#recommend this book so so so much. dm me if you want a pdf

[trans-axolotl]

Image description: [Screenshots of pages from Brilliant Imperfection by Eli Clare. Text reads:

Your Suicide Haunts me.

Bear, it’s been over a decade since you killed yourself, and still I want to howl. I feel anguish and rage rattling down at the bottom of my lungs, pressing against my rib cage. If ever my howling erupts, I will take it to schoolyards and churches, classrooms and prisons, homes where physical and sexual violence lurk as common as mealtime. I know many of us need to wail. Together we could shatter windows, bring bullies and perpetrators to their knees, stop shame in its tracks.

Once a week, maybe once a month, I learn of another suicide. They’re friends of friends, writers and dancers who have bolstered me, activists I’ve sat in meetings with, kids from the high school down the road, coworkers and acquaintances, news stories and Facebook posts. They’re queer, trans, disabled, chronically ill, youth, people of color, poor, survivors of abuse and violence, homeless. They’re too many to count.

Bear, will you call their names with me? It’s become a queer ritual, this calling of the names—all those dead of AIDS and breast cancer, car accidents and suicide, hate violence and shame, overdoses and hearts that just stop beating. The names always begin wave upon wave, names filling conference halls, church basements, city parks. Voices call one after another, overlapping, clustering, then coming apart, a great flock of songbirds, gathering to fly south, wheeling and diving—this cloud of remembrance. Then quiet. I think we’re done, only to have another voice call, then two, then twenty. We fill the air for thirty minutes, an hour, a great flock of names. Tonight, will you sit with me? Because, Bear, I can’t sleep.

I remember your smile, your kindness, your compassionate and fierce politics. I remember our long e-mail conversations about being disabled and trans. I remember a brilliant speech you gave at True Spirit, a trans gathering in Washington, DC. I remember you telling me about how you’d disappear for months at a time when your life became grim, how you’d do anything not to go to a psych hospital again. I remember your handsome Black queer trans disabled working-class self. And then, you were gone.

The details of your death haunt me. You had checked yourself in. You were on suicide watch. I imagine your desperation and suffering. I know racism, transphobia, classism colluded. The nurses and aides didn’t follow their own protocols, not bothering to check on you every fifteen minutes. You were alive and sleeping at 5:00 a.m. and dead at 7:00 a.m.; at least that’s what their records say. Did despair clog your throat, panic coil in your intestines? In those last moments, what lingered on your tongue? I know about your death as fleetingly as your life.

Bear, I’d do almost anything to have you alive here and now, anything to stave off your death. But what did you need then? Drugs that worked? A shrink who listened and was willing to negotiate the terms of your confinement with you? A stronger support system? An end to shame and secrecy? As suffering and injustice twisted together through your body-mind, what did you need?

I could almost embrace cure without ambivalence if it would have sustained your life. But what do I know? Maybe your demons, the roller coaster of your emotional and spiritual self, were so much part of you that cure would have made no sense. You wrote not long before your death, “In a world that separates gender, I have found the ability to balance the blending of supposed opposites. In a world that demonizes non-conformity, I have found the purest spiritual expression in celebrating my otherness.”

Yes, Bear. I know that truth. Your otherness was a beautiful braid— your hard-earned trans manhood looping into your Black self, wrapped in working-class smarts and resilience, woven into disability, threaded with queerness. I saw you last in an elevator at True Spirit. You told me that you were spending the weekend hanging out with trans men of color. I can still see your gleeful smile, sparkling eyes.

Friend, what would have made your life possible with all its aches and sorrows? I ask as someone who has gripped the sheer cliff face of suicide more than once. Calling the names exhausts me. Your death exhausts me. The threat, reality, fact of suicide exhausts me. Its arrival on the back of shame and isolation exhausts me. Bear, will you come sit beside me tonight? I’m too exhausted to sleep.]

From Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure by Eli Clare, pages 63-64.

This passage has stuck with me since I first read it and I find myself returning over and over, especially in the times I want to be gentle to my grief.

Thought I'd share it with you all right now <3

[librarycards]

Hello! I am trying to read “the right to maim” by jasbir k puar and I am getting almost nothing out of it, bc of the depth + breadth of academic concepts :( I’m particularly frustrated by it bc it seems to talk about subjects I think about, talk about and do daily, like disability, transness, and (anti)colonialism. I’m most of the way through the intro and it’s gone almost entirely over my head except for a couple isolated paragraphs that are meaningful.

Do you have any advice for how I can get the most out of this book? My main limiter is time, bc I got it out from the library and it is highly requested so I can’t have it for very long

Hi anon! First of all, in terms of time, I recommend piracy. I recommend it in general. I'm not going to post links here in order to protect the places I use, but dm me if you want them.

If you're having difficulty with the concepts (which makes sense - right to maim is a challenging book!) I recommend going back to basics with some background reading. You can get some of Puar's rec'd background reading from the bibliography, and from the keywords she uses in the preface of the text. a few that I see (i'm looking at the PDF now) include debility, rhizome/rhizomatic, soverignty, biopolitics, homonationalism, impairment [in the disability studies sense], precarity, and neoliberalism. if i was teaching this preface, i'd have students break down each of these terms (and probably others, this is just from a skim) using outside readings. it's totally normal to feel overwhelmed when jumping into a scholarly text w/o any context, and most people who use and cite this book have past experience reading Puar's interlocutors and existing familiarity with this language.

you can get up-to-date while reading using resources in tandem with this text. For example, you can read Puar's discussion of debility at that link to get a sense of the context. You can read a decent summary of Foucault (the coiner of the term "biopower") and his thought at Brittanica. I recommend using Google Scholar for terms you're not familiar with, and taking quick notes so that you don't have to google them all over again each time. if you think you have enough context with a new word but aren't 100%, keep reading and use other clues. think about academic reading like learning a new language. the strategies are very similar! because it basically is.

I recommend using the annotation strategies i just mentioned in this post (and/or developing your own). i also recommend looking up Puar's talks on youtube - she's a well-known scholar who does a lot of events, and has spoken extensively about this book and its genealogy (especially in relation to praxis / Palestinian liberation). You can also read her talk with the hosts of Death Panel, my absolute favorite podcast.

Below, I'm going to give you an example of how I close-read, annotate, and analyze a paragraph from Right to Maim (and, by extension, other academic texts. This strategy may not work for you 100%, but hopefully it gives you some solid suggestions. Overall, remember that learning to read scholarly work takes time. A long ass time. Even when it's about things you've experienced yourself! Academia has its own conventions, verbiage, knowledge base, etc, and it's a learning curve for everyone. Don't expect yourself to read as fast or get as much as someone more familiar with the conventions of academic writing - anticipate reading all of these works many, many times, and getting more with each reading. Progress is more important than perfection, and improvement, even if slow, *will* happen, as long as you don't give up. <3

Below is a quote from the preface to Right to Maim, where Puar lays out her argument. I recommend everyone highlight/remember paragraphs like these (pretty much every ac text will have something like this in the beginning as a roadmap) to anchor their reading practice and help them get the most from a book (emphasis mine):

In The Right to Maim, I focus less on an impor­tant proj­ect of disability rights and disability studies, which is to refute disability as lack, as inherently undesirable, and as the sign, evidence, or fetish of injustice and victimhood. I am not sidestepping this issue. Rather, I centralize the quest for justice to situate what material conditions of possibility are necessary for such positive reenvisionings of disability to flourish, and what happens when those conditions are not available. My goal ­here is to examine how disability is produced, how certain bodies and populations come into biopoliti­cal being through having greater risk to become disabled than ­others. The difference between disability and debility that I schematize is not derived from expounding upon and contrasting phenomenological experiences of corporeality, but from evaluating the vio­lences of biopo­liti­cal risk and metrics of health, fertility, longevity, education, and geography.

In the bolded part, Puar outlines what she's not doing: she's not taking a mainstream (white, colonial) disability studies approach, which is, in her words, to refute disability as "lack." She's stating that her goal isn't simply to prove disabled people as equal to able-bodied people, or to claim that disability can be good and liberating (though it is/can be!). Her point is to look at the conditions in which people become disabled, and stay disabled. Often, these conditions are violent and unjust. Acknowledging this injustice kinda throws a wrench into western models of disability pride.

So, if she's not interested in just arguing that disability ≠ badness, what is she arguing? she's looking, in the latter half of the paragraph, to how people become disabled in multiple ways. One, using the verbiage in the book, she's interested in how people become debilitated - physically incapacitated in a way that may not line up with the social category of "disability"). She's also interested in how "disability" as a social identity is constructed - that is, why do disability rights groups look at Palestinians maimed by the IOF and see an injured civilian, but not a disabled comrade? words and context matter immensely. she's looking at why, and what are the implications.

that last sentence sums up the distinction she's making: "The difference between disability and debility that I schematize is not derived from expounding upon and contrasting phenomenological experiences of corporeality, but from evaluating the vio­lences of biopo­liti­cal risk and metrics of health, fertility, longevity, education, and geography."

the difference, she argues, between disability as western disability studies sees it and debility as experienced by people under colonial occupation isn't because we experience our bodyminds differently, or because Palestinians (for example) magically aren't as hurt by occupation as their white/western counterparts would be. rather, the reason she's using debility over disability is because the category of disability isn't objective: it's informed by biopolitical forces such as the ones she listed. her meta-argument is that what we call "disability" can't be divorced from its settler colonial context, not because colonized peoples are immune to disabling violence, but because the category of disability (and health, and violence) is itself affected by settler colonialism.

in "right to maim," Puar is offering a major shift in the way we collectively discuss disability, because the category is not applied equally across sociopolitical, geographical context. it means Palestinians and others living under occupation are either left out entirely, or unsuccessfully co-opted into western-/colonizer-centric disability discourse that doesn't acknowledge the different conditions under which they live. ultimately, "right to maim" means to make that difference, and its implications, visible.

Let me know if this makes sense! it's wordy and tedious, but lots of academic texts are. i hope that breakdown helps you make some more sense of Puar's main argument/the architecture of the text, and maybe serves as a model for future engagement. :)

[gender-trash]

hi!

not to be abrupt or vaguely out of the blue, but do you have any fun recent book/music recs? you seem like you like cool stuff and my to read/ to listen list is looking sad. or film/tv recs anything goes.

yeah absolutely, i am basically always delighted to rec books/music!!

books (fiction):

the goblin emperor: i read this for the first time recently and was just completely charmed by it. recommended if you like plotty court intrigue fantasy with a good-sized pinch of conlang. me @ maia (the protagonist/pov character):

the scholomance trilogy: not exactly a deep cut, at least among tumblr users who read fantasy, but on the off chance you haven't read it: it's good.

a tale for the time being: okay so i don't normally into litfic but once in a blue moon i'll pick some up and it'll obliterate me. alternates between the pov of a japanese teenage girl's diary and the middle-aged author-insert character in british columbia who finds the diary after the girl tosses it into the pacific ocean; plays with time in a fun way. subtle magical realism my beloved.

(and there's no such thing as an easy job has a similar subtle magical realism vibe, but is overall much less of a tearjerker. highly recommend.)

several people are typing: a guy gets isekai'd into his work slack; the story is told entirely via slack messages. this is a super quick read, and very funny. especially if you have a job that involves using slack.

the machineries of empire series: aauauahahahahgggh i need one of those mspaint drawings of a stick figure covered in blood to describe my feelings on this one. fucked-up science fiction (you... COULD call it lesbian space atrocities, i suppose!) that drops you in on the deep end trying to figure out what all these words mean and then you slowly figure out that it's technical terminology describing the torment nexus that powers society. killer shit.

song for the basilisk: admittedly i did not read this particularly recently but i will take any opportunity to rec it. patricia a. mckillip writes really good high fantasy (check out how many times she shows up in the mythopoeic awards list!) and, of all the books of hers that i've read, this is my favorite.

danmei (chinese boys-love novels) in english translation is like half of what i've been reading lately -- my all time favorite is the scum villain's self-saving system, which has eaten my entire brain (it's good in itself; it's great for chewing on in the form of meta and fan activity), but i also recommend guardian (the third and final volume of the official english translation is the book i most recently finished reading) and devil venerable also wants to know (no official translation but this fan TL is quite decent; i bound myself a physical edition, so i also have a typeset PDF i'd be happy to DM you if you're interested.)

books (nonfiction):

(going to be briefer here, since you specifically asked for "fun" books and my nonfiction taste is a little unhinged.)

one of my current reads is michael szonyi's the art of being governed -- this is an academic monograph about how military families in the ming dynasty handled their obligations to the state. during the ming dynasty, it was possible for families to designate themselves "military families", which was a tax-advantaged status but obligated them to provide one (1) man to serve in the army at all times (so if he dies or deserts, eventually the family back home would have to cough up another one). (and, by "serve in the army", often what is meant is "you are employed by the military to farm, which is more or less what you would have done back home anyway.")

if you're the kind of guy who reads patio11's bits about money or enjoys ssc book reviews, you will likely also enjoy dan davies' the unaccountability machine, which is a brief exploration for a popular audience of the (dysfunctional) system dynamics of large institutions like corporations and governments. very accessible and nontechnical, but with pointers to the Deep Lore if you subsequently want to seek it out.

the world of the shining prince: this is a book about what it was like, culturally, to be an aristocrat in the heian period. since i have never in my life come within either 1,000 miles or 1,000 years of being a heian period aristocrat i find this deeply fascinating. however, my friends and family have started laughing at me whenever i bring up information about the heian period. read at your own risk.

sei shōnagon's pillow book: sei shōnagon was a heian period aristocrat! she seems to have enjoyed it, but it is something of a shame that she died approximately a thousand years too early to make a tumblr account, because otherwise i feel she would have LOVED blogging. i'm reading the penguin edition (trans. meredith mckinney) and it is, fortunately, quite thoroughly footnoted, but i haven't read any other translations so i don't know if there is a better one out there.

music:

today what i was listening to on loop was the chainsaw man ost, which is a mixture of, like, the usual sort of j-rock you find in a shōnen soundtrack and slow-paced atmospheric stuff, and somehow it works really well together. recently i've also been listening to this playlist a lot because it's the playlist i made for a fic i'm currently writing.

other songs i've been listening to this summer, in no particular order:

sungazer is music theory youtuber adam neely's jazz band; lately they've been experimenting with hypertuplets and i'm super into it.

sometimes i find electric six's vocalist really irritating and sometimes it's exactly the juice my brain needed, and i have no idea what controls this. possibly the phase of the moon.

spotify recommended me this song and i listened to it on loop for like an entire work day and then clicked on the artist name to learn more, which i didn't. googled the song just now while making this post and apparently it was in a video game? the more you know.

i've been listening to irontom a lot this summer (and, um, a lot of similar music that i eventually stuffed in a playlist entitled "music with blown-out audio channels"). it's just, you know, the vibe.

(if that's not enough, here's my "summer 2024" spotify playlist. go ham!)

film/tv:

somehow, "watching things" is a skill it is possible to be bad at, and baby i'm winning last place.

the one tv show i've managed to watch in i think the past four months is chainsaw man, mentioned above. personally i really like well-animated shōnen with a cool soundtrack and i don't care that much about its other qualities; however, the protagonist is a dipshit teenage boy whose greatest life ambition is to touch a boob, so if this frustrates you you probably won't enjoy it very much.

i really really wish more people would watch legend of hei, a chinese animated film in the same corner of concept-space as studio ghibli. it's cuteeeeeee <3333

maybe someday i'll finally finish watching oh my general, a cdrama (free on youtube!) about a female general (ye zhao) who for reasons gets in an arranged marriage with the emperor's dipshit nephew (zhao yujin). this is peak fucking content because ye zhao is constantly saying gay shit by accident and swanning about being cute/badass in probably-historically-dubious armor. also as with all cdramas the costuming is completely off the shits.

[rythyme]

Hello

First of all, I wanna say I got into dndads because of you and that got me into the dnd rabbit hole. I have always been interested in worldbuilding and the imaginary people in my head. I thought about writing books but I could never think of the end of a story. This has given me a possible structure to put them in. In DnD the story doesn't have to end. Thank you for that.

Previously you had posted or reblogged free dnd 5e resources, books. Or if you know any blogs that are helpful for beginner DMs, please recommend them.

If you can't find the post please ignore this.

Thank you for leading me down this wonderful path.

hi there!!! i'm so so thrilled to see this, and i'm honored to have introduced you to one of my favorite pastimes!! 🥹 dndads is such a fun podcast too - i always recommend it to anyone, dnd players or otherwise lol.

as for resources, here's what i have!

i do have a google drive link with all the official wizard of the coast books and pdfs (including 5e players handbooks, etc) but i will direct message those to you separately since it's, you know. wizards of the coast. (others can also feel free to message me for them)

here are a bunch of character sheet organized by character class

here's a super handy cheat sheet to remind you of everything that can be done on a turn

here's a folder with a bunch of unofficial fan-made resources - this includes pre-made mini campaigns and adventure modules, which i've used a lot. you can take one and modify it however much you need to fit your story. there's also a bunch of DM resources like random item generators, loot tables, puzzles, etc.

donjon random generators & map builders are the BEST for quickly creating encounters that are balanced, mapped, and full of loot

here's a random npc generator i've used a lot - perfect for when a player decides they want to know the entire life story of a shop keeper that didn't exist 2 seconds ago

medieval fantasy city generator is literally the most fun city / town / village map builder i've found

fantasy world map generator is also great if you've got a larger world to work on, you can do political maps, terrain, war maps, climate maps, p much anything all in one

aaaaand those are all the big ones i use most often! i usually use Trello to organize my DM notes and Roll20 to play with my friends virtually. if you need anything else specific feel free to reply here or send me a DM and I'll see what I've got :)

[overandundertarot]

UPDATED: PRIVATE/PERSONAL READINGS

Hello there! Welcome to my updated personal readings post. You can book a personal reading with me if you like my reading style and want to receive a reading personalised to you and your energy!

pre-announcement post with a little more info.

I have three main categories to choose from that differ in terms of price.

1. Quick Guidance/Single Question Reading:

As the name suggests this is a relatively short reading meant to answer a single question or provide some quick clarity on a matter. It is 1-2 paragraphs long. Expect to receive this reading in 1-2 days.

Price: 3 USD

2. Comprehensive General Reading:

This reading dives deeper to provide you with thorough and insightful analysis of your chosen topic. It is at the least 1 and half pages long. You can choose from any of the following categories of love, career, self development and spirituality, as well as outcomes and predictions. I recommend looking at the sample questions on my previous personal readings post here. Feel free to check them out as well as develop any questions of your own! You can expect to receive this reading in 3-4 days.

Price: 5 USD

3. Specific In-depth Readings:

These are specific readings for particular topics. They are super in depth and are designed to look at the topic from all angles to get as much insight and information as possible! These are limited to the options already laid out below;

3.1 Path to Abundance

This reading is intended to provide a step by step guidance for you to reach your ideal of abundance. We'll cover everything from how to pace yourself on your journey, unconcious and concious blocks you may have, areas of opportunity you have yet to tap into, where to best begin, hard truths you have to face and more!

3.2 Road To Your Future Spouse

This reading covers your journey to your future spouse. We'll cover issues such as what foundations need to be in place for union between you and your future spouse, the circumstances of your meeting, major obstacles to work through( yourself or them), why haven't you met them yet, signs and syncronicities to look out for and more!

3.3 Happily Ever After; Life After Marriage With Your Future Spouse

As the title suggests, this reading takes a peak into your married life with your future spouse! We'll look into how you two will cohabitate and your dynamic, future children, your lifestyle during the marriage, your inlaws and much more!

3.4 Who are they? Future Spouse Personality Reading

This reading is all about your future spouse and their personality! Who are they? What are their main character traits? Their likes and interests? Their history, their reputation, what you'll like most about them, what you will like least about them and more!

Price(for all the above); 10 USD

These readings take more time and energy to do so expect to recieve any of the above readings within this category after a week.

How To Book A Reading?

You can book a reading by sending the payment through this paypal link, and then dm me the screenshot with your email and your question! I will then send the reading as a pdf to your email. Feel free to elaborate more on the matter in your message though, this is a collaborative experience!

[honeymouthedtales]

Hi, i just wanted to say u made me upset this past 2 weeks.

For context, i am a literature major studying in Korea, so when I say i've been invested and reading 2-3 books/week. I MEAN IT. I only started reading fics 2015? When sm^t was still labeled lemon so point is, yes I read a lot a lot (books? about 400, fics? uncountable).

I used to read amazing fics (yoonmin) that has similar writing style as you! (Slow burn, the best kind of tropes)

I highly recommend you checking out:

The Songbird and the Sea by Misstermaia

Nyctophile by yururin

Both are yoonmin (BTS) but i highly suggest at least checking it out as your writing style suits fantasy the best like said authors. Anyways, I eventually dropped the kpop world (due to uni) around 2019-2020? then started stanning NCT, which made me know markhyuck and your fics.

I have to say, You have an amazing writing style and talent. I love the way you write! So refreshing and detailed, things you wont expect. Beautiful is truly an understatement. But due to one and other things (my life falling off, my independence, which took a toll on me and I started to not enjoy my hobbies and instead focused on putting food on the table).

This year as I was doing my internship out of Korea, in 2023, out of the blue I jumped and had the sudden urge to read honeymouthed and wildflowers. All because there was a cafe which had "Honey" & "Elderflowers" written in the number #6 of their menu. I dug up my old google drive and there it was. The book (ur fic) I devastated-ly dropped as I've had to do life— as everyone does. I read it from the beginning. Even if I used to read it 10-20? times from the start as I wait for the updates haha. When I reached the final page I saved it (it was page 339) I went to ur AO3 to find any updates, but it was gone. I searched on twt u posted it but it wasn't there on AO3. It broke my heart for a few weeks (quite frankly). It was like dejavu. the As my favorite author (The yoonmin one) quite literally stopped posting on ao3 which, I was broken as well (update; she still opened a patreon/kofi account in the end! hehe).

When I found out in ko-fi it was still there but it is inaccessible for un-logged in users. I immediately made one and is now pending for the invitation for the ao3 (i lost my old account :'()

nonetheless, I AM OVER THE MOON THAT UR STILL ACTIVE AND AMAZING AND DOING/RESTING WELL!

Hope this swimsuit fund helps! Stay happy & healthy always dear favorite author.

xo

oh no i'm so very sorry this happened ;; i privated fics during the AI craze when the ao3 higher-ups were saying they were looking forward to seeing what AI could do for fics and i was like not sure what i can do about it but i'd like at least to get my fics to be slightly less accessible ;; but i'm always willing to send out a pdf file if readers who don't have an account need one, just drop me a dm on twitter if it takes too long to get your registration done

also thank you, i'll check out your recs, thanks so much for the kofi, and if you're still in korea let's meet one day and i'll buy you a coffee back <3 hope you're doing well, be careful of the change in the weather these days!

[kamiana-ruzha]

yay! text commissions are opened!

From now on, I am willing and glad to take commissions, so, yeah, they are opened! Examples of my work can be found on my ao3. You can found way, way more details in my carrd, here we're just going over the essentials. Ukrainian version can be found on my twitter. Pinned post about me is here.

The price for 1 word = 0.9 ¢, so: ≥ 100 words = $0.9 ≥ 500 = $4.5 ≥ 1000 = $9 ≥ 1500 = $13.5 ≥ 2000 = $18 ≥ 2500 = $22.5 ≥ 3000 = $27, and so on, up to 5000 words = $45. 5k words is the most I am willing to work for a whole fic or a chapter. Every chapter for a multi-chapter fic will be handed as an individual commission. If I accidentally write too much, you won't be charged for more words than was agreed upon before. You can pay me via PayPal or IBAN.

My main fandoms are: > Transformers (TFP, TFE, WFC Trilogy, Live-action movies, G1. The list will be updated) > JJBA (until the "Stranger from foreign land" ark) > Witcher (books) > The Rookie > Stardew Valley > Your original characters, if I get enough background info

— I WILL NOT write: russian fandoms and au's, snuff, vore, coprophilia (scat) + urolagnia, pedophilia, emetophilia, feet and armpit fetishes, trans characters (as I doubt my authority to portray them properly) and real person fiction. — I MAY write, but you have to specify the idea as much as possible: eating disorders, rape/non-con and dub-con, cannibalism, pregnancy and kids, songfics, domestic and child abuse, underage and any physological disorders. — I WILL GLADLY write: angst, action scenes, graphic and detailed descriptions (of violence too), dead dove, AUs; nsfw with xenophilia, size difference, bdsm, etc; and all that doesn't leave me uncomfortable. If you are unsure if your idea falls under any restrictions, feel free to ask me! While I can write in both Ukrainian and English, I DO NOT translate for money, as I am not yet qualified. But if you wish your fic to be translated from one language to another -- feel free to dm me and I shall see what I can do. I leave myself the right to refuse working on your commission if I doubt my ability to fully create it or if it leaves me uncomfortable.

To commission me, email your idea with as most details as you can give to this email address: kamiana.ruzha@ukr.net I won't leave emails unanswered, but I can't promise to answer right away. I recommend to just fill out this form: > Fandom: > Pairing & Relationship (if applies): > Characters: > Rating and warnings: use ao3 terms, but specify what you want > Word count/price: how much are you willing to pay for > Type of fic: oneshot or multi chapter (commision each chapter seperately) > The idea, with as much details as possible. > Notes: just anything else you'd like for me to be aware of.

The commission will be done in 5 to 30 business days, depending on the word count. Please remember that I live in a country that is currently in war and is often attacked. I can't predict force majeures, and my schedule is pretty tight either way. Assume that the completion timeline is according to the list in my carrd, but I will let you know if that changes.

I will start working as soon as the invoice has been paid, fully or how discussed if you have a force majeure. While working on the fic, I will keep you updated and try my best to do so regularly. Before completion, I will only send you a few rough drafts of the plot, scenes, etc and proceed with them as you see fit, as I want to ensure you are satisfied with the final piece. After I finish the fic, I send you PDF file and ao3 link. If you wish, your name as the commisioner will stay anonymous. You CAN NOT repost the fic in any form, unless it's your OC's. In that case, you will receive a PDF file and I won't post it on my ao3. You will be allowed to repost and use it as long as you credit me as the author, and it doesn't violate copywrite rights.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, I won't bite :3

[kawaiisatanist]

[ID: Pink cursive glitter text reading "theistic satanism resources".]

Hi everyone! I wanted to make a new list of resources for you all, including books and some useful blogs to follow.

It's very important to get information from places other than Tumblr, so I thought I'd link you all some good places! Please DM me if you want me to add something!

A sidenote: please respect my boundaries. I'll put it up here for readibility.

[ID: Pink cursive glitter text reading "Respect my boundaries! NSFW blogs, terfs, truscum, pedos, nazis, Christians, sysmeds and exclusionists don't interact!".]

Thanks so much!

[ID: Pink cursive glitter text reading "Useful Links".]

In Satan's Honour - This website is pretty regularly updated and even has a patreon! There are a lot of thought provoking articles and great resources on there.

Spiritual Satanist - The website and blog is a great resource and the author is vocally anti nazi. She made a blog post about how nazis don't belong in the community a few years back. (Blog here)

Theistic Satanism - An older site, but plenty of worthwhile stuff on there. Several other sites are also maintained via this site!

Black Goat Cabal - Now shut down but the websites maintained by the above site. Lots of essays, rituals and advice.

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Devil Worshipper - Maintained by the same person who maintains the BGC and theistic satanism website. LOTS of great advice, sermons and even has a section for new theistic satanists.

Satan's Den - A lot of information on satanic magic & Satanism in general! There's also a blog attached to the website, so even more content.

Aleister Nacht - A lot of videos and information on Satanism. Has a list of Satanic holidays you can follow if you wish! Also has a Patreon!

In Praise Of Satan - A website about someone's personal journey with Satan. There's an FAQ section and some other information.

[ID: Pink cursive glitter text reading "Some good books".]

Here's a list of recommended reading from @saltsulphur! Some are PDFs, some aren't. A lot of very good books though!

At Satan's Altar - a book of prayers, chants, hymns ect. I believe Marie Ravensoul also has a website that I've linked! I'd recommend buying this if you can afford it - please don't pirate it as this person is an independent author.

Spiritual Satanist Prayer Book - A book of prayers and such by Venus Satanas - the author of a website I've previously linked. I'd recommend buying this if you can afford it - please don't pirate it as this person is an independent author.

[ID: Pink cursive glitter text reading "Other blogs".]

@saltsulphur / @bitteroccultist - Lucian is another very knowledgeable Satanist! He runs another blog, bitteroccultist, for blunt informational posts.

@satanourunholylord - A great person and a great resource for a lot of paths of Satanism & Norse Paganism! He's an agnostic Satanist and shares a lot of good information so he's definitely worth a follow!

[kndrules]

What are some tips for drawing plus size characters? I’m currently trying to practice drawing them more and would just like some advice, cuz I really like your art style!

I’m wanting to take any form of advice that I can because I don’t want to (I guess I’ll say) draw them incorrectly. Er, for better words, I just wanna draw them as best I can.

You get what I’m trying to say 😅

Hey! I'm sorry I didn't get to this sooner!

I'm super glad that you're making this effort, it's great to hear! My biggest piece of advice is practice figure drawing of fat models, there's a great resource for fat reference images at https://www.fatphotoref.com/ (You need a password for this site, and you'll need to DM @fugitiverabbit on twitter for the password, idk how active she is on tumblr).

I would also highly recommend this art book about fat and skin folds by Michel Lauricella: https://pdfcoffee.com/michel-lauricella-morpho-fat-and-skin-foldspdf-pdf-free.html (I've never downloaded from this site so proceed with caution and get the pdf elsewhere if you need to)

Another huge thing for me when I was learning (And I'm still learning) how to draw fat bodies was talking to my fat friends about it. They could tell me things like "a lot of fat people dont have visible collar bones and it's weird when thin people draw fat people with them" or "thin people always forget that theres a layer of fat underneith the stomach too"- things that you might not think about on your own. They know their own bodies. but also, know your friends and whether or not they'd be comfortable talking about that. These conversations happened organically for me.

I'm not good at art advice myself, but here's a couple things I think are important:

- The flesh connects at joints, so there won't be much fat on joints, but rather fat will hang off of them like this:

- Like I stated earlier, there is a layer of fat under the stomach, at the pubic area, though remember there's a huge amount of variety in people's bodies

- I still need to study hands more, but remember that hands can be fat too. They'll be less bony, and knuckles look more like dimples. Wrists will crease.

- Advice that really helped me understand how to draw double chins is that the actual chin will not move (sounds obvious but yknow). If you need to draw a basic face guideline first, you can locate the chin and that can help with drawing the rest of the face around it (idk this helped me, anyway)

- Some people have visible necks and some people don't. There is also a roll of fat on the back of the head/neck

There is SO much diveristy of fat bodies, you should be able to design dozens of fat characters who all look distinct on build alone. Reference is really the best- use fatphotoref for sure, it's good to learn how the body moves in different poses and positions.

And, as a disclaimer, if I've said anything that's not entirely correct, or if something is worded maybe not great, pleaaase let me know. I was very skinny my entire life until super recently, and I'm still small chubby at most, so I can't speak for this experience directly.

[bookwyrminspiration]

I've always wanted to try D&D but I can't afford the sets. I found a few guides and stuff online, but they're all so complicated. Also, how do you come up with ideas for campaigns? I was able to find The Dragon Queen's hoard as a PDF but how do I use it? What do I say? Can I use two regular six sided dice instead of the 20 sided one? I have some small toys from when I was younger, are they okay for minifigures? What do you do with the grid placemat? Can you explain Classes and races? Please help

I'd love to help!! One of the great things about dnd is that it's so adaptable. It's role-playing game and you can use or discard what works for you. To answer your questions I'm going to just go one by one and try and specifically address what you're asking, but if you need/want more information about anything or an overview, just let me know and I'd be more than happy to talk about it! I have no clue how much knowledge you have about the game so if I explain something you already know, please pardon me, and if I assume you know something you don't please don't hesitate to ask for clarification!

(This also applies to anyone else who wants to learn or ask questions about DnD)

To save space, I'm putting everything under a cut!

There's a lot of information out there about DnD, but the basic premise is just being a fantasy roleplaying game. There's a story and people have characters they put through that story where they decide what they do in it. You can adapt things to suit you as needed--once, I was running these two kids through a basic encounter and one of them didn't even have a character sheet. She just said things and I made things up to make it work. The other kid decided halfway through he had a vacuum that sucked out people's bones and we just went with it. Fudging or ignoring rules to work for you is 100% okay

That being said: Here's a link to a starter rulebook pdf, and I know upon first opening it that looks very overwhelming with the amount of detail and specifics it can get into, but I promise you it's not as hard to understand as it seems. That's actually the rulebook included in the starter set. And if you have any questions about any specifics please don't hesitate to ask. It's a lot easier to get into when you have someone to explain things

As for coming up with campaign ideas, it can depend! You can build a campaign around a final boss and figure out details from there, or you might have an idea for a story you want to take people through and add story, dungeons, and enemies to fit into that. However, there are plenty of pre-made campaigns you can use as well. I've never actually fully written out a campaign myself. I've typically been either a player or running people through sets.

People don't typically create their own right off the bat (not saying you can't though!)--I actually haven't even run anyone through a campaign I made; I've run them through campaigns from books instead because then everything's right there! This site has a handful of pdfs to already made campaigns, and there are plenty of others available as well. Those might be harder to get into though, so I'd also recommend specifically looking at this, where you can download the pdf for The Lost Mines of Phandelver, which is a more introductory level campaign and is actually the campaign from the Starter Set. It got a lot more of an open approach and explains how to do things as it goes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like in this situation you're the Dungeon Master (DM), as if you're the one using the pdf, then you're running the campaign. So as the DM (some people say GM for Game Master) you have access to the plot and the information about monsters/enemies.

First I'd recommend reading/skimming through the text before you start playing so you have a general sense of what the story is about and what journey you'd be taking your player(s) through. For example in the Phandelver campaign there's an Overview on pages 3-4 that summarize the whole story. Then on page 6 you'll see different paragraphs highlighted. Because it's a starter book, those have specific things you can say out loud to your players to tell them what's happening. On page seven it has a bullet list of things to look at and do in order to run that encounter. It's good to skim those beforehand so you aren't going in completely blind, but if you're good at improv you can also go in blind and make it work. Does it make sense how that campaign kinda guides you into it all?

To answer the what you say question, what you say is the information the players get to have and the more important details of gameplay. For example, if there's an ambush up ahead as they're walking on a trail, they don't get to know there's an ambush! So instead you tell them they're walking along and get ambushed (unless one of your players was observant enough to notice)! Goblins start assailing them from either side! You're guiding the story; the player(s) have no clue what's going on, that comes from you. As the DM, you also keep track of how much health the monsters/people your players are fighting have. You get access to information like what the monsters armor class is (how hard it is to hit it), what it's weaknesses or resistances are, etc.

As the DM you are, essentially, the narrator. You tell the story. Some of that will come from the already written campaign and some of it will come from you and whatever happens with the players. There's no rigid "you have to say this!' kinda thing. It's meant to be a fun, collaborative effort with each other to tell a story. If someone is trying to jump over a hole filled with water, you can add a bit of embellishment onto what happens and say they start to fumble about before spinning in the air and going SPLAT into a bellyflop, lingering on the surface for a moment before sinking down. You can use funny voices or not, really the whole point of the game is to have fun.

I will say that using two d6 (six sided dice) wouldn't work for what you're trying to do. However! You can use random number generators if you don't have any d20 (20 sided dice). You can literally look up "dice roller" and you'll get this:

By just clicking on one of the dice lined up at the bottom it'll roll it for you and give you a number, and then you just click on the dice that comes on screen to dismiss it.

The one thing this result doesn't have specifically is a d100, so what you'd do in that case is roll the d10 twice. First to see what the tens number would be and a second time for the single digit would be. For example if I rolled an 8 and then a 6, I'd combine those to make 86.

This site also lets you customize what number of sides of dice you want to roll, and there are plenty more like it. You don't need to have physical dice to roll them!

As for minifigures: absolutely old toys are okay! You don't even need to have minifigures to play. Minifigures can be fun to have a representation of characters and when you use them on a grid/map, it can be helpful to get a mental image of where people are and what you can do. You use the grid to keep track of where people are when you're playing. Characters can move a certain distance every turn and occupy a certain amount of space on the grid, so having that physically represented can be helpful. If someone sees two monsters but that they're only in range to hit one, it can help them figure out which monster they want to attack.

It's essentially just a giant map set-up that you can move the characters around on to represent what's happening in the game. It can be as complicated as a whole elaborate model and as simple as you drawing a vague map on a scrap piece of paper.

it's also entirely possible and still just as fun to play without them. I think the majority of my games I've played without a map or minifigures and we've just kinda kept vague track of things in our head. You can also use basically anything to represent things instead of figures. Erasers, bottlecaps, charms, barrettes, pins, anything. You just say "hey this represents this monster/character/thing" and then it does!

For classes and races, I won't in-detail explain every one of them right here because there's a fair number and also because there's better explanations in the books, but! Essentially those are the overview of who a character is. If you want, here's a pdf of the Player's Handbook that has all the details, but I'll summarize.

Race is what race the character is. Are they human? Elven? Orc? Dwarf? Each of those means different things for the character. Like if the character is an elf or part elf, they'll be able to see clearly in the dark.

Class is what your character specializes in. Are they a druid and really in tune with nature? Are they a rogue and focused on stealth? Are they a bard and focused on music? It's what your character does, what they bring to the table.

Those are simple explanations, but I think they get the point across. They're the basics of your character, who they are and what they do. If making a character yourself sounds daunting (and it can be), this pdf here has characters already made that come with the Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign, all you need to do is name them!

I think that covers all the specific questions you asked, but if you have more or any of this is unclear (it is a lot of information all at once) I'd be more than happy to answer any more questions! It's daunting at first with the sheer amount of information there is, but once you get the hang of it it's a lot simpler than it seems.

I hope some of that helps!! And that you enjoy the game should you proceed <33

[tillman]

sir please tell me where i should start if i want to get into tristan and isolde

okay ignoring the catholic for a bit YES ough i have so many pdfs and book recommendations for u. lets get into it.

my absolute favorite one and the most coherent in my onion is Gottfried von Straßburg's Tristan. (often called tristan and isolde in translations but thats not actually what he called it lol). i prefer for english the prose translation cus while the verse of the original is GORGEOUS, the only verse translation i just dont like that much lmao. its not as good.

heres a scan of A.T. Hattos translation, my favorite ive read out of all of the ones ive read. you can find this version for dirt cheap at used bookstores and i would say this is the best intro out of any of them. this was my biggest intro to medieval texts and it sucked me completely in.

here is the verse translation by A. S. Kline. there are some others but uh. all suck in my professional opinion. im sure u can grab a physical version of this somewhere but i have no idea where LMAO.

for other versions of a long form story the main options you have are Tristrams Saga (the norse version (im working on scanning this sob)) and the two french versions which are garbage and i would say no one should read. i literally hate bedier and berouls versions i know theyre the most common but like theyre just. bad. lmao. they suck dont read them. Saga is good but ive been tired and had no energy for scans sadly.

other things i would highly recommend looking at are any of the short poems that catch ur eye! theres a ton of tristan and isolde poetry out there and most are short and sweet and give u a good look into both medieval texts and the general scope of tristania!

i dunno if this one is fully updated and there are more not on this now that ive gotten some but heres a ton of those all in one post! no clue if the links still work but just dm me or send me an ask and i can scan or get u a link for anything aough i like them

[neoheros]

Hello I just wanted to say I love your writing style and I couldn’t stop reading your fics. Do you read any books? I just got into reading and I was wondering if you have any recs.

thank you for liking my writing style !!!! and i haven’t read much books lately but here are some of my timeless faves —

they both die at the end by adam silvera : 10/10, had me sobbing, and it is SO EASY to burn though. this is my go to pick when anyone asks for a recommendation, it is so goo.

the song of achilles by madeline miller : i read this one in about two days and the ending had me gasping in tears, it’s brilliant and i loved it so much !!

turtles all the way down by john green : one of my all time faves, and i genuinely think this is definitely his best book. its a very good read !!

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor reid : this ones a bit different from the others since it’s certainly heavier but it is so worth it cause when it all clicks mannn you’ll have your jaw on the floor with how brilliant this is !!

these are just some HAHA , if you want more you could always dm me !!! and i have the pdf files for a few of these books so if you want them i can give them to you !!

[bean-na-farraige-agus-foraoise]

So I want to learn about Tuatha de Danann. Are there any books, websites, or videos you’d recommend for someone who knows nothing about Irish lore but wants to learn?

So each of the books I’m about to recommend to you I have pdfs for and am more than willing to share if you come off anon and shoot me a dm. 

Ireland’s Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth by Mark Williams is a book that I love recommending to people starting out- it’s well written, published within the last 5 years, and pretty comprehensive. 

Coire Sois, The Cauldron of Knowledge: A Companion to Early Irish Saga by  Tomás Ó Cathasaigh is also great, it’s a collection of 31 essays that serve as companion pieces to the lore. 

While by no means about the lore, this next book, Fosterage in Medieval Ireland: An Emotional History by Tom C. O’Donnell, is one that I also recommend as it gives a lot of context into the familial relationships found in the lore that might seem a bit alien from our modern perspective. 

I also cannot stress this enough. 

THE BEST WAY TO LEARN ABOUT THE GODS IS TO READ THE LORE.

If you don’t have the money to purchase physical copies of translations of our lore, that’s fine- sacred-texts has much of it available for free to read here.

And not to self-plug but I do know how hard it can be to motivate yourself to read the lore, especially when you’re probably not used to medieval syntax- and if you’re interested in reading it as a group I do run a discord server that has a myth-study group and you’re more than welcome to join. Feel free to shoot me a message for an invite link if you’re interested. <3

[ouidamforeman]

@bisexualamy Ok! I’ve read all but the last 9 or so EDAs so here are my recommendations on how to get through them. This post will probably be super long because there are so many books but I’ll try to be as straightforward as possible.

So first of all, no matter which ones you decide to read, I do recommend going through them more or less in release order to get the most out of the story and character arcs. I’ve been reading every one in order without skipping anything and it’s mostly been really enjoyable because not many of these books actually suck. However, there are 73 of them so not everyone wants to put in that kind of time and effort. Don’t worry much about skipping around a bit and then going back to fill in the gaps if you want, or just reading the highly recommended ones. If you’re really invested in getting everything, just skimming the wiki pages for books you don’t read should be fine too. That said, here are the ones I recommend definitely not skipping, along with some other suggestions:

-Vampire Science (this is the second book in the series and where most people recommend starting because the first book, even though it introduces a companion, is kind of garbage. Vampire Science, however, is a fan favorite by fan favorite authors.)

-Genocide (this book isn’t extraordinary but it is interesting for its cameos and character development stuff. I feel like recommending it because it’s a good early book for Sam as a companion)

-Alien Bodies (definitely read this one, it’s where the overarching plot really starts picking up and a lot of the series’ important ideas are introduced. Plus it’s amazing.)

-Kursaal and Option Lock are actually pretty good but not absolutely incredible or totally essential, so go ahead and read them if you want a longer list

-Longest Day is.....not memorable but it did give me feelings and it does have an important plot point at the end that kicks off stuff in the next three books. This is one where reading the wiki page should be fine if you don’t want to read the book.

-Seeing I (one of my favorites, it’s so good and it’s one of the earliest EDAs with the intense character stuff carried through later books. Also finishes off the mini-arc started in Longest Day)

-Placebo Effect and Vanderdeken’s Children are fun but not essential

-The Scarlet Empress (another fan favorite you should absolutely not skip. Very beautiful, very interesting worldbuilding, introduces Iris Wildthyme to the range. Easily in my top 5 EDAs)

-The Janus Conjunction is another good one that isn’t necessarily essential, as is Beltempest, but Beltempest is,,,,,,super weird and divisive as far as who likes it. Try them out if you want.

-The Taint (not an outstanding book but I recommend it because it’s Fitz’s introductory story and has a lot of important stuff about him in it)

-Revolution Man is interesting and has some pretty important character stuff in it

-Dominion is another nonessential one but it’s super delightful so I highly recommend it

-Unnatural History (my favorite Doctor Who novel ever. I’m pretty sure everyone would recommend this as a non-skippable book but I’m not exaggerating when I say it Changed Me. It’s so lovely and has very important plot, character, and concept stuff in it, plus. Unicorns.)

-Interference, books 1 and 2 (more essentials, definitely read these not only because they contain a season finale’s equivalent of important plot and characters, but also because they’re amazing and super cool.)

-The Blue Angel (not only am I telling you not to skip this, but I’m begging you to come talk to me about it when you finish it because I am obsessed with this book. It even has a short sequel and a screenplay adaptation, which I also very strongly recommend reading because it’s just. So good. Also I didn’t understand the book until I read the annotated sequel and screenplay and talked to other fans about it so that’s another thing. God this book is a remarkable experience I love it so much.)

-The Taking of Planet 5 (super good book with important lore development)

-Frontier Worlds and Parallel 59 are two more really good and fun ones that aren’t absolutely unskippable

-The Shadows of Avalon (I consider this unskippable but apparently it’s not liked by a lot of people? Either way definitely try this one, I love it and it does have important plot)

-The Fall of Yquatine and Coldheart, two more I think are pretty good but you can skip if you’re overwhelmed

-The Ancestor Cell (not universally liked but makes everyone cry. Essential for its plot and character stuff. Like, major stuff that effects the rest of the series happens here.)

-I recommend at least reading the wiki pages for The Burning and Casualties of War just to understand what’s going on with the series plot arc, but they’re also pretty good books to read in full so you can decide on those

-The Turing Test (dear god this is a good novel, definitely read it and cry with me)

-Endgame is really fun but not quite essential

-I personally hate Father Time but lots of fans really like it and think it’s great, plus it has some important lore, so I recommend at least trying it

-Escape Velocity isn’t outstanding but it is the end of the previous mini plot arc and the introduction of a new companion

-EarthWorld (a very good and solid book! It’s probably ultimately skippable but I don’t recommend doing so because it’s so much fun and the character stuff is wonderful.)

-Eater of Wasps is a delight but not absolutely unskippable

-The Year of Intelligent Tigers (this is one of the fan favorite Doctor Who novels everyone constantly freaks out about, and for good reason. Holy shit. You need to read this. Remarkably beautiful worldbuilding and some of my favorite character work in the range.)

-The City of the Dead (another one of my top 5 EDAs, this book is so funny and atmospheric and fantastic, definitely a highlight of the range. I have more pages of this bookmarked than any other DW novel.)

-Grimm Reality (I’m not going to lie and say this one is essential but it is totally wonderful and I strongly recommend trying it)

-The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (this book is dark and dense and emotionally exhausting. Definitely read it. You may never want to read it again but. You need to experience this thing. It also has important plot stuff and it’s completely insane.)

-Mad Dogs and Englishmen (another essential!!! This book looks so stupid but it’s a masterpiece!!!!!!!!!!! I’m not kidding actually you need to read this it’s so good and so much fun.)

-Hope is interesting and has some important character stuff but I think it’s nonessential, and Anachrophobia is actually really really good but ultimately skippable if your reading list is overwhelming

-The Book of the Still (I think this one is forgotten a lot on lists of best DW novels but it’s truly wonderful and I definitely wouldn’t skip it. Also Fitz is in love with the Doctor, holy shit)

-The Crooked World (another super underrated book, this one is really weird but like. Genuinely amazingly good. Probably skippable in the grand scheme of things but honestly I would strongly recommend reading it.)

-I didn’t like History 101 but lots of other fans think it’s great, and it has some important plot and lore stuff if I remember correctly

-Camera Obscura (another huge favorite I think is unskippable, I really love this book and lots of important things happen in it)

-Time Zero (a hidden gem I definitely recommend, I actually didn’t realize how good this book was until after I finished it and couldn’t stop thinking about it.)

-The Domino Effect, Reckless Engineering, and The Last Resort make up part of an important story arc but they’re also the books that made me slowly lose interest in continuing just because I found them so depressing. I know they didn’t affect everyone like they did me though, so ???? I might not be the best person to recommend these or not.

-Timeless is the book I’m on right now and I’ve heard it’s important and that things pick up again after this! I’ve also heard that most of the books after this up through the last one (The Gallifrey Chronicles) are pretty good, so you can either ask someone else about these or just read them and see, whatever you want.

Lastly, there are also various other Eighth Doctor books that aren’t actually part of the EDA range, and I actually recommend most of them, especially Fear Itself (a Past Doctor Adventure), The Dying Days (the last book in the previous DW range, the Virgin New Adventures, and actually the first Eighth Doctor novel ever), and Fallen Gods (a Telos Novella, one of my favorite books of all time, please read this one, it’s so good).

And that’s all I think! I hope it wasn’t confusing or overwhelming, it’s a little hard to explain this series outside the perspective of having read almost all of them in order. I have PDFs of all of these books too so if you need them you can dm me. Enjoy!

[trials-of-a-spirit-worker]

Beginning Stuff (Part One I guess...)

Hello! 

It has been brought to my attention that I don’t have many things for beginners. 

My bad. 

Let me rectify that. So I will give you some things that I should’ve learned earlier and explain what’s what! 

First things First!

It’s all about intention. 

What is intention? Its when you will something to happen. You tend to do it a lot. And we hear it a lot. Intention is the base of religion really. How many times have you heard “I’ll pray for you”, “I’m gonna pray on it”, “We need to pray for (insert thing needing prayer)” Is that not intent? It kind of is. You’re praying for something to happen, you’re basically asking whoever you worship to heal that baby, to find love, etc. Or perhaps, “we need good vibes for this thing” good thoughts make things better. Hell, remember when we thought drawing lightning bolts on our shoes made us faster and in some way it did? Cause we willed it. We pushed our little bodies to run faster because...you know what the lightning bolts gave us the extra energy. We’ve mastered intention subconsciously already by just being children. Now it’s time to use it like a grown up. CURSING THE 1% (Thats a joke, hahaha, unless 😶) 

Intention can be used for just about anything, a glamour spell to make you seem more enchanting, an enchantment on your chapstick to speak with confidence. A curse or seven. All need intention, a purpose, a goal. Creativity and Intention can go a long long way. 

Intention and Manifestation can only go so far

You’re not going to get everything because you will it. That’s madness. There’s going to be some failure. And sometimes, its your fault. Just because you want that good job to come your way, doesn’t mean it’ll come for you. Open yourself up to learning more and bettering yourself as well. Perhaps you still won’t get the job you want, but something will come for you. You have to work on yourself too. Witchcraft is not a substitute but an enhancer for life. You can have intention for a lot of things, but don’t sit on your ass and expect everything to happen. Work with the universe, do not expect the universe to work for you.

What is a Coven and do I have to be in one?

A coven is a group of witches, like-minded or not, who all basically have each other’s back. It can be a family or a found family, but they are often together, have a slight hierarchy or at least a leader a lot of the time. Teachings, gatherings and celebrations are often done together as well. Every coven is different, runs by different rules and agreements. But you can do your own thing at times if you wish. Think of it as a witch posse or crew. 

A SPELL SQUAD!

You do not have to join a coven and you are not less of a witch for not being in one. Solitary witches are just as valid. So don’t feel pressured to join one. It’s all good. I don’t belong to a coven but I do have a group of people I do trust and will often confide in. Just make some friends. Nothing is more magical than friendship~

Seriously though, if you do choose to be part of a group or coven, be careful. Power gets to some people’s head and that leads to abuse at times. Keep your own head, make sure you feel okay with what you’re doing. There are some assholes out there. 

Disclaimer: I’m not saying covens are bad or every coven leader, priest(ess) etc are bad. So don’t come at me like “Well my coven is great and understanding” like fucking hell, I would hope so. I just know some people are abusive dicks and will use the power they do have to fuck with others. Please be careful. 

It may not be Hogwarts but you’re still gonna have to study

Sorry. Research and Studying is important. Hell, some witches even want “baby”/beginner witches to dedicate a long span of time just to mediate and research so they can be ready for actually doing some spells and such. Which is all well and good, in a way. I personally find it a little gatekeepy. Like, I get the reasoning but...ehhhhh... But that's just me.

Here’s the cool thing though, you get to study what you want to know. I mean, you should look up theory and the history of witchcraft too. I recommend it greatly. A fundamental understanding never hurt anyone. Am I going to tell you you need to spend 18 months doing that before even trying to attempt something...? No. Start off with what interests you. I started learning about tarot first which honestly helped me dive into other things. I used tarot to speak to the dead which I’ve always had a knack for. It got me asking questions and looking for my answers. You get to start your own journey into the craft. Bottom line it’s yours. But studying makes a big difference. There’s books and pdfs everywhere. Online Libraries too. If anything, study on how to protect yourself. Cause there’s some shit out there. 

Meditate Please

I cannot stress how much mediation helps. Clearing the mind, sorting out your thoughts, getting acquainted with your own energy, working on your chakras, etc and whatever. Mediation is the water of witchcraft and you should hydrate. There’s no one way to meditate either. I’ve meditated in the shower, lazing on the couch, exercising....its not that hard. It’s not focusing. Its opening. You’re opening your mind expanding your energy. Don’t worry about those stray thoughts. Acknowledge the weird thoughts and file them away for later and you’re good. Don’t feel too bad if you’re fidgety or need some stimulation. I meditate with music or binaurals. Do what will help.

That’s all for now. I’ll probably do another post soon. Don’t be afraid to DM, I’ll get to it as soon as I can. Hope this helped! 

[bugsandburners]

how do i get into dnd when the only knowledge i have of it is from jrwi and i dont have any friends that play/want to play? it seems rly fun but also super complex and id like to play with people i know, but i dont know anyone irl/online who has any interest in it 😔 sry if this is a weird question, you just seem knowledgeable about it!

Don't be sorry, it's not weird! So you have a lot of options actually.

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Quarantine sent a lot of people over to roll 20, a website used specifically for DND played online along with other table top RPGs. If you go to reddit you'll also find a plethora of others looking for groups to join or looking for players. As far as learning more about DND goes you have DND beyond (don't bother downloading the app, open the site in Firefox) that can provide you with the basics for free or if you're willing you can pay to down load the books and gain access to a whole bunch of cool stuffs. Mind you it's mostly 5e.

I teach beginners, usually I teach middle schoolers per my little brother's request, regardless I'd be open to teach others if you message me about it we can probably work something out.

Enchanted grounds is a coffee/game shop you can go to as well. They're fairly common I think. Check their website, sometimes they host special days like DND for beginners or mini painting classes. They also sell the books! 10/10 I highly recommend. Or! If you, like me, are a bit tight on funds most of the time and can't always spend 45-60 usd on the new books, 2nd and Charles is a used books and other need things store and I found that they sell their books for closer to the 35-40 usd range. Also 10/10, highly recommended. You can also download PDFs.

Playing online can be difficult. My group uses discord, we avoid roll 20 on accounts that we used to play in my DM's basement complete with 3D maps of our battles and mini's and aren't exactly willing to change too much.

Now then! I'm sorry, dear, this has gotten long. The rules of most DND games vary from DM to dm but generally we all try to stick to the books save for special occasions like you asked us a question mid battle and we want to keep the pace of the game rolling so we're not gonna bother looking it up right that second. Never grow too comfortable with the rules. Some pretty constant ones tend to be:

The DM's word is final.

Don't roll unless told, and ask to make a check (ie. Insight check, investigation check, or persuasion check)

And remember that your actions have consequences.

Jrwi is a good DND podcast, Jared works well with his players, he makes for an excellent DM. Other good dnd podcasts are critical roll, the adventure zone, dungeons and daddy's, high rollers, and another DND podcast. If you enjoy jrwi you might enjoy those and they can give you some better insight on how others play the game.

Some DMs prefer to use the books as guide, we enjoy the ease of pre built towns, NPCs, and Dungeons, puzzels, and plot, and maybe we'll make changes as needed. Other DMs, like most of those in podcasts, make a lot of Homebrew content. Homebrew can be tricky for first timers, there's a lot that goes into it. Homebrew plot, characters, and puzzels are ok. Weapons and combat is a lot of math. So much math.

A lot of DND is just math.

I think I covered everything. So yeah to sum it all up, try reddit and roll 20 for groups, look for books, and have fun!