#welcome back janja!!

[debrouiller]

JANJA GARNBRET at Innsbruck Boulder Finals 2023

bonus:

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Macron's visit to Brazil highlights limits of dialogue between France and a Global South leader

The French president was unable to avoid awkward divergence of opinion regarding both Vladimir Putin and Gaza.

A handshake, champagne and pats on the back were in order at the end of Emmanuel Macron's three-day state visit to Brazil, on Thursday, March 28. The French president had been taken on a whirlwind tour of the Amazon, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and finally Brasilia. From the capital, Macron expressed his desire to revive relations between the two countries, as well as his closeness to his counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. A gastronomic lunch in the style of Brazil's Bahia region was organized at the Itamaraty foreign ministry, featuring guest appearances by ex-footballer Rai Souza Vieira de Oliveira and French attacking midfielder Dimitri Payet, currently playing for Rio's CR Vasco da Gama football club.

A little earlier, Macron was hosted at the Palácio do Planalto presidential palace, a monumental work by famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, located on the Three Powers Plaza – which was ravaged by rioters loyal to former president Jair Bolsonaro on January 8, 2023. With his honor guard and almost the entire Brazilian government in attendance, Lula made a point of formally welcoming his French guest, whom he hugged several times, before presenting him with the country's highest distinction that is reserved for foreigners, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross. In return, Macron awarded the French Legion of Honor to Brazil's first lady, Rosângela da Silva, known as "Janja." Yet behind these light-hearted smiles and hugs, the meeting between the two leaders was dominated by serious issues, starting with the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

At the end of their meeting, the Brazilian president hammered home his commitment to "negotiate" toward "peace," while his French counterpart had, a month ago, not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine to help it resist Russian assaults. "I am so many thousand kilometers away from Ukraine that I am not forced to have the same nervousness that the French people who are closer, the German people," said Lula, estimating that Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin "have to get along."

"France is a power of peace, but it is not weak and defends democracy and international law," retorted Macron, who expressed that the Russian president's participation in a G20 summit in Brazil in November, at Lula's invitation, must be the subject of a consensus of the group's members before being confirmed. "If it's not a useful meeting and if it creates division, we shouldn't do it," suggested the French leader to his counterpart.

Continue reading.

[twistedtummies2]

2024 Discount Options

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is now time to announce the Discount Options for 2024. Yes, you read that correctly. These are the discount options for the whole year. Now, one thing must be made clear: THESE OPTIONS WILL NOT BE OPEN ALL YEAR ROUND. Discounts will be offered in February, April, July, and October. If you have an eligible story signed up for any of those months, discounts will apply. If you do not, then the discounts do not apply. However, this same list will be used throughout the year; I will link you all back to it as a reminder during applicable months. As a result of this, I will be offering more options than usual. There 50 characters you can choose from, separated into a number of categories. In order to be eligible, the character must play a major role in the story, such as the main protagonist/antagonist, or a strong supporting role. Every given month the discounts apply, ONE commissioner may use ONE of these characters at a time; if you are looking at this during a discount month, and see a character listed as [TAKEN], that means they will not be eligible again till the next discount month opens. With so many characters to choose from, I am hoping there will be no lack of desirable options for at least one, if not both, of the sites I presently write comms for (FA and Tumblr). If you choose a character on the discount list, your commission fee will be brought down from $15 per thousand words to $10 per thousand words. It is the same discount that applies to my OCs, which does last all year round, so they will not be listed here. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, contact me via private message. Do not attempt to claim anybody or talk business in other regards by commenting on this or any other journal or submission. Shouts are right out. Attempts to do so will be deleted, and possibly ignored. With that said: NEXT ELIGIBLE DISCOUNT MONTH - FEBRUARY (OPENING DATE: 16TH)

DISCOUNT OPTIONS

CHESHIRE CATS Boris Airay, from Alice in the Country of Hearts Chessur, from Tim Burton’s Alice Movies The Disney Version Kyle Knock, from Lost Alice.

BIG BAD WOLVES Death, from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Grey Wolf, from Grey Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood Grimm, from A Villain’s Twisted Heart Mr. Wolf, from The Bad Guys Wolfrun, from Smile! Pretty Cure (a.k.a. Ulric, from Glitter Force)

TWISTED WONDERLAND Azul Ashengrotto Fellow Honest Leona Kingscholar Malleus Draconia Ruggie Bucchi

LION KING UNIVERSE Janja Kovu Makucha Simba

HAZBIN HOTEL/HELLUVA BOSS Alastor Husk Loona Lucifer Morningstar Stolas

DC/MARVEL Blob Ember Killer Croc King Shark Parasite Venom

MY HERO ACADEMIA Katsuki Bakugou Eijiro Kirishima Izuku Midoriya

HOUSAMO Alp Behemoth Macan

FATE/ Julius Caesar Gilgamesh Mordred

MISCELLANEOUS Alice Asmodeus, from Welcome to the Demon School! Iruma-kun Arataki Itto, from Genshin Impact Beelzebub, from Obey Me! Bowser, from Nintendo Diablo, from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Dragon King, from The Monkey King Fel, from Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill. Felicia, from The Great Mouse Detective Po, from Kung Fu Panda Reptile, from Mortal Kombat Salem Saberhagen, from Sabrina: The Animated Series Satan/Sadao Maou, from The Devil is a Part-Timer!

Let’s see how many of these guys get stories, and how often, before the year is out. XD

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Divine Principle – “any character would have sufficed to fill the role of ‘messiah’”

Many ‘messiahs’ have taught variations of the Divine Principle in Korea.

Kim Baek-moon 金百文 taught it from the early 1940s, and was the source of many of Moon’s ideas. Kim developed the ‘parallels of history’ which culminated in the year of his birth, 1917. 

Kim Baek-moon talked about “sexual union with God”

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Chong Deuk-eun 丁得恩 taught 17 ideas in the mid 1940s that were integrated into Moon’s Divine Principle. She called herself Holy Mother, and had developed a theology to demonstrate that she was a new female messiah. She was over 20 years older than Moon, and had developed her ideas well before meeting him. She taught the four position foundation, the failure of Abraham, etc., many years before Moon.  She practised pikareum and described it as “Transmission of the holy blood”. At the end of her book, The Principles of Life, she emphasized the restoration of Eden. LINK

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Here are examples of four men and one woman who were Unification Church members, or studied the Divine Principle, and have then promoted themselves as messiahs or gurus:

Jung Myong-suk (or Jeong Myeong-seok) 鄭明析 – the South Korean cult known as Setsuri, JMS, Jesus Morning Star, or Providence. LINK

Jeong Myeong-seok, above. Following accusations against him by South Korean police of rape, fraud and embezzlement, Jeong fled the country in 1999 and lived as a fugitive in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China before being arrested by Chinese police in May 2007. In April 2009, the Supreme court of South Korea sentenced Jeong Myeong-seok to 10 years in jail. LINK

Sex and the bizarre world of former Moonie, Providence cult leader Jeong Myeong-seok

VIDEO

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Lee Il-chi 李一指 (born Lee Seung-heun 李承憲 ) – Dahn Yoga LINK

Dahn is the Korean for “energy”

“During the day time, Lee attended college, and … studied with Unification Church’s Divine Principle study group looking for answers in the bible.” (“Dahn Hak” written by Lee Il-chi, page 199)

From www.freedomofmind.com: “While I was seeking Tao at Moak mountain, I attended Unification Church. … I opened up a Unification Church Il-Wha spring water franchise, but it failed so I had to sell my house.

…Lee first opened his eyes to the enlightenment in 1980. According to Dahn World, President Lee achieved his “Great Connection with the Heaven” on July 15th 1980 at Moak Mountain behind his wife Sim JourngSook’s birth home.”

[similar to Moon’s 1936 ‘revelation from Jesus’ myth]

“Lee reportedly had help from Hwa-young Moon, a Korean woman who joined Dahn in the late 1980s and whipped [the theology] into shape; she knew a good deal about the enlightenment trade, having grown up in the “Moonies,” the Unification Church.” (Rolling Stone magazine, 2010 LINK)

In 1980 Lee changed his name from 李承憲, Lee Seung-heun to Lee Ilchi 李一指. Ilchi means “finger pointing to the truth.” [Moon changed his name from Moon Yong Myung to Moon Sun Myung. Yong means dragon.]

Lee left two sons and his wife. [Moon left his first wife, Choi Seon-gil, and infant son in 1946. (ref. Michael Breen, Sun Myung Moon, the early years) Hee-jin Moon was born on August 17, 1955 in Tokyo. He was the son of Kim Myung-hee and Moon Sun Myung who married on June 30, 1955. Moon has acknowledged he is Hee-jin’s father. However, Moon never gave any financial support for his wife or for his son during their four year exile in Japan.]

In 2008, Dahn settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum when a college professor named Julia Siverls died of dehydration while hiking a Sedona mountain, allegedly lugging 25 pounds of rocks in her backpack. LINK

The Scary Yoga Obsession – A Glamour exclusive LINK

Thousands of young women have turned to the popular Dahn Yoga practice, and many say they love it. But now some former members are making shocking charges of greed, psychological manipulation and sexual assault. Who’s right?

… A few months later Jade attended a Shimsung workshop led by a high-level Dahn trainer and staffed by Dahn masters. These workshops, according to Jade and some of the other plaintiffs in the suit, take on the air of group therapy, with participants sharing their deepest, darkest insecurities with a roomful of strangers. Masters are quick to offer a box of tissues or a supportive embrace during emotional moments. At the end of the workshop, the lights dim, loud drumming music is turned on and the participants chant, weep and shout, “Who am I? What do I want?” Lucie remembers that some people walked out midworkshop, unnerved, but she and others felt as if their hearts had opened.

Recalls Lucie, “It felt like you were falling in love, only much bigger, because you weren’t just falling in love with a person, but with a community, a practice and a lifestyle, all in one. It was everything. I felt like the luckiest person in the world.”Cult experts call that lavish attention “love bombing,” a common recruitment technique. “As social beings, we respond well to people who make us feel welcome and secure,” notes Janja Lalich, Ph.D., a professor of sociology at California State University, Chico, and a cult expert. “Love bombing also tends to make the person feel more obligated to comply with requests from the group—requests to come back again, to give more, to bring friends and so forth.” The technique doesn’t work on everyone, which may explain why many people can practice Dahn Yoga without being consumed by it. “Dahn is especially appealing to anyone who is anxious, vulnerable or struggling with personal issues like a breakup or questions about career direction,” says cult expert Szimhart.

Six months into her Dahn experience, Lucie dropped out of college to dedicate herself completely to Ilchi Lee’s “vision” of spreading the word about Dahn Yoga. When her MIT tuition refund check came, she cashed it to pay for a course at Dahn’s National Retreat Center in Sedona, Arizona. “You feel good when you write the check or swipe your card,” says Lucie. “Like you just bought a present for your soul.”…

… Lucie now directs a ski school in New Hampshire and has paid off the debt she accrued while at Dahn. One good thing she says has come from her ordeal is a “beautiful friendship” with Jade, Liza and Nina. “We’re healing together,” says Lucie. While they say they may never see a penny—or an apology—from Dahn, they hope their complaint will save others. “The women who become sabumnims are incredible people; they are so smart and passionate and have so much to contribute to the world,” Lucie says. “Ilchi Lee’s bank account is not a cause worthy of all they have to offer.”

Catherine Elton is a journalist in Boston.

It is worth reading some of the comments under this Glamour article.

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Woo Myung-shik – Woo Group LINK (Not to be confused with Woo Myung and Maum Meditation)

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David Jang – LINK Christianity Today September 2012, Vol. 56, No. 8, Pg 36, “The Second Coming Christ Controversy”

… The details of Jang’s early life are in question, and multiple efforts to contact him for this story’s publication were unsuccessful. Critics in Korea, Japan, and China say he was involved in Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. They point to his appearance in a 1989 student handbook for Moon’s Sung Hwa Theological Seminary as an assistant professor of theology, teaching systematic theology and Unification theology. They also cite a 2002 history of Sun Moon University praising him for helping to fund the school.

… But according to several sources with experience in Jang-associated organizations and communities, many members of the movement believed that the key event in Jang’s early missionary endeavors is not in his résumé—nor, indeed, in any written source. It was believed, these sources said, that in or around 1992, early follower Borah Lin told Jang that she believed he was the “Second Coming Christ”—not Jesus Christ himself, but rather a new messianic figure that would complete Jesus’ earthly mission. According to several former members, Lin became an important spiritual figure in Jang’s closest circles. Documents from teaching sessions indicate that Jang and his followers look to October 30, 1992—Jang’s 43rd birthday—as the precise date of the start of their own movement. Beyond that, affiliated groups including Apostolos Campus Ministries and Olivet University look to 1992 as the year of their founding.

… The basic content of these messages, both as contained in the notes and as described by former members, bears similarities to the teachings of Sun Myung Moon—that Jesus’ work was left unfinished and in need of another "Christ” to complete it. Daniel 12 records a notoriously ambiguous prophecy that refers to 1,260 days (“a time, times and half a time”), “1,290 days,” and then finally to “1,335 days.” The 1,260 days, the notes say, finished when Jesus was born, and the 1,290 days were completed when Jesus began to preach and teach publicly at 30 years of age (1,260 + 30 = 1,290). His three-year public ministry, they say, advanced the prophecy of 1,290 days to 1,293 days, but because the Cross cut his mission short, Jesus did not fulfill the prophecy of the 1,335 days. There is thus a remaining gap of some 42 “days,” which were said to symbolize 42 years. Multiple sources said that this 42-year gap was believed to have been fulfilled by Jang.

The lessons also taught a doctrine of “three Israels.” The first was a national Israel, the second was composed of Christians, and the third was constituted by the movement Jang had founded. The 144,000 of Revelation 7 was said to refer to this “third Israel,” and the Lamb who redeemed them was said to be “not Jesus, but the Christ of the Second Coming.”

Closely associated with this idea of Jang’s followers as the “third Israel” is a distinction between the “gospel of parables” that Jesus taught and the “eternal gospel” delivered to Jang. One of the lessons said, “Jesus speaks in parables to preach to us, but to the new era, the gospel will be explained more clearly, that is, the everlasting Gospel.” This “everlasting Gospel” will be proclaimed by the Second Coming Christ.

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And a new True Mother, ‪Senyu Ryuka Sama‬  LINK

‪A service with Senyu Ryuka Sama‬ LINK

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Disciples of the messiah, Lee Man-hee

Rival Korean messiah, Lee Man-hee, builds workshop next to UC / FFWPU Cheongpyeong Center

How “God’s Day” was established by Sun Myung Moon on Jan 1, 1968

Newsweek on the many Korean messiahs of the 1970s

Hwang Gook-joo and his orgies

Chong Deuk-eun – Great Holy Mother

Park Tae-seon – another Korean Pikareum Messiah

Kim Baek-moon talked about “sexual union with God”

Kim Seong-do and the roots of the Divine Principle

The six ‘wives’ of Sun Myung Moon

Sun Myung Moon: “church and the state must become one”