#ctext

[lesbian-cyclonus]

They are like two rival cats that like each other but hate each other.

[balancerseye]

I should bother to post here more because I do have art and stuff but also I’ve been feeling like a prey animal being persistence hunted. Anyway check out this branded pair of tights I saw.

[cyanbigfoot]

why doesn‘t the fucking snooze button work, tumblr

[terraclae]

I’ll say just this, I’m grateful for staff actually cracking down on AI generated images now, it had been bothering me for a while

[ctext]

Importance of Bulk SMS Services for Businesses in the Digital Age

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For more info: https://ctext.in/2024/05/03/importance-of-bulk-sms-services-for-businesses-in-the-digital-age/

[cloudypine]

I should play GW2 again but I know I’m just going to be doing it again for characters I love and the venn diagram of “characters I love” and “characters treated badly by the narrative and/or fandom” is a flat circle

[spidear]

Not posting this on main but like. Thinking about spending time on a forum and don’t get me wrong I miss it but why was I (a teen) wrangled into harassing someone by an adult woman who drew shoddy p*rn of P*rs*na characters after the thing shut down.

[lesbian-cyclonus]

LESBIAN CYCLONUS LET'S GOOOO!!!! Now I have a Transformers sideblog. What will I do with it? I don't know. I have like. Four other sideblogs and I don't know what to do with them.

You won't believe what URL wasn't taken

[dmertens]

ON MY WAY TO MY JOB INTERVIEW WISH ME LUCK BESTIES.....

[grail-lifesupport]

It’s never a good day to be Sir Kay

Context

(Pa Gur, Kay kills several lions before facing a giant cat who has a kill count of around 180 people dead) (Poem's link https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/bbc31.html)

Here's a nice article which talks about it further in depth

The salmon he's riding on with his bf Bedivere is the Salmon of Llyn Lliw, a giant ancient salmon of wisdom, with the help of the fish they were able to rescure Mabon from prison. From Culhwch and Olwen

The story is up top!

[lesbian-cyclonus]

[balancerseye]

Genuinely it does mean a lot to me when people still like or reblog my old TMA art. Thanks for still appreciating it, I’m still pretty proud of what I made for that fandom.

[cyanbigfoot]

lesbian w in csm this week

[terraclae]

I love seeing new things pop up in the scrying workshop and database before there’s an announcement, it gives a bit of preparation for how to get that stuff

[ryin-silverfish]

Can we know more about the dragon pearls pls? I think you or Monkey Ruler mentioned that they're like a dragon's heart and that they're incredibly important. Could they be given to others? How special are they?

Clarification: the "they are like a dragon's heart/yaoguai's neidan" part is pretty much just a HC, though you see the same thing in modern works sometimes.

They are still incredibly important to dragons, though.

The first reference to a dragon pearl appeared in the Outer Chapters of Zhuangzi, and here's the translated excerpt from Ctext:

There was a man who, having had an interview with the king of Song, and been presented by him with ten carriages, showed them boastfully to Zhuangzi, as if the latter had been a boy. Zhuangzi said to him, 'Near the He there was a poor man who supported his family by weaving rushes (to form screens). His son, when diving in a deep pool, found a pearl worth a thousand ounces of silver. The father said, "Bring a stone, and break it in pieces. A pearl of this value must have been in a pool nine Zhong deep, and under the chin of the Black Dragon. That you were able to get it must have been owing to your finding him asleep. Let him awake, and the consequences to you will not be small!" Now the kingdom of Song is deeper than any pool of nine Zhong, and its king is fiercer than the Black Dragon. That you were able to get the chariots must have been owing to your finding him asleep. Let him awake, and you will be ground to powder.'

In the translated Buddhist scripture Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, the Mani Pearl is also said to be contained inside the brain of dragon kings, and those who possess the pearl are immune to poison and fire.

The belief that dragon pearls are either under the jaws or inside the mouths of dragons are still more common, tho.

There's also the famous Buddhist where the 8-years-old dragon/Naga girl, daughter of the dragon king Sagara, presents a precious pearl to the Buddha, instantly transforms into a man, and attains Buddha-hood.

Though in this case, the pearl is never said to be her own dragon pearl and probably just a treasure in her possession.

In the folklore compendium Shuyi Ji, dragon pearls are listed alongside "snake pearls", both of which can be spat out by their respective animals.

However, in the Yue region, a thousand snake pearls can't measure up to one "Rose Pearl" in worth, while a dragon pearl is more valuable than a thousand Mu of orange trees.

(This passage is likely copied directly from a Tang text called 灌畦暇语.)

Also, in the Tang-Song period, the "dragons playing with pearls" first shows up as a motif on bronze mirrors, before becoming an incredibly popular decorative pattern in the Ming & Qing.

As the above passages have shown, dragon pearls can clearly be taken away, and are 1) valuable in a monetary sense, and 2) can have magical effects.

[taisestarr]

Lugh Samildánach’ aspects

Here starts the series of posts about Lugh Samildánach’ aspects. I took the epithets that Lugh has from different myths and associated it with the division of Ireland from the ‘Suidigud Tellaich Temra’ (The Settling of the Manor of Tara): 

knowledge in the west — Scál find (“light phantom”) battle in the north —  Lonnbéimnech/Lonnansclech ("fierce striker") prosperity in the east — Lámfada (“long hand”)   music in the south — Ildánach ("skilled in many arts")  kingship in the centre — Samildánach ("equally skilled in all the arts")

This is how I explain the difference between Ildánach and Samildánach. Ildánach as a potential of Samildánach, young Lugh starting his story. Sam means "together" according to this dictionary. It's all aspects together indeed.

Lugh always has all aspects, I separate them for better understanding in devoting and to follow Lugh’s way of self-improvement. Epithets are associated by their meaning and I’ve never seen such mapping before. I consider Lugh's story in myths as a development path. And that's the path anyone could follow with Lugh's support, as he does support improvement by his nature :)

Here are the parts of myths corresponding to the aspects:

Ildánach is a young Lugh that comes to Tara, telling and proving his skills in ‘The Second Battle of Moytura’. All that “Question me, I am…”. Lugh is called Lonnannsclech and Samildánach in that part of myth, I deliberately choose to name him Ildánach and will explain it later. This is an aspect of an artist and the patron of the arts, the favorite handsome young man that everyone’s loving. It’s similar to Apollo. 

Lugh Lonnbéimnech (or Lonnansclech) is a warrior and trickster from the battle itself in Battle of Moytura and in ‘The Fate of the Children of Turenn’. This aspect is rageful, similar to young Odin and other fierce tricksters, Loki in some way.

Lugh Lámfada is a high king after the victory in the Battle of Moytura. This aspect is related to a calendar myth strongly. He does a lot for nature and he is a balanced ruler. He manipulates the weather, the sun’s movement. He is responsible for the harvest and nature's well-being, Lughnasadh is his festival. This aspect was a tricky one to aggregate. I based my research on this great video by Fortress of Lugh — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrLUdqtyxZk and added some parts of myths and legends to it. This will be a long story :) 

Scál find is how I call Lugh’s manifestation after his death. He is the Scál in ‘Baile in Scáil’, and he is called Scál find in this ancient poem https://ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/kings02.html. Also, Find matches Lugh. To explore this aspect fully, I’ve added Lugh’s appearance in myths about Cú Chulainn: ‘Compert Con Culainn’ and a piece of ‘Táin Bó Cúailnge’, where Lugh comes to Cú Chulainn. This aspect of Lugh is very similar to Manannán.

Lugh Samildánach combines all these aspects, just like a high king in Tara must have skills of all 4 parts. And the young Lugh Ildánach demonstrates skills of every Ireland’s part when he comes to Tara: knowledge, battle, prosperity and music.

Lugh is a god of mastering and development. The way he appears in myths is also a path of self-development. There are keys for anyone in myth and I’ll explain all of them. This will be an interesting journey for several months.