she’s incredibly immature. as a protagonist, i just feel like she’s rude, pretentious, snobby.. she has no idea what “respect” even means. in every scene, she’s either fighting someone, or lusting after them (when Teharon told her off for having lascivious thoughts about him, and she simply responded with “well stop being so sexy then” i wanted to die.... WHAT is wrong with her)

i hate the way she looks down on the gods- even if you didn’t worship them, or even believed in their existence, surely you wouldn’t have the gall to lecture Hades and Persephone on how to be a good couple (especially when your advice is shit). surely you wouldn’t have the gall to say to Thor what Vervain says to him on pg 227, 4th line from the bottom, that i will not repeat here. Vervain is just too self-absorbed. i don’t hate her, but i definitely think her character is a bit,,, iffy.

relating to Vervain as the protagonist- everything just seems to happen to her.. and i know that she’s the protag, and things are meant to happen to her, but it all happens to her one after the other in succession, no breaks. it’s so easy for her... oh? Huitzilopochtli is going to kill Putin’s daughter? no worries, Vervain can read Huitzilopochtli’s thoughts! oh? the gods have never been able to transform more than half their body into their animal form? no worries, Vervain is so powerful she can force a god to change against their will! oh? Vervain is being attacked by blood-thirsty wolves? no worries, she saved the life of one werewolf and now he’s indebted to her and will literally kill himself in order to protect her! everything is easy, and nothing is a problem.

the way every male deity ever sees Vervain once and immediately wants to take her to bed. why was that a necessary aspect of her character? and also, why are the gods portrayed as such lustful beings?? it really wasn’t necessary.

Horus throwing a fit about how December 25 is his birthday and that it was stolen from him by Jesus... to quote:

“No big deal?” Horus puffed up. “I was called the Lamb of God. I had twelve apostles, and my myths spoke of my crucifixion and consequent resurrection in three days. His stories were my stories first!”

it’s fine that Horus is angry about his birthday which was i think, historically celebrated around this date- but the rest of it isn’t even true???? Horus didn’t have 12 apostles, i’m pretty sure he was also not called “Lamb of God”, and he wasn’t crucified!!! aghhhh even Thor says “It’s been so long that even you don’t remember things accurately.”

anyways.. my beef with this is the way it’s phrased so as to imply that “oh christianity just stole everything from the pagans” when this is so incredibly false and sounds like something an ill-informed person would say. you can read more about christianity, paganism and christmas here

kinda related to the previous point- the jokes about Jesus’ skin colour. i quote:

“... when Christ first became a god, he looked Jewish because those were the people he chose to align himself with. However, the Jews didn’t want him, and when Christianity spread, the white people wanted Jesus to look more like them. With the change in belief, Christ’s appearance changed. ... We used to tease him about how he looked whiter every time we saw him... Kind of like Michael Jackson...”

what the FUCK??????? seems like Sumida doesn’t understand that various ethnic groups illustrate Jesus as appearing as the local people do. Yes, obviously in a Western country, Jesus is going to look European, he’s going to look white. If you go to Japan, you will see Jesus and the rest of the gang looking pretty fucking Japanese. the point of this is NOT to erase Jesus’ Jewish ethnicity, and it is certainly not because of something like “the Jews didn’t want him”- it is because it is a way for followers to better relate to the Divine. including Christ in this story isn’t the problem- i’ve seen others do it very well. the problem is how uneducated her writing comes across.

all the gods have human jobs so that they can earn money and stuff,, which is fine- Thor, for example, owns a line of boats, which makes sense. but Pan? his job is making p*rn. now even though it’s true that everyone associates Pan with sexuality and stuff,,, this isn’t his primary role, and making Pan out to be just a playboy who has his mind in the gutter 24/7 i think is a bit of a mockery. Pan is, first and foremost, a god of the Wild. why Sumida elected to make him a p*rn manufacturer and not a wildlife conservationist is beyond me... i’m not even pagan, and i thought this creative decision was distasteful and stupid, especially because his character is actually quite light-hearted and cool.

the temple scene with Huitzilopochtli and Vervain. as i said previously, i really really liked Huitzilo’s character. he made an excellent villain. but this part?? i understand why it was done, but i HATED that it had to happen... not just because it was horrible for Vervain, but Huitzilo seemed so powerful and godly right up to that point- after which he seemed pretty pathetic- going back after Vervain after she’s rejected him countless times. she is JUST a mortal!!! c’mon Huitzilo, give it up!!! you are degrading yourself at the expense of achieving one mortal’s “love”.. the fact that he had to hypnotise her to get what he wanted AND had to achieve it through her dreams (when’s she can’t protect herself) was sooooo pathetic and disgraceful.. IMO, he committed the worst sin any person could ever commit and i just... AGHHHHHHHHH SMH WHY?!

speaking of morons- Thor. Thor just comes across to me as extremely possessive, and over-protective,, and idk how Vervain was NOT creeped out by the fact that Thor had literally been stalking her for two years before she even met him. wtf? god or not- that’s creepy. actually, i think it’s creepier because he is a god. 

Sif. i am still waiting for good media representation of thunder god Thor and his beautiful golden-haired wife Sif- i want them to be HAPPY, and i want them to be in love the way they should be! 

Persephone. i like the idea of Persephone being sweet-tempered, and kind- but in this book, she’s such a wimp??????? she totally just lets Vervain be rude to her, a goddess who’s name means “Bringer of Destruction”. also- her relationship with Hades seems toxic.. i mean,, he like tracks her? she starts stuttering when she talks to him, and gets nervous when people so much as mention his name. not to mention the fact that Persephone says that when she does go back to him, all he demands from her is a certain horizontal dance so much so that she is “sore” (<- quoting from the book here) every time she returns??????? WHAT IS HAPPENING?????????? and no one even questions it. Vervain doesn’t even question it! instead she suggests that Persephone MOVES IN with Hades permanently???? and that Hades should just start verbally saying how much he loves Persephone instead of “showing” her how much he “loves” her.....??? there are SO many issues with this.. i can’t even- *screams*

the Aphrodite-is-madly-in-love-with-Huitzilopochtli side plot. it could have been really good, but then it ends so abruptly,,, i mean.. why’d Aphrodite get done so dirty like that? Also summary of Hephaestus’ first and final scenes:

Hephaestus, entering the room: Right, what’s all this then? Vervain: Your wife is cheating on you (again) Hephaestus: Aight, i’m out *leaves and never comes back for the rest of the book*

what the HECK was the ending with Trevor?? i hate Vervain so much i can’t... okay first of all- WHY did Trevor decide to have a wolf-marriage with Vervain?? he kept on going on about how she’s so beautiful, and kind, and caring... NO SHE ISN’T TREVOR!!! i’m so mad that he would pledge himself for all eternity to this girl who doesn’t even like him in that way!!! you played yourself son

also- Thor accepts the fact that Trevor is going to have to be close by to Vervain because the terms of the marriage state that Trevor will literally die without her touch, which is VERY GENEROUS of Thor... but Vervain?? ooooh i HATE her.. she has the audacity to look at Trevor with her lecherous eyes thinking about lustful things IN THOR’S OWN BED!!!!! and then she thinks to herself “oh whoops i shouldn’t be thinking that”- yeah you’re darn right you shouldn’t be thinking that!!!! whatttt is wrong with her............. 

also- where tf did Huitzilo go??? he just gave up on trying to instigate a war and vanished?? the plot was so unresolved?????? AGH!

[helpful-hierophant]

Pagan Religion in Media

@phemonoi​​ wanted to discuss:

I would like to discuss our exposure in media and pagan integration to society. To be more concise, I would like people to know we exist.

***(key points if you have no spoons to read it all are in bold!)*** 

This topic has been discussed many times among almost all pagan groups. One way or another we have all been portrayed in films or movies or books. But while trying not to repeat many conversations before mine, I also want to go into how it is GOOD that we are in the media, and why it is BAD.

Almost always the portrayal has been either completely disrespectful, or using our gods or stories as dark villains or just completely false. We see this in examples such as Supernatural; with many Native American figures being used as monsters; Marvel using Norse gods like Loki, Thor, Hela, etc.. We also know that Marvel will be bringing Hercules into the MCU very soon as well  (forgive me my true love in life is Marvel and I recognize the hypocrisy. Ultimately I want to see change in the media when talking about pagan faith not just complaining about these media). But to bring the conversation to the Hellenic side of portrayals, i think we all know of the Percy Jackson series and Heroes of Olympus or Wonder Woman and the….far more disgusting media that's popular right now I will not name. 

The biggest issue with all of these are the exact same, and ties into the second part of the discussion of pagan integration into society. Christianity has fought and enforced the pressure and  normality of our society on their terms. being pagan, you see it more than a christian or even an atheist would, as the damage done to pagan history and culture is completely different to that of atheism. Since the crusades the church has basically forced subconscious actions into our society top to bottom. And when you point out these things, people scoff and say you're reading into it, or there's nothing that bad about it and you shouldn't be so sensitive. This attitude is aimed towards minority religions, because we as religions aren't taken seriously. Think of why it's even called MYTHology. It’s to enforce the idea that our stories and faith aren’t anything more than just make believe. You don’t call it Bible myths do you? Or Christian mythology. No, you call it stories. Even our vocabulary and language is formed around what the church has formulated over centuries of control. Let me be clear that I love and support Christianity as a faith, but things like this can not go under the rug and by not talking about it; avoiding this and other history of the church is to let it go without correction, especially because it is within the subconscious of society. 

So what the hell does this have to do with my movies and books? Well, with this mindset, that these gods are simply fictional characters, content creators aren't thinking about it being disrespectful at all. And even ones that have been forced to acknowledge us, oftentimes won't change the behavior just because ‘well i'm just using them for entertainment not the actual gods.’ you're forcing lions into a circus and you're not the ringleader, you're a clown. Straight out. I think it’s very different when we as Hellenics make our own content vs. other people. This is not including artists, as artwork is mostly alright! When media goes over the line is taking our gods and using them as a black and white villain, or creating a ‘personality’ and treating them as dumb, just a plot point, mindless, stupid, etc. The issue is HOW you portray the gods, not the inclusion of the gods.

 As this pushes others to believe in this narrative and also pushes the fiction belief of these gods. One could argue that even the stories we have of ancient times was like the fanfics of the ancient Greeks about the gods, as most of the myths are not actually what happened, aside from translation issues. 

So to change the direction of this post with that last bit being said; I mentioned above how it could also be GOOD. Now after that speech of how terrible it is, how can I give you a reason it could be good also? Well there's only one reason that I can find in it all that I can say is good. I always think something good can come from anything, even if you can’t see it in the moment. I think pagan religions being used in the media help the community by helping others find their way to pagan religions. I know a lot of gate-keeping elitists get all huffy if anyone dares finds the religion through such a source. I can promise you so many Hellenics can testify that they found the religion through talking to people about the books or maybe they just really like it and look into Greek stories more and are like ‘wow!! I really connect with this!” I think the big issue these gatekeepers have with people who are exposed to the religion this way is they think that these people take the media as truth, thinking that just because you were exposed to the faith through media, that you haven’t done any research and that all your knowledge of the gods is from a fandom. How sad to think they think so little of their fellow Hellenics. I have met many people who have found Hellenism through fandom outlets and are diligent in their studies. The media, for a pagan heart, is nothing more than a door to the faith, it is not the box anyone serious about the religion is taking as real information. But the treatment of people coming in this way is not only terrible but damages their connection to the Hellenic community and ultimately their feelings of being comfortable reaching out for assistance in learning how to practice. The issue is non Hellenics taking this as fact, and certain media with the gods that are not at all okay, and vile treatment of the gods. 

I think I will make a part two to cover the pagan integration, as that in itself is quite the box. This was just my thoughts typed out as I thought them. I am in no way a perfect source, this is simply from the perspective of someone who's been a hellenic for 3 years and loves discussing topics with others to grow! I hope this gave some insight and, to remind everyone, this is an open discussion! Not a debate thread or discourse invitation. For the sake of everyone being comfortable please refrain from naming L**e Olympus as it is very triggering for most Hellenics and I avoid saying its name when I can. We are here to grow and who knows, maybe my mind will be changed by one of your thoughts! Let me know, hail the gods!

[coldalbion]

Thoughts on mythic morality

(Disclaimer/CN: This post discusses such things as depictions of rape, theft, murder, kinslaying and incest. None of what of what I write here should be taken as approval of, or apologia in relation to these acts.) “You look at trees and called them ‘trees,’ and probably you do not think twice about the word. You call a star a ‘star,’ and think nothing more of it. But you must remember that these words, ‘tree,’ 'star,’ were (in their original forms) names given to these objects by people with very different views from yours. To you, a tree is simply a vegetable organism, and a star simply a ball of inanimate matter moving along a mathematical course. But the first men to talk of 'trees’ and 'stars’ saw things very differently. To them, the world was alive with mythological beings. They saw the stars as living silver, bursting into flame in answer to the eternal music. They saw the sky as a jeweled tent, and the earth as the womb whence all living things have come. To them, the whole of creation was 'myth-woven and elf patterned’.” — J.R.R. Tolkien 

The above quote is a charming one, isn’t it? Tolkien’s invocation of another way of seeing, of existing, beguiles us with its sense of possibility. It is, like much of myth and story, fundamentally conservative - not in the political sense, but in the conservational sense. As an attempt to preserve, or at least, keep possibilities open in the mind of the reader, it’s pretty good. Of course, the wrinkle is - or some may say - that this took place in the distant past. Nobody, they might say, sees the world like this - or if they do, then their perception is deluded - because we are past that. We see the world representationally now, striving towards accuracy. Anything else is just superstition, is it not?

The mistake these stereotypical straw men make - within the context that I have breathed life into them for - is to suggest that a linear path between “then-now”, and “past-future”. Actually, they make several mistakes, not least because of their unexamined bias. I’ll not elucidate them all here, but suffice to say that our vegetative friends have not considered, amongst other things, the role of the cultural, historical, and philosophical structures which influence how we perceive and know things. In philosophy, such consideration of knowledge and how, why, what, and where we know things is called epistemology. The thing with philosophy is that it covers many things: morality, ethics, metaphysics, linguistics, epistemology, sociology etc. We have words for all these things, and they are often their own disciplines. Philosophy - literally descending from “philia” + “sophia”, meaning affection or love for wisdom - can cover a kind of work in them all them all, precisely because understanding and using what is learnt in these many and varied arenas, and dong so well? Understanding the implications? Knowing that we know nothing for certain and that things are seldom as they first?  This is wise, these things are wise, and so: wisdom is the useful, sound, and valuable deployment of knowledge and living life itself well.

Our straw men, conjured into existence by the magic of speech and words - shapings of breath digitized and transmitted across the planet to you, dear reader? They are brought forth into a world where the majority of its unexamined structures descend from the cultural shapings of men with pale skins. Dig further back, and deeper, and you will find that those men re-ordered, restructured and built upon the knowings and experiences of people who were not white or male.  The structures of how we perceive, how we know what we know - even how we are taught to think, and express and feel? These did not come from nowhere - unfiltered and whole from the mind of one omnipotent, omniscient, Creator. Rather, many powers and potencies, principalities and agencies act all together.  The flows of power, influence, propaganda, social and economic capital; the emotional and cultural response to events and experiences. All of these are contoured and shaped by the many. That many of the pale-skinned men shaped much of our world today is an accident of birth which is then compounded by economic and social factors based on climate, trade routes, geography, resources etc. This acquisition is then compounded  and backward rationalized - the accidental conflux of factors becomes a self-justification for ideas of false superiority, which drives behaviours which weight things in the favour of that group. Make no mistake reader - there are still many worlds, even today. Bounded spaces, their boundaries staked out by those with the influence and ability to enforce them. That this is being written by a pale skinned man from North Western Europe is no coincidence. Nor is the fact that many will be able to read this, though my tongue is not what they speak natively - their first words carried a history different to mine. For various reason those people learnt my language which sneaks up behind others and mugs them in dark alleys, or engages in savagely lucrative trade deals.   History literally is an accounting what has gone before, thus recounted by those later to be reckoned as accurate sources and authority. It is not all violence, theft and brutality. It is cultural exchange, trade, sharing, incorporation and diffusion also. All these things flow between in flux - this is influence. Influence is often codified and commodified under the rubric of power in an attempt to wield it more universally - which inevitably divorces it from its original context and forces a more acquisitive mindset amongst those who seek it, rather than seeking out points of influential confluence and integrating oneself within that. The orality of history, and cultural transmission, is not something often thought of today. With the advent of writing, information and knowledge conservation shifts to the texts themselves as authority - the metaphor of something being “there in black and white” refers to newspapers, but the sense of it descends from textual authority.  Perhaps not so coincidentally, the historic belief structure of those pale people is rooted in a distortion of a heresy of a Middle-Eastern monotheism, which in itself seems been an offshoot of various Middle-Eastern polytheisms. That Judaism has a central authoritative text, leavened with thousands of years of oral and written commentaries and arguments should be noted. That this text was itself an edited version which scholars believe contains multiple texts, and was added to and redacted from, in response to socio-political and religious reasons over time,  is also of note. That that text was selectively edited and canonized, before being translated in various languages in response to socio-political and religious reasons over time, is worth further note. That this collage of ancient material is elevated to holy scripture and used as basis for moral authority for the majority of the pale people for over a thousand years, and used as justification for imperalism, rape, murder, theft, oppression, oppression on grounds of sexuality, gender - and was a fundamental source of, and during, the social construction of the concept of race - would be shocking, were it not for the desire for that which is referred to as ‘power’ and ‘authority’.  The singularity of authority and power presupposes scarcity. This is to say that fixed, codified protocols of behaviour, perception, and emotional affect allow definition and navigation in an unpredictable kosmos. By structuring experience, we make sense and it is by sense that we structure the world in a feedback loop.  In a society based on orality, it is the stories that are told which preserve, iterate upon, and transmit knowledge and culture. In this, it’s worth quoting Marshall McLuhan: “The medium is the message.” What this means is that how a message is transmitted influences the message content and context. Similarly, it is how and by whom-as-medium it is transmitted which influences the message. Oral societies are often conservative in nature - there are ways things are done, and for reasons. Thus, to deviate from that is dangerous, precisely because things are done that way for a reason which benefits certain people.  Whether those certain people are an elite or a society as whole varies according to societal structures. Those who deviate are dangerous for several reasons - they are unpredictable, which in many societies at one time meant that they are or were a potential threat. They are non-conformist, which implies they may not honour the social contract which is supposed important in keeping everyone safe and keeping the world-order-as-society knows it running.

Recall Tolkien’s charm? His elder possibility is a world-order or worldview (weltanschauung) which sees the numinosity in all things. It thus sees flux and agency and multiplicity.  In the case of polytheism and animism, the multiplicity of agents  and powers suggests a multitude of agents all acting on one another and interpenetrating - rather like ripples or interference patterns. Gods and “Big spirits” ( terminology that is pretty much synonymous in the mind of this author for the purposes of discussion) can be said to have mythic “mass”. A large stone dropped into a pond will make bigger ripples and cancel or interfere with smaller ripples generated by smaller pebbles.  When considering gods as establishers of world-order - or even creating worlds, it’s instructive to consider that in many mythologies, this is accomplished by the overthrow of a previous order or set of structures, and their reconfiguration.  Which is usually, to judge my many world mythologies, a polite way to suggest murder and butchery; fundamentally catastrophic  in all the linguistic and etymological senses of the word.. Once bloodily established, it is usually the actions and processes of the gods which keep the kosmos running. This accreted behaviour forms mores. Myth is thus a recounting of these behaviours and deviations therefrom, not simply as dry recounting but as felt experience which stimulates emotional and psychological affect which joins all participants (human and otherwise) into a shared epistemological framework. In any society, the element of performance is key in any media - not just what the media ism but how it does it, as mentioned above. In an oral society where knowledge is shared through speech, whether by poetry or storytelling, the performance of the teller is key, as is the setting and context of the delivery. Many myths depict rape, murder, theft,  trade, sharing, incorporation and diffusion. In this, they are as much like other forms of media as anything else. Likewise, it of course is the choice of those personally affected by such things not to engage with such things if they feel it would be detrimental to them. Yet, in dealing with myth, particularly if one views it not as synonymous with falsehood, but in fact expressive of some world-reality which forms the root of of our perceptions and experience, we often have questions of morality. To say that myths containing rape, incest, murder, theft etc “offer a window onto a different time” or to suggest that the actions of a mythological figure are literally representationally true and thus that figure should be hated and despised is to present only a fairly shallow reading in the view of the author. Let us take the Norse god Odin - he who, according the texts we have, committed near- genocide against giant-kind; slaughtering his own kindred the god (along with his brothers) butcher the primeval giant Ymir and use his body to make the worlds. The brothers then create humans by breathing life into two logs/trees found by the sea shore - far better then men of straw, no? He steals the Mead of Inspiration (itself brewed from the blood of a murdered god) after seducing and tricking its giant-maiden guardian, but not before killing nine thralls in order to get close to her father - bearing the name Bolverk (evil-doer). He uses magic to impregnate Rindr after she turns him down repeatedly, making it so that Valli, the agent of vengeance for the death of Balfr, is a product of rape - regardless that he is in the shape of/dressed of a woman at the time. He attempts to have his way with Billing’s daughter, but is discovered and chased away by a pack of angry men. He sets up heroes to die in the midst of battle, abandoning them at the precise moment they need his aid. He is, in short, a major bastard.  Did the Norse enjoy stories of rape? Was it a particular genre that pleased them? We have the images of Vikings as raping and pillaging, after all? Certainly, there are texts that suggest they had a different view of sexuality and violence than we do today. But is perhaps our take on Odin in the myths we have had passed down to us heavily biased? Of course. For one, it appears the idea of Odin as chief god in Iceland was due to the preponderance of preserved texts. Archaeology suggests Thor was more popular with the population-at-large than the weird and terrible bastard wizard Stabby McOne-Eye the murder hobo. But Odin is the Master of Inspiration - and both kings and poets were buoyed by his patronage. That this is passed down, collected and written down by a Christian after Christianization of Iceland, and then translated to English, some eight or nine centuries later?

This influences the medium and message. Further, amongst certain neopagans and heathen polytheists, there is a tendency to look at the preserved texts in a similar way to the Bible. This is a product of the mutations of that North West European brand of heresy we mentioned, contextualized in sectarian manner (Protestantism has a lot to answer for). Even if the myths are treated not as literal, we have been culturally contoured to look at myths which describe religious and numinous experience as exemplary. That’s to say, things that serve as examples or moral models, illustrations of general rules. In a sense, that’s akin to looking to police procedurals or popular movies, or 24hr news channels for a sense of morality today. Such things do contain troubling assumptions today - valourisation of violence if it “gets the job done” in movies, or  news stories inciting rage for political or social gain as example. Yet their key raison d’etre is experiential affect. Information and mores may be passed on and inculcated unconsciously, yes. But to view their content as explicitly and directly representational without bias? This is surely dangerous. Furthermore, our attitudes to sexuality and violence, both as distinct groupings and how they interplay in all forms of media are worthy of critique - exactly what is acceptable and why? What is the historical and social context for this? So if myth is not to be read as moral exemplar, what then? In this we must engage beyond a surface reading, if we so choose. As method of epistemic transmission and framing, myth is is not exemplary, but does aid in modelling. It is the response to myth that aids modelling not the myth itself.  To say Odin is a rapist, a murderer, and thief is important - not because he is, or is not these things, but what that means  to the audience participating in the myth, both historically and currently in context. This is why his self-naming as Bolverk is so important, within the context of the myths. Performer and audience and mythic figure all acknowledge this behaviour as unacceptable to humans.  Throughout the myth cycle, the “morally dubious” stories illustrate deviance from acceptability is only viable longterm if one is influential, and this motif exists across cultures. There are always consequences for such behaviour, whether it be the dooming of the world, or more subtle responses. Yet they serve a doubly illustrative function in the case of Odin, and other such figures (often Trickster or magical figures) wherein their behaviour and character is ambiguous precisely because of that nature - existing asocially, breaking rules and remaking them, surviving and prospering in impossible ways, in often hostile environments. This renders such figures “unsafe” “criminal” or “unnatural”, perhaps even queer in relation  to wider society. For such figures, it is the transmission of this quality via the myth which the narrative preserves, even when preserved and iterated upon by time. In this context, to state again, solely literal representational readings of myth are mistaken. This is not to say it is all symbolic, but rather that metaphor transmits information - an Iroquois story says their people learnt to tap maple syrup from squirrels. An Iroquois boy  saw a red squirrel cutting into tree bark with its teeth and later returning to lick the sap; the young Iroquois followed the squirrel’s lead and tried the same technique by cutting into the tree bark with a knife, thus discovering the sweet sap. Long derided as mere “myth” or “folklore” it took until the 1990s for a scientist named  Bernd Heinrich to observe and record it, publishing in a scientific journal - thus ‘legitimizing’ pre-existing indigenous knowledge. 

That such knowledge only became ‘acceptable’ or ‘real’ when performed outside of its original form tells us much about the biases of so-called ‘Western Culture’ as regards myth and folklore. Yet, this example proves the utility of such transmissions, existing over the centuries. That Iceland’s corpus of myth (even in those tales that remained to be written down) may contain metaphorically encode experience which can be re-experienced through felt-sense is made all the more likely, given the preservation of highly localized folklore and histories. Questions of legitimacy or lack are defined by flows of influence and power - inextricably linked to agency and consequence. Myth is therefore conceivable as a manifestation of currents of social influence and should never be held as a fixed thing, whether or not one has positive or negative emotional response to its figures

[rosesastrology]

Hello, I have 3 sagittarius placements (sun/moon/pluto) and one scorpio (venus) in my 4th house, can you tell me something about this?

You have a 4th house stellium and a Sagittarius stellium, which implies that you have 3 or more planets in one sign or house.

The strong Sagittarian energy is something I'll talk about first. Sagittarius is often associated with travel, psychology, luck, positivity and freedom. The natal chart of libertarian America has a Sagittarius ascendant: Land of the free, home of the brave. The positivity of Sagittarius is often fragmentary, it's a part of the position but it doesn't mean every Sagittarius is a positive person. In fact, Sagittarians are often positive and empowering towards others, even if they aren't to themselves. They can have steadfast convictions and an unbreakable belief system, especially those who turn to religion (because Jupiter rules religion along with Sagittarius). Sagittarians are often associated to the higher self, the higher mind. These people are always looking for a better self, wanting to improve. They can be bored quickly, whether it's mentally or physically (by activities). The archetype of Sagittarius is the archer. The archer we always refer to was actually a centaur (half horse, half man). Half strength, half wits. Which reiterates their character. Centaurs followed the God Dionysus; God of wine, fertility, fruit, vegetation, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity and theatre. His religion revolved largely around the consumption of wine. Rather than the drunkenness of it, it revolved on the ease of suffering and the bringing of joy. Performance art and drama were a big part of his religion too. With this info, we can see how he became the symbol of Sagittarius. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, also known as Zeus. Zeus was the son of Cronus, aka Saturn in Roman mythology. Zeus, as we all know, was the God of justice. Sagittarius rules the law. When looking at mythology, we can see where the stereotypical Sagittarian traits came from. Fortune and luck are often bestowed upon Sagittarian positions, but this luck is often only uncovered after the native takes control and change for the better. The reason for this is largely because Jupiter governs over growth, in all areas of life. Change goes hand in hand with this, but the tactics of Sagittarius need to applied as well.

As someone with a Sagittarius Moon, I can definitely confirm that my emotions make me impulsive at times. I've only recently begun to make changes in that aspect. Sagittarius in the Moon is a beautiful placement because of its boundless spectrum of feeling. This can be very overwhelming though. Luckily, the native usually gains some control over this later in life. They're highly ambitious, but tend to get restless (especially when they're falsely accused of something). Zeus was the God of thunder after all, I associate anxiety with this. They have a talent for connecting with their higher self and are always seeking to improve. Furthermore, Sagittarius in Pluto is often seen in detectives. Translators, preachers, prophets, teachers, travelers, actors- all these professions can be linked back to Sagittarius.

Now, Venus in Scorpio. This position is often seen as positive because of the connections to sex and intensity in Scorpio. Thus, having it Venus, the planet of love, is seen as enticing and interesting by many. In fact, Scorpio in Venus people tend to fall hard, not necessarily fast; but hard. There's a tendency for them to get overly obsessed with their crushes and lovers, even to a fault. While the crush phase should be fun and lighthearted butterflies, Scorpio in Venus people tend to see it more as an intense "I want to stare until you forget your own name" phase. Obsession and jealousy are often associated with this position, of course these traits don't apply to everyone- but they are definitely sides of the native's psyche even if they aren't being accessed. They seek a soul-deep romance, which is not to say they can't have flings (depending on mars). A lot of people tend to forget Scorpio is detriment in Venus for a reason; jealousy, secrecy, obsession. All these traits can come out. Positively, though, they're extremely loyal to those they love (if they love-love them). They're quite awkward in the beginning, but they truly worship their lovers. In love, they're usually more the introverted and quietly passionate type. If the relationship is healthy, you have an enticing, loyal, sexual and romantic lover on your hands here. Abandonment is a real knock down here, doesn't matter if it's in a platonic or a romantic relationship. It's not just in romantic love that they love hard, in friendships they do the same. With creative pursuits, they're bound to have some kind of a darker world (art, spiritualism, crime, etc). Once this placement commits, they commit fully. They also love control, which can be manifested positively through leadership. With Venus in the 4th, you need to have some kind of emotional connection to have a relationship with the person. Furthermore, you're likely to be particular about things you like (both sexually and non-sexually).

With all these planets in your 4th house, I'm gonna guess on a couple things here. With all this Sagittarian energy, it could've manifested in multiple ways. You could have a very religious family. Another way it could have manifested is through having parents that were born in different places, have different beliefs/religions, etc. Your Jupiter placements could say a lot about how you dealt with this. For ex. A Jupiter in the 12th with your placements would indicate you breaking the religious bond. There's also the more general indication, maybe your parents moved around a lot. Your emotional happiness, family, ancestry, karma, private self- they are all characterized in the 4th house. In other words, in other to find emotional satisfaction you have to do a lot of higher soul searching through your Sagittarian placements and Scorpio Venus. With all this 4th house energy going on, your home life must've been quite something.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Kay, so I found this old story idea I had a while back but never really did anything with, and I figured hey, I've got 300+ prisoners beloved followers who for some reason put up with my garbage, so might as well inflict this upon them.

That being said, welcome to what I call The Department for the Colonisation of Childhood Whimsey.

So our story starts with a little girl called Dee.

Dee lives in the UK, in a council estate. When she was a kid, there wasn't all that much space to play or do the things richer middle-class kids got to do. Her parents house didn't have a garden, the local streets were too dangerous for a child to go out and play in, and the house itself was cramped and crowded.

Despite this, Dee had what could charitably be called an overactive imagination, an imagination she channelled into two things: a plastic triceratops toy she called Sarah, and a book - a blank book of A4 paper that had coffee stains on it and papers falling out when she got it - that she claimed had a magical power: anything written in the book would come true.

Cut to a few years later. Dee is in high school, and like a typical teenager she's moved on from her childish dreams. That is, until one day when Sarah the triceratops approaches her after school and tells her she's in danger.

So, yeah, pretty basic beginning, you've probably seen fifty books that start out like this, and that's all I wrote back when I was actually trying to make this a thing. However, one thing I always do vis-a-vis my writing style is worldbuild, and it's the worldbuilding that I'm really keen on with this idea. So, let's talk about that:

The actual premise of the story is simple: at some point in the 1960s, the British government came to the conclusion that the British Empire was more or less doomed. Not only was the post-war economy not capable of sustaining an empire, not only was the Cold War between the Americans and the Russians ravaging them, but an increased awareness of the plight of one's fellow man was inspiring many people - not just in the colonies but in England too - to demand independence. No matter how hard they tried, Parliament could not forsee a solution that the people would accept where the British Empire continued.

So, a solution was posed. For the past hundred years or so, the government had been made aware of the existence of pockets of space-time created by people with active enough imaginations. From Neverland to Oz, from the Hundred Acre Wood to Wonderland, these places had resources beyond any place on Earth - magic, especially. If the public would not countenance colonisation where they could see it, then perhaps the solution would be to colonise somewhere they could not see?

Thus, the British Empire never really died. It simply... moved.

Cut to the present day, and the Department for the Colonisation of Childhood Whimsey is still going strong. Almost every parallel world is under their control, and the profits of these regions are beyond belief. However, rather naturally for stories like this there is a resistance movement, that seeks to free the imaginary lands from the Department. Although they are small and weak, they have had several worthwhile victories over the Department in the past few months, and the higher-ups in the Department, including the shadowy and little-seen Director, want all such resistance movements stamped out.

This, rather naturally, is where Dee steps in.

Every generation, one in a million people have the ability to shape the forces of Imagination itself, and the stories these people tell, and others tell after them, become reality in the Imaginarium. These people become known as Imagineers, and Dee is one such person. However, the lack of much real output for this power has led to most of it being placed inside The Book, which has led to a fascinating feedback loop - Dee's Book not only influences the Imaginarium, it influences physical reality itself to a certain extent. Thus, the Department need simply write in the book that the resistance movement does not exist, and it will be so. The resistance, naturally enough, are not down with this, and have sent Dee's childhood friend to bring her and the book back to them, to keep them safe.

There's also a ton of other small worldbuilding touches I came up with, chief among them being the thing the Department sends to collect Dee - a Stalker, the amalgamation of that seemingly universal childhood experience of that thing that followed your car on long journeys. But a couple of words on the characters:

The leader of the resistance is Peter Pan, because of course he is, why wouldn't he be? He's much more of the capricious, vaguely fae Pan of the book, not exactly evil but very much ammoral and childish. He's mainly invested in reclaiming Neverland, the Lost Boys, and Tinkerbell, although there is the subtext of him using the Department as an example of the inevitable consequences of growing up - although he's completely forgotten Hook, like he does in the book, he's still looking for that antagonistic relationship with a grown-up.

Peter's second-in-command and the one really running the resistance is Princess Ozma, who's much more... agreeable than Pan. Oz has been colonised too, but Ozma is still in nominal control of it, and she supplies the resistance with all the resources she can, although she can't openly work against the Department because the CIA branch of it has Dorothy imprisoned and are basically pulling a 'we have your wife' scenario on her.

The third key player in the resistance is Alice Liddel, who provides the resistance with shelter and safe passage - the Department has been having little success applying the logic of supply chains and regimented exterminations to a place as willfully chaotic as Wonderland.

The rest of the resistance are mainly heroic characters from other public domain stories, although some of the heroes are working for the Department, either willingly or because they're coerced, but one of the other main characters - and Dee's eventual love interest - is a character called many things, but most commonly Insert.

Insert is... complicated. Like the Stalker, they're an amalgamation of a certain new-fangled trend - namely, they're every self-insert character that's ever been written. Naturally, they have a habit of... changing, at random intervals. On any given day, they're any gender, of any ethnicity, of any sexual orientation, and with backstories ranging from an officer on a starship in the far future to a student at a school of magic in Scotland. Given literally everything about them is eternally mutable - including their allegiance to the resistance or the Department - the resistance members treat them with some distrust, a distrust that Dee generally doesn't share. Their relationship is pretty rocky at first - Dee thinks Insert is only interested in her because she can use The Book to give them a concrete identity, Insert is angrt when she reveals this because the constant shifting is just who they are, they don't want to be bound down, and later on there is a genuine dilemma of whether or not Insert is interested in Dee by their own choice or because she's clearly the protagonist and a key part of their identity in a lot of their lives is to be shipped with the protagonist. Also, obvious joke but at several points Insert turns into Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, because of course they do.

The Department's side isn't that interesting - it's a whole load of villains, some of the more... problematique heroes, and a few hundred grunts. The most interesting character is The Director. He's never seen, even by the highest ranking members of the Department, and no-one knows anything about him other than his gender. Everyone in the resistance has a different theory of who he is - Pan has a suspicion he may have faced him before, Ozma thinks its the Nome King, Alice the Jabberwocky, and Insert fluctuates, as is their nature, although the top two choices are Voldemort or Dumbledore.

It's Dee, however, who figures out the truth, when captured by the Department. The others couldn't possibly know him, but Dee's heard his voice before, in her history classes.

The Director of the Department is Winston Churchill, made immortal by the collective consensus of him as The War-Time Leader. Unfortunately for the whitewashers of history, the immortal they created isn't the brave fighter of tyranny, but the actual Churchill, warts and all, the man who starved over two million Indians out of spite and neglectfulness. Dee being a descendant of Indian immigrants, this meeting isn't perhaps the best one.

There are side effects to the Director's immortality, however. Since the perception of Churchill is tied so deeply to his speeches, to the voice on the radio, that's all he is now. He wants The Book to give him back a body again, and the Department is basically a means to that end.

That's about all I'd concretely plotted out, otherwise I just had random ideas for sequels:

The America Book, where the resistance goes to rescue Dorothy from the CIA version of the Department, which is located under a theme park that is as close to Disneyland as it is possible to be. Naturally, the head of the American Department is Walt Disney's cryogenically frozen head.

The India Book, because a book about British colonialism has got to touch on India at some point. I haven't gotten far in this one, but one idea was that there would be an ongoing war between the native myths and legends - Hindu mythology, the Mahabharata and such - and what is derisively referred to as the 'imports' - namely, the Jungle Book. Again, no idea how this resolves itself, and frankly as a Brit myself I am in no way equipped to tell a story about India, but food for thought.

That's basically it. This isn't a 'here's something to hype up this series' thing - this is an idea I had, I did some thinking about it, but other things happened and I'm kinda splurging this so anyone else who wants to do this idea can pick it up. If you write something like this, feel free to tell me and I'd love to hear about it.

[tlbodine]

A Plea for Some Non-Cringe Native American Representation

There’s something that has bothered me for a real long time, and I haven’t said anything because it didn’t really feel like my place to say it. But if pasty white folks across the country will insist on continuing to make these books and comics and movies, then I guess this pasty white girl can make a plea to do it better. 

So. Here’s the deal. Native American representation in fiction sucks. 

We’re going to talk about why, and then talk about some ways you can do it better. And it’s going to take a while, so join me under the cut. 

PROBLEM #1: Erasure 

The first problem with First Nations people being represented in fiction is that it, uh...doesn’t happen very often. It’s pretty rare for a show or movie or book to have a Native character, and even rarer for that character to exist without being a vehicle/mouthpiece for some kind of hamfisted message. 

And, of course, Native characters who do show up in movies are sometimes played by non-Native actors, which is just. Um. 

somebody fucking kill me I don’t want to live on this planet anymore. 

PROBLEM #2: The Same Stock Character Over and Over and Over 

There’s this weird thing where TV shows have A Very Special Native American Episode(tm) where a Native American character shows up in a storyline designed to, idk, provide a tidy outlet for the viewer’s white guilt or something. I see this a lot in superhero stories for...some reason: 

Batman and Chief Screaming Eagle (ok, it was the 1960s, surely things have gotten better right? oh...) who’s butting heads with a villain over a bad contract for, uh, the chief’s ancestral lands

There was the Buffy episode “Pangs” where a Chumash vengeance spirit is the villain-of-the day after being disturbed by some construction (and this is honestly one of the better treatments of the premise, at least the episode is well-written) 

There was the Smallville episode with Kyla Willowbrook, the Kawatche Skinwalker (I know, I know) who for bonus points dies tragically in Clark’s arms (I KNOW) and who was deeply concerned with...with some construction...disturbing her sacred homesite...(this is starting to sound familiar)

And then there was The Flash episode where Barry is forced to fight with the complicated-yet-tragically-evil Native American activist woman whose crimes involve stealing cultural artifacts that belong to to the museum (yes I’m screaming) and also murdering people...y’know, for vengeance and stuff. 

I could keep going but I really don’t think I have to. When your only representation of a culture is a character (frequently a smoking-hot member of the opposite sex to the hero) who is an ambiguous villain who is motivated by vengeance and/or justice over having their land/cultural artifacts disturbed, and who has a valid claim but is really going about it in the wrong way and whose tragic death and/or defeat really gives the white character something complex to think about for two seconds.... well. That’s more than a little racist. 

PROBLEM #3: These Are Not Your Stories to Tell 

You know what white people love doing? 

They love appropriating Native culture! Seriously! They love it! And who can blame them, really? Native people have so much rich symbolism and mythology and cool clothes and neat aesthetics. Painted war ponies and buckskin dresses and shapeshifters and monsters, oh my! Indian burial grounds and vengeful spirits (oh for fuck sake enough with the vengeful Indian trope)

But here’s the deal: 

The mythology you’re borrowing from belongs to a group of people who are still alive and sometimes practicing the religion you’re liberally reinterpreting 

There is no such thing as a “Native American” myth. You’re talking about literally hundreds of different tribes who are culturally distinct from one another and have their own complex histories of interaction, diplomacy, war, friendship, etc. with one another for centuries before white folk got here. You erase all of that when you treat Native culture as a grab-bag of cool things you can mix and match to your liking. 

Maybe, just a thought, stop it with the oppression narratives about activists and/or vengeful spirits who are real threatened by white people disturbing their homes? It’s not that there isn’t a lot to unpack in that -- I mean, white people really did conduct mass genocide against a race of people, for starters -- it’s just that this isn’t really your oppression narrative to tell. 

It seems to me that folks writing about Native Americans don’t actually have any idea what Native people are like? They either think of them as anachronistic figures, an extinct and ancient group, or they think of them as people really hung up on their cultural past. Because maybe people can’t think of anything to do with a Native character other than use it as a vocal mouthpiece of one very specific part of their cultural oppression.

But please. Please stop. That is every bit as stupid and racist as making a Black character who only talks about slavery, or a Jewish character who only talks about the Holocaust, or giving all of your gay characters AIDS. 

So what do you do instead? 

Writing Native Characters in a Way That Does Not Suck - A Quick Primer 

I can’t write a definitive guide on writing good Native representation, because there is no such guide, and if there were it would take a whole book probably, and I am not in any way even remotely an authority. 

But I can give you some pointers that will help you. 

(And to be honest, Native representation is so awful that the bar here is really super low, even just attempting a tiny bit is a really welcome breath of fresh air)

Choose a Tribe 

Step one: Figure out what kind of Native people you’re writing about. 

Because, as previously noted, Native People Are Not A Monoculture. 

How do you pick a tribe? Well, start with geography. Where do you want the story to take place? Obviously people move around, so you can find folks outside of their ancestral lands, but they all started someplace, and a lot of people live where their parents and grandparents and cousins all live. 

So where does your story take place? Pick a spot. Then find out what tribes live in that region. It’s not a secret. There are maps:

(Source: http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/native_american_tribes_map.htm) 

Or maybe you want to go about this in a different way. Maybe you have a specific story idea in mind and you want to write it in a way that would be accurate and respectful. Cool! A good first step on that is to figure out what tribe actually does the thing you’re wanting to write about. 

Skinwalkers, for example, originate in the Navajo Nation (Dine` people), although there are related myths from surrounding tribes in the area. 

If you’re writing a story about Wendigo, then you should know those myths originate with the Algonquin people of Quebec and Ontario.

If you’re writing something with spiritually significant buffalo, you should probably choose a culture that actually interacted with buffalo -- ie, a Plains Indian tribe like the Lakota-Sioux people. 

And so on and so forth. 

(Note that this is only the first step. You still have to do a lot of research after this to be sure you’re doing everything properly and respectfully. And, y’know, maybe reconsider if you actually want to tell a story respecting that mythology, or if you just want to sound cool and exotic) 

Also, personal preference: Please don’t make your characters Cherokee if you’re just going for “character with Native ancestry.” Please choose a different tribe. For a lot of complicated (and sometimes surprisingly racist) reasons, white people have been claiming Cherokee heritage for a long time, and even when it’s true, it feels cheap and cringey in fiction. If you want to tell a story about the Trail of Tears or something set in Tahlequa, Oklahoma, great! Write Cherokee characters! But if you just want a Native American character for other reasons...pick a different tribe. 

Choose a Name 

Fun fact: Modern Native people that you meet out on the street don’t have names like “Stands With Fists” or “Running Bear.”  

If you have an impulse to name your character any kind of descriptive “adjective + animal” name...just don’t. Please. And don’t go to BehindTheName or some other random site to pick out something that “sounds” Native. 

Names in other cultures are tricky. Some (but not all!) Native people may have a cultural tradition of having multiple names, including naming ceremonies (often as a rite of passage in adolescence). Some tribes have clan names. Everybody’s different. But these special names are culturally sensitive, often sacred, and are not a thing readily accessible to white people. White folks spent centuries trying to wipe out Indigenous people’s belief systems; they deserve to have some things kept private and sacred. 

So what I’m getting at here is that white writers really, really should not touch on the “Indian naming ceremony” trope at all if they can help it, because it’s gonna be real hard to get the details right, and getting the details wrong is going to make you sound like an ignorant racist. And most of the time, it’s not really that important to a story. 

Most contemporary Native people have regular English names. They may also have tribal names and clan names (that they may or may not share with outsiders). But lots of tribal members don’t, and that doesn’t make them any less Native. 

My recommendation for naming your Native characters? Find real people from the time period, tribe, and region you’re writing in. Find a phone book or newspaper from a town on or near a reservation for your chosen tribe. Look at names of participants in powwows. Look at the sports rosters for Native schools. Look at historical records like census data from the year you’re writing about. Don’t just make things up. 

** One Note: You know how “black” names are a thing? You encounter a similar sort of thing in some contemporary Native Americans. I grew up with a lot of kids who had “weird” names like Kirby, Sheriden, Baskerville, Sterling and Precious. (and by “weird” I mean “names middle-class white people don’t tend to use”). There’s also a lot of black-sounding names in Native populations. There’s some complex reasons behind this, and a lot of sociology of naming, and I won’t spend too much time on it right now but just...so you know. It’s a thing. 

Write a Human Being 

This really is the biggest thing, and it’s true of every writing you do, all the time, no matter what: Write a real person and not a caricature. 

Native people are people first. Their cultural heritage affects them the way anyone else’s culture does. The things they eat, wear, do, believe, the stories they know, etc. are all affected. But Native people don’t have a responsibility to be walking representatives of their tribes. And they definitely shouldn’t be a vessel for white guilt. 

(Fun fact: “Iron Eyes Cody,” maybe best known for the “Crying Indian” role in a commercial about pollution, was an Italian-American born  Espera Oscar de Corti) 

Here’s a really, really good article I found while working on this rant that might be of interest to you as wellas you set out on this quest:  https://mashable.com/2015/03/24/american-indians-tv/

I still have so much to say on this topic, and maybe I’ll write more in the future, but this is already very long so I’ll stop. I hope this has been at least a little bit helpful for y’all. Go forth and write non-terrible characters, I beg of you. 

*Disclaimer: I am not a Native person and do not claim any special knowledge or ownership of Native culture, and I beg you to please listen to Native voices when possible in your creative endeavors. I’m just a gal who happened to have spent most of my life living near reservations and growing up around Native people and having Native friends and being taught about historical cultures by my mother who has a degree in Southwest Studies and has done a lot of formal and informal research due to her own interests in the topic. 

If you found this article helpful at all, please consider dropping a tip in my tip jar.

I also have a book coming out! You can pre-order it now! It features a main character of mixed heritage, New Mexico reservation border towns, and zombies trying to get by like everybody else. 

Pre-Order now on B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/river-of-souls-t-l-bodine/1131956124

Or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/River-Souls-T-L-Bodine/dp/1950305015

Or from the publisher: http://journalstone.com/bookstore/river-of-souls/?fbclid=IwAR14Qna5tMgWBV0We2uGSLreBkmyvZ5SoDAzPQpTKeFn4JR4PWSyKGl0VEo

Or add it to your Goodreads library: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46183381-river-of-souls