#which of course is saying nothing about the complex topic of blindness and prophecy

[isnt-it-pretty]

There's something to be said about how disability rep in fantasy is more often than not in found in characters that are more than a little evil. It has to do with our perception of disability and how it relates to morality, but somebody smarter than me could probably write a whole essay on the topic.

That being said you can take classic fantasy characters like Raistlin Majere and Elric of Melnibone out of my cold dead hands.

[hyperionswrath-a]

@darckcarnival​ | prompted

𝐒𝐀𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍 𝐐𝐬 ⤷ 11. what would your muse consider their worst failing?

Ah yes, failing.  That's actually such a complex topic with him for a multitude of reasons, and I love rambling about it - let's just hope I can put this in ways that makes sense, ahah.

Well first and foremost, Seifer Almasy doesn't do failure.  In his book, he is a victim of circumstance (and even the word victim is something he'd never put in his own mouth), and it's always other people fucking things up for him, and him getting blamed for it. His ego can fill an entire room and he is pretty much the embodiment of the "I have never done anything wrong, in my life, ever" meme.

Now that being said, his perception of getting blamed for things that he shouldn't be blamed for is not entirely wrong in my opinion. Yes, he is headstrong, yes, he had huge problems with authority figures of any kind, and yes, he is known for his rash decisions - BUT. It's not like the way he thinks or acts is wrong, per se - especially when he is still enrolled in B Garden. However, he does not blindly follow orders without questioning if they make sense, or if there are better ways and strategies to approach a problem with. And that is something a SeeD (read: soldier, read: child-soldier) should not be doing. It's, in my opinion, also why Squall is being held by such high standards all around, but that is a whole other can of worms.

Seifer always does what he thinks is best, and being a very strategically apt person, there is a lot of sense to be found in how he behaves throughout the game, provided you take circumstance into consideration. Of course, throughout the game and towards the end, things start to take a toll on him and he begins to falter and not be as focused anymore for understandable reasons, but the bottom line is - he refused to fit into a mold and that got him into a lot of trouble, marking him as the "trouble maker" of Balamb Garden and pretty much ruining many chances for him.

This is also his biggest flaw - doing what he thinks is best, and somehow it always ends up making things worse. His ego gets in the way during the final SeeD field test, and again when he goes after Squall, Selphie, and Zell when they are dispatched to Timber to kidnap the Galbadian president. He is so sure of his own skills, of himself, and that he is the only one who knows how to do things right (since he doesn't just blindly follow orders), that it, in fact, blinds him to the dangers he exposes himself to. Storming a live TV station and holding the president at gun(blade) point is not a good idea, but he thought he'd get away with it so long as no one knew who he was exactly, and who sent him (which Zell "ruins" by blurting out information about Balamb Garden).

Seifer of course would never allow himself to seem weak outwardly, therefore admitting to failures is something he doesn't do, or only after a long build-up toward it. But the way I portray him, he is very aware of his flaws and failures regardless. They eat away at him, hurt his ego, and made him even more into what people initially saw him as, almost in a self-fulfilling prophecy kind of way.

As such, it's difficult to pin down one specific failure he considers the worst, as they seem to build up on another. Failing his SeeD tests (multiple times), running from Garden, injecting himself into the SeeD mission he helped get to Balamb Garden in the first place, leaving him with no other choice but to join Edea/Ultimicia in the aftermath if he didn't want to be executed, falling under the Sorceresses' thrall who twisted his dream into a nightmare and getting so tangled up in it there was no way out for him.  If I'd want to be dramatic about it, you could say most of his life was one big failure as nothing really worked out the way he planned it to, but the most important thing to take away from it is ... he still kept going. No matter how bad things looked, he was (and is) too stubborn to just lay down and give up. And in a way, as misguided as he was during it all, it's also admirable.

[silverjirachi]

Hey, so I saw on one of your spell posts that you were a Christian Witch, which I am struggling with right now. I was always taught that witchcraft was evil and a sin, but I want to start practicing witchcraft. How do you feel about Christianity and witchcraft and do you have any advice for me? Thank you for reading and have a nice day!

Hi there hon, thanks so much for your question

Being a Christian witch can be a wonderful way to grow your personal relationship with God and Jesus.  I was always taught growing up and heard in church that it was important, above all things, to develop a personal relationship with him, so that we would not meet a stranger when we get to heaven.  So my whole life, I’ve been really into the “spiritual” side of Christianity, and witchcraft, to me, seemed more like elaborate prayers more than anything else.

There are a lot of Old Testament verses that condemn witchcraft.  There are a number of reasons for this, but, from what I understand, it mostly came from the Jewish community wanting to differentiate itself from its pagan neighbors and oppressors.  So an understanding of the historical context of these verses is important, because they functioned as laws of protection in their community.

But to me, there are also a TON of references to positive uses of witchcraft in the Bible, some of which Jesus even uses himself.  (The story of when he spat in the dirt and molded it into clay to rub into a blind man’s eyes is a good example of this.  He performed an action with intent, calling upon the help of God, to create a result).

Many of the saints are venerated for having powers of prophecy, healing, visions, speaking to angels or to God himself, etc.

This is a pretty good master post that links to several other posts about the topic if you want more information.  Somewhere in here I also remember reading a story about how even early biblical figures like Rebecca can be cited as performing folk magic for fertility and such, and these are all approved by God.

In my own personal experience, I did not have too much of a hard time transitioning from Christianity into Christian witchcraft and Christopaganism.  I think this was because I somehow always thought the bible meant the “evil” kind of witchcraft, and if I was really just lighting candles and praying, what evil could I be doing?  I think the other reason it was a smooth transition for me is because I was raised Catholic, so I went to church watching our priest perform complex (and very pagan) rituals that we believed held God’s power in them. As a Catholic, I literally believe that the priest utters some words and holds up bread and wine, calling upon God’s power, and then it becomes a part of God on earth.  What about that doesn’t scream witchcraft?

I should also mention now that I always wanted to be a priest.  However, the circumstances of my religion would not let me do so.  (A nun would not cut it, I wanted to HOLD MASS.  I felt a strong calling to this, that I could never act on because of my gender).  I wanted to be able to call upon God’s power to help others.  Well, as it turns out, I could.  As a Catholic, we also have this concept of “the priesthood of the laity” (I think other sects have similar ideas) which basically means that anyone can connect with God, and priests are not that special except that it is their vocation.  If anyone can call on God then, I figured I should be able to be a priest all my own.

I began witchcraft as a way to reconnect to God when I had lost all faith in Him. My earliest spells were at the darkest point in my life when I was facing a horrible onset of depression.  I called upon God to bless the water I bathed in so that my depression would be healed.  Of course, it didn’t get rid of my mental illness, but it made me feel exponentially better and it felt like the truest prayer I had ever uttered.  I realized I could call upon God and he could give me strength, but also that I had a strength all of my own, for being able to bless things and do ritual-like prayers for myself.  Being a “witch” felt like the truest way to connect to God than I had in years.

So, if you’re feeling drawn to this path, but are a little frightened, I would ask yourself why you feel that way and try to have a couple honest conversations with God about it and what you can do about it before you proceed.  Praying and reading up more on the topic will certainly help - there are a TON of witches in the “christian witch” tag who would love to help, there are some great resources out there.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you are honestly trying to serve God and honor your own spirituality with your craft, I see no reason why God would be nothing but proud of you. Remember that we are created in his image, and we are divine, eternal beings in our souls.  Honoring the truest form of you and what you are called to do is a valid way to honor God.

Since this post is just about Christian witchcraft, I’ll cut it off there, but I could go on an entirely new rant about Christopaganism and how that whole thing unraveled for me.  Another story, another day.

I wish you the best of luck as you continue your discernment