#of course as always its how i interpret stuff with what i read and understand from canon

[shkika]

So on the topic of iterators playing video games, this:

which is a part of the set of holograms Iggy can show Moon after Rivulet powers her back up. Which based on the colors, grid, and way the tiles change, is probably Moon and Pebbles playing the iterator dominoes

(It's funny to think one of first message Moon sent to Pebbles after hundreds of cycles was essentially "Hey you wanna play games")

(I need Saint playing Dominoes with Moon now)

I'm beyond mentally ill for those two! I'm very aware of their domino shenanigans. If you pay attention to Moon's projections you can see a lot of neat stuff. Actually let's talk about that!

I think them playing together is just so.. fitting and beautiful. It's such a simple way to connect with others. Playing games is one of the easiest ways to build or rebuild friendships. Any kind of games. Something casual you can talk and share while you do. And those two have plenty to talk about.

Aside the games though..

Ramble about a bunch of her projections in Saint and Riv campaigns below! It was very fun!

Moon also remembers her various slug cat companions through the cycles.

She tells Hunter how she wishes she could remember them. And now she can. Moon can remember her savior and remember just how hard her family and peers tried to contact her, to reassure her, to show how they cared. Even this image on it's own speaks a lot. Moon couldn't have taken it, because she was offline before that key ended up in her chamber. So it was Iggy. One of the overseers she no longer has control over yet tried to help her anyway. It's sweet.

It makes it canon that Monk met her and gave her two neurons! A thoughtful and kind creature.

Pet pictures of course! Here is little demon baby.

Moon also has pictures of the local group in the distance! She never stopped trying to look after them and be a local group senior. Checking up on them in the only way she really can. I think that's sweet.

And what honestly breaks me is uh..

These. She also never stopped being Five Pebbles' administrator.. or more accurately his big sister. Checking up on how he is doing and the situation with his rot. It just makes me ache a little. It's been way too long for her to be angry anymore. She can finally talk to him and they both know it won't be for long.

Moon also has pictures of Silent Construct.

Unless I am mistaken of course. But I get the idea that she has trouble reaching him. Or she can't find him. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Moon's overseers can’t reach Five Pebbles anymore. I don't think she'd stop being his company otherwise. Silent Construct is a place that has crumbled very badly and who knows in what state overseer tunnels are.. especially with the dense scavenger populations, it must be difficult to reach him.

Of course we also have the fallen buildings of her local group in the distance. No longer standing. Their time is over.

And! Something a little more fun is that she has a projection of the Moon. Looks to the Moon alright! How silly and sweet.

Hope you like the view Moonie.

[thepradapariah]

Astrology Observations

Twin Flames 😇😈, Karmics 🪐 & Soulmates 🕊

AUTHOR’S NOTES

Hello to all the Kosmic Baddies!! And welcome to all the new ones! I ADORE you all. All the positive comments and words of encouragement really make my soul warm and it means the world to me that you enjoy the content as much as I enjoy making it.

You all have given me the energy to write something else! And I appreciate it because I get so bored……………………………………

Thank y’all. Love y’all and I hope y’all enjoy this post. If you aren’t interested in my definitions, you can scroll down to the observations. I promise, I won’t take it personally :)

With Love & Lust,

A-D

INTRODUCTION

Unlike most of my other posts, this is a breakdown for how to read soulmate connections in a chart. Most of these observations are ones that me and my sister made just studying couples in pop culture and in our personal relationships. I thought it would be a fun post to write how I categorize these different kinds of relationships.

This post is probably my most subjective in awhile. These aren’t rules, per-say, but they are patterns I noticed when studying different relationships.

First, I will breakdown MY interpretations of what all these different titles mean, and then I will breakdown how they MAY appear in a chart. It is imperative to have the correct birth details for these observations to reign true. In Vedic Astrology, you don’t have to have a birth time because you can use these same calculations through the Moon chart. (Making the moon sign the ascendent. For instance, I am an Aquarius Sun and an Aries Moon, so my Moon chart starts with Aries. So my first house is in Aries, Second house in Taurus, third house in Gemini etc. My sister on the other hand is a Gemini Sun, Scorpio Moon, so her Moon Chart would be Scorpio in the first house, Sagittarius in the second house, Capricorn in the third house etc. Moon charts are a nifty thing to look at when doing astrological overlays, particularly if you don’t have an accurate birth time).

Again, just a friendly reminder that this is a PERSONAL OPINION piece. Now, for those of you who have been with me for my previous post, you know I’m not talking out my ass. So I can absolutely promise that I am giving you the most educated and thought out explanation that I can give at the moment. I am by no means the final say on ANY of this stuff, I am far from God and don’t want to be the judge or the jury…it is faaaarrr too much work. But please understand that there may be some things in this post you disagree with~ that is LOVELY, share your opinion with me in the comment section, I am more than happy to hear from you and listen to your insight!

But without further ado, let's break this down shall we?

DEFINITIONS

Karma:

Hinduism, Buddhism. action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation: in Hinduism one of the means of reaching Brahman.: Compare bhakti (def. 1), jnana.

Theosophy. the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person's deeds in the previous incarnation.

Soulmates:

Soulmates are just that– a mate for your soul. This is another soul, individual, or essentially another life force that you just “get”. Every relationship comes with its ups and downs and soulmates always seem to find one another no matter what. I find animals to be some of the BEST examples of soulmates out there. Isn’t it crazy how you can form a bond with another life force? I don’t find it to be a coincidence that animals and their hoomans can even look alike!

But enough with the furry friends, let's talk about hooman friends as well! Soulmates can also manifest as people (duh…)– whether super long lasting or a fleeting moment. Some friendships can prove to be some of the most profound soulmates in the course of a lifetime.

And of course…a soulmate can be a lover. We will discuss what can make a soulmate different from a twin flame further in the post. But yes, soulmates can absolutely manifest as boyfriends/girlfriends/theyfriends/husbands/wifes/partners etc. This is probably the most common and sought after kind of soulmate in mainstream culture, but I cannot express enough how soulmates can manifest in so many different ways. You know how Prince would rock out with that beautiful purple guitar? I consider that guitar to be a soulmate? After all, they shared a vibration and what is a man without his tools? As long as science says that everything is made up of tiny atoms, and each person, place, or thing contains its own vibration, we are bound to time and space by our soul’s connection. These types of connections help us move through the void of the darkness and chaos that is the universe, and we will be defined by the contracts of our souls through lifetimes and eons. (Smeeexxiiii, huh)

Twin Flames:

All twin flames are soulmates, but not all soulmates are twinflames. This is IMPERATIVE to understand when you are defining your connections for yourself. It seems to be trendy in mainstream culture to conflate the two, but these relationships have very distinct qualities and very different karmas (lessons). For the sake of starting on solid ground, let’s say that Twin Flames are like soulmates on steroids. Why? Because the contract level of Twin Flames can be an extremely heightened feeling and bring out the best and worst of ourselves so we can confront ourselves through a mirror like image, a reflection, if you will, so we can truly see ourselves through a 3rd eye perspective. Sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo, huh? Well, it kind of is. This may be a hot take, but it is an important one, NOT EVERYONE WILL EXPERIENCE A TWIN FLAME RELATIONSHIP IN THEIR LIFETIME. I repeat, NOT EVERYONE WILL EXPERIENCE A TWIN FLAME RELATIONSHIP IN THEIR LIFETIME. Why? Again, because this is HIGH level spiritual work that most souls just aren’t prepared to encounter. To be fair, just because it’s high level spiritual work does not equate to it being “high vibrational”. Most Twin Flame journeys deal with lower vibrations in order to raise them. So don’t confuse the work with the payoff. Twin Flames catapult one’s soul to the next dimension when it comes to spiritual growth and learning. One of the most popular modern examples of a Twin Flame relationship is…drum roll, please…Twilight (Spoiler Alert!). Bella started out as an innocent, run-of-the-mill suburban average teenage boring, blah blah blah, nothing-special kind of girl, with perhaps a proclivity towards darkness, who got entangled with a 300 year old vampire (or however old….), went on to experience the highs and very very very lows of a relationship, flirted with death, lost him, got him again, was deflowered, got pregnant, damn near lost her life trying to give birth and ultimately had to be “killed”/ “turned” by Edward– literally (or figuratively because it’s in a book…) “dying” to be born again and made anew. Essentially growing from an innocent virginal girl, to a very powerful woman & mother. Meanwhile, Jacob, who I would argue is simply a soulmate (see the difference…he was obviously the “safer” choice, but would not have sparked that dramatic of a shift in her soul) just watches from the sidelines. It’s just worth noting how traumatic that entire 4-book series and 5-part movie is from Bella’s perspective, but also from Edward’s. His darkness engulfed her willingly, like Hades to Perspephone. He wasn’t really a willing participant– until he unleashed all his passions and desires onto her. She reflected back to him a purer version of himself that was lost to the past and to his “vampirism”, while she was drawn to him to take her out of the mundane expectations of suburban living. Both parties were made to sacrifice a sacred part of themselves in order to embrace one another, but ultimately to embrace their truest form. For Bella, it was her becoming a mind-bending vampire…a FAR cry from the less than average suburban girl she started as. And for Edward, it was to bring love and happiness back into his life. He had to let go of his “I’m a monster” perspective of himself and see that although he is a lust driven, blood sucking, overly wealthy, perpetual teenager…he is…in fact, worthy of love. Awwww…now isn’t that just…romantic? To the teenage version of me…yes. To the adult version of me who has bills to pay…not so much. However, the story is a powerful one because it clearly illustrates the drama, the passion, the highs, the lows, the love, the lust, the hate, the envy in a spiritual twin flame connection.

(Tangent, but the word envy made me realize another key difference in the twin flame journey versus the soulmate or karmic journey…Envy plays a major part in twin flame relationships. There is something that you feel your twin has, that you feel like you don’t. Going back to our Twilight example, Bella envied Edward for his mystique, and his seemingly other worldly experiences. She envied his relationship to his own darkness. She found him interesting, to say the least. He was a masterful artist, a great pianist, wicked smart, and a selfless individual. Bella, at best, was a mid-level high school student. She didn’t have any talent, any hobbies, any desires. She was very boring and humdrum. She envied him for being so ridiculously complex. She was essentially a blackhole, wanting to be filled by him– sexually, physically, mentally, etc…She wanted nothing more than to dissolve into his world, inheriting his self-hatred and his life issues (like the Volutrie)...she envied his essence. On the other hand, Edward was envious of her purity. He found deep comfort in her lack-lusterness. She was beyond ordinary. So ordinary, in fact, she became extraordinary to him. To see a virginal young woman, full of life, and promise, brought him great desire. A desire he fought for like 3 books/movies. Edward, was by far, the “runner” in this scenario because he absolutely felt that his presence in Bella’s life would destroy her. And for what it’s worth, he was absolutely correct. He demolished her from the inside out– taking her virginity to ultimately making her a mother, an evolutionary act within itself. The triumph of the virgin to the whore pipeline (lol, no pun intended, but pun definitely accepted). Tangent over lol)

BUT what makes them a twin flame specific quality is the fact that you realize, you are actually the same. Edward was equally as dark as he was pure and same for Bella. There was no need to envy one another because they were both capable of all states of being. Edward and Bella are a good and bad example of twin flames, because they are the rare twin flames that stay together. So it’s beautiful they were able to find a middle ground and create a child and merge families–blah blah blah…but, that is pretty uncommon. MOST, not all, but MOST twins do not end up with a happily ever after. They usually are unable to reconcile their souls' differences. These relationships are usually to prepare one another for a high vibrational soulmate.

Karmic Soulmates:

Karmic Soulmates, are souls that have past-life unfinished business OR are meant to inspire a lesson that may or may not be resolved in this life in general. Karma/Karmic is a neutral term, so this type of relationship doesn’t have to be inherently good or inherently bad. It is a relationship that brings forth lessons so the soul can carry out the rest of its karmic mission. These relationships can play out in a romantic way, but they tend to be more on the platonic side. You can be in a Karmic relationship with your mother, brother, sister, teacher, etc. as well as a place! You can have a significant bond with a city, country, place and time. Anything that promotes the soul’s growth through support, challenges and forces you to learn, is a karmic contract/soulmate.

You are certainly meant to learn. But because of Karma being ruled by the planet Saturn, these relationships can go on for a long time, can be extremely difficult and will keep pressisting until the lesson is learned and the karma is fulfilled.

Karmics tend to have a negative connotation, particularly in the youtube tarot world, but it genuinely doesn’t have to be. In fact, I argue that all significant relationships are inherently karmic– be it clearing up Karma from a past-life, or creating new karma for the next.

Always remember, the universe is neutral. Lessons are neutral. Love/Hate is…neutral. We need not judge the nature of any relationship, including our own, if it means to help enlighten, enrich and grow our souls. We are social creatures and we don’t learn lessons about ourselves in a vacuum. Different souls, people, places, and things can trigger our growth in ways that we are incapable of imagining beforehand.

I say all that to say, as one of my favorite quotes from a family friend who passed away years ago said, “some things, you just don’t need to experience”. There will be times in life where you touch the fire and need to feel it to get burned…other times, you will know what that burning feels like and will turn away. This is the perfect system of Karma. Sometimes you will get burned, whether you “asked for it” or not, and other times, you will know that there is no need to even play with the fire to begin with.

So take everything in life with a grain of salt and a shot of whiskey! Life is supposed to be fun…even the not so fun parts! Live, laugh, love, lust & learn! Enjoy the moment.

(This is a great example of a non romantic karmic, he wrote this song for his grandmother who passed & it catapulted him to another dimension career wise)

OBSERVATIONS

Observation 1

Do not underestimate the power of Chinese Astrology

Hear. Me. Out. I haven’t found a more accurate astrology for relationships than Chinese astrology. Crazy, I know. But Chinese Astrology is extremely straightforward. Screw the birth times, you just need a month and year and you’ve got all you need. I always joke that I exclusively date through Chinese Astrology, but I am seriously only half kidding (lol). I kid you not, whenever I study my relationships through this particular astrological lens, I am genuinely AWE STRUCK with how uncannily accurate it is. Try it! Next time you find yourself dating, or even checking the compatibility with your current mate, read a few articles and see how it lines up for you. I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I manifest partners through their Chinese zodiac because I am so passionate about it! It hasn’t let me down yet!

***Note: I don’t have this as an official observation because it’s not astrologically based, but look into numerology as well when studying compatibility! It is VERY insightful.

Observation 2

Usually Twin Flames/Soulmates have Gemini placements somewhere in their personal planets or ascendent

So this take may not sit well with everyone, because you may feel limited in the types of soulmates you can encounter if you don’t have any Gemini placements. Fret not, keep reading, you may fit in another category.

I am not saying that this is the LAW, I am saying this simply is something I have noticed when studying what I consider twin flame relationships. In most Twin Flame/Soulmate relationships, the Zodiac sign of the twin is usually present for BOTH individuals/souls. The psychic nature of Gemini makes it very easy to just “get” someone, and feel as if you’ve known them for years. Have you ever heard two Geminis talk to one another? It can be hard to keep up with them!

Soooooo…..I feel the same to be true when it comes to these kinds of intense relationships.

It is also worth noting that Gemini is ruled by Mercury. Mercury/Hermes in Greek Mythology is the only God that can travel between Mt. Olympus (Heaven, so to speak) and The Underworld (Hell, if you will). I think this is important because it demonstrates why Gemini placements in particular can experience a love of such depth. It can go into the pits of hell and to the glories of heaven with ease, making it one of the most valuable placements for a twin flame relationship.

Another note is, in traditional tarot, The Lovers card is depicted by the twins. I feel this is a significant indicator of a deep soulmate connection because of the telepathy and how intertwined lovers/gemini energy can be. The inherent closeness of these soulmates is intrinsic to closeness that is required for any level soulmate/twinflame. Nonverbal communication can play a major role in these types of connections. As chatty as Geminis can be, it’s what they don’t say that ACTUALLY matters. Only another Gemini person would understand that.

Now, Virgo is also ruled by Mercury, but Venus is in detriment in the sign of Virgo. I don’t think Virgo fits this description as well, because Virgo is inherently about solitude, represented by The Hermit in traditional tarot, making it more about virginity/purity than about a 3D twin flame physical connection. To be honest, I just haven’t witnessed it as much when dissecting charts, but I will study it more and perhaps my opinion will change. But as of right now, I don’t believe Virgo placements depict as strong of a connection as Gemini in this case. Feel free to prove me wrong! I’m always open.

Back to Geminis…It seems so weird that Gemini energy would be the ones who attract such intense relationships because they seem so, unloving…but one of my favorite Gemini on Gemini relationships is Courtney Love (Gemini Sun & Moon) and Kurt Cobain (Gemini Moon). Ooof. OOOF. But it was like they had their own language and lived in their own world. Now, that relationship ended up in tragedy…but hey…they had some “fun” moments. They were so similar and too similar at the same time, that it fueled an outwardly bizarre connection, but to them it made perfect sense. This is the power that a double gemini connection can have. Minus to tragedy part.

Observation 3

Twin Flames almost always have the SAME zodiac placements or DIRECT OPPOSITE zodiac placements.

This rule, without fail, is one of the most important and powerful observations that I have come across. If you are checking the zodiac for twin flame compatibility, I will almost say YOU MUST have the same or opposite placements in the big three (rising, sun, moon) and/or Venus and Mars.

This can be ANY SIGN in ANY HOUSE.

For example: You have Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Cancer, Rising in Sagittarius…Your twin could have Sun in Virgo, Moon in Taurus, Rising in Aries. Because the Sun and Moon are in opposite signs, you could experience a twin flame relationship.

Another example: You have Sun in Gemini, Moon in Aquarius, Rising in Pisces…Your twin could have Sun in Libra, Moon in Leo, Rising in Aquarius. Because the Moon and Rising are in the same sign, you could experience a twin flame relationship.

You can mix and match, as long as something mixes and other things matches (lol). I’ve seen so many charts of couples that share placements or have opposite placements and immediately I go “uh! Twin Flame!”.

I think this is due to the illicit push and pull nature/mirroring nature of Twin Flame relationships.

This is where “real” science comes in. All energy has an action and a reaction to create equilibrium. This is why this particular observation is so important. As I’ve stated from the beginning, when it comes to Twin Flame relationships, they are meant to teach, expand, challenge and heal, so it makes sense that you would be met with the opposite force and attract one another OR the same force and repel one another. (Let’s talk physics…think magnets…two positives and two negatives repel, but a negative and a positive attract…woot woot! Call me Bill Nye biiisshhhessss) The entire effect is to make your soul ebb and flow so it can reach a state of neutrality. You want someone to challenge your opinions and your sense of self so you can know what/ who you are. If you’ve never had a mirror, how do you know what you look like? Again, the same is true when someone is so similar to you. You may look at them and go “wow, is this how I come off?”. Just to reemphasis, I don’t want this to come across as an inherently negative thing, it doesn’t have to be. It just usually requires a highly developed spiritual understanding to see that. This particular alignment can give the “can’t live with em, can’t live without em” feeling.

If you have complementary placements, like your Sun is in Capricorn and your partner has their Moon in Taurus, this may be more of an indication of a soulmate connection. The same can be true if you are both air/air or air/fire or water/water or water/earth.

Now, another way you can see it is if you have opposing elements. But, I don’t think it reads as strong as actual zodiac signs.

Just to be clear, all my examples thus far have been using Sun, Moon and Rising, but this trick can extend to Mars and Venus. So let’s say you have Venus in Cancer and your partner has Mars in Capricorn…it counts!

Observation 4

For long-term compatibility, your partner’s Venus will be the same as one of your placements in your big three or your venus– ESPECIALLY WOMAN in Heteronormative connections or Males in same-sex relationships.

Trigger warning for those who are sensitive about pronouns…please use your imagination. I am talking about ANCIENT astrology, so it is rooted in traditional gender norms. You may disagree, that is fine, no judgment, but for the sake of this observation, you can bear with me…or ignore it. The choice is yours!

Now, I am talking about a man’s Venus placement here. In traditional astrology, Venus indicates the man’s wife. So if your “man” has Venus in Pisces, you may have Pisces Sun, Moon, Rising OR Venus/any other water placements. This would make you complementary. In fact, I would say if his Venus placement aligns with your chart, other placements in the chart won’t matter as much.

For example, You are a Gemini Sun, Libra Moon, Aquarius Rising. If your partner is a Pisces Sun, Cancer Moon, Scorpio Rising, BUT their Venus is in Gemini, Aquarius, or Libra…you’re in luck! From the big three, it may seem as if you are completely incompatible, but low and behold, your partner loves what you are putting down, so the “differences” may not be so different after all.

Venus is EXTREMELY important to long-term relationships. So is the 7th house. I won’t go down that rabbit hole for this particular post, but keep that in the back of your mind.

These connections may not be as intense as Twin Flame, but this is certainly a great indication for a wonderful connection. Let me say, like I said in the beginning, not every soul needs to experience a twin flame connection for its evolution. If you are wanting something more grounded, then follow this rule of thumb when checking initial compatibility with a partner.

BONUS: If your person’s Venus falls in your first house, this is a great indication of producing love at first sight! Now…other placements matter, obviously, but this is an extremely powerful indication of strong, immediate, attraction.

Side Note: For Women, you would look at your Jupiter placement for compatibility with your “husband”! I find that you can also use this rule for Mars when it comes to “boyfriends” as well.

Observation 5

Synastry and Overlays Matter!!!!!!!

Definitions:

Synastry- When comparing two natal charts, this calculates the planetary alignment between two individuals.

Examples- Mars conjunct Venus or Sun trine Saturn

Overlay- When comparing two natal charts, this calculates how a person’s planets fall into another person’s house system.

Examples- Person A’s Jupiter is in Person B’s 8th House. Or Person A Venus sits in Person B’s First House.

(if these are new concepts to you, I HIGHLY suggest you do some research. Tumblr has some wonderful posts dedicated to these practices that are highly informative. I would love to do posts concerning synastry and overlays in the future!)

Okay, this may be the MOST important observation, but it is more advanced than Sun/Moon/Rising/Venus compatibility. This requires you to have knowledge of the WHOLE HOUSE system (sorry, western astrology) and deep comprehension of planets, conjunctions, oppositions, trines, squares and aaaaallll that good stuff.

My sister and I LOVE synastry and overlays. It really puts entire relationships into context to see how your chart lines up and what underlying energies you’re dealing with, regardless of the actual placements. How the planets react to one another and how those planets show up in your chart is MUY IMPORTANTE! Chances are, if you’ve read these other rules and they haven’t resonated with you, I guarantee, you’ve had a relationship that is based more on planetary alignment than zodiac compatibility.

(Just to be clear…this is why I started off with Chinese astrology…Chinese astrology is INSANELY accurate and doesn’t require nearly as much study as what I am saying here. DO NOT underestimate the power of Chinese astrology when it comes to compatibility. I love how accurate it is with very little information.)

With this rule, you don’t need birth times, but my goodness do they make an impact when doing overlays. If you don’t have accurate birth times, always remember you can do it off the moon chart, which essentially makes the moon the ascendent sign. Just know, for an accurate overlay, you will need to use the moon sign for BOTH charts. It will not be as accurate if you use your birth chart with an accurate birth time and overlay to their moon sign. It isn’t “wrong” per say, it just isn’t nearly as precise. You want to use the same charts. Moon charts overlay one another and natal charts overlay one another. If you have both birth times, then do both! Go wild! The more the merrier!

Now, I am not going to go in depth about what these two practices mean, because that’s an entire post within itself and I wanted to keep this one “short and sweet”. But I will say, for a rule of thumb, if you have strong trines, oppositions, and conjunctions with a person, that is an indicator of a twin flame, soulmate, and karmic connection. If you have Saturn, Pluto, Venus, Neptune and Mars with low orbs, this can indicate a soul contract/intense connection. If yours or their placements sit in your 1st/7th/8th/12th house, this can be a VERY strong indication of a powerful & spiritual connection. There are plenty of ways this can be mixed and matched. The relationship between two charts is so important, they are a study within themselves. I am only scratching the surface here, so if you are a novice, again, I cannot express enough how exciting it is to do some digging when it comes to this stuff in relationships.

There are plenty of free synastry calculators online, so please use them as a resource– even if you don’t understand the calculations, it is important to see the results. These placements can truly unlock a much deeper understanding of your relationships that you just won’t get when it comes to looking solely at your charts at face value!

Let me know if you’d like me to discuss these topics further moving forward! You know I love to spread the knowledge, and there is just something so sexy about synastry and overlays…it’s honestly one of my favorite parts about Vedic astrology!

Bonus: North Node/Rahu and South Node/Ketu can play a VITAL role when determining what kind of karmic relationship you are in.

POP QUIZ

Just kidding, there is no test, because I’m too lazy to grade anything, BUT here is an example of what I’m talking about when combining the previous observations. I am not doing a super deep dive, but I want you to see how everything overlaps and intersects.

Let’s use Rihanna and ASAP Rocky as an example. Their connection hits on a few different cylinders. Rihanna is an Aquarius Sun and ASAP Rocky has his Venus in Leo. Why does this matter? Although Rihanna is an opposite, so Sun opposition Venus, which is twin flame-y, she is a FAMOUS, CREATIVE, ENTERTAINER and MUSE…this is ALL dealing of the 5th House/Leo energy, so it make sense…for now…as to why he would be attracted to her. She has No Leo placements in her big three, but because it’s the opposite, we go to that push-pull magnet thing I was talking about earlier. As far as how their relationship will play out long-term, I have ZERO idea, but I can say their attraction to one another is very real, but it will probably be volatile at times because of the Sun Venus Opposition. I’m sure her ego will cause difficulties to his love language, BUT he may be able to take it, because his Venus is ruled by the Sun. See how layered and complex it can be? And we are just looking at one placement. They work because he enjoys the attention that she brings (not in a vampire way, just in a “wow, isn’t my lady so cool” kind of way) and he allows her to shine without dimming her light, while she enjoys the fawning that he gives her. He loves that his partner is larger than life and Rihanna is larger than life because…well…she’s Rihanna. She is able to appreciate him, because at this point in time, he doens’t in any way seem like he is trying to compete with her. He is a confident person who can stand beside and behind such a force, BECAUSE he has such a strong Venus placement.***

Relationships aren’t black and white. These are just observations and rules/patterns that I have found to be true. But as you’ll see, as I have presented, some things will contradict, some things won't make sense, what makes sense for one chart doesn’t make sense for another. Etc… This is such a fun topic because it really is like a puzzle. And it really is a case by case basis. The more in depth you can look at a chart, the more knowledge you can walk away with.

FINAL THOUGHTS/MINI RANT

Oof….okay, what a ride! (Can you believe I had the intention of this being a short post. HA!) I hope that you were able to take something away from this post and learn something new! As you can see…there is a very intricate science behind how soulmates/karmics and twin flames work. It is so much deeper than saying “oh wow, that’s my twin flame”...like…maybe? I feel mainstream spirituality/astrology/tarot has taken that phrase and run with it. And saying “if you identify as twin flames then you are” is misleading. It really isn’t something you “identify” with. They either are or are not your twin flame. There isn’t an in between. It is not ambiguous and it can be fact checked. Also, twin flame makes it seem like you can only have one…I don’t think that’s the case. I think you meet as many “twins”/mirrors/soulmates/karmics as you need until your soul learns the lesson. Have you ever felt like you just keep meeting the same person over and over and over again? That’s because we are talking about soul recognition and not necessarily 3D body recognition.

You may be attracting different “people”, but you could be attracting the same “spirit”. So don’t always get so hung up on a particular person. TRUST ME BABES, if there is unfinished business, that same energy will come back around over and over and over and over again until you geeeetttt ittttt.

Another note is, if you’re like me, and you have exalted Venus in Pisces conjunct Ketu…then every relationship feels twin-flame-y. Why? Because I have my relationship planet tightly conjunct my south node, so I am on a spiritual journey on my own when it comes to relationships…my twin flame is most likely…Jesus Christ…sooooooo……yeah. (I kid, I kid, but not really. My placement can indicate being a nun…and trust me, after dealing with the crap I’ve had to put up with when it comes to these men folks, I have absolutely considered giving my body to God…cuz these men just don’t do right…lol…anyways…) Men and relationships have become my life’s work…which is why I am here sharing this information with you today. Each relationship is very nuanced but all have similar themes.

I am very much into tarot and astrology and all the things, but I do feel like there is a fad going around about this twin flame business. And as much as I enjoy a tarot reading popping up on my tiktok talking about my “twin”, I am always acutely aware that it can be a mislabeling and inspire people to put up with all kinds of crap for the sake of the label. If you’re going to be in a shxtty relationship, then be in a shxtty relationship, but don’t misuse the word. Twin Flame does not automatically translate to terrible, explosive, runner-chaser relationships and it does not excuse poor behavior. There is a difference between someone who is making mistakes because they are trying to learn and someone who is taking advantage of someone who won’t stand up for themselves. Sometimes, someone you like, just doesn't like you and your ego in tandem with your fear of rejection/abandonment is preventing you from actually growing and pursuing a relationship that would benefit and promote your soul’s growth. It’s almost like getting stuck on level one of a video game. Until you beat that internal need for validation from one specific person/soul…you’ll never get to play the next part of the game. Now…this isn’t me saying that soulmate/twin flame/karmic relationships don’t have their downsides, but I am saying, at least know the kind of energies you’re dealing with before you go putting pressure on a presumably less evolved/knowledgeable individual expecting them to “challenge your soul” and you haven’t even challenged yourself. This whole twin flame ordeal is like handing a toddler some markers and leaving them alone in a room full of white walls– it is bound to get messy. Soulmates are a BEAUTIFUL thing. And very rarely, I mean VERY rarely can a twin flame move into a more relaxed “soulmate” relationship. It is not impossible, but the amount of effort that is required to transcend, is unbelievable. BOTH PARTIES have to be spiritually mature and aware to do the work. This connection is NOT one sided…BOTH individuals are required to learn, grow and HEAL. Mind you, healing is the main reason for these kinds of relationships. There is no way to heal when your relationships keep pouring salt into an open wound. People can get caught up with and hang on to people for far too long because of a mislabeling. It is equivalent to a misdiagnosis from a medical doctor. Sure, you may have a cold, but if they misdiagnose you with a broken leg…are you receiving the right treatment? NO! And now you won’t heal properly! TO BE CLEAR…I believe in fate– so if you meet someone and you have an extraordinarily intense connection, you probably fit one or more of these rules and THAT IS why I am making this post. I want you to do the research for your own sanity so you can express FREE-WILL in whether you want to walk down that path or not with a certain individual– while also knowing the other person has free-will too. No label, or synastry, or overlay, or Chinese compatibility will change the fact that you may be fated to meet someone, but free-will may take you down different paths.

On another, equally important note…It is also possible to end up and stay with the wrong person. It is! You may look at a chart and follow some of these patterns and realize, you have NO BUSINESS with that individual. But people end up with the wrong people all the time. People have wasted LIFETIMES with someone they had no business with. But their ego decided they were a “soulmate” or a “twin flame” or they aren’t “healed”/spiritually awaken enough to realize they can do better…and low and behold…they were wrong and they wasted precious time. Now they’re miserable, can’t figure out why, and they end walking straight past a real soulmate in a supermarket…unable to even recognize them because they are so bogged down and clouded in their unhealed ego and a bad relationship that has cut them so far off from their own divinity, they can’t recognize love if it smacked them in the face. DON’T LET THAT BE YOU!

THERE ARE LEVELS TO RELATIONSHIPS!!!!!!!!! Not every soulmate will be as intense as the next. Not every boyfriend/girlfriend will be as compatible as the last. Love is a game of musical chairs. There is movement, there is stillness, seats get taken away, and eventually, there is a winner. And babe, it will ALWAYS be you. You will always be the last one standing when it comes to relationships because you have free-will. (Let’s not forget the importance of the 1st House/7th House axis. You vs Relationships. It is as equally you as it is them.) You are bound by nothing. You are bound to no one. You are love. You are light. If you do the work, you may find a wonderful, loving, long-lasting relationship full of romance, but this is not guaranteed. You AND your partner have to choose each other every single day. The best relationships require discipline, work, forgiveness, “God”/some higher power, and love– no matter who you cross paths with in this life…you have to do this for yourself first and foremost. Alas, if you are too caught up in people who won’t meet you in the 3D, let alone the 5D…you will always fall flat of what you are looking for. The chair will always be ripped from under you when the music stops. Always. All of this is irrelevant if it doesn’t come from within. And this is why I want to express it one last time…NOT EVERYONE WILL EXPERIENCE A TWIN FLAME CONNECTION. You don’t understand how much you have to overcome rejection, overcome fear, overcome lust, desire, ego ALL the things, to open yourself up enough to join forces with another soul and try to tackle life together. Your ultimate lover is not your savior– they are your equal. You have to save yourself. You are not your ultimate lover’s savior. THEY have to save themselves. You ain’t super(wo)man and they aren’t either. Your partner has to be willing to do the same work…THAT’S what makes them a twin. It is not because they are treating you like shxt, babes…

Learn the lessons. Do the work. Love every bit of the journey…especially the crappy parts, because THAT’S what will make it all worth it in the end and you’ll enjoy the beautiful parts as much as the Greek Gods enjoy sweet nectar and ambrosia.

Why is this important to differentiate? Why now?

Now, one thing is for sure…and two things for certain, I am psychic and I have seen in my crystal ball that there is heavy energy of union in the atmosphere. I am hoping that whoever stumbles upon this post, is on the path of self-discovery which ultimately leads to liberation because not all union is good union. (I think covid brought in a lot of bad unions for example…but that is another topic for another day). The days are getting darker, and the evil forces are getting stronger (am I being dramatic enough for ya?) so it is important to know exactly what we are all up against. Only few are chosen to be in relationships that are led by light. There is so much overwhelming darkness now and I don’t want anyone that I am influencing to fall into the trap. There is potential for WONDERFUL, POWERFUL, SEXY, LOVING, LONG-LASTING & HIGHLY SPIRITUAL unions right now. But you may be tempted by something that seems beautiful and it is nothing of the sort. So please, do your research. Love with all your heart. Let spirit lead you! Let love find you, there is no need to seek it out! Take calculated risk! Open up your heart chakra! But ultimately, always be mindful of the wolves in sheep's clothing.

Ciao ✌🏾

[silverphoenix212]

hey! just a question on your recent post: i understand and agree with the whole 'don't like, don't read' sentiment, especially when things are easily filtered and avoided so long as you keep off sites like tumblr/ao3. but i'm curious if you think a line exists with it. like if a cc explicitly says they are uncomfortable with its existence, should it still be a case of just 'well, it's their responsibility to not look'? /genq

No worries! Genuine questions are good, I think it’s good to talk about this stuff.

This sort of gets into what boundaries technically are. You can never control what other people do. Boundaries are about how you react to something. So if a cc has a boundary that they don’t want to see, say, smut. Then they are well within their rights (and encouraged!) to block anything and anyone to do with that. Even better if they do so before they see anything related to it. And of course, it would be very rude to shove it in their face or post it where you know they can see it.

But no one gets to control what exists. For one, it simply won’t happen. Content will always exist that any given person is uncomfortable with, that’s the nature of fandom and the internet in general. And it also leads to a slippery slope of policing each other and the fandom that leads to a very toxic environment and makes people afraid to post. It has happened before in mcsr. It wasn’t fun. People interpret boundaries differently, we end up with huge documents outlining rules, and suddenly no one wants to make content for fear of being cancelled over it.

Mcyt in particular is an odd example of fandom, since ccs tend to be way more involved. It’s something we’re all figuring out how to deal with. And I think it goes both ways. We should be respectful in how we share content and display it, especially if the cc has communicated a specific thing they’re uncomfortable with, but ccs also need to respect that not all parts of fandom are For Them. We can archive lock fics and keep things away from a cc’s direct view, and in turn, I think it’s reasonable to expect that ccs avoid interacting with parts of fandom they don’t want to see and know would make them uncomfortable, rather than policing what can and cannot exist.

I hope that answers this! Other people please feel free to add on if you think I missed anything.

(Also as a side note, being uncomfortable with something simply existing is setting yourself up to be uncomfortable, in my opinion. Things will always exist that you don’t like. Part of life is learning how to curate your own experience and be okay with that. But that’s a whole other rant.)

[wherethemoonguides]

over the course of the shipping polls, me and a lot of other people have noticed some major issues in the fandom that i honestly believe need to be addressed.

the shipping in the les mis fandom can be incredibly problematic.

what do i mean by this? simple, people are too defensive over their favs or being honest, ship stuff that is straight up illegal (yes it's fiction, but would you really apply some of these ships to real life? No. No you wouldn't). i believe this is a topic that needs to be talked about, hence this post.

to start, i've noticed that especially a lot of the fanbase can get SO incredibly rude about other people's ships winning or putting more effort into winning which? is incredibly unfair and an insane way to behave. i fully understand being disappointed in your fav not making it but the moment it delves onto making subtle hate posts about specific people that’s when you’re taking it too far.

another issue is the fact that a lot of the fandom normalise proshipping. someone needed to say it!

since i've been in the fandom i have seen an unbelievable amount of minor x adult content, incest and a lot of other things. before you say "oh, every fandom has people like that", they do BUT it is too normalised in this fandom? i have NEVER seen anyone talk out about how weird it is for people to be shipping the Thenardier kids (who are all aged under 17) for example, with ANY adult characters (Javert, Montparnasse, the students, members of the Patron-Minette and most of the time this is smut where people do NOT age these characters up! which, even needing to age a character up to ship them is such an insane thing (how do you see a child character and say "they need to be aged up so i can ship them with this adult") because that isn't normal behaviour!!!!

another major issue is that a lot of these characters are reduced down to ships, for example, i could perhaps mention javert and somehow it'll link to valvert and then his character is immediately reduced down to liking valjean or vice versa. same with enjolras and grantaire, ive noticed that grantaire can't be mentioned in a conversation on his own without enjolras being related even though he can be a great character without looking solely at enjoltaire.

i really, really love this fandom but it is so discouraging to interact with it sometimes because of the content i see and how NO ONE else talks about it. maybe it's because i'm younger than most of the fandom and i have a different view on it (im a minor) and for me and others, seeing adults ship children with characters MUCH older than them is so uncomfortable to see!

and yes, tag blocking is a system on tumblr which i use before anyone suggests it, but if you use this feature you'd know it doesn't always work and a lot of these posts/ blogs i've blocked can still appear through other people's reblogs.

i will add, i am NOT saying every single shipper is like this because not everyone is! what i am saying is its a pattern myself and others have started to notice more and more and its honestly really concerning to me. i know that les mis has a lot of different ways people interpret characters, ships, etc, but i really do believe there’s a point where certain things should not be encouraged and it becomes too much and hurtful.

that’s enough for now, i honestly have a lot of thoughts about this topic but… thanks for reading this if anyone did, i'd love to hear others opinions on this because i really do believe this is a subject that NEEDS to be talked about

[rathayibacter]

been thinking about the parallels between ttrpgs and poetry lately, synthesizing some stuff i've been sitting on with both. i don't remember where i heard this from, but i really like the idea of defining poetry as writing that can't be edited down any more; if you made even one cut, one word replacement, you'd lose something. even the repetitions and redundancies are there to communicate something, because if they weren't they'd be removed. 

its not true, of course, but i don't think it has to be. as a lens to examine poetry i think it's fun, and as a goal when writing poetry it's helped me on more than one occasion. any claim to Fundamental Truth beyond that line doesn't matter much in my opinion. what i like about this isn't that it makes for poetry where you have to read a certain meaning out of every single line to "get it", its actually kinda the opposite! by assuming there's meaning baked into every detail, you can get meaning out of any detail you decide to focus on, and can narrow your focus as much or as little as you like. my favorite poetry is messy, colorful, and dense; you're not gonna get a single clean reading out of it because doing that requires ignoring all the fun little twists and turns, all the intersecting ideas that led it to this point.

and so that brings us to ttrpgs! role-playing games are a fascinating thing because they can really only get us halfway; even the most strict and detailed game has an innate fuzziness that comes from the peculiarities of how we play tabletop games. your mechanics are only airtight if everyone knows, understands, and remembers them, and those are three tall orders for any game, no matter how simple or intuitive it may present as. and that's not even a bad thing! interpretation isn't just "what percentage of the rules are the players getting wrong", its an adaptation of the rules as written to the game as played. even forgotten rules are part of this, cuz anything that's able to be forgotten (and again, that's potentially anything) probably was forgotten cuz it wasn't terribly relevant to the table forgetting it. 

so, as we write games and cast them into the world, fully aware that the thing that'll arrive at people's tables will never match what we had in our heads, what should we do? obviously some of this is just practical; don't bog players down with unnecessary busywork or minute exceptions to memorize, don't build a house of cards that stops working if any one part is missing or changed, you can use stuff like cheat sheets, examples of play, indexes, and asides to make it easier to learn, reference, and remember how to play.

but i promised you poetry, and poetry we shall have! so here's my big guiding principle for writing ttrpgs: only include it if it sings. every part of the game should be special, so that no matter what part or parts of the game a particular table winds up using, the game still shines through. by tangling the spirit of the game up in every line, every rule, every tiny little piece, everyone who engages with it can get tangled up in it too, and can fill in the spaces between in whatever way resonates most with them.

in more practical terms, this is "don't write anything that's less interesting than what the players will make up at the table", ie assume players will fill any missing spaces to the table's preferences, so only close those gaps if you've got something fun to say. don't fill space out of obligation, don't bog yourself down in the stuff that doesn't matter. this doesn't mean never add a polearms list because there's a million polearms lists out there already, but it does mean don't add a polearms list unless you're burning with passion to add it, and excited for people to share in that passion. if you don't, don't worry about it. they can figure it out. the table can always replace your good ideas with ones they like more, and they can always fill in the gaps when they come up, but it's not always easy to recover from a wall of bland filler or an ocean of lifeless cliches.

i wont tell you that if you follow this One Weird Trick then your game will be good. i don't know what a good game is. or rather, i know exactly what i think a good game is, and have no idea what you think it is, and have less than no faith that anyone could ever determine what a Truly Good Game is. but just like the quippy little definition of poetry at the top, universal truth isn't really what i'm after when i employ this. i'm trying to make something that satisfies the little itch in my brain, that sings to me as i make it and keeps singing even after i let it go. moreover, i'm trying to make something that doesn't waste my time as a writer, and doesn't waste yours as a reader or player or fellow designer. 

will this make sure players remember all the rules when they're playing? no, absolutely not. i wouldn't want them to, even if i could force it! but maybe, hopefully, what this does do is lodge one of those little razor-sharp slivers of text in their brains, and it'll sing to them just like it sang to me. not the same song, not the same tune, but just as beautifully.

[beatcroc]

E-117 Sigma for the character bingo if possible.... I like seeing people talk about this guy

SIGMA MY GOAT....

If u can believe it when I was first reading scrapnik as it was coming out sigma was actually my fave character. I distinctly remember being like "yeah its awesome they brought mecha sonic back after so long but this guy is just way too fucking fun." obviously i have since become turbo fucking insane about mecha, but that doesn't mean I love sigma any less than i did then!

'so mean' is only half marked because like no one is mean to sigma but i do think he is EXTREMELY overlooked and like i cant entirely blame people since he's a strictly passive/support role in an otherwise pretty dynamic story, but like he's so subtly cool and awesome and there is so much about him that i think is absolutely fucking genius as a pull for a character. like im not even joking or exaggerating when i say sigma is probably the best thing they could have done for that sort of role. gamma was a widely beloved character and the first Big Deal of an eggman bot going off to do its own thing, and he also set a precedent for e-100's specifically being particularly observant and prone to developing their own line of thinking to become kinder. i think it's so so awesome of them to use sigma to follow in the footsetps of that. like it just feels like a natural thing an e-100 would wind up doing yknow. and aside from thematic stuff it's also just a natural pull to be like "hey yeah there were like 15 more of those guys we just never saw, there's one of just sitting around somewhere we can still use i'm sure.", especially since the egg carrier is also a feature on scrapnik. lastly also i do just enjoy having an early e-100 in the series again..... theyre such strange and charismatic designs.

i do also love him in a more general sense of like. they introduce mecha sonic as a big scary dude like twice the size of the average sonic character, and then on top of that they turn around and introduce a guy another two feet larger still as a bonafide gentle giant. 1000/10 no notes theyre the smartest people in the world. Anyway all the scrapniks have awesome designs and it's just a kickass aesthetic in general that is so very incredibly My Shit but to highlight a specific point on sigma, I did recently notice that the hole on his left side is directly over where his serial number would be. Very interesting little detail wrt to the themes of identity of course. been rotating in my head a bit.

"so many headcanons" is a bit misleading because i'm sincerely just not a headcanons guy, but with sigma in particular my interpretations of him are a good bit more....arbitrary, than i usually work with. its mostly just stuff playing him up as more of a Force than the comic really suggests because i like him. sigma is a deeply modest character and he plays that vibe very well but i feel like if you can look past how cheery and well-adjusted he is he very quickly becomes quite the freak of nature...or, robotics, i guess in this case, and i intend to make a point of this.

i do like to believe he's like an actual literal zombie. we know the e-100's are animal-powered. there is no fucking way any animal in him is still alive. the sonic series has provided practically no other explanations as to what powers eggman bots, but i feel like most any of them would have gone to shit with the condition he was in when he arrived on scrapnik. i do not know how the hell he is alive and it is frankly way more fun to just not try and define it. i don't think he knows either and hes never thought to pay it any mind in the first place. dont worry about it

i genuinely think he has a level of technical prowess basically on par with tails and eggman. tails is always talking about how eggtech is weird and hard to work with, and while sigma obviously has a more innate understanding of how it all works, his being able to reprogram everybody is like, slightly insane i think. tails & co had to use motobud as a base to get any shot at nonaggressive badniks but sigma is out there doing it completely from scratch for like a bajillion different models. and even just physically that's a lot of different types of bot to work with and maintain!

somewhat tying back to the first point, i would count him as perhaps freakishly durable. he might not have been the first guy to wash up on the island, but he was the first one to wash up alive. that and also yknow he had no issue recovering a pretty solid hit from m.knux. i've been replaying sa1 a bit recently and gamma evidently has some kind of "auto-recovery system" which is on one hand is definitely kind of just some horseshit technobabble...but....yknow. maybe that has something to do with it.

i am saying these to say: sigma is weird. ok. he is Weird. he's a simple dude and his friendliness makes him come off as eccentric at most but he is kind of a deeply strange guy. it takes a strange type of guy to just wake up and be like okay ^_^ yay ^_^ and start doing robot necromancy. i'm sure it's mostly just out of wanting to give others the same second chance that he had, but still. scrapnik as a project is kind of a crazy undertaking that stems from an equally crazy sort of logic. i need everyone to appreciate how weird sigma is with me. ok.

beast unleashed has a ? Because I'm not..... quite sure what that means? But I'm taking it in a general 'he's doing something to me sense bc oh boy is he doing something to me. [by proxy of mecha of course but.... man. Man.]

and then @ 'i will cry', sigma [and all the scrapniks] are some of the most guys ever for being in that place of "these guys have literally never bothered anybody, he is just a little old man who wants to help people why would you EVER", like to the point there is a significant part of me that DOESN'T want them to show back up or be relevant in mainline comic stuff because bringing them in contact with the rest of the cast will necessarily mean bringing them into the crossfire of actual plot conflicts. i just want them to have their happy ending. those dudes have already well and been through it. Please.

[dearweirdme]

Just a heads up, I'm a Jikooker, but I come in peace ✌️

I really like your blog because of how grounded and respectful you are of bts members. I feel like only reading Jikook bloggers opinions kinda traps me in an echo chamber, so it's really nice to question my interpretation of Jikook interactions with different perspectives (sometimes we gotta admit we're being delulu kkkk). Your blog is perfect for that 'cause you're very chill and bring very interesting points, so you quickly became my fav taekook blog. I'm sorry for all the jikookers who come here to make a fuss.

To clarify what I mean when I call myself a Jikooker, I believe Jungkook and Jimin have a very special bond, be it platonic or romantic, they are best friends and care deeply for each other. They're the only duo that actually makes me raise some eyebrows, however, at the end of the day, I don't know these people so what do I know? ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ No matter who they're dating I'll always be happy for them and cheer them on.

Anyways, the reason why I'm here is 'cause I love Taekook's relationship and I wanna gush about it lol.

One thing that I noticed that's very sweet is that JK is very sensitive to how Tae is feeling, so you can frequently see, for example, Jimin not realizing when a joke hurt or annoyed Tae and JK coming in to defend and praise him. (Of course Jimin is very sweet as well, he has comforted Tae through his hardest times, he's just not good at reading Tae unless he expresses his feelings out loud)

That's why I think Taekook became closer than Vmin over the years. Now, I don't think Vmin is as close as they used to be because they don't understand each other well, but the way they hugged during Jin's military discharge made me remember that despite their distance, Vmin has a soft spot for each other. You know those friends who go months without talking but when a hard time comes, they're the first ones to be there for each other and vent out their feelings? I feel like that's Vmin.

Meanwhile, Taekook seems to understand each other very well. I'm not sure if it's cause they both show signs of possibly being nd, but Taekook just has a natural understanding of what the other means. You always see Jungkook and especially Tae, say things that shock and confuse the other members, but when you look at Taekook they frequently don't even realize the other said something "weird".

Ever since their talk in ITS, it's like Taekook became closer than ever. They bring up each other any time they can in interviews and lives, they hang out all the time and we got so many adorable photos of them together. I see a lot of people saying their interactions are awkward and they seem distant, but I think they're just not the most talkative people in general and are perfectly comfortable with silence, both of them are the type of people to let other people talk more and just respond once in a while. I think Taekook communicate through actions rather than words.

The only time I saw their interaction as awkward was that Livestream in 2020 where they were making those flowers(?)(I don't remember...) but even then I think it was more about their difficulty with conducting live streams than their relationship.

That's it. I hope I wasn't an annoying jikooker

Borahae~ 💜

Hi @moo-mood !

Thanks for your kind ask. Obviously there’s things you and I will not agree on (I’ll not get into it, you know what those things are, I know what those things are, everyone does) but since vminkook-love-each-other is the biggest hill I will die on.. I’m always happy to see that this is something we can at least agree on and find enjoyment in 😊. I’m very much sure Jk, Jm, and Tae hate to read some of the stuff that goes around about them, so to see people acknowledge their closeness is really nice.

[broodwoof]

Did regular elves already exist when Elgar'nan and Mythal took form? I thought they were the first born. What about humans? Do we know? I' hope I'm not bothering you, I'm just confused about the lore.

no, not bothering me at all!

i'll be honest, i am Not a lore expert. i've played all the games multiple times and i've read into a good amount of the lore, but there are some things that i truly don't know if there are answers to that i missed. and i definitely haven't read anywhere near all the books/comics, so with that in mind...

my interpretation was always that both dwarves and elves existed in what i'll call early thedas. humans i'm not so sure about, but i think qunari definitely did not (i have headcanons about all this bc ofc i do lmao)

for me, the biggest hurdle in thinking that elgar'nan created the elvhen is that i genuinely don't think he is creative enough to have done so. that's interpretive, of course, but that's my read on him. and the little psychic argument he has with solas during davg seems to support that conclusion - none of the wonders of arlathan appear to be elgar'nan's doing, but he sort of takes the creations of others under his mantle. solas points out that june is gone, and elgar'nan says that (paraphrasing) his creations will live on in him and the world he builds

in the witch hunt dlc, there's a... codex, maybe? talking about how a dwarven thaig sheltered elves fleeing arlathan. and my memory is really fuzzy on this, but i believe there's another codex in trespasser, in the ruined library, talking about the dwarves. i believe it was about how they were forced underground, but again, it's been a minute

so between these two, i think it's reasonable but not definite to assume that elves and dwarves lived together. not together-together, but occupied the world at the same time, and were aware of one another before dwarves moved/were forced underground

idk where or how humans come into the picture tbph. i suppose one possibility is that humans are the result of elves and dwarves having children, but that feels kinda like a stretch. but also maybe plausible? like i said, i haven't landed on a firm theory. it's equally possible that humans were just around, that they evolved into the beings they now are within thedas. there may be three - perhaps even four, with the qunari - separate evolutionary branches, which may or may not share a common ancestor. i'm getting into stuff i am not knowledgeable enough to speak on (homo sapiens stuff is not my wheelhouse), but yeah

to your point about elgar'nan and mythal being firstborn: i think that is literal, in that they are the firstborn spirits; not the first spirits, but the first spirits to be "born" and to have a physical body. and i think that this ties in with the concept the dalish have, of elgar'nan and mythal being father and mother of the evanuris (and more broadly, of the elvhen/of elvhen society/culture), that the rest of the known evanuris were literally their children (with the possible exception of june and the definite exception of ghilan'nain). a lot of what the dalish understand as their history has an element of truth that has been distorted and interpreted over time, which is natural

and as for elgar'nan's particular relationship with the ancient elvhen... while i do not think he literally created any of them (although i can understand and appreciate the view that he did!), i do think that he took form in order to guide them. from his pov, he saw these beings - perhaps he saw them as what i'll call proto-elves, beings at an earlier stage of their evolutionary process; or perhaps he saw them as people with an established culture and was drawn to them for another reason, maybe their affinity with the fade and its magics - and he saw that they could be/"should be" guided, shaped, molded. and of course, given his nature, he felt like he should be their guide

[bi-harrymort]

yesterday i listened to the order of the phoenix audiobook while doing some chores and i was stuck on a thought about dumbledore i've had for a while but couldn't really articulate...

when i was a kid i liked him - he reminded me of my grandpa.

when i was a teen i became more critical of him and started to appreciate him as a more grey-area character, rather than what he was (i imagine) intended to be - the good and wise, albeit flawed in some ways, mentor figure.

now each year with each re-read of the books i begin to feel more and more irritated whenever he enters a scene... and i couldn't put my finger on why i felt that way (i put the blame of my irritation on fanfiction - reading about different renditions and interpretations of characters influences how we see them, especially since most of the fanfics i read in the hp fandom are, in the least, dumbledore-critical, if not outright dumbledore bashing)

but yesterday a thought struck me, when i was listening to the chapter of harry's hearing at the ministry, and the thought was that dumbledore, in canon, truly seems extremely cold and emotionless...

(many people have already talked about it, but I guess I wanted to maybe touch on some stuff that is not talked about as often?)

albus dumbledore is always kind, pleasant, composed, and presented in a way that is supposed to give us an impression of a very wise, experienced by life and its sorrows, man.

but i think what happened was that his character ended up becoming the opposite of this image.

for example, let's take his first ever scene in the series:

he meets with mcgonagall, and as they wait for hagrid to arrive with harry, they talk...

"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."

this is the first instance in which my teeth started to grind. of course, the dialogue serves as an intoduction: mcgonagall has to tell us - the audience - who and how significant dumbledore is; in the same scene showcasing voldemort's significance.

the powerful and frightening dark lord, and the powerful, benevolent opposing figure of the story.

but, at the same time, when done this way, it presents a very... strange character... for when we look at this scene through the lenses of the fictional world dumbledore is damn well aware why he was never afraid of voldemort, and should understand why everyone else is, right?

this line paints his modesty in a fake light... (not to mention a lack of empathy to understand why people may be afraid of voldemort) a way for him to show how unremarkable he is, while clearly knowing that he isn't, all to get the points for modesty as well.

it's one thing to be modest while being aware that you may be in some ways special, its another to be 'modest' without acknowledging it, in which case you're either really oblivious or not really honest. and given the story, i wouldn't say that dumbledore is presented as an oblivious character - quite the opposite actually, given how he always seems to know everything - more than any other character. so that would leave us with the option number two...

"I know you haven't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of." "You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have." "Only because you're too - well - noble to use them." "It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."

why am i rolling my eyes? oh dumbledore, you're so different and awesome and special and noble and good! excuse me i have to throw up.

this happens over and over and over again; save for one or two instances...

but even this i always lumped into a bit of a biased and irrational dislike of a character, and so i didn't think it a sufficient reason to ever bring it up. what did persuade me to write this post is the constant, constant calmness of albus dumbledore.

now, i don't mind passive, calm, composed or, in a similar way, depressed characters. it's all about who they are, what's their backstory, their role in the story, etc.

dumbledore's calmness coupled with all of those other aspects make him into someone very emotionless; emotionless that is veering into ruthlessness. and this trait, we are told and 'shown', is supposed to be the exact opposite of his percieved personality...

he constantly keeps vital information from other people (even if the information pertains to the matters of life-and-death); allows for others (especially children) to fight his battles; shows up only in very critical moments, when he would have had the power to actually prevent some of the events from happening; and is so calm and collected throughout all of the chaos that ensues that he comes off as if he didn't really care about anyone or anything...

he preaches about love and family, and he certainly believes in it to an extent, but his actions and reactions do not fully confirm the truthfulness of his words. he's more like a general of an army - he hates to see his soldiers die, but he's got to let it, he's the only one who knows about the horcruxes - he's the only one who knows how to defeat voldemort once and for all! so he's got to stay in control...

whilst also, in the same breath, preaching about how dangerous having such control is.

telling everyone how he rejects power, claiming he doesn't have it...

whilst being in the position of absolute control.

control that he gained through his knowledge. his intelligence. his fame. his standing in the wizarding world.

he may not be the minister, but the minister heavily relies on him for most of the story... to such an extent that some people don't respect the minister himself. instead they give this respect and power to dumbledore - other witches and wizards treat dumbledore in a way dumbledore claims to reject.

because power isn't only what you do and say. power comes from other people as well. hell, maybe even more so... people give individuals their power.

you may be the smartest and the strongest person in the world and never gain even an ounce of the power that the renowned and celebrated people of the world have.

most of dumbledore's flaws are part of the writing itself - it's a children's book with a child protagonist. he and his teen friends have to save the day...

so, like with voldemort, dumbledore ends up in the limbo between made claims and the 'reality' of the story.

voldemort is powerful, brilliant; a great wizard - whether they love or hate him, other characters always admit that he was great.

dumbledore is also powerful and brilliant; a good man - most characters will confirm it every once in a while, reminding us of this fact.

but that's the issue i guess... or maybe a blessing... the story is what it is, and so when we - the fans - wish to dig deeper, we'll all end up with a thousand different interpretations of the same character, all fuelled by our own, personal understanding of the text, our own personalities and life experiences and our own ways in which we end up interacting with the source material.

so we'll always create unique explanations. some centered solely on the fictional world's perspective, and some combining fiction with the reality of the written book: its genre and possible real-life influences.

the post was supposed to be shorter, but I couldn't leave some of this stuff out... in the middle of writing i considered taking more time before updating and doing more research (maybe even make it into a much bigger project and go through all of dumbledore's scenes in all of the books)... but i decided to table it for another time.

[sparrow-in-the-field]

your severance szn 2 criticism summed up everything I’ve been thinking that I just can’t articulate! I think the acting was insanely good and the visuals really levelled up from season 1 but I think a lot of the writing really let it down. And I think a lot of fans have been so distracted by ships and just all the extras and bonuses from the showrunners and cast that they’re distracted from how easy it is to pick apart the weaknesses in the writing. I think you can really tell there were big issues behind the scenes in the writing room and last minute rewrites and so the outcome of that was shrinking the narrative scope to focus mostly on the Mark/Helly/Gemma plot and benching the other major players. Milchick had the best character development but it had the most disappointing conclusion and Dylan’s story had so much potential and it was barely given room to breathe. And I really don’t understand why we‘re still having to base our understanding of outie Irv’s character on unconfirmed theories and assumptions that have been around since 2022. I fully understand why John was a bit hesitant in confirming if he was coming back.

I’m really glad I’m not the only one who felt a little bit let down

thanks anon! I'm glad you liked my thoughts (they were longwinded enough I'm just happy that anyone was willing to read them lol).

I think you really hit the nail on the head here, too. I completely agree that this season had such high quality filmmaking; it's honestly one of the major reasons why I'll stick around for s3. The cinematography, the set, the score are all top notch. And the acting!! Man, I'd give them all Emmys if I could lol. Even if the story and writing is off, each episode is still a joy to watch because of these elements.

I think about the writers room a lot; I believe one of the main directors from s1 left the show because of creative differences, and I would love to know what direction she would have taken the show; alas, we'll never know. And ooff don't get me started about the extras/bonuses!! That's been bugging me a lot. I won't lie, I don't listen to the podcast; I'd watch the talking heads at the ends of episodes and often be like "wait what?". It bothers me that so many people take what they say outside of the show as being the same as direct canon. Call me crazy, but I expect a show to be able to stand on its own to be understood and interpreted. I shouldn't need to consume the supplemental material to understand the thesis of a paper, you know?

It is surprising to me, based on s1, how much the show ended up turning the focus towards ships/romance. I mean, the Helly/Mark/Gemma stuff has always been part of the story, of course, but like you said, in s2 it really came at the sacrifice of other characters and storylines. I really missed the MDR found family aspect this season, and I feel like there's a version of the show where Mark and Helly could have had a romance without it taking away from their friendship with the rest of MDR.

I was excited for Milchick's development! It felt like they were laying the groundwork for something big, but then in the finale he was just the same ol' Milchick. Maybe in s3 we'll see some more growth from him (and/or backstory, please!! where did this man come from?? how did he get this job?? He's never seem dedicated to Kier in the way Cobel was, so I'm so curious how he got here!)

Dylan and Irv both deserved more screen time this season. I enjoyed Dylan's story with Gretchen, but I completely agree that it deserved more room to breathe, and I think Dylan deserved more time with MDR (loved his and Irv's interaction in ep1, more of that energy, please!), as well as some more tension with Milchick (like after s1 they should still be on edge with each other at least, but they barely interacted this season). And the whole Irv story...I've said my piece already lol. But at the very least, if we must go in this direction with Irv, tell me who he's been talking to/working with! I fear Ben Stiller and co. are going to simply pretend that didn't exist for convenience, but I will never forget, Ben. I won't.

You've got me rambling again, anon!! Lol. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!

[archivalofsins]

It's ultra funny because I try not to get too serious. However, I'm sure people believe I'm just rather opinionated and a downer, but I am trying to be better at letting stuff be. Because I recognize it's not that serious to people. However, I also understand that for some, it may be difficult to understand where people who consistently vote and want Amane innocent are coming from.

It isn't nice to have ones whole point boiled down to so you support cults. Yet, at the same time, I have to wonder if people realize how boiling it down to that sounds. Firstly, just because someone uses the buzzword cult to elicit a kneejerk response and delegitamize the religious beliefs of those different from them does not change that what the person they are referring to is actually practicing are their religious beliefs which I believe should generally be respected regardless of one's own personal feelings.

There are a lot of mainstream religions, if not all of them, that have been referred to as cults at one time or another. So, to me, this always comes off as someone genuinely asking,

"Oh, you support someone's right to follow and believe whatever religion they wish?" To which my response would be, "Yes, within reason."

Literally, the response to the previous statement should always be yes. Unless someone's beliefs are literally killing people, which is not a part of Amane's teachings or the rules she listed. Something illustrated well in Purge March, considering Amane punishes her mom for killing the cat, and Amane's mom punishes her for saving the cat.

One of the rules is basically do not interfere with the fate of other living things whether you are healing or killing and Amane breaks it while killing her mom by using the fact her mother broke this rule as an excuse to now punish her mom and relishes in doing so saying,

"You're sorry I don't care. Please go ahead and die already." - "Tis ordained, thou shall stay thine course, then perish."

One of the rules literally amounts to stay in your lane, and yet it was still interpreted as what exactly? Like how else was this interpreted, I'm not understanding. To me, this literally reads as "You will live your life and your life only then die". This is the rule I interpreted both Amane and her mom breaking by intervening with the life of the cat in different ways, which was not them "staying thine course". The life of the cat was neither theirs to save or end because its life is not their course.

Amane's belief amounts to setting boundaries in what she wishes to have done to her and around her. It is not her fault she's currently in an environment where she is consistently forced to engage with and be around people who do not respect her beliefs. Her whole point when boiled down amounts to going have Shidou stop doing this thing that makes me uncomfortable and is antithetical to my personal values in my vicinity.

Does Amane need to learn that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and faith? Well, I could see how some could believe that, but personally, I don't think so. Because she literally came in here saying that if you do not judge her for her faith or what she has done, then she won't judge you. She has shown that she is capable of dealing with others living differently than she does, but she is more than willing to meet intolerance with intolerance.

Again, something that fits with that fourth rule, since we are not staying our course, I believe we are in a way giving Amane permission to leave hers and interfere with the courses of others. Just like she used the rule to excuse attacking her mother. For me seeing Amane's character be boiled down to her beliefs and her dedication to said beliefs ignores the fact that the people who fostered this environment of intolerance and hostility that she is reacting to was us through our previous verdict.

It's also just quite odd because, like, do people not understand what a slippery slope persecuting someone based on their beliefs alone is? Who decides what religions/beliefs are right and wrong? How do they judge which ones are wrong or right? What precedent does stating that judging someone off of that alone is okay set, and who can it harm/has harmed in the real world before?

Then even if I was afraid of Amane starting a cult when she literally only consistently speaks to one prisoner alone by choice, why would my adult response to that be to literally create a religious confrontation with a child? When I could simply be like, okay, those are your beliefs, and I accept them. However you have to do the same for others not everyone is going to agree with you and that's fine.

Not everyone follows your religious beliefs or subscribes to your teachings about medicine, and you can not force them to. Just as I can not force you to change your beliefs. Society should be built off of a mutual respect of people's cultures, religious practices, and boundaries. If one is unwilling to give that to someone else, they can not expect it to be given to them.

It's just that simple. In my opinion, and that's why even judging Amane for her beliefs alone wouldn't make me think she's guilty. Not because I support cults but simply because I'm not going to persecute someone solely due to the fact they have religious beliefs that differ from mine. Because I personally believe doing that is a slippery slope.

[bonesandthebees]

still thinking about the qsmp lighting strike one shot...

learning sign language makes you realise just how isolating it is to cant hear properly and its just so nice to see phil signing even when hes not speaking directly to tallulah and even tho she has a hearing aid and could hear him this close

richas having a prosthetic leg and being carried a lot and the other kids understanding that and not complaining about not being carried too which is something youd except to see with kids

and the kids choosing to speak mostly with sign too and richas having to learn with his leg and finding little bonuses like hiding lock picks, its so interesting and cool to see, just representation man, yk

and just the way such a short story is packed with happy little language things in general is sweet, hearing your own language after some time is always such a good feeling, cant imagine not hearing it for so long

or while the parents are communicating in english they still talk to the kids in their languages so they nurture their native languages and dont forget

and you nailed character voices and personalities so well, like you clearly worked on every character to figure them out and its so cool to see basically literally the qsmp characters in this story

the bagi and cellbit moment was a cherry on top, made me so emotional I love them

the possible/implied parallel to crimeboys/wil and tallulah was so hopeful

all in all such a sweet little story, 10/10 I cried

aaaa thank you so much this makes me so happy to hear how much you enjoyed it

yes exactly, a lot of hearing people, even well meaning ones, don't seem to realize how much hoh/deaf people have to struggle with feeling isolated. even if a hoh/deaf person can read lips, can hear a bit, has hearing aids, or even has a cochlear implant that doesn't mean they talking to people is easy. there's issues with background noise or not having people facing you when they speak or sometimes you just don't have the energy that day to put your everything into focusing on what other people are saying. I'm a hearing person but this was a common thing I heard about my Deaf teachers in my ASL classes when we learned about Deaf culture and audism. also, while of course I'm in no way trying to say my experiences are similar to that of a hoh/deaf person, I have an audio processing disorder so hearing is something I struggle with a LOT, specifically when it comes to communicating with others. if there's a lot of background noise, even if I'm standing right next to someone I might only catch ~60% of what they say and I have to use context to guess the rest. it's unbelievably frustrating at times.

so I figured that since q!phil is already so accommodating and aware of tallulah's 'asthma' in canon, I thought it just made sense that in an au where she's hoh he would be very attentive and would make sure to sign to her regularly so she won't miss out on what's going on.

richas babyyyy <33 when they're walking for long periods of time like that I figured it just made sense for the adults to want to take the strain off of richarlyson's leg by carrying him, but also I just thought the mental image of richas sitting on cellbit's shoulders was too cute not to include. benefits of having six parents is there's always someone around to carry you lol. also I thought of the lockpick thing and it was too funny not to mention. richas would 100% hide random things in his prosthetic if it had a compartment for that.

I had the rest of the kid prefer signing to talking for two main reasons: one, I thought it would be the way to interpret all of them using signs in canon to talk while tallulah is the only one who has hearing aids. and two, when you grow up in a world where being too loud means death, wouldn't you learn not talking is better? it's sad but I thought it made sense :(

the language stuff in general was so fun to play with. although it's definitely nervewracking to try and write in languages I don't know, I think it just feels more natural for the parents to speak to their kids in their first languages even when they're around english speakers. idk I just went off vibes for those bits and really enjoyed it. and then cellbit and bagi's entire Big convo I felt had to be in portuguese given how serious the subject matter was so of course they'd both have it in their first language, and I'm so grateful for the help I got with the portuguese there.

i've had several people tell me I nailed the character voices in lightning strike and that makes me SO happy because I was trying so hard. some of the members are easier for me to write (phil I'm used to obviously, cellbit idk why I just kind of get how he talks and don't have to think too hard) but then for others I put a lot of effort into making sure they sounded right (etoiles was the one I had to focus on the most because he has such a distinct way of talking but he's also so fun to write, bagi I've watched a lot of clips of recently so I had her voice but I still wanted to make sure I nailed her, and tina like etoiles has a fairly distinctive way of speaking so I thought over her lines a lot too)

I came up with the idea to parallel wilbur trying to find tommy and then wilbur coming back to tallulah with cellbit and bagi finding each other again after all these years while I was writing it and I was very happy with how that whole bit turned out :)

i'm so glad you enjoyed ty for this it made me smile a lot <33

[unleashthegoats]

Hey y'all! Loved the new episode, and wanted to chip in on one of the later points - videogames, especially in relation to the "Grey" Jedi concept. Knights of the Old Republic II really did some irreversible damage in that regard, as much as I love the game (though I prefer the first one). Kreia is one of the most central characters in regard to shifting morality debates in Star Wars (in universe and from fans alike) imo, and I'd honestly be super interested in hearing you three cover either or both of the games in the podcast, although I understand that's highly unlikely since none of you have played them. But she is extremely relevant to this topic because she preaches about neutrality and that there's more than just ~dogmatic thinkings of light and dark~, and your relationship with her suffers if you are kind and altruistic and get too rooted in the light side and she's like...one of *the* characters that kind of gets credited with developing a "grey" philosophy in-universe? But people always bring her up as if she's this great point of sensible consideration and not actually, as it turns out, a master manipulator trying to purge the Force from the galaxy (or something like that at least? It's been a while since my last playthrough lol) that lies to you all the time to get you to do what she wants (because she was so crazy bananas both the Jedi and the Sith said "no thank u :)" - well, with a bit more nuance but you get the gist). Really, it's a bit like people falling for Palpatine's anti-Jedi points all over how they talk about her philosophic arguments without bringing that up. But yeah, I thought you might be interested in that. Also, I think KotOR might be what people meant with being able to unlock Dark Side powers as a Light sider but you are absolutely correct that it's a mechanics vs story issue (especially since some powers are indeed alignment-locked AND making dark side choices does impact the character (apart from story, ending and relationships to your party members). It's a bit of a simplistic gimmick, of course, but the further you get into the Dark Side on the alignment, the more it's visible - sickly skin colour, cracks in the skin and flesh, your eyes change...stuff like that. I don't think using Dark Side powers actually pushes you further down the alignment, but the intent is obviously not for Light Siders to mix and match however they like).

Anyway, I'm so sorry for rambling on for so long, but I thought you (or someone, at least :D ) might appreciate that additional info. Keep up the good podcasting! :)

OUR FIRST ASK! I'm so glad you're enjoying the podcast, thank-you so much for listening to us ramble on for an hour once a month!

This is all really interesting! I've read a few metas about the Star Wars video games and the characters within them which is partly why I chose to briefly include them in the episode (and also because I am familiar with Jedi: Survivor which has its own "dark side" mechanic for the main character that was relevant to the discussion). Aside from Jedi: Survivor, I wasn't necessarily referencing any one specific video game, I assume it's probably a thing that's come up more than once.

As far as my reaction to Kreia goes, just based on your description of her, the idea of there being "too much light" just isn't how Lucas's own worldbuilding worked. It's clearly trying to hit on the idea of "balance" being equal amounts of light and dark usage, as opposed to balance being acknowledging darkness EXISTS (in yourself and in the universe) in order to keep yourself from acting on it. There just isn't a way to be "too light" or something like that, there's never "too much" kindness and compassion and selflessness in the world. In this sense, the video games are just going to fall into the same category as the rest of legends and EU stuff, in that they often just do their own thing based on their own interpretations of Star Wars, but it doesn't mean it actually fits with what Lucas himself was trying to get across about the philosophy of the Force and the Jedi in his own stories, and that's primarily what we're using as a base to discuss Star Wars from.

If any of us ends up playing KOTOR, we can certainly try to bring it up more often. I don't think we have any plans of doing more video game stuff currently, but if the KOTOR remake ever comes to pass, maybe I will!

-Mod Sugar

[irisnkrichronos]

The End Poem

I've wanted to make this post for years now.

My name is Iris, I've been raised in an environment full of hate. My father was a neofascist as I was growing up, when I was 2 he went to a "Forza Nuova" rally to which some people protested by throwing eggs at everyone. Father was and still is kind of a xenophobe, he's racist, and he's sexist, heavily. Throughout 2016 my parents had a lot of discussions, and as they did I sunk my time deeper and deeper into Minecraft Xbox One edition. They were fighting, on the brink of divorce, living in separate houses, and all I had was Minecraft. A game that I experienced fully offline and alone. From 2010 when I first played it on my 360 to this day, Minecraft has been by my side more than any friend, relative or pet. It shaped me. It made me who I am.

And this brings us to what I really wanted to talk about...

This is a deeply personal post and I expect the maximum level of respect from all of you. Soundtrack: https://nyaambxr.bandcamp.com/track/biome-fest-2

I consider myself an atheist, yet I've always felt that things happen for a reason, like if there was something pulling the string, some kind of universal intention. I believe The End Poem to have some kind of intrinsic power over people, I do not consider its contents to have literal meaning, it is like a parable. It's text written for a block game. Of course it's not meant to have any special spiritual meaning, right? Hell, the author got the text for it through a shroom trip! There's different levels of believing in the poem, I'll start off with stuff most of us can get behind. You can read The End Poem for yourself at https://archive.org/details/the-end-poem-release The gist of it is that two supernatural entities manifest themselves as text on a screen at the end of the long dream of Minecraft.

I will now start quoting and dissecting the poem. I will highlight the lime entity in bold text and the cyan entity in normal text.

Does it know that we love it? That the universe is kind?

Sometimes, through the noise of its thoughts, it hears the universe, yes.

But there are times it is sad, in the long dream. It creates worlds that have no summer, and it shivers under a black sun, and it takes its sad creation for reality.

To cure it of sorrow would destroy it. The sorrow is part of its own private task. We cannot interfere.

These entities talk about how the player has played in worlds of their own creation that caused them pain and suffering, we can interpret this to mean the existence of any kind of evil in the universe.

They go on and say that the sorrow is part of the player's growth and story, that it is an essential part of life, and that a life without suffering cannot possibly exist without totally obliterating the properties that make the player themselves. As we read the poem we understand that the player is one with the universe, that everything that exists is the universe. We learn that the pain the player fights is something that comes from within, that the player is love.

In the order these facts are presented we're told that the player is the universe, that the universe loves the player and that the player is love.

This means that the player's life purpose is to love, to spread love, to love itself, to love everything and everyone. That's the philosophical message of the poem.

Let's get to the theological part.

Who are we? Once we were called the spirit of the mountain. Father sun, mother moon. Ancestral spirits, animal spirits. Jinn. Ghosts. The green man. Then gods, demons. Angels. Poltergeists. Aliens, extraterrestrials. Leptons, quarks. The words change. We do not change.

We are the universe. We are everything you think isn’t you. You are looking at us now, through your skin and your eyes. And why does the universe touch your skin, and throw light on you? To see you, player. To know you. And to be known. I shall tell you a story.

This tells us two things: - The entities we are reading are supernatural, they are the rest of the universe. - The universe functions to grow and nurture the player.

In a certain sense, what this overall means is that we are our own. We're our galaxies, our lives, our planets, our stories, music, foods, smells. We're on earth to live, for purposes unknown, told to us through:

Sometimes I do not care. Sometimes I wish to tell them, this world you take for truth is merely ⊢⊣⊩⊣⊣ and ⊣⊮⊭⊬⊪, I wish to tell them that they are ⊩⊬⊬⊨⊥ in the ⊮⊤⊨⊫⊣. They see so little of reality, in their long dream.

This means that reality itself is a dream, made to grow each and every single player, that the hardships are a test made to grow us, that's what it means to be a player, to play the game of life, to grind, to pass the hardships, to slay the bosses.

In this sense, everything happens for growth, every single person is of immense value, a value that is enriched only by loving others and experiencing as much of the universe as possible.

These last two behaviours are common in most religions and personal beliefs of people, it's like if they were innate desires of mankind, to live life and improve life for others, to wish for nothing but happiness. What I've said so far can be confirmed with the last 3 lines:

And the game was over and the player woke up from the dream. And the player began a new dream. And the player dreamed again, dreamed better. And the player was the universe. And the player was love. You are the player. Wake up.

Thank you for reading. I believe I've never been so vulnerable before. This... this is my religion I think... Sometimes the notes that are not played matter just as much as the ones that are being played. If loving is what makes someone a good player, that must mean hate is the wrong way to live life, no matter what or who you hate. This aligns with the fact that hate is the easiest and weakest feeling to have. It's the innate reaction when presented with something we cannot relate to or do not understand. Hating is easy, loving hurts. To love is to make yourself vulnerable. Nobody likes to be vulnerable. Loving is innate. Hatred is something humans learn. On that note, by love I mean interpersonal affection: Romance is something humans learn too

Kids do not discriminate until someone in their life shows bias and they appropriate that behaviour. Humans started hating when concepts like money, ownership of territory and or things, monogamy and such arose.

Humans are inherently social, yet those conflicts that split us are also defining of humanity. We all wish for a better world and the poem implies it is not possible to eradicate hate, but that we must make our best effort to tolerate life, only through restraint and love. One thing I seem to have glossed over is, the entities that speak to you imply that they are the universe, that you are the universe, that they are not separate from you, that you are talking to itself. I am currently correcting myself explaining myself the poem I told myself if we go through this line of thinking.

Everything is you, everything means literally everything, even everyone.

[lemonhemlock]

I think actors can be allowed to be wrong about their characters because 1) they work on their scenes before the show is edited and some characterization changes 2) the script is confusing (and not consistent) and they have to create personal headcanons to fill the gaps 3) they have their personal interpretation of what was shown on screen and we as viewers have ours, in this fandom people have opposite opinions on the same scenes and characters, so it's not surprising they also have different opinions

oh, of course! a lot of this is just behind-the-scenes stuff that we are simply not privy to. people often go "my goodness, how can actor X say that, they simply must not understand their character at all", if not they're accusing them of being downright stupid. sure, always a possibility, but you simply don't know what happened backstage! you don't know how the script looked like. the stage directions. the director's comments. what they talked about during read-ups. like ??? maybe the producers changed their minds after filming and modified some pretty important aspect. so, so much can be done or implied just through editing.

these people are not magicians, they can't be going on publicly in interviews "well AKSHUALLY those idiots told me one thing during filming and then they completely turned it on its head in post-production so your guess is as good as mine"

[system-of-a-feather]

you mentioned being interested in research about the consciousness! so, what’s your opinion on jim tucker’s research, if you’re alright talking about it?

Oh boy I actually haven't looked at Jim Tucker's stuff in ages. I think I looked at it way back when I was first getting interested in research on psychology and consciousness? Like when I was like 13??? That isn't to say I'm particularly well read or informed on his stuff so I might have some video talks of his on in the background while I do things and see if I'd like to add anything to this post after the fact.

I will say, I am largely of the camp in consciousness research (I forgot who I first heard talk about it and I think the video is no longer up on youtube but a while back I was making my way down this channel / podcast but only got like... through the first few videos) where I largely do not believe that consciousness is anything of a "real" thing beyond the subjective experience of it and that the experience of consciousness is largely a phenomenon that is a byproduct of the human brain using schemas to calculate, predict, analyze and interpret the world around us. Of course, thats my preferred opinion on it because consciousness research is largely super duper up in the air what with how there is really little to no clear evidence of any part of the brain being responsible for consciousness / sense of self / a soul / etc at least since I did a last reading into it.

That said, I do find Jim Tucker's research to be really interesting and I don't really have any direct questions or counter questions to ask on the topic since I haven't really thought *too* much on it or read any of the direct papers to see the extent of how they've done the research beyond them discussing it briefly in interviews and podcasts and what not. I personally am a skeptic because of my aforementioned bias of believing that there is likely no consciousness that could be "reincarnated", but I also don't really have any good alternative explanations beyond "I think there are probably alternative explanations that I haven't spent the time to think about."

That said, I do find it a bit interesting - particularly from a more philosophical end than a more grounded research end - the possibility of the research and it's potential implications. If I suspend my disbelief rooted in my lack of ability to see a philological mechanism for reincarnation, I do find that the idea of the recycling of matter into the overall life cycle somehow also manufacturing an "error" in memory being retained from one incarnate of life to the next to be particularly interesting and I also do find it an interesting potential that if we do bite into the heavily speculative but also genuine research question of "is our world actually a simulation and would we know it" - assuming that the world IS a simulation; reincarnation, without being inherently religious or spiritual, could theoretically very much be explained through computer science and errors

(Which I do really like to hear people talk about what it would look like for us if we were in a simulation, its just a fun thing to listen to)

I'm honestly intrigued to see where the research would go. I'm a skeptic, but I definitely could see it having some valuable merit to it. Iirc Jim Tucker and her predecessor have explicitly tried to approach this in the least spiritual / religious manner possible? I can't really say for sure but I'd have to read into it.

Funny thing is, I've actually been raised in a family that - despite being primarily Catholic in nature - has always believed and talked about reincarnation alongside everything else and so the topic is something that I've actually always been raised around.

Ironically, as a practicing Buddhist, I don't really believe in the more popularized understanding of reincarnation in the west that interprets it as a soul that gets "reborn" as much as I do believe that reincarnation - in terms of philosophy and my practice - is the act of individuals returning to the overall connected whole. From there I absolutely could see that some essence or subjective sense of "you" may be reforged in the next expression of the world, but that's a whole esoteric thought experiment of it's own.