#women’s initiation rite
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Bundu helmet mask, worn in a women’s initiation ceremony, Sierra Leone
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woke up from a nightmare and made such banger fucking slides
#like. !#hoping and praying my prof wont notice that 2 of my points are basically the same w diff framing#the stuff is so good though i had an epiphany while adding points and i was like shit...#like... the monomyth is kind of derived from rites of initiation which are. thats a guy thing...#the universal otherisation of women corresponds with this.. women not as cultural beings and therefore unable to fully pass the threshold...#and still our necessary recognition of this as a cultural construct#that perhaps the female hero doesnt really exist in campbells framework and like the limits to which its biases keep it to#but we must redefine transformation! must redefine culture! we make ourselves!
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i watched My Neighbor Totoro for the first time, here's my chronological viewing experience:
woo-hoo! dusty old japanese house with japanese architectural details aplenty
these kids got some ENERGY my goodness
family dynamic's adorable. peak quality dad humor
kids: our house is haunted. parents: that's so cool!
hell yeah, wrinkled old lady rep. we need more friendly old women with potato faces and warts like storybook witches. the backbone of society, these ladies
Plot Summary: Small Child Bothers Local Wildlife
sacred tree sacred tree sacred tree
Introducing Totoro! nobody said this fucker's got TEETH???
Uh-Oh! Inadequate Parental Supervision Detected
(you misplaced your four year old! you're not supposed to do that)
4-year-old: i met a magic forest spirit. dad: oh shit fr?
4-year-old: *angrily hugs sister* missed u bitch
this small child has a smile like a toad. like a really really cute toad. like the cutest toad in all existence. i love her she's perfection please just let this child be happy
rice paddies are so pretty....so back breaking....rice is such a prissy crop
*my crush is stranded in a rainstorm* takethisumbrellait'syoursnowBYE *runs away in panic im so good at flirting*
Giant Chinchilla Learns To Hold Umbrella, Is Fucking Delighted By Experience
take this, it will help you on your quest! *hands u trail mix wrapped in a leaf*
LO-FI HIP HOP STUDY LIST!
crouching down to peer at dirt--A++ top notch foundational childhood experience
mom has a big ass forehead
honey! the chinchillas are performing Rituals in the backyard again
help yeah let's jack and the bean stalk this shit
huh so we're all just climbing aboard the giant chinchilla's tiddies now ok
class trip!
the pure adrenaline of Vegetable Gardening
no! the small child is crying! she is bawling her eyes out. no no no. i can't cope with this. emotionally i cannot cope 🥺🥺🥺
i've only had Mei one hour but if anything happens to her i will raze this earth and everyone on it
please someone make this small child smile again
oh no the tall child is crying too
i can't take this. my heart can't take this.
i need a drink
small child running determined to deliver magic veggies to the hospital. this kid is my hero
she is also unsupervised. so, so unsupervised
babe you are FOUR
godDAMMIT ghibli, you cannot give me watercolor sunsets while a small child is missing. u are killing me. my heart is giving out. this is me, experiencing heart failure.
Totoro to the rescue!
no wait CATBUS to the rescue!
i admit i initially thought the cat was a creep. alice in wonderland prejudiced me. i have revised my notions of smiling cats
i've decided the cat is a metaphor for the magic of a robust public transport system
MEI'S OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and so is mom. she's a lovely lady im sorry for what i said about her forehead. it's a noble forehead.
happy ending YES bitch!!!!!!
ok. ok ok ok. that was magical.
(as a first-time adult viewer i was worried i wouldn't be able to Access the Magic. but i could and i did and it was incredible. that was culture. that was ART. joy distilled into animated form. holy rites of childhood. i understand now. how glorious, this world we grow out of. how full of marvels. i'm going outside to smell grass and sun and get dirt under my fingernails. miraculous.)
#mr ghibli please you cannot do this to my heart#totoro#my neighbor totoro#spoilers#?#initially i misspelled Totoro as Tortoro throughout the entire post#i fixed it but dear heavens i was tempted to leave it in. you're WELCOME
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🚩🚩"Witch/Pagan" community PSA 🚩🚩
Goêteia is not evil, you dipshits.
I'm so sick of these neo-pagans getting all their information from Tumblr, Pinterest and TikTok.
Goêteia is literally just the Greek term for magic, for sorcery, which were one and the same.
Ancient Greece didn't have the word "witchcraft" it had Goêteia, and then later mageia, where we get our modern term magic from, although mageia was a misappropriated term from Zoroastrian priests or Magi.
It's so funny seeing baby witches claim Goêteia to be evil on one hand, then on the other worshipping Hekate, literally the goddess of Goêteia. The goddess of sorcerers and necromancy.
It screams puritanical morality policing. It's such a christian-centered way of looking at ancient religion.
Y'all need to open a damn book.
Goêteia was described as a "lesser" form of magic (mainly in the later Medieval period, roughly starting around the 8th century,) not meaning any less powerful, just simply the easiest or "closest" thus "lower" magic to achieve. This ability to more easily achieve success in magic was later taken and used by christian theologians to paint goêteia and Goêtes as "lesser practitioners."
There does seem to be little difference between Theurgy and goêteia as well,
Surprise!
Both Goêteia and Theurgy sharing the same goddamn workings through evocations of gods, the animation of statues, mediumship or what could be considered "divine possession" having a god or spirit speak through you, the use of iynx wheels / iynges, and mystery rites.
The only 'real' difference Theurgists claim, is that they "don't practice secularly/for selfish reasons" but supposedly rather to become closer to the divine. It's a nice sentiment, but total bullshit, because even in the Theurgic doctrine the Chaldean Oracles they bind the goddess Hekate to do their will.
Additionally, Theurgists had a more Neoplatonic belief, they essentially viewed a singular Oneness as supreme, the emanation from which all things return, a concept which was picked up by early christian theologians and is likely why while Goêtes were demonized in the later centuries mainly by early christians and christian philosophers, Theurgists on the other hand were seen as "pure" and "holier" despite Theurgical and Goêteic practices being pretty much exactly the same down to the tools and incantations.
(Agustine of Hippo for an example of these theologians, who wrote in "De civitate Dei contra Paganos", or "On the City of God Against the Pagans" how all "pagan" (non christian) gods and beliefs were secretly agents of Satan and evil, here to trick humanity into sin and that paganism, essentially any non christian faith, must be stopped–
He also wrote about how sorcerers/magicians (Goêtes) were charlatans, tricksters, that magic and sorcery were merely tricks of an invisible opposition to the divine and how only god could hold such supreme power. These ideas still seem to be deeply embedded into christian faith, particularly Orthodox and Evangelical, today.)
Practitioners of goêteia, the Goēs, was also understood to have the ability to initiate souls into mystery religions, or, in other words, to ensure through his superior knowledge of the Underworld and its workings that the souls under his care would receive preferential treatment after death, an easier way to paradise, such as the Orphic Hymns.
This likely also helped "other" the Goēs, as most practitioners of magic, of goêteia, of these mystery cults were made up of societies "unwanted" or marginalized people, such as women, foreigners, immigrants, the poor, the disabled, and the elderly. Early goêtes were described as being Thessalian (primarily women, particularly described as "old or decrepid") or. ethnically, not considered "fully Greek" to many of the era. Many critiques and fears of goêteia come from this "otherness," the fear the ruling classes of Greece had of groups they continued to harm, they feared the power they held within these mystery rites and practices.
With reliable accuracy from these critics, goêtes were (perceived to be) moral transgressors, who operated from the fringe of society in a private mago-mystical setting, offering their service for coin.
Or, in simpler terms, the Greeks were just really fucking racist
which is nothing new.
In fact, because goêteia itself is a synchronization of mainly Egyptian and Jewish magic, the Greeks and later christians went extra-hard into villifying it because they saw these people as lesser, as barbaric.
We have to understand where the fears and judgements of these critics were coming from, and continue to remain impartial. The ruling elite feared these practices because they feared losing their power, especially rich Greek men, and those early christian philosophers who saw everything outside their own faith as lies, manipulations, or tricks from "the Opposition" as well as the extremely racist and ethnocentric beliefs they held.
#paganism#polytheism#reconstructionist#hellenic polytheism#hellenic pagan#hellenism#hot take#rant#goêteia#Hekate#Hecate#hekatean witch#witch community#witchblr#witchcraft#ancient history#theurgy#chaldean oracles#psa#ancient greece#new age#deconstructing christianity#neo paganism
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resident evil headcanons (restaurant au)
characters: leon, chris, jill, claire, rebecca, ada, luis, carlos, wesker. a/n: this was created as a joke between me and my friends that completely spiralled out of control. maybe the stupidest au i've ever created. wesker and friends hit me up if you wanna use this warnings: vulgar language. sorry, i'm canadian, we swear a lot here.
chris redfield (bartender): he's one of the first hires, and has been working as the head bartender forever. he absolutely loves to lowkey trauma dump on customers unknowingly, only to shake the mixer after just to avoid the awkward silence. the owner has had to move the tv's out of the way of the bar because chris will only look at the screen and fuck up every single drink during a big game. refuses leon everytime he tries to come up to the bar for drinks. he knows when it's him, leon always tries to input it in the system as a customer order for a table that isn't occupied, but he always orders his whiskey in a very specific way that outs him. chris will pour it out in front of him to make a point. he eventually had to make a memo about not letting leon take drinks from the bar anymore. to customers, he is every older woman's wet dream. he knows that flexing his biceps will rake him in more tips, so he does it often. also does it when women are being hit on by creepy men to scare them away. the night that he wears tight turtlenecks are his big paycheck days. chris will never admit that he likes when people squeeze his arms. chris is the guy that everyone has a crush on when they first start working there, it's basically an initiation rite at this point. he's the friendliest one of the bunch and gives wholesome big bro vibes and it makes him absolutely irresistible to new hires. (x reader) if you're working alongside chris in the bar, prepare to constantly run into him. he's a massive guy, and maneuvering around a little bar with that hunk is near impossible without a couple collisions. after a while, he's learned to put a gentle hand on your back whenever he has to move behind you, all for the sake of "workplace safety". he loves to sneak food from the kitchen and share it with you, but this man eats like a horse. like the chefs are genuinely surprised on how much food this man can physically fit inside his body, but he will always leave a portion for you. it takes him a long time to make a move because he's afraid of ruining your friendship and workplace relationship. leon kennedy (server): he got hired a little after everyone else, and got put onto the waitstaff because of his looks. however, this man is super awkward with patrons despite being super popular with older women. he's always getting propositions to get set up with someone's daughter and he always unknowingly shoots them down. (customer: "you're really cute, leon: "ok.") he always makes little jokes to lighten the mood and it is an instant vibe killer. the only people who like them are the old ladies who think he's cute, and dads who genuinely think he's funny.
as for the whiskey incident, leon has tried multiple times to pretend being a bartender when chris is on break to sneak himself a drink. he claims that it makes him better at serving, but three broken trays and countless shattered glasses say otherwise.
leon does have kind of a blank expression when patrons try and get him to cut them deals or do stuff for them. he will immediately go back and scream by himself in the freezer after a difficult customer interaction. has cried silently in the freezer after food got in his hair. (x reader) leon always smells like american crew hair pomade, and always showers himself in cologne on shifts he knows he's working with you. you smiled at him one time in the middle of a rush and he had to sit on the curb to collect himself. leon has a horrible tendency to get distracted whenever you're in his general vicinity, and will completely ignore customers whenever you walk by with literal hearts in his eyes. he's one of the fastest people to make a move, mostly because he lacks any form of subtlety. he always offers to drive you home, always offers to take you out to dinner after work like you already don't work in food service, and always keeps something in his bag for you. he loves to lowkey fuck with you on shifts, like putting an ice cube down your shirt to make you pay attention to him. jill valentine (hostess):
another og worker, and the most no-nonsense of them all, especially with customers. if the wait time is thirty minutes, then you're waiting thirty goddamn minutes. she does not care who you supposedly know. she has gotten a couple writeups for visibly rolling her eyes when large parties come in without a reservation. jill demands a break every thirty minutes to sit with chris on the curb while he smokes a cigarette. she calls it her mental health breaks.
pointedly does not listen to leon when he asks her to stop seating people in her section. her favourite past-time is to seat all the old women obsessed with him at his tables to watch him flounder. also gives leon's number out to people who try and hit on her at the job. she's also the only person who can scare the owner, so jill gets away with a lot more than most people. her and carlos often hang out after shifts to drink beer and play pool. her and claire have regular girls nights where jill's convinced into facemasks and terrible movies that only have a one star rating on whatever pirated movie website claire pays for. (x reader) every attempt you make to ask her on a date goes completely over her head. it's only at chris' intervention that she finally gets the hint and takes you out to dinner. she ends up having her own shelf of stuff at your apartment within a week, and she's more than happy to drive you to work everyday. if you have a pet, prepare for jill to come over to spoil it rotten and feign ignorance when you confront her about it. another victim of the 'takes extra long to get ready on shifts you work together'. she knows you like her arms, so she's wearing short sleeves or tanks whenever she has the opportunity, and silently preens in your attention. carlos, (line cook):
without a doubt, the line cooks are the vibe bringers of the restaurant. carlos always takes a hit off his dab pen before coming in, because he claims it makes his cooking taste better. he always gives food to the female servers at any given opportunity, and pretends to not know what the male servers are talking about when they bring it up. (is the reason for 90% of the memos regarding workplace behaviour).
carlos always smells like old spice and food, and there is almost nothing that could break his good mood during a shift. he really is just happy to be there. he's very particular on how the freezer is organized, but loved to label the items wrong to piss off the others (spinch). his mother taught him how to cook, so he has a dedicated dish named after her. carlos always comps her meals when she comes in and doesn't tell anybody about it.
as for the other employees, carlos torments them. he loves to play his own music in the kitchen but has a wildly inappropriate taste for work music. chris banned him from the speaker officially after only playing doja cat for three hours. however, him and luis love to carpool and play brazilian funk with all the windows rolled down at max volume. those two are not allowed to work together too much. he also has a mobile game rivalry with leon, so anytime carlos is missing from the kitchen, you'll find him in the bathroom on his phone. just follow the shitty iphone game music.
(x reader) in all honesty, carlos is the man that's hooked up with the most employees. the mans charm is undeniable. but he has a particular soft spot when it comes to you-- you get to taste-test every dish, there's always a nice cold glass of water waiting for you, and carlos will take the fall for every fuckup at your table. he'll introduce you to his mom when she comes in, but is secretly terrified at how well the two of you get along. don't even get him started on bringing his siblings into the place, he would never hear the end of it. carlos received another memo after engaging in too much pda at work after the two of you got together.
claire redfield (waitress):
one of the main reasons for all the positive google reviews. it's not that she's naturally a super bubbly person, but claire knows how to turn it on and off when her shift starts. jill puts most of the families in her section since claire has a natural gift with kids. however, she is extremely biased when it comes to the food. her face always tells you exactly what she thinks of a dish.
since chris is always within eyesight of her, whenever difficult customers give her problems, she loves to sic chris on them. even just having him stand behind her is enough to give her leverage over someone trying to haggle on a bill. and with carlos' willingness to give food to pretty girls, she never goes hungry during a shift. the girl has her whole shift figured out on a system. she also knows exactly when the lull in service is going to be so she can take extended bathroom breaks.
out of everyone, she's the one to organize after-work hangouts, whether by putting gentle reminders into the group chat, or straight up bullying people to come (ie. jill). everyone always knows when she pulls up from the sound of her engine, but she refuses to let anyone on it. especially luis or leon, for insurance reasons.
(x reader) this girl has the uncanny ability to know what you need, and when you need it. forgot an iced tea for table 20? it's already in her hand on the way. it's her nice little way of showing what a good girlfriend she would be, that she can anticipate your needs. for every group hangout, you are the first person she texts and the primary benefactor of the tips she makes. claire is a no bullshit kind of woman, and when she wants you, you will know. she'll always ask you to hang out, always compliment how you look, tell you constantly how good you are at your job. maybe she'll let you ride behind her on the motorcycle just for the excuse of having your arms around your waist, and does that hot thing where she rubs your arms with her thumb at red lights.
rebecca chambers (head waitress):
dear old rebecca, truly the glue holding everything together. she's incredibly sweet to customers, and to most of the employees. the only reason the floor runs properly is her by the book attitude and highly perceptive personality. nothing is getting by rebecca. she's leon's number two nemesis for being able to drink on the job, and chris' number one nemesis for smoking outside. this woman has the nose of a bloodhound when someone is about to do something stupid.
despite her appearance, everyone is afraid to make her angry. she's lost her shit a total of one time, but it was enough for everyone to be on their best behaviour. she does have a tendency to make passive aggressive comments with such a sickly sweet smile on her face, that you won't even realize she insulted you until long after she's walked away.
least favourite part of the job? she is a hit with old men. they can never leave her alone. second least favourite part? finding ways to sneak vitamins into certain employees food so they can live to see another day. the way that some of the others operate is enough to give her grey hairs.
(x reader) rebecca is intelligent and ambitious, and more than willing to make sacrifices when it comes to you. she's more than happy to take the fall on a screwup if it gets you out of it, wanting nothing more than your smile in return. her main tactic of getting to know you is inviting you over to watch movies, inconspicuously of course, so she can ask you questions over the whole thing. overall, she's an acts of service girl, but is much more subtle about it than claire is. you need a meal prep plan? she's your woman. she wants nothing more than to take care of you, to make your life as easygoing as possible. but the true way to her heart is any form of baked goods. if you make a habit of bringing her pastries before a shift, she's putty in your hands.
ada wong, (head chef):
this woman, god help her, has the hardest job out of them all. not only does she have to babysit her two line cooks, but she's also responsible for cleaning up all the fuckups the waitstaff make. her saving grace is the fact that everyone else is terrified of her, creating a wide berth every time she picks up a knife. everyone can always hear her scolding carlos in the kitchen, who just brushes it off with a laugh.
despite the chaos of a kitchen, ada has the impeccable ability to never get food on herself. even after the dinner rush there is not a single hair out of place, looking just as perfect as when she started. every ingredient is measured precisely, every fda standard met and upheld-- pretty much the counterforce to carlos and luis. secretly, she loves when carlos has control of the speaker, but she would rather die than admit it.
the second an overcomplicated modification comes in, the temperature of the kitchen immediately drops. why the hell does she pore over a menu just for some middle-aged man to think he knows better than her? despite her no-nonsense attitude, she does secretly love fucking with leon. only luis knows about her secret tinder account that she catfished leon on with some fake woman in romania.
(x reader) ada is a woman in tune with herself, in tune with what and who she wants. the second she gets attached, she will display clear favouritism. every new recipe she tries is given to you for taste-testing, claiming that you will always give her the truth. it's a lie, she just like seeing the grin on your face when you enjoy it. if anyone asks her about it, she will vehemently deny it, claiming that you're the only one competent enough at your job. her asking you out is more of a demand than it is a question: this place, this time, wear that dress you know i like. she's not huge fan of pda at the workplace, but she'll always give you that look that screams, just wait until i get my hands on you later.
luis sera (line cook):
this man does not operate on a recipe, he operates on la pasion. really, it just means the foods always a tad spicier than it should be. he also sings obnoxiously loud in the kitchen, to the point that patrons can hear it if they're seated close enough. this man obeys ada for the most part, but he's honestly never touched a measuring cup in his life. he'll stop pouring when his ancestors tell him to stop pouring. however he has the uncanny ability to know exactly when meat is within three degrees of whatever temp they need it cooked to.
the waitstaff either love him or hate him. luis playfully flirts with everyone in his line of sight. who could blame him? he's stuck in a kitchen all day and everyone at this restaurant is unbearably attractive. mostly, he just likes seeing their reactions. leon adamantly begs claire to fetch his plates from the kitchen for him, because luis calls him prince charming every time, and leon hates it.
there's a rumour going around that he got drunk after a shift and made out with another employee, but no one knows who it is. there's a restaurant-wide betting pool on potential victims. also, since luis is the only person who knows about the catfish incident, he loves to ask leon innocuous question while feigning innocence about the whole thing. he's just really invested in his love life, he swears.
(x reader) if you think the flirting is bad towards leon, just wait until he catches an eyeful of you. it is a nonstop barrage of witty compliments, offers to go dancing (or clubbing), and pick-up lines that were definitely picked up off the internet. he's a suave guy, don't get me wrong, but he most definitely gets too many of his ideas from old romance novels. at some point he gives up, telling you straight that he wants to take you out, for reals, and cook you a nice home-cooked meal. maybe some wine. maybe more, if you'll let him. luis is another person who displays clear favouritism, and tries to convince ada into naming a dish after you. it has a horribly cheesy name, but it tastes wonderful and he loves shooting you a wink every time you see him making it (he always makes that dish more carefully than any of the others).
wesker (manager):
this man bought the damn place in a last ditch attempt to save himself from bankruptcy, and unknowingly entangled himself into the lives of the dumbest twenty year olds he's ever met in his life. the only person that he kind of tolerates is ada, because she runs that kitchen like it's the military, and he can respect how batshit terrifying she is. he has a particular vendetta against chris for reasons he can't name, but since chris brings in a lot of money, he can't really refuse. he mostly gets that frustration out by pinning things on chris that leon most definitely did.
he's rarely seen on the actual floor, usually just hanging in the back on the computer doing whatever the fuck he does. (he's playing farmville, but no one knows it's him because of a pseudonym. he also does not know how to turn the music off so if you stand at the right position outside the door you can hear it.)
when he is seen out on the floor, he's wearing the most obnoxious sunglasses and leather jacket known to man, and stalks around the bar to watch for mistakes. you know you fucked up around wesker when there's a sneer on his face. the place almost got robbed once, and wesker threw a punch so fast that everyone stopped trying to piss him off after that.
(x reader) truthfully, he doesn't act too much different around you. it takes months to catch onto the little quirks that show his softness-- just a slight ease in his eyebrow, a softer pitch when addressing you directly. he'll still chew you out for mistakes, but he forgets about it long before he'll let anyone else slide. if things did eventually progress between the two of you, that manager's office is staying locked.
thank y'all for reading! this ended up being way longer than i thought it was going to be lol.
#resident evil#resident evil x reader#resident evil fanfiction#resident evil imagines#resident evil headcanons#chris redfield x reader#leon kennedy x reader#claire redfield x reader#jill valentine x reader#rebecca chambers x reader#carlos oliveira x reader#albert wesker x reader#luis sera x reader#ali writes#leon kennedy imagine#chris redfield imagine#jill valentine image#claire redfield imagine#rebecca chambers imagine#carlos oliveira imagine#albert wesker imagine#luis sera imagine
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Question for Faiza: what does the average day for an Odonii priestess entail?
We wake before dawn, and most of us spend the morning working around the temple. We maintain the shrines and grounds so- tending the hearths and burning the offerings, collecting water from the spring, feeding the lions. And there's always lay visitors milling around the temple while we're doing all this, but our attendants take care of the general public interfacing so. We can mostly focus on our duties.
There's always going to be some pregnant women or the odd soldier stopping in, so you might give out blessings once? Twice? On any given day. Rarely any more than that. But sometimes, you'll be right in the middle of something important- it's always when you're in the middle of something - and then, suddenly, in wanders an entire troupe. And you hear them before you see them. They'll have brought every single weapon and piece of armor they own, so they're clanging loud enough to wake the dead. And you'll just be standing there thinking, well, this is going to be my entire morning now.
...But it's very important work of course, attending our soldiers. Give a man Odomache's blessing, and he fights more bravely alone than twenty without.
Once the temple closes, we usually spend most of the afternoon just preparing the amenchalme. So- grinding the maize, then blessing the maize, then grinding the salt, then blessing the salt, then mixing the wine, then blessing the wine, then mixing the oil, then blessing the oil... It's a little tedious, I won't lie. But I think this is our most important duty, in a way. Out of every rite we perform, day in and day out, this is the one that serves all our people. The amenchalme that blesses a whore's nameless bastard daughter at birth and the amenchalme that blesses a great lord at his wedding is the very same, made by the very same hands. So when I see priestesses shunting the task off to initiates so they can go nap on the grounds or play with their muskets...
I digress.
So, when the rest of our duties are complete, we end the day with training. This is mostly practicing the six dances. Ideally, every Odonii in the temple should be assembled and practicing in unison. But in practice, there's usually some stragglers. So you'll be out in the yard and everyone is following the same drumbeat, but you'll see one group dancing the spear, another dancing the musket, and then another who's already finished and running laps around the grounds just to kill time.
Our core duties are over at sundown, and we're free to do as we please. Dinner is served at the temple, so most of us will spend an hour or two in the hall, you know, socializing, having a little wine, unwinding. I like to go down to the ocean after dinner, when I can. I prefer the quiet.
Uh, so that's an average day for the vast majority of us. It varies throughout the year, of course. Things get busy when we're approaching festivals. Or during wartime. And I'm a senior Odonii and liaison to the Usoma, so-. My duties tend to be considerably more complex, year-round. Sometimes I miss those long afternoons just mindlessly pounding maize, haha.
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Notes:
-Temples to Odomache are open to the public from dawn until noon, and closed throughout the rest of the day. The temple consists of a great shrine that is publicly accessible by all, inner walled grounds that are prohibited to the public outside of certain festivals (tame lions are kept here), private spaces only Odonii and temple staff can enter (the Odonii's quarters and bathrooms, a dining hall, library), and ritually private spaces that only Odonii can enter (an inner shrine reserved for internal cult practice that is forbidden knowledge for non-Odonii)
-Odonii-attendants are high ranking servants to the priesthood. They start out as child servants given to the order by their fathers who perform most of the basic labor (this is a very attractive position to poor families in particular, as the family is paid until the child comes of age, and the child themself can acquire a degree of security and potential for class mobility that is otherwise difficult to attain). Those who choose to remain with the order upon adulthood (they have no choice in the matter beforehand due to children being under full legal jurisdiction of their fathers) may eventually graduate into attendant positions. This is a well paid and esteemed job, with attendants managing most of the practical logistics of maintaining a temple and interfacing with the public.
Servants to Odonii are only women and eunuchs. Those considered male are forbidden from this role (which entails entering some ritually private spaces, and sometimes seeing them naked in the course of bathing/being armored, etc) - the Odonii's body is sacrosanct and an analogue to the power and the security of the Wardi nation and God Itself, and the male gaze is considered uniquely dangerous to a metaphysically vulnerable female body and thus to be fundamentally violating of this sacred state.
-Outside of certain festivals and rituals, Odonii only perform blessings for royalty, soldiers, and pregnant women. Odonii also bless soldiers' weapons and armor.
-Amenchalme is the basic material used in public rites for blessing and purification. The finished product is a paste that is daubed on the body to give blessings, and consecrates animals/humans for sacrifice. It is exclusively produced by Odonii, but used in a broad variety of contexts.
-'Nameless' in the context of 'nameless bastard daughter' means not having a family name - ie an orphan of unknown parentage, or not being claimed by one's father, and therefore not having access to and the protection of the family as the foundational social unit in Wardi society. Namelessness itself is stigmatized, and its implications invariably entail ostracization and lowered status. Faiza saying 'whore's nameless bastard daughter' is her conjuring up like, the lowest possible status Wardi citizen she can imagine.
-The six dances are the core weapons-dances used in rites and for combat training, centered around the key weapons techniques- spear, sword, handgun, musket, spear and shield, sword and shield. Bow dances are still practiced by most soldiers (given that firearms are limited enough in access to have not fully replaced them) but are no longer part of the Odonii's core retinue.
-Faiza privately ascribes to a niche quasi-atheist strain of Wardi philosophy that posits that God fully died during creation and can no longer directly affect the world, and thus does not believe that the majority of rites her Entire Life is built on performing have any intrinsic divinely sourced effects. She is very good at not letting any of this slip, but tends to frame the benefits of rites around their practical effects (ie- soldiers who believe they are protected by God fight more bravely).
Her emphasis on the importance of amenchalme as is partly rooted in sincere conviction that all* (*Imperial Wardi citizen) people should receive the practical benefits of the state's religion regardless of class and she finds the ubiquity of the substance to be an equalizer, and partly because she absolutely believes in bad luck, ghosts, and evil spirits, and amenchalme protects people from those.
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"Eager for a niece or nephew already?" Daenys asked, corners of her mouth lifting. One day, she hoped for many nieces and nephews to surround herself with if she truly did end up a spinster. If so, she was comforted with the fact that she had only brothers, thus would have all their wives be moved to Dragonstone or the Red Keep to allow everyone to be close together.
"Indeed. It's been a while since Winterfell's keep has been graced with younglings."
Daenys almost snorted at the strange name for children but kept it to herself in hopes of not offending him. Northerners and their strange vocabulary. "I quite agree, it is rather quiet in the Great Keep."
Is it too soon to say that I hope the little footsteps and giggles that fill the walls of Winterfell are Daenys' babies with Cregan? Despite his initial mistrust and reservations, Cregan begins to fall in love with the princess so subtly that he doesn't even seem to realise it. It's one thing to worry about the daughter of the heir to the throne being well cared for and safe while she's under your responsibility in your house, but it's quite another to comb her hair and teach her how to hunt and fight. I mean Cregan first turned away when the princess washed her hair, but then braided it (I say that at that moment the idea occurred to him and he was grateful to have had an annoying sister in childhood). Apparently Cregan was jealous that Seamus had saved her before him. Cregan has taught her to hunt and fight because he cares about her. Cregan has deliberately looked at her legs, plus he sleeps next to her (I say that when they slept Cregan felt the softness of the princess's hair and thought again to braid it just to touch it freely, besides looking at her freely). Now Cregan is very worried about what Seamus is going to do to her now that he has taken her away from him.
The same goes for the princess, she seemed very worried because she thought she always ruins things when she talks to Cregan (because of the death talk). Plus she was too worried that if she hadn't got the Targaryen genes he might never have paid attention to her and would have mistaken her for any lady from any other House. It is no accident that she thought that when she previously compared Cregan to a prince. It seems a subtle hint of romantic feelings on her part.
Was it casual when you braided my hair and asked how I want my funeral rites to be????
Yes! I'm glad you noticed the transition between him respectfully looking away and then offering to DO her hair for her when he noticed how much she hated doing it every morning.
Neither of them even seem to notice, but theyre both being consumed entirely by the thought of the other, even imagining life before them is a distant memory by now.
Little Dragon-Wolf 'pups' or 'hatchlings' are what I think they might call their kids. I was just thinking of making a drabble about wolf pack behavior and comparing that to their future dynamics 😌
She has spent her adolescence thinking her only interactions with kids will be with her nieces and nephews, not her own children. She's in for a world of surprise there.
Imagine the thoughts that Daenys has running through her mind currently, and when she was alone with him in the woods once again. This giant beast of a man looking at you spitefully, telling you that you only need to be alive and nothing else. Cregan knows the mind of a man and has sent countless to the Wall for their crimes against women. Alone for hours on dragonback, where not even your dragon, who is seen as a God to the smallfolk, can help you.
I think the Starks are quite like royalty in their own way. They govern and dictate themselves. They are entirely ignored by the Crown until they need fighters for wars that don't involve the North one bit.
Unfortunately, even after marriage Cregan would not officially be called a Prince. Like Ser Laenor and Lady Laena who married the Prince and Princess and never changed titles.
Also, that makes me wonder about the canon events in the book. If everyone but Aegon and Viserys is gone, Daenys would be the heir as the eldest child of Rhaenyras. After their eventual marriage, would Cregan leave Winterfell to be King Consort, or would they be doomed to live the rest of their lives apart spare from occasional visits to the other. It's a tempting angsty end, one that Daenys would probably not be able to cope with alone.
I hope everyone is content with how the romance is progressing, I feel as if it is fast-paced but I know I can't wait forever for the romance aspect lol
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Greek Temple Complex Reveals Thousands of Votive Figurines
Archaeologists excavating a hilltop sanctuary on the Aegean Sea island of Kythnos have discovered “countless” pottery offerings left by ancient worshippers over the centuries, Greece’s Culture Ministry said Wednesday.
A ministry statement said the finds from work this year included more than 2,000 intact or almost complete clay figurines, mostly of women and children but also some of male actors, as well as of tortoises, lions, pigs and birds.
Several ceremonial pottery vessels that were unearthed are linked with the worship of Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture, and her daughter Persephone, to whom the excavated sanctuary complex was dedicated.
The seaside site of Vryokastro on Kythnos was the ancient capital of the island, inhabited without break between the 12th century B.C. and the 7th A.D., when it was abandoned for a stronger position during a period of pirate raids.
The artifacts came from the scant ruins of the two small temples, a long building close by that may have served as a temple storeroom and a nearby pit where older offerings were buried to make space for new ones. The sanctuary was in use for about a thousand years, starting from the 7th century B.C.
The excavation by Greece’s University of Thessaly and the Culture Ministry also found luxury pottery imported from other parts of Greece, ornate lamps and fragments of ritual vases used in the worship of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, an ancient Athens suburb.
It is unclear to what extent the site on Kythnos was associated with Eleusis — one of the most important religious centers in ancient Greece, where the goddesses were worshipped during secret rites that were only open to initiates forbidden to speak of what they saw. The sanctuary at Eleusis is known to have owned land on the island.
Kythnos, in the Cyclades island group, was first inhabited about 10,000 years ago. Its copper deposits were mined from the 3rd millennium B.C., and in Roman times it was a place of political exile.
The excavations are set to continue through 2025.
#Greek Temple Complex Reveals Thousands of Votive Figurines#island of kythnos#pottery#pottery offerings#ancient artifacts#archeology#archeolgst#history#history news#ancient history#ancient culture#ancient civilizations#ancient greece#greek history#greek art#long reads
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I am just rereading The Horus Heresy. And in False Gods, the emphasis is placed on the fact that the healing (= transition to Chaos) of Horus occurred in the temple of the snake (there is also a snake eye on his armor). So here are quotes from the same book:
"Other pictures showed vases with gigantic snakes winding over suns, moons and stars, while still more showed snakes appearing below growing plants or coiled above the bellies of pregnant women."
"Yes, in ancient times, men believed that the serpent's ability to shed its skin and thus renew its youth made it privy to the secrets of death and rebirth. They saw the moon, waxing and waning, as the celestial body capable of diis same ability, and of course, the lunar cycle has long associations with the life-creating rhythm of the female."
'In early rites of initiation where the aspirant was seen to die and be reborn, the moon was the goddess mother and the serpent the divine father."
And there was also a prophecy written there about Horus:
"I am Horus, forged of the Oldest Gods, I am he who gave way to Khaos I am that great destroyer of all. I am he who did what seemed good to him, And set doom in the palace of my will. Mine is the fate of those who move along This serpentine path."
Now imagine Horus ordering Erebus to perform a snake (moon) ritual so that his beloved could bear him a child… I imagined it. I liked it.
Thank you, Kyril Sindermann, for all this knowledge. I use it in writing the smut.
Horus will do fucking ANYTHING to get an actual child.
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Just wanted to point out my little grain of rice about your response to lottimiqo's analysis, don't really have to post my ask btw but since I can't comment on the og post I'm just gonna point it out here.
About Denji being the one who who started the kiss... I just can't see it that way.
Simply because Denji never, but NEVER touches the women who have touched him back. Not even for a rush of hormones.
Unless he haves complete and explicit permission to do so, he goes for it. Case we have only seen with (rip<"3) Power.
(sorry the pages aren't in order.)
The other times Denji haves "made" contact with those women, he just never touched or tried anything back.
Makima #1
Immediately backs off after she guides his hand on him.
Himeno #2
Again, he may accepts but he just doesn't start anything back. Doesn't even take his own clothes off, Himeno does. (I didn't download the page of her taking his shirt off.)
Fumiko #3
Once again, taking this one as the closest case to him and Yoru on #167. In terms of situation mostly,,,
He keeps his hands for himself.
He accepts, he asks if they should do it now. But does he jump into action?
The fact that Denji is looking at "Asa" in that moment just makes me doubt more he would start anything. He likes Asa, that's why I just don't think he would dare to kiss without "her" stating it explicitly. But "she" doesn't. Yoru just leans in again after, from my perspective, he backs off.
Anyways sorry if I'm not that clear or didn't explain it well but I hope the examples give a view of my point. 😿
Love your posts loulou! 🫶🏼
You're right to point all this out, it's very relevant and makes chapter 167 all the more coherent. But there's also something important to ask: why? Why does Denji never seem to take the initiative?
I think it's because he was subconsciously afraid. But not afraid just to take a step with a girl. Fear of disappointment (and trauma)
You were right to mention Power at the very beginning, because it actually starts a vicious circle. There's always the moment when Denji wonders if he's finally going to get what he wants, and it turns out in the worst possible way.
Denji experiences his first disappointment with Power, realizing in the same way that touching breasts doesn't produce the effect he'd so dreamed of. Questioning his way to happiness. Makima takes over, subtly picking up on this search for happiness in getting close to a girl, to manipulate him. In the long term. In a more insidious way that prevents Denji from realizing that things aren't going his way.
Himeno is a transmitter of trauma. She's drunkenly kissed all the new recruits - it's like a rite of passage. Trauma is the vomit it literally regurgitates down the throats of new generations. Denji lost his "innocence" too at this point, unconsciously realizing that he was the object of consolation from failing adults.
Reze kissed Denji, cutting off his tongue. In fact, she had no particular reason to do so. In fact, by cutting out his tongue, she is expressing her desire to silence Denji. For it is through their discussions that they realize their similarities, and therefore the risk of empathizing with him. Cutting out his tongue allows her to make him suffer as her mission requires.
I've talked a lot here about Fumiko. Fumiko is the symbol of all this unconscious sexual trauma for Denji, openly manipulative, adapting to Denji's reactions, giving him the impression that he's the great hero in control, promising to do him good, to protect him, while dreaming of making him a collector's item.
In short, if Denji didn't react, it was also because he had unconsciously understood from a purely physical point of view that these were not the right circumstances, the right context. The accumulation of all these experiences has also pushed him to withdraw into himself, while continuing to hope. Because Denji hasn't yet really experienced what he's been longing for, the bits and pieces of experience have given him a bitter taste for sex. But since it's his only hope, he clings to it.
That's why I think we'll know when we're in the right circumstances when Denji reacts with his hands. Embracing another is a sign of trust. It's always the others who have done it, never him, on his own.
#csm 167#chainsaw man#csm#csm part 2#denji#csm spoilers#ask#asa#asa mitaka#yoru#makima#power#himeno#fumiko mifune#reze#thank youuuuu for your support !!!#♥️♥️♥️
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Dionysos Loves His Mom(s), a very long essay
Going to just preface this by saying that I may/may not have gone a bit overboard, but I hope everyone enjoys reading my rambles on how amazing it is that we still have this message even through to day, how important this is for our understanding of Dionysos, and also just a little bit of (what I hope will come across as) Semele appreciation :) Also, I did write this during finals week, so if it seems rambly, please bear with me ;-;
And for clarification, I'll be referring to Semele with capitalized pronouns because even though She was human, mythologically, while carrying Dionysos, She was also deified by Him after He brought Her up from the Underworld.
The first interesting thing is that we get our description of Dionysos, as well as the love he shows for His Mother, in Greek mythology. While myths are usually pretty good resources for understanding the Gods, they are also usually written by the people who are in power at the time - which would be specifically older men who were not slaves. Because of this, a lot of myths tend to trend towards the "male" perspective of the Athenians. Also because of this, women are frequently represented in a very negative light, or at least as being relatively unimportant.
There are no Gods who have quite a relationship with Their Mothers like Dionysos has of His. Some of the Gods technically have no mother, like Aphrodite and Athena, and others just... don't seem to have much of a relationship at all. And this isn't necessarily to say that the Gods that we worship don't love Their Mothers, but more that the popular attitude of Greek society was simply to push women off to the side, and let the men take the glory.
And then, strangely, we have Dionysos, He Who Takes No Shit When It Comes to Women, as well as Him Who Has Two Moms. He's already something of an anti-Athena in Greek mythology, for while She was born of Zeus's head, and Metis was a sort of mother-base, Dionysos was born of two mothers, and from Zeus, in a way that echoes an intimate, "maternal" sort of birth, instead of the detached birth of Athena. And we know full well that Dionysos did not forget about either of His first two mothers. Persephone and Him famously get along well enough that they shared a rite in the form of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and it is to Persephone that initiates go, telling Her that the Bakkhic One Himself has freed us!
And we haven't even touched on Semele! It's one thing to have a divine Mother to welcome us to the afterlife. It's another thing to have a once-human-become-Goddess Mother in the form of Semele-Thyone. And Dionysos loves Her as well, very much so as well! Even though He never met Her as a child, He still very clearly has a lot of love for Her. At the start of the Bacchae, when Dionysos first arrives in Thebes, you will notice that one of the very first things He mentions in His monologue is that His mother is being disrespected by King Pentheus, and that this disrespect is part of the reason why He has driven the women of the city mad, as well as the sisters of Semele, who also were disrespecting Her.
This loyalty is only further emphasized by the fact that even though Semele is dead at the time of the Bacchae (and obviously after it as well, as the myth of Dionysos traveling to the underworld is an entirely separate story). And yet we must once again emphasize that this was written in a time where mothers were so often thrown under the bus (or horse-drawn chariot), and all of these myths were notably written by men, as far as we know. It seems that there is an inherent thread which ties Dionysos to the world of women, or at least has Him incredibly sympathetic to it, and one which could not be broken with all of the hyper-patriarchal nonsense that was woven deep into the cultural fabric of ancient Greece, especially Athens.
And to finish this fun little rant off, I want to offer two significantly longer ideas than the initial thing that I wrote! One for reflection on how we relate to Dionysos (and how He relates to us), and another as a reflection on Semele-Thyone and how She relates to us, and how we should relate to Her.
To start, this sympathy that Dionysos shows with women does, in some ways, hits culturally closer to a sisterhood than to the way that a man would have been encouraged to act towards women in ancient Greece. Dionysos as God understands His band of madwomen's own self-worth, and does not question their autonomy. Instead, he seems to encourage it, especially with all of the sassing he gives Pentheus while being grilled by him. This is such a good thing for all of us. Not only is Dionysos a friend of humanity, but He is specifically a friend for the marginalized. Whoever finds themselves marginalized in society will be His "favorites", so to speak, because that is where He truly finds His followers. It's almost as if He naturally finds where there is a power imbalance, and jumps on the other side to even things out, even if it is a little bit. I also think that this same "purposeful marginalization" is something which adds further theological credence to Dionysos being also validly a trans woman and nonbinary, as He does not sit within a patriarchal "Him"-ness, but rather within a "Him"-ness that refers to a more equal world.
Moving on to Semele-Thyone, we have a wonderful ally in a divine woman, sympathetic to humans, who knows full well not only the sufferings of humanity, and the pain in disrespect, but also the importance of kindness and respect towards others. In Greek mythological and religious canon, Semele-Thyone became the Goddess of the Bacchic revel, which, if you really think about it, isn't just about the Bacchic revel (it's never "just about the Bacchic revels"). This also tells us that Thyone, like Her Son, is also a God of the marginalized. Like Dionysos, She oversees the safety and wellbeing of the community which Her Son has founded. In some way, Thyone has become a Mom to all of us, through Her assistance with the divine inspiration that strikes frenzied devotees. It's a caring thing, too!
Anyways, the long and short of this is - Dionysos loves His Mom, Semele-Thyone is an incredibly underrated Goddess, and Mother's Day was yesterday. So hug your mom if you've got a good relationship with her, and if not, we can all borrow Dionysos' Mom :)
#finally graduated and i can start thinking about Other Things again#for the most part though it's just the Horrors#if anyone is particularly close to Hestia or Hermes#some prayers for me would be very much appreciated ;-;#dionysian#dionysos#dionysus#hellenic polytheism#hellenic polytheist#dionysos deity#dionysus deity#hellenic pagan#hellenic gods#hellenism#helpol#semele#thyone
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Roman Goddess Bona Dea “The Good Goddess” Indigenous goddess to Italy/Rome.
Her names/Titles:
Fauna
Feminae Dea (The Women’s Goddess)
Laudanda Dea (the Goddess that must be praised)
Sancta (The Holy One)
Damia (this name may have been derived from Demeter)
Her attributes are:
Chasity
Fertility
Healing
Women
Protector of the State
Nature
Her Symbols:
Jar of Wine
Snakes
Lions
Wreath of Vines
Sceptre
Cornucopia
This not well known goddess was worshipped traditionally by only women especially Roman women. Men were forbidden to perform her sacred rites. Women who were initiated into her cult were to perform sacred rites during the night, drinking strong wine and offering blood sacrifices. It is said by women worshipping Bona Dea, the goddess reveals her true name to her. By performing these sacred rites to Bona Dea the women are breaking social norms and laws typically these rites were traditionally and lawfully only performed by men, women weren’t permitted to drink strong wine nor perform during the night (unless under formal circumstances and permission) it is said women couldn’t even performed any sacred rites unless if she was a priestess, her cults were usually led by Vestal Virgins or her own sacred priestess called Damiatrix (Sacerdos Bonae Deae). From all social classes she is worshipped. She is also linked to Terra, Cybele, Ops, Ceres, and Demeter (Damia possibly). However she is most often called Fauna, who is the wife, sister, and daughter of the God Faunus, who is a nature God his female counterpart. Fauna is a nature goddess and also can prophesied women’s fates. Bona Dea had two annual festivals held at her temple at Aventine Hill.
#hellenic polytheism#paganism#hellenic pagan#witchcraft#hellenic community#roman paganism#roman goddess#hellenic worship#helpol#italian traditions#italian folk magic
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Rare BG3 char x OC F/F fic recs
Sooo, @mikuchan made this post on gender stats in bg3 fandom (Which is very cool, not very surprising and you should check it out)
Along with other info in the post, there's a page that lists number of x oc fics for every character who has any. So, I looked through the tags, picked 5 medium-short fics and I present them to you.
Venomous - Kagha/Tav, M, warning for character death (but neither of the women), check this out if your enjoy evil Tavs and ambitious women.
Lilith investigates Kagha with the intent of finding knowledge to use against her. Yet the more she learns, the more intrigued she becomes, until she settles upon her own method of dealing with the druid.
"Love? Hah. Never heard of it." - Derryth Bonecloak/Tav, T, FLUFF, check this out if you think that Derryth deserves good things and wanted to play an eladrin in bg3
Derryth wasn't quite sure what to expect when leaving her presumed-dead husband in the Underdark. Adopting a dubiously named cat? Sure, maybe. But finding love again? That one was a stretch.
Gale's Mom Has Got It Going On - Morena Dekarios/Tav, M, humour, Gale POV, check this out if you want a giggle and believe that Morena is a milf, actually. (A lot of this is Gale going mad over other guys in camp flirting with his mom)
Gale has his hands full trying to keep his two comrades from hitting on his mother. Unfortunately, Astarion and Wyll are relentless. He ends up leaving her in the care of the one person at camp he thinks will keep her safe: Octavia, the Paladin of Tyr. Surely, the honorable paladin only has the purest of intentions with her, right? ...Right?
Of Spots and Scales - Quil Grootslang/Dark Urge, T, modern AU, quite fluffy for a durge-being-durge story. Check this out if you just excitedly thought "There's Quil fic??"
Quil knows she is an optimist. She also knows a lot of people find her annoying, or say other words about her. Bright and cheery. Sweet and naive. Diabetes-inducing. Very loud. The last one is totally fair because throatsinging is hard to do quietly, ignoring the fact that doing so ruins the whole point of it. There are some people that appreciate Quil for who she is though. But then, there is Rae. The silver dragonborn knows that, rationally, their whole thing would not make sense. However, Quil knows for a fact that emotions are not constrained by petty rationality. She has tried her best to express that in written song lyrics, though her efforts are not yet bearing full fruit. She just needs to survive until they do.
The Flood's Guiding Hand - Allandra Grey/OC (not really Tav), E, smut, SM, check this out if you like a bit of worldbuilding with your smut and you like dwarves.
Sanna is a would-be priestess of Umberlee and a runaway dwarf who has no love for her people's traditions. She is initiated into the Flood Tide's inner circle, but before the rite is complete she must undergo a very particular ritual. Written for Femslash February 2024 for the prompt "Rain."
#bg3#bg3 kagha#derryth bonecloak#quil grootslang#allandra grey#morena dekarios#fic rec#femslash fic rec#bg3 fanfiction#rec list#baldur's gate 3#rarepair
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Holidays of Demeter
This is based off of a mixture of historical evidence and personal experience. The dates, as always with holidays of this nature, are subject to change based off lunar cycles and personal ability. These are the dates I have chosen to celebrate; I follow a solar calendar to keep the dates consistent year-to-year and make it easier for my work schedule and future family.
All of these holidays will eventually be getting their own posts! This is condescend information.
.🌾.
Skirophoria June 10th & 11th
This was a major agricultural festival where the agricultural deities, such as Demeter, Poseidon, Dionysus, Persephone and Helios, were thanked and given seasonal offerings. Some celebratory activities include feasting on honey, cheeses, grains, fruits, and wine. Abstinence also was practiced on these days.
Eleusinia August 18th
This holiday is in honor and thanks to Demeter for the grains she provides. In history games were played in celebration as well as offerings to Demeter. There is more information here, as I only recently learned about this holiday.
Genesia August 31st
This holiday honors the dead and ancestors. The offerings went towards your ancestors, with activities such as telling their stories, looking at memorabilia of them, and visiting graves. I personally also like to pray to chthonic deities such as Demeter, Hades, and Persephone asking them to continue to protect the souls of my ancestors.
Eleusinian Mysteries September 10th thru 20th (pick your own days to celebrate)
In antiquity, this was the initiations for the Eleusinian Mysteries cult, which promised a blessed afterlife for its initiates. I like to celebrate this as a time for Demeter, Persephone, and Triptolemos. This year I will be performing a personal oath during this time, with inspiration from the initiation rites that we have uncovered. Some ways to celebrate include reading the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, a ritual bath, fasting during the day, and giving offerings to Demeter, Persephone, and Triptolemos.
Thesmophoria October 12th, 13th, 14th
This festival is in honor of Demeter, allowing women to celebrate freely. Chasity and abstinence were practiced during this festival, and in antiquity it included pig sacrifices; both of these actions showing ritual purity. This can be celebrated with abstinence, cakes baked into phallic shapes, and singing hymns.
Haloa December 19th
This was another agricultural festival in honor of Demeter, Poseidon, and Dionysus. Celebrations include offerings to the deities, thanking them for our crops and meals, drinking wine and feasting, and baking cakes shaped as phallic symbols.
#demeter#hellenic deities#hellenic pagan#hellenic polytheism#hellenic polythiest#hellenic worship#information#temples post#worship#holiday#persephone#poseidon#triptolemos#dionysus#helios#hades
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I’m sorry. I try not to be rude about people’s ships because well you have fun with what you like and I’m totally okay with that. But the discourse about the Blood Rite and Hybern camp is hilarious.
Of course Cassian was freaking out knowing his mate was in the BR. A completely normal reaction when you have strong feelings/a bond with someone. Did Azriel? No. Was he still furious at the mention that the women he is training are in harms way? Of course??? Contrary to popular believe, Azriel actually exhibits way more protectiveness over the females in his life than any other character in ACOTAR:
Mor - Eris calls her a slut and he literally almost chokes him to death. Always protective of her in Court of Nightmares and around Eris.
Feyre - be careful how you speak about my High Lady. Helps her with flying and other moments.
Nesta - He brought her back from the mask and comforted her in CC3. Was never mean to her in any of the books even when the rest of IC was.
Elain - Hybern, when everyone (including her sisters and mate) thought she was crazy. There’s more.
His mother - Nesta makes a comment about how Az probably has a bad mom and he gets mad.
These are off the top of my head.
I feel like people forget that Az… does not like Illyrians. He literally said in ACOFAS:
“A pointless week of bloodshed” pg 25
“The Illyrians are pieces of shit” pg 67
If it truly came down to it, I’m sure that Azriel would at least argue to break their rules. Just like Cassian did. But Cassian still cares about the Illyrians. Azriel really doesn’t.
The involvement of Nesta and Gwyn is the Blood Rite is not as significant as Emerie’s!!!!!! Emerie is an Illyrian woman. She is the ONLY Illyrian woman to ever win the Rite. THAT is the biggest plot point of the event. Yes, Gwyn and Nesta participating builds on their healing journeys and the Valkyrie, but Emerie winning the Rite initiates what SJM laid out in ACOFAS. Where Cassian and Emerie first met. The layout for a change in Illyrians and the Illyrian women actually training as warriors.
If anyone is going to “fix” the Illyrians, it will be Emerie. Not Gwyn or Nesta. Emerie, the ILLYRIAN women. And Cassian would be who helps potentially. Because he actually cares about the Illyrians regardless of his history. He is the General. Of course he cares.
Now in terms of the rescue of Elain in Hybern, as many have already said, this was a massive risk. Cassian said "We'll get her back", but moved to comfort Nesta. Not only did Az actually notice Elain wasn’t there, but he also specifically said “I'M getting her back” twice (with rage if I might add) even after Nesta specifically said “then you will die”. Az, Feyre and Elain could have died in this rescue attempt too.
What was the point of this kidnapping if not to show he saves her? Tamlin redemption for giving Feyre the wind to fly? Jurian helping Feyre enter the camp? For Feyre to fly? Like maybe but the biggest point was Azriel going to save Elain. Tbh we kind of needed Feyre there to narrate lol. “You came for me” which Feyre says is what she saw in her dream of what the cauldron even lured Elain in by. That Grayson had come for her. He didn’t, it was Azriel.
Do I think if there weren’t the rules for the Rite that Cassian and Azriel would have went to save them? Of course they would have. But they weren’t meant to rescue them.
This was the big moment in all of the healing journeys for the Valkryie. For Emerie, becoming the first Illyrian women to win it. For Gwyn, leaving the library and becoming a true warrior. For Nesta, holding the line and protecting the people she loves like she hasn’t been able to before. THAT is the purpose of the Blood Rite. Not determining if there’s some couples involved. We already know the couple involved. It’s Nessian.
We seriously need to stop diminishing massive moments in the female characters journeys to ships.
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non-Raphael (almost) prompts : Choose One
TW: SOME ARE DARK AND CONTAIN NON-CON.
New Money, Old Money. You are marrying Rugan, who is filthy rich with new money. You're having a tasteful gown/underwear made specially for the wedding by Raphael, a highly sought-after tailor. You assume he's not interested in women and try to ignore the way his increasingly intimate touches turn you on.
My Work (To Do You) Is Not Yet Done. Enver Gortash, Managing Partner at Bane Capital. A. Durge, Chief Investment Officer at Bhaalckrock, Inc. Both high powered, ruthless executives at competing private equity firms. If they were to ever be witnessed meeting, they could be arrested for violating the Antitrust act. They meet in secret to collude on business matters and bedroom matters.
Kill Switch. Bellar picks up a girl in a tavern thinking she's a sub. Once they get into the bedroom tho things take a turn and he realizes he actually enjoys getting dommed.
You Bet Your Ass (No Seriously You Did). Zhentarim Tav makes a bet with Rugan. The stakes were jokey - that the winner could fuck the loser in the arse. She loses the bet and they laugh the whole thing off as a joke. Later, Tav is on nightwatch and Rugan comes to find her...
Banite Rites. Rugan and Gortash initiate a new Banite Tav into their ranks. Gortash is the bad guy, Rugan is the good guy. Little does Tav know they are both bad guys.
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