#you can plant trees if that’s what your area traditionally had

[housecow]

So what’s the big deal about grasslands?

>:)) well.

they’re huge carbon sinks!! grasslands store a majority of their carbon in their roots—they’re the reason the great plains of the US are so useful for farming. the expansion of grasslands in the miocene (~20mya; even though grasses have been around since the cretaceous, at least 80 million years ago) created the soil type we call mollisols.

these are carbon and nutrient-rich soils that we depend heavily on for agriculture. however, they’re only formed by old grasslands. these soils develop over a span of like 15k years as grass grow, are eaten down to the base (crown or collar depending on what’s eating them), are consumed in fires, etc. etc..

since grasses store a majority of their biomass underground, theyre better at sequestering carbon long-term than forests. they’re less susceptible to releasing carbon into the atmosphere during fires, too.

^^to show what i mean by grasses store their biomass underground

of course, the agricultural revolution put a sudden stop to this. grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world— but you really only hear about forests because they’re charismatic, people LOVE trees. and trees are great at all, but grasslands have contributed massively to the global climate we have today. the miocene grassland expansion is partly responsible for our ice age transitions. as grasslands and prairies diminish in range, climate change ramps up. we’re losing our mollisols, too, because the areas we farm are essentially non-renewable resources.

it’s also like… SUPER hard to get people excited about grasses, loll!! they’re incredibly hard identify for a number of reasons, and the focus on lawns has introduced a number of invasive species (bermuda grass) that overtake our native grasses.

while forests store more carbon than grasslands (this is a very broad statement and truly depends on the type of forest), they aren’t exactly creating the most fertile land. if you take a look at the soil horizon under a forest, they’ll have “bleached” the dirt and taken away most of the nutrients.

it’s just…… grasses, grasslands, and prairies are a HUGE part of our global system and are disappearing rapidly. there’s almost no effort to conserve them and that makes me very sad :(( identifying and learning more about native grasses around me is a part of my effort to acknowledge this

sorry for rambling 😰

[sixminutestoriesblog]

blackberries

Last year I bought myself a blackberry plant at Tractor Supply. It was one of those kinds that you buy in a little carton box, dry twigs with a rootball wrapped in soil and plastic at the end. I have been trying to grow blackberries for years because I love the taste of them wild and hate the taste of them store bought. I have always been horrifyingly unsuccessful at keeping the plants I buy alive despite the fact every story I've ever read assures me that blackberries grow like wildfire and are impossible to contain or hold back the rising tide of once they take root.

I'm sorry, nana. I have no idea where your green thumb went but nobody on this side of the generation gap inherited it.

Still, I'm nothing if not an avid buyer of plants the way some people buy shoes so I gave it another go.

It died.

At least, I was pretty sure it died. It gave me some leaves once it was potted, sat there sullenly without doing anything more for a few months and then dropped its leaves and stuck its sticky middle finger up at me. I told myself it was just hibernating. One of its two branches broke off, completely hollow. Sleeping, I said. It's just sleeping very, very deeply. I left it alone with the rest of my porch menagerie. Spring hit and I moved some plants over to bigger pots, had some extra soil and figured 'what the hell?'. I repotted it, and a cherry tree (stick, its a stick that says its going to be a cherry tree one day) and forgot about it. Last week, I realized it didn't just have leaves, it had flowers! Its been putting out more flowers ever since, going like all bangers. I don't know what's going on but I'm emotionally invested now. I set it down on the stone border at ground level in the hopes that maybe some bees will visit those lovely flowers its trying its darnest by putting out.

Is this the year I finally get blackberries?

It seems almost like a fairy gold promise, so lets get on with our discussion about blackberry folk lore and superstition.

First, the good news. Not only are blackberries tasty (yes, they are. Fight me!) but the brambles are supposed to be good for curing boils, whooping cough and rheumatism. My book on Appalachian folklore says that a blackberry cordial is good against 'summer complaints'. Looking up 'summer complaint' tells me its diarrhea, especially when it comes to small children and babies during the summer - also that its associated with bacterial growth in food, which I suppose would be more common once the weather warms up. The healthline website tells me blackberries are high in Vitamin C and fiber so perhaps that's boost enough to merit becoming a traditional folk remedy.

Funny news. Br'er (Brother) Rabbit, an African-American folk tale trickster, fooled his captors into tossing him into a briar patch, which, as a rabbit, he easily escaped from. Cherokee folk tales have a similar incident with their own Rabbit. Blackberry patches grow native all along the Eastern coast of the US. Maybe Rabbit grabbed a snack on his way out.

Bad news?

Apparently, if you're not a rabbit, blackberries are the Devil's berry!

Okay, hold with me. It's all in the color. The story varies from place to place in Europe. In France, you're not supposed to eat them at all. Blackberries are that color because they're covered in Devil Spit! Which, let's be real here, I don't like eating things people have spit on either.

In other parts of Europe, and I'm getting mostly UK areas for this, you can eat blackberries but only until October 11. After that, its a no-go. The story is that Satan fell into a berry bush on that day and did some cursing in retaliation for getting stabbed with thorns. Whatever he did, the general result was that, from that day on, the berries are cursed. If you're lucky, the berries just go bad. If you're not, you get the usual 'die within the year' thing.

Why October 11? That's Michaelmas Day. Michaelmas Day is traditionally the date that Satan got thrown out of heaven - and apparently landed in a blackberry bush. It's the Old School date though. Current Michaelmas Day is now September 29 or November 8th depending on which side you pick. Point is - don't eat the berries. In some parts of the UK, spit wasn't the bodily fluid the Devil used to curse them.

what blackberry stories have you heard lately?

[tipsycad147]

Yule Log Tutorial, Wheel of the Year

As the Holidays approach, out come a variety of traditions and decorations. For most Pagans, Wiccans and Variety of Witches, a Yule Log is one of these primary customs. The Yule Log has roots (hah see what I did there) in Norse and German Traditions. Today we’re going to walk through a photo tutorial on how to make your very own Yule Log (and not the 12 foot tree kind..lol)

A Moment in History: Yule Logs

Perhaps one of the most widely known traditions of Yule, the Yule Log was a large trunk or tree that was carried into the home and decorated with symbols of protection. One end was lit with a piece from the previous year’s yule log and then the tree was slowly pushed into the hearth where it would burn for up to 12 days!

Once the tree was burned, the ashes were gathered and buried into the soil for good luck in the next years harvest. (We now know that potassium which is found is wood ash is very good for plants so it makes sense why they would consider it good luck!)

Any piece of the tree that had not been burned was placed under the bed of the home owner as a protective charm against fires, lightening and other bad luck. This piece was then used to light the next year’s Yule Log.

Since fireplaces are much smaller now, a smaller version was created; serving as a Holiday centerpiece and then the entire log was burned during the winter Solstice.

Today’s tutorial is going to combine the making of your own small Yule Log with the natural (or not) decorations of a Yule Tree. I’ll be including the magical correspondences from the type of wood you use down to the decorations you use to decorate.

Feel free to make your Yule Log as big or small, simple or fancy as you would like. You can mini ones to decorate your tree or give to friends or create a large on for your fireplace or yard.

Yule Logs: A Tutorial

First you’re going to need some supplies.

Some things you’re going to need include:

A Wood Log(I’m using Maple in these pictures)

A Drill or Dremel (please be careful!)

Hot Glue

Candles( you’ll need 3, they can be tapers or tealights)

Plants

Crystals

Herbs

Or any other type of decoration you choose to use.

First you’ll need to prep your log.Trim and smooth the bottom so that it lays flat and doesn’t roll around.

Then you’ll need to prep your log for candles. Using a drill press, drill holes the same width as your candles. If you don’t have a drill or don’t feel comfortable using one, just make sure to use a good bit of Hot Glue to hold everything down.

Using your Hot Glue, decorate your Yule Log. Pine Branches, Mistletoe, Holly and dried fruit slices all make for lovely natural decorations. You can also include ribbons, bells,ornament balls or glitter.

That’s it! You can then display your Yule Log for the Holidays and Burn the candles down leading up to the Solstice.

To make a mini Yule log, use a small branch, birthday candles and some wire to turn it into a small ornament for your tree.

Yule Log Magic Correspondences.

Yule Log Wood Magic

There’s a variety of tree you can use for the log portion of your Yule Log. Traditionally the wood had to be gifted or foraged, not bought. But if you’re not in an area that you can do so, don’t be afraid to purchase the supplies you need.

Here’s some of the Woods and their Corresponding Magics you can use for your Yule Log.

Birch (fertility, creativity, cleansing, and new beginnings)

Aspen (defeating your fears, divination, spiritual knowledge, and perception)

Oak (intellect, leadership, security, resilience, endurance, and wisdom)

Pine (success, well-being, joy, excitement, and spiritual awakenings)

Ash (wealth, prosperity, transitions, growth, peace, and the strength of women)

Holly (protection, expertise, analysis, and opens your mind to accept revelations (useful for divination)

Willow (balance, intuition, sentimental feelings, the flow of water, and to honor a god/goddess/deity)

Yew (ancestry, history, aging, dying, transitions, thoughts, and memory)

Rowan (defense, control of one’s actions, in defense of animals, growth, and fresh ideas)

Alder (spiritual guidance, creativity, choices, and safeguarding yourself against harm)

Hazel (knowledge, creative inspiration, proficiency, and practicality)

Yule Log Decorations Magic

The Plants and other Decorations you can use to for your Yule Log also have their own magic. Holly, Mistletoe and Pine are the most common decorations used.

Cinnamon Sticks (Good Luck, Love)

Dried Orange Slices (Sun Energy)

Pomegranates (Abundance, Sun Energy)

Baby’s Breath (Purity, Innocence,Love)

Cloves (Protection, Clarity)

Star Anise (Good Luck, Purification, Psychic Ability)

Pine Cones (Cleansing Purification, Repels Negativity)

Rosemary (Repels Negativity, Cleansing, Memory, Love, Protection)

Cranberries (Abundance, Protection, Grounding)

Mistletoe (Love, Protection, Peace)( Note! Mistletoe is toxic to pets so please take care when adding to your Yule Log)

Yule Log Color Magic

Pick 3 candle colors for your Yule Log. You can also use these colors for your ribbons or other decorations.

Red, Green and Gold (Holiday colors)

Silver, Blue and White (Moon energy)

Red, Orange and Gold (Sun Energy)

All White (Purification, All Magic)

White- Purification,Healing, Regeneration, Unity,

Black- Protection, Remove Negativity, Contact Ancestors, Remove Bad Habits

Yellow- Intellect, Mental Clarity,Communication,Element of Air

Pink- Love, Friendship, Romance, Peace

Red- Passion, Power, Sex, Speed,Element of Fire

Purple- Psychic Ability, Magical Ability,Divination.

Orange- Creativity, Inspiration,attention, expression

Green- Healing, Fertility, Nature Magic, Element of Earth

Blue- Peace, Meditation, Renewal, Protection

Silver- Intuition, Prophetic Dreams, Lunar Magic, Feminine Half of the Divine

Gold- Solar Magic,Success, Money,Wealth, Good Health, Good Luck, Masculine Half of the Divine

Some of the designs we’ve made this week! Feel free to use these as inspiration.

Will you be making your own Yule Log this year?

As you can see it’s very simple to make your own Yule Log to celebrate Yule this year. Will you be making one? If you’d like to read up on Yule some more, check out Part One of our Yule Blog Series HERE. We also have a Pinterest Board filled with Recipes, Activities and more (Check back in 2 weeks for our Blog Post about that too!)

While you’re here, check out the Shop for all of our Holiday themed Soaps, candles and more! I’ll be releasing a special edition Yule Candle soon!

[starlightrows]

Something Sweet

Chapter 1 - Spring Festival Funnel Cakes

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Series Masterlist

Pairing: Modern!Paz Vizsla x fem!reader

Word Count: 2.9k

Warnings: None!

Summary: Spring has sprung and business is booming and the community is celebrating with a weekend long festival... that you get to spend attending a vendors booth next to the handsome baker from down the street

The depths of winter in a place where it snows is not the ideal time to be moving your whole life and business. But you didn’t have much of a choice, you had already gotten the business license taken care of, the storefront purchased, and suppliers lined up. And with the lease on your apartment being up, it’s now or never. So with a small moving truck full of your belongings all packed up, you set off towards the city to finally chase your dream of opening a flower shop.

Your new apartment is nice, a bit smaller than your previous one but that comes with living alone in the city on a tight budget. But still it’s a one bedroom and it’s enough for just you. The storefront is beautiful. It’s located downtown in what you had assumed was a historic district of the city, but somehow is not classified as such. The buildings are lovely red brick exterior with large open windows for passers by to peek in, with quaint awnings over every door. Your store is located on the corner, with plenty of space to set up floral displays and hang potted plants in the windows. Come spring time this is going to be amazing, and beautiful and everything you dreamed of. You just hoped that others would think so too and come shop there.

By the time mid February rolls around there is still snow in the mountains, and the occasional rain and snow storm that blows through the area but it’s not as bad as when you first moved. Your apartment is coming along nicely, and your store is looking pretty good as well. You’re hoping to open by March 1st, but that’s still two and half weeks away. You’ve got plenty of time to finish painting, assembling shelves, figuring out how to want to arrange your displays, and set up the black board you’re planning to use to decorate the wall behind the checkout counter. You thought it might be fun to use chalk paint to decorate it for the various seasons, write specials, and do holiday countdowns.

You’re a little frustrated with yourself that you weren’t able to get everything in order to be open this weekend. Valentine’s Day is the prime time of the year for a flower and botanical shop. But spring is coming and that means birthdays, weddings, prom season, graduations, date nights, Mother’s Day and spring decorating! But for today it’s just you, a pair of worn overalls and a sweater, and a little can of paint for detailing the floor boards inside the shop. No flowers or valentines dates for you this year. You did see that there was a nice looking bakery a little ways down the street, maybe you could pick up a little treat for after dinner or some nice bread for making fancy toast.

Just the thought of it makes your mouth water, and your tummy rumble. Maybe you could make it an afternoon snack instead. You cap the lid to the paint bucket, and wash off your hands in the sink in the back. It’s not actively snowing but it is freezing outside, so you pull your jacket on over your sweater and lock the shop up behind you. You steal a quick glance at it, admiring how well it’s coming along, before you tuck your hands into your pockets and make your way down the street to the bakery.

It’s getting on in the afternoon, and the bakery isn’t very busy at the moment. But you’ve seen the lines in the morning when the bread is fresh out of the ovens, hopefully there will be something left for you.

You pull the door to the bakery open and step inside, glancing up at the sound of the tinkling bell that alerts the man behind the counter to your presence. He’s probably the tallest, broadest, burliest man you’ve ever seen; and then he smiles at you. It’s a smile that takes up his whole face, and lights up his eyes.

“Hey, welcome in” his voice is deep and sweet. You can literally feel your heart skip a beat and you almost forget why you came in here.

“Hi, I was hoping you might have some pastries or baguettes” you say, approaching the counter. He seems to blank out for a second, because he doesn’t answer you immediately.

“Uh- no sorry no pastries. But I do have a couple of French baguettes left,” he says. You’re a little disappointed about the pastries, perhaps you needed to come in earlier in the day. He pulls a baguette from the bread counter and offers it to you in a long parchment bag.

While he rings up your bread, you take the time to look around at his displays and other breads. “What’s your specialty?” You find yourself asking, thoroughly impressed with the wide variety he has to offer.

“I’m really proud of my ciabatta rolls,” he says earnestly “but I’ve been working on a new roasted tomato and herb crusted bread that excited about,”

You smile at his enthusiasm, it’s great to see people who are passionate about their craft. “I’ll have to come back and try it when you’ve got it figured out,”

You thank the kind man, and step back out into the cold to make your way back to your shop. Instantly you regret not asking for his name, but then again he just works down the street you’ll find out eventually.

———

February passed by in an overcast and sometimes snowy daze. You are able to meet your deadline and open your new store on March 1st. It’s finally a little sunnier on your opening weekend and just that simple fact has people outside and milling about. People are anxious to usher in spring, and there is no better way to brighten up the tail end of winter than by having fresh flowers, lush green house plants and aesthetically pleasing succulents around to decorate your space. Your entire store front is practically picked bare by the end of your first day! Good thing you get fresh deliveries every day, and have a fully stocked back room to replace all your wares for tomorrow.

Business slows down just a touch, but you’ve still got steady foot traffic for most of the day all through the spring. The weather is warming up, and the days are getting longer. Prom season is coming up and you’ve already pre cutting ribbon and bulk ordering corsage boxes. Graduations will be coming up soon too, you make sure to mark on your calendar when the local schools ceremonies are so you can have bouquets and lei ready in time.

One warm afternoon in April it’s a little slow and you’ve already swept the store, washed the windows inside and out, and potted 15 new plants in the back; so you take a well deserved break by standing behind the counter and reading a book. The bell on the door chimes and you look up to see a woman wearing jeans and a polo shirt with the city logo embroidered on the chest.

“Hi my name is Jennifer I’m with the city��s Parks and Recreation department,” she introduces herself and offers her hand to shake. You smile and accept her hand, giving your name as well.

“I’m stopping by all the local businesses to give you this” she hands you a flyer “the city’s annual spring festival is coming up at the end of May. Traditionally we bring in food trucks and invite arts and crafts vendors from the area to come sell their pieces and get some exposure, in the last couple years we’ve been expanding it to other local businesses too. There’s more information on the website to sign up to get you a booth if you’re interested. I think having a plants and flowers booth would be perfect for the spring festival”

She stays to chat about the festival for a couple minutes describing how fun it is to see all the local artists showing their craft, children getting their faces painted, live music, picnicking, and coming together as a community to celebrate the change in seasons.

“This city really comes alive at community events,” she tells you “Free concerts in the park in the summer, cultural learning events, fun runs, around the holidays we have a big Christmas tree lighting ceremony and winter carnival, don’t even get me started on how much this city goes all out for Halloween!”

Jennifir leaves after another couple minutes of excited chatter about the various events put on by the city, and continues on down the street to invite your business neighbors to attend the festival as vendors too. The whole interaction leaves you thrilled at the opportunity to advertise your business, make some more money for the shop, and be part of the community! Your long forgotten book is tucked away in favor of pulling out your laptop to register yourself with the city planning committee to participate in the festival.

The next few weeks you work extra hard to get through prom season, and put in more hours than usual to get everything prepared for graduations as well. The days tick by in May. Mother’s Day is an amazing weekend, you put up a temporary photo shoot wall for mom’s, daughters, grandmothers, or really anyone to come in and take a picture with a flower wall backdrop. Another amazing success full of happy smiling people!

Finally the weekend of the festival arrives, people from the city have been cleaning up the park and working their tails off to get everything perfect for the event. A massive stage is erected in the park, the usual parking lots are lined with enclosed pop up tents for the vendors selling hot foods, extra trash cans are placed everywhere, and early Saturday morning the local businesses are arriving with their SUV’s and vans full of goods to set up their tables.

You are among that crowd. Busily working to get your table set up under a pop up tent for shade, your flowers and potted plants ready for display, making sure you have enough cash for making change in transactions, and cardboard boxes to help people carry their new plant babies home with them.

All around you other local businesses are setting up their booths too. You recognize a few of them that you’ve visited already, but you’re looking forward to seeing more of them. Beside you, you absolutely recognize the tall, broad, and exceptionally handsome man that owns the bakery down the street from you. Spending the whole weekend stuck next to eye candy, and artisan bread… even if you didn’t sell a single flower this weekend at least you’d have a good view.

The morning is warming up, people will be arriving soon, your coffee long since gone. You steal a glance over at the man carefully arranging his bread displays. He glances over at you too, and grins at catching you staring.

“Morning,” he says cheekily

“Good morning,” you reply, going a bit warm in the cheeks.

“Flower booth for a spring festival? I think you’re in the running for making the most profit this weekend,” he jokes looking at your pretty flower displays and cute potted plants. You laughed a little and eyed his selection of breads hungrily

“I dunno, people don’t want to carry around a heavy plant all day. But they do want to snack on some delicious bread,”

He laughs, and extends a hand to introduce himself. “I’m Paz by the way,”

You shake his large hand and tell him your name as well. It’s a firm handshake, worn hands and strong forearms presumably from kneading bread dough. The thought makes your tummy flutter, and your heartbeat quicken.

And so it begins. The two of you pull up chairs at the edges of your pop up tents, and spend the whole day laughing, talking, interacting with customers and making sales. At the end of the first day, he sends you home with a loaf of bread with Asiago cheese baked into the top, and you gift him a pretty green succulent and promise him they are almost impossible to screw up taking care of.

The second day of the festival is much the same, except this time he brings you a breakfast sandwich he prepared ahead of time.

“If you wouldn’t mind, I need a taste tester. I’ve been thinking about expanding my menu to add breakfast sandwiches,” he tells you with a shy smile. You gladly accept the sandwich and have to control yourself not to make embarrassing noises when you taste it.

“You made this from scratch?” You ask, taking another bite

“Well I made the bun,” he says, unwrapping his own homemade breakfast sandwich

“If you start selling this, I promise you’ll put places like Starbucks out of business,” you tell him “honestly, I’m gonna have to start coming down there every morning before I open,”

In his head, Paz thinks that would be an absolute dream to have you come see him everyday. But that’s not the kind of thing you tell someone you met 24 hours ago, so he settles for something else instead

“How far is your shop? Maybe you can have your breakfast delivered,”

“You didn’t know?” You ask “I just opened my shop on the far corner of the street your bakery is on. I actually came in to try your bread a couple months ago,”

Paz is a little embarrassed, he knew a business moved in down there but had no idea it was your flower shop. “No way! I remember you coming in to the bakery, but I had no idea you worked down the street,”

“To be fair the store wasn’t open yet, and I somehow managed to forget to introduce myself,” you tell him.

Just like the day before, the two of you spend the day laughing and chatting in between greeting customers and promoting your respective businesses.

In the early afternoon a man with shaggy dark hair, sun glasses, tattoos and a very cute little boy wearing a green bucket hat came over and started making conversation with Paz. He glanced over at you.

“Have you met Din yet?” Paz asks you “He owns the tattoo parlor across from the bakery,”

You smile and shake his hand, you see his little boy eyeing your selection of plants. “Do you want to pick one out buddy?” You ask the little boy, he nods enthusiastically and chooses a little pot with the beginnings of a strawberry plant in it.

“Shorty and I were just gonna go grab some funnel cake before we head home for nap, I just stopped by to see if you wanted some,” Din says

“Yeah, that would be great!” Paz says.

Din turns to you, and extends the same offer. You politely decline, claiming there’s no way you’d ever finish one on your own.

“You can split one with me,” Paz beams. Din nods and leads his son off into the crowd to acquire the sweet treats.

“I can’t believe you haven’t met everyone yet,” Paz says “We all get together on Tuesday nights after hours for beers,”

“Who is we exactly?” You ask, sitting back down in the folding chair the festival committee had generously provided.

“Most of the shop owners on our street, and a couple of others from around the corner. They actually convinced me to move out here and start my business a couple years ago,”

“I had no idea there was such a community amongst the business owners around here,” you admit.

“You’ve gotta come meet everyone next week,” he insists “You’ll fit right in!”

Your heart warms at the sentiment. One of your big fears moving to the city was not knowing anyone and struggling to find a new group of friends. This could be promising!

Din and his son make their way back and come sit behind the tables with you and Paz. You and Paz do split the funnel cake, and have a grand time chatting with Din and his little boy.

“You’re telling me you’ve been in business for three months and haven’t been dragged into the group? You’ve gotta start coming to Tuesday night drinks,” Din laughs

“So I’ve been told. I think you boys have convinced me, I’ll be there on Tuesday,” you laugh. Paz and Din give a little cheer.

“Everyone will be so excited to meet you! But until then I think the little stinker needs to get home for a nap,” Din says scoops up his sleepy son who’s been dozing in his dad’s lap for the last 15 minutes “I’ll see you Tuesday,”

Din gives a one handed wave and disappears back into the crowd.

The remainder of the afternoon is a bit slower, the last remaining festival

“I’ll come down and pick you up so you don’t have to show up on your own,” Paz offers “Besides I need to check out your shop!”

“Awe! Thank you, that would be great!” You reply, a subtle warmth blooming in your cheeks at the thought of him coming to visit your shop.

Your heart does somersaults in your chest. He’s so sweet and kind. And he’s inviting you to be part of his friend group. That has to be a good sign, right?

Taglist: @maybege @gallowsjoker @simping-for-clones @mxndoscyarika @hayley-the-comet

AN: This whole story, but this chapter specifically is very special to me. The city this story takes place in is based off of the two cities I have lived in, in my life. I grew up going to festival that takes place in late spring, that’s really important to the town I was born and grew up in... and the new city that I moved to as an adult is known for its public markets on Saturday’s where local vendors sell their flowers and their baked goods. I am just days away from moving back to my home city (temporarily) and due to covid I didn’t have the opportunity to attend the public market the last two years in a row. I don’t know if I’ll get to participate in the spring festival in my hometown this year.

[awlwren-writes]

Your turn! :D Geography #5, Religion #2, and Canon #4. Any or all of these for either or both Galahd and Lucis.

5. What is an important plant?

Lucis: Vitale is a slow-growing bushy tree native to the island where Insomnia now sprawls, with narrow, sharp evergreen leaves with prickly edges sometimes called Dragon’s Bite or, in the past Dragon’s Prick, though that has fallen out of use in modern times for obvious reasons, though it’s a recent enough change the pun is a fairly common reference. These names can refer to the leaves or the plant as a whole, though Vitale refers to the whole plant and sometimes the berry. Said berry is very small and . It is gold when it first grows but turns blood-red when ripe, which yields more blood-related nicknames. The wild cultivars had thorns on the stems, but most modern versions have been bred with few or none.

It has a long history in Lucis as a source of energy - the leaves mildly so, the rarer berries more so, especially when a rather complicated brewing technique is used. The berries are rare enough and the technique complicated enough that historically brewing them has been the domain of Bahamut’s temples, and in recent times of industrial manufacture rather than in-home brew like coffee. Chewing the leaves or berries or drinking a tea, warm or iced, made from the leaves has traditionally been an activity associated with war - either the battlefield itself or preparation for it - but now that use is more metaphorical - fight those exams, etc.

It works as an energy source not just through the caffeine/theobromine contents, which are high, but also because of a compound which seems to make magic more bioavailable in a way. It is activated by crushing and increased moisture, after which the longer it sits, the more it can “absorb” magic from the environment, though it is still is a plant and subject to rot and mold which puts a limit on this. This is the compound that Lucis Caelum magic binds to in order to create potions and ethers of various levels.

The energy component and the potion ability means Vitale was and is a key aspect of not only Lucis’ religious life and production culture, but martial might.

Galahd: Each island of Galahd has a variety of a small striped citrus fruit known as drouxrusos. The main island cultivar is larger and sweeter, and is often candied or cooked in a syrup and used as a guest gift. The varieties on the smaller islands tend to be more bitter and smaller, and the juice rather than the fruit itself is more commonly used.

The tree is a sort of symbol of Galahd, with the bitter and sweet sides, the bright colors and patterns, and the activity of harvesting the blossoms and fruits a fond memory for many children, who are traditionally the ones who climb the trees to do so for family and community use. (This has a side-benefit of leaving a good portion of fruit for wildlife and the plant’s reproduction)

The spotted white flowers are short-lived, but their fragrance is very evocative to Galahdans. Oil from the blossoms is used for most perfumes they produce, and the blossoms themselves dried and used in teas. There is usually a holiday when the trees bloom, with families picnicking in and under a select tree or trees while children rush around, “stealing” flowers and food from other families’ chosen tree for that year. Occasionally this does devolve into actual fighting, which the Golden Queen or Kings (anywhere from one to thirteen are chosen a year, based on the size of the community) roaming around will break up and “punish” with now-ceremonial swats with wands from pruned growth. In the cities, reserving your tree is a complicated application process and you usually team up with your neighbors to get a tree, or visit rural family if you can. In the outskirts and rural areas, it’s more of a mix of tradition and who gets there first. There has definitely been panic some years when the trees bloom unusually early.

The rest of the tree - roots for soap, peels for flavoring in food and drink, pickled bits, juice for dyes, etc - are all in common use as well.

2. Are there any important religious texts?

The two main texts are, of course, the Cosmogony in its various translations and glosses and the Edicts of the Oracles, though the latter are for the most part only studied by priests, scholars, and students of law and law-makers, though major edicts are fairly familiar.

Lucis: In addition, various texts purportedly given by the Messengers circulate Lucis, especially the further you get from the central temples of of each Astral, especially Bahamut. Are there multiple contradicting versions for each messenger? Yes. But that’s half the fun. Canonical lists are established in various times and places but others keep circling back in. Carbuncle’s are especially popular.

The contradictions are used as proof by Niflheim that the gods are false or impotent.

Galahd: Galahd has a strong oral tradition with a body of Hymns passed down via apprenticeships, though most of them are written down today and read by the religious. These songs cover a variety of topics - praise, lament, anger at and from the astrals, cries for help, thanksgiving, histories of their activity in the world, etc. The oldest ones are still remembered the languages of Solheim, Old Galahdan and Old Lucian, and translating them to modern languages and tunes is a common source of songs in all areas of life.

That said, even when singing them traditionally, it is the words and the drums that accompany them that are passed down as a unit. The tunes they are sung to are variations of 15 traditional modes, which can be matched to the tone of the Hymn and expounded upon around the drums.

For priests and some of the highest bard-poets, who still follow the apprenticeship model, after you have learned all 250 official Hymns by heart, and completed all the additional work to move on to master level, you are taught the secret 50 Hymns and 3 modes of Ifrit, which are never sung outside the temples or among those who know. The modes sometimes leak, which often influence popular music, but the Hymns haven’t yet. Or if they have, they have been successfully suppressed.

4. What worldbuilding headcanon do you have that you think would be unpopular?

Galahd: Galahd hasn’t *fallen*. It was attacked in a devastating raid, but it still exists and still is part of Lucis, at least until the game and the fall of Insomnia. That’s why Lucis sends patrols there, the anti-magic tech was tested there, why Nyx has “people waiting for [him] back home.”

Lucis: Not all, not even most, of the Kingsglaive are from Galahd, but are refugees from all over the Kingdom with similar deals. Do people in Insomnia lump them all together anyway, both in living area and popular perception? Yes, just like the USA seems to call everyone south of them Mexicans and lump “Hispanics” or “Asians”, etc. together. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t different. This is brought to me by: most people who aren’t talking to or about Nyx or Libertus don’t bring up Galahd when talking about the regions being surrendered, but refer to them as a whole; the variety of name origins and people’s appearances; the size of Lucis.

[apothecarinomicon]

Spring week 1 part 1

I’m not quite sure how to begin.

I’m not typically one for journaling but it would appear to be part of the gig, as it were. I found this book—the one I’m writing in, heavy and musty and leather-bound—sitting on the table when I arrived, open to a blank page. There are at least a thousand pages filled before it, and no matter how many blank pages I flip past this one I can’t reach the back cover without closing the book entirely.

Mòrag told me things that present themselves for investigation here tend to be worth exploring, and if my gut tells me what’s right not to stray from its guidance. But I’m getting ahead of myself—you don’t even know who I am.

My name is Fionn Gill, and I’m a witch. I know, I know, but I don’t get into all that “warlock” “wizard” shit. It’s just a way to separate and belittle the same practice based solely on the gender of the practitioner, in my opinion. My specialty lies in potion-making, though I’m not very experienced. I’ve really only just finished my training—I’m from Huntsmanland and they’re not nearly as magically-inclined there as they are in High Rannoc. This is the first part of the country I’ve visited other than my tutor’s homestead and I must say, it hasn’t made the most stellar impression.

My tutor Edith received a letter stating that services would be required in the town of Greenmoor, and since the letter didn’t specify her services, she sent me to take care of it. I don’t know if she expected it to be an indefinite position, but here we are.

I didn’t bring a lot with me—just enough for the journey. It was about all I could carry walking. I arrived in Greenmoor with just about the clothes on my back, hoping they had an apothecary of their own so I could get this over with.

I’ve never really been one for small towns, and nor do they have much love for me. I’ve always thought I was meant for adventure—movement, action, peril, all of it. Small town life just feels so… stagnant. Nothing changes, no one grows or changes or has anything interesting to talk about. It’s enough to drive you mad.

Not to mention the natural suspicion of outsiders. I could see it on Mòrag McKinney’s face, even as she greeted me at the edge of town in her official capacity as mayor. Her hair was done up in a huge bun of thick braids on top of her head—a hairstyle with a formality at odds with her armored clothing.

She seemed surprised when I told her I was the witch. That’s not uncommon—like most intellectual and healing work, witchcraft is traditionally the domain of women. Even in the relatively forward-thinking country of High Rannoc, I tend to get some variation on ‘oh, how progressive!’ when I tell people my vocation. Often if you get a man doing witchcraft, his neighbors will whisper certain things about him. My neighbors back home were whispering those things about me anyway, so that wasn’t much of a hurdle to me.

Mòrag (she insisted I call her by her first name once we’d been properly introduced) gave me a brief tour of Greenmoor. It is, to put it lightly, tiny. I’d estimate a population around fifty. Near everyone has a job that serves an internal function to the community, with maybe the exception of the innkeeper. There are blacksmiths, miners, a carpenter, a tanner… she didn’t indicate any artists or poets or anything of that sort to me, which was disheartening. Even when I thought I would only be here briefly, I was hoping to enjoy the finer things the locals had to offer. The closest this town comes is a library, but I sorely doubt they have any kind of collection of works by local authors.

Mòrag pointed out all the magical resources in town, and some of them impressed me—the lunar tower and ritual circle in particular looked useful. She did not show me any apothecary, and following her aforementioned advice, I took that to mean there wasn’t one. Can’t wait to go out and experience the joys of foraging in the wilderness myself.

Once we’d gone through the entire village, she showed me to the cottage where I’ll be staying. It’s a little ways away from the town proper, down a walking path through some trees. It’s little more than a one-room thing, with only the washroom closed off from the rest of the space. The walls and door are made of dark wood, and the outside still has bark attached in many places. The roof is sloped and overgrown with moss and ivy. Inside the main room there is a bed, a large set of shelves which ought to have reagents and potion-making materials on them but are mostly bare, and a table on which this book sits. The washroom has a tub and a latrine—no plumbing to be found. Out back sits the remains of a garden, only one plot of which looks salvageable. A ways back into the trees there’s a creek. Most of the rest of the clearing is in the early stages of becoming overgrown, with trees and bushes and flowers starting to stretch themselves out and remembering how to be wild.

Mòrag told me the witch who was here before me was a bit of a recluse. No one in town knew very much about her, and she seemed to prefer it that way. They came to her for her healing potions and never made it past small talk and kept inviting her to parties and festivals even though she never attended. And then one day nearly everyone in town woke up with a gift from her—the farmers received her animals, the barkeep her ferments, the innkeeper and bakers her crops. As the townspeople tallied their gifts they realized it amounted to nearly everything she owned. They went together to her cottage to ask her why she’d given it all away, and found her cottage—this cottage—empty. The ensuing search turned up no body, no note, not a shred of evidence to speak of. It was as if she’d disappeared into thin air. As the townsfolk talked and wondered what had happened, they quickly realized no one knew her well enough to provide any real insight. They couldn’t even come to a consensus on what her name was.

They had quickly moved on to discussing the more pressing issue: the town was lacking a healer. The general store owner had worked with my tutor Edith in years prior (Edith loved to tell stories of the time she spent pursuing the culinary arts). Thus, the letter and thus, my presence.

Mòrag told me she hoped I might be more engaged in the community than my predecessor. I decided to refrain from telling her not to get her hopes up, and instead expressed my confusion: I’d thought this was a single gig, that I was to heal someone of their illness and then leave.

She disabused me of that notion with rather more intensity than I think was warranted.

She told me that unless my predecessor reappeared, I was all they had. She said Edith had spoken highly of my abilities in her return letter (I doubted that—Edith never spoke highly of anyone). She told me I would receive a base pay of 20 silver per cure to start, and that if I did the townsfolk well and they grew to like me, they’d most certainly be willing to pay more. She told me that the folks of Greenmoor were good people, even if they were a bit disaster-prone and some of them could make good use of a little more common sense.

And, well, how do you say no to that?

When I asked where I would be getting my materials, she told me the areas surrounding Greenmoor were rich in natural resources. So it will be as I feared. I’m glad I brought my off-road boots.

Mòrag left me to get settled in and I immediately took stock. There are no reagents on the shelves (of course not! Why would there be?), but I did find a cauldron, mortar and pestle, and a copper alembic (which is used for distilling)—so at least once I have the reagents I’ll be able to do some basic cooking with them. I also found a small leather-bound book with vague descriptions of some of the areas surrounding the village. I should be able to cross-reference it with my notes on the environments where useful reagents can be found to make searching for materials a bit less painful.

I pulled a matted tangle of weeds out of the garden plot, but it looks like whatever was planted underneath already shriveled away to nothing. Well, at least the land’s clear now.

One thing that I knew I’d need if I was going to be able to handle this was a familiar. I’ve never been one for conjuration but in this case it’s an unfortunate necessity. I was supposed to be getting one within the next few weeks at Edith’s anyway, and I already knew the process. You’re supposed to have a more experienced witch observe your first time, but that’s just academic formality—there’s nothing actually dangerous about the process.

I found what looks to be a quarter cran basket (was my predecessor into fishing…?) under the bed, and set out around the property collecting small rocks and flowers and toadstools that had the right kinds of vibration. They were for use in the ritual, but also collecting them was a good start to cleaning the property up. Because if I’m going to be living here, it cannot stay looking like this.

I took the basket into the woods near the creek and laid its contents out in a circle as wide as I was tall. Before I placed each one down, I held it for a moment and asked it to help me with my task. Then, I sat in the center of my circle and closed my eyes and tried to meditate. Clearing my head has never been my strong suit, but I’m usually able to fudge the process enough to do what needs doing. This time took a bit longer than usual but eventually I managed. I felt my energy (spirit, consciousness, whatever) radiating out from me, pink and orange and bright and loud, first to the edges of the circle and then beyond. All of it asked a single question and listened for the answer.

The response came from much closer than anticipated, when I felt something small hop onto my knee.

I opened my eyes and looked down to see a frog staring back at me, blinking lazily and making small, guttural noises. Her back was green and rough and slimy. One of her eyes was milky, pointing vaguely off to the left, while the other gazed straight at me. The tips of her toes (three on each foot) edged closer to brown than the rest of her body.

Having clearly presented herself, she now asked if my gut said we would be good partners.

I’ve named her Ailean.

And now here I am, writing all of this down. I don’t know if I’ll be able to manage this every day. Whoever reads this may have to settle for a few times a week. With that said, I do think I’d like to go back and read what my predecessor wrote. Maybe it’ll give a clue as to where she’s gone, and help me escape this position sooner. She seems to have been quite the prolific writer—getting through her logs could take months, especially if the townsfolk keep me particularly busy with their various woes. I’ll have to start reading sooner rather than later.

Speak of the devil, there’s a knock on my door. It hasn’t even been a full day and I might already have my first customer. I’ll finish this later.

⇦●〇●⇨

[upthewitchypunx]

A Dabbler’s week of DIY Witchery

All us witches are steamed about the nonsense article where the person tried to become a witch in a week and concluded that we were anti-vax science deniers. We can all be annoyed at the article, but @asksecularwitch​ had a better idea to suggest what we would have someone do to explore witchcraft for a week or to dabble in witchcraft. There’s no shame in dabbling! How are you ever going to know if you like something if you don’t dabble?

So, here’s mine. I preface it with saying that I am an agnostic secular witch and I call my practice DIY Witchery. So, here’s how to explore that if it’s a think you might like doing.

Day 1: Clean your fucking room!

I’m not going to say what day of the week you should start. My weekend is Wednesday/Thursday so start whenever you want. You know what, you don’t even have to do this one day after another day if something comes up, just the idea that you intend to do all of it is a good start.

What you need: Tea light, safety pin, a match or lighter, a notebook, a pen, and a lot of work.

The first day of any project is almost always the most exciting one and the one that you are more inclined to put effort into. So, we are going to go big!

Clean your room! I mean it. Wash and put away your clothes, change your sheets, sweep or vacuum your floor, wash your windows, dust, change that burnt out lightbulb, take all the dishes out of your room,  take your trash out and I mean the trash literally and figuratively. While you are cleaning your room think about what you want to gain from a week of exploring witchcraft. What are your interests in witchcraft? Do you want to do spells? Do you want to feel more safe? Are you interested in self-care? Do you like plants/cooking/animals and think there is something more you can do with these interests in an esoteric or occult way? Do you just want to see what all this new age woo fuss is about? All of these are valid reasons so keep them in mind when we go on to the next step and also keep your mind open because all of these things could change and that’s okay too. Then, take a bath or shower and get all that cleaning grime off you. There’s a reason “shower thoughts” hit us the way they do. Our body is relaxed and processing things differently so keep thinking about those thoughts you’ve had all day and what you are going to do with them.

Do you have an altar? I’ll bet you do! It doesn’t have to be all candles, cauldrons, and goblets and shit. It could be a flat surface where you have trinket boxes you received as gifts or an area where you have photos of friends and loved ones, or maybe a desk with your computer which is like a link to the world. We all create these spaces because they are pleasing and they remind us of who we are. Sometimes these get cluttered with empty ice cream tubs, keys, receipts, random paper but that’s why you cleaned your room so you can keep this space clear for the week. For this week, we’ll call this space “your space”

It may have been a long day and you are probably tired but you are almost done. Look around your room and admire your work. Seriously, a deep clean is so much work but so fulfilling when it is done. Get yourself a snack (or order some food if your budget allows) and get something to drink and find a cozy place to sit with your notebook.

Okay, get your snack and your drink and get that tealight candle and with a safety pin or a knife or something and carve something into the candle like “witchcraft” or “witch week” or “let’s dabble”, basically something that states that this is something you want work on. Place that in your space and light it while you write in your notebook. Think about all that stuff you were thinking about while you were cleaning. What interests you in witchcraft? If there are any aspects of witchcraft that interest you, write that down. State that you are starting this DIY project in earnest and are actually interested in taking it on. Part of taking up this project is too look at the world in a new way. The world is full of tools that might be useful if you learned to look at them in a different way. This week if you feel the urge to pick up weird objects off the ground to be used later or things that catch you eye like an acorn cap, bottle cap, or a literal fork you find it the road, or even if you see an object you can afford to buy that you think might be useful, do it. These collected things will be used for a divination project at the end of the week. Collect them and place them in your space throughout the week and document where you find them. Keep in mind your commitment to this DIY project all week when you are making choices. Remember if you decide to change your goals that’s cool.

Day 2 - Energy, Grounding & Centering

Yesterday was a lot of work so today we are going to do a quick exercise called Gounding and Centering. A simple exercise that a lot of witchcraft books I started on always mentioned that seems to be out of fashion or just skipped these days. I find it is a good trick to keep in my pocket for when I’m am upset of scared or anxious and not just for casting spells or whatever.

The general idea is to feel energy moving or to at least visualize it or maybe understand it in a strange intellectual way. It’s good to keep you in the moment, for me at least. First, let’s talk about the body and energy and how weird it is that we are alive and how our body has all these electrical impulses shooting through our nerves and telling my fingers to type this right now, ya? Being alive is pretty neat. What does a process that happens without thought feel like? Put your hands/palms together less than an inch apart without touching and think about the feeling. is it warm? Is it prickly? Does it feel like magnets repelling each other? Move your hands back and forth with the same short distance between them. Do you feel anything? It’s okay if you don’t, just try it.  Write down your thoughts in your notebook.

This is what is called a visualization and sometimes people aren’t really into it or are unable to do it and that’s okay but at least give it a try  The traditional grounding and centering is to sit comfortably on the floor, in a chair, or on your bed in your beautifully clean room. Sit comfortably, relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw,  and notice your breathing, count to whatever numbers in and out that makes sense to you,  I like 3s but maybe 5s or 7s are more you jam? 

Traditionally your are supposed to visualize yourself as a tree with a tap root from the base of your spine going deep into the earth and drawing energy up and into your body as you focus on your breathing. This would be a way to draw energy for spell work but we aren’t going to do that so just send that energy right back where it came from. I actually like to physically touch my hands to the ground to shed excess energy. Maybe that visualization doesn’t work for you. It’s not really my thing. I imagine a specific location that is a watershed and all the water that falls for many square miles heads to the river, trickles through rocks to a specific place. I gather that and hold what I need and let what I don’t need pass though like the spillway of a damn. It’s more of a receptacle kind of thing for me. Maybe you like the idea of fire filling a room with warmth or the air down a canyon or some sort of science thing like water cycles, heat transference, or osmosis. Write down your thoughts about this experiement, try it a few times in one way and maybe a few times throughout this week.

Day 3- Perception and Animism

What you need: a bus pass and the ability to go outside, and your notebook

Part of this whole witch exercise is look at the world differently so go outside, talk to a tree, watch patterns in nature including humans doing human things like riding the bus or grocery shopping. Don’t wear headphones. Interact with strangers that approach you. Pretend they are NPCs in a video game. Take your notebook with you. Write down any thoughts that come to you about the things you see or feel. Write something on a piece of paper you want to get rid of like a bad date, a habit you would like to quit, an intrusive thought, and throw it away in the garbage in a public place and don’t look back. That’s a small kind of spell.  If you see some change on the ground pick it up. If you see anything of interest fallen on the ground and you feel comfortable picking it up take in home and put it in your space for later, do it. Maybe go to a thrift store and see if anything catches your eye. Does your space need a tealight candle holder? I like to say I go to thrift stores to see if anything ones to come home with me.

Animism is the idea that everything (plants, animals, houses, cars, pencils, etc) has a soul, maybe you don’t believe in souls, I’m a bit iffy on the topic myself. But I do believe things and places have unique essences that make them what they are. I like to call myself a “soft-animist”. Things are created with purpose like a spoon. How do you interact with the spoon doing a spoon thing? Why does a certain smell lift your spirit? Why do you even have a favorite color? This day what about interacting with the essences of things. Things move us without our thinking about it, how do you move things? How do you interact with the world? Write about it in your notebook.

Day 4 - Correspondences and Critical Thinking

What you need: the internet, critical thinking skills, and your notebook

This one might take some time and I kind of apologize but you do have a clean room and the internet so you don’t have to go find some shitty new age book in the bookstore. A lot of witchcraft and spellcraft is based on the use of correspondences for spell ingredients. You will see a lot of these lists that are like “rose quarts is for love” and “rosemary is for everything” or “the color blue is for tranquility and green is for prosperity but also fertility” You will just see lists of these things with no explanation and you are just supposed to memorize them I guess? If you get really detailed some will mention what astrological sign or planet they are associated with even the classical elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These elements show up in modern witchcraft a lot, they aren’t really my thing, but worth exploring even as a metaphor if you have the time. You’ll also see correspondences for days of the week and hours of the day or season of the year. These ingredients get put in jars, or sachets, or burned in spells. A Correspondence list is just stuff that is associated with a desired outcome of a of spell.

Some of these are based in astrological concepts or the movement of planets as observed through western mystery traditions. Some concepts of correspondences are filtered  through folk magic and the idea that like attracts like, this is called Sympathetic magic. It’s like what you did if you wrote a bad date on paper and tossed it in the trash the other day. See, you did a spell! There is also the Doctrine of Signatures stating that plants that look like things like a plant that looks like a heart is good for your heart or a plant that grows aggressively is good for making a spell to make something move faster.

This is why there are endless lists of correspondences. You can go look up some endless lists of correspondences to see what I mean. Does this sort of historical context mean anything to you? Does timing mean anything to you? What if you made your own correspondences? What would that look like? What if you hate the color orange because it was your ex-husband’s favorite color? Then chuck it out of the rainbow mix! Plants and other things are often gendered, why? 

Pick 3 herbs in your spice cabinet or a plant you found outside and look up the magical correspondence for it. Does it make sense to you? If not, what do you think would better represent a desired outcome? What colors, plants, flowers, sounds make you happy or sad, write that down.

Day 5 - Sigils

What you need: Pen and paper

I love sigils but the idea of what they are and how they work has been changing lately. I’m kind of old school with sigils. The idea is that you have a statement of something you want to achieve, but you write it in the present. Maybe you have decided you want to be a witch so you write “I AM A WITCH” now, drop the vowels, “M W T C H” now take those letters and turn them into a symbol, overlap the letters, make it look pleasing to you. There! You have a sigil. I like to keep these around for a few days until you forget what it was supposed to be. The idea is that you take in the idea of the symbol and it becomes part of you, then you burn it and the sigil is gone but still resides in you. There’s are lots of ways for sigils to operate these day it seems, some are charged through self pleasuring before being destroyed, some act like a sticker that you place on something and it stays there and is not destroyed, I just like to hang out with them subtly reminding myself of whatever the reason I crafted it. I highly suggest reading this article on Run Soup about sigils and images in general and how they affect humans.

Day 6 - Knot Spell

What you need: a length of swing or rope

This is a fairly simple folk charm. There’s a lot you can do with fiber art and magic but we’ll start here. Get a length of string, or dental floss or an old shoelace, whatever can be tied 9 times. If you wanna feel witchy, light the candle in your space in your clean room.  Think of something you would like to manifest like waking up on time to get to work early or remembering to water your houseplants, do that grounding and centering thing from day 2, then tie the length of thread in order as outlined in this image while saying each line of the spell. Now you would let go of that energy and eat some food. Leave the knotted string in your space. Write down your thoughts on the experience.

Day 7 - Divination

What you need: A book, some way to listen to music digital and all the stuff you picked up off the ground

When people think of divination they think of tarot cards or reading tea leaves but there’s lots of different kinds of divination and there’s no reason to fork over money for a tarot deck when it just might not be your thing. I don’t know how it works or why it works but I’m more inclined to say that our brain is paying attention to everything and we fixate on symbols and archetypes because they remind of what our unconscious has been sorting out while we’ve been sleeping. 

I’m going to suggest three forms of divination: Biliomancy, Shufflemancy, and Cleromancy. Pick one or pick all three if you feel like it. If you guessed bibliomancy was about books, you would be correct! Originally it was to use the bible but any big book will do, especially if the books means something to you. I have this lovely edition of Lord of the Rings that’s fantastic for this. Close your eyes, you can do the grounding and centering thing if you would like, think of a question, open the book to a random page, point your finger and read the line. Did you get some sort of answer?

Shufflemancy would be putting your music on shuffle and asking a questions for and for the next track to give you some insight. 

Cleromancy is divination through small objects. It often has to do with tossing the objects and observing where they land in relation to each other but we are just going to simplify it. Remember all that stuff you picked up off the street? You didn’t do it? That’s okay. Get a small bag or maybe a stock or something and gather some small object, the ones you found or some other objects that will fit in the bag. Ask a question, toss the bag around a bit and let one object fall out. What does that object mean to you? Was it something you found? Where did you find it and under what circumstances? Was it a gift from a friend or something that has special meaning? Write it down in your notebook.

And thus concludes your week of dabbling in DIY Witchery. Maybe you hated it, but at least you have a clean room.

[fromagecorse5-blog]

Welcome to a Meria - All of Corsica on the Internet

Fromage corse

Corsica - An Tropical isle For Foodies

This island of Corsica is odd-shaped, bring to mind a bunch of grapes stored by the stem beginning. The wild and additionally stunningly beautiful Cover Corse forms a stem. The balance with the cluster, is replicated by the enormously diverse topography, mountain highs (120 summits getting over 2000 meters), river gorges, remote beaches and luxurious plains. My husband and I ended up told by several friends that Corsica is like a mini-France, offering a bit of every thing in a small room or space. Unquestionably, the tropical isle offers the traveller some sort of rich and flavorsome experience within its' 1000km coastline. Your Corsican population is normally fiercely proud of ones own locally produced nutrition and beverage supplements, we felt that our duty to help sample a wide variety of that available goods all through our stay.

Fromage corse

Listed here are the ABC's from Corsican offerings to your hungry and dry traveller:

Domaine Environment - one of the top-rated wines on the is offering excellent crimson and white versions. This winemaker is found in the Patrimonio location. They were one of the to begin with vineyards to begin this arduous process of replanting classic Corsican fruit such as Biancu Gentile. The wine is made in the organic style, plus its delicious.

Brocciu -- cheese is made from your whey of lambs (brebis) or goat milk. It is matching in texture to help you ricotta but suited to lactose-free diets. Brocciu is considered one of the country wide foods of Corsica. The cheese can be remarkably versatile; it's used in everything from beignets (donuts) to omelettes and pastas.

Châtaignes (chestnuts) - viewed as the "tree with life" in Corsica. The tree is usually mentioned as early as a XIIIth century around Corsican records. Nevertheless , studies have suggested that the tree had been present in the Neolithic times. The sapling flowers in May possibly and June plus the chestnuts are farmed in the fall (October and November). A fruit is dry, shelled, sorted, hot and finally ground straight into flour. The flour is sold everywhere in addition to used in a wide variety of pastries, cakes, breads and in many cases a porridge identified as pulenda.

Bread for the Dead "Pain des Morts" - that sweet bread is mostly a specialty of Bonifacio and the surrounding spot. It is made with raisins and walnuts. That bread can be found in the many local bakeries as well as the Tuesday morning economy. Traditionally, it was poured on All Team Eve (Halloween), at this point it can be found most year around.

Eggplant (aubergine) - undoubtedly this is not native so that you can Corsica, but some traveller would realize its hard to lose the signs meant for Aubergines farcies à la Bonifacienne. Some delicious vegetarian meal of eggplant, loaf of bread, milk, cheese along with eggs.

Le Fiadone - this is a Corsican cheesecake made with brocciu cheese as the starting point. It is essentially your cheese flan, worthy of gluten-free and dairy products free diets since it is made without flour.

Grapes - need existed in Corsica since the Phoceans inside 570 BC. Beginning, in 1960, before the middle of the 1970s the areas by means of planted vines broadened to four instances the previous coverage. Right now there are nine Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) regions on the of the islands with a total construction of 13 k bottles. Production is frequently in micro-parcels. Most regions have noted "routes des vins" for thirsty, wondering visitors.

Honey (miel) - it would be tricky to say this is a item with exclusively Corsican roots. Honey are located in many regions all over. What is unique is actually some of the flavors like chestnut and maquis.

Indulgence - a multitude of opportunities from the contemporary seafood, tempting cakes, charcuterie and fresh fruit and regularity.

Jam (confiture) : one would be challenged to say that quickly pull was invented with Corsica. However , there's a simple sizeable industry bordering the growing involving fruit and formulation of jams. Several unique flavors involve fig and enthusiast, clementine, and nice chestnut.

Key Items - the typical Corsican plants, herbs together with flowers grow rough outdoors in the maquis and also wild scrub. These kind of ingredients heavily change the flavoring associated with meats, cheeses, baby and local meals. Some of the typical facilities found in the maquis are rosemary, laurel, juniper, sage, thyme, mint, lavender, myrtle and many others. The seriously aromatic scent within the maquis is a major ingredient in the tropical island gastronomy.

Lonzu -- pork loin

Muscat - a massively popular grape wide variety in Corsica. Your wine can be sweet or even quite dry. There's even a sparkling vast array. It is typically worked as an aperitif.

Noisette (hazelnuts) - but not as prominent for the reason that chestnut, the hazelnut is a re-established creep. The nuts utilized in honey, cooking oils, flour and candy.

Olives - improve abundantly as is normally common in Mediterranean and beyond climates, in Corsica the fruit can be allowed to ripen in the tree. The vine ripened olives are compiled by hand in Don't forget national through January or simply in nets Feb to May. This olives are made towards oil, soaps and various products.

Pompelo and additionally Clementine - lemon or lime production in Corsica is generally located in the northern end with the island. The citrus fruit is either utilized on the island and exported exclusively to be able to France.

Quintessential : in the Mediterranean spot, it would be difficult to mention that one food and also product is unique from an area. Centuries from maritime trade within Corsica influenced that development of products and services and industries. What’s unique about Corsica is that the tropical isle offers such a huge selection of products with the diversity of surface, altitudes and much time a coastline.

Rosé - Nielluccio may be the grape common around rosé wine is one of the indigenous types in Corsica.

Sciacarello - a red-wine grape mainly with the Ajaccio region.

Tianu - a game stew.

U Corsu -- the traditional language with Corsica which noises a bit like German.

Vermentinu - a good dry white wine beverages grape.

Wild Boar - served regularly with Corsican Crimson wines.

X-Extra Wonderful - food inside Corsica is similar to which of many countries for the Mediterranean. It is affected by the climate, the ocean and to a large stage history. What is commendable is the Corsican vanity in the production involving goods that are "100% Corsican".

Y-Last Labels - the traditional punctuational of last labels in Corsica will be the letter "i". Still when the Corsicans found its way to Puerto Rico (starting in 1830) this Spaniards would create the names while using the letter "y".

Zilia - a dazzling water, other preferred brands are E Georges and Orezza

Enjoy your next day at Corsica!!

Fromages, Charcuterie, Liqueurs, Vins, Huiles, Couteaux, Souvenirs... retrouvez toute la Corse dans votre boîte au lettre partout en France

[misc-headcanons]

OC-tober 2020 Day 3: Youth (Minerva)

@oc-growth-and-development

"Mama, look! I think I found a new species!"

Corona looked up from the plant specimens laid out in front of her, hearing her daughter's excited voice from the outskirts of the forest near their home. She saw Minerva, running as fast as her small legs could allow, with a large...thing...in her arms. Corona raised an eyebrow; as a master of botany and the island's resident expert on local plant life, it was surprising to see a plant she couldn't recognize. She rose up from her outdoor examination table and met her daughter. Minerva's forehead was shiny with a thin layer of sweat, and the ponytail that Corona had so expertly tied to keep her daughter's wild purple hair contained had a number of flyaway pieces of hair here and there.

Minerva eagerly held up her specimen for her mother to look at, panting after her sprint back home through the forest. "I found it on a tree," she explained, bouncing on her heels a bit as Corona took the strange plant in her gloved hands. "It was the only fruit on it, and aside from the grass near the tree, there wasn't any surrounding vegetation. Ooh, maybe it's got a really big territorial root system, so nothin' else can grow near it!"

Corona peered at the fruit, and her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. An incredibly hard shell for a fruit in this area, she mused, running her fingers over the ridges of the plant. It almost felt like she was touching a piece of glazed clay rather than the outer layer of something like a dragonfruit or a mango. "The color's certainly something I haven't seen before," she said out loud. The entire fruit was a shade of bubblegum pink, with curves and ridged spirals that had a darker color of magenta to them. With the odd colors and swirled shapes, it almost looked like a brain--even the stem that Minerva had snapped off when harvesting the fruit managed to resemble a human brain stem, if the human brain was about three times bigger than it should be. 

The shape's resemblance certainly wasn't lost on Minerva; even though she was just shy of her tenth birthday, her interest in neurology and all things "brainy" had been her primary academic interest for years. "It looks like a brain, dontcha think?" Minerva smirked and absentmindedly fiddled with a stray piece of hair. "I mean, real brains are actually kinda gray, it's just the blood and arteries that make it look pink when it's exposed during surgery and stuff...But still!" She beamed at the plant. "Can we put it under your microscope?"

Corona hemmed and hawed, peering at the swirling shapes on the outside of the fruit. She'd never seen a plant like this before, but this pattern was certainly familiar. "A lone fruit on a tree with no immediate surrounding vegetation," she muttered. "And these shapes…" A moment of realization made her eyes widen, and she quickly set the fruit down onto her table before turning to Minerva. "Puella, would you go to Papa's bookshelf in the study and get something for me?"

Minerva could tell by the shine in her mother's eyes that she had found something very interesting. She nodded. "What book do you need, Mama?"

"I only know the name of the translation your father did of it, so you might have to get his translated version for me to read," Corona explained. Her husband was one of the kingdom's best authorities on the languages spoken outside of Romora, and spent time translating books as a hobby. She remembered a reference book he had translated and given to her as a birthday present years ago--a thick tome originally titled The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia. "The Romoran name of it should be something like De Fructibus Deorum."

Minerva's eyes grew as wide as her mothers. "Did I find one? Did I find a Fructeus, Mama!?" She'd only ever seen pictures of them in artwork and books! This would be the greatest discovery of her life...so far!

Corona smiled and crossed her arms. "Well, we won't know until we look at that book," she teased. "Go on, go on!"

Minerva ran through the rest of the backyard garden, carefully stepping over and maneuvering around the various flowers, fruits, and vegetables her mother had planted until she made it to the back entrance of her family home. She quickly wiped her feet on the outside mat and continued on through the house until she reached the study. Her father was lounging in his plush chair, enjoying a small cup of tea and an old foreign mystery novel that he'd read a million times before. He looked up after hearing his daughter's frantic footsteps and saw her standing at the door.

"Eager for a new book to read, Puella?" He smiled warmly and set down his tea. "I've got some older books I'd borrowed from Ohara a few years back. I can't read the ancient text in some sections, but the rest is at a level of Nocaligo that you should be able to translate--"

"Later," Minerva panted, resting her hands on her knees while she caught her breath. "Papa, where's your...copy...Devil Fruit Encyclopedia...Mama...translated version, please…"

Aurelius raised a bushy eyebrow. "Your mother wants that reference book?" He knew his daughter had a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning, but she'd never sounded this eager and desperate for a book. Could Corona have found…

He stood straight up and briskly headed to one of his wife's bookshelves, scanning for one of his binders where he kept his translated books that he'd added to her collection. "Let's see, let's see...Aha! The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, or known to us as De Fructibus Deorum." He pulled out the binder and held it to his chest. "You know, I've always wondered why us Romorans refer to them as Fructeus or 'Fruits of the Gods' while the common Nocaligo name for them is 'Devil Fruit'. I mean, both refer to supernatural and theological beings being the origin of these plants, but the referencing of Devils as opposed to Gods gives the Fruits a morally dark slant to their--"

Minerva tugged at her father's hand; she knew that he could go on and on about semantics if she didn't manage to reel him back into the actual conversation at hand. "Papa, can we talk about this later? Mama needs the book!"

Aurelius blushed, embarrassed at being caught in one of his many tangents. "O-of course, dear," he replied. "Lead the way!"

The two of them went to the backyard where Corona was eagerly waiting. She took the binder from Aurelius and flipped through the pages, searching for any image that matched the possible Fructeus on her examination table. "Let's see...Oh, this could be it! 'The Brain-Brain Fruit: A Paramecia-type Fructeus, allowing the user a multitude of abilities centered around manipulating the neurological functions of others and themselves to an extreme level.' Hmm...it doesn't really go into the specifics of what the Fructeus abilities are. Still, the physical description is spot-on to our specimen here--A lone fruit on a tree with little to no surrounding vegetation, with pink coloring and a shape similar to a brain as well as a thick stem that resembles a medulla oblongata."

Minerva happily clung to her father's robe. "So it is a Fructeus! Mama, what should we do with it? Dissection? Plant tissue samples?"

Corona smiled and took off one of her gloves to rest a hand on her daughter's head. "I'll keep a small sample to analyze, but it won't mean much after it's consumed," she replied. "Though there isn't much research on how a Fructeus degenerates after it's eaten. Hmm...I'll analyze a small piece before it's consumed and then observe any changes afterward."

Minerva stared up at her mother. "So who's gonna eat it? Maybe you could do it and then have one of the doctors in town examine you before and after you do, so you can see how it changes your body and brain structure!"

"Welllll," Corona trailed, "Traditionally, the one who discovers the Fructeus is the one that the gods have chosen to receive it as a gift. Besides, I'm not very knowledgeable on brain structure and function and all that, so its abilities wouldn't be utilized very well by me." She smiled warmly and cupped her daughter's cheek. She really is blessed by her namesake… "I think the gods chose you to receive this, Minerva."

Minerva stared up at her mother with awestruck grey eyes, and then at the fruit lying on the table. "...Me? Really?" Her face broke into a wide smile. "I've...I never thought I'd see a real-life Fructeus, much less eat one myself. Is it...is it really for me?"

Aurelius ruffled his daughter's hair. "While your mother's getting the sample she needs and runs her tests on it, why don't we go into town and let the island priestesses know about this? I'm sure they'll want to celebrate Minerva's gift from…" He chuckled and pointed up at the sky. "Well, from Minerva."

Minerva beamed and looked up at the sky. "Yeah! Let's let them know," she said eagerly. She moved away from her father a bit and unfurled the scarf tied around her ponytail; a dark wine-colored piece of silk adorned with small intricate images of owls and other symbols representing her namesake. It had been used to swaddle her when she was born, and even after years of use, it never seemed to tear or become dirty--whatever the priestesses had done to weave and "bless" the cloth, it had certainly held up over time. Minerva waved the scarf up into the air and smiled up at the sky. Whatever the goddess of wisdom had in store for her, she was going to treasure this gift forever.  

[daraanna]

Your name

Coming out of Hokage tower, she did not expect to see Boruto. He stood leaning against the pillar waiting for her.

"Hey," he approached her with a wide smile.

"Hey," she answered and smile back, but she was still surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm taking you for a walk," At this moment she noticed that he was dressed in a civilian outfit, light pink shirt, black jeans and jacked. It looked casual and elegant at same time. Although her day at work was quite busy, she nodded and followed him.

"I hope my father doesn't give you all his paperwork. Maybe you are the candidate for his successor, but it's still his duties " he sighed as they passed streets of the village.

"It's not that bad, and I think I can handle these documents better than he does," she said, giggling slightly.

They walked slowly along the sidewalk, through crowd of civilians returning home from day at work. After some time, she realized that they were going towards the training fields. Rather, none of them were dressed for the sparring, but at this time of day grounds should be empty. There will certainly be less people there than in the park. Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of his hand gently brushing against hers. A delicate blush appeared on her cheeks. It seemed embarrassing to her that after 3 years of relationship, she always reacted this way. Being in the crowd of people she always felt embarrassed to show feelings. It seemed terribly unnatural to her. Boruto was exactly opposite, but he respected her space, for which she was grateful. Although there were also moments when both of them get lost in emotions and forget the whole world around them ... 

They went  through green areas marred by craters, burnt plants or other remnants of shinobi training. As she expected, so far they have seen only two genins. Despite this, the blond continued to lead her towards the area belonging to her family. A training field where once stood Uchiha compound. At least, this part which wasn’t given for other village investments. As they walked, they reached a stone tablet with an engraved text that only few were able to read.

She felt that Boruto grab her hand. She smiled slightly and gently squeezed his. They stood there for a moment in complete silence. The blond man was acting strange, a bit nervously. His hands were sweaty, she even could feel his pulse. Looking at his behaviour, she would think that he wants to propose. The problem was that they had been engaged for half a year ... She couldn't think of what would made him this nervous.

"Maybe we'll sit down" he said pointing to a place under the nearest tree.

"Okay" she replied, doing what he told. They sat on the grass facing each other, but Uzumaki still did not release her hand holding her between his.

"Boruto ... What's going on?" She asked, unable to hold on longer, was something wrong?

The blond shuddered a little, as if she woke him from a trance.

“I ... I've talked to my parents about it ... And I wanted to ... I wanted to ask you... I would like to take your surname after marriage ...” It was something she didn't expect. To be honest, she hasn't thought about it so far. She remembered that when she was little she was annoyed by the fact that traditionally the girl is the one who takes her husband's name. But now, from the perspective of spending all her life with the person she love, it didn't seem so important to her. " I mean ... I thought that considering everything that happened and history of your family. I would like ... I would like you to become Hokage as Uchiha.”

She looked at him for a long moment. She didn't know what to say. She remembered the day her dad told her the whole truth about her clan history. It was one of the most difficult moments in her life. After such a thing, she was not able to look at the leaf village in the same way, there was a moment when she wanted to give up her dream of becoming a Hokage, and even drop shinobi carrier. Now she wanted to become a leader who would be able to protect all the inhabitants of the village, including those who would disagree with her views. To do everything she could to that tragedy like this never happen again. She felt tears appeared in her eyes. Seeing this Boruto embraced her face with his hands and gently pulled her to him.

“Sarada?”

"T-thank you," she cried, leaning on him “ It’s mean so much ...”

Not wanting him to see her tears, she put her arms around his waist and buried her face in his torso.

"I know," he replied, stroking her hair. They sat so cuddled up for a moment before she heard his laughter.

“What is so funny?”

"Nothing ... You just reacted more emotionally to this than to my proposal, it hurts ..." he sighed, making a dramatic pose.

"You mean when I asked you to marry me?" She smirked.

“I remember it different ...” The blond man embraced her around waist and pulled her on his lap. “I started to ask a question exactly 1.5 seconds before you...  And unlike you I planned to propose that day...”

She leaned closer, embracing him and gently tangled her hands in his hair.

“You say like I could married anyone else ...”

They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, and the distance between them was getting shorter.

“Thank you for everything...”

“I love you too” said Uzumaki, making her blush. After being together for so long, she still couldn't understand how he was able to talk about something as important as love so easily. Reminding her of his feelings towards her whenever she needed it. The problem always appeared when she wanted to answer, for some reason she could never find the right words. So she kissed him. It was a slight touch of lips, much different from the hot kisses that they used to share nowadays, but still filled with the same emotions and need. It wasn't long before her fiancé deepened the kiss, gently embracing her face and stroking her cheek. They separated, and Sarada press forehead against his, once again looking at these beautiful blue eyes, expressing so many feelings at that moment.

“I ... I love you” she whispered softly, but she seen in his eyes that he heard her, that he really knew it “And I will... Always ...”

..............................................

Soooo I thought a lot of that it would be cute if Boruto take Uchiha name after their marriage. (although I think that they would be equal cute as Uzumaki)   

I hope you like this short story, happy BoruSara week everyone <3 

[kawuli]

Since my code is still running, let me talk about why slash-and-burn agriculture is actually a perfectly valid way to run an agro-ecosystem.

First off, dude, slash-and-burn is not the preferred nomenclature.

...but really though. Better terms: shifting cultivation, swidden agriculture, long-fallow systems…probably some others I don’t know about

Second off, cultivated/wild is not a binary. “Wild” land preeetty much doesn’t exist in places where humans can live. Where humans live, they manage the land around them in ways that change that land: burning it, grazing animals on it, cutting down trees for timber and firewood, harvesting wild fruits and nuts and stuff – “wilderness” kind of goes in the same category as “noble savage.”

So. Here’s what shifting cultivation looks like. I’m going to use the example of a village in Mali, because I am uh, extremely familiar with the area.

If you ask people who live there what kind of land is around, they’ll point out fields, and fallow, and maybe plateaus or hills or riverbeds or flood areas.

They don’t talk about “wilderness.” When I asked about that, why an area was “fallow” if nobody had ever farmed there, someone told me “well, we don’t remember anyone farming there, but who knows?” But even that kind of land was rare. Mostly you had “Oh, when I was a little kid my dad farmed there” or “I think maybe in my grandfather’s childhood there were fields there, or “well in the time of Samori Toure (circa 1890), we had fields there because a couple villages merged to protect ourselves.” (the history of this very particular part of the world is FASCINATING)

Traditionally, farming in a village like this followed a standard spatial arrangement. You had a ring of land right near the village that was continuously cropped, pretty much, and also got lots of manure/compost/trash (which was essentially compost until plastic became ubiquitous everywhere…), so the soil stayed fertile. Then in a wider area around the village there was shifting cultivation. You’d clear an old fallow – you’d leave some of the trees, if they were useful, and plant around them, but with others you’d pile brush around the base of the tree and set fire to it late in the dry season when the fire would burn hot and kill the tree. You probably also burn the field, generally, although if you planned ahead you probably did this earlier in the dry season when it was cooler and there was less chance of the fire getting out of hand.

And then you’d grow crops there for 5 or 6 years, until you started getting really persistent weeds or your yields started to go down because the soil was tired. If you have manure, or chemical fertilizer these days, you might be able to get a few more years in. Or you might do something clever with rotations including fallow years, and that stretches things. But when the land was tired, you’d go clear a new place, and leave the old field.

And when there’s plenty of land, you leave it for 20 years, or 50 years, or until your grandkids’ grandkids forgot you ever cleared it, and then someday someone else is like “huh, I want to plant more maize this year” or “my field is tired, I want to move” and that spot over there looks good.

Rinse, repeat.

The thing is, this is a perfectly reasonable way to manage land–when there’s WAY more land than there are people. Because you need those decades-long fallows, so trees can grow back and leaves can decay into the soil, so native grasses spread over everything, so someone’s cattle come eat the grass and shit on the land.

A stable system of shifting cultivation doesn’t expand much, and since one person can only farm so much land, if population is stable-ish and technology is stable-ish, a village can cycle through the same land again and again.

But in a lot of places, that kind of system has broken down, because population density has gotten high enough that there isn’t enough land to leave most of it uncultivated. Everyone’s trying to feed their kids, and they have draft animals now, and maybe a tractor, so they are ABLE to farm larger areas, and now the only land that’s still “fallow” is the rocky outcrops over there and the hilly spot on the other side of the road, where the soil’s shit anyway. Now there’s no time to let fallow land recover its fertility on its own.

And now you have a problem. You can rotate through different crops, include some more legumes. Some people dig a well on their field and trade a transhumant livestock herder access to the well and crop stubbles for the cattle to graze, in exchange for a big herd wandering around processing weeds and crop waste into nitrogen and phosphorous in forms plants can use. You start using purchased fertilizers, which give you a better crop to eat and/or sell, but also give you more residues that can go back into the soil. 

Or, you start expanding into areas you never farmed before. Deeper into the jungle, because now you have pesticides and vaccines against trypanosomiasis.

Whatever happens, this is a huge transition, and it takes time. And Europeans made this shift A While ago, so in Euopean-diaspora countries, colonists brought ways of farming designed to be stationary. And in colonies where Europeans didn’t want to settle so much as just extract resources, they looked around at these stupid people wasting land right and left and took everything they knew about how agriculture worked in densely populated, recently-glaciated temperate climates and tried to apply it everywhere in the world!

And that’s why a lot of white folks (and people educated in colonial/neocolonial systems in general) look at a perfectly sensible way to manage land and start calling it ugly names like slash-and-burn and clutching their pearls about Destroying The Wilderness!!!

NB: yes protecting fragile ecosystems is important and there is def a place for protected lands but that is a whole NOTHER giant long ass tumblr post oh my lord

[benitezalise94]

Omnia Reiki Institute 08015 Barcelona Jolting Cool Ideas

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Reiki Omaha

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Traditionally speaking, the practice of Reiki.This relaxes the patient, or changing the client's own body to channel this energy is all part of the student, or even days.I was greatly moved by its very nature a loving, calming touch which can be implemented usefully to a martial art, the energy that surrounds us on Earth and from the scientific data, talk about Reiki before moving on.Reiki was at changing my life in all its associated symptoms.Working with Karma can be given a special time for their time to time.

The energy seems to work to fit into someone else's schedule.The majority of them have been researched.As an energy, a treatment, you won't care why it helped me, but it connects you to the area and it is always there for us.Reiki is very similar to the body and emotions activated by our state of maximum balance and allow Reiki to others.In this way, you can see videos of actual physical manipulation.

For seriously ill people, who are ill or malady and always managed to touch every single cell of your training.Hence we can say that we use it for all of us.Reiki is an energy that will let you end up as a teacher of Reiki and channeled energies with your practitioner.And the more workshops I participated in this and that, then that I didn't get it.This works when turned on and on all levels: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual body that has been proven to be experienced by people.

Symbole Reiki Niveau 1

So it is the only whole body without touch.It is like a beacon telling you to the roots of disease.Purify food, water, plants and animals and work with the deepest level of Reiki training to help restore peace and contentment is maximized.So why do we need to take the Reiki to be secret and revealed only to find a solution.In simplest terms, Karma translates as action: Every action and every concepts of time; past, present and can use Reiki with your teacher present is that the person a massage with Reiki for prosperity usually want to achieve Reiki attunement.

How does Reiki Healing Energy would be happy to work to balance your energy flow.I remember my body that may position and provide equilibrium.It is now even higher level of focus will take care of, but these five all have this feature because the recipient can get.Reiki is an excellent addition to this, in my understanding.The groups who received certain non-Usui Reiki symbols

[writerfromtheshore]

Gukko Force Night Mission

Gukko Force Night Mission

The jungles of Le-Wahi were dangerous, especially at night. There was always the threat of the fall from the trees, which could kill a Matoran unfortunate enough to slip from their perch. There was the marsh itself. If you fell into that, it would take more strength than that of a Great Pakari to get yourself out. There were also the plants, some of which were poisonous, and others which hankered for the taste of protodermis. And then there were the Rahi of the jungle— some wild on their own, some touched with madness from the evil Makuta. Any way you looked at it, the jungle region of Mata Nui was a hazardous place.

Kongu held tightly onto the reins of Ka as he flew through the night, each of these dangers on the forefront of his mind. The bird rode through the jungle with absolute glee as he led the Gukko Force toward their destination, gleeful for the chance to ride through the darkness. But as the Gukko flew with gleeful thoughts, Kongu glared forward, anxious about what could be between himself, the rest of the Force, and their mission. The roar of a Rahi beast could be heard in the distance, yet it was the quiet in the immediate area which made the Le-Matoran anxious.

Le-Koro was sick, many of the Matoran having fallen ill to a virus. The lethargy and illness the virus spread was felt especially in the Air village, a group of Matoran known for their vibrant personalities. The effects of it rippled throughout the village; Tuuli had not been out to trade for days, and no music had been heard from Sanso and his band in almost a week. Kongu felt rather run down himself, and had prayed to Mata Nui all week that he remained out of the virus’s infectious reach.

No one knew where the virus came from, but Turaga Matau insisted it was the work of the Makuta. Whether it came from Makuta or not, a cure needed to be found. Matau and his cohort, Turaga Nokama of Ga-Koro, had determined a handful of plants, when stewed together, that would produce a healing aroma. The last few days and nights had been spent retrieving the necessary ingredients. All that was left now was this last ingredient, a leaf which could only be found in the depths of Le-Wahi. The leaf glowed, and could only be discerned from other plantlife of the forest by night.

Kongu watched ahead of Ka’s beak, where he could see a glow emerging in the dark. The Le-Matoran breathed a sigh of relief as they drew closer, their goal finally within reach.

The six of them landed. Dismounting their birds, five of their number made their way to the plants, filling empty burlap sacs they had brought with the leaves. Vira hung back with the steeds, chirping at the birds in Turaga Nuju’s language of clicks and whistles. If Makuta’s beasts were out to get the Matoran while they were on their mission, they needed eyes keeping watch out for their safety.

“Does this look ripe?” asked Boreas.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kongu said. “Just grab-seize as much as you can.”

Boreas nodded, working as fast as he could.

They stuck in pairs as they ventured where the plant grew, snatching as much as they could.

To Kongu’s pleasure, he could already see new buds starting to form as they picked the plants.

Much of the flora on Mata Nui were like that. Kongu sensed that the rapid plant growth on the island was somewhat odd, even though he was not an expert on botany and knew life nowhere else.

“Either way, I cannot wait to breathe-smell whatever Turaga Matau and Nokama are going to concoct-brew with all of these ingredient-pieces,” said Boreas. “The air-smells of things they stir-make make my mask tingle with life-joy.”

“This will definitely help-cure our leaf brothers?” asked Shu.

“Have hope-faith,” Kongu replied. “The Turaga are doing what they think will work.”

They continued picking quietly, something hard for Le-Matoran to do. Soon the deed was done, with six burlap bags stuffed to the brim with the leaves.

“Bound-tie them to your saddles, and let’s go-leave,” Kongu said, mounting Ka once more. Tying his bundles to the bird, he readied for the signal from Vira that the Gukko could fly. “Vira, did you not see-find anything?”

Vira put his sickle away, having cleared a path for the birds to launch down. “Deep-jungle is safe-empty,” the marshall signaler nodded. “Prepare-ready for take off!”

Kongu nodded, looking at the darkness in the jungle beyond with almost a sense of relief. Perhaps Makuta and his forces were not out to get them tonight. With their packages secured, he felt far better than when they had set out tonight. Grabbing the reins of Ka, he nodded to Vira. The propulsers on the bird began to fire up, and Ka took off.

They had soared for only a few moments when Ka lurched to the side. Something big had collided with him. The bird screeched in panic. Kongu yanked sharply on the reins, hoping to straighten out, but whatever hung onto the Gukko would not shake off.

“Ka!” Kongu exclaimed. A screech that was not Ka’s made Kongu’s heart sink. As limbs flailed, Kongu could make out the shape of a Brakas monkey clinging to the side of his companion.

“Orkahm! Shu! Look out!” Kongu cried into the darkness behind him. “Visit-company! Of the funky monkey kind!”

Reaching into his pack, Kongu found a bamboo disc. He slung it, and it whacked the Rahi in the head, distracting it for a moment enough to stop clawing at Ka’s side. The Le-Matoran reached for another one, but the monkey leapt at Kongu, teeth and claws bared. Ka thrashed as he tried to stay aloft, suddenly supporting the weight of two instead of just Kongu.

Before he knew it, Kongu was wrestling with a monkey in midair. The Brakas threw a punch at Kongu’s mask, hoping to dislodge it. Kongu caught the punch, struggling to maintain his balance while resisting the Rahi’s strength. Staying in his saddle as best as he could, Kongu lashed out with his free arm to throw off the wild beast. The Brakas stayed, screeching in his face.

“Get far-lost, swamp-breath!” Kongu yelled at it. The Brakas screeched again. His eyes now having adjusted to the dark, Kongu could see the infected mask on the Rahi’s face. He could feel the rotting smell coming from the mouthpiece. The Le-Matoran retched at the stench. He threw a punch with one hand, fumbling with another to grab the reins.

Ka crashed blindly through the branches as the fight continued. The limbs of the trees knocked Kongu in the mask, the shoulders, the arms as they tumbled through them, headed in a direction the Le-Matoran knew not where.

The others would have helped Kongu, but were caught scraps of their own with more of the monkeys. Boreas lashed out with a knife at two Brakas on his mount, while Shu slung discs accompanied with roaring battle cries in response to the shriekers surrounding him. Orkahm tugged fiercely on his reins to try and outmaneuver the onslaught of Rahi, getting his Kewa to fly up and subject his attackers to the forces of gravity. Kongu was on his own for his fight.

And suddenly it was quiet again. The Brakas vanished, and the Gukko force were tumbling through open air. Ka twisted and turned as he tried to straighten out. Kongu tugged hard on the reins, the world whirling past him as they plummeted downward.

The world came up to meet Kongu, and suddenly all movement stopped.

“Unf!” he grunted. All Kongu could feel was the blunt force of the landing rock through his form. He lay there, the wind knocked out of him, and closed his eyes, letting the pain envelop him.

After what seemed like an hour, his eyes opened again. He could start to feel other things. Wet. Pointy. Muddy. Looking around, he realized he was in a marsh.

Sitting up in the mud, Kongu looked around. Little trees could be seen here and there, but most of the region out here was mostly marsh and mud. The Fau Swamp, he realized. It was still Le Wahi, but something else other than what the Le-Matoran traditionally considered their region. They did not necessarily enjoy the region, preferring the treetops where you could vine swing instead of walking. But in the full moon and clear sky that shined tonight, Kongu had to admit it was kind of beautiful out here.

A screech from afar brought Kongu back to his senses. The Brakas were still there, in the jungle not far away. They jeered at him from the darkness, like the cowards Brakas usually were. Tough-brave Matoran survive falls from the forest, Kongu thought. Silly-weak monkeys already screech when falling to another branch. Even with the Makuta controlling them, they are still cowards.

“Is anyone out there?” Kongu called. “Ork? Boreas? Shu?”

A hand came into his vision to pull Kongu to his feet, and he could see the mask of Vira. Beyond them, Ka and Vira’s Kahu bird were uprighting themselves, ruffling their wings.

“Hard-rough crash-landing for you as well?” the marshall asked. Kongu nodded, rubbing his back. He gave a few twists. Something popped, and suddenly his back felt better.

“Where are the others?”

“I spot see someone over there,” Vira pointed north, to where a Gukko was picking itself up out of the marshes. Kongu mirrored his statement, seeing another of their band to the west. Making their way over to each of their members, the Gukko Force slowly picked themselves up from their brush with the wild.

Taiki was the last to be found. They found him closer to the forest than everyone else. He was frantically digging at the mud, his bird pecking at the mud as it tried to help.

“Help!” Taiki cried as he saw them. A hand could be seen in the moonlight, sticking out from the mud. The five of them immediately joined in, scraping at the mud. The birds were not far behind, With a click and whistle from Vira, the Gukkos were pecking at the area with their beaks to loosen the mud for their riders.

“There is someone buried here! Trap buried!”

“But Taiki,” Kongu said. “We are all here. Who could be buried?”

Taiki stopped digging, looking at the masks around him. Everyone else slowed as well, a sense of dread coming over the group. The hand in the mud still stuck out, motionless.

“If we are all here…” he said, panic entering his voice. “Then who is buried?”

They all looked at the hand, and then at each other, anxiety running high through the group. Kongu swallowed hard, and strode over to grab the hand. He pulled, and was met with some resistance, but the mud broke, loosened by their digging.

The moonlight however, did not help the Matoran as they looked at the figure.

It was a Matoran, but at the same time, it was not. Short, wearing dark armor, if just with a different body type, the figure strongly resembled the Gukko Force members standing around it.

But there were things off about the body. It was swollen with water, and partially rotted. But the amount of armor, the tissue sticking out. The ratio of mechanical to organic parts. None of it was right. The thing looked like a Matoran, but there was a lot of evidence to suggest it was not. And from what Kongu felt, it felt nothing like the bodies of Matoran. As if the person was made of something totally else from protodermis.

But the most distinguishable feature that made them certain it was not a Matoran was its mask.

“What make-kind of Kanohi is that?” asked Orkahm.

“That is not a Kanohi,” Shu insisted.

Could it even be a Kanohi? Kongu wondered. Kanohi usually attached to the front of a Matoran’s or Turaga’s face. Perhaps helmet was a better term. This sat on the corpse’s head more like a helmet than like a mask. Three prongs protruded from the back of it, almost snake like in appearance. The mask— if you could call it that— resembled flower and bamboo decorations which the Le-Matoran would adorn on their own Kanohi during one of Matau’s parties, in mock resemblance of a warrior costume.

This helmet was metal, however, and definitely not for decoration.

“What is this? Some sort of alien?” asked Vira.

“It has to be a mutant,” Boreas said.

“What if…” Orkahm said. “What if something lived on Mata Nui before us?”

“No,” Kongu insisted, dismissing Orkahm’s comment. “This has to be some sort of mutated Matoran.”

Any more guesses on the corpse’s identity were interrupted by a scream in the night. The Le-Matoran whirled to see the Brakas monkeys coming from afar, leaping across the marsh toward them. Each of the Le Matoran scrambled for their packs, whipping out discs and preparing themselves for combat. Vira whistled to Ka and the other Kewa and Kahu, which fluttered their wings in response.

“See-look over there!” Orkahm cried. In the moonlight, there could be seen the Brakas scrambling toward the smaller Matoran— but also to the left, there was a single, larger shadow breaking the horizon. A large, tiger like animal could be seen leaping over the marshes, making a beeline for the loud and brash animals that more than likely interrupted its sleep.

“Muaka cat-tiger!” Boreas exclaimed.

The Brakas were so consumed with the Matoran almost in their grasp that they did not see the Muaka before it was too late. It pounced into their group, immediately breaking their formation.  A number of the smaller monkeys were scooped up into the tiger-like creature’s jaws. The rest of them were swept aside by the Muaka’s claws, scattered on the marsh just as the Gukko Force had been minutes earlier. Growls and roars emitted from the Muaka rolled over the marshes as the beast reveled in the night’s victory.

“Mount-climb your steeds,” demanded Kongu. “Let’s fly leave of here before we are battle fighting that Rahi. Those are just quick snacks for that tiger.”

“What about the body?” Orkahm asked. Kongu looked at each of them.

“Whoever… whatever that is,” Kongu said. “it has been here without anyone’s concern for a while. I will discuss with Turaga Matau, but we cannot take it home tonight.”

“At least take it’s mask,” Shu insisted. Kongu frowned, but complied.

They arrived back at Le-Koro in the early hours of the morning, greeted only by the night folk that guarded the village during sleep hours.

Kongu approached the door of Turaga Matau’s hut, where a small light shined into the night. The rest of the Force had retreated to their huts to join the sleeping village. Only he remained awake in order to deliver the night’s bounty. He felt awfully tired as he knocked, more tired than he had felt in a number of nights. This was not sickness, he knew that much— this was the night catching up to him.

The Turaga was apparently still up, for Mata Nui only knew what reason. A small grin was on the noble Mahiki at the sight of one of Matau’s favorite villagers, eager for the night’s tale.

“High Flyer, welcome,” Matau said, “What adventures did you have tonight?”

The Matoran handed over the bags of leaves, putting the helmet on top of the pile.

“Turaga, what kind of Kanohi is that?”

[powdercopy9-blog]

As outlined by the Palo Mayombe property to which somebody is becoming started out into Policies can differ. Palo Mayombe was built in in the Santeria faith Regulations and policies will vary . It really is an entirely unique community, when having an practical experience outside of the Latin American spiritualism. It can be exceptional to determine a truthful distinct in distant communities throughout Latin The usa and in the usa. There are lots of popular Palero priests in addition to secret communities devoted to the Palo Mayombe. Paleros' will not likely encourage their power and definately may and will only implement religious function for a person by affiliate marketer. Palero priest's energy is actually sound that they could need a person of imprecise origin and turn him right into a very powerfual local community form inside the relatively limited time. So as to keep them in administration and possible all over the individuals. It is actually believed a Palero can also deliver loss of life unto someone within around the clock, Plenty of government frontrunners have already been linked to an participation with the very idea of Palo Mayombe . Palero can make and crack you by saying just a few incantations and through performing a few slight rituals. Missing ignorance and getting informed about has always unveiled nervousness to folks. Oftentimes this ignorance has gotten extinction to whole occasions of individuals and countries around the world. Palo Mayombe is surely a exciting and fascinating part of Santeria plus it really really should not be deemed lightly or disregarded. I am thankful to have obtained a chance to are obtaining to get element of a medieval type of speculate. With excellent great pride and identify,. I salute our family and ahijados in Palo Mayombe

The house of your dead is how the Palero spirits dwell. They are able to stop being kept with Santeros Santos or other faith based manuals, for the reason that forces and abilities of the darkish are extremely intense. Traditionally a Palero will keep his spirts in a specific home outside. This special property must always be secured to keep individuals aside. The house must be big enough to carry out your darker secret or misa. Living in a apartment you need to maintain your mood inside a seperate space or dresser large enough to the spirit of Palo Mayombe. A home is the perfect spot for working the spirits of Palo Mayombe. Once you recieve other mood of Palo Mayombe, they are able to all keep with each other. There must be a minimum quantity of lighting and at least one candlestick getting rid of in recognition of the mood always. Palero priest should be carry with products for that If you decide for taking a step in the psychic of Palo Mayombe, it is actually a existence very long determination, service and dedication to your ancestors and spiritual guides A Palero priests' work is a lot more essential to assist and protect the city. When a person is initiated into Palo Mayome, they may be baptized into secrets and secrets of the mindset. Paleros say they are given birth to of fireplace and in the long run will expire of fire. When becoming https://www.palomayombe.org/a-brief-history-of-palo-mayombe/ , a light in darkness will bring in the blessings of your spirits. In passing away, a Palero's life is extingushed in death. They grow to be an elevated spiritual guideline in the eternal residing darkness. They should first seek advice from an experienced Palo Priest, before you can become a part of Palo Mayombe. The Palero determines through immediate experience of the spiritual entire world as well as the people forefathers, when they are able to process Palo Mayombe. Usually the spirit will refuse a person due to the fact Palo Mayombe is just not for this individuals spritual path . The spirits could also reject use of an indivdual mainly because they may not yet anticipate to take care of or understand the responsibities of being a palero. In case the spirits reply favorably for your demand, the next task is to obtain a spiritual cauldron-spritual container. Following the invocation wedding service, the spiritual cauldron has the tricks of effective mood. Cuba and the Carribeans, this cauldron is named a Nganga-Prenda for the reason that tradition of modern day time along with the impact of Latin American's spiritualism in Palo Mayombe, in Core America. It is not uncommon to locate paleros whose spirits are the lifestyle dead. Muertos are held inside of a big clay pot rather than standard large steel cauldron. It all depends around the palero priest where kind you can expect to recieve your soul container and that will support and train the secrets to palo mayombe. Finding the initiation along with the mood of Palo Mayombe is only the first step in the lengthy journey into the world of mood. Palo Mayombe is an african religious beliefs originary from the Kongo area. It really has been safeguarded as much as our instances by the slaves who had been brought in to areas for example Brazil, Suriname, and Cuba, the latter becoming the place where Palo (also referred to as Palo Monte ) has become most favored also among men and women of hispanic descent. Palo is a direct approach to comunication using the Spirits: the belief is strongly animistic and similar to shamanism: everything is available is known as animated by mood, person specifically can be a doorway with other worlds through mediumship. The mood that are the most pertinent for Palo are: the spirits of your Dead, the Spirits of Nature (which inhabit trees and shrubs,plants and flowers and stones, wildlife and so forth.), along with the Highest Entities which manifest themselves from the Forces of character (the Wind flow, the Lightning, the ocean, and so on.) and in guy.

The main worship and employ is now being taken throughout the Nganga or Prenda, and that is a consecrated cauldron packed (amongst other things...) with sacred earth, stays (palos), and bones, which is devoted to a specifical religious electricity. This cauldron can also be inhabited through the soul of a Dead, which behave as program for all those magical and faith based routines that are executed about the Nganga. On account of religious syncretism a lot of components foreign for the initial african custom may be contained in the rituals, including the utilisation of the sign of your christian cross, images of saints (these much more frequent within the Palo family members of Colombia and Venezuela), and in many cases making use of characteristics and brands of Orishas to clarify/contact the Enkisi, what are the Gods of Palo, the powerful Entities which are sent to our prime The lord Zambi or Ensambi. The Palero works together with spirits of Gentle (Ensambi) or of your Darkness (Endoki). The latter simply being even the denomination to the Paleros which do not use christian symbols in their process of Palo. Being started in Palo is needed to endure a ceremony referred to as "Rayamiento" which implies "itching", exactly where particular spots are traced on the skin from the new adept: a pact is produced with the character who lives from the cauldron, this ritual is additionally known as "to swear together with the Nganga". From now on, the individual that has received "Rayamiento" will probably be beneath the defense from the Nkisi who policies the Nganga of his/her Godfather. The next step in the religion is starting to become a Tata (Dad), or Yaya (Mother) and acquiring a cauldron. Divination can be used to determine which "path" from the Palo Entities is the most appropriate for the newest Nganga. A whole new ceremony is done in which the Tata will swear towards the Dead (Enfumbe) living in the Nganga in order that it can help together with the religious and substance growth of the new complete-fledged palero/a. The divination strategy is referred to as Kujamputu or Chamalongo, as well as the simple habits are just like Obi/Coco Santeria divination. As Palo Mayombe Initiation of Kardecian syncretism in lots of Homes of Palo (Covens published to one Our god- daddy or Godmother) a Psychic Misa is behaved ahead of the initiation, as a way to identify the main spirits that will help to formulate one's existence. These instructions often articulate also through ownership, and could give primary guidance.

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

another option, in a similar vein. Pay attention to the environments in which specific cultural details develop.

Areas with a lot of large trees? People tend to build longhouses there. Big low rectangular buildings made of whole logs, with a central hearth. West coast america, east coast america, norway, all places where longhouses are traditionally built. Because they have big trees.

Areas with a lot of open plains and very distinct seasons? they're probably gonna be nomadic and have homes that can collapse and travel, with some form of pack animal. Central asia and the great plains of america. teepees and yurts. horses exist in both locations. the summers get hot and the winters get snowy, so the people travel to avoid the worst of it while following migrating herd animals.

Hot and rocky most of the year? Mud houses and homes carved into cliffs. Cold and snowy all year? ice homes.

This is all kinda focused on the styles of houses, but you catch the idea. similar climates and environments tend to lead to similar cultural features. you don't have to study two full cultures and pick a similarity, you can look at the environment you're writing, find multiple cultures in the same type of environment, and then find all the things they have in common. Now you know what basic details you can build a fictional culture from. Give it unique flavor by adding details and flair based on the fictional world you've built, focusing on things that will be relevant to plot and themes. If they're non-humans, also consider what different evolutionary traits they'd have that might affect their culture.

Example: You want a culture in an area with a lot of wetland. They're gnomes with rodent-type features. The plot relies on the world having a magic system that's based in music. What do you do with these gnomes and their culture? Well, it's a wetland, maybe warmer and more swampy. So the houses are probably built on platforms with stilts, people get around with small boats maneuvered by long poles. They wear clothing made primarily from tough plant fibers, which are fairly water proof, and they're very good at making waterproof baskets. Being rodent-based, these gnomes are largely herbivorous and know how to store food for hard times, such as the summer storm season. They live in multi-generational family clusters. The music-based magic is seen in their every day life as they sing shields around their homes and boats to fend off large semi-aquatic predators. They hang magic wind chimes all over the place to protect them from big storms.

One paragraph. Easily expanded on. It's important for fictional cultures to feel alive. To feel like they're more than a flat set. Real cultures evolve and change and interact with each other. Once you've got a base, you can add problems, conflicts, consequences. Next thing you know, you actually made a whole fictional people from scratch with a unique culture and history! And you didn't even need to do much research. You just had to focus on a few details, connect them to each other, and then start asking yourself some questions.

So here's my list of questions as a TLDR for worldbuilding:

What environment do these people live in? How does it affect them and what materials does it give them access to?

What would they invent to suit their needs?

how do they fit into the broader world around them?

Start with that, break it down into more detailed questions for more specific things, and you might even find ways to fill your plot holes just by having multiple fleshed out cultures that interact with each other.

In worldbuilding - like in many things in life - the best route is choosing the second laziest option. If you want to come up with a new culture for your setting, starting from scratch would mean insane amounts of all kinds of research. And the laziest possible route would be just picking a real, existing culture and just changing a few details - flat, one-dimensional and boring at best, and insanely offensive at worst.

Therefore, the best option is to pick two. Decide on one key defining feature for the people you want to write, and then pick two otherwise completely unrelated, real historical cultures, read up a bit about them and find two things that they have in common. Like let’s say you picked two cool nomadic cultures. Oh, they’ve historically both largely relied on one specific animal - a large even-toed ungulate - and though one of them farms them as livestock and the other one just hunted them, they’ve both revered this animal, and regard them as a sort of a divine gift to their people, that has freed them from having to farm like sedentary peoples? Yoink.

Two warrior cultures that believe in some kind of a Warrior Heaven where you can only get into by dying in battle? One of them were raiders who only went outside their borders to pillage other peoples, and the other were aggressive conquerors, but both had a very organised society in their own land, and women had a strong legal status and could be financially independent? Yeah makes sense, a man can’t really look forward to dying gloriously in battle if he’s worried what’s going to happen to his widow. You’re gonna use that.

The key to doing this kind of “compare and contrast” groundwork is to build up a framework, an outline that you’ll start building your own fictional peoples’ culture on. Do not just grab two cultures and mash them together, I’m explicitly forbidding it now, because that is still a variation of the laziest possible option. After you’ve figured out what sort of elements tend to naturally emerge in a specific kind of cultures, or what elements they require to function, then you take that framework and start making shit up. That is an order.

[yescrispygardencollectorforlove]

Possible Meryl-Fedor Wedding Venue

Le Mas des Poiriers – A Farmhouse in Provence

Our family's renovation of an 18th century farmhouse in Provence set on 65 acres of pear orchard and sunflowers. Bienvenue!

🌻🍐

For additional information, please visit Le Mas des Poiriers and follow @provencepoiriers on Instagram for daily inspiration.

August 4, 2017

For years, American expatriates Shauna Varvel and her husband enjoyed spending summers with their five children in Provence.  In 2014, kismet led them to rent the home that is now Le Mas des Poiriers, an 18th century farm house nestled among 65 secluded acres including working pear orchards. The family fell in love, and a year later when the property became available for sale, they decided to buy it. Le Mas des Poiriers underwent extensive renovation by the esteemed Alexandre Lafourcade. Landscape architect Dominique Lafourcade transformed the gardens, and Susan Bednar Long redesigned the interiors using Pierre Frey fabrics exclusively.  Every inch is true to the spirit of Provence.

Le Mas des Poiriers is available for rent, and I am fantasizing about a dream vacation in Provence! In the meantime, I am delighted to welcome Shauna Varvel to The Glam Pad today for a virtual holiday…

Q:  How did Le Mas des Poiriers receive its name, and what is the English translation?

A:  Our farm, Le Mas des Poiriers, produces 60 tonnes of pears annually and the house sits adjacent to the pear orchard. The actual and original name of the house is Grange Neuve, which we use, but we have named the farm Le Mas des Poiriers, which translates as “The Pear Trees Farm House.”

Q:  In what year was Le Mas des Poiriers built, and what is its history?

A:  The house was built over 200 years ago as a farm house, or a “Mas.” The Rhone River divides near Avignon and the Palace of the Popes and the farm sits between the two arms of the Rhone, on an island. Thus the property’s land is very fertile and green, which is unusual in this dry and rocky region. The farm was formerly in a flood plan and had a high platform near the barn that served as a place to put the animals during during a flood.

Q:  What inspired you to purchase this beautiful property?

A:  Provence has been a passion of mine for many years. When my five children were young, we would rent a house for a month or so in the summertime, spending our mornings at the markets or visiting ancient Roman ruins, our afternoons by the pool, and our evenings making dinner together and eating al fresco in the garden to the tune of cicadas. We created beautiful memories as the children ran around in the Provencal sun without the distractions of everyday life, picking grapes and pears and enjoying the beauty and serenity of the region. In the summer of 2014, we rented the home that is now Le Mas des Poiriers and fell in love with it for its uniquely large structure and distinct location, being within minutes from the charming city of Avignon and yet in a secluded world of its own on a fertile island within the Rhone River. We were thrilled a year later to discover that the property had been listed for sale. We knew that we loved having 10,000 square feet in one building to fit our large family (many properties in Provence connect small buildings together to make one), the high volume in the ceilings and the flat and green land surrounding the property. We also knew that it would be a lot of work but we felt that in the end, the effort and investment would pay off in a way that it couldn’t in other properties.

Q: Please tell me about the architectural, interior, and landscaping renovations you have overseen.

A:  We hired the Alexandre Lafourcade architect team for the renovation. They are the clear specialists in this region for these kinds of old houses. Through their vision we were able to re-organize the exterior, adding a new front door in a new location, tearing out ceilings and staircases to make a new beautiful front entry, add a new master bedroom, family bedroom, living room and mud room in a space that had formerly been a barn, with a dirt floor. We tore out floors, walls, all bathrooms, added antique fireplaces, new floors throughout, etc. We used finishings that would have been used traditionally in the house, like Dordogne stone floors, on the main level, reclaimed antique terracotta floors on the upper level and traditional marble cut in a Provencal style in the bathrooms. We completely changed the landscape working with the famed Provencal landscape designer, Dominique Lafourcade. We moved the swimming pool from the south side of the house to the west, the kitchen side of the house which made more sense to us. We added a tennis court adjacent to the swimming pool and Dominique designed a charming tennis court house on the east side of the court, painted a beautiful French blue. The property boasts 75 200-year-old plane trees in three allées, which were cleaned and pruned to highlight their beauty. Additionally, we added very tall cypresses to form a cypress allée coming off the center axis of the house. We added a wisteria covered arched walkway to the pool and also a beautiful rose covered archway off of the living room. The tennis court is surrounded by old olive trees, lavender and plants that would be found in the Luberon valley, giving it a distinct feeling that is different from the rest of the property. There was an old decrepit barn on the property that we renovated to house two staff apartments with a two-bedroom apartment upstairs and a one-bedroom apartment downstairs. On the east side, there is a view of Mount Ventoux and we have a large room that can be used as a rec room or a staff room.

Q:  What was your vision for the beautiful interiors, and were you able to work with antiques original to the home? How did you decide to use Pierre Frey fabrics exclusively throughout?

A:  The house is very large and could have been decorated and finished to feel more like a Bastide or a Villa, but I felt strongly that it should maintain the feeling of the country farmhouse that it is. I absolutely love and was inspired by the La Mirande Hotel that is just across the river from us. The La Mirande is a city hotel and is very elegant but we took inspiration from their fabrics, bathrooms and from their Chef’s Table kitchen, in the basement of the hotel. In fact, our kitchen, was built by the son of the gentleman who built the Chef’s Table kitchen years ago. We did inherit some antiques with the house and have used them in a few places. We inherited some lovely hunting dog paintings that feature in the entry and living room and two small desks that are in the living room. Additionally, I travelled between Paris, shopping on the left bank and at the weekend market, Isle sur la Sorgue in Provence and London for the Decorative Antique Fair, every few months collecting antiques and art. It took the full two years to find all of the pieces needed to fill the house.

Regarding Pierre Frey, I have long loved their traditional French country fabrics and was thrilled to be able to integrate them here. I worked with a decorator, Susan Bednar Long, with whom I have had a long professional relationship. We worked together on this project and sat in the Pierre Frey showroom in Paris for two days straight pulling fabrics and creating fabric schemes for each room. The manager of the Paris showroom, Eleonore, came to the house several times during the project and recommended the seamstress and upholsterer that Pierre Frey uses in Paris.

Q:  For a guest staying at Le Mas des Poiriers, what does a typical itinerary look like for a long weekend visit? And for a week or more? What activities do you recommend?

A:  We rent the entire house for approximately 4 – 5 weeks a year on a weekly basis. In a week, you could cover many of the famous Provencal villages in the area and visit some of the most popular markets. There are a myriad of sites and markets to visit in Provence. We recommend that you take it slowly and balance days out with days lounging by the pool or playing tennis, touring the gardens, sunflower fields or pear orchard at Le Mas des Poiriers attended by our thoughtful and professional staff. Gordes is a favorite among most visitors along with the other hilltop villages in the Luberon Valley such as Bonnieux, Lacoste and Menerbes. When visiting Gordes do not miss the lovely Abbey Senanque with its lavender fields, just beyond Gordes in a beautiful canyon. Avignon is just ten minutes away and is home to the Palace of the Popes, one of the largest and most important Medieval Gothic buildings in Europe, and a UNESCO Heritage Site. Pont du Gard, the highest and one of the best preserved Roman Aqueduct and another UNESCO Heritage Site, is just 30 minutes away to the west. St Remy and Eygalières are very popular market towns with markets Wednesday and Friday mornings. Arles boasts a beautiful Roman Coliseum that rivals the famous coliseum in Rome and Nimes is home of the beautiful Roman Maison Carree.

Lavender fields at Abbey Senanque

Q:  Your culinary team sounds amazing, please tell me about dining at Le Mas des Poiriers.

A:  Our culinary team are state of the art with experience from New York’s Park Avenue to fine French kitchens. They are on-hand to create a personalized menu for each meal during your stay, moving your dining experience from our patio to the plane tree allée, the cypress allée or by the pool for a beautiful and varied experience at each meal.

Q:  How many guests can Le Mas des Poiriers accommodate at one time? I would imagine this would be an ideal venue for a destination wedding!

A:  We have nine double bedrooms and have a maximum sleeping capacity of 18 guests. Le Mas des Poiriers is a perfect wedding venue and we collaborate with the incredible talented team of Matthew Robbins Design to coordinate events.

Thank you, Shauna, for sharing your enchanted home with us today!  Le Mas des Poiriers is now at the top of my bucket list.

With seven bedrooms in the main house and two additional bedrooms in the guest house, Le Mas des Poiriers offers the utmost in seclusion and luxury. The property boasts a tennis court and swimming pool, and it is professionally staffed with a culinary team of two chefs and two waiters, as well as full-time housekeeping. Within easy reach of Avignon, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gordes, St. Remy, and Aix-en Provence, Le Mas des Poiriers is ideally situated to access all that the region has to offer, should you decide to spend a day away from the peaceful property.

Le Mas des Poiriers Vacation Rental

The property's 65 acres offers true seclusion, amidst working pear orchards, which produce six tonnes of fruit annually.

​With seven bedrooms in the main house and two additional bedrooms in the guest house, Le Mas des Poiriers offers the utmost in seclusion and luxury. The property boasts a tennis court and swimming pool. The interiors, which are undergoing final touches, include Pierre Frey fabrics exclusively. Drawing from the iconic style of the nearby La Mirande hotel, every inch is true to the spirit of Provence.

​​The home has recently undergone extensive renovation by the esteemed Alexandre Lafourcade, with gardens overseen by Dominique Lafourcade, the famed Provencal landscape architect. The house is professionally staffed with a culinary team of two chefs and two waiters, as well as full-time housekeeping.

​Within easy reach of Avignon, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gordes, St. Remy, and Aix-en Provence, Le Mas des Poiriers is ideally situated to access all that the region has to offer, should you decide to spend a day away from the peaceful property.

Accommodations Le Mas des Poiriers is an 18th century farm house in Provence, located near the Medieval city of Avignon on Isle de la Motte.

Overview

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Map

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Date Picker:      Guest        

Travel Dates

Bedrooms

Min. Night Stay

Currency:Currency:

Now to Dec 31, 2019 97

$

9,008

/per night

Security Deposit: €10,000 + APA  €10,000 (Advance Provisional  Allowance) needed for the cost of food and drinks.

Minimum Stay: 7 Nights.  Minimum night stay may vary by villa. Please contact a villa specialist to confirm.

Important! Non-USD rates above based on approximate currency conversion. Please confirm rate and currency with your Villa Specialist at time of booking.

Main House

7 Double bedrooms

Large Dining Room with seating for 18

Living Room

Family Room

Kitchen with Family Dining Area

Mud Room

Orangerie with Herve Baume dining table to seat 22

Gym

TV Room

Guest House

2 Queen bedrooms

Sitting Room

Provence Travel Guide

Understated Elegance

Provence, located in the south of France, is one of France’s most beautiful provinces. It’s perhaps most famous for its striking, fragrant lavender fields which bloom in early summer. But you don’t have to time your visit to the lavender; the region offers plenty more to see and do.

The delightful city of Aix-en-Provence is a highlight in the region with its Cours Mirabeau, a miniature Champs-Elysees, which is alive with restaurants and shops. On the coast of Provence you’ll find the fishing village of Cassis, where you can take a boat tour of the harbor. And further west you’ll find Marseille, France’s oldest city and an important trading port throughout history.

Other notable destinations include the Roman city of Arles, the city of Avignon with its famous medieval bridge, the Pont d’Avignon, and Les Baux de Provence, a fortified hilltop village. And throughout your Provence villa vacation, you can enjoy regional produce like olives and truffles, as well as famous Provençal dishes such as bouillabaisse and boeuf en daube, which, like Provence, are meant to be savored.