#s...swords

[lunapwrites]

Been a minute since I've done a reading, and they were calling to me this morning and also I'm just having a very shitty morning so let's fuckin go.

First, gonna open up with the rune we're studying today, which is sowilo.

This is the sun: guidance, goal setting, mastery, and success. It is a rune of clarity and healing. I feel like this gives an overall more auspicious tone to the tarot spread for today, which is... good.

The key takeaway with this bad boy is "you are on the struggle bus. The tribulation train. The purgatory pontoon. But keep moving, for the love of god, because I promise it'll be worth it."

I'm going to drop the longer interpretation under a break so I'm not forcing everyone to read it, so you're welcome lol.

Also, you'll note I'm going to use "we" here, because this ain't just about me today folks.

Starting off with our "hey, it you" card, Knight of Swords is ambition, action, motivation. The hustle game is strong in this house right now.

Nine of Swords is just here to remind me that the reason we're hustling is because the alternative is giving into the cloud of anxiety and despair hovering over us every day (which doesn't go away, but it's at least a little easier to move through if we just don't stop and think about it, literally DO NOT STOP.)

The Magician is manifestation and resourcefulness. Bringing ideas and dreams into fruition, which goes hand in hand with our friendly Knight. Hustle. But likewise it's a source of some of that surrounding anxiety. We're doing great over here folks!

Three of Wands is the card of enterprise and opportunity. We saw a chance and we took it, and that's led us to where we are now. Likewise, there's an element of foresight and planning involved here. None of what's happening now happened on a whim. Or... you know, at least our whims lol.

Normally I tend to read this position as "goals," but in this exact context it's reading more as a "why." There's been a lot of reveals recently, a lot of red and yellow flags, and that's got us moving forward very carefully -- but still moving forward.

Eight of Pentacles brings us right back to the hustle, but more specifically indicates skill mastery and general "improvement." We are really rolling our sleeves up and trying to make life more bearable for ourselves.

The next two cards are tied together very closely, so I'm going to discuss them together in like... The vaguest possible terms lol. These positions loop back around once more to our Knight, and speak more on our internal and external influences. The Eight of Swords indicates that we feel trapped, in one sense or another. Probably several. We can see the exit, and we can technically leave at any time, but we've reasoned we have no choice but to stay -- at least for now. The Seven of Swords indicates a betrayal, but (and especially with the Knight in context) it also indicates strategy. We are not sitting idly in hell. We are planning, and we are making moves, and we WILL land on our feet. We are putting ourselves first.

Knight of Pentacles in the hopes and fears position is, on its face, underwhelming: like, woo, you're going to be working hard and persevering, and making slow but steady progress. But within the context of the reading as a whole, it makes more sense why such a small aspiration seems so huge.

Finally the Ten of Pentacles. Man, all I can really say about this one is just that I wanted to cry when I saw it. It's THE goal. Long term success, foundations, sustainable future. Security. Home. Like I cannot stress enough how big a deal this is, what a bright light at the end of a dark ass tunnel that for once -- for once!! -- isn't an oncoming train.

None of this is telling me anything I didn't already know: the last few months have been really rough, and we're in for a few more. And things could still change between now and then. But at least as things currently are, there's an end in sight and it's going to be scary but it won't be a disaster

In theory, anyway.

But yeah this is once again my runes and cards being frighteningly on point and also in tune with each other and I think my method of "pick the one you feel in your gut" is really working out for me lol.

[theuglymachine]

Yeah it was me, I made the Cool S sword.

[quarklynx]

here’s my cosplay of that old lady with a sword

[letsplaythermalnuclearwar]

Homer!Odysseus and Epic!Odysseus would try to kill each other if they ever met

[mercurymoths]

The colours as little paper chain guys was an idea I couldn’t get out of my head, so I drew not one but two versions! (Cuz I’m a sucker for shadow >:))

[torpublishinggroup]

Celebrate Pride with Tor Publishing Group!

The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang

Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Bandits of Liangshan proclaim a belief in justice—for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats. Together, they could bring down an empire.

Swordcrossed by @fahye

Part-time con artist / full-time charming menace Luca Piere didn’t expect to get blackmailed into teaching a chronically responsible merchant Matti how to wield a sword. He also didn’t expect to find his charge so inconveniently handsome, or to get so entangled in his tale of intrigue, sabotage, and matrimony.

It’s important to read Swordcrossed because while you’re reading gay fiction, you can also study the blade.

[a-space-opera]

[animeglitch]

[uncharted-constellations]

~You were just a kid too, huh~

Again, I refuse to make adult mm link edgy sorry.

[rexscanonwife]

Mornings at the campsite 😴😊💖💖

Here's the og painting I'm referencing!

Taglist♡: @me-myself-and-my-fos @tiny-cloud-of-flowers @sunstar-of-the-north @dearly-beeloved @adoredbyalatus

@changeling-selfship @crushes-georg @miutonium @cherry-bomb-ships @rosieaurora @rejaytionships @sunflawyer

@in-true-blue-love @tropicalgothships @little-miss-selfships @cupiidzbow @frozenhi-chews @limey-self-inserts @candyheartedchy @halsinkisser

[omercifulheaves]

Sandahl Bergman in Conan The Barbarian (1982) There was some deleted bits during the montage of Conan's stint as a pit fighter that revealed Valeria was another fighter and had crossed paths with Conan before, hence why Conan uses his old gladiator salute towards her pyre after her spirit saves him during the battle among the mounds. Wonder if this out fit was from those scenes.

[twilight-linkess]

I made it into Zelda’s room while playing Skyward Sword and found a love letter on her desk.

Who do you think it was for?

[theuglymachine]

I made a little one too!

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

Isobel Thorm, icon, godsend, hero, absolute titan, determined to carry the hurt/comfort genre on her STR 12 shoulders. I adore her.

Of course, the catch is that she herself has also Been Through The Horrors but chooses not to acknowledge this in favour of adamantly insisting on being the caretaker (which she is obviously very good at, like... professionally, as a cleric and healer).

And even more than that, caretaker to a person who is a big nigh-unkillable (but very significantly not, as Isobel herself points out, unharmable!) radiant wall of muscle and holy fury so used to being a champion and protector herself, extremely keen to dismiss her own issues as a bit of "paladin's fatigue" and "flights of fancy" and who is on so many levels, some very fundamental to her being, tied into being A Sword.

I guess my point is... fic writer comrades-in-arms, this is what we call a goldmine.

[7cfc00]

home is where the heart is (and yours is gone)

[oikvw]

heir of grief