#paganism is very fluid

[ardenti-luna]

paganism/druidism

so, @apollowritesstuff asked for some information on paganism and the like after i posted a graphic of pagan holidays/celebrations. this is a short introduction to paganism and druidism—keep in mind that paganism is super diverse, so people follow it in a lot of different ways, and this is just my 'take' on it.

when people describe themselves as pagan, they most likely follow a religion more accurately described as neopaganism or modern paganism. it stems from Celtic and Roman religions, but after the roman empire, it was often applied to anyone who wasn't Christian.

modern paganism is split into many different branches or ways of practicing paganism, and i'll talk about a few of the main ones below. however, in general, paganism focuses on the divineness of the earth, the universe, and nature. paganism doesn't necessarily worship a select divine being(s), and unlike most religions it doesn't follow a sacred text. modern paganism also draws possible inspiration from north African and Dharmic religions, although this is often left out of paganism and it's history. modern paganism is very confusing to explain, because not only are the different 'branches' of paganism wildly different, but within each branch the way individuals practice is very diverse as well.

personally, i consider myself a druid or a druid pagan. druidism focuses very closely on the physical aspects of the earth and nature. it focuses on worshipping the sanctity of the natural world, and in a modern setting it often leans towards environmentalism and a rejection of consumerism. some druid pagans are polytheistic, but i personally hold no belief in a divine being, but rather the divinity of nature and the universe.

people who are Wiccan are often the people you see practicing on tiktok and other social media apps. wicca is also called pagan witchcraft, and the term wiccan has derivations in the words witchcraft and witch. wiccans often worship some higher power(s), and there is a strong emphasis on the practice of magic as a kind of law of nature. wiccans view their magical practices as a force for good, such as healing and protection.

heathenism or (contemporary) germanic paganism is a branch of paganism that often worships multiple deities. in heathenism, rather than being seen as infallible, these gods are represented in a personified light, with strengths and weaknesses. these gods often come from Scandinavian and anglo-saxan sources. heathenism had a slightly darker past, with a rise in the early 1900's of people trying to keep heathenism to only ethnically and racially white people. it also seems to have been involved in the rise of the nazi party. however, nowadays, most people following heathenism place emphasis on strong ethics, including integrity and honor, and the religion is seen as much more open.

please correct me if i am wrong with any of my info, as i don't know a lot about other branches of paganism! there are also many, many more apart from the three i described, but i hope this post gives a good introduction.

[tiny-huts]

Controversial take but Eilistraee fans try not to be annoying for a day challenge. 0 days since our last nonsense

[goodstuffhappenedtoday]

The more than 30 proud, self-described gutter-pagan, mostly queer dirtbags in their early 30s gathered ‘round Friday night bearing shots of Svedka and Roman candles and sparklers, as the glow of Camden kissed their facesfrom across the river. The thing that drew them to what’s affectionately known as Chicken Pier was about to be burned to bits.

There was just one hiccup. The giant “medical billing statement” was not responding to the long candle lighter South Philly union organizer Claire Hirschberg was aggressively taking to its bottom-left corner.

Someone sprinted for the backup lighter fluid and someone else led a “debt is hell” chant.

The jubilant crowd handed back a “let it burn” in response.

While the giant bill was fake, it represented a very real accomplishment. The group raised more than $17,000, which purchased more than $1.6 million in medical debt owed by Philadelphians, according to their nonprofit partner RIP Medical Debt.

When hospitals or physician groups have delinquent debts they have little chance of collecting on, they’ll typically go to what’s called the secondary market and sell their portfolios for pennies on the dollar. This is where collectors can come in and begin hounding patients anew. Enter RIP Medical Debt. The nonprofit helps people like Hirschberg and fellow campaign organizer Lou Garner buy portfolios with the explicit goal of forgiving outstanding balances. The relief comes with no strings attached.

With the funds Hirschberg and Garner helped raise, more than 1,700 Philadelphians are slated to receive white envelopes with letters informing them that someone has helped cut into part or all of their medical debt.

[tansyuduri]

Merlin Loregasm Rewatch S1E3

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my rewatch of Merlin focusing on the lore. I am a giant nerd so pretty excited about this. THE MARK OF NIMUEH!

Gaius saying that people must not see this and they would panic is likley NOT just because this looks magical as hell. See we know from later episodes that while Gaius has mastered herb lore for many ailments and injuries and anatomy as well (This is also important as it also hints that Christianity has not spread and thus it being forbidden to cut up human bodies to learn how they work is not a thing.) He and thus likly Camalot in general still base medicine on the Humors System.

This system attributed most illness to an imbalance of the four bodily fluids or humors. (Worth looking up if you wanna know more) NOW since in the system everyone has a diferant balance of humors it could explain individual illnesses A LOT BETTER than many plagues (Why would everyone suddenly have the same imbalance of the Humors) This would usually lead to the idea that an individual's chance to get or die from the plage was due to preestablished susceptibility to the plague (explained later) Or the heavens being angry. WHY PLAUGE HAPPENS usually was attributed to Miasma (explained later in post) or the heavens being angry. AND YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE THINKING THE HEAVENS ARE ANGRY.

Gaius is VERY ahead of his time in medicine by thinking that illness could be spread though air, food, or water later on. It hints that despite the humors system being in use medical understanding is more advanced in Camalot then it was most of the medieval ages. This is very possibly due to the fact that despite killing sorcerers (Or perhaps Gaius being an exception because he learned pre purge.)

Old pagan knowledge of herbs had not been crushed. AND what's more no one was going around murdering regular herbalists ETC suspecting they were evil magic users, Mostly because they had REAL magic users to hunt. Still the spread by water air or food we see mentioned later is WAY Ahead of its time.

Okay Gwen giving her father smoked pigeon as a seeminly every day meal perhaps continues my conept of Gwens father being a HIGHLY skilled blacksmith that serves the knights.

Meat was a rarity for the medieval commoner (We see this a lot in what Gaius and Merlin eat reguarly. Meat is a treat for them.) Pigeons were likely not eaten widely as anything but wild meat until the Norman period. Which means someone had to hunt and kill that bird. Which means this meat was bought or traded for. Which means Gwens family had the money for treats beyond the bare essentials (If we ignore history due to the show's anachronism we still have to compare this to Giaus and Merlin's usual food. (I know they talk about dresses later when he gets a really good job but we'll talk about that then. I'm also assuming this is everyday fare for them based on how they act.)

Okay its time to talk about how Gaius and Merlin talk about disease spreading through water or contact or food is HUGELY Advanced for its time. See from the forth centery BCE to the early 1800s CE Disease was a result of the humors, The anger of the Heavens, or Miasma (bad air emitting from rotten organic matter or other things.) This means that despite humorism being the main theory there is SOME understanding in the Merlin world that disease can be spread many ways. I really don't think they have germ theory though so I think they are just more advanced.

"He's got a grave Mental disease" AHHHH OKAY! So this means the Merlin world has a concept of Mental illness and that it's different from regular body illnesses. And this knowlage is common. Again this is HUGLY advanced for the time. So Humorism is the main theory! BUT They have concepts like infection, Mental illness, and an understanding disease can come from many places. All I can think is that this comes from having Magic in the world. And being able to actually study Anatomy. The people of the Merlin world understand the world better than most because they have more tools to study the world.

Okay so I love how Merlin plays fast and loose with magical creatures. (Especially because I can too writing my Merlin fics) I think the Afanc might be based PARTLY on the folklore Afanc but also had a bit of the Jewish Gollum in it with the born of clay thing. ANYHOW The Afanc is a creature from Welsh Mythology Its a lake monster that most closely resembles a crocadile, beaver, dwarf. It prayed on swimmers mostly or people who fell in water. There is a lot more but it is interesting that some Legends say King Arthur killed it!

Okay! So! see this candle!? This was a historical early method of keeping time. Each mark would be about an hour and as the candle burned down one would know the hours had passed! OPnce gunpower showed up they would sometimes put a bit in each hour as an alarm of sorts! I don't think this is a Gunpowder version!

So yeah this came from greek philosophy and was a thing for most of european history. The elements Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. were viewed as the building blocks of the world. Originaly air was viewed as Aether and filled the world in the absence of the other three. But in the Merlin world it is definitely Air as it's is later called wind. (Aether later came to represent heaven or the spirit as a 5th element)

These also related to Humorism discused before

Saying The Afanc born of earth and water can be killed with fire and air is one of two times the four elements get brought up in relation to magic in the series. (The other refers to a healing charm.)

Most other sorcerer created creatures we see can just be killed with fire and are not specifically corresponded to any element. This leads to the idea that this is kinda a rare thing. WHAT I do find interesting is that we KNOW the four elements correspond to certain types of healing in the Merlin universe (like I said other mention refers to a healing charm) And the Afanc is spreading magical disease. THAT might be why the elements are mentioned only here when it comes to magic-created creatures.

I find the wording here realy interesting because it talks about mirroring the spirit of life, not creating it. I'll have to contrast it with later talk about the spirit of life and death but this kinda implies even anciant sorcerers on their own can only MIRROR life not create it. Its not real life they make. Even Merlin's spell to create a butterfly at the end of the show means "to work, shape, bring into being or form" according to @catsconflictscopicsandchamomile My old English studying friend! (it is also used in OE translations of Genisis to mean make a life so it could mean Merlin is creating life and mirroring god, but if he could do that why not just bring Arthur back) SO it is likely this holds fast to the rule life cannot just be created!

HOLD ON. Is he just referring to Arthur's birth? It could just be Arthur's birth and his efforts through the purge, or has Nimueh pulled evil magic on Camelot post purge before?

[ladyiristheenchantress]

Elemental Work Crash Course

Hello friends! As a west witch I find myself in a lot of elemental spaces, but as an elemental pagan I feel like we get little to no representation without wicca being present so this post is for all my friends who may be looking into elemental work and want to know what to expect! This is an introductory post so if anyone is interested in further information let me know in the comments!

Earth

Common Lessons tend to include grounding, understanding your place within it all like your social circles, life itself, or even the ecosystem. People also tend to find out how to see beauty even when they feel there is none, home and hearth magic, generational magic, and harnessing your own power. Its important to recognize earth is extremely giving, often giving things without expecting anything in return. Remember to give back to the earth when you can in your practice, it isn't fair to take things without giving back. Eventually earth takes all things back from the living, so remember that earth is as powerful as she is kind Darker Aspect/Element: Rot How to honor and find these teachings:

Going out in nature

Taking care of plants

Herbal work

Community service

Exploring

Grounding and meditation outdoors

Connecting to earth itself

Evaluating what it means to be human

Common forms of divination

Osteomancy (Burning Bones)

Abacomancy (Dirt)

Dendromancy (Tree reading)

Falling petals or leaves

Air

Common lessons from air tend to be quick and ever present, air speaks rather quickly to people and messages change! Its best to keep a log of signs and messages you receive because it tends to be a pebble trail on your journey. Air teaches how to keep calm in tense situations, creating your own path on the journey of life, going with the wind and learning to not value materialistic lifestyles, plus learning how to be more gentle with yourself and others!

Darker Aspect: Tempest How to honor and find these teachings:

Breath work

Spontaneity and leaving your comfort zone

Living to the fullest (however that might look for you!)

Dance or Hand motions

Meditations

Keeping sword or athame imagery as a talisman

Storm tracking

Common forms of divination:

Smoke Scrying

Wind Watching

Electromancy (By Lightning)

Austromancy (By Clouds)

Fire

Common lessons in fire encourage you to listen closely and not rely so much on searching for messages. In most mythos fire speaks once per session, when its burnt out usually the message is over. Fire teaches us how to be confident in our work, ambition, and performance. Fire likes to throw a lot at you and teach you adaptability, and most importantly how to be the best you can be. You can learn a lot from just a little flame.

Darker Aspect: Magma

How to Honor these teachings:

Practicing Confidence

Glamour Magic

Using your backbone/saying no more

Making friends in odd places

Hosting bonfires/tending to a hearth fire

Using candle magic

Common forms of divination:

Fire Scrying

Candle/Wax reading

Flame Shape reading

Casting knives

Water

Common lessons range depending on what you are looking for! Water can teach you how to be calm and collected, but also encourages you to be fluid! so if you need to unleash the flood you know when its appropriate to do so. You also learn how to go with the flow, how to be persistent, and how to be a fierce enigma. Water is also very humbling at times, so you will learn a lot about yourself.

Darker Aspect: Abyss

How to honor these teachings:

Emotion based meditations

Shadow work

Being in tune with yourself

Swimming

Boating

Fishing

Beach cleanups

Exploring your waterways

Common types of divination:

Water scrying

Waves

Rainfall

Storm tracking

Mist/Dew

Tip Jar

[w-y-r-d]

As someone who was raised (in a very relaxed manner, but yes raised) as a Norse Pagan, and being new to Tumblr, I am shocked by the number of people who are worshipping Loki. I understand the attraction of the oppressed, and especially that Loki is clearly something like gender fluid etc. but what I don't understand is why people don't seek out reverence and relation to those qualities in other, arguably "less yikes deities", to quote one of my friends. For example in my mind Odin is probably what we would describe today as non-binary. Can you shed some light on why people make this decision, thank you!!

I can't speak for everyone, obviously, but I think what it boils down to is that different people are drawn to, and see, different aspects in deities that others may not.

A good example I can think of is Satan. Demonized (pun intended) by Christianity, yet still others are drawn to worship him. What to some is the embodiment of evil, to others is the embodiment of light and knowledge.

Likewise, while Loki may be a chaotic entity and bringer of Ragnarök to some, to others he is freedom and merriment and love.

And the best part? Not a single person in any of the examples above are wrong. (Not saying you think that, but there are unfortunately those that do.) Everyone has their own beliefs, their own practice, and their own relationships with the gods.

Hopefully I was able to shed some light on this. Full disclosure, I don't really involve Loki in my practice, so if any Lokeans want to chime in, please do!

[pagan-sloth-witch]

Hi everyone, this is a pagan blog. So a little about me personally

I’m gender-fluid, any pronouns work for me, it’s not a biggie. I have ADHD and autism, and I go mostly by Charlie. Maybe Charlotte or Charles if I’m leaning particularly masculine or feminine

Now, for the witchy pagan stuff

I’m also a pagan witch, obviously, as the name says. I’m currently working with Mother Lilith, she is wonderful and I love working with her

I’m now working with Lady Hecate as well, she’s a very lovely goddess, and I’m enjoying my time with her. She’s feels like a teacher and a guide to me, and I appreciate her a lot

This blog will be me sharing some of my experiences, things I’ve learned, but it won’t be everything. I have a separate Book of Shadows that I write everything in (not on Tumblr)

So far I enjoy doing Cartomancy, I love Tarot (I don’t have a real tarot deck yet, like I said, closeted witch). Talking with Mother is one of my favorite things to do, lighting a candle and doing readings

I’m also looking into and trying other things though, such as spells, sigils, candle magick and elemental magick

So that’s kind of an overview of me. I’m not sure if this blog will be entirely sfw, but if anything isn’t, I will mark it with a caption, page break it, and tag it accordingly

[foursthemagicknumber]

Essay on erasure under cut

@roze-realm @kis5ki5skai

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a very big problem: the erasure of minorities in their characters. They continuously change parts of characters in order to appeal to a larger demographic of audiences. When in reality- the Marvel comics were never about that. In comics we have characters that aren’t even subtle about being minorities. There’s even an entire franchise based around the idea of superpowers creating a minority that faces major discrimination. All whilst telling a cohesive story. In the movies however, the characters that are portrayed as a minority like in comics don’t get a good story.

This is most present in a certain family. The Maximoff’s are a jewish-romani family. However in age of ultron where the scarlet witch and her brother were introduced they are cast as white. As well as had them work with literal nazis. Not only that but the movie immediately killed off one half of the twins. Peitro despite at least keeping his name unlike his X-Movies counterpart, was somehow shot to death by bullet’s he is meant to be faster than. 

In the new show Agatha all along they cast Joe Locke as Billy Kaplan. Many may argue that Agatha all along is playing the representation game well, having a mainly female cast with a black and asian characters and the only male on board being established gay and jewish. However this view fails to point out the fact that we only ever see William Kaplan as portrayed as jewish. Any associations to religion with Billy Maximoff, who appears to be a completely different character, are to witchcraft adjacent religions such as wiccan and paganism. This paired with the fact that by extension of his mother’s erased romani identity, his was erased as well, it’s not looking good for him. Fortunately there’s still hope for his brother. 

Now as much as a good example as the Maimoff family is, there are many others. Such as, America Chavez. Now my knowledge on the comic book character is limited due to the fact that simply haven’t gotten there yet, however I know quite a bit about her appearance in Marvel Rising, a series of short films focusing on new jersey hero’s such as Ms. Marvel or Inferno. And in such she was displayed as a dark skinned Spanish aligned queer woman working a job that was barely paying for her schooling. And in multiverse of madness, she’s practically the definition of white washing. Not to mention the down play of her character’s strengths and sass. Everything that makes America, America is taken away. It’s one thing to play down what makes a character a minority but that alongside with the down play of her characterization makes her into a weak link in the very weak chain that is multiverse of madness.

Now another great instance would be Loki, who in comics is gender-fluid and pansexual. In the movies however is treated solely as male and straight. In an attempt to give him a love interest the writers posed the question, “What if Loki was a woman?” However if they were simply comic accurate, there would be no alternative female version of Loki, because sometimes he is she. Loki is the epitome of a shapeshifter who’s gender-fluid. In fact they are the first that comes to mind when asked to think of the trope- simply because it’s done so well. Loki is meant to be a character who simply is, and is unapologetic for who they are good or bad, male or female, unfortunately the MCU gave us a bratty theater kid and called it a day. 

After this point tw: Child abuse

Now all of this is well and good- but the final straw would be the Hulk. In comics the Hulk, or Bruce Banner has an incredibly tragic backstory. He is a demonstration of how at times the greatest danger to a child, is the one in their own home. Bruce was abused by his father as a child which eventually led to him forming dissociative identity disorder. The alter to Bruce being Hulk an angry and out of control monster, whom is eventually given its own form different from Banner in a very Jekyll and Hyde fashion. The movies however completely ignore this idea even to such an extent that a character tells him roughly“I control my anger infinitely more than you do” almost as though it were a competition as to who has suffered more. Bruce Banner’s trauma was downplayed so parents would take their children to see his movies.

To me this is a very personal essay. I want to love the MCU as blindly as I did as a child. But I have found that the more source material I read. That harder that becomes. A character in Daredevil once said roughly ‘To love something is to forget what you don’t like about it.’ If that be true then I no longer hold this same love. I fortunately believe in a different idea, that love is something that people love to think is inherently blind. But in reality, the most complex loves are the wary ones. I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however I grow more and more wary of the cinematic universe as I grow more and more in love with the comics.

[george228732]

A little fun fact about my AU here since AU Posting is busy.

You know that in several art pieces, I used Film Tape symbolism? My AU, basically can be interpreted as a theater play, in which the outcome is always a bad ending.

In context, Cosmounse made the script that way, and Fylass wants to rewrite the part of the script that's not written yet, based on countless other scripts he managed to see in back stage (Note, this is not literal, just an interpretation of certain outcomes based on that idea since the AU was partly written with that interpretation in mind, that's why in my fic, the names of the chapters are from other stories or plays).

Which for it, means that Fylass helped in changing the ending, with the help of the others, reason on why some parts of my AU seem to be very fitting in the context of a play. I made jokes about Fylass "Undooming the Doomed narrative" but it's not really that much of a joke, which pretty much implies that if no one had done anything or be made aware of what was happening, my AU would've always ended up in a hypothetical Bad Ending.

Besides the religious take on it that's basically what happened in the Garden of Eden with Fylass being Lucifer, and Adam and Eve being the ones he loves. The Apple is the "Forbidden Knowledge" so in this context is basically The Truth and yet another reason why Fylass' main color is Red.

It kinda goes along with the lines of Fylass hating Magolor! Just that in Magolor's case, He's both Jesus and Judas, but in Fylass' case, God and the Devil are one and the same, since at the end of the day, you can figure out he has both roles. Fylass did bring down the Pardus Clan with him, like how Lucifer brought down Adam and Eve, but also in Popstar he tries to take the role of a messiah figure to save 4 people, also why Crowned Fylass both takes inspiration from the bible and pagan holidays, with the main one being Walpurgisnacht (Witches Night).

Also for more parallels, Walpurgisnacht was a celebration for the person "Saint Walpurga" who seemingly kept the witches away from the masses and healed the sick, not too dissimilar from how Fylass behaves with the Dream Team and Wave Three. And last but not least, it was rumored that Saint Walpurga was a witch herself, and the reason why Fy is a basilisk, which are creatures that are kings of serpents, fire, and usually come from Hell.

Now Niru

Niru, for the ones that don't know, is Void Termina when Kirby was still part of him, being the body that surrounds Void's Soul. He is often associated with Water, but specifically fluids in general, since he's meant to be something that flows as time passes. He gave impurities and some darkness to his creations to truly enforce free will, but overall, he was sad seeing his creations be sad over these things and knowing that if they believe in god, they would be begging for them to cleanse their sorrows, so at one point, he regretted his decision and started to slowly consume those impurities himself, being something like, carry the burden of others upon himself, but eventually this made him lose himself in corruption and became Void Termina.

Before he was sealed though a part that wasn't corrupted by the Darkness was separated from him and became Kirby, while the Darkness that got loose in battle became 0, who can reincarnate constantly thanks to Niru's impurities.

At the end of the AU, both parts reunite, and Kirby swears that he, along with the others will help him carry the burden and cleanse him of his Impurities, something they achieve.

In terms of Motifs, if Fylass' motifs are religious, Niru's are Cosmic.

Normally, when a Star gathers insane amounts of energy, they explode and become supernovas, a thing that parallels Niru but instead of Exploding, he gets consumed by a Black Hole he did himself.

Also the fact that he's based on Owls, being Night Birds, and Lovecraftian Entities, specially Cthulhu, who belong to Cosmic Horror.

He also shares a motif with time and a play along with Fylass and Cosmounse

If Fylass is the Pendulum and the script writer, and Cosmounse is the hands and the Director, Niru is the Hours and the Play itself, or rather, he's the End Roll.

Also he's based on The Happy Prince

[ofrunestoruins]

Introducing Rune ✨️

Hello! I'm Rune! If you saw my name as something different on my blog before I changed it, no you didn't haha

Anyways, some quick facts about me:

🦊 I'm nonbinary, (Although more along the lines of gender fluid) 🦊 I'm 24 (Give or take a few days) 🦊 I love languages, history, writing, tea, and have a special connection with foxes; I tend to study pretty frequently in my free-time and I also love a good ttrpg, video game, and book. 🦊 I'm Polish American but sadly the only thing passed down from my grandparents were those lovely, lovely polish recipes, and they passed long before I can ask them more about how they grew up, so you may see some content on this blog about me discovering my roots as a Polish American from Appalachia living (suffering) in the south haha 🦊 I'm also striving to learn herbalism, but non in a crunchy, conservative way (Because yes, that does need to be clarified these days it seems) 🦊 I hate bigots and I WILL stand on business if you try to come on my blog and interact with me if you're one of them. (Aka I will block you if you are anything from a neo-nazi, to a terf, to a homophobe. Do not interact with me if you're gonna hate on others for being who they are.) 🦊 And finally- I love baking and cooking, so there might be a bit of flare of that as well.

Now, onto some facts about my practice:

🦊 I am.. very heavily pagan. Specifically Norse and Hellenic, however I've recently been looking into Celtic, and Slavic Paganism 🦊 Although rn I'm more of an eclectic witch, I'm currently building my craft from the ground up with a much heavier focus on folk magic. I will be splitting content, however, across 3 blogs. This one will be more basic, lighthearted stuff, things I wanna review first, take my time with, or very introductory; @ofwoodandash which will cover more intense, darker, and more specialized topics including but not limited too: Seiðr, traditional witchcraft, Appalachian Witchcraft, Spirit Work, chthonic aspects and the like; and finally @apagansprayers which will cover things more religious in Nature, mostly as a digital prayer book and personal e-shrine to the deities I worship, as actual information may be reblogged here (To this blog you're reading this from),, I'm still.. debating how to use that blog specifically BUT that´s a general outline. 🦊 I also have almost a decades worth of experience with Tarot, Oracle, and Pendulum readings, and I'm also currently learning the Runes

With that being said, I believe that covers enough of the basics, but! If you ever have any questions about me or my practice or just wanna chat- feel free to send me an ask or a message! I'd love to chat!

Check out Rune's Tag Masterlist for a handy guide on how to navigate this blog! (Will be posted soon)

[streganonalearns]

For those of us who have converted to paganism from another religion, how do you tackle praying?

I don’t know if I should treat it similarly or completely different to praying in my old religion and I’m struggling with that. Every time I get to the end of a prayer or just talking to them I feel like I need to sign off like I used to but I know that word doesn’t really apply here.

Does anyone else struggle to deconstruct their idea of what religion is like especially when transitioning from a very rigid rule set to a more fluid and solo sort of practice?

[allthesunlightwecansee]

The (Un)seriousness of My Practice

I just got done watching a short podcast episode on being an unserious witch, and it helped me to articulate some thoughts and feelings that I’ve been having over the past year. About a year ago now, I had a kind of breakthrough where I figured out how to connect with witchcraft and paganism, instead of vaguely calling myself a “person who wishes they were more spiritual,” like I had for several years prior to that. Not to sound like a YA romance novel, but my spiritualism was a slow build up that then hit me all at once that year. As I’m sure a lot of people on Tumblr will relate to, it was a really exciting seven months or so of figuring myself out before life got really stressful and overwhelming, and my spirituality kind of fell to the wayside. However, even during that period of excitement, it wasn’t like I was performing spells every day or doing elaborate rituals and ceremonies like some witches do (though I’m well aware the vast majority do not). Instead, that year involved a lot of reading and learning and altar building, since I am a collector at heart. I think I finally settled into kind of a routine with my spirituality, which I have come to accept, even though it isn’t what I thought it would look like.

Something that I find a bit intimidating about the Internet in general is seeing people who look like they have everything put together. Some practicing witches online clearly do make their whole lives revolve around their practice, particularly those who have turned it into a career via social media or YouTube. That’s a perfectly acceptable way to practice obviously, but it does mean that online spaces tend to feel a little gatekept sometimes when it comes to unserious witchcraft. I would definitely label my practice as being unserious; I rarely create spells at this point, I am very colloquial with the deities that I work with and honor, some of my altars are built almost solely around my need to house certain books (though I am quite deliberate in what deities I create altars for), I enjoy collecting crystals over working spells, and a lot of my spirituality revolves around feeling and the visual, physical objects that I have acquired for my various altars. I can think of several witchcraft Youtubers that I like and whose content I enjoy that would say that I am not a witch because of how I practice, which doesn’t reflect how I actually feel about myself and my practice. For me, spirituality feels more fluid than that. The fact that I create some spells and hold sacred space for my deities still falls under the realm of witchcraft, even though that’s not what works for other people. I have found that having discrete alters for different deities and purposes, makes it easier for me to connect with my spirituality, because I find that adding to altars, lighting, candles, leaving long-term spells, and other forms of magic work better for me personally.

Because of that, while I am not a serious witch in that witchcraft and spirituality do not rule my life, the practice that I do have, however minimal, does fill a gap that was missing in my life. I have also realized that a minimal practice isn’t a bad thing; it’s why their entire podcasts devoted to small magical practices (my favorite is Demystifying Magic), in addition to YouTube channels and accounts that depict serious career witches. It also means that I still keep my other hobbies, and that witchcraft has not become my primary “hobby,” so to speak. I have collected action figures and dolls for over a decade now, which encompasses all of my teenage and adult life. While I know some witches abide by notions of lowering consumption and just generally having a quieter living space, my living space is completely decked out in my various collections, and that hasn’t changed since I pinned down an evolving form of my spirituality. I think some people would see me as incredibly unserious for doing that, but I don’t feel as though one part of myself has to eclipse the other, just because it is more metaphysical in nature. I also know that I have a lot more learning and growing to do in my practice as I figure out what I believe in and what I want to take with me, but I don’t anticipate the physicality of how I practice changing anytime soon. In other words, my unserious practice doesn’t have less value just because it is not elaborate, and I am more secure in that now than I was a few months ago.

[polarisdelphi]

Continuing my Arthurian concepts, Lancelot of the Lake (I wanted it to be Lancelot du Lac, but alas, it looked really bad on his sheet, with the fancy font and all). As I did with Arthur, we have Lancelot and his sword - again, I just have a thing for designing fancy swords :')

His whole concept is blue, because you know... Of the Lake. Child of Avalon. It had to be blue hahaha every detail on his sword/armour is to look like plants, fountains and water.

I also wanted his sword to have that ~clashing~ of fluid like fountain shapes and rectangular, harsh line shapes because even if he is water, he is also constant in his loyalty, beliefs and is someone you can rely on.

(oh I told you guys I have some hot takes regarding Lancelot, Guinevere and all that... 'TIS LOTTIE TIME NOW)

Also did the whole ~testing Photoshop layers thing~ again and, lo and behold, we have some vitral looking version of Lancelot. It can also be him during one of the rituals in Avalon, who knows ;)

More ramblings on my version of Lancelot, what I thought during his design, who he is to me as a character and why he has that insufferable smug smile, under the cut below hahahaha

(fangirling? yes, fangirling over arthurian legend, yee been warned)

First things first: YES, Ioan Gruffud.

I fell in love with Lancelot because of him in the 2005 King Arthur movie and that is FOREVER the vision I have of Lancelot, this man has SINGLE-HANDEDLY made me believe he is a loyal friend and a little shit at the same time and there is NO room for another Lancelot in my mind.

I fucking love him so much

The 2005 movie is one of my favourite versions (I was 13 when I first watched it, he was my teenage crush, I'll love it to death) - but it does leave a lot of the characters out to create a whole other story on its own. I love it, but there's so much more on Arthurian Legend we can work on!

My Lancelot, then: yes, prince of Benoic. Taken by Avalon, raised by the Lady of the Lake, ruthless in combat. Best Knight of the Round Table, could even be better than Arthur (some say), and fiercely loyal to his companions and commander.

One hell of a womanizer, though. This man can't see a good looking woman - or even man, for that matter - without starting to flirt and say some things that would make even the gods flush. Everyone laughs while Galahad wants to die every single time Lancelot's flirty mode is ON.

Pretty useful when they have more stealthy missions that require lying, deception and cheating - be it men or women, Lancelot's charm will NEVER fail.

(other more "brutish" Knights, so to speak, say it's his Avalon ✨ pixie charm ✨ - and really, the man doesn't disagree)

Even if he is very loyal to his friends, brothers in arms, and his beloved Arthur, he can't be like that in romances, though. Lancelot's love is a quick flame that burns down an entire forest in the blink of an eye and it's put out quickly with a heavy rain the day after, while Arthur's love is a lingering fire on a winter night, keeping his lovers warm and away from harm as long as it has wood or coal to burn.

That's why I chose to give Lancelot a more reliable look with all the rectangular shapes, constant stripes and more of a "bulky" look compared to Arthur (Arthur has more of a slim-strong constitution). But he also has some sharp points, because of how dangerous he is, and the ever flowing shapes of the water of Avalon - like his very flowy dark blue cape.

He's always covered in blood too. He is the best Knight, he has no problems when it comes to killing, and he doesn't have Arthur's moral compass. If he has to be ruthless, he will be.

(told ya this man lives rent free in my head)

And that's very important to his character, in my opinion. Lancelot is a pagan, he doesn't mind bloodshed, and he certainly has no issues with giving in to lust and earthly pleasures. There is no Heaven to judge him, and no Hell to burn him. He is fatally human. Not trying to be better and to go on a moral high horse when his hands are covered in blood and his only talent is death - just surviving his times as he can.

HENCE - and brace yourselves for hot take time! - why he loves Guinevere, but he's in NO WAY a better man than Arthur. He would stop his flirting and womanizing shenanigans for her, but WHY would she give up someone so absurdly upstanding and unreal like Arthur for him? And he doesn't want her to. She deserves better than him. He loves being around her, his heart aches, but how many hearts hasn't he broken? It's kind of a poetic justice sort of thing in his view.

And he wouldn't sleep with her, not when she loves Arthur and Arthur loves her so fucking much. He might be a little shit, yes, sassy, bitter, hedonistic and even annoying at times - but he is loyal. He doesn't love easy, and when he does, he loves hard. And he loves Arthur too much to do the one thing that would destroy the man he would give his life for.

He's a bastard, but he does have standards. A bastard with feelings :)

Jokes aside, this is, again, MY take on Lancelot. MY Lancelot, is all fun and games, will argue religion with every single catholic/christian he meets on his way, will get covered in blood during battle, will kill with no remorse, will drink with no remorse, will indulge in sex and break hearts with no remorse.

But he will give his life for his friends - he will sacrifice everything for those he loves, and his loyalty can never be bought - for in the end of the day, if he's lying on the grass choking in his own blood, he knows those are the ones who would come to his aid. He knows Arthur would rather die for him than watch him die - even if Lancelot thinks this would be the utmost stupid-est and unfairest thing to ever do.

The world deserves and needs an Arthur in it - not a Lancelot.

In my Arthurian Legend, this is his character, this is who he is. A lot more darkness and existential dread, pleasures and adrenaline rushes in battle to cover up how flawed he thinks he is - even if bards sing of his heroic feats, his reputation is that of a hero and women everywhere swoon upon hearing his name, painting him as a knight in shining armour.

He's not - he's a womanizer in a blood stained armour, pledging his killing skills to someone who has a better, idealistic view of the world and higher moral standards than him.

If you read all of this, thank you for coming to my TED Talk, and do know I suffered immensily not making him a dual-wielding killing powerhouse.

[bandofchimeras]

Buckle up cuz this is a longpost about Jewish conversion & transsexual identity.

A friend joked, "why do all the bad Catholic girls become good Jewish boys?" when I told them of my conversion.

which sure, it's a bit funny how common it is to find Jewish convert trans men.

but for me the joke formula is a bit off. I consider myself a Good (read: prudish, rule enforcing, obsessively observant) Catholic girl to a bad (read: indolent, irreverent, skeptical, punk ass) Jewish boy.

I had to ask myself, what does it mean to enter a religious tradition and outright declare oneself "bad"? Why do I even want to be part of the Jewish people?

Well it has to do with autonomy & reactivity.

Catholicism was forced upon my natural psyche, much like girlhood. I was assigned Catholic and Girl at birth.

To cope, aside from moments of lapse and rebellion that would explode out now and again, I strove to be "good," to exactingly follow this assignment, perfectly study all its rules and craft the perfect image of what was desired of me to wear as a mask over my realer, neglected and deeply wounded self.

Breaking free of both those constraints in rapid order, there was no going back. I would never again be a Catholic, bad or otherwise, or a girl, feminist or otherwise. Yet in my heart of course, I will always be a Catholic girl with the attendant moods and desires and shapes of understanding that it required me to take.

Now, in conversion and in transition - there is a choice. I could remain nonbinary, fluid, in constant flux, agnostic, ungrounded, dynamic and in conversation with the questions of the world. For a time I thought yes this is who I really am. Not seeing, of course, this is who we all are at our core. Living in that non-identity and infinite identity at once for a time spiritually reconnected my soul back to its own shapelessness and shape shifting power.

But there comes a time when life requires you make some commitments. This is not to say nonbinary or gender fluid people must pick a side. Some folks need to carve out something different entirely. But while my soul remains genderfluid, pagan and animist, I felt the need for communal identity and a structure to build myself on in the world. What aligned most was ftm transexuality, and Judaism, both strains of music I'd been hearing since early childhood, hints and leads all along the way.

See it's that, the formless mischievous spirit within me takes on the shape of a Jewish boy reconnecting with his Slavic roots.

But! In having so much a choice in this (not really, but it was a choice to follow the path that called my name), means it is my Identity. And while Judaism comes with a large set of rules, guidelines, practices and a huge long tradition of scholarship to draw on, and while I did hear jokes about and feel concerned about the similarity of Jewish and Catholic guilt ....none of that has been much of a problem. I'm a very bad and rules avoidant little punk. I tried for a minute to be a "good" man and it fucking failed, fell flat on my face and in the end had to laugh at my attempts. I'm kind of a slut, a fag and a sleazebag. I do what I want, no matter how I try, and that's that. Judaism, I hoped would be a forcefield of community to help me hold onto morality and find a light of belonging in the darkness.

Post October 7th, it has become exceedingly clear that no, it will not be the institutions of Judaism that light this candle, but the weirdos, the queers, the witches and outcasts and converts in conflict. Judaism, as a spiritual /shape/ has a home for us in the corners even though the solidified institutions are entrenched in Zionism. It breaks my heart to pieces but I feel lucky to have seen it before formally converting. It's the storytellers that means the most to my heart, the subaltern keepers of memory. The survivors.

So I revel in being a bad Jew before I am finished becoming one, embracing the role of black sheep before even entering the fold, and will not fight against it.

Similarly, allowing my masculinity to be odd, offbeat and expressive - I did get beat down into a kind of cishet conformity for survival for awhile, and I'm not talking about feminizing my expression, but just being a weird fucking guy who violates male social contracts by existing as myself.

There's a freedom in renouncing desire for recognition, validation and asserting oneself (with humility!) in a tradition while still embracing it. Like hah! You can't get rid of me, I'm the pest assigned by G-d to question your assumptions unto my own exclusion, or relate freely to G-d, look them in the eyes while praying. I have an attitude and I'm not good, and don't care to be. Nothing has illustrated this more beautifully than the graphic novel The Rabbi's Cat. In which the figure of the dog and the cat play out as different orientations towards Hashem and Judaism itself.

There is room for all of us. If you don't think so, okay. We will keep making room for ourselves anyhow.

Meow meow.

[dragon-for-the-day]

Pinned post, woohoo!

Welcome, we are The Celestial Sea System. 💫 We are a medically recognized traumagenic DID system of some 100 odd members and yes, most of us are quite odd. This blog is going to be a hub for all of us although some members have individual side blogs. This blog belonged to a previous host who has since split but we don’t want to lose the blog or all the memes and memories we have stashed on it. Here there will be shit posting, personal ramblings, fandom content, memes, trans content, autistic content, current events and what ever else we feel like posting. Maybe even some mild nsfw, so be warned! We will try to tw any common sense triggering topics but do not have the memory capacity to tag numerous specific things.

Talk to us about: D&D, Overwatch, Critical role, Crystals, Jewelry making, Psychology, The Magnus archives, Kink, Birds, Flowers, X-Men, Paganism, Comedy, Sociology, Gravity falls, Scrapbooking, The adventure zone, Writing.

Collective info:

Name: Cece

Age: Bodily 25

Pronouns: Any/All/Surprise us

Mental health: Adhd, autism, DID, OCD

Other: Artist, disabled, mixed, gender-fluid

Notes: We contain a vast ocean of spite, we communicate a lot in sarcasm, we swear a lot, we are very comfortable with nsfw topics and talk casually about them a lot, we smoke and drink regularly, we often use tone tags and appreciate them but they aren’t necessary, we are forgetful as heck feel free to poke us and remind us of things like replying to messages, we are fictive heavy and still learning about the depth of our system, DMs and asks are always open but we reserve the right to delete and block freely, please do not interact with us if you are under 18 we do not have a good enough filter for that, minors do not interact please.

Tags:

the sea speaks: Persona rambling, we may tag who’s talking we may not

save for x: Save for tags are things we want our headmates or friends/partners to see. We have a whole bunch of them (save for clover, save for the pack, etc!

Frequent fronters and their blogs below the cut.

Maize: she/her @maizegirl (nsfw)

Kane: he/him, no blog yet

Clover: she/her @dragonbunnybabe

Kc: he/him, no blog yet

Sparrow: he/him @pretty-bitch-bird (nsfw)

Koda: he/they @kittens-and-cryptids

Verrick: he/him, no blog yet

Tae: they/them @the-wizard-says

Alexei: he/him (ask for his blog, nsfw)

Jean: he/him @bandages-and-bullets

Dirk: he/him, no blog yet

Dove: she/her, no blog yet

Gabe: he/him @reapingthememories

Aria: she/they @theghostlyram

Orym: he/him @his-singing-blade

Will be added too as needed.

[sororalice]

On The Blessedness Of Fire

A homily for Beltane 2024.

Dearly Beloved,

A very blessed Beltane to all those in the Northern Hemisphere and a very blessed Samhain to all those in the Southern Hemisphere!

The Gaelic word “beltane” means “bright fire”, and historically the celebration of Beltane involved the lighting of the Beltane fire, around which cattle were driven, over which people leapt and danced, and from which the extinguished fires of the community—the fires of their hearths and stoves, lamps and forges—would be ceremonially relit each year. And likewise Samhain, celebrated now by our siblings in the Southern Hemisphere, has historically been celebrated with great bonfires. Given this dual significance to this blessed moment, I am moved to speak today on the blessedness of fire.

As apprentices, we learn that fire is one of the five elements, and that it signifies passion, intensity, and inspiration. Perhaps we learn formulae like that of the Tetragrammaton and the Pentagrammaton, and thus learn that fire is a beginning, a holy place where a spark gives rise to all creation. And like all true formulae of magick, we find that science comes to agree with us, that now the physicists and cosmologists agree with the ancient mages that all existence began with a spark, with an explosion, with fire. The insight of our ancestors into fire was a real insight, not mere symbolism or metaphor: reality indeed began with fire. So what else can we know about fire? What else does fire have to teach us? What is the essential secret of fire?

Fire burns.

Fire, when balanced with the other elements and unified through spirit, provides dynamic motion and action to the gestalt that is the Formula of the Pentagram, thus guiding us in both our magick and our mysticism. Fire is our inspiration, and it is upon our inspiration that the Great Work depends. And fire is our passion, which motivates us and gets us moving when the forces of inertia would otherwise keep us still.

But like all of the elements, fire is a dual phenomenon. It can warm our homes, cook our food, and give us light by which to see…and it can cause devastation beyond all imagining. Within its beautiful flickering lives the secrets of both life and death. Magickally, spiritually, and physically, fire is often the agent of transformation, rendering the fixed fluid and the fluid fixed, and transformation can be painful, even excruciating. For generations, we have lived in fear of atomic fire raining down from the clouds, and the “Book of Revelation” of St. John of Patmos teaches that our universe will someday end in fire. As it was in the beginning, so it shall be in the end:

Fire burns.

But what does fire burn? What is its fuel? As pagans, we believe in a naturalized theology, so what can nature teach us about fire? In nature, fire requires two things to burn: air and fuel. Air, of course, is our reason and our communication, the blade and the bridge, the stick and the rope. But what is the fuel? Well, water can’t be fuel for fire, obviously; water can boil away, but it cannot properly burn. And fire cannot be its own fuel, because left to itself fire just burns out. So we are left with earth…the physical realm, the planet itself, and our own bodies.

That’s right. We’re the fuel. Fire burns. It motivates and transforms and inspires…and it will eventually burn us up. It will give us heat and drive, passion and transformation…and one day it will be finished transforming us. Our ancestors leapt and danced over the flames to take them in, to be inspired and fertile with the power of fire, and we leap and dance with them in our celebrations of this moment, this sacred and blessed moment when the light in the north returns and the light in the south recedes, and we remember the holy secret, the lesson of fire:

Fire burns.

Happy Beltane and Samhain.

In love,

Soror Alice

Art: Walter Crane, “A Garland For May Day”, 1895