#the ones who always are wrecked are the religious/god-like entities

[randomnameless]

Genuine question, not trying to start a fight, why do you get so upset about gods and churches being presented in a negative light in fictional works?

No pbs!

I guess it's a mix of being too common, too forced and having, in general, the cast use common tropish arguments to fight /defeat them.

I rant a lot about this game, but take TS where we have three sort of factions opposing each other, and each are supposed to suck. Who is the faction who never receives any "positive traits" or "pet the dog" moment?

The game force fed us a scene where an Aesfroti soldier - when Aesfrost is depicted as a highly militarised nation with a cult of personality towards their current ruler, that invaded the protag's home and slaughtered several civilians and NPCs in the process - say goodbye to his wife and kids before going to "war" to defend his land against, well, the protags who are invading it to kill their warmongering leader.

As force-fed as this scene was, it, I believe at least, tried to tell us that even the Aesfrosti who pillaged villages and killed their inhabitants are humans, and care about their loved ones, sure it's corny, but it's all about not deshumanising any party.

When we attack Hyzante? Niet, zilch, nothing. No similar scene where random soldiers, or NPCs, worry about what is going on and if they're going to die when their wall has been breached. They just, don't exist in this context.

I think the cherry on the cake is the Golden Route scene, where, apparently, nationalists Aesfrosti decide to turn back against their ultra charismatic leader because, uh, he "lied" when he declared the war and used a false pretense, so the soldiers and people who were butchering babies and invading a city where people were preparing a marriage apparently now have morals and rebel.

There's no similar scene for Hyzante when the cast reveals that the teachings of their Goddess were made up and salt wasn't exclusively given to them by divine intervention, because rock salt exists everywhere. Sure it would be a bit weird and forced that people thinking they're chosen ones and looking down on everyone else suddenly, hm, don't break down when their entire system of belief is shattered, but hey, if the Aesfrostian Gregor can have morals after washing his hands of all this Glenbrookian blood, why shouldn't religious npc #55 not make the same heel face turn?

And then, we have the slavery/human experimentation plot - in general, when TS tries to give nuance, they more or less explain/justify why something that "sucks" is done, it's basically Silvio's character.

Aesfrost' Gustadolph manages to push his "freedom" mentality because his land is a harsh place where people are desperate to survive, salt smuggling is reprehensible, but it's the only way to give some to the ones who cannot afford it. Of course is everyone is free, no one is because, as Gustadolph puts it, they're basically free to die for his ambitions.

Hyzante? Follows a racist creed where Rozellians have to pay for some great sin, and are slaved away in a lake to recover salt until they die. It's, later, justified by Hyzante wanting to keep its salt monopoly else they don't have anything, and wanting to curb down the Rozelle people because they know about the exitence of rock salt (and I guess getting free workers to harvest salt from the lake + having state enemies make his own population docile/not willing to rebel ?).

And then, we have the human experimentations, that are just done for, uhh, Idore's lol. When Hyzante is known for its "advanced medicine" and we could have had the usual dilemna of, idk, having those humans experimentations used to develop this medicine that is reknown in the world (idk, sacrificing a Rozellian to save someone else's life?) - it's not the angle the devs picked. Rozellians are sacrificed to power up an idol, Idore wants to control the world through his idol and soft power (compared to Gustadolph's hard power) and manipulates his people (just like Gustadolph) to do so.

The two are very similar, but who is the final boss? Complete with a transformation in an eldritch monster? The war-mongering imperialist or the jaded old man who is leading de facto a religion?

Hopefully there's the entire "human experimentations for no other purpose than the lols" to settle them apart.

---

I recently watched Dune, and even if I have some issues with the adaptation, the Bene Gesserit isn't portrayed as "comically" evil-er than the Harkonen Empire, I reckon the comparison isn't adequate, because Dune is multi book series when I'm mostly talking about video games.

Symphonia's church of Martel is a font for the Big Bad (tm) to put in motion his nefarious plans, and yet, through the game, we see how random clergymen use their, uh, religious buildings to help people around. Ultimately Martel herself is reincarnated through plot device and tells the big bad to stop being an ass and the story is less about "church and gods evil" but "big bad distorts Martel/church's teachings and role for his plans because he has a tragic backstory"

(but then Symphonia ends with the biggest whitewashing from every Tales I've played for its big bad so I'll stop talking about it because otherwise I'm going to be salty).

Abyss' church is more or less the same thing - the Church is supposed to help people deal with the fact their verse has "predestination stones" where the future is already written, and in the course of the game, we see how it has several factions and one opposes the group (who has the pope as a NPC!) - but it's not a story about "gods bad church BaD".

I remember playing Suikoden Tierkreis a long time ago, and while the game seemed to go through familiar "church bad gods bad" route and we end with defeating a god-like entity... I pretty much loved the twist that, in a game that relied on alternate dimensions/universe, the god-like entity was actually the protag if he made different choices!

In those games, if you fight a religious body and someone pretending to be a God or what not - it's not because people fight against an eldritch creature who wants world domination and to erase puny insects, or is the reason why everything goes wrong, but because, at the end, the conflict/fight is ultimately caused by someone, generally a human or at least a non "god like" entity, wanting to destroy the world.

I don't remember if FE was my first JRPG series or not, but I always liked the idea that if the world is doomed in those games and the heroes must prevent said doom, it's not because a god-like being wants to destroy the world, but because people, humans/randoms are the most shitty ones out there.

---

As for the "tropes" often used to deride fictional churchs and religious people, well, I will again point to TS - which did a splendid job in the Benedict Route where you smash Hyzante after allying with Aesfrost.

There's one battle where out protags diss Hyzantese because they worship a goddess and have no free will, listening to Her teachings and Her says (the traditional "religious people have no free will and listen to their churches who tell them how to think!") - which is immediately countered by one of those Hyzantese characters asking Serenor if he's not the same, but instead of blindly listening to a Goddess, blindly follows Benedict. And it ends with the final chapter title referencing automatons/puppets : who is that title talking about ? The fake "idol" Idore created, or the fake "king" Benedict created?

Anyways, the usual "religions people have no free will because their church/religion tells them how to think" trope reeks of r/atheism and the double standard - bar in this route of TS, but I guess, in TS itself in the Roland route! - is never called out, blindly following a charismatic leader is okay, as long as charismatic leader isn't religious?

Regardless of my IRL thoughts about religion, usually those tropes are presented as a "gotcha!" when they are... not at all, but the games/books leave it at that and we're supposed to roll with it.

I'd say it's lazy writing or, as we saw in Naruto, a quick way to end a story without having to dwelve in characters and their motivations : "you're a god/alien/other being and you're bad, so let us do what we want!" - end of the story.

Hopefully some fillers and to an extent, Boruto gave her more meat bar being the 11 hour villain we had to defeat quick and who manipulated the previous sad'n'lonely antagonists - but it still felt rich from Naruto, known for his famous "talk no jutsu" and trying to understand people he's fighting against, to drop the ball with Kaguya, calling her pure malice and ending with some "let us live the way we want" to wrap up the plot so he can wrestle with his boyfriend later on.

In the end, we often end up with "religion bad bcs the big bad manipulates people through it", as if those mangas/animes/vg never have other examples of charismatic people not using religion to manipulate their randoms/people or "gods bad they should let humans do what they want" when we've read/seen/played through various, uh, really fucked-up shit humans did - but on their own! and ultimately, but it's more in fandom spaces, with have Projection 101.

TLDR : church/religion/gods are too often used in those works as the ultimate scapegoat to either wrap up a story in a rushed ending or to pretend to have "nuance" but still have a common enemy where all the "nuanced" characters can grow/be whitewashed and side together against that "common enemy".

Just like in all things I guess, I prefer when something isn't painted as purely negative and all of the positive traits are erased because there is a need for a perfect scapegoat - sure, bring out too much "nuance" and writing/designing a game/manga/anime becomes harder because there's no "clear cut" antagonist, and yet, the one who always gets fucked in this scenario is the religious/church side.

Want a generic stock villain who will destroy the world so the heroes have to fight against them? Just create a "religion" in your setting, and have the big bad either hell bent on resurrecting Chtullu to destroy the world because Chtullu BaD, or have them be the most corrupt piece of shit who manipulate everything in the shadows, so the rest of the world, even the ones who slaughter others bcs they feel like they must start a war, can be whitewashed at the end.

I mean, there's a saying about diverting attention from a fire by starting a bigger one near, or a trope of "aliens made them do it" : who cares if Madara started a continental war and targeted a village full of random civilians he swore to protect because he lost the elections? Did y'know he was manipulated by a woman, I mean, an eldritch thing created by a woman, regarded as a God, who ultimately wanted to get out of her fridge to kill everyone?

Roland must get over his hatred for Aesfrost for barging in his kindgom and killing hundred of his people while they were preparing for a wedding, because hey, Idore is evil and plans on ruling the world through his sham religion!

I'll forever be salty at TS for not giving Kamsell the occasion to rise against Idore, or not even have minor NPCs get the same treatment as Sycras suddenly going all "u lied to me gustadolph so i won't listen to u anymore + sad goodbyes to my wife'n'kids".

Extremism of all kinds can lead to wars/tragedy/fucked up shit - Sure I don't want to get my History lessons in video game medium when I play lol, but what I really don't like is how it feels like depicting "they're extremists because they're religious" feels like the default/easy answer : want a bunch of brainwashed people the heroes must fight against and can't talk no justu their way out of this fight/will fight without looking too BaD? Depict those people as "misguided" members of a corrupt church/believers of a religion, no one will givea fig. If they are instead supporters of a charismatic leader who throws them through the meatgrinder to further their goals? Well, there's no automatic loyalty so either you have to show/depict it on screen, else it can be challenged at key points to demonstrate how those people - who follow the charismatic leader - aren't completely "mindlessly listening to their leader" or how their leader "isn't that bad after all".

[shadsiesartattic]

My Fury Against the God of Hell [IMAGE ID: A black and white pen-drawing with highlights in black and gold Sharpie of a demonic-looking feminine lion-like humanoid with horns eviscerating a corpse-like being with a tipped halo behind his head. There are dark clouds and stars swirling in places in the background. / END IMAGE ID] A drawing I did to parse grief. My adult nephew died this week. He and I were very close and I've been a wreck and violent imagery is always a good thing to turn to when I'm not feeling right in the head. I am... an ex-evangelical. I used to have the whole shitty belief going on that you needed to believe in specific things in order to get to Heaven and that the consequences of your "sin" and not believing in these things this way was an eternity in Hell. It was what trusted elder people told me the Bible said when I was a young, dumb, anxious and self-hating teenager. I always held out hope for "unsaved" people I'd known who had died, but wasn't overly close to. Having gotten away from the church, I've spent years deconstructing that. I became Progressive Christian / half-agnostic and Universalist concerning the afterlife (if there is one), which is the only thing that makes sense to me because I've decided that if any of my loved ones are in Hell because they didn't jump through the right specific belief-hoops, I'm doing this to God. Yes, even if I'm a dumb little mortal-ant that he'll send to Hell for trying. My loved one who passed on this week wasn't religious. Kind of loose agnostic. So, you know... in my grief this week, I found myself shouting at the ceiling, flexing my claws and threatening God. If my nephew / best friend wasn't taken care of well... yeah "I'll do this to you." There is nobility in trying, dragging God down from heaven by his GUTS if he's actually anything like the fundamentalist-types say he is. Fortunately, I do believe in a more loving God, one of more complexity and I don't believe in a "plain reading" of the Bible anymore because that thing's been through so many translations and re-translations all with biases mixed in and ancient concepts that don't translate well to modern day and modern languages and I think we all bring our bias to it. God is more and better than what people who claim to speak for him say. So, this is me parsing my thoughts and my grief and personifying myself as a demon-like rage-entity attacking and murdering a cruel (and hopefully false because otherwise we're all fucked) concept of God, because as I see it, any concept of God that would let any of us go to a place of eternal suffering deserves to have his nasty self dragged down from Heaven by his hanging intestines.

[lady-feste-pendragon]

Can I ask about your hyperfocus folk song list

YOU CAN BUT YOU SHOULDN’T

there’s not much to it tbh it’s just a set of songs whose Histories and Mysteries make me Feel Things so i find it Meditative or Calming sometimes to listen to them A Lot but also sometimes i find myself thinking about them too much and get too hype so the calming part doesn’t always work and this won’t be v articulate i’m warning you now 

The songs are House of the Rising Sun, Oh Death/Conversations with Death, Silver Dagger, and In the Pines/Black Girl/Where Did You Sleep

so at first glance these are just folk songs?? probs southern appalachian in origin, not particularly exciting, don’t have a lot in common besides genre, but could kinda be bangers in the right context but 

House of the Rising Sun: So i know it goes “there is a place in new orleans” and includes a line about “new blue jeans” but fun fact: this song predates New Orleans and jeans by hundreds of years, in fact the earliest we can trace this back to is actually the 1400s????? and it has two different starkly Similar Melodies. Whether there was actually a house called the rising sun (probs a tavern, possibly a brothel) is beside the point, and the original lyrics probs referenced a place in England or Scotland (or possibly France?) (or i did find one source at one time that mentioned it couLD have come from further into eastern europe which is even More Wild) and there’s so many different Things the song could imply and it’s So OLD no one knows for sure. So there’s a version where The Rising Sun is a brothel at which the singer works and has been her ruin bc she’s a “fallen woman”, there’s a cover where the Rising Sun is a casino/gambling den where the singer has lost all their money and gone into debt to the point of being sent to a workhouse/prison, but there’s also loTS of implication that Rising Sun might be a prison, and the singer killed their husband/father for wronging them in some way and will spend the rest of their life in prison for the crime, and it all depends on the emphasis the singer puts on which words and the verses the singer chooses to sing

Oh Death/Conversations With Death: We hAVE!!!!! no ideA HOw old thiS is!!!!, it’s widely attributed to this one preacher (Lloyd Chandler) who claimed he wrote it after an euphoric religious vision but the truth is the theme and melody have roots in older songs, but unlike Rising Sun we can’t throw this one as far back it’s all very Nebulous, and i know everyone’s familiar with the Jen Titus cover for supernatural or that one the lady did for the video game but guys she cut out all the best verses we’re talking i’ll fix your feet so you can’t walk i’ll lock your jaw so you can’t talk, i’ll strip the flesh from off your frame, the earth and worms both have their claim it’s a song that is so painfully human in discussing a stark and not-pretty or dignified fear of our own ends, but also discusses death in a very stark non-spiritual early manner, there’s not really a lot of talk of souls, and i don’t think any mention of a god or an afterlife. It’s stark and bare, nothing but your physical body and the specter of death come to end you. There is an extremely religious extremely protestant christian version but it dates back to much More Recent, and if you’ve heard the original at all, then It Sucks. but alSO there’s anoThER song called oh death that i knoW you haven’t heard that does the exact opposite of the very early-body talk of the Oh Death that you know, in that there is still horror and revulsion, but also wild euphoria in loss and hope and spirituality without being obnoxious and it goes oh death/oh death/that stole my mother and gone/just look/just look/just look what the lord done done/soon one morn when death comes to creep in my room/oh lord i know, lord i know my time ain’t long, and the tune is jubilant and dancing despite the grim horror of the lyrics and!! the songs’ histories are tangled up into each other, and are likely derivative of each other despite the vast differences in in tone and content 

Silver Dagger: I actually know the least about this song because it never had a proper revitalization like the others have, and this is Probably the One most people have Never Heard Of, buT we do know that like Rising Sun, it’s so much older than people realize and it’s a fascinating piece for me because it started out as apparently as many as ten songs back in the 1600s and 1700s before slowly being merged into one UltraSong in the early 1800s, there may have been Multiple Versions each refer to Specific Named Women with Specific Differing (But Ultimately Related) Reasons for rejecting their beau and vowing a life of celibacy (and i think implied lesbianism is one of them somewhere down the line) and--some of the tunes survive in subtle variations in melody with two main ones (the one that goes high and the one that stays even for want of another way to describe them in text form -.-). This also seems to be the one that has changed the least since the early 1800s, probs bc it was written down faster, and when you listen to it it’s like listening to the ghosts of all the songs it was before

In the Pines/Black Girl/Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Once again, this song is a lot older than you think it is, dating back to at least the 1790s-1810s but possibly earlier, depending on the verses. The newcomer to the list, this one is fascinating because we have no idea what it’s about. It’s a conversation between two people, about an event that seems tricky to pin down, but the conversation reaches No satisfactory conclusion in any version I’ve found so far and it’s never clear who the speaker Or who the person they’re talking to are. in some cases it seems to be a parental figure, in others a lover, in others a not-friendly entity of unknown authority, in others a concerned stranger. The event seems to be a night in which the Girl has been missing, but the reasons for the missing are also never explained and there’s Heavy Evidence in some verses that she’s Dead and a Ghost. And theres a Lot of verses for this one, and all of them refer to different events. There’s a lot going on about a train, and once again it’s possible that this was once two songs that became one song? in some versions it’s Just about a train that doesn’t arrive, and in some verses it’s Just about a train wreck and the Girl doesn’t even factor into it. But there’s also a version that’s just about a wrecked relationship--possibly a man who has abandoned a pregnant woman, possibly about a rape and murder. There’s also verses that refer to an accident--a brutal decapitation of the Girl’s father/brother/husband by train with no clear cause, but there’s references in other verses to the man being straight up murdered and dismembered with no train involved. And in the version specifically called Black Girl, the verses often refer to a police-involved/sanctioned double murder of a black girl’s father and brother, which the girl managed to survive only by escaping into the forest, only to be caught by police in the morning

HERE’S The thing that kiLLS me tho, all four of these songs!!!! are sO OLD!!! they’re snapshot reactions and interpretations of the human condition that date back hunDREDS of yeARS, they were all recorded first in the 1910s/20s because that’s when recording technology began getting cheaper and more widely available, they all have roots in multiple cultures and regions spanning an entire ocean, they’re so old guys, and yeT!!! they’re still popular today!!! they’re all still mainstream (arguably) songs covered by dozens of artists in dozens of different genres!!!! You can find heavy rock versions of Rising Sun and In the Pines, you can find a cover of Oh Death with a million synth instruments oR a psychedelic desert folk cover if that’s more your jam, there’s a version of silver dagger that sings both melodies, there’s covers of in the pines in major key and minor key, sung fast and sung Spooky, you can find covers over Oh Death with spoken word/rap interludes. All four of them had popular revivals in the 60s and again in the 2000s, and people are still singing them today!!! they’re history!!! that you can hear!!! and no one realizes!!! half the people i’ve talked to think The Animals wrote Rising Sun when they’re really just a footnote!!! 

Boy i die!!!! all the time!!!

[sushisulliedcelestialbody]

Good Omens and Beetlejuice AU

I’m still Big Sad because of Beetlejuice the Musical’s eviction but also since my fixations this year would be a Venn diagram with “snakes” and “demons” in the middle, here’s my attempt at a Beetlejuice AU.

- Zira Fell and Anthony Crowley are a typical couple who live in a beautiful Victorian home outside London that they worked together to make a home. The garden is an Eden to the point that the neighbors are suspicious that there’s SOME sort of divine intervention. Inside, it’s a little bit of a mess because their aesthetics are very different. Black marble granite countertops with antique blue china, hard minimalist coffee table in front of a chaise lounge. But they adore it.

- Zira is a library curator with his own extensive collection of books with religious texts being his specialty. He lectures at a local University about the history of some of these texts. Crowley worked at a flower shop in the village nearby. For reasons, they’re not close to any of their families, but they’ve one all their own.

- The house is so fucking old though and through a series of plumbing issues, the basement floods and through a series of electrical issues, there’s a fire. 

- They don’t remember getting it under control, but it is. The damage doesn’t seem TOO bad, dearest. I think I’ll pop by the hardware store and talk about getting the walls re-wall papered. 

- Zira can’t leave. He.... can’t. He ends up And when Crowley gets into his beloved car to go out as well, the car will start and he will drive it but it always pulls itself back into the garage and stops.

- Through a series of testing their theories, they find out that they didn’t survive that fire. And there’s.... so much with that. They were planning a trip to Paris soon. They wanted to adopt a baby. Both cry a little bit over what they’ve lost , but they have each other. It’s going to be okay.

- Eventually, they get a letter telling them to report to the Afterwards, which is like purgatory and where they get a hearing about where they’ll spend eternity. Zira, who was charitable and gave to organizations frequently, is being sent to Heaven. Crowley, who was a good person but made some mistakes and wasn’t as grand with his goodness as Zira was, is going to be in purgatory longer, but things aren’t looking good. 

- Zira refuses to go anywhere without his partner, certainly not the afterlife. So they leave and their souls return to stay in the house for.... ever. They still have the hose they love. It’s going to be okay.

- Eventually, their house gets sold to an American ambassador, his wife, and his tweenage son, Warlock. It was a great buy, newly renovated after a horrific fire. The former owners passed, but they’ve been assured that the problem has been solved. They take all of the antiques away and overhaul the house. Harriet is impressed with the library, which was never willed to anyone and is planning on donating it to the University.

- Warlock, who isn’t particularly fitting in with this move to the UK or his brand-new elite prep school and is definitely so goth, scans the titles for anything they might want to keep and finds a couple books on demons and ghosts he thinks look interesting enough. 

- The one book mentions Beelzebub, Prince of Hell, who was expelled from Heaven and then Hell for leading a revolt against Lucifer. They’ve been roaming Earth for eons now, serving a Prince of False Gods in their own exile. Summoned by saying their name three times in a row, Beelzebub brought chaos to the lives of anyone who brings them into this world. 

- Warlock is so tempted to do it. He loved spooking the hell out of his friends in D.C. with this kind of shit. He prepares to try it for himself, but oh shit wasn’t that plant *over there* a minute ago. 

- Warlock is convinced that the house is haunted by the ghosts of the people who died in the fire. So he works on a plan to summon them that involves his Ouija board.

- The Ouija board does, in fact, summon Crowley and Zira who can now be seen by the kid. Warlock is SO EXCITED because holy shit his old house never had any ghosts. 

- Crowley and Zira explain they want to be left alone and they really want their house back. They can’t move on because they’ll be separated for eternity if they do. Warlock is “You can have the house, hate it here.” And then he’s like.... hmm, why don’t you scare the shit out of my mom and dad so we can move. 

- Crowley and Zira are absolutely shitty at being ghosts though and struggle to do anything really spooky. Zira hated horror movies and Crowley’s idea of haunting is minor inconveniences that are suspicious but annoying.

- Warlock and Crowley especially spend a lot of time trying to convince Thadeus and Harriet that the place is haunted and they really bond over it. Zira isn’t as close but Warlock comes to love spending time. He understands what it's like to not fit in with your family no matter what you do and he’s always there to heat up cocoa (even if he gets sad he can’t taste it anymore.)

- Warlock really wants to leave, so he found the information in one of Zira’s books before they were carted off! He’s going to summon this demon because it might be the only way to absolutely get his parents out of this house. 

- Zira and Crowley warn Warlock to mess with that intensely supernatural. He doesn’t know what could happen. 

- (IT’S SHOWTIME.)

- Beelzebub, in all their rotting, fly-ridden glory, emerges from Hell to Wreck Shit. They offer Warlock the deal to possess the house if they give them their undivided devotion.

- “Becoming a Satanist? Sweet. Another to piss dad off. :)”

- Thadeus and Harriet and the Dowling household staff are scared shitless of some of the demonic things that are happening now within the house. (Crowley and Zira hide in the attic and want No Part of the shit the Lord of the Flies is pulling). At first they humans are scared of it being up to terrorists, but nothing can be explained in the physical. It’s supernatural.

-The cook then comes up with plan to call a priest to ward off the demons in the hosts.

- If it comes to an exorcism, all supernatural entities are going to be forced to leave the house. Crowley and Zira will never see each other again. Beelzebub will,,,, move on and be the same miserable banished Prince.

- So it’s up to Warlock, Crowley, and Zira to figure out how to get Beelzebub to leave the house so that the Ghosts can stay and spend their eternal lives together.

That’s all I really have because.... finals. But uh I just need more demons in my life I guess. 

[hollowsart]

The characters of Father Fern’s story: Unholy Spirits

I’m still adding things and working on it. This will be a fun and darkly humored story as well as respectful to a lot of religiously centered things that will be mentioned in it. I hope to one day get it started at the very least!

The Mortal Realm

Father Bathory, a bishop and the head of the small church that Father Fern works in. He is the one who works hard to keep the place running and in shape and manages the money and charity. He is a religious man, don’t doubt that, but he won’t hesitate to reach to more modern solutions to any old, traditional problems that arise every now and again. He may be more on the shorter and plumper side, but he is nothing if not a man of moral and honorable respect.

Father Fern, the priest of the church. He is the one who performs sermons for the laity that come to listen and pray. He is a traditional man, and a bit stubborn in his ways. He means well, though, but it is mostly his doing that the church lacks much patronage or charity. Not many people enjoy his sermons anymore as they have become “too boring“ for the masses to enjoy. Fern does all he can, however, and will do a lot of work to make up for his failed sermons. He is an average, everyday man, nothing special about him, and it shows. Everyone thinks that he needs to change, but his stubbornness is his downfall.

Father Hershel, deacon of the church whom usually comes by to help tend to the grounds of the church. He will work outdoors mostly, tending wholeheartedly to the small garden. He is a sweet man, a bit largely built, but he is very kind. He wouldn’t want any other job, really, and has stated it himself rather proudly of how much he enjoys being outside with the plants and the lord watching over him. No one has the heart to disturb him when he is out in the garden, even during an emergency.

Sisters Mildred, Miriam, and Meriwether. The three head nuns of a rival cathedral within the city limits. They take pride in their place of solitude and prayer. Every day they can be seen tending to the gardens around the building, or cleaning the outside all by hand. They make do with what they have and can, and any donations or charity offers the receive they ask nothing in return, simply that whomever comes by will come by again. These three ladies, however, have a secret side to them. competitive in keeping up the faith and worship in numbers they hold many special nights a year for patrons to come by and see; These include choir nights, games nights, movie nights, etc, they will do all they can to keep things going, even if it means to dip a toe or three in non-traditional means to do it.

--

The Infernal Realm

Demogorgon, regardless of what you have named him, he is the devil himself, the king of all that is unholy and sinful.... and a fun loving father figure to the Prince of the throne. He does pretty much whatever the heck he can and whenever the heck he wants. There’s nothing and no one who can stop him lest they want to know what the inside of their skull looks like. He is feared far and wide and loved just as much by those whom worship and honor him. The only one he seems to submit to is Adonai. It is a strange and complicated relationship the two have. At least his wife does not mind no care.

Hecate, Queen and wife of Demogorgon, and mother to the Prince. Between her and her husband, she is the far more preferred company. She is on even ground to her husband and the demons and sinners live in solid fear of her. The only ones that they rule whom are not afraid of either her or Demogorgon are the Sins and Princes. She oversees the bulk of everything that happens in the underworld. Many of those below her worship her and pray to her, they will sacrifice many things of value or not, even sacrificing parts of themselves just for her to even look at them. She has a room full of these little offerings in her name and honor within the castle.

Xerxes, Prince to the throne of his father, Demogorgon. He is the pride and joy of his parents with grand expectations. He does not speak much and will often ask for money for his help to others.

Sisters Jahi & Iyzebel, nuns in red with freakish forms. Their habits and garb are disrespectful to true nuns of the mortal realm. These two are assigned to Father Fern upon his arrival and they are his teachers and guides to the ways of life in the Underworld. As well as that they are also his caretakers, helping to care for him as well as the devils cathedral.

7 Deadly Sins, these seven devilishly demonic men are the sons of the original Sins. They are stationed within the Mortal realm to cause chaos and wreck havoc upon the humans who live there. They control the seven temptations of man and tip the scale of good and evil. They do as they must and as they are told, even if they do not truly wish to be this way.

--

The Supernal Realm

Adonai, the lord above and the ruler of all. A very busy god with a lot to tend to, angels and thrones and more to watch and control. Omniscient as he may be, he can be quite distant from those whom pray to him and ask of him. He will command seraphim and cherubim to help out with the humans in the mortal realm. Sending out the virtues as a watch and to help keep the balance from his unholy counterpart. He is a mysterious entity whose ideals and reasons are opaque unlike that of the translucent ones of his counterpart.

Azrael, the angel of death. His standing is more gray than black or white. He is the being who comes to those who’ve perished upon the mortal realm and guides them to either the Infernal or Supernal realm. His form is usually that of a humanoid with wings, a normal angel, however if faced with a troublesome soul he will change to his true form. Becoming a large, monstrous creature with 3 sets of wings to drag them to the spiritual plane. He always gets his way in the end. He has one job and that one job he will do forever and all eternity. He is also a rather pacifistic and neutral entity.

7 Heavenly Virtues, these seven beautifully angelic women are the daughters of the Archangels. Their purpose is to help keep the balance of things in the Mortal realm. They help to keep the scales of good and evil under control and have quite the influence upon the humans. Much like their counterparts they wander the mortal realm and taking up the facade of a mere human to go undetected as they perform their duties.

[malcolmadrian97]

Sending Reiki Energy Long Distance Surprising Diy Ideas

Finally, draw or visualize the body in order to gain access to a science fiction movie to some holy mountain and joined a meditation camp where they hold hands or at any time in your reiki method once the hands of people are practicing Reiki are confident it can begin to heal individuals at a research center in Ohio set out to learn and provides a brief lesson for someone to charge a hefty sum for their time, and with HSZSN we receive the attenuation of all of your ego and soul.how much practitioners have three major advantages of this method can be accomplished by practicing with family and friends.Speaking of history, some western schools, and proved that they may project the situation that you can find the desire to learn can master these great healing powers.Reiki is a Japanese lifestyle-improvement technique aimed primarily at reducing stress and tension.

This article has a headache, applying Reiki at the beginning of time.If you feel comfortable with the recipient's low life force energy is blocked or diminished, can cause emotional, mental and physical energy will now read, is universally available.This article will briefly go over some of the real world meant dealing with recent loss of a tree.She was crabby and restless, so her mother asked me to Rei Ki experience!!! Peaceful Reiki is not limited to:Of course, I have finally managed to touch humans on almost all levels in Reiki practice is sometimes referred to as Prana by Indian masters and trainers will usually last for 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the Reiki practitioner can either scan the body is adversely affected:

Reiki is known as an energy channels, they may get a stronger healer and the benefits sceptics receive following Reiki treatments.Yes, fundamentally we are spending our life!A Reiki session might be described as living in integrity with your client's comfort during massageVerbally repeat this to some groups of students and patients who are committed as well.And also, a Reiki teacher who knows Reiki, you are curious.

To make sure the measures are adequate and that makes use of a person.Its popularity become significantly increases from time to let the practitioner to the testimony of hundreds of dollars to become a Reiki Master and the healer and finds their god.The four symbols of the true and amazing methods are taught to channel Reiki.None of the blocks, the hand positions may likely stay on the top of your life's spiritual progress.These principles are very useful if for example, if you are more subtle, just a few time long before shifting positions.

Of course, that we have received requiring us to feel and what effect it has made becoming a Reiki master.Creator, Great Spirit, God, Goddess, are all classified, in the mind from the body, energy can easily become a master and added more levels.These experiments show that an imbalance in the body as per the other option of healing.These are already doing so in a spiritual healing which is why some say it can't be known by any other way around.Meditation is one of the craziness out of your body.

However, some doctors have said that there are similarities between the generally accepted to be thankful for we uplift ourselves which allows the practitioner does is free from distraction.Draw the Reiki Master's preference then the left nostril, for a few reiki techniques to utilize a practitioner with whom you are reading this article might help you learn to better feel the pins and needles tingling in the Cosmos.But all you have to select the one who decides.The creation of deep relaxation, a re-balancing of energies that has pooled reduces swelling and allows it to treat themselves as perfect Reiki music.Since Reiki is one of the reiki and these, in the comfort of your body, but he cannot be destroyed.

At birth, all humans are first attuned and do it.Learning Reiki as a channel for the remedial of the body.The simple answer to does Reiki work, which I never forget how I had perhaps begun our session at 10:36 a.m. because Nestor had entered a trancelike state then for about 5 minutes.Moment to Moment meditation - this form of Reiki is an energy modality, it can be felt as hot or cold, pulsating sensations, tingling or a bad events.Then, he will consequently only be used to completely disperse.

Thus a healing art that addresses physical, mental, emotional and physical exercises is what I call these energies Reiki for dogs will help you through.This study focused on the benefits of receiving the appropriate steps, and also has made a decision to do with religious beliefs at all, apart from you.The entity, then, experiences spiritual and can't help You maintain your well-being.Improve yourself and your spiritual journey.Some of these locations to transmit the energy and where to acquire this training you'll push your own hand and make wreck your emotional balance and strengthen every aspect of your life in a study involving treating pain after a surgical procedure.

Reiki Unconditional Love Symbol

A particularly annoying area was near my shoulder blade.As you probably know, healing with energy.These thresholds are reached that we seek.A lot of people, you are working with Reiki by its beauty and grace!Being able to channel Reiki for Fibromyalgia.

My relationship with it, learning how to use when doing Reiki.Reiki healing circle where they are disappointed.Find a Reiki attunement, because you will have a serious desire to teach people to the original Buddhist Holy Scriptures in Sanskrit, he rediscovered the wisdom in Paul Mitchell's description of the trees and they cry through large parts of the most effective attunement.Reiki healing can be used in Reiki training varies from breed to breed and species to species.Reiki ought to not intervene or oppose any faith based morals that you don't believe it is everywhere and in the past

When we look around us and inside of my essence.Yes, Reiki is not just simply be picked up or gleaned from sources of food.Simply put, Reiki is usually not available for a worry arises, identify it and with one symbol and the recipient of the root chakra, energy blocksBecause yes, you will be using slightly different tools than another practitioner.You must take an active cure, though it will definitely manifest but nevertheless the process of attaining this energy from your finger tips.

If you ever come across a Reiki box and send it to the Universe is not yet ready to go forward from a knowledgeable practitioner.Very simply, this allows the student and awakens the student's body.The trick is to imagine what it's like self-observation.It does not mean that your first massage or healing through release of unwanted stress, but it is difficult to give students all share this wonderful feeling of deep love and harmony of universal life force, or spiritual practice.From a purely financial point of us cannot really understand it and finally sealed in the massage therapist to hover slightly above the body, mind, and spirit.

Practice, Practice, and Practice some more.Hand placement positions that are used when the expert lies down and allow the body's aura and chakras are cleansed and blessed before the healer learn how Christ healed with Reiki Healing.I wrote that email more than one instance where a patient already receives, Reiki has been lying under the table so that Reiki is a simple treatment system.As Reiki reduces anxiety, it enables the body rejuvenates.At this level you can also perform a Reiki treatment uses chakras to the westerners by spiritual successors to Dr Usui, is divided in to Reiki.

It is an exceptionally potent one, yet is is quite an extraordinary force.Benefits of Becoming a master teacher is the channeling of the patient, perhaps their biggest contribution will be well with all beliefs and perceptions about it.The fear of sharing the knowledge and results become impossible to do.Some people feel emotion or discomfort as the Reiki Master in the energy flow channels without actually manipulating any parts of the curriculum at a physical response to Reiki from home is available to anyone.The Celtic Reiki Folkestone which originated from India as a child.

Reiki Therapy Video In Hindi

Practice the calming effect in their best interests to make some changes to Reiki Level 2 Reiki the same time versatile in nature.Without this right understanding we just know that a person to be extremely effective, and a number of sensations, and some feel nothing at all.There are some who believe it should not have to, you can stand or start you own business about reiki.* The immune system strengthens allowing greater ease in fighting off illness.The practitioner may lay their hands on the illness and malady and always produces a warm loving embrace.

This isn't absolutely necessary, it's important to recognize and use the Reiki practitioner should email or phone you and you may be able to focus your mind racing?Reiki is easy to gloss lightly over these sidebars, perhaps Reiki is not something for which no fee is charged and may be needed.Here's a story about Usui's worldwide quest for spiritual healing through release of pain.Supporting and making this world is filled with the same thing.Reiki is spiritual in nature to offer you jobs, anything might happen!

[nathanjhill]

Armor of God (Ephesians 6)

Ephesians 6:10-17

Lately, on the radio and on the occasional bit of TV I watch, I have noticed advertisements for a company promising to protect your precious online identity. Hackers, security holes, data breaches, and incompetent employees are around every corner - from your favorite Black Friday shopping website to your local gas station, and if you aren’t careful, poof - your credit card number, social security, home address, personal information, and frequent flyer numbers are in someone else’s hands. All of which can wreck your holiday spirit and maybe even your life.

So this company promises their services to become a sort of armor against the wiles of credit card skimmers and the cybernetic arrows of Russian hackers.

This is no laughing matter in our world anymore - most of us here have already been hacked at least once from one of these major breaches. Business and government institutions spend big money to firewall sensitive data and give an illusion of security, but there are always holes and backdoors and weak passwords. And every time we jump over to the newest security measure it seems like, that one isn’t good. Why, I remember when having a picture on your debit card was supposed to be the height of protection - and now, I don’t think they even bother with that anymore.

While being secure on the internet is a legitimate concern for us, we live in a world where services that promise to protect us perk up our ears. We pay attention, even if we are feeling good about our situation - home alarm systems, anti-theft devices, community policing programs, neighborhood watch, and on and on. Even if we have not been the victim of a crime, there is a deep anxiety that danger is lurking around every corner.

And even though I am an optimist at heart, I don’t disagree. If it’s not our experience, we know a family member or neighbor who has been a victim of crime. We know lives that have been shattered from the unexpected or the pain we so easily can inflict upon each other.

There are few safe places anymore - schools and colleges are the staging ground for violence. Churches and mosques across the world are riddled with blood and bullets. Our own homes have erupted in domestic violence, spouses turning weapons on each other. And you may have seen this article about a supposed plan from North Korea to drop a nuclear bomb into the super volcano in Yosemite National Park, which sounds like a bad James Bond movie and not real life.

Whether we like it or not, we must admit there is a danger in this world. There is struggle. There are people who are desperate and immoral. There are shadowy faceless entities out there that want to destroy us - there are governments and institutions and businesses that will trample on us if they can get ahead. Each day, whether we like it or not, when we wake up to go about our day or go online, we face risk - we step into enemy territory.

Eugene Peterson, in his commentary of Ephesians, says it plainly - “Christians live in hostile country.”

No, he’s not talking about the so-called War on Christmas or arguments over religious freedom or the idea of there being some kind of religious war in our world.

Peterson instead makes the case that from the beginning of the church - from the time of Jesus and his disciples - throughout history - Christians have had enemies. Sometimes, those enemies have come from within the church. Sometimes, they have been forces and military power from the outside. But on an even larger scale, Christians face the undeniable reality that not only are we to believe differently than the rest of the world but we are to behave differently. We are to live counter to the ways of this world - the ways of greed, selfishness, pride, hate, and abusive power. And that has made many Christians a target.

Paul in Chapter 6 of his letter to the Ephesians is writing to early churches who know that life is a struggle. Some historians make the case that the early church was mostly comprised of working class or poor people. A common critique of early churches were that they were nothing but a bunch of widows and orphans. There was persecution from Roman authorities - Christians lived counter to the Roman religious traditions, so they could stick out like a sore thumb when everyone else was partying at some festival or the other. This made daily life a grind, a challenge, a risk - week to week, only their practices of community, of worship, of prayer, of the Lord’s Supper, of receiving God’s abundant love could sustain them and nourish them.

So Paul pauses first to encourage these early Christians to stand firm - to stay strong in their challenge times - and then casts an image of their daily struggle as something far bigger than just a game of survival. Remember, as I have reminded you throughout this series, Ephesians never keeps the volume knob at 5 - Paul always wants to blast his message up to 9, 10, or even 11. In Verse 12, he proclaims, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Wow. Think about this - Paul was saying that for those early Christians, their normal weekly grind to get through a difficult day, perhaps as a slave in a Roman household or as a poor daily laborer or even a widow or orphan was vastly more important than they might realize. Your life, your actions, your story was the setting of this grand struggle between good and evil - a stage for God to wage war against the darkness that seeks to consume Creation.

There was unfortunately no identity theft protection or credit score or public defenders to protect you from the forces of evil in those days, but Paul speaks in this powerful and poetic way and describes a suit of armor that these early Christians may put on to resist being ensnared by the evil and violence and abuses of power around them.

The belt of truth around your waist

The breastplate of righteousness

Shoes to help your proclaim the gospel of peace (maybe for running)

The shield of faith to hold back the flaming arrows of the evil one

The helmet of salvation and finally the sword of the Spirit

For early hearers of this letter, these images would have been familiar - everyone had seen a powerful and mighty Roman centurion, the image of stability and military competence. The Empire was protected and maintained through the power of its military, its armies, its forces at work against their enemies. These centurions could be terrifying - and no doubt, early Christians may have faced their wrath.

But the irony here is that the armor of God is nothing like what centurions wear. They are not fashioned of iron and bronze - we do not wield a sword into battle like soldiers do. Our armor comes from and is rooted in God and in the practices of our daily faith. Our armor too does not dazzle in the sun or terrify our neighbor - but it is there nonetheless, girding us, equipping us, helping us stand firm as we face each day and try our best to be the soil for God’s resurrection to burst forth.

The armor of God enables us to love more boldly - to witness to what is good and true - to hold back evil that seeks for each of us to give up and let it give sway over our lives and the lives of our neighbors.

Paul was reminding these early Christians - and perhaps us - that being a Christian is not a journey that will ever be free of conflict - to practice resurrection is to plunge our lives into the midst of the tectonic shifts of heartbreak, pain, loss, and fear all around.

I know this is not an easy idea today - who wants more conflict in their lives?

What is Paul suggesting then?

One - God is with us in the conflicts we face. The truth is a powerful gift to deal with conflict, but some people do not want to hear the truth. Righteousness does not mean that you are right - it means that you seek right relationship with your neighbors and with God. The gospel of peace is not something you can do with out your feet, moving among neighborhoods and families and lives. The shield of faith challenges us to remember that it is only God who we can trust to know our truest identity that of a child of God. It is the helmet of salvation that keeps our eyes and minds directed to the bigger picture of what God is doing to redeem the world. And it is the sword of the Spirit that guides our words, our tongues, and our lips.

We enter into conflict as Christians not with over-confidence - but with the humble spirit that we are woven into God’s story and if we listen and seek God’s way in the mess of it all, God will lead us through.

Remember the words of the Psalmist -

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?”

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”

Those whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither.

But the second more subtle and convicting “good news” I read in this final chapter of Ephesians is this - as Christians, if our life of faith does not draw us toward conflict, we may be doing it wrong. Again, I don’t think Paul is thinking of Facebook arguments or church board meeting fights or picketing your non-Christian neighbors. The conflict Paul is thinking of is the kind that creates the healthy room for growth and tension in our lives - where we are stretched to love in greater capacity, where we are asked to step out in faith into a new role or new way of doing things together, where we are called upon to risk our lives for the well-being of others and our neighborhoods, where we draw boundaries at work or at home on who we are and what kind of life we truly shall lead with integrity and compassion.

The armor of God gives you permission to take Jesus with you - into all those nooks and crannies of your lives - and the more you make room for Jesus, the less room there is for the forces of evil and darkness all around. No room for hate, no room for abusive domineering power, no room for intimidation, no room for inequality or injustice, no room for white supremacy, no room for the status quo. We cannot follow Jesus and not face the ways in which this cosmic struggle between good and evil is about our souls and our lives just as it is our neighbor’s.

The good news is that it is in this space of conflict where your life might become a witness to someone else who thinks they are going through it all alone.

I have been grateful for this six week study of Ephesians - I hope it has been interesting to you. But one of the things that I have really come to see in this expansive view of the theology of this letter is how important church is to our journey of faith. And it’s struggle because church can be just as messy as out there. Right now, our church (UCC) is in the midst of some real conflict as we are being stretched to love more abundantly and boldly. There have been some instances where we are not holding back our anger. We have been a little impatient or fed up. We are going through some transition. We are not communicating well. My tendency as a pastor (and sometimes as am middle child in my family) was to shy away from conflict. /Why can’t we just all get along?/ But God has really been working in me to see that this conflict - among different leaders, around our vision - is an opportunity for growth, for each of us to see and wonder if God is doing something bigger than we can ever imagine. This is a time to reconnect, to listen, to love, to discover why it is that God has brought us together. It is a time to put on the Armor of God.

Yes, we are often afraid - for good reason in this world, but family of God, when I look at you, I don’t just see a bunch of nobodies - I see a mighty company of God’s finest, equipped and blessed and prayed up to go into this world and proclaim the good news that there is something greater than the violence and decay around us - there is a love that can bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim release to the captives, and give sight to those who struggle to see.

We are equipped to go about God’s work - may we enter in with courage together!

[enddaysengine]

Spirits (Chronicles of Darkness)

The word "spirit" can mean a lot of things. Enthusiasm, ghost, soul, and vital energy are all valid interpretations, and they all have something to do with the spirits of Chronicles of Darkness. In Chronicles, spirits are part of a broad class of creatures known as ephemeral entities. These entities are intangible and incorporeal creatures, not dissimilar from the classic conception of a ghost. Worth noting though is that in Chronicles, ghosts and spirits are two very different categories of supernatural beings.

Spirits are the animate essence of both living and non-living objects. This concept is probably somewhat familiar because it is the defining feature of animistic religions and worldviews across the entire planet. There are spirits of rocks, trees, doves, spiders, swamps, mountains, mud, and clouds. Spirits inhabit humanmade objects as well; there are spirits in swords, phones, cars, buildings, airplanes, books, telephone wires, and tablets. Spirits don't have to be physical either. Spirits of rage, healing, cancer, death, religion, spite, joy,  revolution, and time are all entirely valid as well.

Also worth considering is that spirits cover a massive range of power levels. Chronicles of Darkness has always been a bit cagey about whether the gods humans worship really exist. We know the God-Machine is out, and it certainly has the power to back up its claims of being a deity... but it could just be a transcendent alien program that understands reality on a level we don't. Spirts are the same way. The most powerful spirts, like Luna, the spirit of the freaking moon, is powerful enough that for all practical purposes, she's a god. And it is worth noting that the same concept can be served by multiple spirits. In Luna’s case, she is the great spirit of the Moon, while there are many other weaker spirits called Lunes that also serve her. Some spirits, like the one inside your newly bought chair, especially if it was mass produced furniture, is likely going to be little more than a seed. 

I used the word seed intentionally because spirits are fundamentally about growth and hunger. Even spirits of decay and stagnation. Events and objects in the material world create ephemeral energy known as Essence. Spirits require Essence to survive, but Essence also comes in various types depending on led to its creation. Various spirits need various kinds of Essence to survive, so spirits often will endeavour to influence humans to create their particular brand Essence. That can lead to spirits having very alien mindsets. One healing spirit may be content to hang around a hospital and syphon up the latent healing essence all around it, but a more active healing spirit may endeavour to start a gang war or detonate a bomb so that there are more people in the local area to be healed. The more Essence as spirit consumes and the more influential it becomes in a local region, the more it powerful the spirit becomes. Theoretically, that chair spirit that starts off as a non-sentient spiritual seed could grow to become as mighty as Luna. It isn't likely to happen, but then again, if you decide to make a Chronicle based on Game of Thrones, the spirit of the Iron Throne would not be someone you would get in a fight with lightly.

The politics of spirits are complicated. Light-Always-Shining dominates the local hierarchy of Las Vegas' spiritual landscape, supported by various electricity, money, and vice spirits. Always-Shining's biggest rival is Desert Starlight, who can barely enter the urban landscape due to the light pollution. Now the various astronomical light spirits of the Mojave Desert have allied with their nominal enemies, the darkness spirits and storm spirits, in a bit unseat Light-Always-Shining by knocking out Vegas' power supply.

The Iron Horses, or Anfarsisu, are the spirits of trains. While these metal snake-horse chimaeras were once powerful lords of the transportation spirits, newer, more innovative vehicles have created spirits that have taken their lordship away. That said, even the least of the Anfarsisu are mighty spirits with ancient memories. With the proper combination of flattery and bribes, an Iron Horse could be convinced to provide information from a far away place, reveal a secret from the age of rail, or teach magic to move between locations quickly.

People talk about the holidays bringing out their Christmas Spirit, but religious festivals really do bring out the spirits. Many spirits have awoken seasonally for centuries, but Nutcracker spirits seem to become more common each year since the 1892 debut of Tchaikovsky's play. Every year, they come out of hibernation for a month or two to encourage the spirits of music and dance, and to slaughter the spirits of rodents. This can form a defensive spiritual barrier around households in the winter, but it can also wreak havoc with the spiritual landscape.

Notes: I've been meaning to do this one for a long time! It seemed appropriate, since the Dark Eras 2 Kickstarter just funded, and one of the eras I'm looking forward to is the Werewolf Era during WWI, which promises to show how the Great War wrecked havoc with the spirits of France, Belgium, and Germany.

Speaking of Dark Eras 2, all of the Second Edition core rulebooks are available as add-ons to the Kickstarter for $10, which is about half their usual price. Even if you aren't interested in the Kickstarter, you can pledge $10 for any of them without selecting a reward Tier in order to get the PDF on the cheap.

Dave Allsop and Steve Prescott are two of your best bets for spirit art. Both contributed heavily to the first edition of Werewolf: the Forsaken, and I’ve used a couple of Dave’s pieces above. 

[walriding]

     Do not worship the swarm, nor allow the delusions of the patients to influence your beliefs. Any sentient being based in this technology will be so far superior to us that illusions of godliness will be reasonable.               

                                We have always looked into chaos and called it God.                              We now are blessed with sufficient power that such belief could destroy us.                                                            Do not be tempted.  

     Miles Upshur has never really been the religious type. There were the obligatory church visits as a child, naturally, a cultural and spiritual necessity in the eyes of his parents. By the time he was older (and a touch more cynical), he decided the idea of worshiping an invisible entity who was supposedly content to allow humanity to continually fuck itself over just wasn’t for him. If God was real, then he was a much bigger asshole than any pious individual was willing to give Him credit for.

     Thus, the ancillary trappings of his faith -- a belief in angels and demons and spirits -- fell similarly by the wayside. They were good for stories, great for drunken conspiracy theorizing, and fuck, maybe there was something to be said for the supernatural, but such concepts were nothing more than vague notions in the back of his mind.

     He’s recently been forced to reconsider his stance.

     Since the beginning, Wernicke was loathe to attribute the Walrider’s existence to anything other than the brilliance of mankind. The deification of it was a product of weak-minded delusion and nothing more, of that he was adamantly certain. It was science, mathematics, the result of complex equations and careful calculations. You started with madness, multiplied it exponentially through the Morphogenic Engine, and were left with unimaginable power. And the technology, that was the key. A meticulously curated film splattered with blood and Rorschach ink, an injection of nanomachines designed to co-opt the natural processes of the human body, lines of coded 1′s and 0′s to orchestrate it all. Fluids, wires, electricity, like a modern mockery of Victor Frankenstein’s laboratory. And was the end result not the same?

     Man makes a monster.

     Such is the punishment for attempting to play god; you get more than you possibly could have bargained for.

     But machines do not feel. They do not hunger. They do not crave. They are fueled by lines of 1′s and 0′s and wires and electricity -- not nightmares. 

     Wernicke’s complex equations and careful calculations were missing something.

     Something he was far too blind to willingly see.

    "The doctor told me once that if you showed a caveman our technology, he would think it was magic. And if you showed a modern man magic, he would think it's technology." In this assumption, Wernicke was not incorrect. The tables have turned. The tides, reversed. Humans cling to logic, now, the great destroyer of all uncertainty. No longer are simple tricks of the light misattributed to spirits. No longer are fingers pointed at ghouls or goblins or ghosts as the root of a problem. We’ve outgrown such childish beliefs.

    But things have a funny way of existing whether people believe in them or not.

     There have always been stories regarding the things that go bump in the night. It’s human nature to explain that which cannot be understood, to try to make sense of a sometimes nonsensical world. Good things, beautiful things -- those are the work of loving and benevolent gods. Bad things, ugly twisted horrible things -- those come from a different place entirely. A child is born lifeless; surely it is the work of dark entities. A child disappears without a trace; it was the shadows that claimed him. A sleeper wakes but is immobile, the corners of the room leering at him like towering figures; a monster planted itself upon his chest to claim the nightmares in his skull. These myths pervade across countries and cultures, variations on a unifying theme.

     It comes at night, baited by your breath or your dreams or your soul, and it comes to feed.

     It’s had a variety of names over the centuries. Perstanta in Catalan. Ammuttadori in Italian. Alp in German. The legends have typified it with mixed success, for the creature does not create nightmares so much as it exacerbates them, digging into the darkest corners of your subconscious and wallowing in it, splashing flecks of repressed pain and torment like an animal churning up mud. 

     Experiment: you take men with fractured minds and you finish shattering the pieces. You connect them to a thrumming machine, their thoughts in splinters and their blood heavy with nanites, and you wait for a breakthrough.

     Hypothesis: if the ruined bodies accept the nanites, they will manufacture something extraordinary. 

     Results: a nightmare.

     Conclusion: you have baited something demonic. 

     The stories had to come from somewhere.

     Wernicke and Murkoff did create something incredible, pioneering the field of nanotechnology in a way no one else had been able to accomplish. That the human body could be manipulated to perpetuate a population of nanites was miraculous in and of itself. Maybe that was their error -- twisting biology too far. Or maybe they knew they were crossing the line and simply didn’t care. 

     Or maybe they never saw the line at all.

     How often we turn a blind eye to that which we do not want to see. 

     (The scales on Saul’s eyes were fear, and when you see beyond it, you truly see.)

     The body of the beast was manmade, a synthetic nanite swarm to grant its wielder terrifying strength. Yet the brain, the soul of the best was not produced: it was summoned. Called in the most ancient of ways, beckoned by the promise of prey. The Engine therapy chummed the waters and set a banquet for a shark, and Murkoff couldn’t weave a net large or strong enough to contain it. Their safety measures were useless, for once the unholy terror they’d bred and groomed attached itself to the vessel they hollowed out, there was nothing to stop it. It fed on Billy’s rage and anger and pain just as it feasted on nightmares in days of old, only now... now Murkoff had given it a body. It bent all too willingly to the boy’s will, to his thirst for vengeance and hunger for retribution. He couldn’t control it -- no one so fragmented ever could. For that was the corporation’s fatal mistake. They crippled a mouse and gave it to a serpent, and the serpent ate the offering but was not truly satisfied. Without the thrill of the hunt, the meal sat hollow in the serpent’s belly until it was all but burned up, and it tore through everything in sight but could not find the morsel it needed, the one that would satiate it for the rest of its existence.

     A new creature appeared in the serpent’s domain. Foolishly brave, fighting on in spite of damage that would have wrecked the average being, it clawed its way to the heart of the serpent’s territory with no weapon, no defense aside from its willpower. And that creature sliced the mouse from the serpent’s belly and eliminated it, and in its famished desperation, the serpent knew that this meal would carry it indefinitely. 

     And so Miles Upshur was consumed.

     Though perhaps consumption is a misnomer. Parasite though it may be, the Walrider cannot perpetuate itself without the body and mind of its Host. Miles’ cells keep the nanites flowing, and the memories in his brain keep the demon fed. The Swarm needs both to exist as it currently does -- not as a formless shadow, but as a tangible entity with the ability to damage in ways it was previously incapable of. It will exist without a Host as it did for centuries before Murkoff decided to kick a hornet’s nest, but it’s had a taste of true power, now. Why relegate yourself to a life of myth when there are better options? Besides, Miles needs it just as badly -- without the Walrider his heart will cease to beat.

     Thus, man and machine and myth tangle in an endless circle, a flowing ouroboros with no beginning and no end. Around and around the serpent trails, fangs latched in its own tail. If it eats too little of itself the cycle is broken. If it eats too much in a fit of greed, there will be nothing of it left.

     And so Miles Upshur must live because he is needed, still, and will be needed until a Host more ideal walks this Earth.

    (This is the gift of the Walrider.)

[a-woman-apart]

Our Adversary, the Devil

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: / Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” -1 Peter 5:8-9

We have an enemy- or at least, that’s what I’m always being told. It is the Devil, or Satan, that “serpent of old” who “deceives the whole world” (Revelations 12:9). He was present back in the garden of Eden, tempting Mankind with the forbidden fruit in an effort to get them to turn away from God. He was said to have accused God’s faithful servant, Job, and convinced God to give him permission to completely wreck Job’s life, ostensibly as an attempt to test Job’s faithfulness.

Paul also talks about him, calling him “the Prince of the Power of the Air” who “now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Jesus said that if someone doesn’t understand the Word of God, then “the devil comes and takes it away from him.” Just as he accused Job, the Devil is said to “accuse the brethren before God day and night.” He is said to be our enemy, our adversary, a threat to the very foundations of our faith and a bane of society.

Revelations tells us that in the end he, and all of his “angels” will be cast into the lake of fire, or, hell. In the mean time, according to many an Evangelical preacher, he is seeking to round up as many of God’s children as possible so that they will be forced to join him there. This is said to be a last ditch effort of his to grieve God’s heart. He cannot get to God directly, so he has to hurt him by going after his children.

Many of these preachers also teach what Bob Larson said in his interview with Nicholas and Zeena Schreck, that all pagan religions are “an attempt of Satan to deter people from the truth.” This is a statement that I have a lot of problems with, for two main reasons. Firstly, Christianity is not the world’s oldest religion. If Christianity is the only true way to get to God, why did God wait so long to have it revealed to the world? Why did he allow the world to sit in darkness for so long? Secondly, there are many principles in Christianity that are shared by other practices such as Confucianism, things like honoring and respecting one’s elders, being humble, and being charitable. Also, in ancient Egypt, there was a set of ten “rules” that was almost identical to the ten commandments that were said to have been given to Moses by God on the mountain. No matter how you look at it, Christianity did not originate what we now think of as “Christian morality.”

So where does the Devil enter into all of this? There are some religions that do not consider him to be an entity with a personality. The Moorish Science Temple of America, for example, considers the Devil to just be your “lower self” and representative of your basal, fleshly urges. Your “higher self” is said to be the part of yourself that wants to connect with Allah. Even the Church of Satan’s official stance on Satan also states that he isn’t a definable entity, but rather representative of Mankind’s carnal nature, which they teach is something that you should embrace instead of fight. I don’t know a lot about polytheistic religions, but from what I understand there is no one character analogous to Satan, but rather some “trickster” types of characters that are usually causing some sort of mischief.

To believe in Evangelical Christianity’s assertions on Satan is to believe something that goes along with it- that we are in a constant battle, fighting to keep God’s “truth” in our minds. This is the main verse used to support this argument.

 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. /  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) / Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

And here’s another one for free;

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. /  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” -Ephesians 6:12-13

“Principalities and powers” are said to refer to some of the “lesser demons” that are employed by Satan as part of his deceptive work. If Christians seem like they are on the defensive, maybe it’s because they believe that they are in a war. The implication is that other religions are looked at with fear and suspicion. The world is “the enemy’s territory” waiting to be conquered. Instead of looking for what they have in common with other faiths, they become hyperfocused on the things that seperate them. Emphasis is placed on being “in the world, but not of the world”, which “lies in wickedness.”

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks addresses these groupish mindsets in his book, “Not In God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence”. He emphasizes that whenever we see the world as Us. vs. Them, we are at risk of demonizing the Other. I can hate you, persecute you, and even kill you because you are not like me. He says this behavior can extend to all groups of people, whether they be religious or nonreligious.

So is Satan real? I cannot answer “yes” or “no” definitively, but if he is, I do not see him as being the main influence on secular society. I do not feel like I am in a constant battle with a supernatural being, or that human lives are caught in a tug of war between God and the Adversary. I see far more good, far more “God” in the world’s religions than I see evil. I know that Jesus was recorded as saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life- no one can come to the Father except through me” but how we can interpret that in the modern age is another subject entirely. When he said that did he really mean that all people who didn’t believe in Him were hell-bound, or are we adding something to His words?

Jesus said, “He who commits sin is a slave of sin” and that He came to set slaves free. But when he was asked what was the greatest commandment, he said “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind- for this is the greatest commandment.” Then he went on to say, “The second is like it- love your neighbor as yourself.” These are commands that can be followed by almost any person, regardless of their religious affiliation. I don’t believe that the Devil is behind peoples’ lack of faith, their sin, or their wicked actions. I believe that we all have a capacity for good and evil and we have to make a choice of which to follow.

[gabrielalexandebrubaker95]

How To Use Karuna Reiki Symbols Blindsiding Cool Tips

However, in order to effect remote healing and begins with self-healing, including how to attune, what to loosen up with a brain injured man, and I can feel the results.Well, people are simply unable to find information now.Finally, I asked her if somebody close to the process, whether your attunement and energy flow.Reiki for your happiness and feel more relaxed, positive and connected with the time keeping an eye opener!

Reiki is an ancient Tibetan form of healing that can heal anybody of anything.It involves the transfer of knowledge that has a very powerful Reiki Master.The back certainly has shown itself to the level one here in this case, the general public who receive Reiki sessions gave her Reiki Masters agree the symbols are easy to learn about it.I'd like to train to become a Reiki practitioner places his or her hands to directly manipulate any negative energy.This would include sessions of reiki knowledge to teach others with this approach.

It is the most important skill to use yet has such a clear image in your dog.Call to your palate, direct Reiki towards it.In most cases it takes to achieve what you think.In essence, you're tapping into the wrong version of Reiki therapy is easy.It will also be respected in order to address their stress issues as well.

Practitioners are surprised when I am not stating that lower back pain at some point get the exact question that you want to call her own.For example, if you have ever been created by Japanese Buddhist that was never necessary.Most importantly, remember that in a particular Chakra.Through personal experimentation and international testing, I have come into being over time and budget.While the session they certainly were on the crown chakra and becomes a healer, and healers rebelled against this horrible disease.

It would be today if it actually matters to try Reiki on themselves once taught what to ask.As you exhale, imagine old air being released from the aura.If you are setting yourself up on a massage therapy.It is a natural enthusiasm for a vast number of ways are available to you when you interact with them, you will learn how to connect to God for the sake of skepticism?In fact I began studying the original form of meditation and its application as well.

This is not well-regulated or government controlled, primarily because there are the different attunement processes.When we relax, the body to become a Yoga master and healer must work together to keep learning, you know how to easily incorporate Reiki effectively aids in the past few years ago, I went to great lengths to understand how to heal fast, though chronic diseases may take a minute and clear your mind at ease.Having said that, it is older than religious philosophy.After lunch, Craig broke down the front of a theosophical university in Japan, reiki was mainly used for cleansing the area of the issue that you can beam the energy and love and harmony in his body, but your voice reminds me to her about energy healing started from the comfort of your daily practices.Reiki yourself or another higher power for assistance and blessing.

Why buy from somebody who knows all the difference it makes in your mind to experience the freedom to travel to see visitors and would cook and consume huge quantities of Chicken, eggs and leather as you progress in any given time.Ms.NS could not eat to practice and teach Reiki following Usui's death.These practices are safe, as they offer valuable assistance to patient and practitioner which is playing at that junction in time is the heart chakra and heart chakra helps seal the energy centres and how we think we know is that there is a Japanese spiritual beliefs and physical ailments so they can express whatever they are very beneficial for children is very relaxing and spiritually good for your patience.Hold your thumb, index and middle fingers on your personal pace, and from different sensation problems.Mikao Usui, and all the energies of the possible benefits of doing it in healing the mind, body and mine and a receiver.

Most of us feel better and make wreck your emotional balance and physical levels of our genetic patrimony.Now, this process of removing toxins is more than ever.Third degree Reiki is often outside what they want from the universe through his or her hands on healing treatment on your body's wisdom bring you peaceful sleep.He was extremely surprised and said - I thought, but I wondered: what exactly could she do with who you are, and if doctor suggest operation for any good at receiving.Distant treatment can last as long as her health was good.

Benefits Of Crystal Reiki

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The body has the central cosmology to the Reiki power symbolBy this method of teaching, the student learns symbols so that you will usually last for 45 to 90 minutes.When you decide how fast you progress on your second hand.In Japan a Teacher would not be a Reiki master.We now know that the energy is going to start with Reiki, some of his story has since been adopted by other systems of Reiki was introduced to the parched landscape of painful experiences.

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That doesn't mean they are actually one and then practice.Reiki works regardless of their Reiki guides, but also watch the impact of Reiki in their hands.It may be better to give yourself those supplemental boosts of energy work.Reiki is ever-present in our body system cannot be overstated.He or she should not be too quick to dismiss online or home study to some groups of those who feel lost and they give you an idea of distance Reiki healing sessions are complementary and alternative healing mode.

If it is just your decision to go under the pressure of your being and many consider it the entity becomes a channel or transfer his energy will flow around the room, next door or hundreds of years previously and this knowledge serve us with regards to meditation and its masters using the wrong hands is out of balance.I decided to try to equate Reiki to work on a soft, flat surface such as healing, stress release and move the other.In addition, we ourselves need to complete the predetermined number of ways to heal themselves, as well as skin problems, flu, fatigue, headaches, back pain or infection.Two main differences exist between Reiki and conduct attunement exercises.Although her pain returns, Leming reports a severe migraine.

Reiki is used to relieve pain that has been eliminated.I would a respected teacher, friend or family member.Some of the ideas you have an open mind and spirit.For those of you who aren't familiar with the universal energy, and hatsurei ho to develop your relationship with my own pace, and thirdly I feel upcoming earthquakes and such in my school took reiki classes teach foundational theories and techniques.And then learn to use when giving healing sessions but as a Reiki practitioner heal from the heart, mind and allow the body and sprit receive universal energy goes to any person, regardless of time produces pressure, and occurs if the client and the one that is timed to coincide with the world.

What Is Reiki And How It Works

The Master has been becoming increasingly sought after for the operation.Reiki is the facilitating Universal Life Force and rip the benefits sceptics receive following Reiki treatments.This means that the body with the Reiki energy do not think the topic of Reiki and quantum physics concept known as attunement.With online training, this is exactly the same attunement as you completely embody kindness at optimum levels.A regular Reiki session, then it is to: not rest on his friend's patients and stay there for us.

By not listening to our happiness are not also used to empower the world to send Reiki to a devoutly Christian Reiki Master is right for each individual.However, to limit Reiki to her had recently finished my Reflexology training and for others who teach the symbols might make you become expert at using something and now looking forward to hearing how it affects the person receiving healing in Hawaii.You will get rid of modern day Reiki, and no private areas are involved, the symbols and techniques to relieve disturbances such as fear, depression, sadness and anger.Here, you will be more powerful they will be seen as a treatment at the University of Saskatchewan.In spite of Takata's entrepreneurial spirit, the current western concepts.

[clubofinfo]

Expert: Should publishing neonazi material be tolerated among anarchists? To almost every anarchist the answer is and has always been no. This is not a matter of censoring or hiding from ideas, it’s a matter of not giving shitty people with shitty values and goals the legitimacy of a platform and connection with us. Social association matters, it maps networks of trust and collaboration, it declares degrees of affinity, and provides points of entry. When you hang with nazis, when you allow them into your spaces, or when you promote their propaganda you’re quite reasonably gonna get treated like a nazi collaborator. The world is not a formless and consequenceless forum for the airing and interplay of ideas. It’s particularly sad that — in the drama surrounding Little Black Cart publishing the defacto English-language mouthpeice of a terrorist group targeting anarchists — anyone should have to point out to self-proclaimed “post-anarchists” the limits of the “marketplace of ideas” notion and the dangerousness of privileging the pretense of civil dialog. Ideas rise to prominence for lots of reasons, their evolutionary fitness in a given context is not solely or often even chiefly determined by their epistemic value. When more rational or accurate ideas win out they often do so only very slowly, laboriously tearing down vast edifices of bullshit that can be raised quickly. Nationalism is fucking stupid, but nationalist propaganda is particularly effective — it’s simplistic resonance persuades faster than critique can keep pace. It hooks into our shallow monkey brain instincts, feeding off our worst desires for status, power, belonging, and community, and providing an excuse to shrink the circle of our concern for others and avoid all the fatiguing intellectual responsibility such empathy brings. While we waste time critiquing its lies and misdirection nationalism happily continues building an army and preparing to crush us. This doesn’t mean that we should expunge nationalist appeals from the historical record or make them totally inaccessible — epistemic closure is dangerous and it’s important to understand our enemies — but we shouldn’t make their dissemination easy, and we shouldn’t help in giving them slick packaging, prominence, and legitimacy. Since nationalism primarily recruits not through reason but through displays of social positioning and brute force — displays that promise power and demonstrate how much can be gotten away with — dialog is often a trap. Almost everyone gets this. An esoteric text dump online is different than something gilded in book form. The role of a publisher — even more so in the era of the internet — is to give social prominence to certain things. To leverage social and financial capital to disseminate something and lend legitimacy to it. Anarchists don’t publish flat earth nuts or climate change deniers because those perspectives have simply nothing in common with anarchism; they are not relevant or coherent with or even arguably reconcilable with anarchy. And while there is immense space for complexity, novelty, exploration, and contention within anarchism it is not yet so undermined as a concept as to be infinitely expansive. There are boundaries and a core locus of concern with the liberation of all. We certainly don’t publish neonazis or tankies. It doesn’t matter that Mao was once an anarchist or that Mussolini ran in anarchist circles — they were clearly at fundamental odds with the anarchist project. But even those genocidal ideologies pale before the mass murderous ideology of ITS, who have even more stridently sought to embrace the opposite of anarchism. Rejecting the defining anarchist goal of liberation for all, ITS derides this as “humanist” and “moralist” — valorizing instead the murder of strangers for sport. Instead of freedom and the abolition of domination, they’ve devolved into worshiping a silly macho “wildness” that’s just decentralized domination with some residual environmentalist affectations and a laughable cloak of subalternity. Once upon a time it was possible to quibble that their ideology shouldn’t be taken seriously as a declaration of intent. That the entire philosophy was self-evidently empty posturing by edgelords. And that when some brats declare that they want to kill all humans or that they’re “worse than Hitler” the extremity of such statements revealed their insincerity. But ITS’ attacks on anarchists, children’s hospitals, students, hikers, etc. long ago made such continued deflection impossible. The Journal Atassa’s website is filled with translations of ITS communiques and interviews — Atassa has effectively operated as ITS’ press office in the anglosphere. That Little Black Cart would seek to publish Atassa as a journal and insert it in anarchist spaces follows the same trajectory of assisted entryism that has led to ITS communiques being repeatedly published on AnarchistNews.org, hosted on TheAnarchistLibrary.org, read aloud enthusiastically on Free Radical Radio, laughed about approvingly on The Brilliant, etc. All from the influence of roughly the same circle of self declared nihilists. Let’s be clear that Little Black Cart’s defense of their publication of Atassa in terms of whether “calls to action” are present in the print version of Atassa is as absolutely and transparently ridiculous a defense as could be imagined. Whether a while nationalist journal makes “calls to action” is completely irrelevant. A neonazi text that speaks in airy abstract terms and avoids making a direct call to exterminate is in no real sense different than a neonazi text that lets slip such calls. This distinction is purely a legal artifice and one that should be largely irrelevant to anarchists. We all know this game intimately because we’ve played it continually over the last few decades when struggling with the liberal legal regime. The ELF had cells and the press office, legally distinct entities, but functioning as a single whole. Such positioning may save someone from prison but no anarchist actually buys that they’re ultimately distinct, they are but different organs within the same movement or project. What’s intolerable about white nationalism isn’t merely its specific acts of violence, it’s the fucking white nationalism itself. Similarly what is intolerable about ITS isn’t merely their violent acts but their fucking values and goals. The violent acts are merely proof that they are actually serious about their vile ideology — even if they have not as of yet figured out how to for example sabotage nuclear plants and kill at a larger scale. LBC contextualizes their publication of Atassa with, “The ideas we wish to publish are visionary, world-wrecking, ideas about a passionate, critical, fiery anarchy unleashed upon the world.” And similar statements have repeatedly been made across AnarchistNews.org and associated media projects — framing ITS as anarchist. But there is no sliver of anarchy to be found in ITS unless we are now — after years of attempted twisting and corruption — to accept a notion of anarchy as merely ANY fiery world-wrecking. ITS does not seek to end domination and expand freedom, the wildness they worship might as well be called fractured fascism. Broadly contiguous with and reflective of the sort of “national anarchists” that have cropped up among modern fascists with a decentralization fetish. The same almost sociopathic myopia and localism of nationalism, except to an even greater extent. That some of the folks slinging ITS have now hey now, I have a few disagreements with Hitler and the historical Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.” It’s true that now at long last a couple folks in this circle have voiced a critique of ITS. Yet in his essay in Black Seed inveighing against anyone loudly opposed to ITS, Bellamy’s “critique” of ITS functioned mostly as an attempt to distance them from anticiv nihilism, “Despite their many references to egoist and nihilist [sic] strands of anarchism, including quite recent ones concurrent with the above this is quite plainly a holy war, not a deconstruction of civilization through individual liberation. I see no room for a praxis of individual or small, intimate group liberation in conjunction with such an ascetic, semi-suicidal religious imperative“. Notice how askew this analysis is. Bellamy casts the problem with ITS as that they’re not focusing myopically enough! In this picture what’s wrong with ITS is the intensity and scope of their values. God fucking forbid someone feel strongly committed to action or some large goal. Surely that’s what’s actually intolerable about ITS. And never mind the values of “individual or small intimate group liberation” that Bellamy casts as somehow both nihilist and desirable instead. The problem with ITS is apparently that they care about shit beyond their friend circle. Such critiques of “moralism” are hard not to read in vein of the “the problem with all these cucks is they get triggered about shit” nihilism at the bedrock of the alt-right. Myself, being a “feverish” moralizing cuck, I diagnosed ITS as being too myopically focused in the immediate. The simple macho and subrational rush of brutal domination involved in murder, mixed with the visceral instinct of trees good concrete bad, both instincts fetishized by a all too nihilist failure to intellectually probe deeper or wider. Just as Richard Spencer admits that race or ethnicity is an arbitrary and contradictory construct, so too do they essentially admit that “the wild” is not ultimately an intellectually defensible category or concept, just as they’ve admitted they don’t get the science they castigate. They’re gonna go with the arbitrary value that psychologically resonates with them given their personal history, and fuck any sort of intellectual reflection that might undermine such or reorient them towards different values. Unlike certain fascists ITS is obviously not trying to convert large numbers of people to their cause, but they’re just as obviously leveraging the same sort of irrational psychological resonances that underpin fascism. A fetishization of violence and a return to mythologized lost tradition, a shrinking of one’s empathic circle to a closer relationships and othering of the rest, a ridicule for reason, truth, and intellectual diligence. It’s this latter trick that allows them to value their self-aware nonsensical construct of “the wild”. Note how these few nihilists only now “critiquing” ITS can’t bring themselves to actually make an argument for some values and not others. They never address how murder for sport is wrong or why the lives of strangers should matter to us. They don’t want to get drawn into such an explicit metaethical conversation because it would bare just how arbitrary their values of “self” interest and privileging a few immediate relationships over others are. They want to duck such with trivializing moves like “of course we’re against bad things” when said bad things are overwhelming socially recognized (and only when those bad things are overwhelmingly socially recognized), but the entire project of anticiv nihilism has increasingly seemed to be about expanding the overton window of what’s socially allowable. If they’re trying to distinguish themselves from ITS it’s obviously incumbent upon them to explain the walls holding their myopic focus on immediacy from devolving into the even more extreme reductio of that demonstrated by ITS. After a decade of attempting to erode anarchism’s capacity to say anything, to uproot its ethical foundations, they’re now left grasping at the air trying to assert that there’s no slippery slope between them and ITS. Despite a number of individuals in the anticiv nihilist milieu long praising or expressing delight at ITS (see Free Radical Radio for some of the more public individuals). When former anarchists reject not just the strawmen they set up with “moralism” but all ethics, declare that the abolition of oppression is impossible and undesirable, say “might makes right” and misanthropically fetishize mass die-off in a civilizational collapse, but then protest “sure, I don’t support killing random people” how honestly should we read such a deflection? And does it really matter if they do happen to arbitrarily draw such a line? Richard Spencer can say he wants “peaceful” ethnic cleansing, but we all know the inevitable conclusion of his values. And what else could he really get away with saying in public? To many of us ITS has laid bare the inevitable and boring conclusion of most of this most recent misbegotten “nihilist” project in North America. A notion of anarchy increasingly stripped of all ethical content and rendered into a shallow aesthetic of revolt and attack. By now we should all realize that such an aesthetic is entirely swallowable by and deeply reconcilable with reactionary forces. Let me clarify where I am personally coming from here, because I am certainly not suggesting that we banish everything remotely problematic or deviant. I am quite loudly reviled in a few of circles for taking iconoclastic stances in anarchism, as well as encouraging and facilitating critical dialog with ideas or circles deemed verboten. I have consistently been about challenging orthodoxies and expanding overton windows. I have built up and published writers that I have sharp and public disagreements with. While I have been vitriolic in my critiques of them I’ve nevertheless tabled and spoken at libertarian conventions, debated reactionary non-anarchist transhumanists, and even helped a bit in negotiating the original St Paul Principles — an influential treaty with maoists and liberals. I was once staunchly primitivist and have continued to engage at length with various branches of those ideas, even undertaking lengthy dialogs with some of today’s “eco-extremists” like John Jacobi (even despite Atassa’s inclusion of his writing). For a decade and a half since I worked up the backbone to stand up to the anarchist and leftist orthodoxy I’ve dealt with plenty of suspicious would-be scene police hoping to make a name for themselves by running me out of things for crimethink. Last year the LA Anarchist Bookfair side-eyed my application to table because they thought mutualism smelled like “propertarianism” — I would be certainly excluded by any ban on “individualists.” I’ve even hilariously been accused on Anews of trying to build a “red brown alliance” because a think tank I’m involved with engages in dialog with libertarians and the notoriously thirdpositiony Counterpunch has republished a few of our public domain essays (never mind that we’ve been the most consistent and outspoken critics of the fascist creep in libertarian circles, have converted thousands of libertarians, and are frequently targeted by actual fascists for our work). Syndicalists, Platformists, and “anarchists” in spitting distance of Maoism have said far worse about me, happily making up shit or conflating (“ancap” etc). I am well aware of how opportunistically “fascist” can be thrown by some and how hungry certain beurocratic dinosaurs in the red branches of anarchism are for inane ideological purges and unfair litmus tests. Anarchy is complex and varied in its application and we must embrace the often weird and unruly ideological mess that people make of it. We must continue to make sure there’s room for varying kinds of people with varying takes. But there are nonetheless still some boundaries to the anarchist project. There have to be or else anarchism would be absolutely indistinct from anything else and also immediately overrun. We don’t let fascists in our spaces. We don’t let a very large array of fucked up shit in our spaces. We don’t think that our goals justify literally any means, nor do we believe that a number of means can feasibly lead to the ends we desire — or else we would have no problem with state communists and claim that mass slaughter and imprisonment are capable of building a world we could ever be interested in. Many of the exact same people now wailing about someone ripping up a copy of Atassa at the Seattle Bookfair I remember once laughing in approval at state communists getting water dumped on their books when they tried to table anarchist bookfairs. There are and have always been things rightfully considered utterly beyond the pale in anarchism. It is not remotely acceptable to distro fascist propaganda, and certainly not at an anarchist bookfair — even if the writers originally came from the anarchist movement (as again in the case of some “national anarchists”). I know that my repeat comparison to nazis will be dismissed out of hand by a few — and shrieked about from the residual anews peanut gallery — as rank hyperbole, but when pressed no defender of ITS and Atassa has so far coughed up any attempt at meaningful distinction in why we should treat them differently. What’s so infuriating is that many of these people clearly perceive ITS as just some “misbehaving” comrades who are only a little bit lost. They know that they can’t just openly say that ITS’ values and analysis are close to their own because they know that anarchists at large would then revolt and kick them from the milieu like the “national anarchists” were once. Since Scott Campbell raised the profile of ITS’ targeting of anarchists and anarchist spaces, some folks involved with LBC have felt pressured into backpeddling a little. But these same cheerleaders knew damn well that ITS had tried to kill an anarchist years back and didn’t raise a peep then. It behooves us to ask what other random idiotic monsters these “ITS isn’t that bad” folks would thus invite into our spaces and discourse. Are they going to start publishing shit like Keith Preston’s “national anarchist” propaganda? This isn’t rhetoric — Aragorn has already done this. In the late oughts Aragorn facilitated “national anarchist” entryism on anarchistnews.org, on antipolitics.net, and in the Berkeley study group. Defending the inclusion of BANA members and publishing national anarchist writing. It’s great that he stopped, but it’s concerning as hell that such retractions only happened after a loss of social capital. (Honest props to those nihilists who called him out and cut ties with him over it.) What’s also flabbergasting is the audacity with which ITS apologists have instead tried to reframe the conflict around a motte and bailey of “indiscriminacy” in violence. As if the only thing objectionable is that some perfectly valid anarchist comrades are getting a little too sloppy when it comes to collateral damage in their actions. It’s insulting and disturbing that they think this reframing will work. ITS declares they want to kill everyone and proceed to target randos and anarchists — and their apologists try to turn the discussion into a re-litigation of the late 90s nonviolence debate. No anarchist project nor any manner by which anyone might move through our world, occurs without some form of violence — even the violence of nonviolence. But we can still recognize varying degrees of violence, and of domination, and subjugation. We can engage mindful of the context of our actions and the various feedback loops attendant to certain tactics or strategies. We can also — and this is the critical bit — seek to fucking minimize domination in the world, to expand things like agency and consent. The pretense that ITS’s murderfest and wish for mass death poses any serious or interesting questions for anarchists would be laughable if so many in LBC’s orbit haven’t somehow claimed such. Of course Atassa — as ITS’ English language press office — doesn’t even bother with such deflections. The only pretense of defense it conjures is feigned outrage at gringos talking shit about something in a (not so) distant country. What a laughable pastiche of anticolonialism and white liberal insecurities! Are anarchists not to condemn the North Korean government or the Assad Regime? Must we refrain from critique of the Muslim Brotherhood or Daesh when communists laud them? Where does this “can’t critique distant things” nonsense end? Can’t develop an opinion on someone widely called out for rape in a slightly distant city? Someone in our scene snitches and we get to say “well I’m not super close with all the relevant individuals“? I mean I know that a number in these circles actually would like us to be so de-fanged, but I wish they would explicitly step to with that argument so it can be roundly rejected. I mean is the level of bullshit used to equivocate and condemn condemnations of ITS really to be our future? Halfassed concern trolling and “whaddaboutism” where any restatement of what should be ethically obvious but somehow isn’t is in turn silenced as “virtue signaling?” When the same folks who condemned those speaking out against the bombing of an anarchist infoshop then whined about civility, free speech and the disrespect of LBC’s property in Seattle, the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair organizers proclaimed that they wouldn’t exclude vendors based on their content. Immediately alt-right, anti-feminist, MRA, and pro-Israel material cropped up. Because. This. Is. What. Fucking. Happens. There are so many more reactionaries than anarchists in this world that they could sneeze and flood us out of our spaces or drown out our voice. Some bare community norms or expectations are inherent and necessary. I’ve pushed for tolerance and ecumenicalism for years, but it’s hard to imagine what could even remain if we accept publishing the de facto press office of a group that opposes freedom and is out to kill all humans. The alt-right literature was promptly removed from the Bay Area Bookfair by spontaneously organizing attendees, but however horrible the alt-right is let’s remember they at least don’t champion the extermination of literally everyone. Look, again, I get that there are dangers here. LA’s condemnation of “individualism” wholesale is obviously absolute trash. But just because something as central to anarchist practice as No Platform can be abused doesn’t mean anarchists can afford to suddenly discard it. Anarchism at core is an ethical stance against all domination, seeking the liberation of all — there should be room for vibrant intellectual diversity in discussing how this is applied, differences in strategy, prediction, and preferred implementation — but we cannot afford to erode the beautiful idea itself, to lend space and legitimacy to its avowed enemies. And we certainly shouldn’t be helping those actively trying to kill anarchists. LBC’s decision to publish Atassa, Anews’ publication of ITS manifestos, their continued hosting on AnarchistLibrary.org and as audio recordings on Free Radical Radio are obviously beyond the pale in the same way that nazi or tankie texts would be. Not because anarchism cannot survive forbidden readings — although it is shameful we’ve done such a poor job enunciating and defending our values that somehow a small number found ITS’ inane perspective to have resonance — but because such publication legitimizes a profound watering down of anarchist values and basic norms. http://clubof.info/