sag-dab-sar

[sag-dab-sar]

The original ePSD is gone and I am grumpy because it doesn't have ETCSL entries like the original (that I can tell) and every link is an error

[sag-dab-sar]

hello! i sent an ask earlier but let me rephrase. is there any protection tablet you know of that has an every day protection incantation? i’m very spiritual and would like a phrase to write in cuneiform for my protection. I know of the word Ḫulbazizi, which is similar to “evil be gone” but could you help translate a phrase like “evil be gone, may the gods protect every step i take” thank you so much ❤️ it’s so hard to find people who understand cuneiform!

Hello! I did some sleuthing and here's what I've found. The hulbazizi incantations are a set of inscriptions that are mostly in the Akkadian language, dating to later than the Sumerian period, though they often use Sumerian words (or sometimes nonsense Sumerian-like words) in amongst the Akkadian. They most often appear on amulets and protective charms rather than full-size tablets - here's one in the Schoyen collection. They're called that from the Sumerian words hul 𒅆𒌨 "evil" + zi 𒍣 "to destroy", in the passive form bazizi 𒁀𒍣𒍣 "it is destroyed", which is used as an incipit (first words) of some of them, but doesn't appear in every one. Check out Bácskay & Niederreiter 2022 for a bunch of examples. You may also be interested in van Dijk et. al. 1985 (full text from Yale here), which has a large number of incantation spells but unfortunately isn't searchable.

My twitch chat helped me out with our own translation of the phrase you requested, though I don't know of it appearing anywhere in the cuneiform corpus of course. "Deities" is dingirene 𒀭𒊑𒉈, and "to protect" is ngal 𒅅, in the form "may (they) protect (it)" appearing as hebngalene, which I believe would be 𒃶𒅁𒅅𒂊𒉈 in cuneiform. The word for "step, footstep" in Sumerian is the same as the word for "foot", ngiri 𒄊 - and the most Sumerian-ish way I'd translate the end of the phrase is simply as "all (shar) my (-ngu) footsteps", ngirisharngu 𒄊𒊹𒈬.

Putting it together, I'd translate this phrase as Hul bazizi, dingirene ngirisharngu hebngalene "Evil be destroyed, may the deities protect all my footsteps", written 𒅆𒌨 𒁀𒍣𒍣 𒀭𒊑𒉈 𒄊𒊹𒈬 𒃶𒅁𒅅𒂊𒉈 in cuneiform. Let me know if this translation works for you!

[sag-dab-sar]

I'm in pain. I have not felt this pain from my lumbar osteoarthritis since 2022. Tiny minor flairs from some things. But I had to take a 40 minute shower (I sit) getting stuff out of hair (electrodes, glue, and tape) .... my hair is 2ft long. And brushing in the shower is extremely difficult so I never do it. My showers of washing body, shampoo, condition are less than 10 minutes, never longer. But this? I had to wash my hair probably 8+ times, had to use conditioner multiple times, and have to brush it fully multiple times in shower (my poor hairbrush is broken now). The shower chair is not comfy to say the least, the osteoarthritis started acting up about 15 mins in, by 25 minutes in my back was starting to cramp, by 35 minutes in my back was starting to spasm, by 40 minutes I was in extreme pain, nearly fell twice, did my best to dry, got underwear on, then had to lay in my bed on my back and couldn't do anything, couldn't even roll onto my side. My back was still actively spasming. Then when I finally could move (not stand) I slowly dressed, then kinda swiveled my way into the position I normally lay in.... and then I felt it, this ice pick feeling in exactly one spot in my back, I completely forgot that that pain existed. I use to have to squat and press on that spot before standing back up, I would press on that spot with both hands while I walked to keep me going— before I finally got my wheelchair. And when I got home I laid in bed with my lumbar back in severe pain. This is the reason I got my wheelchair, I forgot this level of pain in my back. I haven't had my lumbar osteoarthritis kick in or be so bad it causes spasms in 3 years, THIS is what my wheelchair saved me from (I got it before long covid and spinal tap made my legs malfunction).

Holy shit.

If you need a mobility aid please get one.

I was recently complaining in my thoughts about my wheelchair, about how annoying it is that I need it. I forgot what my wheelchair saved me from, long before I needed it for my legs.

(... If I remember correctly this will take days to go away)

[sag-dab-sar]

I feel like I'm the opposite of a lot of disabled people. Many (most?) cannot handle the heat it makes things worse. For me it's cold I can't handle. Everything gets worse, especially my inflammation pain attacks, I get added cold-specific pain that hurts deep in my bones, and all my arthritis kicks itself into high gear, that combo can nearly immobilize me from pain alone; it makes my asthma, sinusitis, and tachycardia more easily triggered (though part of that is how dry cold hair can be); its also triggers minor fevers because fml I guess. Anyways, the last 3 years this has gotten worse my tolerance is near 0 at this point. In the winter I have to wear my knee high compression socks, then thick tights, then fuzzy socks, then boots. On top I have to wear insulating arm warmers, 2-3 layers of tops, then a jacket before venturing outside. Otherwise everything will flair. Even if my room temp is 70°s I might need my heating blanket.

Like I said my tolerance over the years has gotten significantly worse. So I was like "fuck it I'm not putting in an AC this year" because my AC is basically a permanently opened window. However.... the next week it's all going to be 90°s with the heat index breaking through to the 100°s on 2 days. And I'm like okay maybe I should put in AC (keep in mind it is a massive fatigue inducing task) but .... maybe allowing myself to be a sweat monster for a week is worth it to avoid potential pain from the AC existing.

(contributing to decision: can't use ibuprofen for a week, a major anti-cold-effects med for me)

[sag-dab-sar]

I'm all medically hooked up to stuff all glued all over my head giant medical computer thing on my altar table. I didn't even realize that the Summer Solstice happens before all this goes away :( :( :( this month has been off the wall

[sag-dab-sar]

Me: *despairs like a victorian maiden* I have no rice to offer whatever shall I do *dramatically faints onto an oil on canvas couch*

Kamisama: .... water

Me: 😯💡 oh right that exists 🤯 !!!!

Kamisama: *facepalm*

/joking

[sag-dab-sar]

A Babylonian hymn to Anu, god of the heavens

bēlu šurbû ša ina šamê šuluḫḫūšu ellū Anum bēlu šurbû ša ina šamê šuluḫḫūšu ellū il šamê bēl ṣaddi bēl agê Anum il šamê bēl ṣaddi bēl agê pāšir ūmi bēl ṣaddi bēl agê Anum pāšir ūmi bēl ṣaddi bēl agê pāšir šunāti lemnēti ḫaṭâti pardāti idāti ittāti lemnēti mušēteq lumni ḫiṭīte u gillate marušte ḫūṣ ḫīpi libbi ša iššaknū-ma irteneddûni ukassû šērīya ina tēka ša balāṭi luptaṭṭirū mimmû mala ana ilīya u ištarīya aḫṭû lippašra libbi ilīya u ištarīya zenūte ana ašrīšu litūr aggu libbaka linūḫa lippašra kabtatka rišâ rēmu luṭaḫḫid bītaka šigaraka lušaznin šamna dalīlī bēlīya ludlul narbi ilūtīka rabīti kayyāna luštammar

(TRANSLATION)

O most excellent lord, whose purification rites in heaven are pure, O Anu, most excellent lord, whose purification rites in heaven are pure, O god of heaven, lord of the sign, lord of the crown, O Anu, god of heaven, lord of the sign, lord of the crown, Who absolves the day, lord of the sign, lord of the crown, O Anu, who absolves the day, lord of the sign, lord of the crown, Who absolves evil, wicked and frightening dreams, evil powers and signs, Who removes evil, sin, egregious crimes, may the distress which was inflicted on me and Constantly pursues me and binds my flesh be released through your incantation of life. May every sin that I committed against my god and my goddess be absolved. May the heart of my angry god and of my angry goddess subside. May your angry heart relent. May your mind be appeased. Have mercy, That I may lavish your temple with riches and cause your door bolt to drip oil. Let me proclaim the praises of my lord. Let me constantly and continually exalt the greatness of your great divinity.

Source: Adam Lenzi. Reading Akkadian Prayers & Hymns: an Introduction. Society of Biblical Literature. p. 217.

Anu is the Mesopotamian god of the heavens, supreme god and father of the gods. His symbol is the horned crown, as can be seen on the image above, where Assyrian king Šamši-Adad V is seen paying his respect to five gods, including Anu. He was the main god at early times, but became a sort of deus otiosus as Enlil rose to prominence (who, in turn, was suplanted by Marduk with the ascension of Babylon). Together with Enki/Ea, they made the triad of the most powerful celestial deities, and the zones of the sky were named after them.

The repetitive style of this hymn, with attributes being slowly presented line by line, is likely an inheritance from Sumerian poetry (compare with Inana’s descent to the underworld), which is relatively kinda rare in the corpus picked by Lenzi for that book.

(If you plan on singing or reciting this, please remember that “š” sounds like the English “sh”, “ḫ” is guttural, and “ṣ” is usually read as “ts”)

May the gods be praised!

[sag-dab-sar]

"...it does illustrate, very well, an important feature of Shinto. It does not matter if Shinto practice fails to fit any larger narrative. All that matters is the practice at this jinja, with these kami"

Sakkara Jinja, Mimusubi

And interesting article about a shrine people may not be as familiar with.

[sag-dab-sar]

While I'm usually on board for posts like this the lack of nuances is actually a problem.

For individuals in Latin American countries who self identify as white or are put as white on a census (about 40% of the population but can be defined differently in individual countries), Santa Muerte and brujería are still open to them. Same with different strands of Voodoo (not just Haitian Voodoo) it's not about race it's about proper initiation. Orishas within Voodoo Religion(s) are open to those initiates. Similarly with limpia con huevo, if its used within the community/family its open to the white Latin Americans in that community/family.

I'm Dominican so I'll use that specifically. There is no reason to say Dominicanos blancos have to leave brujería alone or leave Dominican Vudú (Las 21 Divisiones) alone. That makes no sense.

I'm not trying to pick a fight of any sort, just personally I don't think it's a non-Latino person's place to tell white Latin Americans what they can and can't interact with within their own culture.

I will mention this is also important in the US because there are many immigrants and their descendants from Latin America and their ability to interact with their culture should not be defined by US society assigning them a race. Especially in a time when the Latino community is under attack by the US government.

Again not fighting, just sharing my view as a (mixed) Latine.

We're now half way into year 2025 and I do agree the following are fascinating and interesting and all, but if you're white then these ain't for you, so leave them alone. Leave them alone!

Lilith

Santa Muerte

White sage

Palo santo

Shamanism

brujería

Voodoo

Hoodoo

Limpia con huevo

Kabbalah

Orishas

Totems

Tulpas

[sag-dab-sar]

Rules of Shinto?

A common rhetoric I see going around is the idea that Shinto has no rules or dogma, which is a bit of a broad generalization.  Shinto has no holy scriptures that are viewed as the singular "word of god" so to speak.  Nor do the books that do exist, list a definitive set of rules in which followers must adhere to.  However Shinto does have rules and basic agreed upon guidelines for how to worship.

I've mentioned before the three concepts of gratitude, sincerity, and respect.  I personally view these as the 3 Foundational Beliefs for Shinto followers.  These are where a lot of people new to Shinto struggle to adapt to.  Western ideology can be very individualistic versus the more Collectivist ideologies found elsewhere, and if you were raised in a monotheistic religion it can be hard to adjust your mindset to understand where Shinto is coming from.  So I'd thought I'd post my own interpretations on what those 3 concepts mean, and how one can cultivate them in their daily life.

Kansha 感謝 Gratitude

Often times we may forget all the small things in life that we rely on, or fail to see the bigger picture of how many people have worked to bring together something (food, clothes, education, etc…).  Learning to be grateful for things both large and small is important.  

From thanking the farmers who grew the plants for the food we eat, to thanking those who have helped you personally with various tasks, down to simply being grateful for the bed you sleep on and your computer for working are all ways to practice appreciating the world we have around us.  Becoming aware of the importance of everyday items, no matter how small or seemingly “insignificant” they may be is key.  

Magokoro 真心 Sincerity

Magokoro “Sincere Heart” is doing one’s best to be sincere in their actions and attitude towards their work, and their relationships with others.  Being aware of and intentional in our actions, contemplating our thoughts and feelings, and learning from mistakes all help us realize our truths.  We have experiences that may result in barriers, and jaded perspectives.  Through our daily lives we can accumulate kegare, and it can weigh us down and prevent our sincerity from shining.  This is why purification (physical and metaphorical) is important, to help us heal from the hurt and clear our minds.  Cultivating requires a willingness to be vulnerable and seek the truth to our actions and feelings.  The ability to acknowledge where we need to improve and when we need help.

Sonkei 尊敬 Respect

Showing respect to the kami through worship, visiting shrines, and participating in festivals is only one way we can cultivate a strong sense of respect.  By acknowledging the myriad of kami around us and showing gratitude towards them, we are being aware of their roles and the impact we ourselves have on the world around us.

In nature, we can work towards preserving the natural areas around us, and aiding those whose goals are to protect and defend nature.  

Honoring your ancestors, your family history.  Learning their stories, engaging  with their culture(s), and finding ways to support efforts at recording and preserving it.  Taking time to listen to music, play games, eat food, watch movies that they enjoyed are other ways. 

Living in the here and now, and working towards social harmony is key.  Purifying yourself and taking care of your health, shows respect to your own body!

In Conclusion

Taking time to open your mind, and focus on these can go a long way!  It's hard to unlearn pre-existing biases, and change your mindset to a Shinto one.  But taking a small step everyday, is better than refusing to learn and adapt! Rome wasn't built in a day after all.

Some pretty photos and video from a local Japanese garden for your viewing pleasure.

[sag-dab-sar]

🌼 Father's Day 2025 🌼

February 15th, 2025. Preformed on the 16th.

Happy Father's Day to all deserving Fathers and Father Figures!

Gods on Altar: Addadingirdingira An (Father of The Gods) the pendant necklace, and Pater Zeus (Father Zeus).

Offerings of granola bar split in two, monetary to a local charity so I won't name it, incense, and libation of water to each.

This was only a 25ish minute ritual but it was nice nonetheless. No entertainment or other additions of any sort just offerings. And the payers were like 2 sentences each because I didn't have the energy to write.

[sag-dab-sar]

A tough thing in my practice is with Hellenic Polytheism I have ancient hymns I can easily plug into my rituals. I usually have to write my own for Sumerian Gods. There is also an abundance of literature from ancient Greece in general compared to ancient Mesopotamia

[sag-dab-sar]

Candle lit and libation to Zeus of Freedom, Athena Savior, Utu of Justice, Enki Friend of Man, Nike, and Dike. To save our democracy and keeping today's protestors safe.

June 14th, 2025

[sag-dab-sar]

🌊World Ocean Day 2025 🌊

June 8th, 2025

Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us

Gods on altar: Enki & Poseidon.

Libations of water; food offering of apple sauce; incense offering; monetary offering to Ocean Clean Up.

I've been thinking of using a dollar bill to symbolically represent my monetary offer to the Gods, I planned to write the name down and fold it with the dollar. But Ocean Clean Up gave those cute graphics after donating. So I thought I'd print them, cut them out, read them to the Gods in ritual. The $5 and two graphics were placed under the Earth representation that is showing primarily the Pacific ocean (in black).

A video of the ocean (not waves) with soft music was playing in the center during ritual, and the entertainment section was reading things from the Smithsonian's Ocean book to appreciate its importance.

"Wonder: Sustaining what sustains us" is the theme for World Oceans Day 2025, a year marked by the UN Decade of Ocean Science and the celebration of the World Ocean Conference. With this new vision, the day celebrates the wonder that the ocean inspires in us: its beauty, its mystery, and its vital role in our lives and on the planet. This day reminds us of our deep connection with the sea and calls for its protection through decisions guided by curiosity, wisdom, and a commitment to collective well-being. — UN Info Page

•Literature Used:

Homeric Hymn 22 to Poseidon

•Original Writing:

Praise to Enki of Waters

•Other Things:

Video— Aquarium Relax

Book— Ocean The Definitive Visual Guide by DK

•Information

UN World Ocean Day Info

World Ocean Day Webiste

Ocean Clean Up Article and Videos

[sag-dab-sar]

When self-described “ocean custodian” Boyan Slat took the stage at TED 2025 in Vancouver this week, he showed viewers a reality many of us are already heartbreakingly familiar with: There is a lot of trash in the ocean.

“If we allow current trends to continue, the amount of plastic that’s entering the ocean is actually set to double by 2060,” Slat said in his TED Talk, which will be published online at a later date. 

Plus, once plastic is in the ocean, it accumulates in “giant circular currents” called gyres, which Slat said operate a lot like the drain of the bathtub, meaning that plastic can enter these currents but cannot leave.

That’s how we get enormous build-ups like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a giant collection of plastic pollution in the ocean that is roughly twice the size of Texas.

As the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, Slat’s goal is to return our oceans to their original, clean state before 2040. To accomplish this, two things must be done.

First: Stop more plastic from entering the ocean. Second: Clean up the “legacy” pollution that is already out there and doesn’t go away by itself.

And Slat is well on his way.

Pictured: Kingston Harbour in Jamaica. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup Project

When Slat’s first TEDx Talk went viral in 2012, he was able to organize research teams to create the first-ever map of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. From there, they created a technology to collect plastic from the most garbage-heavy areas in the ocean.

“We imagined a very long, u-shaped barrier … that would be pushed by wind and waves,” Slat explained in his Talk. 

This barrier would act as a funnel to collect garbage and be emptied out for recycling. 

But there was a problem.

“We took it out in the ocean, and deployed it, and it didn’t collect plastic,” Slat said, “which is a pretty important requirement for an ocean cleanup system.”

Soon after, this first system broke into two. But a few days later, his team was already back to the drawing board. 

From here, they added vessels that would tow the system forward, allowing it to sweep a larger area and move more methodically through the water. Mesh attached to the barrier would gather plastic and guide it to a retention area, where it would be extracted and loaded onto a ship for sorting, processing, and recycling. 

It worked. 

“For 60 years, humanity had been putting plastic into the ocean, but from that day onwards, we were also taking it back out again,” Slat said, with a video of the technology in action playing on screen behind him.

To applause, he said: “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, honestly.”

Over the years, Ocean Cleanup has scaled up this cleanup barrier, now measuring almost 2.5 kilometers — or about 1.5 miles — in length. And it cleans up an area of the ocean the size of a football field every five seconds.

Pictured: The Ocean Cleanup's System 002 deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup

The system is designed to be safe for marine life, and once plastic is brought to land, it is recycled into new products, like sunglasses, accessories for electric vehicles, and even Coldplay’s latest vinyl record, according to Slat. 

These products fund the continuation of the cleanup. The next step of the project is to use drones to target areas of the ocean that have the highest plastic concentration. 

In September 2024, Ocean Cleanup predicted the Patch would be cleaned up within 10 years. 

However, on April 8, Slat estimated “that this fleet of systems can clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in as little as five years’ time.”

With ongoing support from MCS, a Netherlands-based Nokia company, Ocean Cleanup can quickly scale its reliable, real-time data and video communication to best target the problem. 

It’s the largest ocean cleanup in history.

But what about the plastic pollution coming into the ocean through rivers across the world? Ocean Cleanup is working on that, too. 

To study plastic pollution in other waterways, Ocean Cleanup attached AI cameras to bridges, measuring the flow of trash in dozens of rivers around the world, creating the first global model to predict where plastic is entering oceans.

“We discovered: Just 1% of the world’s rivers are responsible for about 80% of the plastic entering our oceans,” Slat said.

His team found that coastal cities in middle-income countries were primarily responsible, as people living in these areas have enough wealth to buy things packaged in plastic, but governments can’t afford robust waste management infrastructure. 

Ocean Cleanup now tackles those 1% of rivers to capture the plastic before it reaches oceans.

Pictured: Interceptor 007 in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup

“It’s not a replacement for the slow but important work that’s being done to fix a broken system upstream,” Slat said. “But we believe that tackling this 1% of rivers provides us with the only way to rapidly close the gap.”

To clean up plastic waste in rivers, Ocean Cleanup has implemented technology called “interceptors,” which include solar-powered trash collectors and mobile systems in eight countries worldwide.

In Guatemala, an interceptor captured 1.4 million kilograms (or over 3 million pounds) of trash in under two hours. Now, this kind of collection happens up to three times a week.

“All of that would have ended up in the sea,” Slat said.

Now, interceptors are being brought to 30 cities around the world, targeting waterways that bring the most trash into our oceans. GPS trackers also mimic the flow of the plastic to help strategically deploy the systems for the most impact.

“We can already stop up to one-third of all the plastic entering our oceans once these are deployed,” Slat said.

And as soon as he finished his Talk on the TED stage, Slat was told that TED’s Audacious Project would be funding the deployment of Ocean Cleanup’s efforts in those 30 cities as part of the organization’s next cohort of grantees. 

While it is unclear how much support Ocean Cleanup will receive from the Audacious Project, Head of TED Chris Anderson told Slat: “We’re inspired. We’re determined in this community to raise the money you need to make that 30-city project happen.”

And Slat himself is determined to clean the oceans for good.

“For humanity to thrive, we need to be optimistic about the future,” Slat said, closing out his Talk.

“Once the oceans are clean again, it can be this example of how, through hard work and ingenuity, we can solve the big problems of our time.”

-via GoodGoodGood, April 9, 2025

[sag-dab-sar]

I have a decent amount of offering dishes and cups. But they're all too big for my Kamidana 神棚. I wanted something so I could offer more than just salt and rice on special occasions or simply when I feel like I can give some more; I do my Kamisama 神様 veneration and offerings on 1st and 15th.

So I could have the two traditional shingu 神具 hirazara 平皿 (dishes) for salt and for rice. Then add these dishes for fruit, dish for a desert, another dish for whatever else I want to offer food wise. Especially knowing the order of precedent for the location of offering placement; here.

So I went hunting and found these. They are lovely AND fit on my Kamidana the exact way I wanted them to (its amazing what happens when I actually take measurements 😂)