#Lessons from early Church history

[trberman]

Trusting God’s Purpose: Lessons from Doctrine and Covenants 3–5 in Church History

Photo by Rachel Strong on Unsplash Life has moments when everything feels uncertain, and as humans, we often wrestle with mistakes and doubt. Doctrine and Covenants 3–5 reminds us that God’s purposes remain steady, even when our own choices falter. These sections, given during pivotal moments in Joseph Smith’s history, teach us about trusting in the Lord, the power of repentance, and how divine…

[mindfulldsliving]

Understanding the Apostasy: Christian History, Divine Authority, and the Need for Restoration

Dispensations: The Pattern of Apostasy and Restoration What happened to the early Christian church after the apostles were gone? For Latter-day Saints, the concept of apostasy explains much about how divine authority was lost and why restoration was essential. This wasn’t merely about social or political changes; it was about the gradual erosion of core doctrines, priesthood power, and true…

[tojisteddy]

Could we please get more general meanie!simon headcannons?

No need to rush but have a good day!

general meanie!simon headcanons

now playing: landslide by fleetwood mac

a/n: I live for this, thank you for requesting!!! You have a good day too!!

Cannot do large crowds. It’s too loud and theres too many people and too many different conversations. He can do loud on the field, quick changes of action when it’s do or die. Just not at home. It spikes his anxiety up ten fold, make him more irritable. So he only grocery shops in the early mornings when the old ppl shop or he leaves it up to you. If you want to go shopping with him for new clothes, it’s get in and get out. Same with concerts. It has to be an artist that’s rare to see for him to go.

He’s extremely chill compared to how he was when he was a teenager/young adult. Hes sent a couple folks to the hospital, used to get into it with his team mates so bad John sent him to anger management and wouldn’t allow him back unless he got his act together. And he despised it at first, hated the happy go lucky therapist who lead the group, the fact that it was in a damned church basement, and that he had to talk to strangers. But it actually did a number on him. In a good way. Healed a few parts of him to make him into a better man, much easier to deal with, he’s slower to anger now. And if it comes storming down on him he might go for a smoke, take a few deep breaths, go walk a few paces. Price is proud of him and for once Ghost— no- Simon is proud of himself. Happy he stumbled upon you after he got his shit together. It makes him want to work harder at improving himself even more. He’s not the best, but he’s trying. He always go to group therapy every Wednesday when he’s back home, right after work. He brings home dinner, a little more- chipper.

Really doesn’t do too much talking when he’s off. He definitely a teaser, playful, but even with you, he doesn’t have much to say. You both like comfortable silence when you’re gone for cuddle together.

Doesn’t complain about the amount of stuffed animals you have or how you decorate. You’ve made his house a home, even after he fixed it up himself, it never felt good to be alone there. These are ghosts hiding there. But you brought a breath of fresh air into the place. Hes more than greatful, hugging onto your stuffed animals when your gone for too long.

Likes to do chores together, even if it’s folding laundry or walking the dogs or washing dishes— he loves being in your space.

hates your dog Fish because he’s a wild thing no matter how hard you train him. The little shit only listens to Simon for some reason when Simon only likes his dog, Slugger. Doesn’t mean the man isn’t gonna pet the cute one year old puppy though.

Squints a lot when reading the coffee signs, he definitely needs reading glasses but says hes too young for them (hes almost 35)

can talk about his favorite movies for ages, loves the classic westerns and sci-fi flicks from the 80s. Knows the actors ages and if they’re alive or not. Talks to you about them like a history lesson, you never get bored though. His voice is perfect.

A little insecure about the scars on him, that’s why he’s covered in tattoos. Some tattoos mean a lot to him, others he just got for fun.

Has a motorcycle, rides it here and there. Has taken you for a drive to meet Alice, an older woman about 80 from anger management. She’s like his grandma, he speaks softer (and smaller) when he’s with her. Alice babies the hell out of him.

His closet is more than casual, multiple black shirts and denim jeans, a few plaids, some leather jackets, bomber jackets— it’s not too serious. He’d rather invest in you, let you play dress up in your closet and watch you twirl for him. And he pays attention to every detail. What you like and don’t like. His cute fucking baby.

When he blushes, which is rare, it won’t show on his face, won’t smile at all or get red in his face— but his ears. Bright red. Be on the lookout when his mask is off.

Can knit and stitch. Not too good at stitching but he knows how to get that job done. Knitting? He joined Alice’s knitting group, club meetings to gossip are once a month of the first Saturday. He never misses a meeting.

Helps out the neighbors with their broken equipment. Broken lawnmower or mixing machine? He can fix it. He’s pretty handy. Stand off-ish but kind to his neighbors.

Spends some days drinking beer or whisky on the couch or going for a drive. Just to think about nothing but sometimes everything. Take a look at the scenic view, he takes you sometimes, kisses your hands and holds them tight without saying a word. 

Physical touch junkie, loves holding hands without saying it, brushing fingers, playing with your braids or curly hair, pinching your cheeks, having your legs in his lap— something.

Does not like clowns. Not scared but he finds them annoying. Same with mimes. Stays ten feet away.

Swears by Fleetwood Mac album ‘Rumours’, will always play it and never gets tired of it. It’s brought him out of multiple dark places. Won’t sing but will mumble the lyrics. So cute. Swears by To Noise Making (Sing) and Sunlight by Hozier and Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) by Deftones.

Two other random hobbies? Lego building and painting. He’s shit at painting, but he does it anyway because he enjoys it. Now Lego building, hes good. As in there are a few self made projects around the house that look like real masterpieces, good. Simon spends a buck and then some on them, Soap teases him for it but he always shows them off to you, they’re amazing.

a/n: I hope this was okay anon. Let me know. Been waiting for someone to ask but meanie!simon going to anger management is like a big part of the reason I don’t write him so toxic (just a little bit like a little extra salt though). I don’t think he’s at that point in his life anymore. Also sorry for all the posts today. My bad.

most recent masterlist past meanie!simon hc

𝔱𝔞𝔤𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱<3: @bruisedfig @tessakate @sevikasblackgf @mocha-the-muse @nightfwn @mims900 @lillybunni

[the-maid-of-witchwood]

Finally, I dare you to gimme your Grace headcanons (gotta round out the trio)

Yes!

First of all a quick apology - sorry, Grace, we should have done you first as the eldest.

Full name is Grace Marian Chasity and I will die on this hill

She was born in Scotland

(Extended family is British)

They visit once a year over Thanksgiving break because the Chasities don’t celebrate non-religious holidays

Her first eight words were all colours, starting with purple because her mother wears it a lot, until she met baby Steph and picked up “Effanie”

Was a very quiet and non-fussy baby so her parents took her to church real early

Lucy also took her birdwatching at this age because nobody else would go with her - it’s also where Grace gets her passion for birds (nighthawks) welfare from

Was really late learning to walk

Learnt to walk because her father dropped a book on the floor once and she instinctively went to put it on the shelf. Mark got into the habit of just throwing books (lightly) across the room to have Grace fetch them

There’s so many home videos of her stopping what she was doing, retrieving the books and telling her dad off for making a mess, sending him to prayer to apologise to God

Grace and Richie have been kinda friends since elementary

She was shorter than Ruth for first grade and then kinda grew a little taller in second grade

As a child, she had a pet hamster called Prudence

She plays the flute and is in the school orchestra, there’s only two flutes (the other is PJ)

Loves history, especially stuff on royalty

Her favourite historical period is the renaissance

Reads a lot of historical non-fiction

Ruth eventually gets her into Six the Musical and then got really concerned after Grace casually described Samantha Pauly’s version of All You Wanna Do as relatable

This only becomes more worrying when Grace offhandedly mentions relating to Becky because of Stanley

(Both Max and Gabe are really creepy and weird with her, we need to acknowledge it more)

She is a huge Shakespeare nerd, like will give Angela a run for her money

Trevor is meant to be a Hall Monitor with her but he chickens out of actually telling anyone off, so Grace has to pick up his slack

Grace is part of her church’s Nativity every year, she’s always an angel. Not Gabriel, Gabe always gets that part, just a random angel. Rose always got Mary, when she was still there

Her memory is really good, she remembers the smallest of things

Takes pride in being one of the eldest in the class and has always used that to make up for her lack of height

She helps out in the school shows as line prompt and is definitely humming along in the wings

Caitlyn has a bit of a crush on her and lowkey jealous of other people getting close to her

Literally the only person who likes Harmony Jones (Greenpeace girl), definitely her first crush

After going to Beanie’s with the group, she may or may not have been caught blushing at Zoey too

She can draw fairly well, but only really likes doing landscape and buildings - her portfolio is just made up of churches and castles

She wants to learn how to dance but, beyond the Scottish country dancing she’s picked up at family weddings, she has no idea what she’s doing

Has never broken a bone and is disgusted by the thought

Doesn’t like the idea of being behind the wheel, so hasn’t learnt to drive. Had one unofficial lesson with Steph and freaked out

Gets travel sick very easily

Gets really heavy periods and painful cramps, has been to the doctor - there’s nothing wrong so they just suggested taking birth control to not have her periods which Grace and her parents refused

(And maybe she regrets it once a month)

PANSEXUAL

Somewhere on the aroace spectrum too but hasn’t worked it out yet

The eldest of the group and certified mom-friend

Will hold their hands when crossing the street

In spite of their links to witchcraft and Satanism, Grace really wants a pet cat

Yes, the eldest thing is mentioned multiple times; it’s what Grace would want.

I’ve already done all of Grace’s ship headcanons at this point (Lautity, Spankity/Bible Study and Lautskity), so just for fun…

Holystage, Bible Passion, Halohat or whatever else we can come up with (Caitlyn x Grace):

Definitely were set up by Trevor with some help from Ruth

(Not fully though because Ruth hates Caitlyn)

Caitlyn is the only other child in Grace’s neighbourhood

Caitlyn blows her kisses from the stage

Caitlyn encourages Grace to try on her costumes and they have a lot of photos of them messing around in the dressing room (featuring Josephine + the boys when they sneak in)

Their friend groups kinda mostly hate each other (playfully) but put up with each other for their sake

Grace always buys Caitlyn red roses (Cait’s favourite flower) for her shows, including dress rehearsals

Caitlyn returns the favour by showing up with flowers (Grace doesn’t have a particular favourite, but it’s usually carnations) after Grace’s orchestral performances

They make music together

Caitlyn can play a shit ton of instruments, but is currently teaching Grace how to play the piano

Grace runs lines with Caitlyn and, in spite of her limited knowledge in acting being Shakespeare, helps her improve her performance

Miss Mulberry loves them

Grace also brings baked goods for Caitlyn to share with her costars and crew in rehearsals

The cottagecore girlfriends of all time

Grace has a type and it’s just Mariah.

[reality-detective]

Written by - Lori Borgman in 1998 👇

"Obituary for Common Sense"

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved friend: Common Sense. He lived a long life but died from a broken heart (technically: cardiac arrest). No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He selflessly devoted his life to service in homes, schools, businesses — and yes, even in the government — helping folks have rewarding lives, and getting jobs done while minimizing fanfare and foolishness.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valued lessons as to know when to come in from the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, that life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple and sound financial policies: Don't spend more than you earn, Waste not want not, A penny saved is a penny earned, and so forth.

Mr. Sense was a tireless advocate for what used to be (in the old days) sage advice, like: Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, Two wrongs don’t make a right, and Actions speak louder than words.

He was also big on promoting effective parenting strategies like: the adults are in charge (not the kids), and the three R’s (Responsibility, Respect, and Resourcefulness) are the most important lessons to be taught children.

In his day Little League actually had tryouts, and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that! Some students weren't as smart as others, so they received poor grades. Horrors! And the idea of a parent bailing him out if he broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Common Sense survived such cultural and educational trends as body piercing, new math and instant messaging. For decades, petty rules, silly laws and frivolous lawsuits held little impact on him. But his health started to decline when he became infected with the wide-spread Do anything, just for the sake of doing something virus. And in later years his subsequently compromised immune system proved no match for the ravages of rampant irrational regulations.

For instance, his health rapidly deteriorated when schools implemented and then mindlessly administered numerous zero tolerance policies: a six year old boy was charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teenager was suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student.

It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a female student, but could not inform a parent when the same student was pregnant or wanted an abortion. And to make sure that they were part of the problem, parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

Common Sense started losing the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, criminals received better treatment than their victims, and federal judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional sports.

Common Sense took a beating when he couldn’t defend himself from a burglar in his own home, as the burglar could have sued him for assault.

Then there was a woman who couldn’t grasp the concept that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, and was awarded a huge settlement for her own careless small spill on her lap. And smokers who indulged in three packs a day for 40 years, surprisingly got lung cancer, and then sued the tobacco company. Hearing these and similar other sad stories caused Common Sense severe distress.

As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of consciousness, but was inadvisably kept informed of new irrational energy related regulations, like Renewable Portfolio Standards. When he was subsequently informed that “environmental” organizations like the Sierra Club were behind this profound pillaging of the environment Common Sense died of sudden cardiac arrest.

Mr. Sense was preceded in death by his parents: Truth and Trust, his wife: Discretion, his daughter: Responsibility; and his two sons: Diligence and Reason.

He is survived by three stepbrothers: Whatsinit Forme, Iknow Myrights, and Ima Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he had departed. It wasn’t covered by the media, no doubt due to their guilt about their complacency in bringing about his demise.

If you still remember "Common Sense," please pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

If memory serves me correctly this was written right about the time I noticed "Logical Thinking" beginning to disappear. And Löök Where We Are Today¿ 🤔

[ancientcraftnoccultism]

Introduction To Candle Magic

Ancient Craft & Occultism

___

By KB

Introduction

Welcome back witches in training! We've been covering a lot of ground bases lately, especially within the realms of spellwork. Today, we're going to take that a bit further by opening our horizons to the infinite world of Candle Magic! In this lesson, we're going to discuss basic color magic, the history of candles, and how to use candles in your craft. Let's get to it!

A Brief Candle History

The exact origin of the candle is quite a debate among historical scholars, but there is a large sum of evidence that suggests candles made of beeswax were used in Egypt and Crete as early as 3000 BCE. Other early candles were fashioned using tallow-soaked tapers manufactured from fibrous materials like rushes. Rushlights were one of the first types of enclosed light we are aware of, yet they were unlike candles as we know them today because they lacked a wick. The impoverished continued to utilize them for centuries because they were also inexpensive to produce.

It may come as no surprise that the Romans are credited with creating the first wicked candles by continuously dipping a roll of papyrus into tallow, a converted form of beef or mutton fat, while wrapping it around a length of twine. Candles were still used in the same manner, but they had superior quality and a longer lifespan than rushlights.

However, candle production was not only practiced by the Romans. Wicked candles were "invented" by numerous other ancient civilizations who also used local plant-based waxes. The eulachon fish, which is so oily that when dried, it would burn like a candle when you ignite one end, was used as a candle by tribes in Alaska and Canada. The Chinese used wrapped ricepaper as wicks. In India, wax was created from the fruit of the cinnamon tree.

Candles, in any form, were a significant component of religious rites throughout this time. The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, was originally documented around 165 B.C. Constantine, the Roman emperor between 306 and 337 A.D., mandated the use of lamps during Easter celebrations. Indeed, from roughly the time of Constantine, lights have played a significant role in religious events and signify the purifying light of God.

Candle flames were seen by ancient peoples to reveal enigmatic things. One could experience an altered state of consciousness and see gods, spirits, or the future by gazing into a flame. In a magic ceremony for "dreaming true," or getting information from dreams, the late Egyptians of the third century B.C. utilized lamps and possibly candles. He retired to a pitch-black cave that faced south and sat there gazing into a flame till he saw a god. Then he went to sleep, hoping that the deity would show up in his dreams and provide him with the answers he was looking for.

The Roman Christian scholar Tertullian fiercely objected to the ancient Pagan practice of lighting candles and lights during religious ceremonies, calling it "the useless lighting of lamps at noon." Candles and lamps were used in Christian rites from the fourth century, but candles weren't put on church altars until the later Middle Ages, starting in the twelfth century. Consecrated holy candles are used in ceremonies for blessings, atonement for sins, and the exorcism of demons, all of which were instituted by the Catholic Church.

Using Candles In The Craft

Candles have long been used as versatile tools, but in witchcraft, they can also be used for divination, spirit sensing, casting spells, and a variety of other things. Let's jump right in.

Divination - Reading the wax and observing how the candle really burns are the two most popular techniques for candle divination. You must observe the candle's burning pattern, including its height, flickering, and the presence of many flames, in order to make a prediction based on how it burns. Two flames could indicate assistance from the afterlife in achieving your objective. Even the hues of the flame may give you a clue as to how well your efforts are going. However, there is no agreement on what these indications signify. While some practitioners hold that a candle that burns tall and strongly indicates that one's request will be granted, others draw attention to the fact that the wick's length and quality, as well as an air vent, can affect how the candle burns. Prioritize your intention over the candle's burning process. You can always read the wax once it hardens, or pour the wax directly into cold water for it to harden and then interpret the symbols, much like you would with bone throwing, or scrying. Personally, I also like to pay attention to the smoke and interpret the way the smoke from the candle flows in order to interpret surrounding energies.

Spirit Work - Fire scrying is the most common way to communicate with spirits, and as it's the only method with candles I have experience with, that's what I will be discussing here. I encourage you to do your own research into spirit communication outside of my suggestion, because I'm sure there are plenty other methods out there. Again, there is no base consensus in a means to interpretation, as spirits and practitioners alike have different ways of communication. Just like with any other scrying, its imperative to stay connected to your personal energy while connecting with surrounding energy to properly interpret the signals you are receiving. Connecting with deities is also possible using this method of Candle Magic.

Rituals/Spellwork - In rituals and spells, candles are used to increase vibrations, represent specific elements and other important objects or creatures, use symbolism, and seal items like letters or spell bottles. Even candle spells can be created simply lighting a candle with intention. It is very common to carve, dress, and anoint candles in aid for ritual and spellwork as well. Fire being the main force driving the work, of course.

Worship - Candles are often used as offerings for various deities. Symbolism, color, and dressings can all play a part of this as well. They are also used as a beacon for an entity to guide you through your working.

Candle Correspondences

When undertaking serious candle work, choosing the right candle colors is crucial. Each hue has a unique meaning and possesses unique abilities. It's crucial to pick colors that align with your aims while working with candles in spells or rituals. Please remember that this is a very basic list and that the things you will read in your personal correspondence are far more significant than anything you will read here.

White - Attraction, Purification, Protection, Balance, Clarity, Grounding, Healing, Hope, Innocence, Optimism, Peace, Truth, Willpower

White can take the place of any other color when not available. Just a bit of visualization is required.

Black - Acceptance, Afterlife, Banishing, Binding, Determination, Endings, Justice, Loss, Release, Break, Security, Grief, Negativity, Patience, Persistence, Rebirth, Strength, Self Control

Red - Assertiveness, Courage, Creativity, Energy, Desire, Loyalty, Motivation, Power, Survival, Change

Yellow - Action, Communication, Learning, Finances, Business, Intellect, Inspiration, Knowledge, Wisdom, Stimulation

Pink - Acceptance, Affection, Beauty, Compassion, Healing, Family, Harmony, Kindness, Longevity, Nurturing, Partnership, Prosperity

Green - Abundance, Agriculture, Beauty, Creativity, Family, Fertility, Healing, Luck, Environment, Nurturing

Purple - Authority, Enlightenment, Spirituality, Emotions, Imagination, Influence, Truth, Wisdom, Overcoming Fear

Orange - Adaptive, Ambition, Confidence, Courage, Discipline, Energy, Freedom, Justice, Positivity, Pleasure, Stimulation, Travel

Blue - Honesty, Truth, Trust, Dreams, Sleep, Mental, Wisdom, Leadership, Fertility, Marriage, Healing, Study

Brown - Endurance, Animals, Balance, Courage, Grounding, Stability, Protection

Silver - Awareness, Intuition, Money, Purification, Potential, Stability, Success, Celestial

Gold - Abundance, Ambition, Money, Happiness, Power, Influence, Solar energy

Even if you aren't aware of it, the type of candle and the type of wax it is made of may have an impact on your craft. It can all come down to functionality or magical implications.

Taper Candles

Taper candles are tall, thin candles with a tapered top; they are often placed in vintage, smaller candle jars and are more ornamental and symbolic. Shorter taper candles are typically used to seal objects with wax. They can, however, be utilized for any task.

Pillar Candles

There are many different types of pillar candles, but these are the ones I see used almost exclusively. They differ from being short and fat to being tall and slim. They can be utilized for a variety of purposes, but I've found that rituals are where they're most useful.

Votive Candles

Votive candles are little and barely taper more at the base. They are frequently placed in glass candle holders and are used as offerings to deities. Given that their modest, tapering size is what makes them votives, their sizes rarely fluctuate. But they do come in a variety of colors. They are often white.

Tealights

Tealights are tiny, thin, and short candles. You can use them to make offerings, perform spells and rituals, decorate, or even keep wax warmers warm. I frequently observe this kind of candle being used, largely because they are the least expensive candles available.

Now, let's go over some of the different wax types.

Beeswax

It used to be difficult and dangerous to obtain beeswax, which added to the candle's mystique and spiritual power. Beeswax is a natural substance that burns more slowly, making it a premium item among contemporary candle spiritual practitioners; yet, because of its price, it may not be the best choice. Beeswax candles are available in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and hues and can be rolled, poured, or dipped. Longer ancestral rituals that demand higher vibrations and purpose work best with these candles.

Soy

People who use earth magic sometimes like soy candles since they are natural. Although they tend to burn for a shorter period of time than beeswax candles, they keep fragrances quite well. When dressed, they can also be extremely fragile and challenging to mold or carve. The majority of soy candles are already housed in glass. They are most effective when utilized in ancestral rituals for healing and rebirth.

Paraffin

Since it's a byproduct of the petroleum industry, many people consider it to be less natural than the available alternatives. The fact that it releases chemicals like toluene into the air makes it a poor choice for poorly ventilated areas. Other than providing the foundation for candles, I haven't discovered any sources that discuss the magickal powers of paraffin itself. I found a few for petroleum jelly, which is frequently used as a foundation for herbal salves, but they mainly praised how simple it was to use as an ointment. Even our non-human ancestors may have used petroleum, according to some sources, which makes it a solid foundation for ancestor magic.

[didalexiabreakupwitholgaisback]

I think a lot of people don’t understand that mass tourism in Spain is a lasting legacy of Franco’s dictatorship. In the 50s Spain’s economy was horrible because they were alienated on the world stage given they were a fascist state and had supported hitler through wwii. However, with the rise in communism, the regime saw an opportunity to find a powerful ally in the US and signed the pact of madrid in 1953 in which they recieved military and economic support, spain joined the UN two years later. Franco actually relied on avant-garde art to present a façade of liberalism to the rest of the world (see the Venice Biennial in 1958), despite avant-garde art still being censored within Spain. This was part of the opening up of Spain in the hopes of attracting tourism. Mass tourism really began in the late 50s and early 60s with Manuel Fraga, the head of the Ministry of Information and Tourism believing that tourism would help support the economic development and modernization. He promoted the use of the slogan “Spain is Different” to promote Spain as a popular destination for holidays. Franco revoked the need to obtain a visa to enter the country and the devaluation of the peseta made it an incredibly easy and cheap place to visit. The state was heavily involved in the tourism industry and unitl Franco’s death held the right to control the prices in hotels and restaurants. The number of foreign visitors jumped 43% in 1960 to 4.3 million, 18 million in 1967 and 30 million by 1975.

I apologize for the long history lesson, I actually just wrote a semester long paper on the use of art and art museums under franco as a means to legitimize his power and attempt to create a unified national identity.

thanks for sharing, anon! we've spoken about this topic several times on my blog. even the catholic church was weaponised by franco and used as a tool of oppression.

in fact, it's another reminder that a lot of the problems that spain and its autonomous communities are facing today in 2025 can be traced back to the legacy of franco and that evil regime. 😤

and it's also a helpful reminder that it's important to study our history to understand the present and prepare for the future.

yes, so a few years ago, i travelled to hawaii and this was a sentiment that was shared with me by our guides and different people who i encountered. a lot of people also lamented the high prices of housing too and being priced out by investors or people from the mainland who came to retire or buy vacation homes on the islands 😔

oh yes. it's a huge problem across the world and companies like air bnb are exploitative and make the problem worse.

that's why i left my hometown, so that in the future, i'll be able to retire and help care for my family too.

[planet-gay-comic]

Make Love not War

Historical Peace Movements and the Ongoing Relevance of War and Peace Since antiquity, philosophers and state leaders have grappled with the concepts of war and peace. Early on, thinkers like Plato and Aristotle recognized the destruction that wars can bring and advocated for peace as the ideal state for humanity. In the Middle Ages, the Church played a significant role in promoting ideas of peace, including through the 'Peace of God movement', which aimed to minimize wars among Christians.

The modern era saw the emergence of organized peace movements, particularly in the 19th century, when societies such as the American Peace Society and the British Peace Society were founded. These organizations advocated for the peaceful resolution of international disputes and laid the groundwork for later international cooperation to prevent conflicts.

The 1960s: A Turning Point The 1960s marked a high point of peace movements, driven by the shadow of the Cold War and the fear of nuclear annihilation. In the UK, this led to the founding of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1958, whose peace symbol became a global sign of resistance against war. In the USA, the Vietnam War mobilized wide sections of the population, especially young people and students, who through organizations like Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and others, initiated massive protests and demonstrations against the war.

The Carnation Revolution: A Peaceful Overturn A prominent example of a successful and predominantly peaceful revolution is the Portuguese Carnation Revolution of 1974. This revolution not only ended nearly five decades of dictatorship in Portugal but also inspired movements worldwide that saw changes could be achieved through nonviolent means. The soldiers who carried carnations in their gun barrels became a lasting symbol of peaceful change and demonstrated that the military can play a constructive role in promoting democracy and human rights.

Current Situation: War and Peace in the 21st Century Today, at a time when conflicts are increasing in many parts of the world, the issue of war and peace remains of crucial importance. Regional conflicts, the risk of escalation of violence, and the humanitarian crises caused by wars call on us to learn from history and strengthen active peace efforts. The lessons from movements like the Carnation Revolution and the protests of the 1960s show that societal and international pressure can be crucial in bringing about political changes and securing peace in the long term.

Base image generated with DALL-E, overworked with SD-1.5/SDXL inpainting, manual editing and composing.

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

1404 – Gilles De Rais [also spelled Retz] (d.1440); A French noble, soldier and one time brother-in-arms of Joan of Arc accused and ultimately convicted of torturing, raping and murdering dozens, if not hundreds, of young children, mainly boys. Along with Erzsébet Báthory, another sadistic aristocrat acting more than a century later, he is considered by some historians to be a precursor of the modern serial killer.

If one is to believe his confession, and there is good reason not to, de Rais had run through his fortune and was convinced that sacrificing young boys to Satan would restore his riches. Somewhere along the way he decided that sodomizing his victims before killing them would satisfy his needs along with the Devil's, and so more and more boys disappeared in his castle, never to be seen again. When Gilles was arrested on charges of blasphemy, the grisly murders were uncovered. He confessed to having killed some 150 boys, "for the pleasure and gratification of my senses." Having been an ally of Joan of Arc, there is good reason to suspect that the murders were the invention of the Catholic Church.

1927 – Singer and songwriter Johnnie Ray (d.1990) caused a sensation in the 1950s with energetic concert performances of hit songs, including the chart-topping "Cry." Because of his emotional on-stage style he was dubbed the Prince of Wails.

John Alvin Ray was born on a farm near Dallas, Oregon on January 10, 1927. Several years later, at the height of the Great Depression, the family lost the property and moved into town, where Ray's father found work at a lumber mill.

Young Johnnie Ray showed musical talent early. At the age of three or four he began playing tunes by ear on a pump organ. His parents arranged for him to take lessons from the church organist, and soon Ray was playing at services. The boy's musical taste ran to pop, however, and he and his older sister began performing together at schools. By the time he was five Ray knew that he wanted to be an entertainer.

An accident in the summer of 1940 nearly derailed his plans. During a blanket toss at a Boy Scout Jamboree, Ray fell to the ground, suffering a concussion and severe ear injuries that cost him about fifty percent of his hearing.

When World War II broke out, Ray's family moved again, this time to Portland, where his father worked in the shipyards.

During high school and for several years thereafter he performed in Oregon, but at twenty-two he headed for Hollywood. Although he found some jobs, he did not enjoy much success in California. Within a year he was broke and on his way home.

Ray was delighted when the male-female comedy team of Bob Mitchell and Jay Grayton came to perform in Portland. The couple had helped him get some bookings in Los Angeles and had also made him part of a ménage à trois. Ray's participation in sexual activities with both Mitchell and Grayton is an exemplar of his bisexual tendencies; although he seems to have been mostly homosexual in orientation, Ray also participated in heterosexual liaisons. Once again the couple took him under their wing.

When Grayton and Mitchell, who were performing at the Flame Showbar in Detroit, persuaded the management to give Ray an audition, he barely had enough money for a bus ticket to Michigan.

While playing at the Flame in 1951, Ray was "discovered" by disk jockey Robin Seymour of WKMH in Dearborn. He brought him to the attention of record producer Danny Kessler, who said of his first view of Ray's performance, "I was probably more overwhelmed with what I heard and saw than by anything else I ever encountered artistically in my life." He signed Ray to a record contract.

Ray's recording of "Cry" topped the pop charts in late 1951, and the song on the flip side, "The Little White Cloud That Cried," reached number two. An appearance on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town television program in early 1952 added to Ray's popularity.

In the spring of 1952 Ray married Marilyn Morrison, the daughter of a Los Angeles club owner. Morrison had avidly pursued the handsome young singing star. She was aware of Ray's homosexuality but told a friend of his that she would "straighten it out." Her resolution was doomed, as was the marriage. The couple separated within a year and were divorced in 1954.

Ray's long-held dream of being in films was realized when he appeared in Walter Lang's There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). Ray hoped that more movies would follow, but when producer Darryl Zanuck, who had praised Ray's performance, left Twentieth Century Fox to form his own company, neither studio offered him any further projects.

When Ray appeared as the "mystery guest" on the What's My Line? television show in 1956 he met journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, who was a regular panelist on the program, and the two began an affair.

The romance was an unlikely one. Married and fifteen years Ray's senior, Kilgallen embodied cosmopolitan sophistication, while Ray had the image of a country boy turned pop singer. Kilgallen remained with her husband, and Ray took one man after another as lovers. Nevertheless, the affection between the pair was genuine, and the affair lasted for years. Ray was devastated by Kilgallen's mysterious death in 1964.

Although Ray's 1951 arrest for cruising a public washrrom had been alluded to in various scandal sheets over the years, the general public was unaware of it. That changed in 1959, when he was once again arrested by the Detroit vice squad on a charge of soliciting an undercover police officer in one of the city's gay bars, the Brass Rail.

This time Ray hired an attorney and fought the charges. Kilgallen stood by him, even calling the judge in the case to insist that that he receive a fair trial. After hearing the testimony, the jury took less than an hour to find Ray not guilty, apparently concluding that he had been entrapped. Ray promptly left Detroit and never set foot in the city again.

The hard drinking in which Ray had indulged since his teens caught up with him in 1960. Weakened and exhausted, he contracted tuberculosis. He recovered after several months of treatment and resumed his career. He did not give up alcohol, however, and landed back in the hospital in 1963, suffering from cirrhosis.

Once again Kilgallen was at his side, but this time so was Bill Franklin, who had worked in public relations in the entertainment industry before becoming Ray's manager and also his lover.

The relationship with Franklin gave Ray's personal life a stability that it had lacked for many years. With Franklin's encouragement, he started paying attention to proper nutrition and swore off drinking.

However, the 1959 arrest and widely disseminated gossip about Ray's homosexuality took a toll on his popularity, and contributed to the decline of his career, especially in the United States. Ray continued to play club dates in the U.S., though at increasingly less prestigious venues.

Eventually Ray started drinking again. Despite Franklin's efforts to limit his intake of alcohol, he reverted to his old ways. His career, already in decline, suffered further, although he could still draw adoring crowds in England and Australia.

Franklin, frustrated by Ray's self-destructive behavior, left him in 1977.

The concert that would be Ray's last took him home to Portland, where he did a benefit for the Center for the Performing Arts in October 1989. Afterward he went back to Los Angeles, where he became reclusive and withdrawn. He was malnourished and seriously ill with liver disease. To cope with his pain, he was using, in addition to alcohol, the tranquilizer Halcion.

Ray was soon hospitalized. He lapsed into a coma for a few days; although he came out of the coma, he had no chance of recovery from the liver disease. He died on February 24, 1990.

1929 – Tintin, the beloved comic strip character, is gay, claims Matthew Parris, British ex-Tory MP. Parris insists that the boy reporter whose adventures have sold more than 200 million copies and been translated into 50 languages, is gay and that fans are in a state of "denial". Parris, himself gay, is a well-known newspaper columnist who notoriously 'outed' Business Minister Lord Peter Mandelson in the middle of a television interview in 1998.

Tintin, who was born January 10, 1929, on the pages of a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, has an unknown background and origin, says Parris, adding: "This is common among young gay men, some of whom find it hard to believe that they really are their parents' child".

In fact, Parris suspects Tintin may well have been a spy - "secret intelligence has always attracted gay men. I myself applied for and was offered a post in MI6."

He finds Tintin's world full of men. Of the complete list of 350 characters in Tintin books, Parris counts only eight women, and he doesn't find them attractive. The best known of them, chain-smoking opera singer Bianca Castafiore, is a "diva fag-hag," while Peggy, the wife of a Latin American dictator, is a "curler-wearing virago". "The butch, bitchy, bullying, cigar-smoking, hard-drinking, flame-haired wife of General Alcazar may well have been lesbian," Parris proclaims.

Snowy the loyal fox terrier is the only "unambiguously heterosexual male mammal in Tintin's entire universe," Parris says.

Parris is not the first person to speculate on Tintin's sexuality. In 2001, Belgian police seized 600 copies of an unauthorised book titled "Tintin in Thailand" - which showed Tintin and his friends living it up in Thai gay bars.

Belgium-based Studios Herge reacted stoutly, with spokesman Marcel Wilmet declaring: "Tintin is not at all gay - he was very macho in fact. He has many friends who are boys but they are not boyfriends."

Sal Mineo with James Dean in "Rebel..."

1939 – Sal Mineo, American actor (d.1976); A Golden Globe winning American movie and stage actor , best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause, Mineo, born in The Bronx, New York City , the son of a Sicilian coffin maker, was enrolled by his mother in dancing and acting school at an early age. One of the articles of faith of the James Dean cult that grew out of the actor's early death in 1955 is that Mineo "turned queer" after the auto wreck that took his co-star's life. As the story goes, young Sal left a séance in which he had attempted in vain to contact his fallen friend, only to wreck his own car. His life was spared, but the words "James Dean" suddenly appeared indelibly on his smashed windshield. Supposedly he was Gay from that moment on.

However, Mineo's homosexuality was a fairly open secret even at the height of his Hollywood success. He was rumored to have pursued numerous affairs, including one with Nicholas Ray during the filming of Rebel without a Cause.

The Hollywood Code of the `50s may have dictated that Dean win Natalie Wood at the end of Rebel Without A Cause, but anyone with half a brain knew that it should have been Mineo's Plato and Dean's Jim who embraced at the climax.

Other films in which Mineo appeared include Giant (1956), The Gene Krupa Story (1959), Exodus (1960),Cheyenne Autumn (1964),Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He also had a modest success in the 1950s as a rock 'n' roll singer.

With maturity, Mineo sought to explore his homosexuality more fully in both his life and his art. Although he appeared in several television productions and films, in his latter years he increasingly found the theater more supportive of his aspirations. Sal Mineo grew up to produce the revival of John Herbert's Fortune and Men's Eyes, about homosexuality in a Canadian prison, and to star in a West Coast production of James Kirkwood's P.S. Your Cat is Dead, both of which enabled him to say without a word "I'm Gay. So what?"

Rumors that he spent his off hours in the company of rough trade have led to lurid speculation about his grisly murder in 1976. Such is Hollywood fame and popular legend that no one wants to believe that, like so many innocent Americans these days, he was "merely" mugged, robbed, and left to die just a few short steps from the safety of his own home.

1953 – Dennis Cooper is one of the most controversial writers working today, He is best known for his series of strikingly original, critically acclaimed, albeit transgressive and contentious, novels exploring the nature of sexual obsession, alienation, brutality, and death. His works obsessively feature callow but beautiful adolescent boys, predatory older gay men, punk rock music, drug abuse, explicit sex, and graphic violence.

He has also courted controversy and debate for his works' extreme sexual nature, seemingly bordering on pornography, and his alleged fascination with pedophilia. Cooper himself has even been the recipient of death threats and protests by outraged gay activists.

Cooper grew up the son of a wealthy businessman in Pasadena, California. His literary aspirations were explored early on and often took the form of imitations of Rimbaud, Verlaine, De Sade, and Baudelaire. He wrote poetry and stories in his early teens that explored scandalous and often extreme subjects. As a teenager, Cooper was an outsider and the leader of a group of poets, punks, stoners and writers.

In 1976 Cooper moved to England to become involved in the nascent punk scene. In the same year he began Little Caesar Magazine which included among other things an issue on and dedicated to Rimbaud. In 1978 with the success of the magazine, Cooper was able to found Little Caesar Press.

In 1987 he moved to Amsterdam, mainly in pursuit of a boyfriend, where he finished writing Closer which took as inspiration a postcard that featured an image of Mickey Mouse carved onto the back of a young boy.

While in Amsterdam he also wrote articles for different American magazines including The Advocate, the Village Voice and others. He returned to New York in 1987 and began working on his next novel, Frisk. In the next few years Cooper worked on several different art and performance projects including co-curating an exhibit at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) with Richard Hawkins entitled AGAINST NATURE: A Group Show of Work by Homosexual Men.

He completed his renowned, ten years in the writing sequence of five interconnected novels, 'The George Miles Cycle,' in the year 2000 - Closer, Frisk, Try, Guide, and Period. Since then he has written three novels: My Loose Thread, The Sluts (winner of the Lammy Award for best book of gay fiction of 2005), and God Jr.

George Miles, a recurring character in two of the series' five novels, as well as the model for most of the other major young male characters in the cycle, is also the name of an actual person in Cooper's life: his most important and influential friend from high school onwards.

As Cooper explained in an interview: "[Miles] was a few years younger than me, and very sweet and brilliant, but he had a severe chemical imbalance, so he was all over the place; really chaotic and unpredictable. Our relationship was intense and unforgettable, and if I have a muse, it's him."

The two remained extremely close friends, and years later, when Cooper was 30, he and Miles had a brief sexual relationship. Cooper lost contact with Miles, however, after he moved to Amsterdam, and tried tracking him down, but without luck. "In a way," Cooper noted, "I wrote the novels for him, and assumed that somehow, somewhere he was reading them, and knew how important he was to me."

In 1997, Cooper finally learned that Miles had killed himself ten years earlier while Cooper was still living in Europe.

A film adaptation of the novel Frisk was released in 1995, directed by Todd Verow and featuring Craig Chester and Parker Posey. Cooper himself makes a cameo appearance in the film.

Since the summer of 2005, Cooper has spent most of his time in Paris, France. While there, he has worked a stage adaption of his novella Jerk (2008). These theatre works have been highly acclaimed and have toured extensively in Europe and the UK.

As of late 2009, Cooper was completing his ninth novel, tentatively titled The Marbled Swarm.

1961 – The New Jersey Supreme Court suspends, until he is "cured," an attorney who had sex with another male.

1975 – The Chicago Board of Education approves a plan that allows, for the first time, the city’s teachers to answer students’ questions about homosexuality.

2005 – Israeli Supreme Court allows each partner of a lesbian couple to adopt the other’s children. The case involves Tal and Avital Yaros-Hakak who are raising three children conceived through donor insemination. Tal gave birth to two children, Avital to the third. They unsuccessfully sought to adopt each other’s children in the Family Court in Ramat Gan. The Supreme Court ruled that the Family Court should grant these adoptions if it were in the best interest of the children to do so. The ruling came at the end of a long legal battle, decided at the High Court. The Yaros-Hakak couple had lived together for 16 years.

2011 – In a ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" is effectively banned from Canadian radio airplay, after 25 years of airtime, after a gay resident of St. John's files a complaint because the lyrics contain the derogatory slur "faggot". It occurs in the line: ''That little faggot with the earring and the make-up." The ruling is later rescinded on August 31, with the council leaving it to individual radio stations' discretion whether or not to play the song.

[funnypages]

Lessons of Resistance from WWII: The Rosenstrasse Protest and Evacuation of the Danish Jews

So a long history rant I think people should know about and keep in mind for the future. I want to talk to people about a little talked about story in the history of WWII, the Rosenstrasse protest: the one time, during the height of the Holocaust, when the German public protested against the deportation of Jews; and they won.

1942-early 1943 was arguably the height of Nazi Germany; with most of the continent occupied, allied, or neutral to them. It was also 2 years into the Final Solution phase of the Holocaust, the planned mass killing of Jews. In February 1943, the government began the final round-up of the 20,000 remaining Jews in Berlin. This included a category of Jews that the government had previously avoided deporting: Jews married to gentile Germans. While the Nazis had cracked down on these relationships since they came to power, there were at this time 1,800 mixed couples remaining in Berlin; almost all Jewish men married to gentile women (After the consolidation of power under Hitler, more German men had divorced their Jewish partners than women).

When these Jewish men were arrested, hundreds of their non-Jewish spouses descended upon the building they were held in, bringing with them friends and families, screaming for their husbands to be released. The protests were so large, that the Nazis could not suppress news of it spreading through Germany and internationally; and they were also genuinely afraid that arresting or shooting these women could cause the situation to spiral even further into an outright uprising. As a result, the men were released, and most of them survived the war.

Now there are a lot of critiques and analyses that can be done of the protest, about privilege and gender, and noting that nothing was said about releasing the 18,000 other Berlin Jews set to be deported to camps. Still, the reaction that the public had to these deportations, combined with the shockingly hopeful story of Denmark in the Holocaust, gives some valuable lessons in how fascists can be thwarted.

Demark was invaded by Germany in 1939 and was given a degree of autonomy, being treated as the "model protectorate." While the Danish government did acquiesce to demands to ban Communist and Socialist political parties, they refused to enact racial laws targeting Danish Jews. While not to say anti-semitism didn't exist in Denmark, for reasons debated by historians and sociologists, Denmark did not have a strong history of "othering" its Jewish community, and it was largely seen as an accepted part of Danish society.

In September 1943, German plans to deport the Danish Jewish community to concentration camps leaked to the Danish government, which then alerted leaders of the Jewish community. Over 3 weeks churches, civil servants (notably mostly working independently of the government), political parties, the Danish resistance (mostly at this point made up of the before mentioned Communists and Socialists), and private individuals helped evacuate 7,220 Jews, plus 686 non-Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby neutral Sweden. For context, the Jewish population of Denmark before the invasion was around 7,800. Of the 580 Danish Jews who failed to escape to Sweden, 464 were arrested; however, work by Swedish and Danish groups saw 425 of them released. Further, when the war ended, it was discovered that 116 Danish Jews had been hidden by their neighbors. In all, a shocking 99% of Denmark's Jewish population survived the Holocaust; the most of any occupied nation in Europe.

I tell both of these stories because they show what fascists and authoritarians are aware of: the limits of their power. They are aware of the simple fact so much of their power comes from average people just accepting what they do with no pushback. These groups thrive on atomization, demonization, and otherization. Because when people refuse to let their neighbors be attacked, that's when issues pop up. There were other individuals and groups in Germany who spoke out against the Nazis (the White Rose and the Edelweiss Pirates to name a few), but they were small and disorganized, they could be arrested or exiled or killed without much effort. But large groups of resistance? How do you arrest or kill those without stopping their families and friends from protesting? And the foot soldiers enacting their agenda tend to get antsy if there is large-scale pushback to them. The big guys in charge might be safe, but them? They are vulnerable to being fired, sued, arrested, or ostracised if they are seen enacting unpopular policies. Such actions put authorities on the defensive, stall them, and make them reconsider their tactics; which in the long run, can save lives.

This is what people mean, whether they know it or not, over the last few days when they have been saying "Help those close to you, keep your friends close." They want you to think they are all-powerful. They want you to think they are unstoppable. They want you to think there is no hope in openly denying them. Because they know that if those few people openly defying them become large groups openly defying them, then things spiral out of control.

[metamorphesque]

do you currently live in armenia? what is your favourite place in your city?

Yes, I do! I was born in Yerevan and have been living here since I took my very first breath.

When it comes to my favorite places, the first thing that comes to mind is Abovyan Street and everything around it. (fun fact: the street is named after Khachatur Abovyan, the father of modern Eastern Armenian literature.) I’ve always been enamored with its architecture and the atmosphere that the buildings compose. One notable spot is Moscow Cinema, a place I used to visit as a kid with my mom and older brother. If I’m not mistaken, the first movie I ever watched in a cinema was Spider-Man 2 (with Tobey Maguire). Moscow Cinema was built on the site of Saint Paul and Peter Church, which was demolished in the 1930s by Soviet authorities (what’s new huh?)

Another favorite spot, also on Abovyan Street, is Saint Anna Church—a sacred place I visit at least once a week. What I feel for this church cannot be explained in words, so I’ll just let those emotions remain in their purest form.

Then, there are two of my favorite parks: The Circular Park, which is home to many works of art, including statues of Vahan Teryan, Tigran Petrosian, Mikael Nalbandian, Avetik Isahakyan, Andranik Ozanian, Vardan Mamikonian and many more. And the New Arabkir Park, a 20–25 minute walk from my house. This park holds a special place in my heart because I remember having morning Taekwondo lessons there during the summer in my early teens.

Oh! How could I forget the place my thoughts always return to when I let go of their leashes—the Dramatic Theater named after Hrachya Ghaplanyan (which is also quite close to Circular Park). My love for this theater and its cast goes beyond boundaries and extends to the very building—its walls, its floor, its ceiling. This is where I met one of my heroes, and that memory will forever live within the theater.

Really, there are so many places I could name—streets, buildings and hidden corners. My advice to anyone reading this is to take a day each month to be a tourist in your own city. Walk around with a camera, look closely at everything and question every building—its history, its architecture, its colors���everything. There’s so much beauty that often goes unnoticed.

[cosplayboi18]

Dark magic, Light magic, and the Church of the Damned

Authors note before we get into the post! The Church of the Damned and everything related to it was highly influenced by the fanfiction Evitative by Vichan, so if you enjoy this post, I highly recommend giving the fic a read!

When I was first getting DR memories, there was one place I kept seeing. It was a clearing in the middle of the forest. I didn't know where this clearing was or why I was there, but I learned two things from my memories: 1 It was always filled with people, and 2 It was someplace important. It was one of the first memories that I got that let me know my DR was way different than Cannon because I couldn’t find anything about this in the books. That was years ago, but I know its name now. It's called the Church of the Damned and to tell you more about it I have to give you a little history lesson (I promise to be more interesting than Professor Binns, don't worry).

So, every society has had religion, from the polytheistic Greeks and Romans to the Monotheistic Jews and Muslims. Religion is a fundamental part of society, and magical society is no different. Now, I assume, like in nonmagical society, religion varies from place to place, but in Europe, there was one core religion in the early days. The name of the religion and even the names of the gods that were worshipped has been lost, but not everything has been forgotten.

The core fascists of the old religion are as follows. 1 the belief in both light and dark magic. 2 the personification of both light and dark magic. 3 the act of dedicating yourself to either form of magic.

Now, in the many, many years since the creation of this religion, a lot of things have happened, but the most important thing you need to know about is that light magic has been sanctified, and dark magic has been demonized. There were many factors in this, including the witch trials, the division and later reconnection of the magic and nonmagic communities, and the fear-mongering around power-hungry dark magic users.

Now, in my reality, there has only ever been one “great dark wizard,” and that is Grindlewald. Though in my reality, he was dealt with and later banished from Britain’s magical society rather quickly, the fear remains. Before Grindlewald, the study of the dark arts was banned, but after his rise and fall to power, a bargain was struck between those magic users who pledged themselves to the dark and the Ministry of Magic.

The study of the dark arts would no longer be banned; instead, it was to be monitored. A group was founded to monitor the use of dark magic. This group was made up of Ministry-trained Aurors with ties to the dark and dark magic users. This group would be responsible not only for policing the use of dark magic within their community but also for educating those from both within their community and those outside of it. The group looked back at the old religion as a foundation for their laws and rules and, as such, named themselves The Church of the Damned to honor the old religion.

The Church is a hub of knowledge and a place of community for those who practice the dark arts. Whether you are a lone magic user looking for community, a bookworm with a thirst for knowledge outside of what is taught to you, or a thrill seeker wishing to spend your days hunting down powerful magic users, the Church has something for everyone.

Though the Church is legal and the study of the dark arts is no longer banned, there are magic users, even within the Pureblood society, who believe that dark magic is better kept in the shadows. For that reason, the location of the Church and the activities that happen there are very secretive. In order to attend Church, you must be invited by a member, and nonmembers are only allowed to spectate. Out of my group of friends, in my reality, I am the only one at the moment who is planning on becoming a full-fledged member of the Church, much to my parent's dismay.

Okay, thank you for reading my little mini-lecture about my DR! If you have more questions about the Church, put them in the comments, and I might make a part 2! Have a good day, and happy shifting. Bye 👋

[petervintonjr]

As Women's History Month 2025 draws to a conclusion, we celebrate the fierceness of Janie Culbreth (later Rambeau), one of the earliest organizers and demonstrators in Albany, Georgia --at a time when the still-coalescing SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) wasn't quite fully organized or entirely clear on its trajectory.

Born to sharecroppers in 1940, Janie and her family (she was the eighth of nine siblings) later left the plantation --receiving considerable threats as they did so, though fortunately none were acted upon. She would later reflect in an interview that, in the 1930s, "When Black people moved off the plantation, white landowners considered it an act of defiance and often falsified documents or made unfounded accusations to force their laborers to remain." She entered Albany State College, originally intending to major in French. Unsurprisingly she endured rigid segregation --it was likely during this period that she made the quiet but unshakeable decision not to endure any further indignities, and she joined the NAACP youth council. Among other acts of passive rebellion, she and several other Black students made a point of visibly drinking from "whites only" fountains, and she also penned editorials to the Albany Herald, expressing disappointment that so many were afraid to speak up against obvious injustices.

In 1962 Janie was arrested while demonstrating at Albany along with at least 40 other students; they had been protesting the arrest of the first five students that tried to integrate the local bus station. While in jail, she and her fellow students received word that Martin Luther King was coming to Albany, which definitely attracted greater national attention; unfortunately Dr. King would later regard the Albany movement as mostly an "early failure," but participants like Janie disagreed; if anything it had proven the ability of thousands of local people to organize, march, and protest without needing to rely on larger outside organizations --or singular charismatic individuals.

After release she and most of the other 40 students were expelled from Albany State, and had to complete their formal education at Spelman College. Her commitment did not waver, however; while at Spelman she also organized a march on Grady Hospital, protesting discriminatory hiring --and patient care-- policies. After graduation she committed full-time to the SNCC, mostly pushing voter registration drives. But as the civil rights movement waned (or at least went quiet for a while!), Janie began to pivot to seminarian work; eventually earning multiple doctorates (Christian Education and Pastoral Ministry) and even found time to at last land that Master's degree in French! For 38 years she would teach for the Dougherty School System and at Darton College. She married Deacon Ralph Rambeau in 1965 and they had three children.

In 1992 Rev, Rambeau founded the House of Refuge Baptist Church. In 2010 the incoming administration at Albany State College hosted a year-long celebration of the students who had been suspended and expelled for participating in civil rights activities; welcoming them back and praising their efforts --Janie was the Founder's Day speaker. For the fiftieth anniversary of the Albany protest in 2012, Rev. Rambeau was honored by the city of Atlanta, with no less than Julian Bond (see Lesson #72 in this series) as the keynote speaker. Rev. Rambeau died on July 30, 2017.

[justforbooks]

Sam Moore

American singer and half of the duo Sam & Dave best known for their 1967 hit Soul Man

In their 20-year career, the duo of Sam Moore, who has died aged 89, and Dave Prater recorded several of the most memorable records in the history of soul and R&B music. Sam & Dave’s biggest hit was Soul Man (1967), which topped the US R&B chart and reached No 2 on the pop chart. Its funky, driving beat, powerful horns and vocal interplay between Moore’s high tenor voice and Prater’s gritty baritone made it a soul and gospel classic.

Its writers, Isaac Hayes and David Porter, had drawn inspiration from the US civil rights movement, seeing the song as “a story about one man’s struggle to rise above his present conditions”.

The song won a Grammy in 1968, and in 1999 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. It achieved further immortality in 1978 when the version by the Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, reached the charts. Moore reflected on how the song “turned out to be an anthem, sort of like Blowin’ in the Wind or one of those”.

Also unforgettable were Sam & Dave’s fiery Hold On, I’m Comin’ (1965), the Top 10 pop hit I Thank You (1968), which was covered by a list of artists including ZZ Top, Bonnie Raitt, Bon Jovi and Tom Jones, and the exquisite soul ballad When Something Is Wrong With My Baby (1967). In 1980, Elvis Costello had a No 4 hit in Britain with his version of Sam & Dave’s I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down.

In 2022, Bruce Springsteen recalled how “Sam & Dave were gigantic in my musical development,” and described Moore as “a great guy and probably our greatest living soul singer”. He recruited Moore to sing on his album Human Touch (1992) and his album of soul cover versions, Only the Strong Survive (2022).

Sam was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Louise Robinson, a teacher, and John Richard Hicks. He described his father as a “street hustler”, and he was mostly raised by his mother in the city’s Overtown district. When his mother married, Sam took the surname of his stepfather, Charlie Moore.

He attended Phillis Wheatley and Paul Laurence Dunbar elementary schools, and was also a pupil for a time at Dillard high school in Fort Lauderdale, where he lived with an aunt. While there, he took saxophone lessons with Cannonball Adderley, the band director at Dillard. In 1955 he graduated from Overtown’s Booker T Washington senior high. In later years, Moore and his wife, Joyce, founded music education programmes at the Wheatley and Dunbar schools.

Moore fathered his first child when he was 16. He later estimated that he had as many as 20 children, most of whom he had never met. While he was still at school, he was shot in the leg by the enraged husband of one of his partners. He also earned money as a pimp. “Women like you? Let them pay you,” he said. “That’s how things were done on my side of the street.”

Meanwhile he also sang gospel music in church, something he had in common with Prater. They first met in the early 1960s at an amateur night at a Miami nightclub, the King of Hearts, when Moore helped out a very nervous Prater who could not remember the lyrics to a Jackie Wilson song. Their impromptu call-and-response performance thrilled the audience, and became the template for the fledgling Sam & Dave stage act.

After unsuccessful signings to the Marlin and Roulette Records labels, they were spotted by the Atlantic Records crew of Ahmet Ertegun, Tom Dowd and Jerry Wexler. The duo struck a deal whereby they would record for the Memphis-based Stax label and have their records distributed by Atlantic. In Memphis, they were taken under the wing of the production and songwriting team of Hayes and Porter, and nobody could ever have wished for a finer in-house band than Booker T & the MGs, along with the horn section, the Mar-Keys.

The combination made for a tough and muscular sound, distinct from the smoother, more pop-orientated records coming out of Motown in Detroit. Acccording to the Miami Herald pop critic Leonard Pitts Jr: “It was the rawest, roughest stuff on the radio for a while in the late 60s and early 70s and Sam was the avatar of that.”

However, the Sam & Dave story proved to be a rocky ride. Moore had battled addictions to heroin and cocaine since he moved to New York in the mid-60s. In 1968, the pair’s relationship was badly damaged after Prater shot his wife during an argument, prompting Moore to say that, while he would still sing with Prater, “I’ll never talk to you again, ever.”

They split up in 1970, but Moore’s effort at a solo career stalled when his planned solo album was shelved after its producer, King Curtis, was fatally stabbed. This prompted him to reunite with Prater, largely because his drug habit meant he could not afford not to. As Moore observed: “For 12 years we worked together, but our lives were completely separate.” The solo album, Plenty Good Lovin’, was belatedly released in 2002.

Sam & Dave split again in 1981, though Prater recruited another singer, Sam Daniels, to create a new Sam & Dave. Prater was killed in a car accident in 1988.

In 1982 Moore married Joyce McRae, who became his manager and helped him find work with soul revue tours. Moore and Prater were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

Moore sang for six US presidents over the years – Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr and George W Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. In 1996 he recorded a version of Soul Man renamed I’m a Dole Man, in support of the Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, but the publishing rights-holders prohibited its use.

In 2002, Moore featured in the Chris Hegedus and DA Pennebaker soul music documentary Only the Strong Survive, and in 2006 he released the solo album Overnight Sensational, on which he was joined by a host of guest stars including Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, Sting and Steve Winwood.

He is survived by Joyce.

🔔 Sam Moore (Samuel David Hicks), singer, born 12 October 1935; died 10 January 2025

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[inshelliesworld]

Shellie’s Simple Lessons in Astrology:

I'm finally getting started!

My goal with these lessons is to help anyone interested to learn more about themselves by giving the basic tools and information to be able to look at their own chart and “decode” the language.

Before beginning this new endeavor, I wanted to cover a few basics about astrology’s history. And also a little bit about myself!

Astrology’s History:

Astrology is over 5000 years old. In Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE Babylonians became the first astronomers by recording and identifying the prominent constellations and their patterns. Babylonians also created the first zodiac wheel.

Constellation maps have existed far longer than maps of the world, and for centuries early civilizations used the rhythm and cycles of the Sun, Moon, & Stars to hunt, plant, harvest, migrate, and even to treat illnesses and ailments.

Astrology is a method of predicting human and earthly behavior based on the placements and movements of the sun, moon, and planets within the 12 zodiac constellations.

During the Middle Ages, astrology was a fundamental part of culture. Being practiced and studied by doctors, astronomers, and mathematicians alike. Advances in mathematics helped astrologers develop better, more accurate and sophisticated charts.

Belief in astrology began to decline as the church gained power. It was seen as superstition during the Holy Inquisition which is when Galileo Galilei was charged with heresy and was forced to renounce his astrological beliefs to save his life.

Today, the practice of astrology is seen and used as a form of entertainment. Although many societies and cultures still utilize the reading of the stars to successfully plant/harvest crops, kill weeds, plan surgeries, and ween their children from bottles & pacifiers. (More on the Farmer’s Almanac later!)

Shellie’s Herstory:

I’m self-taught! I’ve been studying astrology for nearly 30 years.

I started when I was 10 years old with my still-to-this-day-bestie. We used “The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Need” which we both still use today. We even taught ourselves to manually calculate full birth charts including ascendants (this was pre-Internet days!) and cast many charts for our friends over the years.

I try to find fun, simple, easy-to-digest ways to explain the complexities of astrology even when the learner has zero prior knowledge.

I try to make it a point to regularly remind everyone that no one person is all one thing and no two people are exactly the same. We are humans and are a complex amalgamation of nature and nurture. I once read something that said (save for twins born within the same minute via cesarean, etc) it would take 25,000 years for a natal chart to repeat exactly. So, safe to say everyone has their own, individual, unique birth chart!

Come learn with me! No matter how long I’ve been doing this, there are always new things to learn in this very old, very information-dense topic. So always bring questions – I don’t know everything but I love to research and learn new things!

[bengiyo]

Marahuyo Project Eps 5 & 6 Stray Thoughts

Last time, Lorie decided to befriend King and Venice, and joined their club. When someone spray painted the mural of Ino’s ancestor, the other kids and dean blamed King, but Lorie stepped forward to claim she did it as well. The queer club was punished with community service to clean the beach, and the three bonded over their time together. We learned that Lorie’s queer awakening is complicated by her anger at her father’s infidelity (and men as a whole as a result). We learned about a young person who died on the beach, revealed to be a close friend of Venice’s and Archie named Christina. Archie refuses to use Christina’s name because he believes it was her queerness that got her killed, and it’s why he’s trying to protect Venice by demanding she withdraw from her expression of herself. We also learned that Ino’s dad likely left their family for a queer relationship, Ino is admittedly falling for King, and his mom told him directly to not be gay. Also, King’s mom cut his hair in his sleep and I am still pissed about it.

Episode 5: Hunyango

I do love the bits of history and mythology we get at the beginning of each episode. I liked how this one highlighted the journeys of many of the characters.

Few things more powerful than a bunch of out kids enjoying an early morning strut. Poor Lorena, though. She wasn’t ready for this divide between her and Lili.

Oh good. It was just Ino with a torch. I clearly play too much d20 fantasy.

The kids are right. Naming things is hard.

Growing up, my dad thought I might become a priest.

I respect this line that Venice is walking in the conversation with Archie to reach through his walls.

Oh wow. Archie is so stressed that he’s scratched up the whole back of his neck. That’s uncomfortable.

Aw, Venice. I’m enjoying the brainstorming session. It’s good to model what planning communication with people not predisposed to listen to you. I also love that they decided to build their plan around the local context of Marahuyo and then immediately transitioned to Lorie legitimately doing research about her home.

Lorie, your friend looks worried. Can you not look at her lips like you wanna kiss her right now?

Whoa, what’s going on with Lili? Are we going beyond the Q in the acronym?

Ino is also correct. You cannot frame a presentation around a local context without directly engaging with the locals who are the context.

🎶 Flashback! Who’s that?? 🎶

Oh, Ino, what have you been through that you thought to ask before hugging King?

I’m very curious about the statue they uncovered on the beach.

Hold on, did Venice add Christina’s name to hers as a way to honor her? I need to lay down for a bit.

Ah, so we’re definitely going into rare presentation with Lili. I am seated (once I get off the floor from the last bullet).

Oh no. Please stop showing me Archie’s neck. It’s a good visual to show how these internalized pressures and traumas express in physical ways, but oof.

Episode 6: Sirena

Super amped about these kids taking the research component seriously within their specific connections. Lorie got info that her dad has access to as the mayor. Venice got info from the church through Archie. King got equipment so they can conduct interviews. Now they’re all gathered and reviewing the information they have.

“Joining us as an ally.” Wow, so many points to this show for reminding people that sometimes an ally is someone who isn’t ready to or can’t come out. In any case, they are with us in the movement.

Poor Venice. She just doesn’t know things.

Hold on…I think I recognize the Lola Puri actress. I will look her up when we get to the credits.

Good job on this show for priming people with the earlier lesson about babaylans for this reveal here.

Boys, are we doing a gay pinkie touch during the critical history lesson?

Hey, this is really good. They have an oral history now connecting a prized tradition to the yearnings of a respected ancestor for another man who turned on him in a cruel way. Unfortunately, the villain of this story happens to be one of Ino’s ancestors. Sad, but unsurprising, that a homophobe gained prominence for outing and robbing a queer man.

I’m really touched by how all of the kids had such an emotional reaction to the story and how it reflected some of their own feelings. I deeply appreciate this show for letting me see others experience how queer history feels for me.

Goddamit, Marco, I was enjoying a complicated, difficult moment. Can you fuck off?

Thank you, Lili, for destroying this man. Make sure to hydrate.

Who is this man at the dinner table in Ino’s house? It’s probably not the dad, right?

And there it is again: Venice telling Archie that courage isn’t built around coming out. He still helped them where it counted.

I’m so sick of this priest.

I do love Juvy. She’s usually so correct and King actually listens to her.

“Who are you?” “Incorrect answer! I already know your name.”

On the real. I’m so proud of Ino. The first person you have to say it to is yourself.

Oh noooo. This is probably actually Ino’s dad. This scene is about to get even uglier.

Mmmm. I don’t like Lili giving up her shorts and then immediately going to a scene where she has to get rough with Marco.

Wow, this is horrible. What a way to end this episode.

I did recognize the Lola actress! That's Angie Castrence! I knew it was Gavreel’s homophobic aunt from Gameboys 2! This was a great 6th episode with very clear ideas and goals. This episode focused completely on coming out, who it’s for, and whether it’s necessary. I like that we had three characters all scared to come out, but it’s eating away at all of them. Archie is literally tearing his neck apart in anxiety. Ino is say gay and in love that it’s leaking out of him, to the point that he was forced to confront his own mom. Lili has been outed by Marco. I love that all of our out characters reassured our closeted characters that they didn’t need to come out. Can’t believe I’ve got two shows in contention for show of the year right now.