#witch manifesto

[ovaettrgrimoire]

Queer Witch’s Manifesto 2.0 (2023)

(Written in 2021 originally sourced from another manifesto online, this was adjusted for my own needs back then, now updated again to better fit the needs of 2023 and so forth. Finished this edit up for the Full Super Sturgeon Moon of Aug 1st ~ 3rd 2023, as I re-investigated my life’s values and what made up who I am for my 32nd solar return on July 24th. Enjoy. If this echoes true with you, you are allowed to use this manifesto for yourself too. It is open and free to use and change as you need. Take care. -O) ---- There are INFINITE genders or lack thereof and sexual identities. Each one deserves the same space and respect as the next. Each one brings something unique and necessary to a circle should they choose to share their magic with us. We are not limited by binarism. White supremacy upholds ideals and expectations that harm EVERYONE and must fall. Christo-fascists seek out only furthering this harm in our communities. We must NOT let it continue. Even though white supremacy harms everyone, white people must not center themselves in discussions or plans for taking it down. We must center the voices of those most marginalized by white supremacy first and foremost Because we are fighting white supremacy, queer magicians must work hard not to appropriate sacred religious tools, artifacts, aesthetics, practices, or deities that do not belong to us.    Sex magic is powerful, beautiful, and queer. It should not be censored. Like anything sexual, we must hold up the idea that informed and enthusiastic consent is mandatory.    Our queered-up version of sex magic also fights rape culture, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and cisnormativity. Though we are anti-capitalist we recognize the constraints of the society we live in and know that money magic is often critical and empowering for those living in the margins. We recognize that the Goddess does not equal “womb worship” and that ANYONE can invoke “Goddess energy.” Goddess energy is intersectional. We recognize that some witches may have physical, emotional, or mental limits that cannot be overcome with spirituality. We welcome these witches to bring their whole, real and authentic selves into a magical space and cast spells in a way that works best for them. Magic is not diminished by disability. Disabled witchcraft is powerful, immeasurably so. All bodies are capable and deserving of magic and joy in their lives. We recognize that individual traumas may need to be healed before we move on to collective work. Global climate change is killing us all and we MUST protect and heal the Earth. Hierarchies do not work in a queer magical context. We are equals even if our jobs differ. MAGIC IS A TOOL FOR PERSONAL HEALING THAT LEADS TO EMPOWERMENT. This empowerment enables us to focus on social progress, empowering others, and collective liberation.

[wherewisteriaends]

It really took me 24 hours to realize something. It's not that the ending is a bad ending. I mean, take us back a week ago. We all said that their kiss would be the kiss of death. We all predicted that Agatha would sacrifice herself for Teen. We also saw that the Road was it was very probable that Billy or Agatha (turned out both) could have created the road. If we all thought it, that says something and that is this ending made sense. So why are we all so angry ? Because even if it was an ending that made sense, they didn't write it in a way that it would make sense. And I'm not saying we didn't get a redemption arc when we should have. I don't think Agatha should have had a redemption arc. However we should at least have had her accepting Death as the end. And also her bonding with Teen. Because yes she has bonded with him but clearly not the point of choosing to die because he mentions Nicky. Which seriously, this sentence made no sense, gave absolute no explanations. Another major issue is the dynamic between Agatha and Rio. Them in episode 8 has nothing to do with all we saw before. It really feels like something happened that we missed or like the story was different. What they showed us of Nicky was beautiful, also doesn't explain Agatha and Rio dynamic in 8 while 8 makes the conflict all about Nicky. Apart from the grave, the whole scene in Agatha's basement was ridiculous. When Agatha is in Teen house, he doesn't act at all like he wants to kill her. And all of sudden he wants to banish her. I'm serious, they fucked up the relationship dynamics and developments. Same goes for Jennifer. She makes it out of road and she doesn't even search for Teen ? Because that would be the best reaction for someone who just said she wasn't letting anyone die under her watch again and that doesn't know Teen is behind her torture. Again, at the opposite of the development we saw of Jennifer. And Billy, which his portrayal is completely chaotic since episode 6. One time when Agatha comes out of the mud he appears like he wants to see her dead. Then in 8 he trusts her with his life all over again. And don't get me started of the nonsense of Billy in episode 9. And no I'm not a Billy hater, but they certainly write him as an inconstant character that obviously results in him being mistrusted by the viewers. Also what pisses me off is that Lilia's ending was perfect, and even Alice sour departure was beautifully handled. Which adds even more to it the sense of ruin.

And there was strong dialogue, strong acting skills in those two last episodes, beautiful scenes on screen. But it still doesn't make sense. I solemnly thank the actors for their portrayal, I thank the whole production team, makeup, costumes, light, cut, sets, everything because this was by far one of the best MCU projects - if not the best. And I doubt it's someone fault for what happened with the last episodes. SO PLEASE DON'T GO HATING ON PEOPLE. Please, think of your own humanity, and even if media make it very easy to succumb to hate, no one is responsible, no one deserves your hate for their part into the production of a show. What gives me a bit of hope is that they were so much left untold that it is possible we get a season 2 or other projects centered around Agatha or Jennifer or other witches. And because there was so much blur, we, as writer and reader, can see the opportunity to partake into a fiction we all so loved. So don't give up on Agatha All Along just yet and see a bit of the bright side. And because, the MCU ethics seriously should be questioned, wait on me, I will come with an essay down the line. And if I do and if you think it's worth readable, I'll send it to Marvel teams.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Essemian Manifesto (Female Dominance and Fetishism As a Religious Philosopy) - Essemian Sancturary of the Goddess - 1987

[charaznablescanontoyota]

look ?

“you are fucking unbelievable,” shoka says. her teeth are chattering. al picks up his can of beer, takes a sip, and puts it back down. “do you want my scarf?” “to strangle you with? yes.” the threat’s half-hearted, like she’s saying it on autopilot. she hugs herself inside her oversized sweater and glares daggers at him. “why do you care, anyway?” “well, you looked cold–”

[fiannalover]

The Athrun Harem jokes are overkill and I believe that they have taken a disproportional life given how much time he spends in Destiny actively rejecting people. With that unnecessary disclaimer out of the way. I think that if Athrun visited Asticassia, beat Guel's punk ass and became Miorine's groom by complete accident. It would be absolutely gutbustingly hilarious.

[manty-monster]

⛧ Pinned Post ⛧

•☽───✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧───☾•

✦ it/its💛des/pair

name~ manty/sick

slime🦠punk💚occultist🖤

33y/15 sweeps

✧ i will re/blog about:

weed🌱, art🖌️, magick🔮, entomology🦗, eco anarchism🌲, fagotry��, kink🥴, clowns🃏, jojo👨‍🎤, nurgle🍄, homestuck🏠, + other things

✦ practicing magician for over 16 years, I accept any asks about magick or theology. ⍼︎︎

✧ links:

art blog @mantypaints

nsfw blog @autocoulrophile

insta@manty_monster

girlstink.cloud

manty.monster

✦"Why is everything tagged #🔮🔍📑ᵐᵃⁿᵗʸᵖᵒˢᵗ✔️🔮 ?"

i do it to older posts so you can click the hashtag to see my original posts, because i reblog a lot.

✧kinks i might reblog: sleep/scent/mom/piss/pup/blood/puke/guro, tho i try not to get to intense

🌚︎mutuals dm me for my discord🌝︎

MY PANTHEON

check my #clowncore tag for my clown looks

one of the bad ones.

https://theanarchist library.org/library/baedan-baedan/

https://thenewinquiry.com/hot-allostatic-load/

[explainslowly]

The thing about the Bucklemming dogfucking episode* is that it makes up, on the spot, a completely different lore for witches, for some unfathomable reason, like we are suddenly in a completely different urban fantasy show. I have read a few familiar fics and they are fun but ultimately it doesn't fit into spn imo. I like the original spn witches who are like, off-putting and nasty and tied to demons more than the episode's vision of just some guys who go to like sexy little clubs and have their own subculture and have animal friends. Like this is not the golden fucking compass.

*love that there two of those. Love that I have to specify I mean the Bucklemming one.

I like witches because they are fucked up and gross and all their kills are super fun and ironic. The impression I get from early season spn witches is that they either implode pretty quickly, because they are ultimately playing with powers that should not be wielded by people, or stabilize and live forever by feeding others into the meat grinder. I like that witches are just humans who are amoral and driven by selfishness. I do not fucking care for Mr. Psychic Cop, like are you kidding me, who is this asshole, who asked for this. Good news is that I don't think the lore sticks? I guess I'll see.

[dirtielemon]

writing the story for Florence/Florenz (no decision on spelling yet) and unlocking new levels of gender understanding of myself like never before on complete accident

[ebrieta]

make a decision for me

[laparosdivinos]

Manifesto da Wicca Inclusiva de Ivonne Aburrow - Tradução por Sirius Cor Leonis - PARTE II

Manifesto da Wicca Inclusiva - Parte II (devido aos limites tumblr)

Por Ivonne Aburrow (Tradução livre por Sirius Cor Leonis)

Um Manifesto:

Diversidade é importante na celebração, teologia e cosmologia. Nós não utilizamos a narrativa de uma deusa e um deus interagindo em diferentes pontos da Roda do Ano porque isso reforça o binarismo de gênero cisgênero e heterocêntrico. Nós exploramos diferentes aspectos das mitologias e folclores, incluindo a celebração de divindades queer. Por essa razão, a Wicca Inclusiva tende ao panteísmo (onde o divino inclui todos os gêneros e orientações sexuais) ou politeísmo (onde nós reconhecemos muitas divindades que têm diversas orientações sexuais e expressões de gênero). Nós também abraçamos deidades fora do heterossexual binário, incluindo deidades que formam pares do mesmo sexo. Nós acomodamos diferentes perspectivas teológicas, incluindo mas não se limitando ao animismo, ateísmo, panteísmo, politeísmo e duoteísmo. Wiccanos ateus também são incluídos na Wicca Inclusiva, permitindo a participação dos indivíduos que vêem as divindades como arquétipos e energias, contanto que estes possam trabalhar em conjunto com pessoas de diferentes perspectivas teológicas no círculo. Isso também se aplica a todos com diferentes perspectivas teológicas.

Identidade de gênero, expressão de gênero, sexo/gênero assumido no nascimento e características biológicas são coisas distintas. Com isso, nós queremos dizer que esses conceitos são notadamente diferentes, mas podem ser interpermeáveis e com fronteiras um pouco confusas. Gênero não é um spectrum. É mais como um gráfico de dispersão e não pode ser ordenadamente confinados em caixas e categorias. Expressões de gênero queer são criativas e lindas e nos liberta desses padrões cansativos de 'qualidades masculinas' e 'qualidades femininas'. A atribuição arbitrária de características como bravura, nutrição e cuidado ou criatividade a um único gênero ou a outro não deveria ser algo sacralizado e reificado, mas sim quebrado, desafiado e resistido. Muitos praticantes pagãos produzem visualizações e trabalhos que dependem de perpetuar a binariedade de gênero e desempoderando igualmente pessoas cisgêneros, transgêneros, não-bináries e generos-fluidos. Na Wicca Inclusiva nós pressionamos para além dessas barreiras e dessas atribuições arbitrárias uma vez que acreditamos que as deusas não precisam ser suaves e férteis e nem os deuses inflexíveis e violentos. De maneira similar, nós também reconhecemos e abraçamos a prevalência das pessoas intersexuais, que negam a ideia de que o sexo biológico é simplesmente uma questão de 'macho' e 'fêmea', tornando a atribuição de gênero algo um tanto arbitrário. A importância social atrelada pela 'cultura mainstream' ao sexo biológico e a forma como as crianças são socializadas de acordo com um gênero ou com o outro ao longo de suas vidas, traz a reflexão de que o paganismo deveria ajudar as pessoas a escapar dessas noções culturais embutidas em nós.

Há muitas formas de criar polaridade, uma vez que a mesma é simplesmente a tensão de opostos. Juntar os corpos masculino e feminino não é a única forma de criar polaridade. Um grupo de pessoas reunidas pode ser dividido em em diversas binariedades: pessoas matutinas e pessoas noturnas, amantes de cães e amantes de gatos, apreciadores de chá e apreciadores de café, signos de ar e signos de terra, signos de fogo e signos de água, pessoas que preferem salgados e pessoas que preferem doces, extrovertidos e introvertidos, e assim por diante. Cada um desses pares criam polaridades quando têm suas energias reunidas. Polaridade pode ser criada por duas ou mais pessoas de quaisquer gêneros ou orientações sexuais e também por duas ou mais pessoas de um mesmo gênero. E mais, polaridade existe num espectrum onde uma pessoa A pode ser ser yang em relação a uma pessoa B, mas ser yin em relação à uma pessoa C. Por exemplo, A pode ser mais extrovertido do que B, mas menos extrovertido do que C.

Energia pode ser gerada com ressonância. Ressonância é quando duas ou mais pessoas similares se reúnem e alinham suas energias uns com os outros para amplificar o sinal. Por exemplo, duas mulheres, dois extrovertidos, duas pessoas do mesmo signo astrológico, duas pessoas matutinas, dois amantes de gatos, e assim por diante.

Energia pode ser gerada com sinergia. Sinergia é onde as energias de todo o grupo convergem. Isso acontece em círculos o tempo todo, por exemplo, quando todos dançam em um círculo juntos ou quando todos os membros focam na mesma visualização ou intenção. Isso pode ocorrer com tudo, no lançamento do círculo, no chamado dos quadrantes, ao invocar uma deidade, etc. Cada um no grupo deve focar no que ocorre dentro do círculo ao invés de permitir que sua mente divague.

O conceito mágico de fertilidade não é estritamente biológico e se aplica à criatividade. A Wicca é frequentemente vista como uma religião da fertilidade, causando várias objeções à mesma por parte de várias perspectivas queer. Mas a Wicca Inclusiva mostra que a Wicca pode se mover para além da crença limitada de que fertilidade se refere somente ao ato de dar a luz a crianças. Mesmo quando fazendo magia de fertilidade, um corpo masculino e um corpo feminino não são necessários para produzir fertilidade mágica em um nível simbólico, como, por exemplo, quando estão abençoando uma plantação. Também não é de nada proveitosa a visão (introduzida por pessoas de fora da religião) de que o Paganismo é ou era uma religião da fertilidade. Isso torna a ideia de que o Paganismo é de todo uma religião da fertilidade profundamente suspeita. A ideia de que a Wicca é uma religião da Natureza é muito mais válida, uma vez que muito do reavivamento pagão tem sido sobre recuperar nossa conexão com a Natureza. Essas oportunidades para nos reconectarmos com a Natureza são tão diversas quanto as pessoas que são bem-vindas na Wicca Inclusiva.

Mulheres são muito mais do que a encarnação da fertilidade. Alguns Wiccanos são muito fervorosos na ênfase da fertilidade das mulheres e em sua habilidade de dar a luz e menstruar. Esse enfoque exclui pessoas trangêneras, não-bináries, agêneres e queergêneres. É ótimo celebrar o corpo, mas a Wicca Inclusiva nos desafia a nos certificarmos de celebrar todos os corpos, quer eles tenham gerado/gerem crianças ou não. A Wicca Inclusiva não reduz a mulher a ser não mais que uma partadora de útero.

Qualquer deidade de qualquer gênero pode ser invocada por um humano de qualquer gênero em um humano de qualquer gênero. A tendência Wiccana de somente fazer a invocação onde somente um homem invoca uma deusa em uma mulher ou somente uma mulher invoca um deus em um homem não é consistente com muitas outras formas de práticas ocultas. Em basicamente todos as outros sistemas mágicos, qualquer pessoa pode invocar qualquer deidade em outra pessoa. É saudável assegurar que qualquer indivíduo invoque diferentes tipos de arquétipos e energias e que não fique apenas invocando o mesmo tipo de deidade, o que poderia causar algum desequilíbrio psicológico pela ênfase excessiva em um arquétipo particular.

Os papeis rituais não são designados de acordo com o gênero. Qualquer um pode limpar a área ritual e lançar o círculo; qualquer um pode invocar os quadrantes; qualquer um pode consagrar os bolos e os vinhos. Não há a necessidade de que homens e mulheres se alternem em posições no círculo. Homens podem beijar homens e mulheres podem beijar mulheres. Consagrar e purificar um ao outro no círculo pode ser feito de qualquer gênero para qualquer gênero, o que inclui masculino, feminino, queergênero, não-binárie, agênere, genero fluido, metagênero, postgender e todos os outros gêneros. O gênero de uma pessoa não dita suas habilidades de performar papeis específicos ou de executar um trabalho específico.

Continua na parte III

[alicesoinions]

The Jaderoxy Manifesto

An incredibly good and unfortunately underappreciated ship

Both are obviously trans girls

Puppy and kitty

Both associated with pumpkins

Roxy's shirt symbol and one of Jade's shirt symbols are animal heads with very similar shapes

Roxy likes wizards; Jade is a Witch

Both tech-savvy (both normal tech and weird sburb tech)

Nuclear physicist x hacker what's not to like

Both grew up incredibly alone, interacting only online or with carapacians

Both are much smarter and sadder than they might seen at first; they put on a happy silly whimsical front to distract you from their loneliness and pain

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

Left to right. First row.

1. The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell.

In a joyous and perverse intermingling of fable, myth, heterotopian vision, and pocket wisdom, The Faggots & Their Friends tell us stories of the 70s gay countercultures and offer us strategies and wisdom for our own time living Between Revolutions. These pages sketch a different shape to time and offer instructions for living within it. This story, like our own, plays out in liminal time. Not the time of revolution, and not after-the-revolution, the story occurs between revolutions. Being between revolutions: being enmeshed in slow entropy, in abandoned spaces, in lives forged without recourse to “winning” or “after.” The faggots feel this disintegration, and live best when empires are falling.

2. Be Gay, Do Crime by The Mary Nardini Gang.

Among the discordant chorus of anons who penned the defining texts of the queer anarchist network Bash Back!, none was more fervent in its glorification of criminal desire, decadent hedonism, and social undoing than the Milwaulkee-based Mary Nardini Gang. Their fiery “Towards the Queerest Insurrection” still circulates as an integral manifesto of riotous queerness, while the “Criminal Intimacy” and “Whore Theory” have made their more subterranean way into innumerable conversations and correspondences.

Ten years later, the secretive group supplements these collected writings with a subtle retrospective. Carefully unlocking the hidden layers of their theses on insurrection, they face up to what they got wrong, concede that the world ended somewhere between the Greek insurrection of 2008 and now, and insist upon the vital task of ushering new worlds into being as we live amid the decomposition and cataclysmic death throes of the old one. To their theses on insurrection, they prepend a new arcana tooled for opening onto the queerest of outsides.

Dedicated to their friends among the dead, this pocket edition is a necromantic mirror, an encrypted message to old loves, and an invitation to those finding these words for the first time.

3. The Criminal Child by Jean Genet.

“As for me, I have chosen: I will be on the side of crime. And I will help the children, not to win back access to your houses, your factories, your schools, your laws, and sacraments, but to destroy them.”

So reads this new clandestine translation of a previously censored and unavailable text by Jean Genet. “The Criminal Child” is a critical engagement with the French youth prisons, a reflection on Genet’s formative years within them, a document of hostility towards society and its benevolent reformers, and – as argued by the anonymous afterword – an initiatory magical system.

5. Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture by Arthur Evans.

This radical faerie classic, first published in 1978 by Fag Rag Press, uncovers the hidden mythic link between homosexuality and paganism in an elegy for the world of sex and magic vanquished by Christian civilization. From Joan of Arc to the Cathars and the underground worshippers of Diana, the author shows how every upwelling of gender transgression and sexual freedom was targeted by the authorities for total and often violent repression or appropriation. The concluding manifesto calls for pagan reconnection with the living world, the creation of armed anarchist cells, and the destruction of industrial civilization.

Left to right. Row 2.

1. What is Gender Nihilism? A Reader.

A collection gathering readings for discussions on an end to gender: not the proliferation or liberation of gender, but its catastrophic cancellation. The reader brings together writings as old as 1883 and as recent as 2015, juxtaposing nihilist, radical feminist, queer, trans, anticolonial, communizing and insurrectionary approaches with other unclassifiable textual/existential disruptions. Many of the readings are out of print or have only appeared online or in zine form, and include: Adrienne Rich, Monique Wittig, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, A.R. Stone, Paul B. Preciado, the entities known as Radicalesbians, Gender Mutiny, Baedan, Ehn Nothing, Laboria Cuboniks and, as always, Anonymous. Also includes “My Preferred Gender Pronoun is Negation,” “Gender Nihilism” by Aidan Rowe, and the gender nihilism anti-manifesto that inspired the collection.

2. Baedan 1 – journal of queer nihilism.

3. Baedan 2 – a queer journal of heresy.

If the first issue of Baedan was a knife thrust wildly in the dark, the second is an effort to examine our enemies in a new light; enemies who bear scars yet endure. In a sense, this issue follows through our initial attack and pushes beyond our own horrors at the consequences of words. We write at a time when everything which seemed slightly possible two years ago has borne its rotten fruit; when queer recuperation has become more powerful and accepted than ever, while the fetish for technology has reached an unprecedented frenzy; when so many efforts at subversion languish under the tyranny of cybernetic identity and aesthetics (even our own etymologies have become identities!); when friends turn away out of fear of the unknown, turn toward all the comforts and certainties of the past (identity politics, traditionalism, religious morality, activism, et al). The old enemies rear their heads and the terrain is as bleak as ever. And yet we take seriously that adage: “There’s no need to fear or hope, but only to look for new weapons.”

4. Baedan 3 – journal of queer time travel.

Bædan: journal of queer time travel marks a further attempt to pose and to flesh out a queer critique of civilization. Queer not only in the sense of coming from those outside and disruptive of the Family, but also in the sense of a critique weirder than its more orthodox cousins. We imagine the Bædan project as an effort to pose the critique of civilization otherwise, to begin from another place. In this issue (and beyond…) we have conjured a strange bestiary of thinking, trying to unearth and trace the tradition of anti-civilization thought in the literature of queerness and in queerness as immanent critique.

*I couldn't find this one online*

[reasonsforhope]

"It was widely described as the week that India’s beleaguered democracy was pulled back from the brink. As the election results rolled in on Tuesday [June 4, 2024], all predictions and polls were defied as Narendra Modi lost his outright majority for the first time in a decade while the opposition re-emerged as a legitimate political force. On Sunday evening, Modi will be sworn in as prime minister yet many believe his power and mandate stands diminished.

For one opposition politician in particular, the humbling of the strongman prime minister was a moment to savour. Late last year, Mahua Moitra, one of the most outspoken critics of Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), found herself unceremoniously expelled from parliament and kicked out of her bungalow, after what she described as a “political witch-hunt” for daring to stand up to Modi.

The murky and allegedly undemocratic circumstances of Moitra’s expulsion from parliament was seen by many to symbolise Modi’s approach to dissenting voices and the steady erosion of India’s democracy. She was among several vocal opposition politicians who were subjected to investigations by government crime agencies.

But having won a landslide re-election in her home state of West Bengal, Moitra will return once again to parliament, part of the newly empowered opposition coalition. “I can’t wait,” said Moitra. “They went to egregious lengths to discredit and destroy me and abused every process to do it. If I had gone down, it would have meant that brute force had triumphed over democracy.”

While he may be returning for a historic third term, many have portrayed the results as something of a defeat for Modi, who has had to rely on coalition partners to form a government. The BJP’s campaign had been solely centred around him – even the manifesto was titled “Modi’s guarantee” – and in many constituencies, local BJP candidates often played second fiddle to the prime minister, who loomed large over almost every seat. He told one interviewer he believed his mandate to rule was given directly by God.

“Modi’s aura was invincibility, that the BJP could not win elections without him,” said Moitra. “But the people of India didn’t give him a simple majority. They were voting against authoritarianism and they were voting against fascism. This was an overwhelming, resounding anti-Modi vote.”

During his past decade in power, Modi and the BJP enjoyed a powerful outright majority and oversaw an unprecedented concentration of power under the prime minister’s office, where key decisions were widely known to be made by a select few.

The Modi government was accused of imposing various authoritarian measures, including the harassment and arrest of critics under terrorism laws, while the country tumbled in global democracy and press freedom rankings. Modi never faced a press conference or any committee of accountability for the often divisive actions of his government. Politicians regularly complained that parliament was simply reduced to a rubber-stamping role for the BJP’s Hindu-first agenda.

Yet on Tuesday [June 40, it became clear that the more than 25 opposition parties, united as a coalition under the acronym INDIA, had inflicted substantial losses on the BJP to take away its simple majority. Analysts said the opposition’s performance was all the more remarkable given that the BJP stands accused of subverting and manipulating the election commission, as well as putting key opposition leaders behind bars and far outspending all other parties on its campaign. The BJP has denied any attempts to skew the election in its favour.

“This election proved that the voter is still the ultimate king,” said Moitra. “Modi was so shameless, yet despite them using every tool they had to engineer this election to their advantage, our democracy fought back.”

Moitra said she was confident it was “the end of Mr Modi’s autocratic way of ruling”. Several of the parties in the BJP’s alliance who he is relying on for a parliamentary majority and who will sit in Modi’s cabinet do not share his Hindu nationalist ideology...

Moitra was not alone in describing this week’s election as a reprieve for the troubling trajectory of India’s democracy. Columns heralding that the “mirror has cracked” and the “idea of India is reborn” were plastered across the country’s biggest newspapers, and editorials spoke of the end of “supremo syndrome”. “The bulldozer now has brakes,” wrote the Deccan Chronicle newspaper. “And once a bulldozer has brakes, it becomes just a lawnmower.” ...

“This was not a normal election, it was clearly an unfair and unlevel playing field,” said Yadav. “But still, there is now a hope and a possibility that the authoritarian element could be reversed.”

Harsh Mander, one of India’s most prominent human rights and peace activists who is facing numerous criminal investigations for his work, called the election the “most important in India’s post independence history”, adding: “The resilience of Indian democracy has proved to be spectacular.”

He said it was encouraging that an “intoxication of majoritarian hate politics” had not ultimately shaped the outcome, referring to Modi’s apparent attempts to stir up religious animosity on the campaign trail as he referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”.

“The past decade has seen the freedom of religion and the freedom of conscience and dissent taken away,” said Mander. “If this election had gone fully the BJP way, then India would not remain a constitutional secular democracy.”"

-via The Guardian, June 9, 2024

[saintsenara]

ik the draw of snoldemort is that it's as delicious and healthy as fibreglass-riddled cotton candy but have you ever considered them being happy?

yes, all the fucking time.

i am genuinely of the opinion that snape and voldemort are each other's most plausible romantic pairing, and while i sustain that opinion mostly thought the power of being delusional, i do think there's a legitimate grain of potential for snapemort to actually be strangely wholesome.

and so, since this is not the first request I've had for such a thing...

...here comes the snapemort manifesto.

i am also of the opinion that the series presents an extremely narrow and unhealthy definition of love - love as suffering and sacrifice and secrecy - which voldemort can't allow himself to experience because his life has unsurprisingly made him unwilling to suffer or sacrifice and which snape forces himself to experience to the clear detriment of his physical and mental health.

but love is also - fundamentally - about comfort and pleasure and not being bored in someone's company.

the canonical voldemort clearly actually likes snape. he also clearly enjoys spending a substantial amount of time alone with him - especially in deathly hallows: voldemort teaches snape how to fly unaided [the only death eater he seems to do this for], which is canon proof they were going on lots of romantic midnight swoopings; snape is obviously voldemort's source for the information that tonks and lupin have recently married, which means they're gossiping over glasses of wine just as much as they're planning to take over the ministry of magic; voldemort visits snape at hogwarts while he's headmaster, and while that's to steal the elder wand, he does say that he'll join snape once his grave-robbing is done...

the two are clearly intellectually compatible - not simply in terms of level of intelligence but in how that intelligence manifests itself. snape has a very voldemort-ish view of magic as something whose boundaries can constantly be pushed and whose authorities must constantly be challenged - that magic is really about power [and those too weak to seek it] - and it's clear in canon that dumbledore's unease about allowing him near the defence against the dark arts job prior to half-blood prince [when snape agreeing to kill him - and revealing how his love-as-suffering for lily drives him - finally convinces him that snape has rejected the dark side entirely] is because he fears snape's way of understanding magic, since it reminds him of voldemort [and - in reminding him of voldemort - reminds him of grindelwald].

but snape and voldemort's intellectual compatibility has something underpinning it which goes beyond how they understand magic and its purpose in the world. they think the way they do about magic because of the similarities in their life experience.

as harry walks to the forest, he sets himself, snape, and voldemort up as a trio - the "abandoned boys", whose lives have all been shaped, to varying extents, by dumbledore. but, while harry and voldemort are each other's narrative mirror - due both to the overtly mystical pseudo-fraternal [or, if you're so inclined, soulmate] connection which voldemort establishes between them by making harry a horcrux, and to their shared experience of orphanhood - harry actually has much less in common with either half of snapemort than they have in common with each other.

for example, while they're all half-bloods, harry's pureblood parent is his father - which gives him a wizarding name, and the social cachet this brings in a world which is so obsessed with blood, family, and male lineage. snape and voldemort have muggle fathers and muggle names, and this gives them a radically different social standing - even if they are, ostensibly, within the same blood-category - to harry.

similarly, while lily is muggleborn, she is still a witch, attends hogwarts, is known and liked within wizarding society, and - like many muggleborns seem to - separates herself entirely from the world of her birth in young adulthood to live in a way indistinguishable from someone born and raised in a magical family.

tom riddle sr. and tobias snape are actual muggles - which means they exist in a world completely divided [and with that division scrupulously maintained by the ministry] from the magical one. while snape is brought up by his birth family and voldemort isn't, their lives are still dictated by their fathers' experiences of, fear of, and disconnection from magic - and this shapes their lives very differently even than harry's experiences with the dursleys.

harry also heavily resembles his pureblood father, which provides similar social cachet. one device which canon uses a lot is the idea that every member of a pureblood nuclear family unit looks alike - narcissa malfoy is blonde and pale, while her sisters are dark-haired, so that she is immediately identifiable as lucius malfoy's wife and draco malfoy's mother; molly weasley is red-haired and freckly, even though these are weasley, rather than prewett, traits, for the same reason.

in having harry look so much like james - while its primary intention in doing this was clearly to help obscure lily's role in the series' central mystery for as long as possible - the text allows him to smooth his path through the wizarding world because he looks like a pureblood, like someone who is understood to belong in the society through which he moves.

voldemort, in contrast, looks exactly like his muggle father. which parent snape resembles is more ambiguous - in deathly hallows, harry says that snape "greatly resembled" his mother, but both order of the phoenix and half-blood prince suggest this isn't the case, and the person he resembles is his father. this makes more sense, since snape resembling tobias means that he - like voldemort - lacks the visual connection to the wizarding world which would - like a pureblood surname - ease his way of belonging within it.

snape and voldemort are also from the same working-class background and have the same experience of childhood poverty. harry - no matter the financial aspect of the dursleys' neglect of him - is still middle-class in the muggle world by virtue of being raised in a place like little whinging by people like vernon and petunia.

and - crucially - harry's financial circumstances and class-status change utterly when he enters the wizarding world. he ascends to being upper-middle-class; he has the resources to buy everything needed for school new - meaning there's no visual distinction between him and his wealthy peers caused by him having, as voldemort does, secondhand possessions; he is able to treat these possessions casually; and he never, ever worries about being able to afford them [when his nimbus is smashed by the whomping willow, he's upset because he liked the broom so much and because he's embarrassed by the circumstances in which it was damaged, he doesn't worry one bit about not being able to afford a new one - he also considers buying himself a firebolt and, of all the things the one sirius buys means to him, it never seems to seriously cross his mind that it's a stupendously expensive thing for a teenager to own].

harry's class ascendance once he enters the wizarding world also gives him access to the ways of connection and network-forming which dictate how magical society runs. while much of this is voldemort's fault - since it's bound up in the fact that harry is a celebrity - it's also evident that this isn't entirely the case. slughorn's attitude towards harry is influenced just as much by his fondness for lily - and the clear reading of canon is that, if harry was the average hogwarts student and james and lily were still alive, harry would be "collected" for the slug club in the way that cormac mclaggen or regulus black are: people that slughorn wants to keep around in case they offer him something, not people he wants to keep around so that he can manipulate and control them.

voldemort and snape, in contrast, exist outside the social networks which govern wizarding society by virtue of their birth [hence why voldemort sets up a parallel social order - with him at the top - among his followers].

voldemort plays the game the way he's expected to while at school - sucking up to slughorn; leaning in to being, as he puts it, "poor but brilliant" - and then rejects a lifetime of being dependent on slughorn's patronage [he could be minister for magic, but only "if you keep sending me pineapple"!] for the only job he can get on his own merits.

snape rejects the idea of playing the game while at school - the teen snape we meet in order of the phoenix is conspicuous in his difference, not only in appearance but in behaviour, from his peers, and the marauders' bullying of him is motivated just as much by his existence outside wizarding social norms as it is by james' sexual jealousy of his friendship with lily and his own deliberate provocation of james and sirius.

and he also rejects the social convention the series values [by which i mean, the series thinks the class system is good as long as the good guys are the ones insisting on maintaining it] in young adulthood. i bang on about this a lot, but it's clear in canon that the reason snape becomes a death eater - and also the reason why he thinks the death eaters will help lily, even though this initially appears to be nonsensical - is because voldemort offers him a chance to transcend the limitations placed upon him in a world with such a restrictive class system. voldemort is the only person who offers him the things he desires - power, respect, recognition - in a context in which his background is [seemingly] irrelevant.

there's an element of snape seeing what he wants to see here, of course. he's clearly voldemort's exception in terms of social class [just as bellatrix is his exception in terms of gender], and this is a grooming technique on voldemort's part which sets snape apart from the other death eaters and makes him more dependent on maintaining voldemort's favour than men like lucius malfoy or rodolphus and rabastan lestrange, who are inherent insiders to the elite male social circle from which the majority of the dark lord's minions are drawn.

but there is also an element of recognition in voldemort choosing snape which has a heavy blast of affection - platonic or otherwise - behind it.

one of the things which dumbledore gets wrong about voldemort throughout the six books in which he appears is that he believes that voldemort is secretive to the point of repression about his origins, childhood, and life experiences. instead, the canonical voldemort is a certified yapper - he needs virtually no prompting, as a child with dumbledore, a teen with harry, or an adult with harry, to start talking about his life in a way which gives quite a lot about himself away. the proto-death eaters we meet in half-blood prince know all about the teen voldemort's search for his lineage. barty crouch jr. knows his birth name. lucius malfoy is completely unbothered to hear harry state that he's a half-blood.

and this shouldn't surprise us - what orphan wouldn't be on a desperate quest to be perceived, to be understood?

snape is clearly one of voldemort's great favourites because he's someone the dark lord implicitly understands - a clever, awkward, lonely boy searching for respect and power which the stagnant wizarding world refuses to give him. it stands to reason, then, that snape is also one of voldemort's great favourites because the dark lord thinks that snape can understand him.

and, in a situation where he's actually given a chance to offer voldemort this understanding, snape therefore has the power to give the dark lord the thing he's been searching for his entire life - someone who knows who he really is behind the elaborate mask of unassailable majesty and loves him anyway.

none of this has to change the future - voldemort can still be a terrorist who kills his wife guy's only childhood friend, the snapemort will slap nonetheless.

but it still can.

[joannerowling]

Anyways to complete the Le Guin vs Rowling debate, i think "imaginative" is an overrated quality for a writer. There's very little humanity hasn't already imagined anyways. It's far more important and much harder to achieve a unique and recognisable voice.

It also tickles me that JKR's work could have been called "mean-spirited". Yes HP is "mean-spirited", of course it is, it's satirical. In my (albeit very personal) opinion satire is a much more noble pursuit than fantasy, much harder to nail than coming up with cool monsters, something humanity has been doing on its own since cavemen learned to talk. The highest form of fantasy is folklore and fairy tales, where the "world building" is stripped to its bare necessities - a cursed kingdom, a noble prince, a wicked witch, mysterious woods. "Modern" fantasy is a fake genre anyways because you measure how good a fantasy book is by basically anything *but* the fantasy elements. For exemple, Game of Thrones is good because of its original political element and soap-operaish intrigues. The Golden Compass etc. are good because they're a manifesto against organised religion. And the HP books are good because they're a clever study of British culture mixed with excellent mystery plots and a spiritual core.

[lunarlianna]

Asteroid Circe

Now, moving on with our normal program of astrology and asteroid content. Here we have asteroid Circe and how I would interpret here in a natal chart. <;3

Asteroid number 34, Circe in a natal chart usually represents our inner which, our magical gifts and also can show where you feel isolated (this type of isolation can be from the outer world or self-imposed), also where do you fall in love to quickly. If conjunct the Asc, you can be quite intimidating. If conjunct the MC you can be seen very enchanting and be attracted to the occult.  If conjunct the Moon you may prefer being a night owl and prefer the company of animals.

Asteroid Circe

Circe in Aries/1st house: If you are into witchcrafts, you most probably work with fire and red candles. You may attract people because of your leadership skills, your energetic aura and fun-loving attitude.  Otherwise with this placement you may notice that others are intimidated maybe even scared by you.

Circe in Taurus/2nd house: If you are into witchcraft, you most probably are a garden which. You have a cosy like aura and people feel very comfortable in your presence. Usually, you may cook consciously or unconsciously with intention. You may like to collect crystal or river rock and be a pretty good manifesto for abundance.

Circe in Gemini/3th house: You may be very good at story-telling and have a really charming voice. Usually, you’ll be attracted in learning tarot and lucid dreaming. People are attracted to you because of your knowledge and intelligence. This placement might also indicate feeling isolated from your relatives or impose a self-isolation from them.

Circe in Cancer/4th: People are drawn to you because of your sweet nature and the sense of familiarity that they have when meeting you. Usually if in the 4th or conjunct the IC is an indicator of witchy lineage and you probably work a lot with the Moon energy. Otherwise, you are a healer and can help others heal their mother wound.

Circe in Leo/5th house: You may be attracted to meditation, energy healing and may practice specific manifestations technics. People usually are attracted to you without knowing exactly why. They feel you warm and shiny aura, they just want to revolve around you.  You may also like to collect occult objects.

Circe in Virgo/6th house: You may be interested in homeopathic medicine and alternative healing. You may have a specific everyday routine regarding manifestation or working with crystal or herbalism (ex: You drink a specific tea every day or put cinnamon in your coffee). Circe here can also make you feel isolated in your work life and with your colleagues or you may isolate yourself. Animals are really attracted to you or you may like to have pets.

Circe in Libra/ 7th house: You have a light hearted aura and people are drawn to you. You may be very good at identifying good romantic matches between people or you may work with tarot, astrology etc in order to help others navigate their relationships. If conjunct the DSC, people will have the tendency to be obsessed with you. As a witch you may want to be part of a coven. Also, you may tend to fall in love pretty fast.

Circe in Scorpio/8th house: You may be into really dark occult art and work with divination/entities etc. People are attracted to you because of your loyalty and determination. You can be an energy healer or a shaman due to your transmutation power. Sometimes people may exclude you or you can exclude people because of your practice.

Circe in Sagittarius/9th: You can be a living human lie detector and have a very good intuition. You attract people due to your optimistic aura. Astra-projection may come easy to you and you may astral project from a young age, try to ground yourself very good before going to sleep. You can be a great mentor or a teach for those that are willing to learn under your guidance.  

Circe in Capricorn/10th: With this placement you may be prone to be highly influential and very keen to success. As a witch you probably make great spell-jar for money or you manifest money without trying to. Sometime this placement can indicate feeling lonely in a room full of people. If conjunct the MC you’ll be recognized in the occult world very easily.

Circe in Aquarius/11th: This placement can indicate a passion for astrology or working into astral world. You attract people due to your intelligence and creativity. Sometime you may isolate yourself from your close friends. This placement can indicate an interested in being on social media platform talking about the 1000 ideas you have in your head.

Circe in Pisces/12th: This is a very spiritual place for Circe. Here she is highly empathetic, dreamy and highly intuitive. You know immediately if someone changed their energy towards you. You may have lucid dreams and have a great connection with the spirit realm. You tend to escape a bit to much in the astral world and also isolate yourself. You may dream of your partner before meeting him.

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