#elder oaks

[obsessingoverl]

oh boy

Seminary is fun today

I actually think the overall principle is good and kinda queer positive (don't judge except when it is appropriate and it gives context) but I don't like way oaks says it

[nerdygaymormon]

Any thoughts about last night's devotional? I've heard some stuff about it but didn't watch it so I was hoping you could provide some insight and opinions (if you saw it).

Elder Oaks encouraged young adults to get married...soon! He lamented that the average age of marriage has gone up significantly since 1970 and that people are having fewer children.

He acknowledged that the cost of education and housing have increased tremendously (and wages haven't kept up), but reminded everyone that pioneers left their homes and possessions and encouraged young adults to forego material comfort and start a family.

Sister Oaks, who didn't get married until she was age 53, chimed in with some better advice. "Prepare yourself for life — by education, experience and planning. Don’t wait for happiness to be thrust upon you. Seek out opportunities for service and learning. Most importantly, trust in the Lord."

As a queer Latter-day Saint, let me point out that he put a lot of emphasis on getting married, he put it as the first thing he chose to speak about. He will later say marriage is only between a man & and a woman, which excludes many queer people. This is a typical example of what queer members of this church experience, having marriage praised but also that it's denied to us. There is a dissonance.

—————————

Honestly, I am tired of commenting on Elder Oaks' queerphobic statements, but he keeps choosing to make them and so I keep responding.

Elder Oaks decided to share a letter he received. He receives thousands of letters a year, and instead of choosing any that express their discomfort at his queerphobia (I guarantee he gets many), Elder Oaks chose one complaining that church members aren't queerphobic enough.

I honestly thought Elder Oaks was going to use this to agree, I mean, why else would he choose THIS letter to share. He didn't agree or disagree (although choosing this letter was quite a choice).

Elder Oaks reiterated that the church only approves of marriage between a man and a woman and encouraged trans people to follow the church's rules.

He used the story of the woman caught in adultery who was brought before Jesus. Jesus refrained from judging the woman. Likewise, we should refrain from judging others and instead should examine ourselves.

Let me point out that adultery betrays the person to whom they've made a commitment and is called out as a sin repeatedly in the scriptures. Gender diversity is not a sin and there's no scripture saying that it is. Therefore, I don't think it's a great use of this scripture story, but I appreciate that Elder Oaks is saying even if we think the other person has done something wrong, we don't condemn them, but treat them with love. Unfortunately he also added we should tell them about God's law and then to "Go, and sin no more."

A few years back, Elder Oaks came up with a novel approach by saying the 1st and 2nd great commandments were in conflict and encouraged us to prioritize love of God by being careful not to love our LGBTQ neighbors too much. But at the 2023 young adult broadcast, he changed this.

Elder Oaks admitted that his tendency is to emphasize keeping the commandments and he gives less attention to loving his neighbor. He finds it easier to judge someone by how well he thinks they keep the commandments.

"I now believe that goal to be better expressed as trying to live both of these commandments in a more complete way. Anyone who does not treat individuals who face gender identity challenges with love and dignity is not aligned with the teachings of the first and second great commandments."

I'm not thrilled that he refers to this as "gender identity challenges" or as "issues of confusion of identity," because that implies challenges can be overcome and identities can become unconfused. However, saying saying that loving your queer neighbor is not in conflict with loving God does seem to be progress. In my opinion, he could have apologized for his past statements and the consequences they had, but he didn't take that opportunity.

Then he followed that up by saying "we need to remember that God has revealed again and again that He created male and female." Elder Oaks just can't help himself. Let me add that God also created the transgender, genderfluid, nonbinary, and intersex people.

Now that he addressed trans people, time to move on to people experiencing same-sex attraction. He warned that we should be careful not to label ourselves (in other words, probably avoid calling yourself gay, lesbian, or bisexual) because these labels won't lead us to eternal life in the Celestial kingdom.

What I find from this broadcast is that mere crumbs are being offered to queer people by Elder Oaks, when Christ would offer us a seat at the feast in the banquet hall.

[mormonmew]

TIL that apparently Elder Oaks was a lawyer before he became an apostle. That... Explains a lot about his talks and the way he gives them.

[stone-cold-groove]

Love under the oaks.

[lailoken]

Inducing the Aid of the Oak Tree Lord

I had to run some errands that took me a ways away from home today, and while I was there, I realized I was actually fairly close to a butte that I occasioanlly visit in order to propititate a great, hollow-bearing Oak Tree which grows there. Since I've done some potent and highly effective magic with the help of the Oak Tree Lord recently, I thought I would go to him again with another request. Specifically, my stores of Hollow Water have begun to run low, and I've been needing to replenish it. We had some very wet weather not long ago, which made me think I would be easily able to retrieve the water I needed from another tree hollow I've drawn from before, but following a sudden spell of hot and dry weather, I was chagrined to discover a hollow that was very wet, but not full enough to retrieve water from. I was worried I might have missed my chance to get more for a while, but given that the Oak Tree Lord helped me find the last source of Hollow Water I drew from, it seemed worth going to him again.

Being an unplanned visit, I didn't have any of the normal tools I would have with me for such an endeavor—such as a flask for collecting water, a lance for drawing blood, or anything on hand for me to offer the Oak Tree Lord—but a mage must frequently make do. In the end, I collected 13 Galls from other Oaks around the butte, each of which I painted with my blood (thanks to the help of a nearby Hawthorn copse) and then fed to the Oaken Mouth of the tree I came to propititate. I also gave a wreath that I wove from dandelion flowers.

Literally minutes later, I was overjoyed (and a little astonished) to stumble upon exactly what I was looking for. The natural font was deep and pungent, and what's more, the tree which bore it was an old Oak itself. I carried out the necessary ritual actions and gathered the water using my emptied water bottle (which I will be cleaning very thoroughly after this.)

What I gathered has since been transferred into an old glass vessel that I found once I was done, being sold for only $6 at a nearby junk shop I'd never noticed before. This should definitely last me a good while.

The Grove Elders—an assembly of tutelary tree deities possessing immense wisdom and power—are a truly amazing group of entities to work with.

[icecreamwithjackdaniels]

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "Two Monkeys", 1562

[nat-without-a-g]

The message about Henry being the unsung hero possibly appearing in front of Lark during the final battle of season 1 is a little funny to me because Terry Jr. and Grant were both sitting near Lark to act as the navigator and backseat driver.

“… Hey Lark, what’s that about—“

“I’m sure it’s nothing! (Slams foot on gas)”

[bellatheinkdemon]

Grieving is hard...

(Aka, Faerie Guard/Silver Oak comforts his little half-sister, Blue Stargazer Lily, after the death of their Dad)

[arthistoryanimalia]

We don't have an exact birthdate for Flemish artist Jan van Kessel the Elder, but he was baptised #OTD (5 Apr 1626 - d. 17 April 1679) so here are three versions of his caterpillars and snakes signature (+some bonus spiders for #BeKindToSpidersWeek):

Jan van Kessel the Elder (Flemish, 1626–1679) "Garden and house spiders with grass snakes and caterpillars contorted and entwined to spell the artist's name" 1657 oil painting on copper H 15 cm (5.9 in) x W 20 cm (7.8 in) Sothebys

Jan van Kessel the Elder (Flemish, 1626–1679) The Four Continents: The Continent of Europe [detail of the signature panel] c. 1660s oil painting on copper H 48.4 cm (19 in) x W 67.1 cm (26.4 in) Alte Pinakothek

Jan van Kessel the Elder (Flemish, 1626–1679) "Seventeen panels depicting snakes, lizards, flowers, caterpillars, beetles, butterflies and other insects" [detail including the signature panel] 1658 oil painting on copper, 39 x 56 cm (15 x 22 in) and 14 by 19 cm (5.5 x 7.5 in) Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, call no. NW-UL-NW

You can read more about this creative signature, and see his son Ferdinand's version too, here:

[greenmansgrove]

Time passes faster and faster for me. I haven’t visited Newell Park since September of last year, and it seems the park managers have taken down a couple of the dead/dying trees I’d come to know and love.

The first is a pin oak that I believe died sometime before May 2023. It had a big ol’ burl on it that made it look like a dryad with a fat tummy. She was the second-to-last pin oak I’ve identified in the park.

The second is an oak that was dead before I ever started visiting the park, leaving me unable to identify it, but which I’ve noted grows a small red elderberry shrub — with symbolic associations of regret and arrogance, as well as healing and the summoning of spirits.

I left some offerings with both trees (and it seems I’m not the only one who does — note the wilted dandelions).

[nerdygaymormon]

[lincolnmkicks]

actually fuck it hero oak is my favorite character now norm was already my favorite doofus but this episode. ohghggghgh hero.

okay. wow. where in the actual FUCK to begin?

although i said in my previous hero post that hero wasnt intentional and that could arguably have been disproven by this recent episode i still think maybe there's an argument to be made for hero not being intended in that MOMENT. maybe sparrow and rebecca were trying for kids and then larks magic seed was enough. idk.

so anyways. hero. makes WAY more sense being lark's kid than sparrow's. makes a way better narrative if sparrow "i have to be the one to fix it" oak-garcia's son NORMAL (who couldn't even do being a normal kid right to sparrow) proves his family wrong and not only does what needs to be done but does it BETTER by stopping the doodler with the kindness and empathy they couldn't spare him.

way i see it. it happened. sparrow wasn't comfortable talking about it. rebecca got pregnant. fuck it the kid's gonna practically be raised by both of them anyway. just lie by omission. nick mentioned something about "them only wanting the one" but doesn't elaborate on who THEY are. sparrow and rebecca? lark and sparrow? the kiddads? whoever it was saw a child with oak-garcia blood and said "alright thats good we did it."

NORMAL. arrives. unexpected. hm. howd that happen? sparrow just wants to forget the kid exists, hope he has a nice, easy life where he's not mocked or made fun of. pile everything onto hero. but normal's so LOUD. not just noise-wise, just... everything.

so sparrow spends more time focusing on norm, judging what norm does. he loses focus on the mission. hero. THE hero. hero goes to a different school. we know nothing about her relationship with her parents, if she even has a good one with them. im placing my money on eldest daughter syndrome for sure.

and to her credit she stepped up. she's fighting the mayor. she's off doing badass shit despite being like a senior in high school. but i need to get into her brain, anthony please let hero and the twins show up next episode please please please please please please please please please

[varrics-chesthair]

[demigirlvioletshine]

[archesa]

The Oak and the Rose

A little sneak peek into an old wip of mine, the story of the soon-to-become heroine of Kvatch, saviour of Cyrodiil, most loyal protector of the last Septim emperor, and founder of the Evergreen line.

@nerevar-quote-and-star there we go ^^

These are the closing years of the Third Era... and the last hours of my life. Find him and close shut the jaws of Oblivion!

 

Find him. And close shut the jaws of Oblivion - 17th of Last Seed – 3 E 433

The air was damp and biting. The heavy scent of dust, mould and rot filled the air and made her cough as she struggled to straighten and blinked away the tears that had threatened to drown her dream. The images and memories of the last hours kept coming back to her, hauntingly vivid, if blured through a numbing haze of amnesia.

She remembered the Arcane University, the hopelessness in Traven's eyes as he drove the blade right through his heart, his soul ripped apart to fill the soul gem, the foul crystal turning dark, the betrayal contorting Raminus's face as he found her weeping over the corpse of the Archmage, the blade that killed him in her hands and the black gem at her feet.

The constant metalic sound of drops hitting the bars and shrieking whistle of the wind drilled through her skull, faning anew the embers of a blazing headache. Being drained dry of one's magicka tended to cause dizziness and a low thruming at the back of the head, but never had she experienced such emptiness.

“Oooh, aren't you a fair lass.”, a voice echoed across the corridor as she wandered near the bars. In the darkness, she barely fathomed the outline of another prisonner, in the block across hers – a dunmer leaning against the locked grid, observing her thouroughly. “Your skin is so pale, so pure. And your body is so... strong. Let me guess. A Nord, right? But these robes... Surely you don't belong to the University. Those snotty mages up their ivory tower wouldn't care for a little provincial with some cheap parlor tricks... Did I offend you? Well, why don't you make these bars disappear and prove me wrong? No. What's the matter, mage? Not so powerful,are you? You may have tricked the scholars into accepting you but down here, you're just a wild beast from far off heathen lands to be tamed! But don't worry. The guards always treat the pretty ones nice. Right 'til the end. Oh, that's right.”, he smirked, at the sudden palor on her skin. “You're going to die in here, Nord!”

A door shrieked in the up the corridor tore through the deathly silence of the dungeons.

“Hear that?”, the dunmer taunted, as he withdrew to the shadow of his cell. “The guards are coming. For you.”

The words cut deep through her battered spirit and fear seized her. She backed herself in the shadow and listened intently as footsteps and voices came nearer, descending the stairs.

“My sons... They are dead, aren't they?”

“We don't know that for sure, Sire. The messenger only said they were attacked.”

“No.”, an elderly voice stated deeply. “They're dead. I know it.”

“My job right now is to get you to safety.”, a woman answered in a concerned tone.

“I know this place...”, the man reflected. “The prison?”

“Yes, your majesty. Beneath the Legion compound. We're headed to a secret passage known only to the Blades. No one can follow us there.”

Her lean shape appeared in the light of a torch and stopped before the grid of the cell, her gaze falling immediately on the prisonner held in there.

“What's this prisoner doing here?”, she seethed, turning to another soldier wearing the same ornamented banded armor. “This cell is supposed to be off-limits.”

“Usual mix-up with the Watch.”, the redguard shrugged apologetically. “I-”

“Never mind. Get that gate open.” She then turned to the woman drawing instinctively back against the wall of her cell. “Stay where you are, prisoner. We won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way.”

The young woman nodded silently and averted her gaze as the small troop entered the cell. There were three Blades - she could tell now by the look of their armor in the light of the torch - escorting a man well in the winter of his life and bearing on his shoulder the heavy burden of the Empire he ruled upon. Liv instantly bowed her head to him as his ageless eyes fell upon her.

“You...”, the Emperor breathed. “I have seen you.”

His steps drew him closer, and a hand gently grabbed her chin to lift her face to the light.

“Let me see your face. You are the Archmage... the one from my dream...”, he stated, a sense of impending doom in his voice. “Then, the stars were right and this is the day... Gods... Give me strength.”, he prayed through gritted teeth. He took in a deep soothing breath and looked once again upon the young woman from his vision, the confusion on her face plain as day and sign that her destiny was still to get ahold of her. “Assassins have taken the lives of my sons, and I am next.”, he explained further, the sadness in his voice now clearly sounding as resigned acceptance. “My Blades are leading me out of the city”, he added, as the soldiers busied themselves with an intricate combination of loose stones in the alcove nearby, “along a secret escape route. By chance, the entrance to that old way leads through your cell. I have faith that the Gods have placed you here so that we met, in this fateful hour.”

“My liege?”, she creaked, her voice still broken since her capture.

The Emperor nodded to the man behind him, motionning him to approach.

“Release her.”

“Sire?”, the redguard inquired. “Is it prudent to...”

“The will of Akatosh appears to mortal in most unexpected guises. We must have faith in His guidance in this darkest hour.”

The Blade reluctantly obeyed, and pulled a skeleton key from his satchel to remove the prisoner's manacles. The heavy metal binds glowed blue as they were unlocked and fell to the ground with a dull, unnatural sound.

"As for what you've done...”, he considered pensively, the lingering pain in her eyes at the mere mention of her crime almost enough to convince him of her innocence, “it does not matter. That is not what you'll be remembered for.”, he offered with a smile.

“Sire, please”, the captain of the Blades cut curtly, the edge in her voice threading dangerously on the verge between respect due to his rank and irritation facing an old man's whim. “We must keep moving.”

“Walk the rest of the way with me.”, he offered. “After that...” The old ruler smiled weakly, but comfortingly. “You will find your own path. Take care... there will be blood and death before the end.”

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Counting-Out Rhyme

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Silver bark of beech, and sallow

Bark of yellow birch and yellow

Twig of willow.

Stripe of green in moosewood maple,

Colour seen in leaf of apple,

Bark of popple.

Wood of popple pale as moonbeam,

Wood of oak for yoke and barn-beam,

Wood of hornbeam.

Silver bark of beech, and hollow

Stem of elder, tall and yellow

Twig of willow.

"Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle... And Other Modern Verse" - compiled by Stephen Dunning, Edward Lueders, and Hugh Smith