#i love wilfrid

[zzoupz]

finishing off this halloween by drawing some of my favorite spooky supernatural ocs!!!!

[hussyknee]

OP THIS IS PERFECT OH MY GOD.

Love, A.

Happy birthday to His Royal Highness Prince Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor ✨💕

[the-moral-of-the-rose]

Rilla of Ingleside created a new timeline...

Anne's House of Dreams mentioned a historical event - a federal election: “Mistress Blythe, the Liberals are in with a sweeping majority. After eighteen years of Tory mismanagement this down-trodden country is going to have a chance at last.” (AHoD).

From Wikipedia: "The 1896 Canadian federal election was held on June 23, 1896, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 8th Parliament of Canada. Though the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Charles Tupper, won a plurality of the popular vote, the Liberal Party, led by Wilfrid Laurier, won the majority of seats to form the next government. The election ended 18 years of Conservative rule."

It wouldn't be surprsing, but... it was also the year in which Jem Blythe was born! The election took place few weeks after his birth: "When Anne came downstairs again, the Island, as well as all Canada, was in the throes of a campaign preceding a general election." (AHoD).

So... according to this timeline, Walter was born a year later (1897), then the twins (1899), Shirley (1901) and Rilla (1903).

The point is... at the outbreak of the war, Walter would have been only 17 years old, the twins 15, Shirley 13, Rilla 11...

Shirley would have been too young to participate in the war and Walter would have barely turned nineteen at the time of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette in September of 1916...

Someone in one of my older posts noticed that puff sleeves fashion suggested that Anne of Green Gables took place in 1880s rather than 1870s... so it would make sense!

I wonder why Montgomery chose Rilla as her teenage heroine (according to the original chronology, Rilla should have been only 11 years old), while there were 15-year-old twins...

Can you imagine Nan and Di as the main characters of the war book? Two young girls at Queen's, trying to come to terms with rapidly changing world? Rilla and Shirley at Ingleside, growing closer in such trying times? Teenage boys - Jem and Walter - who had to choose if they wanted to sacrifice their life at even younger age - at eighteen? Walter, never reaching the age of twenty (or maybe - dare I hope - coming back home safely)? Anne and Gilbert in their 40s, trying to collect all the broken pieces that was once their family?

It would have been equally good, in my opinion. I wonder... why Montgomery felt she had to suddenly change a whole chronology?

Side note: of course, I love Rilla of Ingleside. But I am just curious... (Nan and Di of Ingleside would be a good book, too!).

@diario-de-gilbert-blythe @gogandmagog @pinkenamelheart @valancystirling48

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

Queer Books November 2023

🌈 Good afternoon, my bookish bats! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!

❤️ The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl by Emily Riesbeck 🧡 Heading North by Holly M. Wendt 💛 The Wisdom of Bug by Alyson Root 💚 Trick Shot by Kayla Grosse 💙 A Holly Jolly Christmas by Emily Wright 💜 Outdrawn by Deanna Grey ❤️ Yours Celestially by Al Hess 🧡 The Christmas Memory by Barbara Winkes 💛 Violet Moon by Mel E. Lemon 💙 The Santa Pageant by Lillian Barry 💜 Only for the Holidays by Shannon O’Connor 🌈 Homestead for the Holidays by Wren Taylor

❤️ You Can Count on Me by Fae Quin 🧡 No One Left But You by Tash McAdam 💛 The Worst Thing of All is the Light by José Luis Serrano, Lawrence Schimel 💚 Today Tonight Forever by Madeline Kay Sneed 💙 Wren Martin Ruins It All by Amanda DeWitt 💜 Emmett by L. C. Rosen ❤️ Finding My Elf by David Valdes 🧡 Tonight, I Burn by Katharine J. Adams 💛 Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng 💙 Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree 💜 A Power Unbound by Freya Marske 🌈 We Are the Crisis by Cadwell Turnbull

❤️ The Manor House Governess by C.A. Castle 🧡 You Owe Me One, Universe by Chad Lucas 💛 Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James 💚 Skip!: A Graphic Novel by Rebecca Burgess 💙 Something About Her by Clementine Taylor 💜 Touching the Art by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore ❤️ A Nearby Country Called Love by Salar Abdoh 🧡 Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us by Karen Tongson 💛 Sir Callie and the Dragon’s Roost by Esme Symes-Smith 💙 The Order of the Banshee by Robyn Singer 💜 Once Upon My Dads’ Divorce by Seamus Kirst, Noémie Gionet Landry 🌈 Forsooth by Jimmy Matejek-Morris

❤️ A Common Bond by T.M. Kuta 🧡 Risk the Fall by Riley Hart 💛 Just a Little Snack by Yah-Yah Scholfield 💚 Home for the Holidays by Erin Zak 💙 NeurodiVeRse by MJ James 💜 Dark Heir (Dark Rise #2) by C.S. Pacat ❤️ sub/Dom by Rab Green 🧡 Bitten by the Bond by Elaine White 💛 Heir to Frost and Storm by Ben Alderson 💙 The Sea of Stars by Gwenhyver 💜 Bad Beat by L.M. Bennett 🌈 Idol Moves by K.T. Salvo

❤️ Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa 🧡 In the Pines by Mariah Stillbrook 💛 The Crimson Fortress (The Ivory Key #2) by Akshaya Raman 💚 Only She Came Back by Margot Harrison 💙 Megumi & Tsugumi, Vol. 4 by Mitsuru Si 💜 Pritty by Keith F. Miller Jr. ❤️ Just Lizzie by Karen Wilfrid 🧡 An Atlas to Forever by Krystina Rivers 💛 Come Find Me in the Midnight Sun by Bailey Bridgewater 💙 Bait and Witch by Clifford Mae Henderson 💜 Shadow Baron by Davinia Evans 🌈 Day by Michael Cunningham

❤️ Livingston Girls by Briana Morgan 🧡 Delay of the Game by Ari Baran 💛 The Nanny with the Nice List by K. Sterling 💚 A Talent Ignited by Suzanne Lenoir 💙 A Kiss of the Siren’s Song by E.A.M. Trofimenkoff 💜 Rivals for Love by Ali Vali ❤️ Whiskey & Wine by Kelly Fireside, Tana Fireside 🧡 Buried Secrets by Sheri Lewis Wohl 💛 Ride with Me by Jenna Jarvis 💙 Living for You by Jenny Frame 💜 Death on the Water by CJ Birch 🌈 Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles

❤️ Vicarious by Chloe Spencer 🧡 Sapling’s Depths by Spencer Rose 💛 That French Summer by Sienna Waters 💚 System Overload by Saxon James 💙 King of Death by Lily Mayne 💜 Warts and All by Ashley Bennett ❤️ Principle Decisions by Thea Belmont 🧡 The Best Mistake by Emily O’Beirne 💛 Sugar and Ice by Eule Grey 💙 Until The Blood Runs Dry by MC Johnson 💜 Splinter : A Diverse Sleepy Hollow Retelling by Jasper Hyde 🌈 The Mischievous Letters of the Marquise de Q by Felicia Davin

❤️ The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay by Dale Walls 🧡 Til Death Do Us Bard by Rose Black 💛 Leverage by E.J. Noyes 💚 Alice Sadie Celine by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright 💙 Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon 💜 Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher ❤️ To Kill a Shadow by Katherine Quinn 🧡 Warrior of the Wind by Suyi Davies Okungbowa 💛 For Never & Always by Helena Greer 💙 A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch by Sally Hawley 💜 Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu Vol. 8 by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù 🌈 A Carol for Karol by Ann Roberts

[bondshotel]

July 6, 1964 - The Beatles' first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, had its première at the London Pavilion.

A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British musical comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring the Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists. The film portrays 36 hours in the lives of the group.

The film was a financial and critical success. Forty years after its release, Time magazine rated it as one of the all-time great 100 films. In 1997, British critic Leslie Halliwell described it as a "comic fantasia with music; an enormous commercial success with the director trying every cinematic gag in the book" and awarded it a full four stars.[The film is credited as being one of the most influential of all musical films, inspiring numerous spy films, the Monkees' television show and pop music videos. In 1999, the British Film Institute ranked it the 88th greatest British film of the 20th century.

The movie's strange title originated from something said by Ringo Starr, who described it this way in an interview with disc jockey Dave Hull in 1964: "We went to do a job, and we'd worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, 'It's been a hard day ...' and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, '... night!' So we came to A Hard Day's Night."

PLOT

Bound for a London show from Liverpool, the Beatles escape a horde of fans ("A Hard Day's Night"). Once they are aboard the train and trying to relax, various interruptions test their patience: after a dalliance with a female passenger, Paul's grandfather is confined to the guard's van and the four lads join him there to keep him company. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr play a card game, entertaining some schoolgirls before arriving at their desired destination ("I Should Have Known Better").

Upon arrival in London, the Beatles are driven to a hotel, only to feel trapped inside. They are tasked to answer numerous letters and fan mail in their hotel room but instead, they sneak out to party ("I Wanna Be Your Man", "Don't Bother Me", "All My Loving"). After being caught by their manager Norm (Norman Rossington), they return to find out that Paul's grandfather John (Wilfrid Brambell) went to the casino. After causing minor trouble at the casino, the group is taken to the theatre where their performance is to be televised. After rehearsals ("If I Fell"), the boys leave through a fire escape and dance around a field but are forced to leave by the owner of the property ("Can't Buy Me Love"). On their way back to the theatre, they are separated when a woman named Millie (Anna Quayle) recognizes John as someone famous but cannot recall who he is. George is also mistaken for an actor auditioning for a television show featuring a trendsetter hostess. The boys all return to rehearse another song ("And I Love Her") and after goofing around backstage, they play another song to impress the makeup artists ("I'm Happy Just to Dance with You").

While waiting to perform, Ringo is forced to look after Paul's grandfather and decides to spend some time alone reading a book. Paul's grandfather, a "villain, a real mixer", convinces him to go outside to experience life rather than reading books. Ringo goes off by himself ("This Boy" instrumental). He tries to have a quiet drink in a pub, takes pictures, walks alongside a canal, and rides a bicycle along a railway station platform. While the rest of the band frantically and unsuccessfully attempts to find Ringo, he is arrested for acting in a suspicious manner. Paul's grandfather joins him shortly after attempting to sell photographs wherein he forged the boys' signatures. Paul's grandfather eventually makes a run for it and tells the rest of the band where Ringo is. The boys all go to the station to rescue Ringo but end up running away from the police back to the theatre ("Can't Buy Me Love") and the concert goes ahead as planned. After the concert ("Tell Me Why", "If I Fell", "I Should Have Known Better", "She Loves You"), the band is taken away from the hordes of fans via helicopter.

From beatlesbible:

The première was attended by The Beatles and their wives and girlfriends, and a host of important guests including Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon. Nearby Piccadilly Circus was closed to traffic as 12,000 fans jostled for a glimpse of the group.

“I remember Piccadilly being completely filled. We thought we would just show up in our limo, but it couldn't get through for all the people. It wasn't frightening - we never seemed to get worried by crowds. It always appeared to be a friendly crowd; there never seemed to be a violent face.”

~ Paul McCartney, Anthology

It was a charity event held in support of the Variety Club Heart Fund and the Docklands Settlements, and the most expensive tickets cost 15 guineas (£15.75).

After the screening The Beatles, the royal party and other guests including The Rolling Stones enjoyed a champagne supper party at the Dorchester Hotel, after which some of them adjourned to the Ad Lib Club until the early hours of the morning.

[lgbtqreads]

hi! love what you do!!! are there any newer middle grade books with asexual mcs? thanks!!!

Thank you! Not sure how new counts as newer, but the newest I know of are Every Bird a Prince by Jenn Reese, The Trouble with Robots by Michelle Mohrweis and A-Okay by Jarad Greene. However, there are two more coming up: Just Lizzie by Karen Wilfrid, which will be out in November, and Reel Love by Nilah Magruder, which doesn't yet have a public pub date.

[rumeysawrites]

Happy STS!! Can I request an infodump of Thiruneah? She sounds cool!

(also how do you track all your characters? Is it a spreadsheet or something?)

Yessss! Thank you! Thiruneah is probably one of my lore characters that even I still feel curious about!

As one of the three goddesses tgat emerged from The Might (the primordial force that made up the all of Existence) in the very beginning. She was the second of the three "sisters" to come into existence, after Eliltta (the goddess of life and creation) and before Nihynia (goddess of space, worlds, and dimensions.

Thiruneah is the goddess po time, and the one pillar of the Triple Balance that is always standing. The ever-flowing threads of time are conjured,c ontrolled, and protected by her.

Unlike her sisters who often went around to maintain life or the universes they've created, Thiruneah would basically never leave her domain at the center of Existence. She was the one who made sure time flowed as it was supposed to for every universe, world, person, etc.

Basically, she was one of the key reasons there's any order at all in Existence.

Of course, such a responsibility could cause someone to grow very strict and rigid, as Thiruneah is known to be the least lenient of all ten of the deities with crystald, as well as the kast to volunteer.

In that sense, Thiruneah is probably the epitome of a l"awful neutral" character, as she has a very strict moral code centeering around keeping tge balance abd order of the Existence togather, but also being unwilling to break those codes even if it means any hero or villain asks for help from her. She's a stable force of nature, strong and seemingly unchanging.

The most well-known myth about her in Interdimensional, is about her punishment of Arfene (goddess of magic) for implementing time as an element for some of her magic systems without asking for Thiruneah's permission. It's believed that Arfene had lived ten thousand years of mortal lives, reincarnating in a different world of Thiruneah's choosing every time she died.

She's also the deity who (albeit reluctantly) gave power for the Crystal Of Time, which Kent has in the main series, and later Alondra finds one of the missing pieces of. Time as a spellcasting element is banned by both BSA and Dark Crystal, which only three people at max are even permitted by Thiruneah to have the access to it in the first place (that being Kent, Wilfrid and in incredibly minor ways, Alondra), as it's considered one of the most dangerous elements a person can wield. Both that and everyone knows what the fact that happened when even a deity tried to use time nagic.

We will also see Thiruneah in both the Divine Trials Arc and the Time Travel Arc, which happen in and after year 8 respectively. However unlike Eliltta and Nihynia, Thiruneah doesn't have as large of an impact on the Legendaries, not because she can't, but because she chooses not to. Remember, what she watches over is far more than just the timeline of Eight Alters. She still does what's necessary for her to do but doesn't go further thsn that.

Lastly, in one of my side stories that I co-write with a friend (where we put our single characters through a fun matchmaking event, and trust me there are over three hundred of those characters-), Thiruneah is matched with an immortal fire elemental named Ignacius, who's among the most prominent vessels Lorkness (Beislar), making him one of the main antagonists in the series. I do know they will interact at least once in the main series too, but I'm not sure how it'll happen or how it'll go.

I hope this was enough infodumping about our lovely Lady Time. :)

As for how I keep track of my characters... I'm not 100% sure either. I do have three separate lists (one on my Notes app, one on my Character Story Planner, and one on Quotev), but none of the lists are complete, the one in my Notes app in particular having outdated names for many of the earlier characters I made. And none of the lists sp far include some of the important characters such as Iluthmil siblings, Keegan family members, Francis, Beatrice, Jarek, Roimata, Cassandra, or Aphelion.

Turns out I mostly keep them in my head and remember through their roles (as I used to always forget that Dark Crystal's main tech guy was a dwarf man named Gwydion with a grumpy grudge against Frank, until I gave him a proper role in the first Meras arc). But having an organized list does help, which I'm working on. I promise.😅

[magicalyaku]

Happy new year! After the slump of the previous months and my last artist alley of the year, I finally had a lot to read in December! I bought so many books in November, I had to get at least through a few in order to include them in my yearly awards. xD Work was still shit but reading was fun again. :D

Dark Heir (Dark Rise 2) (C.S. Pacat): This was my last book of 2023 and easily my most anticipated. And did it deliver! Left me emotionally devastated for days! xD Seriously, I don't want to know what my neighbors thought what was going on, in case they heard me going "Aaah! No! No no no nooooo! Kya! NOOOO!!" during two certain scenes. /D The nice thing about this series is that I have absolute faith in Pacat's ability to write it well und give me an outcome I am satisfied with. I mean, go look at Captive Prince. The way the relationship between Damen and Laurent develops (even after MAJOR shit going on between them!), the political threads and all that, it's just done very well. And now, here's the Dark Rise series and I sit and watch the spiral of doom the characters are caught up in it and apart from maybe Sinclair not a single one of them is fully good or bad. And it's sooo interesting (and emotionally devastating)!! Hng!! I would actually like to write much more about what I loved and suffered through, like the whole thing with the Visander situation and how Sarcean made all of his worst enemies because he just couldn't keep it in his pants. And James. James. And Cyprian! And everything. But I can't because whenever I try I still feel the excited giggles in my brain and can't have a coherent thought. It's great, but also ... Hnggg!!

The First and Last Adventure of Kit Sawyer (S.E. Harmon): This was fun! At some point early on I looked up what other books the author has written and it's more than ten and I thought "Yes! It feels like being written by someone with a lot of writing experience!" There's just something about the liveliness of the characters and the dialogues. Also so much adventure with a slightly different flavor than usual being set in the jungle and all, I loved it.

By any other Name (Erin Cotter): I wonder why all of my historical fiction books are set in England. This is another highly adventurous story. I was a bit surprised as one thing that's mentioned in the summary already only appears like after half the book. But other than that it was pretty good. It has spies and theatre and pretty nice characters. And I did not anticipate everything that happened which is good!

Wren Martin Ruins it all (Amanda deWitt): The author's previous book Aces Wild: A Heist was one of my top books in 2022, this one does not quite reach those heights but it was still very good and very enjoyable. Wren is such a messy and fun character. As reader I absolutely knew what was going on and who was writing with whom but it was nice to follow the characters' path to awareness. In a way Wren's aceness is not as heavy as in other books (see the next one for instance) but at the same time it deals with a few of the social issues a_spec people are faced with which was nice.

Just Lizzie (Karen Wilfrid): This is a middle grade book about a girl coming to terms with being ace. The heroine has a really nice character arc. And the other characters are sometimes what you expect them to be and sometimes they are not. And maybe … that's ok, right? And I loved it and I cried through half of the book. I guess, it hit home a little more heavily than I expected. :'D (Like that one time where Lizzie is wondering how she will spent Christmas when her parents aren't around anymore? Haaa. It had just been Christmas when I read this and I'm in my 30ies and my Dad is above 70 now so that is a concern I actually have, you know. It's not nice to be reminded. :'D) It's a really good book, I think, thoughtful and well put together and empowering, too.

A Hundred Vicious Turns (The Broken Tower 1) (Lee Page O'brien): Now this was difficult. The cover is gorgeous. Easily my favorite one this year. I only lament that there's no real gold printed. The wasted opportunity. yAy The content is … difficult. I like the story on a whole. The premise and the magic system are really interesting. The characters … were interesting as well? They're fine, their motivations are not easily seen which, in a plot full of mysteries, is actually quite okay. I just didn't build the emotional connection. There's also a lot of anxiety, especially on Rat's part. There was one bit in the writing style that irked me a little. The overuse of pronouns. Because Rat was the only one with 'they' and in most scenes it was only one other person with them, so there often really long stretches where only the pronouns would be used instead of the names. It wa snot confusing because you could easily tell the characters apart, but it felt weird. I'm very used to reading the names a lot. Oh well. It's not a fun read, but it is intruiging and I will read the next volume to see where it goes.

A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea 1) (Judy I. Lin): I managed to squeeze in a YA heroine inbetween all the gay boys! And I liked it better than most other female-led YA fantasies I read recently. Doesn't mean I loved it, but Ning was pretty okay as a heroine. The thing is, the circumstances under which I started this book weren't the best and that probabbly reflected on the whole experience. I picked up the German audiobook for a very long bus trip, but listened to it only later while doing some hours of very boring tedious work. The audiobook itself was okay, except that the reader could not decide how to pronounce some names. For instance, Kang was Kong first, then Kuang before she settled on Kang. And that kind of thing drives me mad. How am I to connect with a character when I am left this uncertain how their name is?! The German translation also decided to leave some of the names in English (especially the teas) which in my opinion doesn't make sense because why would the teas in Fantasy-China have English names when everything else is either translated into German or left Chinese? D: I couldn't stand it and finally switched to my printed edition (in English). /D It got better from there, but it's hard to forget the echo. As for the story, I don't really like court intrigues. Cruelty and injustice are just things I really struggle with to read about. (They make me angry and I don't want to be angry at my books.) But it never tipped over the edge into annoying area. I have the sequel at home as well, so I'll it. The covers are beautiful after all.

That was 2023! Next up is my big Best and Worst award ceremony! uAu~

[ravenpuffheadcanons]

Finished my Gaudy Night reread, and once again I am struck by how much there is in it that I've never appreciated before. Isn't that the mark of a really excellent book? It ends up forming a barometer of how much I have changed over the years, if nothing else. Stray (slightly spoilery, though I've been vague on purpose) observations:

Last time I read this, I either hadn't started teaching at all, or I was in the very early days of my career. I certainly wasn't a seasoned and experienced faculty member. This time around, the scene with poor Miss Newland had a horror for me that I just don't think it has had in the past. (In fact, I'd forgotten about it altogether - which I doubt I ever will again, having cried over it in a public place this time around). Similar scenes have haunted my nightmares during Stressful Situations in the workplace. Sayers does such a wonderful job conveying the sick dread of it.

I know who the perpetrator is now, of course. When you read Gaudy Night knowing, there is a clue on almost every page. Certainly several per chapter. Yet the first time I read this (and, I think, the second!), I only put it together a few pages before the denouement. The mark of a truly excellent mystery novel: to make it that obvious and yet still pull the wool over the reader's eyes!

I've started writing much more, and more seriously, since my last reread. It was therefore a very great pleasure to read Harriet struggling with Wilfrid: letting him become more human, more real; dealing with the varied consequences that has for her plot! I love the fact that Sayers leaves us in no doubt that the novel will still be a mystery novel. (One of my tedious soapboxes, on which I will discourse at length given half a chance, is that genre fiction can and should and often does have very human characters in it). The thing I'm writing at the moment has a writer as one of the primary point of view characters, and I'm constantly tempted to let her just spend all her time thinking about that instead of actually, you know, engaging with the plot. This is definitely Harriet's fault.

"Lord, teach us to take our hearts and look them in the face however difficult it may be" must be one of the best prayers recorded in fiction. Surely one of the most difficult to pray, too, lest it be answered in the affirmative!

[iambic-stan]

last book read + last stethoscope used, part 32

This is my green and gold MDF (which is apparently on sale on their site rn) with Karen Wilfrid's middle-grade YA novel, Just Lizzie. I raced right through this and it was freaking adorable. Lizzie is a nerdy eighth-grader who loves science class and hanging out with her older brother, but she does not love the fact that all of her friends are pairing off. She feels less isolated when she discovers asexuality as an orientation, though explaining her feelings to friends and family proves to be challenging. It's not perfect, but I thought Wilfrid handled this topic well for the intended age group and I wish so much that it had been available to me back in the day.

[gefdreamsofthesea]

The Andersons Do Not Get Enough Shit For Their Bullshit: My Thoughts on Feri.

First of all in case this post breaches containment, a little about myself. I'm Gef, I'm a thirty-something white cis disabled Canadian lesbian. I have a BA in Religion and Culture from Wilfrid Laurier University and an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario (I think it changed its name since I graduated). I also have minors in Medieval Studies and Women's Studies but they don't give you pieces of paper for those. My spiritual journey looks something like Catholic - New Ager - eclectic Wiccan-ish - Dianic-ish (the TERFy kind) - Heathen - Vanatru - now I kind of just read about witchy stuff, goddess-y stuff, and I collect divination decks. This isn't the first I've heard of Feri, but this is the first time I've sat down and read up on it.

I would just like to take a moment to recap what I've read so that everyone is on the same page:

Heart of the Initiate: Feri Lessons

Fifty Years in the Feri Tradition

Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorn Coyle

The Wikipedia pages for Feri and Victor Anderson

A couple articles on feritradition.com

I read The Spiral Dance ages ago and am currently rereading it but am not including it here.

I think that's all the basics covered, let's get to the meat of the discussion.

I'll start with what I found appealing about the tradition. Both the founders and initiates stress that Feri is an ecstatic tradition, not a "fertility religion" like Wicca. It is a tradition of the poet, of being in your body, of dancing with the gods. It's also pretty explicitly queer (but see below): God Herself catches Her own reflection in a mirror and makes love to Herself, creating all the other deities in the pantheon. Coyle in particular talks about the Gods and Guardians (think like the Guardians of the Watchtowers in Wicca) as being genderfluid. The tradition practices ritual possession where the genders of the deity and their host don't matter.

Regarding Evolutionary Witchcraft specifically. I found the exercises (which involve a lot of breathing and awareness) to be useful and I think they would be of use to any witch. I also love the way she speaks of the Earth element in particular, as I think a lot of Pagan books are like "Oh Earth is money and other boring mundane stuff" whereas she talks about Earth as money but also as safety, security, the place where you incubate things (like in a cave), and the tomb. Despite my issues, I think I would recommend it.

Having said all that, I feel like the Andersons do not get enough shit for their bullshit.

Based on his students accounts, Victor sounds like a bit of an asshole at best. He's described as "a taskmaster" and that "One could ask for clarification, but to even hint that one disagreed with him, or worse yet, to contradict him, would result in an immediate and permanent order to leave," which is maybe just me but I wouldn't want to study under a teacher who didn't allow for disagreements or questioning, that's a cult leader thing. His wife Cora comes across as a yes (wo)man "my husband is a great shaman and an expert on x, y, and z." Now honestly I feel like people should hype up their spouses, but this is a constant throughout their writings.

Honestly though, I didn't get the chance to know them personally. Maybe they were awesome people irl. I'm just going off what I've read, but even if they were both very nice people, I still have some major issues.

One of these issues are the Andersons' claims about their own religion. Feri dates back to the Stone Age (uh huh), Feri's origins are in Africa (sure). Victor claimed to be a kahuna and an expert on Vodou. Apparently, once Victor read something he thought was true, he decided it had always been true. I should note here that near as I can tell, his source for info on Hawaiian religion is that Huna book by that white guy writing about what he thought Native Hawaiians believed. I've heard people justify this by being like "oh well Victor was being poetic and not literal" but that doesn't change the fact that it's straight up bullshit. Poetic lies are still lies. So yeah you'll often hear "Feri draws from a variety of traditions" but I'd say in some cases it's less "influenced by" and more "appropriated from" (I do feel the need to mention that some initiates have moved away from, say, using Hawaiian terms for their concepts).

I mentioned the deities in passing but Feri has its own pantheon. Most of the deity names are Welsh and many deities go by several names or are seen as similar to named deities in many cultures (the Blue God, for instance, being compared to Krishna) and they also have secret names that only initiates know. One important aspect of the Blue God is the Peacock God, at first I was going to include him under the section on appropriation, but Feri practitioners have apparently been in contact with actual Yazidis who have given their blessing re: Feri worship of Melek Taus but I'd prefer to hear it directly from the Yazidi that they are cool with it.

Okay so way back at the beginning I mentioned Feri was very queer but I really should amend that to say "unless you're asexual" because oh boy sex is inescapable in this tradition. It's implied that sexual activity between initiator and initiate is a thing that happens but there's an alternative ritual called the Intentions of the Heart where you do (non-sexual) ritual things and then "your first act of sexual intercourse" post-ritual is your initiation. The foundation of Feri practice is the Iron pentacle, where "sex" is at the top. There is also the Pearl pentacle, seen as the "higher energy" version of Iron, where sex becomes love. In Evolutionary Witchcraft, Coyle makes a few unfortunate statements about the relationship of sex to love that imply you cannot have love without sex. I don't really see a lot of room for asexual practitioners in this system, which is a shame because I know of some wonderful queer initiates of this tradition. I would be interested in an initiate's view on this because I know queer practitioners have talked about using an amethyst pentacle, for instance. I should note however, that Coyle states that not everyone needs or wants initiation as it involves marriage to the deities and responsibilities to the tradition, but as I said the tools and techniques she talks about are fine to use.

I did actually like Evolutionary Witchcraft so even if the tradition is not for me, I do what I usually do: take the bits I find useful and leave the rest.

[livyamelarts]

Teehee Wilfrid.

I actually plan to ink and color this, but later ... as a reward for doing my homework ...

Wilfrid Martin is one of two secondary characters in a story I'm writing ,,, it doesn't have a permanent title but I kinda call it Castle Purgation atm. He's an English knight from the 1300s who fought in the hundred years war ... he has a very impulsive but honorable personality, and does silly things like run into walls and stand with overly impeccable posture 😆 We love this silly man.

[culttvblog]

The Wednesday Play: Alice in Wonderland (1966)

Absolutely delighted to have got round to blogging about the version of Alice done for The Wednesday Play in 1966 by Jonathan Miller. It starred amongst others John Gielgud, Peter Cook, Leo McKern, Peter Sellers, Finlay Currie, Michael Redgrave, Wilfrid Brambell, Peter Eyre and Malcolm Muggeridge as the gryphon. The music was by Ravi Shankar (love his music by prefer the rather wilder stuff by his nephew Ananda, if you haven't come across him).

You read that right, MALCOLM MUGGERIDGE, anti communist, critic of the sexual revolution and populariser of Mother Theresa. I might as well just pack up and give this one up because blogging about this one is punching well above my weight. Especially when put up against Jonathan Miller. This is no lightweight play for children, these are seriously big guns involved in this romp through Wonderland.

It was broadcast in December 1966 after 9pm (ie for adults rather than children) and the controversy was loud and immediate. Miller's version of Alice has been denounced as all sort of things (the word travesty keeps appearing, for example) and the arguing about what's actually going on has continued in the succeeding sixty years. This gorgeous piece of excellent television is more hated and subject to denunciation than probably anything I've blogged about.

There are only two keys we need to understand this version of Alice. The first is that (as indicated by the broadcast time) it is not intended for children, but is instead *about* children and childhood, and is for adults. The second is that Miller has made the decision to strip the story of any magic or fantasy, and has instead made it about dreaming and depicted a normal child surrounded by adults who don't particularly have time for her and do strange nonsensical things. There is also a layer of criticism of Victorian society but that is of a part with the kind of adults who feature in this play.

Miller was very clear that this was the intention, which is why everyone has spent the succeeding decades attempting to interpret it in pretty much every other way possible. I kept reading about Freud when reading up for this post, and there is simply no Freud here at all. There is no psychoanlysis, there's merely a girl and a bunch of adults.

Another thing which is wildly treated as is Miller is beheading rabbits on camera instead of merely making a production decision, is that the entire cast are dressed in normal Victorian clothes and the ones who are animals are not in animal costume. A real cat is used for the Cheshire cat. He gave his reason for this that if you've got great actors there's absolutely no point obscuring their faces - but it also stresses the realism by reinforcing that this interpretation is about an ordinary girl surrounded by ordinary adults.

Further levels of magic are taken out by an absence of extraordinary effects, although it is very clearly given a dreamy quality. I love this version: I actually like it best of the versions of Alice I've seen, and I think it's the unpretentious quality of the production which gives it this charm.

Anne-Marie Mallik, the child actress who played Alice, is another bone of contention. A lot of people think she comes across too flat and matter of fact, but of course that is the reason Miller chose her. Interestingly this is her only credit as an actress, she went into banking after leaving school.

The play is filmed mainly on location in a former military hospital and with wonderful country scenes. The fact that it is black and white makes it absolutely perfect, in my opinion. Ravi Shankar's score gives it a heady sixties ambience, suggesting that we're going to go off on the hippy trail to Afghanistan. But there I go, allowing myself to see things that aren't there instead of the unvarnished, flat story of a girl.

I think probably the reason this version of Alice has been so controversial is actually this rather dead-pan quality about it. If you are not actively filling people's attention with stuff, they tend to project things, and that is why so much of the criticism either misses the stated point of this production completely or sees things going on in it which weren't intended at all. The public just can't cope with an Alice where the cat is a cat and Alice is a girl.

And this is I think my own criticism of this play: it's too intelligent. Miller, like a lot of intelligent people, may have had difficulty realising that hoi polloi wouldn't be able to cope with an approach which made perfect sense to him, or even understand it. Although I love the production, I personally disagree with his interpretation of the story here, and while it's hugely successful there are some problems with the approach. An example would be the bit where Alice refers to the baby turning into a pig. The more fantastic elements of the story like this one contradict the premise that the story is about childhood and about Alice and the adults. If a real girl actually says that a baby has turned into a pig, you have to start explaining why. For it to be a dream would certainly fit within the interpretation of this version, but the problem is that there is too much stuff that has to be explained like this, you simply can't approach Alice in Wonderland as a straightforward story without accounting for the unreal things. On the other hand if you take out all the stranger things in Alice in Wonderland basically she falls asleep and wakes up again, so it's difficult to reconcile here. However I don't want you to think that I am suggesting that this problem with the approach is in any way a terminal criticism, it just requires the viewer not to scratch it too deeply. It's almost as if this one is best understood by not trying to understand it too much, and that is what I love best about it.

I have one other criticism which is more substantial, in my opinion. Apart from Shankar's music there are places where the soundtrack is a hymn tune. This is the only thing about this version which I think is completely wrong, because it seems to introduce the subject of religion into a story where it's out of place. It would have been better to use music fitting the theme of criticising Victorian society, and probably I think something suitable could have been found in Gilbert and Sullivan. Or more Ravi Shankar. Come on, while he's got the sitar out you might as well get more of him.

Highly recommended, but then you knew I was going to say that, didn't you.

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[livyamel]

I didn't feel like posting it on my art account because it's a silly post, but feel free to follow @livyamelarts 💜

Here's a silly comparison of the old version of Wilfrid's reference (on the top) vs the redrawn one on the bottom. I have no idea how his face turned out so cartoony before, and yet both very much look like my style 😂

Wilfrid Martin is one of two secondary characters in a story I'm writing ,,, it doesn't have a permanent title but I kinda call it Castle Purgation atm. He's an English knight from the 1300s who fought in the hundred years war ... he has a very impulsive but honorable personality, and does silly things like run into walls and stand with overly impeccable posture 😆 We love this silly man.

[ophelialoveshandsomemen]

On the '3 things' asks:

#11, #18, and #34

Thanks so much girl!!!

(omg, you're breaking my heart with that gif!) 💖

Anyways! To the answers! I'm sorry to inform you that it has turned into an article, I cannot write about books I'm passionate about concisely. So buckle up I guess?!!?

#11- 3 books I would recommend that everyone reads!

So I'm gonna put down books that I also think most people ( if not all) Could read, because a.k.a Lord of the Rings is not easy for a lot of people, for various reasons surrounding pacing and whatnot, though I highly recommend that one as well!!!

First book would be Sastun by Dr. Rosita Arvigo. It is a woonnnnderful book about her apprenticeship with a Mayan H'men. a.k.a shaman-like healer, who reminds us that the spiritual and the physical Cannot Be Separated! A very easy read that will blow your mind when it comes to your body and how you should treat it and it will forever change your perspective on Western Medicine. One warning though, if you do not actually know beforehand about what is and isn't "allowed" in Catholicism, do not base your future knowledge of it on this, as these healers really mix together Mayan worship and Catholicism. I do not judge them for this, but please be aware that not everything that they recount doing in this book is necessarily okay for Catholics.

Second book is Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This entire series was my comfort book growing up, but I recommend the first as it truly is the cornerstone of the series. ( FYI My personal favourite is actually the last book, Rita of Ingleside.) :) A story about girl with a wild imagination and longing for a kindred spirit, nothing better to dive into!

Third book will be Mexican Martyrdom by Rev. Fr. Wilfrid Parsons. I was obsessed with the Cristero War as a young teen ( thanks to my mother getting me the movie, For Greater Glory, when I was 12 because she knew I liked war movies...I know, weird 12 year old girl, I was a tomboy okay...) This is a period of history that, if I remember correctly, is very rarely talked about because there's a lot of misunderstandings and bad blood surrounding it. But this book was written by a contemporary catholic reverend who was in and out of Mexico while it was happening and was acquainted with some of the "people in charge" shall we say. So it's quite reliable and helps clear some of the murk clouding this patch of history. ( Also, I highly recommend watching the aforementioned movie, For Greater Glory ( 2012), (which you will very much enjoy if you are Oscar Isaac fan btw) and another thing I rec is this short film from around the same time, called Cristeros y Federales, link is here. ( Also, this one has the ever lovely Tenoch Huerta starring! ) ;)

#18- 3 dream jobs from my childhood

Ummm I got at least two. I wanted to be a religious Sister who was also a nurse and I would go help third world countries. Then I realized that heat existed....

And then I wanted to become a famous stage actress!

There was also a bout of wanting to leave everything behind and become a mountain (wo)man/trapper in the Northwest Territories. Dunno if that counts!! ( esp. since I still wanna do that half the time...)

#34-3 people from history who inspire me!

I might stay short and sweet with these, because most have got some, shall we say 'ugly history' attached to them, through no fault of their own.

Pocahontas, the Algonquin Princess. Really inspired me to respect and love and ally myself with nature.

St. Joan of Arc. Peasant girl turned saviour of France who stuck to her principles no matter what.

Marina Raskova, founder and leader of the ' Night Witches' a.k.a the elite soviet pilot regiment who are amoung the most badass ladies ever. Check them out! Their story is so cool!

[ysstephen]

The Library Mule of Cordoba by Wilfrid Lupano, Leonard Chemineau

The Library Mule of Cordoba is a story about the destruction of one of the largest libraries in the world. It also tells how its Head Librarian, a copyist, and a thief managed to save some of the library's contents.

This book explores the importance of ideas and the value of challenging deeply held beliefs. It also examines the dangers of populism, showing how it brutally suppresses opposition and leads to the destruction or banning of ideas.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THE BOOK Despite its serious themes, The Library Mule of Cordoba maintains a humorous tone and doesn't take itself too seriously. The art style is lovely and French-y... reminiscent of the Asterix and Obelix series.

DISLIKES However, a few of the panel scenes felt a bit too long.

WHO IS IT FOR? I recommend this book for adults and young adults who have a passion for ideas.

Special thanks to Ablaze for providing a review copy.