#and cannot get their characterization right if your life depended on it

[oddlylongtelephonecord]

y’all will fr project onto a character and create the worst mischaracterization of them that has even been seen then say you kin them

like idk how to break this to you but no you don’t you just want to be different

[in-another-april]

hey carmen!!

i love your writing so so much:(( the way you characterize Spencer is so sweetie pie:((

Do you mind giving us some sweetie pie spencer bestie to lover content!! this is a suuperr niche request so no pressure obvie!!

i love love this request thank u so much!!! let me know if you want me to change anything, i hope u enjoy <3

Before you get together, there is going to be so much mutual pining. Spencer is a mixture of insecure and clueless, he really cannot tell that you're trying to hit on him. Even when he can, he dismisses it as him just taking it the wrong way, because surely someone as perfect and wonderful as you wouldn't like him like that, right?

Literally everyone except for the two of you can tell you're in love, he is so not subtle!! You're the first person he looks for in a room, he practically sprints to sit next to you before anyone else can, and he gets so, so pouty whenever someone else tries to flirt with you. One time you come into work complaining about forgetting your jacket at home and he jumps out of his chair insisting, "You can borrow mine!!"

And, yeah, he doesn't get any work done that day, too busy blushing and staring at you in his clothes.  You conveniently "forget" to give it back, and he conveniently "forgets" to ask.

You're always looking for an excuse to be near each other, to touch each other: You fall asleep on his shoulder on the jet, he rests his head against yours. He takes your hand when he notices you seem stressed, you affectionately brush your thumb along the back of his hand. One of you goes in for a hug, the other holds on just long enough to be considered more than friendly...

And you are both still so oblivious!! No matter how many times you go to look at him and find he's already staring at you. No matter how many times you’re both reading/looking at something for a case and he leans in way closer than necessary to see it. (“Spencer, don’t you have your own copy?” “…I… seem to have misplaced it.”) Neither of you ever confront these obvious feelings.

Until!!!

A new agent on your floor assumes you’re together, complimenting what a cute couple you are. Spencer, of course, loses it, getting all bright red and completely flustered because there is nothing more that he wants than to be considered your boyfriend, even if it’s just being mistaken as such. (He’ll take what he can get.) But you take his reaction as him being uncomfortable with the idea, and in an attempt to ease his concern (even if it does break your heart), you quickly correct them that oh, no, you’re just friends.

Then Spencer’s face falls and his heart is the one that’s breaking because why were you so quick to correct them? Do you really not like the idea of being with him that much? He knows it’s silly to be upset, you’re not together and you never did anything to suggest you were (completely wrong but we’ll let it slide) but there was a small part of him that really hoped that maybe, possibly, his feelings were reciprocated.

But now, clearly, they’re not, and he can’t help himself from avoiding you the next day because it hurts to be around you knowing he doesn’t have a chance. But then it only gets worse because it hurts just as much to be away from you, and you seem so concerned about him, and oh god he has no idea what to do with himself.

He comes to your apartment after work, and you somehow answer the door right as he starts to knock. The words struggle to come out at first, but then they do, and then he’s rambling, and it’s not entirely intelligible. But you get the gist, and it’s that he’s so in love with you! He seems so frantic that for the first time in your life, you want him to stop talking, so naturally you do what any other normal person would. Kiss him like your life depended on it. Right in your doorway. And. I don’t think there’s anything more I can (or should) say.  

masterlist | inbox ← requests open! ♡

taglist - @lover-of-books-and-tea @maskysluvr @aurorsworld @wisteriaspencer @radioactiveinvisible @mandarinmoons (send an ask or message to be added/removed!)

[mhsdatgo]

do you like Aemond ?

Henlo anon <3

Depends which Aemond we're talking about 😭😭😭 Book!Aemond had me clutching my pearls like how can someone be so infuriatingly bad at the job he was nearly at his bro's throat for is so over me like I wanted to curbstomp him so bad. No you don't get it I was tweaking every time that bitch boy's name popped up.

Show!Aemond?? Much better. He's interesting and intriguing, there is so much to his character that despite being left unexplored can be filled in if you're creative enough. His dynamic with every character is worth analysing, he steals the spot in almost every scene he's in (if this was the showrunners' goal then I'd say they succeeded) he's one of the characters I'm the least disappointed in.

I DO feel like he's about to fall into the unnecessary shock value hole like many characters before him and it feels like a slap to the face to be honest 😭 I've got quite mixed feelings about shock value as a whole like there are some instances where I praise it but you'll never see me doing so with shock value in HOTD specifically. It is all linked to sexual traumas somehow and either don't make sense or look more like rage (and problematic fans) bait than shock value.

For example since we're talking about Aemond, we could talk about how he seems to have developed this morbid Oedipus complex (a child's unconscious attraction towards the mother) towards Alicent. Literally the only thing that's missing is the hostility towards the father who is cold in his grave by this point and he's not even worth bringing up. It (supposedly) manifests through Aemond's feeling of entitlement to Alicent's forgiveness, which he doesn't get and thus takes to calling her BY NAME and a fool. Apparently guilt is something Aemond feels only when he's sure Alicent is willing to forgive him, love him and cherish him no matter what he's done. This is a version of Aemond that is so out of touch with reality that he cannot for the life of him comprehend when he's gone too far. (or better, HE DOES, he's absolutely sure the answer to his "I messed up" will always be "I forgive you and I'll move on". When that doesn't happen and Alicent is indeed chilly because he indeed went too far, his guilt turns to bitterness.)

Do we even know what brought him to develop such a mentality?? Is it because, in his eyes, Alicent has always been the one to defend him from whoever? Because we as viewers know for a fact that is NOT TRUE. Like I'm sorry I'm saying this as an Alicent lover but I heard her say the following phrase with my own ears:

"You may cuff him about as you wish at home, but in the world, we must defend our own."

There are A LOT of implications here. The main one being that image is the most important thing to her and should something like Aegon becoming the ringleader of a pack that is SET on treating Aemond like shit come out, it would soil the family's image. Doesn't mean this cannot continue as long as it isn't known. One could argue that it's not like Alicent could know how much of a toll the bullying was taking on Aemond but the way the whole instance of him going to his mother was treated tells me it wasn't the first time, and that therefore, she pretty much knew.

Moreover, that's her child covered in dirt and ash crying about how he was humiliated before the whole Dragonpit, there are no subtleties, there is no way to be mistaken. But that's beyond the point.

What kind of sick fuck came up with this jealousy? Entitlement? How to call it? That Aemond feels towards Alicent and what good/efficient does it do to either of their characters. That's the question, and the answer is NONE THAT'S RIGHT. Doesn't make sense, and was added in because they just wanted more sick fuckery in the show. (because Dyana's rape and future arc isn't enough)

Moving on to the other greatest problem I have with Aemond's characterization: THE INFAMOUS BROTHEL SCENE. COMING UP ON YOUR SCREENS IN A FEW HOURS. ASKERS: NONE.

OOOOUFFFHHHHHHH I've got so many problems with this scene. First of all, what kind of coping mechanism is that? I'm fully convinced this scene is made for nothing else other than fanservice because the implications are nasty. He likes older women, that's fine, valid, relatable and all, but WHY make it the consequence of yet another sexual trauma?

If the streets are right the woman that is cradling him as he lies in her lap naked is the brothel madam that is seen in ep. 8 "The Green Council" (Michelle Bonnard)

Which may or may not be woman he was brought to by his brother at the age 13 to be sexually assaulted by. Look, having Aegon bring his 13 year old brother to engage in sex he's clearly not an enthusiastic party in was already a bad choice, it felt like another bad quality given to Aegon the showrunners didn't know what to do with. But their ADAMANCE on making some kind of subplot out of this because you added it, why the fuck would you forget it? Feels so forced and makes me feel the topic should've stayed that way, unexplored.

Now his relationship with Alys is going to feel like a trauma response too! And that's if they don't go with the "Alys bewitched Aemond and brought him to his death" storyline. (Honestly would be better at this point)

When Aemond and Madam first meet on screen (supposedly for the first time since that nightmare of a birthday) Aemond is clearly CLEARLY uneasy. So fucking uneasy. And it's in the script too:

[creds: @darksvster]

It's something neither her or him have forgotten, and clearly a weak point for Aemond (understandably so.) Yet apparently, in season 2, we'll see him in the arms of the same woman AGAIN! CUDDLED UP LIKE A BABY EVEN!!!

I'm projectile vomiting so hard the recoil throws me out the window and rolling on the road below. There are problems here. A LOT of problems. Who decided it would be good? WHO?

So basically yep. Aemond's characterization appeared solid up until this new season, it seems. There's much more to cover up and I'm ready to RANT about everything I will be seeing on screen but things are looking grim. I just hope I won't have to watch Aemond come back to the woman that traumatized him for more than five minutes at best.

Thanks for the ask anon <3

[bonefall]

I was never able to really get a feel for Leafpool's personality in the books, especially since she's always contrasted with Squirrelflight who has a pretty consistent personality (at least for Warriors standards). She's kind of like Hollyleaf where they change her personality depending on what they want to happen in the plot I think. How do you approach writing her? I'm really fond of your Spottedleaf, so I was wonder if Leafpool has any fun quirks like her.

[ID: Leafpool from Warrior Cats. She is chunky, has a mane, and green eyes. Her stripes are horizontal.]

I approach Leafpool as being VERY tired. Her life is characterized as never really being in control of her own fate, being punished for any simple pleasures she takes tenfold, so I write her as becoming very defeatist. Poor girl.

Because Leafpool is never in REAL control, somehow, it gives her this air that she's in total control. You can't scare her. StarClan can tell her that her kids are cursed, Hollyleaf can tell her to kill herself, Bramblestar can jump in front of her and snarl, she's never more than briefly phased. "Yeah sure this may as well happen."

In a way, she's almost the total opposite of Jayfeather, who never met a rule he wasn't willing to punch. It is interesting that each one of the Three has a unique relationship to the fate that chains up Leafpool.

Allows herself to love Mothpaw... war breaks out and Moth has to return to RiverClan.

Tries to warn Squilf about Brambleclaw in spite of StarClan wanting them to be together, first fight with her sister ever.

Runs off with Crowfeather, returns home to find out her mentor died before she could say goodbye.

Gives birth, allows Squilf to take them, eventually gets threatened by Hollyleaf.

(side note: i am considering leafpool's name being an honor title, with her old name being Leafstripe, and Squirrelpaw failing two assessments just like Nightheart)

But a big change in my rewrite is that the dramatic scenes that aren't consistent with that resigned sorrow go to Crowfeather. He's a complete and utter ham. Leafpool isn't out here trying to name Hollykit 'Crowkit' or confessing her unwavering love for him in front of his wife and child, THAT is Crowfeather making an ass of HIMSELF in front of that wife and child lmao.

Leaf's feelings are more complicated and repressed. Hard life.

On the bright side though, there ARE changes from canon so that the Clan has more nuanced feelings about her instead of her whole life being a nonstop beatdown.

Most of ThunderClan, which heavily leans Fire Alone, agrees that Leafpool did the right thing by giving her kits to Squilf to invoke the Queen's Rights. Sure she lapsed, but Fire Alone cats are softer on the Cleric's Vow in general.

Bramblestar demoting her in Cruel Season has a VERY mixed reception. It's Leafpool!! Leafpool Moonpool!!!

Her death many years later in the Sister Raid actually tanks Bramblestar's reputation. It was seen as cruel, pointless, and avoidable, and they lost a very popular and experienced Cleric.

(side note again: still considering how the 'unclear sign' plot beat is going to go in my rewrite, because i cannot imagine jayfeather not just lying about that. "yeah yeah yeah they said yes bramblestar, im supposed to heal this cat obviously. move.")

Misc Design Stuff:

She's got a mane that you can see on Dovewing too, since Dove is Leaf's grandchild now.

Like Sandstorm, uncle Longtail, and grandpaw Runningwind, Leafpool's stripes are horizontal.

I'm still doing research into what she has specifically, but Bonefall Leafpool is intersex. Those are stud jowls.

Considering the cat version of PCOS because it explains a lot; weight gain, a receding hairline that could be shared with Lionblaze, the jowls as a facial hair parallel, difficult pregnancy, etc.

Still doing my research though.

And lastly, Mothpool is endgame in this Rewrite. They can never be together officially, but it's about the yearning. It's about finding freedom with your escapist fantasy partner or being in shackles with your true love. She chose the CHAINS.

[evilwickedme]

Losing my mind at the kids reading Bruce/Batman fic

No cause I actually think about this stuff all the time. The Waynes are celebrities!!! Depending on your preference they could be international celebrities or local celebrities, but Bruce and Tim have both been the CEO of an international conglomerate worth billions, Bruce at the very least has to have been on the cover of TIME magazine and had a billion interviews about how-to-be-successful even though, you know, he's the definition of a nepo baby. So between the Waynes and the Batman being two of the most important cultural exports from Gotham, and the fact that WE openly funds Batman, there's gotta be some really good stuff in the celebrity and superhero RPF fandoms, right? It's just sort of obvious that people will start shipping them

So. Who brings it to the Batfam's attention? There are several possible avenues. I personally think it makes the most sense for Tim or Steph to have found it. They're both around 17-19, they went to school and had friends, so yeah, they're on social media. Tim has to have an online presence that's semi professional and so has a secret second account on all websites and apps, but Steph goes full fucking feral on main. I think Tim gets @ - ed a lot by weirdos, including people tagging him in their Tim Drake/YN fanfiction (sidenote do not do this in real life. Please don't do this in real life), but for that reason it might actually be that his blacklist is a mile long. Like he simply cannot see the word fanfiction on his Twitter feed. So Steph is the one that finds the one million BruBats fanfiction. She sees it mentioned and hunts it down. And then she sends it in the batkids GC and shit EXPLODES

Dick is very much like, a person with better things to do than be a weird gremlin online and he's never actually seen a fanfic before. He's heard of it because he gets asked weird things sometimes, but this is effectively his introduction to the world of fic and he's horrified. He steals Damian's phone so he won't see it which just makes Damian all the more curious and determined to read it. It gets physical

Steph and Tim take turns reading it out loud to Cass (Steph does Batman's voice, Tim voices Bruce) who finds the whole thing a little baffling. Neither Brucie nor Batman are particularly similar to her adoptive father and the concept of fic is a little out of her wheelhouse, although Steph does a very good job explaining the basic terms and reasons for its existence to her

Babs knew all along. This wasn't new to her. She's read worse things while doing research for cases

Duke reads the whole thing in one sitting (ish, it's really long). It's actually really good and he leaves some really thoughtful comments on the characterization and slow burn. The author doesn't reply but does cherish those comments forever

Jason wrote it Jason doesn't interact with the GC but babs literally hacked his phone to prevent him from leaving it so he opens it once a week to mark it as read and leave and he happens to open it in the middle of this shit going down and decides to check it out. He accidentally clicks on the relationship tag however and sees things you can't unsee. He literally runs over his phone and vows to go off the grid from now on

[hypergamiss]

Why do you think it is narcissistic mothers are so invasive, and love to argue?? I live at home because I unfortunately cannot afford to be on my own because I don’t make enough…she is constantly wanting to argue with me and when I try to defuse it and say she’s right or say “okay” she wants to argue and escalate it more to where I am so upset and yelling…then she goes “why’re you yelling…” as if she didn’t lead it to come to that point even after I said I didn’t want to argue and that she was right?! Oh and she pretends she wasn’t yelling at all prior…it’s just getting awful and don’t understand how someone can have it in them to argue all the time….. She was cleaning my room to and found pregnancy tests …wanted to know all about it saying “it’s gross” kept asking invasive questions as to who I have been with and all that…i said to her “really you think that’s appropriate to ask me about, then proceed to want to know about it make comments and think I owe you information??” And honestly, I’m not sure she is a narcissist? but she makes me feel awful and like I can never be too close to her or tell her anything because I feel with her it’s “all or nothing”….any input?

Living with a parent who exhibits invasive and argumentative tendencies can be incredibly challenging, especially when coupled with financial constraints that prevent independent living. This becomes even more complex when the parent figure is a mother, as societal expectations often paint mothers as nurturing and supportive figures. So, why do some mothers behave in such a contrary manner?

While it's important to avoid self-diagnosing or labeling others, certain behaviors might align with narcissistic personality traits. Narcissism is characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, a lack of empathy for others, and a need for admiration and control.

Invasive Behavior:

Lack of Boundaries: Narcissists often struggle with respecting boundaries, as they see others as extensions of themselves. Prying into personal matters, offering unsolicited advice, and making decisions on behalf of others are common manifestations of this trait.

Need for Control: Information is power, and for a narcissist, knowing intimate details about your life can be a tool for exerting control. It allows them to manipulate situations, offer "help" that serves their own agenda, and maintain a sense of superiority.

Argumentative Tendencies:

Inability to Accept Criticism: Narcissists often see disagreements as personal attacks, leading to defensive and argumentative behavior. This is fueled by their fragile sense of self-worth, which requires constant validation.

Gaslighting: Narcissists may twist narratives, deny their own actions, and make you question your own perceptions. This can leave you feeling confused, frustrated, and even doubting your sanity.

Need for Attention: Arguments can be a way for narcissists to draw attention to themselves, even if it's negative. The emotional turmoil they create ensures that they remain the center of focus.

"All or Nothing" Dynamic:

Narcissists often struggle with maintaining healthy relationships due to their black-and-white thinking. You're either idealized or devalued, there's no in-between. This can lead to feelings of insecurity and a reluctance to share personal information, as you fear being judged or exploited.

What Can You Do? What is my input?

Set Boundaries: Clearly communicate your boundaries and consistently enforce them, even if it leads to conflict.

Limit Personal Information: Share only what you're comfortable with, and don't feel obligated to divulge details that feel invasive.

Seek Support: Talk to trusted friends, family members, or a therapist about your experiences. This can provide emotional validation and help you develop coping strategies.

Prioritize Self-Care: Engage in activities that nourish your mind, body, and spirit. This will help you build resilience and maintain your well-being.

Make some Plans: Depending on your situation, you might want to make plans to put yourself in a better financial position to live independently. If you have exhausted your efforts and decide that you really need to leave, start by researching areas with lower cost of living as possibilities to move to. Calculate what your monthly living expenses would be in potential areas. Seek better job opportunities, side hustles, and any opportunities that will make you extra income. You never know what will end up working out for you and its better to have explored options than be stuck. At the very least, have some emergency money saved up. Manifest a new reality for yourself.

Remember, you are not responsible for your mother's behavior, but you are responsible for taking care of yourself. Focus on setting boundaries, creating backup plans, seeking support, and prioritizing your own mental health.

[nadvs]

Okay i’m back😭

I love love loveeee the way rafe wanted to hear reader talk so he could fall asleep easier🥹 Reader immediately going to when she thought she heard ty laughing btw i am his biggest hater. never let me cross paths with him Rafe seeing her walk towards him and immediately getting up and pulling her to a private place so she’ll feel safe omgggg i might die idk😭 AND THE HUG KILLED ME him hugging her like his life depended on it 🥹🥹 When he opened up about why he never had a gf </3 like the poor baby just NEEDS someone to make him feel like his is capable of being loved omg. Him being worried about reader not wanting to go to the party and offering to stay with her, i need him BAD. When he asked if it was a bad thing not wanting to be reminded :(( I just wanna give him the biggest hug omg

now when reader found out he was in the car when his mom died… instant tears i’m not even lying :( I was already heartbroken of him losing the only person who was there for him and now i’m finding out he was there when it happened??? i knew you loved angst but damm😭😭💔

“You can tell me to go away,” you whisper against his back. “I promise I will if you want me to.”

You feel his chest filling and contracting with his harsh breaths. He hunches over, head in his hands.

“Go away,” he mutters. Just like when he was a kid. His voice is deeper now, but his words are the same.

This part broke my heart into a million pieces :(

You pace around the room, aching from the inside out. Right now, you don’t picture Rafe as the man he is, protecting you, carrying a gun. You picture the boy. At the beach. In the car. At the funeral.

IM NOT FORGETTING ABOUT THIS PART

She always saw him as the boy she grew up with and turned cold towards everyone, but now that she’s seen him vulnerable and now knows that he was there when his world got taken away?? He had every right to be like that, now she sees the little boy she grew up with who knew pain way too young.

omg i cannot explain how much i love you and the amount of talent you have☹️ i absolutely cannot wait for part 6 but please take your time and sorry this was so long lmao😭💕

-🌸

AAA FIRST OF ALL, trust me, you never need to apologize for a long message 🥹 feedback means the WORLD to me fr 😭 i put so much into my writing so every review makes me feel so happy!! THANK YOU for the time and effort you put into it 🥺

tysm!! i just loved the idea of them falling back into things they did as kids, down to her rambling to distract him when he doesn’t want to think 🥲 and now that they’re in each other’s lives again, having this intense pull to each other and him feeling protective over her i just 😩 i feel like he’s the type who cares hard.

i really went crazy with the angst, it’s true 🫣 the more i thought abt rafe’s characterization, the more i was like this boy is so broken… imagine the trauma that led him to be so angry and aggressive… and imagine someone knowing him and loving him before that trauma happened 😭

thank you sm my lovely 🌸 anon, I LOVE YOU 💘

[blackstarchanx3new]

yes, surprisingly I’m putting another one because I’m annoying

so-

out of these LOVELY carbon based life forms

(Yes I am aware my art sucks, but ibis paint and shattered iPhone do NOT MIX)

would win in a fight (-triforce stuffs because that would give unfair advantages I think)

I swear, people always wanna power scale characters I write and my response will ALWAYS be:

"Well that depends"

Because I don't write characters based on "Is he over 9,000!?" dragonball logic lmfao.

Dark Link HYPOTHETICALLY could slap the ever loving shit out of all 4 Links if he used his powers right RIGHT NOW in the comic. Comic could be over within 2 seconds if that was the case. (Shadow is disqualified because the triforce of power is)

Because the dude, can literally break your mind in a second and then stab the fuck out of you if he REALLY felt like it.

But...He WOULDN'T. Because in his own words that's "Boring".

Dark Link doesn't play the typical "WHEN YOU'RE OUT OF MY WAY I'LL RULE THE WORLD" because that's literally the last thing on this dude's mind.

Dark's motivations keep him from doing anything that'd end the comic.

Dark's motivations of wanting to be given affection completely cancel out the idea he WOULD hurt the Link's physically long term because he wants them alive.

So the idea "Dark could slap everyone in a second flat" is null and void imo because of characterization reasons. He'd. Never. Do. That.

HE COULD. But he WOULDN'T.

I find hypotheticals that completely disregard the characterization super boring as well "Who is the strongest" Is such a silly question.

Because it tosses out the question "Well would they really do that?"

How do you define power?

Especially when placing arbitrary restrictions like "No Triforce" because, well.. you know the answer then?

Shadow Link is the strongest because he has the triforce of Power. He trumps Dark in that department but also has control over Dark because Dark is a demon. But then, Link hypothetically can slap the shit out of Shadow if he really needed too...Because Link canonically has the power to slap Gannon silly.

But "Why the fuck would they do that" is the prevailing question?

They are written this way for a reason.

I make strong as hell characters (Dark included) but the "power scaling" is mostly defined by their personalities/what they'd actually do.

Because then we get into the question "What is strength actually?" emotional strength? Physical? Magical?

I have a writing rule:

OP Character? Make their restrictions based on their personality.

Cause this isn't two characters fighting in a void...this is a comic with a story flow and specific characterization built the way it is to get to a point.

"That's not what the story is about" is the blunt answer I have.

Dark doodle for my writing rant troubles.

I guess what bugs the hell out of me by the question "Who's the strongest" is

"What the fuck led to this hypothetical death match to begin with?"

and I just cannot fathom a reason why this would be happening because my characters are not written for these weird hypotheticals.

The fights that are in my stories are there, because it furthers the plot. Not to show off power?

They're written for the story they're contained in, in which there are very specific rules they must follow because my brain said so.

"Character x will win this fight, because that's how the story goes, if it were to go the other way, the story would end."

The question itself is antithetical to the idea of the stories I tell.

[nyxshadowhawk]

The Red Book, Liber Primus: Part Two

I'm picking up right where I left off, so please go read Part One: https://nyxshadowhawk.tumblr.com/post/728084509673799680/the-red-book-liber-primus-part-one#notes

Soul and God

Jung says to his soul:

Who are you, child? My dreams have represented you as a child and as a maiden. I am ignorant of your mystery. Forgive me if I speak as in a dream, like a drunkard — are you God? Is God a child, a maiden?

Throughout this chapter, Jung has to grapple with unorthodox ideas of what God looks like. God as a child, let alone a maiden, is so dissonant with typical ideas of divinity in Christianity that I can’t really blame him for reeling over it. I see this as validation that God is inherently polymorphic, and can appear to different people in different ways depending on what they need to see. Jung sees God as a child or a maiden, and I see God as… well… a femboy.

Scholarliness belongs to the spirit of the time [i.e. the conscious mind], but this spirit in no way grasps the dream, since the soul is everywhere that scholarly knowledge is not.

“The soul is everywhere that scholarly knowledge is not” is a great way of putting it. I’ve had to constantly grapple with the balance between my analytical mind and my mystical mind, and since Jung was both a scientist and a mystic, I imagine he needed to do the same. The analytic mind needs everything to be backed up with primary sources and/or proven with empirical evidence, and it needs all of its arguments to be airtight. The mystical mind needs to make wild connections between unrelated things and to take symbols at face value, going more than a bit crazy in the process. The mystical and analytical parts of the mind can work in tandem, but they shouldn’t be confused with each other. If you let the mystical mind handle the analytic stuff, that’s how you get conspiracy theories. If you let the analytic mind handle the mystical stuff, it will shut them down and try to force them into a framework. Scholarship can’t reach everywhere, because some things just don’t make sense, and scholarship is also limited by the zeitgeist (i.e. what we know and how we know it, who’s in power and what their narrative is, needing things to make sense through the cultural lens).

But how can I attain the knowledge of the heart? You can attain this knowledge only by living your life to the full. You live your life fully if you also live what you have never yet lived, but have left for others to live and to think. But you should say, “The life that I could still live, I should live, and the thoughts that I could still think, I should think.” It appears as though you want to flee from yourself so as not to have to live what remains unlived until now. But you cannot flee from yourself. It is with you all the time and demands fulfillment. If you pretend to be blind and dumb to this demand, you feign being blind and deaf to yourself.

This reminds me a lot of the line spoken by Lord Henry in The Picture of Dorian Gray, “To realize one’s nature fully — that is what each of us is here for.” I’d say that this was a Jungian reference, except that Oscar Wilde was writing before Jung wrote any of this. I completely agree that before you attain any real spiritual knowledge, you must have as complete an understanding of yourself as possible. If you avoid developing this understanding of your internal world, then you won’t be really living, and you’ll feel that emptiness and lack of fulfillment that characterizes midlife crisis. And you won’t learn anything.

I had to recognize that I am only the expression and symbol of the soul. In the sense of the spirit of the depths, I am as I am in the visible world a symbol of my soul…

Again, really interesting concept — existing as a symbol of one’s soul, you existing through it instead of it through you. It’s the real thing, you’re the impression it leaves on the material world.

The spirit of the depths taught me to say, “I am the servant of a child.” Through this dictum I learn above all the most extreme humility, as what I most need.

The spirit of this time of course allowed me to believe in my reason. He let me see myself in the image of a leader with ripe thoughts. But the spirit of the depths teaches me that I am a servant, in fact the servant of a child. This dictum was repugnant to me and I hated it. But I had to recognize and accept that my soul is a child and that my God in my soul is a child.

Once again, Jung has a hard time seeing the divine in things that are small, trivial, or mundane. It’s so ridiculous to him that God should appear like a little kid, and that he should be in service to this little kid, that to admit this requires “extreme humility.”

If you are boys, your God is a woman. If you are women, your God is a boy. If you are men, your God is a maiden. The God is where you are not.

“The God is where you are not.” I love this. This suggests that there is something inherently divine about the Shadow, the inverse of whatever your conscious mind considers itself to be. Wherever you don’t build your conscious mind, God fills the empty space. It’s pretty natural for us humans to project ourselves onto God and interpret God as looking like us, hence why God is assumed to be a powerful old man in this patriarchal society. It’s quite another thing to be able to see God in something that isn’t like us, that doesn’t reflect the ideal. That’s another recurring theme.

I don’t know whether it’s always true that a man’s god is a maiden and a woman’s god is a boy, but I know that my god appears as a femboy.

The same inversion occurs with age. If you’re an old person, you have a young god, and vice-versa.

What is better, that man has life ahead of him, or that God does? I know no answer. Life; the unavoidable decides.

This is one of those utterly weird, out-of-the-box mystical ideas that are just so much fun to wonder about. The idea that god ages, that a young god belong to an old person may have more life ahead of it than the living human does, and the question of whether it is better for you to have more life or for your God to have more life. I don’t have an answer to that, either.

My God is a child, so wonder not that the spirit of this time in me is incensed to mockery and scorn. There will be no one who will laugh at me as I have laughed at myself.

Your God should not be a man of mockery, rather you yourself will be the man of mockery. You should mock yourself fand rise above this. If you have still not learned this from the old holy books, then go there, drink the blood and eat the flesh of him who was mocked and tormented for the sake of our sins, so that you totally become his nature, deny his being-apart-from-you; you should be he himself, not Christians but Christ, otherwise you will be of no use to the coming God.

You do not overcome the old teachings through doing less, but through doing more. Every step closer to my soul excites the scornful laughter of my devils, those cowardly ear-whisperers and poison-mixers. It was easy for them to laugh, since I had to do strange things.

The inner Zeitgeist, the voice of the society that Jung lives in, mocks him for his submission to a little kid. Jung feels like he is kind of immune to mockery at this point because no one can possibly mock him for this more than he mocks himself. He throws that mystical mockery into focus with this irreverent but also completely true characterization of Christianity. See, Jung gets it. He realizes that the Eucharist is, in fact, exactly what it looks like. You take God into you. You consume it. You become God. That’s the most mystical thing I’ve heard of this side of Orphism. You’re not a Christian, you are Christ himself, because you’ve partaken in Christ. Get with the program.

I don’t really blame Jung for distancing himself from mysticism throughout his career, because of the threat of mockery. Mysticism still has a stigma attached to it. Scientists don’t like it because it’s pure unadulterated crazy, and Christianity has a very weird relationship to it despite it arguably being the basis of the entire faith (see above). To be a mystic is to be isolated from and mocked by both camps. It’s easy to laugh at because, well, it’s very weird.

On the Service of the Soul

If you take a step towards your soul, you will think that you will at first miss the meaning. You will believe that you have sunk into meaninglessness, into eternal disorder. You will be right! Nothing will deliver you from disorder and meaninglessness, since this is the other half of the world.

Someone please tell Jordan Peterson that Jung says he needs to come to grips with chaos. Chaos matters because it’s half the world, so there is no “antidote” to it, no overcoming it. All you can really do is work with it.

If you marry the ordered to the chaos you produce the divine child, the supreme meaning beyond meaning and meaninglessness.

This is the Chemical Wedding, the orderly (fixed) sulfur and the chaotic (volatile) mercury producing the Philosopher’s Stone, which is an even mix of both. That volatile “dark flood of chaos” transmutes into fixed matter if you just sit with it and let it sort itself out.

I too was afraid, since we had forgotten that God is terrible. Christ taught: God is love. But you should know that love is also terrible.

Everyone has forgotten that God is terrible, and I think that’s a problem. Every time the atheists point out how evil and mean God is in the Old Testament, and how starkly this clashes with the all-loving God that Christians profess they worship, they treat it like it’s an invalidation of the entirety of Christianity. And it is, only because Christians expect everything to be internally consistent. God is, in fact, both, and that is The Point™. There’s also the fact that mystical experiences can be utterly terrifying, awesome and awful and sublime. God is scary as hell, people!

You dread the depths. It should horrify you, since the way of what is to come leads through it. You must endure the temptation of fear and doubt, and at the same time acknowledge to the bone that your fear is justified and your doubt is reasonable.

The first step of spiritual advancement is through the darkness, the chaos, the Underworld. You have to do your Shadow work first. It’s completely reasonable to be afraid of that, because it’s scary by nature, but you’ve still got to do it.

You still have to learn this, to succumb to no temptation, but to do everything of your own will, then you will be be free and beyond Christianity.

So interesting that this book contains what is essentially a road map to transcending Christianity! That’s because “the way of what is to come” involves the dark as well as the light, down as well as up, both halves of the whole. Seeing everything as good and light and “holy” all the time is just as much a temptation as the Devil in the desert. Man that’s ahead of its time!

I have had to recognize that I must submit to what I fear; yes, even more, that I must love what horrifies me.

Shadow work in a nutshell!

The slave to virtue finds the way as little as the slave to vices.

A repetition of what I said above, that divinity doesn’t mean all-goodness-all-the-time. Focusing only on the good and bright and celestial things is only half the equation and is still shooting yourself in the foot.

If you thought you were the master of your soul, become her servant. If you were her servant, become her master.

Inversion again. Whatever you think your relationship to your soul is, flip it and see what happens.

The Desert

(I’ll give you a moment to go and play the Journey soundtrack while you read this. *Opens Spotify*)

Jung’s self appears as a barren desert, because he has neglected it. This is the first time he’s ever really paid attention to his internal world. The “creative power of desire�� is absent from Jung’s desert. If you’re able to focus on your internal world, and not just on “things, men, and thoughts,” you can cultivate it into a garden. (My own mindscape is a Skyrim-esque landscape that looks like green hills and pine forests surrounded by high, craggy silver mountains. It’s slowly developed into Umbragard.) Even if your mindscape is a garden, you still need things, men, and thoughts, but at least you will be their friend instead of their slave.

I turned myself away from things and men, but that is precisely how I became the secure prey of my thoughts, yes, I wholly became my thoughts.

If this is the first time you’ve ever focused on the internal world, then your thoughts will overwhelm you pretty quickly. I’ve spent a lot of time in my internal world, and I still get easily overwhelmed.

When you say that the place of the soul is not, then it is not. When you say that it is, then it is. Notice what the ancients said in images: the word is a creative act. The ancients said: in the beginning was the Word. Consider this and think upon it.

Oh boy, how do I sum this up quickly? I already had notes about this concept from another part of my Book of Shadows that I wrote long before reading this, so I’ll just post that here:

Eliphas Levi writes in Doctrine and Ritual, “To speak is to create.” To think is to exist (“I think therefore I am”), so to speak is more powerful than thought, and writing more powerful than that. This is why many gods of magic are also associated with words, both spoken and written. Hermes is the god of magic, and also of speech and of writing, which are forms of discourse — they’re an exchange of ideas, the same way goods and services are exchanged, and the same way people physically move from place to place when they travel. Hermes’ base characterization as messenger god is based around this same concept, the exchange of information between people. Thoth is self-begotten — he literally willed himself into existence. He decided that he existed, and so he did. In addition to magic, he is also the god of writing, books, record-keeping, and wisdom. Odin discovered the Norse writing system by hanging himself on the World Tree, Yggdrasil, and observing the patterns of its fallen branches. Through this act of self-sacrifice, he received the knowledge of runes. The line between speech/writing and magic is slim. This is why God created the world through “the Word,” and why many occultists believe that if you can pronounce God’s unspeakable name correctly, you can command the entire universe.

So, magic is as simple as it is difficult — you just have to state that something is so, and then accept that it is. It’s really hard to convince your mind that it’s actually possible to do that, and not a form of self-delusion that you’ll be mocked for. My gods have advised me that the easiest spell I can do to end my anxiety is “If I say everything is okay, then it is.” Not easy to convince myself of that while I’m anxious. But it really is that simple. To state that something is so is to bring it into being.

The words that oscillate between nonsense and supreme meaning are the oldest and truest.

Ain’t that the truth. Mystical experiences are somehow both complete insanity and the most profound truth there is, at the same time. That’s how you know that their messages and symbols are older than dirt.

Experiences in the Desert

Jung confronts his soul in the desert. The soul says to Jung, “Don’t you know that the way to truth stands open only to those without intentions?” This rings true for me. If you intend to get something out of a particular experience, then you’ll ignore everything that doesn’t align with the intention. What you want to learn and what you try to do is going to interfere with what you’re actually being taught or given. Intention is for magic; mysticism really requires a state of passive reception, so that you don’t overanalyze things. I have a tendency to shut down meditative visions because I’ll try to plan them out or somehow control them, and that makes them fizzle. My gods recommend that I stop trying to accomplish something specific, and ask more questions.

We tie ourselves up with intentions.

Take it from me: If you try to accomplish something, you will end up getting stuck.

The soul says to Jung, “Do you know who I am? Have you grasped me, defined me, and made me into a dead formula? Have you measured the depths of my chasms, and explored all the ways down which I am yet going to lead you?”

I love this. It implies that the soul is something inherently immeasurable, incomprehensible, and utterly unscientific. You cannot define the soul. That’s the conscious mind attempting to impose a framework onto something that’s too amorphous to really fit into one. Of course, Jung will attempt to create this framework anyway, but that doesn’t change the fact that the best way to understand the soul is to not try to understand it.

The spirit of this time considers itself extremely clever, like every such spirit of the time. But wisdom is simpleminded, not just simple. […] Only in the desert do we become aware of our terrible simplemindedness, but we are afraid of admitting it. […] We cannot save ourselves through increasing our cleverness, but through accepting what our cleverness hates most, namely simplemindedness. Yet we also do not want to be artificial fools because we have fallen into simplemindedness, rather we will be clever fools. That leads to supreme meaning. Cleverness couples itself with intention. Simplemindedness knows no intention. Cleverness conquers the world, but simplemindedness the soul.

I’m betting that this is why the protagonist of so many fairy tales is a “simpleton.” They’re a person who doesn’t overthink things, doesn’t have an agenda, doesn’t operate from a place of self-interest or distrust. Their utter lack of cynicism is what allows them to accept help from ignoble-looking supernatural beings and friendly animals. They recieve all experiences with childlike wonder. They choose the plain-looking object instead of the shiny gold one, because they don’t feel the need to impress anybody. They aren’t stupid, per se — they’re more like 0 The Fool in a tarot deck, in that their naivete prevents them from being clever, and that works out well for them.

Jung’s conscious mind keeps saying “this is stupid!” but he has to stick with it. Overcoming his scorn at himself brings him nearer to his soul, and his desert starts to become green. “Many will laugh at my foolishness. But no one will laugh more than I laughed at myself.”

Descent into Hell in the Future

Time for katabasis! You knew it was coming. No Hero’s Journey is complete without a full-on descent into the Underworld.

Do you want me to leave myself to chance, to the madness of my own darkness? Wither? Wither? You fall, and I want to fall with you, whoever you are.

The spirit of the depths opened my eyes and I caught a glimpse of the inner things, the world of my soul, the many-formed and changing.

Most of the illustrations are big, beautiful paintings in in Liber Secundus, but there’s a few small ones nestled in Liber Primus. The first one is this one of a man in white walking in the Underworld, surrounded by shadowy monsters. The man in the image is too dark-skinned to be Jung, and he has shoulder-length black hair, but is clearly meant to represent Jung. I’m not sure why Jung decided to represent himself this way. But then again, the form that I take during my active imagination also looks nothing like me, so I get it.

Jung describes a cave of black water, across which is a “luminous red stone.” I immediately thought of the lake in the cave in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and the red stone is obviously a familiar image as well. Jung sees a severed head floating in the stream, a large black scarab, a red sun surrounded by snakes, represented in the next image:

There’s some interpretation of these images, but before we get there, Jung writes at length about one of my favorite subjects — divine madness!

These lines really struck me:

When can I order my thinking to be quiet, so that my thoughts, those unruly hounds, will crawl to my feet? How can I ever hope to hear your voice louder, to see you clearer, when all my thoughts howl? […] The fullness of my knowledge threatens to fall in on me. My knowledge was a thousand voices, an army roaring like lions; the air trembles when they speak, and I am their defenseless sacrifice. […] Let me persist in divine astonishment, so that I am ready to behold your wonders.

As a person who deals with anxiety and shame on a regular basis, I can say from experience that the voices of one’s thoughts can be overwhelming to the point of being intolerable. I’ve had fight-or-flight triggered by my thoughts alone, even when nothing bad is going on in real life (e.g. over something as non-threatening as sending emails). Likening those thoughts to an army of dangerous animals is a great metaphor. It’s also “knowledge” that Jung feels threatened by in this scene — knowledge can be helpful or powerful, but it also interferes with the ability to interpret dream-images at face value. Later in this paragraph, Jung cries for mercy from “science that clever knower” and the “serpent of judgement.” This goes back to what I was saying before about the balance between the analytic and the mystical mind. This is one context in which empirical thinking and analysis need not apply. Jung’s instincts to explain and categorize everything, to force them to make sense, and to pass judgement make the experience of katabasis even harder than it already is.

That’s where madness comes in. Madness suspends logic, judgement, and categorization. Madness forces you to allow things to not make sense. It is the state of being submerged in raw, unfiltered unconscious. Here’s what Jung has to say about it:

This is how I overcame madness. If you do not know what divine madness is, suspend judgement and wait for the fruits. But know that there is a divine madness which is nothing other than the overpowering of the spirit of this time through the spirit of the depths. Speak then of sick delusion when the spirit of the depths can no longer stay down and forces a man to speak in tongues instead of in human speech, and makes him believe that he himself is the spirit of the depths. But also speak of sick delusion when the spirit of this time does not leave a man and forces him to see only the surface, to deny the spirit of the depths and to take himself for the spirit of the times. The spirit of this time is ungodly, the spirit of the depths is ungodly, balance is godly.

[…]

Thus can you differentiate sick and divine delusion. Whoever does the one and does without the other you may call sick since he is out of balance.

That phrase “suspend judgement and wait for the fruits” means almost exactly the same thing as something Dionysus told me: “Take your sanity off like a mask, and take everything at face value as you would in a dream.” When you’re traversing the Otherworld, the way to maintain your sanity is to deliberately suspend your sanity. Attempting to overanalyze everything will drive you crazy, literally, because the Otherworld doesn’t conform to any kind of human logic. So, just accept it. If you remove your sanity, then it’ll still be there for you when you come back, instead of it getting damaged by all the nonsense that bombards you.

Jung defines madness as the Spirit of the Depths overtaking the Zeitgeist, i.e. the unconscious mind subsuming the conscious mind. He also distinguishes deliberate, mystical madness from psychiatric disorders — in the former case, one allows the Spirit of the Depths to take over, while in the latter case, the Spirit of the Depths forces itself on the person. I’ve made similar distinctions in some of my answers, like this one. Psychiatric disorders are debilitating, and prevent a person from living a normal life, while my mystical madness doesn’t last beyond my deliberate engagement with it and doesn’t interfere with my normal life. I think it’s interesting that Jung says that when a person is forcibly overtaken by the Spirit of the Depths, they think they are the Spirit of the Depths. That seems to describe all the people I’ve encountered on the internet who claim to be gods, unable to distinguish between their own fixed identities and the massive, inconsistent identities of the spirits. Sometimes it’s good to experience that (“ego death”), but you have to come back down again.

I also think it’s interesting that Jung defines possession by the Zeitgeist, denial of the unconscious mind and its contents, as a sort of mental illness. Such a person is probably the sort who allows atheism or reliance on scientific objectivity to essentially replace religion, blocking out any engagement with the irrational aspects of existence and denying that there is any healthy or productive way to engage with them. (One of the things I think Jung got right is that irrational, mystical, and weird things are an inherent and manifest part of life, and that science needs to find some way of addressing them.) The healthiest mental state is some balance between the two. There’s our running theme of reconciliation of duality.

Jung continues:

But who can withstand fear when the divine intoxication and madness comes to him? Love, soul, and God are beautiful and terrible. The ancients brought over some of the beauty of God into this world, and this world became so beautiful that it appeared to the spirit of the time to be fulfillment, and better than the bosom of the Godhead. The frightfulness and cruelty of the world lay under wraps and in the depths of our hearts. If the spirit of the depths seizes you, you will feel the cruelty and cry out in torment. The spirit of the depths is pregnant with iron, fire, and death. You are right to fear the spirit of the depths, as he is full of horror.

Divine madness is useful and productive, but it’s still madness, and therefore scary as all hell. Looking God full in the face is going to cause insanity, the question is whether it’s the permanent kind or not. God is full of beauty and wonder, but don’t assume (as the Zeitgeist does) that its unfathomable beauty is fulfillment in and of itself, because you still have to confront the abject horror of it to get the full picture. If you don’t, the Spirit of the Depths will make sure you do on its terms instead of yours, and it won’t be pretty.

Jung also says this a couple of paragraphs earlier:

To the extent that the Christianity of this time lacks madness, it lacks divine life. Take note of what the ancients taught us in images: madness is divine.

I’m definitely going to be quoting this line in future posts, because this right here is one of the big reasons I prefer Dionysus to Christ. Madness is divine, but Christianity doesn’t often leave a lot of room for madness, or magic. It categorizes everything into very rigid theology and word-for-word interpretations of the Bible, despite mysticism being at its core and a constant lurking presence throughout its history. (Someday, I promise I will write a long answer on that.) It (sometimes violently) rejects everything that doesn’t conform to its framework as heresy. If Christianity lacks its madness and mysticism, and becomes more about the frameworks of orthodoxy and politics, its spiritual core is gone. One of the running themes throughout Jung’s mystical experiences, going all the way back to his childhood, is that he has to grapple with the fact that Christianity doesn’t serve his spiritual needs. He recognizes that it is incomplete, and that it focuses on only one-half of the equation, but because of the time and place he lives in, he can’t just hop on over to Dionysus like I could. We’ll get back to this, too.

Moving on. Jung provides some interpretation of the three images he saw in the Underworld: the severed head floating in the river, the black scarab, and the red sun:

Blood shone at me from the red light of the crystal, and when I picked it up to discover its mystery, there lay the horror uncovered before me: in the depths of what is to come lay murder. The blond hero lay slain. The black beetle is the death that is necessary for renewal; and so, thereafter, a new sun glowed, the sun of the depths, full of riddles, a sun of the night. And as the rising sun of spring quickens the dead earth, so the sun of the depths quickened the dead, and thus began the terrible struggle between light and darkness. Out of that burst the powerful and ever unvanquished source of blood.

We’ll get back to the dead hero, because that gets its own chapter. The black scarab I immediately associated with the Egyptian god Khepri, who pushes the sun. Another connection I made that I’m surprised Jung didn’t explicitly spell out has to do with his drawing of the red sun — it looks exactly like an egg cell, and it’s surrounded by snakes that look like sperm, one of which is touching it. Jung interprets the snakes as the reanimated dead matter that blots out the sun, but the drawing looks like a moment of conception. A significant portion of Liber Primus focuses on the conception of the god of the new age, which is explicitly a god that reconciles dualities. Here is the conception of the God, inside the womb of the Earth. And, I’m realizing right now as I write this… Zeus conceived Zagreus with Persephone, the lady of the Underworld, in the form of a serpent… Adding on to that, Macrobius identifies Dionysus with the chthonic or dark aspect of the sun: “They observe the holy mystery in the rites by calling the sun Apollo when it is in the upper (that is, daytime) hemisphere; when it is in the lower (that is, night-time) hemisphere, it is considered Dionysus, who is Liber.” Gee, I wonder who the god of the new age is! (Obviously, I’m biased, so take what you will from this.)

It struck me that Jung’s description of the Underworld is very pagan. It doesn’t sound like a Christian depiction of Hell at all. There’s no fire, no demons, no sinners being tortured, none of Dante’s creative punishments or Lucifer and his angels plotting revenge. Instead we get rivers, the sun, a scarab beetle, and loads and loads of snakes. Jung seems to agree, because in a 1925 lecture (cited in the footnotes) he says:

The light in the cave from the crystal was, I thought, like the stone of wisdom [the philosopher’s stone]. The secret murder of the hero I could not understand at all. The beetle of course I knew to be an ancient sun symbol, and the setting sun, the luminous red disk, was archetypal. The serpents I thought might have been connected with Egyptian material. I could not then realize that it was all so archetypal.

I don’t know the details of all Jung’s theories on why he saw these specific images, but here’s my theory: The “pagan-ness” of this Underworld is a sign that it can be escaped. Hell is a place of punishment, of permanent separation from God if not literal torture. The pagan Underworld is a place of death, but death is part of a cycle, and a lot of hero stories involve some sort of katabasis or symbolic death and rebirth. This is the nigredo stage of alchemy, a critical first step of the initiation process. The Christian concept of Hell does not represent that very well. That’s just my opinion.

The next section is a commentary on how events have no inherent meaning, but that humans assign meaning to events:

The events that happen are always the same. But the creative depths of man are not always the same. Events signify nothing, they signify only in us. We create the meaning of events. The meaning is and always was artificial. We make it.

Because of this we seek in ourselves the meaning of events, so that the way of what is to come becomes apparent and our life can flow again.

That which you need comes from yourself, namely the meaning of the event. The meaning of events is not their particular meaning. This meaning exists in learned books. Events have no meaning.

The meaning of events comes from the possibility of life in this world that you create. It is the mastery of this world and the assertion of your soul in this world.

The meaning of events is the supreme meaning, that is not in events, and not in the soul, but in God standing between events and the soul, the mediator of life, the bridge and the going-across.

I like this idea of God standing “between events and the soul.” Events have no meaning, stuff just happens. Looking for meaning in the external world is pointless, so it has to be found in the internal world. In order to put to use all of the information you find in the internal world, you need to bring it outward and impress your soul upon the external world. God is the mediator that allows you to do that. God translates the language of the internal world into that of the external world, and vice-versa. That’s basically the alchemical process and/or Hero’s Journey right there — journey into the internal world, receive spiritual insight, bring it down. I’ve been struggling with that last part, but I know it’s doable.

And now, we finally get to Shadow work! I’m just going to transcribe this entire section:

Therefore I take part in that murder; the sun of the depths also shines in me after the murder has been accomplished; the thousand serpents that want to devour the sun are also in me. I myself am a murderer and murdered, sacrificer and sacrificed. The upwelling blood streams out of me.

You all have a share in the murder. In you the reborn one will come to be, and the sun of the depths will rise, and a thousand serpents will develop from your dead matter and fall on the sun to choke it. Your blood will stream forth. The peoples demonstrate this at the present time in unforgettable acts, that will be written with blood in unforgettable books for eternal memory.

But I ask you, when do men fall on their brothers with mighty weapons and bloody acts? They do such if they do not know that their brother is themselves. They themselves are sacrificers, but they mutually do the service of sacrifice. They must all sacrifice each other, since the time has not yet come when man puts the bloody knife into himself, in order to sacrifice the one he kills in his brother. But whom do people kill? They kill the noble, the brave, the heroes. They take aim at these and do not know that with these they mean themselves. They should sacrifice the hero in themselves, and because they do not know this, they kill their courageous brother.

The time is still not ripe. But through this blood sacrifice, it should ripen. So long as it is possible to murder the brother instead of oneself, the time is not ripe. Frightful things must happen until men grow ripe. But anything else will not ripen humanity. Hence all this that takes place in these days must also be, so that the renewal can come. Since the source of blood that follows the shrouding of the sun is also the source of the new life.

As the fate of the peoples is represented to you in events, so it will happen in your heart. If the hero in you is slain, then the sun of the depths rises in you, glowing from afar, and from a dreadful place. But all the same, everything that up till now seemed to be dead in you will come to life, and will change into poisonous serpents that will cover the sun, and you will fall into night and confusion. Your blood also will stream from many wounds in this frightful struggle. Your shock and doubt will be great, but from such torment the new life will be born. Birth is blood and torment. Your darkness, which you did not suspect since it was dead, will come to life and you will feel the crush of total evil and the conflicts of life that still now lie buried in the matter of your body. But the serpents are dreadful evil thoughts and feelings.

You thought you knew that abyss? Oh you clever people! It is another thing to experience it. Everything will happen to you. Think of all the frightful and devilish things that men have inflicted on their brothers. That should happen to you in your heart. Suffer it yourself through your own hand, and know that it is your own heinous and devilish hand that inflicts the suffering on you, but not your brother, who wrestles with his own devils.

I would like you to see what the murdered hero means. Those nameless men who in our day have murdered a prince are blind prophets who demonstrate in events what then is valid only for the soul. Through the murder of princes we will learn that the prince in us, the hero, is threatened. Whether this should be seen as a good or a bad sign need not concern us. What is awful today is good in a hundred years, and in two hundred years is bad again. But we must recognize what is happening: there are nameless ones in you who threaten your prince, the hereditary ruler.

But our ruler is the spirit of this time, which rules and leads in us all. It is the general spirit in which we think and act today. He is of frightful power, since he has brought immeasurable good to this world and fascinated men with unbelievable pleasure. He is bejeweled with the most beautiful heroic virtue, and wants to drive men up to the brightest solar heights, in everlasting ascent.

The hero wants to open up everything he can. But the nameless spirit of the depths evokes everything that man cannot. Incapacity prevents further ascent. Greater height requires greater virtue. We do not possess it. We must first create it by learning to live with our incapacity. We must give it life. For how else shall it develop into ability?

We cannot slay our incapacity and rise above it. But that is precisely what we wanted. Incapacity will overcome us and demand its share of life. Our ability will desert us, and we will believe, in the sense of the spirit of this time, that it is a loss. Yet it is no loss but a gain, not for outer trappings, however, but for inner capability.

The one who learns to live with his incapacity has learned a great deal. This will lead us to the valuation of the smallest things, and to wise limitation, which the greater height demands. If all heroism is erased, we fall back into the misery of humanity and into even worse. Our foundations will fall into the cesspool of our underworld, among the rubble of all the centuries in us.

The heroic in you is the fact that you are ruled by the thought that this or that is good, that this or that performance is indispensable, this or that cause is objectionable, this or that goal must be attained in headlong striving work, this or that pleasure should be ruthlessly repressed at all costs. Consequently you sin against incapacity. But incapacity exists. No one should deny it, find fault with it, or shout it down.

Jung is speaking in the context of the impending World Wars. That’s the blood sacrifice that he refers to, but everything he says here is also applicable to Shadow work more generally. The reason why people kill each other is because they project their own Shadows, their own Depths, onto each other. The heroes are the ones that die, because people become heroes by going to war and killing a bunch of people or by dying nobly in battle. In order to do Shadow work, you have to admit that you are complicit in this violence, and that you are both the killer and the victim. You’re the one holding the gun. When Jung says that he is both “murderer and murdered, sacrificer and sacrificed,” I’m reminded of Dionysus executing Pentheus by dismemberment, the same way he himself was murdered. I’m also reminded of how bulls and goats were named as representations of Dionysus himself before being sacrificed to him, sacrificing himself to himself. As far as I know, Dionysus is the only Ancient Greek god with that particular dynamic, that direct identification with the animals (and fictional people) sacrificed to him. All of the sacrifice and blood and death paves the way for resurrection and restoration, as it does in alchemy.

These lines are particularly striking: “You thought you knew that abyss? Oh you clever people! It is another thing to experience it. Everything will happen to you. […] Suffer it yourself through your own hand, and know that it is your own heinous and devilish hand that inflicts the suffering on you…” You thought you knew the dark? Oh, you don’t even know the dark, buddy. Not until you see the abyss staring back into you. The real truth is that you are heinous, you are devilish, you are the thing you fear the most and the thing you think you’re fighting against. “Oh you clever people!” is my new favorite insult. Cleverness won’t help you against your Shadow. Shadow is stark.

Facing the Shadow also requires the death of the hero, your “perfect” idealized image of yourself. The Zeitgeist wants you to rise to this ideal and become the most moral, the most pure, the most powerful, etc. But this is just unrealistic. You’re human, and you’re flawed. The way to transcend those flaws is to learn to live with them, maybe even turn them into advantages. But to do that, you have to admit that the flaws are there. No matter how much you may try to sort your actions and qualities into good and bad, useful and useless, meaningful and meaningless, or any other dichotomy, incapacity still exists. Whatever you’ve rejected will always exist, weighing you down, until you figure out how to turn your weaknesses into your greatest strengths. I love the idea of “sinning against incapacity” because it is so transgressive but also so true. You can sin against the dark, too, because the dark is also God.

More to come!

[eldritch-shitposting]

Hi! I just found your Stargate/Yugioh crossover and was wondering if it's officially dead? There's not enough crossovers of it and yours was really interesting!!!

I wanted to see if Kaiba already knew about the aliens and that's why he kept insisting it wasn't magic. Does Kaiba have one as well? If he did does he realize Atem has no memories?

I absolutely love it when Bakura calls Ryou "Landlord". Depending on the context it could be good or bad. Does Bakura still have Zorc within him? Because I've read a few fics where Bakura is still as asshole but Zorc was the one doing all the super evil shit.

Was Yami Marik just Marik going crazy/magic shenanigans or a legit Goa'uld whose calmed down now? Because Yami Marik is so fun when he's not killing people.

Sorry, I went on a bit of a ramble there. I hope you're doing ok and everything is going amazingly in your life! Have a great Day/Night and thank you again for writing even if it is dead!

It is not a dead fic! I cannot say when it will get updated, but it isn't one I consider a dead fic. I even have a start on the next chapter!

That said, wow are these questions making me consider how much I have not yet thought out. Which is to say, I don't directly have answers to most of these yet. Thank you for sending them! Now I have to actually think about them.

The one I can answer (probably) is about Zorc and Bakura. Which is to say no, Ryou is not ALSO carrying a crazy ass demon-alien as well as a general alien head parasite. Bakura, the goa'uld, really is a revolutionary trying to overthrow an old regime. He's just ALSO been running around for too long and abusing him some sarcophagus privileges. It's canonical on the show that over-use of the healing sarcophagus causes megalomania and saps empathy. So goa'uld Bakura is trying his best, but he's, uh, not exactly sane right now.

That said, we might see Zorc make a showing at some point anyway, depending on where the fic takes us. I will also be putting a little more thought on the characterizations of Seto and Malik and see where we end up.

Thank you so much for the question, it makes me so happy to know my stuff is being enjoyed!

[indoraptorgirlwind]

Your spirit animal depending on your birthdate according to mayans.

Lizard (december 13-January 9)

Lizards are constantly changing and mutating. This is because the lizard's goal is to find itself. This protective animal is very multifaceted, so it will always look for more, instead of settling for what it knows and knows.On the other hand, it is difficult for the lizard to make decisions, since it always takes time for everything, since it does not like to make hasty decisions, but rather correct ones. Whoever loves a lizard should know that they do not have to pressure it, or it will run away. Furthermore, lizards are simple, orderly, almost always methodical and very good friends.

Monkey (January 10-February 6)

The monkey is an animal with a lot of energy, it does not know and cannot sit still for a moment. Their mind is just as restless as their body, so they can't stop thinking for even a second. One of their greatest qualities is to make people laugh and laugh at their own problems, so you will hardly see a monkey lamenting their situation. In love, monkeys are quite calculating, in the sense that they will try to find the right person before committing emotionally to someone. If your partner is a monkey, you should consider yourself lucky.

Hawk (February 7-March 6)

Since they are little, hawks have a strong character and a defined personality, which is why they tend to stand out easily. Furthermore, they hate it when others underestimate their presence. On the other hand, the hawk has a skillful and alert mentality, as well as great intelligence and ability to study. Likewise, they have a great sense of duty and responsibility. However, there are also more radical and somewhat rebellious hawks, who want to do things their own way and break with everything established. Be that as it may, despite their great independence and their refusal to receive orders, when they reach maturity, they will seek spirituality intensely.

Jaguar (March 7-April 3)

Jaguars are very direct and passionate. You will never see a jaguar doubting what it wants or how to get it. They always achieve what they set out to do. Likewise, they are brave and altruistic people. They are also quite independent and difficult to reach when it comes to love, but whoever "hunts" a jaguar knows and appreciates how lucky they are. However, there are two types of jaguars: the conventional ones and the eccentric ones, and the problem is that, sometimes, these two personalities coexist in the same person, which creates many internal struggles. That is why one of the lessons of the jaguar's life is to find balance and inner peace.

Fox (April 4-May 1)

The fox is an extremely loving and noble person by nature. Their vocation, since birth, is helpfulness. That is why one of the fox's abilities is that it can know people in a unique and exceptional way.Foxes are generally quite traditional about their life: they seek to start a family, get married, have children, and get a good job. Their way of living life is simple, because they understand that the secret to happiness is to love and be loved.

Snake (May 2-May 29)

Snakes are characterized by seeking luxury, comfort, elegance and refinement. His good taste is innate, both in clothing, in behavior, even in walking. The snake is strong-willed, so it is better not to have it as an enemy, since its venom is lethal and if it has to hurt you, it will. However, this harsh attitude is due to the fact that the snake, deep down, is very romantic and has a sensitive soul, so it will become defensive in order to protect its heart.

Rabbit (May 30-June 26)

These are the most talkative people in the entire Mayan zodiac, so if you are thinking about keeping something a secret, you better not tell the rabbit. However, they are very sociable people and love making new friends. In fact, they have a special gift for attracting others. Likewise, they are attractive, very active and can do several things at the same time. The speed of their movements and thoughts is such that they frequently change their minds all the time. This fact disorients those around them.

Turtle (June 27-July 25)

As a general rule, turtles really like to be at home and are very peaceful. They take life with philosophy, so they don't run, but rather savor it. Likewise, they greatly hate shocks and anything that breaks their inner peace. Turtles move away from any risky situation and build their lives bit by bit, with perseverance, because they know that there are no easy results. On the other hand, they have conservative customs and believe in morality and ethics, so they are noble by instinct.

Bat (July 26, August 22)

They have a strong and determined character, as well as fighters and entrepreneurs by nature, which makes them leaders and successful people. Perhaps for this very reason, they like to take and give orders. They are impulsive, they are not afraid of challenges, they directly act. That is why they often get into trouble and only they can get out of that situation. It is difficult for a bat to take "no" for an answer, as they will insist and do everything they can to change that "no" to a "yes." This may be because they are very self-confident, although sometimes they are somewhat authoritarian because they believe that what they think is the right thing.

Scorpion (August 23-September 19)

They are very jealous, but also very reserved, since they guard their privacy as if it were a great treasure. Scorpions do not worry about everyone liking them, in fact, they think that it is not necessary for this to happen. They are very calculating and observant when they are with someone new, since they study their ways and words, until they form a very firm opinion of the new member. And the best thing is that they are rarely wrong! In addition to this, it should be said that they have a great memory and never forget the good or the bad. This makes them very grateful, but also vengeful.

Deer (September 20-October 17)

This is the most sensitive Mayan zodiac animal of all. They are usually a fragile and scared person, but on the other hand they have the gift of beauty, and not only physically, but they are also very beautiful on the inside. Normally, deer try to hide their fragility and fear with their more positive side and their intelligence, so that their heart is not damaged at any time. In addition, they are so sensitive that sometimes it is difficult for them to put their feet on the ground.

Owl (October 18-November 14)

Owls have great extrasensory abilities, so it is said that they can sometimes anticipate what is about to happen. In fact, their predictions rarely fail, and when they have a hunch, it always comes true. Hence, they tend to listen to their inner voice to guide them throughout their lives. However, owls usually have two facets: on the one hand, at first, they are usually quite shy, but then, when they gain confidence, they are quite talkative. Like this animal, the nahual maya owl will often prefer night over day.

Peacock (November 15-December 12)

These people shine by nature. They are extroverted, very charismatic and sometimes somewhat wasteful. They like to be the center of attention, although sometimes they try to hide it with humor, above all. If you have a peacock in your environment, you should encourage it to follow its dreams and never cut it's wings. If they feed their imagination, they will be extremely creative people with innovative ideas. Later, life situations will force them to put their feet on the ground, but in the meantime, they must be allowed to grow.

[twilitty]

Ok forgive me for the essay, but I'm thinking about the story of the Chief's wife in Eclipse (and how Bella mimics it.) And like...ok. I would normally dismiss fatally stabbing yourself to draw blood (vs just pricking your finger) as a stupid, edgy detail added for drama yknow?

But knowing Stephanie's...biases...it just feels really ugly. Like the implication that a grown ass woman in a leadership position was incapable of acting under pressure without killing herself?...While a hormone-ravaged, mentally unstable teenager who kept trying to die (badly) just months prior handled the situation better?

Like..why not have the Chief's wife also just cut her arm? It would be easier (it takes a lot of force to stab thru your own abs,) quicker, and the same goal would be accomplished. It made no sense for Stephanie to fridge this woman and it's honestly smelling a little Mormon to me.

Hello Anon!

Apologies for it taking me so long to get to this! Alright, let's dive in...

First, I completely agree with your assessment. If it was any other form of media I would right that off as the author trying to be edgy and add some depth to the story. But, as you said, knowing this authors biases it's likely safe to assume that this was added into the story with some level of prejudice.

We can see a similar trend taking place with the other Indigenous characters in the Twilight Saga. There is unnecessary amounts of trauma and hardship for these characters, and the white characters seem to have it much easier despite also being supernatural.

The vampires (white) don't experience the trauma of having to turn into a ginormous wolf and fight to protect your community. The vampires may not always enjoy their current situation (e.g., Rosalie disliking immortality and it's implications on her inabiliy to have biological children), but they do not have to continue to re-experience the trauma of it every single day.

The Wolves (Indigenous) are immediately isolated from friends and family- depending on whether those individuals are aware of the Wolves or not. They then undergo massive bodily changes that have them look nearly a decade older than they actually are. We have fifteen year olds who look twenty five, you cannot tell me this isn't at least a little bit prejudiced.

The physical aging in such a short period of time allows for Meyer to villanize these youths without feeling as though she is villanizing a bunch of children. "These Wolves are volatile and dangerous! They all look 25 so I can totally place this judgement on them, it's not like they are teenagers with hormone changes and a completely unstable social and family life due to their newly supernatural traits!" See what I'm saying?

I could go on about this for ages, just comparing and contrasting how the Indigenous characters are constantly receiving all of the hardships that the white characters don't have to experience.

So, yes, I fully agree with you and your views on the Third Wife story. I believe that this is just another example of Meyer placing trauma and harm on Indigenous characters. If this story instead had a white individual having to make this decision, I doubt it would have had the same outcome. AND, when Bella (white, main character, basically just Meyer's characterization of herself) goes to act in a similar way to the Third Wife she acts in a way that minimizes the harm to herself.

She gets to act selflessly and still live to tell the tale.

All in all, thank you for sharing your thoughts! Feel free to jump into my inbox anytime!!

[burleighcentralphysio]

Bulk Billing Physio in Palm Beach: accessible care for all

 In healthcare, not everyone can afford treatments for themselves. Accessibility and affordability are crucial factors. For many people, they cannot afford even normal treatment, and getting the care they need can be severely impacted by the cost of medical care. This is the situation where bulk billing physio services, particularly in Palm Beach, come into play. Because they may obtain the essential physiotherapy treatments without worrying about the expense, residents are better able to maintain their health and well-being when bulk billing physiotherapy is implemented.

The Value of Physical Therapy

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Why Choose Bulk Billing Physio?,

Bulk billing physio is a payment method that is used for the Australian healthcare system generally, which is a very good thing as people who can’t afford treatments can benefit from them. This suggests there won’t be any out-of-pocket costs for the therapy. Many people find that bulk billing physio makes it easier to receive the care they require without worrying about cost, particularly for those who require frequent physiotherapy appointments.

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Physio Palm Beach: A Community-Centered Approach

Physio Palm Beach services are made to meet the demands of this energetic neighborhood. Modern amenities and knowledgeable staff who are aware of the unique requirements of physio Palm Beach residents characterize the clinics. They provide tailored treatment programs that take into account your objectives for health, physical state, and way of life.

What you can expect from Physio Palm Beach

You can expect complete treatment at Palm Beach, where the process usually begins with a thorough evaluation, in which the physiotherapist will evaluate your condition, go over your medical history, and ascertain your goals. This information is then used to create a personalized treatment plan.

A Physio Palm Beach clinic may employ a combination of manual therapy, fitness programs, and lifestyle modification counseling as treatments. What is more crucial is to address the current issue as well as take a few prevention measures to avoid future issues as well. If you have a sports injury, you can also take these therapies at Palm Beach for improvement in your injury. If you don’t treat them with time to heal and the right therapy it can become a problem for individuals in sports.

If you plan to hire a Palm Beach physiotherapist, it means selecting affordable, first-rate medical care that puts your needs first. Whether your goal is to maintain overall physical well-being, recover from injuries, or manage chronic diseases, Palm Beach physical therapists are here to support you always, and soon you will reach your health goals. They achieve this by emphasizing individualized care heavily.

Having a dependable physiotherapist who is aware of your demands is crucial in Palm Beach, where leading an active lifestyle is commonplace. A workable answer is offered by bulk billing physiotherapy services, which guarantees that no one in the community is denied access to necessary care because of a lack of money.

[aishatradinginsights]

The Power of Multiple Income Streams: Securing Your Financial Future

As you will agree, the world today is characterized by high risks and instabilities; therefore, depending on one income source is rather dangerous. Living a very busy life while being employed and working on different businesses, I have learned the importance of diversifying one’s income sources. Besides ensuring there will be enough money to live comfortably, this approach is also a gateway into enjoying other interests and meeting people who have the same desire to work hard.

At that time I did not think much about it and felt that as long as I have a job I am set. But the moment I started looking at other sources of income, I discovered that there was something more that could be done out there. This search took me to ORION Wealth Academy where I learnt that trading was not the sum total. The only thing that was brilliant was the activity of the group and the abundance of experience to share among people.

One of the things I have come to appreciate is the fact that more than one source of income provides the kind of security that cannot be explained. It simply adds to your peace of mind when you don’t rely entirely on a single pay check to get by. Thus, if something happens to your primary job, you always have a backup job to go to, and that is invaluable in the contemporary environment.

However, the concept of internship is not just about earning more than what you are paid presently. Reducing risks and expanding income sources help the construction of wealth. It allows you to invest and save and increase your wealth when it is nearly impossible while being confined to one source of income. Moreover, social support is a critical component of cost and narrowly tailored services, and in a project like ORION, you’re not alone in this fight. The encouragement, suggestions, and fellowship that are provided here have been more than helpful in my endeavor to keep up as well as steering my path in the right direction.

As much as it is possible to run side projects along with full-time employment, there are challenges that come with it. Consequently, planning and managing time becomes a more important aspect of project delivery or accomplishment of set goals. But with the help of ORION I have learned how to meet all the obligations while still staying productive. It is about breaking your routine to discover your motivation and hope — why one should continue insisting, when everything seems to be going wrong. To me, the ‘why’ is creating something that is completely my own where am able to fend for my family and be meet my needs and desires in life.

What sets this broker apart from the others is not only the trading education but also the complete life enrichment plan. In addition to giving lessons on the markets, the Academy provides much more. It is a program that involves acquiring life experience, learning how to manage money, and engaging with like-minded people who will push you to live a well-rounded life. The discussions and workshops here are not about exotic car leases and computerized bonuses — here it’s about building a life full of meaning.

What I really like about ORION is that it’s not only about trading: the people are fantastic; they become friends and share their expertise with you. Indeed, these relationships have been critical in my development in that I have been challenged to be the best person and professional that I can be. I was not expecting the support from the ORION community as much as cherish at the end of the day I came to value the support a lot.

That is true to some extent for the financial markets but when these are supported with proper guidance and a fantastic community it turns into the best shot. It is very important that ORION Wealth Academy has not only learn me how to trade but also to build a life that is financially and personally rewarding. That is why if you want to invest and protect your money at the same time but also meet people who will make you happy — turn to ORION. Start your process of enhancing the quality of your life right now.

[byteblissbuzz]

Best 45 Top Grade PSL Water Guy

Installing a Water Softener is a crucial step for homes dealing with hard water. Hard water, characterized by elevated mineral content, mainly calcium and magnesium, can cause numerous problems, such as scale buildup in pipes and appliances, lowering their efficiency and lifetime. Installing a water softener can efficiently tackle this problem. These units function by exchanging the calcium ions and magnesium ions in the water with sodium, thereby softening the water. While the installation process, which entails linking the water softener to your home's water main line, might appear simple, it is suggested to employ a expert to ensure safety and accuracy.

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On the other hand, Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Water Treatment are integral to purifying water and making it safe for consumption for drinking. Reverse Osmosis is a method that purifies water by pushing it through a semi-permeable membrane filter under pressure, effectively getting rid of up to 99% of dangerous elements, like salts, bacteria, and pyrogens in water. Treating water, a broader term, encompasses different methods like disinfection, filtration, and distillation, each with its individual pros. The choice of method depends on the particular requirements of the water source and its intended use, highlighting the need of regular water testing of water quality.

In today's world, the importance of clean, secure, and soft water cannot be overstated. This write-up will examine three important elements of water filtration: Water Softener Setup, Reverse Osmosis, and Water Purification.

Water Softener Setup

Water softeners are essential for households with hardened water. Hard water contains high amounts of mineral content like calcium and magnesium ions, which can result in scaling in pipes and appliances, reducing their effectiveness and life span.

Installing a water softener is a practical solution to this problem. A water softener works by replacing the calcium ions and magnesium ions in hardened water with sodium ions, efficiently softening the water. The installation process entails connecting the water softener to your home's water supply line. It's suggested to hire a pro for the setup to ensure it's carried out right and safely.

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse Osmosis is one more well-liked method for purifying water. It functions by forcing water via a semi-permeable filter under pressure. This method removes up to 99 percent of dissolved salts, particles in water, organics, bacteria, and pyrogens in water from the water, making it safe for drinking.

Reverse Osmosis systems are often employed in both of home and business settings. They are comparatively simple to establish and maintain, giving a trustworthy source of supply of purified water.

Water Purification

Water purification is a wide expression that encompasses numerous methodologies utilized to make water safer to use for human use. Apart from water softening and RO, other usual water treatment methods include disinfecting (using chlorine treatment or UV light), filtering, and distillation.

Each technique has its pros and is utilized depending on the specific demands of the water source and its intended usage. Regularly testing of of water quality is vital to determine the most suitable treatment method.

Wrap-up

In summary, water softener setup, reverse osmosis, and water treatment are all vital aspects of guaranteeing accessibility to cleaned, safe to use, water. By grasping these methods, we can make informed decisions about our water consumption and purification, contributing to healthier lifestyles and a better world.

Original Post for: 84 Top-Rated PSL Water Guy

[treasureyourfire]

(Eng)

Day 5

29.01.2024

Today's card:

Knight of Wands

The bottom card of the deck (I accidentally saw it): Nine of Swords. (In this post, I did not explain the meaning of the card at length, but it clearly refers to a negative spiritual/mental state. Fears, constant worry -about everything-, self-doubt. I should probably burn these in myself with the energy of the Knight of Wands.)

The following list was compiled for my own situation, it does not contain a complete, comprehensive description of the given card.

Knight of Wands - Glowing Air

Speed

Passion

Fierceness

Life energy

Strength

Effervescence

Desire to act

Action

Courage

Risk taking

Temperament

A thirst for adventure

Hunger for experience

Momentum

Enthusiasm

Determination

Sense of purpose

Recklessness

He wants everything at once, right away.

Excited tense, full of anticipation.

Nervousness

Impatience

Intensity

Impulsivity, flamboyance

Intuitive creativity

Fresh ideas

From darkness to light

We are waiting for something new, a trip, a move

Enjoy the fiery energy, but be persistent, patient and thoughtful.

What challenges are present in your life right now?

Inspirations:

Use the power of the fire within you.

The power of fire can be an amazing driving force so that plans do not remain just empty dreams. - hir.ma

~

It hasn't fully matured as to who or what we can commit ourselves to, but we found something that powerfully stirred our imaginations and ideas. The flame of our passion and enthusiasm shot to the skies. The Knight of Wands tells us to challenge ourselves, to care and deal with this matter, to gain momentum! Let's take it easy, because this fire strongly attracts forward-looking opportunities. In this process, we get closer to what we really want, and how to avoid the extremes of overindulgence and burnout and love something or someone in a balanced way in the long term. - teremtotarot.hu

Afterwards (when I am writing this post), I looked more closely at the meaning of the card, and the current period of my life made sense with the above lines. Now I am moved to have received encouragement. qwq

"Many times we are just waiting for momentum, for a fiery energy, for a refreshing effect that warms the body and soul, so that we can start." - Spirituális Kuckó (Facebook)

c:

The Knight of Wands is a lucky card in that situation if you drag it to a stuck position, it will move the stuck things out of dead center. It is characterized by momentum and dynamism, which is why it includes a quick move, travel and the possibility of a new job.

In favorable status: resurgence of desire for freedom, daring, adventurousness, fiery mood, new experiences, entrepreneurial spirit, progress - magicalcardjos.com

... it largely depends on the area of ​​life characterized by the card, whether we enjoy its caressing warmth or fear its hotness and changeability. The card expresses impatience, we want everything, right away. If this doesn't work out or we don't get what we want, we react furiously, angrily, and aggressively. On the other hand, the stimulating and engaging warmth radiated by the Knight of Wands can dissolve the frosty atmosphere and move a situation out of a stalemate.

Indications: You have everything you need! Don't hold back and don't let yourself be held back! Don't let yourself be slowed down! Life is ready for you. Trust in your limitless creative potential! - tarrdaniel.com

You don't have to constantly think, "where is the promised prosperity and miracle?" It will come, don't worry for a minute! Waiting instead of impatience!

That is why this is now more of a warning to us not to rush headlong into the wall, not to be impatient by any chance as it leads to nervousness which can easily end in failure. This is nothing more than a test that, if we go through it with patience, the desired success cannot be missed. But this requires common sense!

In addition, the card also indicates a great period for us, because the rider's habitus shows us an exciting near future suitable for gaining experience, which we will feel best in our profession. This future is certainly fruitful, but it clearly draws attention to avoiding stressful situations, because now it can be the source of our greatest danger, so let's avoid it! - harmonet.hu

General Meaning: Hot mood, Desire for new experiences, Travel, Vim

The Knight of Wands represents the desire for new experiences, adventure and travel. The card brings fiery energy, impatience and quick action, instant gratification and excitement to life. From a career perspective, the Knight of Wands represents purposefulness and innovation, as well as enthusiasm for new initiatives, which can advance one's professional career. - prometheustarot.com

The Knight of Wands, unbridled, unrestrained energy itself. Impulsive, enthusiastic action-encouraging page. Make your dreams come true by taking action!

Whatever it is that interests us at the moment, it really excites our imagination.

... with excited fantasizing, we are ready for the big adventure, and if fate doesn't bring it our way, we will find it our own.

Driven by our passion, we move forward quickly.

It's a hot, vibrant energy.

Great excitement can also reinforce a stressful situation what prevents a well-considered decision and the right action.

Pay attention not to be too reckless, be careful that the fiery effect of this energy does not put you in danger. - Spirituális Kuckó (Facebook)

The meaning of the Knight of Wands card is energy, courage and action. This card indicates that the questioner or someone close to the questioner is full of energy and determination, ready for challenges and quick to act. The card's message is that this period is favorable for taking bold steps and initiating new businesses.

The Knight of Sticks shows a tendency to take risks and explore new areas. The card encourages the questioner to be brave and strong-minded and not to be afraid of challenges. Then, this card can also warn that excessive impulsiveness and thoughtless action can be risky. - pantonia.hu

The message of the card is basically positive, if the noble knight goes into battle for some lofty idea, for a good goal...

Questions:

What goals would you fight for with all your might now?

What ignites the flame of your passion? If nothing, then what would you fight for if you could afford it?

In which area are you afraid of openly showing your strength and will?

Is there a strong, temperamental man in your environment who has a great influence on you? What role does he play in your life? - monikaesatarot.blog.hu

If it does not embody a specific person, but a life situation, then, similar to the Page, it suggests a new, inspiring opportunity, a new adventure. - csilliado.hu

Movement, relocation, travel, changes are the most important features of the Knight of Wands. We crave novelty, or maybe a new person who can make a difference in our lives. We long for adventure, experience, and knowledge. - hu.ezo.tv

If you are among the forever worriers and security players, the message of the card is: Play with fire! Let them set you on fire, get you excited, ideas, people, opportunities! Do something you've been afraid to do. - szoljon.hu

The presence of the Knight of Wands shows that the fire ignited in us has become stronger and bigger thanks to careful feeding. Passion burns at a high level, the will to fight, the desire for action and the need to soar. The power of fire breaks through barriers and burns everything that no longer has a right to exist. However, we must be careful that we use the power of fire in a creative way and not in any way to destroy, because the same fire feeds our passion, our will and our anger.

In an ideal case, the Knight of Wands tells us that plans and undeveloped ideas that have been forgotten until now should be taken up to privilege, as we can be much more creative, expressive and active in the coming days, and this can give us a serious tailwind so we don't get stuck at the level of daydreaming. The fire gives strength to start and to persevere, because if we create something and bring it to life, then we have to keep it, take care of it and feed it, even just the fire itself. However, in the absence of self-control, we ourselves can become the dark side of the Knight of Wands, or a riotous warrior full of anger and temper, who burns everything in himself and around him. - hir.ma

Look for challenges, because they indicate the path necessary for change. To be able to realize yourself, you have to step out of your comfort zone, because that's the only way you can find out what you really want. Once you have that, focus your energies on your new goal. This tarot card indicates a big breakthrough in all areas. - astronet.hu