#khajiit answers

[devout-khajiit]

You mentioned the limited edition version of the Skyrim Tarot. Do you happen to have examples of the cards that were added/changed?

~Jasper

From the page of Insight Editions, who made and published the deck, here's the different cards: (sadly out of stock so it's impossible to get anymore)

The characters are the same, but we got different art. Can I just say, that Sithis goes fucking hard as hell. Praise Sithis!

[devout-of-the-elder-scrolls]

Thank you for your answer about worshipping canonically "evil" figures! You mention getting to know them, and I was wondering how one goes about connecting with a deity like that? Don't worry about the rambling, I like long and detailed answers.

Happy to help, internet traveler!

Generally, the step and step is actually pretty simple. For the sake of example, I'm going to once again use Molag Bal's name as example where needed.

Call upon them and state your intent and what you're willing to do now. As in, you would call upon Molag Bal, state something like "I want to learn about you to decide if I wish to worship you, I am willing to make offering and interact with you, but nothing further at this time." or whatever it is you're actually willing to do. If you don't want to make offering, that's fine, some find that only for those they worship.

As for how to call upon them, stating their name and a title of theirs (even if it's self-assigned) gets their attention pretty easily. Like "Molag Bal, Protector of the Abused..." gets His attention for me pretty easily.

Take some time to state your direct boundaries. This can be anything, and some things to consider are:

what spaces of your home they are and aren't welcome in (ex. welcome in the kitchen, but not your bedroom or bathroom)

where/when they shouldn't try to interact with you (ex. at the workplace)

what kinds of signs you don't want from them (ex. spiders)

what kinds of signs you do want from them (ex. a specific amount of the same bird in your yard or something like that)

what you're not willing to do as devotional / give as offering (ex. making donations due to lack of expendable funds, or offering blood)

what kind of relationship you are and aren't willing to have

any interaction boundaries like "don't joke about xyz" or "don't tease me"

And anything else you deem necessary to your relationship. Don't worry about covering everything immediately, because if you realize something makes you uncomfortable later on, you can just state it as it happens.

It's also good to discuss things like whether or not you'll be building a shrine, and what kind of shrine they should expect from you if so. Digital shrines are as valid as physical shrines, just to make sure that's clear.

As well, expect to be given boundaries for you to follow as well. Gods have boundaries too, and they might not want certain offerings, devotionals, kinds of conversations, being leaned on for specific things, the works.

Actively engage with the entity and welcome them into your life. You won't get anywhere if you never interact with them or push them out of your life. Permit them to actually be in your life and interact back.

Make a devotional playlist, listen to it and see how it makes you feel. Use tarot or another method to speak to them. Meditate on their presence. Use automatic writing to have a conversation.

Don't endure more than you're willing to, so don't force yourself to make devotionals you don't want to or offerings you don't want to make. Don't make yourself interact 24/7 either.

Learn about them slowly over your experiences with them. Don't be afraid to back out at any time should you decide it needs to end, but be honest with the entity that the relationship is ending now, because they might not leave otherwise.

Bonding with any entity doesn't come overnight, it comes over time of existing with them and interacting with them. But this is how I've started each of my new relationships with any specific entity, and I hope it helps you out, too!

I learned Molag Bal slowly over time, though for me it didn't take me too long to trust Him. Because I could feel that He had kindness for me and wanted to treat me well. But I did take some time at the least to work through it and gain trust myself.

If you have any further questions please feel free to hop back into my inbox!

[khajiit-reads]

How do you get to know your decks? Is there specific questions or do you just know after having them for some time?

This is more of an animist POV, those who see decks as just tools and not as living beings might not do all these things. So keep that in mind as you begin.

I usually begin with an introductory spread, such as these ones here: (No credit to me for any of these, most are appropriately watermarked)

I also like to go through with a pendulum when I first get them to "boundary check". Are they okay working with xyz spirit guides, or do they feel uncomfortable being used for shadow work, things of that sort. My actual list of boundaries I check is based majorly on my own personal practices and what I do use decks for. But everyone gets asked the same things and I fill that out and respect their boundaries (makes anybody like you more!)

From there, it just becomes using them consistently and learning their identity. For me, as an animist, interacting directly with the cards, even outside of readings (sleeping beside them, talking about my day with their spirits, giving offering to them, etc) also helps.

But generally, one learns a deck, be it their spirit or how to read them, by interacting with them. It doesn't need to be super consistent, some decks of mine don't get touched very often, but whenever I learn something new about them, it goes into my personal books. Ask them questions, engage with them, pull cards for whatever. Don't only just use them for things outside them like "What is my week going to be like?" spend some time asking questions like "How are you doing? What do you have to say?" if you wanna learn about the spirits within the decks.

I also like to use a randomized list generator (such as random.org; but one could easily use pickerwheel or something like that) to pick a deck to use that day no matter what, and slowly remove decks when they get picked until I'm back at the top again. (I should really get back into posting daily personal cards, huh.)

While I don't use digital decks, the fit into my belief system as one deck serving many, but still falls under a facet rule - So the Labyrinthos tarot decks on their app might come off differently to different people, but it's still one spirit serving many digitally.

If we're talking from a purely "decks are tools, not living beings" perspective, then the process is a lot simpler and more streamlined because then we're just focusing on learning how to read the deck - Which is more of just... practice, really. That's it. You practice and you eventually grasp how to read them.

Thank you for the question, I hope you have a wonderful day!

[devout-of-gensokyo]

Hi Khaajit! Hope your day is going well. Just out of curiosity, do you utilize the Hakurei barrier in any of your spellwork?

Well met, internet traveler! My day is going well, thank you! I hope the same to you.

Sometimes, yeah, but it's more common for me to ask Reimu or Yukari for their help on things that call for barriers.

The cases I have used it is invoking its power and presence to protect me and shield me from others, sometimes cloaking me as well, like how it keeps Gensokyo hidden from the Outside World.

I've never done anything big in these cases, I simply call upon the Barrier by name when I'm doing these spells.

But more often, like I said, I ask Reimu or Yukari for help, as Reimu manages the Barrier and Yukari's boundary control can be beneficial as well. Afterall, Yukari can make it so that the boundary between me and others is so strong that others can't touch me, stuff like that.

I can't think of anything else to add here... but if you have more questions feel free to ask them.

[khajiitkennedy]

Random but I hope you have a good day/night and don't forget to drink plenty of water ✨

(Also what's your favorite random fact you know?)

This is so sweet Anon!

Did you know, most mammals have the same number of cervical/neck vertebra? Humans, giraffes, mice and many more have 7 cervical vertebrae!

[cruisingheightswithdragons]

There are formalities among the first meeting of the dov

But one of them found out the other used to be a Thalmor and is out for blood oops

@ariquar :3c

[jasper-pagan-witch]

Hehe. more!

What's your favorite video game? What about show? And movie? And on each, what makes it your favorite?

What are some blogs you'd suggest to people that are kinda like yours?

When did you get into The Elder Scrolls? What about Magic the Gathering?

How often do you typically practice magic?

Optional additional question because it is a bit loaded and not everyone wants to answer something like this: What's your most hated discourse in the pagan/witchy community? It can be valid or kinda just ridiculous, your choice.

You are feeding me and I love that.

What's your favorite video game? What about show? And movie? And on each, what makes it your favorite?

O...only one? I like a lot of video games...but honestly I can't get over how fucking funny the Monster Hunter series is. Like yeah, random person, go fight some fucking monsters. Take up to two cats with you. Here's a giant sword or a gun. Godspeed.

As for show and movie, uh...I don't...watch a lot of things, admittedly. I prefer to just turn on YouTube videos in the background instead of a show or movie. But if I had to pick, I'd pick Robin Hood: Men in Tights for movie and Legends of Chima for show. If you've seen the fights I've been picking on my main blog, I hope they've been entertaining.

What are some blogs you'd suggest to people that are kinda like yours?

*cackles* Time to summon the friends and the people I follow.

@windvexer - Out here doing the most when it comes to musing on ways to take things from witchcraft 102 to witchcraft 207. A bunch of their posts about divination have taught me more about how to read tarot better.

@stormwaterwitch - Hey kids, do you like seeing someone else's fully-developed elemental system? Do you like deities? Do you like books? My dear friend does it all!

@lazywitchling - DIY galore. As someone who enjoys putting things together, I also enjoy seeing her stuff too!

@sewceress - *grabs you* If you have ever thought too long about astrology, planetary magic, and stuff like that, you will enjoy this blog. That's a threat.

@aesethewitch - If you think it's neat how I can drag people for filth with a single card, you will enjoy Aese doing the same thing on their blog. This is also a threat.

@the-weaving-cryptid - If you enjoy region-specific magic and are interested in Appalachia, give Runa a look!

@strixhaven-study-hall - My dear friend Faust who is on that MTG pop culture shit with me. I need to bother him more, actually. And so should all of you.

@fernthewhimsical - Like with the note on Runa, Fern is big into regional stuff - specifically, Dutch paganism. Fae has all kind of cool posts and shit, I've greatly enjoyed chatting with them.

@creature-wizard - Do you like when I drop twenty-seven source links in one posts? Would you like better critical thinking skills about the bullshit that appears in online religious and occult and witchy spaces? Check out this blog. Particularly their stuff on the New Age to Alt-Right pipeline.

@crimsonsongbird - A fellow follower of Greek deities with some of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching devotionals I've ever read. She's also designed spells based on my OCs in the past!!! They're very neat (both Crimson and the spells).

@will-o-the-witch - Another wonderful reader and a Jewitch. Incredibly easy to chat with through the ask box!

@stagkingswife - Another fun blog to follow if you're interested in folklore or seeing someone who's really comfortable in her path! I enjoy learning about their unrecorded pantheon (which is different from a constructed pantheon, I must stress).

@breelandwalker - The author of what is hands-down my favorite book on witchcraft ever, Grovedaughter Witchery. If you enjoy actual history, debunking misinformation, and beginner-friendly posts (they have a whole advice page for beginners!), then Bree is a good blog to follow.

I think I'm running out of the ability to tag blogs, so I'll pause here. But I follow or am mutuals with all kinds of really cool folks here on Tumblr!

When did you get into The Elder Scrolls? What about Magic the Gathering?

I started playing Oblivion on my biological father's PS3 before Skyrim came out when I was a youngin (I'm gonna say around the age of 9?) and just kind of. Kept with it.

Meanwhile, I finally got into MTG in 2016, when the Shadows Over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon sets came out. My first ever deck was the Blue-Red precon, Dangerous Knowledge. And I hated it. This was before I figured out how to make Blue work for me. The first deck I ever built was a Red-Green Wolf and Werewolf deck, and I still have it to this day - it's my most powerful deck besides maybe my monoBlack Rat deck.

How often do you typically practice magic?

It depends. When I'm in my fallow period, it's literally nothing. Once I'm out, it could be anywhere between "for my entire waking day" to "like, five minutes" to "I have not done anything magical in two weeks". I am inconsistent as fuuuuuck!

Optional additional question because it is a bit loaded and not everyone wants to answer something like this: What's your most hated discourse in the pagan/witchy community? It can be valid or kinda just ridiculous, your choice.

I am biased on account of being a pop culture practitioner, but the "is pop culture magic/paganism valid or not" question that keeps rolling back around every now and again is stupid. We're all magical practitioners and/or religious folks. We are at equal levels of verification, which is "basically none to someone skeptical enough".

There are actual, genuinely good concerns that can be talked about in pop culture magic/paganism, but everyone keeps focusing on "it's faker than our shit lmaooo" instead of discussing things like copyright or capitalism. And even when people bring that up, it's almost always as an addendum to people saying that our shit isn't valid because it comes from a piece of media instead of cultural stories or history. It's like "damn, you're already biased, so I'm not going to listen to your points because you stink", you know?

Anyway, thank you for sending all of these in!

~Jasper

[jasper-tarot-reader]

You desire Questions, I arrive to Deliver.

What was your first deck? What's your most recent deck?

Outside of learning reading Western playing cards and Lenormand, is there anything else you're wanting to learn?

What's your favorite memory related to reading?

What's the most difficult reading you've done?

List your favorite decks, however many you have the energy for (even if it's just one!). Why are they your favorite?

Khajiit, I appreciate you dearly for filling my ask box at a moment's notice. This is a welcome reprieve from turning into dust from magical over-exertion.

What was your first deck? What's your most recent deck?

My first ever deck was the Dragon Tarot by Nigel Suckling and illustrated by Roger and Linda Garland. It taught me a lot of important lessons about reading tarot (and the importance of nuance in readings, "negative" meanings in cards, et cetera) that I've carried with me. I don't use it as much anymore because I used it so much that it's become fragile and there's only so much I can fix with tape. I named mine Abbot, or maybe I discovered that was its name? I don't recall.

I recently put in an Etsy order for three decks from three different sellers - the Night Vision Oracle Deck by darklingwoods, the Pathfinder Oracle Deck by skullgardenshop, and the Etsy-only Divination Special by thegreenwolf (which includes three books, an osteomancy kit, and the Tarot of Bones). Thus far, only the last has gotten to me so far, so the answer would be the Tarot of Bones! I'm still in the "appreciation" phase of this deck rather than getting right to readings with it. I don't think I've ever had a purely-photography deck like this one before, and it feels like it would go quite well with my copy of the Antique Anatomy Tarot.

Outside of learning reading Western playing cards and Lenormand, is there anything else you're wanting to learn?

Well, I've seen Kipper cards floating around, and you mentioned them earlier today, so that's also on the list. In addition, I've been wanting to dust off my notes on astragalomancy (divination with dice) and getting into bibliomancy (divination with books) and shufflemancy (divination with music players and shuffle buttons).

What's your favorite memory related to reading?

This one time I stayed up too late doing a tarot reading and thought that one of the gods I was doing a reading with wanted me to commit treason. I went to bed because clearly that was a sign that I needed to stop.

What's the most difficult reading you've done?

These Three Kings Divination readings make me want to turn to ash. They're very useful and very fun to do, but unfortunately I do not have all the fucking energy in the world to crank these bitches out like I do regular readings.

List your favorite decks, however many you have the energy for (even if it's just one!). Why are they your favorite?

Don't do this to me... I'm not going to say I love all of my decks equally, because that's factually not true and the existence of the Shame Corner proves that it's factually not true. Usually I like a deck because it is both gorgeous (to me) and easy to read with. But let's do this real quick, using the categories from my decklist:

Animal & Plant Decks

Crow Tarot ("Uldren") - A very beautiful collage-style deck, I actually like it better than the author's later Guardians of the Night Tarot despite the other one being more broad.

Seed & Sickle Oracle - Have you seen the gradient that the cards make together in a circle? Fucking perfect.

Fandom/Media Decks

Bayard The PokeOracle - I threw this together out of Pokemon cards I had laying around before I gave away the bulk of my collection, so there are some oooold cards in here.

Magic: The Gathering Oracle - A more recent acquisition, I was happy to see that Wizards of the Coast went the oracle route and focused on one plane rather than trying to make the tarot structure work. A definite step up from the Dungeons & Dragons Tarot.

Neopets Tarot - My bias is definitely showing. Not only does this deck feel like it was made by someone who actually knows and loves tarot, but the artwork is also incredibly on-theme and on-model for Neopets itself.

Mythology/Religion Decks

Myths & Legends Tarot - One of my few indie decks! As a matter of fact, I backed this one on...I think it was Kickstarter? It is lovely and pulls on, well...myths and legends from around the world. My only complaint is that the w*nd!g% is featured on one of the cards, which means it's hard for me to use it. Most of the time I can avoid that card, though, by nature of there being 77 other cards in the deck. Otherwise, it's a gorgeous deck, and I'm looking at the creator's other decks on Etsy and rubbing my little paws together.

Tarot Of The Divine - Yoshi Yoshitani's absolutely gorgeous deck. Like the Myths & Legends Tarot, it pulls from myths and legends around the world. Unfortunately, like the Myths & Legends Tarot, it has a card that makes me grimace a little. The Rainbow Crow is a legend that keeps getting attributed to the Lenape people, but it's more likely that it came from...well, white people making up Native American stories. At least it's not at the same level as the Dangerous W from the other deck.

I still love them even though they suck a little...

Queer Decks

Gay Tarot - This is the first queer deck I got, and as someone who's generally masc-leaning with my queerness, it was very comforting for me. The box is actively falling apart, so I need to find a good new storage solution for it and its guidebook... It's very comforting. It was the first deck I got where I was like "oh, I'm not alone after all" and that was something I needed when I got it.

Star Spinner Tarot - A tarot deck by Trungles, this is a beautiful deck and the fact that it comes with four different copies of the Lovers is great. I actually read with all four Lovers in the deck!

RWS & Friends Decks

In-Between Tarot - I love a deck that takes the RWS and twists it a little, and a deck that embodies the stepping stone between the cards to help explain the journey is incredible. I see why Cernunnos called dibs on it so fast.

Tarot For Kids - Though the cards are fucking huge and hard to shuffle (probably because they were made to be thrown down and swirled around on the floor), I think this is an adorable deck that easily explains the RWS, even though it's changed to pull out some of the more occult/usually Wiccan- or Christian-related elements (the High Priestess becomes the Moon Queen, the Devil becomes the Bully, et cetera). If I knew a person in the 8-years-old-ish range who wanted to get into tarot, this is the deck I would offer them.

Tarot Of Oppositions - Remember how I said I love decks that take the RWS and twist them? Yeah, this is a deck that actually depicts its reversals. The moment I pulled it out of its box, I connected with it with a very sudden click. The downside is that the cards are made of thin plastic rather than cardstock, making them painful to shuffle over and over again.

Vice Versa Tarot - Again, another "RWS-and-twist". Instead of reversals, it has the opposite side of the scene on the back of the card, so there are no card backs! That also makes it...very interesting to shuffle and pull cards from. Do I flip a card after pulling it from the top? Do I just take it there as it sits on the deck? I have to re-figure it out every time.

Space & Travel Decks

Arcana Of Astrology - If you are ever in the market for a Western astrology based oracle deck, this should be the beginning and ending of your search. Gorgeous cards, detailed guidebook, and a fascinating stretch into the houses and comets in addition to the planets and zodiacs. And so many moon cards. Every moon phase plus both eclipses get their own cards.

Spooky Decks

Antique Anatomy Tarot - If I could get away with eating one deck, it would be this one, because the combination of slight color correspondences with the bones and the detail of the drawings makes it so fucking crunchy and tasty. This is actually made by the same person who made the Arcana Of Astrology deck, so maybe I just like this one author/designer. Either way, I want to put this in my mouth.

Tarot of Bones - I just got this deck and it's already working its way into my favorites list. The amount of detail that went into choosing the bones of each cards...the beautiful photography...the consistent internal logic of what bones are what suits... My only complaint is the usage of "totem animal" in the guidebook, but this is something that I can just ignore and focus on every other bit. It's certainly less intrusive than the Myths & Legends Tarot's and Tarot Of The Divine's grimace-level cards.

Man, apparently I have a lot more decks on the adoration level than I thought...

Either way, thanks for dropping by, Khajiit!

~Jasper

[artharakka]

This is a complement!!! Your art style looks like the top end of Morrowind fanart (and I think you should do some Elder Scrolls stuff if it interests you), I love it

I actually have done some TES art in the past! But yeah not much with my current styles and unfortunately no Morrowind stuff :') (the oldest elder scroll game I've played is Oblivion, though didn't complete that either. yet.) But Skyrim is one of my comfort games!

Now taking a little break but not too long ago I started a new playthrough with my beloved first Skyrim character, Ruis (later Daro'Ruis).

And thank you! Though a bunch of elder scrolls fanartists I know have very unique styles but all of them are very funky 🧡

[sothasil]

Any ideas on lgbt (mostly gay stuff) in khajiiti culture?

Canon sources of LGBT khajiit are rare from what I know of, encountered some gay NPCs when I was playing ESO which was never commented upon (this was before the Elsweyr expansion which I haven't played), and years ago, sex jokes from Daggerfall were often brought up as crumbs of representation but I believe they're less lore-y and more fantasy flavor takes on basic jokes. Gender is very important to the notions of what makes LGBT- khajiit culture, judging by the creation myth in Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi as well as by the honorifics they use in their naming conventions, seem to go for a male/female binary. There are no transgender or gender non-conforming khajiit mentioned that I know of, although I cannot name any culturally relevant sexism either, so it's fair to assume it's not much of a thing. Historically, the real life cultures I've read about that strictly see gender as male or female seem to inch for both sides of the same coin approaches, or seeing them as two separate things, and given khajiit motives of duality and seeing outside of it I would assume it's the first. I also believe people outside that strict biological binary have and will always exist, although in video games representation it is not fair to read much into their absence because those people are rarely if ever represented in mainstream media.

This being out of the way, here's the headcanons portion! I'll be referring to khajiit and elsweyri culture interchangeably (a can of worms for another day)

My main idea would be that khajiit are very lax about sex, do not consider it a taboo topic and in their culture, have a lot of freedom around it. Ostracizing someone for homosexual relationships would be considered an attack. The times it could be a big deal would be surrounding situations where someone wants biological children, should it be of their own desire or because of peer pressure, which would be niche situations more depending on individuals than culture as a whole. However, I also believe that in using our modern terms, the social norm would be bisexuality and that someone displaying exclusive preference should it be gay or het might raise a few eyebrows. Given this, I do not believe that the born and raised elsweyri have specific gay subcultures as is the case in our modern world. Same sex marriages would also happen (more in my marriage post).

Regarding transgender people, with the strong binary I mentioned above I think gender non-conformity and transgender identities would be understood closely to our modern world. It'd be easier to understand to a khajiit that someone would transition from male to female and the other way around, but more complex personal expressions of gender would be outsides of the social norm and broadly characterized as "third other" or by less gentle people, as a combination of traits of each, the basic "x soul y body" or whatnot phrases you sometimes hear. This could be both rejected and reclaimed by people! And contrary to gay stuff, it's likely that GNC individuals would group up to find in each other respite from the social norm.

But if you're to ask LBGT questions to a khajiit the most likely answer would be in the lines of "why is this your business?", or adjacent 😺

[aesethewitch]

I come to assign you some Touhous that, should you ever choose to pursue a Touhou PCP path, I think would fit you! (For context to others coming across this, Aese consented to this I promise I'm not just waltzing into their inbox and trying to convert them, this is for all intents and purposes a joke!)

Long ask below!

First up, Eternity Larva. She's not quite a moth, but she's close enough and is often considered moth-adjacent as a butterfly and considering she as a fairy embodies death, rebirth, and the metamorphosis of insects. She may or may not be a Goddess/Kami, Touhou lore is... unclear on that! She becomes dormant during Winter, but is a very friendly and sweet fairy, though she may be as mischievous as other fairies, we just haven't seen it yet. Reasons for picking: moth. that's it that's what I got.

Next up, Chimata Tenkyuu. Now, she's definitely a Goddess/Kami. Her ability is to make people relinquish ownerships, and she is the Goddess of "special event marketplaces" - think temporary stores or things like that. Reasons for picking: I think that she'd get a major kick out of Advertisement Adversaries considering her main goal is that special event marketplaces run well and smooth and plenty of things get sold. I also just think she'd enjoy watching scammers get scolded lol

Next, Mike Goutokuji. I just can't resist sponsoring my favorite depressed capitalist cat with trauma! Mike is just a bakeneko (a cat youkai) who trained (but failed) to become a lucky money cat, but her ability is to draw in either customers or money, she can't do both (she tries her BEST.) Reasons for picking: All good sellers deserve a lucky money cat. Also Advertisement Adversaries would probably interest her too.

Finally, Patchouli Knowledge. Patchouli is a "Eastern Style Western Magician", meaning she's from a Western place but practices/performs Eastern magic. Her ability is manipulation of fire, water, wood, metal, earth, sun and moon, the five Chinese elements plus sun and moon, making her the "One-Week Girl" (it's... explained better on her wiki page, but basically each element + sun and moon correspond to one day of the week each). Reasons for picking: Major reader and you're an author, occultist and magician. While she canonically mostly reads occult texts, I can see her (and in my PCP experience) reading any book that interests her. She's also been a help to me with my creative endeavors with her knowledge of books. As an aside, I theorize that Patche wouldn't be much into tarot personally as it's a Western system, but that's also a point in reasons for picking.

Thanks for entertaining me and my endless love for Touhou Project and Touhou PCP! Have a great rest of your day, Aese!

[devours these wiki pages]

Hohohohohoho I love them all!!! Particularly into Eternity Larva and Chimata Tenkyuu -- my love of moths is equal only to my love of butterflies! I love that she's a little swallowtail butterfly, that's so cute. The death/rebirth cycle is also a big deal in my practice, so that doubly makes sense as a choice!

And Chimata??? I also hate when people prioritizing maximizing profits and their own gains over the well-being of their patrons. Like, man, fuck off if you're not going to operate in good faith. Money's a fine motivation to do business, we all gotta live and eat or whatever, but we should be holding ourselves to some level of standard decorum. You know what I mean??

All very very very good fits, honestly!! You've got me pinned, I think, lmao. If I ever end up on a PCP/PCM kick, I have a good starting point 👀 Being included/participating in this special interest is very special and a big honor to me so thank you!! (:

[devout-khajiit]

Who is your favourite Khajiit?

M'aiq the Liar, generic choice, but because. well. he's neat! Close seconds would be any of the traveling caravanners in Skyrim because they go through So Much and I want them to have joy in life. Especially because they talk about how cold Skyrim is, and of course Skyrim is pretty racist and doesn't even let them in their walls.

That actually really makes me wonder why Khajiit Dovahkiin can get in, without ever having to justify themselves. You can ROLEPLAY justifying yourself, but there's no game backlash to playing as a Khajiit (or Dunmer or anybody else) in a country hostile to non-humans.

[devout-of-the-elder-scrolls]

Do you have any advice for someone wanting to worship pop culture deities who are portrayed as evil in their media? I've read your stance on your own religion and I wish I could have the same confidence. It makes sense that the details in media wouldn't be 100% accurate, but when it comes to my own practice I worry that it's wishful thinking not to believe the worse stuff.

I'm gonna ramble a small bit here in the beginning because it's important to the answer, I feel.

Before starting with the Princes, I had asked beforehand another spirit guide of mine (Lucifer, who I worship in a demonolatry sense instead of a Roman Polytheism stance, though both are valid) what They thought. Was this a terrible idea? Was I gonna be hurt? The answer was "No, reach out, see what happens." but I was promised my safety, if not by the Princes, then by Lucifer.

So, when I started with Molag Bal (who I dub the "worst of the worst" canonically, because, well, He is!), I was pretty worried that it was a bad idea. (Same for the rest of the Princes who are less than benevolent, but I'm using Molag Bal as my example.) I took some time getting to know and understand Molag Bal outside of a purely canonical standpoint, with a backup plan in case shit did go down, mainly that I was gonna call upon other, nicer Gods to handle it for me.

But it went fine. I found that Molag Bal wasn't that bad. Yeah, like any Prince, He can be... abrasive, He can be brutal, some of His lessons aren't very fun (think things like having to face my traumas in therapy, which is good, but still not fun), but He wasn't/isn't a bad person. He's never treated me cruelly or abusively, and while we sometimes have disagreements on the best course of action, He's proven Himself to be good to me.

So I worship Him, but I didn't begin worshiping Him right off the bat, I began in the same boat as you and was worried about it.

So my core advice is to reach out and test the waters before actually committing yourself, especially if you're worried that it's wishful thinking that the canon source isn't accurate.

Don't dedicate yourself any further than you feel comfortable doing so, either. Don't make promises like "Yes I will worship you" if you don't actually know if you want to worship right now. Only make that promise once you feel ready, if you ever feel ready. Kind/Good Gods will always wait for you, and if they demand you to worship immediately, then it's safe to bet that your relationship won't pan out healthily, and it's time to bail. (The Princes didn't demand I worship them, they waited for me to be ready.)

And have a backup plan for if things do go wrong, I find this helped me feel safer where I was anxious about what could happen to me, so it might help you too. Even if it's just "Okay, I got Lucifer in my back pocket, I can rely on Him to protect me". If you don't already have someone in your back pocket, there's no harm in reaching out to another deity (be it the same pantheon or not, be it PCP or not) and making a temporary deal that you'll provide them temporary worship in return for them keeping you safe should things go down the drain. Deities are usually happy to help in return for goodies and don't mind these sorts of temporary deals as long as you're genuine in worship, in my experience. You can end this relationship once it's no longer necessary for you, for whatever reason (just reach out to said deity and be honest and say goodbye and all that, don't just leave them hanging).

But let yourself learn the entity, PCP or otherwise, and see if you're comfortable worshiping them as the them that they present forward to you. If you decide to stop, then you do. Beginning and testing the waters isn't a commitment.

I find that personal experience always trumps canon. Yeah, I acknowledge canon Molag Bal, I acknowledge that there might be people who tried worshiping Him and saw that Him instead, but the He I see isn't like that. And that's my personal experience, which I trust.

I just do wholly understand that the canon is a bit scary! It scared me, too. I just personally went "Fuck it, I'm protected, I can test the waters" and it turned out just fine, and now I'm sitting over here in Daedric Prince Worshiping Lake, happily worshiping them who have been kind to me.

I also wanna note that it's... fine? to worship the Princes in a canonical sense. I just don't do that personally, because the Them that I see disagrees so much with the canon, and I trust Them over Bethesda, lol.

TL;DR: Let yourself test the waters before you commit to anything that deep (or anything at all) with them. Have a backup plan in case things do go to shit.

If you have any further questions please feel free to hop back into my inbox! I know I ramble a lot but I tried to make this as clear as I could while covering everything I felt needed to be covered to get my full advice across.

[khajiit-reads]

No need to reply. Just wanted to say thank you for the reading. That must've taken a long time it was very in depth. I appreciate you doing it for free!

I'm more than happy to provide! Thank you for requesting, I always love doing readings. So feel free to return any time for readings!

[devout-of-gensokyo]

Would you say it's best to build up a relationship with the entities involved in Touhou before asking for their help first, or asking for their help and seeing how things develop from there? Or does it depend on the Touhou character?

~Jasper (I am Helping™)

Forewarning I kinda went off in a different direction at the end of this before returning to the question lol

In my experience, I've always been pretty nyoomy in my actual process - I move quite quickly if not stopped. So, I ended up doing the latter a lot of the time (though one can argue that me being feral about Touhou Project since like. 2011? 2012? one of those two, can count as "building a relationship" with how active I was in the fandom and sometimes people in PCP argue that fandom interaction and doing things like writing fanfiction counts), where I just reached out to ask and got a positive response.

Granted, I always make sure to make offering whenever I ask for anything, or otherwise ask what they may want and then make it. Like... I approached Reimu for help with the haunting I had going on (still seems to be resolved, thankfully!) and I, at the time, had no idea what she would want, so I asked for her help and asked what she'd want in return - and essentially she just went "Good food." and so I gave her good food and she did what I asked of her. (Granted, she couldn't perfectly resolve it, but she still did as I requested.)

The Kami (which a list of them can be seen here on the Touhouwiki) might prefer more of a relationship built first, as Kami/God worship is different than Hero Worship in my experience, especially if they're anything like how my TES deity worship has gone.

In general, Touhous are happy to help, but some might want in return a lot before they're willing to help (Seiga Kaku is an example off the top of my head, as is Joon Yorigami), but I've never had problems with just reaching out first and having success.

Part of it seems to be that they're kinda fascinated a bit with the Outside World, as much as our world can be compared to it (remember: Touhou Project is set in our world, just a more techy and less spiritual version of it). Sanae Kochiya especially wants to know all the new shit in the world going on, because she used to Live Here, I've told her all about AI and the hellscape that became (and she's mostly disappointed in people lol) for example. But others are mostly just a "Oh neat, someone from the Outside World wants to speak to me. AND I get shit out of it? COOL!" and I think there's partly a novelty factor for them, the Touhous being worshiped as Heroes. They like getting gifts and other various things, and seem to take in devotional acts the same way that Gods do, albeit not exactly the same. Like they can tell when I do something for them, probably because I state I am doing it for them.

But back to your question because I got sidetracked... generally, I think either or works, it depends on what each practitioner wants to do. I may have had a relationship with them without realizing I did thanks to being a fan of the series for so long and doing things like writing fanfic, but I don't get the idea that they'd mind if someone completely new to Touhou (or them specifically) called upon them for PCP/PCW.

I, from my perspective at the least (which if I asked the Touhous they might have a different answer), asked first and built a relationship later. Like, lately, I asked Letty to bless me with kindness during the winter storm that hit yesterday, and that's the first I've ever really interacted with Letty, and I made sure to give snow (digital) offerings. Letty doesn't seem to mind it at all.

There's also cases where characters are so used to being helpful for people they barely know anyways. For example, Reimu Hakurei is used to being asked to perform work for the Human Village, blessing, performing exorcisms, etc for them. So she doesn't mind. Sanae Kochiya is the same, she's an arahitogami, a living god, and she's used to performing miracles all the time for people.

My point being, I think it's very beneficial to work with Touhous lol. I really suggest it, the world isn't hard to grasp or get into, and the Touhous tend to be helpful, and while some want offering, if you're already used to God, Saint, or Hero worship, that's normal. Like I don't mind Seiga wanting something in return, because there is a "price to pay" in worship so to speak.

(Side note, you can call Touhou characters as Touhous, it's a fandom shorthand for YEARS now lol. If I ever say "a Touhou" or "Touhous" I'm referring to the characters.)

[crimsonsongbird]

I think this is my last batch of questions, I'm running out of things to ask! We shall see.

What's something from personal experience you have about an entity that you think might have Nobody agreeing with you / also experiencing that?

What's something you learned from someone else's personal experience about an entity that has held especially true in your worship?

What's your favorite mythological creature? Favorite animal?

How much of a sweet tooth do you have?

When it comes to reading cards, do you have any rituals you perform about it? Do you read with them on a cloth, board, something else, or just plainly on the surface?

Hello again, Khajiit!

What's something from personal experience you have about an entity that you think might have Nobody agreeing with you / also experiencing that? & What's something you learned from someone else's personal experience about an entity that has held especially true in your worship?

So I don't really know anyone who also works with Naruto or any of my other PCP entities to be able to compare experiences. Even in my HelPol practice, I don't really know other practitioners well enough for us to share deity experiences. Most of my friends worship different deities or entirely different pantheons.

What's your favorite mythological creature? Favorite animal?

My favorite mythological creature is definitely vampires, while my favorite animal would be sharks.

How much of a sweet tooth do you have?

Like on a scale of 1 to 10? Probably a 15. I can't really have caffeine, so I rely on sugar for that boost of energy. Plus... I just love sweet treats.

When it comes to reading cards, do you have any rituals you perform about it? Do you read with them on a cloth, board, something else, or just plainly on the surface?

I wash my hands, lay out my cloth, and then start shuffling the deck. When it comes to reading cards, I don't actually pull any cards, I let them fly out of the deck while I'm shuffling and that's how I know I have the right cards.