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thegallicwitch · 3 years ago

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Hello, wild ones! I’m Mako, a druid and home witch (which is what I call my blend of green and kitchen witchcraft) and a follower of the Gaulish pantheon and culture. I’m French, I identify as agender (they/them) and I have a physical disability that severely impacts my walking. I frequently use crutches, as well as a wheelchair, I take strong painkillers and medical morphine to manage the chronic pain that comes with the territory and I’m bedridden several times a month. All of that has an impact on my practice and that’s why I’m well-versed in pain spells and rituals, as well as studying herbalism and beginning to work as a natural healer, because I know debilitating pain all too well.

I follow the traditions and knowledge of my country and the witches of my community. I have so much to learn still, and I want to share French witchcraft practices with the rest of the world and bring a piece of the world back into my practice. I hope you’ll follow along with me. I thought, to start things out, I’d fill a few questions from the Witchy Tag and tag a few of my favorite tumblr witches so you can get to know me and hopefully I can meet a few of you this way!

If you’d like to find me elsewhere, I’m The Gallic Witch everywhere. I have an Instagram for daily practices, rituals and the like, a TikTok for more specific magickal projects and herbalism, and a youtube channel where I share in depth rituals and spells, talk about the Gaulish culture and deities, discuss the community here in France and what I’ve been taught, etc. I also have an Instagram for the Gaulish-inspired tarot deck I’m creating, the Tarot of Belisama, which you can find here as I share sneak-peeks and cards as I draw them. I hope to see you there soon! BELISAMA BLESS YOU ✨

1. what kind of witch are you?

I am a home witch, mainly, which is what I call being both a green witch and a kitchen witch. In a way, I suppose I’m mostly a French witch, given that my craft and practice is heavily influenced by local tradition and knowledge.

But in my daily practice, I follow the Druidic Path and I’m working with the Gaulish way of life and beliefs.

2. how did you discover your path?

My grandmother was a botanist, so when I was little, she would take my sister and me on long hikes and show us all the plants, one by one, teaching us the latin names and their medical properties. I took to it instantly, but distanced myself when she passed away in a misguided attempt at healing. I grew up around women in my community who would brew herbal remedies, cook you a cream or a poultrice for your break outs or your sprained ankle, people who could take away the fire from a burn or long day in the sun just with a hovering of the hand. Little by little, I learned from them, learned the way of the French witches who work for the community and not for themselves. I admired them, still do, but never thought I could be one of them, as what I was being initiated in was much closer to herbalism and being a Druid than a witch. Then I found Annie’s youtube channel, THE GREEN WITCH, and I just watched and watched, without being able to stop. I felt such a connection with her videos and her path, so I did my research, and finally started seriously studying magic, for about a year, before I even dared calling myself a witch. I wanted to have the knowledge to back that up, you know? And two years after, here I am, with knowledge and some more confident, branching out from my Druidic path and adding witchcraft to my practice for a year now!

3. how long have you been practicing?

If you count the Druidic/herbalism stuff, for roughly half of my life, so like then years, but witchcraft proper, two years.

4. what path/tradition do you follow?

Druidic teachings and Gaulish tradition/deities & French witchcraft, mainly herbalism. I consider myself a healer and a Druid even before being a witch. I want to make a living out of healing people. I follow the tradition of rural France, somewhere between the communities of the Black Mountain, the land Corbières-Minervois and Burgundy.

5. are you solitary or do you have a coven?

Currently solitary but I hope to find and join a Druidic circle one day.

7. do/would you teach and practice witchcraft to your children?

I don’t want children, but on principle, yes, absolutely. I think it’s an essential part of teaching them about the world and giving them the tools to be self-sufficient and healers too.

8. do you have a patron/matron deity?

I don’t use the words patron and matron because they don’t represent or apply to my believes, but purely from their meaning, they would be Belisama, Epona and Brig (or Brigid, she has different names depending on the Celtic nation you’re a part of).

9. favorite pantheon?

Egyptian. All the way. But it’s more of a remnant of childhood than what my faith aligns with today.

10. favorite goddess?

Hard one. Either Epona or Damona from the Gaulish pantheon or 嫦娥.

11. favorite god?

Thot, the scribe from the Egyptian.

12 and 13 are skipped since I don’t believe in astrology.

15. thoughts on the afterlife?

I believe in reincarnation like all Gauls but I don’t believe in Heaven or an afterlife as in, a place you end up after your life.

17. are you out of the broom closet? if so, how do your friends/family feel about your path?

I hate that expression with a passion. I’m LGBTQ+, and I find it incredibly offensive. In regards to the question itself, my family and friends do know I practice witchcraft, and no one cares. My sister and friends are very supportive, they actively want my opinion or my help depending on the circumstances. My mom finds it interesting, but she’s more into me being a healer, since my grandmother was her mom. She helps a lot with the herbalism side, and teaches me things and we do our mixes together. Even my dad who’s not interested, drinks my herbal teas and doesn’t mind me putting talismans and protection charms all over our home, smudging and doing spells and rituals.

19. do you have an altar?

I do, yes. Not just one, in fact. I have a main one for spells and rituals and just, general practice. I have one for my Ancestors and deities. And I have a portable one that I use to mix my herbal teas and make my remedies, as well as do divination.

20. what’s a spell that you’ve done?

Lately? A money spell for my mom.

22. favorite pagan holiday that you celebrate?

I love Chandeleur, the French version of Imbolc. And because spring is my favorite season and the best time of the year for me mentally and physically, I also adore Beltane.

26. favorite witch websites?

Absolutely WITCH UNIVERSITY. I learned a lot of things there. Also Wildera, a fellow French pagan. And I follow a lot of witches and celtic pagans on tumblr and tiktok, learning a lot from them.

29. favorite season?

Spring and Winter, in equal parts.

30. favorite herb?

Lavender. Or maybe rosemary.

31. favorite gem?

Amethyst. And lapis-lazuli.

38. your grimoire.

The original question was about a book of shadow but I’m not a wiccan and I don’t use that term, so here’s my grimoire. I handmade it, from stitching the pages to crafting the cover, bookmark and decorations. I love it, I put so much intention and love into it.

39. your tarot deck(s) (or one you want).

The first picture is of my first tarot deck and still my favourite, the Dishonored deck. It’s the one I use the most, still.

The second is the Prism Tarot, which is the last deck I bought (now four decks in total) and has been a project I’ve followed since it was still being drawn, up to supporting the kickstarter and becoming good friends with the creator, Liz, as I started making my own tarot deck. I highly recommend it, it’s an amazing piece of a art and an amazing magickal tool.

And I’m gonna tag some of my favourite tumblr witches in case they haven’t done this before: @heatherwitch @grandmaveitch @gardenfoxywitch @herbwicc @greenwitchofwonderland @a-green-witch @boiledwheatblog @thatsunflowerwitch @kitchenwitchtingss @queerkitchenwitch @coffeewitchcafe @servantofthefates

#witchcraft #witchblr #druid #gaulish #witch tag #the gallic witch #mako talks

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lifeofresulullah · 4 years ago

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The Life of The Prophet Muhammad(pbuh): The Assignment of the Duty of the Prophethood and First Muslims

The State of Arabia: Part 2

Moral Situation

The moral situation in Arabia during the Age of Ignorance was in a completely miserable state. Wretched desires and deeds prevailed over the community; alcohol, gambling, fornication, lying, theft, cruelty, in short, all kinds of immoral acts were widespread all over Arabia.

The strong used the whip of cruelty against the weak. At the same time, the strong were always right and could have the weak and powerless do whatever they wanted. The amount of importance that was given to the life of a fly was not given to humanity. People who were taken as captives in raids were either killed under torture or were sold as slaves in markets like simple items.

Women were regarded as simple and cheap commodities that could be bought and sold. Young maids were encouraged and even forced to commit fornication so that money could be made through them. The Quran mentioned this behavior, which does not comply with human dignity, and prohibited them from committing this ugly action:

“…But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is God, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them)”

A woman could live with more than one man at the same time. Such a woman would notify the public of her decision by planting a pole on the roof of her house.

A step-mother could inherit her step-son from her husband just like a household item.

The Tradition of Burying Girl Infants Alive

Some Arabs who lived in the desert considered having daughters to be shameful and a disaster. For that reason, cruel fathers would bury their daughters alive upon their birth or would throw them into wells, sometimes without even giving anyone a chance to see them.

They tried to prove this cruel tradition right by putting forward some imaginary reasons.

They used to say:

“They will grow and taint our honor one day, or they will become wretched. Moreover, they will become a burden on us because of their living expenses and we will not be able to meet their needs.”

Sometimes a mother would have a hole dug up in the ground as the birth drew near. As the baby girl, who just came into the world, opened eyes for the first time, she would immediately be thrown into the hole and be covered with soil.

Other fathers would dress up their daughters in beautiful dresses when they reached the age of six as though they were taking them for a visit to their relatives, but would instead take them to the desert. Those poor children would be left in the graves that had been prepared for them and would be buried alive by having soil thrown over them.

Those who did not want to kill their daughters would have the latter dressed in thick, woolen gowns and isolate them from the society by sending them away to herd sheep or camels.

The Quran tells us of this barbaric tradition that the Arabs living in the desert practiced in the following verse:

“When news is brought to one of them, of (the birth of) a female (child), his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people, because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain it on (sufferance and) contempt, or bury it in the dust? Ah! What an evil (choice) they decide on!”

Someone who practiced this barbaric tradition in the Age of Ignorance and later became a Muslim tearfully related the following to the Messenger (PBUH):

“O Messenger of Allah! We are a people who lived during the Era of Ignorance. We used to worship idols and kill our daughters. I used to have a daughter. She used to come to me in joy when I called her.

“One day I called her again. She came running and followed me to a well which was not so far from our house. I held her hand and threw her into the well.

“Her last words to me were:

“Daddy! Daddy!”

The Lord of the Universe (PBUH) could not help crying upon hearing this violent memory. He cried so much that his beard got wet with his tears. Then he said:

“Verily, Allah leaves what you did in the Era of Ignorance there, unless you do it again. He does not transfer it into the Era of Islam.”

At that time, high virtues called compassion and mercy had been removed from spirits, hearts and consciences. Besides, in a heart where belief in the Sultan of the Universe does not exist, in a conscience where fear from that sultan does not exist, there will be no place for compassion, mercy and virtue.

Political System

Arabia did not have a proper political system and social system in the Era of Ignorance. The majority of the people were leading a nomadic life. They were separated into tribes.

A tribe is a community which determines its own social system.

These nomadic tribes were continuously in conflict with each other. They were ready to attack and dishonor someone else and steal his goods at any given moment. Incursion and plunder were their means of livelihood. They used to attack an enemy tribe of theirs and take away their camels and enslave their women and children.

There had not been a time in which there was peace. If a tribe wronged another tribe, that tribe would try to gain revenge by applying the philosophy of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Wars, fighting and incursion were so rooted in their souls and lives that they would fight each other if they could not find any hostile tribe to fight against. The poet Qutami intends to express this situation with these lines, “If we cannot find anyone else, we will attack Bakrs, who are our brothers.”

They had been living as tribes and clans for a long time and never thought about uniting around a central government. For this reason, the Peninsula was deprived of civilized and social laws. Therefore, cruelty, conflicts, battles and fights continuously occurred. Anyone could do anything he wanted if he had enough power. The powerful and reputable would always get away with everything they did.

Literary Situation

In addition to all of this, it is an unobjectionable fact that Arabs were at the zenith of talent in literature, rhetoric and eloquence at the time Islam emerged. There was no nation in the world that could challenge them on this matter.

Poetry and poets meant everything to them because poetry was the only trustworthy mirror that could reflect the social life, traditions, and beliefs of their ancestors.

Poets were esteemed and received much respect in society, so much that Arabs always preferred that a famous poet rise from their community as opposed to a strong hero. A poet was the only one who could spread their fame, which was the Arabs’ sole aim. They feared a poet’s satires as they feared snakes.

Poets were considered to be heroes by them. Tribes would wage war on one another over the single word of a poet. Likewise, wars that had persisted for years could be resolved by the single word of a poet.

In old times, poetry was called, “an Arab’s notebook.” The Arabs’ moral values, traditions, religion, and rules could only be known through poems that were passed from generation to generation.

There were many factors that supported and encouraged poetry during those times. A strong poet would elicit esteem for both his tribe and himself.

Moreover, fairs that had been organized at certain times played an important role in the development of poetry. Those fairs were a kind of literature exhibition. At those fairs, poetry and rhetoric competitions were organized in the presence of juries. Poets and rhetoricians came from various places to recite their poems and speeches and would do their best to beat one another. They took great pride in defeating their opponents.

At last, juries would choose the winner and the winning poem would be written with golden letters on a linen fabric and hung on the Kaaba’s wall.

Suq Uqaz, which was between Taif and Nahla, was the largest of all the festivals. Mostly, poetry competitions were organized there.

At the same time, these fairs used to serve as a sort of exhibition in which all tribes would come together for commercial, social, and political activities. People who wanted to save the slaves they knew by paying ransom, to settle their problems, to find their enemies, to read poems and to make speeches would go to those fairs.“Holding poetry in high esteem resulted in the deep scrutiny of language.” In this way, literature, eloquence, and eloquence were at their peak in Arabia by the time Islam emerged. An invisible hand was preparing the minds and souls for the preternatural wording of the Miraculous Quran.

Because the Arabs had an eminent talent in literature, the Quran was sent down during the zenith of literature, rhetoric, and eloquence. It challenged Arabian poets and rhetoricians to compete with its miraculousness and conciseness. However, it was not long before that they understood that they had to quit and that it was impossible to compose a counterpart to this unique book.

The style of the Quran is so concise, so sweet, so clear and so fluent that Arabs who were experts in literature could not hide their surprise. One day, a scholar of literature who was from among the Bedouin Arabs, read the verse “Therefore expound openly what thou art commanded, and turn away from those who join false gods with God.”fell down in prostration.

This action infuriated the idolaters. They looked at him hatefully and shouted: “You became a Muslim too?”

“No”, said the litterateur. “I just prostrated before the eloquence and fluency of this verse.”

Imru’l Qais was one of the poets of Muallaqa. One day, his sister heard the verse “Then the word went forth: "O earth! Swallow up thy water, and O sky! Withhold (thy rain)!" and the water abated, and the matter was ended. The Ark rested on Mount Judi, and the word went forth: "Away with those who do wrong!” she went straight to the Kaaba and took down her brother’s poem, which was hung on the wall at the top of all the other poems and said: “Nobody has anything to say any more. Even my brother’s poem cannot stand before this eloquence.” When others saw that the most famous poem had been taken down, they took down the other poems down one by one as well.

The oldest and most famous examples of poetry in the Age of Ignorance were without a doubt the “Muallaqat as-Sab’a” (Seven hangers). Those poems were recited by people and transferred from generation to generation, reaching many centuries ahead.According to a strong view, these poems were collected by Hammad ar-Rawiya.

The poets whose poems were hung on the walls of the Kaaba are as follows:

Imru’l Qais, Tarafa, Labid, Zukhair, Amr bin Kulthum, Antara (a.k.a. Nabigha), Haris bin Hiliza (a.k.a. A’sha).

The religious, moral, political, social, and literary state of Arabia was like this during the time in which our Holy Prophet (PBUH) was going to be given the duty of prophethood.

Of course, there was need for someone who could change this scene that disseminated violence and barbarism. And that person was already decided by the command of pre-eternal Fate: Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh).

He was going to change the world’s physical and spiritual condition with the Divine Light he brought with him… He was going to turn the faces of people from this world to the hereafter, from that which is fleeting to the Eternal Beloved One; by doing this, he was going to provide people with worldly and unworldly happiness.

This person, who was to be appointed as a prophet by Allah, was the person who would declare that man was not unattended, that everything in the universe, from atoms to the solar system, from stars to galaxies, rotated and traveled for a holy aim and that the universe served a lofty aim with all of its constituents.

This person was going to save humanity from the swamp of immorality, in which they were about to be drowned, by teaching them the most beautiful lessons of morality.

This person was the person who would give the best answers to questions like, “Why was the universe created?”, “Where do people come from?”, “Where will they go?”

This person was going to inform people about Allah, who is the Owner of humanity, of what He wants from humans, what He likes and what He dislikes clearly.

This person was going to guide not only a specific tribe or a specific nation but also the whole of humanity with orders that he would take from Allah.

Like the whole world, the Arabian Peninsula, was also looking forward for that person to come in order to complete such significant duties.

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wanderingnork · 5 years ago

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10, 12, 23 for dragon age or dishonored! 👀 (or both!)

Salty Asks! Buckle up, kids, I’m having a dumpster fire of a week and I’m Ready To Rant.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Dragon Age: you know, I’m really gonna have to go with “handing Fenris over to Danarius” in DA2, though “encouraging Cullen to keep taking lyrium” in DAI comes in a close second. The whole Fenris thing...like, it just makes me nauseous. As much as I dislike both these arguments, you can make a case that Isabela needs to make restitution for her actions against the Qunari, or that Anders needs to be brought to justice for the Chantry Boom. I don’t know how the actual flying fuck you could ever make a case for handing Fenris over. Fenris did NOTHING wrong and you can basically just. Throw him under the fucking bus with zero regrets. Between the Approval Gain From Hell and none of your companions saying a goddamn thing, you also get some of the game’s stupidest writing for your actions. THE ONLY PERSON WHO THINKS YOU DID THE RIGHT THING IS A MURDEROUS SLAVER. WHAT THE FUCK.

Dishonored: fucking HATE “Lady Boyle’s Last Party” in DH1. I don’t like killing targets, but the nonlethal option in that mission is just horrible and makes me feel sick to my stomach. Even the Clockwork Mansion and what you can do to Jindosh in DH2 doesn’t quite compare. Like...the whole thing with Jindosh just breaks my heart and I struggle with why it was written the way it was written , but we do know that after the fact he may have lost his genius but that he does find a certain happiness. He can reach a new equilibrium. People continue to take care of him and rehabilitate him. Lady Boyle, on the other hand? BUDDY. YOU HANDED HER OVER TO HER STALKER, WHO IS GOING TO CERTAINLY DO TERRIBLE THINGS TO HER. WHAT THE FUCK.

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Dragon Age: is it too cheesy to say the Mage-Templar War in its entirety??? I have a lot of opinions on political violence in general, thanks to spending years studying political science. The most impactful question I was ever asked in college was to examine myself and to consider what it would take for me to commit an act of (particularly political) violence. I am not a violent person. I oppose war and violence. But through introspection and study of historical and contemporary political movements I have really come to understand that there come moments when violence is necessary as an act of self defense, particularly when acts of aggression start to sound like things detailed in Article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, or the things detailed in Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

What Anders does not articulate well himself, but what I see as an outside observer, is that the destruction of the Chantry (and the ensuing war, goaded on by Grand Enchanter Fiona and others) was an act of self-defense by mages. They were backed into a corner. The fact that Ser Alrik was in an environment where he even felt comfortable proposing a “Tranquil Solution,” the fact that mages like Cole died in confinement, the fact that the Starkhaven Circle burned down “for unknown reasons” and had its mages shipped off to other places, the fact that even Vivienne (who is an exception to many rules about mages) will acknowledge that there are deep and abiding issues with the Circles...it speaks to a systemic issue that had reached a tipping point. Even with the understanding that our modern international law absolutely does not apply to the frankly bizarre international system in Thedas, it should still be clear that the things described in the Convention and the Rome Statute are TRULY TERRIBLE ACTS. If you want, I can cite chapter and verse on exactly how the Chantry was going about doing at least 8 of the things defined in the Rome Statute. (I can also explain why I consider mages in the main to be a “civilian population.”) In this scenario, the very existence of mages was no longer certain, if it ever was to begin with.

Because here’s where Anders was wrong. He didn’t remove the chance of compromise, because there was never a chance of compromise to start with.

Dishonored: On a lighter note, I know that Death of the Outsider has lots of critics and I respect their viewpoints, but I find the whole DLC to be narratively satisfying in a lot of ways. We get a close-up look at a lot of things Corvo/Emily never get to see due to their goals and position, we get some frankly epic lore and beautiful scenery (I scream every time over the Eye of the Dead God), we get Billie talking to the rats, we get to see some very cool missions. And like...I know people wanted the Outsider to remain this mysterious being, but I really enjoy the narrative that we get about him. He transforms from less of plot device and into a character with an arc of his own. A gray-and-black morality which already pervades Dishonored slides into the Outsider’s sphere and we learn that he’s not exempt from the malaise of the world he watches. Delightful stuff. :3

23. Unpopular character you love?

Dragon Age: waves the Anders Was Right flag

Dishonored: I have a weird level of adoration for Sokolov, specifically in his less-than-popular DH1 iteration when he’s not as much of an Eccentric Science Uncle type. He does some really atrocious things in the name of knowledge, status, and getting the Outsider’s attention, but he’s also...kind of a badass? He’s got a lot of people skills and significant artistic skill, both of which got him patronage from nobles all over the Isles; he traveled to Pandyssia and came back in one piece which is a feat unto itself; he’s a bit of a Renaissance man, demonstrating understanding of engineering, human anatomy, ethical philosophy (even if he ignores that), botany, zoology, magic, psychology, and more. I wouldn’t want to be the man’s friend, but can we get him to make a TED Talk? I’d go see that.

#nork rants #i may be salty but i'm not shoving this in any main tags #if you see it and wanna fight come at me #but like #i'm not going to pick any fights

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storiescrafted2 · 6 years ago

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MUSE INFO — B’ELANNA L’NAAN* TORRES.

formerly found at: inheritedattitude.

all information outlined below is based in the latest possible canon information, and can vary by verse. some of it is headcanon based, and has developed over the last several years of me writing b’elanna. anything with a * is based on personal headcanons.

FACECLAIM: roxann dawson. PLACE OF BIRTH: kessik iv. DATE OF BIRTH: 2349; age — 29 when voyager returns to earth. SPECIES: klingon-human hybrid. HEIGHT: 5′4″. EYE COLOR: brown. HAIR COLOR: brown. PARENTS: john torres (father, estranged). miral (mother, assumed deceased). SPOUSE: tom paris. CHILDREN: miral kathryn* paris. EDUCATION: starfleet academy (incomplete). PAST OCCUPATIONS: first officer, chief engineer: maquis raider val jean. CURRENT OCCUPATION: chief engineer, uss voyager. NOTABLE KLINGON FEATURES: ridged forehead, bushier eyebrows, short temper. KLINGON ANATOMY: eight-chambered heart, two stomachs, two livers, three lungs, twenty-three ribs, sturdy antibodies. HUMAN ANATOMY: tear ducts, human teeth, small stature. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: demisexual. ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: bi-romantic.

IMPORTANT CANON RELATIONSHIPS: tom paris (husband), chakotay (best friend), miral paris (daughter), john torres (father), miral (mother), carl torres (uncle), elizabeth torres (cousin), dean torres (cousin), michael torres (cousin), kathryn janeway (captain, friend, surrogate maternal figure), tuvok (friend, emotional coach), emergency medical hologram, ‘the doctor’ (friend, godfather to miral), harry kim (friend), neelix (friend), seven of nine (tense sometimes friends, idk b’elanna never really comes around to her), owen paris (father-in-law), seska (former best friend, enemy), idk there are probably more but my brain stopped cooperating.

IMPORTANT PORTRAYAL BASED RELATIONSHIPS: none :// tragic ://

born on the colony kessik iv, to human father; john torres, and klingon mother; miral.

b’elanna and her mother were the only klingons on the colony.

at the age of 4, john left, leaving b’elanna believing it was because of her klingon half --- prompting her to try hiding her heritage.

following john leaving, miral pulled her daughter from the federation school and returned to qo’nos (the klingon homeworld).*

being with her mother’s family led to further disconnect, hatred of herself, as b’elanna felt she wasn’t klingon enough for klingons, and she wasn’t human enough for humans.

at 17, left for earth, having been accepted to starfleet academy where she began to study engineering.

participated in track and field events, was noted as being one of the best athletes of the time due to her klingon heritage (third lung, eight chambered heart).

due to regularly butting heads with teachers, at the age of 19 b’elanna left the academy after three semesters.

not soon after, was saved by chakotay which prompted her to join the maquis.

was quickly given the unofficial first officers spot aboard chakotay’s ship*, as well as being unofficial chief engineer.

in 2371, while fleeing a cardassian ship in an area known as the badlands, the val jean was pulled to the delta quadrant by an entity known as ‘the caretaker’, where b’elanna and the rest of the maquis crew were probed, and b’elanna was held captive until she was rescued in a joint effort by the maquis crew and the crew of the federation starship voyager, which was also pulled to the delta quadrant.

after starfleet captain kathryn janeway destroyed the caretaker’s array, the maquis crew joined forces with the federation crew in a joint attempt to traverse the 70,000 lightyear gap between the delta quadrant and federation space.

due to the death of voyager’s chief engineer, b’elanna was (after some deliberation) given the provisional rank of lieutenant jr. grade and named voyager’s new chief engineer.

suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and chronic depression.

gifted engineer, skilled athlete, skilled at holographic programing, excellent survival skills.

guess what i got tired here and wanted to get into a better headspace before i started just recapping the entire show, so i’ll finish these later, onto verses!

VERSES UNDER THE CUT!

▲ verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ canon!

a verse ranging from seasons 1 - 7 of voyager. there’s an arc for each season as well as a few ‘longer’ episodes listed below. ▲ arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ future’s end! ▲ arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ year of hell! ▲ arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ the killing game! ▲ arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ course: oblivion! ▲ arc ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ workforce!

▲ verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ academy!

2366 - 2367. encompasses b’elanna’s three semesters at starfleet academy before dropping out.

▲ verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ maquis!

2368 - 2371

after chakotay saved her life, b’elanna joined the maquis to help fight the cardassians aboard his ship, the 'val jean'.

▲ verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ warship voyager!

verse description in progress. based on the voyager episode 'living witness'.

▲ verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ alternate endgame timeline!

2371 - 2404 before admiral janeway went back to get voyager home after only seven years, the crew spent a total of twenty-three years journeying through the delta quadrant to get home. after the return, b'elanna becomes a diplomatic liasion to the klingon empire. this is a verse following those events.

▲ verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ aos!

daughter of john torres, a human; and miral daughter of l'naan, a klingon; b'elanna torres was never what anybody would consider ‘normal’. to most, klingons were a mysterious, warlike race that had a tendency to get along with no one —- and they weren’t wrong. in 2234 a klingon shuttle crashed on the outskirts of the federation colony where john torres and his brother, carl, lived. onboard was a single klingon woman, miral, who the two men took in and nursed back to health. at first, the woman was curious, claiming that there was nothing honorable about her situation, though she came to realize that returning to the homeworld with her tale would hold more dishonor than accepting her situation. before long, john and miral were married, and b'elanna was born almost a year later (near the end of 2235), though her childhood was far from easy. growing up with a klingon for a mother was nothing anybody she knew could relate to —– they were all human, or members of species with which the federation was on more friendly terms. as a child, b'elanna struggled immensely with her temper, and accepting the fact that she was so different from everyone around her, though she was incredibly bright. at 16 she decided to apply for starfleet academy with an emphasis in engineering. though she continued to struggle with her temper, she found that starfleet principles aided with her self discipline and she graduated. in most interactions, for ease, she will be stationed as an engineering lieutenant jr grade on the enterprise.

▲ verse ╎ b’elanna torres ╎ post voyager; novel based!

POST VOYAGER BIO HERE.

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woodworkingpastor · 3 years ago

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Say What? If my people… -- 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 -- Sunday, August 22, 2021

In Max Lucado’s children’s book, You Are Special, we meet the Wemmicks—small wooden people who have been lovingly carved by the master craftsman Eli. Wemmicks seem to spend most of their time putting stars or dots on people. It’s their way of expressing how important or unimportant they perceive others to be. If you are talented or interesting or pretty, you get stars. If you’re clumsy, awkward, or uninteresting, you get dots.

All the Wemmicks are covered in stickers, including Punchinello. He has been judged by his peers to be completely unworthy, so all of his stickers are dots.

One day, Punchinello meets a girl named Lucia. She, too, is unique: Lucia doesn’t have any stickers at all. The stickers don’t stick to her because she spends a lot of time in Eli’s woodshop, where she has learned that the stars or dots only stick if you let them.

This delightful story tells of Punchinello’s visit to Eli’s woodshop, where he learns more about the wooden people’s motivation for putting star and dot stickers on each other, and how he might learn to move beyond that.

The background to 2 Chronicles

If we were to evaluate the books of 1 & 2 Chronicles with star or dot stickers, we’d likely give them a lot of dots. But not 2 Chronicles 7:14; this very popular verse gets lots of stars. But let’s be careful; remember that this is the Say What?!sermons series. To misquote Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride: “You keep quoting that verse…I do not think it means what you think it means.”

As with each of the sermons in this series, the challenge lies in our preference to choose simplicity over depth and to reduce the treasures of Scripture to slogans. The difficulty with this passage is that pretty much every time I hear someone quote it as a solution to what they view as the world’s problems, it’s almost as if they read words,

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14)

but they hear, “if those people…” We’re smart enough to see that there are problems. It’s the solution that we struggle with. If we choose the simplistic reading of the text, 2 Chronicles 7:14 becomes a giant dot sticker that we go around sticking on all the people and all the situations that we perceive to be the problem.

An incomplete understanding of sin

But a deeper reading of the text reveals a need to reconsider how we view sin. One way we understand sin is as a personal action that damages my relationship with God. You’ve probably heard sermons or read some devotional articles along the way about what kind of movies are ok for Christians to watch, or whether it’s acceptable to drink alcohol, or about sex outside of marriage. These are all fair topics that view sin as a personal action.

But let’s complicate things just a bit and apply this to a more complicated topic raised in the Church of the Brethren annual report. Racism is a significant—and highly controversial—topic in our nation at the moment. When discussing the sin of racism, many people approach through this lens of sin being a personal act. They correctly observe that “I never owned a slave; why should I be held responsible for something my ancestors did?” We all know people who are different from us and we get along fine; we have nothing but generous thoughts toward people whose skin color or religion or national origin is different. Seen through this lens, you understand why people get offended at the suggestion that they might be racist.

This view sees sin as an action that impacts the sinner’s relationship with God and those to whom the sinful act was directed. Jesus’ death on the cross atones for that sin, and God’s great gift to us is to extend forgiveness, forever settling the issue of sin.

All of this is “chapter and verse” correct, but it’s incomplete. It is also important to view sin as systemic, something that disrupts the harmony of life, feeds into evil powers, shapes frameworks, whose consequences are felt for a lifetime and lifetimes to come. In this view, sin is more than personal.

What I don’t understand is why this would be controversial for people who take the Bible seriously, because God tells us that this is exactly the way things will be. When God explains to Adam the consequences of sin, God says (among other things),

“cursed is the ground because of you…thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you” (Genesis 3:17).

In other words, the impact of sin is more than personal; sin corrupts everything.

This is what the current conversation about racism in America attempts to deal with. It works from the understanding that past sin continues to impact the present day, even when people in the present are not guilty of committing that sin. This is something that is significantly complicates the work of the Gun Violence Prevention Commission. There are reasons why much of our gun violence in Roanoke is in the NW community. Part of it is that there are too many young men making bad personal decisions with guns. But another part involves walking backward through time to Roanoke’s beginnings in the 1880’s to see how power was used to marginalize Black persons—legislating where Black persons could live in one generation, then condemning those homes in another generation to build the Civic Center; knocking down barbershops and corner grocery stores and other small businesses to build so-called “better” roads through the Gainsboro neighborhood; disrupting civic and congregational and neighborhood life by providing housing projects in place away from the old neighborhoods. We’ve come a long way, and most everyone celebrates that. But it doesn’t mean that old decisions and attitudes aren’t still a factor in today’s issues.

In this view of sin, Jesus’ work both forgives us and releases us to be transformed in the Spirit to join his work in unwinding and healing the consequences of sin that permeates the world.

This is the direction in which 2 Chronicles 7:14 helps us move, especially if we will take the time to at least read verse 13 along with it. Let’s connect some dots (not those of the Wemmicks, though!) here: remember the curse of sin: the land will produce thorns and thistles, making it harder to harvest crops. Now hear the judgment of verse 13: drought and locusts as punishment for sin. Sin is not only personal; sin is also an agent, creating a world in which no one can live well. Healing our land requires us to return to God—not only those people that we want to walk around and put dot stickers on, but all of us; all of the people. This verse is not a means of affirming or critiquing others’ behavior or worth. It is a spiritual discipline for prodigals, for people who have finally come to the end of themselves and realize our only hope is to return to God. If we are to humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways, we must give up the desire to be in control of our own story, we must even reject our own ability to interpret the facts. We search Scripture deeply and in community; we lay down the weapons of rightness; we listen to the people who are grieving and bearing the suffering and losses of our day.

Conclusion

I have a file on my computer that is a one-page list of the challenges I see for our day, and how the church might address them. Every now and then I look at that list and edit it, rearrange it a bit, and so on. One thing is clear to me: we are rapidly moving toward a world in which no one can live in well. And no matter how hard we try, viewing the problems as someone else’s fault isn’t going to get us anywhere.

Do we want to be made whole? Do we want to see the world made whole? 2 Chronicles 7:14 invites us to take a collective way forward. There is another I want to offer to you: a hymn that I hope we can learn someday.

Great God, your love has called us here, as we, by love for love were made. Your living likeness still we bear, though marred, dishonored, disobeyed. We come, with all our heart and mind your call to hear, your love to find.

We come with self-inflicted pains of broken trust and chosen wrong, half free, half bound by inner chains, by social forces swept along, by powers and systems close confined yet seeking hope for humankind.

Great God, in Christ you call our name and then receive us as your own, not through some merit, right or claim, but by your gracious love alone. We strain to glimpse your mercy seat and find you kneeling at our feet.

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strictlyoc · 4 years ago

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Skyler Calhoun

Stats

Full name: Skyler Anthony Calhoun

Birthday: February 7th

Age: 36

Hometown/State: Lawrence, Massachusetts

Gender: Cis male

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Occupation: Aspiring singer/songwriter/guitarist, music store owner, jack of all trades(Depends on verse)

Family: Jackie Robinson(Mother), Craig Brown(Father, deceased), & Tyler Calhoun(Step-father), Jace Calhoun(Younger step-brother), Amy(Younger half-sister), Dwayne(Younger half-brother), & Tyler. Jr Calhoun(Younger half-brother)

Portrayed by: Sully Erna

Fandoms: Supernatural, American Gods, American Horror Story, The Umbrella Academy, Dishonored, The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, Zombieland, & Stranger things

About

Skyler was born to Jackie Robinson, his father was absent in his life since Skyler was the result of a one night stand. Growing up Skyler tried to do well in school, but he struggled a lot. Mainly because his ADHD would distract him which then would get him in trouble. After the first few years the principal had a meeting with Jackie and the end result she took her son to the doctors and he was prescribed for some medicine that would help him focus.

When Skyler was seventeen Jackie had married a man named Tyler Calhoun, who she had a two-year-long affair with. Ty then had adopted Sky as his own. Everything was great, Sky had a mom, a dad, and now a younger brother who Sky adored. But things started to escalate as his mother always hated Jace and of course Sky would stick up for his new brother which would get Sky in trouble.

Everything fell apart a year later as Sky turned eighteen and thus his parents couldn’t collect a bonus check that he received due to his ADHD being so bad. He felt hurt and betrayed but he managed, barely.

Sky had bounced between homeless shelters and applying to every job he could. Sadly not many were hiring and the few that were he didn’t last long. Also having a love for music, Sky took to the streets, playing guitar for a quick buck. Until he got finally got hired as a road construction worker. That’s when he managed to get a dinky apartment.

When Sky was twenty he found out that Jace had also been kicked out, he invited him to stay with him. Which he did only for a little while until Jace robbed a store, unbeknownst to Skyler, and had to leave town. The two kept in contact ever since.

Verses

#aboutskyler

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bonalicious2929-blog · 6 years ago

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So you need a sign from God to assure you that your current girlfriend (or boyfriend) is His will for you, and if she/he is the one? Here is the one of the most rock solid ways to find out.

But first, let me tell you that after 2,000 years of Jesus’ resurrection, we are mature enough as Christians to be asking for supernatural signs when in the bible God is showing us his will for almost everything for our daily lives. According to His word and to the experience of thousands of Christians around the world, here is one of the best ways to know if you have found the right person to marry (and stay married) for the rest of your life.

Here is a big question for you: Are you willing to change your way of life, and grow in every aspect you need to grow to make him/her happy? This would mean accepting him/her as who she/he really is, (don’t trust too much on the external image, you need to find out who this person really is in the inside) and then, accepting his/her family the way they are, and realizing that a marriage commitment to your loved one requires that you will have to leave behind certain things that you may not want to leave. For example, bad friendships, bad habits, etc. and I’ve seen people sacrificing careers, wealth, and some family relationships for the sake of their marriage.

You are also old enough to know that people change, beauty fades, finances will fluctuate, come and go and evaporate, temptations will come; for both you and your loved one. If you are willing to sacrifice your dreams and plans for him/her and if she/he is also willing to do so for you, then we are looking at the prospect of true love. Read in the Bible what love is. Why after many years of reading the bible and listening to sermons about biblical love, we are still stuck with the soap opera’s definition of love? Remember that, true love goes beyond sex attraction, passion, infatuation, external image etc. etc.… Some couples may say: “well, we are as happy as we can be right now the way we are and we didn’t have to sacrifice anything”, my answer is: really? And you’ve lived together for how long? Their answer is almost always the same, from just a few weeks to a few years. I desire them well, but I know challenging times will come and true love will be tested.

The bible says that true love is when she/he makes you always happy, right? No, actually that is very wrong… That’s not what the bible says and she/he is not responsible for making you happy (they will try though). You are the only one responsible to make yourself happy and stay happy. This is what the bible says about love: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…

The secret to understand this bible verse is to apply it to yourself first, and not to your loved ones first. Your love for them (and for yourself) must be kind, patient, without envy, not boasting, not proud, not delighting in evil, your love does not get angered and oh, it keeps no record of wrong, always perseveres, always protects, and oh, here is one very difficult again, your love for your loved one always trusts. Some will say, I give up, I stick to my soap opera definition of love. Others must make me happy or be dumped if they don’t… this is what’s happening to marriages and relationships all over the world. One ounce of conflict and the relationship is over… Next!

God is always in control. However, we are not his puppets, we have freedom and we can make big mistakes or make wrong choices that can bring about ugly changes in many things that we value as good and beautiful for our marriage/relationship. We make a mistake, and sometimes the beautiful things and love feelings we had end up leaving us. Money can be lost, trust can be lost, and that feeling of attachment to your loved one can be lost after a horrible mistake. (I said, the feeling of attachment can be lost, but true love will never be lost, if there was true love in the first place. True love could be hurt, and damaged, but not lost, or it wouldn’t be true, biblical love)

Of course, God forgives! God can and will restore you if you ask him, but we reap what we sow, all the time. This is a biblical truth that we tend to forget. I barely see on Facebook people sharing an image with a “you reap what you sow” phrase on it. People don’t want to be reminded over and over that they are, right at this moment, reaping and sowing, sowing and reaping, every minute, every second, everything they do has a sow and reap effect.

Also remember, Jesus said that a seed that goes down to the ground, dies. Yes, you are the seed, and sowing your seed means actually dying to your own pretty dreams of happiness and satisfaction. I know, I am to tough, but, a solid marriage starts with a good, sound concept of love and sacrifice, and a relationship with God.

So, if you are willing to sow your life for your loved one, and he/she is willing to do it for you, go ahead, you have my blessings! Go and buy the ring!!

But, if you’ve found “the one” but you are currently underage, you owe the sowing of your life to your parents or tutors. Give priority to your education, obey and honor your parents, build up sound relationships with good friends and their families, and stay away from any type of physical contact that can lead you and your “the one” to make mistakes that will affect you for the rest of your life.

Please remember, when you think you’ve found the right one, always remember the biblical definition of love and how Jesus gave his life for you. You will have to give up your life for your loved one. Yes, you will have to, in many ways. Trust me, I know, and it hurts…

Jesus said:” Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

God bless you!

#inspirationalgodsword

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tempermentia-blog · 8 years ago

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;; talk to me about keith's biggest, deepest fears

[ DIG IN || @silentconfliction|| LITERALLY ALWAYS ACCEPTING. ]

inhales. exhales.

keith is an enigma. so much so that even when things get bad, he reacts in ways that people don’t always think are right. for example – during the season one finale, he decides that attempting to take on zarkon personally is the best decision to possibly make.

that is not the case. his fears lie within failure, rejection, and abandonment. and, just in case anyone reading this isn’t sure, i’m talking explicitly about my portrayal of him!

i’m putting a read-more because i can guarantee you this is gonna get long as fuck.

starting off with keith’s fear of FAILURE, which is closely linked to the reason he was booted from the garrison. this spitfire of a teenager thought he was all that for a while; growing up admiring the stars, he always dreamed of being an astronomical explorer, whether that be in terms of physically surfing across the galaxies or studying them from afar. his course of being a pilot put loads of stress on him, and as someone who would’ve called himself a PERFECTIONIST in that time, it strained him. juggling a personal life (what with his two boyfriends he had, both relationships that failed within three weeks) became much too difficult. he isolated himself to focus on his studies, and became angry. he was acing his classes, the top of his class, and the best pilot in the garrison – until he began to fight.

the fights forced his grades down. he was suspended from classes which led him to fall behind, wasn’t able to study the right material, and he didn’t even have SHIRO to fall back on (i’ll come back to shiro later).

all of his pent-up anger led him to bring it out on other people. he got into three fist-fights within two weeks of being kicked out, one of which being LANCE – given why he was so adamant about being his rival. on the eve of him leaving, he got into another. with a bigger, much stronger cadet, who destroyed him so badly that he broke. he became distressed, his anger falling off of him in waves, and he screamed in the face of every general near him about where his friend was. he attacked a colonel and was sedated because of it. being dishonorably discharged from the garrison caused him to fall into a funk he could never crawl out of.

the origins of his fear of failure, however, began when he was only a child. not being athletically inclined,or prominently good at school, not being able to maintain friendships or work technology or really anything made him terrified to fail at what he COULD do – identify constellations. read. talk. write. draw, which soon became his primary source of stress relief. and whenever anyone ridiculed him, he would break down.

which brings us to his fear of REJECTION.

he was rejected by the garrison three times due to him not being a well-rounded student. he was someone more artistically inclined than anything else; he knew how to fight with his fists, but not with his mind. he couldn’t run the mile in less than seven minutes. he couldn’t do one full pull-up, and he wasn’t exactly the leanest person to ever apply. through months of self-imposed bootcamp, he bulked up, was able to do what he needed to do, but was still rejected a fourth time. it was only when his good friend SHIROGANE TAKASHI put in a word for him was he finally accepted, and he felt like he wasn’t good enough.

rejection came in the form of RELATIONSHIPS as well. he opened his heart to two boys, both of whom didn’t reciprocate his feelings of love (rather, it was lust for them), but there was always the one he wanted most. his name was KASH. a strong upperclassman who had pretty much brought him up from his lowest point, helped him in his training, and coached him throughout the trials and tribulations. he fell quick, and hard, too. he did things for him to make him happy, to make him proud, bought him things and spent time with him as often as kash wanted to.

he didn’t suffocate him.

he was courteous.

and yet, when keith finally opened up to tell him of his feelings, kash was disgusted. he didn’t believe in such “sinful feelings”, a boy who thought that homosexuality was INHUMAN. he was rejected in the worst possible way – first, a laugh. then, anger, yelling and screaming that he was attempting to POLLUTE kash’s mind. and then, physically. getting beaten against a wall for it. getting attacked by more than just one person. thrown out into the cold and left there all night, bloody and bruised.

it was another reason for him to leave the garrison.

KEITH’S FEAR OF ABANDONMENT LIES MOSTLY WITH HIS MOTHER.

he knew her, vaguely. his memories begin and end around the time of her disappearance (when he was seven for most of my verses), and he was left alone with a father who was drunk most of the time, and the other half of that time did he go on and on and on about aliens. aliens that keith never really believed in.

keith’s mother, in his own (manufactured) memories was the brightest beacon of hope in his life. and the moment she left was the moment he decided to isolate himself and not really socialize, just continue working on what’ll make him a successful human being until he died. becoming close with those few boys he dated, and then them leaving him because he wasn’t ‘enough’, triggered both his fear of being ABANDONED and being REJECTED for who he is. kash screwed him over in both departments, too, and he has a subconscious fear that his mother never loved him enough because he wasn’t a perfect little boy.

when his father died, he was left alone in the dark again. when shiro went missing, he was completely and utterly alone.

shiro disappearing was more traumatic to him than his father’s death or his mother’s disappearance. for once in his life, someone made him feel ADEQUATE. like he was good enough in this world, that he had the potential to be whoever and whatever he wanted. shiro gave him hope, the best and worst thing you could give a person. he boosted him up whenever he felt low. he carried him when he couldn’t feel his legs, and he did the same for him. when he went on the kerberos mission, he wanted to come. so badly, he didn’t want him to go away.

despite shiro having a multitude of friends, he prioritized keith, maybe out of pity. and keith knew that, but it didn’t stop him from still letting himself get attached.

when he was announced dead, it destroyed him. because, then, the only six people he had ever loved in his life had LEFT HIM and he felt like that was all his life would add up to.

#so just the meta itself was 1k words lmao #could've kept going but i needed to wrap this up #i can talk about keith's fears for hours and hours but these are his top three #poor baby #i wrecked him #tw #violence /#death /#homophobia /#I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS #silentconfliction #☆:*´¨`* loud as a mouse ⁽ ᵒᵘᵗ⁻ᵒᶠ⁻ᶜʰᵃʳᵃᶜᵗᵉʳ ⁾

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moonreflected-a · 6 years ago

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MUSE INFO — B’ELANNA L’NAAN* TORRES.

formerly found at: inheritedattitude.

IMPORTANT PORTRAYAL BASED RELATIONSHIPS: none :// tragic ://

born on the colony kessik iv, to human father; john torres, and klingon mother; miral.

b’elanna and her mother were the only klingons on the colony.

at the age of 4, john left, leaving b’elanna believing it was because of her klingon half — prompting her to try hiding her heritage.