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acowardinmordor · 3 months

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Ignore what I did to ages timelines and canon to make this ficlet work. This is for @eddiezpaghetti and is, I promise, an actual event from my high school life. Mine was the football captain and star quarterback though. 😇

Deep Breath

Eddie was not an athletic guy. It didn’t matter that his fine motor skills were excellent with a pen or his guitar, the big picture version with hand eye coordination and ability to do anything even closely connected to sports was crap. So he never did sports for longer than a few days when he was young enough his mom was still around and encouraging him.

Any accidental skills he learned while wearing a uniform evaporated in the decade since his mom died. Then he met kids who didn’t make fun of him about sports, realized he could have friends without the ‘friendly’ sportsmanship, and Eddie didn’t look back.

Nerd for life. Sports for never.

Then Eddie was turning 11, and his dad had a chance for a ‘great job’ in Colorado. First in Pueblo. Then just north of the border into Wyoming. And then, in a little town halfway up the side of the mountains near Cañon City, while his dad went to Florence most days. Al usually managed to be home a couple nights each week during those years, Eddie found a book called a Player’s Manual and some friends, and that was that.

So, when the mysterious job his dad had been working all that time went bad, and a major news story about an attempted breakout at Florence ADX, when cops showed up to arrest Al, Eddie ran into the trees, up the trail and kept hiding for a day or two.

He wasn’t an athlete, but he knew how to sprint, he knew how to hide, and life with Pops made damn sure Eddie knew how to keep quiet. He was seventeen, and knew some states would try him as an adult for all the shit he’d helped Al do.

Eventually they sent a park ranger with a dog instead of a cop. A few days later, his Uncle Wayne greeted him with a massive hug in Hawkins, Indiana.

The next day, he was enrolled at Hawkins High, as a junior in limbo. Colorado did classes in trimesters, Indiana did them in quarters, and through some kind of Evil Machinations, he had eight registered classes, only two of which were needed to advance to senior year.

The other six?

Theater. Jazz Band. Study Hall. Study Hall. PE. Another Study Hall.

And.

Advanced PE.

He argued that he shouldn’t have to take non-required courses. They informed him about Indiana Laws on Truancy. He argued he’d rather take five Study Halls. They cited policy. He begged to take chemistry and biology instead. They refused.

Thus was the cruel hand of the Universe, demanding he participate in not just one stupid sports ball class — where, at least, there were other nerds to hide with— but a second, where student athletes were put so they had an easy A, and extra time to workout or stretch or whatever.

He skipped the first one and immediately learned about those truancy laws.

The next week, defeated and miserable, but still running late, he donned the grey tone garb, and stepped into Advanced PE.

Which was the exact moment he noticed the first flaw in his previous assumption.

A class full of sporty kids meant a class full of people who ranged from hot to gorgeous to ‘as long as she isn’t speaking’ all bent in amazing shapes as they stretched and warmed up. Including a guy with hair from a commercial and lips that would be borderline illegal in the Bible Belt.

Eddie was definitely going to die of lack of blood in his brain at some point in the next nine sessions of this class.

At least he remained the antithesis of sporty. The polar opposite of whatever Farrah Fawcett had going on. He could lurk and not participate, ogle until his poor bisexual heart broke, and still be good to go into Senior year.

Except. A few more things leading up to the one that really mattered.

The coach was a little annoyed that his star athletes were putting in the minimum effort.

The other kids were shooting him dirty looks.

The coach was pretty good at sussing out the best leverage on teens.

And.

Unlike Eddie, coach knew the natural effect of living at high elevations for six years.

—

And see, it cannot be overstated that Eddie was not a sports-guy. But he did need to run (away) sometimes. Hearing that they were running six laps, at your own pace, was excellent. Then the sweetener: once you were done, you could cool down and be done for the day.

He wasn’t going to sprint, but a quick jog followed by half an hour napping on the bleachers? Yes please.

Whistle blown, clock started, and off they went.

It really, truly, cannot be overstated how much Eddie was not trying to be a little shit or that he wasn’t trying to go fast.

To be fair to Farrah up at the front, none of them were going fast. Eddie didn’t have practice after class like they did, and he badly wanted that napping time.

By the end of the first lap, Eddie and Farrah had pulled away from the others a ways, by the end of the second, Eddie had pulled ahead. And he kept pulling ahead. And ahead. Rolled his eyes as he caught and then lapped the rest of the class. They had some choice words for him as he went by.

Put some extra distance so he wouldn’t have to hear it. Got far enough by lap four he had a good view of Farrah’s ass, and was mentally writing a description for pathetic, but attractive court buffoons to use once he found a dnd group.

The coach was annoyed though, and knew exactly where to push.

“Harrington if the new kid laps you, I’m benching you for the rest of the year and I’ll make Jason Captain in the fall!” Came blaring through a bullhorn.

Farrah Harrington full on stumbled at that, head whipped sideways to stare. Gape? Slow down running as what sounded like a peak-jock-threat was leveled at him.

And Eddie wasn’t trying to be a lot shit at the start of this, but he damn well was now.

Eddie found out later the science stuff, but in the moment he decided it was either magic, or because he was used to dodging things as he ran up poorly maintained hiking trails in the Rockies. Cause now that he was trying?

No damn clue why he wasn’t dry heaving as he collapsed on the track to die.

No clue why he was closing the distance as they went into the last straight of the fifth lap, despite Harrington visibly realizing the coach was serious.

The magic theory was dismissed when Eddie didn’t easily lap the guy. They were around the first turn when Eddie got close enough that Harrington could turn to see him. Farrah was red faced and a little wobbly. Sure, Eddie was sweaty as fuck — it was way too hot for April, there should still be snow! — but he could do it. A little more effort, just enough to close another five feet, and he’d do it. Just about half a lap left. More than enough time. Eddie could be an absolute dick and lap Harrington, then get damn close to catching the rest of the class a second time.

The mere concept of their agony almost had him going for it. Who was he if he didn’t take a moment to gloat though?

He pulled level, tilting his head with a smile the drama teacher called “impressively deranged” planning to stay there until the turn, then actually sprint for the first time without cops behind him.

But Harrington turned to him, out of breath, red faced, plush lipped, with great hair, an ass worthy of songwriting, and gave Eddie the most desperately adorable puppy eyes god or man had ever crafted.

Eddie didn’t freeze, but the guy was hot, and maybe, maybe, he didn’t want to make him sad.

So he wasn’t a dick.

But he was a little shit, and he kept pace the rest of the way round. With his body half turned and awkward. With his dimples going crazy. With every person in the class well aware that it was an act of mercy by the new kid.

He even dropped back at the last second with a wink, letting Farrah cross the line ahead of him.

—

That was how Eddie became both beloved and beloathed by every sports kid on his third day in school. That was how he became the threat the coach used to intimidate the others. That was how the first rumor about witchcraft started.

That was not the day Eddie found out what coach had known.

No, he learned that the next fall, after running from monsters with Steve Harrington to keep a group of nerdy kids safe, overworking himself, vomiting on Steve’s shoes, and then bemoaning his lost magic in front of Dustin Henderson.

Who explained in detail how oxygen acclimatization worked.

—

If you didn’t know: when you live at high elevations, you get used to having less oxygen, so when you are suddenly at lower elevation, your body goes Woah! Free Oxygen! And you can do what Eddie did. It’s not permanent. A month or two if you don’t try to keep it, and it tapers off, but that’s more than enough time for Eddie to be a complete menace to the jocks. I know I was.

And obviously Steve thought this event was sexy, but he’s still with Nancy, and the boy is loyal. Eddie hates himself for not working to keep up his lung capacity the first time he and Steve hook up.

#my writing #eddie munson ficlet #steddie implied flirting?#not sure how to define that #didn’t reread or edit #write this in the tub #because work is insane

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adarkrainbow · 3 days

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Some scholarly notes about the Grimm fairytales (1)

Recently in France (well... for the last two dozen years), the publishing house José Corti has been specializing itself in scientific fairytales collections. While for the study of literary fairytales one would go towards Honoré Champion, when it comes to folktales and fairytales it is José Corti one must check. In their "Merveilleux" collection they have been publishing for the very first time in France or republishing out-of-prints collections of various European fairytales (from Denmark, Spain, Romania, and more) - with a few classics of the "literary" fairytales that marked deeply the evolution of the genre (such as Straparola's Facetious Nights or Ludwig Bechstein's fairytales).

All of that to say, José Corti has in 2009 published the most recent scientific (but for an all-public) edition of the brothers Grimm fairytales. The full collection of their fairytales, translated accurately in French, with annotations about their type/classification, their evolution throughout editions and their predecessors. I can't share all of these annotations with you, of course, but I can share a handful of them, about the most famous stories of the Grimm. They all come from the same person who translated the story in this edition: Natacha Rimasson-Fertin. (Of course my notes might be incomplete but hey, you'll have to buy the books to see the whole thing :p Or check them out at your local library)

The devil with three golden hairs (Der Teufel mit den dre goldenen Haaren)

This story is at the crossroa between the Aa-Th 461 "Three hair from the devil's beard" ; the AT 460B "The quest for fortune" and the AT 93à "Urie's letter/The prophecy".

In the 1812 edition, there were two different versions of this tale. Story number 29 "The story of the devil with three golden hair", told by Amalia Hassenpflug, and number 75, "The phenix", told by her sister Mary. In the second version the devil was replaced by a phoenix, and the hero had to get three feathers. In the 1819 edition the two stories disappeared and were replaced by the version we know today, told by Dorothea Viehmann. Another version that the Grimms had collected in 1812 had a princess falling in love with the woodsman that cuts a tree below her window.

The final episode, where the hero asks three questions to the devil through the old woman, echoes the Pentamerone's "The Seven Doves". Other versions of this story include Asbjörnsen-Moe's "The wealthy Peter Krämer", and Afanassiev's "Marco the Wealthy and Vassili the Unfortunate". The story of the brothers Grimm gathers several references to the Bible: the child throw in the water echoes Moses' abandonment, the letter meant to kill the hero is similar to the one David uses to kill Urie, finally the hair as holders of a being's wisdom and strength is linked to the legend of Samson and Dalila. But many other elements of the story evoke older faiths. The idea of a body of water as the frontier with the Otherworld can be found in the Classical Antiquity with the Greek Charon, and is found in other stories of the volume, such as "Frau Holle" and "The Iron Stove" - it as believed that water formed an obstacle spirits could not cross. The hero's mission recalls a tale of Saxo Grammaticus where Thorkill enters Utgard (the realm of supernatural beings) to steal a hair from the beard of Utgard-loki. The brothers Grimm had noted that the belief in the exceptional fate of a child born with a "hood" was also found in Iceland, where the "caul", called Glückshaut (skin of luck) was the home of a genie that would follow the child all of his life. And indeed, modern research has proven that the name given to this caul, the "fyljia" was also the name of a spiritual double, a tutlar spirit tied to a person or a family. This is why the tradition was to preserve and hide this "pileus naturalis" - in Belgium, it was called a "hem" and its color allowed for divination rituals about the child's future.

The girl without hands (Das Mädchen ohne Hände)

This fairytale is actually a cross between the AT type 706 "The maiden without hands" and the AT 930 "Urie's letter/The prophecy". The story was created by the brothers mixing two versions from Hesse, one told by Mary Hassenpflug, the other by Dorothea Viehmann. The second version lacks this story's introduction and begins with a father trying to marry his own daughter - when she refuses, he cuts off her hands and breasts, and chases her out of his house. It then follows the story. Meanwhile, the first version differs when the heroine is with her child in the forest: an old man tells her to hug three time a tree with her arms, which makes her hands grow again. He also tells her to only open the door of her house to one who will ask to enter "for the love of God" three times in a row - the king will be forced to do this before entering.

Outside of these two main versions, the brothers Grimm collected three additional ones. In the first, the angel that guides the girl is replaced by a small light that descends from the sky ; and the hands of the girl grow back when she plunges her arms in a stream after seeing a blind mouse enter its water to regain its sight. In the second version, a man is upset at his little girl praying for him day and night, but since she refuses to stop despite his demands, he cuts off her tongue. But she prays in thought and makes the sign of the cross, so he cuts off her right hand, then her arm all the way to the elbow, before banishing her. She is saved by a hunter that hides her in his master's domain and feeds her in secret with his master's dogs. When the master discovers this, he decides to raise the girl as his own child. One day she gives money to a poor man, who tells her she will regain her arm and tongue if she goes to drink of a certain stream, and he gives her a magical staff to protect her. When she returns at the lord's house, he marries her. The third version is about a queen banished by her husband with her two children, and is identical to the legend of saint Helen.

Other international versions of the tale include Zingerle's "The pretty daughter of the innkeeper", Basile's "Penta the one-armed girl" and Afanassiev's "The young girl without hands". There are some versions where it is a man that is mutlated, such as Afanassiev's "The brave without legs and the blind brave". The roots of this story date back to the end of the 12th century, and are located in southern England - this tale was the subject of numerous literary adaptations, the most famous being the verse romance of the 13th century "The Beautiful Helen of Constantinople".

The motif of the child sold to the devil is recurring among the Grimm fairytales - even though the character of the devil can be replaced by another supernatural being, such as in "Rapunzel" or "The Nixie of the Mill-Pond". The idea of offering the first thing one sees upon returning home is as old as the Ancient Testament (Judges). This story bears the signs of a heavy Christianiation, and was clearly inspired by the legend of Saint Genevieve of Brabant, falsefely accused of being unfaithful and condemned to death with her newborn child. The executioners take pity on her and she lives alone in the woods for seven years. As with other tales from the Grimm collection, this story mixes the Christian fantasy (the hands that regrow are treated as a Christian miracle) with pagan fantasy (there are several elements of folk-magic, such as the circle the girl draws around her to be protected from the devil, or the accusations of the queen giving birth to a changeling - a changeling also appears in the third story of "The Elves", KHM 39).

The Robber Bridegroom (Der Räuberbräutigam)

This story belongs to the fairytale type Aa-Th 955, named after it: "The robber bridegroom".

The tale was told to Jacob Grimm by Mary Hassenpflug, and was present as early as the 1810 manuscript. However this first version, that the brothers deemed "incomplete" was replaced from the 1812 edition onward by a new version which mixed two versions from Lower-Hesse. The brothers noted the existence of another version where the robber indicated the road to his house to a princess, by tying ribbons around the trees.

Ludwig Bechstein took inspiration from the brothers Grimm's tale to create his own "The Robber Bridegroom". This fairytale, like "Fichter's Bird", belongs to the "Bluebeard cycle" (several tales that the brothers removed from their first edition also belonged to this cycle).

Fitcher's Bird (Fitchers Vogel)

This tale is a variation of the Aa-Th 311 "The heroine rescues herself and her sisters", usually classified under the "Bluebeard" category.

The final text of the Grimms is actually a mix of two different versions of the same story that was told to the brothers by both Friedrike Mannel and Dortchen Wild. The Grimms noted the existence of a version from Hanovre which goes as follow: a poor woodcutter asks his daughter to bring him his meal in the forest, and to show them the way he places peas on the floor. However dwarves notice this, and change the emplacement of the pea so that their path leads to their grotto. The older girl follows the peas, and become the dwarves' slave. Then we have the Bluebeard "forbidden room" motif, and the story goes as the "Fitcher's Bird" goes, as the dwarves lure the two other sisters to their cave. The last sister sticks the feathers on her body by rolling herself in blood (presumably the blood of the dwarves' victims), and there is no resurrection of the sisters. Everybody that meets her on the way call her "geputzter Vogel". The dwarves hunt the girl down and almost catch her just as she reaches her father's house - she is so fast in closing the door that it cuts a piece of her heel. The Grimms also knew of a Dutch version of the story, translated in German, and that was identical to one of their first-editions tales, "The Murder-Castle".

The translation of the name of the "bird" always caused many problems, due to the difficulty of understanding the expression. The brothers Grimm themselves explained the name of the bird by the Icelandic "Fitfuglar", meaning "birds that swim" - as such, the girl would be called "Fitchers-Vogel" because she looks like a swan". However, other people do not agree with this etymology, some linking Fitcher with "Fitze", the thread. Rimasson-Fertin highlights that the expression "Fitchers Fitze", outside of a simple sonority game, might be two variations of the male name Fritz (the diminutive of Friedrich) - other usual diminutives were Fitze, Fitz and Fiete. The brothers Grimm noted that the motif of the blood that cannot be erased was much older than Perrault's Bluebeard - it could be found as early as the "Gesta Romanorum", where a mother who had murdered her child couldn't erase three blood-drops from her hand, forcing her to wear a glove. This story must be compared to the KHM 40, "The Robber Bridegroom".

The Juniper Tree (Von dem Machandelboom)

It is the AaTh 720 "My mother killed me, my father ate me".

Just like the tale of "The Fisherman and his wife", this story was written by the painter P. O. Runge, and the brothers Grimm used it as a model for how they should present their own fairy tales. In fact, we can note sentences almost identical between the two tales.

The brothers noted a variation of the story where the stepmother places her daughter near the pot where her brother cooks, and she forbids her from looking inside. But since the pot boils too much, the girl lifts the lid - then her brother's hand reaches out to her from the cauldron. There is yet another version noted by the Grimm where there are three children, not two, and the stepmother sends them pick up strawberries in the wood, promising an apple to whoever comes back first.

The cruelty of this fairytale earned the brothers a serious criticism from Achim von Arnim - who only tolerated such violence because it echoed the one present in Goethe's Faust. The description "red as blood, white as snow" of course echoes the tale of "Snow-White". The brothers Grimm mentionned in their notes that the juniper tree was a plant believed to have the power to bring back youth - and Rölleke noted that the juniper-tree's red berries were used in folk-magic. It seems to be a very ancient tale due to several very old motifs such as the soul returning in the shape of a bird, a resurrection out of bones, and cannibalism. This tale must be compared to "Brother Lustig", "The Singing Bone" and, of course, "The Fisherman and his wife".

Briar Rose (Dornröschen)

Of course, it is the AaTh 410 "Sleeping Beauty".

This fairytale was present as early as the 1810 manuscript, written by Jacob Grimm from a tale told by Marie Hassenpflug. Research has proven that this story is derived from Charles Perrault's own Sleeping Beauty. We also find back in the German story a motif coming from another famous French literary fairytale, madame d'Aulnoy's "The Hind in the Woods/The Doe in the Woods" (also known as the White Doe). In this story a Crayfish/Lobster fairy announces to the queen she will have a child, and later the same fairy curses the princess as she is born - and what a coincidence! In the first edition of "Briar Rose", the animal that announces the princess' birth is not a frog... but a crayfish. Proving that there is a direct link. As for the name of the princess n German, "Dornröschen", "small briar rose", it actually first appeared in the German translation of a 1730 fairytale by Anthony Hamilton (an Irish man who however spoke and wrote French), "Fleur d'épine" (Thorn flower/Briar flower) - it had been translated in 1790. Bolte and Polivka have also noted a comedy by Gryphius from 1660 whch was named "Die geliebte Dornrose", "The beloved briar rose".

In their notes about the fairytale, the Grimm brothers explicitely compare Briar Rose to the legend of Brunhild asleep behind a wall of fire, cursed into a magical slumber by Odin's "sleep-thorn" and woken up by Sigurd, the only one able to cross the wall of flames. The brothers Grimm were also aware of Basile's version of the story, "Thalia, Sun and Moon", which they compared to their own Briar Rose in their notes. The brothers were very fascinated by the consistant naming of the princess' children from Perrault (Dawn, Day) to Basile (Sun, Moon) and compared it to the occurences of "Day, Sun and Moon" as names within the Eddas. However we know that Perrault was heavily inspired by Basile's story when writing his own Sleeping Beauty, and only modified some parts so as to erase the more shocking and "unpleasant" parts (such as the married prince having sex with the sleeping girl). Of course, this story is also to be compared with the 14th century medieval tale of the Roman de Perceforest.

The wise women that appear in this story are the Germanic equivalent of the fairies. In fact, we know that the brothers Grimm carefully avoided (or erased) any mention of "Fee" (the German word for the English "fairy" and French "fée") from their tales, so as to better differentiate them from the French "fairy tales", "contes de fées". By turning the fairies into wise women making predictions at the child's birth, the Grimms notably opened an entire set of symbolism and interpretations linking them to the mythological figures of the Norns, Parcae and Moirai.

Snow White (Schneewittchen)

Of course, it is the AaTh 709 "Snow-White".

The full editing history of this tale was only "recently" recreated (the book was published in 2009, it was recent back then) in its entirety. We know that it begins in 1808 with a version collected by Ferdinand Grimm, brother of Jacob and Wilhelm, called "Schneeweibchen". It seems Ferdinand might have invented the story on his own. Wilhelm and Jacob then slowly modified it, by adding details from other collected versions, before publishing it in their first edition in 1810 (they did note at the time that it was a Lower-Germany story, and that in Upper-Germany the tale did exist but with the deformed name of "Schliwitchen". When the Grimms did their second edition, the main change they performed onto this story was the modification of the wicked mother into a wicked stepmother - something they also did for "Hansel and Gretel". In fact, from edition to edition the Grimms kept adding adjectives and expressons highlighting the opposition between the girl and the vain queen.

Th Grimms had collected several variations of the tale. One was much closer to the tale of "The Juniper Tree" and in it the queen, as she was with the king on a hunting sled, cut her finger while peeling an apple. In another variation the king and queen were walking by three mounts of snow, than went by three pools of blood, and finally saw three ravens in the sky, and each time the king wishes for a girl with the corresponding colors - soon afterward the couple encountered a little girl fitting this description. The king, immediately attached to her, takes her with him in their royal carriage, but the queen immediately hates her and tries to get rid of her - so she asks the girl to go seek a glove she threw out of the window, and while she is out of the carriage she asks the driver to leave as fast as he can. Then the little girl takes refuge at the seven dwarves' house.

The fairytale existed in German literature before the brothers Grimm published it. Indeed J. A. Musaüs had published in 1782 a fairytale called "Richilde" - and the Grimm were influenced by this tale, since in the margins of their first edition, they noted about Snow-White "It is Musaüs' Richilde". There was also a Snow-White story that had been published in 1809 in a fairytale book by A. L. Grimm (no relationship to the brothers Grimm). The Brothers Grimm did note the striking similarity between this story and the Norse pseudo-historical legend of Snäsridr, the beautiful wife of "Harald with fair hair", a wife that, when she died, stayed in her prime state so that it seemed she was still alive.

This fairy-tale has a very wide area of spreading, as it can be found from Ireland to Turkey passing by central Africa. It is especially present in the literary Italian compilations of fairytales. Basile has three variations of the story in his Pentamerone: "The raven", "Nennillo and Nennella" as well as "The she-cook".

The various virtues that Snow-White shows in this tale made her one of the big role models within the education of bourgeoisie girls in the 19th century - alongside Cinderella, of course. In fact, according to H-J Uther's analysis of the story, it is because of all her virtues that Snow-White's beauty does not fade away and stays undamaged even in death, unlike her wicked stepmother whose vices causes the fading of her charms. Finally, this fairytale is actually the proof that the brothers Grimm did not simply listed their fairytales one after the other in a random order, but deliberately created "bridges" and internal references to create a cohesive world within their book. Indeed, the mention of the snowflakes looking like feathers references "Frau Holle", while the glass coffin can be found back in, of course, "The Glass Coffin", and the blood-drops on the snow evokes "The Juniper Tree".

Rumpelstilzchen

Yes this story is the famous "Rumpelstilskin" (or Rumpelstiltskin? I never know how to write it in English). But why keep the German spelling? Because Rimasson-Fertin has some stuff to say about it: this name is the diminutive form of "Rumpelstilz", a term that Jacob Grimm defined in his "German Dictionary" as being synonymous with "poltergeist" (he noted a similarity between Poltergeist and Rumpelgeist, both designated a very loud spirit). While today "poltergeist" is mostly associated with ghosts, in a much broader way it designate a dwarf, a dead or a devil - or just any kind of phenomenon caused by witchcraft.

This story corresponds to the AaTh 500 "The name of the supernatural being". This fairytale has an interesting evolution history... Jacob Grimm had a version of it as early as 1808, named "Rumpenstünzchen", which was then slightly modified for the 1810 manuscript. This tale was actually the mix of two different versions - and one of these versions had a different ending. The queen didn't sent messengers searching for the dwarf's name, rather the king spotted the little man while returning from hunting on the third day. The Grimm also noted a variation where the initial situation was reversed: a young girl who had to spin hemp but could only manage to spin gold much to everybody's despair, and a small man appeared to promise her a wedding to a king's son in exchange for her firstborn child. It ended in such a way: the queen herself spotted the small man singing his name, jumping around a fire while riding a ladle like a horse. When she guessed his name, he flew out of the window and into the sky, riding the ladle like a witch's broom. We know that the episode of the spinning of the straw was only added by the Grimm in 1812 (it is not in the 1810 version), and that the final scene of the dwarf self-mutilating comes from a story of Lisette Wild and was added in 1819.

The first literary record of this story is a French fairytale published in 1705 and written by Mlle Marie-Jeanne L'Héritier de Villandon. It was "L'Histoire de Ricdin-Ricdon" (The Tale of Ricdin-Ricdon), published in her "La Tour ténébreuse et les jours lumineux" (The Shadowy tower and the luminous days). It had been translated in German by Johann Gottwert Müller in 1790, under the title "Straubfedern", "Ostrich feathers". As for the name "Rumpelstilzchen", it actually originates from Johann Fischart's Grman adaptation of the French "Gargantua", "Geschichtklitterung" (1584) - in it, Fischart lists various children game by name, and mentions a "Rumpele stilt oder der Poppart".

This fairytale type is very present in Western, Central and Northern Europe (British Isles and Ireland included), with also a few spottings in the Baltic countries, China and Japan. The name of the supernatural being always changes from one region or country to the next (in Swiss it is Hans-Öfeli, in Dutch Trillevip, in Swedish Titteliture, in Finnish Tuttirituli, in the Suffolk it is Tom Tit Tot, in Welsh Gnarwynathrot, in Irish it is Eve-Trot or Trit-a-Trot...). It is part of the enormous success of this tale-type: every country has to invent its own brand of nonsensical, un-guessable name. As for the rhymed song through which the dwarf betrays its name, it is found in England as "Nimmy nimmy not / My name is Tom Tit Tot", and in an Afro-American version of North Carolina "I'm so glad that she do not know / That my name is Tabutoe Tambutoe".

The brothers Grimm noted that in Germanic mythology it was typical for underground beings (aka dwarfs) to have names that are not usual among humankind, which is why, again according to them, the dwarf of this story would feel in perfect safety proposing the queen such a game. The rule according to which obtaining the name of a supernatural being means gaining a form of power over them is very common, and is even reused in another one of the Grimm stories: KHM 136, "Iron John". H. Rölleke did an analysis of the names the queen proposes at first: we have the three names of the Magi, aka the Three Wise Men, or King-Magi, which gives a Christian setting to the story, and could also serve as a metonymy for all the saint names found in the Christian calendar. As for "Heinz" and "Kunz", Rölleke sees in them the diminutives of the names of the medieval emperors Heinrich and Konrad, which used to be some of the most popular male names among German-speaking countries.

All-Kinds-of-Fur (Allerleirauh)

It corresponds to the AaTh 510B "The dresses of gold, silver and stars", also known as "Donkey Skin", after the famous Charles Perrault fairytales.

The story we read today was the one told to the Grimm by Dortchen Wild, but there was a variation of it told to the brothers by Jeannette Hassenpflug, "Princess Mouse-Skin", which was present in the 1812's edition of the volume (n°71) but was then moves to the annotations as a mere mention. The version of the story from the first draft (the 1810 manuscript) was called "Allerlei Rauch", "All Kinds of Smoke", and was heavily inspired by one of the tales present within the novel "Schilly" by Carl Nehrlich.

The line "God forbade a father from marrying his daughter. Nothing good can come from this sin which will cause the kingdom's decadence" was added in the 1819 edition, and references a tale of Albert Ludwig Grimm called "Brunnenhold und Brunnenstark". The brothers Grimm insisted even more on the condamnation of the sin of incest when rewriting the story for their "small collection" for kids, and also insisted heavily upon a political extension of such a decision, which would damage the state itself. It is actually an allussion to the failure of the Frankfort Parliament, which had been gathered in 1848 at the Paulskirche in an attempt to create a constitution for all of Germany - to which Jacob Grimm had taken part.

A variation of the story collected in Paderborn has the last coat made of all the furs of the kingdom, plus moss and various forest-related material. In this version, the heroine puts the cloak on top of her three beautiful dresses before fleeing, and she hides in an empty tree where she is discovered, not during a hunting party, but by woodsman that cut off the tree she was sleeping into, to bring wood to the king. All-Kinds-of-Fur works in the castle's kitchen but one day as she is preparing the soup, the king has her sit on his chair so she can delouse him (a motif also present in "The Devil with Three Golden Hair). As she does, the king glimpses the beautiful shining dress under the cloak's sleeve, and this is how he discovers the girl's true appearance. Another variation of the story yet, also collected in Paderborn, has the heroine pretending to be mute. One day the king hits her with a whip, it rips apart the coat, revealing the golden dress underneath.

Not all the German versions of the story include the incest motif. In Musaüs' take on the story, "Die Nymphe des Brunnens", "The Nymph of the Well", the heroine leaves her father's castle because it has been destroyed. Her godmother, an undine, gifts her a small magical box and when she leaves the ball she says "Night behind me and day before me / Might nobody see me!". As for the version of Hassenpflug, "Princess Mouse-Skin", it begins as the KHM 179, "The Goose-Girl at the Well": a king wants to know which of his three daughters love him the most, the first says she loves him more than the whole kingdom, the second more than pearls and precious stones, the third more than salt. The furious father has the last princess be sent into the woods to be killed, but the servant tasked with the execution spares her out of pity, and gives her, by her request, a coat made of mice skin. The rest of the story goes like within "All-Kinds-of-Fur", except for the final wedding, to which the father-king is invited. All the dishes served to him are without salt, and he ends up saying he prefers to die rather than continue eating without salt. The princess-daughter reveals herself and points out how he tried to had her killed for loving him more than salt. Her father begs her for forgiveness, and the tale ends with her accepting.

The motif of the incest can, however, be found back in a variation of the KHM 31 (The Girl Without Hands) that the Grimms collected, and where the father mutilates the daughter for refusing to marry him. The motif of the king trying to marry his own daughter has been attested in many, many European stories ever since the 12th century. As for the boots that are thrown in the heroine's face in the Grimm story, while in the final edition it has no follow-up, in the 1812 edition it was a recurring element forming a motif within the tale. Another German version of the story that preserved this structure that the Grimms erased is the story collected by Vernaleken, "Throw-Broom, Throw-Brush and Throw-Comb". In it the king throws out of anger at the face of the heroine (Adelaide) a broom, a brush and a comb. Every time she goes to the ball, she changes her pseudonym to fit which item hit her (one night she is "Throw-Broom", another she is "Throw-Brush", etc...). There are many, many variations of the story containing such a "name play".

Other famous examples of this variation, outside of Charles Perrault's Donkeyskin, include Straparola's "The maiden in the chest", Basile's "The She-Bear", Afanassiev's "Pig-Skin".

Jorinde and Joringel (Jorinde und Joringel)

It corresponds to the AaTH 405, named and created after this story, "Jorinde and Joringel".

The interesting thing with this story is that the brothers Grimm did not collect it from a direct source. Rather they lifted it, to the exact word, from the autobiography of Johann Heinrich Jung, "Jugend/Youth", published in 1779. The brothers deemed that the way Jung-Stilling had written the tale was the "perfect" way to tell the story, according to their definition of a fairytale. Though they did note the existence of a version of the story told in Schwalm - but which differs very little from the story of Jung-Stilling.

The brothers Grimm themselves noted a similarity between this story, and the KHM 123, "The Old Woman in the Wood". Rimasson-Fertin notes that the witch in this story is to be compared to the ones appearing in "Hansel and Gretel" and in "Little Brother and Little Sister". As for the name of the demon the witch invokes, "Zachiel", H. Rölleke identified it as a form of "Zachariel", a demon name coming from the very popular 17th century demonology grimoire "Clavicula Salomonis", "The Clavicles of Salomon".

#brothers grimm #grimm fairytales #brothers grimm fairytales #german fairytales #sleeping beauty #briar rose #snow-white #snow white #jorinde and joringel #all kinds of fur #the juniper tree #the devil with three golden hair #the three golden hair of the devil #the robber bridegroom #the maiden without hands #the girl without hands

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beebopboom · 4 months

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The Second…….Ball?

A bookshop, Eden, and something more?

In part 1 we discussed

the structure of the bookshop being similar to 17th century French gardens, a maybe hidden Tree of life, the idea of timestreams relating to the roads and rivers, and all that to just say the bookshop perhaps all of Wickber Street is their version of Eden

Part 1.5 was just a couple theories that have been floating around my head concerning

the book of life

the rings and a fly

the bookshop

a coffee

honestly I'm probably going to do a little editing. It’s not a necessary reading

But finally made it to part 2 where I'm going to dive into some out of order events and two different parts of the same story being played out at the same time plus the actual main plot, specifically in the last two episodes - though there is probably more earlier in the season

you can imagine the jumble that has been brain and why it took longer than I wanted to get this out.

Background Info

In part 1 I mentioned that the Tree of Life was mentioned in two particular books in the Bible - Genesis and Revelations. Now we’ve discussed the Genesis part - Eden - and now we are going to talk about Revelations - New Jerusalem

The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament and it's where the Second Coming comes from - written by a John. It was mentioned in season 1 and I’m going to be making a lot of references to it throughout this.

New Jerusalem is the place where all true believers will spend eternity with God and is said to have pretty similar features to Eden - the rivers, the Tree of Life, the wall, and a square shape. Something that this place is also said to have is 12 gates.

The New Jerusalem. Armenian manuscript by Malnazar and Aghap’ir in New Julfa bible, 1645

Oh lookie there mighty similar design to 17th century french gardens

But anyway want to take a guess at what has 12 windows?

*I used the fire to show what windows are connected to the bookshop*

Ok but let’s get into the actual point of this I’ve talked enough about set design

Have we already seen a version of the Second Coming? Why yes we have

In episode 5 we are following two different stories cutting back and forth between the two - Aziraphale’s and Shax’s

Now before I get into this I’m just going to say that I know Good Omens is a parody to actual Biblical events and who knows what is actually going to happen in season 3 besides the man himself. We do know that this season was setting up for the next and that parallel scenes are a favorite. So these are just some parallels I noticed if you place some characters into the roles of others and it could very well turn out to be wrong

Shax’s Siege

The thing about Shax’s character is that she is always looking for opportunities to get ahead and make connections that could benefit her later. We see it in 1941 and between then and now she has worked her way up from desk duty to Hell’s rep on earth.

And when she finally gets permission to attack the bookshop she actually takes up another role. Or shall I say multiple.

It is very obvious that once Shax gets to Earth she is out of her league - bitten off more than she can chew so to say - and yet she still wants more and is very good at manipulating beings to get there.

So she wants to storm the bookshop with legions of demons but only gets about 70. The thing that is interesting about there approach is you have demons coming from all four roads and she arrives last. And this is where we jump into Revelations.

In chapter 13 it talks of two beast - one from the sea and one from the land. The beast from the sea is said to have 7 heads, 10 crowns on the horns, is like a leopard with feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion, and one of its heads is said to have a mortal wound that is healed. This description has been likened to the four beast in the Book of Danial chapter 7 which were symbols of the four kingdoms - Babylon, Medes-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Some say this beast is the Antichrist as it is empowered by Satan to persecute Christians, blasphemy against God, and cult-like worship.

But all that to say I think that the arrival of the demons from all four sides was meant to kind of represent this. With the four beast representing the four kingdoms arriving on our four rivers roads. It’s not a perfect parallel but it is not meant to be - it’s meant to be a shitty rendition of what is basically Armageddon.

Now the second beast is mainly referred to as the false prophet. The only description is that it comes from the ground, two horns like a lamb but having the voice of a dragon. It has all the authority of the first beast and makes the inhabitants of earth worship the first beast, it breathes life into the first beast. It performs great signs like making fire come down from the Heavens to the Earth and causes all to be marked with the mark of the beast. Some call this beast the antichrist because it is performing miracles similar to that of Jesus.

This is the role I think Shax is trying to play - somewhat successfully. She arrives coming up out of the lift and through actions we see later kinda fulfill some of the rest of these points.

She also kind of jumps back and forth between these two beast with her authority - almost like she is not actually meant to be here, that they are all out of order. Mainly trying to be in the Antichrist position.

Shax is working the best with what she got.

But let’s switch over to our other story before we get to the confrontation

Aziraphale’s Ball

In his part of the episode we have been following him around as he invites people to this “meeting”. Crowley is also there for a little bit until he is brought back to reality so to say by Nina and eventually goes to confront Gabriel.

But back to Aziraphale who is going shop to shop in alphabetical order as is on the list on his clipboard. And this is where we start to get some Revelation parallels.

Whereas the Shax parallels started in chapter 13 Aziraphale joins in at the end of chapter 20 with the mention of the Book of Life - or in other words the list of names that are let into this New Jerusalem, that were God’s people.

Aziraphale having a list of people that he is inviting into his bookshop, a notorious place where he doesn’t want humans I feel is pretty significant. But all doesn’t go smoothly and he has to convince some people to come - I could go into each person he talks too but mainly he is using books and christmas lights to convince the people who don’t want to come. But what could those represent?

Books - eternal life for authors

Christmas Lights - the light that Jesus brought back into a world of darkness

Giving out the books/fruit of the Tree of Life so people will come to the ball/paradise hmm Aziraphale?

Interesting that we don’t see Mr. Brown’s shop on this list isn’t it? Keep that in mind.

But we continue on to Aziraphale decorating the Bookshop. With two scenes of him doing this one - moving the bookcases, or interior walls, and two - bring the chandelier down

In chapter 21, John is said to have seen New Jerusalem and New Earth descend from the Heavens - noting that there was no temple,

This could be paralleled to the scene where Crowley is looking into the Bookshop watching as Aziraphale has a chandelier descend from the ceiling.

It’s also important to note at this point that Gabriel arriving quite literally upended their lives and inadvertently set off the very same events he didn’t want to happen, The Second Coming. With him acting as a Jesus parallel.

But back to what is happening with Aziraphale. People are starting to arrive!! And he is changing their clothes?

Revelation 22:14 - Blessed are those who wash their robes, so they may have access to the tree of life and they may enter the city by the gates.

Washing their robes is meant to symbolize a full cleansing from sin that they must be free from to enter New Jerusalem

So Aziraphale is changing (washing) their clothes to make them acceptable for the ball (New Jerusalem)

Now you may be wondering how would you even prove that it happened? The seamstress conversation is how.

On one side it probably was how people from the time period Aziraphale is trying to create talked but it’s also removing the nature of the “sin”

Aziraphale does not even know what she technically does and yet it is still changed. When Mrs. Sandwich later tries to say what her job is she can’t actually say it and has to describe it - all using sewing terms. She even calls out at one point that the “devil may take it.”

But why? Aziraphale doesn’t even know and if he did I doubt he was care very much - unless something else was at play here.

Heavens standards - which in this universe includes adultery as bad, as a sin. We see examples with the references to Solomon and Gomorrah and “Thou shall not commit adultery Pulsifer”

The way she describes it as well leans towards this angle as well. With the “in want of the tender attention of a wife”

But back to Jim though who throughout all of this has been our Jesus parallel - he is out mingling with the people for the first time dressed in a wonderful blue suit.

Revelation 22 - The throne of God and the Lamb are in the city, and His people worship Him. There is no night and no need for other sources of light, for the Lord Himself gives the light, and they reign forever.

God and Jesus finally walking among and interacting with their people - and Jim seems to be having a grand ol time

yes i’m putting Aziraphale into Gods position- tricky business there i know

There is also some more references with the Candelabra’s that are around the shop - both the 3 and 7 versions. These guys have a bunch of different meaning but the ones that really stick out is The Holy Trinity and the Seven Angels or the Seven Churches

(I also had this whole bit planned about the temple which is said to be destroyed in the Second Coming of Jesus because it now holds no place in Jerusalem because God and Jesus are now among them and relating it to the Second Temple. I’m a bit iffy about it though just with some of reasoning but that was the basics of it - I might end up coming back to this at some point)

But all this to say that Aziraphale has basically made his version of paradise - unintentionally mirroring what is said to be the real one

The Collide

And our two stories meet….somehow. We left off with Shax in chapter 13 and Aziraphale in chapter 22 so quite a bit has to happen to get them to the same place - and it does a little bit out of order

Things come crashing to a stop quite literally when the demons throw the brick? wall piece? through the window. Shax makes her threats particularly to the humans. Perhaps because they don’t have the Mark of the Beast? Which they would need to buy things and as we know from Jim earlier, they aren’t selling

But the next big event is Jim walking out of the bookshop

which has been linked to this pose

and continues Shax’s story into Revelations 14

Revelation 14:14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man

but he is also start Aziraphale’s story back up when he goes back into the shop - just going backwards now

Revelation 20:5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. How fortunate and holy is the one who has a share in the first resurrection!

Mr. Brown then gets grabbed and thrown out of the shop, remember how his shops name wasn’t on the list? His name is not in the Book of Life therefore he is thrown into a Lake of Fire

Crowley then brings the humans back outside telling them to go back to their shops thus removing them from New Jerusalem and reversing judgement

and then he exits the stage as well and our jumping around really begins with episode 6 - so quick-fire

Shax gains confidence in her attack as soon as she notices Crowley has left and while this is happening Aziraphale put the chandelier back…. from wherever it came from. Effectively undescending New Jerusalem and putting that behind them as they work to meet up to where Shax is at in the story.

Aziraphale starts setting up the portal and tells Shax she is not welcomed here

Revelations 14: 9-11 - Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Demons throw trash into the bookshop and Aziraphale runs off to tell Jim to hide leaving Maggie and Nina to deal with Shax

Revelation 14: 17-20 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.” So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.

Maggie is then manipulated by Shax to let the demons in the shop

By this point I think the true role of Shax has come into play and it’s a nod back to Madam Tracy. The role is in Revelation 17 - The Whore of Babylon - the epitome of sin, ruler over 7 kingdoms, quick with her tongue and good with her words, draped in the finest clothes of purple and scarlet

Demons start to enter the shop and Aziraphale activates the portal - Shax discorporates Eric and we see Jim’s position on the stairs above everyone

Revelation 15 - The Seven Plagues - yes I know they haven’t quite got to anything else besides the portal and even then they don’t use seven different things but this chapter really is just setting up for the next and I wanted to mention one thing before moving into the next

Revelation 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed

the smoke coming from the demons discorporating and the fire extinguishers while Jim is absent

Demons start stepping into the portal - Maggie, Nina, and Aziraphale have to come up with another plan - Demons push book selves over and Maggie and Nina start with the fire extinguishers

They have now gone up the stairs to the second floor of the bookshop for the first floor has been over taken by the demons - Aziraphale charges Shax to leave this place - Shax starts to insult Aziraphale

Revelation 18:2 With a mighty voice he shouted: “ ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.

Jim is sent away after asking if anyone wants hot chocolate

I don’t have anything to compare this to. I just think it’s interesting that Aziraphale(and Maggie and Nina) were offered hot chocolate and declined, especially with all the talks about coffee vs death

Maggie and Nina continue with the fire extinguishers - and then they start with the books - no more fire extinguishers or books and Aziraphale pulls out the old Halo trick

Revelation 16 - Bowls of Wrath - now the chapter with the actual description of the seven bowls. By now we have seen all of the moves Aziraphale, Maggie, and Nina pull but I really wanted to point out the comparison of the last bowl particularly what happened afterwards and the Halo so,

Revelation 16:17-20 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.

All demons are discorporated with Shax unconscious on the couch

Revelation 19:2 for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

and with that it is over

so yeah that was a lot and it’s not perfect but remember when it was mentioned back in season 1 it was among prophecies that were not entirely accurate and that it was a rushed, only kinda planned attack. So really I just view this as very quick run down version of the Second Coming where there is not enough players

plus you have Crowley’s side to this story which seems to be the reality - dealing with the actual problem that has been going on throughout the season (Gabriel) instead of hosting a Ball or trying to make a power play

but if you made it this far have a little treat in the spirit of the holiday season, or if you don’t celebrate anything than just for getting to the end of this

New Jerusalem was also described as "the bride, the wife of the lamb” - and we all know that Ball was for Aziraphale and Crowley, as much as he may deny it, so really Aziraphale was saying “let’s get married, I’m your wife now”

#good lord this got long #I tried to interpret things the best I could #but I had like no background knowledge #my brain is mush #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens theory #aziraphale #crowley #good omens shax #good omens maggie #good omens nina #good omens gabriel

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hopethroughscriptureministries · 18 days

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Discovering the Power of God's Word:

A Journey Through Scripture

Introduction: Embark on a captivating journey through the timeless wisdom and power of God's Word as we delve into the pages of Scripture. Join us as we uncover the transformative truths, hidden treasures, and life-changing promises waiting to be revealed in the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture Passage: Psalm 119:105 (KJV) Cross References: 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12, James 1:22-25

Commentary: In Psalm 119:105, the psalmist declares, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." The Word of God serves as a guiding light, illuminating our way and directing our steps in the midst of darkness and uncertainty.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 affirms the divine inspiration and authority of Scripture, declaring that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Hebrews 4:12 describes the Word of God as living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It penetrates deep into the innermost recesses of our being, exposing truth and bringing transformation.

James 1:22-25 admonishes believers not only to be hearers of the Word but also doers, for blessed are those who hear the Word and obey it. The Word of God is likened to a mirror, reflecting our true spiritual condition and revealing areas in need of alignment with God's will.

John 15:1-17 - Jesus' teaching on abiding in Him as the vine and bearing fruit.

Colossians 3:12-17 - Paul's exhortation to clothe ourselves with virtues such as kindness, humility, and forgiveness.

Matthew 7:16-20 - Jesus' teaching on recognizing false prophets by their fruits.

Ephesians 5:9 - Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit as being in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

Matthew 12:33 - Jesus speaks about how a tree is known by its fruit.

James 3:17-18 - James describes the wisdom from above as being pure, peaceable, gentle, and full of good fruits.

Proverbs 11:30 - "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise."

Psalm 1:3 - "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

Galatians 5:16-26 - The contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.

Luke 6:43-45 - Jesus' teaching on how a good tree brings forth good fruit, and an evil tree brings forth evil fruit.

These cross-references provide additional insights and perspectives on the fruit of the Spirit, encouraging further study and reflection on this vital aspect of the Christian life.

Questions:

How does the Word of God guide and illuminate your path in life?

In what ways do you actively engage with Scripture to experience its transformative power?

How can you apply the truths and principles found in God's Word to your everyday life and decision-making?

What steps can you take to deepen your understanding and appreciation of the King James Version of the Bible?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Open our hearts and minds to receive the truths and promises contained within its pages, and empower us to live according to your will. May your Word dwell richly in us, guiding, transforming, and renewing us day by day. Amen.

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duxwriter · 11 months

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Ahem, more Ava's Demon cause brain rot theories/information

I supported the Kickstarter, and pointed out by another user (@fanlovedlt) Wrathia gets covered in snakes (though in the same chapter she speaks through a snake as well)

This is during Ava's dream and mind meeting after committing her act of wrath (more on why that means something later)

Now, Wrathia is covered in snakes

Snakes have a meaning (as most animals do)

With a shedding of their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing, but also are known as a creative life force and fertility on their own.

Now, Wrathia here, very Satan-esqu

Titan is even god coded

Chapter fifteen (called the first sin)

The following chapters (sixteen and twenty) are called "Hellfire" and "Paradise lost"

(Fun fact! Paradise lost is an epic poem written about the fall of mankind by John Milton featuring a very different version of Satan compared to how he was depicted at the time in old art and literature as well as making god the antagonist)

Now, why might this be important to what I have to say?

Snakes in the daytime mean good things, but in dreams, it's very different

Snakes in dreams typically represent a person in the dreamer's life who exhibits low, dirty, toxic, or poisonous behavior.

But they can also mean health or healing!

It can mean a sense of healing, personal transformation, or that you are moving forward.

But it also deals with the context of Ava and Wrathia in these scene's

Now, Wrathia speaks through a snake

If you know the story of Adam and Eve (note, Adam and Eve were both naked before eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge, the snake is in a tree and both Wrathia and Ava appear "naked")

Ava even calls Wrathia a "snake"

Usually a term to call someone false, fake, etc.

(very fitting for Wrathia's character)

Now, Wrathia doesn't have typical Satan horns

But they are known as demon horns (goat/sheep like, especially with the eyes)

Wrathia is regal, a demigod (as explained by Odin's peoples thoughts on how the universe happened, again, a very bible/god related story)

(note, there are seven sins, and it took six (the seventh to rest) days to make the world, there are also seven sins and seven virtues)

Satan was "regal" and "royal" as he was depicted now and (sorta) then

Where does this all lead?

Ava commits an act of wrath (term used in lieu of acts of many different religions concept of gods acting against mortals for slights or divine retribution, take the story of Niobe from Greek myth, where she says she's better than Leto so Artemis and Apollo slay her children in an act of wrath against her)

Ava basically makes hell (on titans planet) for people, and herself (note, she thought it was a dream, many people who commit or have been committed against think it's a dream/wish it was a dream)

Where I'm going with this is, It's very bible coded (as well as Alice in wonderland with the rabbit hole Ava basically sent herself down)

It both shows Ava's growth, Wrathia's horrid personality

Wrathia and Ava talk about a high, which often is said how hubris feels (or an act of defiance or fight/flight response when you pick to fight)

(also little tidbit, snake Wrathia is in a tree, which looks like a fig tree, fig trees are symbols of wisdom and success in abundance, but Jesus also cursed a fig tree in the bible, as a warning for people not to be hypocritical. Basically "Jesus Christ warning Christians that they must bear fruits after their conversion worthy of repentance or risk being condemned to Hell." Is how it's interpreted to many churches, but it also has several different meanings in the bible (like hunger for true worship, as it bore no fruit)

(also, the fruit of knowledge was never described, many simply assume it's an apple from paintings and modern media, but, it's very possible it could be any fruit, like a fig)

(we see here the tree is snapped, as in, it's been cursed/destroyed, again, the bible says Jesus cursed the tree)

(I also need to say, Fig trees can represent happiness in dreams)

#avasdemon #ava's demon #avas demon #ava ire #wrathia bellarmina #snakes #satan #god #bible coded #i have religious truama?#wrathia is satan?#theory

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sighed-the-snake · 6 months

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Kindle page 44, footnote:

They followed verse 24, which in the King James version reads:

"So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," and reads:

The footnote goes on to describe how Aziraphale helpfully hand-wrote a true account of him lying to God about giving away the flaming sword in the proof sheets of the Buggre Alle This Bible, which was one of many reasons the book was a printing disaster.

But that's not the point I want to focus on. The passage said Cherubims were protecting the Eastern gate.

Aziraphale did not correct the proof copy that there were Cherubim placed at the East of Eden.

Kindle Page 37:

TECHNICALLY AZIRAPHALE was a Principality, but people made jokes about that these days.

Technically Aziraphale was a Principality? Technically?

Did Aziraphale get demoted? Cherubim to Principality is a pretty big fall down the hierarchy.

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens fandom #book omens #aziraphale #BAMF Aziraphale #he's such a silly boy telling every he told God 'forget my own head next'

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stephyytheseeker · 10 months

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Figs

Knowledge, Sex, Shame, Possibility.

I believe that figs represent a thirst for knowledge. A desire to know everything; to be everything. A hunger for godlike powers. It is thought by some that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which Adam and Eve ate from was a fig tree. This could be because figs are an ancient symbol of wisdom.

In Genesis, Adam and Eve covered themselves specifically with fig leaves when they became ashamed of their nakedness after eating from the tree (Genesis 3:7). For this reason, I think that figs also represent shame. The ancient Greeks considered figs to be a symbol of fertility, sex, and love. The fig represents acknowledging and embracing your sex and sexuality while simultaneously wanting to hide it away; pretending that it doesn’t matter or exist. The fig to me represents the unfortunate awareness I have of the realities of my sex; the beauty as well as the limitations that come with it. The fig to me represents my sexuality; my desire as well as the shame that I feel about that very desire. It represents my awareness of the ways the world tries to suppress it.

When these multiple meanings are combined, figs end up representing the shame that comes along with having wisdom and awareness; of the world around me and of myself. Knowledge is power but it’s also my kryptonite. My knowledge of the horrors in this world keeps me from feeling joy. Sometimes I wish I was ignorant. Maybe then my life would be easier. Maybe then I’d be happy. Knowledge makes me confused. I know a lot but I am not an expert in one thing. I’m at best mediocre at many things. If I could be an expert at only one thing, maybe I would know which path to choose. I am ashamed of my indecisiveness. I am ashamed because I know too much but also because I know too little to make anything of myself. In Sylvia Plath’s famous novel The Bell Jar, the main character Esther Greenwood compares the inability she possesses to decide what to do with her life to a fig tree:

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet” (Plath 77)

I feel the same things that Esther expresses in this passage. I want every fig. I want all of the knowledge; all of the possibilities. I want to live every life. But that desire prevents me from acting on any of the figs. I want to do and be everything but I can’t. Ultimately I am left paralyzed, unable to decide.

References

Coogan, Michael David, et al., editors. “Genesis 3.” The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version With The Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible, Fifth ed., Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 15–17.

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Harper Perennial Modern Classics ed., HarperCollins Publishers, 2005.

#sylvia plath #fig tree #figs #the bell jar #adam and eve #tree of knowledge #writers on tumblr #women writers #queer writers

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 5 months

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The Hope of the Gospel

if indeed you continue in the faith, established and firm, not budging from the hope of the Good News that you have heard. This Good News has been proclaimed throughout all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant. — Colossians 1:23 | Tree of Life Version (TLV) Tree of Life Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society. Cross References: Matthew 24:14; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:5; Romans 10:18; 1 Corinthians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 10:1

#hope #Gospel #Good News #faith #creation #established #Colossians 1:23 #The Epistle of Colossians #New Testament #TLV #Tree of Life Version Bible #The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society

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pharawee · 7 months

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@singto-prachaya kindly let me know that Harikarn has decided to announce the cast for The Hell Guards one week early, which... okay, that certainly is a mood. Maybe they're just really excited to start production.

As predicted, the Hell Guards has a huge cast because it's part of the Chains of Heart universe (which is actually the Art Adore En universe because afaik it all started with Hin and Payu but since Harikarn aren't the ones producing that - if it's even still happening - I'll just call it CoH universe from now on to differentiate it from Art Adore En and Love Puzzle. Confusing, I know, but bear with me 🙏).

You can find all of the cast listed on Harikarn's ig - some of them don't even have a role yet, so let's concentrate on the main players:

Chaaim Alongkorn will be reprising his role from Chains of Heart, but this time he'll also play Payu's identical twin Yu (Waranyu). It's kind of unfortunate that Art Adore En and Love Puzzle aren't out yet because the very existence of The Hell Guards will spoil one of their plot twists. Mind you, not a terribly important one, but still.

Anyway, Yu is one of two main characters. He's been in a coma since his teens due to a brain tumour and, in exchange for a healthy life, made a pact with the god of death to hunt down escaped souls and guide them back to the underworld.

Few Vayu will be playing Palang, the other main character. Palang is a medium who Yu meets at university. Palang mistakes Yu for an evil spirit because to him he smells like death. They eventually team up to fight evil spirits together.

Seng Suphaksin as Bun. Seng played one of the mafia twins in Don't Say No. He'll also be in Boy Never Smiles and Lover Merman. As for Bun - there's a character named Boon/Bhoun (he was Payu's detective friend in Chains of Heart) and this is set years before Chains of Heart, so it could be him.

Chai Sinsophak as Bhu. Chai played one of the mafia twins in Don't Say No. He'll also be in Boy Never Smiles and Lover Merman. Seems like they're a package deal. Yay for twins! As for Bhu (Bu? Boo?), I'm drawing a blank. I guess Bun has a (younger?) sibling? It would make sense since Yu and Palang are university juniors to Payu's and even Hin's friends.

Gun (edit: sry I mixed up names here) Napat who I love very much despite his tendency to overact into one singular direction will apparently be playing a character named Bible. I have no idea who that is but he's probably evil lmao

This is a huge surprise! Fiat Patchata will be playing Hin - Payu's boyfriend who was played by Marc Pahun/Natarit in Chains of Heart. Now, I love Marc with all of my heart (as you might know lmao) and I thought he did such a good job with Hin but Fiat is actually much, much closer to Hin as he's described in the novel. I am so excited for this version of Hin - even if we're probably not seeing that much of him.

Now Wachiravit as Tos, and I have no idea who that is, either.

Top Piyawat as Mac, and the name rings a vague bell (like, maybe the name was dropped in the Art Adore En novel but because it's such a huge universe and I've read only two novels this could be a very important character in one of the 2354623 other novels lmao).

Haii Sarunsathorn my beloved - which means he should be playing Ken, but strangely enough he's been announced as Tree Wissanut Ekphakpoom. That's most definitely not Ken's name (which is Ken Thitidon Jungua). So either Ken ALSO has a twin (and who knows, apparently his estranged celebrity mother abandoned him) or Harikarn doesn't really care about screen continuity. Or maybe he's an evil spirit too.

Jimmy Natthaphong as Guy, who along with Nott (remember, the random guy who could tell the future in Chains of Heart) has his own novel.

Tiger Tanawat as Nott. Tiger was in Even Sun and Past-senger and will be in Live in Love and Boxer in Heart. As mentioned above, Nott can tell the future. He and Guy could be a side couple. They have their own supernatural novel.

Plustor Pronpiphat (my beloved) as Mangpong, who is also a main character in a separate novel. He is the same age as Payu and Ken. He can fight very well and he's from the south.

Ohm Pasawit as Safe. Safe is the same age as Hin and Pleng. He's Mangpong's boyfriend. They could also be a side couple here.

Joseph Pharmtharm as Than - who doesn't even have a given name, and tbh I have no idea who he is.

There's seven more actors who have been announced without a designated character so could be one of them will be Pleng or Phrai (Yuji and Pong are missing too) or even Ken and Din (if they decide to recast). I guess we'll see. It's not as if the cast isn't big enough already.

I'm so excited for this though. If you follow this blog even a little bit you know how excited I am for this whole universe. And it's Chaaim as Yu (and Payu again)! I couldn't be happier tbh 😭🙏

#the hell guards #the hell guards the series #chains of heart #chains of heart the series #art adore en #(in a way)#jane watches stuff #i can't believe i went though every actor #then translated the text #then compared it to my art edore en notes #this universe needs excel sheets

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exvangelicalrage · 10 months

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Apocalypse Anxiety

6/30/23

When I was a kid, one of the excellent decisions my parents made was not letting us read the Left Behind books, even though everyone at church swore the books were the best thing they'd ever read (after the bible, of course).

If you're unfamiliar, the whole series revolves around a futuristic interpretation of christian eschatology, particularly the rapture and the tribulation. The series starts with a good chunk of the world population getting "raptured" suddenly, or taken to heaven by god, and then follows a group of people who didn't disappear. These folks try to figure out what happened and navigate the wild post-rapture world, and everything wraps up with the second coming of christ. The characters that survived the tribulation witness the millennial kingdom, where christ reigns for a thousand years, and then the final judgment day, and eventually, a new heaven and a new earth are created.

Obviously it's complete bullshit. It's not even biblical, as 11-year-old me wrote extensively about in her journal (I even included citations!). But the thing is, a lot of christians still believed it. And I think it formed a lot of mental images about what the "end times" would look like for people, which, as a result, meant there was a lot of conversation about prepping.

If you got left behind, what would you do? How would you survive? People talked about learning to grow stuff and sew. They bought generators and came up with secondary heat sources for their house. They talked about how prepared they already were compared to everyone else.

Keep in mind, we lived in a rural area where people already had to be quite self-sufficient. So it was more of a bragging contest than anything, with a few people beefing up the systems they already had in place.

The year 2000 brought with it a lot of apocalypse panic, fueled in part by that stupid book series (though I'm sure the Cold War, recent in so many memories, didn't help either). The Y2K bug was going to take down systems all over the world! We could be without power, without computers, without clean water!!! Our local morning show guys even did a parody of the YMCK song, where they sang, "Yyyy-2-K! What's the big deal about Yyyy-2-K! It's a real big deal / no it's not even real—" etc. Luckily for me I do not remember most of the lyrics.

Fast forward to 2016. By then, I was well and truly Exited from christianity. I'd made it through Y2K, 9/11, the recession, and college. I had a full time job and friends who weren't christian. I hardly ever thought about apocalypses, other than admitting that I occasionally enjoyed reading a good post-apocalyptic book series.

But the day after the 2016 election, I found myself crying under a tree in the cemetery near my condo. I was terrified that trump would bring about the apocalypse, even though I didn't even believe in the fucking apocalypse anymore! At least, not the christian version of it.

Someone made a meme that said "the end comes with trump-pence (instead of 'trumpets')" and it was all I could think of. Like a giant neon sign to my trauma-bent brain.

Fast forward again to 2020. You probably remember that fucked-up year.

It started with fires in Australia. And murder hornets. Remember those? Weird "signs and omens" of an impending apocalypse. Then came the plague and pestilence.

Truth be told, it feels like we've basically been mid-apocalypse my entire life. Y2K. 9/11. The recession. trump being elected. fires. famine. plague. pestilence. war. death.

And now, there are more fires. So many fires. I'm in an area with bad air. The canadian wildfires are filling the atmosphere with smoke and it's drifted down into my region of the northeast USA. Again. A couple weeks ago, we had air that had me and my spouse coughing and with sore throats, even indoors. Today, the outside is hazy and smells, and the new outlets are warning us all to stay indoors.

I know it's just smoke. I know it'll blow away. I understand what's happening. Not to mention, we're fine. We are safe indoors. We have an air purifier. We don't have to work outside or even leave the house if we don't want to. Though the dog might get annoyed if he doesn't get his daily adventure.

We have enough food to last us weeks, if we're careful. We have a tank full of gas. I have a boatload of back-up plans for what to do in a variety of catastrophic scenarios.

But I still feel the overwhelming desire to curl up in a hole and hide. My anxiety is sky high. It's a visceral reaction—not to the smoke itself, or to the knowledge of climate change, or even to a rational fear that one day, the fires might reach us.

No. It's fear of the christian apocalypse. Fear of the rapture. Fear of getting left behind.

I know it's all fake. I just can't quite shake it.

#xtian #exchristian #exvangelical #atheist #apocalypse #left behind #y2k #end times #anxiety #apocalypse anxiety #agnostic #indoctrination #exreligious #ex religious #ex christian #tribulation #revelations

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flowertrigger · 9 months

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Desert Island Discs

Tagged by @jamilas-pen and @a-noble-dragon @saraminia 🤍

You're stranded on a desert island, but you can pick eight recordings, a book and a luxury item to have with you. You get the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible/other appropriate religious or philosophical book as a 'freebie'. The luxury item must be inanimate and of no use in escaping the island or allowing communication from outside. What do you take? Say as much or as little as you like about why you made those picks

Please know this was so hard!! At first I thought 'recordings' meant whole albums and then I read your list and was very wrong 😅

Recordings

Jimmy Eat World - A Praise Chorus This isn’t my all time favourite JEW song but it is still very much loved and it's a really fun song to sing along to, has a great beat, is motivational and I can listen to it over and over - all qualities I think would be important if I’m stuck on a desert island.

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody A song with multiple genres, also fun to sing along to, and goes for six minutes? Yes plz.

Erik Satie - Gymnopédies A melancholic piece of music for when my brain is tired of listening to words. It’s beautiful to listen to if you concentrate on it but also something to have on that’s not invasive just to quell silence without even realising. I'll lay on the beach and ponder about life and when the hell I'm going to be rescued.

Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way I love the rhythm of this song and I can see myself dancing in the sand to it.

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables - Ramin Karimloo and Hadley Fraser specifically this version. The beginning is so fun to watch. Their voices together are beautiful and powerful. I watch it multiple times every time I come across it. And I need some show tunes to get me through my days.

Taking Back Sunday - There’s No ‘I’ In Team My favourite TBS song. I’m not sure I’ll ever grow out of being an emo kid and to me the album this song is from is genre defining.

Noah Reid - Runaway Obviously I have to have an olreid tune and this is one of those songs that I can listen to over and over and it feels new each time.

Of Monsters and Men - Crystals This is another song that I can just have on repeat and it feels like it’s scratching an itch in my ear. I think it’s the rhythm section - so bold, but also the melody is just pretty and relaxing. Also a great sing along song.

Book

The Faraway Tree Series - Enid Blyton I think this was harder than the songs. Mainly because I can't think of a book I've read more than once in the recent past. But when I was a kid I was obsessed with this series, in particular The Folk Of The Faraway Tree and reread it so many times I could recite pages of it verbatim. This would be a nice easy, escapism read.

Luxury Item

Does an entire bed and all it's accoutrements count as one thing? If not then I'll just take the doona, because I can't sleep if it's cold and I'd imagine that a deserted island would be quite cool at night. Also I can use it as a tent like thing during the day and hopefully it'll cover me from creepy crawlies at night too.

This was v fun to think about!

I'll no pressure tag @ramonaflow @stargazer56 @carolrain @tyfinn if they want to play 🏝️

#tag game

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robin-in-a-hoodie · 2 years

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Hello, i am very Jewish and i listen to ghost quartet too much and I've had a thought about it lately.

Consider, ghost quartet is a Sukkot story

So for the uninitiated, Sukkot is a week long holiday where we build a little hut as a memory to living in little huts in the fourty years in the desert thing, it's one of the high holidays but it's also the least thematically relevant to the season, it's also officially the time we pray for rain, it's the official end of summer kind of thing, there's a lot happening in it

See, this lack of thing makes it so there's no real way to have a story for the holiday? Like. There's no real tale we can just have the same way other holidays do. But i come here to argue ghost quartet is a Sukkot story.

So one of the themes of the holiday is that there's four plants we gather together and wave in six directions, each plant representative of a type of person, them coming together is the people coming together, waving is to signify god around us everywhere.

Person one, citrus, who has both taste and smell, is a person who has both knowledge of the Torah (religion and stuff) and what I'll call kindness? A carying for others, kind of goodness

Person one is pearl

All her versions seem to be aware of the mechanism of the universe, that life is constantly happening to them in different ways. She's the one telling the story, she's the one asking others if they remember yet, she's the one who tells us what dying feels like, she's knowledgeable. She's also kind, giving the honey as the soldier, giving the star dust as the story teller, smiling for the camera for the ghost picture, she wants to help rose even when it leads to het death because she cares.

Person two, the palm tree that grows dates, has taste and no smell. That person knows a lot and doesn't have kindness

Person two is Brett

So our man "practices a lot" which in show is a short hand for religious. He's also the dude screaming about the apocalypse with a bible in hand, as well as being the one to actually exchange information with pearl ("they had kids you know"), not to mention he can talk to the dead according to the song of the astronomer.he also turns pearl's remains into a fiddle, he has skill and craft tied to music, which in the play is holy. Clearly knowledgeable man in the religious and spiritual stuff. He also shoves a girl to the train track, leaves his parents as soon as his sister dies, mocks his father, has plans of selling drugs, lies to rose just to get some honey, kills the story teller, you get it. He's a bad man. Brilliant, knowledgeable, practices a lot, but bad man.

Person three, Myrtle plant, has smell and no taste. I'm sure you'll be shocked to find out, this is a person with no knowledge but who is kind.

Person three is David

So he has an entire song about not "practicing" which, again, is to say he's not religious. Sure, he'd like to be, but he doesn't actually do the job of practicing his spirituality, he's guessing there might be a ghost behind the door and tries playing music for it but so far it doesn't look like there's much truth to that, he doesn't even know why monk would still be in this ralm. He's basically just guessing, possibly an extension of him wanting to be a spiritual person but failing at it. On the other hand, he's a nice dude (we'll get to him also being a bad boyfriend don't worry) he thinks of his dad tacking him in when he drinks, trying to relate to the man, he cares for his wife and reads to her to help her calm down, he tries talking to his kids and giving them actual advice and relating to them ("it's a big house, i know it gets lonely but we're afraid rose is holding you back from playing with the other kids" "my son get away, don't ever look back"), hell the man thinks there might be a ghost around and decides to play for him because he was a musician, even though it physically hurts him. He gives pearl her final rest by fishing her from the pond, he's a kind dude

The forth person, willow, has no taste or smell. I assume you can imagine, it's a person who doesn't do religion or kindness.

Person four is my beloved, rose red.

She lies to a soldier to take the honey, she doesn't help pearl not get murdered by a train because she needs to take a picture, she lies to the story teller saying she definitely cares about her suffering, she kills her sister, she tells her parents that they can die already and see she's right, you know the play. She also isn't interested in religion, like sure she's good with describing what she sees in the stars in a meaningful way but she has no real ties with music other than dancing when she was younger, she doesn't really know about her other lives, she just kinda. Does what's best for her and that's it.

The ritual is about all of these coming together, again and again, uniting as people and just kinda. Vibin' at whatever higher power there is. The play is about these four types of people, coming together again and again, interacting, contemplating the world and existence and religion and the meaning of life and the past and the present. If that's not vibin' in all directions of god, what is?

But wait, there's more!

The two types of people i marked down for kindness do bad things. I do think it's possible for people who are genuinely kind people who genuinely care for others to be kinda shitty, for their own reasons. Maybe she really loved this man and didn't want to live without him even at the cost of her sister, maybe she was scared of hurting her too much to let her know he doesn't love her. Maybe he was so desperate to be anything close to spiritual he felt like stealing rose's words is the only thing he can do, if not being spiritual himself at least looking like he has some knowledge. Being a kind person does not mean not being shitty sometimes, it just means that for the most part, you do care for others at least as much as you do yourself.

So is that it? No, of course not

There's also the wind and rain and other water referenced all the time in the play, and this holiday is also a water holiday, the beginning of rain season, we call for the rains to come this time. We ask the wind and rain to come.

There's also the existential themes of it all, being part of the high holidays means it is inherently related to matters of higher being, regrets, trying to think, what could i have done better? What can i do better? Who did i harm? How do i change? Am i who i want to be? It's the closing holiday of the season, it's officially the end if the time of year dedicated to these concerns, it's the last few seconds before the gates of the heavens close and it's time to move back into the more material world.

There's also the feeling that these characters don't have a set home. They're played by the same actors, flowing in and out of their times and their spaces, weaving into each other's stories, their homes are in flux, they're wondering the desert for fourty years, lying down in a makeshift hut that has a roof through which you can still see the stars.

In conclusion, ghost quartet is a Sukkot story.

#ghost quartet #judaism #jewblr #dave malloy #malloysicals #the great comet #preludes #all the malloy nerds come here

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