#the macabre is very gothic romance though. which this very much is

[saltydogsmut]

I feel like I need to crack open a queer studies book the amount of t-girl Andrew truthers I have nodding along to my posts.

I'm missing something.

My only insight is that t-girls too, can make weird psuedosexual violence fantasies: because the closest they'll get to feeling comfortable in a sexual/romantic scenario is by offloading the discomfort of being a guy onto the discomfort of the macabre, and pretending that's the reason for it. Such fantasies also destroy the beauty of the person they may be jealous of as well, removing that part of the equation.

It's not the healthiest coping mechanism, but eh, better than some. It adds a new dimension to Andrew saying sex was "mortifying" at least.

[bharv]

I’m going to say something which I know will be very unpopular but sadly is my truth.

I did not care for the Necropolis storyline or Emmrich’s storyline.

Granted there are two important notes for this. Firstly, I really loved the short stories by Feketekuty and perhaps had too much of a preconception going in, and secondly I didn’t romance Emmrich (I intended to, but it didn’t feel right for my Rook personally.)

I’m not going to get into plot specific reasons for this because I want to keep this spoiler free. And I certainly don’t think what is there is badly done. The environments look gorgeous and there are moments that are beautifully written. Emmrich’s design is great and his surprising flaw is compelling. It just doesn’t balance or come together for me. Theres allusions to academia through language which is supposed to evoke it, but I don’t get a sense of the rigour. Emmrich himself is a gift of a role but honestly, the performance never quite gels for me. There’s long exploration quests and then other moments feel rushed. The main villain of this thread is something straight out of marvel with the possible depth underutilised (though to be fair this is a concern across the board) and the music is so jaunty all the time, so rarely doing its job of creating real atmosphere, and honestly I never warmed to Manfred as the comedy was always so forward that I struggled to emotionally connect with the emergent storyline.

And the funny thing is, is that I’m a huge Addams family fan. Like. I have the old sixties show on dvd level. I like that kind of wry funny gothic humour, that juxtaposition of the emotional and the macabre.

And it’s not like Dragon age doesn’t have silly humour. It obviously does. The rescue in Origins! Chateau Haine! But stylistically this whole section feels so completely different, and I just can’t quite reconcile it, which was SUCH a surprise to me as I thought it would be my favourite thread (I think that is reserved for Harding, the Wardens, and Neve in Minrathous.)

I know this won’t be popular. But I wonder if anybody else feels the same?

[mysticstarlightduck]

OC Smash or Pass

I was tagged by @writernopal (here)! Thank you so much for this fun Tag! I think I might do a few of these for my OCs, because I adore this tag game (:

Rules: pretty self-explanatory. include physical descriptions or pics, and propaganda. the “other” label can be used for “sexuality misalignment” (ie: oc is femme and you’re gay, vice versa or you aren’t into smashing but a specific thing you wanna do with them like perhaps hug or study them under a microscope idc)

Augustus Grimmure

Description (I haven't completed his character art yet): Augustus is a tall young man with dark skin and long, curly ashen brown hair - which he usually styles into a very neat ponytail with a purple ribbon. He has hazel eyes that can glow red or purple depending on which magic he uses. Augustus usually wears a long dapper suit/coat (in the colors of either white, dark purple, green, or charcoal black), along with a silk ruffle tie and other Victorian-style clothing, he also has dark circles under his eyes and may wear gloves from time to time. Has a sharp smile. He is heavily near-sighted and often wears spectacles/glasses (when possible) reinforced by magic - which might be because I wanted a glass-wearing protagonist in this book because I personally can't see shite without my glasses IRL (:

Basic Facts:

Height - 6 ft (around 1.80m)

Age - 19, soon to be 20

Gender - Male

Pronouns - He/Him

Occupation: Necromancer

Sexuality - An extremely hot, very romantic, Asexual straight man

Pros:

HUGGER! Once he's grown to love you that is. Augustus loves to show how much he cares by holding hands, cuddling, running hands through your hair, and (especially) hugging. He wants a relationship to be something special.

Augustus is very brave, and it takes a lot to faze him, especially since he is one of the most powerful beings in Ansburke, but even if he weren't he doesn't hesitate to face risks if it means doing something he considers right - especially when it comes to protecting the one he loves.

Dark Academia aesthetic (more like Chaotic Academia lmao) incarnate, and very gothic-coded. A romance with him has strong Gomez/Morticia vibes (this is legit the best way I could describe it), it's all about finding love in the dark and even macabre. He's also hopelessly devoted, and quite the romantic underneath his chaotic exterior.

Intelligent and witty, with a wild sense of humor. Will not hesitate to pull a carefully thought-out prank on someone if it makes you both laugh. Is also known for his clever comebacks, especially to those who already have it coming.

A good listener. Even if he is not particularly interested in whatever it is you are talking about, he will lend you his attention and let you finish your vent, however long it may be. He's also very good at problem-solving, having a scholar's mindset.

Neutral Facts (that may be pros or cons to some):

Augustus is somewhat inspired by the story of Victor Frankenstein (this character was born of the question I once asked myself - "What if Frankenstein wasn't insane and was a sorcerer instead of a scientist?"). This means he inherits a bit of a mad scientist's disregard for rules and tradition.

He doesn't enjoy sexual intimacy or acts of that nature at all, even though he isn't particularly sex-repulsed - he's asexual, and personally just finds sex a useless and slightly disturbing waste of time. That doesn't mean he doesn't like other kinds of intimacy - as mentioned before, once he gets truly close to someone, he's quite the hugger. (Btw, his love languages are Quality Time and (non-sexual) Physical Touch.)

Cons:

Has severe trust issues. While on the surface Augustus has a very personable and polite behavior towards anyone that doesn't personally irk him (when he isn't feeling particularly petty), he believes that "everyone is out to achieve their own personal goals at all costs" and that in their cutthroat world, everyone is looking to get the upper hand on someone else, so the walls around his heart (beyond a superficially friendly relationship) are quite tall and armored. He would never betray someone who trusts him but is constantly expecting to be personally betrayed. It takes a lot to prove that you truly care for him with no strings attached, but it is worth it when you finally do!

Extended lifespan - while it means no human can truly kill him (whilst he is under the constraints of his contract to the Deathbringer, a fae demon he made a deal with) during your adventures, it also means that you, a human, will eventually get older much quicker than him and die long before him - unless he's broken his Oath, which would return his lifespan back to a normal human's.

Does have a bit of morbid/dark humor natural to any necromancer so, while it can lead to funny and slightly unhinged interactions, he doesn't quite understand why some people consider his deathly jokes as inappropriate (even though he means no harm, that's just his sense humor and how he views te world).

His devotion has a "dark side" (to him) that comes out in the form of self-sacrificial tendencies and will fight Gods if prompted, with no second thoughts about his own safety, if it means keeping the select few people he trusts away from harm. Has no qualms about killing his enemies to achieve that as well.

Tagging (gently, no pressure): @lassiesandiego, @oh-no-another-idea, @writernopal, @tabswrites, @rickie-the-storyteller, @steh-lar-uh-nuhs, @little-peril-stories, @clairelsonao3, @jasperygrace, @jay-avian, @forthesanityofstorytellers, @aziz-reads, @doublegoblin, @gummybugg, @autumnalwalker, @olivescales3, @junypr-camus, @ashen-crest, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams, @bardicbeetle @talesofsorrowandofruin, @mitchell-nihil, @pluttskutt, @saltysupercomputer, @stesierra and @dreaminggoblin

[blindmagdalena]

hii, not extremely well versed in all your writing (yet), but so far w what ive seen w the cannibalism fic & how u write homer (lol), i must say i love how beautifully u intertwine his violence w romance, w how u write him, it's like his egotistical macabre nature & need for love r making out lmao! feel free to ignore this part bc praise shouldn't feel like you owe the praiser anything, but id love to see something from you, anything of any length, w homelander x a y/n who loves how creepy & macabre & scary he can be! like, they're gothic romantic sorta? like "oh, you can hear my heartbeat? tell me if the gushing in my arteries differs when i am around you! go into grave detail please! i want to peel the skin off your body and claw around inside of you too to see what makes you tick!" lol, maybe he sees them in black & is all "wowie, finally decided to kill me and you're getting prematurely ready for my funeral? well, nobody can say you're not a multitasker! how very feminine of you!" "no because if you died id want to be buried next to you!" "oh, i see!" "even if i was still alive! :D" "wow! well, morticia/gomez, you're... intense! i like your... prep! your... uncolourful enthusiasm!" lmfao. he tries to return it by trying to give them weird compliments in turn that fit w them; "don't you look like the most dolled up, prettiest corpse in the mausoleum in all that black make-up!", he sees them blushing or something & he's like "look atcha, blooming up likeeee... a bloodied bouquet of rose!trying to make my heart stop or something? least you'll be sittin real pretty on my grave huh?" he's like that meme that's like "my hot witch girlfriend" & him in a summoning circle like "me doing whatever tf she wants" but he's also a freak just a blonde one. dude is the star-spangled superman & a celeb who should be dating models and yet he's like hiding a heart shaped necklace under his suit that's like a preserved vial of their blood lol. i feel it'd stroke his ego in a different way where they also love how weird & freaky he is, yet in contrast they're not violent or harmful w their love for gore or whatever themselves, for them it just bubbles up into a deeper way to express love & their own self expression. i also wanna recommend "the horror of our love" by ludo if u dunno it, feels sort of fitting for how you write him! "i want you stuffed into my mouth, hold you down & tear you open, live inside you, love id never hurt you. but ill grind against your bones until our marrows mix, i will eat you slowly"/"the awful edges where you end & i begin, inside your mouth i cannot see, there's catastrophe in everything i am touching as i sweat & crush you. & i hold your beating chambers until they beat no more, you die like angels sing" :p 🖤

first of all. calling him homer made me scream. 😂 second, thank you! this is so many words and they are all very kind and fun. I think currently the fic I've written that's closest to this premise is Don't Fret, Precious (I'm Here) which features a reader that's ultimately pretty into his whole deal, and fairly deranged herself.

I definitely want to write more macabre readers though, and I love this gomez/morticia angle you're talking about. I've had a WIP in the wings for ages where the reader herself is a serial killer that Homelander catches, but ultimately decides to cover for because he's intrigued by her bloodlust. it's very much a yandere x yandere. it doesn't fit into the idea that the reader is harmless, but... fiction is fiction, right? no one's really hurt! lmao

also, Ludo is one of my favorite bands!!! I actually almost named this fic "The Horror Of Our Love" but ultimately decided "The Horror Was For Love" suited it a little bit better.

as you've accurately deduced I definitely love mixing elements of romance and horror. you have very much inspired me to step up my game and return to that serial killer fic, and maybe something new featuring more of an oddball reader that really throws Homelander off his game.

thanks again for the lovely message. 🖤

[scarletskye]

About this blog~

10/04/2023 | 8:27 am

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Hello, Skye here! Welcome to my little blog! This is going to be my poem-centric blogging square where I will be posting a new poem every day for the next 2 years, and, if I’m feeling extra inspired, maybe even more! If time permits, maybe I’ll continue on as well, though I currently have a schedule set for what I will be posting. Subject to some change of course, though I prefer keeping a streamlined schedule so I don’t lose focus!

The list for year one (~339 days) is as follows;

it’s all okay… [Fractured Edition] | A 60 poem collective, it easily contains some of my best works up until this point. The entire collective is a matchup of poems that center around the idea of healing; sadness and regret and self-hate, growing into a sense of acceptance, self-love, and happiness. Currently complete, it will be posted slowly as punctuation is added and edits are made.

Will be explained with an analysis provided by me with every poem.

Will include a small detail about the poem itself.

Will include the full poem.

Fated | A 32 poem collective, it is less hopeless than the “it’s all okay…” collective for the most part, and is more romantically and love inclined than the same. Meant to serve as a sort of sequel of sorts to the “it’s all okay…” collective.

Will include a small detail about the poem itself.

Will include the full poem.

Mending | A 20 poem collective, it is the finale to the journey of self healing that was the last 2 poem collectives. Short and sweet, it contains some of the most hopeful thoughts up to this point.

Will include a small detail about the poem itself.

Will include the full poem.

The Midnight Rose | A 12 poem collective, it is inspired by and written in conjunction with my own story, Macabre Sapphire Rose, a story inspired by the noir films and comics of yesterday, and the gothic horror of old stories. Following a forbidden romance, it is inspired by a myriad of different stories and sources, and yet I tried very hard to make it its own story.

Will include a small detail about the poem itself.

Will include the full poem.

Under the Waters | A 24 poem collective, it is likely the most laid back poem collective with much more creative freedom, as I wasn’t really trying to do anything with it. Still heavily symbolic, it revolves around a singular topic; the water.

Will include a small detail about the poem itself.

Will include the full poem.

Melody the Maid: A Maiden Epic Voyage of a Lost Girl and her Travels through the 7 Lands Between! | A colossal undertaking, this poem is a narrative epic couplet poem, one that slow transforms as the story progresses, detailing the journey of a young girl who explores the world and rids herself of the seven deadly sins in a playfully structured poem that takes place in a much larger project that itself spans thousands of pages. As the story changes and its characters change, so to does the structuring and tone of the poem, spanning about 5000 lines in total. A massive project, it is likely the last of its type I will ever undertake, as it was mind-bogglingly difficult to adhere to a story while maintaining hundreds of lines of rhyme in a way that didn’t seem forced, while also having a natural flow and world-building, all while coping with the idea that it would be a project no one would read. It will likely be posted in 100 line posts every day for about 2 months.

Will be explained with an analysis provided by me with the poem, and the story counterpart will be provided for those who would rather not read the poem version.

Will include a small detail about the poem itself.

Will include the full poem.

Carnival | A 42 poem collective, it is a dispassionate and creative undertaking that explored the make-believe world in which a carnival comes to life, its beating heart requiring sustenance that the unsuspecting public are unknowingly about to provide. Separated into 7 chapters, it is structured in no particular way, and is likely my most experimental work.

Will include the full poem.

Prelude, Interlude, and Postlude to Eternity [Rewrite] | A 99+ poem strong collection, it is the largest collection of poems, detailing swaths of my life, inspired stories, love and sadness, hate and happiness, and a near infinite amount of emotions to encapsulate life.

Will include a small detail about the poem itself.

Will include the full poem.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy these poems and what more I can provide. They’re written about love, for love, and with love, dedicated to all the amazing people around me.

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[vonclosen]

writing some notes about my deth throes dudes

cw: for suicide mentions throughout!!!

so the members are:

vali heikkilä

- lead vocalist - 1972-1996 - finnish died by suicide in his rural home in the summer of ‘96, only 24 at the time. he had inherited the cottage from his great aunt, and deth throes had been using it as a practice space. the band found him about 2 weeks after his death, when they showed up for band practice. after calling the authorities about discovering his body, all of them ended up kind of traumatized. the band slowly drifted apart, before finally dissolving entirely after an extremely half-hearted search for a new vocalist.

vali was often perceived by strangers as a weird, somewhat off-putting individual. his family knew him as very sweet and quiet, his bandmates knew him to be a very passionate, excitable, and interested in the macabre. in reality, he was highly anxious, extremely depressed, and very autistic. his main stims were contorting his body and hands, and often vocally stimming with death growls. he was kindhearted and well-meaning, but a bit hard to get close to, since he tended to be a bit of a loner. his special interests included taxidermy, mummies, and learning about various mythologies. he tended to get along better with animals than people, but was usually pretty afraid of dogs.

following his death, he is said to haunt his former home. it took many, many years for the place to sell, and even to this day, very few people remain in it for more than a year.

surname sometimes spelled heikkiä, his own spelling mistake. 

rune jakobsson

- bassist - b. 1974 - icelandic

in a lot of ways the most happy-go-lucky of all of deth throes, and in a lot of ways the most like a brother to vali. he is patient, friendly, and generally so agreeable that he’s been known to cause strife with others on his behalf. partially a metalocalypse oc!! he was in 2 different bands with skwisgaar, and even dated him for awhile. after they broke up, gangagar broke up, as the members of that band were angry on rune’s behalf about the breakup. for rune’s part, he amicably parted ways with his former partner, and was genuinely very gracious about all of it.

rune has never fully emotionally recovered from his friend’s sudden death, and blames himself for not seeing the signs, or doing “more” to be there for him. every year, he visits vali’s grave, leaving flowers.

though rune is a very understanding, friendly person, he doesn’t really approve of all the hype around vali’s death, or around the ghost hunting in the house where he died.

he’s still in contact with ozzy somewhat regularly, although their schedules rarely permit them to hang out anymore.

ozymandias “ozzy” (mihret åström )

- drummer - b. 1971 - ethopian, yemeni, & swedish

the most technically skilled of deth throes during their time together; ozzy studied music starting at a very young age, as his mother was a somewhat famous violinist. considered in a lot of ways to be the brains of the operation, though during his time with the band, who were very much his friends, he was just as silly as any of them at times.

ozzy has an affinity for romantic and gothic poetry, notably borrowing his stage name from the percy shelley poem of the same name. he keeps his love for pastoral poetry mostly secret, since he thinks it’s “not very metal.”

probably took vali’s death the hardest; he often saw him as a little brother, and took him under his wing creatively. he often helped him through social situations, as well, which vali struggled though usually. vali was in turn very protective of him, once accidentally killing a man by headbutting him in the face for making a derogatory comment towards ozzy at a metal show. (vali ended up being acquitted.)

ozzy continued to be in the metal and music scene for awhile after vali’s death and the breakup of deth throes, though he eventually took a step back. in present day, he’s an author; he primarily writes gothic romances, mysteries, thrillers, and ghost stories.

ulloriaq grønvold

- lead guitar - b. 1973 - greenlandic (inuit)

orginally from greenland, ulloriaq moved to finland in 1991 to pursue a musical career and his passion for electric guitar. he joined up with deth throes after ozzy, rune, and vali held auditions (they had to fire their former lead guitar for being a jerk).

ulloriaq was often reserved and very professional, and tended to help out ozzy with the actual musical arrangement the most. he often liked to work in elements of traditional music from his culture, which sometimes made the cut into their songs. he provided backup vocals, especially for deeper, more guttural growls, using a technique which he borrowed from practicing katajjaq with his older sisters.

his professionalism can’t be mistaken for being stoic, though; he knows how to have a good time just as much as his band-mates--he just doesn’t talk a whole lot. he tended to butt heads with loke often, which sometimes resulted in physical altercations (almost always incited by loke). during present day, he’s come to forgive his former band-mate, though they don’t talk often.

during his work with deth throes, there were a few other projects he was working on. he, then and now, very much enjoys multi-tasking, and was probably the one with most of a “life” outside of the band.

in present day, he still makes music, now with his own all-indigenous death metal group.

loke sørensen

- rhythm guitar - b. 1975 - danish

the youngest of the group, and the biggest troublemaker. loke was the heel of the band in many ways, though a big part of it was in the fact that he was a teenager. he could be casually cruel with his bandmates often, vali being a frequent target of his jabs, simply because he got the most riled up by them and because he was a very easy target.

as loke has grown older, following vali’s death, he’s gotten more psychological help with his anger and worked on his toxicity. he blames himself largely for vali’s death, and rarely keeps in contact with his former band mates out of guilt.

he’s mostly retired from music, and has been living quietly in LA for the last few years, running a record shop. he tends to keep a low profile, as he’s been subject to online harassment.

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON NIGHTMARE’S MAIN RAP, LEAD DANCE JIA MAIALEN ACOSTA...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: Medea CURRENT AGE: 22 DEBUT AGE: 20 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 17 COMPANY: Koala.T SECONDARY SKILL: N/A

IDOL PROFILE

NICKNAME(S): Brujita; because of her heritage, Jia is popular among some Latin Americans. They declared her their little witch, or “nuestra brujita”. The name has caught on, so others now call her “little witch” INSPIRATION: Jia’s personal inspiration comes from her years of acting and her father’s obsession with gothic literature. He would have preferred for her to become a professor instead of an idol, but her family is still very supportive.  SPECIAL TALENTS:

Languages-Jia was born in America to a Puerto Rican/German father and Korean mother. She grew up surrounded by different languages. As a result, she speaks English, Korean, Spanish, and German. Her German is probably weakest, but she can still speak enough to entertain people on variety shows.

Monologues-Because of years of acting auditions, Jia has several monologues she can still recite off the top of her head. Macbeth is a popular request.

Tarot-Jia doesn’t personally believe in tarot readings, but it seemed like a good skill to learn once the group changed direction. She now knows how to do readings and carries a deck of cards as a prop.

NOTABLE FACTS:

Jia has been acting since she was six years old, though most of her experience was small scale commercials and school productions.

In December of 2017, she had a mediocre appearance on Hit the Stage. It could have been better, but it certainly could have gone worst. Mostly it was a combination of nerves and food poisoning. She has not touched oysters since.

Koala.T has been pushing Jia to continue acting. Her most recent experience was a lead role in Last Minute Romance.

Jia is incredibly intelligent. Her father is a professor so she grew up with a nose in a book.

She has a fascination with Japanese horror, particularly anime and manga. Her current favorite anime is Angels of Death.

IDOL GOALS

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

Jia wants to grow the popularity of Nightmare. While their followers are fervent, there aren’t many. It would be nice to see Nightmare more widely accepted by the mainstream population, particularly because Jia actually believes in the concept.

LONG-TERM GOALS:

Someday,  Jia would like to be a soloist. It seems like the only opportunity for her to take some type of agency in her career and she is genuinely devoted to music, particularly to writing lyrics. However, the company thinks she would be better off continuing her acting career. Despite this, she is determined to prove to them that she can be a viable candidate for a soloist someday.

IDOL IMAGE

Sassy. Fiery. Extroverted. Sexy. Koala.T quickly realized Jia would never fit any of those molds, despite their expectations of what a Latina should act like. She was too quiet, too introverted, too uptight. She had spent most of her life sheltered, especially for a child actor. While this meant Koala.T never had to worry about her getting into trouble, it also meant they had to rethink who she would be in the group.  The most they could hope for was quirky, odd, maybe a little eccentric. They settled on restrained. After all, what was a nightmare without a bit of mystery? Everyone would dream of uncovering the “real” her and her other, bolder, group members could take the lead in interviews. She could speak every once in a while, make people work for her words. Koala.T never had to worry that she would take it too over the top and become unlikable. She had acted for years and certainly knew when to smile and when to hold back. In fact, it would make their vision for her as an actor all the more impressive. People would line up to see her quiet nature break down, to find a crack in her armor on screen. Since Nightmare’s debut,  that has been the role Jia played. She is cute, quiet, and shy, except when performing. She raps and dances with her entire soul, almost becoming a different person. Koala.T knows she wants to be a soloist someday, but they don’t see that in her future. Not with her image and not with her past as an actor. It is much easier for them to market her as such, to place her in television shows and web dramas. They see her as perfect for the small screen. Unfortunately, her personality has typecast her in roles  similar to her image, despite her range.

IDOL HISTORY

Everyone in Los Angeles is an actor. Jia was no exception. Her father, Gabriel Acosta, was Puerto Rican and German and damn proud of both. Her mother, Da-un, was Korean. Among Americans, she went by Daisy. Both might have never met had her father not broken his arm. Her mother was the nurse on call. Her three older sisters strived to be academics or doctors, but Jia knew that was not for her. She was a quiet child, almost worryingly so. Her mother began putting her in school stage productions hoping it would cure her shyness, despite the lack of love she had for the theater. Everyone was stunned to realize Jia was actually good in front of an audience. Despite her nerves, she excellent at memorizing lines, having always been a smart kid.

After a few school plays, her parents decided to explore the world of child acting, figuring it was a good way for her to earn money for college, because she was certainly going to go to one if it killed them. It was a tough market. Though Jia knew several languages, Asian roles were few and between, and no one would cast her as a Latina despite her proficiency in Spanish. She was never a stranger to racism, but those years helped her realize just how different she was. She didn’t fit in anywhere, not entirely.

When she was twelve, her grandfather on her mother’s side developed cancer. Her mother was the only one left to care for him, so the Acostas uprooted their children and moved to Korea. It was a culture shock for Jia, who had never set foot in its soil. Her Korean wasn’t bad per se, but it was rougher than her Spanish and certainly worse than her English. It was a difficult time for her. She decided to continue acting, mostly to make herself comfortable with speaking Korean among natives, but she did not have any jobs for a while. During that time, she discovered her love of writing.

Jia grew up around books. Her father never failed to bring classics home. She read Frankenstein at an age most kids were looking at Judy Bloom, but she never considered writing anything, not until she moved to Korea. She always had trouble making friends with her quiet personality, so writing was a way to escape her problems. At first it was about her day, then turned into practice for her Korean, until it shifted into creative pieces. However, she had to push that aside once her acting jobs started coming in again. Jia was filming a commercial when Koala.T scouted her. She was seventeen and figuring out what to do with her life, already becoming tired of the same acting roles over and over. They thought she had potential as an idol and invited her to audition. Her parents had mixed feelings about the situation. They wanted her to go to a university, for her to be a doctor or even a theater teacher, not a performer. She managed to convince them, mostly because it was a long shot. Her vocal and dancing experience was limited to school musicals, and there idol market was much more difficult to enter than the child acting market. To her surprise, she left the audition as a trainee.

Her parents gave her three years after she graduated high school to debut or else they were pulling the plug on the whole thing. It it was their compromise because while they were supportive of their daughter they were unwilling to have her throw away her life on something so impractical, something that had so little chance of working out. She trained every day and discovered a talent for rapping, which she honed. She found herself in a line up for a fairytale themed girl group until the company pulled the rug out from under them. Having always been obsessed with Japanese media, Jia had a much easier time adjusting to the shift into the pop rock occult. Jia always had a fascination with the macabre. Despite her meek personality, she loved horror movies and had the stomach for the goriest of films, having spent her share of time in the ER, waiting for her mother. She even suggested several stage names, before they decided on Medea, figuring the witch from the Greek myth fit the idea of the group well and would lend an edge to the sweet Jia.

While none of her other languages were useful in an Asian market, they made her a favorite in some international markets, particularly Latin America. For the first time in her life, being a foreigner was an asset, especially when domestically Nightmare was practically a flop. It was disappointing, but Jia remains hopeful. It has after all only been a little over a year. There is still plenty of time to turn things around and she is determined to make it work. However, some contention does exist between her and Koala.T. They want nothing more than for her to continue acting, having already seen her capabilities on the small screen. However, Jia would rather explore being a lyricist, maybe even a soloist. She has had people tell her what kind of material to produce her entire life. While it wouldn’t be perfect, being a soloist would allow her to finally shine on her own. Of course, it is still early in her career. She has to exercise a bit of patience as she can’t rock the boat too much, not when they are just getting started and certainly not before she has enough fans to back her up. Thankfully, Jia is good at playing the long game.

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Here at Father Son Holy Gore, we’re not waiting for a month or a week designated for the purpose: we’re celebrating great horror movies directed by women!

Horror’s often deemed— by ignorant dudes with angry balls—  as a man’s genre. Not only that, horror made by men can, all too occasionally, devolve into misogynistic terror serving no purpose other than to be used as a male’s wet dream. It’s a genre propped up by women: they’ve been murdered as Final Girls, vilified as bad mothers and ‘whores’ and teasers who somehow turn men into murderous entities; they’re killed in gruesome, misogynistic ways by men who wield phallic weaponry with which to penetrate them; and the sad, tedious list of ways the genre’s disrespected women goes on eternally.

Horror’s far from being the domain of men. This list is just part of what helps prove that. The following is a compilation of (just some of) Father Gore’s favourite horror movies directed by women. Some are quite well known. Others are like treasures which horror fans have already discovered, and loved, that could do well with more exposure.

After you’re done reading, drop into the comments. Let everyone know YOUR favourite horrors directed by women. Make sure to share this with your guy friends, too. The ladies are already well aware of their gender’s contributions to the genre— it’s us men who’ve got to learn to widen our tastes.

Before the general public caught up on issues of representation, Jackie Kong was carving out her own unique little niche in the world of genre filmmaking. Her 1983 feature debut, The Being, managed to score both Jose Ferrer and Martin Landau to star in a movie about a toxic waste monster wreaking havoc in a small town. She did a couple other flicks, though it’s her 1987 cannibal horror comedy, Blood Diner, which has captured the hearts of B-movie fans everywhere.

Part of what’s so awesome about Kong’s two horrors is she never takes things too seriously, except for the spirit of horror itself. When so many dumb men think women can’t be weird and nasty, they need to look no further than Ms. Kong, whose foray into horror left its mark, one way or another.

Claire Denis is a master. Literally one of the greatest directors to have ever lived. Some of her work, though singular and definable as Denisian, is more typical to her calibre of filmmaker— what we’ve come to expect from the directors and writers considered auteurs.

One of her atypical movies is the 2001 horror, Trouble Every Day.

Denis uses cannibalism to explore the lengths to which people will go for love, how love consumes us, and what sort of monsters we can become in pursuit of it. Vincent Gallo, though a useless human being, does great work here as a newlywed husband with a dark secret. Alex Descas turns up— as he so often does in a Denis film— playing a semi-reclusive doctor in exile. It’s the spellbinding Béatrice Dalle who plays the doctor’s wife, a woman with her own terrifying secret, that makes Trouble Every Day so powerfully raw. One the 21st century’s great horrors.

There are so many vampire movies it’d be a pain in the ass to list even ALL the best, because, despite there being a vast number of bad ones out there the good far outweighs that number. Among the good are also masterpieces!

Kathryn Bigelow— before her stint of war flicks, from K-19: The Widowmaker to the fantastic The Hurt Locker and the much less fantastic, troubling, CIA-approved Zero Dark Thirty, and before her awesome run of genre fare (Blue Steel, Point Break, Strange Days)— gave us one of the best modern vampire movies.

Near Dark encompasses a lot of things: family, romance, contemporary Gothic, betrayal, difference. Bigelow’s vision of a vampire family roaming America in search of blood is as thrilling as it is macabre. Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen are two immediately identifiable genre greats— Paxton’s performance is so much dark fun it’s criminal— but Jenny Wright, Jenette Goldstein, and Joshua John Miller each do their part to make this one hell of a memorable movie, too.

More here.

There aren’t enough mermaids in today’s fiction. Mostly, a lack of REAL mermaids. Many of the original mythologies about sirens didn’t depict these half-aquatic, half-human creatures as beautiful. They showed mermaids as hideous and frightening things, which is why they used their beautiful songs to lure their prey towards the shores, where they’d kill men by crashing their ships or worse.

The Lure works along the very lines of this dichotomy. Two mermaid sisters— Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Golden (Michalina Olszańska)— find living amongst regular people is tough. Silver becomes enamoured with the night club life and musicians. Golden can’t stop killing to feed her blood lust. Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s horror musical is a coming-of-age tale, inspired by her own life with a mother who ran a nightclub. Her use of mermaids, in the darkly comic, horrific style she uses, is a refreshing take on the mythology, and an interesting, loose interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

Not to be missed.

Jennifer Lynch followed her father David into the world of directing, after penning The Secret Diaries of Laura Palmer at 22 years old for him and his Twin Peaks co-creator, Mark Frost. That’s where similarities stop. Jennifer’s developed a unique style within the horror genre’s confines— she’s also done great work in television on American Horror Story and The Walking Dead.

Jennifer’s debut feature Boxing Helena wasn’t well received, though Father Gore’s a fan. 15 years later she returned with 2008’s horror-thriller Surveillance. The cast is phenomenal: Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Michael Ironside, French Stewart, plus Hugh Dillon and Cheri Oteri as a hilarious married couple. Ms. Lynch’s directing turns the movie into something wholly ‘other.’ She uses different film stocks processed in a variety of ways to portray the perspectives of the many disparate characters. The structure of the plot works in a non-linear style, keeping the viewer guessing until late in the game as to what’s actually happening. One of those twisted movies with a promising third act reveal.

Four years later, Lynch directed Chained, starring Vincent D’Onofrio and Eamon Farren. It’s a cruel and brutal tale of a serial killer who abducts a young boy after killing his mother, turning the child into his protege. Saying anything further would spoil it. Another movie with a solid twist, albeit most of the intrigue and intensity in the screenplay comes from the dynamic between the killer v. his reluctant apprentice. D’Onofrio has such power as an actor, and to see him once more become a vicious man— not TOO far off from the killer he played in The Cell— is an unsettling experience.

Mary Lambert’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel Pet Sematary will forever be my favourite version, no matter how many times they decide to re-envision the story onscreen. It isn’t perfect, but why does that matter, exactly?

The mood of Lambert’s 1989 movie is paramount to its success. She nails the New England Gothic feel without having to resort to a decidedly haunted house setting. She explores the rural spaces of Maine with grim fascination, no matter if the fabulous Fred Gwynne, playing old man Jud Crandall, lays on the faux-accent too thick. Lambert’s choices as a director, from the Gothic transformation of the house in the climactic scenes, to the moments with Zelda (played by a man, Andrew Hubatsek) have left generations of horror fans scarred. This woman knew what she was doing, and even if all the elements don’t work as well as they should, the atmosphere and mood of Pet Sematary make it an unforgettable ’80s classic.

More here.

Father Gore has a theory: Bret Easton Ellis is such a fucking asshole because Mary Harron took his, let’s face it, mediocre text American Psycho (which would’ve been leagues better if Tom Wolfe had never picked up a pen) and turned it into a horror movie masterpiece. Prove it wrong.

Harron’s American Psycho retains the good bits of Ellis while playing more with the interesting themes the author left in the backseat. Ellis overemphasised the 1980s heyday of American culture, to pretentious degree, whereas Harron uses it as part of a larger thematic mosaic which speaks to those ideas (materialism, capitalism, and all that’s wrapped up in them) while also focusing on misogyny as an offshoot of that same culture. Ellis tries to claim his novel does the same thing, though Father Gore disagrees.

Harron— along with co-writer Guinevere Turner— make things slightly less ambiguous than in the source material. What makes the movie so effective is there’s less of a smug, know-it-all sense to the style, like there is in everything Ellis writes, and more of a dark wink-wink, nudge-nudge quality that’d rather us all be in on the horrific joke than attempt to outsmart us.

Anything with Carol Kane is worth watching for Carol Kane, and the same could really be said for Lee Grant. The Mafu Cage features them both in an unnerving pair of roles, playing sisters who are JUST TOO CLOSE— like, incest close.

The addition of apes and the mansion’s Gothic drives this into creepy territory. A spectacle to behold. On top of that, director Karen Arthur spent time in a psychiatric hospital to research for the production, adding an air of unease. Like the best modern Gothic stories, The Mafu Cage poses questions about contemporary humanity v. primitive humanity, aided by the presence of the apes. Father Gore believes this is an underrated gem. Definitely a worthy title to be on a list of horror movies directed by women.

The New French Extremity‘s produced interesting work. One of those films is Marina de Van’s Dans Ma Peau (English title: In My Skin). De Van also stars as the protagonist, Esther, whose obsession with self-mutilation emerges after a small but nasty accident and threatens to destroy her life/body.

This is a tough piece of cinema. Not everyone will want to sit through it, especially those who’ve had their own history of self-mutilation. De Van separates the scope of her story from suicidal ideation— Esther’s not looking to kill herself. In a larger way, the movie IS about self-destruction, just not necessarily the depressive sort. The story and its plot explore how people can implode and cut themselves off from society. Although the visceral body horror is unavoidable, the psychological aspects are most important, as de Van tries to illustrate, in a highly literal fashion, how someone can figuratively take themselves apart, bit by bit.

Dark Touch is another movie from de Van, vastly different from the previous one. This has a different perspective on the ‘evil child’ sub-genre. It’s also jam-packed with atmosphere— the tone is dark, dark, dark. One of the first movies of its ilk that Father Gore found super interesting in a long while, at the time it came out in 2013. Always nice to see a woman directing a story about a young girl who’s experiencing the difficulties of growing up, with an extra cherry of disturbing horror on top.

Ignore the hype about Raw sending people rushing from the theatre to vomit. Not because there aren’t disturbing moments, and not because there aren’t ay scenes of corporeal nastiness that’ll make certain stomachs queasy, but because there’s so much more to Julia Ducournau’s fascinating movie than a few gross-outs.

The screenplay concerns a young woman coming into her own as she goes into a college to study as a veterinarian. There, she has a life changing experience involving her older sister. What comes out of this is a tale of transgressive love, which examines the thin veil between human and animal. Truly one of the better cannibalism movies in the horror genre. A unique story.

More here.

There are many ‘killer kid’ movies. The Godsend, though far from perfect, is a compelling entry in this sub-genre. There’s a lot of human drama at the core. Director Gabrielle Beaumont focuses on the people at the heart of the ‘killer kid’ dilemma, and the kid is not what’d you expect, either.

Instead of going for jump scares and elaborately explained moments of terror, Beaumont opts for atmosphere, tension, and, in the finale, subtlety. Not every horror fan is going to love this one. For those with patience they’ll find Beaumont’s feature debut well worth the time to track down.

Horror movies and grief go hand-in-hand. There’s no shortage of them, despite a recent article from Vice claiming Happy Death Day2U was the first (HIRE BETTER HORROR WRITERS WHO ACTUALLY KNOW THE GENRE— WE DO EXIST, Y’KNOW!). Jennifer Kent reworked her earlier short into a full-length feature tackling this exact subject with 2014’s The Babadook.

Sure, the kid’s a bit grating, but it’s all part of the plot. He and his mother are thrown into a terrifying existential situation in which their lives are haunted by a threatening entity from a children’s book. The mother, Amelia (Essie Davis), at first thinks the Babadook is just a manifestation of her son’s grief. She soon discovers different.

The whole thing is spooky. Kent’s striking imagery draws off the surreal, terrifying images of German Expressionism. But, again, like so many other quality horrors, The Babadook is above all about the power grief holds over individuals and families. Another that’ll go down as a classic.

Ravenous has, thankfully, been having a revival lately. Many are fans of this cult movie from 1999, directed by Antonia Bird. Her filmography, by the way, is fantastic (Priest and Face specifically are magic). Nevertheless, this movie doesn’t get the love it deserves, even as people discover its merits 20 years later.

Bird tells an interesting story, mixing the cannibalism sub-genre of horror with historical fiction and an overarching commentary on colonialism/manifest destiny. There are a bunch of solid performances. Robert Carlyle and Guy Pearce are utterly brilliant in their respective roles— their showdown in the subdued yet crazy finale is a sight to be seen with your own eyes, including a darkly comic ending to boot.

Truly one of the most unsung classics in the past couple decades. Again, thankfully people are finding this one, as fans keep spreading their love for this flick far and wide. Bless Ms. Bird for offering one of the best horrors of the ’90s, proving the decade is far from a bad one like certain gatekeepers will try to convince you.

If you couldn’t get enough of Rose Leslie as Ygritte on Game of Thrones, she gives a tour-de-force performance in Leigh Janiak’s Honeymoon, alongside Harry Treadaway as her confused and horrified husband.

Honeymoon is about a young married couple on their eponymous trip after the wedding. Janiak uses the movie to ask tough questions. Do we truly know the people we love, or can they still manage to hide things from us? Of course the story operates on the level of a metaphor about interpersonal relationships, specifically the deep, romantic, scary plunge of marriage. Janiak doesn’t only focus on other possible readings. She digs deep into the horror and science fiction here, creating a story of dread, both existential and physical, that’s hard to ignore. Leslie and Treadaway offer powerful performances, though it’s the former whose power truly helps the movie fly to disturbing heights.

Evolution is a perfect, twisted companion piece to Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s earlier 2004 movie Innocence. Each of them focus on gender in a uniquely unsettling way. Innocence is like a dark fairy tale for girls, whereas Evolution feels like a science fiction parable aimed at young boys. The former takes place in a lush, if not strange forest. The latter is set in a weird coastal town near the edge of a looming industrial city.

Hadzihalilovic rivals her husband Gaspar Noé in the way she aims at difficult, sometimes abstract concepts. She’s nowhere near as explicit or nasty as Noé— of whom Father Gore is a massive fan— instead going for subtlety, straying much deeper into metaphor as a method of delivery for her subject matter.

One thing’s certain: Evolution is a dreadful ride that’s visually gorgeous and thematically compelling as much as it is disturbing. A breath of fresh, awful air.

More here.

Go on, Karyn Kusama! Get it, lady!

Even if you don’t dig Kusama’s earlier movies, from the wrongfully maligned Jennifer‘s Body to Æon Flux  and Girlfight, her work over the past few years has been incredibly interesting. Her latest, Destroyer, is an atypical dirty cop flick starring Nicole Kidman in a Charlize Theron level, Monster-like physical transformation. Before that, she gifted the horror world with a masterpiece of psychological fuckery.

The Invitation doesn’t just let us marvel at the handsomeness of Logan Marshall-Green and his luscious beard, neither is it only about Tammy Blanchard’s truly haunted performance, the movie goes full bore towards its themes, never allowing us a minute of relaxation between stints of unbearable suspense.

Don’t read anything else about it if you haven’t yet seen the movie. Go. Watch. Now.

More here.

Ana Lily Amirpour is a gift to us all. We must respect her accordingly. (She directed an episode of the new Twilight Zone recently and, despite naysayers, it’s a great episode in a wonderful new update to the classic series.)

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was a moody debut for Amirpour, giving us a new vision of vampirism that draws off her Iranian roots, as well as her American ones. The black-and-white cinematography is an exciting contrast of light and dark, fitting with vampire themes as a visual symbol unto itself. Sheila Vand as the Girl is mesmerising, and the director’s style is so affecting.

A few years after her debut, Amirpour directed The Bad Batch. While other critics weren’t as happy with this follow-up, Father Gore found it a wildly imaginative view of the current divided America, separating people along lines of gender, race, class, disability, and more. This dystopian vision of America— a desert wasteland filled that includes Jason Momoa’s glistening, musclebound cannibal, Keanu Reeves as an entrepreneurial criminal hosting a never ending EDM oasis, Jim Carrey playing a man who cannot speak and only communicates through pictures, and Suki Waterhouse depicting a woman looking to avenge her cannibalised limb— is a recipe for a one of a kind movie.

More on The Bad Batch here.

[List] Father Gore’s Favourite Horror Directed by Women Here at Father Son Holy Gore, we're not waiting for a month or a week designated for the purpose: we're celebrating great horror movies directed by women!

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From tarot cards to macabre hoodies: why witchcraft is all the rage

Vivienne Westwood dedicated her 1983 collection to witches, and paganism and the occult was a recurring theme for Alexander McQueen, who traced his family tree back to the Salem witch trials. But this autumn, supernatural vibrations are being felt by a new generation, as witches cast their spell over everything from fashion to politics.

“I’ve always loved witches,” says designer Edward Meadham, as he explains his inspirations for his latest collection. “In my work I have always tried to distort the perceived meanings of the visual female archetypes, including witches,” he says. “For me, they are the primary example of the feared and maligned women.”

Fashion fans will know Meadham from cult label Meadham Kirchhoff, which is now closed. His new label, which marries street style with gothic romance, is called Blue Roses, though he had toyed with the idea of calling it Witches. The collection, which featured witches on T-shirts and hoodies, alongside graffiti-style illustration, pearls, and frills, immediately sold out when it went on sale at Dover Street Market last month.

Meadham is not the only designer flirting with witch style this season. Rising womenswear designer Clio Peppiatt will be presenting her upcoming collection at London fashion week in September, and witches will feature heavily. Themed around Anna Biller’s 2016 film The Love Witch, the 30-piece collection will feature detailed embroidery and embellishment taken from Peppiatt’s own illustrations.The Love Witch’s lurid style owes much to the campy horror movies of the 60s and 70s. “I loved the obsessive attention to detail throughout the film,” Peppiatt explains. “The colours, the set, the costume and the production; the way everything hangs together is so gorgeous. But, while aesthetically everything is beautiful, the core is very macabre.” For her upcoming collection, Peppiatt illustrated her own tarot cards – inspired by the original Rider Waite deck—and worked from the designs. “The initial imagery is so rich and detailed,” she says.

Witchcraft also has a rich visual legacy in the music industry. Stevie Nicks and Kate Bush were early pioneers: from a dove-carrying Nicks explaining that her song Rhiannon is about “an old Welsh witch”, to Bush’s Waking the Witch, from her Hounds of Love album. And Courtney Love sang about the “witches inside us” in 1993’s 20 Years In The Dakota.

Love’s grungy 90s aesthetic was a reference point for Meadham in particular. “The witch symbol I used on a hoodie for the last Blue Roses collection was stolen from the inside cover of Hole’s Live Through This, and it is a symbol I’ve used before in my work,” he explains. “I love the idea of my clothes being a uniform for a coven of disruptive girls.”

Certainly, the new witch aesthetic owes much more to 90s fashion—think The Craft or Sabrina The Teenage Witch. In particular, The Craft has a lot to answer for when it comes to our current trends: small, coloured sunglasses, chokers, dark lipstick, and kilts all feature prominently in the cult 1996 film about a coven of teen witches. Expect more of the same when the much-awaited remake, currently in development, finally hits our screens.

But why has the fashion world embraced witchcraft? In part, designers like Peppiatt and Meadham have glommed on to it as a fashionable aesthetic due to the influence of teen girl internet culture, specifically platforms like Tumblr and Instagram.

Today’s modern witch is as likely to cast a binding spell on Donald Trump or espouse the virtues of motherwort as she is to celebrate the vernal equinox or mercury retrograde finally ending. Modern witches are fashionable, sexually liberated, young, and often actively engaged in political activism.

Read more at:bridesmaid dresses

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From tarot cards to macabre hoodies: why witchcraft is all the rage | Fashion

Vivienne Westwood dedicated her 1983 collection to witches, and paganism and the occult was a recurring theme for Alexander McQueen, who traced his family tree back to the Salem witch trials. But this autumn, supernatural vibrations are being felt by a new generation, as witches cast their spell over everything from fashion to politics.

“I’ve always loved witches,” says designer Edward Meadham, as he explains his inspirations for his latest collection. “In my work I have always tried to distort the perceived meanings of the visual female archetypes, including witches,” he says. “For me, they are the primary example of the feared and maligned women.”

Fashion fans will know Meadham from cult label Meadham Kirchhoff, which is now closed. His new label, which marries street style with gothic romance, is called Blue Roses, though he had toyed with the idea of calling it Witches. The collection, which featured witches on T-shirts and hoodies, alongside graffiti-style illustration, pearls, and frills, immediately sold out when it went on sale at Dover Street Market last month.

Blue Roses Lydia cut-out patent-leather ankley boots, from matchesfashion.com Photograph: matchesfashion.com

Meadham is not the only designer flirting with witch style this season. Rising womenswear designer Clio Peppiatt will be presenting her upcoming collection at London fashion week in September, and witches will feature heavily. Themed around Anna Biller’s 2016 film The Love Witch, the 30-piece collection will feature detailed embroidery and embellishment taken from Peppiatt’s own illustrations.

Sweater at Blue Roses at matchesfashion.com. Photograph: matchesfashion.com

The Love Witch’s lurid style owes much to the campy horror movies of the 60s and 70s. “I loved the obsessive attention to detail throughout the film,” Peppiatt explains. “The colours, the set, the costume and the production; the way everything hangs together is so gorgeous. But, while aesthetically everything is beautiful, the core is very macabre.” For her upcoming collection, Peppiatt illustrated her own tarot cards – inspired by the original Rider Waite deck—and worked from the designs. “The initial imagery is so rich and detailed,” she says.

A poster for Anna Biller’s 2016 film The Love Witch.

Witchcraft also has a rich visual legacy in the music industry. Stevie Nicks and Kate Bush were early pioneers: from a dove-carrying Nicks explaining that her song Rhiannon is about “an old Welsh witch”, to Bush’s Waking the Witch, from her Hounds of Love album. And Courtney Love sang about the “witches inside us” in 1993’s 20 Years In The Dakota.

Love’s grungy 90s aesthetic was a reference point for Meadham in particular. “The witch symbol I used on a hoodie for the last Blue Roses collection was stolen from the inside cover of Hole’s Live Through This, and it is a symbol I’ve used before in my work,” he explains. “I love the idea of my clothes being a uniform for a coven of disruptive girls.”

Certainly, the new witch aesthetic owes much more to 90s fashion—think The Craft or Sabrina The Teenage Witch. In particular, The Craft has a lot to answer for when it comes to our current trends: small, coloured sunglasses, chokers, dark lipstick, and kilts all feature prominently in the cult 1996 film about a coven of teen witches. Expect more of the same when the much-awaited remake, currently in development, finally hits our screens.

Rachel True, Fairuza Balk & Neve Campbell in The Craft. Photograph: Allstar/Columbia

But why has the fashion world embraced witchcraft? In part, designers like Peppiatt and Meadham have glommed on to it as a fashionable aesthetic due to the influence of teen girl internet culture, specifically platforms like Tumblr and Instagram.

Today’s modern witch is as likely to cast a binding spell on Donald Trump or espouse the virtues of motherwort as she is to celebrate the vernal equinox or mercury retrograde finally ending. Modern witches are fashionable, sexually liberated, young, and often actively engaged in political activism.

In the hyper-masculine age of Trump, tarot, astrology, crystal healing and witchcraft are firmly in vogue. Dazed Digital has just appointed a self-proclaimed witch Lauren Bowker, who runs a mystical magic laboratory THEUNSEEN, and will be science editor-at-large for the site. American Vogue has hopped on the broomstick, recently curating a “Witchy Week” featuring tips on how to have a moon ceremony and which potions to include in your beauty regime. And influencers like The Hoodwitch and Fay Nowitz position themselves at the vanguard of modern witchcraft, with an Instagram-friendly aesthetic and huge followings. “The world is in such a crazy state right now,” says Peppiatt, “I wonder if people are looking for something greater to believe in.”

To help them find their way, Elisabeth Krohn launched Sabat in 2016, as a magazine that fuses feminism and witchcraft. “The modern witch offers us another path, one that is mystical and nature-orientated, where we come into our feminine power as women and witches,” she says. “For the girls that grow up today, this world is dominated by patriarchy and consumerism. Can we really be and do whatever we like? Do we have powers?”

But how best to channel your inner witch? “I feel there is a witchy look for every mood or occasion,” Krohn says. “We can claim belonging to tribes of thought and practice, dress for protest like the guerrilla feminists of the fantasy comic series W.I.T.C.H. or cling on to personal talismans to feel strong or safe. And we can choose alternative and perhaps more ethical ways to consume and create fashion as an art of every day that also honour broader values like caring for the earth and other creatures.”

And if you can’t find a rowdy, raucous coven to join, why not create your own?

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