#due to misinformation and confusing wording from other sources

[esanalysis]

HiMERU ESY2 Center - Ephemeral Festival Story Summary & Analysis

We've all see the live posts in regards to the new HiMERU center event. Everyone's been talking about it and I want to as well because boy do I have a LOT to talk about in regards to what we know about HiMERU, what we learnt about HiMERU, and all the misinformation that managed to spread around in some places. This one will be pretty long, however I hope this will clear misinformation up and make the story easier to consume.

Posted - September 6th, 2024

Edited - October 25th, 2024

Analysis Word Count - 3,508

Disclaimers and CW for this post are as follows;

- This is both a summary and an analysis of the story. I will somewhat briefly summarize what is happening and will add in my larger breakdowns of specifically HiMERU's actions and feelings here (as well as others if applicable/needed). - Later parts of this analysis will vaguely reference Obbligato and be talked about under the assumption there is at least a vague understanding of what happened during the event's story. If you have not read Obbligato, I highly recommend doing so. You can read the story here. - This will contain discussions and mentions of RPF and adult/minor relationships however in no regards will I be defending this. On top of this, I do not like Himekoha/Kohahime for reasons I do not think I need to get into. - Take some information with a grain of salt. At the time of writing this I am currently going off of live translations & other sources of information as no translations exist at the moment for this story. This may be edited in the future due to this. - Screenshots have been sourced from various live translations and put through Google Translate for clarity reasons and to show what I am talking about being in game. Take the direct translations with some salt because of this. - Usual disclaimers apply - see my pinned post for those. - If you would like to discuss or debate things I have come to the conclusion of, you can submit an ask!

With that in mind. Let's get started.

The opening starts out, put simply with us learning exactly what the "Pastel Bee Brothers" - shortened to "PBB" - is. PBB, in short, is a nickname for Kohaku and HiMERU due to growing popularity in the idol world separate from Rinne and Niki as well as Crazy:B as a whole. Despite this growth, the growth does not stem from anything good. It unfortunately stems from a piece of Real Person Fiction - "RPF" for short - that involves the romantic and sexual pairing of HiMERU and Kohaku that goes by the same name.

Despite this fact, we need to acknowledge two big things when it comes to the existence of RPF here. The first being, this is a real thing to happen. Ensemble Stars is not new to the concept of criticizing things that happen in both idol culture and the industry itself, albeit to varying levels of success. We can very clearly tell that this is what is happening here when we see HiMERU try to shield Kohaku from what it truly is. Kohaku does not understand what exactly the PBB fad stems from, aside from the fact it exists after HiMERU told him about it as seen by the fact that he's shocked by being prompted to prove he's over the age of 18 when looking it up for himself.

Afterwards, HiMERU does not seem to refer to what the PBB truly is despite seemingly knowing and continues to dance around this fact when Kohaku shows his confusion to the explanation HiMERU is reading off of the internet. This implies him trying to attempt to protect Kohaku from what he can in an attempt to be a more responsible adult for him.

We can see this in the few screenshots below.

*Sakuragawa is referring to Kohaku here, its a machine error

The story is not in favor of this existing, as RPF is a real thing that exists and while it is uncomfortable, especially in regards to the fact that this involves a coupling of an adult with a minor, I think it was the best play here. Kohaku and HiMERU have a very complicated relationship with one another although not a bad one. So fans seeing it, not knowing HiMERU's real age that we do as the reader, and everything else *would* realistically result in something like this.

Its something you should be uncomfortable with, and something that is good to be uncomfortable with. But despite this, we need to keep in mind that showing support for this thing is NOT what the goal is here.

From here, we can figure out that the popularity from the PBB has boosted the rest of the Bees' popularity, despite most of the work they're currently getting being related to HiMERU and Kohaku. Rinne only pushes the work the that the Bees get onto HiMERU and Kohaku, continuing to mess around with the other two's source of popularity (in this case, buying a Doujinshi to poke fun at them and also to learn exactly what the PBB is too due to having his socials frozen and being unable to see for himself). This results in the two taking a job where they work with a smaller company to create a show where the two live a simple and domestic life together to keep in line with why PBB is popular and continue to ride the monkey's paw of a trend.

HiMERU does note before production though, that Kohaku reminds him of Kaname. If you ask me, I think this is partially why HiMERU, the one that chose the job the two do, went with this. It doesn't seem very "HiMERU like" to do, but it could be how he himself feels not how the idol persona feels. We know how much HiMERU cares for Kaname, and how highly of a pedestal he places his little brother on so wanting something calm and to be able to properly care for his brother in the hospital doesn't seem like much of a surprise when you think about it and has the decision make sense.

This is only emphasized by his thought after about how he asks himself if this was what he wanted with Kaname, the ability to raise him better and be a better older brother after the Reimei incident during Obbligato.

After a while of the small show airing and gaining popularity, Kohaku doesn't understand the popularity still. Possibly even less due to how simple the show is when its something he simply doesn't like. On top of this fact, HiMERU has been acting slightly weird in Kohaku's eyes, possibly due to HiMERU's reasoning for doing the show. Niki does sympathize with Kohaku's criticisms with the show but despite this, he can't really find himself arguing with success.

Niki ends up criticizing things a bit more though despite this, making comparisons to what he knows better. He compares the show and fans to chefs and their customers, talking about how doing the same thing can be boring and stifling even if its what the people want. HiMERU seems to be ignoring this or not quite taking it to heart like he should. Possibly due to him not realizing he's projecting his own wants onto Kohaku? Though, that's just a guess and nothing else.

At the same time, Rinne turns out to have uploaded a video himself of his plans to sabotage the show that end up failing due to Rinne getting stuck in a box in a storage room under heavy furniture. The other three end up having to get him out of the box in the storage room after they find the video. However, I want to focus on Rinne's plans to sabotage the show.

Of course this could be chalked up the Rinne wanting to sabotage the popularity not focused on him, after all it's what he claims to be doing. Yet, I can't help but feel like his intentions are different. We know that Rinne cares a lot about the people in his life, even if he refuses to properly show it when not through his persona (though, this is an analysis for another day). Rinne bought the Doujinshi at the start of the story as a means to figure out what exactly the PBB was and why it was so popular. Combining the two facts, he was probably able to piece two and two together and want to sabotage what the PBB are doing and, in turn, their popularity. Likely for the safety of Kohaku much like HiMERU trying to shield him from what exactly PBB is. A lot of who Rinne is, is something you have to read between the lines for or else you also become someone fooled by Rinne's persona much like the other people of ES - however that isn't the focus right now.

After getting Rinne out of the box in storage, we timeskip a few weeks to one of Rinne's plans to sabotage the show. Its a roughly put together show created after annoying Ibara enough. The short of this being a search for something called the "Nagigon" which is a large creature of some sort that just so happens to be played by Nagisa himself.

It's important to note that Kohaku does have more fun with this compared to the more formal show he's working on with HiMERU. Filming for the show doesn't go very far however, due to the location of the shooting being leaked and getting swarmed with fans protesting that this place isn't safe for them to record at. This whole thing only manages to back up Rinne's worries for Kohaku and HiMERU, with them giving into the demands of the fans above everything else including their safety. This only backs up my thoughts on why Rinne is trying to sabotage the show, but I digress.

After this, HiMERU and Kohaku go back to filming the domestic show they were before. Kohaku's complaints only get worse from here, not only about the show's production but also being and idol as a whole. Despite this fact, HiMERU also does not like where the PBB has led them and the rest of Crazy:B telling Kohaku to accept it like he has.

Kohaku, once again, points out that this behavior is weird. HiMERU does try to listen to the fans more compared to the rest of the Bees, especially Rinne. Likely due to the fact that he doesn't 100% know what Kaname himself would do and also due to how HiMERU created the idol persona in the past. But at the same time, this is also likely due to nothing but popularity. HiMERU's goal as we know it is to keep the name "HiMERU" in the spotlight for when Kaname is healthy again and able to take the name back for himself. The sheer popularity that the PBB has is only helping his end goal, which is likely why HiMERU is acting weird. Normally, the popularity of himself follows the rest of Crazy:B but now its surged outside of the fact in a way he himself can control. It falls back on the concept of how this popularity is nothing but a monkey's paw. It's something neither of them truly like, more than likely due to the cause of it all on top of where it ended up getting them.

HiMERU is handling the pressure and stress of the popularity better than Kohaku though, as it ends up with him passing out and going to the hospital. Consequently the same one that Kaname is staying at.

At the hospital, Rinne and Niki end up staying with Kohaku as he wakes up while HiMERU is off with Kaname.

From this point on, things are going to get more wordy as the later half of the story contains more of what I want to talk about.

HiMERU notes that there's more merch around Kaname since the last time he was here, as well as the reveal that Kaname is more awake than before. He hasn't perfectly healed, and will likely be bedridden for a long time to come but he has been having a lot of improvement. The biggest of which being, that he is awake at times and seems to be requesting merch of his brother.

The full card cg shows pieces of merch in his room, the ones we can clearly make out being the Feature Scout 1 outfit poster, a poster of the Trip Album cover, and a plush of HiMERU in his Crazy:B uniform.

Kaname is far from healed, with this merch not of "HiMERU" but of his brother, being comfort for him and his bouts of incoherency. Kaname and HiMERU have both relied on each other in a way. Their relationship being nothing but complicated due to how they met, discovering each other's existence and everything that happened during the events of Obbligato.

Due to all of this, Kaname seemingly being fine with HiMERU doing what he's doing while also being unable to vocalize it properly due to his current state makes sense. We don't know the specifics of Kaname's condition, leaving us to unfortunately have to fill in the gaps so most of this is a mix between speculation and an understanding of both Tojou's character.

The name HiMERU was something that felt stifling to Kaname, it was a fact he mentioned to Tatsumi. This was something HiMERU didn't know himself until the events of ESY1. HiMERU was operating under the assumptions he himself had made and still cannot back down from. If anything, this fact proves that the brothers truly don't know each other that well. They never grew up together, for one reason or another (I'll get into that later), and as such have put each other up higher than they should be. They have never seen each other's faults properly.

This is being reflected in the merch that now surrounds Kaname. Despite the name never being his, and probably understanding that it will never be his. He's okay with this. A lot of people have been under the assumption that he wouldn't like what HiMERU is doing, but that's just wrong. If anything it could be freeing for Kaname, especially after the incident. We don't know much about him now after everything, because people can change and be affected by trauma like this in different ways. But it's probably safe to assume not much has changed by his actions.

He wants the comfort of his brother, and seeing him surrounded by not only HiMERU merchandise, but also PBB items likely brings him some of that comfort when he's awake and his brother isn't there.

And at the same time, when HiMERU is visiting Kaname, he seeks out the comfort of his younger brother. We truly see how conflicted he feels during this part, asking Kaname if this is what he truly would've wanted for the idol name he now has. He asks both Kaname, and mostly himself, if this is what Kaname wants and if he is truly crafting a place for him to be when he recovers. Only backing up the idea that the two don't truly know each other but only want the best for each other.

Although, this scene can't stay for too long. HiMERU unfortunately cannot entirely vanish to stay with Kaname as much as he'd like to do so. Rinne ends up catching him in the lounge leading the two to have an interesting talk. Rinne quizzes HiMERU on where he was and why his face looks sad, eventually revealing he knows about HiMERU's secret. It's something that could've been inferred from various other stories if you ask me, but seeing it properly spelt out is interesting. On top of this, Rinne also points out HiMERU is currently a year older than his persona, comparing his age to Niki which would currently make him 19. HiMERU doesn't shoot this down or acknowledge it being correct, giving nothing but a vague response about how faking your age by a year or so is more common than one would expect. While true - it is important to note that Rinne may be right due to HiMERU's avoidance of the topic.

*translation is a little broken - however it still shows Rinne saying "one year older" in reference to HiMERU

I'd argue this makes perfect sense. During the events of Obbligato, he would be about 17 or so, meaning he's still essentially a kid during this. In a way, it can make his actions make more sense when looking at it from this angle. However, I plan to dedicate an analysis to HiMERU's age sometime soon as I would like to talk about it separately and go more in depth about Obbligato and how this doesn't retcon what we know already but that isn't the focus currently.

Regardless, HiMERU ends up getting defensive and speaking in first person. Another something I deem important of note. After Rinne coming forward with the fact he knows his secret, even calling Kaname "Kannamecchi" as a nickname, HiMERU has nothing to hide. He speaks in third person to preserve his secret and be what HiMERU is supposed to be, not who HiMERU truly is. Without that secret, he's allowed to be himself. He's speaking for himself here, how he claims to not trust Rinne himself and threatens to harm him should he hurt Kaname or drag him into any sort of mess. Rinne however, takes this moment to try to drill into HiMERU that the PBB isn't good and how him being "HiMERU" isn't good either and making him act strange.

Another moment that shows how much Rinne cares so much about those around him despite his persona. Another thing I plan on talking about at some point.

HiMERU ends up calming down and asking about how Kohaku is doing, Rinne ends up turning this around on him and continues to push the idea that "HiMERU" is causing problems here and brings up how Kohaku was wrapped up in "HiMERU's" mess. This manages to be enough to get HiMERU to reflect a bit more, realizing that this all started from Kaname. The popularity was not only good for the idol name, but also seemed to be making Kaname happy with the growing merch in his hospital room. HiMERU was always skeptical about the trend, knowing about it in full and how odd it was in multiply ways. During this reflection, Kohaku walks up to the two of them. Both Kohaku and Niki were called to the lounge by Rinne, allowing them to hear at least part of the conversation the two were having including parts of HiMERU's self reflection and bits about Kaname.

This prompts the two of them to properly talk out everything going on. Neither of them are happy and only one was willing to admit it previously - HiMERU even taking a moment to remind himself and truly realize that Kohaku wasn't happy. Its a moment of selfishness we rarely see from HiMERU and one he doesn't seem to realize exists because he kept pushing the show "for the fans" when really he was also being a tad selfish with his own wants by imagining Kohaku as Kaname. Kohaku continues to talk about how he wants to show himself off more, be his own idol, instead of just listening to what the fans want like HiMERU seemingly wants to do. Niki only backs up Kohaku, expressing himself freely in the process to emphasize that people need to mix up what they're doing while also taking others into consideration. This also manages to click something in place for HiMERU, with him realizing that Kaname probably cared less about seeing the PBB and more about seeing his brother in any capacity.

This realization allows him to act more like himself again, or at least how people see him. Kohaku even feeling better after talking for a few. The two end up agreeing to put an end to the show going on and resume activity as Crazy:B as they always have, turning down Rinne's plans to go out with a bang as he normally would.

Despite this though, when Kohaku and HiMERU plan to do a live together at a festival and announce the end of doing things as a duo and go back to doing things with the rest of their unit, Rinne still manages to crash the party. Rinne, dragging Niki into his mess as usual, ends up turning it into a Crazy:B live since he didn't want just HiMERU and Kohaku enjoying the festival. Many fans end up speculating from this that Rinne forced Kohaku and HiMERU to halt PBB activity but they try to ignore that. Kohaku admits he enjoys Crazy:B for what it is, despite how hectic it can be with Rinne as a leader. HiMERU himself even recognizing that deep down this is what he was expecting, and in turn enjoying it.

After everything, Kohaku and HiMERU end up going back to finish shooting the little show with Nagisa and Rinne, enjoying that more than they did recording things as the PBB. Nagisa was even enjoying it himself. HiMERU truly came out from behind the persona he built up for Kaname more by the end of this story, as he continues to do so bit by bit with each story we see him in. The others even recognize this, Kohaku especially with calling out how HiMERU did see him as a little brother.

To summarize my thoughts and add a few notes that I couldn't add in elsewhere, I think the story is very good and a solid enough commentary on how popularity as an idol can come from varying places both good and bad (comparative to other ES stories at least) and how popularity itself is a powerful thing for better or for worse. Its not perfect by any means, much like any other Ensemble Stars story, but its a lot better than I think people give it credit for. We learnt more about HiMERU than we knew previously and a handful of assumptions I've seen some people have were confirmed - myself included. It's also interesting to see HiMERU be more selfish with his wants, even if he doesn't entirely realize it.

I hope we one day see HiMERU shine through more past his few moments of speaking in first person. I would like to see his real personality outshine the idol he portrays himself as. The bits we do see in the story feel powerful to me since his emotions get too strong in regards to Kaname that he lets his guard down, especially when people know his secret. Things likely won't be changing anytime soon, but improvement is still improvement and I want to see more of that.

Regardless, thank you for making to the end of this lengthy analysis. I hope you enjoyed reading it and I hope this story can now be understood better.

a/n

- I plan on making edits to this in the future when I have written the analysis on both HiMERU's age and how Rinne shows how much he cares about people, attaching the analysis to the points needed so people can further see me prove the points I would like to as the focus is on this story specifically and I would like some place separate to talk about these specific things rather than the story as a whole. - If anything needs clarification, I messed up information or you would like me to talk about something in more detail, do not hesitate to send an ask so I can talk about it or make fixes to the post as needed. I would like for this to be accurate as possible.

Edit Log

October 25th, 2024 - Edited a mistake where "Pastel Bee Brothers" was put as "Pastel Bee Boys"

[thevixenwitch]

Cernunnos - A Confusion of Aspects

Introduction

This was supposed to be a simple bit of research that I was going to do as a devotional act to Cernunnos, but over the course of the night I kept encountering the same dead ends that pointed to the same singular source of misinformation. So do not expect this to be entirely objective.

Let's begin with a simple question: Who is Cernunnos?

A Gallic deity, with difficult to trace roots. Depicted sparingly, there is debate on whether or not various depictions can actually be attributed to him. Particularly, one of the most famous supposed depictions – the Gundestrup Cauldron – has been theorized by Celtic scholar John Matthews to depict a Shaman and not the god himself, according to his book The Celtic Shaman. Depiction variation and debate is not uncommon in discussion of older religions and cultures, particularly when Romanization and Christian censorship were at play. Not to mention Wiccan appropriation and repurposing of beliefs without regard for earlier context.

Others have made fantastic deep dives into potential depictions and discussed them at length, and I am no historical scholar, so I have little to add in this case. I highly recommend the essay The gods of Gaul: Cernunnos by @mask131 [1] for a piece regarding depictions through history.

Upon reading the previous essay, I was inspired to dig deeper into Cernunnos, from historical contexts to meditating on my own UPG via my connection with him. My own connection with him was something that happened casually over time, ranging from dreamlike interactions to conversing directly through divination. I am an incarnate Fae, and worship him as the King of the Fae, in addition to other aspects and epithets such as:

Cernunnos

King of the Fae

Master of the Sacrificial Hunt, The Horned God, and other Wiccan Concepts

Master of the Wild Hunt

Pan

The Green Man

Herne the Hunter

This list is influenced by a resource post of druidry.org[2], but I will be researching each of these titles for further insights into their sources and how they do or do not connect to my own practice ahead.

[1] mask131, Tumblr

[2] https://druidry.org/resources/cernnunos - this is not a reliable resource

^ Cernunnos depiction on the Gundestrup Cauldron

Cernunnos

As learned in the previously linked essay, the name “Cernunnos” originates from the “Pillar of the Nautes” or the “Pillar of the Boatmen”, where the name is placed directly above a depiction of an antlered figure on the Block of Four Divinities[3] alongside the deity Smertrios. Many Gaul artifacts can be found in French museums. The Pillar of the Boatmen is attributed as a Roman-era inscription[4], so that gives us only enough information to hypothesize.

My takeaway from this is that the name Cernunnos is a modern approximation because of lacking, provable historical records, but rather serves a purpose as a modern placeholder. I came across information claiming that worship of Cernunnos as a deity was brought into modern belief by neo-pagans and popularized by Wiccans, particularly through Margaret Murray’s writings. During her studies of folklore in the early 20th century she put together a Witch-cult hypothesis that stated how a variety of horned deities were aspects of a “proto-horned god”[5]. In addition, this belief was adopted by Gerald Gardner and formed the basis of the concept of the Horned God within Wicca.[6]

“Sometimes also known as Carnonos, his name has firm Proto-Indo-European origins. It stems from the PIE word *k̑r̥no-, and is thus cognate to Germanic *hurnaz and Latin cornu, all meaning “horn”. In the Celtic Gaulish language, this word was karnon, and the connection with the name of Cernunnos is clear - it reflects the deity’s stag antlers, growing from his head. Thus, Cernunnos literally means “the horned one”.”[7]

Gallic history is sparse and difficult to pin down due to a lack of written records or literature. Multitudes of visual depictions dating from the Roman era have been attributed to Cernunnos by Archaeologists, having been retrieved from northern Gaul. These depictions are hypothesized to be this deity or others of similar archetypes. In addition, sites tend to use the words “Gallic” and “Gaelic” semi-interchangeably, despite the regional difference. Gael meaning a Celtic tribe from modern Ireland-Scotland, and Gaul meaning a tribe located in modern France. There is speculation that Cernunnos was a proto-Celtic deity, and could have had roots in any or all Celtic practices and beyond, but that is speculation because there is a lack of evidence to support the theory in any substantial direction.

[3] Name sourced from Athena Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, which also sources Huchard, V. (ed) Archéologica. 2003. “Le Pilier des Nautes Retrouvé. Histoire d’une Métamorphose.” Dijon, France. Éditions Faton S.A

[4] An observation attributed to Hatt, Jean-Jacques who recorded that the artifact was originally erected in 1st century AD.

[5] Margaret Murray, The God of the Witches

[6] Kathleen Sheppard Forced into the Fringes: Margaret Murray’s Witch-cult Hypothesis 21 April 2017

[7] According to Aleksa Vučković via ancient-origins.net

^Cernunnos's face as depicted of the Pillar of the Boatmen

King of the Fae - UPG

This title is predominantly UPG and relates to my own existence as an incarnate fae.

I find him similar but above other more location-based wild gods, beings like boar lords, and other guardians and rulers of nature. There is a loose hierarchy within fae politics, for lack of a better word, that is predominantly power based. Not as in subjugation over other beings, but rather quantified by expanse of control or domains. Finding the words for this section proves difficult, but he is simply above all of us, with a connection to all Fae. Cernunnos does not view himself as better than any of his subjects, he is not preoccupied with anything like that.

Does this title equate him with the concept of Oberon? No, I don’t believe so. He also exists outside of the seasonal courts, as he goes through a physical shift with the seasons instead of remaining in one form.

Master of the Sacrificial Hunt & The Horned God

Many modern depictions and associations with Cernunnos took their form via Wicca, as previously mentioned. The now heavily discounted Witch-cult hypothesis led to the adopting of the name as a common main aspect of Wicca’s concept of the Divine Masculine or the Horned God that absorbed many horned deities into one being, losing their individual status and becoming “aspects” of a central pillar. This is a theme often seen within Wicca and expands to their depiction of a central Divine Feminine deity as well, the pair often referred to as The Lord and The Lady. This is a simplification that I do not agree with. The epithet “Master of the Sacrificial Hunt” is unable to be sourced beyond the previous essay on Druidry.com and a repost of the same write-up on witchesofthecraft.com, so this title isn’t possible to verify. Although, mentions of Cernunnos identify him as a being that has a seasonal cycle of death and rebirth, which this epithet may be indicating. This belief appears to also have its basis within Wicca and lacks historical evidence. To quote from Wikipedia, “Within the Wiccan tradition, the Horned God reflects the seasons of the year in an annual cycle of life, death and rebirth

and his imagery is a blend of the Gaulish god Cernunnos, the Greek god Pan, The Green Man motif, and various other horned spirit imagery.”[8][9]

While I am large proponent of UPG, I do not abide by stating such concepts as strict facts. I will explore this further in future sections.

[8] Farrar, Stewart & Janet Eight Sabbats for Witches

[9] Doreen Valiente The Rebirth of Witchcraft pg 52-53

^The plaque I'm sure we've all seen in our local metaphysical store

Master of the Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt is a concept that permeates the history of many European cultures, including the Celts.[10] Myths of Wild Hunts would most often include a central figure flanked by hunters all in pursuit of some kind of special quarry. Within Germanic legend, the mythical figure is often Odin, but there were many other figures that have been featured across cultures and belief systems, sometimes historical and other times religious. The hunters were often depicted as fairies, the souls of the dead, or otherwise inhuman participants. Witnessing the spectacle as a mortal was thought to bring calamity[11], death, or abduction to magical realms.  The concept and term were popularized by German author Jacob Grimm, originally as Wilde Jagd.[12]

This mythological concept existed in various aspects of Germanic and European folklore, across multiple cultures. Despite this, the lack of Gallic literature means that we are unable to directly connect Cernunnos to any historical uses. The prevalence of this type of myth, though, presents the obvious opportunity to incorporate our modern understanding of him into the framework to explore our own UPG. This is a topic I may meditate on further if I do further research into the concept of the Wild Hunt.

My own personal experiences with the concept are much more play oriented. If you’ve ever been to a Beltane festival, you probably know the heady feeling of being chased through the woods before being caught and celebrating the season. This interactive ritual-made-game is a fun staple you may find on the schedule of any fertility event these days meant to drive up sexually charged, excited energy. It’s a simple enough concept to incorporate into any individual practitioner’s holiday plan, if it suits your preference. Especially as a Fae, I find the concept of the Wild Hunt to be something fun to engage in with a special partner or community, and find no harm in inserting anyone into the role of Master of the Wild Hunt, as the prevalence of the format leaving the form of individual story to expand into a genre.

[10] Stith Thompson (1977) The Folktale University of California Press pg 257

[11] See, for example, Chambers's Encyclopaedia, 1901, s.v. "Wild Hunt": "[Gabriel's Hounds] ... portend death or calamity to the house over which they hang"; "the cry of the Seven Whistlers ... a death omen".

[12] Deutsche Mythologie (1835)

^Johann Wilhelm Cordes: Die Wilde Jagd (The Wild Hunt)1856/57

Pan

The conflation of Pan with Cernunnos appears to be predominantly based in the view of all male horned deities being simple aspects of a larger presence – the Wiccan Horned God. As previously stated, I do not support that concept and will use this section to study Pan as a separate entity and cover where in my UPG they overlap.

Pan is the Greek god of the wilds, music, and a guardian of shepherds and their flocks. He also was usually in the presence of nymphs.[13] Unlike the Stag depictions and associations of Cernunnos, Pan sported the legs and horns of a goat and appeared similar to a Satyr. His domain expanded to agricultural and wooded areas, as well as the realms of sex and fertility. The sum of those parts was to present him as a god of the season of Spring. He had a Roman equivalent in the god Faunus, and was also conflated with another known as Silvanus at times. Pan became a popular god during the 20th century neopagan revival[14].

Even before that, worship of him was brought back by a festival originating in Painswick, Gloucestershire by Benjamin Hyett, who also constructed various holy places in the god’s name.[15] Other popular occultists of the early 1900’s such as Aleister Crowley also crossed paths with Pan, as he built an altar to the god and wrote a ritual play about him.[16] After that point, his image and general description was absorbed into the Wiccan Horned God concept after Margaret Murray’s The God of the Witches posed the idea that he was simply one part of an overarching whole.

But who was Pan outside of this, particularly who was he before the Witch-god hypothesis altered how future generations would see him?

Pan is considered by some scholars to be a reconstruction of a Proto-Indo-European pastoral deity[17], as well as Pushan, a god originating from Rigvedic that also shared goat traits.[18]

Beyond these source hypotheses, there is evidence that Pan was first worshipped in the mountainous, isolated area of Arcadia. In that area, if a hunt wasn’t satisfactory, disgruntled hunters would scourge, or whip, the statue of Pan.[19] At this time, there were no formal temples to Pan, and worship was instead pursued in woodlands and other natural spaces. While exemptions from this rule did exist, they were few and far between.[20] He predates the Olympians, like many Grecian nature spirits. I won’t go too in depth regarding direct mythology, as its difficult to do that with the Greek pantheon without tangents.

Pan was viewed as a height of sexual prowess, and agricultural success. He had a history of dalliances with Nymphs, to put it lightly, often depicted as being controlled by his lust and anger. Such as in the myth of the Nymph Echo, whom he ordered killed when she denied any man. In some versions, the pair even have two children, or perhaps chose Narcissus over him, no matter the variation he is usually painted as rash and jealous. I’m sure we’ve all seen that statue of Pan and the goat that resides in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

The word “panic” can trace its sources back to him, but I was surprised to find that “pandemonium” does not.[21]

In my personal view, Cernunnos ages with the seasons, being at his most virile in the Spring, then maturing into his form as a guardian of the dead come winter, appearing dead himself. This is relevant in that I find the depictions of the lustful, energetic Pan to be inspiring of how I see that Spring form. Beyond that, the agricultural and animal connections are similar, but seem to take very different forms upon closer inspection.

Within actual historical context, there doesn’t seem to be anything connecting Cernunnos and Pan in any way beyond neo-pagan labelling.

[13] Edwin L. Brown, "The Lycidas of Theocritus Idyll 7", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1981:59–100.

[14] The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Hutton, Ronald, chapter 3

[15] Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft pp 161–162.

[16] Soar, Katy (2020). "The Great Pan in Albion". Hellebore. 2 (The Wild Gods Issue): 14–27.

[17] Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q. (2006). The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 434

[18] H. Collitz, "Wodan, Hermes und Pushan," Festskrift tillägnad Hugo Pipping pȧ hans sextioȧrsdag den 5 November 1924 1924, pp 574–587.

[19] Theocritus. vii. 107

[20] Horbury, William (1992). Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 208.

[21] Coined by John Milton in his poem “Paradise Lost” coming from the Greek pan- “all” and daemonium “evil spirit”

^Mask of the god Pan, detail from a bronze stamnoid situla, 340–320 BC, part of the Vassil Bojkov Collection, Sofia, Bulgaria (It is shockingly difficult to find art of Pan where he's not rock hard.)

The Green Man

Viewed as more of a motif or concept than a deity, the Green Man originated in England and was usually depicted as covered in leaves and sometimes armed with a club. One might encounter these visuals in parades, festivals, or painted on the signs of many pubs come the 17th century. This changed with the introduction of Julia Somerset, who claimed in the Folklore journal that the design often seen on church walls actually had pagan origins as some kind of fertility deity.[22] There is no evidence to support this claim, and it has been contested by many folklorists.[23] This assertion by Somerset was then absorbed into the Wiccan Horned God despite being described as distinctly “20th Century Folklore”.[24]

That’s pretty much the extent of this one and was honestly one of the most shocking to read about. The Green Man was at best a regional icon used in local festivities but was never any kind of deity. That title was misrepresented and incorporated without research.

My personal association would be the visuals of Winter, but Cernunnos’ Winter form appears very differently to me. More skeletal stag, less old man with a holly beard.

[22]  Centerwall, Brandon S. (January 1997). "The Name of the Green Man". Folklore. 108 (1–2): 25–33.

[23] Livingstone, Josephine (2016-03-07). "The Remarkable Persistence of the Green Man". The New Yorker.

[24] Olmstead, Molly (2023-04-08). "Is the Green Man British Enough for the Royal Coronation?". Slate.

^A sign for the John Barras Pub Company

Herne the Hunter

After the last section, it is a relief to move on to something that has always been presented to me with its original fictional context intact. Herne the Hunter was a character originally depicted in The Merry Wive of Windsor written by Shakespeare in approximately 1597. Supposedly, Herne the Hunter is an antlered spirit that occupies the Royal Forest in England, occupying himself with tormenting cattle and rattling chains. While the character may have been based on local legends to some degree, it is unknown just how much verifiable connection has ever existed. Attempts to connection him to other deities or legends were made often after he was written.

There is an old tale goes, that Herne the Hunter

(sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest)

Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight

Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns;

And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,

And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain

In a most hideous and dreadful manner.

You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know

The superstitious idle-headed eld

Receiv'd, and did deliver to our age

This tale of Herne the Hunter for a truth.

— William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 4, scene 4

Despite Herne being a location-based character appearing only in the areas Windsor Forest occupied, certain books published in 1929 and 1933[25] attempted to identify him with Cernunnos and other horned deities. This is again the connection through which Wiccans incorporated Herne into the Horned God.[26]

[25] The History of the Devil – The Horned God of the West by R. Lowe Thompson; The God of the Witches by Margaret Murray

[26]  'Simple Wicca: A simple wisdom book' by Michele Morgan, Conari, 2000

^Illustration of Herne the Hunter by George Cruikshank (1840s)

Romanizations

There are theories mentioned in mask131’s essay regarding attempts at identifying what Roman deity or deities was meant to be the equivalent of Cernunnos, but there is sadly only speculation on that front. Opinions vary from person to person, but parallels are often drawn to Dis Pater and Mercury for shared traits. I did find instances such as the Lyon Cup and an altar from Reims that feature Mercury and Cernunnos depicted side by side, so I believe it is safe to say that they were at least at some point considered fully separate beings.

^1st-century CE altar from Reims with Cernunnos, accompanied by Apollo and Mercury. Mercury has a cornucopia, while Cernunnos spills grain.

Aside – Misinformation is Rampant

This one book, this one fucking “hypothesis”, changed the entire face of what would eventually become modern neopaganism. The damage of the Witch-cult hypothesis is far reaching and permeates every resource I could find while writing this piece aside from the explicitly scholarly. It is extremely discouraging how quickly you can trace something that feels off back to this one woman’s massively disproven theory that was adopted by a man that wanted to make a religion based on occult foundations because he admired ceremonial magic. The frustration I feel as someone trying to do research now after this misinformation and pseudohistory has seeped into every aspect of the path has me constantly on edge and second guessing everything I read until I can find a source.

Stating UPG as undeniable fact that others must agree with isn’t great at the best of times, but the sheer level of ignorance to historical record seems to be running rampant within the modern Pagan community. I’m all for believing something unverifiable, something that’s only true for you, or for the world from your perspective, but there is and must be a difference between that and presenting easily disproven statements as unbreakable law, especially with they come hand in hand with any dressings like, “this is actually true because I was told so by this person, who learned from this other person.” And the process is traceable to the source they borrowed from and how it was completely disproven.

We must think critically within paganism, research beyond the books with flashy covers in Barnes & Noble and question the things we are told by others are just the way things are.

Your relationship with the gods is yours alone and can take any form you want it to. Don’t let yourself be trapped by ignorance. Learn about historical contexts, question sources, seeking mentoring from those who revel in your questions and help you find the answers.

Conclusion

Cernunnos is a deity that is beyond valuable to communicate with directly due to the lack of concrete historical and folkloric information, and the prevalence of blatant misinformation that uses his name. Context is important, and even if you choose to exist outside of it, which is a perfectly valid choice, it should be a conscious one.

In addition, while attempting to research this, I actually stumbled upon sites not just with AI generated cover images, but what fully appeared to be AI generated writing. Be vigilant against information that looks like someone just skimmed the surface and made an assumption, this page had a lot of almost correct or just flat out made up information that contradicts historical fact. Especially in this modern era where people use automatic programs to make summaries of summaries for a game of unverifiable internet telephone, be aware. No matter what your personal stance on AI is, I'm sure we can all stand against information atrophy.

To me, Cernunnos is a supportive, ever-present god that helps me through things in his own way, meaning that its usually something intense and then coming out the other side putting out a fire on the back of my head. He's hands-off, and wants me to admire the turning of the seasons from new angles. He's opened my eyes to a deeper respect for other belief systems, and encouraged me to do this research so that I could better understand him as well as our own connection. He wants me to be observant and always keep learning and questioning and growing in my faith, in my magic, in my role as a faery.

When it comes to the belief systems that you rely on in life, ignorance is not bliss. Seek knowledge deep in the forest and on the frozen boundaries of a lake or standing barefoot in a grassy meadow, but also in historical records. Anyone who wants the best for you will want you to research and learn more.

Genuinely as I was finishing this up last night, adding this section to the post version the next morning, I considered becoming a YouTube essay person. Maybe someday! Perhaps an actual blog. Researching and writing this kind of thing was actually very fun. I never even did something like this while I was in school, so maybe I'm just not traumatized by the concept. Anyways, I hope this was informative and you enjoyed a peek into the journey I took while putting this together.

Now I'm gonna go light up some green in dedication to Cernunnos ✌︎︎♡⃛

^The Lyon Cup, sometimes identified as Cernunnos

[yvesdot]

i believe that you're a person with the best intentions, and i don't doubt it's true that a certain number of palestinian fundraisers are scams, but the tone of the post you recently reblogged on this feels really racist and unpleasant, from the way they imply every fundraiser is a scam to making up stereotypical arabic names to serve their point as though a fundraiser being run by someone named Mohamed or Noor or whatever is inherently suspicious and not just like names that Palestinian people commonly have. if you feel motivated to look at the blogs of the people who actually vet these fundraisers and read what they have to say about their process and how they defend themselves i think you'll get a much more rounded view of the situation and how many fundraisers are fake than if you just trust of some random presumably white American claiming theres some massive Palestinian scammer conspiracy (which, uh, i think should ring some alarm bells as a claim?)

https://www.tumblr.com/el-shab-hussein/757726704054763520/kind-of-important-post?source=share (same anon of earlier message) here's a post by one of the people verifying fundraisers for easy access! if you want to share to your followers i would really appreciate it because there's so much misinformation and confusion going on right now

Thank you for sending this. I've deleted the post and will respond in a bit more detail below the cut.

Firstly, you have my apologies, because reblogging the post without calling out its racism is unacceptable and inexcusable. I did initially notice the "interchangeable" names (as well as calling people "Arabic-looking" ??) and in fact almost did add a tag about them, and the fact that I didn't-- and only noted my disagreement with the point about charities vs direct aid-- is in itself racist. I was in a rush, and the fact that in that moment I prioritized "getting the word out about possible scams!!" over making sure I didn't reblog anything racist is, well, also racist. (This general busyness is also why it took me until after Shabbat to respond to this-- I have now taken a few hours on either side to read further on the subject; thank you for waiting and I apologize for not managing to do more than delete the post before Shabbat began.)

The facts of the matter are that, the more I look at posts espousing skepticism, the more I see an inability to give any grace to Palestinians making these campaigns who are advertising in a non-native language on an unfamiliar website, and Palestinians who are heavily overworked right now verifying all of these campaigns while dealing with the obvious emotional toll of the genocide of their people. It's particularly egregious to me that there has been no apology for any of the individual racist elements of these posts or for targeting specific Palestinians we now know have gone through ID verification. I will be reaching out to the people I'm mutuals with to at least do my due diligence there. (Also, of course, I will be doing a lot more personal introspection on how I address situations like this in the future.)

Once again, thank you for reaching out to me. I was speaking to someone just the other day about how difficult it can be to reach out to a stranger on a mistake-- let alone a bigoted one-- they have made, and you should know I am deeply grateful to you for stepping up, particularly with much more kindness than was warranted. You (and anyone else) are welcome to say more on anonymous or in DMs.

[aromantisk-fagforening]

Norwegian newspapers and "pressestøtte"

[unchronological introduction: basically I started this as a "how does the state pay newspapers" but it also is a description of a couple notable Norwegian newspapers, or rather, the ones the state considers notable, but also don't have enough money I think. introduction end, enjoy the "me actively researching while writing" format]

i was looking into something else, but now I'm confused by how newspapers in Norway work.

I already knew the average newspaper is owned by a political party. or like, is related to one. and many, if not all, have a clear center geographically. - NRK is kinda the exception to both, but they basically just have different geographical sections, and they're supposed to be politically independent afaik. (obviously excluding debate articles).

But then I saw some newspaper talking about (not getting) "pressestøtte", which is like, monitory support from the state to the press. and so, I asked myself why they weren't getting it.

[this is long, but it should be formatted well so I hope someone reads this lol]

the requirements are apparently:

[Norwegian to keep the wording]

produksjonen har dagspressekarakter,

har en ansvarlig redaktør,

tar betalt fra leseren og

selger mesteparten av opplaget til abonnenter.

Videre settes det krav til opplagets størrelse

og hvor ofte avisen kommer ut

[translation]

the production (i.e. newspaper) has the character of a daily newspaper

has a responsible editor

takes payment from the reader (i.e. it costs money)

sells most of the papers* to subscribers

Furthermore, requirements are set for the size of the circulation*

and how often it's released

*(translation note: I can't translate this confidently because I don't understand it, but its like what they print, not sure if "size" is pages or number of papers)

considering they said "how often" (Norwegian : hvor ofte) as the last point I think they meant that the news are about current events when they said "the character of a daily newspaper" (Norwegian: dagspressekarakter)

so I took this info from this subjekt.no article, but it's probably just a law, I'll cite that when I'm on PC.

but yeah, they go on to point out this:

There are a total of eight newspapers that receive more than NOK 10 million, while three newspapers receive between NOK 5 and ten million. In total, these 11 newspapers receive more than NOK 220 million in 2021.

The others - a total of about 140 newspapers - share the rest, i.e. NOK 140 million.

(the conversion rate for most major cash to NOK is like 10 NOK = 1 [insert valuta], but lately NOK has been weakened, so it's more like 12 to 1 € etc)

this is not the only monitary support newspapers and such get, but it's like a big one, if I understood correctly.

I don't know exactly how to translate this section but basically you see a name then the amount they get

Klassekampen f��r cirka 42 millioner kroner. Bergensavisen får 35 millioner kroner. Dagsavisen får nesten 35 millioner kroner. Vårt land får 31 millioner kroner. Nationen får 21 millioner kroner. Dagen får i underkant av 18 millioner kroner. Fiskeribladet får nesten 12 millioner kroner, og Morgenbladet får vel 11 millioner kroner.

[disclaimer for the below statements, I used Wikipedia as a source, the articles seem well-made (especially the tone), but obviously they're not guaranteed to be flawless.]

[second sidenote: I decided not to talk about the WW2 stuff, but obviously when the nazis (upon the request of the Norwegian traitor Vidkun Quisling) invaded/controlled/operated in Norway they made certain newspapers illegal (Norwegian: illegale, as opposed to ulovlig), or every? idk. but yeah. that's a whole 'nother thing. ] [also: Norway in WW2? I'm probably massively misinformed (i.e. seeing Norway in an overly positive light) due to my biggest source of info being the Norwegian education system]

Klassekampen is a leftist newspaper, "the class struggle" / "the class fight" / "the class war". according to Wikipedia they were started as a marxist-leninist paper (not clear whether they're still that, I don't know enough to determine that). they used to belong to the socialist people's party, now they're owned by the party called red (rødt/raudt). they have people in Oslo (capital, east), Bergen (second largest city, west) and Trondheim (third largest city, middle). but yeah, they get the most from this system, 42 million Norwegian krowns (kroner / kr / crowns / NOK).

[link to the Wikipedia article for the above paragraph/newspaper, read 2 september 2023]

Bergensavisen is an explicitly local newspaper, "Bergen newspaper". often shortened to BA, originally titled "Bergens Workers magazine" (Bergens Arbeiderblad). The newspaper was originally belonging to the party that has since been divided into NKP (unpopular communist party, zero seats nationally, some local), and AP (recently less popular and more centre, but previously very popular left party, currently in charge nationally together with the protectionistic centre party SP, previously known as the farmers party). That was a mouthful, but yeah. they get 35 million NOK.

[link to the Wikipedia article for the above paragraph/newspaper, read 2 september 2023]

Next up, Dagsavisen, "daily newspaper" / "day paper". Oslo newspaper. it has been owned by various unions (fag-foreninger / subject-area organizations) historically. This party was also owned by the party that used to be NKP & AP, but this one got kept by AP, because there was little communism (Leninism/ML) in Oslo. If I understood correctly they've been party independent since 1999.

[link to the Wikipedia article for the above paragraph/newspaper, read 2 september 2023. sidenote: this article is long as fuck (in Norwegian at least) so I barely included a fraction of what it says. also there's some repetition cause there's a lot of shared ownerships between these, at least historically]

Vårt land, "our country" (technically could also mean "our land"). this one's a christian newspaper. the Wikipedia doesn't say much more. Their recent news are mostly related to church election thing. And they use viking symbolism in their logo, according to them it's to represent freedom. They're owned by mentor media.

[sources: Wikipedia (barely), their website. september second 2023 still]

Nationen, "the nation" is a newspaper that describes themselves as the districts' (i.e the less populated parts of the country)'s business paper. they have offices in Oslo, Trondheim and a lot of freelancers. They used to be owned by SP (centre party, previously the farmer's party). they're politically independent, and focus on district politics (as mentioned, this basically just means non-city politics, places people live far from each other), agriculture, food production and food security, business and the EU. they used to be right leaning, but now their against centralization, moving from villages and EU-membership. I think that still means SP-like in terms of politics, usually considered centre on the political spectrum and protectionistic. (all/most leftist parties in Norway are against the EU cause of worker's rights* & Norway first thinking).

*an example is that leftist parties like Red don't want temporary employment. (which they managed to work against in the Fylke (political area) around Oslo (Viken) within builders. basically workers (employees) over customers/demand/economics/capitalism.

oh and btw if you're not aware, Norway is currently in EØS/EEA which is like EU-light. basically we get to say no to laws we don't want (for our country only), but we don't get to vote.

[link to the Wikipedia article & Store Norske leksikon [big Norwegian lexicon/encyclopedia] or the above paragraph/newspaper, read 2 september 2023. definition of "district" is from SNL (lexicon).]

Dagen "the day" is a christian newspaper from Bergen. originally made by like two (christian) missionary groups. They are also active in politics. (but don't belong to the christian party (KrF)).

[link to the Wikipedia article for the above paragraph/newspaper, read 2 september 2023]

Fiskeribladet, "the fishing magazine" is a fishing magazine, a "coastal business magazine" (fishing, it's fishing, it's just fishing, and economics & politics of fishing) for the entire country. they print papers thrice a week, but online it's daily.

[link to the Wikipedia article for the above paragraph/newspaper, read 2 september 2023]

Morgenbladet, 'the morning magazine' is a national weekly newspaper for society, culture, debate and research. [direct quote from Wikipedia]. Owned by Mentor media. an old newspaper (like many others on the list). It's a right-leaning paper, being run by Christian Friele for a bit (the Friele name is also a coffee brand and a gay activist's (like 100 years later), it's very Bergen, originating in Germany (Hansa and that) (I still don't know if they're related though)). They seem to be associated with the Steinar philosophy (steiner schools as such, which are freer schools, basically organize your time yourself, but they're private to be clear, people who go there are considered weird by the mainstream) (there are few of those, 43 total in Norway) (apperantly known as "Waldorf schools" other places).

sorry this went on tangents I have been writing this for like 2 hours idk.

[link to the Wikipedia article for the above paragraph/newspaper, read 2 september 2023]

translation note: there's technically "magasin" which means "magazine", but "blad" is also kinda magazine. "avis" is newspaper. "blad" I think can be both idk.

[the-cosmos-withinus]

hi! please do not use the word w*****go! it's a spirit whose name youre not supposed to say due to it being a bad omen, but its been appropriated and watered down for ages

Hello, please STOP. SPREADING. MISINFORMATION. And while you're at it stop assuming that I haven't done my research and am trying to portray an accurate, respectful depiction.

I don't know if you're the same Anon as before, but I've already spoken my piece about this and have said I will not answer any more asks regarding it, but I thought out another point.

I have found no sources from natives claiming its offensive outside of Hollywood misrepresentation, which my use is not based on. I draw my inspiration from actual Native Folklore, of which there are varying accounts depending on which culture the stories originate from. In fact, it seems to me that telling that you're not supposed to use the word is actually distracting from the moral lesson that the Wendigo myths warn of (which is incidentally why the pop culture version is offensive, it misses the point).

Here's an excerpt from the book Columbus and other Cannibals (2008) by Dr. Jack D. Forbes a Native American scholar, historian political activist and writer, giving his personal insights on the Wendigo which is one of my main sources of inspiration in my portrayal.

"Wétiko (Wendigo) is a Cree term...which refers to a cannibal or, more specifically, to an evil person or spirit who terrorizes other creatures by means of terrible evil acts, including cannibalism… I have come to the conclusion that imperialism and exploitation are forms of cannibalism and, in fact, are precisely those forms of cannibalism which are most diabolical or evil… It should be understood that wétikos do not eat other humans only in a symbolic sense. The deaths of tens of millions of Jews, Slavs, etc., at the hands of the Nazis, the deaths of tens of millions of blacks in slavery days, the deaths of up to 30 million or more Indians in the 1500s, the terribly short life spans of Mexican Indian farm workers in the US, and of Native Americans generally today, the high death rates in the early industrial centers among factory workers, and so on, all clearly attest to the fact that the wealthy and exploitative literally consume the lives of those that they exploit. That, I would affirm, is truly and literally cannibalism, and it is cannibalism accompanied by no spiritually meaningful ceremony or ritual.”

Sound familiar?

However, this all considered, there's another Entity from Navajo folklore that is confused with the Wendigo a ridiculous amount of times, referred to as the Skinwalker. I haven't read up on what is known about Navajo beliefs recently, but if I remember right, Skin-Walker is the term used to avoid using its true name. It is similar to the Wendigo in that it is an evil entity that used to be human, some times associated with cannibalism, and has some of the traits that commonly associated with the Wendigo. But there isn't much known about Skinwalkers because the Navajo people do keep their culture fairly private. Adrienne Keene, another Native scholar and activist is even quoted on Wikipedia about her response to non-natives using the Skin-Walker in their stories.

Do some damn research.

[jocelynch]

Can crowdsourced information during times of crisis (e.g. pandemic, natural disasters) mobilise the public into action (e.g. get to safety, assist those in need, communicate important information, etc.)?

Crowdsourcing refers to a variety of activities involving the collection of input or resources from a large number of individuals, but it is difficult to define because it can take many different forms. Various scholars have attempted to define it, but there is no single accepted definition. Some regard it as a problem-solving tool, while others see it as a means of promoting company innovation. As a result, some people may consider Wikipedia or YouTube to be examples of crowdsourcing while others may not. The phrase "crowdsourcing" is derived from two words: "crowd," representing the people involved, and "sourcing," which refers to the act of obtaining resources. While this provides a fundamental overview, it does not cover all aspects of crowdsourcing. To better understand what constitutes crowdsourcing, this blog examines various definitions and provides crucial criteria that can be utilized to identify crowdsourcing activities more precisely (Estelles-Arolas & Gonzalez-Ladron-de-Guevara 2012).

Image of Crowdsourcing

Since Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election, platforms such as Facebook, X (Twitter) and YouTube have transformed political campaigns, allowing for more efficient information sharing, personal connections and targeted messages. However, the digital revolution brings new issues such as privacy violations, false accounts, foreign interventions, and the spread of misinformation, all of which interfere with voter trust and election integrity. Incidents like the Cambridge Analytica incident pushed nations to adapt rules to reduce these risks. Elections officials in East and Southeast Asia, where social media is widely used, have launched initiatives to address these challenges. However, the region has seen instances of online misinformation leading to violence, emphasizing the need of powerful measures to manage digital threats before elections (Tan 2020).  

Gif by Angelyn T.

Regulating social media during elections is difficult, especially given the growing incidence of misinformation coming from sources beyond a country's authority (Tan 2020). This issue is especially important during elections, when bogus news can confuse voters and put at risk fairness. While social media allows people to access and exchange election-related information, it may also be used by political players to manipulate public opinion through fake accounts, automated bots, and targeted adverts (Tan 2020). Similarly, during crises such as disasters or pandemics, rapid response and effective communication are critical. Crowdsourcing can play an important role in such situations, assisting people to stay informed, report misinformation, and take appropriate action. During elections, crowdsourced systems such as Kenya's Ushahidi efficiently monitored and reduced election-related violence. However, controlling internet content remains challenging due to disparities in national norms and the complexities of foreign influence (Tan 2020). Despite these challenges, crowdsourcing is a viable strategy of combatting misinformation and ensuring vote integrity, as well as raising public knowledge and engagement.

Other than that, an Electoral Management Body (EMB) oversees elections and its efficiency is determined by factors such as the legal framework, political climate and EMB independence. To address digital electoral difficulties, EMBs must have a strong political framework, access to cybersecurity resources and the ability to enforce standards governing online political expression, campaign funding and disinformation. This shows an index to assess EMBs’ preparedness to deal with digital disruptions, based on criteria: the EMB model (Independent Government or Mixed), the presence of regulations governing online campaign, data protection and misinformation, the rule of law and technological readiness. The index assesses how well countries are prepared to deal with digital difficulties during elections using both qualitative and quantitative data, such as the World Bank’s Rule of Law Indicator and the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Technological Readiness Ranking. EMBs are graded based on these criteria, with higher ratings indicating a greater ability to control digital threats and maintain electoral integrity.   

The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica incident in 2018 demonstrated how personal information may be abused in political campaigns. Data was acquired without the users’ content and used to target voters with individualized political advertisements, potentially affecting their beliefs and threatening integrity. In response, the European Union reinforced its data protection rules, most notably with the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), to promote openness and defend the democratic process. The argument also prompted questions about misinformation, micro-targeting and the ability of data analytics to influence public opinion. As technology advances, it is critical to establish ethical rules and openness in how personal data is used in order to preserve privacy and promote fair and democratic elections (Monteleone 2019).

In conclusion, crowdsourcing is an effective method for mobilizing the people during crises, allowing for real-time communication, resource allocation, and grassroots action. While it raises issues such as misinformation and verification, they can be addressed through focused tactics such as increased digital literacy, technological innovation, and collaborative frameworks. By taking advantage of crowdsourcing's capabilities while reducing its risks, societies might strengthen their resilience and responsiveness during times of crisis, eventually saving lives and building better communities.

Gif by buildingback

(788 words)

Reference list

Estelles-Arolas, E & Gonzalez-Ladron-de-Guevara, F 2012, ‘Towards an integrated crowdsourcing definition’, Journal of Information Science, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 189–200, viewed 26 November 2024, <http://www.crowdsourcing-blog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Towards-an-integrated-crowdsourcing-definition-Estell%C3%A9s-Gonz%C3%A1lez.pdf>.

Monteleone, S 2019, AT A GLANCE, viewed 26 November 2024, <https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2019/637952/EPRS_ATA(2019)637952_EN.pdf>.

Tan, N 2020, ‘Electoral Management of Digital Campaigns and Disinformation in East and Southeast Asia’, Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy, viewed 26 November 2024, <https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/epub/10.1089/elj.2019.0599>.

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

ON THE SUBJECT OF LOUISIANA VOUDOU

Previously, I spread a great deal of misinformation about Haitian Vodou out of ignorance. I did the same thing with Louisiana Voudou, if not more.

The purpose of this article is to (1) provide a non-expert, non-comprehensive resource for those attempting to research Louisiana Voudou (2) return to the question of cultural imperialism / cultural appropriation.

Due to my uncertainty regarding the ethics of this project, I have decided to announce its end. I have no plans to add new content, only to revise old content.

Full context below cut:

In order to understand Louisiana Voudou / New Orleans Voodoo, one must keep historical practices (up until ca.1940, at latest) separate from modern practices. It is equally vital to keep the three strains of modern practices separate: 

1. "The Community of the Faithful" 

2. Afro-Centric Voudou 

3. New Pagan / New Wave

In the past, you will find that I have made many confused and contradictory statements regarding Louisiana Voudou, such as claiming that it is "closed" but then describing practices from the New Wave segment. This is because I had confused these three different strains with each other. Here, I attempt to rectify this error.

My goal in writing this is to provide a non-expert, incomplete resource for those attempting to research Louisiana Voudou / New Orleans Voodoo. This article also includes commentary on Jeffrey E. Anderson's (2024) Voodoo: An African American Religion), and the statements of Brenda Marie Osbey. I will conclude with a statement regarding the ethics of this project, and whether it contributes to cultural imperialism of African Diaspora Religions. 

I. HISTORICAL PRACTICES / COMMENTARY ON ANDERSON'S (2024) VOODOO: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGION

I referred to several different sources on historical practices. Among the books I found the most helpful are Jeffrey E. Anderson's (2024) Voodoo: An African American Religion and Carolyn Morrow Long's (2006) A New Orleans Voudou Priestess.

The remainder of this section is primarily commentary on Anderson's (2024) Voodoo: An African American Religion.

Voodoo: An African American Religion should not be read as the definitive history of Mississippi River Valley Voudou. Rather, it represents Anderson's attempt to organize, present, and interpret what survives of the historical record. 

In Anderson's own words:

"Though much of Mississippi River valley Voodoo's history has been lost beyond recovery, Voodoo: An African American Religion attempts to systematize the surviving knowledge. To be sure, much remains to be investigate. For example, while no less than three scholarly biographies of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau have appeared since the turn of the twenty-first century, nothing comparable has appeared on her slightly less well-known contemporaries Jean Montanee and Jim Alexander. Important New Orleans practitioners who postdated Marie Laveau, such as Marie Comptesse and Laure Hopkins, remain virtually unknown to scholars and the public. Likewise, comparative studies of Voodoo and its relatives in Haiti, Benin, Togo, Cuba, and elsewhere remain to be undertaken. My fervent hope is that Voodoo: An African American Religion will prove a useful aid those who undertake serious study of this once neglected and still much misunderstood religion."

In providing this "aid", Anderson's work has proven to be an invaluable resource. Additionally, Anderson compiles the surviving Voudou songs in the back of the book, in what he likens to a "Book of Psalms". The lyrics of these songs are of great importance to the study of Voudou, as it was an oral tradition that didn't have Scripture.

I am indebted to Anderson, and I regret not reading his work earlier. 

Here are a couple of critiques I have of his work:

Anderson describes Mississippi River Valley Voodoo as a religion with a continuous history between 1810 (and earlier) until the mid-1900s. In my non-expert opinion, there is a discontinuity between Voudou of the 19th century and the "Voodoos" of the 20th century. 

Jerry Gandolfo, curator of the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, described the history of New Orleans Voodoo in terms of three phases: (1) African Phase (2) Creole Phase (3) Hoodoo Phase.

The 'African Phase' describes the traditions of enslaved Africans in New Orleans, prior to the Haitian Revolution; there is little connection between these and West African Vodun, Haitian Vodou, or related traditions. The 'Creole Phase' describes the period where African deities were disguised under Catholic names; this phase followed the Haitian Revolution, and can be considered a "family member" to West African Vodun and Haitian Vodou. The 'Hoodoo Phase' describes how "True Voodoo began to go underground in the 1930s." 

SOURCE: Dickinson, Christine. Aspects of Performativity in New Orleans Voodoo. The George Washington University, 2015.

19th century Voudou ('Creole Phase') was an organized religion, with clear relations to West African Vodun and Haitian Vodou. 20th century "Voodoos" ('Hoodoo Phase') were from the local Hoodoo community, who incorporated elements of 19th century Voudou into their practices.

I believe these should be considered separately, with the latter being understood as a type of Hoodoo. The former probably died out earlier than the mid-1900s as a consequence of the anti-Voodoo campaigns of the previous century and continued fearmongering spurned by U.S. Occupation of Haiti. However, said campaigns failed to truly exterminate their traditions; I would argue that the most important aspects of their practices survived in the Spiritualist churches of New Orleans and the Hoodoo community.

As such, I'm not sure I agree with Anderson's thesis that Voodoo is a historical religion, as I don't know if the 'Hoodoo Phase' ever died out. While not explicitly stated, Gandolfo appears to equate the "True Voodoo" of the 'Hoodoo Phase' with the "most authentic" version of modern New Orleans Voodoo - "The Community of the Faithful", which is very much a living tradition. Consider also how "Papa La Bas" (also spelled "Labat" or "Laba") became 'Devil' or 'St. Peter'. There might be continuity between this 'Devil' and the Hoodoo Spirit at the Crossroads.  It is worth investigating whether the practices of the 20th century "Voodoos" actually died out, or if they just changed the terminology and went underground. 

Additionally, I am not sure I agree with Anderson's decision to categorize Missouri Voudou with Louisiana Voudou, as it is unclear whether they share a common origin. The myths involving Grandfather Rattlesnake suggest that the Missouri Voudounsis descend from the Fon/Ewe, but they might have no cultural connection to Haiti.

This is less of a true critique, and more of an alternative perspective.

My second point is a proper critique: Anderson's descriptions of the 20th century Voodoos come from questionable sources. He might have confused con artists with legitimate worshippers.

Consider the descriptions of initiations, called "openings". These openings were reported by Federal Writers' Project worker Robert McKinney and co-workers, who were highly unprofessional in their interviews. They also come across as naive, the type who thinks they can trick their interviewees when they are the ones who are getting conned. All of these "openings" are of questionable authenticity, as they were performed for money without secrecy or a selection process. This is not how initiations are performed in related traditions. In Haitian Vodou, initiation is a selective and protected process that involves oaths of secrecy. Only scam artists offer initiations to anyone who pays money. Even in the colonial era, initiations into Haitian Vodou still involved oaths of secrecy. 

From Moreau de Saint-Méry (1797):

La réunion pour le véritable Vaudoux, pour celui qui a le moins perdu de sa pureté primitive, n'a jamais lieu que secrètement, lorsque la nuit répand son ombre, & dans un endroit fermé & à l'abri de tout oeil profane...

Lorsqu'on a vérifié que nul curieux n'a pénétré dans l'enceinte, on commence la cérémonie par l'adoration de la couleuvre, par des protestations d'être fidèles à son culte, & soumis à tout ce qu'elle prescrira. L'on renouvelle entre les mains du Roi & de la Reine le serment du secret, qui est la base de l'association, & il est accompagné de tout ce que le délire a pu imaginer de plus horrible, pour le rendre plus imposant...

Un nouveau serment, aussi exécrable que le premier, engage chacun à taire ce qui s'est passé, à concourir à ce qui a été conclu, & quelquefois un vase où est le sang encore chaud d'une chèvre, va sceller sur les lèvres des assistants, la promesse de souffrir la mort plutôt que de rien révéler, & même de la donner à quiconque oublierait qu'il s'est aussi solennellement lié…

MACHINE TRANSLATION:

The meeting for the true Voodoo, for the one who has lost the least of his primitive purity, never takes place except secretly, when the night spreads its shadow, and in a closed place and sheltered from all profane eyes... 

When it has been verified that no curious person has entered the enclosure, the ceremony begins with the adoration of the snake, with protestations of being faithful to its cult, and subject to all that it prescribes. The oath of secrecy, which is the basis of the association, is renewed in the hands of the King and Queen, and it is accompanied by everything that delirium could imagine most horrible, to make it more imposing... 

A new oath, as execrable as the first, commits each one to keep quiet about what has happened, to contribute to what has been concluded, and sometimes a vase containing the still warm blood of a goat, will seal on the lips of those present, the promise to suffer death rather than reveal anything, and even to give it to anyone who forgets that he has also solemnly bound himself…

SOURCE: Moreau de Saint-Méry, Médéric Louis Elie. Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l'isle Saint Domingue (etc.). Vol. 1. Moreau de Saint-Méry, 1797. p. 46-48 https://archive.org/details/descriptiontopog00more/page/46/mode/2up 

From Malenfant (1814):

Les voyageurs qui veulent parcourir l'Afrique devraient se faire initier à une secte connue sous le nom de Vaudou , secte très-sévèrement punie par les blancs, et aussi cruellement que les francs - maçons par les Espagnols et les Portugais.

Il y avait à Gouraud une grande prêtresse du Vaudou, et un noir, grand chef; je n'ai jamais voulu les dénoncer; ils eussent été pendus ou brûlés de suite. J'ai su ce fait par une négresse qui était initiée. Il y a un mot depasse, mais elle n'a jamais voulu me l'indiquer : elle disait que les femmes ne le connaissent pas. Elle m'a donné les signes pour la reconnaissance avec la main: c'est , à quelque chose près , celui des maçons. Très-peu de créoles sont initiés; il n'y a que les enfants des chefs du Vaudou. Elle me le dit sous le secret, en m’assurant que, malgré que les nègres m'aimassent beaucoup , je serais tué ou empoisonné si je cherchais à découvrir le grand mystère de la secte.

MACHINE TRANSLATION:

Travelers who want to travel through Africa should be initiated into a sect known as Voodoo, a sect very severely punished by the whites, and as cruelly as the Freemasons by the Spaniards and the Portuguese. 

There was in Gouraud a high priestess of Voodoo, and a black, a great chief; I never wanted to denounce them; they would have been hanged or burned immediately. I learned this fact from a negress who was initiated. There is a password, but she never wanted to tell me: she said that women do not know it. She gave me the signs for recognition with the hand: it is, more or less, that of the Masons. Very few Creoles are initiated; there are only the children of the Voodoo chiefs. She told me this in secret, assuring me that, although the Negroes loved me very much, I would be killed or poisoned if I tried to discover the great mystery of the sect.

SOURCE: MALENFANT, COLONEL (1814) Des Colonies et Particulierement de Celle de Saint-Domingue: Memoire Historique et Politique. Paris: Audibert., p. 215 https://archive.org/details/descoloniesetpar00male/page/215/mode/1up 

This calls into question whether the "openings" described by McKinney are legitimate. Alternatively, it is possible that these "openings" were a different type of ceremony that is found in Hoodoo, but has no connection to the initiations of West African Vodun or Haitian Vodou. These descriptions should be reviewed by representatives of the Hoodoo community, to determine whether the likes of Madame Ducoyielle, Oscar Felix, and Lala Hopkins were legitimate or con artists.

(even if they were con artists, I am actually sympathetic to Ducoyielle, Felix, and Hopkins... McKinney and his co-workers were quite the reprehensible lot)

To this end, comparative studies between Louisiana Voudou and Southern Hoodoo are also needed. The cross cultural exchange between Voudou and Hoodoo is a topic of great interest, but is thoroughly understudied.

For similar reasons, a number of Anderson's interpretations of Voudou deities might be inaccurate. For example, Assonquer might have no connection to Ossangne. Anderson also posits a connection between Grand Zombi and the Haitian Gede, but New Orleans native Luisah Teish understands Grand Zombi as the indwelling spirit of the divine serpent[1].  Alternatively, Anderson and Teish could both be right. I had heard that in New Orleans the phrase "grand zombi" does not necessarily refer to the name of a being, but can mean something like "great spirit". If so, the meaning of "Grand Zombi" might change depending on its context, where it refers to more than one "great spirit". 

Finally, Anderson does not provide fair coverage of modern practices in New Orleans Voodoo. On the subject of "Whose Voodoo?", some of the most important names to mention are Brenda Marie Osbey, Oba Adefunmi, and Luisah Teish, who are key figures to "The Community of the Faithful", "Afro-Centric Voudou", and "New Pagan / New Wave" respectively.  While Adefunmi is not based in New Orleans, he is the founder of Oyotunji African Village and Orisa-Vodun, an African American derivative of Santeria that embraces Black nationalism. Both were founded in response to the racism Adefunmi observed in Cuban Santeria[2]: "He observed that the Spanish slave masters’ Catholicism heavily influenced the secretive, exclusive Cuban religious customs. He also found that white practitioners, who dominated the practices, belittled African customs and excluded darker-skinned worshippers." Orisa-Vodun is a key influence on the political side of Afro-Centric New Orleans Voudou, with Ava Kay Jones being one of their initiates[3]. It is also important to mention that figures like Sallie Ann Glassman and Ava Kay Jones are controversial in the Haitian community and are not considered good representatives of Haitian Vodou. 

On the subject of "The Community of the Faithful", Anderson only mentions Brenda Marie Osbey in passing without describing the community she represents. It is apparent to me why his reference to Osbey is so brief, but more than a cursory mention is needed to fulfill his argument that Voodoo is a historic religion with no living antecedent. As such, Anderson's description of modern New Orleans Voodoo is incomplete. 

II. MODERN PRACTICES / COMMENTARY ON BRENDA MARIE OSBEY

In researching modern practices of Louisiana Voudou, it is well-advised to review the following documents:

1. Dickinson, Christine. Aspects of Performativity in New Orleans Voodoo. The George Washington University, 2015.

2. Osbey, Brenda Marie. “Why We Can’t Talk to You about Voodoo.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, 2011, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208853. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.

3. Crocker, Elizabeth Thomas. A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: modern Vodou practices in New Orleans. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

In Aspects of Performativity in New Orleans Voodoo, Jerry Gandolfo (curator of the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum) outlines three different strains of New Orleans Voodoo:

1. "UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENTS"

2. "AFRO-CENTRIC"

3. "NEW PAGAN / NEW WAVE"

It is crucial to keep these three strains separate.

The "NEW PAGAN / NEW WAVE" strain is open to everyone and aligned with paganism and wicca. Gandolfo characterizes its members as "Bright, learned, initiated" and "Virtually all white". He accuses them of "Practicing cultural imperialism" and adopting "Haitian loas while "paying lip-service" to Marie Leveau[sic]". There is no doubt that many of the people in this category match this description; however, Luisah Teish's (1985) Jambalaya presents a necessary challenge to the notion that the New Wave is all-white and nothing more than cultural appropriation. The Black followers of Luisah Teish form a sub-category of the "NEW WAVE", taking inspiration from Jambalaya (1985) to reclaim Voudou and witchcraft. In any case, the overall white-dominated pattern is similar to the trend of young white people migrating from Wicca / Paganism to Haitian Vodou and related African Diaspora/Traditional Religions. While some would argue that Sallie Ann Glassman belongs in the "AFRO-CENTRIC" category, others would argue that she is part of the "NEW PAGAN / NEW WAVE" category: "While Glassman takes a very inclusive approach to her practice, there are those who would only see her as practicing cultural appropriation."

The "AFRO-CENTRIC" are those who "look for Voodoo not in New Orleans, but past it". Gandolfo characterizes them as those who "May come from Unconscious Competents but are trying to reconnect with their heritage", "Many with an Afro-centric view, more interested in the social or political than the spiritual aspects", "Infuse Haitian Voodoo[sic], Cuban Santeria, and other African practices onto New Orleans' traditions". A number of people in this category are influenced by Black nationalism via Orisa-Vodun and/or come from African American Spiritualist community. Ava Kay Jones, Miriam Chamani, Janet "Sula Spirit" Evans, and Luisah Teish would be examples of this. 

The "UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENTS" are what Gandolfo considers to be "Most Authentic". He characterizes them as those who "Practice Rituals without being aware they are rituals", "Mostly from African descent", and "Come from lineage of practitioners". While not explicitly stated, this seems to be synonymous with Brenda Marie Osbey's Voodoo. Referred to as the "The Religion" by its members, it is the only strain that is closed and might have a continuous, unbroken history with the practices of enslaved Africans.

SOURCE: Dickinson, Christine. Aspects of Performativity in New Orleans Voodoo. The George Washington University, 2015.

The poet laureate Brenda Marie Osbey is the only person from "The Religion" to reveal information about its practices and beliefs. Although it is understood to be Voodoo, the community does not refer to it as such due to the stigma associated with the word "voodoo". Instead, they refer to it either as "The Religion" or as "The Community of the Faithful." Born and raised in New Orleans, Osbey descends from a lineage belonging to "The Religion", where her mother and grandmother were also members. Osbey's (2011) “Why We Can’t Talk to You about Voodoo" is the only published document written by a member of "The Religion" that describes the practices of "The Religion".  Crocker's (2008) “A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred” provides supplementary information, as she conducted interviews with Osbey and Gandolfo. Beyond this, there is very little public information about the beliefs and practices of "The Religion".

"The Religion" is described as being closed and highly secretive. As such, "The Religion" relies on a coded language that is learned in childhood, and is an oral tradition that is protected by orders of secrecy. According to Gandolfo, its members went underground as a consequence of commercialism and ignorance spread by "Hollywood interpretations of Voodoo"[4].  Almost all of its members refuse to speak about it out of fear of repercussion, with Osbey being the only exception. Even she warns: "We cannot talk to you about Voodoo because it is a sin."  

Many practices traditionally associated with Voudou are not found in "The Religion". There is no such thing as initiations in "The Religion", as is entirely lineage-based; one must be born into it. There are no public rituals or group worship; all rituals are conducted in private by the "Seeker" alone with Nature (or, another environment) or between the "Seeker" and the "Mother" . There is no blood-letting, animal sacrifice, or serpent worship in "The Religion", and St. John's Eve is not celebrated. Rather than initiation, one knows that she has been born into "The Religion" when she is visited by an Ancestress. 

In Osbey's words:

"You are born into a lineage of Mothers. At some point, an Ancestress, a Mother from your own line, appears to you in a dream or a vision and you are afflicted. You may seek guidance from the Mother, but that's about all."

SOURCE: Osbey, Brenda Marie. “Why We Can’t Talk to You about Voodoo.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, 2011, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208853. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.

I use the pronoun "she" because "The Religion" is truly matriarchal. It is woman-led, where only women have the power. If a woman is chosen to become a "Mother", there is an element of sacrifice, where she is made to suffer in some form in exchange for the gift of spiritual power. The focus of the religion is on cleansing, restoring balance, and ancestor veneration.

Curiously, Crocker describes "The Religion" as originating in the Kongo of Central Africa:

"The Faithful trace their religion back to the Kongo of Africa and claim no connection to Haitian Vodou practices that stem from mainly Yoruba traditions. For Brenda Marie Osbey, there are a number of distinctions between the two religions. "There is absolutely no relation between Haitian Vodou and the religion in New Orleans..They have entirely separate beliefs" (Osbey 03/05/08)."

SOURCE: Crocker, Elizabeth Thomas. A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: modern Vodou practices in New Orleans. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

The word "Voodoo" (and "Voudou") is derived from vodun of West Africa, not Central Africa. This is why a newspaper from 1820 describes "idolatrous worship of an African deity called Vaudoo" - "Vaudoo" is a corruption of the word vodun[5]. "The Religion" may still be recognized as "Voodoo" because the word "Voodoo" has a different meaning in modern African American culture, where it does not necessarily connote a connection to West African Vodun or Haitian Vodou. Alternatively, it might be that Crocker spoke in error, as she does not provide a direct quote in her article. As Crocker also describes Haitian Vodou as originating from "mainly Yoruba traditions", it is possible a similar error was made.

If "The Religion" is truly Central African in origin, this would explain a number of similarities between "The Religion" and Kongo religion. Ancestor veneration is the centerpiece of "The Religion", where saints are not worshiped themselves but are treated as messengers/servants for the ancestors. Altars are erected on elevated areas one one's property and are treated as sacred portals to the spirit world. "The Faithful" believe in three realms: The Living, The Dead, and The Yet-to-Be-Born. Cemeteries are considered a sacred liminal space, with Osbey describing them as "the symbolic place in between" the Living and the Dead. 

In Osbey's words:

"I think of cemeteries as, literally, sacred spaces because of the way we think about the dead. And, we're taught to make the sign of the cross when you enter a cemetery because you're crossing into another territory...And, so the cross that we're making isn't the Catholic cross. It is the crossroads because we are at the crossroads of life and death."

SOURCE: Crocker, Elizabeth Thomas. A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: modern Vodou practices in New Orleans. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

Pictured: The Bakongo Cosmogram

I am not an expert, but I am struck by the similarity between this and the Bakongo cosmogram. In keeping with Crocker's claim of a Kongo origin, the "four moments of the sun" (conception, birth, maturity, death) map roughly onto the three realms of "The Religion" (Yet-to-be-Born, Living, Dead). Osbey's emphasis of crossroads might be related to the Dahomean deity Legba, who became "Papa Liba" (Papa La Bas) in America; however, she denies any cultural connection to Haitian Vodou, suggesting that Papa Legba is not a feature of "The Religion".

Cemeteries, altars, churches, and Congo Square are all considered sacred spaces, but "The Faithful" also believe that sacred spaces can be found "all around us". Land - in the form of soil - holds a special importance in "The Religion", as it is imbued with the spirits of the dead.

As Osbey explains: 

"You keep a bit of soil on your altar. If you move away, you take that soil with you. In moments of desperation, some people eat that soil because it represents home; it represents the place, but it also represents the dead, the ancestors."

SOURCE: Crocker, Elizabeth Thomas. A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: modern Vodou practices in New Orleans. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

All Saints Day is celebrated as a holiday, where offerings are given to the deceased. Gris-gris and chamy-bag are involved in the practices of "The Faithful". While not directly stated, San Malo (St. Marron) might be an important saint to "The Community of the Faithful", as Osbey holds a deep respect for him and has devoted much of her life to researching him.

The above descriptions can be found in:

1. Osbey, Brenda Marie. “Why We Can’t Talk to You about Voodoo.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, 2011, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208853. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.

2. Crocker, Elizabeth Thomas. A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: modern Vodou practices in New Orleans. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

3. Voisin, Erin Elizabeth. Saint Maló Remembered. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

Several of Osbey's statements are corroborated by Jerry Gandolfo, who is not part of "The Religion" but conducted his own research and claims to have witnessed at least one of their ceremonies. This second point is a little questionable, as Osbey denies that group rituals are a part of "The Religion". Contradictions like these might suggest that Gandolfo is misinformed, or that some of Osbey's statements are purposeful disinformation to dissuade outsiders from intruding her religion. I would not fault her for doing this; her essay explains why safeguarding is so important to "The Faithful". 

"The Religion" Osbey represents is a rich tradition that has been disrespected and marginalized by an ignorant public. A truly African American religion, they are wise to guard her traditions from outsiders. However, Osbey's criticisms of Marie Laveau must be scrutinized.

Osbey describes Laveau in the following terms:

"A hairdresser by trade, Laveau was the first in what is now a long line of opportunists who saw in the religion the beginnings of a thriving tourism trade which, plied just so, could prove a continued source of personal wealth and power. It goes without saying that her clientele was made up entirely of whites who, ignorant of the religion as religion, sought her out for her so-called magical powers. And though she certainly never achieved anything like real wealth, to this day her name does strike wonder and awe in the imagination of song writers, storytellers, visiting schoolchildren and the uncounted sightseers who still flock to mark their +'s on her tomb. Here on the native front, however, even those directly descended from her have never been heard to acknowledge her with anything like dignity and respect. That's what come, the Old Folk say, from playing with the Dead."

SOURCE: Osbey, Brenda Marie. “Why We Can’t Talk to You about Voodoo.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, 2011, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208853. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.

Crocker describes Laveau in similar terms, stating the following:

"Starting with Marie Laveau, people have used Vodou to entice tourists and outsiders in order to make money. For this reason, she says that no on in the community respects Marie Laveau and, even those who claim to be her relatives do not have altars to her...The fact that Marie Laveau, a woman who died during the Civil War, still generates such disapproval from members such as Osbey provides a cautionary tale for anyone within the community who might want to follow her example."

SOURCE: Crocker, Elizabeth Thomas. A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: modern Vodou practices in New Orleans. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

These descriptions misrepresent Laveau as a person from Osbey's religion, who is remembered as a disgrace for violating their sacred practices. In reality, Marie Laveau was a person from a different religious order entirely.

Here is a sampling of five well-documented differences between Osbey's and Laveau's religions:

1. ORIGIN: The Voudou practiced by Marie Laveau is derived from the descendants of the Fon/Ewe of West Africa, including the thousands of Saint-Domingans who doubled New Orleans' population following the Haitian Revolution. Conversely, Osbey's religion has no identifiable connections to these cultures: "There is absolutely no relation between Haitian Vodou and the religion in New Orleans..They have entirely separate beliefs" (Osbey 03/05/08)."[6]

2. RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM: African deities are not syncretized with Catholic saints in Osbey's religion. Osbey describes the role of saints in the following terms:

"Because New Orleans Voodoo is not Yoruba based, it relies neither on the intercession of multiple lesser deities, nor requires that the African deities be "masqued" in the guise of Catholic saints...The few Catholic saints that have been absorbed into the religion function in their own right and as servants of the Ancestors. They form neither the core or our belief, nor the object of anything that might be called worship. Rather, they retain their unique identities and function primarily as servants and messengers of the Ancestors. It is the Ancestors who are the heart of the Religion...Unlike Santeria or Haitian Vodun[sic], New Orleans Voodoo is not syncretic. It is not a blending of African and European religious systems. Saint X, for example, does not "stand for" Elegua or Yemanja; Saint X is Saint X and simply works for the Ancestors. In this way, the religion maintains its identity as the agent of our deliverance from illness, want, even captivity."

SOURCE: Osbey, Brenda Marie. “Why We Can’t Talk to You about Voodoo.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, 2011, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208853. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.

The Voudou practiced by Marie Laveau was also not Yoruba based, but primarily derived from the traditions of the Fon/Ewe and their Saint-Domingan descendants. These are not the only cultural influences, as Laveau's was a syncretic religion that merged elements from many African cultures. Unlike Osbey's religion, a key feature of Laveau's religion was the disguising of African deities as Catholic saints.

For example, Daniel Blanc (Blanc Dani) was disguised as Saint Michael while Papa Liba ("Papa La Bas") was disguised as Saint Peter.

From the Federal Writer's Project interview with a woman named Mary Washington (“Mary Ellis”): 

Mary said that most of the things she knew about Marte Laveau had been told her by an aunt who had been a Voodoo.

“My aunt told me one time she had trouble wit’ her landlord. He told her to git out of her house or he’d have her put in jail,” Mary said. “He even sent a policeman after her. The next day she went to Marie Laveau and she told my aunt to burn twelve blue candles in a barrel half full of sand. She done that and my aunt never did have to move and she never went to jail in her whole life. Marie Laveau used to tell people not to burn candles in church ’cause that gived their luck to somebody else, so they burned ’em in her house instead. She’d tell my aunt, ‘If you gonna fool ’em, fool ’em good, Alice.’ She was real good to my aunt. She even taught her a Voodoo song. It went like this:

St. Peter, St. Peter, open the door,

I’m callin’ you, come to me!

St. Peter, St. Peter, open the door …

“That’s all I can remember. Marie Laveau used to call St. Peter somethin’ like ‘Laba.’ She called St. Michael ‘Daniel Blanc,’ and St. Anthony ‘Yon Sue.’ There was another one she called ‘On Za Tier’; I think that was St. Paul. I never did know where them names come from. They sounded Chinee to me. You know the Chinee emperor sent her a shawl? She wore it all the time, my aunt told me.”

SOURCE: Source: Tallant, Robert. Voodoo in New Orleans. 1946. Reprint, Gretna, La.: United Kingdom, Pelican Publishing Company, 1983.

A second FWP interview involves Josephine McDuffy (“Josephine Green”), described by Jeffrey E. Anderson[7] as a “former slave”: 

“My ma seen her,” Josephine boasted. “It was back before the war what they had here wit’ the Northerners. My ma heard a noise on Frenchman Street where she lived at and she start to go outside. Her pa say, ‘Where you goin’? Stay in the house!’ She say, ‘Marie Laveau is comin’ and I gotta see her.’ She went outside and here come Marie Laveau wit’ a big crowd of people followin’ her. My ma say that woman used to strut like she owned the city, and she was tall and good-lookin’ and wore her hair hangin’ down her back. She looked just like a Indian or one of them gypsy ladies. She wore big full skirts and lots of jewelry hangin’ all over her. All the people wit’ her was hollerin’ and screamin’, ‘We is goin’ to see Papa Limba! We is goin’ to see Papa Limba!’ My grandpa go runnin’ after my ma then, yellin’ at her, ‘You come on in here, Eunice! Don’t you know Papa Limba is the devil?’ But after that my ma find out Papa Limba meant St. Peter, and her pa was jest foolin’ her.”

SOURCE: Source: Tallant, Robert. Voodoo in New Orleans. 1946. Reprint, Gretna, La.: United Kingdom, Pelican Publishing Company, 1983. Pp. 57-58

This aligns with the identification of Haitian Papa Legba with Saint Peter, but not Damballah's identification with Saint Patrick or Moses[8].

The song “St. Peter, St. Peter, open the door” is attested by another transcript from the 1930s, found in the Federal Writer’s Project. The FWP worker Robert McKinney describes how an elderly, African American “hoodoo queen” named Mrs. Robinson (Madame Ducoyielle) chanted the following[14]:

Labat ouvre la port.

…

Go spirits, open the way for us.

Pass before us.

SOURCE[15]: Robert McKinney, “Popular Gris-Gris among Present Day Hoodoo Queens,” transcript, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Watson Memorial Library, Cammie G. Henry Research Center, Federal Writer’s Project, folder 44, 8, 9.

This is very similar to a song from Haitian Vodou, as described by Milo Marcelin:

Atibon Lèba, l’ouvri bayè pou moin ago-é!Papa Lèba, l'ouvri bayè pou moin,Pou moin passé,Lô m'a tounin m'a salué loa-yo!Vodou Lèba, l'ouvri bayè pou moin,Pou moin ca rentré,Lô m'a tounin m'a remercié loa-yoAbobo!Atibon Legba, ouvre-moi la barrière, ago-é! (exaucez-nous) — Papa Legba, ouvre-moi la barrière — Pour que je puisse passer, — Lorsque je retournerai, je saluerai les loas — Vodou Legba, ouvre-moi la barrière, — Pour que je puisse entrer — Lorsque je retournerai, je remercierai les loas — Abobo! (Amen).

SOURCE: Marcelin, Milo. 1950. Mythologie Vodou (Rite Arada), vol. 1. (Pétionville: Éditions Canapé Vert) p. 15

3. GROUP WORSHIP: There is no group worship in Osbey's religion: "...the religion here has never included public ritual or anything resembling group worship..."

Group worship is a well-documented feature of Laveau's Voudou. There are many examples of this that can be found in the archives of New Orleans' newspapers.

For example, here is an excerpt from an article describing the arrest of Voudou priestess Betsy Toledano:

“THE RITES OF VOUDOU - The ceremonies of this African superstition were suddenly ended on Monday evening, in the First Municipality, by the entrance of the police into a house in Bienville street, where the votaries of Voudou had assembled to renew their incantations and weave their spells of magic. Great was the scattering of the inmates of the rude chapel in which the legends of the motherland were chaunted in Ethiopia's choicest strains - and quickly did the police pursue the dusky forms which flitted hither and thither, to avoid the clutches of the Law! The assemblage was composed of every grade of color, from the lightest tinge of the flat-nosed race to the brightest ebony that ever glowed in the field. It is even said that a still whiter hue mingled with the daughters of Ham, but, if so, the fellow managed to save his bacon, with becoming alacrity. The parties taken into custody were Betsy Toledano, a free colored woman, and two slave girls, Leonora, belonging to Mr. Grivot, and Darkie, belonging to Mr. McCracken...”

SOURCE: “The Rites of Voudou” The Daily Crescent. (New Orleans, LA) 31 Jul. 1850, p. 3. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82015378/1850-07-31/ed-1/?sp=3 .

The same article notes that the police recovered stones (elsewhere described as "flintstones" and "pebbles"[9]) that were said to "protect the building from lightning", and that Toledano's grandmother hailed from "the western coast of Africa".

The description appears similar to descriptions of sokpe[10][11], suggesting that Toledano might have been a worshiper of Hevioso (Khebioso), the lightning vodun.

4. SERPENT WORSHIP: Osbey insists that serpent worship has no part of "The Religion", considering the notion "laughable". In Laveau's Voudou, serpents were a key feature of worship. While newspapers often exaggerated this aspect for the purpose of sensationalization, there is an element of truth to this. In Christianity, Satan took the form of a serpent to entice Eve into eating the Forbidden Fruit; for this reason, God cursed the serpent as the lowliest of beasts, to crawl on its belly and be the enemy of mankind forever (Gen 3:14-15). In contrast, the worship of serpents, called "danh" or "da", is central to West African Vodun. Two of the most important of these divine serpents were and are the rainbow serpent Dan Aido-Wedo and the life-giving snake Dangbe, who are represented by boas and pythons respectively.

Consider Ellis' description of Dangbe (Danh-gbi):

"I. DANH-GBI. - This deity is the python, which is worshipped in the kingdom of Dahomi, especially at Whydah; at Agweh, at Great and Little Popo, and in the kingdom of Porto Novo. Danh, as has been before said, means "snake," and gbi or gbe is a contraction of agbi, "life," so that the name Danh-gbi implies "Life-giving snake." The snake itself is not worshipped, but rather its indwelling spirit; the outward form of the python being considered a manifestation of the god...Danh-gbi is the god of wisdom, and of earthly bliss. He is also the benefactor of mankind, for the first man and woman that came into the world were blind, and mankind would have been blind to this day had not Danh-gbi opened their eyes..."

SOURCE: Ellis, Alfred Burdon. The Eʻwe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages, &c. U.K., Chapman and Hall, limited, 1890. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_E%CA%BBwe_speaking_Peoples_of_the_Slave/XqcSAAAAYAAJ?hl=ko&gbpv=0

New Orleans native Luisah Teish describes "Grand Zombi" as the indwelling spirit of the snake[1], which is similar to the above description of Dangbe. Unlike in Christian belief, these snakes are seen as wise, benevolent, and divine. Serpent worship continues to be a key feature of West African Vodun, where the famous Temple des Pythons of Ouidah, Benin is dedicated to the divine python. This feature is preserved in Haitian Vodou, in the worship of Damballah and Aida Wedo.

5. HIERARCHY: There are no priests, priestesses, Kings, or Queens in Osbey's religion, only "Mothers". Conversely, the Voudou practiced by Marie Laveau had priests and priestesses, who were referred to as "King" and "Queen". This is derived from the French terms "Roi" and "Reine", which were used to describe priests and priestesses in colonial Haitian Vodou.

From Moreau de Saint-Méry:

...Selon les nègres Aradas, qui sont les véritables sectateurs du Vaudoux dans la colonie, et qui en maintiennent les principes & les règles, Vaudoux signifie un être tout-puissant & surnaturel, dont dépendent tous les événemens qui se passent sur ce globe. Or, cet être, c'est le serpent non venimeux, ou une espèce de couleuvre, & c'est sous ses auspices que se rassemblent tous ceux qui professent la même doctrine. Connaissance du passé, science du présent, prescience de l'avenir, tout appartient à cette couleuvre, qui ne consent néanmoins à communiquer son pouvoir, & à prescrire ses volontés, que par l'organe d'un grand-prêtre que les sectateurs choisissent, & plus encore par celui de la négresse, que l'amour de ce dernier a élevé au rang de grande-prêtresse.

Ces deux ministres qui se disent inspirés par le Dieu, ou dans lesquels le don de cette inspiration s'est réellement manifesté pour les adeptes, portent les noms pompeux de Roi & de Reine, ou celui despotique de maître & de maîtresse, ou enfin le titre touchant de papa & de maman. Ils sont, durant toute leur vie, les chefs de la grande famille du Vaudoux, & ils ont droit au respect illimité de ceux qui la composent... 

MACHINE TRANSLATION:

...According to the Aradas Negroes, who are the true followers of Voodoo in the colony, and who maintain its principles and rules, Voodoo signifies an all-powerful and supernatural being, on whom all the events that take place on this globe depend. Now, this being is the non-venomous serpent, or a kind of grass snake, and it is under its auspices that all those who profess the same doctrine gather. Knowledge of the past, science of the present, prescience of the future, all belong to this grass snake, which nevertheless does not consent to communicate its power, and to prescribe its wishes, except through the organ of a high priest that the followers choose, and even more through that of the Negress, whom the love of the latter has raised to the rank of high priestess. 

These two ministers who claim to be inspired by God, or in whom the gift of this inspiration has really manifested itself for the adepts, bear the pompous names of King & Queen, or the despotic one of master & mistress, or finally the touching title of papa & mama. They are, throughout their lives, the heads of the great family of Vaudoux, & they have the right to the unlimited respect of those who compose it...

SOURCE: Moreau de Saint-Méry, Médéric Louis Elie. Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie française de l'isle Saint Domingue (etc.). Vol. 1. Moreau de Saint-Méry, 1797. p. 46 https://archive.org/details/descriptiontopog00more/page/46/mode/2up 

Only females are leaders in Osbey's religion, but both genders could become leaders in Laveau's.

The above is by no means comprehensive; many other differences can be found. For more information about the traditions of historical Voudou, see: Anderson, Jeffrey E. Voodoo: An African American Religion. LSU Press, 2024.

Another important distinction involves the exchange of money. Exchange of money is forbidden in Osbey's religion; Mothers may accept gifts, but never money. Conversely, the exchange of money for services was normal in Laveau's Voudou. This is continues to be a feature of related traditions in the present day, such as Haitian Vodou. The fact that Laveau engaged in such business does not prove that she was a con artist.

Osbey's claim that Laveau's clients were "made up entirely of whites" is also dubious. Whenever race is specified, sources generally describe Laveau as having a multiracial following.  

From Kodi A. Roberts: 

"Some suggest that Laveau had a special relationship to the poor, Blacks, and others in need. Some, while not contradicting the perception that Laveau became wealthy working for whites, contended that she helped the poor free of charge while gouging her wealthy clients. One of the accounts repeated by more than one witness claimed that Laveau and her followers often deposited food, money, and other offerings for the poor in the hollow bark of a tree at Congo Square. She was also remembered as sheltering both African slaves and Native Americans at her home. Some of these, especially the Native Americans, are remembered as traders with whom Laveau had some kind of business relationship, adding the role of entrepreneur to her other accomplishments."

SOURCE: Roberts, Kodi A. Voodoo and Power: The Politics of Religion in New Orleans, 1881-1940. LSU Press, 2015.

The Federal Worker's Project interview with Josephine McDuffy (“Josephine Green”), described by Jeffrey E. Anderson[7] as a “former slave”: 

“My ma seen her,” Josephine boasted. “It was back before the war what they had here wit’ the Northerners. My ma heard a noise on Frenchman Street where she lived at and she start to go outside. Her pa say, ‘Where you goin’? Stay in the house!’ She say, ‘Marie Laveau is comin’ and I gotta see her.’ She went outside and here come Marie Laveau wit’ a big crowd of people followin’ her. My ma say that woman used to strut like she owned the city, and she was tall and good-lookin’ and wore her hair hangin’ down her back. She looked just like a Indian or one of them gypsy ladies. She wore big full skirts and lots of jewelry hangin’ all over her. All the people wit’ her was hollerin’ and screamin’, ‘We is goin’ to see Papa Limba! We is goin’ to see Papa Limba!’ My grandpa go runnin’ after my ma then, yellin’ at her, ‘You come on in here, Eunice! Don’t you know Papa Limba is the devil?’ But after that my ma find out Papa Limba meant St. Peter, and her pa was jest foolin’ her.”

SOURCE: Source: Tallant, Robert. Voodoo in New Orleans. 1946. Reprint, Gretna, La.: United Kingdom, Pelican Publishing Company, 1983. Pp. 57-58

Where is Osbey getting her information about Marie Laveau's profession and clientele? She claims that Laveau's direct descendants do not have altars for her, but how does she know this? It was irresponsible of Crocker to insert these statements without fact-checking Osbey in the process. Without evidence, these descriptions of Marie Laveau amount to nothing more than gossip and slander. 

Sadly, it is impossible to verify whether such attitudes reflect those of The Religion at large, or are strictly Osbey's personal beliefs. In Voodoo and Power, Roberts emphasizes that contradictory narratives and legends are what survives of Marie Laveau, instead of a factual record of her life.

Who is the true target of Osbey's ire: the real Marie Laveau, or what she has come to represent?

The famous portrait of Marie Laveau, but this isn't actually her. It is Frank Schneider's copy of a painting that is attributed George Catlin. Schneider took some creative liberties, in that he lightened the subject's skintone to make her resemble the archetypal and ever-fetishized "quadroon". The subject in question is not Marie Laveau, but an unnamed Creole woman. The public merely assumed it was her: "When Louisiana Writers’ Project interviewees were asked by fieldworkers if the portrait resembled the Marie Laveau they remembered, they uniformly agreed that it did not."

SOURCE: Long, Carolyn Morrow. A New Orleans voudou priestess: The legend and reality of Marie Laveau. University Press of Florida, 2007.

There are no surviving portraits of the real Marie Laveau; all paintings that claim to capture her likeness are merely artistic renditions. Likewise, the surviving narratives of Marie Laveau are generally based on interpretation and personal biases instead of historical facts. Her true story gets lost in this storm. What becomes the subject of discussion is not Marie Laveau the human being, but "Marie Laveau" the symbol: the flawed copy of a false image of the real Marie Laveau.

What has this image of "Marie Laveau" come to symbolize? Cultural imperialism and the commodification of Voodoo.

Much like the commercialized image of Frida Kahlo, the symbol of "Marie Laveau" is marketed to lure tourists into New Orleans, to the detriment of the native population. "The Community of the Faithful" stands opposed to this commercialization, condemning those who profit and steal from their faith.

From Osbey:

"The Mothers say that the fakers and defrauders of tourists really take nothing from the Religion because the Religion lives within. A thief is doomed merely to take with one hand and lose with the other and so profits nothing and nobody in the end. In other words, in the long run, things balance out."

SOURCE: Osbey, Brenda Marie. “Why We Can’t Talk to You about Voodoo.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, 2011, pp. 1–11. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208853. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.

Osbey and her community are right to criticize the "New Pagans" - composed almost entirely of "young-ish whites" - who practicing cultural imperialism. It is why they maintain firm boundaries between "Insider" and "Outsider", and rely on secrecy as a form of protection. For this reason, "Why We Can't Talk to You about Voodoo" and the interview found in "A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred" are two of the most important articles that an outsider can read in the research of New Orleans Voodoo.

III. CONCLUSIONS

People within Brenda Marie Osbey's "Community of the Faithful" do not view "AFRO-CENTRIC" or "NEW PAGAN / NEW WAVE" strain of Voudou to be legitimate; everyone in these categories is a "liar" or a "dupe". 

My gut reaction is to firmly reject this stance. Two figures I drew inspiration from are Ava Kay Jones and Luisah Teish - important figures in AFRO-CENTRIC and NEW WAVE Voudou respectively. As I have come to discover, Ava Kay Jones is controversial in the Haitian community, along with Sallie Ann Glassman and Denise Alvarado. All three of these figures are criticized for misrepresenting Haitian Vodou. While I can understand criticisms of Glassman and Alvarado, I am not entirely sure if the criticism is completely warranted for Ava Kay Jones. 

On March 1, 1990, Ron Bodin conducted an interview with Jones that reveals how she came to be involved in Voudou, where he recorded her responses "in summary form"[12]. A Louisiana native, Jones describes how her mother and grandmother were spiritually gifted, where her grandmother practiced "folk Voodoo". She describes how she underwent training at the Temple of the Cloak of St. Peter in Haiti and was initiated as a Mambo some time prior to the interview. However, Jones was also initiated into other traditions; in the same interview, she describes how she was also "initiated in the rites of Yoruba and [became] a member of the Palo Mayumba Voodoo cult". Her initiation into Orisha Vodu - an African American derivative of Santeria - was documented and witnessed by Rod Davis[13]. Her practices may not accurately represent Haitian Vodou because that is only one of the traditions she was initiated into.

Likewise, Luisah Teish was initiated into Lucumi by Puerto Rican priest Anai-bi-Osun, and also holds the title of Yeye'woro from the Fatunmise Compound in Ile Ife, Nigeria. Both Jones and Teish underwent initiation in the 20th century, a different cultural landscape from the present day.

I am opposed to the position that AFRO-CENTRIC Voudou is illegitimate. Many of its constituents seem to be African American Spiritualists who take interest in ATRs as a means of reconnecting to their heritage. They cannot turn to "The Religion" because it is closed - not just to white people, but anyone who isn't born into the right lineage; its leadership positions are also closed to all males. AFRO-CENTRIC Voudou might also be the source of the notion that non-Black people do not belong in Voudou, due to the influence of Black nationalism. This is an important perspective that must not be dismissed by non-Black people.

I also disagree with rejecting all of NEW WAVE Voudou as cultural imperialism. Before doing so, it is important to read Luisah Teish's (1985) Jambalaya, observe the impact it has had, and draw your own conclusions. Some regard this as nothing more than profiting off of white people, but others regard it as a landmark work that restored respect and dignity to African Diaspora/Traditional Religions. There are many African Americans - especially Black women - who praise this book, as it inspired them to reclaim witchcraft and Voudou. 

This is also why I will not go so far as to characterize all white people in NEW WAVE Voudou as "cultural imperialism". In Jambalaya (1985) Teish states "We can no longer afford to be tribal", describing Voudou as a sisterhood between women of all races and class backgrounds.

Teish describes the history of New Orleans Voudou in these terms:

"In the 1800s, as today, upper-class women lived under a peculiar oppression (the curse of the pedestal); working-class white women were oppressed by indentured servitude (the curse of the totem pole); and Black women were oppressed by slavery (the curse of the chattel). This sexual oppression was enough to put these women in "psychic sympathy" with each other, and would urge them to gather illegally to commiserate, work the spirits, and dance."

This multiracial fellowship is extended to men, as men of all races are included:

"This information is not anti-male; it can be used by men who have grown weary of the barren trio: the Father, the Son, and the Holy "Ghost.""

For this reason, I continue to defend the writings of Denise Alvarado, to an extent. Although she is white (or white-passing?), she seems to be quite knowledgeable about the history of New Orleans. I have been able to independently verify some of the information she has provided about New Orleans, and found her article about "Lala" Hopkins intriguing. While I erred in over-relying on her works, I don't see a charlatan in Alvarado, but a person who has a very personal and genuine interest in the history of Louisiana Voudou.

The version of Voudou proposed by Luisah Teish is the complete opposite of a closed religion - thoroughly democratized and accessible to people at the bottom of the socioeconomic and racial hierarchy. A religion that is open to everyone, it has allowed African Americans to reclaim their heritage without spending thousands of dollars to do so. 

...All this being said, the above is merely the opinion of a complete outsider to the City of New Orleans, with no Black African heritage or expertise on this subject. New Orleans has a very interesting history and culture that is different from the rest of America. No doubt there is truth to Brenda Marie Osbey’s statements, as there is a side of New Orleans Voudou that is nothing more than scam artistry. At the end of the day, an outsider's opinion is irrelevant and probably misinformed. What matters are the living descendants of the enslaved Africans who experienced torture and religious imperialism at the hands of their oppressors.

Quoting Crocker: 

"The commercial vendors attempt to unveil the secrets of Vodou for the masses to make a profit and, in doing so, they have pushed The Faithful further and further into secrecy, only crossing paths in sacred public spaces."

SOURCE: Crocker, Elizabeth Thomas. A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: modern Vodou practices in New Orleans. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

One must also bear in mind that Jambalaya was written almost 40 years ago. The cultural landscape of today is very different from the 1980’s, with some criticizing the revitalization of Voudou for promoting cultural imperialism. In recent years, there has been a discussion surrounding the inclusion of white people in Hoodoo. One side of the argument rejects the inclusion of non-Black people, arguing that it should be considered a part of African American heritage. I find the arguments on this side of the debate compelling, especially when one accounts for the history of Hoodoo and its origins in the Transatlantic slave trade. I strongly defend the right of Black people in the Hoodoo community to determine who is allowed in and exclude those who are not. If this debate extends to Louisiana Voudou and related African American traditions, I am just as sympathetic to this perspective.

While there is certainly merit in reclaiming witchcraft, it is specifically the wicca and pagan communities that are accused of imperializing African-based traditions like New Orleans Voudou and Haitian Vodou. Most of the people doing this are "young-ish", white, and disproportionately female / from the LGBTQ community. There must be large overlap between this group and the audience of Hazbin Hotel. On the other hand, there are viewers who are of African descent, who have been cut off from their culture by misrepresentations of "Voodoo". Do the "pros" outweigh the "cons", or do the "cons" outweigh the "pros"?

It is for this reason that I question the ethics of this story I have been trying to tell. Is it right for me to continue writing this, or am I contributing to the commodification of sacred traditions? The latter, mind you, was never my intention. This is actually why I made the insane decision to put slavery into a piece of Hazbin Hotel fanfiction and make things as dark as in real life. My intent was to demystify Voudou, for the purpose of sending a dual message: 

1. To any non-Black person reading this, we all need to stop denigrating and appropriating from African-based traditions like Voudou. These are not evil witchcraft or something to invade and steal from. They are sacred traditions that are tied to the history of slavery and racism.

2. To any African American reading this, you have been cruelly cut off from your heritage, which is not "heathen" or "barbaric" but a collection of beautifully textured and sophisticated cultures. If you weren't previously aware of this, I hope this helped you find resources to learn more about this.

As I still don't know what the right answer is, I've decided that the best compromise is to call an end to this project. Naturally, I have many more ideas, but this is good place to put a stop to things. Basically, I plan to revise and reorganize some of the things I previously wrote to give everything closure, but I won't be adding much of anything new to the story. All that I have presented is to be viewed as a draft. That's all I could ever produce on my own. Any story about Voudou that is not written by someone from that tradition is going to be flawed. 

Voudou has been misrepresented in American media - the legacy of anti-Voodoo campaigns that took place during the 19th century, fueled by racist paranoia that Voudou could empower slaves to overthrow their masters. Voudou is not evil, but a tradition that is rich with history and spirituality. Even from a secular perspective, it is an endlessly fascinating subject. There is so much that remains unknown, waiting to be discovered by the next historians willing to dive through archival records. 

I leave this here, in the hopes that someone from one or more of these cultures draws artistic inspiration from it, or that it helps them reconnect to their heritage. 

NOTES:

1. Teish, Luisah. Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals. United States, HarperCollins, 2021. Originally published in 1985.

2. McCray, Kenja. “Oyotunji Village [the Village] (1970- )", 22 June 2021, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/oyotunji-african-village-1970/. 

3. While Anderson states that Ava Kay Jones underwent initiation in Haiti, he neglected to mention that she was also initiated into Orisa-Vodun. Rod Davis witnessed Jones' initiation into Orisa-Vodun, which is documented in: Davis, Rod. American Voudou: Journey Into a Hidden World. USA, University of North Texas Press, 1999. https://archive.org/details/americanvoudoujo00davi

4. Dickinson, Christine. Aspects of Performativity in New Orleans Voodoo. The George Washington University, 2015.

5. “Idolatry and Quackery” Louisiana Gazette, Aug. 16, 1820, p. 2, c. 3.

6. Crocker, Elizabeth Thomas. A trinity of beliefs and a unity of the sacred: modern Vodou practices in New Orleans. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 2008.

7. Anderson, Jeffrey E. Voodoo: An African American Religion. LSU Press, 2024.

8. Marcelin, Milo. Mythologie vodou (rite arada). Vol. 1. Éditions haïtiennes, 1949.

9. “Voudouism Unveiled” The Daily Delta  New Orleans, Louisiana •  Wed, Jul 31, 1850 Page 2. Retrieved from: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-delta-voudouism-unveiled/40979649/ 

10. Ellis, Alfred Burdon. The Eʻwe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa: Their Religion, Manners, Customs, Laws, Languages, &c. U.K., Chapman and Hall, limited, 1890. pp. 37-38. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_E%CA%BBwe_speaking_Peoples_of_the_Slave/XqcSAAAAYAAJ?hl=ko&gbpv=0

11. Newlands, H. S. “An Archaeological Puzzle from West Africa.” Journal of the Royal African Society, vol. 19, no. 73, 1919, pp. 40–43. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journal_of_the_African_Society/Q1Q8AAAAIAAJ?hl=ko&gbpv=0

12. Bodin, Ron. Voodoo: Past and Present. United States, Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1990. p. 79. Retrieved from: https://archive.org/details/voodoopastpresen00ronb/page/78/mode/2up?q=jones

13. Davis, Rod. American Voudou: Journey Into a Hidden World. USA, University of North Texas Press, 1999. https://archive.org/details/americanvoudoujo00davi

14. For a description of Madame Ducoyielle, see: Anderson, Jeffrey E. Voodoo: An African American Religion. LSU Press, 2024.

15. “Popular Gris-Gris among Present Day Hoodoo Queens” can be found in: Tallant, Robert. Unpublished interviews, notes, and research materials, 1938-1957. Robert Tallant Papers, Louisiana and City Archives, New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, LA, folder/reel 8, MS-120, 44, 315-316.

[slorpi]

Summative Assessment Compulsory Question 2: Connect CTS A to all your other modules (and components)

As far as my understanding for the Critical Thinking Skills module goes, I’ve learned a lot during my time at Lasalle and everything to do about this course. It is used in a lot of ways that i’ve never thought it would be able to. Skills like critical thinking, collaboration, self management & awareness are just the few that makes up this whole course, being able to use these skills to our advantage. Other modules like craft, studio and photography uses some of these skills as the foundation to give us a headstart to begin with. For example the skill, CTS A can be used for STUDIO in such ways like thinking outside the box and assessing ways which we can approach a certain design element within our work. Self awareness is how we are able to manage ourselves and read the room, knowing how to handle situations in an orderly way, which can also be applied to the CRAFT module in a lot of ways. Craft challenges my creative juices to run wild and it results in my mind being clouded with different ideas which will make it harder for me to think. Self management comes into play as well and it enables me to organise my thoughts in that moment and reassess my decisions. It presents itself with a lot of trial and error but this is especially normal when it comes to creating what I want to achieve. The final product will always have its flaws but it's those flaws that has taught me the importance of thinking ahead and broadly across the other modules. Collaberation/Cooperation settle in its place naturally as we are often seeking for a helping hand in class. Giving or expressing ideas that are meaningful, positive feedback and criticisms too. Finally, helping one another which speeds up the process of each other works that can greatly benefit both parties.

Onwards, I’ll nitpick two components that i feel takes the most advantage of the skills used in CTS A:

As for the Photography Module, I have to be able to open up to the possibilities that anything can be a picture. We are usually so limited to the things we feel like it’s right because we tend not to explore or get out of our comfort zone. Critical thinking has enabled me to climb out of the box and to see what’s out there, being able to just snap whatever i think that’s pleasing to the eye and widen my perspective on everything photography. Compositions and framing which needs careful precision at times as it will make or break your work. Just the overall technical aspect of photography needs a good sense of self awareness to be able to see what’s possible and however impossible it could be.

Research Framework is an especially interesting topic to tap into as i personally feel like it’s the biggest culprit of taking everything we knew about CTS A into consideration. Getting quotations from books or articles can be daunting but it gets even more daunting knowing that there are rules that we have to adhere to while trying to lift a sentence from one to another. PLAGIARISM, a scary word. It’s common in the writing world for plagiarism to take place but we as students are taught about the importance of originality, giving credibility to the author/writer whenever it's due/possible. The world wide web is the biggest library i know and experimenting on different keywords will get you somewhere and gaining the information you thought was previously inaccessible. But of course there's a few caveat to this, one being misinformation and misleading articles that has nothing credible to do with the source. Twisted stories and words can lead to confusion among not only ourselves but the readers. Carefully threading through the whole slew of information while avoiding the consequences that comes with it.

In conclusion, CTS A has prepared me for these outcomes, challenges and more to come in the near future. This module has greatly benefitted me as a person and how i approach my daily life as a whole.

[waterfiltergurus]

Dead Water vs Living Water: What's the Difference, Anyway?

If you're looking into different water treatment techniques, you might have come across the terms "dead water" and "living water" to describe certain water types. Here, we've outlined the differences between these two water types - and busted some of the myths we've read about dead and living waters. 📌 Key Takeaways: - Dead water lacks minerals, salts, and other anions and cations. - Living water contains these ions in varying concentrations (depending on the water source). - The main differences between these two water types are their properties, taste, health properties, and alkalinity. 🤔 What Is Dead Water? We've seen a lot of confusion and misinformation on the topic of dead water. Some sources take the term "dead water" literally, as if water is actually alive, and could possibly die. This is a myth - "dead water" actually refers to water with a lack of minerals, salts, and ions, not the fact that the water (which was never alive in the first place) has somehow died. Why is dead water so-called? It's not completely clear, but we think it's because dead water has a bland or flat taste due to its lack of beneficial minerals, plus the fact that the water isn't "alive" (we're using this word descriptively, not literally) with nutrients that are healthy to humans. We've also read some articles that suggest that water can be "destroyed" or "killed" by pollution and contamination, but this isn't true. Remember, water isn't a living thing, and while pollutants and contaminants do have a significant effect on water quality, they can't kill it. Types Of Dead Water There are three water types that may be considered "dead": - RO (reverse osmosis) water - Distilled water - Deionized water These water types have been made with purification processes that either remove all total dissolved solids or remove all positive and negative ions. As a result of these processes, the water that's produced has no salts, minerals, or other ions. Note: Basic filtration won't produce dead water. While filtered water contains fewer contaminants, most water filtration techniques don't affect the concentration of water's anions or cations. 🔎 What Is Living Water? Living water is the opposite of dead water: it contains minerals, ions, and salts, in varying concentrations (depending on the water source). All water supplies, aside from those that have been treated with water purification methods, are living. When water flows over rocks and soils in its natural environment, these leach minerals and other ions into the water. Water obtained from surface or groundwater sources should have a natural mineral content. Again, we want to reiterate that living water doesn't actually mean that it's alive and breathing. We read one source that said living water is "healthy energetic water" and has "natural energy", but scientifically, that has no meaning. Types Of Living Water There are numerous water sources that are considered living water. These include the tap water delivered to our homes and certain water products sold by bottled water companies. Common types of living water are: - Municipal or city water - Spring water - Glacier water - Bottled tap water - Sparkling water (with added carbon dioxide) Different living waters have different ion concentrations. Spring water and well water tend to have a higher ion concentration because they come from groundwater sources, which have higher natural mineral concentrations. 🆚 Living Water Vs Dead Water: Key Differences Here are the four key differences between dead and living water: Properties Dead water is lacking in all positively- and negatively-charged ions, while living water contains alkaline minerals, salts, and other ions, such as calcium and magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, and sulfate. Plus, certain methods that produce dead water, like water distillation and reverse osmosis, don't just remove ions from water - they remove all total dissolved solids. So, the properties of these two water types is different. Taste Drinking dead water is a less pleasant experience than drinking living water due to the difference in the water's mineral content. Calcium, magnesium, and other alkaline minerals give water a pleasant alkaline taste. If you've drank bottled spring water before, you'll know the taste of mineral-rich water - it's slightly sweet and crisp. A lack of these minerals gives dead water a "flat" taste that you probably won't enjoy as much. But on a positive note, some purified dead water supplies (like reverse osmosis water) are free from contaminants that give water an unpleasant taste or smell, like chlorine and hydrogen sulfide. Health Properties Living water contains healthy minerals that are needed by the human body which, in theory, makes it healthier than dead water. Some of the healthful properties of these minerals include their ability to regulate blood pressure, support the development of muscles and bones, and maintain a healthy immune system. However, dead water isn't considered unhealthy since you should get plenty of these vital minerals much more abundantly in your diet anyway. There's also a lot more that goes into the health properties of a water type than its mineral content. You could argue that certain dead waters, like purified water from reverse osmosis devices, are actually healthier than living water because they're free from all harmful substances, such as heavy metals and chemicals. Alkalinity Since many of the minerals in a tap water supply contribute to its alkalinity and pH, dead water with no minerals or ions is likely to have a lower pH than living water with lots of dissolved solids and minerals. There isn't a major difference in pH between dead and living water. If we look at reverse osmosis water as a common example of dead water, the average pH of RO water is 5-7. 7 is neutral, and most living tap water supplies have a pH of around 6.5-8.5. So, it's not like dead water is very acidic and living water is very alkaline. 📑 Final Word Now you've reached our conclusion, you should be aware of the difference between dead water and living water. But keep in mind that these two terms simply describe the water's mineral and ion content. "Dead water" might sound a bit dramatic, but it just refers to a water supply that's lacking in minerals. This water isn't inherently bad for you - it's simply helpful to know the difference between dead water and living water, especially if you're looking at different drinking water treatment methods for use at home. Ultimately, drinking water supports life functions equally, whether it's considered "living" or "dead". Water hydrates cells, and staying hydrated is more important than ingesting trace minerals while you drink. As long as you're drinking safe, clean water, and you're getting plenty of potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium in your diet, you've got nothing to worry about. Read the full article

[isthedogawolfdog]

Hey there. First thing I want to get out of the way is that I would not consider myself to be anti-wolfdog, contrary to what many may think. I can kinda see how one would come to that conclusion, but like I’ve said and have mentioned before, I have nothing against people who genuinely provide good care for their wolfdogs. Should I maybe make more posts regarding the appropriate ownership of wolfdogs? For sure. But that’s still something I’m still trying to educate myself on. I will try and make that more of a focus though now that I know people may see me as the “anti-wolfdog” blog.

Secondly, regarding the rabies vaccine, I think there might have been a miscommunication on my end, which I apologize for. I wasn’t talking about how there wasn’t a rabies vaccine at all, but instead how it’s not always accessible (at least from what I’ve heard).

I’m interested in your source of there being less than 200,000 wolfdogs in existence? Are you talking about currently or through history? Just in the US or worldwide? I’m a tad bit confused. I do know that the immense amount of dogs that are claimed to be wolfdogs that a really aren’t may skew that information. As I’m sure you know too many wolfdogs are euthanized due to people not providing proper care, and lots of those aren’t in their old years by that time. I heard that information from a person I’m familiar with who works at a sanctuary that I will (hopefully) be working with soon. If this is not the case I’d be happy to be corrected, but that’s what I’ve heard so far.

Again, I do not and have not claimed that “all wolfdog breeders are irresponsible”, I’m saying that it’s definitely a minority. I am all for educating others on how to properly care for an animal in order for it to live well and to combat the whole “this specific animal is bad” equaling it drowning out the best ways to care for them.

I’m sorry if I offended you, but I’m going to have to disagree with some of this. Misinformation is the very thing I try to combat, so I’m perfectly fine with being corrected as long as it’s done in a chill manner. I think, and correct me if I’m wrong, that there may have been an error in what I was trying to say, and that may have caused you to think some things that aren’t what I’m getting at, if that makes sense. I get that me messing up my words might seem like something I say frequently, but I also happen to deal with a couple things that make it hard for me to put stuff into words, so please bear with me. Again, I’m sorry if I upset you, but I’d be happy to talk things out.

do you have any posts you can link me on purposefully breeding of wolfdogs? I'm.... skeptical of that being a good idea and I'm just wondering how correct I am in that instinct and then any more information about it out of curiosities sake would just be interesting to read

This post is of purposely bred poodle and wolf crosses for a scientific study. Besides that I’ve got a couple posts around here that should generally be in the wolfdog tag.

With wolfdogs being bred in general it’s mainly super sketchy. If the animal actually is a wolfdog (which most of the time it’s not, just some husky mix or something along those lines) that it more than likely came from some backyard breeder. My main issue with it is that the vast majority of people that get wolfdogs don’t know what they’re getting into, often resulting in issues with the animals behavior or them being too intense for the owners to handle. This could result in them being surrendered or euthanized, in fact, roughly 200,00 wolfdogs are euthanized per year, and most of them are put down under the age of two!

I think what I’m trying to say is I’m mainly against breeding wolfdogs because I don’t think all the ones put down justify the few that are actually put into good homes. I guess you could say something similar with most dogs, but the difference is those are dogs who’ve had decades of breeding and information on them, whereas wolfdogs don’t even have a rabies vaccine.

Anyway I’m rambling. Definitely don’t take my word for everything and look into things yourself! Sorry I don’t have enough info for you, but I think the International Wolf Center has some info on wolfdogs that could be worth checking out. Are there good wolfdog breeders? Perhaps. But I have yet to see any.

[armandyke]

The link between diet and autism: a critical analysis of the recent Earth Locker episode and a chance for River to relive her lab report title writing days

Link to the original video

So as I already mentioned I’ve seen a few people talking about the recent episode of the Earth Locker (a podcast by Robert Sheehan, Tom Hopper, and Bryon Knight) where they talk with Tom and his wife Laura about their experiences raising their autistic son. I watched the whole episode and while there were a lot of good points made, there was also some misinformation, statements that were poorly explained and could be misinterpreted, and a couple of pretty harmful ideas put across which I’m gonna go into below. 

Disclaimer one: I’m gonna be saying a lot of stuff that I’m not going to be posting sources for. This is because everything I’m saying comes from my experiences as an autistic person, my experiences working as a support worker for adults with autism where I am currently a key worker for two autistic individuals, my work related training on autism, mental health, and diet & nutrition, and my knowledge from my psychology degree in which I also spent a lot of time studying biology and physiology. This is all just stuff that I know, and at some point I might try to add some sources but I’m writing this fresh off watching and making notes on this video so my energy is already running a little low and I’d rather focus on getting my points across instead of having to take time to source every piece of information. 

Disclaimer two: The purpose of this post isn’t to attack or defend any of the people involved in the podcast. This is also in no way a criticism of Tom and Laura’s parenting. This is purely a criticism of the discussion that took place on the podcast, not on any of the choices they’ve made for their son.

Disclaimer three: I’m going to be using the phrase “challenging behaviour” a lot while I’m explaining things as this is the term used in most modern research and is what we use at work. This basically describes any behaviour that causes harm to the individual or to other people around them, or behaviour that is detrimental to the individual’s wellbeing. 

So the main thing I want to go into with this is the misinformation and misinterpretation of information that was central to the discussion in this podcast, and that was around the connection between diet and autism. Most of the things Tom and Laura said about the effects of diet weren’t incorrect, but it wasn’t explained accurately and missed out on some key points so let’s go: 

In terms of whether diet can “cause” autism: no it can’t. There’s absolutely no evidence to suggest it does. It also can’t “worsen” autism because autism isn’t something that can get “worse” or “better”. A person with autism can develop and learn new skills and they can also regress (and diet can influence this, which I’ll go into further on), but an autistic person at a lower stage of development does not have “worse” autism than a person at a higher stage of development. 

Poor diet can have an impact on autistic people in the same way as with neurotypical people. If we eat junk, we tend to feel like junk as a result, and when we feel like junk it can be harder to concentrate and carry out our usual day to day tasks. However, autistic people are also significantly more likely to suffer from digestive problems and food intolerances, and so for a lot of autistic people (or parents of autistic children) diet may be something that requires close attention. So saying that an autistic individual’s challenging behaviour could be a result of their diet isn’t necessarily untrue, but it does massively oversimplify the issue. The challenging behaviour is more likely a response to pain or discomfort, (as well as frustration if they are unable to communicate this), which is caused by a diet unsuitable for this specific individual, which is caused by an intolerance or digestive problem, which they were at greater risk of developing due to their autism. It’s worth mentioning that medical professionals still don’t know why this comorbidity exists. 

So, referring back to Tom and Laura’s experience with their son, they were explaining that their son’s challenging behaviour spiked while he was on a high-sugar diet. Laura also added that he had been suffering from increasingly frequent infections in his ears and throat while eating these foods, which makes sense because high blood sugar levels can weaken the immune system and make us more susceptible to infections. They then explained that these infections stopped following a tonsillectomy and a change to a sugar-free diet, which then also lead to a complete reduction in their son’s challenging behaviours. Again, implying that the reduction in behaviours is a result of cutting out the sugar is oversimplifying. It’s most likely that their son’s challenging behaviours were a response to the pain the infections were causing, which may or may not have been linked to his sugar intake. Either way, autistic people are all individuals and so while a reduction in sugar intake has benefited their son, by no means does that mean that all autistic people should be following a low-sugar diet or that this would be beneficial for them. 

This isn’t entirely on topic but there are two other things I want to address in terms of what Tom and Laura said while talking about their son, the first being when talking about their initial approach to their children's’ diet before they were aware that their son was autistic. Laura essentially said that she wanted their children to be able to try different foods and that the focus would be on education about health and diet rather than cutting “unhealthy” foods out of their diets completely, which I thought was a great way to approach things. However she then added that, had they known about their son’s autism at the time, they may have approached things differently, which I was confused about. I think (and hope) she was just trying to say that if they had known upfront that sugar particularly seemed to be detrimental to their son, they would have reduced that straight away rather than having to use a process of trial and error which makes sense, but just the way it was phrased set off alarm bells because it sounded like she was implying that they would have controlled his diet more strictly if they had known he was autistic. Hopefully this isn’t the case because autistic people don’t need to have their choices limited if there is no detriment to their health or wellbeing. 

Another thing I was confused about, and I’m not sure if this was supposed to be more of a weird analogy rather than factual information, was when Tom started talking about “sensory glands” when talking about their son’s hypersensitivity to sounds. I think his exact words were something along the line of saying that the high sugar levels were causing his “sensory glands” to “swell” which was heightening his sensitivity. And like... unless I missed something there is no such thing as a sensory gland and they certainly don’t swell up when we’re over stimulated or when we have a lot of sugar. Sugar triggers high dopamine responses in our brains which then leads to cravings and can cause spikes and crashes in mood, and it can also cause inflammation, all of which can cause discomfort and in turn could lead to an increase in sensitivity, but as far as I know sugar doesn’t have a direct effect on our senses. 

Now on to the elephant in the room and the two big, glaring no-no's in this podcast, both of which were said by Tom (these are not direct quotes because I didn’t get a chance to jot them down in time so I’m paraphrasing slightly):

“we cannot ignore the correlation between rising autism rates and the increase in fast food consumption” (spoiler alert: yes we can)

“I really want to get to the cause of autism and see if there’s something that can be done to prevent it”

So, first of all, autism isn’t something that needs to be prevented. Autistic people are not a detriment to society. We don’t have an illness, we just experience the world differently and, in some cases, require additional support to live our lives as fully as possible. Obviously it can’t be ruled out that fast food, or anything else, has a part to play in rising rates, but there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that it does and correlation absolutely does not equal causation. Gay representation in the media has also been steadily rising with rates of autism diagnosis. Does this mean that seeing gay people on TV makes people autistic? No. As Laura briefly mentioned, it is far more likely that the rising rates are actually due to an increase in understanding about autism and the accessibility of diagnosis, especially when you consider how many people are still slipping under the radar even with all the knowledge we have today.

I appreciate that most of this podcast is just a conversation between friends about various topics, but when the goal of this podcast is to “raise awareness”, and with the shared platform the people involved have, casual statements like these are incredibly dangerous. With the general implication that if everyone lived a healthy, clean, and organic lifestyle, we could reduce the number of autistic people in our society, this not only puts the “blame” on parents of autistic people, and on the individuals themselves, but is also dipping into eugenics territory. And while I don’t think the intentions behind either statement were malicious, they were incredibly ignorant, and the fact that they went completely unchallenged was concerning and made me pretty uncomfortable. 

There were still a lot of positives in the podcast. I’m really glad Laura was also involved because she definitely came across as being the most educated on the subject of the four of them and did make a point of bringing up issues with diagnosis (particularly among girls with autism), her and Tom’s privilege in terms of being able to work with doctor’s to find out as much as possible about their son’s dietary needs and to then provide him with a tailored diet, and also addressing the issues with “high functioning vs low functioning” when Rob asked about the “severity” of their son’s autism. However there was still an undeniable amount of inaccurate or poorly presented information, as well as some things that were just plain incorrect and offensive. I appreciate that a lot of this was coming from personal experience rather than being generalised information, but I think this could have been communicated a lot more clearly and effectively considering the intention was to spread awareness, and the episode would have massively benefitted from the input of an autistic adult. Rob specifically had a lot of questions about autism in general and I think they would have been much better answered by somebody with autism, rather than a parent giving an outside perspective of their child’s experiences. It’s always a little uncomfortable to watch four neurotypical people discuss autism, regardless of how positive their intentions are, and I don’t think it would have been a great challenge for them to find an autistic person who would have been willing to talk about the topic with them. 

[hempseedbodycare]

What’s the difference between Hemp Oil and CBD Oil?

A “green rush” arrived in the U.S. on the heels of Congress’s passing of the Farm Bill in 2018. The significance of this bill is that it “legalizes the sale, transport, or possession of hemp-derived products.” Speaking from hindsight, the bill also ushered us into an era of legalizing recreational Marijuana. As of April 2021, only 6 out of the 52 states and districts remain fully hostile toward the green blaze. 

However, like all the concepts rising to the media's attention too fast, misinformation, intentionally or not, started to flood the airways almost immediately. For all the mixed-ups, the name swap of CBD and Hemp might be the most basic, yet the most confusing one. 

To many consumers, even stakeholders in the hemp industry, the words CBD and Hemp are almost interchangeable. The hardcore dividing line seems to lay between these two and their “high”-inducing cousin, Marijuana. 

So, is CBD and hemp the same? 

The short answer is, No. 

CBD is short for Cannabidiol, 1 of the over 100 chemical compounds found in a cannabis plant, a green plant that contains 2 popular varieties: Marijuana and Hemp. In other words, CBD is the name of a chemical compound found in hemp, the plant. 

Why is it so hard to differentiate CBD and Hemp? 

Skewed marketing practices in the beauty and wellness industry might be the first and foremost to blame in fueling the confusion. In general, CBD derived products are sold more expensively on the market than Hemp products. 

This probably has something to do with hemp’s widespread industrial uses prior to the CBD hype, as well as the relatively easy access to this plant.  

Unlike CBD, which is fairly new and trendy, the hemp plant and its derivatives such as hemp oil, have been around for a much longer time. One common knowledge about the hemp plant, is that ancient Egyptians, Indians, and Chinese were already pretty advanced in utilizing Hemp more than 10,000 years ago. Products derived from the plant’s stems, seeds, leaves, and flowers become fiber and oils that are used to make ropes, papers, clothes, and even additives in food. Additionally, industrial hemp is not a difficult plant to cultivate in the U.S. Historically, farmers in the U.S. were even encouraged to grow hemp during the World War II era. 

What’s the difference between Hemp Oil and CBD Oil? 

Now we are clear on the difference between hemp and CBD, it shouldn’t be too difficult to understand the difference between hemp oil and CBD oil. 

CBD oil, by definition, is oil that contains CBD, the compound. In manufacturing, CBD oil is usually derived from stalks, leaves, and flowers of the hemp plant. Hemp oil, usually short for hemp seed oil, as its name implies, is oil that is refined from seeds of the hemp plant. Because of its source, hemp seed oil (hemp oil) usually has little to no amount of CBD. 

However, the low level of CBD in hemp seed oil didn’t render the hemp oil useless. Quite contrarily, hemp seed oil boasts a high concentration of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid, and other nutritious antioxidant content. There was some serious buzz about replacing fish oil with hemp seed oil in the food and nutrition communities not long ago for its excellent supply of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and its easy-to-digest features. 

Hemp oil’s nourishing feature didn’t go under detection. Beauty and wellness brands have widely made it the main ingredient of skincare products heavily focused on nourishing such as hemp lotion and hemp massage oils. Some brands such as Hemp Seed Body Care even bring it top notch by adding other natural essential oils like Argan Oil, Coconut Oil, to restore elasticity and flexibility of even the toughest skin, leaving skin healthy, nourished, radiant and silky smooth. 

Will hemp lotion show on a drug test? 

Again, the short answer to this question is, No. 

In fact, this frequently-asked question about hemp lotion, or any hemp CBD product, is a result of the deeply-seated confusion in regards to another commonly-seen name in the area: THC. 

THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol. Like CBD, THC is 1 of the over 100 chemical compounds found both in the Hemp plant and its cousin the Marijuana plant. Unlike CBD, THC is the chemical compound that makes someone “high” and fail a drug test. 

According to the World Health Organization, pure CBD alone causes no psychological abuse or dependence potential in humans. This claim should apply to CBD extract from the hemp plant, which contains little to no THC itself to begin with. However, some CBD extract is indeed from the Marijuana plant. In this case, due to current extraction and refinery approaches, some THC may still be in the final CBD topicals. You should always check the THC amount contained in the CBD topical you’re purchasing. Make sure the number is lower than 0.3% and whatever the CBD topicals manufacturer claims is backed up by third-party lab testing results. 

On the other hand, hemp derived skincare products such as hemp lotion should be safe to use since the main ingredient, hemp seed oil, is definitely derived from the hemp plant, which is known for little to no THC. 

[shiekah-marine-embassy]

How Did We Get Here?

A summary of an upcoming tale about my character Anderson, inspired by my own recent struggles.

Anderson spends several days comatose. Wakes up in an unfamiliar place, bound tightly to chair. Is unable to speak. Minutes later, attacker walks in. Attacker commentates on how Anderson was found on the coastline (attacker’s territory) in Yiga Attire. This was received as a threat and Anderson is now subject to imprisonment, torture for information, and Master Kohga will be contacted for ransom arrangements.

Anderson displays elevated levels of distress, which continually continues to increase as the attacker gets closer to establishing contact. The operation is temporarily forfeited when his screaming and begging is so loud that the gag may as well not have been there. Attacker displays frustration and confusion at Anderson’s distress, which is extreme even given the situation he is in.

Attacker removes the gag, and Anderson takes some time to compose himself before explaining that he was actually on the run from the Yiga, after a demon god accused him of treason and sabotage, turning his former lover, several of his friends, and the clan leaders against him. In the ensuing fight he managed to slaughter his ex-lover, incapacitate the right-hand man, severely wound the leader and demon god, and just as quickly made an escape.

He expresses fear and concern that if the leaders were to be made aware of his whereabouts, they would most definitely want him back for the sole purpose of subjecting him to what he describes as a “fate worse than death”, and that traitors and killers like him are not killed, but instead brutally and slowly tormented for the rest of their lives. Anderson undergoes extreme emotional distress and remorse upon recalling the events and is no longer able to compose himself to form words.

Attacker is skeptical, and comments on how the story sounds quite unbelievable. However, despite their skepticism, attacker agrees to not contact Master Kohga right away, and instead will bring the matter up with their boss. As collateral, though, it will be necessary that he is kept heavily restrained until it can be proven that he is not here on a sabotage mission. Several interrogations will follow for the next few days, sedatives will be administered as necessary, and any noncompliance will be met with unrelenting punishment.

Anderson reluctantly agrees, deciding that a few days of hell would be better than a lifetime and maybe more of unbearable agony. The attacker acknowledges, re-gags him twice over, blindfolds the man, and plugs his ears. They then shut off the light to the cell and secure the door, leaving to presumably report this new development to the boss. Anderson then experiences a full mental breakdown, crying and thrashing against his restraints until he passes out.

An approximate 16 hours pass before someone enters the cell, and removes the captive’s earplugs- but leaves all other forms of restraints in. This person is presumed to be the boss- and their footsteps can be heard pacing the cell as they begin to mark on the preposterousness of the captive’s story. Anderson cannot shake hearing a certain familiarity in the boss’s voice, but nonetheless is terrified of what is to come of the situation.

Very shortly after, boss slowly removes the blindfold. Is revealed to be the Captain Sonii of the Shiekah Marine Embassy, and she remarks on how this wouldn’t be the first time that the Yiga try to break in by pretending a part of the clan was betrayed by the others. However, she does admit that there is a certain sadness, fear, and fury in his eyes that she has not seen before.

Captain Sonii continues on by saying that she does know what there is a demon god that stands by the Yiga, and that Anderson must have done something drastic to anger the entity so much- to which the captive responds by squeezing his eyes shut and turning his head away. It seems that the Shiekah Captain is able to infer the source of his distress.

She goes on to remark that, if her intuition is correct, she could draw the fact that Anderson was falsely accused of treason, to which the captive replies with surprise and looks back at her. Captain Sonii chuckled and begins to explain that the whole reason the Shiekah Marine Embassy was founded was to give those who have been framed, misinterpreted, and accused a second chance. And she herself was one of those victims and built this army so no one would have to suffer the way she did, having no one to fall back on.

She concludes that, if there are no rescue attempts by any Yiga within the next three months, she will offer him a high-ranking position on the crew. However, until then, he is not to be left unrestrained, and under constant remote surveillance. Other stipulations follow, along with warning him that in the meanwhile he will be interrogated regarding both the Yiga Clan, and the events that conspired up until his capture.

She appears to snicker to herself, before producing a small knife, and explains how misinformation and fabrication are not tolerated. She begins to draw the knife very slowly up his throat, merely slitting the skin open and deliberately avoiding airways and major arteries, all the while making delicate yet terrifying threats about the consequences if he truly is lying and plans on sabotaging them.

He withholds his pain and terror- yet still in agreement with himself that as bad as things were now, they at least have an ending in sight. The captain notes his resilience, and reminds him of the stipulations one more time, before dismissing herself. Anderson seems relieved that she is gone, and several nightmares within the following few days about what would happen should he be captured by the Yiga confirm his confidence that this is the better option.

Over the following few months, his restrictions are gradually loosened, from a few weeks of full body restraints to a few weeks of wrist and ankle shackles and the allowance of basic entertainment, to simple handcuffs and special requests of food, to complete freedom to move about his cell and partake in recreations under supervision.

After a period of a little over three months, he is called in to be formally interviewed by the boss. He explains that his specialties lie in the operation of, hijacking, and repair of hardware is his specialty, along with an innate knowledge of robotics and machinery. He goes on to admit that he is the owner of a divine beast and use that divine beast in any missions they may need it for.

Under the agreement that she is allowed to connect the divine beast to the Embassy’s centralized army database, to which Anderson shows no opposition to, she hires him and as promised is given the title of leader of the tech division, more specifically the hardware sector, while he will be working aside another leader, August Staghorn, who oversees the software sector. He is given his own room and is now allotted all the freedoms and benefits of a level 3 crew member.

August and Anderson were initially very hesitant about one another, Anderson being intimidated by the software leader’s large stature and reluctance to speak, and August being intimidated by the hardware leader’s very apparent stoicism and distrust. However, as time goes on, they learn more about one another- Anderson learns that August is mute and communicates completely nonverbally (although he can hear and comprehend things perfectly fine), and August learns that Anderson suffers from a small case of Autism Spectrum Disorder and sometimes has trouble handling himself.

Both, in secret, study for months on end about the other’s problems; Anderson teaches himself to both use and interpret sign language, and August teaches himself how to effectively communicate with, comfort, and understand people with neurological disorders. They gradually become more compatible with one another, but neither seem to really notice any large change until they are put on a collaborative project together.

The two and their teams are instructed to begin work on a new semi-terrestrial divine beast construct. The ease at which they have communicating with one another seems to surprise them both, as each admits that they spent a long time studying how to communicate with the other more effectively. Upon realizing, both are overwhelmed with a feeling of rejoice and instantly embrace, getting emotional over one another.

August then goes onto admit that he had admired Anderson ever since he joined the tech division and heard about what happened to him beforehand. August expresses his empathy and admits that while his stature may be big, he considers himself to be rather meek. He reveals a bit more about himself, and states that the reason he was hired here was due to five or six years back, he was subject to a series of tests against his consent and ultimately had his vocal cords completely dissolved which led to him not being able to speak, and complications eating.

Due to these complications and receiving no compensation for the damage done, and the perpetrators never caught, he ended up losing the job he had and not being able to pay rent. He couldn’t find any new jobs either due to any hirer’s lack of understanding of his condition and refusing to change their policies. Ultimately he came down to Lurelin where he intended to spend what he presumed were his last days, alone.

However, at that time, the Shiekah Marine Embassy was surveying the area and they pulled August aside for questioning about his apparent loitering around the area. When he could not answer the soldier, he was asked to attend an interview with an interpreter and the boss, where he explained his story. The captain immediately could tell he had exceptional potential that others couldn’t see, and he was offered a position.

The two go on to discuss how the captain is quite the powerful woman; she clearly went through a lot of effort to found this army and is quite ruthless- but at the same time seems to have an innate understanding and compassion for those who have been wronged, just hidden behind a cold, yet ambitious exterior. Anderson admitted that he wasn’t so sure about her first, but soon came to realize that regardless of how tough she is, what was most important to him was her understanding.

August commentates that he knows about Anderson’s distrust of having a significant other and expressing affection and did not know how long it would take him to heal from that traumatic event. Regardless he confesses that he has feelings for Anderson, however, to the other’s surprise, reciprocates those same feelings, stating that he was truly taken back by how much August put into being able to communicate and understand him better, something that no one in the past had done before.

August humbly dismisses it as nothing more than something he was passionate about and should not be praised so highly for. Anderson intervenes, however, by mentioning that he knows that the two of them would not have studied each other’s issues without their knowledge if they were not meant for this. August cannot supply an argument against this, and thus, their relationship is made official.

 And so, life continues on, there are ups and downs, but one thing is certain- there’s definitely room for a whole series here.

[theprettyinthemundane]

Who’s right about the myths and what does it mean to be culturally Christian? (using Pan as an example)

Thanks to @will-o-the-witch for looking over the part on Judaism!! : )

Disclaimer:

The ancient world was incredibly diverse and ideas about the gods themselves and the myths varied a lot across space and time, which is something I’ll be mentioning again later. I feel like it’s important to have a better understanding about the myths since they’re so prevalent in culture. Essentially, while many people today may tend to think there’s only one “right” way to see the myths or a god this was and is not the case for many faiths. To show this, I wanted to use Pan and his parentage as an example. This also connects to a broader idea: cultural Christianity (which isn’t “bad” or “good”, it’s just something to be aware of). This isn’t about Christians either, just about how cultural Christianity can affect peoples’ perception of other faiths. Whether or not someone is Christian themselves, growing up in a Christian place can incorrectly inform how they learn about other faiths which can lead to misinformation being spread. Sometimes it can (even accidentally) reinforce very harmful ideas that can contribute to bigotry like antisemitism, which we have to fight against!  (Seriously, bigotry sucks! Also I hope the way I word all this makes sense because it’s something I care a lot about!)

So, who are Pan’s parents and who’s right?

Pan is often known as Hermes’ son, even the Homeric hymn to Pan says so (1). Hermes is widely known as the “second youngest Olympian”, which would make Pan among the very youngest if this genealogy is considered (2).

           However, that isn’t the genealogy everyone in the ancient world used to describe Pan. There are many variations on his parentage, and I think it’s worth going over because of how interesting it is. Who Pan’s parents are often changes depending on who you ask or where you ask it. For example, at times he has been called the son of Hermes (1, 3: pg90,151), if you ask 5th century Athenians he is the son of Chronos (3: pg42, 88), he was also known as the son of Zeus and twin of Arcas’ (3: pg43), the great grandson of Pelasgos who was a mortal, bother or foster brother of Zeus (3: pg113) and in Thebes he was believed to be the son of Apollo (3: pg180). He was also called Son of Aix (the solar goat too bright to look at, equated with Amalthea nurse of Zeus) (3: pg100). There were likely other variations too that were lost to history.

           One thing worth noting is that Pan originated in Arcadia and before the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, his worship was mainly preformed here and it was only after that battle that his worship spread widely to the rest of Greece (4, 5). So, the myths of Pan from Arcadia are typically older and reflected older views that worshipers held of him. One example is that Pan helped Zeus in the war against the titans and these myths point to Pan’s father being Chronos (or at least placing him before Hermes’ birth):

 Pan has been described as “the source of that "panic" fear with whose aid he helped the gods in their war against the Titans …” and the son of Cronos and a she-goat (3: pg42). In fact, Aeschylus believed Pan to be two gods: both of which had the power of panic and one of them fought against the titans with Zeus (3: pg42) this is interesting because in other myths Pan was able to split up into a swarm of pans, so Pan being a multiplicity  of gods and also a single god isn’t unheard of (3: pg100). Overall, most people understood him to be one god (like we do today), but this just shows how much diversity there was in how people saw him.

And in Egypt he was viewed similarly to the Pan who fought in the war with the titans (as one of the oldest gods):  

“…the Egyptians Pan is considered very ancient and one of the eight gods said to be the earliest…(6)”

Here he was identified with the Egyptian god Min, which may seem a bit problematic to some because otherwise they were revered as different gods (6). However, the practice of identifying gods with other gods (aka syncretism) was not uncommon in the ancient world; Hekate-Artemis, Selene-Hekate, and Selene-Artemis were identified with each other commonly (7, 8). Other syncretisms were between Isis and Demeter, Isis and Persephone, Isis and Aphrodite, and Isis and Venus (9: pg 20). I am not a classics student, but what I have taken away from this is that the identity of the ancient gods is somewhat fluid and many worshipers could have differing and even contradictory views without either of them being “wrong”, even though some likely did argue or disagree to some extent (6). I’m not claiming there wasn’t debate in the ancient world about the gods, there definitely was. What I’m saying is that people did not fight to discredit new or different ideas just because they conflicted with already established ideas. There was a great deal of variation in how people worshiped and most weren’t interested in a one “right way” to do things.

           This isn’t only an ancient practice: it still happens today in Shinto in general and with the kamisama* Inari Ōkami (稲荷大神), who has been portrayed as a group of kamisama, as masculine, androgynous, and feminine (10). So in general this practice of seeing kamisama (or supernatural beings, or gods) in many different ways with acceptance is more common than one might expect (10, 11). This also happens today in Judaism, where debate is very common:

“Nevertheless, the general trend throughout Jewish history is to value debate and not to stifle it, and the history of Jewish texts supports that trend. (12)” Some examples of this are how many Jewish people debate the Talmud (a religious text) and how there are many different sects of Judaism.

          One important thing for people who are interested in this subject and were raised in a Christian culture (even if they aren’t religious) is to not overextend the characteristics of Christianity onto other religions ancient or modern (this is often accidental, which makes it even more important to be aware of it). This is relevant to both ancient and modern religions such as Shinto and Judaism because misunderstanding these faiths can contribute to terrible things like antisemitism and xenophobia (more so with Judaism). So, we need to guard against bigotry like that by being open to learning and changing our opinions when they are wrong both for learning and fighting bigotry. 

          In fact, one scholar noted that even in Arcadia Pan’s cult and myth were not standardized although what I have mentioned before was certainly the more popular (13: pg 63) So, even though Herodotus heard from people in Egypt who worshiped Min, it is not unheard of or unreasonable to understand that some people did understand him that way. To answer the question I asked earlier: each myth about Pan’s parentage has some element of truth to it and none of them are completely “right” or “wrong”. For example, Hermes being Pan’s father echoes the fact that both of them are liminal deities and usually are shown being close to mortals (3: 178).

Conclusion:

          Pan is commonly considered the son of Hermes, however there was immense variation in how others saw him, both across space and time. One specific idea- that Pan helped Zeus in the war against the titans and that he is among the eldest of the gods- would contradict the Hermes genealogy and was prevalent in some areas. This is the case in Egypt where he was conflated with the local god Min. While this could seem confusing to modern readers (both the Min thing and the various genealogy thing), many faiths both ancient and modern do not push for one “right way” of seeing things and this is important to understand when learning about these things.

              Another way of looking at this concept is the idea of cultural Christianity. It does not matter if a person is religious or even Christian, by growing up in a culturally Christian place their assumptions about other faiths are automatically informed by Christianity, which does not reflect most other faiths. This is not good or bad, it’s just something to be aware of and work around so that we can better understand these other faiths. It is especially important to keep in mind today as misunderstandings about religions can contribute to dangerous bigotry like antisemitism, which we must stand against!

*In Shinto kami (or kamisama) are supernatural beings who inspire awe, they are the main object of worship in Shinto. Please don’t call Shinto kamisama “gods”, it’s inaccurate and doesn’t represent how people see them. Due to how Shinto and Japanese mythology are different from Western mythology we need to take care when talking about it to keep it in its original context.

Citations:

1: Hymn 19 to Pan Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Ed. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+19

2: da Costa Martins, P. A., Leptidis, S., & De Windt, L. J. (2014). Nuclear Calcium Transients: Hermes Propylaios in the Heart. Doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.010675

3: Borgeaud, P., & Atlass, K. (1988). The cult of Pan in ancient Greece. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 13: 9780226065953

4: GARTZIOU-TATTI, A. (2013). GODS, HEROES, AND THE BATTLE OF MARATHON. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, (124), 91-110. Retrieved June 23, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/44216258

5: Haldane, J. (1968). Pindar and Pan: Frs. 95-100 Snell. Phoenix, 22(1), 18-31. doi:10.2307/1087034

6: Griffiths, J. G. (1955). The orders of Gods in Greece and Egypt (according to Herodotus). The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 75, 21-23. Doi: 10.2307/629164

7: MANOLEDAKIS, M. (2012). Hekate with Apollo and Artemis on a Gem from the Southern Black Sea Region. Istanbuler Mitteilungen, 62, 289-302.

8: E. Hijmans, S. (2012). Moon deities, Greece and Rome. In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (eds R.S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C.B. Champion, A. Erskine and S.R. Huebner). doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17276

9: Witt, R. E. (1997). Isis in the ancient world. JHU Press. ISBN-13: 978-0801856426

10:  Smyers, K. (1996). "My Own Inari": Personalization of the Deity in Inari Worship. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 23(1/2), 85-116. Retrieved June 23, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/30233555

11: Lya. 2015. Interview with Gary Cox - Inari Faith International (VO) https://www.equi-nox.net/t10647-interview-with-gary-cox-inari-faith-international-vo

12: Mjl. Conversation & Debate. www.myjewishlearning.com. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/conversation-debate/

13: Ogden, D. (Ed.). (2010). A companion to Greek religion. John Wiley & Sons. Print ISBN:9781405120548 |Online ISBN:9780470996911 |DOI:10.1002/9780470996911

[hearts-kingdom]

@didilydee I really appreciate you critically considering my discussion points and showing an interest in not spreading misinformation! OP blocked me so my post debunking their’s wouldn’t show up in their notes where other people could see it being criticized and to ensure I couldn’t respond to their reblog directly so it would look like I failed to offer a counter argument in order to give the illusion of them being in the right since it would apparently be too much of an effort for them to engage in an actual discussion where their claims could potentially be debunked. In any case, since their response involved you I felt as though you might be interested in considering giving it a look :)

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I used this particular article because it was a convenient compilation of facts from various certified legal sources that’s geared towards relaying those facts— not unsourced gossip. It contains links and references to the court documents and other certified sources within the article and the judge is not the sole source within each point that relays facts— not opinions. Therefore, it’s not clickbait unless you consider summaries of legal documents and testimonies clickbait. If you see something specific that’s not a fact outside of the closing statement that includes the author’s opinion, you’re more than welcome to say so.

I didn’t spam every single person who reblogged it with tags— I only brought this to the attention of those who had posted their own comments implying they were open to a discussion given their willingness to reconsider things when presented with facts. Even then, I didn’t tag everyone who commented— only a handful of people. You act like I was making a callout post towards them when I said, “This isn’t a callout post of course I just wanted to bring this information to the attention of individuals I noticed were reblogging with comments. Dylan Farrow and Soon-Yi are often mixed up with each other so I can see how this might be confusing in that sense. You’re not obligated to reblog my fact-checks of course but please consider at least deleting OPs misleading post from your dash to prevent spreading misleading information”, which can be found in my reblog. If they want to say something, let them say it— you don’t have to put words in their mouth akin to how you’re putting words in mine given the unwarranted accusations you attempted to make throughout your post.

It’s very telling of you to claim people who make an effort to be informative when encountering misleading information are “loony” while also acting as though my request for others to consider information you refrained from relaying was a callout rather than a request. I generally refrain from making unwarranted accusations towards people I discuss things with, but given your reaction it’s evident I’m not the one with issues here, so don’t try to project your own problems onto people who consider things critically just because you expect them to believe you with ease and without question on a public platform given how that would be rather loony. Everyone else I’ve had a discussion with on this matter thus far have at least been receptive regardless of where they stand agenda-wise. However, your decision to block me so that my post debunking your own wouldn’t show up in the replies along with your decision to attack my rhetoric without giving me a chance to defend it or criticize your own is another story entirely.

Again, you clearly care more about pushing an agenda here through being selective about the facts you choose to relay rather than addressing the fact that you purposefully left out legal information that didn’t align with your own. Your comments about the #MeToo movement make that evident given how you didn’t address the fact that I said, “Both Woody Allen and Mia Farrow were horrible people and the abuse they committed should not be politicized for the sake of pushing a feminist nor anti-feminist agenda.” You’ve become so obsessed with spewing misleading information to push your own agenda that you’d rather jump through obstacles than acknowledge that your cherry-picking argument is based off of that very agenda rather than the facts that overshadow your personal bias.

It’s interesting that you said, “the words of the person known to have abused and manipulated”, in regard to Moses given how this is known because of his and his siblings allegations that didn’t result in Mia being imprisoned yet you still obviously believe these allegations— as people should given the evidence despite Mia trying to dispute as much. However, you’re dismissing the allegations of Dylan, her mother, three witnesses, and Woody’s therapist who saw him for inappropriate behavior towards Dylan before Woody was even caught cheating. Bringing attention to your hypocrisy isn’t idiotic but nice try.

It’s also odd but not unsurprising that you’re saying Moses should be trusted in regard to denying Dylan’s trauma since that evidently aligns with the agenda you’re trying to push here in favor of dismissing all the other witnesses and legal officials that conflicts with your argument— such as Dylan, Mia, the three witnesses whose timelines aligns with Dylan’s story, the judge, the state prosecutor, Woody’s therapist, Dylan’s pediatrician, investigating officers, and even the state attorney.

I want to reiterate what I said before: “I don’t doubt Moses Farrow was abused by Mia in the least, but the source also brings attention to how Dylan’s story aligns with [four] other peoples [accounts]— not just Mia’s. Moses likely wasn’t present during the assault [itself], so he can’t say she wasn’t assaulted anymore than Dylan can say he wasn’t abused.”

As for the New-Haven Sexual Abuse Clinic, if you actually bothered reading through the article’s legal sources, accounts, and testimonies then you’d know that the doctor who signed off on the legal report you’re referring to never actually met Dylan personally to make an in-person assessment, no psychologists or psychiatrists were assigned to her panel, the notes regarding her evaluation were destroyed, her confidentiality wasn’t respected, this institution welcomingly invited Woody to profess his innocence when they should have remained professionally unbiased, and the judge and state prosecutor deemed this claim as unacceptable given that.

As for your defense of how Woody being a pedophile and assaulting Dylan would have been irrational... yes— you’re right. That’s the point and yet you still missed it somehow. Pedophiles aren’t rational in the risks they take as pedophiles. Your rhetorical questions usually don’t bode well for defending people accused of pedophilia given how it relies on defending their character and the characters of pedophiles don’t have much worth defending since their judgements are skewered, impulsive, and dangerous.

As for inconsistencies, you fail to address the inconsistencies about Woody’s story changing and you honestly just dug a deeper hole for yourself in regard to the attic thing given how Woody’s story pertained to a police report in which he told them he’d never been in the attic before changing his story and saying he had gone up there before.

Oh, an on another note... demeaningly claiming that an issue as complex as this one is something people should “obvious[ly]” be able to make sense of in attempt to make people feel foolish for not unquestioningly agreeing with you is not a very good look at all. It’s dangerous to suggest people shouldn’t be critical of the concepts you push onto them.

I can quote things, too, but from multiple sources instead of just cherry picking ones that align with pushing a specific agenda.

Judge Elliott Wilk, the presiding judge in Allen’s custody suit against Farrow, concluded that there is “no credible evidence to support Mr. Allen’s contention that Ms. Farrow coached Dylan or that Ms. Farrow acted upon a desire for revenge against him for seducing Soon-Yi.”

In his 33-page decision, Judge Wilk found that Mr. Allen’s behavior toward Dylan was “grossly inappropriate and that measures must be taken to protect her.”

“You look at her [Dylan] in a sexual way. You fondled her . . . You don’t give her any breathing room. You look at her when she’s naked.”

Another babysitter told police and also swore in court that on that same day, she saw Allen with his head on Dylan’s lap facing her body, while Dylan sat on a couch “staring vacantly in the direction of a television set.” A French tutor for the family told police and testified that that day she found Dylan was not wearing underpants under her sundress. The first babysitter also testified she did not tell Farrow that Allen and Dylan had gone missing until after Dylan made her statements.

The state attorney, Maco, said publicly he did have probable cause to press charges against Allen but declined, due to the fragility of the “child victim.”

[discoursecatharsis]

I’ve gotten more than one anon ask from a teenager, paranoid that they’re a pedophile or a predator for crushing on a peer 2-3 years younger than them. Because anti-shippers/fandom purity police constantly use the term “pedophile” for ships between teens 2-3 years apart, it’s no wonder why real teens are confused and terrified. So I wanted to make a post with proper definitions of these terminologies and link to some sources, so that maybe it’ll reassure some other poor teen out there that it’s perfectly fine for them to crush on their schoolmate.

First I’m going to get this out of the way: I’m talking about crushing and dating and having a romantic relationship. Sex between a legal adult (18 and up) and a legal minor (17 and down) could be illegal depending on the age of consent where you live, and any Romeo and Juliet laws that may or may not be in place. That’s way more complicated, so I won’t be touching on teenage relationships where sex is involved. While I’m on this subject though, a quick PSA: if you’re under 18, do not take/send nudes at all. You could be charged with child pornography for “self-producing” your own nudes. As dumb as that sounds, it happens. I don’t agree with courts that do it, punishing hormonal teenagers for having hormones is dumb, but it still happens. It’s not worth it, don’t do it.

One more thing: I’m talking about relationships between peers in the same age group. Between two young adults, adolescents, or teenagers. Note that there is some overlap between these groups (i.e. 15 year old is a teenager and an adolescent but not an adult, while an 18 year old is all three, while a 20 year old is only a young adult). I’m not justifying age gaps that are obviously wrong and illegal, like a 30 year old and a 14 year old, so please do not put words in my mouth.

Moving on to the topic at hand...

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If the only “concerning” thing about a relationship is a minimal age gap between two peers in the same age group, the relationship is probably okay.

The existence of an age gap alone does not make someone a pedophile or predator or child groomer. Intent needs to involved. Ill intent. Along with other abusive, predatory, manipulative behaviors.

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Let’s break down some of these terms further:

A pedophile is attracted to prepubescent children. If the younger party in the relationship is not prepubescent, the older person is not a pedophile.

Here is the criteria for being a pedophile, as defined by the American Psychiatric Association.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/pedophilia

If there is less than a 5 year age gap between teens (i.e. a 15 year old and a 19 year old), there is probably not an issue.

If however, for example, an 18 year old is attracted to someone who’s 13 and still prepubescent, there may be an issue there and the older teen should seek help or talk to someone about it. This doesn’t mean they’re a bad person. If they haven’t hurt anyone, they’ve done nothing wrong. It may just be a disorder that they have no control over, so that’s why it’s a good idea to seek help for it.

---

Moving away from “pedophilia” now. What about people who prey on (i.e. are intentionally seeking to harm) teens who are post-pubescent? That person is not a pedophile, but they are a predator or a child groomer.

Which leads to the next point, what are some examples of “ill intent” when it comes to predatory relationships? What exactly is a predator or a child groomer?

This site lists the definition of grooming, along with some red flag behaviors.

https://www.d2l.org/child-grooming-signs-behavior-awareness/

First I want to point out the word “deliberate.” You can’t accidentally groom someone, like I’ve seen multiple fandom police claim. Posting properly tagged and flagged nsfw fanart on a public forum like tumblr or twitter that allows nsfw content is NOT grooming. Grooming is a deliberate act. It involves intent. If an adult is sending private DMs of nsfw sexual fanart to a minor that they KNOW to be a minor, that is completely inappropriate and grooming behavior. Same goes for any nsfw sexual talk, like an adult having a nsfw rp chat with a minor, that’s wrong too. But simply posting/liking/sharing nsfw fandom content on a public website is not grooming.

That link has a longer list of red flag behaviors, along with examples, but here are three I want to especially point out.

A lot of these sites seem to write their info with the focus on young children being groomed, going by the language they use (”child’s natural curiosity”). But teenagers can definitely be groomed also, in the same ways. If an older partner is taking advantage of a vulnerable teen due to an abusive home life, or trying to isolate them from their family and friends, or overstepping any emotional/physical/sexual boundaries, that teen is very likely in a dangerous situation and needs to confide in a trusted friend, and eventually in a trusted adult, about it.

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I also wanted to share this source as well, just as a general example of other signs of abuse in a relationship. The National Domestic Violence Hotline has a chart that lists common behavior patterns of an abusive, manipulative partner.

https://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined/

This chart uses the example of a male abuser and a female victim, but they have another page and chart for lgbt+ relationships.

As their site says, this can apply to anyone. Age, gender, sexual orientation, it doesn’t matter, anyone is capable of being an abuser or being a victim. Notice how this has similar tactics as the child predator/groomer red flag list too, such as isolation.

Also notice the different manipulative behaviors in this chart. This chart is just a good rule of thumb for red flags in any kind of relationship, be it sexual, romantic, platonic or familial.

Here is another source that lists more red flag behaviors, but more specifically for teenage relationships.

https://www.teendvmonth.org/resources/signs-teen-dating-violence/

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With that in mind, here are some hypothetical scenarios. Let’s use a specific example of a 18 year old high school senior (12th grade) dating a 15 year old high school sophomore (10th grade).

This relationship could be bad if the senior is using the sophomore for their own personal gain. Taking advantage of the fact that the younger person is inexperienced when it comes to dating, and using that fact to manipulate them into a relationship. Maybe the senior isolates the sophomore from their family and friends, makes them feel guilty for wanting to hang out with friends, makes them quit their after-school sports activities or forces them to cancel plans with friends so that they can spend more time together. Maybe the older teen controls how they dress or what they do, or makes them do things that they’re uncomfortable with. All of those are signs of an abusive relationship. If the older teen doesn’t care about the younger teen or about their feelings and is just using them, obviously that is an unhealthy, abusive relationship. (*It’s important to note though, that this exact thing can happen between two people of the same age too. A partner who’s the same age as you can also be controlling and abusive. It can happen with friendships too, it doesn’t have to be limited to dating relationships.)

On the other hand, this senior/sophomore relationship very well could be a perfectly healthy one too. Maybe they are in the same after-school club and bonded through that. Maybe they’ve already known each other and have been friends for years, maybe their families are friends, etc. And they’ve recently started crushing on each other and decided to date. As long as they respect each other, it’s fine.

That’s why you need to know what is going on in a relationship before you judge. An age gap by itself is not proof enough that a relationship is bad or abusive or predatory. One of the partners needs to have ill-intent, and exhibit these abusive red flag behaviors.

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So to sum up everything, if the ONLY thing in a relationship is that there is an age gap, but both people are otherwise peers and in the same age group/range, and none of the above red flags are present, your relationship is fine and you have nothing to worry about. You know you’re a good person, your partner is a good person, you have family and friends supporting the both of you, you care about and respect each other, then you’re fine.

You’re not a pedophile or a predator or any awful thing like that. Remember, those are deliberate acts and involve ill-intent. Please don’t let fandom police scare you. They’re internet strangers, they know NOTHING about you or your personal life or your relationships or your home life or your upbringing or your family and friends. They’re judging you based solely on the fact that there’s an age gap, and nothing else. They have nothing to go by. They’re not trying to educate others on healthy or unhealthy relationship dynamics. They’re just instilling fear in people to back up their own moral superiority or ship war or whatever tf is driving them to be like That and spread misinformation and make inaccurate generalizations. And they don’t seem to realize or care how dangerous it is that they’re telling teens that they’re predators when they’re not. They don’t care about victims. If they did, they’d be spreading helpful advice, but instead they’re just spreading fear and misinformation. Please stop listening to them. And please for all that is good, don’t take advice from them. Talk to adults in your personal life, if not a parent, then an older cousin or an aunt or uncle or teacher or counselor. Or Google it and find reputable sources for yourself. That is much more reliable than taking advice from people who throw around the word “pedophile” to describe a ship between two teenage anime characters. People need to use common sense and look at relationships on a case-by-case basis. And anti-shippers/fandom purity police are unable to do that.

To fandom police: stop telling teenagers that they’re a predator or pedophile for dating their schoolmate who’s two years younger than them. It’s none of your business, and don’t give me that “but if they’re hurting themselves or others, I need to say something” BS. You’re a stranger, you do not know their personal lives. You know nothing about what is going on except that an age gap is involved, that’s it, and that is not enough to jump to such a drastic conclusion and serious accusation. It’s not your place because you don’t know their life or their situation. Also frankly, it’s damn weird and highly inappropriate for you to be inserting yourselves into the personal lives of some random teenager on the internet that you don’t know (especially if you’re an adult). You think shippers are gross for “being invested in the love lives of fictional teens,” yet here you are trying to control the love lives of real life teens. Please get some perspective.

Edit: Another point I forgot to mention, so I’m tacking this onto the end.

Stop acting like all teens x-years-old are the exactly same as every other teen who is also x-years-old. “I’m 18 and I would NEVER date a 15 year old because they’re practically a baby and I’m such a mature adult already and-” Good for you, you want a cookie? Repeat after me: not everyone is the same as you. One 18 year old might be socially awkward but nice and with no dating experience at all, and would fair well with dating a 15 year old who also is in their first relationship. Another 18 year old might be really responsible for their age due to circumstances in their family life, and are fully capable of handling themselves and dating a 21 year old college classmate. Everyone is different. Two people of different ages may just “click” with each other, they’re on the same wavelength, or they have similar experiences, etc. Just because you personally wouldn’t date someone 2-3 years younger/older than yourself doesn’t mean 1) that it’s wrong, or 2) that others wouldn’t be okay with it for their own personal (and valid) reasons.

Again: it is not your business to interfere with an internet stranger’s personal life and relationships when the only thing you have to go off of is “there’s an age gap.” I’m begging y’all, please look at this with the nuance that it deserves. It is not black-and-white, and your black-and-white thinking is really messing up teenagers and making them feel bad about completely normal and healthy age-appropriate crushes or desires to date someone else.