#this is why cleansing is so important

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

This child in gaza is screaming:

"I wish it was a dream. Oh, mom and dad. I wish it was a dream and my mom and dad are still alive" after being rescued from underneath the rubble to find his parents killed by Israel.

Share this, we are not numbers. Let our voices be heard in hopes that this stops.

[reneesbooks]

9 lines 9 people

ok confession these games scare me bc tagging people still intimidates me but i'm being brave today here's some lines i wrote a while back from the dragons of kiltide. just fabin having a little teenage angst. also this is 9 (11 but shh the context!!) paragraphs bc i still don't know how to shut the fuck up. thank you @space-writes for the tag <3

the raedoran cycle

[Fabin] tilts his head, pressing his forehead to the window frame. “What are dreams like?” he asks quietly.

Emilia sits across from him, watching how his eyes stare through the window but see nothing. She thought he'd left that behind in the weeks and months after their parents were killed, thought the long silences were finally over. She tucks her arms against her sides. “They're...like memories. Only more vivid.”

His fingers close around the hilt of his sword. “What do you dream about?”

She rolls her shoulders. “Places I've never been. Things I've never seen.”

One of his hands presses against the glass. “Do you ever dream of...of humans?”

She studies him with a worried frown. “Is there something you want to talk about?”

He recoils, his expression twisting with anger before it closes off. “No. I'm fine. I don't have dreams.” He turns away from her. “Never mind.”

Emilia sighs. “I talked Muiris down. He doesn't want to kill you anymore.”

“Good for him.”

“You should apologize for breaking his foot.”

Fabin turns to face her again, his eyes wide. “I actually broke it?”

tagging @oh-no-another-idea @zmwrites @akindofmagictoo @writinglyra @k--havok @lyssa-ink @aether-wasteland-s @ink-flavored @avrablake to share 9 (or more or less or however many you feel like!) lines of writing <3

[twoscriddler]

all the negative criticism i’ve seen of gomens s2 can be boiled down to “it’s too queer and it makes me uncomfortable” which means it was great and neil did his job

[southernmermaidsgrotto]

egg cleanse -> eat egg -> net zero cleanse

Good shitpost, bad bruja advice

Hope you don't mind me taking this opportunity to educate a little further.

If you wanted to curse someone or transfer whatever malignant thing you had on yourself, then by all means make them eat the egg, seasoned even. I think on that we can all agree on, based on the most widespread western laws of magic, but for brujería specifically? there's much theory beyond that.

Logic without the cultural context would tell you just that, this thing goes out, same thing goes in, the net "energy transfered" should be zero, right?...

Wrong. Even just from a physics standpoint, a net zero energy transfer is quite ideal but unrealistic as heck, there's always some energy that's gonna be lost in the process. But we're not talking about physics and energy here, we're talking about spirits who have wills and needs of their own. Brujería all across latin america has roots in native and sometimes african practices of the different indigenous people who've lived here pre-, during and post-colonization, aswell as in some cases our african ancestors and their own spiritual and magical practices, and what we all have in common is some or other form of belief in spirits (rather than "vibes" or "energies"). So it's not energy transfer, it's spirits you're removing from a person and capturing somewhere else, to get rid of them in whatever way your tradition prefers to do so.

Energy is just energy, it follows the laws of physics and does it's thing without judgement or reasoning. It will do so regardless of our intervention. Spirits are a whole different thing. At best, they'll be spiteful because you tried to get rid of them, at worst, they'll put every effort into making your life a living hell because you tried to take away their sustenance (that was you!), so it's not as easy as "eat egg -> net zero" it's rather "eat egg -> willingly invite into yourself an angry spirit who's already been making your life difficult and is more than a little pissed right now"

Again, I'll remind you all that I do not work within your regular "vibes and energies" world view. I am afroindigenous, that means a lot of deep beliefs in spirits and spirit communication, on the spirit nature of illness and problems as well as health and blessings, and thus it's more than just energy being moved around. Everyone is free to believe what they choose, but from a traditional brujería standpoint? We're talking spirits and they have their own agenda, so you need someone who understands the nature of that spirit, what their agenda most likely looks like (depends on how simple minded or not they could be aswell) and thus, what the best treatment or solution for each situation is. I'll always appreciate humor and I'm open to discuss these type of things, but I do ask you to approach this with a good amount of respect aswell, as POC have had quite enough of our beliefs and practices ridiculed.

[entitty]

im a big believer in "your past interests shouldnt bring you shame and even if they do, you were a different person then and nobody's gonna judge you." im also dogshit at practicing what i preach and the fact that its been almost a decade and tumblr says this:

when my blog is this:

just REALLY makes me want to eat my entire arm

[jewishvitya]

I was asked why there's a zionist claim that the Palestininian identity is not legitimate. And I think it's important to understand why Palestinians as a whole are seen as a threat by Israel. To understand why it's not about Hamas.

The claim is that the Palestininian identity was made up in order to push us out. Palestinian existence is a threat to the legitimacy of Israel as a country.

I was taught in school that Palestine was empty when we got here. They used a Mark Twain quote. It was a barren land full of swamps and some nomadic people (Beduins) but as soon as we wanted to come here, the awful antisemitic Arabs sent people to settle here before we could to take up the space. I was in school in the settlements though. I was taught the most extreme version of this.

Another version of this is that Palestine was never its own thing, they're just Arabs the same as all Arabs from the surrounding countries. So they could just... scooch over and give us the space, please and thank you. In Israel no one uses the term Palestinian. If I do, people roll their eyes and dismissively go "Arab." An Arab is an Arab. It's a way to strip away their unique identity and blend them in with the rest to say they could always move to Jordan, or Syria, or Lebanon, and it's all the same to them.

It's a way to make Palestinian existence by itself into a malicious plot to deny us a homeland.

Because if Palestinians exist as a distinct group of people, we aren't the only ones with a connection to this land. And you don't create an ethnostate by sharing.

I see other forms of this mentality. Why won't all these Muslim countries take the people of Gaza as refugees? That's asking why they won't help Israel make its ethnic cleansing more neat and convenient. Yes, refugees should be taken in and given shelter. But this question shifts responsibility away from Israel. Palestinians shouldn't be forced suffer either ethnic cleansing that leaves them as refugees, or a genocide.

[halalchampagnesocialist]

To understand why Israel keeps targeting UNRWA infrastructure and UNRWA workers (and by extension, human rights activists) aside from the accusations they're ~secretly Hamas~, we must put it into the context of which these organisations operate.

To put it lightly, Israel is not a fan of international NGOs and human rights organisations at all, but especially the ones whose existence revolves around advocating for Palestinian rights and exposing the crimes of the occupation. It is not a fan of Palestinian ones at all either, but that goes without saying. I would even suggest that Israeli organisations like "Breaking the Silence" and "BtSelem" fall under this category, even liberal ~coexistence~ type groups like "Standing Together" are seen with suspicion to a degree as they pose a threat to the status quo. The Israeli state and Zionists also see the work of such organisations as a method of "delegitimising Israel" and "singling out Israel" and so on. There is even a pro-Israel organisation called "NGO Monitor" which exists to combat this exact thing.

In the case of UNRWA, there is a specific criticism made by Israel against them (aside from the secret Hamas operative one), and that is they "indoctrinate" Palestinians to hold onto their right of return by perpetually keeping them refugees. Obviously, it's a silly argument that is not worth entertaining. There are a lot of genuine criticisms to be made about UNRWA (which is largely to do with the NGOisation of the Palestinian struggle but that's another post) but they have helped sustain Palestinian existence and livelihoods by providing aid, employment, education and so on. In times of war and crisis, UNRWA has been providing important aid to Palestinians. It's hard not to see Israel's attack on UNRWA as an attack on that.

Even groups which are headed by Palestinians, both in the diaspora and in Palestine, such as International Solidarity Movement (ISM) or Youth Against Settlements, face constant attacks by settlers and soldiers. The purpose of these groups is to demonstrate civil disobedience and resist the occupation non-violently yet still face violence. Others exist merely to just document.

Israel is also so used to operating with impunity that any organisation shedding light on Israel's atrocities against Palestinians is a blow to their propaganda. All the reports, documentaries, and findings produce evidence that then becomes hard to deny or hide. There is a reason why Israel is currently not letting in any journalists or aid workers into Gaza, and even the ones it is letting in it is targeting as we've seen time and time again over the past year.

The problematic nature of NGOisation and the apoliticisation of the human rights framework aside, many of these organisations have played a role in presenting the case of the Palestinian struggle in front of a world audience. The ability to not just document or advocate but be believed is a privilege Westerners have and that's where these organisations tend to come in. As long as these organisations exist and/or have a reason to be in the West Bank and/or Gaza, then Israel cannot do what it actually wants to i.e. constant settlement building, attempted ethnic cleansing and more importantly, trying to convince the world that Palestinians do not have a justified struggle against the occupation and the allegations against Israel are merely "false."

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

Even CNN is reporting the truth more now. But if you are held without being charged, you aren’t a prisoner, you’ve been kidnapped and are a HOSTAGE. And human rights organizations have said that the other 50%, who were charged, were mainly charged with throwing rocks, and that even most of that was made up.

For all the pro israel who came to my posts of Palestinian children celebrating their freedom, calling them terrorists and criminals. Israel is an occupation state, they don't need a reason to arrest you as long as you're Palestinian.

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Protections and Wards

What are protections and wards? 

Protections and wards can be pretty much anything; you can make protection jars using herbs, you can use crystals as protections, you can even do protections with just energy! There will be some simple examples of protections listed later on in this post.

Why do protections at all? What if I don’t believe in trickster spirits? 

Even if you don’t necessarily believe in trickster spirits, protections are still important. Negative energy still exists, and protecting yourself and your space from that negative energy may make it easier to deal with negativity around you in your daily life. 

What is the difference between protections and warding? 

Protections are a generalized term that describes using energy and intentions to protect yourself and your space. Warding specifically talks about using ordinary objects, setting intentions on them (possibly doing other things like blessing them or consecrating them) to turn them into protections.

Below is going to be a small list of some ideas for protections and wards, both for the home and for yourself. This list is not exhaustive, and there are many different ways to make protections and wards. 

Protection jars

Veiling 

Protection jewelry

Handmade protections

Protection satchels 

Crystals 

Energetic protections

Protection oil (please make sure that any essential oil or oil-based products are safe for the skin and pets if you are going to be using this). 

Protection candles (you can use color and scent magic for this as well!)

Protective sigils

Some of the methods listed, such as veiliing, protection jewelry, and crystals are a bit more ‘beginner friendly’. Please make sure you’re doing your research and setting clear intentions with any protections you’re making! 

Here is a short list of some easy, generally accessible herbs you can use in protection jars and satchels. 

Sage (please remember to only use white sage is you are part of that closed practice)

Lavender

Cinnamon

Rosemary

Bay

Salt

Pepper

Garlic 

What is veiling/how do I veil? 

Veiling is a tradition that has a lot of history behind it; essentially, veiling is the practice of wearing some type of headwear in order to protect your own energies from outside influence. You can veil in many different ways. Wearing a headscarf of some kind is a good way to veil, but you can also veil using hats, scrunchies/hair-ties, and even simple energy can be used to veil. For me, I have put an energetic veil on my head before while washing my hair in the shower!

Is there a right/wrong way to use/do protections? 

There is not really a right or wrong way to do or use protections; you can use protections however you like to protect your own energy and your space! For me personally, the majority of my protections are not physical objects, I purely use energy and visuals for my protections. A lot of my protections are also baneful in nature. 

Can I make protections to make someone not think of me/ignore me? 

Yes, you can! For protections like these, I recommend illusion magic or protections specifically made to hide you from them. Veiling is a good option in this scenario! 

How do I know I need to redo my protections? 

This can get a bit tricky to discern; I highly recommend using some form of divination to figure out if you need to re-do protections. I also recommend generally keeping up with your protections as part of a weekly/bi-weekly routine. As discussed in my previous post about cleansing, working in protections while you’re doing mundane tasks such as cleaning can be a good way to do this. 

As far as discerning when you need to redo protections, this will get a little complicated, so bear with me. First and foremost, please try to distinguish the mundane vs magical causes for things. While things like getting sick, feeling suddenly run down all the time, or having a bout of bad luck can SOMETIMES be indications of negative energy around you and the need to cleanse and redo protections, this is not always the case. Sometimes, life just sucks. This is again why I recommend doing divination as a way to discern if the cause is mundane or magical. I will be going more into divination methods in a later post. 

How do I make protection jewelry? 

Again, there can be a few ways to do this. I firstly recommend cleansing the jewelry you are wanting to turn into a protection. Please make sure you’re being safe when doing this (make sure you check and see if the jewelry can safely be submerged in water, get salt on it, etc).

Next, you can consecrate the jewelry in a few ways. You can use protection oil to consecrate the jewelry (please make sure that your jewelry will not corrode or anything with oil). You can also ask your deities/spirit guides to bless the jewelry for you and put their protective energies on it. You can also soak the jewelry in water and herbs (again, make sure that the jewelry is safe to go in water). 

How do I make protective sigils?

Sigils are a very fun, easy way to make protections (as well as doing other types of spellwork). You can find sigil online, however I do recommend making them on your own. There are also programs you can find online that will help you generate sigils. You can also make them up on your own, go based on associations (like you could draw a candle, and have that be a protective sigil for instance). 

This is not an exhaustive list that covers all forms of protection and all questions about protection, however I hope that this post will help some newer witches learn more about how to work protections into their practice.

[sirfrogsworth]

Canada: The Crudest Crude Oil

So, Canada has some shitty oil.

I don't know what Canada oil ate, but it might need a juice cleanse or something.

Trump is putting a 10% tariff on this shit.

This is called heavy sour crude oil. Because not all crude oil is the same. It can be light. It can be sweet. It can be heavy. It can be sour. Light and sweet is the easiest to refine. Heavy and sour (the Canada poop) is the most difficult.

But the US specializes in refining the shittiest crude. That's why we import so much from Canada. We have developed the best technologies to turn this shitty tar sand oil into something useful. We buy it cheap from Canada, make it useful (gas, kerosene, plastics, asphalt, etc), and then resell it.

This ends up being about a $700 billion business that generates about $175 billion in tax revenue.

To make things more interesting, the US has a lot of its own oil. Which is why Trump loves to say "drill, baby, drill." But our oil is light and sweet. It's the good stuff. Easy to refine.

That's good... right?

Not so fast!

Since no other countries are very good at processing the shit oil, we send our good stuff to Europe. They can easily refine it and we make a lot of money selling it to them.

Here's the rub...

The US isn't really set up to refine the good shit. Most of our refinery infrastructure is meant to process the Canada poop. So even though we technically have plenty of our own oil, we don't really have a lot of places to process it.

So I guess we would have to send it to Europe and buy it back.

Or we would have to build new refineries.

Or we would have to get shit oil from other places.

And those places?

Russia and Venezuela.

I have no idea if Trump understands any of this. Or if he thinks all oil is the same. But I feel like fucking with a $700 billion industry is bad for the economy.

I really don't understand why this is happening. I don't know if Trump is going rogue and doing this on his own. Or if Putin set this up so we will buy oil from Russia. Or if there is some other special interest group that wants to torpedo our refinery economy.

None of this makes a lot of sense to me and I don't see many people talking about this aspect of the tariff problem. I don't think oil quality is well known to the general public and maybe Trump's puppeteers are counting on that ignorance to do some sinister shit.

In any case, I imagine gas prices are going up. I'm sure the MAGA crowd, famous for being angry at gas prices, will finally see the light and turn on Trump.

I'm just kidding.

They will find some way to say it is a good thing and keep kicking themselves in the nuts.

[honeytonedhottie]

general hygiene secrets + tips⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🍦

while u upgrade in other areas of ur life, its important to upgrade ur hygiene and self care game too ✨ and this post can help u do that

DOUBLE CLEANSING ;

not only for ur face but also for ur body, doing so makes me feel a million times cleaner. when i double cleanse my face i go in with an oil based cleanser then a water based cleanser.

my double cleansing body recommendations are the dove bar soap, african black soap or the soaps from the doctor bronners brand

for double cleansing my body i'll use an unscented/anti bacterial bar soap and after rinsing that off i'll use a liquid body gel or body wash that has the scent that i wanna smell like

MY TAKE ON UNSCENTED BODY PRODUCTS ;

i think that unscented body products r lowkey slept on but in that same breath i can kinda see why. personally, i like to use an unscented soap sometimes and then make my body smell even better by using a body butter or a lotion but thats SOMETIMES.

TAKE CARE OF UR FEET ;

use a foot file/foot scrub to ensure baby soft, barbie-esque feet. before bed time make sure to moisturize ur feet with a body butter ro vaseline and sleep with fuzzy socks on.

also keep ur toes clipped, filed, and preferably painted. personally i like to go for white toes cuz i just think its classic, but in general do NOT neglect ur feet.

ALL ABOUT FRAGRANCE ;

i love to collect different fragrances and buy a lot of perfumes bcuz i just love the variety, i love the adorable packaging i just LOVE perfume. dont be afraid to blend perfumes together and experiment with how different notes in different perfumes can work together and give u ur own unique scent.

dont sleep on oil perfumes either, personally i find them to be very rich and SO LONG LASTING?? they're absolutely amazing. when u apply the perfume try not to rub, instead press and apply it to ur pulse points.

HOT TIP - when spraying perfume on ur body, make sure to apply some onto the insides of ur knees + ankles bcuz smell travels upwards so when u walk by, the air will smell yummy 🎀

SLUGGING SECRETS ;

slugging urself before bed ensures that when u wake up ur body will be SOFT and SMOOTH and glowy. the basic before bed slugging routine is to go in with a deeply moisturizing body lotion/butter. ur gonna wanna lather urself completely (from the neck down to ur ankles) then use a body oil.

things to look for in a body lotion or body butter - helps with properties like firming and tightening of the skin. aids in deep moisture if ur someone who has dull or dry skin.

its important to find a body butter + oil combination that works well with ur skin and doesn't break u out (plus smells good)

[sabersandsnipers]

Drabbles: Caregiving

Featuring: Astarion, Gale, Halsin, Gortash

Inspiration courtesy of @creativepromptsforwriting

Astarion

To put it lightly, Astarion is a mess after killing Cazador. And who can blame him? After returning to camp, he simply sits and dissociates. His hands tremble. The only solace he finds is when you’re near. 

Still covered in blood, you ask his permission to clean him up. He simply nods, his eyes staring at nothing. You grab a damp cloth and begin gently wiping away the dried blood. He leans towards you, hoping your presence itself can protect him from the trauma that keeps surfacing in his mind. 

You notice his pants are still stained with blood as well. You gently cradle his face to get his attention. 

“Do you need help changing?” 

He doesn’t say anything but the look in his eyes is enough to assure he needs help. You lay him down and help him out of his soiled clothes. You quickly grab his night clothes, pulling his shirt over his head and helping him into new bottoms. 

After he’s settled, you turn to leave, but his hand shoots out to grab your arm. 

“Please stay.” His voice is strained. A deep ache blooms in you. 

You sit next to him on his bedroll, cradling him against your chest and whispering soothing thoughts to him for the rest of the night. 

Gale

As skilled a wizard as Gale is, he can’t always prevent himself from getting sick. Confined to his tent, you took it upon yourself to care for him. 

As you brew some tea for him, he stretches out on his bedroll and watches you work. His heart warms at your worry for him. He really doesn’t deserve the care you’re giving him. He’s sure you have more important things to do. 

You pour the tea for him, crouching next to the bedroll. With barely enough energy to move, you have to help him lift his head to take a sip. You gently cradle the back of his head, bringing the warm liquid to his lips. 

He takes a small sip before laying his head down again. 

He licks the remaining liquid off his lips. “It’s good,” he says. The taste of it sends a comforting warmth through him, mildly numbing the ache settling in his bones. 

“I put a little something extra in there for you,” you tell him, winking. 

He lets out a breathy laugh. “Why am I not surprised?”

Halsin

Halsin is always the one who wants to care for you. You’ve insisted time and time again to let you pamper him sometime. He works so hard for you, protecting you and making sure you never go to sleep hungry or cold. 

After scrounging enough gold to get a room at a nearby inn, you finally force his hand. He’s bathing in the wash room, and you sneak in while he’s scrubbing at his skin. 

He looks at you, a smile coming to his face. “Did you want to join me?”

You shake your head. “I was hoping I could wash your hair,” you tell him. 

He raises an eyebrow. 

“Please?” you insist. “You must be tired.” 

His shoulders slouch and he ceases his scrubbing. “Get over here,” he grumbles.

You rush over to sit behind the tub, leaping at the chance to help Halsin relax. You make quick work of wetting his hair, pouring a cleansing mix onto his scalp. Your fingers tangle themselves in his hair, massaging slowly.

“Hmmm, that feels good,” he says, voice low.

You smile, watching as the tenseness leaves his body. “Good. You deserve it.”

He leans his head back, making it easier for you to work your fingers through his long hair. 

You can’t help yourself. You lean forward to press a kiss to his neck. He turns to  you, a warm smile on his lips. 

Your heart melts just like the first time you saw it.

Gortash

You straddle Lord Enver Gortash, his bare back laid before you. Your fingers dig into his tense muscles, earning moans from deep within him. He dearly needed a massage after an especially tiring day of ruling over Baldur’s Gate. The power of having him writhe beneath you is intoxicating. 

You lean down and start to press kisses to his lower back, slowly trailing upwards. He growls your name. A warning. You know if you continue to tease him he’s going to flip you onto your back. The thought thrills you. 

But you want to work out those big knots in his back first. He deserves to be taken care of before he takes care of you. You continue your work, rocking back and forth on your heels to gain momentum as you dig deep into his flesh. 

His moans rumble through your hands. You grin to yourself, looking forward to the moment where he gives you the pleasure you want in return. 

[puari-vol]

Have you every gotten stuck in the shower? Not like literally trapped in the shower obviously, just like...kinda stuck. Like you could easily open the curtain and step out, or reach over and turn off the water, but you just can't bring yourself to do it. the water is so warm, and it feels so nice having it run over your body. you could leave at any time, but you don't want to. you want to stay.

That's kind of what trance feels like

you could shake yourself awake, you could look away from the spiral, you could stop listening...but why would you? You just feel so warm, and the water pouring down is just the perfect white noise to drown out the rest of the world. you know how cold it is out there, how much you have to do and think about once its over, so why not just stay in a little longer? stay warm, stay drowsy, stay damp. Its just so easy to stay, and it feels so good. its so much easier to stay in trance...I mean the shower. And while you're just letting the warm water wash all your thoughts away...I mean wash your body clean, what do you think about? do you just let your thoughts drift and meander until you just wind up with your eyes closed, thinking nothing at all? just listening to the sound of the water, feeling warm, feeling good. Of course I get stuck in there, I never want to leave, and why would you? it feels so good to be stuck in trance. its necessary too, just like you need the shower to clean your body, trance cleanses the mind. Decompressing, de-stressing, letting go. all very very important things to do. So now that you're here, why not just stay in trance? weather you're in trance imagining what the shower feels like or in the shower imagining what trance feels like, it doesn't really matter does it? it feels so warm, so relaxing, and its cold outside. you can leave wherever you want, so why not just stay and enjoy it a little longer...just a little longer...

[thatgirlie-diaries]

How I get out of a slump

Hello girlies! Welcome to another blog of mine. This topic was very spontaneous for me to write about. I'm having a writers block since last week because I have been stuck in a rut, that's my reason bts. I'm going to tell you my personal tips to get out of this state and regain your consistency on a healthy lifestyle!

My tips

Journaling: You may do this step whenever you feel it's right, but I think it's important to be concious about why are you in a rut in the first place and what you can do for you to feel better and get back stronger. You may let yourself just dump and feelings or go to Pinterest and look out for prompts.

Tidy up my space & take a shower: I truly believe that our space is a reflection of our own mind, as so I think that I reflect my state in how much I take care of my appearance and hygiene. So, this is the first thing I do to step into a state in which I feel clean and calm and able to focus on my mind after taking care of my physical space. Take your time to cleanse yourself!

Listen to high vibe music: I know my ruts happen in first place because I am in a low vibrational state and with a negative mindset. Even if it's not your case, I reccomend you to listen to songs that motivates you and empowers you up to again make an effort for yourself , rather than listening to low mood lyrics.

Revisit your goals: it's time to think again about what are the things you want to accomplish. Ask yourself what do you need to get back on track: Are there any goals that don't align with you no more or you need to change to be accomplished? What are the habits or steps you need to take?

Take it slow: We are just getting out of a rut, so it has been hard for us this days to keep track on habits and goals, even to do simple things. Girl, take it easy and at your own peace, no one is chasing you and your wellness it's first before other matters. If you need to, break down your habits or steps into small ones. One of my favorite reminders is "something is better than nothing". Examples: You don't feel with the energy to clean your room? Use a timer of 10 minutes. Can't read? Just read one page. What matters is that you are making an effort to be in a better place.

Take care of your health: First things first. Related to other points of the blog, take care fo your health and then focus on heavier effort or alongside doing small but significant actions. Health is something we start neglecting when we are in a slump (alongside keeping our space clean, our goals & habits and our mind). Make sure you are sleeping well, having a healthy diet, doing exercise, take some sun, whatever you need to do to have a healthy body.

Be consistent!: Consistency will be an important point in this one. For me, the hardest thing is taking the decision to take the first steps, after it keep them on track until you feel better. Rather than seeing it as discipline, see it as devotion. Think that "you are being devoted in taking care of yourself and giving you the best present and future", it sounds lovely, isn't it?

Health + Clean space → Reflection → Revisit your goals → Take small steps →Consistency

Let's get out of this one together! 𑄽𑄺ྀ

[redisrobinhearts]

Dick Grayson is drawn fine the way he is and claiming he isn’t is colourist. I’ll tell you why

First and foremost I would like to specify there will be mistakes in this rant as English is my third language and I am also Romani so obviously this gives me grounds to speak on this matter

Onto the rant I will start this by saying no matter how the Romani person appears - Roma are not white no matter how white passing a Romani person may look. Romani is also not specifically a race it is an ethnic group which depending on the subgroup can vary but most Roma simply consider ourself brown or will forego that and just state that they’re Romani

In this fandom there are a lot of misguided beliefs that dick Grayson is drawn “wrong” or that he is “white washed” in comics or fan arts which has resulted in harassment to people who haven’t done anything wrong

Roma don’t have a “look” there are millions of Roma world wide who look vastly different - there will never be a specific wrong way to draw dick Grayson because there is no right way to look Romani.

There are blond haired blue eyes entirely Roma just as there are dark skinned textured hair Roma

This leads me to: why do Romani people have such varying looks?

Romani people come from India and left India roughly 1,000 years ago and then settled all over the world but most of which went to Europe - where you will find the most variant subgroups of Roma.

European Roma faced slavery and attempts of ethnic cleansing for almost 5 centuries in which women were raped and Roma were killed - then almost 100 years later the holocaust happened which was the largest on scale genocide and ethnic cleansing of Roma there was.

This caused overtime majority of Western and northern European Roma to become paler and more white passing while today Roma from Far Eastern and southern Europe usually tend to be darker skinned

During American slavery it wasn’t just Africans who were taken forcefully to America but also Roma who had settled in Africa - along with Europe sending European settled Roma to America for the same purpose.

In the modern day Romani descendants of that are darker skinned as opposed to European Roma being lighter skinned

Of course - tragedies don’t dictate how Roma will look in the modern day, you can imagine when your ethnic group and your community has stayed in one place for hundreds of years you will at least start to look a little of like the people of the place you are.

Roma don’t throw people out of their community for not looking “Romani enough” white passing Roma are considered light skinned Roma and darker skinned Roma are considered dark skinned Roma - we are all Romani and we all belong to our Romani communities.

Claiming a Romani character or person doesn’t look right or is white blatantly ignores the tragedies Roma faced which caused communities of Roma to look the way they do - there is no such thing as not looking right as Roma and the level of how Romani you are is not dictated by the colour of your skin.

And while we never know what subgroup of Roma dick Grayson it is safe to assume he is romanichal (subgroup of Roma from the uk and other English speaking countries) of course until dc ever specifies otherwise.

His subgroup isn’t important but it could shed light on the struggles his community faced in the current and in the past.

Dick Grayson’s Romani identity isn’t decided by his skin it is decided by who he is and who he is is Rrom.

I could go into more intricate detail of Romani culture which is seemingly always butchered in fandom (especially in relation to language) but I will save that for another post

[sarcasticscribbles]

BOYCOTT EUROVISION FOR ISRAEL PARTICIPATION.

I am the Eurovision gay this time of year, I love this show. Not only is my country hosting 2024 but it's also in a city I love, but I can't watch as people sing about peace and love while Palestinians are getting killed by one of the participants.

I've complied a couple of petitions, open letters and information regarding Eurovision: Eurovision isn't the highest priority regarding Gaza, but this show is marketing & tourism for countries, Israel is using it to pink wash their politics

According to SVT, Swedish television network in charge of Eurovision 2024 in Sweden Malmö, Eurovision is apolitical, and therefore Israel qualify. They refer to any calls for boycott meaningless ( via )

SVT statement:

[ID: "SVT statement on the debate over Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest

Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest is generating debate and today a number of Swedish artists have called on the EBU to cancel Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. It is the EBU’s decision which public broadcasters may take part in the event, and as the host broadcaster, SVT follows the EBU’s decisions. The humanitarian suffering in this deeply complex conflict is devastating. Nobody can be left unmoved by the current situation in Gaza, or by the Hamas attack in Israel. We are also concerned about these developments. We understand and respect that groups of people wish to make their voices heard. As the host broadcaster, SVT has an ongoing dialogue with the EBU about the challenges of producing Europe’s largest TV-production in times of unrest. We are humbled by the task and are working to ensure the project can be carried out in the best way possible, with the vision that music unites." END ID]

Eurovision has always been political, and was created as a celebration of peace after WW2. Songs are statements, and EBU took action by banning Russia and Belarus for the invasion of Ukraine. It's a way to show sympathy and solidarity, which Gaza is in need of now.

Why Eurovision is so important to Israel is the opportunity of pink washing, and appearing liberal and LGBTQ-friendly, that the show encourages. This leads to great marketing and tourism for the country, alqueerian on twitter did a great thread about it:

[ID: Tweet from @ alqueerian on X formerly known as Twitter. Tweet: "A really quick thread on pinkwashing and why it’s wrong: pinkwashing is a term that was coined by LGBTQ Palestinians to specifically refer to the use of homophobia as a justification for israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, starvation etc." END ID]

Full thread

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Here are a couple of petitions, open letters and links to encourage the ban of Israel in Eurovision

And if all fail: we boycott

Here are two petitions for the ban of Israel: Petition 1

Petition 2

A list of emails and contact information for broadcasters regarding Israel participation: copy, paste and send. Document

It's created by verilybitchie on YouTube who also made a great call to action video I can recommend

[ID: Screenshot of verilybitchie youtube video "Genocide at the Eurovision Song Contest". The video is showing an article by Chris Lockeyer, news reposter, titled "Israel to compete at Eurovision despite boycott threats" The article says: "The European broadcast Union said its member organisations approved Israel's participation in the competition and it remains aligned with other competition organisations on its stance." The article is from December 19th, 2023. END ID]

And for Swedes, I think it's extra important for us to speak up; here's what we can do:

Open letter via Björk & Frihet, a charity in Skåne offer letters to sign but also have pdf version to print at home!

[ID: Photo from Björk & Frihet, a swedish charity offering open letters to sign to send to the government. "Stoppa folkmordet" as the letters are ladled, means "stop the genocide" END ID]

This is also a letter regarding the contest being held in Malmö, a city with a long history fighting for Palestine! Sign here

[ID: Vote for Swedes in Malmö to sign to protest Israel's participation in Eurovision. END ID]

Meanwhile, don't forget your daily clicks to help Palestine while we wait for EBU to stand by their words and prove we are united by music!

[ID: Iceland's Hatari holds up Palestinian flags during Eurovision in Tel Aviv, May 19, 2019. END ID]