earthbased

[earthbased]

every day i am just floored by humans ability to do good. we have these choices before us and the terrible ones make headlines, but i have no doubt love is so much more potent when it counts. so blessed to be a human being, because all human beings trot with this potential and i hope to honor it

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Lock the gates against splendor, black out every luxury and pleasure— tear from the country’s lexicon the word lovely. Call beauty an infection, and it only spreads, roots deeper in the earth. In the uniform streets, people on bicycles pedal out whole dynasties of verse, each downward foot a poem’s stressed syllable pumping forward through silence. In the oil and steam of the factories, workers compose love songs for bells and drums, make of the mind a rebel orchestra pit. No silk threads embroidering their slippers with phoenix, lotus, a dragon’s fire, the women find other ways to shine. Behind the drawn curtains of their shadowed houses, they hang polished teaspoons from the ceiling, catch what light they can from the candles’ glow. Children, knowing the laws by which they are governed, hide marbles under loose floorboards, cover the glass bowls of goldfish with dark cloth and slide them under the beds. While they sleep, scales flicker beneath, stowaway cells of a dreamworld waiting to be woken and entered. Under the muted palette of night, across the grey city and in another room, a man’s hand traces the body of his beloved, his finger a brush that paints her skin with the calligraphy of bamboo and plum, all the flesh alive, a hundred flowers blooming.

carla funk, the banning of beauty

[earthbased]

[source]

[earthbased]

On my last account, I made a post about how pagans who aren't swimming in religious trauma and are just trying to have a religion aren't equipped to, nor should they have to, deal with people who are having an abrahamic hissy fit in pagan spaces. Pissed a few people off, but I never took it farther than that because I ADHD'ed in another direction.

Recently, another friend who christian > atheist > pagan > atheist >pagatheist (as we call ourselves) and I were talking about the experience of constantly fluctuating faith levels and how we tend to cling to orthodoxy in uncertainty. There's something so appealing about the burden of faith being removed and just being able to act through the steps of being a pagan, with the security of knowing faith doesn't matter. I was HelPol, she was Norse. Neither of us particularly ascribe to a structured religion anymore, which has brought back a lot of interesting thoughts.

Our conversation wrapped back around to what I'd said a few years ago on tumblr, about pagans deserving to be pagans and have a religion in peace, and there needing to be a connected-but-separate place for processing leaving christianity. Both from my own experiences and from observations, I very strongly feel that people need to actually process and heal from leaving christianity before jumping ten toes into any other religion. Most people leave christianity because they're angry, and that isn't a healthy way to dive into a new religion - for you, or for the people of that religion. It tends to end in people just reenacting christianity but with sick statues and different names.

She brought up deconstructionism - the process of identifying what YOU believe separate from your religion, identifying what your religion ACTUALLY SAYS, and identifying the ways you do or do not agree with the religion and how much it's going to influence your life. We decided to get to work and start with specifically identifying our own beliefs, stripped of all labels and dogma. It's a fascinating process. I don't recommend starting it alone, because it can be pretty confusing, but there are resources available (mostly geared towards christians because deconstructionism is an exvangelical philosophy) and they're pretty helpful to at least get you started.

Our latest conversation stemmed from tumblr. She's much more active on paganblr than I am, and she started showing me a ton of posts that essentially boil down to "The gods have the exact same political beliefs that I have with 100% overlap and no deviation and therefore if you don't have the same beliefs that I have with 100% overlap and no deviation you don't get to be a pagan and the gods hate you." So began the conversation: what do we believe is true, what do we want to believe is true, and how important is that to having this faith?

So here's just a quick example of how we're using deconstruction:

What do I believe about ________?

What do I want (deity) to believe about ______?

What does the evidence say or suggest (deity) believes about _____?

In what ways does that correspond to what I believe? In what ways does that differ from what I believe?

How can I consider _____ differently to see it from (deity)'s perspective so that I have a better understanding of how (deity)'s views correspond to and differ from mine?

How important is it to me that (deity) and I share the same belief about _____?

Do I believe that I should believe what (deity) believes about ____? If so, why? If not, why not?

Where do I land?

Of course the real questions at the heart of these questions is a bit more painful:

Do I feel that in order to be worthy of worship, my god has to believe what I believe?

Would I continue to worship this god if they came to me and told me that they feel the opposite of how I feel on this matter?

Do I trust myself or do I trust this god?

So yeah. That's what me and my friend do for fun.

[earthbased]

It’s solar and wind and tidal and geothermal and hydropower.

It’s plant-based diets and regenerative livestock farming and insect protein and lab-grown meat.

It’s electric cars and reliable public transit and decreasing how far and how often we travel.

It’s growing your own vegetables and community gardens and vertical farms and supporting local producers.

It’s rewilding the countryside and greening cities.

It’s getting people active and improving disabled access.

It’s making your own clothes and buying or swapping sustainable stuff with your neighbours.

It’s the right to repair and reducing consumption in the first place.

It’s greater land rights for the commons and indigenous peoples and creating protected areas.

It’s radical, drastic change and community consensus.

It’s labour rights and less work.

It’s science and arts.

It’s theoretical academic thought and concrete practical action.

It’s signing petitions and campaigning and protesting and civil disobedience.

It’s sailboats and zeppelins.

It’s the speculative and the possible.

It’s raising living standards and curbing consumerism.

It’s global and local.

It’s me and you.

Climate solutions look different for everyone, and we all have something to offer.

[earthbased]

Once inside a wood, you walk on something very much like the seabed, looking up at the canopy of leaves as if it were the surface of the water, filtering the descending shafts of light and dappling everything.

Roger Deakin, Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees

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Too many people will pass around "always trust your gut!" and "your intuition never lies" content when actually your "intuition" isn't immune to either propaganda, bigotry or trauma reactions. Which is important to be aware of actually

[earthbased]

It’s that time of year again. Courtesy of digitalhammurabi.com

Addition about the image, courtesy of Twitter user @lui_log: wrt the background image, which is a stone plaque showing a winged goddess flanked by owls: “Also, we don't know whether this is a depiction of Ishtar, as the piece has been looted, thus has no archaeological context that could point us to whom it shows. Nor does it bear an inscription. The owls could mean that it is Ishtar's sister Ereshkigal, Goddess of the Underworld.”

[earthbased]

There is no light at the end of this tunnel

so it's a good thing we brought matches.

From the song "Matches" by Sifu Hotman (lyrics here).

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One of the most important things to unpack and unlearn when you’re part of a white supremacy saturated society (i.e. the global north) and especially if you were raised in an intensified form of it (evangelicism, right wing politics, explicit racism) is the urge to punish and take revenge.

It manifests in our lives all the time and it is inherently destructive. It makes relationships and interactions adversarial for no good reason. It undermines cooperation and good civic order. It worsens some types of crime. It creates trauma, especially in children.

Imagine approaching unexpected or unacceptable behavior from a perspective of "how can this be stopped, and prevented" instead of "you’re going to regret this!”

Imagine dealing with a problem or conflict from the perspective of “how can this be solved in a way that is just and restorative” instead of “the people who caused this are going to pay.”

How much would that change you? How much would that have changed for you?

[earthbased]

Culpeper's Complete Herbal

Have you ever read a book talking about herbal associations and asked: "Where the fk do they even get this from?"

Well... the answer is history! Generally a mix of historical medical herbalism and herblore - although the line between those two categories gets fuzzier the farther back in history you go. 

As part of my quest to understand this history of herbalism, I've wound up spending the past 4 years lovingly creating my own edition of Culpeper's Complete Herbal (originally published in 1653)... which I'll be publishing this year! 

Without sacrificing Culpeper's trademark sass, this edition aims to make the famous text a little more accessible (for those not well-versed in Elizabethan England), while keeping his wit and wisdom intact. 

It will be released in 2 volumes, so that readers can choose between just the Herbal, and geeking out over the complete historical text (totalling over 1,000 pages). 

What makes this edition different?

Culpeper's Herbal has been in continuous publication since 1653 - which is no minor feat! - so what makes this edition different to all the others?

Excellent question!

I've put a ridiculous amount of research into identifying as many of the plants as possible, as accurately as possible. 

Yes, other editions have been released that include plant identifications, but if you look closely, you'll often find they'll let you down. 

Perhaps the common name matches, but when you read the description provided by Culpeper, he's very clearly describing a quite different plant. In other cases, I've seen folks just straight-up leave out plants they weren't able to identify (because of course 'Dragons' doesn't need a description)! 

There are definitely a few that I'm not 100% on, and a few others I'm more uncertain on (especially being located across the globe and not being able to investigate the flora of the London area first-hand), but I've trawled both modern and historical references to do the best job I possibly could - beating every other attempt I've been able to find by a significant margin. 

You'll also find high-quality, full-colour botanical illustrations of the plants mentioned. 

No, not crappy line-art that's challenging to match to its real-world counterpart. 

No, not that one set of illustrations from an 18th-century edition that you see included in most editions since then (which, again, often absolutely are not the plant described in the text). 

I genuinely couldn't answer which has taken more time between identifying the plants, vs sourcing and painstakingly restoring stunning, full-colour antique botanical illustrations of every plant highlighted in the Herbal... but honestly, it was probably restoring the illustrations. 

Spanning across a number of publications, artists, and centuries, these illustrations not only aid in recognising and identifying the plants discussed, but are works of art in their own rights. 

Why do I care about a 370-year-old medical text? Surely it's irrelevant and outdated?

Yes, it's outdated (as a medical text); no, it's not irrelevant!

Please, please, please do not take anything in this book as actual medical advice! While many of these plants are still used in modern medical herbalism, we're much more aware of safety, impacts, and interactions now, so if this is what you're looking for, there are other books on this topic, written by modern experts, who have an understanding of how to use herbs safely - and please consult with a suitably-qualified expert before starting any new medical treatments or regimens. 

However... 

Are you interested in plants and botanical history? 

Culpeper's Herbal is a marvellous reference of plants common in the London area in the 17th century, their names, and the beliefs surrounding them (plus you'll love the illustrations)! 

Are you interested in the history of medicine or medical herbalism? 

This book was used as a genuine medical resource until the advent of modern medicine almost 200 years later! 

Are you interested in herb-lore or magical herbalism? 

Culpeper was one of the leading medical astrologers (to the extent that he was actually accused of witchcraft in an attempt to discredit him), with each herb profile including astrological associations, temperaments, their actions within Hippocrates' humoural medical system, and a bunch of other beliefs and folklore mixed in. A huge portion of modern magical associations of plants derive directly from their histories of medical uses. 

Convinced? Curious?

You can head over to the website to sign up for updates! 👇🏻

[earthbased]

So I've been working on this project for like 3-4yrs now, and look what came in the mail today...

This isn't so much an "I'm just checking this off before I publish" proof, as it is an "I've spent too many hours staring at this on a screen to edit it properly there" proof, but I've genuinely put thousands of hours of work into this and it's so surreal to hold it in my hands!

I've recently been considering adding a bunch of extra content to it, so it was surprising to see how chonky she already is (almost 500 pages, without front/back-matter, 3cm/1 ¼" thick)

So yeah, this'll be coming at some point this year 🥰

Fellow plant/history/herbalism nerds: Stay tuned!

[earthbased]

Rethinking "masculine" and "feminine" in Western magic

We all see it all the time. This plant has masculine energy. This crystal enhances feminine power. This ritual balances masculine and feminine forces. But what does any of that really mean?

After all, a plant does not have a gender. A crystal does not have a gender. Elements, planets, and celestial bodies do not have genders. So why is everything broken down into gendered categories in modern occult spaces?

The short answer: "Masculine" and "feminine" are shorthand terms that were developed by medieval alchemists, but modern occultists have lost that original context, leading to one-dimensional and reductive use of these terms.

The long answer: This model comes to us from Hermeticism by way of medieval alchemists. In the Hermetic model, the universe (or Prima Materia or Source or whatever) is a single whole divided into polarities -- sets of equal but opposite forces.

Here's a quote from the book Real Alchemy by Robert Allen Bartlett that I think explains this well:

"One of the earliest observations of Nature was that everything has its opposite -- day/night, male/female, hot/cold, wet/dry. The One divides into active and passive modes, with the active energy constituting the energies of life, and the passive one of the energy of matter.”

This idea was ridiculously widespread in the Middle Ages. To give just one example, Western traditional medicine (i.e., before modern medicine) was based on balancing the four humours by balancing opposite forces. So if you have inflammation, which is a hot and wet condition, you would treat it with herbal remedies that are cold and dry.

Early Hermeticists and alchemists classified different natural forces as either active or passive. Heat is active, cold is passive. Light is active, dark is passive. Fire (the force of transformation in alchemy) is active, while water (the universal solvent in alchemy) is passive. You get the idea.

Because of gender stereotypes in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, activeness eventually became associated with masculinity, and passiveness eventually became associated with femininity. You can still see this in old medical texts: Male bodies are hot and wet, but female bodies are cold and dry, so the medieval doctor should choose his treatment accordingly.

This has more to do with medieval European issues around gender than with nature or magic. My point here is that the gender stuff isn't literal: the Hermeticists did not literally believe that the planet Venus is female or that iron is male. Gendered terms were used as a shorthand to name opposites.

And even within medieval alchemical sources, gender is a spectrum! Let's take the elements as an example:

According to Bartlett, fire is the most active (“masculine”) element, while air is active but less active than fire. Water and earth are both considered passive (“feminine”) elements, but water is less passive/feminine than earth.

So, to recap: Hermetics believe in a perfect whole divided into polar opposites. Alchemists, doctors, and ceremonial magicians love this idea and run with it. Masculine/feminine is just one of many ways to describe these opposite forces. You could just as easily use active/passive to mean the same thing. And even in medieval times, each of these pairs of opposites was understood as a spectrum, with most energies falling somewhere between the two extremes.

The problem is that we've been playing a centuries-long game of telephone. Victorian occultists who were referencing Renaissance grimoires and still working in a vaguely Hermetic framework write in their books that, for example, roses have feminine qualities. A Wiccan author writing in the 1980s comes across this during their research and includes it in their book, but now it's one step further removed from that context. Several other authors repeat the claim that rose is feminine, all citing that one book from the '80s. Flash forward to 2025, and this claim is so removed from the original context that some witches genuinely believe rose is A Girl Flower because of some intangible Girlness inherent to the plant.

What does this mean for modern witches? Honestly, I think that kind of depends on the witch.

If you find working with masculine/feminine classifications helpful, I don't necessarily think you need to throw out that model. Just make sure you understand the background of these terms and remember that masculine/feminine in a magical sense is not the same as masculine/feminine in a gender sense. Maybe read up on Hermeticism, alchemy, and the other medieval and Renaissance occult systems that originated this model. Also, think about how using gendered terms in your practice is connected to your relationship with gender. How are you making space for nonbinary and agender energies and identities?

If you want to work with pairs of opposites but get weirded out by all the gender stuff, why not use a different polarity like active/passive or hot/cold to classify things instead? (This is how I classify herbs in my Southern Folk Magic practice.)

And if you don't particularly care about working with opposites in your practice, feel free to ignore this whole thing. There's no rule saying you have to label things this way.

[earthbased]

"Sustainable Future" 2023 Australian postage stamp series

[earthbased]

I like the word “witchery” because of its linguistic similarity to “fuckery.” Witchcraft is fuckery; fuckery is witchcraft. They are inextricably connected in my mind and it makes me happy.

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the illustration // the inspiration

did you know sometimes the holy trinity was represented as a trio of hares in medieval manuscripts? man I love history

Stickers here

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amy fox, trans butch, from persistence: all ways butch and femme.