#threefold power is such a good motif

[copperhawkthoughts]

Dressed to the Neins 2 - Percy

Ah No Mercival Percival, my beloved…

Rambly design details below the cut!

As I said in the video, the design elements that drew me to this pattern for Percy were threefold:

1. The central four-pointed star motif just really looks like jewellery - something off of a crown or out of the vault of some kind of European royalty. In fact if anybody here reads Girl Genius, it reminds me strongly of the family emblems Gil, Tarvek and Agatha wear at their throats.

2. Paired with point 1, the fact that there is this thin, meandering row peeking out from behind the central motif was too good to pass up - it’s so easy to read that as curse smoke leaking out from collar and cuffs, from behind Percy’s veneer of embarrassed nobility.

3. The last big one is these “trees”, which I took to stand for Whitestone, and symbolize its ruin and recovery.

When it came to picking the colours, this palette was pretty straightforward. The sapphire blue was first - that’s Percy blue. I knew I also wanted to represent Vex in this square, so that’s the peacock teal.

After that we had to have black for Orthax (fun fact - the only other characters to get the true black in their squares are Vax, obviously, and through him Kiki and Vex), silver for wealth and nobility but also the polished gleam of a gun barrel, and white for Percy’s hair and also the sorts of things white usually represents in (western) art.

Last we have brown, for the dying Sun Tree and the ruin of Whitestone, and then that particular shade of green, which represents both the fresh hope of newly budding leaves and is also a little radioactive-looking, representing the residuum whose production and export eventually restore the wealth and power of Whitestone as a seat of innovation and industry.

When choosing the colour placement, I put Percy’s blue + white at the core to represent past & future Percy - the young lordling with the bright future and the fully-fledged Lord of Whitestone, recovered. Also, the alternating rings of colour look like a target :D

Silver borders that, both because it reinforces the visual of a piece of jewellery and also because that way it sort of looks like looking down the barrel of a gun, if that gun was a…four shooter? Look I know that’s not a thing and it’s a stretch but my brain made the association and now I can’t shake it.

The sneaky row is black, of course, and the row after that, which actually obscures a lot of the black stitches by design, is Vex “take off the mask, darling” ‘ahlia’s teal blue. The last two rows of the centre section are silver and Perce blue for the man himself, and the way he builds himself back up, wraps himself in his coat and his dignity and keeps going.

I said enough already on the brown and green rows, so the last two are black (can’t ever truly shake that darkness, Freddie) and white - for healing, for peace, for hair that’d have gone white by now anyway.

If you read all that, wow, thank you. Same bat time, same bat channel next week for Keyleth!

[flowerflamestars]

Fix-it fic snippet

In the dark, reassurance the whole time they’d been speaking, the House had called what mattered to her. An actual dress, not the uncomfortable, ill-fitting leathers of another culture on her body like a claim. The Mask, bound in neat silk, that she knew would follow her anywhere should she ask. The Harp, all the more recalcitrant, but quiet now too, waiting for Nesta’s next move.   Her anger was a siren song, dizzy with power.   She wasn’t sure she could control it, if something else happened.   But it was easy, utterly right, to reach into the air and find her hand full. For the swords that she had Made to come out of nowhere to her, where they belonged.   Humming power, a melody she thought only she could hear until Emerie bobbed her head, until a startled smile flickered over Gwyns face. “Is that…a hymn?”   Nesta couldn’t have named it had her friend not said it first, but there it was; sonorous, otherworldly, the sounds women sang out into the world to hear back the echo of their goddess. Mother, Maiden, Crone- three swords, three melodies, united in a single song of world altering power.

Nesta explained as quickly as she could. Their Making, her power, the lie of it all. That it had been taken from her. Hidden. What was fundamentally hers, her gift left to be used by other hands. Rhysand’s selfish, controlling hands.

“I want,” Nesta shook her head, settled for shoving sheathed blades in both their directions, “They’re for us. No one else.”

[suguwu]

rules of engagement

all’s fair in love and war.

you have no intention of marrying zen’in naoya.

he finds this out the hard way.

pairing: naoya zen’in x f!reader 

wc: 3.5k

notes: i used terminology from omiai for this but it is in fact run very differently from omiai, which i am hand-waving by virtue of sorcery clans doing things differently, which i have Thoughts about.

warnings: 18+ for allusions/mentions of smut. one brief pov change, naoya is his own warning, misogyny, arranged marriages & (failed) arranged marriage negotiations, parental death from a vague illness & a brief non-explicit deathbed scene, borderline dubcon kissing(?) and a brief moment of dubcon touching, pregnancy mentions/mild descriptions throughout. 

“She’s old,” Naoya drawls, tossing the rirekisho aside. “Thought ya were supposed to be good at this.”

“Zen’in-sama,” the nakōdo says, wincing, “she’s not that much older than you a—”

“Ya deaf? She’s old. Next one.”

The nakōdo hands over the next rirekisho silently.

Naoya slides the picture out first; pretty is the most basic of his requirements.

And you are pretty. There’s a hazy familiarity to you, too, especially with the way the silk of your hōmongi drapes over your form. The understated wisteria motif sweeps over your shoulder like a path, and he follows the soft cascade of flowers to the swell of your breasts. Perfectly accented, perfectly framed.

But it’s the sweet timidity to the tilt of your lips that snares his attention.

It’s easy to imagine you wide-eyed in his bed, being molded to his touch, his wants, his needs. He can shape you as a sculptor does clay.

Because Naoya knows you’re malleable. The promise of it is in the elegant positioning of your hands, the downward tilt of your shining eyes. He can press you into easy compliance, leave his fingerprints on more than just your skin.  

“What clan’s she part of?”

The nakōdo straightens in his seat, his slender shoulders unknotting, just a bit. He names your clan with an expression that’s likely more hopeful than he means it to be.

“Tch. Not the best lineage,” Naoya grumbles.

The name serves to clear the fogginess, though, and the familiarity becomes a set of brief memories - you behind your father, your eyes hidden beneath the fan of your eyelashes, a soft greeting spilling from your lips with a perfect bow. The pearly sheen of your kimono glimmering as you step back to let the men pass, your hands elegantly folded. It’s the type of quiet obedience in a woman that’s harder and harder to find these days, to his disgust.

It doesn’t completely erase that your clan falls a bit short, but you’ve clearly been raised correctly.

He scans the rest of your rirekisho idly, pausing at your highlighted cursed technique. More powerful than he’d thought, and familiar, too. “That’s her technique? You're tellin’ me that she’s got Threefold?”

“Yes, she’s one of the few to inherit it.”

“What a waste, a woman gettin’ that.”

“She’s a Grade Two sorcerer, and it’s likely she’ll eventually receive the recommendations for Grade One.”

Naoya raises a brow. “What’s that matter fer? She’ll be at home.”

“Yes, of course, Zen’in-sama.”

Naoya glances over the rirekisho again, taking in the rate of inherited techniques appearing, both yours and the techniques of clans that have married into your family. Higher than he would have thought. You’re fertile, too, if the birth rate in your clan holds true. You would give him plenty of strong sons.

He considers your stomach growing heavy with his child, rounding like ripe, sweet fruit, that same docile little smile on your lips. The idea of it coils hot in his chest, spreads beneath his skin like forest fire.

He brushes his thumb against the edge of your picture.

“She’ll do,” he says. “Tell her clan.”

The cicadas are calling.

Their song echoes through the courtyard, lingering melancholy in the twilight. An eerie, haunting choir. You stare out into the courtyard as it darkens, the heavy blooms of the luxuriant flowers going dusky, deepening into rich plum silhouettes as the shadows stretch.

Light spills around you, golden and without warmth. You listen to the cicadas, to the encompassing hum of them. Your fingers ache. They’ve gone wooden, stiffened around the fabric they’re knotted in. You pull in a soft breath as you let go of your yukata, flexing your fingers carefully. You smooth away the wrinkles you’ve left behind.

Your name rattles in your father’s chest.

The engawa creaks as you rise. Your uncles step out of your path as you enter the room, their eyes downcast; your cousin moves away to let you settle at your father’s side. The cloth your uncle hands you has the ocean’s touch in it, all deep, cold water.

“Father,” you say, laying the cloth over his clammy forehead. “You called for me?”

His gaze is cloudy, but it does little to reduce its strength. “I’d ask if you are prepared for this weight,” he says, “but I know better.”

“Good.”

He wheezes a laugh at your bluntness; the curve of his lips is unbearably fond. “Show the other clans those who have always been our backbone,” he tells you. “For all of the women who came before you.”

Across the room, your aunt’s eyes are dark, polished stone, gleaming in the low light. There is a hunger crackling beneath her skin.

“I will,” you tell your father, but it is your aunt’s gaze that you hold. “I will.”

Her smile is full of teeth.

“What will you do?” your father asks.

“About?”

“The Zen’in clan’s offer.”

In the cavernous quiet, the cicadas’ song filters through the shoji.

When you close your eyes, Zen’in Naoya’s name is seared behind your eyelids, the kanji firework bright. He lingers in your memory too—the sharp cut of his jaw; the elegant swoop of his eyeliner, a bird’s wing curve; the gold of his hair, like the autumn wheat fields; the smug curl of his lip.

There’s a certain type of power in conservative propriety. If you’re quiet, demure, men shroud you with their dismissal. Blind themselves to you, until you can step wraith-like into their world, pulling threads of information close and spooling them around your fingers. You weave them together and whisper a tapestry of politics into your father’s ear.

It comes at a cost. In your quiet compliance, the softest parts of you are on display, and there is a reason that tender morsels are coveted.

You know what men like Naoya see in you.

He’d watched you once, as you’d silently poured tea for a meeting of the clans at your estate. You’d kept your hands steady even with the heat of his sly eyes tracing over your figure. He’d lingered at the arch of your wrists, the softness of your hips.

Was startin’ ta think that there weren’t any pretty women who knew to keep their mouths shut anymore, he'd said to the table. Good ta know some still know their place.

You know what you would lose to him.

Zen’in Naoya’s name sounds like teeth clicking shut around you.

You take your father’s hand in yours, press your lips against the blazing, papery skin of his knuckles. “I won’t let them swallow us,” you murmur.

Swallow me, you think.

He studies you. “I might have.”

“No,” you say, matter-of-fact. “I wouldn’t have let you.”

His eyes crinkle at the corners, his laugh lines etched deep.  “True,” he concedes. His voice cracks, like river ice breaking beneath spring’s unyielding advance. He turns his head, as if it hides the way his muscles go taut, cording against the pain. You blink away the tears before they can truly form.

Your aunt comes to kneel with you. She puts a hand on your knee, her touch heavy with tenderness, and part of you takes refuge in it.

Together, you wait.

Only a few hours later, your kinsmen bow low to you. The curve of their backs remind you of weeping willow branches: slender, flexible, durable. You allow yourself a single unsteady breath.

You rise to your feet as the head of your clan.

“Zen’in-sama,” the manservant says, hesitating for a brief moment at the shoji. “We’ve received an answer regarding the clan’s offer of an arranged marriage, now that the new clan head has been confirmed.”

“Took ‘em long enough,'' Naoya scoffs. “Have the women start preparin’, then. I don’t wanna be bothered with it.”

“Ah,” the manservant says, his voice wavering. “Zen’in-sama, I’m afraid they’ve said no.”

Naoya stills.

“What?”

“Zen’in-sama! Please, if you would just wait—”

“I ain’t waiting,” Naoya snaps, already halfway down the engawa. He’s waited long enough, hindered by begrudging respect for your clan’s mourning period. “Where is she?”

The servant hurries after him, sweat beading at his brow. “Zen’in-sama, please. Y-you can’t—”

“Where is she.”

The servant flinches, and shows him.

When he slams the shoji open, he spots you immediately, tucked away near the far wall. You’re settled on your knees by a low table, flowers strewn across it, a wildflower meadow all the brighter against the obsidian of your mofuku kimono. You’re plucking at the verdant leaves of a thin branch with careful intention, stripping them away to better frame the dainty clusters of pearly flowers.

Your kinsmen come to their feet. It’s a finely-honed reaction, a quicksilver slip into loose, defensive positions around you. Better than he’d expected from a lower clan. Absolutely worthless against him, but still of note, something to tuck away.

“Out,” Naoya orders, his eyes on you. They hesitate. “Now.”

“Leave us, please,” you say to your kinsmen, without even deigning to glance up at them.

This time, they do not hesitate.

It burns, seeing men respond so quickly to a command from a woman. To see them honor your command over his. The only balm is that your kinsmen bow to him first, and they bow deeply.

The shoji slides shut with a little click. You still haven’t looked up from your work, your fingers wrapped firmly around the thin, flower-laden branch as you use the heat of your hands to mold it. You are patient with it, soft with it, but there is iron to you. You do not yield until the wood curves. It bends to your will, forced beneath a gentle hand.

It’s spirea, he realizes. Victory.

Coincidence, maybe, but it sears through him anyway, twists ugly and hot beneath his skin.

“Zen’in-sama,” you say, and for all that your measured composure pricks at him, the deference of his title between your lips, sweet on your tongue, satisfies more than he’d thought. You set down the delicate foliage and turn your attention to him. “To what do we owe this honor?”

Like this, hands folded prettily on your lap and your voice a spring brook, soft and flowing, he remembers why he found you an excellent candidate to be graced with the gift of being his wife.

“Ya know why I’m here,” Naoya bites out. “Because ya seem to have misunderstood what yer answer is.”

You look docile. On the surface, you have all the delicate tenderness of a fawn on the verge of fleeing, aware of your place in this dangerous world.

But you meet his eyes steadily, coolly. A predator’s challenge.

“Zen’in-sama,” you say. “I think it may be you that misunderstands. No woman in my clan will have you, least of all me.”

It takes him a moment to register the bite of your words, cloaked as they are in the gentle cadence of your voice. He rounds the low table with a few quick strides. You don’t move. You gaze up at him from your knees, poised and unyielding. Part of his rage splits off into lightning, a bolt of heat that crackles through him.

“Have me?” he snarls. “No, you’ll serve me, and yer gonna thank me for it. Yer uncles shoulda taken you in hand the second ya tried to make a decision.”

“I’m the head of my clan,” you say mildly. You rise to your feet with honeyed grace. “All decisions are mine to make, in the end. Including marriage offers.”

“Ya really think you can say no? To me?”

You blink. Naoya watches the slow sweep of your eyelashes, the soft curl of them like unfurling summer ferns. It’s demure, that little blink. And yet, beneath the fan of your lashes, the delicacy of them, your eyes are wintry. His fingernails bite little crescent moons into his palms, pinpricks of pain.

You’re his. You’ve belonged to him from the moment your name was written down as a prospect, since you were offered up to him like freshly plucked fruit, ripe and sweet. His for the taking, his to consume.

The only one who doesn’t seem to realize it is you.

“I don’t think I can say no to you, Zen’in-sama,” you say coolly. “I know I can.”

You look at him, and the silk of you unfurls to show the iron beneath.

“I already have.”

He catches you by the chin, long, heavy fingers splaying out across your jaw. The startled little noise you make—a hiccuping, breathy gasp—curls through him, sparks more heat to simmer beneath his skin. He tightens his grip without thought. Presses his fingers harder into the plump flesh of your cheeks, just enough to make your lips part.

You’re warm. Gently so, like early spring sun, and to Naoya’s frustration, he likes it. Likes the way the heat of you soaks into his fingertips as he forces you to look at him.

“Ya don’t wanna test me like this,” he snarls. “I’m being generous. Marryin’ me? Carryin’ my heirs? It’s an honor fer a nothin’ clan like yers.”

You laugh. It resonates against the pads of his fingers. A sweet, polite little laugh that slides between his ribs, a bone shard sound that’s sharper than any whetted blade.  

“Yes, it is,” you agree. “And yet, my answer is no.”

“I can take yer clan apart.”

“It would gain you nothing.”

His fingers flex against your jaw. You suck in a soft breath, and he feels it, the flutter in your cheeks as they hollow out for a second.

Your breath is ghosting across his lips, heated little puffs of air. He’s drawn you closer without realizing it. Your lips are still parted, and there’s something about that little sheen of wetness in that tiny gap. The hint of the soft pink of your tongue.

“Yer mine,” Naoya growls, and then he’s pushing forward, catching you in a biting kiss. You make a little noise of surprise, and he swallows it down, greedy for more. He lets go of your jaw to curl a hand around the nape of your neck. He uses it to mold you to his desire, to make you yield to him. His kiss is devouring.

But you’re kissing back.

He’s unforgiving, even though you’re soft against him, your mouth lush and warm. Your hands knot in the front of his kimono. But you do nothing, as if you can’t even think of anything but clinging to him. He can feel the surrender in you, and the possessive thing lurking behind his ribs snarls.  

You’re panting into his mouth now, all those polite, keen-edged words of yours trapped beneath his tongue. He’s silenced you. It curls hot in his chest and arrows down his spine.

He tightens his grip. He wants his fingerprints to sink through your skin, into the marrow of you, so that every inch of you is his. He’ll fuck that infuriating aloofness right out of you, until your lashes are clumped into damp spikes, until you’re whimpering for him. He’ll fill your pretty cunt with his cum, over and over again, until you’re dripping with him.

He’ll remind you what you’re made for.

Naoya pins you back against the wall, knocking your grip on his clothes loose. He pushes a hand beneath the heavy silk of your kimono to palm your tit roughly. You fit perfectly into his hand, your skin soft despite the raspy cotton of your hadajuban, the only thing still shielding you from his touch.

You catch him by the wrist.

“Enough,” you say, pulling back as far as you can with the wall behind you, your lips spit-slick and swollen. You’re panting, but even still, your composure holds.

Naoya wants to shatter it.

He squeezes at your tit, molds it in his palm. You make a quiet noise that nestles itself into his chest like an ember. “Ya don’t sound like you’ve had enough,” he sneers.

Your fingers tighten, compressing on his wrist like iron. You’re stronger than he thought; it aches, like a bruise being pressed.

“Tell me, Zen’in-sama,” you say, eyes glittering. “What do you think the clans will think of you, should they learn that a nothing clan spurned you? Wouldn’t even give you one of their daughters - you, the heir to the Zen’in clan?”

He digs his fingers into the softness of your breast. “They’d never listen to ya.”

“Are you sure, Zen’in-sama?”

He isn’t. The three great clans are always chasing the scent of each others’ blood, circling like sharks. And the exact reasons he chose you are what would make it believable—the power of your technique; the fact that three of your aunts and cousins have birthed children with the inherited techniques of their husband’s families; and you yourself, with your quiet grace and pretty features.

His answer must be on his face, because you drag his hand out from underneath your kimono.

You smooth the silk back into place. He watches the way your fingers press delicately into the black material, his own fingers flexing at his side as his mind races.

There is a quiet, reverent call of your title.

You turn towards the servant lingering near the shoji. The girl’s dark eyes flutter between you and Naoya, taking in how close you are.

“Yes?” you prompt.

“Ah,” the girl says, bowing low. “Please forgive my disruption, but the head of the Inumaki clan has arrived.”

“Inumaki-san,” you say, brushing past Naoya to greet the man lingering just beyond the shoji, ignoring Naoya’s quiet snarl. “Please, forgive me. I’m afraid we lost track of time. Come, please sit.”

Inumaki inclines his head to you as he steps inside. His attention flickers to Naoya next, and he bows low. Naoya pays him little mind, his focus on you and the way your obi is just slightly askew from his hands.

You turn your attention back to him, that cool, gracious serenity shrouding you like a veil. Naoya grits his teeth.

“Thank you, Zen’in-sama, for your condolences,” you say, as you dip into a shallow, polite bow. He itches to force you lower. “It was kind of you to come all this way. We are honored. Kimura will take you to your things.”

He clicks his tongue, all too aware of Inumaki’s presence. He gives the other man a short nod before crossing the room with sharp, menacing strides.

Naoya halts next to you, wrapping a tight hand around your bicep. Your warmth soaks through the silk, and something curdles sour in his chest. He leans in close, his lips hovering by your ear. “This ain’t over,” he hisses.

You peer at him through your lashes, your lips curving slightly, a tranquil crescent moon of a smile.

“Yes, Zen’in-sama,” you say quietly. “It is.”

And then you slip through his fingers, just as you have this entire time.

Naoya leaves your estate with fury brewing in his chest like a summer storm, dark and heavy.

He is not used to his possessions evading his grasp.

But you are young, a woman, and inexperienced. It will not take long for your clan to begin to collapse beneath you. Naoya is not a patient man, but he can recognize when time is on his side. You’ll kneel to him, and he’ll train that willfulness out of you, until you’re the perfect, pliant wife that you masquerade as.

In the end, it will be easy.

It is not easy.

Naoya grits his teeth as you sweep into the clans meeting for the first time. You’re clad in a silk kimono of exquisite make. It’s the soft color of the pearly dawn, tailored to you perfectly. It is not far from something he would have put you in. Feminine and elegant.

In this room, it is a statement.

It is you who goes to sit at the table. Not him. His father’s presence prevents it. And so he watches you, prim and pretty, settle between two of the other clan heads. The men acknowledge you quietly, inquiring politely about your recently received recommendations for promotion. You cover your embarrassed little laugh behind a manicured hand.

Your rise in jujutsu society has been meteoric. He’s heard it all—how you have threads of information spooled around your fingertips; how your sweet, sharp tongue spins them into shield and sword alike; the masterful way that you wield your technique.

You still fall short of the Zen’in clan’s political sway, but you are infuriatingly evasive.

Your eyes find his, and the small smile that curls across your lips cuts hot through him. It’s a sweet little curve, and it is full of teeth.

He sneers. Your smile grows sharper.  

You only look away from him when the clan head next to you murmurs something. You turn your head with your usual grace. Naoya clenches his fists, his chest flaring white-hot as he sees it.

There’s a sprig of spirea tucked into your hair.

[sanathanadharmasblog]

Tripurasundari

Tripurasundari is sometimes spoken of as an adimahavidya, or primordial wisdom goddess, which puts her in the company of Kali and Tara as representing one of the highest experiences of reality. She is not the ultimate, absolute, or nirguna state devoid of all qualities; still, she represents the experience of consciousness in a high state of divine universality.

Her other names include Sodasi, Lalita, Kamesvari, Srividya, and Rajarajesvari. Each of these emphasizes a particular quality or function.

According to the description in her dhyanamantra, Tripurasundari’s complexion shines with the light of the rising sun. This rosy color represents joy, compassion, and illumination.

Tripurasundari has four arms, and in her four hands she holds a noose, a goad, a bow, and five arrows. The noose indicates the captivating power of beauty. The goad represents the ability to dissociate from ego-based attachment. The bow represents the mind (manas), and in this case it is no ordinary bow but one made of sugarcane. The five arrows, representing the five sensory faculties (jnanendriyas), are made of flowers. In other words, what we perceive and cognize is by nature good, sweet, juicy, and delightful. The world is a place of beauty, to be savored and enjoyed. To reinforce that idea, a profusion of jeweled ornaments adorns Tripurasundari’s body, symbolizing not only her splendor but also her inexhaustible abundance. The four legs of Tripurasundari’s throne are the gods Brahma, Visnu, Rudra, and Mahesvara. Brahma is the power of creation or cosmic emanation (srishti); Visnu, of cosmic maintenance (sthiti); Rudra, of destruction, dissolution, or withdrawal (samhara). In a distinctively Tantric addition to this threefold activity, Mahesvara symbolizes the divine power of concealment (nigraha). When the nondual reality makes manifest the finite many, the infinite One becomes hidden from our awareness. Conversely, Siva, in the form of Sadasiva, is the power of self-revelation (anugraha), also known as divine grace. When we go beyond the appearances and division of name and form, we again experience the ineffable divine unity that is our true being. These five deities—Brahma, Visnu, Rudra, Mahesvara, and Sadasiva—represent Tripurasundari’s five divine activities (pancakritya).

In the Sakta Tantra, it is Mother who is supreme, and the gods are her instruments of expression. Through them she presides over the creation, maintenance, and dissolution of the universe, as well as over the self-concealment and self-revelation that lie behind those three activities.

Tripurasundari is often shown sitting on the recumbent body of Siva, who rests on a throne. Siva is the absolute consciousness-in-itself, the sole reality and support of everything that has name and form. On that sole support sits Tripurasundari, who is Sakti. This is a graphic illustration of the great Tantric teaching that without Siva Sakti would have no being, and without Sakti Siva would have no expression. Consciousness and its power are one. Self-concealment is the precondition as well as the result of cosmic manifestation, and self-revelation causes the manifest universe to dissolve, disclosing the essential unity.

With this in mind, the eighteenth-century commentator Bhaskararaya proposed that the name Tripurasundari should be understood as “she whose beauty precedes the three worlds,” meaning that she is divinity in its transcendental glory. However, the name is usually taken in an immanent sense to mean “she who is beautiful in the three worlds.” Present here is the idea of a triad, a grouping of three that plays out in many different aspects of the phenomenal world.

The triangle is the dominant motif of Tripurasundari’s yantra, the Sricakra. The innermost triangle represents the first stirrings of cosmic evolution. This takes place within divine consciousness. Pure, nondual consciousness is aware of nothing other than itself, for there is no other. It is pure subjectivity—the ultimate “I” (aham). As we learn from the Upanishads, the One, seeing itself alone, declares, “Let me be many; let me propagate myself.” Within the pure awareness of “I” (aham) arises the idea of ”this” (idam). Now we have subjectivity and objectivity within the same singular reality of consciousness. And where there are two, there is always a third—the relationship between the two. Hence, the triangle of the knowing subject, the known object, and the act of knowing that relates them.

Tripurasundari represents the state of awareness that is also called the sadasivatattva. It is characterized as “I am this” (aham idam). Cosmic evolution is the outward flow of consciousness (pravritti). Spiritual practice reverses that flow, so for the yogin this stage is a very high level of attainment, close to final realization. It is an experience of the universe within the unity of consciousness. A beautiful expression of this occurs in the Bhagavadgita (6.29): “One who is joined in yoga sees the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self; his is the vision of sameness everywhere” (sarvabhutastham atmanam sarvabhutani catmani / ikshate yogayuktatma sarvatra samadarsanah). In this state a person experiences the same sense of selfhood felt within his or her own heart as pervading everything. This experience of the Self in all beings, called sarvatmabhava, takes one beyond the confines of the individual ego to the realization that “I am all this.” This is the level of awareness known in the Tantra as sadasivatattva. This direct experience of the Divine simultaneously in oneself and throughout the whole of creation results in a feeling of universal love (visvaprema).One who lives in this exalted state of oneness feels no separation from others and therefore becomes a fount of compassion.

Even in our ordinary state of consciousness, Tripurasundari is the beauty that we see in the world around us. Whatever we perceive externally as beautiful resonates deep within. That is the meaning of the flower arrows and the sugarcane bow. Deep within dwells the source of all beauty, that ultimate truth of which the outer world is only a reflection, of which our experience is a recognition. True beauty lies not in the object perceived but in the light of awareness that shines on it and makes it knowable. One who lives mindful of Tripurasundari abides in a purity of consciousness and experiences a joy that can be tangibly savored. Yet if the creation is wonderful, how much more wonderful must be she who created it.For the unenlightened the world appears imperfect. Perfection is wholeness and unity, but the world appears to be a vast assemblage of diverse parts. The unity of the divine cause is veiled by the multiplicity of its effects. We perceive beauty but feel also the pain of its fleetingness, forgetting that the source of beauty lies indestructible in the heart of our awareness as the Divine Mother, Tripurasundari.

Her sadhana is therefore the purification of our awareness—cleansing the mind of unworthy thoughts and the patterns of thinking that underlie them, recognizing beauty everywhere, seeing the miraculous in the commonplace, and rising to the conviction that nothing is alien to ourselves. As the Upanishads teach, “All this universe is truly Brahman” (sarvam khalv idam brahma); so too is this Self (ayam atma brahma).

[ijustdragon]

Different Kinds of Witches

 NOT ALL OF THEM ARE HERE IF YOU IDENTIFY AS A DIFFERENT KIND OF WITCH PLEASE MESSAGE ME AND I WILL HOPE TO RECTIFY YOUR PROBLEM. BUT PLEASE UNDERSTAND IF I RECIEVE ANY ABUSE ABOUT NOT INCLUDING YOUR IDENTITY I WILL NOT RESPOND.

Now these are not exclusive kinds of witches, there are many different kinds and practises you can find or be shown. Some witches prefer to be blends of certain different areas and that is perfectly okay, some witches prefer to focus on specific areas and that is perfectly okay. I am not telling you how you should practise, I am simply giving a simple overview of the generic kinds.

Wicca 

A modern Pagan religion with spiritual roots in the earliest expressions of reverence for nature. Some major identifying motifs are: reverence for both the Goddess and God; acceptance of reincarnation and magick; ritual observance of astronomical and agricultural phenomena; and the use of magickal circles for ritual purposes.

Witch

A practitioner of folk magick, particularly that kind relating to herbs, stones, colours, wells, rivers, etc. It is used by some Wiccans to describe themselves. Being solitary or a member of a coven. This term has nothing to do with Satanism.

Witchcraft

Witchcraft is a Pagan folk – religion of personal experience. The craft of the witch – magick, especially magick utilizing personal power in conjunction with the energies within stones, herbs, colours, and other natural objects. This belief system also has nothing to do with Satanism – Black magic (which some mistakenly take as Witchcraft) has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes. Modern Wicca and Witchcraft practitioners have sought to distance themselves from those intent on practising with the dark arts. Voodoo has its own distinct history and traditions that have little to do with the traditions of modern witchcraft. Their penchant for magic associated with curses, poisons and zombies means they, and Voodoo in general, are regularly associated with black magic in particular.

Maleficium (Sorcery)  

Is a Latin term meaning “wrongdoing” or “mischief”, and is used to describe malevolent, dangerous, or harmful magic, “evildoing,” or “malevolent sorcery.” In general, the term applies to any magical act intended to cause harm or death to people or property. Maleficium can involve the act of poisoning or drugging someone, and is often used in dark arts (black magic) and Necromancy (a form of magic involving communication with the deceased).

Pagan/Neo-Pagan/Paganism

General term for followers of Wicca and polytheistic Earth-based religions.  The term “neopagan” provides a means of distinguishing between historical pagans of ancient cultures and the adherents of modern religious movements. Even Vikings were Norse-Pagan. These religions include syncretic or eclectic approaches like Wicca, Neo-Druidism, and Neoshamanism at one end of the spectrum. Also used to refer to pre-Christian religious and Spiritual belief systems. “Neopagan” is often deemed offensive and not used by many contemporary Pagans, who claim that the inclusion of the term “neo” disconnects them from their ancient polytheistic ancestors. Beliefs and practices vary widely among different Pagan groups; however, there are a series of core principles common to most, if not all, forms of modern paganism. Polytheism – One of the most important principles of the Pagan movement, the belief in and veneration of multiple gods and/or goddesses. Animism & Pantheism – is the holistic concept of a universe that is interconnected.  In both beliefs divinity and the material and/or spiritual universe are one. For Pagans, Pantheism means that “divinity is inseparable from nature and that deity is immanent in nature.” Animism it can refer to a belief that everything in the universe is imbued with a life force or spiritual energy. In contrast, some contemporary Pagans believe that there are specific spirits that inhabit various features in the natural world, and that these can be actively communicated with – some which use animal spirits as a spiritual guide. Such views have also led many pagans to revere the planet Earth as Mother Earth, who is often referred to as Gaia after the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth.

Shamanism

A Shaman is an intermediary between this world and the spirit world. Shamans believe that unseen spirits permeate the world around us, act upon us, and govern our fates. They act on behalf of the community conducting ceremonial rituals, healing the people, and helping to guide others on the shamanic path. A shaman’s life belongs to the village and it is their responsibility to ensure the well being of the family, the community and all of creation. Shamanism is an ancient healing tradition and moreover, a way of life. It is a way to connect with nature and all of creation. Their practices tap into the power Mother Earth has to offer and the ancient indigenous teachings are derived from  the simplistic truths of nature. Their goal being to create internal and external harmony with all creation.  In remote locations where tribal culture is still the way of life, shamans continue to hold the positions of counsellor, healer, spiritual guide. Shamanism is the path of immediate and direct personal contact with Spirit, deeply intuitive, and not subject to definition, censorship, or judgement by others.  It does not have attached dogma and hierarchies etc. of modern day organized religion. All shamans must undergo an intense apprenticeship, learning the timeworn practices of their vocation.

Traditional Witch

The witches who take the journey of traditional witchcraft, are interested in the old ways (pre-Christian), and are followers of history and the arts, building a foundation for their craft. Usually the craft is passed down generation after generation within family units. These witches are less inclined to participate in the worship of Goddess or Gods, preferring to work predominantly with the Spirit world and will often call on their ancestors or land spirits for strength. They work with moon cycles, planetary symbols and cycles, rune symbols, herbs and their chemical uses, the land and ancestors are very important to a Traditional witch. Traditional witches are drawn towards both the dark and the light, performing banishing and repelling spells. They do not to follow the threefold law or the Wiccan Rede, (just to be clear traditional witchcraft is not Wicca) but careful consideration and responsibility is taken when performing any magic whether it’s healing, hex, curse or banishing spells. They perform Shamanic journeying by inducing trance that involves drumming, rattling, heavy dancing, rocking, entheogens, meditation, flying ointments, and more. Hedge-riding is a practice that involves traveling to the spirit world through the use of trance work and other various techniques to alter the conscious mind (including entheogens, which are herbs and other substances used to induce trance) which allows the spirit to leave the body. Animism is a part of Traditional Witchcraft because they believe everything on this earth has a spirit or soul. They believe in an Upper World, Middle World and Under World. Under – those who’ve died, awaiting reincarnation or choosing not to pass on or can’t ascend. Middle – the here and now. Upper – spirits/souls who have ascended and no longer need a body as they can survive without the recharging of the spirit/soul that life is, or were never bond to a physical form/body to begin with.

Kitchen Witch

(aka – Cottage Witch & Hearth Witch) This Witch carries practical sides of the Wiccan / Pagan religion, magic, gemstones, the elements and the earth. A Kitchen Witch is usually recognized as practicing Celtic Wicca: Goes by the elements, the Ancient Ones and nature. They are usually healers, respected highly and once they are past their 40’s tend to take on a “Wise Woman” role as they have an abundance of knowledge and are admired for it. They work with plants, stones, flowers, trees, the elemental people, the gnomes and the fairies. But above all performs her magic in the Kitchen and has Goddess given talents for food crafting.  Potions, herbal remedies, and natural instincts for over protection of hearth and home. Most often they make the best mates as they are very crafty in love and relationships – and it is said one who is a friend of a Kitchen Witch has many perks. 

Green Witch

Is the practice of nature-based and earth oriented witchcraft, drawing on the folklore, folk religion and folk magic of ancient cultures as they connected to the forest; such as the tree worship of Druids, the kitchen craft of Italian witches or the keeping of sacred groves as presented in Gallic paganism. Green witches usually practice a traditional form of witchcraft in which the earth, trees, herbs, plants and flowers are consulted for their medicinal and magical value. They will grow their own herbs or Wildcraft them, and are very good at making herbal remedies. Belief in deities depends on the individual witch, though many Green witches acknowledge and earth mother or series of nature spirits as their deity. Usually, the spirits of nature, the dead (that of humans and animals) or the Fey have a large part in Green traditions. A form of green witchcraft which is better classified as Green Wicca was popularized by Ann Moura.

Hedge Witch

Hedge craft is a path that is somewhat shamanic in nature, (sometimes referred to as wise man & wise woman) as they are practitioners of an Earth-based spirituality. These are the ones who engage in spirit flight and journey into the Other world. They can, in this capacity, be very powerful midwives and healers. A bird of one kind or another is usually associated with the Hedge Witch, most commonly the raven and the goose. The term “hedge” signified the boundary of the village and represents the boundary that exists between this world and the spiritual realm. (they are said to be Night travellers or walkers on the wind). Their main function is mediator between the spirits and people. They may also work as a herbal healer or midwife. Some claim it to be the continuation of the practices of the cunning folk and wise-women, while others say that it is a modern tradition.

Eclectic Witch

An individual approach that picks and chooses from many different traditions and creates a personalized form of witchcraft that meets their individual needs and abilities. They do not follow a particular religion or tradition, but study and learn from many different systems and use what works best for them. Many Eclectic Witches refer to themselves as Solitary Practitioners, Sorceresses, Hedge Witches, Green, White, and Grey Witches. Some consider themselves Wicca, as long as the Rede is adhered to, the Earth and the Universe revered. One main complaint made against the Eclectic Witch is that they are not true Wiccans because they build a tailor-made religion or tradition for themselves from the ground up rather than following an established or correct form of Wicca. Their minds remain open and are receptive to knowledge, ideas, beliefs and methods that others practice. They adapt well to different situations and create their own paths by what they believe to be true and right at that time in their life (simply put – they don’t follow rules). They like to explore and make their own mistakes and take from experiences in turn creating their own rules and traditions. It’s why you can bring 2 Eclectic Witches into a room yet they are totally different in the way they practice, live, and believe as they are all different in some way.

Hereditary Witchcraft

The term hereditary witchcraft, is given to the witch who has inherited the magic gifts through genealogy. (Keep in mind just because your Grandparents or Parents were/are witches does not necessarily mean you are too. Sometimes this can skip generations.) These witches are born, usually to a magical family and begin their journey very early in their life, using the gifts handed down through the generations. Born into a tradition of esoteric origin (the conviction that nature is a living entity owing to a divine presence or life-force). These traditions are often not recorded, except in Grimoires which are also passed down but very highly protected, but rely primarily on oral and physical tradition. Each family has it’s own unique traditions. Most will stick together as family units rather than covens.

Sea Witch

(water witch) As the name implies, sea witches are believed to be able to control many aspects of nature relating to water, most commonly an ocean or sea. They specialize in water based magic and worship Sea Gods & Goddesses. However, in more modern times, sea witches can also practice witchcraft on or near any source of water: lakes, rivers, bathtubs, or even simply a bowl of salt water. Sea witches use witchcraft related to the moon, tides, and the weather, and are believed to have complete control over the seas. In some folklore, sea witches are described as phantoms or ghosts who have the power to control the fates of ships their passengers. Sea witches often improvise on what they have, rather than making purchases from a store or from another person. Common tools include clam, scallop, or oyster shells in place of bowls or cauldrons. They are beachcombers and collect items including seaweed, fishing net, shells, sea grass, driftwood, pieces of sea glass, and even sand. Driftwood was used as walking sticks and charged as wands. Sea Witch works with what is termed ‘grey magic’ to maintain a balance of light and dark – most are solitary. 

I will be doing an in-depth look at all of these on a later date.

Blessed Be,

Circe

[linkspooky]

An answer to this ask sent to me by desmondneedshisscalpel.  Okay, so keeping spoilers up to chapter 40 because I don’t want to spoil the whole series for some people. Basically, thematically both Krone and Mama are examples of failed adults in a narrative that is primarily about children growing up in a world where they’re not allowed to grow up on their own terms or even live.

SPOILERS UP TO CHAPTER 40 FOR THOSE WHO JUST WATCHED THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE ANIME. 

Before I get into the thematic ramifications of this let’s analyze their names. Mama Isabella and sister Krone! We’re introduced to Mama as the perfect loving mother figure. Somebody who is a mother figure to everybody in the orphanage out of selfless devotion and executes perfect maternal care. 

See, the mother, the matron and the crone. (Man almost like Sister Krone’s name is referrring to something specific) is an idea in Jungian psychology. Jung in analyzing common themes of mythology noticed a pattern on how female goddesses tended to present themselves. An archetype, or archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective subconscious. Characters we’re all meant to recgnize that show up in stories agian and again. Right now in the panel above, Mama Isabella is acting as a “Mother FIgure” or a “Mother and Child” motife of interaction that most people will recognize on sight because they’re trained to recognize that archetype. 

So we get to the triple goddess archetype, the mother, the matron, and the crone. 

n 1949 Jung and Kerényi theorized that groups of three goddesses found in Greece become quaternities only by association with a male god. They give the example of Diana only becoming three (Daughter, Wife, Mother) through her relationship to Zeus, the male deity. They go on to state that different cultures and groups associate different numbers and cosmological bodies with gender.  "The threefold division [of the year] is inextricably bound up with the primitive form of the goddess Demeter, who was also Hecate, and Hecate could claim to be mistress of the three realms. In addition, her relations to the moon, the corn, and the realm of the dead are three fundamental traits in her nature. The goddess's sacred number is the special number of the underworld: '3' dominates the chthonic cults of antiquity.

So obviously we see in relationship to the children around them, we have one person presnting themselves as the perfect mother figure, and the other presents herself as the dangerous, suspect woman, the crone in sister Krone. This entirely has to do with the fact that these women are not acting as themselves, they’re playing a role assigned to them by the system they are in. It present even in their naming (Isa Bella) the beautiful mother, and Sister Krone the suspicious crone who is not a mother quite yet and therefore a crone sly and conniving trying to prove herself. It’s literally referred to in cover art, that both of these women were only playing a role assigned to them in a tragedy. Pick a role, be faced with doing something you do not want to do, and then cry. 

So now that that is out of the way onto thematic talk. So, the heart of the entire series is Emma, and we’re supposed to believe Emma’s beliefs are the right one and Emma’s primary belief is that no matter what you should fight against the cirucmstance you’re in, and not only that you shouldn’t only fight to save yourself but you should fight to save everyone around you. Realism, survival, that comes seconds to the ideal of saving everyone. If the situation is weihted against you you should fight to overcome it. In the very first chapter, Emma sees that she’s alone in the world, that no adults are going to help them and they’re up against monsters they can’t possibly understand and her first insinct is not to escape for herself, or just herself, norman and ray her two most precious people but instead they all have to survive and they all have to escape on their own and rise to ovecome the system. Of course Emma possesses and extraordinary and naive amount of optimism, but Emma is the heart of the series she’s the one who carries the message we’re supposed to read and the ideals the protaognists are fighting for. 

Those ideals are: You can’t give up. You can’t give up on yourself, or others, and even if the entire world is fighting against you you still have to fight back with everything you have not only for your sake but the sake of others around you.

In a truly shonen sense of the word, The Promised Neverland is about not giving up. 

The children with little to no help from adults are fighting against an unkind world, that is rigged against them, and encourages at every aspect for not only for them to not be seen as human but for others around them to not be seen as human. Every single character is present in a dehumanizing system.

The adults are those who have given up and simply decided to play as a cog in the system. They’re playing their roles without challenging it, because they’ve given up and only started to care about their own survival. The most important part to remember is that every single adult that is currently a part of the plantation system like Mama and Krone started out as kids in the plantation. 

They come from the same background as Emma, they thought they were living happy lives only to find out that they were just cattle being raised and the adults that loved them were actually manipulating them. They all reacted to this revelation and realized that the entire world was going to try to kill them and had already dehumanized them and seen them as cattle. 

So every adult is also in a sense, trying to survive the same way Emma is. The difference being that Emma’s ideals are transcendent, she wants to fight back against the system and also provide a better life for the others around her. The adults have stopped thinking about others surviving the system, they’ve given up fighting in any significant way and instead care only for their self survival and therefore they condemn others to the same cruel fate they once went through themselves.

So Isabella and Krone are just performing in roles, they’ve been utterly dehumanized by the system to fit that role but they also had a choice in this thought a weighted choice in that and they only chose to fight back in ways beneficial to their own survival. They were broken by the system and gave up. They’re adults in age and name only, they never truly grew up and tried to trasncend their situation in any way. They’re still cattle in a way, they’re just sheep dogs instead of sheep themselves. 

The story argues again and again that while Emma’s ideal is highly idealistic, it’s the ideal people should be striving for. 

That they should start by thinking they want everyone to escape and work their way from their, even if it’s insane, even if it’s risky. if the world is rigged against them then they have to change the world.

That’s how the trio has always functioned, it’s Emma’s ideals that drive them, Norman tries to get Emma and Ray’s different ideals to get along and make Ema’s ideals a reality, and Ray is the cyncial one who will sacrifice himself and do the dirty work.

The manga argues that this is the right way to think, the views of every antagonist is challenged against Emma’s view that if the world is wrong they should chane it, and you should start by doing everything in your power to save everyone around you and work from there. 

So we see what is revealed in Krone and Isabella’s flashbacks. They were raised in the same system, but they chose instead of trying to escape the system or reform it, to just thrive inside the system by stepping on those around them. Krone and Isabella’s reactions even then are different. Krone sees this as a compettition and that she has to directly destroy Isabella in order to take her place, she doesn’t really even factor in the children she’s taking care of except as pawns. 

Even these adults who have given up fight back against the system in their own way, but the adults are self absorbed and really only care about making their own stand. Their own survival becomes their top priority. For Krone, she absorbed the lessons of the system around her to “compete” “Compete” she gave up on the idea of escape and instead chose to fight with Isabella for the more comfy position of Mama. Even though in the end she’d still be a victim of the same system, just a victim with slightly more power over other victims. In the end her way of fighting back only thinks about her own survival, and she’s also given up on the idea of escape a long time ago instead taking the lesson that she could not escape to heart. Krone genuinely viewed the only thing she could do was struggle until death, that it was the only thing she could accomplish with her meager life born into this terrible system.

Then we get the second failed adult Isabella and she’s actually given a lot more depth to her character in the final moments of her arc. First once again the mention that they’re acting and putting on roles, and what Isabella considers the performance she’s given to the children as a separate entity from the real Isabella.

However, the lens that she’s just acting, the lens that this is a tragedy where she has to perform a role that’s all just a narrative that she’s imposed herslef on reality to distance herself form her own actions. The truth is you become the mask, both of those things are the real Isabella. The kind motherly figure that tended to the children, the cold woman who manipulated the children, those are both actions that she took, those are choices she made. You are in the end the summary of all your actions and choices. However, Isabella was so good at becoming a part of this system she was able to compartmentalize herself like that, and assume that all of those different parts of her was just different roles she was assuming.

The thing is Isabella isn’t lying here, and that’s what makes her actions all the more horrifying and also all the more human. What Isabella advocates is the opposite of the themes of the manga, and the opposite of the ideals Emma gives. That they should be complacent and accept their ignorant, happy lives, because that’s the only way they can be happy. They should just try to hoard that small amount of happiness instead of fighting a battle that they would lose.Once again what Isabella advocates for is giving up and only focusing on your own personal happiness for as long as it can last because the world is too tough to fight against. 

And Norman advocates the opposite of that. That they have a right to live, that it’s wrong for them to be born to die as cattle.

As we go further on we see more and more of Isabella’s intentions. Her love for the children isn’t a lie, she actually did care for Emma, and she showed that care by wanting Emma to survive in the only way she knew how to survive. She’s advocating they give up like she did, because she genuinely has given up to the point where she doesn’t think there is escape or survival. Her attempts to groom them into cattle are really just her believing that them making the same mistakes she did and giving up as she did is the only way to move forward. 

Again and again, the adults encourage the children to stop struggling against their situation, to instead care for their own feelings, their own survival, to stop thinking and let their minds be at ease because there’s nothing to gain from that struggle. But that’s not the truth, that’s just the path the adults chose to take. That’s just them projecting their failures onto the children. 

Why does Isabella so perfectly switch between being a caring mother figure and a ruthless manipulator, it’s because she’s given up and stopped thinking about it entirely. She doesn’t feel her emotions, she doesn’t think about what she wants, she just acts as a cog in the system, without hesitaiton, without faltering, because those are what a human does and she’s stopped seeing herself as human a long time ago.

In this manga giving up is the ultimate evil. It’s what leads the victims to become victimizers and we finally see that in Isabella’s reveal.Isabella was Ema, not only that but she had a Norman, she realized the truth of this world early and gave up.

Isabella and Emma are presented with the exact same situation, not only that but they’re a heart very similiar people. They’re geniuses who despite being smart tend to only think about things with their emotino and at their heart are driven by the loe they have for life and the people around them. Isabella genuinely loves the children and thinks this is all that she can do for them, and that’s what makes her all the more monstrous. Because isabella and Emma were both shown the wall, shown escape was impossible  and given a choice on how to react, and Isabella chose to give up and Emma didn’t.

And here we see it the ultimate challenge to Isabella’s quiant little ideology, that this was all she could do, that there was nothing to fix this world and nothing she could have done to make the situation better.

If that was so. If that was so. Then why did she give birth to Ray?  She’s Ray’s biological momther which means she made him into a victim of this system, and she chose to have him born into the exact same world that she sees no escape from its fundamental evil. 

At that moment Isabella’s act falls apart and we see true emotions on her face, the ones she was suppressing all along for the first time in the series. Just like the rest of them no matter how much she dehumanizes herself to play a role in this system was undeniably human as well. 

And the answer of course is that as much as Isabella does genuinely love others, in the end she was only thinking about herself and her own survival. 

And the resolution of Isabella’s character is that she admits she was wrong, that she lost. Her deepest desire really was to love those children normally, but if she had thought of something other than her own survival then she could have aided in their escape. She could have been a proper adult to those children as we see later on in the series, real adults who do learn that exact lesson and learn to put children and others first before themselves. 

Isabella is a victim in the same sense as Emma, but she chose to give up and create more victims rather than fight for others, because in the end she was only concerned about herself. And because of that she admits. 

That her love was twisted. That she did nothing for those children in the end. She was denied her most fundamental wish that she could not love them normally because she did not choose to fight for those children but rather herself. 

If she had not given up, if she had been convinced not to give up even now, then imagine what a great ally she could have made for their escape. However that’s not the woman we see at the end of this arc. 

Just a woman whose thoroughly given up and lamenting the fact that she could not be any better than the system that made her in the end. 

[wiccawisdom]

5 Misconceptions About Traditional Wicca

I don't know if you've noticed, but we're living in the midst of a witch craze. Between American Horror Story, a Charmed reboot, and countless clothing lines pushing a "witchy aesthetic" (even Target has moon phase and zodiac-themed t-shirts this season), the witch is definitely in. Some of the hottest self-help and inspiration books on the market today are catering to newly affirmed "witches," many of whom look very different from those we're used to seeing. The people of this new generation aren't witches because they worship the old gods and seek to explore the occult mysteries of yore, but because they are starting their own businesses, reclaiming their bodies and social power, and finding beauty in the unusual and, sometimes, macabre (check out all the animal skull motifs).

Yes, these days witches are everywhere, and who and what witches are is changing all over again. So much has changed, in fact, that many are left wondering: as witchcraft changes with the time, what good is plain, old Wicca anymore?

Wicca has been in the public eye for almost seventy years. For many Pagans and witches, Wicca was their gateway into the world of magic, the New Age, traditional witchcraft, and countless other paths. Many genuinely explore Wicca only to find that it isn't for them. Increasingly, others pass it over from the get-go. Aside from maybe just being old news, with the rise of traditional witchcraft, Luciferian witchcraft, secular witchcraft, and other Craft traditions, Wicca has even come to have a bit of a bad reputation. On online hubs like Tumblr, YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter, Wicca isn't just stale, it's "watered down," "declawed," "shallow," and "problematic."

With so much more variety available, has Wicca had its day in the sun? Haven't we all already seen what it has to offer?

But while the nineties and early two-thousands saw eclectic Wicca exploding in both publishing and media, an earlier form of Wicca survived just under the surface: coven-based, initiatory, traditional Wicca. And while more popular, solitary Wicca was largely responsible for shaping the public perception of the religion, traditional Wicca still holds some surprises for seekers, which I discuss at length in Traditional Wicca: A Seeker's Guide. Here are just a few:

The Wiccan Rede and Threefold Law Aren't Universal.

Popularly, these are regarded as the cornerstones of Wiccan belief. We don't use curses, we don't hex, and we don't manipulate people, not even if we're trying to do something helpful. If we do, it all blows up in our faces three times stronger than what we initially put into the spell. Right? Well, maybe. But the truth is that really depends on your tradition and your coven. A lot of people don't realize that some of the most popular interpretations of the Wiccan Rede were actually added well after Gardner's heyday and weren't part of the ethos of many of the earliest Wiccan covens. Many contemporary Wiccan initiates do not subscribe to either the Rede or the Threefold Law. So if you think traditional and other non-Wiccan witches hold a monopoly on baneful magic, think again.

Traditional Wicca has Specific Deities and Spirits.

One of the most widely known (and heavily criticized) features of Wicca is that the religion centers on the worship of an all-encompassing Goddess and God, who go by many names and may even contain all other deities, like facets on a big diamond. Wiccans simply choose a god and a goddess from their favorites pantheons, put them in a magic circle, and off they go to work Wiccan magic. This leads many to call us shallow, or even to accuse us of cultural appropriation. Wicca, however, is very much a product of the British Isles, and this is part of its appeal for many interested in connecting with this region and era in history. Most Wiccan lines work with very specific deities, whose names are secret and revealed only to initiates. The use of "the Lord and Lady" and "the Goddess and God" in more public spaces enables Wiccans to preserve the sacredness of those names. They are titles, not placeholders for other deities. Of course, some Wiccans may also work with gods and spirits outside of a strictly Wiccan context, but that doesn't mean that we're conflating one with the other.

The Book of Shadows Is an Actual Text, Not Your Personal Journal.

In eclectic Wiccan spaces, we're used to thinking of a book of shadows as a personal magical journal, there to collect your personal thoughts, the rituals you perform and the spells you write, and the results of your workings. In traditional Wicca, however, the Book of Shadows is actually a singular text that is passed within a lineage of witches. It's traditional to copy this text by hand so that you may have your own copy. You may choose to add to it over time, but fundamentally it remains a separate text. There may be multiple versions within a single tradition (as you can imagine, passing around a copied book from initiate to initiate can be a little like a game of telephone, and some things get a little garbled over time), but it is not something that the witch simply creates from scratch. Wicca, it turns out, is a "religion of the book" after all.

Some of Us Are Solitary.

Traditional Wicca is coven-based, yes, but not all of us stay in covens. Not everyone progresses through the hierarchy and becomes a coven leader, takes on students, or even stays with the coven that initiated them. Some practitioners study for a while, learn with a group, and then go off and do their own thing. Even witches who circle with a coven will still do most of their work alone (you don't stop being a witch just because you won't see your coven for a while!). So even though there may not be a traditional coven in your area, that doesn't mean there aren't traditional Wiccans around (even some who may be willing to teach and mentor newcomers). As is true for many other kinds of witchcraft, Wicca is fundamentally a personal, solitary art. A group provides guidance and community, but your witchcraft is still your own.

There Are More of Us Than You Think!

With the rise of eclectic, do-it-yourself Wicca, traditional varieties quickly took a backseat. In many books, the old lines are discussed in the past tense. And with the emphasis on secrecy, it's no surprise that many traditional Wiccans never reveal themselves in any public way. A lot of people think we just aren't around anymore! But, in fact, our numbers are rising. Healthy covens exist in many large cities and even in some surprising out of the way places. Where I live in the American South—a place many assume would be hostile to witchcraft—traditional Wicca is booming, with young priestesses and priests planting new covens and outer courts throughout the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida. Just imagine what's happening in more progressive regions! Traditional Wiccans usually aren't very vocal but don't make the mistake of assuming we aren't there.

As time moves on, witchcraft will continue to change and grow with each new generation of practitioners. The media will always impact the image of the witch, and our changing cultures will bring new challenges. Our many different kinds of witchcraft will change as we do, filling the shifting needs of the communities that practice them. Alongside these cultural shifts, traditional Wicca has survived and thrived in the shadows, though many don't realize it's there.

=========================

By Thorn Mooney. (c) Llewellyn Publishing Inc. Originally Published in The Llewellyn Journal

from All Wicca Store Magickal Supplies http://www.allwicca.com/index.php?route=news/article&news_id=128

[wiccawisdom]

5 Misconceptions About Traditional Wicca

I don't know if you've noticed, but we're living in the midst of a witch craze. Between American Horror Story, a Charmed reboot, and countless clothing lines pushing a "witchy aesthetic" (even Target has moon phase and zodiac-themed t-shirts this season), the witch is definitely in. Some of the hottest self-help and inspiration books on the market today are catering to newly affirmed "witches," many of whom look very different from those we're used to seeing. The people of this new generation aren't witches because they worship the old gods and seek to explore the occult mysteries of yore, but because they are starting their own businesses, reclaiming their bodies and social power, and finding beauty in the unusual and, sometimes, macabre (check out all the animal skull motifs).

Yes, these days witches are everywhere, and who and what witches are is changing all over again. So much has changed, in fact, that many are left wondering: as witchcraft changes with the time, what good is plain, old Wicca anymore?

Wicca has been in the public eye for almost seventy years. For many Pagans and witches, Wicca was their gateway into the world of magic, the New Age, traditional witchcraft, and countless other paths. Many genuinely explore Wicca only to find that it isn't for them. Increasingly, others pass it over from the get-go. Aside from maybe just being old news, with the rise of traditional witchcraft, Luciferian witchcraft, secular witchcraft, and other Craft traditions, Wicca has even come to have a bit of a bad reputation. On online hubs like Tumblr, YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter, Wicca isn't just stale, it's "watered down," "declawed," "shallow," and "problematic."

With so much more variety available, has Wicca had its day in the sun? Haven't we all already seen what it has to offer?

But while the nineties and early two-thousands saw eclectic Wicca exploding in both publishing and media, an earlier form of Wicca survived just under the surface: coven-based, initiatory, traditional Wicca. And while more popular, solitary Wicca was largely responsible for shaping the public perception of the religion, traditional Wicca still holds some surprises for seekers, which I discuss at length in Traditional Wicca: A Seeker's Guide. Here are just a few:

The Wiccan Rede and Threefold Law Aren't Universal.

Popularly, these are regarded as the cornerstones of Wiccan belief. We don't use curses, we don't hex, and we don't manipulate people, not even if we're trying to do something helpful. If we do, it all blows up in our faces three times stronger than what we initially put into the spell. Right? Well, maybe. But the truth is that really depends on your tradition and your coven. A lot of people don't realize that some of the most popular interpretations of the Wiccan Rede were actually added well after Gardner's heyday and weren't part of the ethos of many of the earliest Wiccan covens. Many contemporary Wiccan initiates do not subscribe to either the Rede or the Threefold Law. So if you think traditional and other non-Wiccan witches hold a monopoly on baneful magic, think again.

Traditional Wicca has Specific Deities and Spirits.

One of the most widely known (and heavily criticized) features of Wicca is that the religion centers on the worship of an all-encompassing Goddess and God, who go by many names and may even contain all other deities, like facets on a big diamond. Wiccans simply choose a god and a goddess from their favorites pantheons, put them in a magic circle, and off they go to work Wiccan magic. This leads many to call us shallow, or even to accuse us of cultural appropriation. Wicca, however, is very much a product of the British Isles, and this is part of its appeal for many interested in connecting with this region and era in history. Most Wiccan lines work with very specific deities, whose names are secret and revealed only to initiates. The use of "the Lord and Lady" and "the Goddess and God" in more public spaces enables Wiccans to preserve the sacredness of those names. They are titles, not placeholders for other deities. Of course, some Wiccans may also work with gods and spirits outside of a strictly Wiccan context, but that doesn't mean that we're conflating one with the other.

The Book of Shadows Is an Actual Text, Not Your Personal Journal.

In eclectic Wiccan spaces, we're used to thinking of a book of shadows as a personal magical journal, there to collect your personal thoughts, the rituals you perform and the spells you write, and the results of your workings. In traditional Wicca, however, the Book of Shadows is actually a singular text that is passed within a lineage of witches. It's traditional to copy this text by hand so that you may have your own copy. You may choose to add to it over time, but fundamentally it remains a separate text. There may be multiple versions within a single tradition (as you can imagine, passing around a copied book from initiate to initiate can be a little like a game of telephone, and some things get a little garbled over time), but it is not something that the witch simply creates from scratch. Wicca, it turns out, is a "religion of the book" after all.

Some of Us Are Solitary.

Traditional Wicca is coven-based, yes, but not all of us stay in covens. Not everyone progresses through the hierarchy and becomes a coven leader, takes on students, or even stays with the coven that initiated them. Some practitioners study for a while, learn with a group, and then go off and do their own thing. Even witches who circle with a coven will still do most of their work alone (you don't stop being a witch just because you won't see your coven for a while!). So even though there may not be a traditional coven in your area, that doesn't mean there aren't traditional Wiccans around (even some who may be willing to teach and mentor newcomers). As is true for many other kinds of witchcraft, Wicca is fundamentally a personal, solitary art. A group provides guidance and community, but your witchcraft is still your own.

There Are More of Us Than You Think!

With the rise of eclectic, do-it-yourself Wicca, traditional varieties quickly took a backseat. In many books, the old lines are discussed in the past tense. And with the emphasis on secrecy, it's no surprise that many traditional Wiccans never reveal themselves in any public way. A lot of people think we just aren't around anymore! But, in fact, our numbers are rising. Healthy covens exist in many large cities and even in some surprising out of the way places. Where I live in the American South—a place many assume would be hostile to witchcraft—traditional Wicca is booming, with young priestesses and priests planting new covens and outer courts throughout the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida. Just imagine what's happening in more progressive regions! Traditional Wiccans usually aren't very vocal but don't make the mistake of assuming we aren't there.

As time moves on, witchcraft will continue to change and grow with each new generation of practitioners. The media will always impact the image of the witch, and our changing cultures will bring new challenges. Our many different kinds of witchcraft will change as we do, filling the shifting needs of the communities that practice them. Alongside these cultural shifts, traditional Wicca has survived and thrived in the shadows, though many don't realize it's there.

=========================

By Thorn Mooney. (c) Llewellyn Publishing Inc. Originally Published in The Llewellyn Journal

from All Wicca Store Magickal Supplies https://www.allwicca.com/blog/5-misconceptions-about-traditional-wicca