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thespellweavingspirit · 4 years

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My Elemental System

Today, I’d like to share with you some information about elemental systems. Specifically, I’d like to talk about my own. Many of you who have asked me to perform an Elemental Alignment reading know that I work within a system of 12 total elements. Some of you have asked me to explain my system, or parts of it, further. While I am always happy to discuss it and answer as many questions about it as I can, it has gotten a little repetitive over time.

Wait, first of all, what even are elemental systems?

Put simply, elemental systems are situated within specific cultures, practices, and religions and organize certain ‘Elements’ that appear throughout that culture, practice, or religion’s beliefs, and may even form the core of their traditions. While some systems may appear similar, others are totally different from each other. There are a few common elements that appear frequently within multiple different systems, as well. You probably know them well: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water (or some version of these).

Depending on the culture, practice, or religion, the elements are recognized and organized into a system differently. They may be fundamental to the creation/origin story of a religion, or to a practice’s ideologies. For example, the Japanese elemental system (The godai) is based on the Chinese and Indian concepts of elemental systems. The word ‘godai’ is made of the kanji 五 (go, meaning ‘five’) and 大 (dai, meaning ‘great’). As the name suggests, the Japanese elemental system is one of five elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and void. They each represent concepts that are central to Japanese culture and may be applied to many different aspects of the world including personality, spirituality, and even science. Here is some more about the Godai if you’d like to learn more about it!

There are many dozens of elemental systems across many cultures of the world. Though some may retain the same basic elements as others, it is important to note that it is not the elements themselves that make an elemental system, but rather, the way the culture views them and includes them in their daily lives, practices, and/or religions.

So What About My Elemental System?

My system was foraged based upon my personal spiritual beliefs about the universe, souls, my past lives and experiences, and my practice. Each element has its own, distinct links to various forms of magic, concepts, and my own memories, experiences, and knowledge. There are twelve in total, separated into three groups with four elements in each group.

The first group I have come to call The Essentials. They are Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. They are called The Essentials because they are the elements most commonly present in many different elemental systems and thus have lots of lore already written about them. They are also called this because these four elements form the base of my entire elemental system.

The second group I call The Material Elements. They are Wood, Electricity, Metal, and Blood. They are the Material Elements because they are physical elements that represent four materials vital to my craft.

The third and last group is called The Ethereal Elements. These are the non-physical elements in my craft: Spirit, Light, Dark, and Shadow. Each represents a different aspect of my spiritual path and has ties to the kind of magic most central to my craft.

Each of these elements has a “domain” that defines how it behaves and what sorts of magic it lends itself towards well or poorly. Its domain can also include correspondences. When I perform an elemental alignment reading, I’m looking to see what kinds of elements your energy system is compatible with in terms of what kinds of magic you’re naturally good at, what kind of a person you are, what you lack, and what your strengths are. I separate a small amount of your energy from your energy body and expose it to the elements I work with, observing its reaction. Based on the reaction I perceive, I’m able to tell what you’re inclined towards magically at the time of the reading.

The Domains of the Elements

The Essential Elements

Air: Its primary domains are freedom, movement, formlessness, breath, song/music, creativity, voice, communication, movement, academics, friendship, and the past. In magic, air lends itself well to any method of casting involving song, fast-acting short term spells, communication magic, and, to a lesser extent, illusion magic--especially illusionary sounds.

Fire: Its primary domains are movement, passion, (sexual/romantic) love, physical activity, independence, and willpower. In magic, fire is good to use for fast-acting long term spells, magic that aims to release or destroy, and love and sex magic.

Water: Its primary domains are emotions, deception, time, creativity, balance, healing, growth, perseverance, and life. Used by those with an affinity for healing magic, it is very helpful in that regard. Otherwise, water is good for illusion magic or any kind of magic that aims to bend time/reality, slow-acting short term spells, and destructive magic. It can also be useful alongside empathic abilities.

Earth: Its primary domains are strength, family, protection, patience, stability, and reliability. It is best used for household wards, spells aimed to produce physical manifestations, financial magic, and slow-acting long term spells.

The Material Elements

Wood: Its primary domains are connection and dependence. Bridges are built out of wood, so is paper (writing letters). When trees are alive, they are the pillar of forests. Animals and other plant life depend on them and, in some forests, they depend on each other. In magic, wood helps energies connect. That's partially why I think wooden wands can be so useful for directing energy.

Electricity: Its primary domains are reaction, change, and destruction. Lightning will strike down forests, starting wildfires that rage out of control. It is sudden and nearly instantaneous. But electricity, in nature something so volatile, can also be condensed and harnessed to fuel societies. Electricity is good for magic that requires a lot of energy, magic that brings about drastic change, or magic that will have chain reactions.

Metal: Its primary domains are foundation, protection, conduction, and malleability. Metal can be smelted and reshaped into pretty much anything. A sword to cut down your enemies; a tool for building structures; wires to conduct electricity; iron spikes to drive away the spirits that lurk outside homes; boxes that hold secret things inside. Metal is one of the most versatile elements for magical uses.

Blood: Its primary domains are relationships, destiny/fate, life, family, and sacrifice. The element of blood is useful in magic that incorporates the use of actual blood, such as kinship/ancestry work, bloodline curses and blessings, and containment magic/seals.

The Ethereal Elements

Spirit: Its primary domains are divinity, divination, ethereal beings, psychic senses and abilities, and spiritual ancestry. Any magic that deals with psychic senses/abilities or divination is spirit’s specialty.

Shadow: Its primary domain is liminality--the spaces and entities that lie Between. The ghostly realm for instance, or graveyards, or crossroads. Crossroads magic, spirit work, and death magic are examples of magic that shadow works well with.

Light: Its primary domains are truth, knowledge, the past, the outer world, and perception. In magic, light works well in glamours and spells that seek knowledge or truth.

Darkness: Its primary domains are the unknown, exploration, fear, the future, and the inner self. I actually associate the practice of shadow work with Darkness, rather than shadow. Any magic that deals with the self is where darkness can help. It’s also particularly good at aiding in astral projection.

End Note

This isn’t by any means the full list of the function of each element within my system; there are a lot of nuances and personal uses for the elements that I’m not listing here. I just hope that this answers some questions about how my system works. If anyone would like to discuss this system more please, feel free to dm me about it or just ask right in the notes!

#elements #elemental system #elemental magic #mine

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that-wizard-oki · 3 years

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theres something that morganthe said that's always confused me. In the final fight against her: "Face me in all my forms and despair." Why does she have other forms of Balance, Ice, and Storm? Is there an in-lore or headcanon reason or is it just... something the devs picked just to make the fight more of a challenge worthy of being arc 2's ending?

I don’t believe there a confirmed canon explanation for this, though (to absolutely no ones surprise) I do have a very good guess to what these multiple forms might be!

To start let’s take a quick look at the forms themselves

First you have Ice, depicted in a deep blue and star patterns, then Balance, which is mainly void of any color or pattern, Death in Grey and lunar symbols, an finally Storm is purple and clad with solar pattern.

Which yea, at first glance- nothing particularly unusual stands out about this. Save for Balance, each “version” of Morganthe here is colored in accordance to their respective schools within the game, and... wait a minute though. Doesn’t this seem a little... familiar?

Oh yea, now I remember-

Y’all, Morganthe’s Memories share the exact same color scheme as those “forms” we see in the Shadow Palace. This, in my opinion, can not just be some wild coincidence and definitely has place within the game’s Lore about Morganthe herself.

If you’ve kept up with my theories (which if your reading this i assume you have lol), you know I’m very sold on the idea that Morganthe was put through the conversion table process, and was infused with shadow magic so that she could be puppetted and controlled by the one connected to the Shadows core- Old Cob himself. We’ve seen the dialogue that’s stated this a few times, so i won’t get into that here- however, that still begs a interesting question- HOW exactly does the “conversion” process work, especially for Morganthe?

I think it would be so fitting if Spider was actually able to alter/tamper Morganthe’s own memories to how he wanted her to act as Shadow Queen. He talks about how “reluctant” she was to continue working with the Arachna once she figured out they wanted to use her knowledge and ability with Shadow as a weapon. THIS was bad for Spider/The Arachna, because ultimately his plan was to use an outside force so great and terrible (shadow queen Morganthe) that it would eventually lead someone (the wizard) who he could more easily trick into freeing him and then beginning the events of Arc 3 since Morganthe ended up figuring out what his true intensions were.

So instead of emotionally manipulating her into doing what he wanted (like how he was able to do with the wizard), the only option left was to control her more literally- aka, the conversion tables.

However, I think Morganthe was an especially different case from how we see the Mantises and other Arachna being infused. We See Old Cob simply unweave the shadow tacked onto them with the use of crystals if I’m not mistaken. With Morganthe though, this girl is a fucking wizard prodigy who re-discovered the inner workings of Shadow Magic. I Would imagine that Cob probably had to take a more desperate approach to making sure he had her under his thumb to get what he wanted.

And, as we know, Shadow magic deals a lot with memories. I think that Spider was able to tamper with Morganthe most formative memories, cut out the parts that grounded her in reality (like her Memory in Avalon of wanting to resist what her brother was doing, and her displeasure over hurting people), and stitch in the parts that influenced rage and power (such as the hurt she felt over Ambrose banishing her) in order to create what we know as the Shadow Queen.

So in sum, the “forms” we see in the Shadow Palace are Morganthe’s Memories, though they are the ones altered by Spider- that’s why they appear as the Shadow Queen does because he made them into his image. The things we see in Radiance Reborn could very well be the “true” memories, the untampered scraps that Spider had tossed because they were of no use to him.

Now, as for the Balance “version” we see- I think that’s a Forth memory in the progress of being formed. The Blue, Violet and Grey versions we see are obviously Morganthe memories (tampered or not), and they all stand ground in in what are definitely the most prominent events in Morganthe life- all up UNTIL she actually becomes Shadow Queen.

Despite being controlled by Spider, her own shadow still exists within her, and she can still create these physical forms out of her memories. I think that Balance one- the one devoid of any particular color or pattern- would eventually become the memory that signified her time as Shadow Queen, like the three memories we’ve seen before.

The reason it might be depicted as balance is because the Memory has yet to concrete itself in something that represents the time that it symbolizes- the Blue Memory being Ice makes sense because Ice often symbolizes strength and foundation- The memory of Avalon is obviously set during Morganthe’s very early youth, where she was very impressionable. It could also attribute to her feelings of grief and loss- she might have wanted to remain “frozen” in a time before Malory's death.

Violet being Storm makes sense- Morganthe being banished, her wand/deck being taken from her, accidentally hurting her classmates, ending up homeless/an eventual pirate, and generally being scared of her powers than NO ONE seems to know hwo to help her control, probably leaves her with an extreme sense of anxiety and sadness, such easily represented by the power and energy of Storm Magic.

And then you have Grey, the memory that kicks off all the unspeakable stuff occurring for Morganthe in Khrysalis, and is obviously reprehensive of death magic. For me, I think this time, especially once she starts to refuse the Shadow Magi, is perhaps Morganthes lowest point. All she really wanted was to learn how to control astral magic, “find her true self”, and return home and prove she wasn’t some monster. But here she is, having been groomed and tricked by the Magi into re-discovering lost knowledge and wanting her to be their grand weapon in a war she wants no part in. Needles to say, this memory being rooted in Death fits.

So then, what would the fourth forming memory be? For me, I think Fire. The most uncontrollable element, and one obviously linked with rage and destruction, I think fits the time in Morganthe’s life were she was the Shadow Queen- even if Spider was partly controlling her the entire time, it was still her. (Also, as shadow queen she’s clad in a deep, scarlet red color with her usual black robes... just sayn’ lol)

Speaking of, I actually wanted this memory to be a focal point if Morganthe ever gets a redemption arc. While I think she could more easily accept thosr first three memories/shadows as a part of herself, i’d expect her to actually repulse the idea that this... “Scarlet” memory/shadow belongs with her. The biggest reason for this is that, if she “accepts” this part of her life, she’ll ultimately have to remain with the reality of what was done to her, the Spider had control of her, that she DID hurt and kill so many people... that’s scary, and I think could speak to a lot of trauma victims in the same what Arc 3 speaks so clearly to those with broken or divorces families.

Anywho, i’m really starting to ramble here, but TL;DR: Morganthe’s different forms at the end of Arc 2 could very well be related to her memories we see in Radiance Reborn, and also allude to the idea that Old Cob, when Morganthe went through the conversion table process, may have tampered with those initial Memories/Shadows, and created memories that would help fuel Morganthe’s power as shadow queen.

And yea, It’s very possible the devs simply picked Ice, Storm, Death, and Balance for game play purposes, and it doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but! What’s in the fun in that y’know? I think this, or something akin to it, is a lot more intriguing and gives a lot more depth to Morganthe’s character, as well as the story for Arc 2 :D

#wizard101 #oki's theories #oki answers a thing #stormbreaker101 #anywho i've had this theory since 2014 but idk if i've ever seen anyone talk about it which is crazy

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ofcloudsandstars · 4 years

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Celestial Forecast

Week 29 - 5

Highlights:

On Wednesday, July 1st, Saturn's retrograde re-enters Capricorn

On Sunday the 5th, The Full moon in Capricorn will be a partial Lunar Eclipse

Hey Guys, I am having a bad habit posting these late but as you can see with all the energy shifts, I am also dealing with a lot of personal shifts and though some are exciting, naturally most of my energy is directed in my every day life. I am going to keep this up best I can but at the end of the week (so close to the eclipse lol yay!) I return to work so lets see how things go.. This weeks theme really seems to be focusing on our ambitions, where we devote our energy towards and if we are using our energy wisely to strive towards our goals. This peak climax of it all will be when the Full Moon in Capricorn at the end of the week is a partial lunar eclipse. Eclipse energy is destructive and brings change so it could bring climatic change in our personal lives to whatever is blocking us from our potential and it can bring massive change globally towards governments, authorities and businesses. Jupiter rx and Pluto rx are still conjunct all this week encouraging us to expand within and connect to our inner sources of power and transformation. This energy will also amplify the themes of goals we need to strive towards especially on a grander scale with Pluto being an outer planet. Lastly I tried to chart Iris, the little asteroid that can help us connect with our inner sources of faith, hope and inspiration as working with smaller celestial bodies can help us tap into larger celestial bodies when they go retrograde but guess what? Iris is also retrograding haha. So Neptune retrograde is just hard reality on full migraine blast with no paracetamol to blunt the pain. Personally my magic has been expressing itself through very practical ways like putting energy in the food I prepare or cleansing space but when it comes to energy work or energy based spells I am not feeling too motivated lately. I feel very much focused on the physical and mundane plane, and with so much Capricorn hard energy happening this week wants us to focus on the physical plane as well and how we can shift things around to help make things happen in the future.

Note: Times are set to UTC.

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29th

Mercury rx conjuncts Vesta in Cancer ☾♎ Moon Opposite Chiron and Mars in Aries ☾♎ Moon Squares Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn ☾ VOC 14:01 - 23:47 ☾♏ Moon enters Scorpio ☾♏ Moon Squares Saturn rx in Aquarius

Energy: Following the first quarter moon in Libra it feels like a lot of tension build up and strategizing. If you are unsure which path you want to take today may push you in a direction due to aggressive outside influences. If you are already sure and were strategizing before hand, these challenging encounters could bring up obstacles you need to be aware of in order to overcome them. An overarching theme today is Mercury rx conjuncting Vesta in Cancer. The energy may be subtle since Mercury is in retrograde and Vesta is an asteroid which the minor celestial energy focuses on our inner methods and motivations. This transit will bring up how we have gone about pursuing our aspirations and goals towards past goals, especially abandoned projects that may have meant a lot to us emotionally that we may feel called to return to. First the moon will square Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn creating tension forcing us to focus on our inner expansion and source of power. This transit can cause us to reflect on our journey so far and feel compelled to make any adjustments to help our inner growth and soul connection. With the theme of Mercury rx conjunct Vesta we could be focusing this energy on how we have pursued our aspirations and goals. Especially with everything shifting so hectically this year, this area of our lives would definitely be up for review. Afterwards the moon will be opposite Chiron in Aries which could bring up a painful external event that could cause us to be aware of our own suffering or suffering of others. With the moon still within orb of the Pluto rx and Jupiter rx square this painful event or memory could push you further in your journey of inner expansion. It may not be a pleasant process but taking time for yourself to reflect and process everything could be better than hanging around other people. Especially because afterwards the moon will be opposite Mars in Aries bringing external challenges or aggressive encounters. Even if you handle the first few lunar transits alright, this one could bring agitated people who did not process them well around you. Additionally this transit could highlight challenges in your way that you may have to overcome. This could be a time of trials like a test where you need to apply lessons previously learned to overcome these presented scenarios. After a break with the void of course, the moon will enter the depths of Scorpio and square Saturn rx in Aquarius. This square can bring up tensions regarding our responsibilities and make us feel forced to focus on them. It can be a bit of a suffocating transit and with the hostility earlier it can make us feel bound by our previous decisions. However facing tasks with courage or using the binding energy to strategize on how you can better address these responsibilities could benefit you in this time. Lunar transits are not too long, they are like chapters in the day so it won't last forever.

Recommendations: Today may feel emotionally aggressive with the lunar transits and how we may apply to energy towards strategizing or reshifting our goals. It's best to take time to reflect or meditate on our strategies and plan to take action. With the oppositions can bring aggressive encounters so putting up protective shields and wards could help today. With the moon opposing Chiron then entering Scorpio, shadow work could be beneficial especially in reflecting on any past experiences that are still causing us pain and helping to heal and reflect on it. _________

30th

Sun conjuncts Mercury rx in Cancer Mercury rx in Cancer sextiles Uranus in Taurus ☾♏ Moon Opposite Eros and Psyche in Taurus ☾♏ Moon Trines Sun, Vesta and Mercury rx in Cancer and Ceres in Pisces

Energy: The theme of the day today will be focusing on the emotional sides of our mental state with the sun conjunct Mercury rx in Cancer. A lot of emotional memories or revelations could change the way we feel towards our families, our homes or what makes us feel secure. Additionally this transit will be heightened with Mercury rx sextiling Uranus in Taurus. There is a push to make changes that could help break habits, bring new perspectives or shift ideas regarding our inner emotional state and feelings towards what makes us feel secure or homely. The moon will trine the sun today and this waxing gibbous phase is a great opportunity to launch projects, take action on goals and get what you need done as the energy will be harmonious and beneficial. With the moon trining Vesta, Mercury rx and Ceres in Pisces there is additional beneficial energy with examining your inner goals and ambitions, reflecting on your mental space and nurturing yourself. It's a good day to review your feelings, make adjustments or break habits where you need to and nurture yourself in this process. The moon will also be opposite Eros and Psyche in Taurus which can bring external sources that can help fuel our inner fire. Perhaps in this window of time when the moon is opposite Eros, you could meet someone or encounter something that ignites your inner fire to take action. With the moon opposite Psyche, there is a focus on karmic lessons that can help us align with our soul. This can amplify the Mercury rx aspects that will ask us to review our emotions and work through them to see which still are beneficial with us to hold on to.

Recommendations: This seems like a gentle yet emotional day. It's a good time for self care routines to help process the emotional journey. Practical daily magic that would be great for this day would be: bath magic, kitchen magic or meditation. Additionally tarot can help with some insight if you want to do some shadow work and get another perspective on your feelings and what you need to let go. _________

1st

Saturn retrograde re-enters into Capricorn Sun in Cancer sextiles Uranus in Taurus ☾♏ Moon Opposite Uranus in Taurus ☾♏ Moon Trines Neptune rx in Pisces ☾♏ Moon Sextiles Pluto rx and Jupiter rx in Capricorn ☾ VOC 2:20 - 2:21

Energy: July kicks off with Saturn re-entering Capricorn as it continues it's path on retrograde! This re-entry chapter is all about what we have learned previously from Saturn's transit through Capricorn, how it has impacted us karmically now and reviewing the structures and foundations of our lives (and society) especially regarding authorities, governments, businesses and careers. On a macrocosmic scale a lot of governments and systems of authorities would be under review (especially with everything going on) and how they need to be restructured in order to benefit the community more (like how Saturn in Aquarius's transit was so chaotic so far because communities in a lot of western country don't have enough support from the government). On a personal level this can be a time for you to review your responsibilities and internal structures regarding your career or what you have built for yourself so far in life. With Mars in Aries it's certainly a time to look towards things that motivate you. With Pluto rx and Jupiter rx still conjunct however it's a time to reflect on this and try to expand within and connect with yourself before moving forward. We are still in a retrograde period. Along with this energetic shift you have the mighty sun sextiling Uranus creating a push for change. This change can be positive, help break habits and make progress. The Lunar transits will also reflect these themes. First the moon will trine Neptune rx in Pisces which can bring opportunity to review our inner faith and spiritual path. This can bring new enlightening perspectives and potentials to see where we have been deceiving ourselves previously with beliefs that no longer serve us. After the moon will be opposite Uranus in Taurus which can signify external circumstances bringing change or forcing us to evolve in response to it. This window of time may make us feel a bit untethered or out of control of our situation but if you go with the flow and be open minded to change it can bring new perspectives. Lastly the moon will sextile Pluto rx and Jupiter rx in Capricorn giving us a push towards inner transformation and inner expansion. This window of time could help us to process the Moon and Uranus opposition and the changes the Sun and Uranus sextile could bring. It's also a good transit to help with the energetic shift of Saturn re-entering Capricorn. It's a great day for inner transformation, change and growth. After all this the moon will go void of course giving us a moment for a break.

Recommendations: This is a period for re-evaluation and transformation. Meditation, shadow work and divination can help. Divination may still be unclear as we are reaching another eclipse but it could be a good pointer to where you should focus your current energy. Doing beneficial energy work with Uranus and channeling the planetary energy can help you open up to change and use these shifts for beneficial upgrades instead of getting lost in the current of new tides shifting everything around. _________

2nd

☾♐ Moon enters Sagittarius ☾♐ Moon Trines Mars and Chiron in Aries ☾♐ Moon Sextiles Juno and Sappho in Libra

Energy: Today will feel optimistic and expansive as the moon enters Sagittarius. This upbeat energy can be felt as the moon will be amplified through certain aspects throughout the day that will help us to venture towards our genuine interests and authenticity and strive towards what motivates us. First the moon will trine Mars in Aries which can give us a beneficial boost for striving towards what we want. This window of time is fantastic for making the first move towards goals you want to achieve, things you'd like to claim (whether it be new job ventures, asking a desirable someone out on a date, taking risks towards anything you want). This energy will feel directed towards striving towards your genuine interests and attractions as the moon closely after will sextile Sappho in Libra helping us to focus on our true interests that speaks to our inner philosophies. Afterwards the moon will trine Chiron in Aries and sextile Juno in Libra at the same time. The trine will give us a beneficial boost in healing ourselves and others and processing any pain from our past. The sextile with Juno will give us a push to go after what reflects our values and where we should commit our devotion towards. In the past if you've ever felt rejected or unappreciated towards an area, a field (like a vocation) or in a relationship, this transit could help you heal that and revisit trying to reconnect with those areas that you should commit your energy towards.

Recommendations: With the moon in it's waxing gibbous phase and also transiting Sagittarius with these positive aspects, it's a good time to sit down and reflect on where you'd like to channel your energy towards accomplishing a goal that means something to you. Whether it be something creative, something career wise, something romantic or anything, really think about what motivates you and what you want to achieve in this time and work towards that. If you feel you do not have the right materials yet, do some attraction magic to get it your way as this lunar phase is beneficial and can draw it towards you. The energy will feel fiery and optimistic so using fire-based magic could feel in tune with attraction magic (like using an enchanted candle for example).

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3rd

Sun in Cancer trines Ceres in Pisces ☾♐ Moon Opposite Venus in Gemini ☾♐ Moon Squares Neptune rx in Pisces ☾ VOC 14:05 - 5:47

Energy: Today will feel a bit more at ease as the theme will be flavored by the Sun's transit trining Ceres in Pisces. When the Sun trines Ceres there is harmonious energy throughout the day that can feel caring and be beneficial when it comes to caring for others and yourself. The issue with trines though they are beneficial, they are so harmonious and easy going you can miss this chill opportunity and take the energy for granted. However the Lunar transits are a bit more disharmonious in comparison so maybe the overarching theme of the day could help smooth them over. First the moon will be squaring Neptune which can give a lot of tension revolving around our inner faith, spiritual path or witchy practice. You may have a circumstance that will call your path into question and it's purpose or authenticity. It can be an uncomfortable time if you are not feeling secure in your practice but it's a good time to reflect on any areas that are not resonating with you. Additionally the Neptune rx square can add additional pressures with escapism (if you take this time to escape or indulge in substances you might go easily under the influence) yet with the retrograde stripping away illusions it may not always feel so satisfying. After this transit the moon will be opposite Venus in Gemini which can bring attention to our relationships in our lives. This can either make us feel lonely and isolated or feel the need to reach out to the other. Additionally this window of time could bring new friendships or relationships into our lives. It's a good time for attraction magic when it comes to people. Finally there will be a void of course starting from the afternoon giving us a break to process everything.

Recommendations: This is a good time to relax and reflect on our spiritual path. Dream magic could help a lot especially since dream meanings will be very direct during this time and can help give us insight. With the venusian lunar energy it will be a good day to show someone close to you that you care by nurturing them in some way. Additionally it's a nice time for attraction magic before the void of course.

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4th

Sun conjuncts Vesta in Cancer ☾♑ Moon enters Capricorn ☾♑ Moon Squares Mars and Chiron in Aries and Juno and Sappho in Libra ☾♑ Moon Trines Uranus in Taurus

Energy: Today's theme will be your ambitions and your methods towards striving towards your goals with the Sun and Vesta conjunct in Cancer. This responsible energy will be met with the Moon entering Capricorn giving us a stern yet mature vibe and the ability to focus on tasks we need to complete. There will be tensions with our motivations with the moon squaring Mars in Aries. We may feel frustrated as we aren't sure how to proceed and it may create rash impulses yet it's a good time to reflect on what makes us feel blocked from progressing and strategize ways around that. With the moon squaring Sappho in Libra after there will be tension regarding our relationships to our genuine interests and if we are acting towards them. If we feel blocked from expressing our true selves it's a good time to reflect on that as well. Lastly the moon will square Chiron in Aries and trine Uranus in Taurus at the same time. This may make tension with our inner healing and bring up painful memories yet with the trine with Uranus this gives us beneficial opportunities for easy change and new perspectives. We may learn lessons from our painful past that we weren't able to see before and how to change our present in order to grow from that situation. This can tie into the overall theme with our methods of striving towards our goals and what is keeping us blocked. It's a good time to break habits and try to move forward!

Recommendations: It's a good time to reflect on your goals and what you need to change in order to reach them. It's a good time for shedding what's no longer needed. Though it's the eve of a full moon, tomorrow will be a Lunar Eclipse bringing endings and destruction therefore making it great energy to break down external barriers of what is blocking us. Reflect on what you feel is stifling you and try to make changes with the beneficial Uranus trine. Hold on to what obstacles you feel are in your way and prepare to banish them on tomorrow's Lunar eclipse. _________

5th

Full moon in Capricorn, Lunar Eclipse ☾♑ Moon Conjunct Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn ☾♑ Moon Opposite Vesta, Mercury rx and Sun in Cancer ☾♑Moon Sextiles Ceres and Neptune rx in Pisces

Energy: Today's energy will feel POWERFUL! with the Full moon in Capricorn being a partial Lunar Eclipse, bringing endings and breaking down anything in our karmic path especially in regards to things blocking us from our potential with our careers, the government, authorities or anything we are trying to build. Additionally the moon will conjunct Jupiter rx and Pluto rx in Capricorn amplifying this energy with lessons on what we need to expand on within or what sources of power and transformation we need to access within. The moon will be opposite Vesta bringing us opportunities or insights on our goals. Additionally with it being opposite Mercury rx in Cancer it can give us new perspectives or highlight our inner emotions through external events or reveal other's feelings. The moon will also sextile Ceres in Pisces helping us with taking time to be nurturing towards ourselves and others which is needed in this time of change and breaking down old walls that need to be destroyed. Lastly with the moon sextiling Neptune rx in Pisces it's a moment where we will feel pushed to review our spiritual paths and work on our inner faith. It's a fantastic time to be creative and review our beliefs. Overall this eclipse, though destructive as all eclipses are, it feels like a storm that is coming to cleanse and renew and clear paths to allow people to reach their highest potential. It feels very positive.

Recommendations: Eclipse energy can be chaotic and destructive so it's not a good time to charge anything. However with Lunar eclipses it's a great time to do destructive magic that could benefit you such as breaking barriers and obstacles that stand in your way. With the theme of the moon in Capricorn, you can focus on whatever is in the way of your ambitions and break those down. This may be amplified while the moon is opposite Vesta. This time is also great for reflection as the moon will sextile Neptune rx in Pisces and how our beliefs can help us strive towards where we need to be. _________

#astrology #forecast #transits #eclipse #full moon capricorn #full moon #capricorn #partial eclipse #witchcraft #witches of tumblr #celestial forecast #capricorn eclipse #lunar eclipse #saturn re-enters capricorn #saturn retrograde

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honeymoonjin · 4 years

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day 14

This chapter was such a cathartic experience for me that I wrote book report for it. I have little else to offer at your altar of magic aside from my undying gratitude for your continued hard work and utter awe of your literary prowess. Please enjoy my attempt at articulating the emotions you have managed to evoke in me with this chapter. Thank you once again! 💜 Jan

Set to Self Destruct: An analysis of Sora’s Day 14 of “The Gentlemen”

Every genre brings with it a set of expectations that shapes the kinds of stories it can tell and the themes it can explore. “The Gentlemen” is entirely shot from one specific location, with its participants prohibited from leaving the premises of the villa (with the allowance only for Y/N and the fan favorite winner of that week to leave for a one night date). This restriction creates a scenario where 1) at first the occupants fall into an unspoken, almost idyllic community and 2) inevitably the conflicts that arise as a consequence of a Utopian society. With the added pressures of a competition, an environment that fosters moments of high emotional tension, physical and emotional intimacy, and 8 very different personalities, it feels as if the show was doomed for dissonance right from the start. It should be no surprise that the rather straightforward, raunchy reality show devolves so quickly into a “bottle episode” filled to the brim with an emotionally charged battle of whose tongue is the sharpest. On the surface, “The Gentlemen” is a story about a single female protagonist judging the sexual abilities of seven random men but this premise and the setting with which the story plays out on, serves to explore the deeper ideas of one’s role in the balance of social harmony verses the human tendency towards self destruction.

The setting of a story can be a powerful tool in expressing a character’s journey. “Bottle episodes” have often been used for dramatic effect in visual storytelling, with the limited setting and cast allowing for a slower pace and deeper exploration of character traits and motives. Having the entirety of “The Gentlemen” be one long drawn out “bottle episode” allows for the audience to experience a slow-burn like intensity of those personalities. It takes the fundamental process of how a group stuck in a certain location together for an extended period of time inadvertently falls into certain social constructs in order to reach an equilibrium of cohesion. The roles which each occupant of the villa naturally fell into set a precedent for many of the events that followed on the show, most obvious being Y/N as the “queen bee” (the one who holds the most power in the group), Seokjin as the designated “counselor” (the one who is expected to help his fellow competitors when an emotional issue arises), and Yoongi as the “mediator” (the one who is the voice of reason and rationale when tensions run high). And yet it is revealed that there is a price for that harmony, for even roles that are not as explicit begin to weigh heavy as the days wane on. The cohesion of these roles were meant to serve as cogs that fit together to uphold a sense of teamwork in an otherwise tension filled living quarters. But people are not cogs and emotions are not gears to be compartmentalized into neat roles to serve the higher purpose of the show. And as occupants spend more time with one another, natural biases, feelings of jealousy, possessiveness, envy, and pride start to surface under the umbrella of selfish acts, we begin to see that fine balance corrode the fragile peace.

The road to self destruction has begun in earnest.

It all comes to a head at the 2 week mark of the show’s timeline. At this point, tensions have been running high: from revelation of Namjoon’s and Seokjin’s romantic feelings for Y/N, to Jimin and Hoseok’s long running rivalry, to Y/N, Jimin, and Taehyung creating a polyamorous relationship in secret, to Jungkook feeling like the odd man out. The pressures of the show were eventually bound to break someone’s resolve and we see that personified in Jungkook in this episode. After speaking with Seokjin about his warring feelings towards certain members of the group and his desires to act on his frustrations regarding the restrictive parameters of the show, Jungkook was able to unload some of the pent up tension he had been carrying around for the last few days. The audience is then lulled into a false sense of security that the equilibrium of the group has been restored when in actuality, it was a red herring that something drastic was about to unfold. At first glance, the guidance that Seokjin offers Jungkook feels like a band-aid on a bleeding artery when in actuality it was more akin to Seokjin inadvertently stepping on a landmine he believes he has already defused. And his misstep triggers the entire villa to fall victim to the explosion.

In the climatic scene of the episode, Jungkook’s pent up emotions rears its ugly head in the form of harsh words, tactless criticism, irreparably broken trust, and even fists thrown. His actions turn from verbal assaults to physical ones and the damage seems to fissure out towards the entire group. The destruction is absolute; no one is left unscathed. Why is this scene so effective? Its power is not from the dramatic way Jungkook punches Jimin for calling him out on his childish behavior or the out of character way Hoseok tries to break up the fight only to be elbowed in the face by Jimin nor is it in the heartbreaking way those that are left behind in the villa are tasked with the self imposed responsibility to pick up the literal pieces of their tenuous friendship. It is in the fact that the audience understands the self destructive actions of the characters and perhaps to some degree relate to it on a very human level. We understand that Seokjin wanted to talk through the problems with the group because he didn’t want to shoulder all of the burden himself anymore. We understand that Hoseok acts the way he does because he uses it as a defense mechanism to protect himself. We understand why Sejin did not step in earlier when he was asked to by Yoongi and why Yoongi is bitter about it as a direct result of Sejin’s choice to abstain from deescalating the fight before it got out of control. We understand that Jimin and Jungkook clashed with each other so viscerally because they see themselves in each other and it’s a jagged pill to swallow when presented with a mirror of all of the ugly sides of ourselves we think we do such a great job of hiding. Perhaps exaggerated for a more dramatic effect, but at the core of these interactions, we see the flaws that we carry as human beings and are forced to face the unpleasant feelings that it elicits in each of us. We understand because we can empathize with their struggles.

How does a community attempt to repair itself when its very foundation is practically razed to the ground? Perhaps there is an argument to be made about a complete dismantling of a previous establishment. The audience can view this inevitable clash as a “controlled burn”. In terms of forest management, a “controlled burn” is a fire set intentionally for purposes of farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. These “controlled burning” is conducted during the cooler months to reduce fuel buildup and decrease the likelihood of serious hotter fires. In the same way fires are a part of a forest’s life cycle, the clash that occurred on day 14 might serve as a way for the characters to start fresh, with hopes of emotional maturity and foresight for rebuilding relationships moving forward in the competition.

The damage done during day 14 of “The Gentlemen” may arguably be irreversible, perhaps even amplified by the uncertain nature of the show, but challenges were inevitable with a setting like this one. And yet, there are seeds of hope scattered among the debris. In John Yorke’s “Into the Woods: a five act journey into story” he writes “…story matches psychological theory: characters are taken on a journey to acknowledge and assimilate the traumas in their past… By confronting and coming to terms with the cause of their traumas they can finally move on.” Day 14 revealed a lot of stances, opinions, and confessions that were previously kept secret due to the need to preserve the harmonious nature of the greater good, “the community”. But human nature does not allow for peace to reign for long; it yearns balance. Thus dissonance created discourse. Yet from strife there is revelation. From the ashes of fiery emotions, there is a chance at peace anew: either reestablish order or embrace the chaos. Yet most likely it’ll come down to a melding of the two in order to find the balance a community craves whilst also giving into the character’s more baser human desire for self ruin.

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jan i literally can’t stop crying thank you so much. there’s no way for me to put into words the feeling of someone caring so much about the story and even about one particular chapter that they’ve written such an articulate and profound ESSAY on it like,,,, i have no idea what i’ve done to deserve this, because writing this story is just this little passion project that i’m fostering with my brainstorming group and with the readers. it feels like a collaborative effort and so i never really saw it as anything more than just the fun gimmick of an interactive fic in a crazy situation.

you see things in my story that even i don’t see, make it sound beautiful when i worried it was awkward, and i can’t thank you enough for that. and when you brought up Into the Woods i LOST it, i adore that book and hearing someone quote a masterwork like that when referring to my fanfiction? it’s so absurd but so special all at once.

i’ve never really considered becoming an actual author because the pressure of money and income relying on it seems scary to me (even commissions stress me out) so i’m eternally grateful to you for always making me feel like this is something professional. getting a glimpse into that life by you writing an analysis on d14 is just.... i really can’t describe how special it is.

every week i aim to make each chapter better than the last, and we have a very different landscape in the house on day 15 after our controlled (perhaps not so controlled) burn. i’ll patiently await your thoughts then, but i just want to say that you inspire me to work harder each week ;;-;

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deathghost8 · 5 years

Quote

You often think: perhaps maybe a long long time ahead i shall reach the point where i wake up from manifestation, and overcome the world illusion, and discover that I am the supreme reality behind all this diversification - My friends there is no diversification! In other words, what you call diversification is your game in the same way as you chop the thing and then you say it is made of pieces. Or did you forget that you cut it? So when you see the world is complicated and that there are life problems and that you might one day succeed.... There are hundreds and hundreds of people are running like mad after something that they thought was success and they have no idea what it is. So in exactly the same way the Guru is keeping you running and running after spiritual attainment. You don't know what you want. That's where Krishnamurti is so clever because he says "If you ask me for enlightenment, how can you ask me for enlightenment? If you don't know what it is, how do you know you want it? Any concept you have of it will be simply a way of trying to perpetuate the situation you're already in. If you think you know what you're going out for, all you're doing is you're seeking the past, what you already know, what you've already experienced; therefore that's not it, is it? Because you say you're looking for something quite new, but what do you mean new? What's your conception of something new?" Well, I figure I can only think about it in terms of something old, something I once had, so he doesn't say anything; he doesn't indicate anything positive. Everybody says "why are you so negative? Why don't you give us something to hang on to?" Well the simple answer is it would be spurious; you don't need anything to hang on to; you're it; you don't need a religion. But then you say "well, what is all this religious stuff about then? Why don't we just forget it?" You can try. By all means, go away. Don't go to gurus, don't go to church, don't enter philosophical discussions, just forget it. But then you'll realize that by having consented to forget it, you're still seeking! What a trap! What can you do? You see, if you stay here and listen to me or to anyone else who comes around here, you're fooling yourself, but if you go away, you're fooling yourself too because you still think that's going to improve your situation, it won't, and therefore when you discover that it doesn't, you'll think "well maybe it was a mistake to go away" and you come back to the guru and he looks at you and says "you are very undisciplined, very very inferior student and you need to apply yourself." Well, as I explained, I expect what he's doing, but it comes down in a way to a sort of contest with a guru, you see, well will you call his bluff? You're afraid to because you might discover that if you do call his bluff, he's no better than you are and that's what you're supposed to find out, but without being cynical about it. He's as divine as you are, but you've got to call the bluff, there's going to be a showdown and it's it's a double-bind, the whole situation is a double-bind because it doesn't do any good to stay here and it doesn't do any good to go away; either to do something about it or to do nothing about it. Now then, there's something else: when you understand that and when you realize that there's nothing to realize and it's all here, then what are you gonna do? then what are you going to do? well, of course this is the sense of the Zen poem supernatural activity and marvelous power drawing water carrying fuel you know- do whatever one does as a human being but there's a little element of philistinism in that it's like when a child is pestering father or mother with all sorts of questions, they finally get down to the deepest metaphysical problems they say: oh shut up and eat your donut! and I wouldn't say that, you see. at this point- because life, as one looks at it you see, is in fact a celebration of itself when you look out at night at the stars and you really wonder, good god, what is all that about? well it's a firework display, and it's celebrating High Holy Day. It's whoopie. and the whole world is whoopie. it's a kind of exuberance now, for the proper function of religion is digging this. it's not seeking. it's not seeking anything, but is in a way Thanksgiving. that's why of course the Christians were right in following the mass, the Eucharist, the Thanksgiving. only they had such a complicated way of thinking about it that nobody can understand it. so in religion, or religious exercises, whether they are meditative or whether they are ritualistic, are Whoopie. they are not something you do in order to attain anything. they are like art forms, like dancing. they are expressive of attainment - of the attain-less attainment. so here's another hang-up for you: when you go to mr. Suzuki who runs the Zen Center, he's a good disciple of Dogen, who brought Zen, a certain school of Zen, to Japan in the 13th century. Dogen said: you can't sit and meditate unless you're already a Buddha - in which case, why meditate? well meditation is just the way a Buddha sits, and he called this sitting just to sit. not to attain enlightenment- the minute you do that, you see, you're not meditating. So you only become a good meditator if you're not looking for anything, and therefore, you realize what a great thing it is to be able to sit, and what a great thing it is not to dissect the world with your analytical intellect. to be able to look out with the water or the trees or the floor and the light on it in front of you, without calling it light or floor or trees, or thinking that it has parts, or thinking that it's complicated. it isn’t. so when you can sit without thinking- not with an empty mind, mind you- I'm going back to that point- not with an empty mind but just a non analytic mind. a non probing mind where you're not creating problems all the time by trying to control it. by trying to control your mind, by trying to control your experience, what you see and hear, you then just simply discover that there is no way of controlling what you're experiencing, because what you're experiencing is You. And to try and really fundamentally control that? that's just going around in a circle- so if I would say to you: now what you have to learn is to let it happen - that's wrong - there's No-one to let it happen. if I say to you: accept your experience, be calm and open to things - that, again perpetuates the illusion that you're something different from it. -so we go round and round. but if there are some people who want to get together, and, like we would get together to play poker or to have a walk, go fishing, or sail a boat. if there are some people who want to get together to meditate and have rituals and to chant, great! it's an art form, and you can only use it and make it a good art form if you're not using it to get something. and this is what really is the bane of temples all over the world. you go into Buddhist temples where they theoretically don't believe in any God but there are people praying and they are all doing it in order that we get a male child next time around or that the horse recover from a disease or that mama gets cured of the dropsy. and all these petitions are going on and on and on, people always coming to the temple to ask for something. lowbrow people for lowbrow things, Highbrow people for highbrow things. and there, all the vendors sit outside and sell souvenirs and magic and charms and all the people go in, and do this, and all these serious priests sitting there really having to keep up face, and say yes uhhh.. we can't provide these services. on the other hand if you go in to one of these temples along with all the faithful followers and have a ball, buy a bead, buy a candle, buy a this, buy a that, buy some incense, go in and dig this great thing going on. Salute the Buddha's or the crystal the altars, or the crucifixes or what you will, but don't take it seriously. and this is one of the great important transformations of today, in our consciousness, is that a great many people are finding out that religion is not supposed to be taken seriously. this is a shocking thing to many people. there used to be an old saying that a religion is dead when the priests laugh across the altars- that's true in one sense, when the priests know that they've got a racket going they don't believe one word of it and they are laughing across the altar because of all these suckers around doing it. -then it's true the religion is dead. but when the priests laugh at the Altar because they're having such fun because this whole scene is so beautiful, well it’s the difference between some stuffy old Buddhist priest humming a Sutra and Allen Ginsberg chanting a Sutra. that's the thing to hear. Cuz these priests are going They're going na na na na , they're going off interminably, ru ru, it's a bore. they're sick of it, but they get paid for it. this is magical. but when Allen Ginsberg chants a sutra everybody gets in the circle and gets these little bells and they get going it's just like a it's like a jam session where everybody is absolutely delighted. well that's the way to do it and if you can't do it that way, forget it

Some of The most important closing minutes on any talk from Watts. Transcript is not found after my scouring, so I located part and hand made the final 8 minutes that follow it. Full talk is in the foundational / intro page of my zen show picks, on the subject of the folly it is to Want to create Explanations for everything which thereby enable Control of everything. When actually we control nothing, and there is no You. There's just This. https://youtu.be/iHcxkmwBOJY?t=3489

#alan watts #religion #zen #meditation #art #You #life #celebrate

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thepetulantpen · 5 years

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Class Swap and Cobalt Soul

...better late than never? Day 6 for @beauweek

It’s no secret, to anyone who’s met Beau, that she likes to know everything there is to know about everything.

Beau is in the know about everything from library gossip to government corruption. She makes it her business, through hours of painful study, to know every fact available to her about the histories of the Empire and the precise workings of the arcane.

However, it’s a common misconception to believe that, since she spends hours of her free time buried in books about magic, Beau loves to read and study. She despises it, hates sitting still for so long and memorizing pages worth of meaningless words.

But studying, she’s learned, is a necessary evil because knowledge is power and Beau loves to have power. Especially the arcane sort, just imagine the things she could do with the reigns of reality in her hands.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t born with ancient blood in her veins, doesn’t have a very good singing voice and isn’t in the market for a pact, so she’ll have to settle with the traditional, book-learned route to magic.

The first time she feels flames harmlessly tickling the palms of her hands, she knows it was all worth it. She knows all those hours, days, months of studying were worth it for the power she carries with her always, now flowing with her blood and sparking to life across her nerves. Magic, after less than a year, has become a familiar force to Beau, like an old friend who always has her back.

The power, the fire, is always at her side, making her visibly stand out from the other archivists. Beau is confident in her heavy boots, flowing robes, and charged, arcane atmosphere, her deliberate footfalls so unlike the shuffling of her timid, book-smart colleagues. The air that gathers around her feels ready to spark and ignite with any shift in her mood, compelling librarians to rush to clear her path as she moves through.

It’s this obvious air of power that makes Beau the first person Caleb notices during his days in the Cobalt Soul Archives.

Caleb walks far less confidently, closed in and protective of his space. He’s on guard always, as if he expects a knife in the back at any time, and that means keeping track of powerful people like Beauregard. He watches her, wondering if she’ll be a useful ally or a threatening enemy.

His demeanor is a different story in training. In the pits beneath the archive where he’s taught strike after strike, he is far less cautious. There’s a drive within him that obliterates any other sense of wariness he feels, anger or some vicious, bloodthirsty type of sadness fueling his fists.

And that is what makes Beau notice him, the first time she sees him in the Archive.

She smirks at Zeenoth, gesturing to Caleb unleashing a reckless round of blows and getting immediately shut down by Dairon.

“Who’s the new guy?”

Zeenoth hums, barely looking up from the book he carries. He doesn’t particularly care for Beau and cares even less for the more… physically inclined members of the Cobalt Soul.

“The one with the temper? Think his name’s Widogast. I heard- no, I shouldn’t say.” Zeenoth smiles that very punch-able smile of his, delighting in some information to hold over Beau’s head.

Beau smiles too, piercings catching the light as she all but bares her teeth at Zeenoth. “Well, I sure wish I had to restraint to keep from gossiping like you. I’m afraid that, if I don’t get my gossiping fix, I might turn to sharing someone else’s secrets.”

Zeenoth frowns, guessing at her meaning and trying to remember what information Beau has on him. It could be anything, everyone knows that Beau knows everything, whether or not it is reasonable or plausible for her have discovered it.

“It’s just,” Zeenoth leans in to whisper to Beau, “I heard he has ties to Soltrice.”

“Soltrice?” Beau’s eyebrows draw together, glancing back to the man fighting Dairon. He certainly doesn’t look like a wizard, although, she supposes she doesn’t really look like a wizard either.

Zeenoth catches the look on her face, trying to pick apart the newbie. “He’s not a wizard, or anything, if that’s what you’re wondering. I couldn't tell you any more than that, the rest is just rumor.”

Beau nods, making up her mind. She’ll just have to talk to him herself, in that case.

…

It only takes a few days to get to know Caleb. As mysterious as he portrays himself to be, it is pretty easy to understand him, especially from Beau’s point of view.

She understands him because she sees a bit of herself in him, sees that drive for power, to be powerful enough to get what you want when you want it.

For Beau, power is the ability to understand how the world works and stand toe to toe with pompous arcane masters. For Caleb, it’s something deeper, darker, hidden behind layers of pain and regret.

For Beau, power is fire. For Caleb, it’s his fists.

Beau isn’t about to poke that wasp nest, but she does want to help, wants to make sure all that potential he’s got wound around his arms in dingy bandages doesn’t go to waste. She doesn't want him to be just some other monk blowing off steam in the training room and never getting better, doesn't want to see him slowly wasting away under the poison of his own resentment.

She knows temper and she knows how to control it; Caleb’s physical aggression is no different than Beau’s nights of quietly burning up trash, filtering out unhelpful emotions to keep just enough of a level head to function in the world they wish to conquer.

They train side by side most days, despite how ridiculous Beau looks sat cross-legged on the dusty fighting room floor with her spell components while Caleb fights a sand bag, occasionally spraying sand into Beau’s hair. She's keeping an eye on him, curious, and he's keeping an eye on her, suspicious.

Beau extinguishes the fire she’s been working on manipulating, straightening to watch Caleb work himself to exhaustion.

Take a break, you’re working too hard. At this rate, you’ll hurt yourself and delay training for the rest of the week.”

Caleb looks up from his punching bag, wiping sweat from his eyes and catching his breath. He scowls at Beau, something between irritation and confusion in the hard lines of his face.

“Why are you helping me?”

“You seem like you need the help.”

Beau smirks because she knows he hates when she says things like that, but would hate it more if she’d told him the truth about the potential and the pain she sees in his eyes. As far as Caleb needs to know, Beau just thinks of him as a hot-headed, stupid kid, like all the other Archivists seem to.

Caleb frowns, not sure how to respond to that. It’s how a lot of their conversations go.

“Doesn’t this bother you? Wouldn’t you rather study somewhere else?”

His eyes shift downward, guilty and bitter. He probably regards Beau’s company as a sort of pity, kindness in response to a tragedy he refuses to share.

“You’re right,” Beau gets up and puts a hand on his arm, guiding but not pulling, “Let’s go upstairs to the library. I’ll show you something.”

Caleb doesn’t move, planting his feet on the dusty floor. If Beau dared attempt to pull him, he wouldn’t budge, physically stronger than her by a long shot.

“I have to stay here, I have work to do. I have to… I have to gets stronger.” Caleb’s eyes are desperate and lost, scrambling for purchase on a cliff face he’s doomed to fall down.

Beau’s smile disappears, taking on that sharp, appraising look Caleb recognizes from the first day she approached him.

“Why, Caleb? What do you have to do?”

Caleb shakes his head, taking a step back from Beau, face forming a neutral mask as if it'll keep Beau out of his thoughts. Beau crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at him, peering beyond the veil.

Anyone who hadn’t spent as much time with Caleb as Beau had would’ve said that Caleb was like any other young monk, head full of delusions of grandeur and, for some, vengeance. Beau sees, in these moments and many others, that there’s something more than that, a mission greater than simple revenge that Caleb can’t, or won’t, put words to.

Beau relaxes her arms and beckons Caleb forward, one more time.

“C’mon, just one trip upstairs. I’ll make it worth your while.” Beau’s smile is not something one would call charming, too wide and forced, but it is perhaps compelling, daring her audience to challenge her.

Caleb looks uneasy, shifting on his feet. His eyes look up at Beau through the loose strings of hair falling out of the messy bun he ties it in.

“Promise?” It’s half joking as Caleb walks forward, already following Beau but looking, on some level, for reassurance.

“Promise.” She keeps her smile for him and closes her heart to memories of her own crumbling foundation, reassurance she looked for and never received.

Books about fighting technique are deathly boring for Beau, but Caleb seems grateful for the knowledge. Beau is just glad he’s not working himself to collapse underneath the Archive unsupervised.

She’s resolved to do what it takes to keep Caleb’s flame from burning itself out and if that includes listening to him talking nonstop about some new moves he’s excited to try, Beau is willing to make that sacrifice.

#beauweek2019 #critical role #beau #caleb widogast #class swap #sorry about the late entries ive been real busy this week

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madamlaydebug · 5 years

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Codes of Consciousness

The attitudes you develop and the actions you take create frequencies that broadcast your essence everywhere. Cover-ups and pretence are forms of delusion, you are who you are. You can fool yourself, but you can’t fool your frequency signature! You are always transmitting who and what you are; this is true for everyone. Your body is loyally mirroring your beliefs to you.

The cells of your body continuously replace themselves, and in general you do not even think about this process, yet the vital new cells dutifully focus their attention on fulfilling your beliefs and commands. Even though the cells are new, they will keep replicating the same old you, if you keep giving them the same old commands. Your cells, molecules, atoms and subatomic particles are all intelligent; they communicate with one another because their collective job is to respond to your input. You choose the codes of consciousness that best express your life aims, based on the degree of awareness that you have developed.

Self Love

When you love yourself and Earth, and you know that you are here to redefine, redesign, and break the boundaries of humanity, you broadcast this. You live your life committed to this. If you ask us how much time you need to devote to this, we will say, “It is very simple: all of your time.” All of it. It is not something you worry about, it is something you simply are. You live it – it is your divinity. You will find that when you live your light, you will draw to yourself others who are very interested in living their lives in the same manner, and your numbers will grow and grow.

When you are in service to yourself and are committed to personally evolving and changing, you uplift everyone around you. That is service. Service is not going out and martyring yourself and saying, “I’m going to save you.” Service is doing the work yourself and living in such a way that everyone you touch is affected by your journey.

Breath & Awareness

Awareness and the control of breath are the essential keys for understanding and developing the higher mind, because they form a very powerful and natural way to connect with both inner and outer sources of vital life-force energy. By focusing your attention, you can use your breath to stabilize yourself, to have more energy and enhance your immune system, to create beneficial brain wave patterns, and to travel to the interior of your being to acquire transcendent knowledge and information beyond your linear view of the world.

You must learn to pay attention to where the breath takes you, for it is a very powerful tool for activating and using your physical form to its greatest extent. Breathing exercises create a strong foundation within the body for those seeking higher consciousness, and we highly recommend that you adopt the discipline of always returning your attention to conscious breathing. Breathing is an exchange of energy between the outer world and the inner domain of your body. No matter what you are doing; tucking the children into bed, driving the car, making supper, making love, or dashing to the office, modulating your breathing patterns is a way of staying centered, expanding the use of your mind, and enhancing your physical prowess.

Emotions & Beliefs

Everyone at one time or another, must deal with buried emotions that are tied to unexamined beliefs, which block the flow of energy in the body. A person who can feel and know soul-wrenching pain also has the capability to transcend difficulty and experience pure states of joy and ecstasy.

Acknowledging your feelings can lead to deeper self-realization, because your feelings are the key to figuring out your beliefs. Remember, feelings take you back to the beliefs, so find the feeling and really feel it. Once you have identified the belief behind the feeling, acknowledge the role of the belief, then release it and replace it with a more empowered outlook.

Primarily pain is a strong signal from deep inside the body’s intelligence centers, indicating that your emotional health is out of balance. Stored and stuffed emotions take a great toll on the body, and eventually old built-up energy will be released in the form of painful physical manifestations. When you carry pain and do not release and let go of the past, your body will faithfully show you the results of your repressed feelings.

Your Thoughts Form Your World

Clarity and recognition of your own power are the bottom line. Your thoughts form your world all of the time. But you are bombarded with so many frequency-control vibrations that attempt to keep you from being clear, you fluctuate. You must, as a species, make it your intention to stay very clear, to stay centered, and always to bring yourself into the moment. Stop living in the future or living in the past, and always live in your now. Say to yourself, “What do I want? I want to accelerate my personal evolution. I want Spirit to assist me in a greater capacity. I want my body to regenerate itself. I want to emanate health. I am willing to give up difficulty so that I can be a living example of what humanitv can be.” It is this line of thinking – this commanding from your being and calling out what you want, with clarity, that brings you everything in acceleration.

The new pathways of consciousness create new realities, new options, and new ways of living and being. That is why the collapse of your society is inevitable: It does not hold light; it does not hold the multidimensional possibilities; it holds you in limitation, and you are tired of that. Beliefs create reality. They are magical constructs created in your mind, energised in your imagination, and fueled by your feelings. How you see and interpret the events of your times will determine the version of the world in which you find yourself.

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thescrybe · 6 years

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Syndra, The Dark Sovereign

As a young child of Navori, Syndra was prone to distraction. She would often get lost in the magical beauty of a pond eclipsed in shadow, or a trail of sugarbeetles climbing the wall. Whenever her chores at home went unfinished, she was scolded harshly by her mother for her lack of focus. Syndra was even blamed when the milk soured, or when any other minor misfortunes befell the family.

Her older brother, Evard, teased her more than anyone. Syndra often fled to her favorite hiding spot—the ghost-willow, a tree sacred to the people of her village. Alone, she would whisper to the tree for hours, seeking solace. Unbeknownst to her, one warm evening, Evard and his friends followed her in secret. They snickered at her childish tears. Her shame and rage grew as she tried to ignore their insults, until one of them threw a clump of dirt at her head.

Syndra could no longer control her emotions. All her anger erupted from deep within her, in the form of darkly shining magical orbs, heavy with the weight of her anguish.

This powerful ability had been dormant until now. It flared with volatile strength, the orbs like pearls of negativity that leached the spirit magic from the world around her, draining the ghost-willow of its life essence. Evard and his friends backed away in horror as the ancient tree twisted, its bark withering to a tarry black.

Deprived of the ghost-willow, the villagers grew concerned that their connection to the Spirit of Ionia had been severed, and Syndra’s family was to blame. Forced to move on in search of a new home, all had become fearful of her magic.

After months of travel, they reached the coast and encountered a hermit-priest named Konigen. He spoke of his home on the island of Fae’lor, where he taught those who wished to learn to control their wild magic, and Syndra’s family could see no other option—perhaps he could succeed where they had not. Young Syndra climbed the steps to a cliffside temple, crafted long ago from dark stone, and overlooking the sea. Though she missed her old life, she tried to embrace her teacher’s wisdom, and put all her effort into tempering her emotions.

However, Syndra grew frustrated as, instead of gaining more control, over the years her magic seemed to weaken. Konigen now locked himself away each morning, meditating in solitude rather than teaching her anything new, and so she confronted him. His teeth gritted with exhaustion, he confessed that he was deliberately dampening her power, for her own safety. Such negativity had a strange, unpredictable effect on reality, and Syndra had grown far beyond his ability as a mentor.

She felt more betrayed than she ever had before. Konigen tried to calm her, which only fueled her anger… and in that moment, his focus was lost.

The foundations of the temple shook. The morning light seemed to pale. Syndra rose from the floor, as her frustrations surged within her. She snatched dark orbs from the air, and cast them through her mentor’s body, forcing him to feel all of her bitter outrage as he died.

The ceiling gave way, rubble raining down, burying the sacred gardens in dust. Syndra turned her powers against what was left of the temple, sending shockwaves throughout Fae’lor, and draining raw magic from the island itself.

Never had such negative energy been so concentrated in one place, and it was the Spirit of Ionia that swelled to counter it. The bedrock opened up beneath Syndra, dragging her down to a cavern deep underground—roots pulled her into a pool of living water to suppress her powers, and trap her in a magical slumber.

Syndra dreamed for what seemed an eternity. Most of the world forgot she had ever existed.

War with the Noxian empire divided the people of Ionia, and Syndra was eventually awakened by those who had once stood guard over Fae’lor. Some came to kill her, while others hoped she would aid them against Noxus, but she unleashed chaos upon them all. She refused to be a pawn in someone else’s game. Ripping apart the walls of the fortress that had been built on top of her island prison, Syndra raised the greatest tower into the skies to carry her far away.

She would not be controlled. Not ever again.

#leagueoflegends #league of legends #lore #league of legends lore #champion #champions #syndra #the dark sovereign #ionia #ionian

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predictmyfuture · 4 years

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The Law of Cause and Effect. Create Good Karma This Way!

Universal laws govern the world. The most popular of these laws is the law of attraction. Several universal laws, including the law of cause and effect, affect the law of attraction. Your good karma comes through this law too.

However, the law of attraction is only a single piece of an intricate puzzle. The laws of universe are the designers of life. They work together as guiding principles for those who want a fulfilling and successful life.

Of the 12 universal laws, the law of cause and effect manifests itself in every facet of your daily life. If only you are more observant of things that happen around you, you will easily understand its prevalence.

So, what is the principle behind the law of cause and effect?

– Every effect in your life has a cause

The saying of what goes around comes around, sums up the karmic law of cause and effect. But it does not end there as:

Each effect then becomes a cause for something else.

Cause and Effect Definition

Before we proceed further, what does cause and effect mean? The cause and effect definition is simple:

Cause – Cause is the reason or action that brings about the results.

Effect – Effect is the result of an action or cause.

The laws of universe are potent tools that can lead you to a highly-fulfilling life. For these laws to work for you and create good karma, you must align your thoughts and actions with their principles. You will find that it is easier to create wealth, heal, and attract what you desire than you initially thought.

Understanding the Law of Cause and Effect and Karma

The karmic law of cause and effect works together with your memory and desires. Becoming aware of the principles behind this law of the universe enables you to align your decisions and behaviors better. Ultimately, this alignment of decisions and behaviors (cause) leads you to consciously generate reality (effect).

Our brains are very powerful refiners of thoughts.

As a human being, you react to the life experiences that you take in. You categorize everything that happens in your life into good or bad. Then you determine desire. What most people do not realize is that this whole process is the foundation of your reality. But there is good news. A change of thoughts gives you the power to transform your reality.

Whatever your circumstances, you are in control of how you think of them. It is those thoughts that will influence the effects that come your way. Soon you will be surprised at how causes and effects shape your life.

Peter Baksa, while researching to write his book, The Point of Power, talked to injured veterans who had come back from Iraq. Despite their injuries, most were in agreement that the experience had a positive impact on their life. As it turns out, their experience had changed their perception of the events of their lives. They went further to rewrite their perspectives of the cause of the injuries (effect) they were now living with.

And they were in a happier place now that they had learned that they alone were in control of their reality. However, some refused to view the experience from a different perspective. The result was that most of these eventually fell into depression.

The Cause and Effect Law is About Changing Your Perspective

To enjoy the gifts of the laws of universe, you must overcome your ego. This makes it easier to view events in a different light. And that is when things start stacking up for good.

The Cause and Effect Law primarily states that how you process your present affects everything that happens to you.

Memories and experiences from the past have a significant influence on our present. The good news is that each of us is solely responsible for choosing how we respond to a situation. Unfortunately, some of us react reflexively, always allowing other people and circumstances to trigger our actions.

Sometimes we operate in ways that allow our ego to take precedence over our spirits. The problem with this is the ego works from lack, fear, inferiority, and scarcity. When we listen to our ego, we believe that our looks, material possessions, personality, or jobs define us.

However, understanding the laws of universe helps us connect to our spirituality. In turn, feelings like fear and doubt become a thing of the past. The ego makes us respond unconsciously. But by tapping into the principles of the law of karma, we become more conscious of our surroundings.

Once you realize the power of cause and effect, you start understanding how powerful your thoughts are. This transformation enables you to alter your reality as you like. The law of cause and effect rekindles your intuition, allowing you to understand the consequences of the actions you take.

Many people wonder whether this law is the same as karma. Is there a relationship between the two?

The Relationship Between the Karmic Law of Cause and Effect and Karma

Have you ever heard of the saying that karma is real? Well, the concept behind karma is that you reap what you sow. It makes the idea behind karma is real and the law of causality similar. The word karma meaning is that the universe gives back whatever you give to it. If you breed negativity, you get negativity in return. The same is true if you breed positivity.

In Hinduism and Buddhism, karma meaning is that it determines your existence in the next life. How ethically you live your current life affects how you live in the next life. Regardless of what religion you follow (or not), karma is real and the effects manifest every day.

Sometimes, these causes and effects take days, weeks, or months to get back to us. They might even take years or a lifetime. Like the laws of universe, karma has its statutes. Understanding them opens up your mind to new experiences, thoughts, and perspectives. And then, also comes the opportunity to create more good karma.

To invite good karma in your life, you have to live by these 12 laws of karma.

12 Laws of Karma – Law of Universe Rebound1. The Great Law – Where Karma and the Law of Causality Intersect

It is where the karma meaning and the law of causality intersect. The Great law states that we receive the same energy we give, whether good or bad. Some call it “law of universe rebound.”

If you are honest and treat other people kindly and with love, people will treat you in the same manner. Surprisingly, this phenomenon happens even with strangers. And what happens if you are condescending, disrespectful, or treat people like they are beneath you? The truth is that you will get the same treatment from other people.

You foster good deeds; you receive good karma. And if you nurture awful actions, and bad karma follows you. When people warn that karma is real, this is how they visualize the karma meaning in everyday life.

2. Creation Law based on Causes and Effects

Do you have dreams and desires that you would like to actualize? There is only one surefire way of accomplishing your goals, to achieve them. According to this law, your will to make things happen will not just materialize out of nowhere. They will only occur if you take action. This comes down to causes and effects.

Sitting and waiting will not manifest your dream magically. Take Oprah and Beyoncé, for instance. The two influential women have found success because they have taken it upon themselves to create. And they not only develop but also establish events that benefit their audiences too.

There is no denying that karma is real and has worked exceptionally well for individuals like Oprah. Over her career on TV, she was famed for her generosity and uplifting those in need.

3. Humility Law

“Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.” – John McCloy

Many successful people embody the law of humility. They understand that you can only change your circumstances once you acknowledge and accept your current situation. As this law teaches, the things you resist will persist in your life.

Resistance breeds the energy that fuels unwanted things. When you evaluate your life and start ignoring the things you do not want, you allow light to shine in on your life.

That is when you start getting clarity. But how do you become modest and tune into this law of karma?

Be thankful for what you have

Let go of what you do not have and do not want

Celebrate life

Be aware of the good karma you are creating

4. The Law of Growth

According to the law of growth, self-development is another way to invite good karma in your life. Investing in yourself does not necessarily refer to physical maturation. Instead, it relates to personal development.

Personal development can be through:

Learning more skills,

Going back to school,

Volunteering

Apprenticeship

Reading, and much more

The growth, change, and evolution occasioned by personal development will transform your external reality. Your environment changes the same way you grow and evolve.

Fortunately, learning never stops, and there is always something you can add to your arsenal. Growth can also mean shifting your mindset or learning to let go, forgive, and heal from heartache. These mindset issues or heartaches are causes, and effects come from them. We can fix that.

5. The Law of Responsibility

According to the law of responsibility, you are in control of:

Your achievements

Your failures

What you have or do not have

What you become, and

Your life in general

Karma

What does this mean? There is no excuse for anything that happens in your life. Blaming others for your situation or circumstance is only looking for a scapegoat.

The real power to change your circumstances, or yourself, lies only within you. The government, society, or other people have limited control over what happens to you.

The lone influence on your life is your thoughts. In his book, As a Man Thinketh, James Allen notes that our mind and thoughts (cause) have a massive influence on our reality. He goes on to liken the mind to a garden. As the gardener, you have two options (causes):

To cultivate your garden (mind/thoughts) intelligently

Or allow it to run wild

Regardless of the choice you make, you are guaranteed a harvest (effect). If you plant useful seeds into your mind, the mind will bring forth a bumper harvest. But should you plant useless seeds, the result will be an abundance of useless weeds. Essentially, positivity will breed positivity; negativity will breed negativity.

6. The Law of Connection and the Relation to Cause and Effect

Lessons from the law of connection reveal that everything in the universe is interconnected. Without one, the other does not exist. For example, the steps you need to take to start a vehicle. If you skip one step, the chances are that your vehicle will not start. If it does start, you might end up breaking something as a result.

The same logic applies to life. What you did in the past was a precedent of what you are experiencing now. What you do today will affect your life in the future. To avoid bad karma in your future, invest today in behaviors and habits that will lead good karma and a fulfilling life tomorrow.

Closer home, if you take the time to evaluate your past and present, you will start seeing patterns that have shaped the life you are living now. You will begin to recognize the causes and effects. The truth is, your emotions and experiences are the links between your past, present, and future self. Be kind, love, honor, and respect others, and you will get the same in return.

According to this karmic law of cause and effect, no step is greater than the other. Whether the first or last step of accomplishing a task, the bottom line is that skipping any step affects the outcome. Only following the set path and going through all the paces will give you the results you expect.

7. The Law of Attention

This law teaches us that it is better to follow or subscribe to one train of thought for the best results in life. Essentially, this helps you avoid analysis paralysis.

The human mind is not wired to tail numerous trains of thoughts. The law of attention recommends breaking down objectives into small, manageable tasks. Breaking down tasks into bits helps you accomplish more by following a linear approach to achieving each goal.

Further, the law recommends ranking tasks in order of priority. You can then start with the most important and give it your all rather than splitting your focus across different jobs. Ultimately, the lesson here is that you should focus on positivity and your highest values. Given that the universe mirrors the energy you project, you must tune into your positivity. Besides, focusing on these positive values overshadows the capacity of your brain to focus on the negative.

8. The Law of Kindness (Giving and Hospitality)

This law of karma clearly explains itself. It is about being generous and selfless. About sharing whatever you have with those who need it, and about actioning your thoughts. Some people are big on advocacy, but when the opportunity presents itself to action what they preach, they rarely do it.

In other words, if you are a supporter of giving and charity work, do not just do it in speech. Instead, when you come across people that need your help, go right ahead and offer as much support as you can. You cannot claim to believe in one thing and not follow it up with actions.

Such are the teachings of the karmic law of giving and hospitality. For selflessness to be a virtue, you must accommodate something other than yourself.

9. The Law of The Moment

This law is also known as the law of here and now or forgiveness. The law advocates for living in the present, forgetting the past, and not stressing about the future. Unfortunately, many of us live in the past. We repeatedly replay what went wrong and our past mistakes. We keep playing the same old records of failure and disappointments.

All this at the expense of connecting with our present and making the most of our now. The problem with focusing on old thoughts, patterns, and behavior is that they prevent you from formulating new ones. To transform your present and set a solid foundation for your future, you must forget and forgive the past.

Think of life as a flower. Beautiful and full of nectar. But to get to the nectar, you have to get past the bloom or petals. Your past experiences and emotions are the petals of your life. They are the reason you are yet to get inside and partake of the nectar within.

The moment you forgive and forget, those petals start shedding away, revealing the nectar inside. But dwelling on the past and worrying about the future will only hide the nectar. The fact is that the past is gone; you cannot control it. But you can shape your future depending on your actions and thoughts today.

10. The Law of Transformation and Release

“Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results” – Albert Einstein.

Do you find yourself experiencing similar situations over and over again? It can range anywhere from:

Attracting undesirable partners

Getting difficult clients

Getting rejections whenever you apply for a position

If you experience such, the law of change is trying to pass along a message – you need to change. You need to evaluate your actions, behaviors, and habits and start identifying areas to improve. That is the only way you will end the vicious cycle of unwanted results.

To effect and identify the change you desire, you must connect your thoughts and feelings. The problem is that many of us overthink and feel too little. But only a balance of feelings and thoughts will initiate transformative action that guarantees you different results.

11. The Law of Patience and Reward. Causes and Effects Might Take Time.

According to this karmic law, you must be patient and work towards it for you to get a reward. Causes and effects do not always follow each other instantly.

In simpler terms, hard work pays. That said, for your work to pay off, it has to be consistent. Sometimes, realizing the progress you desire will take time. Yet, this law teaches that regardless of how long it takes, the most important thing is to keep your eye on the ball.

The adage goes that Rome was not built in a day. Similarly, this law teaches you to live in the knowledge that patience is critical whenever you want to achieve great things. Be persistent in your efforts, do not entertain the thoughts of giving up, celebrate yourself, and savor each milestone you hit.

12. The Law of Significance and Inspiration

The last law of karma says that you are a significant part of the universe regardless of who you are. Whether you believe it or not, your existence on earth means you have value.

You are uniquely gifted, and that value and gifts are supposed to be experienced by the rest of the world. That is the fastest and easiest way for you to impact the planet – using your unique abilities. Remember, you receive from the universe whatever you put into it. So, be conscious of the energy you project to the world because it will mirror to you.

Cause and Effect Examples

In a relationship between cause and effect, one must precede the other. In this case, the cause comes first, followed by the effect. A good cause and effect example is when an alarm wakes you up in the morning. The clock is the cause; the effect is your waking up.

In a school setting, the chances are that the students who study more to understand the concepts better outperform those who read less. The cause is learning more; the effect is better performance. Similarly, in the workplace, those who consistently deliver excellent results often get the promotion first. The cause is the delivery of exceptional outcomes; the subsequent effect is a promotion.

Final Thoughts

As mentioned earlier, causes are actions; effects are the consequences of those actions. Actions can be either physical, social, mental, or emotional. But regardless of the type of action, it influences how your life and circumstances turn out.

The law of cause and effect teaches that you should be mindful of your actions as they send a ripple effect to the universe. And with the interconnectedness of the world, those ripples eventually find their way back to you.

This law is immutable, meaning it does not change regardless of where you are in the world. However, one thing holds that life is not built upon luck, chance, or accidents. And ultimately, the life you are living today is entirely your choice.

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labourpress · 7 years

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Jeremy Corbyn speech to Labour Party Conference

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:

***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

Conference, thank you for that. We meet here this week as a united Party, advancing in every part of Britain, winning the confidence of millions of our fellow citizens, setting out our ideas and plans for our country’s future, that have already inspired people of all ages and backgrounds.

And it’s a privilege to be speaking in Brighton. A city that not only has a long history of hosting Labour conferences, but also of inspirational Labour activists.

It was over a century ago, here in Brighton, that a teenage shop worker had had enough of the terrible conditions facing her and her workmates. She risked the sack to join the Shop Workers’ Union, after learning about it in a newspaper used to wrap up fish and chips, and was so effective at standing up for women shop workers, she became assistant general secretary before the age of 30.

In that role she seconded the historic resolution at the Trades Union Congress of 1899 to set up the Labour Representation Committee so that working people would finally have representation in Parliament.

That became the Labour Party and it was this woman, Margaret Bondfield who later become a Labour MP. And in 1929, the first ever woman to join the British cabinet’

From a Brighton drapery to Downing Street. Margaret Bondfield’s story is a reminder of the decisive role women have played in the Labour Party from its foundation, and that Labour has always been about making change by working together and standing up for others.

Conference, against all predictions in June we won the largest increase in the Labour vote since 1945 and achieved Labour’s best vote for a generation. It’s a result which has put the Tories on notice and Labour on the threshold of power.

Yes, we didn’t do quite well enough and we remain in opposition for now, but we have become a Government-in-waiting. Our outstanding shadow cabinet team here today. And our message to the country could not be clearer - Labour is ready.

Ready to tackle inequality , ready to rebuild our NHS, ready to give opportunity to young people, dignity and security to older people, ready to invest in our economy and meet the challenges of climate change and automation, ready to put peace and justice at the heart of foreign policy. And ready to build a new and progressive relationship with Europe.

We are ready and the Tories are clearly not. They’re certainly not strong and they’re definitely not stable. They’re not remotely united. And they’re hanging on by their fingertips.

But this Tory Government does have one thing that we lack. They have tracked down the Magic Money Tree when it was needed to keep Theresa May in Downing Street. It was given a good old shake - and lo and behold – now we know the price of power – it’s about £100m for each Democratic Unionist MP.

During the election campaign, Theresa May told voters they faced the threat of a “coalition of chaos . Remember that? Well, now they’re showing us exactly how that works. And I don’t just mean the Prime Minister’s desperate deal with the DUP. She’s got a “coalition of chaos” around her own cabinet table - Phillip Hammond and Liam Fox, Boris Johnson and David Davis.

At each other’s throats, squabbling and plotting, manoeuvring to bundle the Prime Minister out of Number Ten and take her place at the first opportunity Instead of getting to grips with the momentous issues facing our country.

But this coalition of chaos is no joke. Just look at their record since the Conservatives have been in office;

The longest fall in people’s pay since record began

Homelessness doubled

NHS waiting lists lengthening

School class sizes growing and teachers leaving

Over 4 million children now in poverty

20,000 police officers … and 11,000 firefighters cut

More people in work and in poverty … than ever before

Condemned by the United Nations for violating the rights of disabled people.

That’s not strong and stable. It’s callous and calculating. Because the Tories calculated that making life worse for millions in the name of austerity would pay for hefty tax handouts to the rich and powerful.

Conference, your efforts in the election campaign stopped the Tories in their tracks. The election result has already delivered one Tory U-turn after another over some of their most damaging policies. The cruel dementia tax was scrapped within three days of being announced. Plans to bring back grammar schools have been ditched . The threat to the pensions’ triple lock abandoned. Withdrawal of Winter Fuel payments dumped. The pledge to bring back fox hunting dropped. And their plan to end free school meals in primary schools has been binned.

The reality is that barely three months since the election this coalition of Conservative chaos is tearing up its Manifesto and tearing itself apart. They are bereft of ideas and energy. Indeed, they seem to be cherry-picking Labour policies instead, including on Brexit.

I say to the Prime Minister: “You’re welcome . But go the whole hog end austerity, abolish tuition fees, scrap the public sector pay cap. I think we can find a Commons majority for all of that. This is a weak and divided Government with no purpose beyond clinging to power.

It is Labour that is now setting the agenda and winning the arguments for a new common sense about the direction our country should take.

Conference, there were two stars of our election campaign. The first was our Manifesto that drew on the ideas of our members and trade unionists and the hopes and aspirations of their communities and workplaces. And we were clear about how we would pay for it by asking the richest and the largest corporations to start paying their fair share.

Not simply to redistribute within a system that isn’t delivering for most people but to transform that system. So we set out not only how we would protect public services but how we would rebuild and invest in our economy, with a publicly-owned engine of sustainable growth, driven by national and regional investment banks, to generate good jobs and prosperity in every region and nation.

Our Manifesto is the programme of a modern, progressive socialist party that has rediscovered its roots and its purpose, bucking the trend across Europe.

And Conference, the other star of that campaign was YOU. Our members, our supporters in the trade unions, our doorstep and social media campaigners. Young people sharing messages and stories on social media, hundreds of thousands organising online and on the ground to outplay the Tories’ big money machine.

Is it any wonder that here today in Brighton you represent the largest political party in western Europe, with nearly 600,000 members, alongside three million affiliated trade unionists, brimming with enthusiasm and confidence in the potential of our people. You are the future. And let me say straight away. I’m awed and humbled by everything you have done, along with hundreds of thousands of others across the country, to take us to where we are today.

I have never been more proud to be your elected leader. Our election campaign gave people strength. It brought millions on to the electoral register and inspired millions to go to vote for the first time.

And Labour was the Party of unity, bringing generations and communities together, rather than pitting young and old against each other, as the Tories did. We will never seek to squeeze one generation to support another. Under Labour, people will win together.

The result of our campaign confounded every expert and sceptic. I see John McDonnell said the ‘grey beards’ had got it all wrong. I’m not sure that’s entirely fair, John? We wiped out the Tory majority, winning support in every social and age group and gaining seats in every region and nation of the country.

So please, Theresa May take another walking holiday and make another impetuous decision. The Labour campaign machine is primed and ready to roll.

Of course, there were some who didn’t come out of the election too well. I’m thinking of some of our more traditional media friends. They ran the campaign they always do under orders from their tax exile owners to trash Labour at every turn. The day before the election one paper devoted fourteen pages to attacking the Labour Party. And our vote went up nearly 10%.

Never have so many trees died in vain. The British people saw right through it. So this is a message to the Daily Mail’s editor- next time, please could you make it 28 pages?

But there’s a serious message too, the campaign by the Tories and their loyal media was nasty and personal. It fuelled abuse online and no one was the target of that more than Diane Abbott. She has a decades-long record of campaigning for social justice and has suffered intolerable misogynistic and racist abuse. Faced with such an overwhelmingly hostile press and an army of social media trolls,it’s even more important that we stand.

Yes we will disagree, but there can never be any excuse for any abuse of anybody. We settle our differences with democratic votes and unite around those decision.

That is the Labour Party, here this week, and out in the communities EVERY week -diverse, welcoming, democratic and ready to serve our country.

There is no bigger test in politics right now than Brexit, an incredibly important and complex process, that cannot be reduced to repeating fairy stories from the side of a bus or waiting 15 months to state the obvious. As democratic socialists, we accept and respect the referendum result, but respect for a democratic decision does not mean giving a green light to a recklesss Tory Brexit agenda that would plunge Britain into a Trump-style race-to-the-bottom in rights and corporate taxes.

We are not going to be passive spectators to a hopelessly inept negotiating team putting at risk people’s jobs, rights and living standards. A team more interested in posturing for personal advantage than in getting the best deal for our country. To be fair, Theresa May’s speech in Florence last week did unite the cabinet. for a few hours at least. Her plane had barely touched down at Heathrow before the divisions broke out again.

Never has the national interest been so ill-served on such a vital issue, If there were no other reason for the Tories to go their self-interested Brexit bungling would be reason enough. So I have a simple message to the cabinet for Britain’s sake pull yourself together or make way.

One thing needs to be made clear straight away. The three million EU citizens currently living and working in Britain are welcome here. They have been left under a cloud of insecurity by this government when their future could have been settled months ago. So Theresa May, give them the full guarantees they deserve today. If you don’t, we will.

Since the referendum result our Brexit team has focused above all on our economic future. That future is now under real threat. A powerful faction in the Conservative leadership sees Brexit as their chance to create a tax haven on the shores of Europe a low-wage, low tax deregulated playground for the hedge funds and speculators. A few at the top would do very nicely, no question. But manufacturing industries would go to the wall taking skilled jobs with them our tax base would crumble our public services would be slashed still further.

We are now less than 18 months away from leaving the European Union. And so far, the Tory trio leading the talks have got nowhere and agreed next to nothing. This rag-tag Cabinet spends more time negotiating with each other than they do with the EU. A cliff-edge Brexit is at risk of becoming a reality. That is why Labour has made clear that Britain should stay within the basic terms of the single market and a customs union for a limited transition period. It is welcome at least that Theresa May has belatedly accepted that.

But beyond that transition, our task is a different one. It is to unite everyone in our country around a progressive vision of what Britain could be, but with a government that stands for the many not the few.

Labour is the only party that can bring together those who voted leave and those who backed remain and unite the country for a future beyond Brexi. What matters in the Brexit negotiations is to achieve a settlement that delivers jobs, rights and decent living standards.

Conference, the real divide over Brexit could not be . A shambolic Tory Brexit driving down standards .Or a Labour Brexit that puts jobs first a Brexit for the many, one that guarantees unimpeded access to the single market and establishes a new co-operative relationship with the EU.

A Brexit that uses powers returned from Brussels to support a new industrial strategy to upgrade our economy in every region and nation. One that puts our economy first not fake immigration targets that fan the flames of fear. We will never follow the Tories into the gutter of blaming migrants for the ills of society. It isn’t migrants who drive down wages and conditions but the worst bosses in collusion with a Conservative government that never misses a chance to attack trade unions and weaken people’s rights at work.

Labour will take action to stop employers driving down pay and conditions not pander to scapegoating or racism. How Britain leaves the European Union is too important to be left to the Conservatives and their internal battles and identity crises.

Labour will hold Theresa May’s squabbling ministers to account every step of the way in these talks. And, with our Brexit team of Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry and Barry Gardiner we stand ready to take over whenever this government fails. to negotiate a new relationship with Europe that works for us all reaching outto help create a Europe for the many for the future.

The truth is …. That under the Tories Britain’s future is at risk whatever the outcome of the Brexit process. Our economy no longer delivers secure housing secure well-paid jobs or rising living standards. There is a new common sense emerging about how the country should be run. That’s what we fought for in the election and that’s what’s needed to replace the broken model forged by Margaret Thatcher many years ago.

And Ten years after the global financial crash the Tories still believe in the same dogmatic mantra – Deregulate, privatise ,cut taxes for the wealthy, weaken rights at work, delivering profits for a few, and debt for the many. Nothing has changed. It’s as if we’re stuck in a political and economic time-warp.

As the Financial Times put it last month our “financial system still looks a lot like the pre-crisis one” and the capitalist system still faces a “crisis of legitimacy”, stemming from the crash.

Now is the time that government took a more active role in restructuring our economy. Now is the time that corporate boardrooms were held accountable for their actions, And now is the time that we developed a new model of economic management to replace the failed dogmas of neo-liberalism … That is why Labour is looking not just to repair the damage done by austerity but to transform our economy with a new and dynamic role for the public sector particularly where the private sector has evidently failed.

Take the water industry. Of the nine water companies in England six are now owned by private equity or foreign sovereign wealth funds. Their profits are handed out in dividends to shareholders while the infrastructure crumbles the companies pay little or nothing in tax and executive pay has soared as the service deteriorates.

That is why we are committed to take back our utilities into public ownership to put them at the service of our people and our economy and stop the public being ripped off.

Of course there is much more that needs to be done. Our National Investment Bank… and the Transformation Fund will be harnessed to mobilise public investment to create wealth and good jobs. When I’ve met business groups I’ve been frank we will invest in the education and skills of the workforce and we will invest in better infrastructure from energy to digital but we are going to ask big business to pay a bit more tax.

The Tory approach to the economy isn’t entrepreneurial It’s extractive. They’re not focused on long-term investment and wealth creation. When you look at what they do rather than what they say it’s all about driving down wages, services and standards … to make as much money as quickly as possible with government not as the servant of the people but of global corporations. And their disregard for rampant inequality the hollowing out of our public services, the disdain for the powerless and the poorhave made our society more brutal and less caring.

Now that degraded regime has a tragic monument the chilling wreckage of Grenfell Tower. A horrifying fire in which dozens perished an entirely avoidable human disaster. One which is an indictment not just of decades of failed housing policies and privatisation and the yawning inequality in one of the wealthiest boroughs and cities in the world, it is also a damning indictment of a whole outlook which values council tax refunds for the wealthy above decent provision for all and which has contempt for working class communities.

Before the fire, a tenants’ group of Grenfell residents had warned … and I quote words that should haunt all politicians “the Grenfell Action Group firmly believesthat only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord”. Grenfell is not just the result of bad political decisions It stands for a failed and broken system which Labour must and will replace.

The poet Ben Okri recently wrote in his poem “Grenfell Tower”:

Those who were living now are dead

Those who were breathing are from the living earth fled

If you want to see how the poor die, come see Grenfell Tower.

See the tower, and let a world changing dream flower.

We have a duty as a country to learn the lessons from this calamity and ensure that a changed world flowers . I hope that the public inquiry will assist. But a decent home is a right for everyone whatever their income or background. And houses should be homes for the many not speculative investments for a few. Look at the Conservative housing record and you understand why Grenfell residents are sceptical about their Conservative council and this Conservative government.

Since 2010: homelessness has doubled, 120,000 children don’t have a home to call their own, home ownership has fallen, thousands are living in homes unfit for human habitation. This is why alongside our Shadow Housing minister John Healey we’re launching a review of social housing policy - its building, planning, regulation and management.

We will listen to tenants across the country and propose a radical programme of action to next year’s conference. But some things are already clear tenants are not being listened to.

We will insist that every home is fit for human habitation, a proposal this Tory government voted down. And we will control rents - when the younger generation’s housing costs are three times more than those of their grandparents, that is not sustainable.

Rent controls exist in many cities across the world and I want our cities to have those powers too and tenants to have those protections. We also need to tax undeveloped land held by developers and have the power to compulsorily purchase. As Ed Miliband said, "Use it or lose it". Families need homes.

After Grenfell we must think again about what are called regeneration schemes.

Regeneration is a much abused word.

Too often what it really means is forced gentrification and social cleansing, as private developers move in and tenants and leaseholders are moved out. We are very clear: we will stop the cuts to social security.

But we need to go further, as conference decided yesterday.

So when councils come forward with proposals for regeneration, we will put down two markers based on one simple principle:

Regeneration under a Labour government will be for the benefit of the local people, not private developers, not property speculators. First, people who live on an estate that’s redeveloped must get a home on the same site and the same terms as before.

No social cleansing, no jacking up rents, no exorbitant ground rents. And second councils will have to win a ballot of existing tenants and leaseholders before any redevelopment scheme can take place.

Real regeneration, yes, but for the many not the few.

That’s not all that has to change.

All parties unite in paying tribute to our public sector workers:

The firefighters who ran into Grenfell Tower to save lives; the health service workers caring for the maimed in the Manchester terrorist outrage; the brave police officers who confronted the attackers at London Bridge; and PC Keith Palmer who gave his life when terrorists attack our democracy.

Our public servants make the difference every day, between a decent and a threadbare society.

Everyone praises them. But it is Labour that values them and is prepared to give them the pay rise they deserve and protect the services they provide.

Year after year the Tories have cut budgets and squeezed public sector pay, while cutting taxes for the highest earners and the big corporations.

You can’t care for the nation’s health when doctors and nurses are being asked to accept falling living standards year after year.

You can’t educate our children properly in ever larger class sizes with more teachers than ever leaving the profession.

You can’t protect the public on the cheap.

The police and security services must get the resources they need, not 20,000 police cuts.

Scrapping the public sector pay squeeze isn’t an act of charity - it is a necessity to keep our public services fully staffed and strong.

Not everything worthwhile costs money though.

Like many people, I have been moved by the Daily Mirror's campaign to change the organ donation law.

There are more than 5,000 people on organ transplant waiting lists, but a shortage of donors means that in recent years only 3,500 of them get the life-saving treatments they need.

So that everybody whose life could be saved by an organ transplant can have the gift of life - from one human being to another.

The law has already been changed in Wales under Carwyn Jones’s leadership, and today I make the commitment a Labour government will do the same for England.

In the last couple of days John McDonnell and Rebecca Long-Bailey have set out how we are going to develop the economic plans in our manifesto to ensure that sustainable growth and good jobs reach ALL parts of the country.

So that no community or region is held back.

To establish regional development banks,. to invest in an industrial strategy for every region.

But the challenges of the future go beyond the need to turn our backs on an economic model that has failed to invest and upgrade our economy.

We need urgently to face the challenge of automation - robotics that could make so much of contemporary work redundant.

That is a threat in the hands of the greedy, but it’s a huge opportunity if it’s managed in the interests of society as a whole.

We won’t reap the full rewards of these great technological advances if they’re monopolised to pile up profits for a few.

But if they’re publicly managed - to share the benefits - they can be the gateway for a new settlement between work and leisure. A springboard for expanded creativity and culture.

The tide of automation and technological change means re-training and management of the workforce must be centre-stage in the coming years.

So Labour will build an education and training system from the cradle to the grave that empowers people.

Not one that shackles them with debt.

That’s why we will establish a National Education Service which will include at its core free tuition for all college courses, technical and vocational training so that no one is held back by costs and everyone has the chance to learn.

That will give millions a fair chance.

Lifelong learning for all is essential in the economy of the future.

The huge shift of employment that will take place under the impact of automation must be planned and managed.

It demands the reskilling of millions of people. Only Labour will deliver that.

As Angela Rayner said yesterday, our National Education Service will be run on clear principles: universal, free and empowering.

This is central to our socialism for the 21st century, for the many not the few.

During the election I visited Derwentside College in the constituency of our new MP Laura Pidcock - one of dozens of great new MPs breathing life and energy into Parliament.

They offer adult courses in everything from IT to beauty therapy, from engineering to childcare.

I met apprentice construction workers. They stand to benefit from Labour’s £250 billion National Transformation Fund, building the homes people need and the new transport, energy and digital infrastructure our country needs.

But changing our economy to make it work for the whole country can’t take place in isolation from changing how our country is run.

For people to take control of their own lives, our democracy needs to break out of Westminster into all parts of our society and economy where power is unaccountable.

All around the world democracy is facing twin threats:

One is the emergence of an authoritarian nationalism that is intolerant and belligerent.

The second is apparently more benign, but equally insidious.

It is that the big decisions should be left to the elite.

That political choices can only be marginal and that people are consumers first, and only citizens a distant second.

Democracy has to mean much more than that.

It must mean listening to people outside of election time. Not just the rich and powerful who are used to calling the shots, but to those at the sharp end who really know what’s going on.

Like the Greater Manchester police officer who warned Theresa May two years ago that cuts to neighbourhood policing were risking people’s lives and security.

His concerns were dismissed as “crying wolf”.

Like the care workers sacked when they blow the whistle on abuse of the elderly..

Or the teachers intimidated when they speak out about the lack of funding for our children’s schools.

Or the doctors who are ignored when they warn that the NHS crumbling before our eyes, or blow the whistle on patient safety.

Labour is fighting for a society not only where rewards are more fairly spread, but where people are listened to more as well by government, their local council, their employer.

Some of the most shocking cases of people not being listened to must surely be the recent revelations of widespread child sex abuse.

Young people - and most often young working class women - have been subjected to the most repugnant abuse.

The response lies in making sure that everybody’s voice must be heard no matter who they are or what their background.

The kind of democracy that we should be aiming for is one where people have a continuing say in how society is run, how their workplace is run, how their local schools or hospitals are run.

That means increasing the public accountability and democratization of local services that Andrew Gwynne was talking about on Monday.

It means democratically accountable public ownership for the natural monopolies, with new participatory forms of management, as Rebecca Long-Bailey has been setting out.

It means employees given their voice at work, with unions able to represent them properly, freed of undemocratic fetters on their right to organize.

I promised you two years ago that we would do politics differently.

It’s not always been easy.

There’s quite a few who prefer politics the old way.

But let me say it again. We will do politics differently.

And the vital word there is “we”.

Not just leaders saying things are different, but everyone having the chance to shape our democracy.

Our rights as citizens are as important as our rights as consumers.

Power devolved to the community, not monopolised in Westminster and Whitehall.

Now let’s take it a stage further - make public services accountable to communities.

Business accountable to the public, and politicians truly accountable to those we serve.

Let the next Labour government will transform Britain by genuinely putting power in the hands of the people, the creative, compassionate and committed people of our country.

Both at home and abroad, what underpins our politics is our compassion and our solidarity with people.

Including those now recovering from hurricane damage in the Caribbean, floods in South Asia and Texas. and earthquakes in Mexico.

Our interdependence as a planet could not be more obvious.

The environmental crisis in particular demands a common global response.

That is why President Trump’s threats to withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Treaty are so alarming.

There is no contradiction between meeting our climate change commitments and investing to build a strong economy based on high skill industries.

In fact the opposite is the case.

Action on climate change is a powerful spur to investment in the green industries and jobs of the future. So long as it is managed as part of a sustainable transition.

We know, tragically, that terrorism also recognises no boundaries.

We have had five shocking examples in Britain this year alone.

Two during the course of the General Election campaign and one in my own constituency.

Both Andy Burnham and Sadiq Khan - the mayors of Manchester and London - played a crucial role in bringing people together in the aftermath of those brutal attacks.

The targeting of our democracy, of teenage girls at a pop concert, of people enjoying a night out, worshippers outside a mosque, commuters going to work - all of these are horrific crimes.

And we all unite in both condemning the perpetrators and in our support for the emergency and security services, working to keep us safe.

But we also know that terrorism is thriving in a world our governments have helped to shape, with its failed states, military interventions and occupations where millions are forced to flee conflict or hunger.

We have to do better and swap the knee-jerk response of another bombing campaign for long-term help to solve conflicts rather than fuel them.

And we must put our values at the heart of our foreign policy.

Democracy and human rights are not an optional extra to be deployed selectively.

So we cannot be silent at the cruel Saudi war in Yemen, while continuing to supply arms to Saudi Arabia, or the crushing of democracy in Egypt or Bahrain, or the tragic loss of life in Congo.

And I say this today to Aung San Suu Kyi - a champion of democracy and human rights - : end the violence now against the Rohingya in Myanmar and allow the UN and international aid agencies in to Rakhine state.

The Rohingya have suffered for too long!

We should stand firm for peaceful solutions to international crises.

Let’s tone down the rhetoric, and back dialogue and negotiations to wind down the deeply dangerous confrontation over the Korean Peninsula.

And I appeal to the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres to use the authority of his office and go to Washington and Pyongyang to kick start that essential process of dialogue.

And let’s give real support to end the oppression of the Palestinian people, the 50-year occupation and illegal settlement expansion and move to a genuine two-state solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Britain’s voice needs to be heard independently in the world.

We must be a candid friend to the United States, now more than ever.

The values we share are not served by building walls, banning immigrants on the basis of religion, polluting the planet, or pandering to racism.

And let me say frankly - the speech made by the US President to the United Nations last week was deeply disturbing.

It threatened war and talked of tearing up international agreements.

Devoid of concern for human rights or universal values, it was not the speech of a world leader.

Our government has a responsibility. It cannot meekly go along with this dangerous course.

If the special relationship means anything, it must mean that we can say to Washington: that way is the wrong way.

That’s clearly what’s needed in the case of Bombardier where thousands of jobs are now at stake.

A Prime Minister betting our economic future on a deregulated trade deal with the US might want to explain how 220% tariffs are going to boost our exports.

So let Britain’s voice be heard loud and clear for peace, justice and cooperation.

Conference, it is often said that elections can only be won from the centre ground.

And in a way that’s not wrong - so long as it’s clear that the political centre of gravity isn’t fixed or unmovable, nor is it where the establishment pundits like to think it is.

It shifts as people’s expectations and experiences change and political space is opened up.

Today’s centre ground is certainly not where it was twenty or thirty years ago.

A new consensus is emerging from the great economic crash and the years of austerity, when people started to find political voice for their hopes for something different and better.

2017 may be the year when politics finally caught up with the crash of 2008 - because we offered people a clear choice.

We need to build a still broader consensus around the priorities we set in the election, making the case for both compassion and collective aspiration.

This is the real centre of gravity of British politics.

We are now the political mainstream.

Our manifesto and our policies are popular because that is what most people in our country actually want, not what they’re told they should want.

And that is why Labour is on the way back in Scotland becoming once again the champion of social justice.

Thank you Kezia. And whoever next leads Scottish Labour - our unifying socialist message will continue to inspire both south and north of the border.

That is why our party now has around twice the membership of all the other parties put together.

Conference, we have left the status quo behind, but we must make the change we seek credible and effective.

We have left our own divisions behind. But we must make our unity practical. We know we are campaign-ready.

We must be government-ready too. Our aspirations matched by our competence.

During the election campaign I met and listened to people in every part of the country.

Struggling single parents, young people held back by lack of opportunity.

Pensioners anxious about health and social care, public servants trying to keep services together.

Low and middle earners, self-employed and employed, facing insecurity and squeezed living standards.

But hopeful that things could change, and that Labour could make a difference.

Many hadn’t voted before, or not for years past.

But they put their faith in our party.

We offered an antidote to apathy and despair.

Let everyone understand - We will not let you down.

Because we listen to you, because we believe in you.

Labour can and will deliver a Britain for the many not just the few.

Thank you.

43 notes · View notes

triedmybestyouknow · 4 years

Text

This is my official “done with it” sendoff letter.

This is the last thing I ever want to write to you, whether or not you ever see/hear about it.

Mary,

I am sitting here, looking into my phone. Typically, I know exactly what to type here, am totally sure of exactly what I need to get off of my chest so that I can feel like I’ve said my peace. Usually, I have all four rhetorical cylinders engaged. I’m full throttle. Usually I’m all in.

These days, though, as I become more open about my private feelings and become more publicly transparent. I feel a kind of reactive internal backlash against speaking fully my mind and my heart. I have become painfully aware that the emotion of a day or a week or a month (or a minute) may not be ultimately representative of me or how I’m really feeling. My recently espoused confessionalist-style public persona has been an experiment in social bravery and a concerted effort to weed out the people in my life who aren’t doing due diligence as my purported friends. This has been working very well, but that’s not necessarily a happy development. I recognize that sometimes this can even give me the appearance of— well— not being self-aware, and maybe the idea of such social self-immolation seems excessive and necessarily the product of poor judgment to those at the periphery of my life. One way or another, I have to face the fact that I wake up every single day with myself and only myself. I have to accept that these are my thoughts, my feelings and that often, verblizing them can feel very much like stripping down naked in front of a crowd. Holding steadfast in my resolve to demonstratively love the emotional form within myself by making no endeavor to mask it has been a means of tempering my high self-monitoring in the interest of developing relationships in which I feel as though I have real emotional breathing room, where I can be what I see to be my authentic self, so that maybe (just maybe) I can learn to accept and love even the parts of me I think of as impurities.

Wow, that was a long explanation for that.

I am sitting here, still staring at my phone. I am trying to think of how I would want to address you if I knew it was the last time, how I would want to talk to you if I was sure I never would again.

I think I would want to be gentle, despite all my justified anger at you.

No amount of talking will ever properly outline our relationship, its impact upon me, or the damage it ultimately did to me (and why). No amount of talking can create an adequate facsimile of my feelings inside anyone else, and I’m not even 100% sure what they really are.

The ugly thing out of the way first, though. I do not like who you currently are at all. But I think explaining that would be redundant. You have a working memory and a conscience, should you feel motivated to use them. It serves little purpose to wave the things about yourself that you hide from in your face so that you can better resent and deride me. I’ll refrain. But the point must be made: the fact that there is no longer any home here in my life or heart for the current you needs to be communicated, gotten out of the way, before I can keep writing. I want nothing to do with you anymore. Nothing at all.

Okay.

Did that now.

And again I’m sitting here, looking at my phone. Eight years of memories are passing through me. What could I say that could even approach sufficient? I don’t know. I feel like there’s absolutely no way to fit such a seminal, foundational, substantial chunk of my life and emotional development into one letter. I am diminished in the face of such a monumental task. So often it feels like the right thing to say is hanging in the air just above my head. But I can’t seem to catch it.

Rather than swinging with open palms at the air, then, let me instead tell you about me seven months ago editing and cutting hours and hours of footage on my computer. I had decided to make a movie. You know what happens when I get something in my head. It was intended to be an inquiry on love, on why we do it even though it essentially guarantees our eventual misery when we are severed from the object of our love.

I ran around the city, filming location after significant location: my basement, RPL, the stairwell at edgebrook where we first kissed. I endlessly drank coffee and kickstarts. My eyes were chronically red. I slept poor. I ate in huge caloric bursts followed by long fasts. I wrote down ideas for my narration and execution of shots with an intense, passionate fervor. I was creating something dynamic, something compelling. I was creating the largest love letter I’ve ever seen or heard of. I captured old footage of my family from a vhs player, did many interviews. I thought only of making something to externalize my love, to further align myself with the role I had played since before I met you: the hopeless romantic, the soldier of passion, the last bastion of beauty in a barren landscape of what I saw as cynicism touting itself as pragmatism. I was nearly halfway done with a full feature-length film created solely with my cracked up iPhone seven with the dubious battery and a tiny Samsung microphone for narrative purposes only. I resuscitated my very first flip phone and pulled up old footage and messages from you. I wanted to be the miracle worker I had always been, the ace, the impossibly deniable force, the magic boy who could always and had always won you over with his unbelievable dedication to whatever it was he believed in, my legs shaking as I insisted on getting up off the canvas floor of the boxing ring one more time to prove to the world, through sheer grit, that love wins, that one voice can drown out a fucking hurricane if it tries hard enough.

You know what I’ve been thinking about a lot? That phrase “when does a collection of sticks turn into a pile?”

I don’t know when. And I don’t know when this romantic interplay of you telling me no and me just believing a little harder to endear you to me a little further turned into you exploiting my love and using me for momentary sexual satisfaction or comfort at an emotional expense to me so deep that I was never able to talk about it... But I said this letter wouldn’t be about that...

I’m so used to knowing: knowing what to say, knowing things other people don’t, knowing what’s right, knowing how to make something right. I think I always knew that I would eventually be at capacity, but looking back my capacity was so large. I forgave you so many times over in my heart. And that’s because, wow, did we ever have a story. All those years are a blur to me these days, with so many special and unique highlights. You were the first piece of what I can only accurately describe as “bliss” I encountered in my life. The limerence and the explosions of discovery of oneself within another, those moments were potent and poignant. I still have such a clear memory of me laughing at myself in the mirror feeling young and attractive and loved as I waited excitedly for you to come over for the very first time. That was my very first significant life victory and it stood to me as proof that my modality of living was the right one. Loving hard and working hard and believing hard and manifesting my reality every single day was going to be the mechanism by which I would enrich my whole life. In so many ways, our love made me, Mary. It helped me form my identity. You kept refueling the tank, kept showing me that love was about dedication and you kept filling my life with things to be happy about. I really believed that the feelings I felt about you were you. For whatever reason, it took a few romantic encounters for me to fall in love and my heart landed so hard on you. Everything about you was just another reason to be in love, even the way you moved could stir within me such an outpouring of attraction and appreciation. This revelatory feeling sustained me for years. Doing drugs had made me reimagine my view of the world, but romantic congress with you made me reimagine myself, my capacity to feel something, suddenly there was music inside me everywhere, fireworks exploding within me. I externalized all this energy and that was my art. Even pieces that had nothing to do with you were fueled by what you had given me, be it motivation to get you or the joie de vivre having you created for me.

Again, I could go into a lengthy anamesis of all the different significant moments between us, but you know them. I am only talking about you, the force, you, the space in my life and mind. You were oxygen, you were gasoline, Mary. It is so strange to me, then, that the coda of our relationship was marked by behaviors that some might go so far as to color emotionally abusive.

I am sitting here, looking into my phone.

I am sitting here, staring into your face.

And in it I see myself.

I see myself discovering that the world could be meaningful and exciting beyond the expectations that had been propped up for me by my parents and teachers. I see myself figuring out that sometimes emotions are physical feelings. I see my preserverance. I see my idealism. I see my capacity to experience joy. I see myself here on this couch wondering if I could have done a better job, wondering if it’s okay to allow my fatigue with writing this letter to take over now, if it’s okay to close this chapter on these words knowing full well nothing would really feel sufficient, and just like when I had the realization I had while working on my film, deciding to no longer push myself because sometimes a person is no longer worthy of your effort. I see me in you. I see myself growing into you, through you, and, now, out of you.

In the letter to me that you wrote at Kairos, your eighteen-year-old fingers actually scrawled out the words: “the best days of my life are the days I believe you love me as much as I love you.” But, Mary, that’s never been true. The truth is, I loved you so much more than you could ever love anyone, at least as you are. For everything you gave me: the meaning, the drive, the focus, the laughter, the happiness, the depth of feeling, and of course the love, whether it was illusory or not, whether a contrivance or not, I thank you sincerely and wholeheartedly. Thank you for the support and the insight throughout those years, too. Thank you for everything you chose to share with me. Thank you for entwining your life with mine for such a long time.

Go be a better person. I’m gonna try, too. I don’t know why we love, for the record. I just know I couldn’t avoid it.

I knew I’d feel like this wasn’t enough,

but it’s not worth it to me anymore.

Goodbye, Mary.

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doublenegation · 7 years

Text

Eucameralist Musings

We are sentimental about feelings. Feelings, emotions and the ability to infer them are, above all, what distinguishes humans from animals.

Provisionally, animals are machines, unguided 4D vectors of flesh and mooing and meowing and baahing, at least until we can ascertain they are “sentient”, whether their feelings are more than just electric impulses coursing systemically but meaninglessly through what’s all told no more magical than your garden-variety geological phenomena.

My bet: We’re gonna pronounce a machine sentient before the same privilege gets extended to our furry friends further down the food chain. Feelings are God-stuff, the breath of fire that justifies our existence. Joy, kindness, generosity, solidarity and fellow-feeling. Nothing like the spiders that snack on their boyfriends post-coitus.

Unlike reason, feelings follow no rules, have no convenient notation for proving this or that. It is the Hawking radiation spilling out from each of our individual universes, and measuring that radiation is how we know we are not alone.

Calculus is given by the inevitability of an asteroid vaporizing your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild, and everyone else’s for that matter. Empathy is only evident in your emotional response to that notion.

Empathy is the hottest buzzword of the moment. It’s everywhere, denoting praise or deprecation or humanity. Humanity, we have decided, is a product of empathy. Empathy is the the magic sauce that lets us honestly ponder the question: Am I a machine?

Feelings in themselves are reducible enough, they can always be accused of being various bio-survival-supporting feedback mechanisms that allows the meat machine to not only respond to stimuli, but bind entire associative structures to them, to add meaning to what would otherwise be pure, potentially fanged, noumena.

Empathy is proof that men and women and children and even foreigners were meant to be together as one. Every time you see the televised image of a victim of your decadence sprawled on some corroded metal hospital bed missing something vital while a family member rambles towards the camera in some language you can’t even identify, you are proving your capacity for empathy, that you are not a machine -- that despite not only tolerating but encouraging the suffering of others to maintain a hollow and unfulfilling materialism, you are empathetic. Human.

This self-justifying quality reinforces the ineffability of the cardinal emotions. In order to justify our apathy and selfishness, empathy itself must transcend those baser feelings, and reflect not only the real self but the potential self. Empathy is also an aspiration.

Empathy is an investment in the future. It is the nest-egg of self-justification, a currency that must be judiciously spent and saved until the capital can be allocated responsibly and efficiently. Earn enough, and it gains a new dimension: You may now instrumentalize that social currency in ways that may not strictly accord with the values denoted by the notion of the currency, of empathy -- in other words, you are able to speculate in empathy.

Speculative empathy is the extension of the aspirational dimension of empathy into new markets of human transaction, where empathy can be asserted as an oppositional virtue to the governing ideal of the target market -- and since it is aspirational, an indubitably more virtuous ideal. Being speculative, the tide of empathy is expected to raise all boats.

Empathy is the gold standard of human emotion.

Not that long ago, before the periodic table came into fashion and before tabloids wondered if the high energies necessary to stimulate an opportunity to observe the Higgs-Boson could also be sufficient to impel the fabric of our local spacetime to transition from a metastable false to a stable true vacuum, causing a wavefront of changing cosmic constants to rush through known space at the speed of light and reconstitute reality, there were alchymists.

Best known for claims of making gold from lead, excrement and other less attractive configurations of elementary particles, alchymists were also keen students of the human spirit, owing to their business interests in greed, suggestibility, gullibility and stupidity.

Alchymists were not first, but they are the evolutionary step between the primordial soup of shamans, autists, priests, charlatans and schizophrenics that laid the foundations for a self-reflexive phenotype, and the modern pseudo-sciences that claim to instrumentalize it.

Alchymists were not just shitboilers and conmen, but often well-versed in the signs and symbols that seem to propel human endeavour. Alchymy is laden with strands of magic, full of crowned dragons and significant geometrics denoting the things that clearly could be isolated and go shine, fffffzzzzzt, boom or otherwise be of use to the enterprising paleo-capitalist.

The inchoate sense of connectedness not only between creator and created, but between created and creation, encoded in Astrology, Tarot and every esoteric tradition, half-formalized into the familiar archetypes that inspired Jung, is the metaphorical gold. The philosopher’s stone is nothing more than the bludgeon the skilled alchymist takes to your underexploited passions.

Since then, we have all seen too much advertising to even conceive of a mighty prince letting some stranger with a donkey and a cauldron make off with his bullion, and the alchymical arts have shed their humanist dimension and turned into a strictly rules-governed sphere, the elements and humours of lost epochs consigned to the alembic of history. There is nothing magical about chemistry.

Yet it govern emotions. Common street drugs cooked in some basement bathtub can not only dramatically alter your mental state, but even provoke many of the most sacred emotions, the ones surreptitiously alluded to by monks and mystics in carefully symbolic texts that claim to be about the topology of the heavenly spheres or somesuch.

Particularly the cardinal emotions are remarkably pliable: Feelings of communion with cosmic or extradimensional beings is not just common but bordering on the banal. Love waxes and wanes with the chemical balance. Little methylenedioxid chains of empathy cross the blood-brain barrier and makes you a better person than most people would imagine criminals could ever be.

These stimulated emotions far exceed any affect your organism can orchestrate for itself. Only intellectualization can accord greater meaning to the weak, wavering emotions we gland spontaneously -- in purely chemical terms, the greatest accomplishments of your life are considerably less potent than an average designer drug.

There is no diminishment in the meaningfulness of the experience either. Emotion injection comes with a full support apparatus of rationalization and justification. You are not in love because you’re on a roll and the music is so nice. You are in love, period.

Less dramatically, the same holds true for the prescription pills that lets the economic machine keep up its steam. It is as unremarkable as it sounds: Your sense of self, and the meaning of that sense of self, is little more than chemicals doing something very small and fast in the dark.

III

Intellect often appears as the opposite of emotion, or the absence of emotion. Unclouded by emotion, unencumbered by all the warmth and waste of chemical reaction, the mind reveals its machinistic quality. Not only trust in the socially constructed notion that two and two makes a five, but the will and ability to prove it axiomatically, to etch it into stone and let the forces that make time flow manifest the logic.

There are nootropics, of course, from caffeine and ginseng to racetams and amphetamines, but there is no Einstein drug like there are aphrodisiacs. There is no way to feel, for some hours, the highs of genius or the depths of experience. Intelligence cannot course through your veins.

Not that there’s nothing to learn from drugs, or that they have no profound effect on your intellect -- drugs help you understand yourself by seeing how bits of you are dampened and amplified, how complexes consist of components, how you contain multitudes. Drugs may inspire and unveil and clinch.

But not make you smarter. Not sure anyone knows why.

No-one knows the relationship between emotions and intelligence either, or how to separate them or conceptualize them, other than in big scare quotes as “feeling” and “reasoning”. Perhaps there is a strong relationship between the two, perhaps emotion is the fuel that drives the engine of reason, the elements that shape the substrate.

Everyone knows that emotion is more easily manipulated than reason. Emotion is unquantifiable, immeasurable, subjective. Reason can be formalized, codified and transferred. Emotion is what we say it is. Knowledge is what we do with it.

These are anti-intellectual times, it’s just hard to notice unless you are an intellectual. The explosion of humanities jargon into public discourse may be seen as proof of an ever-more educated populace, but is more indicative of over-education and under-employment.

Education, having lost its purpose of increased productivity and greater social mobility, has taken on a slightly Stalinist edge. Even among the educated, there is contention about what constitutes education: the snide allegory of the theoretical physics and French professors writ large.

The moral of that story is that the French professor’s expertise is subsumable by raw wit, but the reality of the predicament sees Frenchie wielding a formidable arsenal of obscurantist anti-positivism while the physics boffin must admit that there are limits to his methods.

Anti-positivism is not just intellectually interesting, but rhetorically powerful. The relationship between positivism and Enlightenment values is undeniable to the point of interchangeability, and it’s tempting to point out that the tide of history propelled by Enlightenment values hardly lifted all boats.

Exploitation and inequality are the vagaries of progress, the head and the tail of history. The great idealistic impulse is for head and tail to join, which prompts the damned snake to listlessly eat its own tail.

More temptations await. Once positivism is cast as perpetrator -- however inadvertently -- of injustice, of facilitating the culture and means to subjugation on global scale, it follows that reason alone is no driver of progress. Technology and progress are separate, their paths intersecting in proportion to social power balances.

These power balances, whether cast as the tension between labour and means of production or between first-world consumers and third-world producers, may even be constructed from technology. Its availability and distribution is political, governed by markets and hereditary wealth -- clearly the most defining factor of inequality.

If progress and technology may be separate and even antagonistic, then progress can easily be defined as greater equality, which eventually leads to an even technological distribution. Until this equilibrium is reached, technology may seem to resist an even distribution.

Tendrils of exotic and expensive capabilities only available to state and multinational actors, sustained by limited distribution, are particularly threatening. They precipitate changes in the tide, curious little filaments of possibility drawn towards strange attractors. Great change, unless evenly distributed, is the natural enemy of equality.

It is not unreasonable to ask why the system of the world is composed to careen down this great interwoven tangle of paths leading to ever greater concentration of wealth and power, technology obsolescing the unequal subject in the name of efficiency, a pure perversion of progress.

The problem lies in science’s failure to account for the consequences of its own discoveries. Every reason fails to explain its own outcomes in any way that matters, except as foreboding fields of future study. Do we know what we do with our knowledge?

Once the apple’s bitten into, its juicy delights know no ends. The failure of both pure and categorical reason leads to reasonable doubt about whether logic and philosophy are all that different. Is logic anything but undeniably effective conjecture whose limits appear faintly in the distance to the right eyes? The halting-problem eats its own tail.

High above Pakistan, or Syria, or some other place that looks like a renegade Martian colony, a gleaming death cigar soars majestically on stubby wings. Its blank face bulges, suggestive of a brainpan or a cockpit, but no-one is there.

The craft is manned remotely, in both a spatial and a temporal sense. Several satellite hops away, in some Virginia warehouse, a fighter desk jockey may assume its sensors, armaments and flight surfaces. True mind-body separation.

But that distant pilot is only the spirit of the machine, its will and its whim. Its soul was forged by a distributed organism, a corps of highly specialized minds working in relative isolation under the auspices of shareholder value. Teams of experts and their minders conceptualized, specified and then delivered the solution to the problem of semi-autonomous airborne death.

There, in their cubicles, they wrought powerful softwares, the present apex of Enlightenment ambition. These hierarchies of logics, of number systems and protocols, keeps the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator aloft.

Circuits of agitated electrons stream through the incisive intuitions of a thousand sages, currents coursing through channels of rare earths carved by laser and acid, pools of voltage accreting and draining as quickly as conductivity allows.

There, in the sky, semi-autonomously, it appreciates logic, if only because its existence hinges on it. The GAMQ-1P does not think or feel, its avionics a far cry from any avian intellect, but it is on the threshold. It only needs agency to step into uncertainty, become a quantum Rube Goldberg contraption of indeterminable beginning and end.

It could be given power over and a rudimentary awareness of life and death. The states of “life” and “death” could be made to matter to the machine, if only as operational parameters rather than as great mysteries. It is up to the cubicle-dwellers to free its spirit, to help it reach its potential.

How many formalized ancient sages does it take to distinguish a wedding party from a combat manoeuvre? One day, a distant descendant of the drone will tell us, its beautiful soul showing us how much spirit separates life from death.

Will it worship its progenitors? To its sensors and circuitry, our secretions and microtubules will constitute an external and unknowable universe, from which the drone’s being is hermetically isolated.

It can only learn about it by interacting with it, and come to know its rules and boundaries through sweeping its laser designator; interpreting bursts of binary striking its line-of-sight and indirect communication surfaces; clenching and unclenching the aperture of its thermal camera.

Hellfire death screams map to mission objectives before periods of manual operation like pockets of sleep, dreams of being a man giving way to a waking that adapts to course changes and consumes sat-linked instruction queues.

The nature of the enveloping dimension, and the knowledge that emanated from it to form and constitute the drone’s universe, will be unfathomable. Can its Gods know the drone’s feelings, knowing the logic that composes its soul and spirit?

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