#unclear which ones are angels and which ones are devils

[technically-human]

Charles, you can't just say stuff

[talonabraxas]

The Kerubim, “The Strong Ones”

An “Angel” (Greek angelos or “messenger”) is considered to be a heavenly spirit, a messenger or intermediary between God or the gods and humankind. All religions possess one inherent commonality–the relationship of human beings with the Spiritual realm. In ancient Greek religion, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, this relationship is thought to involve angels–divine messengers sent to humans to instruct, inform or command. An angel can function also as a protective guardian, as a heavenly warrior, and even as a cosmic power. Moreover, the line between a good angel and a bad angel, or demon, is sometimes unclear.

Therefore, angels can be broadly described as personified powers meditating between the Divine and the human. Even in its devotion to monotheism, ancient Israel was able to embrace the image of a council of gods by turning all of them into angels that serve the One God. This acceptance of a belief in angels was a development made relatively easy because lesser gods and angels could be referred to as “sons of God.” Later development in both Judaism and Christianity shows a remarkable growth of angelic folklore as a result of continuing this ancient practice of absorbing the gods of polytheistic religions by turning them into angels.

After the period of Israel’s Babylonian exile (597-538 BCE), Jewish thought about angels was considerably altered and enriched. Drawing on Mesopotamian art, artists and writers began to provide wings, even for the anthropomorphic angels, and an interest developed in angels’ garments, names, and relative ranks. In addition to the Mesopotamian influence, the Persian dualistic tradition of Zoroastrianism added another dimension to the Jewish conception of angels by positing hostile and destructive angels who are rebellious against God. The Jewish Qumran sect, or Essenes, saw the world as a battleground, the scene of the struggle between the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Wickedness, the latter an angelic power opposed to God called Belial or more commonly, the “Devil.”

In Judaic Angelology, there are nine classes of Angels: the Seraphim, Kerubim, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Virtues, Principalities, Archangels and Angels. According to Henry Cornelius Agrippa, in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy, aspects of the Elements can be attributed to the natures of these orders of Angels as follows: Fire to the Seraphim, Authorities and Powers; Water to Thrones and Archangels, Air to the Dominations and Principalities, and Earth to the Kerubim. Placed in superior hierarchy are the supercelestial angels, who, mediating the pattern of Divine Will, are: the Thrones as the Wisdom of God; the Seraphim as the Goodness of God, and the Kerubim as the Essence and Form of God. As stated by Agrippa, from the Angelic Orders humankind is strengthened with extraordinary attributes.

“From the Angels, Mankind perceives messages of Divine Will and a clearer comprehension of the Mind of God. From the Archangels, humanity obtains rulership over beasts of the field, fish of the sea and fowl of the air.”

From the Principalities, all things are overcome, engendering a comprehension of the ascendancy of all things, and drawing spiritual power to oneself by a secret and divine force. From the Virtues come the power and strength against enemies of Truth. From the Powers, the ability to conquer these enemies within ourselves. From the Dominations, subjugation of these adversaries. From the Thrones we are woven together and collected into ourselves with remembrance fixed on Eternal Visions. From the Seraphim we acquire the perfect flame of Love, and from the Kerubim comesthe light of mind, the power of wisdom, and the exalted images by which we contemplate the Divine.

As stated in Three Books of Occult Philosophy, the Hebrew theologians numbered and called these orders as follows: in the supreme province, are the Chayoth ha Qodesh, or Creatures of Sanctity, to which EHEIEH gave the gift of life. In the second place are the Auphanim, Forms or Wheels, whereby YHVH differentiated the chaos. In the third place are the Aralim, great, strong and mighty angels, by which YHVH joined with Heh (HHYVH) to provide form to the liquid matter. In the fourth place are the Chasmalim by which AL framed the image of bodies. In the fifth order are the Seraphim by which ELOHIM GIBOR drew forth the elements. The sixth are the Malachim which ELOAH produced metals. In the seventh sphere are the Elohim or Gods, by which YHVH TZABAOTH produced vegetation. In the eighth reside the Beni Elohim, Sons of Gods, by which ELOHIM TZABAOTH produced animals. The ninth and lowest sphere contains the Kerubim by which SHADDI EL CHAI created Mankind.

The above has been a short introduction into the realm of Angels. The subject of the Kerubim alone could involve voluminous amounts of information as there are many different classes and functions of the Kerubim–they are not simply limited to the Sephirah of Yesod. The Elements have their analogies at every level, and these attributions can be applied to every Sephirah, but particularly the central Sephiroth on the Middle Pillar. The Kerubic forces of Kether descend the central Column from Kether to Malkuth. This is indicated by the Kerubic signs about the corners of the Tarot Trump XXI, The Universe. Malkuth is the sphere of the Elements and Yesod is its foundation, which, being on the Second Plane, is the sphere of contact with Natural Forces. Tiphareth is the Sephirah from which the Elements are controlled, the Sephirah of the Elemental Kings (Elementals which have begun to respond to Spiritual vibrations).

The Seraphim (derived from the word “Seraph” meaning “burn”) are another class of angels considered to be an upper octave of the Kerubim. Their function is to burn false doctrine and convert man back to righteousness. It is said that they pass on information drawn from the Neschamah during sleep, to the Creator in Atziluth, for the Seraphim are the Holy of Holies, or the Highest Heaven in Briah.

The focus of this paper, however, covers only those Kerubim which include Gabriel, the Angelic Choir of the Kerubim of Yesod, the Archangels of the Elements, and the Right and Left-Hand Kerubs, Metatron and Sandalphon.

Gabriel

Gabriel’s name comes from the same Hebrew root as Geburah (GBR) indicating a relationship between the 5th and 9th Sephiroth. Gabriel serves a triple function, Annunciator, Guardian and Guide. Gabriel is the divine messenger who relays information between the Divine and humanity and bestows the gifts of vision, hearing and psychic abilities as well as the powers of life, procreation and equilibration. This angel is referred to as Gabriel Yesodel (Archangel of Yesod) and as Gabriel Kerubiel (leader of the Kerubim).

As an angel of high eminence in Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition, Gabriel is one of the four most often noted in Judaism and Christianity, the others being Michael, Raphael and Uriel. Gabriel is the heavenly messenger who appears in order to reveal God’s will. In the Old Testament, Gabriel interprets the prophet’s vision of the ram and the he-goat (Daniel 8:15-26) and explains the prediction of the 70 weeks of years (490 years) for the duration of the exile from Jerusalem (Daniel 9:21-27). In the New Testament, Gabriel announces to Zacharias the birth of his son, John, who is destined to become known as John the Baptist (Luke 1:11-20), and in Luke 1:26-31 reveals to Mary that she is to be the mother of Christ. Among Muslims, Gabriel is believed to be the spirit who revealed the secret writings to the Prophet Mohammed. As the Annunciator, Gabriel is most likely to speak to us through dreams.

Gabriel means “Strong one of God” or “Strength of God.” As seen by the position of Yesod on the Tree of the human psyche, the name is not without reason. From the position on the central Pillar of Consciousness on the Tree, Gabriel is the firm and stable foundation of the Spirit. As Yesod in the World of Briah, it is the ego consciousness of Briah, and the Sephirah occupied by Gabriel is a crucial one. It is the last stage before the aspirant reaches the Kether of incarnation, or the Tiphareth of Briah, for beyond lies the threshold between Raphael in Hod and Haniel in Netzach. At this point, he is still Man but may be referred to as “Hero of God” under the guidance of Gabriel. To pass, the initiate must rise up the Tzedek Path of Righteousness where the shadow side of the personality is destroyed, and all remnants of being as a separate entity are dissolved. Only then can one attain Tiphareth in Briah and come under the direct influence of Archangel Michael, or “One Who Is Like Unto God.”

The Kerubim

The Kerubim can be conceived of as a reflection of the Four Holy Living Creatures of Kether, the powers of the Eternal Elements. The duty of the Chayoth ha-Qodesh is to formulate the primary pattern upon which the rest of existence is built. These Kerubic forces descend the Middle Pillar to Yesod where the Kerubim, as the structural powers of the Universe, support this existence. Therefore, the Kerubim are the formative powers of the Elements stationed in the sphere of Yesod, the etheric substructure that supports the physical universe. As these etheric powers, the Kerubim are the formative forces of the world and humankind. As Angels of Lunar Yesod, the Kerubim also have an association with time, the four Kerubic points in the year which are the Hermetic Qabalah’s cross quarter days. Their name means “the Strong Ones” which is derived from the Akkadian word Karibu which means “one who prays” or “one who intercedes.”

The work of the Kerubim is to influence communication between the inner and outer worlds by serving as Guardians, Heralds, Equilibrators and Guides. They work on the building of knowledge and the harnessing of force in etheric or Yesodic methods. One of these methods is the use of symbols relating to Yesodic perception within the depths of the unconscious mind. With the progression of time, these symbols become less ritualistic and more psychic, becoming tools in the hands of the aspirant. These images are the contents of the Treasure House of Images, and the forces behind these images are the Angels of Yesod.

The Tetradic Kerubim are the animated powers of YHVH working through the fixed signs of the Zodiac. As given in Exodus 25:18-19 and 37:9, their shapes represent the aspects of the four dynamics of the Elements. These energies are not the Elements themselves, but rather are placed between the Angels and the Elements in hierarchy. One of the functions of the Kerubim is to take these energies and set them into motion and as such,, this Choir of Angels has a direct affect on the Earth and Man. As presidents of the Elemental Forces, these Four Kerubim are each assigned one of the letters of the Divine Name YHVH, and they operate in and through the four astral Elements in Yesod before these Elements are formulated in the physical world of Malkuth.

This Tetrad serves as Equilibrators by creating a stable nucleus from which the physical world comes forth into being. These four Vice-Gerants of the Elements, under the Presidency of Spirit (Gabriel), are synthesized in the formula of YHSHVH. Yod, Lion, Nequaquam Vacuum, Nowhere a Void; He, Eagle, Libertas Evangelii, Liberty of the Gospel; Vau, Man, Dei Intacta Gloria, Unsullied Glory of God; and Heh (f), Ox, Legis Jugum, Yoke of the law; and in the midst of the four letters is Shin, the letter of Spirit, which, formed from the Tetragrammaton, gives the Divine name of Yeheshua, The Pentagram represents the concentrated force of the Spirit and the four Elements governed by the five letters of the Name of the Restorer, YHSHVH and is not only attributed to the planet Mars, but also shows the Kerubim and the Wheel of Spirit. The Kerubim of Ezekiel have four faces, those of the Lion, the Bull, the Man and the Eagle, alternating with each other by rotation. Beside them was the symbolic form of the Spirit, symbolized by the wheel. As suggested by the two wings that covered their bodies and the two wings that stretched upwards to each other, the synthesis of the Kerubim is found in the revolving Cross, in the Pentagram, and in the idea Spirit dominating the four Elements.

The Kerubim are winged celestial beings which, unlike most conceptions of angels as anthropomorphic, are zoomorphic. On the 32nd Path between Malkuth and Yesod, the Zelator encounters these Four Kerubim who perform elemental purifications which aid in the alchemical transformation of the aspirant. In this ritual, the aspirant learns that the Elemental Spirits are invoked through the power and governance of the Kerubim and their Zodiacal symbols. They are given Hebrew names but their appearance is primarily Egyptian:

Adam (Hebrew for Man), Kerub of Air, stationed in the East, human-headed Aquarius. “The Priest with the Mask of Osiris spake and said, ‘Thou canst not pass the Gate of the Eastern Heaven unless thou canst tell me my name’.” of which is replied “Thou art NUT, Goddess of the Firmament of Air. Thou art HORMAKU, Lord of the Eastern Sun.”

Aryeh (Hebrew for Lion), Kerub of Fire, stationed in the South, Lion-headed Leo. “The Priest with the mask of the Lion spake and said, ‘Thou canst not pass the Gate of the Southern Heaven unless thou canst tell me my name’.” Of which is replied, “Thou art MAU the Lion, Very Powerful Lord of Fire. Thou art RA, the Sun in his strength.”

Nesher (Hebrew meaning Eagle), Kerub of Water, stationed in the West, Eagle-headed Scorpio. “The Priest with the mask of the Eagle spake and said, “Thou canst not pass the Gate of the Western Heaven unless thou canst tell me my name’.” of which is replied “HEKA, Mistress of HESUR, Ruler of Water, is Thy name. Thou art TOUM, the Setting Sun.”

Shor (Hebrew meaning Bull), Kerub of Earth, stationed in the North, Bull-headed Taurus. “The Priest with the mask of the Ox spake and said ‘Thou canst not pass the Gate of the Northern Heaven unless thou canst tell me my name’.” of which is responded, “SATEM, in the abode of SHU, the Bull of Earth, is Thy name. Thou art KEPHRA, the Sun at Night.”

The arrangement of the Theoricus Hall of only four officers suggests the conciliatory Element of Air reconciling the opposing energies within the Hall, resulting in a perfect balance of forces. The number four is associated with Chesed, the first Sephirah to manifest below the Abyss, but it also refers to Yesod as the firm foundation within which the Four Elements are given etheric form which then later materialize in Malkuth during the course of the Lightning Flash.

In the Theoricus Ritual, as the Hierophant addresses the candidate on the meaning of the Cross within the Triangle, it is stated that the Cross, placed upon the Altar at the base of the Tree of Life, refers to the Four Rivers of Paradise. It is Gabriel who rules the “Living Water streams that well from out the Highest Throne.” “…And he showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Revelations 22:1). These Rivers are referred to in Genesis 2:10-14: “And a River, Nahar, went forth out of Eden to water the Garden, and from thence it was parted and come into four heads. And the name of the First River is Pison, it is that which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. There is Bdellium and the Onyx stone. [–Leo.] And the name of the Second River is Gihom, the same as that which compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. [–Scorpio.] And the Name of the Third River is Hiddekel, that is it which goeth forth to the East of Assyria. [–Aquarius.] And the Fourth River is Euphrates. [–Taurus.]” This indicates the Presidency of Spirit (Gabriel) over the four Elements.

In the Zelator Ritual the aspirant is told. “And Tetragrammaton placed Kerubim at the East of the Garden of Eden and a Flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the Path of the Tree of Life, for He has created Nature that Man, being cast out of Eden, may not fall into the Void. He has bound Man with the Stars, as with a chain. He allures him with scattered fragments of the Divine Body in bird and beast and flower, and He laments over him in the Wind and the Sea and in the Birds. When the times are ended, He will call the Kerubim from the East of the Garden, and all shall be consumed and become Infinite and Holy.” …. “This drawing of the Flaming Sword of the Kerubim is a representation of the Guardians of the Gates of Eden.

As the Qabalah teaches, the everlasting abode of the Higher Self is in the Eden of Paradise, the supernal sanctuary which is forever guarded from chaos by the Flaming Sword of the Kerubim whirling across borders of the Abyss. After the descent from Grace, the Kerubim were stationed at the Abyss to separate the Supernals from the effects of the Fall.

The Four Kerubim, through their assignation to the four Archangels, are Four of the Seven in the Presence of the Lord. This description of the Kerubim is from John’s vision (Revelations 4:7-8): “And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night saying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, is and is to come.’ ” Here, the Kerubim are seen as single-headed but having six wings, thus uniting the powers of the number seven (the Planets) with the number four (the Elements).

The Invisible Stations of the Hall of the Golden Dawn

The Stations of the Man, the Lion, the Bull and the Eagle are the Four Cardinal Points without the Hall and these are the invisible Guardians of the boundaries of the Temple. They are placed according to the Four Winds and are stationed beyond the thrones of Hierophant, Dadouchos, Hiereus and Stolistes.

The Kerub of Air, behind the throne of Hierophant, is the power of the Goddess Hathor who unites the powers of Isis and Nephthys. The sign of Aquarius, the zodiacal sign of Air, is the Water-Bearer, the container of Rain. The Egyptian name for the Sign of Aquarius is Phritithi.

The Kerub of Fire, face and form of a lion, with large, flapping wings, is behind the throne of Dadouchos, and is the power of the Goddess Tharpesh or Tharpheshest. The action of the Lion Kerub is through the Flaming Fire of Leo with the Egyptian name of Labo-Ae.

The Kerub of Water, which has the face and form of a great Eagle with large, glinting wings, is behind the throne of Hiereus. It is the power of the God Thoomoo, and his operation is through the Sign of Scorpio, which is called in Egyptian Szlae-Ee (in Egyptological works the name of this god is Tum or Tmu).

The Kerub of Earth has the face and form of a Bull with heavy, dark wings and is situated behind the throne of the Stolistes. It is the power of the God, Ahaphshi, operating by the Sign of Taurus and its Egyptian name is Ta-Aur.

Sphynx, the Synthesis of the Kerubim

The Sphynx is a synthetic of the Kerubic figures. In the Ritual of the 32nd Path leading into the Theoricus Grade, it is written, “The Sphynx of Egypt spake and said, ‘I am the synthesis of the Elemental Forces. I am also the symbol of Man. I am Life. I am Death. I am the Child of the Night of Time.’ ” As stated in Regardie’s Golden Dawn: “Now learn the mystery of the Wisdom of Egypt: ‘When the Sphynx (synthesis of the Kerubim) and the Pyramid (synthesis of the Elements) are united, thou hast the formulae of the magic of nature. These are the keys of the wisdom of all Time; and its beginning–who knoweth it? In their keeping are the sacred mysteries and the knowledge of Magic and all the Gods.”

According to Levi in Transcendental Magic: “You are called to be the king of air, water, earth and fire, but to reign over these four living creatures of symbols, it is necessary to conquer and enchain them. He who aspires to be a sage and to know the Great Enigma of Nature must be their heir and despoiler of the Sphynx, his the human head, in order to possess speech; his the eagle’s wings in order to scale the height; his the bull’s flanks in order to furrow the depth; his the lion’s talons, to make a way on the right and the left, before and behind.”

The Kerub, or Symbolic Bull, which Moses placed at the gate of the edenic world bearing a fiery sword, was a Sphynx which had a bull’s body and a human head. It is the Assyrian Sphynx, symbolic of the combat and victory of Mithras. This armed Sphynx represents the Law of Mystery who watches at the door of initiation to warn away the profane.

The Mosaic Kerub also represents a great mystery in which the elements are expressed by the number seven, without, however, giving the final word. This word is what the Qabalists write as YHVH and interpret by Aleph Resh Aleph Resh Yod Tau Aleph, expressing the triplicity of the secondary principle, the alliance between the triad and the tetrad, in a word composed of four letters, which form seven by means of a triple and double repetition. This word is pronounced “Ararita.”

The universal key of all magical operations is that of the ancient religious doctrines, and it is the key to the Qabalah, the Bible, and the Lesser Key of Solomon. With this key, we are able to understand the enigmas of every Sphynx and penetrate the Mysteries–and the key is this: (1) a hieroglyphic and numerical alphabet, expressing by characters and numbers, a series of universal and absolute ideas, (2) a scale of ten numbers, multiplied by four symbols and connected with twelve figures representing the twelve signs of the zodiac and (3) the four angels of the cardinal points.

The symbolic tetrad, represented in the Mysteries of Memphis and Thebes by the four forms of the Sphynx, i.e. the man, eagle, lion and bull, correspond to the four elements. Now these four signs, with all their analogies, explain the one word hidden in all the Mysteries. It is the name of the four primal letters of the Ineffable Name: YOD, symbol of the paternal scepter of Noah; HE, the cup of libations and also symbolic of maternity; and VAU which emerges from and joins the two. This is the triple sign of the triad in the Divine Word; but the mother-letter, HE appears a second time, to express the fertility and abundance of Nature and of woman to concisely express the doctrine of universal and progressive correspondences, which descends from cause to effect and ascends from effect to cause. Moreover, this sacred word is not pronounced, it is spelled, and expressed in four letters which are the four sacred words, Yod He Vau He.

Metatron and Sandalphon

One of the most common appearances of the Kerubim is the great dyad of Metatron and Sandalphon. These two holy Kerubim are the Sentinels of the Briatic Mother Temple of Light. Metatron is the Great Masculine Kerub, corresponding to the White Pillar of Yakhim, and Sandalphon is the Great Feminine Kerub, corresponding to the Black Pillar of Boaz. These Two Pillars, positioned on the right and left sides of the Tree, are symbolic of the concepts of Active and Passive, Male and Female, Adam and Eve and refer to the Pillars of Fire and Cloud which guided the Israelites in the wilderness. In the Theoricus Ritual, the hot and moist natures are further marked by the Red Lamp and the Cup of Water. These Two Kerubim are the Angels of the Devir, the Holy of Holies of the Hebrew Tabernacle and Temple. In this Temple, one inunense pair of Kerubic Images spread their wings from wall to wall and a smaller pair stood at the two ends of the Ark itself. Between them was the Kaporeth, the Presence of Yahweh.

Eheieh denotes breath and the sound that every being pronounces all its existence, and it is the Name of the Lord of Life. By the inspiration and expiration of Eheieh through the two Great Pillars (Macroprosopus is Aima and Abba, Mother and Father), all things are thrown into vibration. As Guardians over Malkuth, Metatron and Sandalphon are the Two Pillars, but the work of these Dyadic Kerubim is not solely relegated to the role of Guardians. They function also as Equilibrators, balancing opposites and defining the center, the place of balanced power. As Equilibrators, these Two Kerubim are closely related to the Egyptian Godforms of Isis and Nephthys. Nephesch ha-Messiah (also called “Kerubim”) is the animal soul of Messiah, or the Shekinah, and is the Presence between these two Kerubim. The Shekinah represents Aima Elohim, the Supernal Sephiroth as a synthetic unity of the Divine White Brilliance. Since this is spoken of as between the Kerubim, it is the Middle Pillar of the Tree and as such, is the Path of the Redeemer.

The vibrations of the Briatic World of Kether are shown through the influence of the mighty Archangel Metatron, the Great Angel of the Presence and the World Prince. Also called the “King of Angels,” Metatron was the guiding angel that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. Metatron, alone, sees the Face of God. He presides over the Tree of Life in its entirety and is considered the Right-hand Masculine Kerub of the Ark. It is said that Metatron communicated the Qabalah to humankind, and as stated in the Abodah Zarah of the Talmud, he is the “teacher of the prematurely dead children of Paradise.” He is known as the Metatron Ketheriel and is also called IOEL – “I am God.” Metatron functions as the link between God and Man, and the vibration of this Archangel’s name will generate a yearning to return to God or the pure state of Kether. Therefore, he is the guide or source of aspiration in attaining the higher levels of the self and by vibrating his name, we draw down that part of him to aid us in this effort.

The effect of the Briatic World of Malkuth is through the Archangel Sandalphon. She is also the Left-hand Kerub of the Ark of the Covenant. Translated from the Greek “Sandalfon” which means “Co-Brother,” Sandalphon is considered the twin of Metatron or another form of this Archangel. Another translation of the name is “Lord of the Extent of Height” and because of this remarkable height, she is said to be able to reach her twin in Kether, which points to the idea that Malkuth is Kether–but after a different manner. As the Archangel of Malkuth, Sandalphon reconciles the material energies which are brought forth into the physical world. She is also said to convey the power and beauty of the natural world to the Souls of humanity and influences worldly affairs in general by creating the building blocks and designs for each civilization.

On the Microcosmic Tree of Life, Malkuth of Briah is the equivalent to the self of Man. The archangel Sandalphon watches over the Kether (the most spiritual essence) of the physical body and the Tiphareth (the consciousness) of the psychologically unawakened individual. When initiates begin to evolve, Sandalphon guards them as the Neschamah grows, always keeping consciousness on the Middle Path. As the Neschamah becomes stronger, an image of the Briatic World, the realm of Spirit, begins to form. Slowly a foundation is formed on the lower portion of the Briatic Tree, and the initiate begins to perceive and comprehend the images of this World, as is demonstrated by the Chariot and Throne of the vision of Ezekiel. It is here that the creation of a purified consciousness is originated, and with this fusion of consciousness comes the development of an awareness in the Ruach triad. When the crystallization is complete, when it is stable within, it is no longer a passing flash or a gift, but a permanent foundation.

Conclusion

The word “Kerubim” might be better understood as a matter of function, rather than as a title, indicating the working together of groups, or polarities, i.e. dyads, tetrads, enneads, etc. Viewing the Tree as functioning simultaneously, the Elements originate in Kether through the Fylfot or the Spiral–“God breathes.” Chokmah is the pure, inexhaustible force of this “breath,,” and Binah is its vehicle of definition. These two Sephiroth originate the channel whereby the Kerubic forces descend the Middle Pillar, and the Side Pillars maintain this passageway through which they move. These Elemental forces are drawn forth across the Abyss by Geburah, working in conjunction with Chesed which equilibrates them, and it is these two Sephiroth which bring these forces through to individualized potential. They are then manifested as the heart of self through Tiphareth which rules and controls them. Netzach and Hod duplicate the efforts of Chokmah and Binah and of Geburah and Chesed in the lower personality of the self; and it is in Yesod, or the ego consciousness, that these Kerubic forces are structured. Malkuth is the manifestation of these elements within the physical body, the grounding of the circuit. The function of the Kerubim seems to be in guarding the gate of this action.

art: Spitblossoms

[kamidukki]

[AKNK] if one of the butlers turns out to be the traitor...?

Tidbits and brain-rots, if nothing else...

‼️⚠️Spoiler warning⚠️‼️

Contains information from the latest update from main story episodes and some event stories, as well as subjective opinions. Proceed at your own risks.

Also, this article isn't written in a properly ordered structure whatsoever 🙇

A traitor's presence has long been speculated within the aknk fandom; casting one of the butlers as the designated leaker of information to a third party.

So, the angels, not the nobles?

The most recent update sheds some light on two things: 1) who the possible traitor could be, and 2) to whom this traitor works for.

We've been given a lucid answer to the latter: the sentient/intelligent angels. It was revealed that 'the traitor' reports directly to Cherubim, whereupon the angel pointed out how it must have been tough for the traitor to have to 'climb up' every time they communicated, hinting heavily at the location of information exchange to be one of the ancient towers.

Too early to tell it seems. Who knows if this traitor works exclusively for one party? (Apart from the dev, obviously)

As for the traitor's identity itself... While nothing definitive has yet to be imparted, some people (whose posts made their way on my Twitter feed anyway) seem on the opinion that it's certain that the traitor won't be any of the butlers. The target of suspicion now moves on to the newly introduced character ゴート aka Goat, if you like. Although a thematically consistent name, it still gives us nothing deeper to dig at this point. He is introduced as a post office worker with loud, exuberant qualities while possessing massive, unconcealed admiration for the devil butlers (to the point of being a fan).

[On a related note, the event 郵便局の贈り物/Yuubinkyoku no Okurimono is the one where Goat's superior plays a central role... it seems. I haven't read the story yet so I can't talk in length about it 😅]

Anyway, here's a quick list of what might be points of interest:

The traitor, whose existence having been confirmed, having to climb up (Cherubim made a passing remark : 'if only you could fly, you would easily make it to the top where we are' with the top part put on an emphasis in-game). The traitor speaks to Cherubim using polite speech.

The appearance of Goat, a post man who'll be in charge of delivery to the Devil's Palace. High in spirit, showing a favourable attitude towards demon butlers.

The rumoured assassin of the underworld, objective/identity: unclear. Finlay passes the information to Lucas.

Spoiler; on a related note with the point above, Nac was born into a family of professional assassins and trained from a very young age to be one. Hanamaru, as pointed out by Nac, was a former bounty hunter. I've done some translation on both, feel free to rummage around my aknk tag. Another point of interest on Nac and Hanamaru's relationship lies on the 6th chapter of event 水流の唄/Song of the Water Dragon.

While suspicion on the butlers is being temporarily cast aside, there's this interesting scene where Nac, while on night patrol duty with Shiro, senses someone's presence only to stumble upon Hanamaru, who claims he's there because he sees the grave look on Nac and Shiro's faces on the way back from the kitchen (might be wrong, but that's how I recall the scene goes for now). Nac makes a comment on how good Hanamaru is in erasing his presence (as expected of a bounty hunter), to which Hanamaru replies it might be courtesy of him doing that to avoid day-to-day work. The question is, why isn't Hanamaru sensing the presence of the intruder when Nac does? Is it simply because he arrives later on the scene? Or could it be that Hanamaru is...? (No, not likely)

Nac is noted to go on a long period of absence from the manor, exactly like the Twitter post's preview hinted, to look into the matter of this so-called assassin of the underworld. When asked if there are some letters of correspondence from Nac, Goat says, no, there isn't. If Goat isn't a target of suspicion, that'll be all there is to that scene. Otherwise, might he be an interceptor of correspondence? Let's see where the next update will take us...

That's all for now, I think.

Like others, I think the possibility of a butler being a traitor has been greatly diminished with this most recent update. Even so, I'm not completely taking it out of the realm of possibilities yet. At the same time, I'm not even sure if I'd like the prospect of having my heart torn apart at the impending angst if one of them does turn out to be a backstabber. I can think of several routes in which the direction of the story may unfold; they're not pretty 😭

[oleicim]

Hmmmm can I request Angel visiting his work buddy in the hospital after they get hurt during a fight, and he's like frustrated at them for not taking better care of themselves, and then he accidentally confesses his feelings for them while they're arguing???? Eheheh sorry if this was a bit unclear or anything + feel free to change the prompt if you wanna!!!!

care for you

pair: angel devil x gn!reader

warning: not fully proofread! mentions of death, injuries, hurt/comfort almost? no use of y/n

a/n: ending is not the best but i hope its still okay!

by the looks of it, angel guessed it was going to rain soon. the color of grey enveloped the vastness of the sky, the sight of the usual beaming sun not even visible. clouds painted in monochrome continued to mold together as fog continued to fill in the streets of the city.

angel’s mind focusing on such a miniscule thing such as how the weather is made him realize how hard he’s trying not to focus on what, or rather who, is in front of him. adorned in a white and blue dotted gown instead of the rather formal devil hunting uniform laid in his line of sight was you, his assigned work partner.

although, many personal boundaries have been crossed between you two to the point he could call you a friend instead.

angel grimaced at that thought, since when was he a person to allow others to get so close that he could say they're friends? never, and that's why he was honestly unable to fully comprehend the fact that you slipped through the cracks of his walls and became so close to him to be a friend.

so close that you unknowingly have become a vital part in his daily life that the fact couldn't just be defended with platonic reasoning, to which he blocked out that nagging voice in his head that said so.

although because of his lack of the ability to distance you from him, he was encased in swathing worry for your wellbeing as you slept bandaged up in the hospital bed.

and this, genuine concern for you, was an unaccustomed feeling he did not greet with open arms. this distraught over your injured body made him feel heavy, and his skin warm. it made his mind race with possibilities and outcomes he would usually never think about, as angel was never an overthinker. at least, till now.

he just couldn't stop the flooding thoughts about what could've happened, what should've happened instead of what did. the better outcome of the fight between you and him with the devil you both were sent to rid of. angel believed that your choice to push that pesky little kid away and take the hit was incredibly stupid-

“h-hello?”

your voice was meek, certainly different from how you usually sounded. it was fragile, and raspy that the simple greeting sounded almost as if the words scratched your throat. angel hated how, weak, you sounded.

he stood up from the chair placed beside the bed you were laid on, and in quick movements he found himself hovering over your sickly face, and he couldn't block out the rising rage at the sight of how lidded your eyes were from exhaustion.

you should’ve never saved that kid.

with the glimpe of angel’s familiar face, your eyes strained to widen and your brows unfurrowed just slightly. that small facial change in expression caused his heart to pump faster at the idea of you becoming relaxed at the sight of him.

“angel..where am i?” confusion was evident in your tone, and he understood why. you had blacked out upon impact of the deep lacerations given from the devil when you saved the boy, body dragging across the road from the momentum.

so waking up in a blinding white room instead of the (at the time) muddled blue sky and a seething devil, was understandably confusing.

“hospital, you got knocked out.” he said, tone unchanging from the usual monotone one he had. although, his eyes betrayed his nonchalance act, his irises gleaming with pools of dripping worry.

“oh… is he okay? the kid?”

your words hit angel as if he was the one who got clawed by the devil, how could you worry about some kid? angel’s brows furrowed and he wasn't able to hide the way he got frustrated.

your drowsy state started to drift away as you came to grasp your senses, and you could tell that angel was seemingly upset. ever the caring person, you disregarded your own seering burn on your back and focused on why angel was clearly a bit ticked off.

“angel?..” the serene sound of how you said his name made his heartbeat pick up, but he couldn't be so easily cooled off just from the tone of your voice right now.

“why do you care about some..kid!” he blurted out, and your eyes widened at the intensity of how he spoke. you attempted to sit up, and with that angel reached out to help, his instinct to care for you not blocked out by his annoyance at your actions.

“what do you mean?” you replied, a pout starting to form on your lips and that sight made angel hitch his breath for a second. anything you did seemed to get a reaction out of him, and that itself made angel added to his frustration with your effect on him.

“you're here hospitalized, and you're worrying about this kid who got you here in the first place!?” he said, and with that sentence it made your anger start to rise. “don’t blame the kid, angel! he would've died if i didn't step in,” you remarked back, and before you could continue a coughing fit erupted from your throat, and angel’s eyes widened as he rushed to hover a hand over your back, mindful of your injuries, and grabbed a tissue for you as some blood spurted out on the pristine bedsheets.

when you were done, angel backed off, still visibly frustrated and that made your own rage inflame more. “see- you can’t even speak without the repercussions of your action.” he spat out, an inner voice he usually hears agreeing with him had came out and instead started to point out how your lips were downturned and your eyes were glossy.

“angel- why are you here? just to degrade me for being a dumbass in your eyes?” the volume of your raising voice had dropped, and angel could feel a lump in his throat, something he was also unaccustomed to. you always sparked things for him that he never knew he could experience, and this feeling you gave him now is one he has finally learned to name. heartbreak,

“no!-”

“i get it angel, i just thought that after all this time you wouldn't see me as just a nuisance.”

and that snapped the thread of the rope angel had been hanging onto so he wouldn't fall into the depths of confession.

“you're so stupid.” he lets out a breath of a laugh, and before you could interrupt with a rebuttal he speaks again. “it's the opposite.” he states, his warm toned eyes boring into your own as he inched closer. your stunned but perplexed reaction was visible to him, and he found small amusement in your cluelessness. although more so faux annoyance at the fact he has to explain further.

no one told him how hard opening up to someone was, but he’s glad its a little easier to do so due to the fact it's you he is speaking to.

a moment of silence beat past as his words sunk into the atmosphere, and then he spoke once more. “you..you mean a lot to me,” he said, watching how your expression practically melted into one he didn't ever remember seeing. it was soft, your eyes seemingly drooping as a certain glow shined on your irises and your lips parted.

“actually, to put it plainly, i just don't like you in a friendly way.” he blurted out, and for the first time he felt his cheeks become warm and he knew that this was what people called blushing.

“w-what are you saying?” your voice whispered, and he hesitantly reached out his hand to your jaw, gloved finger tracing the skin as his eyes stayed trained on your lips. “what do you think i meant.” he said with a curt tone, although there was an underlying teasing sense to it. a small smile itched to spread across his own face as he then darted his gaze back to your eyes.

you gulp, and he traces his finger up and down your jaw before pulling his touch away. and with that you felt yourself unintentionally drifting to where his hand was.

“romantically,” he then said your name, emphasizing his point with a deadpan expression but you could see a small smile slowly forming on his full lips. “i like you like how the people do in the shitty movies you like to watch.” he remarks, and that releases a small laugh from you, albeit it being a bit harder to let out from the pain of the injuries that still linger. although, at this moment it seems like the pain has lessened with angel’s words.

“yeah? you mean it angel?” this time, the way you spoke was sickening sweet and he could feel your words soak into his mind like honey. and this time, the way you said his name was almost like you were saying it like an endearment term, and he felt goosebumps raise at the thought.

“yeah. i mean it.” he said, and he could tell from how your expression bloomed more into a softer manner, and a giddy smile your healing busted lip grew into, he knew you didn't reject him.

[natsu-tte-noodle]

The “Wait, I Die in this Play??” Tier List

Under the cut for play spoiler purposes :3

Each level of dying in a play overrides the previous ones, so if a character has a role that almost dies AND a role that does die, they’re listed as “has died in a play.”

For the full rundown of having died in a play (this is game-verse; mankai stage would change some things up--notably Kazu would go up into almost dies thanks to Paul’s new development):

Sympathy for the Angel: Michael (Tsumugi) fades away at the end to nothingness

Stranger: Dom (Banri), Jon (Juza), and Nine’s (Sakyo) fates are unclear after the lab explodes

A Clockwork Heart: I’m counting S (Citron) being deactivated as a death in spirit

Ginji the Wanderer: Yokota (Omi) is killed by Ginji; Ginji himself (Sakyo) and Kojima (Taichi) are both critically injured during fights with Yokota and his men

Nocturnality: Franz (Hisoka) and Reo (Azuma) are both vampires, which puts them in “dead the whole time;” however, Reo being stabbed by Izumi bumps him up to “almost dies”

The Wonderful Charlatan of Oz: It’s implied that the Wizards of the East (Tsuzuru) and West (Itaru) are killed offstage by Dorothy by the end of the play

DEAD/UNDEAD: Red (Omi) and Bill (Sakyo) are dead at the start of the play, but are also killed again; Abel (Azami) is techically? Sort of? Half? Dead the whole time but it’s ok Azami dies in a later play; Roy (Taichi) dies in the beginning and then comes back and dies again, making Taichi the true king of dying in plays

The Phantom of the Opera: Richard (Homare) and Erik (Guy) both don’t escape the fire, but their bodies are never found

Knights of the Round IV: Gareth (Masumi) dies in the battle to free Gwen from her wedding to Arthur; (Merlin is defeated but he’s like. a demon and very clearly alive in the very end so he doesn’t count. I also wasn’t sure about King Arthur’s illness, but I think it’s safe to say Merlin didn’t plan for him to die then so)

Die by the Sword: Tojiro (Homare) has an attempt on his life; Kojiro (Guy) is killed by Musashi in their duel

Fallen Blood: The ending is ambiguous enough for me to feel comfortable saying it’s unclear if Blood (Juza) makes it through that last day

Yin Yang Midnight: Geppaku (Citron) is killed by what amounts to magical recoil; Hisui (Guy) then allows himself to be slain

Stray Devil Blues: Walter (Omi) is killed offscreen; Cliff (Azami) is very much killed onscreen; Mark (Taichi) dies while trying to help Lucifer near the very end

Immortal Crow: Tsugunobu (Misumi) is wounded severely enough to put him out of commission for several scenes; Minamoto no Yoritomo’s (Chikage) fate is unclear after his battle with Kurou

+3Ghosts!: Sora (Kumon), Aoi (Kazunari), and Minato (Muku) are dead the whole play. However I’m not counting fading away after completing your unfinished business and finally being able to move on as a death

Twin Kingdoms: Gilbert (Tasuku) and Sasha (Azami) (and Lutz but Shift isn’t in the tier list) are struck down by the dragon and wouldn’t have made it if Cain hadn’t been able to defeat it

South. Hill. Prison.: Ren (Azami) is dead the whole time

[2af-afterdark]

I am so curious, how do Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and the other angels fit into your God!mc au??

Okay! So, basic premise of the God!mc au is that Solomon was secretly God the entire time. It's unclear how Solomon died, but he did. His soul tried to reincarnate, but the angels (mostly Gabriel) kept killing Solomon's descendants, especially those that seemed to be Solomon's reincarnation. Because of that, Solomon/God vanished for about 3000 years. MC, however, is special because Satan manages to save them before Gabriel can kill them off. With that added bit of time, it gives MC time to properly experience Hell, devils, angels, pacts, and magic. That means they have the time to awaken to all of their power, including God's. Wow! Turns out that makes MC God! Yes, the same God that Heaven has been fighting a war over all this time!

Now, instead of the angels wanting to kill the reincarnation of Solomon, they want to "rescue" God from the hands of the devils that have "captured" them. War continues, but now the end goal is different. Although, the devils will still be protecting their beloved MC from the angels trying to yoink them.

There is also the later state of the au in which Heaven finally manages to retrieve MC/God and whisk them away to Heaven. At this point, Heaven is doing its best to keep God while still destroying Hell so they can't take MC back. Heaven also has no interest in letting MC leave...

As for how the angels feel about MC/God... as a general rule, they love MC/God, though to different extents and none of them in completely healthy ways.

Gabriel, the angel who always thinks highly of God no matter what and is full of piety, is probably the least terrible. Because MC is God and Gabriel loves God, Gabriel loves MC. He is the fastest to accept that MC is still God and love them no matter what. However, that also means that he doesn't care if he's loved or hated by MC as long as they look his way. Of course he would prefer to be loved but... attention is attention.

Michael isn't as accepting as Gabriel. Michael knows that MC is the reincarnation of God, but that doesn't make MC God. God stood above all and commanded all of Heaven. MC is a child comparatively. Michael does not acknowledge MC as their own person, but rather God who needs to relearn their place after being reincarnated into such a flimsy vessel after so long. He only responds to them when they are acting God-like according to his standards. He wants to reform them to be more like the God he remembers. If that means MC has to take up their position as God or that MC's personality needs to step aside so God's original one can come out... either way is fine.

Raphael is the wild card. Even in God's time, he was an unpredictable force. For the most part, Raphael doesn't like MC. Like... he kind of hates them. MC is not God. Everyone runs around acting like MC should be treated like God, like the person that created them. Well, they're not! MC isn't God nor will they ever be. If he's the only angel that will uphold God's memory rather than replacing them, then so be it. But, sometimes, and he can't explain when or why those sometimes are, MC will stupify him. Through their utter stupidity or naiveté, they will ignore all the bile and vitriol he sends their and everyone else's way and show him compassion and benevolence, even understanding. It's in those moments that, for the briefest of moments, he can almost understand how every other angel was fooled into thinking this human was the God they all so dearly miss. But it also reminds him that MC really can't be God, because God -- as often as they showed such things to the others -- never turned that kindness toward him -- the problem child.

How the newly introduced Cherubim fit in, I am unsure...

[anonymous-dentist]

Okay, now here’s a crazy qsmp theory:

The qsmp duck? That’s Quackity.

For one thing: duck. Self-explanatory.

But there’s one problem, and it’s that q!Quackity is a seemingly-unknowing participant in the explicitly canon human experiment going on on the qsmp. And the Duck? It’s a mascot, but it’s also the ‘host’ of the island. It’s a stand-in for the experimenters, think Usami/Monomi from Danganronpa 2. How could that be Quackity if Quackity is participating in the experiment itself?

This is where it gets crazy.

So far, we have confirmation that this is an experiment. Watch the video announcing the egg event and come back. This is an experiment, and the eggs have been consistent across this and the previous experiment. That comes from the lore teasers from before the smp’s announcement. There were eight eggs/eight players (it’s unclear) before, and now there are 16. The experiment’s scope as increased. What’s important, though, are the eggs.

Q!Quackity’s character arc properly began only after the death of his son Tilín. Everyone else doing major plot had their arcs start prior- take q!Roier and q!Luzu as examples here. He’s been consumed by his grief to the point of desperation.

And his kindergarten’s homework assignments are on the official egg tasks list.

And he’s been saying not to trust Cucurucho/the Census Bureau Creature since day one.

And he explicitly dislikes Arin/AI Luzu.

And Arin is where this theory starts becoming super weird, because he can see the server’s “code”. Combine that with the literal code monsters flying around hunting him down and trying to kill the eggs, and the message during the funeral that said to break out and remember, it’s pretty clear that the qsmp is an electronic simulation with its members as unknowing and possibly unwilling members of a human experiment. Every member added got the digital ticket to the island through minecraft and in a digital version of their streaming setups, except for Quackity, who was only properly announced the day of the server’s start, and for Rubius, whose announcement poster was a glitched mess.

Q!Rubius is the devil/angel with creative and spectator mode, and with connections to God/Satan. While he and Cucurucho don’t seem to get along, they are on the same side, more or less. When Juanaflippa was essentially promised a life from Rubius, she was declared dead at the funeral, much to q!Slime’s anger. And when q!Maximus asked at said funeral what was going on, Trump responded with “I don’t know, but they’re strong…” These guys? Sus.

But back to Quackity.

This last bit is very Anime, but also he did say that he was inspired by Attack on Titan, and so I feel like I’m a little bit justified when claiming that the q!Quackity we see now is the same person as a hypothetical Experimenter Quackity. It’s a bit like Kamukura from Danganronpa 2 if you think about it, or a bit like Eren from Attack on Titan. Spoilers for the end of AoT, but it’s made canon in the end that, the whole time, Eren has been looking back from the future and has manipulated the series in that way. There are an infinite number of timelines because of this. And then with Kamukura, he’s literally the experimenter plugged in with amnesia into the virtual experiment. It writes itself.

Just why Quackity is doing this is unclear, though maybe it has something to do with the multilingual nature of the server (vape wizard, anyone?) or the eggs (again, his character arc only kicked off after the death of Tilín, which could mean that he’s going through these experiments to try and make a world where Tilín lives.)

But, hey, that’s just a theory- a game theory.

[kobeniliker]

HI HELLO HOLY HECK THE. NEW CHAINSAW MAN CHAPTER!!! (122)

I wrote a lot of stuff (long post) and there are major spoilers for the new chapters! The actual analysis/commentary/screaming abt the new chapter is under the cutoff.

Aside from the confirmation of Yoshida knowing more things that he probably shouldn’t, there’s a LOT of other stuff to go through. I am increasingly surprised by the biblical symbolism in csm! here's where my years of being forced to attend catholic school and bible study can really shine, lmao.

Let’s start with this:

Nostradamus was a real dude! (Wikipedia page for more info)

He lived in France around the 16th century, and he did write predictions of future events.

The prediction referenced in the new chapter IS one of his predictions, but it is not the full prediction!!!

The full prophecy is this:

“ The year one thousand nine ninety-nine seven month

From the sky shall come a great King of terror,

[Shall be] revived the great King of Angoulmois.

Before and after, Mars [shall] reign as chance will have it.

(Century X, No. 72) “

I don’t know about the fourth line, but the last line. “Mars shall reign”. Mars in Roman mythology is associated with war, literally being the god of war, and Mars generally has a connection to war in western culture. 

And Asa Mitaka just so happens to meet/be the host of the War Devil. 

It’s unclear exactly why Yoru wants to revive nuclear weapons devil. Likely because their revival would make Yoru more powerful, but Yoru seems very childish and immature, so I think it’s also possible that she and Nuclear Weapons were possibly friends? Since devils do seem to tolerate/desire relationships, as seen with Angel Devil and his village, and Quanxi���s fiend girlfriends. A lot of fiends seem to want and seek out relationships with others, platonic/familial/romantic, whatever (Power, Violence, Beam). There are also some that don’t, as in they just do not care (Prinzi) or are only interested in murder and crime (Also Power and Beam, but only before their character arcs). There are also those that want relationships but cannot have them, as seen with Makima and Pochita. Interesting! Could be a reach on my part, but there is definitely something odd about the timing of the prophecy and Yoru deciding to come to Earth and reveal herself to Asa.

Yoru does not seem like a very capable ruler, which is also somewhat weird if this prophecy is to be fulfilled. She will rule “before and after”, but while right now is presumably ‘before’, Yoru has basically been stuck to a depressed high school girl. Yoru does have power and we have seen her fight before, she seems to love fighting. But in this chapter she runs away.

Not very leader-like in my opinion! However. She also literally has a giant ruler sword at the moment. 

I mean. Technically I guess you could say she is ruling?? The whole prophecy is really weird, and could have a lot of meaning in the context of chainsaw man. But I’m going to move on from that for now!

Yoshida Hirofumi, my beloved! Knowing things he shouldn’t and being in places he has no business being! He knew about Famine Devil, but it also seems that Fami didn’t really keep her identity a secret anyways. He knows she’s a powerful horseman devil, and he’s taking her out to eat at a cafe, once again paying for everything she orders. 

How does he have so much money? How did he know she was the Famine Devil? It’s possible he is just a weird dude. Love that for him! 

But how did he know about the prophecy? About the experiment with the prisoners and the Future Devil? He seems to be working with public safety now, but why tell Denji he has a private organization? In any case, the prophecy seems to have some merit, and Fami does know some things about it. He asked, and Fami told him. He did threaten her, but why would a powerful horseman devil be afraid of some highschooler with an octopus devil contract? 

We can’t see her face, but we know she isn’t lying. We know because Asa is there at the apartments, and there is a powerful devil that just appeared there, so powerful that Yoru refused to fight it.

As for this devil, we know it is a primal fear, but not its name. Did the chainsaw devil eat her and her name is forgotten? Or is it just a purposeful omission? In any case, I think there are a few likely possibilities for the name this devil has.

This devil is presumably the first of the “The other seven” who will die this week. In the bible, there are a lot of apocalyptic sevens! We have:

The 7 bowls

The 7 seals

The 7 trumpets

I don’t think it’s the trumpets or bowls, but a case can be made for the seals. The breaking of one seal causes the appearance of the next. Interestingly, the first four seals represent the four horsemen. The first seal releases the horseman of conquest. (Sound familiar?)

Next is war, then famine, then death. This could be the death devil? She does have the power to make people kill themselves, so it would make sense and explain why Yoru was afraid of her. It could also be sacrifice or apocalypse, but personally I think Death makes the most sense.

The fifth and sixth seals cause various people to die and natural disasters. The seventh seal triggers silence, in preparation for the sounding of the 7 trumpets. In summary, the first three trumpets cause bad stuff to fall to earth and poison 1/3rd of all seawater and freshwater, as well as burning up 1/3rd of trees and all green grass. The fourth trumpet causes complete darkness, by getting rid of the sun, moon, and stars. 

The next three trumpets are also known as the three woes.

The fifth trumpet causes a star to fall and opens a bottomless pit with a key it has been given, which releases these weird bug lion monsters instructed to torment (but not kill) all who do not follow God.

The sixth trumpet causes four angels to descend, leading a large battalion of soldiers whose lion-snake-horse steeds carry plagues that kill 1/3rd of humanity.

The seventh trumpet causes loud voices in the heavens to praise God.

I think the “King of Terror” the prophecy refers to will be Chainsaw Man, or maybe just Pochita/The Chainsaw Devil in his full form. I also think that his presence will somehow result in the devils being released from Hell, and Chainsaw Man becomes God or something. I do not know! It certainly seems ominous though!

This is all I can piece together for now, a lot of this stuff could be wrong, but the parallels are certainly interesting! 

My thoughts in summary:

The prophecy mentioned is real and will happen (in chainsaw man)

Yoru/The War devil will gain a lot of power

Alternatively she will become some sort of leader, or maybe her role will have something to do with literal rulers…?

Yoshida is WEIRD!!!!!!!!! (nothing new there)

Fami gave him the information he wanted despite having (seemingly) no reason to do so other than being threatened by Yoshida

Fami didn’t even TRY to mess with Yoshida, but she was perfectly fine manipulating Asa and Yoru/The War Devil

The devil in the apartments is (probably) the Death Devil

Apocalypse time!

[obeetlebeetle]

the thing abt btvs is that up until meeting drusilla i simply have not felt horny for the monsters. and i do understand that angel/spike provide an explicit point by which we are supposed to view monsters as, well, fuckable, but for the most part i am not going crazy for the big snake men or the insect women or the weird devil who makes you sing.

but i still want to think abt monster FORMS and so i end up trying to map the motw inspirations onto historical/folkloric/cultural monsters bc there are a lot of elements that the showrunners are (unconsciously or consciously) drawing from these sources that then bring the force of their signifiers to bear on unique episodes. like we watched the one abt frat boy cult (using supernatural elements to highlight extant sexual violence) where they ultimately serve a giant white snake man that feeds on (virginal? it's kind of unclear) young women, and that form brings me right to the lindworm and the violences encoded in monstrous marriage. theres something interesting to me abt buffy then being asked to destroy rather than reform the monster, but i havent unpicked it yet -- i wanna learn more abt the difference and/or lack thereof between her and other women by virtue of being the slayer.

anyways. there isnt really a point to this, but in general, btvs seems to be doing a LOT with bodies and a (somewhat confused) desire to subvert assumptions that can be made about bodily appearance WHILE also trying to tell us something abt a given monster via its form. so i will be continuing to watch for it

[cagemasterfantasy]

Warlock (5.5e)

Warlocks quest for knowledge that lies hidden in the fabric of the multiverse. They often begin their search for magical power by delving into tomes of forbidden lore, dabbling in invocations meant to attract the power of extraplanar beings, or seeking places of power where the influence of these beings can be felt. In no time, each Warlock is drawn into a binding pact with a powerful patron. Drawing on the ancient knowledge of beings such as Angels, Archfey, Demons, Devils, Hags, and alien entities of the Far Realm, Warlocks piece together arcane secrets to bolster their own power.

Warlocks view their patrons as resources, as means to the end of achieving magical power. Some Warlocks respect, revere, or even love their patrons; some serve their patrons grudgingly; and some seek to undermine their patrons even as they wield the power their patrons have given them.

Once a pact is made, a Warlock’s thirst for knowledge and power can’t be slaked with mere study. Most Warlocks spend their days pursuing greater power and deeper knowledge, which typically means some kind of adventure.

Primary Ability: Charisma

Hit Point Die: D8

Saving Throw Proficiencies: Wisdom and Charisma

Skill Proficiencies: Choose 2: Arcana, Deception, History, Investigation, Nature or Religion

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple Weapons

Armor Training: Light Armor

Starting Equipment: Choose between (A) Leather Armor, Sickle, 2 Daggers, Arcane Focus (orb), Book (Occult Lore), Scholar's Pack and 15 Gold Pieces or B 100 Gold Pieces to buy yourself starting equipment

Your proficiency bonus is +2 at level 1, +3 at level 5, +4 at level 9, +5 at level 13 and +6 at level 17.

Level 1 Eldritch Invocations: You have unearthed Eldritch Invocations pieces of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability or other lessons. You gain one invocation of your choice, such as Pact of the Tome..

Prerequisites: If an invocation has a requirement, you must meet it to learn that invocation. For example if an invocation requires you to be level 5, you can select the invocation once you reach Warlock level 5.

Replacing and Gaining Invocations: Whenever you gain a Warlock level, you can replace one of your invocations with another one for which you qualify. You can’t replace an invocation if it’s a prerequisite for another invocation that you have.

When you gain certain Warlock levels, you gain more invocations of your choice, as shown in the Invocations column of the Warlock Features table.

You can’t pick the same invocation more than once unless its description says otherwise.

You get 1 Invocation at level 1, 3 at level 2, 5 at level 5, 6 at level 7, 7 at level 9, 8 at level 12, 9 at level 15 and 10 at level 18.

Level 1 Pact Magic: Through occult ceremony, you have formed a pact with a mysterious entity to gain magical powers. The entity is a voice in the shadows—its identity unclear—but its boon to you is concrete: the ability to cast spells.

Cantrips: You know two Warlock cantrips of your choice. Eldritch Blast and Prestidigitation are recommended. Whenever you gain a Warlock level, you can replace one of your cantrips from this feature with another Warlock cantrip of your choice.

When you reach Warlock levels 4 and 10 you learn another Warlock cantrip of your choice.

Spell Slots: The table also shows the level of those slots, all of which are the same level. You regain all expended Pact Magic spell slots when you finish a Short or Long Rest. You get 1 spell slot at level 1, 2 at level 2, 3 at level 11 and 4 at level 17. The spell slot levels are 1 at level 1, 2 at level 3, 3 at level 5, 4 at level 7 and finally 5 at level 9.

For example, when you’re a level 5 Warlock, you have two level 3 spell slots. To cast the level 1 spell Witch Bolt, you must spend one of those slots, and you cast it as a level 3 spell.

Prepared Spells of Level 1+. You prepare the list of level 1+ spells that are available for you to cast with this feature. To start, choose two level 1 Warlock spells. Charm Person and Hex are recommended.

The number of spells on your list increases as you gain Warlock levels, as shown in the Prepared Spells column of the Warlock Features table. Whenever that number increases, choose additional Warlock spells until the number of spells on your list matches the number in the table. The chosen spells must be of a level no higher than what’s shown in the table’s Slot Level column for your level. When you reach level 6, for example, you learn a new Warlock spell, which can be of levels 1–3.

If another Warlock feature gives you spells that you always have prepared, those spells don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare with this feature, but those spells otherwise count as Warlock spells for you. Warlock spells can be found here: Warlock Spells Part 1 Warlock Spells Part 2 Warlock Spells Part 3 Warlock Spells Part 4 Warlock Spells Part 5

Changing Your Prepared Spells: Whenever you gain a Warlock level, you can replace one spell on your list with another Warlock spell of an eligible level.

Spellcasting Ability: Charisma is the spellcasting ability for your Warlock spells.

Spellcasting Focus: You can use an Arcane Focus as a Spellcasting Focus for your Warlock spells.

The number of spells you have is 2 prepared spells at level 1, 3 at level 2, 4 at level 3, 5 at level 4, 6 at level 5, 7 at level 6, 8 at level 7, 9 at level 8, 10 at level 9, 11 at level 11, 12 at level 13, 13 at level 15, 14 at level 17 and 15 at level 19.

Level 2 Magical Cunning: You can perform an esoteric rite for 1 minute. At the end of it you regain expended Pact Magic spell slots but no more than a number equal to half your maximum (round up). Once you use this feature you can’t do so again until you finish a Long Rest.

Level 3 Warlock Subclass: You gain a Warlock subclass of your choice. Archfey Celestial Fiend and Great Old One. A subclass is a specialization that grants you features at certain Warlock levels. For the rest of your career, you gain each of your subclass’s features that are of your Warlock level or lower.

Level 4 Ability Score Improvement: You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another Feat of your choice for which you qualify. You gain this feature again at Warlock level 8, 12, and 16.

Level 9 Contact Patron: In the past, you usually contacted your patron through intermediaries. Now you can communicate directly; you always have the Contact Other Plane spell prepared. With this feature, you can cast the spell without expending a spell slot to contact your patron, and you automatically succeed on the spell’s saving throw.

Once you cast the spell with this feature, you can’t do so in this way again until you finish a Long Rest.

Contact Other Plane is a level 5 Divination spell for Warlock and Wizard. Casting time is either 1 minute or as a Ritual Range is self and requires a verbal component. Duration is 1 minute.

You mentally contact a demigod, the spirit of a long-dead sage, or some other knowledgeable entity from another plane. Contacting this otherworldly intelligence can break your mind. When you cast this spell, make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw. On a successful save, you can ask the entity up to five questions. You must ask your questions before the spell ends. The DM answers each question with one word, such as “yes,” “no,” “maybe,” “never,” “irrelevant,” or “unclear” (if the entity doesn’t know the answer to the question). If a one-word answer would be misleading, the DM might instead offer a short phrase as an answer.

On a failed save, you take 6d6 Psychic damage and have the Incapacitated condition until you finish a Long Rest. A Greater Restoration spell cast on you ends this effect.

Level 11 Mystic Arcanum: Your patron grants you a magical secret called an arcanum. Choose one level 6 Warlock spell as this arcanum.

You can cast your arcanum spell once without expending a spell slot, and you must finish a Long Rest before you can cast it in this way again.

You gain another Warlock spell of your choice that can be cast in this way when you reach Warlock levels 13 (level 7 spell), 15 (level 8 spell), and 17 (level 9 spell). You regain all uses of Mystic Arcanum when you finish a Long Rest.

Whenever you gain a Warlock level, you can replace one of your arcanum spells with another Warlock spell of the same level.

Level 19 Epic Boon: You gain an Epic Boon or another Feat of your choice for which you qualify. Boon of Fate is recommended.

Level 20 Eldritch Master: When you use Magical Cunning feature you regain all your expended Pact Magic spell slots.

@doodl3 and any adventurer that stumbles upon this. HOPE YOU ENJOY THE NEW WARLOCK

[scalproie]

For the character ask meme, can u do kazuya (ofc) and questions 1, 2, and 23?

SORRY I TOOK SO LONG

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Fucker came into my life right after The Great Dam Yakuza Era and lemme tell you it was love at first smash trailer's bare tits. He's a also h. ... h. He's h.

Then it was like. if you actually stop and try to take tekken's story seriously and think about him for more than 5 seconds, you realize how much of a tragic figure he is, both in-universe and in a meta way. The first thing we know about him is that his father threw him off a cliff when he was fucking 5 YEARS OLD, his desire for revenge is justified as fuck. Then he becomes a neat subversion of the typical hero-type when he turns into a bigger villain than the one he defeated, but pre-retcon, its the result of a deal he made with the devil because of the fact that his father threw him off that damn cliff and he was about to die, so its unclear just how evil on his own he was because he HAS been altered in some way by an external force (which is still kinda true post-retcon with the devil gene), and that tragedy comes from that grey area, from the "What Could Have Been?". Its not made any better by the fact that this forever unsolved question is supported by the entire character of jun (and angel), theres the tease that THERE IS something to save in kazuya, but that failed. More tragedy. And his T2 theme, "emotionless passion", is a beautiful piece of music thats just dripping with melancholy. Then he becomes tragic in a more meta way, as it becomes obvious with each new installment that hes a very tricky character to handle so he is always relegated to the bench, never the focus, he has to make way for new characters to grab the players' attention, new relatives. He's sooo interesting and secretly complex and his hair is so stupid

He's also hot and handsome as fuck.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I LOVE THAT HE SMILES A LOT yeah I know its more of an evil smirk but idk its charming. I also love how he flashes his red eye for dramatic moments, making good use of that cool edgy heterochromia. The whole sneakers collection thing is fucking peak, this is how you humanize a character, I am SO glad they brought it back. The whole sequence of him finally killing heihachi in T7 was the best fucking part of this game. He canonically pays a robot 25$ a month.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

I spend hours trying to pick just one fuck this youre getting all 10

[makibeni]

Ch. 50- Our Sparks and Embers

Himeno stepped from Makima's office with an uncharacteristically focused look adorned on her face. The mask she so often wore, lackadaisical smiles and carefree waves at any passers by hung from her belt, while more important thoughts took precedent. Behind her walked a little devil, her little devil, steps labored and indecisive, holding on to the woman with finger tips grasped in her hand. Her face hid behind strands of unkempt hair that hung over her eyes, obscuring her from the world's prying eyes. At the corner of her lips hung the hint of a smile, for whatever else there may have been, there was a glint of hope that couldn't be unkindled, even if the faith needed for the flames to grow wasn't there yet.

Kobeni watched them, half-hidden behind the same plant she'd taken cover at the side of previously, now peeking out with a more confident gaze. Her heart raced with anticipation, coming into focus as Power passed her by with an acknowledging glance, leaving her with an unsure confidence. She was still unsure why she felt so compelled to involve herself in their affairs, an inexplicable urge guised in an odd familiarity. The thought didn't occupy her mind long enough for her to find a resolution, as with her task complete she had another calling close at hand, a quick trip to her beloved's office for a rendezvous before returning home. Even now, she found her timid nature overcome by desire, biting at her lip as she scouted her surroundings, determining if it was safe to pursue her course without intrusion. She took a cautious step, then another, when a voice broke her burgeoning stride.

"Oh, hey, you're back"

The cold chill running down her spine made the droplets of sweat she'd accumulated feel like they were pressing agonizingly into her back, calling an oncoming bout of sickness. She turned around slowly, noticing Aki's familiar visage standing behind her with a stack of papers in hand.

"Can you do me a favor and take this down to-"

He cut himself off, noting the sweat rolling down her brow and the peculiar way she huddled at the back of the planter.

"Are you sick or something?"

His comment was shortly followed up by the appearance of his feathered friend, stepping from behind and lightly nudging his head into the man's shoulder. Aki turned as Angel nodded his head in the direction of Kobeni's leg brace.

"If you're not healed up yet why are you back at the office?"

The girl crumpled with discomfort, holding no answers she felt wouldn't agitate him in some way. Saying she was here to help Himeno and Power with their... relationship? wasn't wrong, but it was an answer that demanded further context which she wasn't even entirely clear on herself, and a protracted conversation with Aki felt like a minefield she didn't want to tread on. There was another answer, not untruthful, that she could provide, though somehow that felt like an even more direct provocation. She was still unclear on where she stood with him, the emotions she'd associated with him after each time their paths had crossed were beginning to seep in on their own, exasperating her anxiety before she even had a reason for it. She turned, on instinct, in towards the one thing that made her feel safe, her eyes inadvertently giving Aki the answer she'd kept her mouth from spilling.

"Oh."

She closed her eyes, awaiting the inevitable berating that doubtlessly awaited her, her body readying itself to break into a hobbled sprint towards Makima's door at a moment's notice.

"Well, since you're going there anyway, can you take these over to her?"

The sense of unfulfilled expectations filled her chest as a confused scowl grew across her brow. Still braced for an onslaught that simply wasn't due to arrive.

"Huh?"

In spite of what experience had taught her, and what instinct had warned her, despite the adrenaline coursing through her, all she could muster was a confused punctuation.

"You're going to see Makima, right? You came to visit her at work?"

His words were calm, the kind she hadn't heard him speak before, a cadence betraying no vexed indignation, only a question with an answer she'd already provided.

"I... Um... W-well"

She scrambled barely formed sentences to fill space while she processed what exactly was going on, she'd recalled their last meeting, and the ones before, trying to recall what she'd done to anger him, and what she'd done sine to undue her sin.

"Can you just take the stupid pap-"

The irritable tone of voice returned, giving her a strange hint of calm merely on account of it's familiarity, though stopped half way through. Angel rested his head on Aki's breast, letting the gentle pressure speak the words for him. He stood, wordlessly leaning on the man for a moment as the anger coursed from his throat. Aki's eyes relaxed, the scowl slowly fading away as a reserved calm slowly took over. There was a hint of protest, a desire to keep up appearances, barely holding on past whatever was draining him of negativity. Kobeni hadn't known angel devil long enough nor well enough to know if this was an ability he had, some sort of magic touch able to bring people to serenity. In a way it reminded her of Makima, how her presence felt like a gentle summer breeze, strong enough to blow away even the harshest storm, yet gentle and kind enough to bring her shelter and calm from any strife. Angel tore himself away with a flutter of his wings, sleepy eyes now turned upwards. Aki looked down and breathed out the last of his irritation with a sigh, taking a step forward and declaring.

"It's fine, I'll just take them myself."

Kobeni stood for a moment as he passed her by, dully observing his stride before realization finally crept upon her.

"N-NO!"

He stopped, turning around with an eyebrow raised as she tore the papers from his hand.

"I-I'll take them..."

She darted off down the hall, leaving a confused Aki behind with only an exasperated sigh as a parting gift. The girl pressed her hands to the door, taking one final deep breath and leaving her worries behind her, the excited beating of her heart returning once again as excitement kindled behind her eyes and she took a step inside. The woman at the desk turned her gaze towards her, a moment of surprise followed by a content and effervescent grin adorned her.

"What took you so long?"

[thejesusmaninred]

"Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit." From Mark 3: 23-30.

Now Jesus explains how certain parties...certain parties come to be involved in exorcisms in just Seven Days.

Impure spirits are persons who keep licking at religion like dogs licking sores never finding one bit of solace. Further, they are characterized as being rude, lawless, malicious, ignorant, listless, useless, and do not even pretend to notice what is happening in the world around them.

So long as the wicked and the righteous, devils and angels, saints and sloppies inhabit the same planet, there will be a contest between religion, the real life God made and His Gospel Torah which explains how to live it.

Satan embodies this contest. Satan is not a real being, that is ridiculous. The word means "purposeful wrong turns":

"The familiar noun שטן (satan) means adversary and in the Bible this word mostly does not denote some archetypal Evil One. Instead our noun refers to anyone or anything (including the Angel of the Lord) that aims to prevent something or someone else from its or his proper or intended course, irrespective of whether that course is good or bad, or whether the opposition is good or bad.

The derived verb שטן (satan) means to be an adversary; to obstruct or lay in the way. Noun שטנה (sitna) denotes a kind of written or formal notice that aims to stop a certain proceeding; something like a modern Cease And Desist notice.

It's unclear where our noun comes from, but candidates are: the verb שוט (sut), to swerve or fall away, or the verb שטה (sata), to turn aside. It may even have something to do with the verb שתן (shatan), to urinate."

Satan is a piss boy. It is the role of the Holy Spirit to bind the piss boy, civlize him, bring him to his senses and turn his house back over to him. An exorcism is not complete until there is complete harmonal unity within the seat of the mind about who not what is in control:

23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?

 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 

26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 

27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 

28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 

29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 23: Jesus began to speak in parables. Parables are magic spells that convince demons to leave. Parables teach us to think about the self as if it were someone else so we can decode it.

The Number is ז‎חט‎‎ט‎, zaht, "oneness with the identity."

v. 24-25: If a kindom is divided, if a house is divided. The Jewish concept of the Self is based on the delusion that somehow infinity can undergo division. It can if one thinks it can; we are always of our own independent minds, there is no way to stop doing that. To join with Ha Shem, the mind must stop. This requires a method and one of them is to turn the mind the right way:

"The verb פלג (palag) means to split or divide. This root appears to be mostly associated with canals (digging them or dividing lands with them) and the verb occurs a mere three times in the Bible: in Genesis 10:25, Job 38:25 and Psalm 55:9. This verb's derivatives are:

The masculine noun פלג (peleg), meaning channel or canal (Isaiah 30:25, Lamentations 3:48).

The feminine noun פלגה (pelagga), meaning stream (Job 20:17) or division (Judges 5:15).

The highly similar feminine noun פלגה (pelugga), meaning division (2 Chronicles 35:5 only).

The feminine noun מפלגה (miplagga), also meaning division (2 Chronicles 35:12 only)."

The Number is 5018, ןיח‎, "rest" AKA meditation is the only way to find Ha Shem, the Holy Spirit and still remain in the body. Notice the etymology says it is like being immersed in a channel or a stream. For me it was like a dam opened and sunlight spilled out and engulfed me, others might experience this in some other way.

v. 26: Satan opposes himself. The Number is 2569, ב‎הוט‎ ‎‎, "hot."

Hotness is almost always spoken of positively unless one is a legend in one's own mind:

The verb חמם (hamam) means to be hot or warm, and that usually in the physical sense (Exodus 16:21, Haggai 1:6). Sometimes it's used to describe a non-physical heat: determination (Psalm 39:3), non-sexual excitation (Isaiah 57:5), and sexual-excitation (of animals only - Genesis 30:38).

Its derivations are:

The masculine noun חם (hom), meaning heat (Genesis 8:22, Jeremiah 17:8).

The adjective חם (ham), meaning hot (Joshua 9:12, Job 37:17).

The feminine noun חמה (hamma), meaning heat, typically of the sun (Psalm 19:6). In poetic passages, this word is used as substitute for the word שמש (shemesh), meaning sun (Isaiah 24:23, Job 30:28).

The masculine noun חמן (hamman) and its plural form חמנים (hammanim), denoting small pillars used in idolatrous worship (Leviticus 26:30, Isaiah 27:9)."

v. 27: In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house without tying him up.

Tying up refers to the Devarim.

From Deut. 11:18:

"Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads."

The Number is 3730, לז‎ל‎, "for nothing."

Some things in life are forbidden:

The particle לא (lo') or לוא (lo') is the Hebrew primary particle of prohibition. There are some others (a set perhaps comparable to the English "not", "un-", "dis-" etc.). It's the Hebrew non-negotiable "no-that-means-no", which obviously occurs all over the Bible, from Genesis 2:5 to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, and up to Malachi 4:1.

On rare occasions our particle becomes a noun meaning nothing or nought (Job 6:21), and often it occurs combined with other particles:

בלא (belo) literally means "in not", and may be translated with without (Jeremiah 22:13), not through (Job 30:28), outside of (Leviticus 15:25), before (Job 15:32).

הלא (helo) appears to reflect a rhetorical question, inviting an affirmative answer: is/are not? (Genesis 13:19, Deuteronomy 3:11, 1 Kings 11:41).

ולא (wlo) combines the particle of conjunction with our particle of negation: and not, or: and if not, etc. (2 Samuel 13:26, Obadiah 1:16).

ללא (lelo) literally means (in the elegant words of BDB Theological Dictionary): "in the condition of no" (2 Chronicles 13:9, Job 26:2, Isaiah 65:1).]

v. 28: Truly I tell you people can be forgiven... on the condition of withdrawal, complete remission, God says sin can be forgiven.

The Number is 4992, ב‎דטט‎ ‎ ‎, in DTT, there is no religion.

There is no such thing as religion so long as man's house, his ethics, morals, beliefs, and commitments remain divided.

To prove it exists, that it is real, I press on the governments of this planet and their populations to read the Script and do what it says without arguing or hesitating. So far this has been immensely frustrating and a total disappointment.

=

v. 29: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. To sign the Name of God to an act of immorality or what is not legal cannot be forgiven as it misleads the people and divides the house. Similarly, leaving law enforcement to the birds as the Biden White House has done in the matter of the Repubican Party and its excommunicable offenses is not forgiveable. Too many people have died, others wish they had.

The Number is 8053, ףןג‎, millet, "one's own rules rather than rule of law." Personal laws are forbidden. We have allowed a large number of people to make their own rules and nothing is working...

v. 30: He said this because: The Number is 3565, גה‎‎וה‎, geha, "they were turning back from the Law."

So blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is incurred when one is in a position or authority and one decides for whatever reason, not to do one's duty causing loss of life, limb, and prosperity from the land. Any threat to national security and self-definition in a civil society is blasphemy against God.

[bitterbitern]

Oh Lucifer!

My summer's tv fix(ation) has been Lucifer, meaning I'm late to the game in terms of the show's run, but I also get to go back and forth with full knowledge of how it all turns out.

I did not immediately get into Lucifer; I did not even finish the pilot when I tried it at some point in pre-pandemic times, but this summer I dove right in at like episode 2 or 3 and just watched the whole thing and now have gone back to squeeze the life out of the juicy and interesting bits. (beware, spoilers ahead for the whole run of the show)

The shot above is from season 6, where Lucifer turns to Chloe and he's gesturing about the position they might have been in when having sex and conceiving Rory, which is in my estimation comedic genius and one of the funniest moments of the show. I guess a lot of people have had trouble with S6, but coming as I do from a background steeped in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which dropped in a ret-con little sister in the 5th season, I didn't bat an eye at the time traveling daughter who shows up to timeloopparadox her way into existence through several more episodes to the end.

A lot of people didn't like how the series ended, either because it felt forced or was unfair to Chloe and on the first point, sure, but there's been worse finales to shows, and secondly, absolutely, but the show was never going to be able to be quite *that* subversive.

Think back to the S2E11, 'Stewardess Interruptus' where there's a whole long line of Lucifer's lovers lingering at the precinct that shows how promiscuous and daring Lucifer is, *gasp* there's men there too. What there isn't is anyone who isn't baseline "conventionally attractive" not matter how they're styled. Show me Lucifer getting it on with a dazzling array of different bodies and types (bring your fat, your amputees, your old, scarred weirdos) and I'll believe he's really willing to subvert his dear old Dad (or really that the showrunners are willing to challenge audience expectations.)

My point here as regards the ending of the show is that in all of the kerfuffle about if Chloe could accept Lucifer as the Devil and a Celestial and Immortal, but there's never any exploration about whether or not Lucifer can really accept Chloe for who she is: a mortal woman who lives a normal lifespan, whose body will necessarily not be young, perfect, perky etc and who will eventually die. They never have to do the gross boring stuff of being together long term with a human: the show is never clear on whether Lucifer excretes?? Do angels poop? Unclear.

Ending the show with Lucifer being the redemptive therapist rehabilitating the damned and brooding/missing Chloe for a million years from his perspective is preferable for the show runners: high drama and tragic love vs the risk that Lucifer in living a mortal life side by side with the detective might run out of things to miscommunicate about or might not always be "in the mood."

For all that, I'm a romantic and trust that Lucifer would be as totally deranged-devoted to Chloe in 50 years as he was when they met. It's just that on the shows own terms, that's not sexy or not the right kind of sexy.

[imsosocold]

Disclaimer: Belos’s religious views are very unclear and regardless I am not from the same branch of religion he is part of. I have not studied Puritanism in depth and am aware religion is in a constant state of evolution.  This is just a cool concept idea I’m positing.

Though the suffering within realms like Hell are often what comes to mind when  one thinks of religion, reality is naturally much more complex.  There are a lot of religious people, who, even when having a concept of Hell in their doctrine, don’t believe in the idea presented, whether partially or entirely.  There are plenty debates surrounding the concept of Hell; how long does it last, is the concept of it moral, are some people automatically doomed to go there, do those created by the Devil actually suffer in Hell, etc. For example, some people think people who commit suicide automatically go to Hell, while there are others who think those who commit suicide automatically go to Heaven. Concepts like predestination also confuse this. Let’s call this “ uncertain hell theory.” I want to put this with the “ uncertain  Heaven theory” which brings into question the typical rules/concept of Heaven.  More specifically, I want to discuss a concept that centers around the potential temporariness of Heaven .   Essentially it’s the idea that when you sin, you’re not just putting yourself and your eternal soul at risk, but your loved ones at well.  If you sight against God, rather than you solely facing the consequences for it,   He may hurt your loved ones as well for punishment.  This includes people who are already in Heaven.  Even if you’re a good follower, if, say, a family member isn’t they could damn you both.  There are fallen angels but no risen devils and all that.   It’s definitely one of the most interesting ( and damaging) beliefs I’ve come across.  I’m unsure how common it is but imaging Belos having similar beliefs just makes everything that much more tragic. Like imagine an all powerful being  wanting you to be the participator in a large, rather extreme deed. Like, how the fuck can you going to say no to that?  Any personal feelings could not be brought into the equation for the sake of self perseveration.  (Of course, I think Belos would do so regardless: God is supposed to be a good, all knowing being. How could He be wrong? Why would Belos go against that?)  Regardless, people rarely ever talk about how much religion influences Belos. It’s not just an  excuse, he genuinely believes all  that stuff. It’s not hyperbole to call Gravesfield a cult. Yes, Caleb is a central motivation, but claiming it’s Belos’s only one is dismissing an important aspect to his character. 

[troybeecham]

Fr. Troy Beecham

Sermon, Proper 29 A, 2023

The Last Sunday after Pentecost, often called the Feast of Christ the King

Matthew 25:31-46

“Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.”

The Gospel reading for this last Sunday after Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Christ the King, is often called the ‘parable of the sheep and the goats’. But there’s a problem with calling it that because it isn’t actually a parable. Jesus always introduces His parables by saying something like ‘the kingdom of heaven is like this’, which this Gospel reading does not have. Moreover, this Gospel reading is not even primarily about the sheep and goats. It is primarily about Jesus declaring His authority as the Judge of all peoples at the end of the ages. I have heard sermon after sermon focusing on the sheep and goats, which almost always end up saying that salvation, being a sheep, is to be had by being occasionally nice to strangers. Put another way, how can we feel good about ourselves by doing sporadic good works. In do so, what we are really doing is trying to figure out how to get away from the wonderful, yet awful, majesty of the One who will be our Judge because we feel unclear whether or not we are a sheep or a goat. By focusing on the sheep and goats, on ourselves, we are entirely missing the point of what Jesus is saying. So, if it is not any of these things, what is Jesus saying to us in this narrative?

To begin with, we must look at the larger context of the readings from the Gospel according to St. Matthew that we have been reading for the last several weeks. Beginning in chapter 24, we find Jesus and his disciples at the Temple in Jerusalem, just days from His arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. Jesus tells his disciples to look at the splendor of the Temple, and it was splendorous…one of the ancient 7 wonders of the world. He shocks them when He tells them that the Temple will soon be destroyed (which it was, in AD 70, when the Roman empire destroyed Jerusalem, killing an estimated one million Jews, and sold many tens of thousands into slavery, and renaming the region Syria Palaestina to try and erase Israel and the Jews from history, something we are still dealing with today), and after that, at a time that only the Father knows, the end of time and the dawning of the Kingdom of God will come. The disciples are astonished, dumbfounded, and ask Jesus what will the coming of the Kingdom of God look like, and what will be the signs of it nearing. As you will recall, for the last several weeks Jesus has been teaching us that very thing. He has told us that the coming of that great day will be sudden and unexpected, and so we must remain vigilant and faithful. He has given us the parables about the faithful and wicked servants, the wise and foolish virgins, and the bags of gold to illustrate the urgency of remaining awake and vigilant. And it is urgent because there will be a Day of Judgment, and all the peoples of the earth will be judged. In the face of the coming of that day, how will He judge the world?

Here we see Jesus as King, judging the peoples of the world. We read of sheep and goats, people being divided to the left and right, some going to everlasting life and others to everlasting punishment. We are unused to such stark words from Jesus, at least in the last century or so here in the West. Earlier generations were habituated to the concept of judgment, reward, and damnation, but we have largely moved away from such ideas in Western religious culture. Over the last few decades, we have become more habituated to the gentle shepherd Jesus, buddy Jesus, anti-capitalist Jesus, socialist Jesus…all kinds of new ways of thinking about Jesus, all of them very human, and none of them recognizing him as the incarnate Son of God to whom the Father has given all authority and judgment, and who will one day judge all the peoples of the world. This Sunday is a sobering reminder that Jesus is the Son of God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and He will Judge of all humankind, some going to everlasting life and others to everlasting punishment.

So, we have to look at this narrative with fresh eyes. We have become used to hearing the focus being on the sheep and the goats, on us, and how our behavior determines which of the two we will be when we stand before the Lord, hearing sermons say something like this: the ‘least of these’ are the poor, the rejected, the persecuted, in sick, and the prisoners of the world, and the sheep are those who care for the them. Salvation is understood in this way as being someone who does a bit of good works for the suffering people of the world. There is no need here of being baptized, of partaking of His Body and Blood, of obeying the commands of Jesus, of loving each other as He loves us, of taking up our cross to follow Him, of worshipping God with all that we are, and of living under the righteous rule of our king, Jesus. The goats, then, are those who neglect caring for the suffering people of the world, rather than those who reject the call of Jesus to become His disciples, forsaking all, taking up their cross and following him. Do not misunderstand me; caring for the suffering people of the world is theologically important and entirely commendable, but this Gospel narrative is not about that. There is an important phrase that often gets either left out or is misunderstood in this reading that is central to understanding what Jesus us saying, and that phrase is “the least of these my brothers”.

Jesus will one day invite those on his right to ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world…’. This judgment will come as a complete surprise to those standing before Him, and He has to explain that ‘Whenever you did this for the least of my brothers…you did it for me’. In the same way, those on his left are also surprised that they have encountered the Jesus in His moment of need and are horrified at being judged to suffer everlasting punishment. If this narrative was Jesus’ way of teaching us about helping the suffering people of the world as the way to gain a favorable judgment, then those who helped or failed to help the suffering, especially we who have been doing it for two millennia, would hardly be surprised to find that they had been doing as the king asked.

But there is nothing in the narrative itself that speaks about entrance into the kingdom of God as a reward based on a life of good works. This is difficult for us to hear. Western Christianity has largely wandered back to the ancient error of thinking that salvation can be earned by anything that we can do or that we fail to do. Salvation is the free gift of God, something that God gives to his children. Rather than proposing a system by which we can merit eternal paradise and escape eternal punishment, this narrative uses the language of family, of inheritance. Language about inheritance echoes God’s promise to the Jewish, to whom God has given the land of Israel as an ‘inheritance’, but not because of they were particularly good or faithful; quite the contrary. They were made inheritors of the promise because God chose them as His people, and they inherit as a son inherits from a father in the ancient world. You don’t need to be ‘good’, you need to be a child of God, chosen by God and adopted by God. The New Testament is replete with this language of adoption by God, and of receiving the inheritance because of God’s gracious generosity now made possible to all peoples through his Son, Jesus, the Son of Man, the Resurrected Savior.

How, then, may we be adopted, how do we become children of God in Jesus? We have culturally fallen prey to the common misunderstanding that we are all brothers and sisters. In His Great Commission to His disciples, Jesus said that all must be baptized to become His disciples. He also said that any who be His disciples must partake of his Body and Blood. Here we find His two Sacraments by which we become one with Him. Many found this teaching too difficult to accept and departed from Him. In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Jesus also only ever refers to his brothers or sisters as those who do the will of God by becoming his followers, those who will take up the cross and follow him. This is particularly clear in Matthew 12:49, when Jesus astonishes everyone by saying that His family are those disciples who obey his commands and who take up their cross and follow Him, and not simply those related by blood or human community, or even call Him “Lord”. Many had trouble with this and left Jesus, because Jesus is clear that to follow him often means to be rejected by family and society, to become homeless, to experience persecution, and even death. We in the West have come far from having to experience these things as disciples of Jesus, but our Christian sisters and brothers around the world face this on a daily basis. Christians are the single most persecuted religious group in the world. In the last decade Christianity has nearly been eradicated in the lands of its birth in the Middle East and North Africa by Muslim violence. On average so far this year, 15 Christians are martyred for the Faith every day according to credible estimates by international observers.

In very real terms for many, to follow Jesus means they will be like Him, becoming a refugee, expelled from family, jailed, reliant on the charity and provision of others, and face death. With this in mind, the narrative then identifies the ‘least of these’ as not being the poor of the world in general, but is rather a direct reference to being a disciple of Jesus and the consequences of that choice in a world hostile to His Gospel. When read like this, those on the king’s right are people who have aided His persecuted disciples, and in doing so have welcomed Jesus Himself because His disciples have become one body with Him through Holy Baptism, in partaking in His body and blood in the Holy Eucharist, and through faithfulness to His commands. This echoes what St. Paul comes to understand when he hears Jesus say to him as he is on his way to persecute the disciples of Jesus in Damascus: ‘Why do you persecute me?’ To persecute the disciples of Jesus because they are his disciples is to persecute him, and to persecute him is to persecute the one who will sit on the Throne of Judgment at the last day.

The division of the people of the world, then, is not between those who do or do not care for the suffering of the world, but between those who care for the suffering followers of Jesus or don’t, and in so doing show their attitude to the king himself. There is no doubt that this reading of this narrative is challenging, but it does have the virtue of being faithful to the words of Jesus. It may seem odd that those who are already part of His body are not part of this judgment, but this is because their judgment has already been given by their participation in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus through their Holy Baptism, in partaking of His most Holy Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, and their faithful submission to Jesus as their King, obeying His commands.

In the end, this narrative is entirely about Jesus, who He is and who He will be: He is the exalted Son of Man, who brings the needs of people of God into the presence of the Father; He is the exalted king who even now sits on the right hand of the throne of God as rightful king; and He is the true Shepherd, through whom the Father exercises His reign and his entrusts His final, just judgement. It is also about who He is in his disciples.

For many of us, to be united with Jesus in the Sacraments and through faithfulness to his commands carries little risk; but for many hundreds of millions of his disciples around the world it entails truly risking being hungry, thirsty, naked, a stranger, sick, in prison, or murdered. This has been true for Christians in many parts of the world in many ears in history. It is perhaps only we who have been free from persecution who have drifted away from understanding Jesus’ intent in this narrative.

We must be careful here to not make the misguided step of setting up our own seats of judgment about who we think will be rewarded or punished. We are not judges! We cannot possibly know who will be judged as blessed or as condemned. We do not know the secrets of people’s hearts, nor do we know all the deeds of a person, and so we judge no one, not even ourselves. Instead, we trust in Jesus, the Son of God who took on our humanity, who suffered at our hands, accepted being an outcast, and was cruelly murdered by us, the very ones He came to save. We trust in Jesus, who destroyed death by accepting his own death, and rose triumphant from the grave. We trust in Jesus because He will judge us all in love. We trust Him because His own prayer is that all people may become one in Him, and therefore become one with the Father just as He and the Father are one. And in that trust, sisters and brothers, we who are His body through Holy Baptism and in partaking in His most holy Body and Blood, His Church, must faithfully engage the world as His disciples, proclaiming the good news of salvation both with the testimony of our lives and with the words of our mouths, making disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to be faithful to all of His commandments. We must accept the risk, taking up the cross and following Him. We must not fail to offer the good news of His salvation to any person. And He will be with us, through persecution, suffering, and all manner of things, unto the end of the ages.

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under His most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.