#im tired and in pain so this is a mess

[hope-lesslyhope-ful]

I love plant shops. I love crystal shops. I love shops that are all about the mystical, such as witch shops. And I love shops that have handmade items like soaps, lotions, candles and so on.

What I hate is that constantly I find that I'll be looking at a shop (online or in person), and it's great. Until I find them selling palo santo. Until I find them selling white sage. Until I find them selling said white sage as a smudge stick.

Please, and I cannot emphasize this enough: Stop throwing around the term smudging. It is a sacred ritual. You are not smudging. You are smoke cleansing. Learn more about both. Smoke cleansing isn't appropriation, but smudging is.

It is disrespectful to indigenous people who have smudging as part of sacred rituals. But especially disrespectful, actually, beyond disrespectful and downright awful, is the use of Palo Santo and White Sage.

Palo Santo comes from two trees, and the process of harvesting it is in itself a sacred process to harvest the trees that involves only fallen ones, after letting them rest for years. When buying Palo Santo, almost every time it will not be in support of indigenous peoples whose culture is being exploited. Culture and environment, land. Because the over harvesting of these trees (one type is in the red zone for endangered, the other is nearing it), is harmful to the trees, and it damages and makes dryer the land that Palo Santo grows on in Latin America. It hurts people and the earth, both through culture and through environmental impacts.

In Peru and Ecuador it's illegal to cut down Palo Santo trees. However, because of the profit that corporations seek to gain because of people turning a blind eye, not doing their research, and being 'trendy' within wellness - and witch - communities, the trees are still being illegally cut down. It's likely most of what anyone encounters in store isn't of a matured tree, because the young trees often are chopped down. Another insult to the people being exploited is that the workers and the indigenous communities are also being specifically exploited with unfair wages.

There is such a thing as appreciating cultures, but just using Palo Santo generally is not the way to do it. Appreciation of a culture means knowing the history, the cultural meanings and traditions related to the plant (or anything else). It's also knowing the impact on the people's whose culture you want to appreciate. When that impact is negative, find other ways to appreciate the culture. Or find ways to ethically source something. For example, finding ethically sourced Palo Santo. Luna Sundara is an example of this. The shop works with the government's of Peru and Ecuador to legally import Palo Santo, they follow both government and sacred laws in only using wood that's been matured, and they make sure the indigenous communities and workers are receiving good care and fair wages.

I got really intensely focused on Palo Santo, but I still need to emphasize the problem with using White Sage. While it isn't currently on an endangered list, it is leading there quickly. White Sage is used in food, medicine and ritual ceremonies for some Native American tribes. White Sage is not the same as some more common sages, and it doesn't grow as much or in as many areas. The overharvesting of this sage threatens the plant and the ecosystem of the area, as well as effecting the traditions of tribes in areas around Southern California and Northwestern Mexico. I highly recommend this article. But to summarize, people use White Sage as a way to cleanse their space, but do so while disrespecting the rituals that they claim to be doing (I'm looking at you 'smudge sticks'). Native people gather from the earth in very specific ways, caring for the plants that are being harvested from and taking only small bits at a time. However, harvesters looking only at profit take from the plant with no regard for it, ripping roots out of the ground, just taking and taking. Not only is that horrific, but it isn't sustainable. White Sage, among other plants, risk endangerment and possibly extinction by the misuse and over harvesting currently happening. The burning of white sage that is popularly done today isn't done in the way Native people of California do it, either. Whole bundles are burned for the smoke because it's pretty, but Native people would burn the same bundle much, much slower. Carelessness is a good word for it.

And again, when looking at ways you might use white sage ethically, there are exceptions. Here's a site that goes into that. I will be honest, because of the level of cultural appropriation that is associated with the misuse of white sage, that mostly looks like not using it. However, when more ethically acquired (see: from Native people of Southern California + farmed not wild-sourced) and used sparingly (and not by 'smudging') there is possibilities. The best thing to do, though, is use something else.

Both Palo Santo and White Sage are (mis)used in wellness communities, meditation communities, and by witches. The idea behind the use of both of these is for cleansing, purification, and to drive away bad energy. However, using plants that are endangered or at risk of endangerment, using these plants while indigenous people beg you not to - and on top of it appropriating ceremonies that are clearly not being understood or respected - will only being bad energy into your life. Burn bundles made of lavender, or cedar, or rosemary. Make an at home essential oil spray (be mindful of the ingredients) with plants that cleanse and purify. Incense, candles. Bake, learn a new craft. Do things with good intentions. Things like these can bring you good energy, but exploiting Indigenous people and exploiting ecosystems, will not.

[sluckythewizard]

[PUT INTO PLACE, TIED DOWN AND ARRANGED, AND IS NEVER THE SAME, AGAIN.]<-listen to my favorite songs. VAMPIRES ARE WONDERFUL ARENT THEY. THE FLESH IS SO MUCH MORE DURABLE. SO MUCH STRETCHIER THAN HUMANS. THE STRESS DOESNT KILL A VAMPIRE THE SAME WAY IT DOES A HUMAN. YOU CAN TAKE THEM APART THREAD BY THREAD AND LEAVE THEM WIDE AWAKE WITHOUT WORRY OF THE BRAINMATTER SPOILING UNDER VINEGARY AGONY.

[njararna]

i am as always thinking about voltron. because i have issues. but i really and truly cannot get over vld’s flanderisation of lance’s character, it actually aggravates me to no end!!!

in the franchise, lance has been established to be an ace-flyer, incredibly perceptive (specifically in dotu and vttd, the source material + the closest sequel!), impulsive, and cocky—but his cockiness had SUBSTANCE. he knew he was that good. to me vforce has one of the best lance characterisations in how they get him: he’s a great flier, he’s a dependable figure of authority, he’s snarky, he bites back, he has the right amount of silliness and pettiness dotu lance had. in vforce, everyone could get teased by the narrative! it wasn’t one or two characters taking the brunt (hi vld hunk and lance!).

but in vld, they practically cut out all those parts of lance, the flying, the perceptiveness, his confidence, and then give it to keith (whose original personality had been then given to shiro). they leave him with the cockiness, but there’s nothing to back it up. they orchestrate keith and lance’s rivalry to be one-sided and terribly unbalanced because keith IS better than lance in a lot of things. this was never the case before, they had strengths and weaknesses that the other complemented and would sometimes cause conflict (vttd is a great example of this!).

i think the reason why it bothers me so much, is because this is first time lance has been latino and not white (not counting golion’s isamu in this). the first time! and the moment he is, they take away his skills and his strengths, have him bullied by the narrative and made into a joke, never taken seriously, and dialed up his flirtatiousness to over 9000. the only time i can actually recall lance being flirtatious in the franchise was in ddp’s run, but even then it wasn’t nearly as prominent or excessive as vld lance’s nonstop flirting. he gets keith’s leftover lion, he gets a sword like keith, he’s allura’s second choice, he never really finds his place in the team.

the arc of feeling like a seventh wheel or insecurity wouldn’t bother me if he had history in the franchise of this, if his character wasn’t established the way it was, but he doesn’t! and its not like vld’s narrative does much to disprove lance’s insecurity—in fact it winds up doing the opposite most of the time. on the surface vld and dotu lance seem similar, but deeper down i feel like the writers just…lost the plot. it’s not that you can’t branch out in reboots or explore other pathways, but it’s just so blatant to me in how they’d taken so much from him and passed it off to other characters. where’s the love for the source material in that? where’s the respect? i don’t know, maybe i’m just going on and on, but it haunts me.

[thedisablednaturalist]

If fucking roblox can have wheelchairs your AAA or indie game can too

[gothcowgf]

The need for rest is a scam, who invented such an atrocity of a system????

[the-kipsabian]

well

i did not get operated

my situation is apparently more complicated than that so its gonna need an actual surgery and who knows when that is

i got things cleaned and they put something on the tooth for now thats supposed to help stop it from hurting and now i just have to wait for who knows how long until i get contacted about my operation time

im gonna fucking kms

[hafwen]

I thought Toni was the universe's way of saying, "things have been shit here's a light at the end of the tunnel" but in reality it was, "it will still be shit but here's something else to hang onto"

[lovinggreeniehours]

"maybe im stronger than you think" IM NOT. HITS SUNDAY INTO UNCONSCIOUSNESS.

[dogbunni]

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[phagodyke]

was gonna say smth else but this turned into a vent sorry everyone just ignore. typical weekend post on this blog u know how it is here we go👍

[coloursofaparadox]

im still not over the sleep thing one sec i gotta rant about this shit

[real-life-cloud]

:(

[mookybear12404]

I feel so bad everytime I talk to someone all it just ends up me venting abt work I need to stop doing that

[eunhos]

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[sick-as-a-dog]

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[the-kipsabian]

i dont want to believe im a bad writer but impostor syndrome after struggling for so long hits just really fucking hard sometimes