#so. like. i'm not practicing the religion.

[rosetyler42]

Ericka: I'll put no. She grew up as a monster hunter, but religion doesn't show up much in HT, and...well not only are the dutch very practical, but Van Helsing seems ESPECIALLY practical and laser-focused on the legacy. So while they most likely ARE Christian and not athiest/agnostic...I'm not sure how religious the Van Helsings would be in practice.

Alice: She's a cartoon angel. Religion is a part of who she is, however she's somewhat universalized since she's a toon so not too preachy. As for Susie, that's unknown.

Audrey: Unknown, possibly culturally christian.

Ford: Raised religious jewish and worships Bill for a while, but probably not super religious, especially since his griblings are raised secularly.

Bill: He has mentioned starting a few cults worshiping himself and prays to the Axolotl for resurrection, but he seems in general against religions that don't worship him and more into causing chaos than anything.

Mabel: Jewish interfaith, non-religious, but loves to celebrate holidays.

Fiddleford: Very religious. Most likely Christian, possibly Baptist, catholic, or Orthodox. He's from TN, lives on a hog farm, crosses himself, scolds Ford for curse words, and has clear signs of OCD. He did end up creating a memory wiping cult out of a desire to help people, however this cult isn't exactly RELIGIOUS.

Lucy and Simon: Raised with both Christianity and Jewish religion (interfaith, not messianic. Tradition was important to both parents, so they raised their kids with both as a compromise.) I'm not sure how religious they'll be since religion isn't exactly a big thing in HT, but it is an important part of their culture and I have shown them celebrating Hannukah, Christmas, and even meant to draw things for them for Purim.

Coraline: While the confirmation in the FILM is dubious (and I think non-existant in the book itself,) according to Laika promos Cora is most likely Jewish like her creator, Neil Gaiman, is. Again, religion's not exactly the point in her story, but I've made reference to it on occasion and Laika has shown her celebrating Hannukah in promos. She does seem to celebrate Christmas with the other Laika kids, but I imagine that's mostly her celebrating with her friends similarly to the ancient Japanese Kubo.

Caine: He's a computer program.

Shego: Eh, probably not. She doesn't seem the type to care much.

Pomni: Unknown

This request was sent to us and we made a poll in response to it. Send any Blorbo-related question you want to our inbox and we’ll make a poll on which people can vote with their own Blorbos in minds

[littlefankingdom]

I love that Damian is named Damian. Let me explain why.

The name Damian comes from the Greek, δαμάζω (damazo), which means "to tame, to conquer, to vanquish, to master, to overcome, to dominate", but can also mean "the untamable". Already, this is great. Damian is the heir of the League of Assassins and the Bat, he is meant to conquer all, to master everything, to dominate above all. He is meant to be untamable.

But also, the word "damazo" comes from Damia, one of the names of the goddess Cybele, a goddess that is associated with wild nature or viewed as Mother Nature. And the Al Ghul are all about nature.

Finally, "Damian", and its other forms, is a name that has become associated with the word "demon". I think this is probably why he was named this, because he is the grandson of the Demon's Head, and Damian = demon. Well, about the word "demon": it comes from the Greek δαίμων, daímôn, which is a term associated with some divinities. These divinities aren't evils, they are mostly (from the ones I have encountered being called demons) associated with the afterlife or darkness, but they aren't evil. The Furies, goddesses of vengeance and justice that go after guilty folks to punish them before their death, are called "demons" sometimes. Thanatos, god of death, is called "demon" sometimes. The negative connotation comes from the Abrahamic faiths who villainized aspects of the polytheist beliefs, so their believers would drop them (in polytheist practices, every god exists, others just use a different name or view them a different way, which is fine because they are gods, and you cannot as a mortal define. Which means that polytheist cultures don't villainize other gods they don't know or don't pray to, you can join in the celebrations without renouncing to the gods you honor. Monotheism cannot have you do that.) Hell is the example of that. Hell was simply the realm of the dead, but the Abrahamic faiths (Christianity is the guilty one here) painted it as the "bad realm of the dead" (the division of the afterlife was done centuries after Christianity was created and so the Church could hold more controls over its believers). Another one is Lilith, who was a Mesopotamian goddess also referred to as a demon, so what did the Abrahamic faiths did? They made her a creature of evil. All of this talk because Ra's Al Ghul, when he named himself that, did so to criticize religions. It was all about how demons, evil spirits and creatures are something created by religious authorities so they can target and harm people they don't like, and could harm their power. So, to finish, it makes little to no sense in my opinion for Damian to be displeased with being named or associated with demons. Because the ideology that demons are evil is associated with Abrahamic faiths, and that's not what the Al Ghul believe, they cannot have taught him that. What I'm saying is that when you write any of the Al Ghul associating demons with evil, you are looking at their family from the pov of a culture who depends heavily on an Abrahamic faith, and not from their own culture and ideologies, which are that all this religion stuff is bs. They take pride in being associated with demons, not because demons are evil entities harming humankind, but because demons are something that the authority in place hates.

Anyway, Talia cooked when she named her son Damian.

[vulpinesaint]

excatholic will always be a better descriptor for me than agnostic or atheist cause it's not like i don't believe in god. that's not really a choice for me. my foundational perception of the world is built around a belief in god. so all that core stuff is still there. religious leaning of 'excatholic' meaning that to me the foundational facts of the catholic tradition are true, that god is real to me and so are sins and saints, but that i am consciously choosing to be contrary to all the practices of the religion because i think they are bad 👍 'excatholic' cause i think it's all real! i have just chosen to go to hell about it 🫡

[planefood]

This is just a thing I see on my internet romps every now and then but it drives me crazy for no reason, bare with me. Why do people draw lines in the sand about different kinds of therians lol? Who cares if someone woke up and decided that they're wolf therian or something when you decided unconsciously you were a wolf therian instead. Why do people fight about whether or not someone can choose to be therian, its the most silly gatekeeping I see. And don't come at me saying "well theres this label for chosen therians because they're not actual therians like me" you guys... made these terms up in the first place it literally doesn't matter. There is absolutely zero difference between a chosen therian and a not chosen therian and you can't convince me otherwise. How would a self proclaimed "real" therian know that they didn't just choose to be therian one day, there's absolutely no way you can know that for sure.

Every time I become curious about a subculture there's always some ridiculous gatekeeping, even objectums seem to fight over silly bullshit.

[aroacepagans]

Questions for religious aros:

Does your aromantic identity impact how you conceptualize agape/ holy and divine love?

Has the idea of divine love driven you away from certain spiritual practices?

Do you find the idea of divine love comforting when considering what it means to be loved/experience love as an aro person?

How does being a loveless aro impact your understanding of divine love?

How does being a lovequeer aro impact your understanding of divine love?

[utilitycaster]

all clear! I have stuff to do so I won't get to cooldown/reblogs/writing meta etc until later today but I will be opening the inbox, and most crucially my first thought is "lol Vox Machina, the only party with zero ties to any dunamancy, is going to have to rescue the luxon beacon"

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i have officially returned. ask me anything.

[leroibobo]

the paradesi synagogue in kochi, kerala, india. the first synagogue on the site, built by the city's longstanding malabari jewish community, was destroyed by portugese who'd colonized the area in their persecution of locals. it was rebuilt in 1568 by spanish and portugese jews who fled persecution and later expulsion, hence the name "paradesi" ("foreign" in malayalam).

these sephardic jews and a community of jews of mixed african and european descent who were formerly enslaved ("meshuchrarim", "freedmen" in hebrew) joined the malabari jewish community of kochi and somewhat integrated. they were later joined by some iraqi, persian, yemenite, afghan, and dutch sephardic jews. the middle eastern and european jews were considered "white jews" and permitted malabari jews and meshuchrarim to worship in the synagogue. however, in what seems like a combination of local caste dynamics and racism, malabari jews were not allowed full membership. meshuchrarim weren't allowed in at all, but were instead made to sit outside during services and not allowed their own place of worship or other communal rights.

as the "white jews" tended to be rather wealthy from trade, this synagogue contains multiple antiquities. they include belgian glass chandeliers on its walls, hand-painted porcelain tiles from china on its floors, and an oriental rug that was gifted by ethiopian emperor haile selassie.

[rhaenys-queenofkhyrulzz]

*faceplants*

I have a crush. I'm doomed.

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

ok i know i just posted a self indulgent tfrb au but i can't hold this one in any longer

it's pretty simple honestly but basically all the rescue bots are reincarnations of the thirteen primes and that's why they're so fucking overpowered.

btw by reincarnation i mean the traditional bhuddist reincarnation (i'm not v religious but i align w bhuddism/hinduism bc desi), which basically means the original thirteen still exist but their reincarnations are like avatars/forms that can exist at the same time.

one of the big examples of this reincarnation is vishnu and krishna. krishna is a reincarnation of vishnu, but vishnu was still alive when krishna was created. this is because krishna is a manifestation of vishnu's power/spirit. it's possible to be a reincarnation of vishnu and not be a reincarnation of krishna btw.

anyways that was a quick lil religious explanation but that's how i think of it for the rescue bots, and optimus too. (i think the thirteenth prime is still alive or whatever like the other thirteen, optimus is just an avatar of his.)

so the thirteen can watch their reincarnations and they talk about the rescue bots like they are them (the thirteen), because they sorta are. but then the rescue bots aren't exactly like them, because they're more like representations of the souls of the thirteen.

[quietwingsinthesky]

(For the game) I think the doctor should have more diverse companions. Give them more non human alien companions! Give them a companion is who fundamentally bad, who they have realize they can’t fix

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

yeah!!!!! oh and can i add to that! one thing i'd love to see? just like. a companion who is religious. in a way that is taken account into in the narrative and that is like. discussed? you know, how does going on time travel universe hopping adventures effect one's religious ideas. that would be fascinating to me. i think we've gotten like blanket statement things about future humans adjusting their religious beliefs or whatever but that's not what im interested in exactly. i want like. what does it do, to a modern human with modern religious ideas, to have to adjust that to aliens and shit. and how does their way of incorporating this life with the doctor reflect their character!

i think that'd be fascinating!!! and someone definitely smarter than me out there could probably write an incredible buddhist companion for the doctor and draw on the obvious cultural influences borrowed about cycles of reincarnation in constructing the doctor's whole regeneration thing to discuss shit. maybe one day. i'd love to see it.

[timetravellingkitty]

I could elaborate on said negative feelings but that would require not having a runny nose

[sssssaarn]

Would anyone be interested if I made a sort of beginner's guide/reference thing for working with nälkä entities? (Specifically I have GK. Ion and the Klavigar in mind, but I'm sure I could do some Karcists as well, if there's enough information on them.)

[blackvahana]

i am really never going to understand why people post "shifting antis dni" in the astral projection tag. "here practice that constantly gets appropriated by us and used as a weird justification for a new set of beliefs that aren't really based in the same reality you work with, and that also gets completely misunderstood by our community because we don't care to understand what you do and just pretend we know it's what we do like christians saying other religions worship the christian god, have a post! Also dni if you don't like our practice that has nothing to do with the one whose tag we just shoved this into"

if you're not astral projecting don't put shit in the ap tag. if you don't even know the difference between AP and RS I dont think your opinion holds enough weight to counter the pushback against flooding a separate practice's tag with "if you dont like the practice I'm talking about in your tags dni"

[meirimerens]

you know i must have been bone-tired when this part of the herb brides lore didn't come to my mind when i discussed how the Kin fundamentally differs from the cultures it is inspired by um There Is The Human Sacrifice part. like it's an important part of pathologic 2 that you are doing human, or anthropomorphic (if you want to see the Herb Brides as closer to spirits, which comes with its own set of problematics regarding how to approach their oppression) sacrifice. it's an important part of pathologic 2 that you kill a woman, as part of the journey and in direct resonance with you ritualistically killing cattle earlier, and she offers herself to you with cultural and religious significance.

human sacrifices have been done across the globe for millennia, but i cannot, for the life of me, find any source at all that mentions the Buryats (since that was the discussion point) partaking in human sacrifices by the turn of the 19th-early 20th century (or even anything past the 16th). every single source mentioning offerings and sacrifices i've read mentions animals, things such as milk and vodka, and often both at once. would love to read anything about these rituals if papers exist, but i'm personally drawing a blank.

the Kin has Obvious and very Visible influences but it also differs from specific (in this discussion's case, the Buryats) or wider (here, turkic/mongolic as a whole) cultures from the area by so many pieces, big and small, that i wouldn't have enough appendages on my whole body to count them all. and sister. i have plenty of appendages.

[advisorsage]

Anyone else see The Spider at the ass crack of dawn every morning but only when opening your right eye or is that just me?