#BEFORE I GET ATTACKED: THIS IS NOT AN ANTI-WITCH OR ANTI-PAGAN POST

[exoflash]

a concerning amount of witchblr will be like "um actually new years was stolen by europeans from the ancient god scroobus mcdoobus" and then you actually try to research scroobus mcdoobus and it turns out he was invented in the 1940s by a conspiracy theorist who powdered every meal with ketamine and thinks that queer people are reincarnated fish

[stellae-de-baphometis]

Hello!! I am extremely new to demonolatry as I have very recently discovered it and I would like to know if you have any resources for beginners to read/watch that are helpful. Don’t worry about it if you don’t or if you simply don’t feel like it, I don’t mind!! Ty and have a nice day!!!!

Hey there! Terribly sorry for answering this so late. Xx So I've only been into Daemonolatry for about a year now, though I have learnt a lot thus far and I'd be more than happy to share some really important pointers to aid you in walking this path. ^.^

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So first and foremost before I get into the main blogpost, I really cannot stress this enough...

Please educate yourself on closed practices and steer clear of cultural appropriation in your personal practises. There are a group of people in the Daemonolatry community who appropriate the heck out of Jewish daemons, especially Lilith. Judaism is a closed practise and therefore it's only respectful to not incorporate Judaism into your personal practises. Appropriating Judaism is actually a form of anti-Semitism, so please be mindful and respectful of these things! 🖤

I'm ashamed to admit this but I actually used to think it was completely fine to appropriate Jewish daemons last year, thanks to subreddits like r/DemonlatryPractices who would constantly try to push propaganda about Lilith being a "Mesopotamian Pagan Goddess" and other excuses for appropriating her. That same subreddit decided to attack me when I merely mentioned (on a completely different subreddit, mind you) that I disagreed with them appropriating Lilith, and in turn I got witch-hunted so that's great lmao. 🤡

Please avoid that subreddit at all costs, it's an absolute cesspit of cultural appropriation and passive anti-Semitism, and honestly they exhibit cult-like behaviour if you do so much as simply disagree with the appropriation of Jewish daemons. It's pretty disturbing... But yeah anyways sorry for rambling lol.

I'd also recommend avoiding people and organisations such as S. Connolly, V.K. Jehannum, Satan & Suns/Sons, BlackWitchCoven, The BecomeALivingGod Forum, The Satanic Temple, Joy Of Satan Ministries, The Order Of Nine Angles, scarletarosa (a user that literally exists here on Tumblr... yikes), etc. They engage in Jewish appropriation, and some of them even have ties to Nazism, racism, and other forms of bigotry too.

Some other Jewish daemons/spirits that you should avoid appropriating alongside Lilith are; Naamah, Agrat Bat Mahalath, Eisheth Zenunim, Samael, Abyzou, and the Grigori / Watcher Angels.

There are many other closed practices too, but if you'd like to do further research I can leave that up to you. ^.^

Okay sorry about that huge ramble lmao, just thought I would get that out of the way before getting into the main post because I think it's an important point to make and I don't want you to fall down a cultural appropriation apologist pipeline like I did at the beginning of my practise lol. Xx

Anyways, let's talk about The Infernal Divine!

+: GIF Credit :+

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So we'll start with some really basic stuff. What exactly are daemons?

It's not commonly known outside of Daemonolatry that daemons themselves actually predate Christianity. The term 'demon' (alternatively spelled 'daemon') comes from the word 'daimon' which originates way back in Greek mythology. Daimons were a type of tutelary deity as well as guiding spirit whose divine nature was that of both mortals and deities. They were also sometimes regarded as bringers of knowledge, wisdom, and destiny. In this sense, they could be considered deities in their own right.

Contrary to popular belief, daemons are not evil and never were to begin with. It was only until the coming of Christianity that daemons as well as other gods were vilified and ostracised due to the cultish, radical, monotheistic mindset a lot of Christian extremists held back in the day. Lucifer himself was a "demonized" Roman god also known as Phosphorus, associated with light and the planet Venus. From that description alone, I don't really get evil vibes lol.

In my opinion, our world cannot simply be split up into just black or white, and daemons are no exception. Daemons aren't evil, but they aren't completely love and light either; They're neutral. Much like humans as well as the universe itself, the Infernal Divine are various shades of grey, and all daemons are unique and differ in personality.

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So with all this in mind, what are some good resources that don't endorse and/or engage in appropriation of closed practices?

The YouTube channels ESOTERICA and ReligionForBreakfast have great information on the history of various religions and practises!

~ Book Recommendations ~

Livre des Esperitz

Dictionnaire Infernal

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum

Pandemonium: A Discordant Concordance Of Diverse Spirit Catalogues

I personally am working towards being a daemonolatry resource myself, but I haven't been able to post much lately due to my mental health issues. I also took an active break last year, as it was pointed out by a friend of mine that my belief of thinking it was fine to appropriate closed practises was obviously problematic, and so I took time off from posting in order to educate myself and delete any problematic blog posts I had made endorsing that in the past.

But nonetheless, I hope that what I was able to provide in this post was helpful! I wish you well on your spiritual path. 🖤

❀ ~ Many Blessings ~ ❀

-Korv

[clarabosswald]

okay so someone on twitter dug up this absolutely outstanding uhhh “”article”” on his dark materials in general and the golden compass movie specifically by one david j stewart and i just. i HAVE to break down at least some of it because it’s an absolute gem

(this is a bit long - there is a LOT of stupidity to cover here)

first of all, the url

i could honestly just end the post here because that line right there is a masterpiece by itself. screw eurovision, hellivision is the next hot thing

There is no movie any more evil than THE GOLDEN COMPASS.

that’s the first line of the article. what a first line. the most amazing thing is that in an entirely different context i can kind of agree with this claim

Philip Pullman is a sinfully proud, God-hating, militant atheist.

militant! oh wow. is the hdm fandom actually pullman’s secret army? like dumbledore’s army in hp? do we have secret meetings? i want in

The movie has been dumbed down

yet again i find myself agreeing with mr stewart

in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please.

people having free will? good lord, the horror. 

The movie is indescribably evil.

damn dude yet again you’re right but you’re kinda preaching to the choir here at this point

The word "demon" is repeated several dozen times throughout the movie, as each child has it's own lovable demon. 

this is the first time in the article that mr david j stewart stubbornly refuses to understand that there’s this thing called “concept” and “artistic license” and that in the context of the hdm world, pullman used his artistic license to change the common meaning of the word d(a)emon.  NOT TO MENTION that pullman hardly made up the concept of a daemon as a positive creature - “originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit”, literally the first line in the wikipedia article about the classical concept of daemons. but yeah i’m unfairly expecting mr dave to do his research so i guess that’s kinda mean of me.

Witches by the hundreds are featured in the movie, and are portrayed as being good, helpful and rescuers.

for a moment i wondered what mr dave’s opinion on harry potter is like, but i can imagine it quite vividly.

The star character, a little girl named Lyra Belacqua, loves her demon (who takes various animal forms), and she has named him "Pan" (short for Pantalaimon)

somewhere inside of me, my inner hdm myth fanatic is screaming in rage at all the gross misunderstanding of the basic plot of hdm, but well we’ve got more serious problems here

Pan is the pagan god of sexual rape, lust and fertility.  Statues of Pan are often displayed showing him with an erection.

you know what’s EXTREMELY ironic here? pantalaimon isn’t named after that pan. he’s actually named after the greek saint pantaleon.  (mr dave now provides a link to his rage fest over narnia. good to know he’s against even blatantly pro-christian fiction.)

NOTE: Pullman uses the word "daemon." A "daemon" is just another term for "demon."

...no, honey, they really don’t, but we already know you didn’t do your research.

In the movie THE GOLDEN COMPASS, there are at least 50 references to a child's "DEMON."

imagine this grown up dude sitting in a movie theater watching a kids’ movie and counting the number of times the word “daemon” is said dkgsdaoighs

In one part of the movie, a missing boy (Roger Parslow) is found, but he is out of his mind and looks distraught because his DEMON has been taken away from him. Talk about twisting the truth around. The little girl who stars in the movie, Lyra, vows to find and return the boy's demon.

aslkdghsaodigho yeah this guy was definitely too busy to count “daemons” to actually pay attention to the plot

Pullman is hoping that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie

no i actually think that at this point pullman didn’t want anything to do with the movie

The title for the trilogy comes from a line in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Pullman views his trilogy as a re-telling of Milton’s poem (which means that His Dark Materials is in reality Pullman’s re-telling of the Genesis story in fantasy form)

no, not really, not as literal as that, but artistic subtleties seem to escape you quite frequently, my dear dave

In the trilogy, a young girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle against a nefarious [extremely wicked] Church known as the "Magisterium."

iooisadhgosdiahgosa i LOVE how dave made the EFFORT to explain the meaning of “nefarious” to the reader

Pullman's books are a work of darkness that every Christian needs to diligently expose (Ephesians 5:11)

damn dude can you believe hdm got so popular it’s referenced in the bible

America was founded upon faith in God, and the Communists are trying to rob it from our children

kefhsaoidgsdoh COMMUNISM CONFIRMED 

at this point in the article mr dave finally decides it’s time to talk about the story of the golden compass in mere two paragraphs. spoiler: the first paragraph is yet again dedicated to anti-pullman ranting. so much for that plot summary.

In the books, Pullman represents God as a decrepit and perverse angel who captures the dead in a “prison camp” afterlife.

damn the dude says he’s gonna talk about the plot of the golden compass and then goes ahead and spoils the amber spyglass just like that. where are your internet manners, dave

The story centers on Lyra, a young girl living at Jordan College in the Oxford of an alternate world where everyone is accompanied by a daemon, a physical representation of their soul in animal form.

this is the ONE time dave refers to daemons as what they ACTUALLY are. but i suspect he just copy-pasted this bit without actually reading what is said in it. 

One morning, Lyra's school Master

yet again someone was too busy counting words then remembering the plot/characters

Lyra then finds herself in a world where she must fight against evil, and here lies the controversy. Lyra is the "chosen child" who must do battle with evil. But in this story, the things that are good are evil (the church is the Magisterium, the bad group trying to gain control of all) and evil is good (daemons and witches are allies.)

it’s almost...... as if......... it’s somewhat........... symbolic.......... you know, that artistic device? symbolism? yeah? no...?

our darling dave then links to this piece as the source of his info on the plot of tgc and god that’s a whole nest of wasps i can’t even begin to deal with here. but it’s p entertaining how in only briefly reading the thing i can already recognize whole sentences who got copy-pasted by dave for his own magnificent piece of critique

Satan's Bid for Your Child

oh, WHAT a title for the next segment of the article. i’m hooked

Even though the books are strongly anti-God and anti-church, they’re getting a strong push in the godless public school system as curriculum resources.  First the God-hating Communists introduced the lies of Evolution into the public school system.  Then they kicked God's Word and prayer out of the public schools in 1962 and 1963.  Now they want to teach our children homosexuality and witchcraft.

communism! evolution! homosexuality! witchcraft! god, i’m trembling

dave goes on for a while without mentioning the movie again, just ranting against the world in general. parts of it are still amusing, though:

Evolution is in fact a religion, as is humanism, witchcraft and Satanism.

yeah man i miss it when in school we used to pray to darwin every morning before class started :(

It requires faith to believe Evolution because there is NO proof, or even evidences to permit study. It is tragic that young people today are being taught a theory that has NO proof whatsoever.  In sharp contrast, the Word of God is supported by an overwhelming abundance of scientific, historical, archeological and astronomical evidence.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OH MY GOD. WOW!!!!!!!!!!

Public school children are being taught religion; but it's the religions of Humanism (i.e., man is his own god), Evolution, New Age and now Demonism.

are daemians aware that daemonism is being taught in public schools as a whole ass religion??? damn

With the rise of the New World Order since the 911 attacks

holy shit dude dave is diving deep into the waters of conspiracy at this point

Surely Satan is already panicking, knowing that he must accomplish much in a very short time frame.  This explains why we see a flood of demonism, witchcraft and apostasy sweeping the world in an effort to destroy Christianity.  Have you heard about the new FLY Pentop COMPUTER for kids, which features witchcraft?  Did you know that Toys-R-Us sells a VooDooz doll for children?  It comes complete with a spell book, and pins to stab your VooDooz doll with.  I was at Barnes and Noble bookstore and saw a Teenage Witchcraft Kit.

THIS DUDE IS FUCKING WILD i imagine he started yelling at some poor employee for having witchcraft in that store

Doesn't anyone love God anymore?

this is sad.

The Bible condemns all forms of witchcraft—Voodoo, charms, spells, divination, incantations, palm readings, Ouija boards, psychics, witchery, sorcery, wizards, magic, potions, good luck charms, astrology, necromancy, spiritism, magic candles, mesmerism, hypnosis, astral projection, levitation, and anything else that invokes the power of Satan.

he actually............went through the trouble of listing all of that. from memory, no doubt

WE’RE BACK TO THE GOLDEN COMPASS AT LAST LADS

Instead of presenting the trailer on the homepage, The Golden Compass website uses audio to introduce the characters of the film and their respective demons, and then provides a prompt to "Meet Your Demon."  Twenty questions are presented which promise to reveal "your true character and the form of your demon."  Once you complete the questionnaire, you can send your resulting demon to your friends, presumably to build a community of young demons who will all later commune at the theater.  This is pure Satanism and it's being directed at our children.  Satan wants your child.  The Golden Compass series glorifies demonism, witchcraft and divination; while blaspheming God Almighty.

Satan Wants Your Child

In the movie THE GOLDEN COMPASS, children are being kidnapped by a mysterious group called the Gobblers and taken "to the North" where they are tortured by having their daemons separated from them.  This is the Satanic garbage that film producers and book publishers are vomiting upon our children.  Towards the end of the film, the starring little girl deliberately destroys the machine that was robbing children of their daemons.  Literally, the movie portrays the little girl as a hero for ensuring that all the other children can continue to be daemon possessed.  This is one sick movie, straight out of the pits of Hell.

it’s fucking ASTOUNDING how this paragraph could straight up pass as magisterium propaganda

How about you?  Our time on earth is short my friend.  This life will be over before we know it.  Is your heart right with God?  Are you saved?  Have your sins been washed away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ?

this dude got so fucking emotional over one bad movie he grossly misunderstood i am INSPIRED

our dearly beloved dave now goes on to quote yet another highly reputable source on the evil of the golden compass

"His Dark Materials" by atheist Philip Pullman

is “atheist” a title at this point? now that pullman is a sir, do they call him “atheist sir pullman” or “sir atheist pullman”?

Unsaved Heathens and Apostates Praise Pullman's Works of Darkness

do i get to officially call myself “unsaved heathen and apostate” because that’s one rad fucking title

Satan truly is the god of this world (2nd Corinthians 4:4), and he has many servants.

this is such a confusing fucking statement. how can satan be the god of this world if there is only one god? or two, because there is god and there’s also jesus? god i don’t know christianity never made any sense so this statement isn’t actually that surprising

Why would any professed "Christian" support Pullman's works of darkness, which he admittedly calls HIS DARK MATERIALS?

esteemed article writer dave is unaware of the existence of the concept of “references”

Sadly, ChristianityToday magazine promotes this vile filth, giving it a rating of 2 1/2 out of a potential 4 stars.  I give the movie a ZERO rating, and so should you if you love the Lord Jesus Christ!

yeah guys! we must purify this dirty world by giving bad ratings to hollywood movies! this is the only way to show jesus our love and devotion! 

Movie writer-director Chris Weitz has said he wants to make the next films more "iconoclastic," so consider this bit of sacrilege a taste of what is yet to come.  The word "iconoclastic" means "Characterized by attack on established beliefs or institutions."  In other words, the sequels to The Golden Compass are going to blaspheme God and attack Christianity much worse than the first movie.

man.... chris had good intentions. too bad new line fucked him over with how bad they butchered the movie in post-prod.

If we don't complain, then who will... the atheists?

this line is so confusing and meaningless and yet so timeless and iconic. wow

The Golden Compass is a Sicko Movie

i can’t breathe this sounds like an early 2000s compliment coming from a middle school bad boy who does tubular tricks on his skateboard

For Pullman, sexual experience is an essential part of becoming a full-grown human, despite the confusion and pain it can cause.

HOW IN THE FUCK IS THIS CONTROVERSIAL OR WRONG FOR NON-ACE PEOPLE KADSH;GOIDAGSDKJG

Children Using Divination to Confirm Guidance from Demons? "Lyra tries to consult the alethiometer to see if the daemons are right.”

Things Taking Wildly Out Of Context Making No Sense?

Kill God?

after reading this torturous rant? yes absolutely. next

Of course the idea in a trilogy is to read the second and third books, and not just the first.  Naturally Scholastic is selling nicely packaged boxes of the trilogy.

i love how dave felt the need to explain to us how trilogies and bookselling work. what a sweetheart

Blasphemy!  Children are being taught that killing God is quite a desirable thing to do.

will anyone ever understand that WILL AND LYRA NEVER INTENDED TO KILL GOD, AND WHEN GOD DIED IT WAS BY MISTAKE AND MADE THEM UPSET AND SAD? i mean this guy won’t, but people who actually read the books???

God and the Church Are Awful and Pathetic?

dave at this point in reading your rant i hate the whole of christianity. yes. next

Summoning Witches? “Serafina and her witches decide that they need to summon other witch clans....”

Mr Dave Is Unaware That The Word “Summon” Has Got Several Meanings

“He is so weak and old that he blows to bits with the first breeze, but his dissolution comes as a relief. It is as though God does not want the burden of leadership. In the end, Will and Lyra don’t kill God. Instead, they free him, and he becomes one with the universe again. The fact that God dissolves just like the newly freed ghosts suggests that perhaps God is simply the spirit of the living.”

i love how dave quotes this whole bit - ACTUAL GOOD ANALYSIS OF GOD’S DEATH IN HDM - without absolving any of its meaning

Conclusion The Golden Compass is evil.

i love this

children today are being challenged to hate Christianity, and are being invited to join ranks with the Devil's army.

damn i totally missed that bit about joining satan’s army in hdm

All we hear about nowadays is how religion throughout the ages has caused wars and suppressed people's rights.

it’s almost as if it’s true!

Increasingly, children today are being brainwashed to view Christianity as a power-hungry "MAGISTERIUM" (i.e., the evil organization in The Golden Compass), which seeks to suppress the rights of homosexuals, Wiccan witches, Evolutionists, abortionists, feminists and other degenerates of society.

WHAT a sentence!!!!!

The grave danger of Harry Potter and The Golden Compass

that sounds like one hell of an au

Christians are commanded not to associate with any professed Christian who is a drunkard, chases women, lives for money or lives in unrepentant sin.

and yet donald trump is president of the united states! go figure, davey

Public school children are being taught that the sin of homosexuality should be accepted; BUT, God says "No."  Now you know why homosexuals hate God's Word so much.

we’re almost at the end of the rant and dave didn’t reference balthamos and baruch even once and i feel ROBBED

Women in the 1960's embraced feminism, because they were told (just as Eve) that the higher powers were trying to suppress their rights.  Satan lied to Eve, thus creating a sinful power-struggle between her and God.

damn why won’t women just understand that men are like god :\\\

Satan is recruiting.  Satan has a bid for your child mom and dad, and he will stop at nothing to recruit your child's soul.

gotta admire the determination there

Again, The Golden Compass is evil.  It is not just a fantasy for children.  The author of the series (Philip Pullman) is a militant, God-hating atheist who has openly stated that his goal is to "undermine the basis of Christian belief" in the mind's of children.

dave decided that the best way to end his rant is to quote a line that already appeared in the text at least 2 times before. man, if you ever think you’re a bad writer, remember that at least you’re not as bad as this dude.

moral of the story is: dave probably needs some sleep. and professional help

[inneralpacacheesecake-blog]

Blog post #15

1)    Yes, I do think that Wagner’s music should still be performed even though there has been lots of controversy over it because of his anti-semitic views. In the article, Wagner Israel and the Palestinians, the author states that “Wagner was the first composer to very consciously calculate and demand the speed of dynamic developments” and this is a style in music that can still be seen today. His music was so unique for his time period and it influenced many composers. Many composers loved his new style of music and often times tried to incorporate his style into their music. If the decision was made to no longer perform Wagner’s music than it would only make sense to also not perform any music that was influenced by his work. I don’t think that would be fair to the musicians that were not anti-Semitic but decided to mimic his style. Also if the decision was made to not perform his music then I think we would also have to change the style of our movie theaters. The design of many modern movie theaters is another art form that was also influenced by Wagner. If we were to get rid of one form of his art, his music, then it would only make sense to get rid of the other which would be the design of his theaters and I don’t think this would be a good idea. I don’t think that it is necessary to get rid of his work completely, but I do think that it is important to inform people of his anti-Semitic views. In the article, Divorcing music from anti-Semitism Israeli soprano takes on taboo at Wagner fest, the author suggests that it was not uncommon for people to be prejudice towards Jews. The author states that it wasn’t until “1669 that it became legal for Jews to move somewhat freely in Berlin and the surrounding area”. Although this doesn’t change the fact that Wagner was anti-semitic, I think it is important to note that this was something that he probably grew up believing. I think that this music should still be played because of how unique and influential it was for many composers that came after Wagner. I also think it should still be performed by Jewish musicians, like the Jewish singer in the article, as well because I think it kind of erases that anti-Semitic stigma around Wagner’s music.  

 Wagner and Me

1)    Fry believes that the article that Wagner wrote, Judaism in Music, has “stained his reputation to this day”. He thought that anti-Semitism was widespread during the time period in which Wagner was growing up, however, Wagner seemed to have a personal issue with the Jews as well. Fry suggests that Wagner was jealous of the lives that other Jewish composures, such as Mendelssohn, were living during this period as well. This contributed to his anti-Semitic views. Fry says that although he wasn’t a very pleasant man it does not change the fact that his music is incredibly supreme and I think that he would say that his music should still be performed as well. He says that he sees Wagner’s music as the most beautiful tapestry with a stain on it. You can still appreciate all of the beautiful aspects of his music even though he was a bad dude.

2)    Some things that I learned from the video that I had not considered before was that Wagner was considered to be an international composer and he did not make reference to Germany a lot in his work. This was surprising to me because I always thought of him as being like a German nationalist. Something else I learned from the video was that the design of Neuschwanstein Castle was all inspired by Wagner’s work. I learned that the design of the Nazi rally grounds was inspired by the stages that Wagner designed for his operas. Hitler wanted his audience to be impacted by the visual appeal of his stage just like the audience at Wagner’s operas. I learned that the Wagner family invited Hitler with open arms when he visited them for the first time. They were also big supporters of him even early on in his rise to power. I learned that some Jews who were taken prisoner and sent to concentration camps would sometimes be saved if they could perform music by Wagner because they would be asked to play it for German soldiers. A Jewish survivor of Auschwitz said that she would never forbid anyone from listening to the music that Wagner composed.  

Lohengrin

1)    The story was influenced by the events that took place in 933 when King Hennery the Flower of Saxony was uniting many German states to rise up against Hungarian invaders. This is a story of good vs bad which takes place during the medieval era. There are a lot of knights and Kings as wells magical characters such as evil witches.

2)    No, in the story, the hero who saves the lady in distress does not want his story to be told. This is the opposite of what Wagner wanted. I think that he wanted everyone to know of his work and for his story to be told.  

3)    Both are played at the beginning of the opera however an overture is generally longer than a prelude. An overture will introduce the audience to all the major themes that will be important throughout the opera. This is different from a prelude which, after doing the reading, I interrupted as a way to tell a short story that would be important to know before watching the opera. For example, the prelude to Lohengrin is telling the story of the Holy Grail.

4)    Elsa is being accused of murdering her little brother Gottfried who is the child-Duke of Brabant. Count Friedrich von Telramund, the children’s guardian, believes that her motive for killing her brother was so that she could take over as Duchess of Brabant.    

5)    Telramund and Ortrud are banished and the settle to Antwerp castle.

6)    She is a Pagan and she believed in Wodon and Freia    

7)    Elsa feels “unequal and unworthy” because Lohengrin won’t tell her his name. She has so many questions about why he wouldn’t share this with her that it starts to make her mad.

8)    Elsa dies because of guilt when Lohengrin has to return home because his identity has been exposed. Telramund is killed by Lohengrin when tries to attack him. Ortrud dies when Lohengrin prays to God after Orturd says that is not possible to bring back Gottfried.

9)    I thought it was kind of funny and it probably was a “had to be there” kind of moment, but no I did not laugh out loud. I could see how a person who is really serious about operas may find this hysterical because I feel like operas, or at least Wagner’s operas, were supposed to be followed exactly how they were written and this particular incident of Lohengrin missing the Swan boat was defiantly not in the script.

10)  I am excited to see how Ortrud is portrayed in the opera. The reading suggests that she was supposed to be very awful and the author states that she is “one of the truly great bitches of opera” (page 107). I am also excited to see all the cool costumes worn by the performers. I have always been a big fan of story’s that take place during the medieval time period.  

[noxstrix]

ABOUT THE MUN.

hello. i am coyote. my pronouns are she / her and they / them. i am over 21 years old, and a full time college student. i’m a practicing pagan in the real world. i have adhd and anxiety, so i really prefer to reply to drafts selectively and with mutuals only. my classes are mon - thurs  and i tend not to reply very much on those days. because of this i’d call this blog medium activity. as of right now nisa is my only character. i believe everyone has the freedom to say whatever they want on their blogs, within reason, please do not follow me if you are someone who is easily offended.

i know my rules are long, but they are to keep everyone on the same page and to prevent any future discourse from happening on my blog or between us as writers. thank you so much for taking the time to read everything, i sincerely appreciate it !!

TRIGGERING CONTENT / TRIGGER TAGGING.

please exit the page and unfollow right now, if you are under the age of eighteen.

this blog is extremely triggering. i cannot stress this enough. blasphemy is a reoccurring theme. a lot of the content i write here explores  conspiracy theories about the biblical apocalypse, the vatican and its links to illuminati, free masonry, and the ninth circle. if you have ever been curious enough to research on these cults, then you would likely know they are linked to subject matter such as human sacrifices, sex trafficking, murder, pedophilia, etc etc. while i do not promote or condone any of this, there will be frequent mentions in my writing of these topics and i won’t be tagging them. blasphemy will also never be tagged on my blog.

images posted / reposted on this blog are sometimes graphic and contain blood, gore, or melancholy. i will not be trigger tagging anything that does not make me personally uncomfortable. this blog is mine and i can do or post whatever i want on it. however, sometimes i do feel like there’s a line that might be crossed in regards to my followers.

i will be tagging any triggering imagery as  /  horror.  if you wish to add that to your blacklist. additionally if you have any really specific, and legitimate phobias you require me to tag, don’t hesitate to message me privately. all phobias brought to my attention ( ie. spiders, eye gore ) will likely wind up under the blacklist tag   /  trigger.  i will not be tagging anything such as food, or body image.

THE CHARACTER / THEFT.

my character takes basis from biblical, luciferian, satanic, gnostic and jewish mythology. she is lilith’s reincarnation. i however, do change up some of the lore and give it my own ideas and flavors. everything about nisa and lilith, i headcanoned myself. same goes for her partner blog lucian / lucifer ( @antichrstis ). i wrote both of biographies. please do not steal any aspects of either character, or any of my lore regarding their universe, as i worked very hard on their background stories. i will post a call out, if i catch you imitating, copying, or stealing anything. this is your one and only warning.

AGE LIMITS.

because this blog is full of mature, adult content, please do not follow me if you are under the age of eighteen or you cannot maturely handle in character content like profanity, sex, horror, violence, torture, mental or physical abuse. if  either of the words sex or smut bothers you and makes you feel even a little queezy or you have an aversion to it, i definitely  do not suggest following. while i don’t smut often on this blog, it does happen, and when it does, it’s with characters whose writers are over the age of 20. sorry, i personally do not feel comfortable writing smut with muns younger than 20 years of age, i don’t care of 18 is the legal age, this is my personal preference.

additionally, i do not ship my oc against characters whose face claims are under the age of 25. i will not ship her with characters under the age of 23 ( divided by 2 + 7 rule )  that’s creepy to me. not only is nisa thirty one years old, but lilith is older than the earth’s creation. don’t even try to come up with excuses or convince me otherwise because it’s gonna get you hard blocked, you feel me?

MUN =/= MUSE.

nisa’s personal beliefs and actions, are not my own ! please keep ooc and ic separate in this regard. these are works of fiction and this is roleplay. the mun’s personality is not the muses. she’s a bit of a binch sometimes and narcissistic, but just because she is rude and mean to some characters, does not mean i, the mun, feel that way towards you ooc, or towards your character!

CHARACTERIZATION + METAGAMING.

please, please, please, read nisa/lilith’s about pages in full. like every detail, okay? because i am so, so very tired of people approaching her as the stereotypical lilith. or approaching her automatically like she’s a bitch. if you’re a bitch to her first or give her an attitude, you better believe you’re going to get a reply according to that ten fold.

nisa is in essence, a fallen angel / demon, and the creator of witches and supernatural monstrosities, reincarnated. lilith is sometimes interpreted in biblical prophecy as the anti-christ’s partner in crime, which means only god can kill her. you can throw holy water at her, you can torture her, decapitate her, but your character can’t get rid of her.

she is true immortal. if you are going to pick a fight with her, pick your battle wisely, because she will not hesitate to use her magic or destroy your character to make a point. i do not hold her characterization back for any reason, so when you find yours flying across the room or pinned on a ceiling, don’t be surprised.

also bear in mind she has the ability to see people’s pasts and future, to pick up on their emotions, insecurities, and decipher personal things about them. i always read character’s backgrounds first to get an idea, and sometimes dig through headcanons pages for some juice. unless your character is a witch or supernatural being who has taken precautions spiritually or magically to block anyone from doing so at any given time,  don’t be surprised if this happens. i analyze your subtext as well, so anything your character is feeling or any vibes they’re giving off may or may not additionally not be picked up on.

if you read this and you’re thinking “lol overpowered, mary sue,” don’t follow me. it’s that simple. all of the powerful / evil characters you hate to love on television are mary sues when you strip away the lime light media.  i suggest taking a look in the mirror and getting off your high horse when it comes to your attitude towards original characters, kay? awesome.

GOD MODDING.

ah yes, god modding. please don’t do it to my character unless discussed first, or unless you are sending me a starter! starters are the only situation i let people gently god mod in, because i know it can be difficult writing threads out of thin air.

do not undermine evil or magically powerful characters. i think most of us have been around the rpc long enough to have seen the psa going around on tumblr about this. it’s truly frustrating, when you have someone’s human character or any being capable of dying, repetitively poking a villain with a sharp stick, and then getting all butt-hurt when the other person replies accordingly with negative consequences for their muse.

because my character is an immortal, with nearly all magical abilities, i am going to be honest with you. if your character does anything threatening towards nisa/lilith, or anything which might provoke her to harm yours, i will god mode in my reply. again, pick your battles wisely. this only happens if your character does something to deserve it. there will be no ’ attempts made ’ because  if they are human, she can literally begin choking them from across the room, melting their brain, breaking their bones, setting them on fire, or instantly kill them with a tap on their shoulder, if she chooses.

if your character is supernaturally based and has magical powers, etc, i will message you first and give you a heads up so we can discuss how we want their fight to end and which direction to go in. every attack on your supernatural character will be attempted. in counter, if your character wants to engage in a magical battle or some sort of violent fight with mine, i hope you will respect me the same way and message me before hand.

ENGAGING / INTERACTING WITH MY CHARACTER.

this blog is mutuals only! if i don’t follow you please do not send me random memes, or anything unprompted. also please do not like any of my starter calls or reply to my open starters. if i don’t follow you back, please don’t feel bad! it is most likely because i don’t see her interacting with your character, you post too much ooc, or i already follow too many of a certain muse. i am ocd about what is on my dash. i have adhd so a fast and clustered or disorganized dash does give me anxiety!

with that out of the way, any mutuals, whether we have or haven’t interacted, are always welcome to send nisa/lilith random starters, dialogue one liners, crack, memes, headcanon questions, etc. there is no limit as to how you can interact with me or how you want to. if you feel like interacting with nisa, feel confident that you can just do it and don’t hesitate !!!!! none of you will or could ever annoy me tbh.

SOFT / HARD BLOCKING / UNFOLLOWING.

this blog practices both soft blocking and hard blocking. if i soft block you and you try re-following, i hard block. i do this to protect myself, and to protect my creative freedom on my blog. i don’t owe anyone an explanation. if i see frequent call outs, callout reblogs, vague posts, or negativity on your blog, i will not hesitate to block you as i see fit. please keep your ooc political views off my dash. i really don’t give a shit, since i’m here to roleplay.  

if you think i might have unfollowed you on accident  ( bc lets be real the mobile app is really trash and my thumbs are clumsy ) please unfollow and then refollow me to alert me of my mistake. my tumblr msgs are currently for mutuals only, so that’s the easiest way to get my attention.

SHIPPING / SMUT.

as far as shipping is concerned, this blog only engages in pre-plotted ships. all  pre-plotted ships will get their own verse.

nisa is a complicated character and she is demiromantic. she isn’t really a flings kind of person and i bet you’re thinking ’ lol but it’s lilith ’ and yeah, that’s true, but just because the bible  called her a whore, doesn’t mean she is one. i’d really like to point out that they gave her that image because she disobeyed adam and god, whom are both men. did i also mention that the bible and rabbinical story of lilith, was written by men?

okay, great. now, we’re on the same page. many pagan practices and religions believe that periods of celibacy are a good thing, and actually makes witches more powerful, because sexual energy is powerful. before nisa accepts her fate of being lilith’s reincarnation, she does this frequently, as well as fasts, so that her various uses of magic, or that her visions, have an amplified effect.

in contrast, sometimes celibacy gets to be too much and she needs to actually release that tension and craves companionship, so one night stands, and flings are more likely to happen over romantic ships. she is flirty by nature and sometimes touchy-feely, this does not mean, however, that she wants to engage in sexual relations with your character.

i will only write with / ship with one lucifer, and that is @antichrstis in her main verse.

if your character is feeling nisa, or you view her character as someone yours might want to romantically ship with, and you would like it to happen, please feel free to message me andwe can discuss verse arcs and details ! don’t let what was previously mentioned above deter you.

i briefly mentioned smut earlier in my rules, but this is a reminder that i will not smut with anyone under age 20 or any muses whose fcs are under age 25.

DISCORD / TUMBLR MSGS.

if we’re mutuals, message me at your leisure! if you would like my discord, it is available upon request. i am open to ooc chit - chatting and plotting. i like making friends and getting to know people, so don’t be shy!

[foxhenki-blog]

The Ankle of God

Etymology of the word Ankle: Stemming from the PIE root *ang-/*ank ‘to bend’, related closely in this way to Angle and the source of the Greek anklyos, meaning bent or crooked and the Latin ang(u)ere - ‘to compress in a bend, fold, strangle.

Last week, the focus of this blog really shone through. I started it off as being about the very general ‘books, coffee, and magic.’ I found that I wasn’t really inspired to write about coffee all that much, even though I know a lot about it and am a total coffee snob. I briefly switched the tagline, replacing ‘coffee’ with ‘mushrooms’ to reflect aspirations for a project I’ve been meaning to tackle; taking all of the cultures offered by the site Out-Grow (of which I have a deep familial investment in), research and write about any folk medicine or magical traditions along with modern findings. If aspirations were nickels, I wouldn’t have to change out of my pajamas and go to work in the morning. Last week, however, I wrote a very Lovecraftian blog, breaking convention and focusing entirely on The Dunwich Horror for the whole post (mostly because of how loaded and intense that tale is) and in the process I realized just how many times I’ve used the phrase ‘Lovecraftian Magic,’ not only in last week’s blog, but in many past works. I always had designs on sussing out a unique magical system based on Lovecraft’s oeuvre, but last week it hit me, that I am already pretty far on that journey. Thus I’ve once again changed the tag line for gnome.school to read ‘Lovecraftian Magic’ and will be framing these explorations towards uncovering what that actually is.

I know what it is not, you see. Lovecraftian Magic is not the Simonomicon, although that work certainly influences what it is. Lovecraftian Magic is not a future modern chaos magic-y summoning of Cthulhu that would likely only result in a cease-and-desist letter from Chaosium, an example of which is discussed here and debated in the forums of this excellent site. The Gnome School vision of what Lovecraftian Magic is gets at what magical traditions Lovecraft touched with his fiction and how those data points spread out towards ancient magic and grows towards a future of an enchanted space-faring human race.

In the course of this, thus far, thirty plus week research exercise, I’ve begun to grow accustomed to seeing vectors into and out of Lovecraft in my own fledgling magical practice.

Let us take for example, the standard prayer for Jupiter to be recited on Thursdays from the Hygromanteia:

“Lord our God, the great, praised and incomprehensible, whose height of divinity is immeasurable, unto you I pray. I, the unworthy, beg the height of your compassion, hear me and make this attempt and the work I want to do, to be highly effective. I conjure you, most valorous and most beneficial Jupiter, by the immeasurable ankle of God, do not disobey me. I conjure you, Jupiter, by the grace of all herbs. I conjure you Jupiter, by your valor and justice, by your miraculous virtues and in your following names, Misthan, Mesaou, Alasigno, Pelknaous, Aabio, Kedesod, Olaber, Desdio, Aoloi, Azanor, Merran. In your most great and valorous names, grant your grace and your virtue by the work I am going to do, Amen.”

In the Ioannis Marathakis translation, the footnote on the word ‘ankle’ states

‘The text must be corrupt here, since this peculiar reference to the ‘ankle of God’ cannot be otherwise explained.’

Marathakis’ sentiment, that it is a corruption, is echoed by Gordon White as an aside in the Premium Member inaugural sigils course. The relationship of this classical magic to mathematics is widely known. Coupled with the etymology of the word ankle and the origin language of the Hygromanteia, I do not see why ‘ankle’ in this context is not translated as the Greek ankylos is, the phrase in fact meaning:

“the immeasurable angle of God…”

Not only does this make sense in a traditional reading of the Hygromantiea, it also creates a direct vector (pun intended) into Lovecraftian Magic. The assertion being that there is an angle that is beyond Euclidian geometry, a geometry known only in the world of spirits but immeasurable ‘in the real.’ For examples of this within the Lovecraftian Magic aesthetic, see my examination of his tale, Dreams in the Witch House.

In that same tale there are (and here is a place where I believe the Simonomicon plugs in, although I have suspended investigations into that and other texts until I’ve completed the research into Lovecraft’s oeuvre.) a number of references to the constellation commonly known in the West as The Great Bear, or Ursa Major. It is theorized that The Great Bear is the oldest conceptualization of a constellation known to the human race. An example of this theory can be found on p. 158 of Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa, Roslyn M. Frank’s ’The Origins of the ‘Western’ Constellations, in the section entitled ‘Hunting the European Sky Bears. Paraphrasing Frank, The stars of The Great Bear have been at the center of the sky of every human culture that arose in the northern hemisphere of the planet. This central placement through oral and written mythopoetic timedepth suggests a much older conceptualization, one that predates agropastoral socioeconomic structures. Lovecraft, being a learned and avid astronomer, would have known this and takes pains to touch the Great Bear, to give it significance, in his oeuvre.

In my personal practice, I’ve begun to look for workable (as in don’t require an eagle’s brain) spells in the Greek Magical Papyri. More and more, I’ve been attempting to align my practice with the Lovecraftian Magical Aesthetic. When I came across the following spell I found a perfect match between the goals of finding workable, documented, spells from antiquity that also fit with Lovecraft’s work:

“Bear Charm:

Bear, bear, you who rule the heaven, the stars, and the whole world; you who make the axis turn and control the whole cosmic system by force and compulsion; I appeal to you, imploring and supplicating that you may do the NN thing, because I call upon you with your holy names at which your deity rejoices, names which you are not able to ignore, BRIMO, earth-breaker, chief hunters, BAUBO LI AUMOR AMOR AMOR IEA Shooter of deer AMAM AMAR APHROU ME, universal queen, queen of wishes, AMAMA, well-bedded, all-seeing, night-running, man-attacker, man-subduer, man-summoner, man-conqueror, LICHRISS PHASES, O areal one, O strong one, O song and dance, guard, spy, delight, delicate, protector, adamant, adamantine, O Damnameneia, BREXERIKANDARA, most high, Taurian, unutterable, fire-bodied, light-giving, sharply armed. Do such-and-such things.”

Short, potent, and really with phrases like ‘man-attacker, man-subduer, man-conqueror’ quite anti-patriarchy, which is something we can all use. Also, anytime I see the phrase ‘adamantine’ I can’t not think of Wolverine, his claws, and his adamantine skeleton. A proper nudge towards invincibility and alignment with one of the core aesthetic elements of Lovecraft’s universe.

  So is this taking things too far ‘off-book’? Are we swapping the metaphorical Superman for Apollo? I don’t think so.

Lovecraft did create his own mythos, and that is what the vast majority of his fans and critics have focused on. What I am looking for and finding in this exercise, however, is all of the other vectors extending in and out of his work, edges that connect to nodes in existing traditions, and if my theory holds any water, give his system a structure and real, workable, magical life. A system that, while not a unified field theory (thank the gods), is quite robust, pulling together relevant elements of Voodoo, Greek and Roman paganism, Islamic mysticism, paleolithic astrology, and very much a version of early Christian necromancy. Keeping with this sentiment, let’s experiment a bit and return to Brown’s Cult of the Saints for a moment, and riff off of the following:

“a ‘privatization of the holy’ by well-to-do Christian families was a very real prospect… at the turn of the third and fourth centuries… A Spanish noblewoman resident in Carthage, Lucilla, was in [possession] of a bone of a martyr, and had been in the habit of kissing it before she took the Eucharist…”

Looking towards the cradle of Christianity, we find the dogma, the rigor of established ritual and what was considered ‘right’ by the church is less well-defined. In my life as a real boy I’ve been doing a lot of research into how organizations scale from a start-up culture to huge organizations. One of the characteristically bad management traits is to add more rigor, more policy, more processes to the movements inside the organization in response to change. From where I sit, it looks like the same poor management was applied to the Catholic church, especially in the veneration of the holy dead. Large organizations can achieve the same engagement and performance that start-ups have, by relinquishing a highly granular scheme of control and allowing individuals more freedom. I see the future of magic and the future of religion tied together in this way. Influential change in organizations almost always starts at the bottom, as a groundswell, that is then recognized and adopted by management. In the case of Lucilla, what if these off-book magically adjacent Christian practices become the norm? The new 21st century dominance of witchcraft will find its way into to church, and the old guard, the dogmatics, will fade as the church achieves a renewed vigor. The holy dead, and necromancy, will be at the epicenter of this eventuality. The warning of the quote above from The Cult of the Saints, is that attaching incentives to this eventuality will frustrate the required innovation that will take magic and religion into the 22nd century. To innovate, to hybridize magico-Christian practice is an ancient tradition, a very old way to be human. The thread I am going to pull on, the Lovecratian thread, is the animation of the common person, a remaking of the holy dead using not Christian criteria, but magical and archetypal data points as the guide. The same strategies can be employed as were in the fourth century, such as:

“resurrectio martyrum: [where] a few graves studiously linked to the… eucharistic liturgy should ‘begin to stand out’ in a graveyard where, previously, holy graves had existed, but had lacked clear focus…”

Bringing new ‘graves into clear focus’ adjacent this growing system of Lovecraftian Magic helps to manifest the system as something ‘more real’, to reinforce the aesthetic of the cemetery as a gateway, a middle point on our Likert scale between life and death. We’ll return to this in a bit, let’s take a quick break.

IMBRICATIONS

To help us out in understanding what a celebration of the cemetery looks like, let’s visit the ‘gypsy-swing’ quartet from Connecticut (from our New England unholy land), Caravan of Thieves. Their song, Raise the Dead, is a perfect, if not insufferably hipster, version of what the ‘West’ looks like when it celebrates death and recognizes the existence and importance of the spirit world.

  Moving towards our Lovecraft tale for the week, and keeping within an Americana (as in American continents, these cats are Canadian) set list, let’s take a spin through the reality of The Dead South with their joint, ‘In Hell I’ll Be in Good Company’.

  And finally, to round out this set, I’ll drop an old-timey classic, The Devil Went Down to Georgia, played by those long time Revelators of the Strange, Primus.

  THE GEORGE BIRCH SOCIETY

Our Lovecraft tale this week is ‘In The Vault.’ Let’s dive right in and meet our archetype:

“[George] Birch acquired a limitation and changed his business in 1881, yet never discussed the case when he could avoid it… It was generally stated that the affliction and shock were results of an unlucky slip whereby Birch had locked himself for nine hours in the receiving tomb of Peck Valley Cemetery… Peck had been the village undertaker of Peck Valley… Birch was lax, insensitive, and professionally undesirable; yet I still think he was not an evil man.”

Birch, an unloveable ‘rustic’ is painted as careless and lazy by the author. His only fits of discretion coming from past moments when his carelessness had been revealed by a family exhuming their daughter to transport to a different cemetery, finding the body of an aged male judge, instead. His incarceration in the tomb happened during a thunderstorm, a stable part of our magical aesthetic. The fit of lightning and Tesla-ian atmosphere being one of our authors most favored. After being trapped in the ‘receiving tomb,’ a place of staging the dead before burial, when the ground was too cold and frozen to excavate, Birch attempts an via a slit-like transom in the facade using all he had at his disposal.

“Only the coffins themselves remained as potential stepping-stones… three coffin-hieghts, he reckoned, would permit him to reach the transom, but he could do better with four…”

Here we have an explicit use of the tower as a metaphor, the author even writes:

“And so the prisoner toiled in the twilight, heaving the unresponsive remnants of mortality with little ceremony as his miniature Tower of Babel rose course by course…”

Offering us an insight into the origins of Lovecraft’s obsession with towers in his literature. The use of the reference is vague and a bit out of context, the context of the story of Babel that is, and seems shoehorned into the story. I’ve used metaphors in this way, square pegs in round holes, chiefly because I was in love with the metaphor, not because it was the best use of it.

After stacking the coffins he got at the transom with makeshift tools left in the tomb. I quite like this phrase:

“the unexpected tenacity of the [tomb’s] easy-looking brickwork was surely a sardonic commentary on the vanity of mortal hopes…”

While the context of this phrase is in reference to Birch’s attempts to remove the bricks away from the transom so he might pass through to safety, there is a deeper meaning here for us. The solidness of tombs are a physical manifestation of the finality and inevitability of death, the end of all that is human. The hammer is also an easy metaphor for how mankind attacks the spectre of death, that is, with brute force, even though it is an immaterial thing that no hammer can touch. You see how we are returning to that early Christian necromancy? Lovecraft continues:

“It must have been midnight when Birch decided he could get through the transom… He… almost dreaded the exertion, for his form had the indolent stoutness of early middle age… He had… planned in vain when choosing the stoutest coffin for the platform; for no sooner was his full bulk again upon it that the rotting lid gave way, jouncing him… on a surface which… he did not care to imagine…”

Here we have a metaphorical touching of a relic, Lucilla kissing the femur of Saint Max, although a mundane  or unholy (which is metaphorically worse?) one rather than a holy saint. The touch of this relic, however has a different result. Birch is attacked and experiences great pains about his calves and ankles before wrestling himself free and out of the enlarged portal that he made for himself above the locked tomb door. Crawling to safety, because he could not walk, he is taken in and seen to by a local physician. Without spoiling the hook, we’ll wrap the investigation of the text up with a final quote:

“[Birch] always remained lame, for the great tendons had been severed; but I think the greatest lameness was in his soul. His thinking processes, once so phlegmatic and logical, had become ineffaceably scarred…”

George Birch, the former undertaker, as our metaphor, is a bridging of the gulf between the living and the dead. He is also, in a way, a symbol of how we treat the dead now, in the West. He was callous, rude, and unrepentant in his abuses of the bodies that he cared for, until the dead reached out and touched him. While this might be looked at as a mere horror tale, done for gruesome effect, if we distill it down into its component forms - Birch and the Corpse, we can see a bit more. Lovecraft is avenging the dead, placing them above the baseness of Birch’s humanity. He is giving the dead an animate form and empowering them to act on the world of the living. The dead in question was in fact a vengeful being in life, which also speaks to the power of vengeance and anger, how this type of darkness infects and destroys across generations. Crossing from the past into the future.

Our tarot match for this week is the Six of Cups.

  The upright keyword for this pip is Le Passe, while the reversed shows L’avenir. Le Passe in English means ‘The Past.’ ‘Past’ is derived from the past participle of ‘passen’ or ‘to go by’. Tracking ‘pass’ we find the Vulgar Latin meaning of ‘to step’ or ‘to walk’, and threads to the PIE root pf *pete-, meaning ‘to spread’. Fragmenting back out from this data point, we find that past is related to compass, expansion, fathom, patina, petal, passenger, and spawn. L’avenir, conversely, means ‘The Future’ (and how curious this is the reversed meaning for the card), ‘Future’ has all of the meanings expected by a modern speaker, ‘going to be’, or ‘yet to be’, but if we trace it back to a similar PIE root, we find *bheue-, which not means ’to be’, but also ‘exist’ and ‘grow’. As *bheue- aged it became bondage, forebear, neighbor, neophyte, phylon (tribe, class, or clan), and physics.

The past spreads out behind us and is no more linear than our possible futures. It expands as our memories filter and warp it, acts as our behavioral compass, colors us with a patina of experience. Unless we’ve been practicing buddhist monks for forty or more years, we are bound to our hopes and fears of the future. We are the acolytes, the neophytes, sitting at its knee, ready for its wisdom.

The card itself, as it can fall either upright or reversed, is a type of Schroedinger in-between space, a moment that is neither the past or the future, a place that touches both the living and the dead. George Birch, in the vault, is in such a place. He is living, and rather full of life as he tries to escape his premature entombment. His attacker, the animated corpse of a wronged and vengeful spirit form, is the veritable Living Dead, another being existing in the in-between space of the Six of Cups as it exists in the deck at the moment before it is drawn. It is George Birch, wounded, crawling through the transom at the top of vault, half in the world of the dead and half in the real.

  George Birch and the Six of Cups are a perfect archetype for where we are at in the rise and fall and rise again of an animist perspective of the universe in the West. The wounds on his ankles came from beyond the grave and gave him a knowledge of the universe normally reserved for angels, demons, and gods. I’d venture to say that none of us as elements within that set data set are in a place where we fully understand animism, fully embrace the dead and other spirit forms as actors in our universe. We are also crawling through the transom, but in the other direction.