#invoking a spirit

[greenpanda-basicfakewitch]

Call / invoking a spirt | Divination

Look into a mirror. Think of the name of the spirit you wish to call. Then chant, calling the spirit by name: Heaken to these words, hear me cry. I call to you spirit from the other side. I wish to speak to you here, come to me, come to this mirror. I call you now; bloody mary! I mean spirits name

Invoke: meaning to call or to summon.

"In witchcraft, invoking means calling upon spirits or deities for assistance. Invoking is a ritualistic practice that involves asking for something specific. For example, if you want to get rid of a bad habit, you might ask for help from a deity who represents good luck. If you want to attract love, you might ask for a blessing from a god or goddess of love." [Source]

[dear-ao3]

i need all 99k of you to manifest that logan sargeant does well in the race today

[atwhughesversion]

imagine it’s just tim’s paying for product placement

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

could you elaborate your thoughts more on "but should we believe Wynne-Jones' Calcifer or the youkai/ayakashi of animanga are meant to be that kind of demon?" and "It's the same cultural disconnect that led so many Christian parents in the 90s to condemn Pokemon as satanic". Specially about Calcifer? Please?

I wish that when translating asian media, particularly anime, they would keep their non-translated nomenclature, it always translates to "demon" or whatever alternative we have.

Well part of the issue is that our word "demon" comes from the Greek word δαίμων or daimōn, which is the word used in the New Testament, but it is not a word invented by the New Testament writers. Here is an excerpt from the Oxford Reference about it:

Etymologically daimōn means ‘divider’ or ‘allotter’; from Homer onwards it is used mainly in the sense of performer of more or less unexpected, and intrusive, events in human life. In early authors, gods, even Olympians, could be referred to as daimŏnĕs. Rather than referring to personal anthropomorphic aspects, however, daimōn appears to correspond to supernatural power in its unpredictable, anonymous, and often frightful manifestations. So, the adjective daimonios means ‘strange’, ‘incomprehensible’, ‘uncanny’. Hence daimōn soon acquired connotations of Fate. Hesiod introduced a new meaning: the deceased of the golden age were to him ‘wealth‐giving daimones’ functioning as guardians or protectors. This resulted in the meaning ‘personal protecting spirits’, who accompany each human's life and bring either luck or harm. A lucky, fortunate person was eudaimōn (‘with a good daimon’: already in Hesiod), an unlucky one was kakodaimōn (‘with a bad daimon’: from the 5th cent. bc). Centuries later, Christian theologians, concentrating on their negative aspects, saw in daimones the true nature of the pagan gods: they were the embodiment and source of evil and sin.

With this in mind, it makes sense that for translators, the most sophisticated translation for any kind of supernatural weird little creature would be "demon" or "daemon." Especially in a modernist, materialist society that views Judeo-Christian demons as merely one mythology out of many.

Calcifer is a very interesting case, because while he is called a demon in the Japanese Studio Ghibli adaptation, he is also called a demon in the original book by Welsh author Diana Wynne Jones. What many people don't realize is that Mrs. Jones was highly educated, having studied at Oxford under the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Her husband was also a scholar of Chaucer. Unfortunately, I think because she was writing children's fantasy in the 70s and 80s, people don't think her work warrants much deeper analysis.

As with all her stories, I think she brought a special kind of cleverness to the table when writing Calcifer that is first exemplified by his name.

"Calcifer" is a common noun, referring to sea creatures like anemones which construct their own shells from Calcium Carbonate, much like how Calcifer constructs the moving castle.

"Calcifer" resembles the Latin model of "Lucifer" which means "bringing light" or "light bringer," but rather than "light" she's substituted the Latin root for "limestone" (calcis), which is also made of Calcium Carbonate.

You know what's neat about Calcium Carbonate? It doesn't burn.

Following this thread through to Calcifer's backstory:

Calcifer was a falling star that Howl intercepted, which slightly resembles Satan's origin story as a fallen angel of light. However, Diana Wynne Jones knew perfectly well that Christian demons are not really falling stars, so we can know she did not intend to write Calcifer as a Judeo-Christian demon. More likely, I think she was paying homage to classics such as Paradise Lost.

Calcifer strikes a bargain with Howl for his heart, which I consider an homage to Faust by Goethe, in which the titular character can be said to have devoured beautiful young women.

As a character, Calcifer is very morally grey and often seems in a league above the other characters as far as stakes and decision-making. This is very characteristic of the mythical creatures of Celtic legend, which are still a very present background element of Welsh culture today, much like the trolls and elves of Scandinavian culture. Many of these mythical creatures are referred to as demons, even though they do not align with the Judeo-Christian definition of a demon. Yes, they can be evil or tricky, but they can also be helpful, lucky, or funny. Mostly, they are volatile. Faeries, boggarts, goblins, elves, sea monsters, and more have all been called demons in Welsh folklore.

This could be due to the early interaction between the Welsh and the Romans (compared to, say, the Irish who kept up their Druidism for much longer), and consequently Christians. I know from Scandinavian folklore that the meshing of Pagan culture with Christian newcomers usually becomes very weird very quickly, with the resulting mythology resembling neither party.

Tl;dr Calcifer is the product of a Welsh upbringing and a classical education, and is explicitly not a demon in the Judeo-Christian sense.

As for Pokemon in the U.S., it's mainly a translation issue. Word got around that lots of Pokemon are based on youkai, which gets translated to "demon" in English, even though they are not Judeo-Christian demons and are much closer to the above cited faeries and goblins. Voila, Satanic Panic 2.0.

[dnalt-d2]

My Predictions for Who (If Anyone) May be Corrupted Next

I'M BACK ALREADY YOU CAN'T GET RID OF ME FOR LONG!!!!

So yeah, we’ve got Corrupted Forever now. That’s fun

What’s more fun is how this happened, and what this means for other people

Because Forever might have been the one most at risk to corruption due to his extended time in the Nether, but he is far from the only one vulnerable to this

Here’s who I know of to be at risk, in order of most likely to least likely

Fit, Phil (Kinda), Etoiles, Bagi, and Pac

Because like I pointed out earlier today, Fit and Phil cleaned up a huge amount of the concrete left around the server, with QSMP Updates even commenting (specifically in regards to Fit) that “That surely won’t have consequences, right?” Or something along those lines I don’t have the patience to look it up because Twitter is a hot mess in that regard

That, and his Rebellion work, is why I think Fit is currently most at-risk. Because in addition to the Black Concrete Cleanup he and Phil did, he also went to investigate the Black Concrete Dungeon to find traces of one of the Codes. So unfortunately, I think if anyone else is gonna succumb to corruption, it might be Fit. (AND PHIL WILL SUFFER DAMMIT)

After that we have Etoiles, who has been doing various work for the Rebellion that has semi-frequently led him to be exposed to Black Concrete, but to my knowledge, he hasn’t had as much direct contact with it aside from the Code Explosion and the time he, Fit, and Bagi investigated the Code together. Not to mention that he’s already Code-Corrupted kind of, and it’d be a little strange for him to have two separate infections/corruptions

And of course there’s Bagi, who had also investigated that Black Concrete Dungeon, but this is basically the only time Bagi had any extended contact with the Concrete aside from day-to-day stuff that everyone had

Pac of course, was in the Nether for a bit, having been led there by Walter Bob, but it doesn’t look like there’s been any effect on him that we can tell, since he wasn’t there as long as Forever was. I’m just adding him to the list because he was in fact in the Nether at one point (There's also the fact that right now he's probably gonna have his hands full with Mike, if anything comes from that)

Now, I did put Phil on the list, but he’s a bit of a special case here. Because while he DID help clean up the Concrete, leading to him having a lot of direct contact, he wasn’t the one that QSMP Updates called out. Not only that, but we now have Rose possibly helping him, which means he may not get corrupted because of her influence and protection. (It’s not surefire though, so that’s why he’s still on the list, and pretty high on it at that. I think I might have more thoughts on this later though because I’ve got an idea for some good angst potential here specifically)

So yeah, that's who I think could possibly be corrupted. Fit is definitely the highest on the list

(AND APPARENTLY SOMEONE REBLOGGED MY FIRST POST TALKING ABOUT THIS WITH THIS IN THE TAGS SO HEY THAT’S A GOOD OMEN IF EVER I'VE SEEN ONE)

In short, lots to look forward to :)

*Edit because I forgot to mention that FIT IS DOING A SATURDAY STREAM TOO BTW. That ISN'T TOO NORMAL FOR HIM and is raising ZERO RED FLAGS

[spiriteddreams]

the demo was so good omg?? the animation?? interactions with characters?? the gossip?? loved it so much

like look at them all happy!! love that hyv has shown us real footage of the three of them gossiping LMAO and cyno staring lovingly at his boyfriend

then the man himself NOM HE LOOKS SO GOOD MMMMMMM look at those eyes

i repeat. look at those eyes. now.

this is so funny?? for what?? the 4 of them sitting at a table together and throwing jabs at al-haitham while he sits there and simply doesn’t give a damn

and these two screenshots omg i love them hehe. cyno and tighnari my fav cute lil couple sharing a look (tm) with each other, utterly unamused. and then there’s kaveh with his flamboyant dramatics he’s such a character i can’t wait for his character to be released

the demo was so good and i’m really excited for 3.4 to come out tomorrow even though i won’t be home until like 10:30pm tomorrow and maintenance ends at like 8pm pst 😩😩

[mxliv-oftheendless]

I’ve decided after only five minutes of Internet research and making flimsy connections to Tolkien’s inspirations and influences for Middle Earth that knitting is a thing and that Elves have the knowledge and resources to know how to knit. Also it’s a thing because I want it to be.

[tallbluelady]

What do we do? I...I don't know, I'm bad at thinking on my feet!

Based off of this.

[madcat-world]

Guilds of Steel and Spirit (1 of 2) - Zoe Badini

[birdy-bird27]

Man. I don’t know what’s up with me this year but I haven’t been able to fully immerse Halloween. Have no costume yet. No pumpkin only watched one Halloween movie. I need something to pick up the mood wtf is this. At least there will be in box trick or treat

[dawnleaf37]

I hope bugbo explodes into hemolymph

[neechees]

Actually Im going to delete that ice cannibal post because there's several points on it that I think are inaccurate & I dont agree with. The assumption that the ice cannibal must be our version of the "devil" is also wrong since I know many of us have no such deity. The ice cannibal is evil & one of the most evil spirits many of our tribes have, yes, but they're nothing like the Christian devil. I know many people also just saw a bastardized version of it & assumed the similar iconography in the incorrect version must mean its the devil. In addition to that, many of our cultures have no "hell". Same thing with the idea of "sinning" on that post. The ideology behind what makes those things bad & evil is directly at odds with how Christianity sees evil, the devil, & "sinning" & I don't like the amount of comparisons it made to Christianity it made to try get the point across when the two are NOT comparable at all

[asexualcloud]

innocently shopping on amazon and i see this

what have i done to invoke the spirit of toritsuka

[peacemore-springs]

Harnessing The Spirit via Shrinking Heads

Certainly! The practice of creating tsantsa, or shrunken heads, is a fascinating and complex tradition among the Jivaroan peoples of Ecuador and Peru, particularly the Shuar tribe.

Purpose and Beliefs

The primary purpose of shrinking heads was to harness the spirit of the deceased enemy. The Jivaroans believed that by doing so, they could prevent the spirit from seeking revenge and instead, use its power to protect the tribe and bring good fortune.

Process

Decapitation: The head of the enemy was removed.

Skinning: The skin was carefully peeled away from the skull.

Boiling: The skin was then boiled in a special mixture of herbs and water to shrink it.

Drying: After boiling, the head was dried using hot stones and sand, which further reduced its size.

Shaping: The head was shaped and sewn to maintain its form, with the eyes and mouth sewn shut to trap the spirit inside.

Cultural Significance

Tsantsas were not just trophies of war but held deep spiritual significance. They were used in rituals and ceremonies to honour the warrior who captured the head and to invoke the power of the spirit contained within. The process was believed to harness the spirit of that enemy and compel him to serve the shrinker.

Modern Perspective

Today, the practice of creating tsantsas and compelling enemies to serve their shrinkers has largely ceased. The Jivaroan peoples have moved away from these traditions. However, tsantsas remain a significant part of cultural heritage and learning.

In Summation

Do you have knowledge of such sacrificial practices being adopted or created by other gangs of peoples living in other parts of the world?

If so.... research and write about it. The incremental nature of such an experience could very well encourage catharsis and help cleanse your body, mind, and spirit of any unwanted defilements you may or may not be carrying round with you.

[ilbound]

A big thing in Kaen’s canon is the whole NAMES HOLD POWER bit ( which isn't untrue , necessarily , rather this is certain for all creatures within their canon ) .  This is particularly true because they are part-god and part-fae.  It is understood , from inception , that one mustn’t hand over their “true name” without consequence.  HOWEVER .  There is a major stipulation here , especially as it pertains to Kaen’s existence , perhaps especially because they are the herald of two potent bloodlines which uphold such a rite.  Rather than this rule impacting them further , it instead influences them in a whole other manner entirely.

The original namesake of Kaëltyr was removed ENTIRELY from Kaen’s home realm ; Cernunnos went through immense measures to pull it from the tongues of history , to near-erase it from the heart of the world Kaen’s very essence was born from , and even used it to seal off their godhood when they were excommunicated / disowned.  This is a name that is very much “one which shan’t ever be spoken”.  Which sort of means there is a LOOPHOLE .  Whilst it is the lock which has kept Kaen condemned to mortality , it is also the k e y which shall unbind them .  And Kaen slowly begins to realize this as their canon progresses.  Kaen , knowing full-well the potential for danger , offers their “real namesake” to other people they are close to , often under the pretense of TRUST & DEEP FAITH in the other person.  Though I want you to consider : why … bother ?  What would be the point ?

Well.  Sure , Kaen is offering you a piece of their very existence ( which is an intimacy not many can claim ) , but it is also A CAREFUL MANIPULATION .  Don’t mistake their kindness , this is them holding out the bait of power , anticipating you to accept and wield it to the effect that it shall in turn REAWAKEN THEIR OWN .  Knowing that , the instant the other party begins openly using their name - Kaëltyr , Kaëltyr , Kaëltyr - is the very same moment the barrier between Kaen and their truest aspects begin to break away , to completely dissolve.  Making the poor soul invoking them … A MEANS TO AN END & KAEN’S RE-BEGINNING .  Saying Kaen’s true name grants them strength ; saying their true name revives their godhood ; saying their true name … Has consequences not to the favor of the one speaking it , so if they offer it to you , I only say : proceed with caution , for you know not what you call forth.

[rosecoloredtarot]

*planning out a fairly in depth curse*

Ugh, I’m going to need to cast a circle for this