lacewings-and-lavender - Tumblr blog

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dusk settling over the ocean, a long long time ago

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Adopted an elder tree yesterday!! I’m so excited to get to know her!!

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it's not the winter solstice tho..?

globe

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okay lightning struck my roof WAY louder than I have ever heard it and I’m still startled

THUNDERSTORM

ON SUMMER SOLSTICE

SOLSTICE STORM WATER

FUCK YES

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THUNDERSTORM

ON SUMMER SOLSTICE

SOLSTICE STORM WATER

FUCK YES

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Scenes from a Simple Solstice

Couldn't do much this morning but I went out on the patio and gave an offering to the sun. I blew some celebratory bubbles and while a bee friend worked on our flowers. My cat Captain Jack (Cappy for short) came to investigate and get some pets. It was nice to spend some time outside listening to the woodpeckers drill and being grateful for what I'm able.

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Living Species, by the Numbers

Species of Mammals: ~5,500

Species of Birds: Between 10,000 and 20,000 (lots of disagreement)

Species of nonavian Reptiles: Between 10,000 and 20,000 (see above)

Species of Amphibians: more than 7,000

Species of "Fish": more than 33,000

Species of Echinoderms (star fish, sea urchins, etc.): ~7,500

Species of Arthropods: over 2,000,000 and growing (only 1,257,000 described but all researchers know that is a gross underestimate)

Species of Molluscs: > 100,000

Other Bilaterans (wormy things): ~85,000

Corals & Jellyfish: ~16,000

Sponges: ~11,000

Fungi: > 6,000,000

Plants: > 400,000 (plants species are weird)

"Protists": unknown, but more than 100,000 and is severely underestimated

"Bacteria": who the fuck knows. there are too many. Our bodies are half bacteria. possibly in the trillions.

This is what we mean by mammal bias: mammals are the smallest group on here, and yet, because we are mammals, they get the most research money, the most screen time, the most conservation funding, the most love, the most interest. That's ridiculous. That's patently nonsense. Mammals are not "more evolved" than anything on this list - we're all modern life and thus, equally evolved. The other groups of life deserve at least more attention, more care, more interest, even if we can never get it to be proportional. In fact, you can even see mammal bias in this list - because mammals are so well studied, that's the only species count that is NOT vague.

We rely on ALL of these creatures because we are part of a complex biosphere where all of these organisms work together to allow the flow of nutrients and energy through the system. We are all descendants of each biosphere that came before. Mammal bias - focusing only on things that we share the closest genetic ties to - is not only ignorant, its self defeating.

Kill the mammal bias in your head. Kill it now. Because its gross, its inaccurate, and mammals do not in fact rule the world. Bacteria do, and if we *must* give it to an animal, that animal would be Arthropods.

This has been a PSA. Please reblog to spread, because I'm tired of dealing with mammal bias in my own house.

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Anastasia Trusova (Russian, born 1989)

“Cat in the Garden”

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For the witches and pagans who need to hear it, connecting with nature is supposed to be about like, actually observing nature over long periods of time, not doing stuff like hoarding endangered bird feathers and beach sand, or just meditating out in aesthetically-pleasing locations. Can you tell me exactly when your wildflowers and weeds start blooming? When do your bugs come out of hibernation? When do migratory birds come and go? How does the air feel during different times of year? If you can't do stuff like that, you aren't connecting with nature.

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A little message from me and Hermes:

DON’T BE AFRAID TO SET BOUNDARIES WITH YOUR DEITIES.

And yes, there is a story to go along with it below the cut.

Basically what happened is I was doing my daily tarot session where I go around and ask each of the gods I work with what message they have for me today. I also have a job interview on Friday that, until this day, my cards have been hinting will go well (and I really hope saying this doesn’t jinx it).

Today, however, I kept getting the opposite; basically they were telling me that the interview would turn out poorly and I wouldn’t get the job. I was obviously surprised, but before I could fall any further into an anxiety spiral, I asked the cards if someone was messing with them. Turns out it was none other than our favorite prankster, Hermes, fucking with me again.

I don’t think he meant any harm by it. He was just having a bit of fun. But unlike when I gave him his candle, this joke wasn’t funny. I need a job before college, and I REALLY want this one to turn out well, so his messing with the cards scared me and made my anxiety spike.

I told him that his joke wasn’t funny and I wanted him to stop. I then put out a rule to all the gods I work with that they are not allowed to mess with the cards like that again. I got the sense that they all agreed, even Hermes. I forgave him, but I was still upset.

Later, I started to feel guilty for being angry with a god of all beings, and I tried to apologize to Hermes and make it clear that I had forgiven him. Just then, I got a VERY vivid image of him gripping my shoulders and telling me that it’s okay to be mad and I didn’t need to apologize for it. HE was in the wrong, not me. It’s okay to set boundaries as to what’s okay and what’s not within your practice when people (or gods) hurt or upset you.

👏SET 👏 HEALTHY 👏 BOUNDARIES 👏 WITH 👏 YOUR 👏 GODS 👏

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Foxglove

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I don’t know which current pagan needs to hear this but your life doesn’t have to revolve around your religion. Every act of self care doesn’t have to be devotional, every meal you make doesn’t have to lose a portion to sacrifice.

You’re allowed to be casually religious, a “Yule Pagan” if you want to steal “Christmas Christian” from the Jesus club. You’re allowed to dedicate a day or two to worship and just stare at the sky or ground and mutter the rest of the week.

Just because the world sees your religion as invalid doesn’t mean you have to go into overdrive and let it consume every aspect of your life.

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Amy Casey (American, 1976) - Uncertain Forest (2018)

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I saw someone on tiktok make these eternal dandelions where you take a small wire and run it through the hole in the stem of a dandelion that’s just about to seed/puff and attach them to a stick or something as your base and then cover them to protect the puff and you have a forever dandelion.

I decorated them with preserved insects I found a long with dry dead stuff from my yard

So I made a few of my own for fun

I am just now waiting for them to completely open

Reminds me of the fun little stuff I would do as a kid

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The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser

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I keep seeing different trickster animals (crows, foxes, coyotes) in interesting situations but there’s no real shared themes besides that so I can only assume the omen here is “Fuckery Approaches”

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My prayers are still just "O [deity name + translated epithets], i'm gonna pray for you...ok, so, you're pretty, i love you, thank you for being there, i think you did that or at least it's cool that you maybe did that, thank you. Khaire [deity name]." And I feel good each time because I struggle with prayers.