#and the way the few modern interpretations that even use it seem to view it as a political choice instead of the personal one it was

[modredus]

Okay there’s like a whole post I wanna make on Mordred and Guinevere but I was reading Mordred’s usurpation in the Vulgate and I forgot how funny Mordred’s fake Arthur letter is

“Yes I am Arthur and I am currently dying. You should definitely make Mordred king. Because I will be dead. Also he should totally marry Guinevere. It is very important that he marry Guinevere.”

Like I know that was Mordred’s first draft and he was just really banking that none of the Barons would ask questions (and they didn’t so I guess he was right).

[digitaldreams0801]

The Inherent Plurality of Castti Florenz (Analysis)

When Octopath Traveler II first came out, I jumped right into it as soon as possible. I'm a huge fan of the first game (as my AO3 will tell you quickly), and I couldn't wait to see what the sequel had to offer. As I got deeper into the game, I learned a few things about the cast. My first major revelation about Castti? Castti Florenz might just be one of the most plural coded characters I've seen in my life. I even wrote two one shots about it on Archive of Our Own. A lot of people found the stories eye opening, and multiple people told me that it completely changed the way they view Castti as a character. So let's talk about it. Let's break down Castti as the most plural character to hit gaming consoles in a long time.

(Warning for full game spoilers!)

Introduction

Plurality Explanation

Let's start off with a brief crash course about plurality. Just what is plurality? In short, it's the state of being more than one. Through some set of circumstances or another, multiple people have come to live in the same body. This is commonly, albeit incorrectly, known as "multiple personality disorder." This term has been outdated for roughly the last thirty years. Instead, it is known as "dissociative identity disorder" in the modern age, and it is abbreviated as DID. Those with DID are stated to have alters, but I will be using the term headmate throughout this essay because it is our preferred term as a system. Systems are the collective of all headmates found in a given body. Plurality is a community term used for the experience of being more than one, and it is the preferred term for us, so it will be used as opposed to discussing dissociative disorders going forward.

Plurality is often (not always, but often) associated with trauma. In many cases, systems act as a defense mechanism prompted by extreme trauma. Memories are hidden from those who need to not know the depth of what they have been through. Members of a system work together to look after one another and keep their collective safe. I believe this to be the truth behind Castti and Malaya's dynamic in the game, and this essay will explain the reasons that have led me to so strongly advocate for a plural interpretation of Castti's character.

Plurality in Castti

In order to fully understand how plural coded Castti is, I feel like we should start from the beginning. Castti is first introduced to the audience as an apothecary who lost her memories. We do not know the circumstances behind this, and finding out is the draw behind her story. Very quickly, we are introduced to Malaya, someone who seems to know Castti but is hiding this from her. No one else speaks to Malaya but Castti, and their relationship is complicated from the start. Malaya knows Castti, but Castti does not remember her, and Malaya's behavior is odd and unconventional despite their notable history.

I want to put a pin in this for now and come back to it later. The details behind this theory only make sense when placed alongside other evidence, and this game has a lot more of it than you would think. To be more specific, there's proof in the travel banters, and it's incredibly important to understanding Malaya's role in Castti's present life.

Travel Banter Evidence

There are three pieces of travel banter that need to be addressed here. The first is "Talking to Yourself," the Castti and Osvald banter in Castti's chapter two in Sai. Second, we have "A Good Apothecary," a conversation found in Winterbloom between Castti and Temenos. Last but not least is the postgame "Another Self" with dialogue from Castti, Temenos, and Hikari. All three of these have plural coded undertones that add more backing to this theory, so let's go through them in order and break down what makes them so crucial.

"Talking to Yourself": Castti and Osvald, Castti Chapter Two: Sai Route

Osvald: Master Edmund is…talkative. Castti: Yes. Your polar opposite, Osvald. Osvald: Not necessarily. I’m quite loquacious during internal debates. Castti: What do you mean? Osvald: I maintain multiple mental versions of myself, each with a different perspective, and we’re constantly debating. Castti: Hehe. So you talk to yourself? That’s kind of funny, in an odd way. Osvald: …… Osvald: I thought you were a kindred soul, Castti. Osvald: Someone told me that they overheard you talking to yourself. Osvald: They said it was like you were conversing with someone who wasn’t there. Castti: Really? I don’t remember ever doing something like that.

The game posits this travel banter as foreshadowing of Malaya not being real in the way Castti believes her to be, but there is a lot more to it than that. This conversation was what set off a few alarm bells in my head that Castti could have been plural, and it caught me by surprise when I first reached it. I'm part of a plural system myself, and this conversation is very relatable to the plural experience.

Osvald speaks to himself when he's trying to further his research. He's aware of this and has been for a long time. Castti brushes it off at first, but Osvald points out that she has the same habit. The way this conversation phrases it, the game seems to imply that someone has told Osvald that Castti talks to herself recently. "Someone told [him]" that Castti had been talking to herself. I somehow doubt someone random from Canalbrine would have done that, especially since there's no guarantee that Osvald is even in the party at all when Castti first joins. Osvald is hardly talkative in the first place, and for someone to go out of their way to tell him Castti had been talking to herself, it must have been more recent than Canalbrine. In other words, it was more recent than Castti's run-in with Malaya.

Beyond that, Castti isn't even aware that she's doing it. This is something very common within plural people. The idea of what's "normal" is always based on our internalized perceptions of the world and what we have been taught. To some, they believe hearing voices in your head is normal because they've always lived with it. That was certainly the case for us before we realized we were plural. Your perception of what is "normal" is skewed because of what you have lived with. It's nothing out of the ordinary if you've always lived this way. Castti is shocked to be called out by this because she's so accustomed to it without even realizing that she's doing it. How was she supposed to know it's not normal? She doesn't live in anyone's head but her own, and to her, this is normal.

Her final line is another piece of evidence adding to this theory. She doesn't remember doing that. In Castti's story, memories are incredibly important. They're the driving force behind her entire narrative. Her not remembering something that took place even after she lost her memory is bizarre. She's so accustomed to talking to herself that she doesn't even notice... And she doesn't remember doing it either.

Systems are often built in a way that is meant to be hidden. Many systems form as defense mechanisms from trauma, and as such, they know how to hide themselves from the parties involved until the time is right. Revealing too much too soon poses a risk to the system, and amnesia is common in plural communities. Memories can be deliberately tampered with by members of the system who act as protectors, and that can lead to memories being taken from people who are not meant to remember something at a given moment. For example, memories can be hidden for the sake of keeping the system masked for as long as possible.

Between calling out Castti's habit of talking to herself, saying that it has happened recently, and noting that she still has memory issues after turning up in Canalbrine, this travel banter is full of evidence to point to Castti being plural. It immediately struck me as being plural when I first saw it, and that alone was enough to get me thinking about Castti in a new light... And somehow, that's only the first of three travel banters that point to Castti being plural.

"A Good Apothecary": Castti and Temenos, Castti Chapter Two: Winterbloom Route

Temenos: Castti, have you remembered anything new lately? Castti: Nothing of any importance, sadly. Castti: The truth is…I’m somewhat frightened. Temenos: Of…what? Castti: This amnesia… Castti: I hear it can be a self-defense mechanism. Something the mind does to forget horrors or trauma. Castti: Perhaps I will be happier if I never uncover the secrets of my past. Temenos: Be at ease, Castti. Temenos: You are a good person and a fine apothecary. Your actions now prove this without a shadow of doubt. Temenos: There’s no way your past is filled with darkness and despair. Castti: Th-thank you, Temenos… You’re surprisingly nice today. Temenos: Today? I’m always nice.

This travel banter has one primary line that should be noted for this analysis, and that is the following statement from Castti:

"I hear it can be a self-defense mechanism. Something the mind does to forget horrors or trauma."

Many systems form as a response to trauma. In this case, some members of the system keep memories separated from those who need to function without the chains of their trauma holding them down. If someone needs to function on a regular basis, then their trauma is hidden from them so they can live without crumbling due to flashbacks and painful memories. Castti is right; amnesia can be a self-defense mechanism in response to trauma, and it is very commonly seen in systems. In fact, that is exactly what Malaya appears to be in this situation: a protector meant to keep Castti safe from the horrors of her past. The idea of trauma causing amnesia so immediately is something you would see in a system, and in this case, it points to Castti being plural once again.

"Another Self": Castti, Hikari, and Temenos, Postgame Tavern Banter

Hikari: There is something I would like to ask you, my friends… Hikari: Do you ever feel…like you aren’t yourself? Temenos: Hmm… I’m not sure I understand. Temenos: Do you mean to ask if the entity currently perceiving the world around you…isn’t you? Hikari: By that logic, there would be another inside of me other than myself. Hikari: But that other isn’t someone else. Hikari: However, it isn’t me, either… Or at least, that’s how it feels. Castti: I’ve had a similar experience. Castti: I felt the me of my memories—the ones I had lost—was a different person. Hikari: …… Temenos: I think I’m starting to understand what you mean. Temenos: I feel like there’s more than one of me when I must differentiate my feelings as a person from those as a cleric. Hikari: I see… So I’m not the only one who struggles with this. Castti: Hardly. Few people possess only one facet. Castti: I think you have no cause for concern. Castti: We must accept the other sides of ourselves and learn to coexist with them. Castti: In the end, it’s not who we are, but how we choose to live our lives that is most important. Hikari: …… Hikari: Perhaps the “self” is something…indefinite. Hikari: In which case…we should strive to become the person we want to be. Castti: Hehe. I’m sure you can do it, Hikari. Hikari: Thank you, Castti. Hikari: My apologies for bringing such a complicated topic to the table. Please pay it no mind. Temenos: …Hm? What were we talking about again? Temenos: I seem to have forgotten… I believe I’ve had too much to drink… Hikari: …Thank you, my friends.

This is the longest travel banter that needs to be addressed here, and it has a lot to unpack. First and foremost, Castti pretty much outright states here that she has dissociation and depersonalization issues. She doesn't feel like the person of her memories and her present self are the same person. That's already a lot to unpack on its own, and considering the fact that dissociation is one of the most common symptoms of plurality, it feels like even more proof of Castti being plural. She doesn't feel like one uniform person and struggles enough with not feeling like herself for it to be brought up with Hikari of all people who also struggles with depersonalization throughout the story.

But wait, there's more! Castti says that "few people possess only one facet." This is coming on the heels of her saying that she struggles with seeing herself as a single unified person. Spoiler alert, Castti: singlets don't feel like completely different people even if they do have different facets. Some singlets have stated that the person they are at work feels completely different than the person they are at home... But that is not the same thing as plurality, and having a work mode doesn't come with dissociation and feeling like multiple people to the point of bringing it up with other people. That's awfully plural of you, Castti.

And somehow, there's still more. Castti expresses the importance of accepting the other sides of herself and learning to work with them. This is a lot like what it's like to reach out to your headmates when you're plural. Like it or no, you're stuck there in the same body together, and you have to learn how to work together and coexist to make your common life work. She says that it doesn't matter "who we are" in comparison to how we choose to live our lives... Another line that reads of depersonalization when said right after everything else she says in this tavern banter.

To wrap things up, this travel banter says that Castti struggles with depersonalization and dissociation, doesn't possess a single facet, and wants to work together with the other sides of herself. Wow. I don't know what I expected, but considering the fact that this travel banter is called "Another Self," I shouldn't be surprised. This entire travel banter makes Castti feel incredibly plural, especially when placed right next to Hikari who has the Shadow Hikari situation going on. I have a few issues with how the Shadow is portrayed in the game, but the point of the travel banter is that Castti reads as very plural here. When you combine that with her talking to herself regularly, recognizing the role of trauma in some amnesia, and stating she still has a few memory gaps now... You can see this theory start to find its footing in full.

Malaya, the Protector

Under my interpretation of Castti as being part of a plural system, Malaya is her headmate and a protector in their system. Malaya is trying to lead Castti to the truth, but she can only reveal information that Castti is already aware of. This is stated at the end of the reveal about the Healeaks incident in Castti's chapter three. The game seems to imply that Malaya is either a ghost or a figment of Castti's imagination, but I have issues with both of these ideas. The ghost proposal is implied through lines about how Malaya is "no longer in this world" and the final farewell to Eir's Apothecaries at the end of chapter four. However, why would a ghost version of Malaya have to conform to the rules of only telling Castti what she already knows? How would this happen in the first place? It feels rather bizarre in a game that doesn't treat contact with ghosts as being possible. Even when Temenos guides Crick's spirit in his chapter three in Stormhail, it doesn't feel literal. Instead, the bright blue of Crick's ghost feels symbolic, implying that the idea of life and death is largely intact and agreeable in universe compared to what we know in real life.

The figment of Castti's imagination makes a bit more sense, but I still feel the plural explanation fits far better. Malaya feels far too complex to simply be something Castti made up, and how would she have known enough to do that without her memories? In my mind, it goes like this: Castti was thoroughly traumatized by the events in Healeaks and couldn't remember immediately without completely shattering. The Malaya we see throughout the game is a headmate of Castti's who was created in the aftermath of the tragedy. The Malaya we see in present times acts far too complex for me to believe she's simply something Castti made up on the spot. Instead, I believe Malaya has her own autonomy and motives that pushed her to behave the way she did throughout the story. Members of systems have their own personalities and can make choices for themselves too. This feels much more in line with what we see of the present day Malaya in the game, and I believe this is because she is Castti's headmate.

In systems, there is a role known as protector. These are headmates who keep the system safe in the face of danger and trauma. Protectors are sometimes tasked with carrying painful memories so those who need to function on a daily basis are able to press on without risking being triggered into a flashback. I believe Malaya is a protector within Castti's system, and more specifically, she is an introject created by the Healeaks incident.

The Theory in Action: A Timeline

When the massacre of Healeaks took place, Castti was left massively traumatized. She was unable to save even a single life of the townspeople, instead watching as all of them died from symptoms she could not understand or resolve. There's an NPC in the ruins of Healeaks who says that he buried all of the bodies in the town and remarks on the horrors of the corpses in his Inquire text. The scene was beyond grotesque, and yet, it only got worse from there.

Castti saw every one of her allies fall after she went up to investigate Mount Liphia. Trousseau was waiting for her there and revealed his horrifying actions. He had betrayed Castti and the rest of Eir's Apothecaries and was joyous at the pain he was causing. This would have been traumatizing enough, but then it got worse. Andy and Randy sacrificed themselves to stop the flames of the Shadow's smoke, and Castti began to succumb to the poison as well. Malaya took her back down the mountain, and they found Elma dead and Jeyah losing strength fast. Malaya took Castti away from Healeaks and out to the New Delsta Anchorage where she dropped her off and sent her out to the sea. Malaya died soon afterwards, succumbing to the poison, and Castti was left to drift out of the range of the rain unconscious.

All of this was beyond traumatizing for obvious reasons. The mass death, the betrayal of someone she loved, losing her found family... It all happened within just a few hours. Castti's body was left struggling after this as well because of the poison Trousseau used. It was too much for her to bear both mentally and physically.

And that's where the Malaya of modern day comes in. She was not a ghost nor was she a figment of Castti's imagination. Instead, she was a headmate who appeared as a result of the Healeaks massacre. Malaya knew one thing above all else: Castti could not remember what just happened. Imagine what would have happened if Castti had awoken with her memories; she would have completely broken down, and no one could have blamed her. The events of Healeaks would have shattered her, and Malaya couldn't have that happen. She was created from the trauma of Healeaks, and she kept the truth secret from Castti while drip feeding her memories of the past as she grew ready for them.

In Canalbrine, Castti treated the people after their water was poisoned. Sesque remarked on how Malaya was the only apothecary around even though to Castti, Malaya was right there. Sesque didn't respond when Malaya tried to calm him down, and throughout the rest of the chapter, no one else said a word to Malaya. Even after Malaya helped Castti to remember the past, no one responded to her leaving behind a clearly distraught Castti in the heart of the town. Malaya flashed in and out of existence, seemingly as evidence of her being a ghost, but again, this doesn't make much sense with the rules established by the universe. If Malaya was a ghost, then why would she not try to tell Castti things only she knew and Castti wouldn't have? If Malaya was a figment of Castti's imagination, then how did she exist at all without Castti having any solid memories to pull from?

I think the explanation as to why Malaya didn't appear more consistently can be cleared up by the idea of Malaya having her own motives and autonomy. She was afraid of the truth and didn't know how she was supposed to reveal it to Castti. Of course she was terrified. She held the memories of a massacred Healeaks and knew she would have to reveal it to Castti one day if they were to stop Trousseau from killing the people of Timberain. Malaya was terrified of having to tell the truth. She deliberately kept from speaking to Castti openly for as long as she could because she was afraid. Malaya may have been there to lead Castti to the truth, but she had the room to be afraid on account of being a headmate with her own emotions and insecurities.

Castti kept up her habit of talking to people who weren't there even without Malaya there though. Perhaps she subconsciously knew there was someone for her to talk to, and that was why she kept doing it. Osvald commented on it in "Talking to Yourself", and Castti said she didn't remember because Malaya was keeping it a secret from her. Throughout all of this, Castti struggled with depersonalization and dissociation as is stated in "Another Self" even if that banter is much later in the game. Castti entertained the idea of trauma causing her amnesia in "A Good Apothecary" with Temenos in Winterbloom, not realizing just how accurate that was.

Castti's conversation with Malaya after her chapter twos is definitely a scene she is meant to have alone. Even if the other travelers are there, everything about it reads that she must be alone. The others would have noticed her talking to herself if they were there, and this is the same reason why there is no travel banter during the recollection sequences in Healeaks. Castti asks Malaya for answers, but Malaya remains stingy with the truth on account of her fear. She asks Castti to meet her in Healeaks.

At the end of Castti's chapter three, the truth comes out. Malaya is "no longer in this world" as Castti says, and Malaya drops her crucial line about how she can only reveal to Castti that which she already knew. The memories were always there; they had simply been repressed and hidden by the trauma of Healeaks. Malaya existed to Castti even before she got her memories back though, something that I don't think would have been possible for a simple figment of Castti's imagination. Malaya was afraid of the truth and hid it for as long as she could, and when the truth came out, she backed away.

Systems are meant to keep themselves hidden from the people who take care of most daily tasks. On many occasions, members of systems even speak to their headmates without realizing that's what they're doing, and then they go right back to not being aware because they don't recognize that is what is happening. Some have described it as talking to their inner child or guardian angel without realizing those were headmates. Castti spoke to Malaya here, but that did not necessarily mean she knew the truth. In fact, she still didn't know, and Malaya took a step away until their confrontation on the roof with Trousseau.

Malaya comes back to help Castti find the cure to the poison rain even after she seemingly faded away back at the harbor near New Delsta. This fading away didn't seem to mean much to Malaya, and she came right back. I believe that Castti imagined Malaya fading away as a matter of symbolism rather than actually witnessing it, especially since Malaya returned in Timberain. They came up with the cure together, and in the dream that followed, Castti put Eir's Apothecaries to sleep. Some see this as proof of the ghost theory, but in my mind, this could simply be symbolic or metaphorical as dreams often are. Later, Castti told Ori that Eir's Apothecaries had saved Timberain... And if you think about it, that could refer to her and the Malaya of modern day too. Even after all of this, Castti did not know the truth, and she brought up having depersonalization and dissociation issues in "Another Self" during the postgame. Malaya was her headmate, her protector, and the guardian of her memories all this time. She just didn't know it.

Housekeeping and Other Points

There are a few other points I wish to address before the conclusion, so here's a handful of final details about this theory I want to draw attention to. Castti recovering her memories happened quite often with Malaya guiding her through it. The few memories she found on her own without Malaya directly there were vague and lacking in key details, such as Trousseau's identity being hidden from Castti during her flashback in Sai. Malaya was the key to Castti understanding her past in full, and she needed to be there to guide Castti to the truth.

Beyond this, Castti is unable to remember anything unless Malaya specifically allows her to. Malaya vaguely instructed Castti to seek out the truth before she left in Canalbrine, and Castti later found her way to Sai and Winterbloom as Malaya wanted. Every memory Castti found was a direct consequence of Malaya allowing her to remember, something that is very reminiscent of system members keeping their memories hidden from others unless they explicitly permit the sharing of memories.

There is a common but incorrect belief that only childhood trauma causes plurality. This isn't exactly the case. There is a strong correlation with childhood trauma, but it is not necessarily causation. For an example of a system forming later in life, there is a case of a soldier going off to war and coming back plural due to the trauma when he never showed any symptoms and did not report plurality prior to his service. Castti's system could have definitely formed from the trauma of Healeaks.

Malaya meant a lot to Castti. During the flashback in Healeaks, Malaya says something about what snowdrops represent but cuts herself off. Another NPC in the flashback says they stand for loyalty. In the flower language seen outside the game, snowdrops represent rebirth and new beginnings, something fitting perfectly with the modern Malaya's relationship with Castti. It's not out of the question to believe Castti and Malaya were far closer than Castti was with any of the other apothecaries, and this is the reason Malaya specifically appeared to Castti.

Under the circumstances described in this theory, Malaya would classify as an introject. In systems, introjects are headmates that come from outside sources, including important people in the system's life. The Malaya we know was inspired by and based on the Malaya of Castti's memory. She is an introject who appeared to protect Castti and guide her back to her memories.

Conclusion

Throughout Octopath Traveler II, Castti is shown to exhibit many of the symptoms found in plural systems, and she reports on many of them herself. She struggles with feeling like one person, expresses a desire to reach out to the other sides of herself, talks to herself enough for it to be noticed by outsiders, grapples with amnesia even beyond the Healeaks tragedy, and faces dissociation issues on a regular basis. All of this is incredibly relatable to the plural experience and causes Castti to read as plural with Malaya acting as her headmate. The Malaya we know and the Malaya of the past are not the same; the former is Castti's protector who guides her to the truth of her memories following the tragedy of Healeaks. There is ample evidence throughout the game to point to this between travel banters, the rules of the universe, and the events of Castti's story.

Castti is a very important character to me personally because of her plural coding. I doubt it was intentional on the part of the writing team behind this fantastic game, but it hits very close to home for being accurate, empowering plural representation that doesn't position the system as the villain. Granted, this exists in the same game as "Shadow Hikari," a character that has been very prone to evil alter stereotypes within the fandom. Still, Castti is a representation of plurality that resonates so deeply because of her accuracy in portraying plural life, especially the plurality found in those who have not yet discovered their systems. Castti is the most plural character I've seen in any media in a long time, and she's the plural mascot of 2023 for me.

If you enjoyed this essay and analysis, I highly suggest you check out the one shots I linked at the top of this story. They explore my interpretations of Castti's plurality in a lot more detail through written prose rather than essay format. If you want to put a plural interpretation of Castti in your fan work, feel free to do so! In fact, tag us in it so we can check it out. Thank you for reading this far, and have a lovely night. To any systems seeing this: rock on. Plural gang forever.

[justforbooks]

Though most of us have only seen the posters, Edward Hopper's paintings have become icons of 20th-century American life. But what are they like in reality?

It feels as if you've always known them, the paintings of Edward Hopper. America seems unimaginable without them. Lone souls, empty sidewalks, baking brownstones, raking sunlight, the drug store at four in the morning, usherettes, clerks, the solitary salesman, hotel rooms on sluggish afternoons, heat sizzling outside, misery shut up indoors. People and places and the human condition: this is the genius (or cheap music) of Edward Hopper as everyone knows it.

Or is it? The flash of recognition, so crucial to each painting, is easily confused with familiarity. Unless you have travelled to America the chances are you may never have seen a Hopper in reality. There is only one in Britain (in a very private collection) and there hasn't been a show here in almost a generation. Even if you've seen a few originals, and survived the shock of finding them more rough-hewn and awkward than reproductions imply, and infinitely stronger, this retrospective at Tate Modern may amaze. It is a revelation in so many ways.

Reproduction shrivels Hopper. It turns his paintings into illustrations. Which, in turn, abets all the old clichés about his works: that they are theatrical tableaux, or film stills, for which you write the script, that they are enigmas waiting to be solved. Or that there is a narrative to each painting, a backstory to each loner, that can somehow be deduced from the details of clothes, props, mise en scène: a mystery fit for Hammett or Chandler.

People who write about Hopper like to float theories. The stenographer who longs to comfort her unhappily married boss in Office at Night. The once hopeful out-of-towner waiting for the bus back home in Automat. You could make a story out of any of his pictures, runs the line (a whole anthology exists, in fact, filled with just that). But I'm not sure his art needs or demands such interpretations. 'I hope it will not tell any obvious anecdotes,' fretted Hopper, with foresight, 'since none are intended.'

Take a work such as Sunday (1926). Condensed on a page, it would seem to show nothing more than a clerk in his shirtsleeves sitting on a deserted sidewalk nursing one elbow. Behind him is a shop front, before him the blank street. It seems to be morning. Perhaps he never went to bed or is forced to work Sundays; who knows? The man is a model, not a narrative.

What strikes is the painting itself, so drab in reproduction, so magical face to face. The way Hopper's sunlight pours through the window, scouring the emptiness of the shop - is there a more vacant room anywhere in art? The ambient distance it measures between the man and the world around him. The beautiful colour harmonies between shutter, boardwalk, blinds and street that shut him out, their subtlety contrasting with his brusque shirt, the only white in the picture. Everything isolates him, the lone worker, lost in thought, stark in the careless sunshine.

There are no trash cans, no signs, not even a spent butt in this image. It is pared to the bare epiphany. Elimination, rearrangement, cropping, distancing, angle: it's usual to think of Hopper in terms of cinematography. But as an editor he is on a par with Degas, and no sort of standard realist, representing the view with dogged fidelity. As Degas wrote, 'One reproduces only that which is necessary.'

Hopper studied Degas on one of the three trips he made to Paris in his youth; but the rest of his file is pretty thin. Born in 1882, the son of a dry goods salesman in Nyack, New York, he was a sometime illustrator and part-time painter who stopped painting for almost 10 years and didn't find form until his forties. Taciturn, frugal, gallingly self-contained from his wife's point of view, he lived in the same cold-water apartment in Manhattan from his marriage at 41 until his death in 1967. She was his only model.

Flipping through a book of Hopper's pictures might give the sense of lives snapped, scenes glimpsed, from the street or the El. But it would be wrong to think of him simply skimming images of strangers through windows as he rides the subway by night. Of course he caught what we catch - the freeze-frame behind glass, people who are outsiders to one another, seen from outside - but this is both more and less than he shows.

A great Hopper, in the paint, is all stillness, silence, solidity. Not the stillness of Vermeer, of stopped yet reverberating time, but a stillness all of his own: the hiatus, the lapse, the longueur, the moment between significant moments. A man staring out of the window while a girl sleeps beside him. A woman seated in the dead light of a theatre during intermission, blank as the safety curtain.

You don't hear the waves of Cape Cod in Hopper's seascapes or the cicadas in his landscapes. There are no crowds or sirens in his cities. All is silence; the mind turned in on itself, thinking, or not quite thinking, the only action. How implausible it would be to enter a Hopper and hear actual sound.

And the clock strikes 13 in any painting where motion is represented - such as the hopeless attempt at the nanny's fluttering headdress in New York Pavements. Hopper's pictures are not movies; the best of them have monumental solidity. In the architecture - his absolute gift, to make buildings as poignant and fascinating as people, if not more so; in the sunlight, pressing against houses, carpeting floors; even in the skies. Hopper's clouds never scud.

The cumulus hangs paralysed above Manhattan in Williamsburg Bridge (1928). I thought the painting would make me think of A Streetcar Named Desire - apartments rocked by incessant traffic - but it doesn't. It fairly scintillates with silence. Brownstones blaze against the pale sky: heavy stone, bright heat. Windows blink, or frown, or shutter against the light. At one of them, way up high, a trademark figure sits on the sill, on the threshold between within and without, dreaming, looking out, observing the world. Like a painter: Hopper's surrogate.

Except that this would be totally anomalous. Hopper never forces himself upon his art. There is no sense of his personality - aside, perhaps, from a steady empathy with the subjects - and any sign of his presence immediately deactivates the drama.

For there are weak paintings, even in a tremendous show like this. When the buildings become flimsy, for example, or the colour is ostentatiously over-keyed. When the woman turns into a glib dollybird, when the figures get clumsier and more caricatural in later years. When he repeats himself: all those people gazing off-stage, into another world, another life. When even the light houses face off into the distance, eyes averted. Hopper can be just too plangent.

Which feels fatal, along with everything else that limits the emotional complexity of his art, makes it seem 'expressive' of loneliness, sorrow and so forth. Such as the presence of more than one figure. Two and the scene becomes a dialogue, however mute or fractured; three and all sorts of too-obvious anecdotes present themselves, especially in the film noir works of the Forties. Even one person looking directly out of the frame, or just with a directional gaze, and the spell, the reverie, is broken.

A masterpiece such as Early Sunday Morning hasn't a single figure in it (Hopper judiciously deleted the hint of a face at a window). But it's one of the richest works he ever painted. The dawn light casting immense shadows down the long avenue, peopled only by a hydrant and a barber's pole; the intense colour of the brick facades; the many windows, with their separate characters; the hint of menace in the tall building edging into the picture. It's not portentous, like de Chirico City; it is the world seen anew as surpassingly strange and beautiful.

And crucial to its effect is the curious absence of Hopper. You see where he might have stood to make sketches but there's no sense of his watching presence; no directing of focus, attention. The corollary is also the case - that your own viewpoint is somehow vacant as well. Nobody is looking at this street, nobody is looking back: and how much more so with his paintings of people. That pensive woman in the third floor apartment? You don't think for one moment that Hopper has a ladder propped at her window; rather it's a kind of floating observation: so real, and yet like a dream.

'One was aware,' wrote a friend, 'of a slight displacement in his experience of his own person ... as when we are strange to ourselves, and become objects of our own contemplation.' That quality is crucial to the power of Hopper's art, as to the minds of his men and women. They are absorbed, abstracted, almost hypnotically disengaged from the world around them: and Hopper's gift goes outwards too. After a while you become one with them, rapt, still, solitary in your absorption as the people in these spellbinding pictures.

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

[ringneckedpheasant]

Hi! I saw your Bible post and if you're interested in doing this, I have a few things you could look into/do which might make the process easier if you have trauma/want to approach it like a set of myths/historical document! I studied theology and religion at uni (particularly queer and eco theology) and came at it from a non-christian angle. Anyway feel free to delete this ask if it's not useful/too much etc. I just thought I'd give some ideas!

Yale has a series of online free lectures on the Old Testament which are super interesting and don't assume any faith! They go into the various myths which inspired the various stories in the bible (such as the flood), and the history of particular parts of the old testament library (they also have one for the new testament but I haven't watched it so don't know how good it is)

Look into apocrypha! The Nag Hammai scriptures, the gospel of Judas etc. Might actually be super interesting to you if you like the myth/history aspect! They're the books which were de-classified as canon (or never were canon), but all were written super early (2nd century) I specifically recommend the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Judas. "Lost scriptures" by Ehrman is a great laymans book explaining the histories/controversies around this and even goes into the controversies surrounding the secret gospel of Mark aka the gospel where Jesus seems to have gay sex. (Ehrman writes a lot of good layman books on the bible which might be worth looking at!)

If you're looking at the NT maybe look at books like Jesus the Jew by Geza Vermes or The Crucified God by moltmamn. They're a bit specialised but it is SUPER important to modern historical studies of jesus to situate him as a Jew because that is who he was! Also Moltmamns book is v leftist and not fundamentalist.

"And man created God" by Selina O'Grady goes into detail about all the OTHER religions around during the 1st century (emperor cults etc.) Which is great for context for the gospels and also learning about cool religious traditions around in the 1st century!

Queer theology? Maybe? Might be fun for ya? Queer readings of the Bible are abundant from Ruth, Judas, David and Jonathan and jesus and there's quite a few books on them (I'm not dropping any here because I've read some Intense Theological Ones which Im not sure would appeal but if you Google you will find)

Look into Song of Songs the Official Sex is Good and Holy Book in the bible! (It's also just beautifully written)

Looking at things like "the Muslim Jesus" might also be interesting? Little collections of how Islam has viewed/interpreted Judaism and Christianity and why is always interesting and often another angle on those myths/historical documents

I'm sure other people could give you more ideas/ways to approach! I approached from a non religious angle but my institution was firmly situated in the Christian tradition so is slightly biased that way. But anyway! I just thought I'd give some starting points you could look at on the myth/history angle?

Have a lovely day!

I AM LOOKING??!!?? gd this is EXACTLY what I didn’t know I needed, all of this sounds very up my alley & like it’ll be great for what I’d be trying to get out of it. like. I have gone from “this is a thing I’ve been idly thinking about” to “this is a thing I could reasonably do and where I could start”!

I’ve done a little bit of looking into queer readings of things in the past (particularly david & jonathan) but then I had a years-long period that I technically still haven’t gotten out of where I physically could not bring myself to open a bible so I haven’t tried to actually read those stories myself while keeping a queer perspective in mind. also have had more years of lit classes that I dropped out of halfway through the semester so I have slightly more knowledge of how to dissect and analyze Texts than I used to

[sophieinwonderland]

there are terms besides tulpa that describe the same thing. why not use one of those such as thoughtform?

Thoughtform doesn't describe the same thing. At least in a modern context.

Thoughtform is closely associated with spiritual and pagan practices. That are some tulpamancers who view tulpa creation as metaphyical, they're a small minority in the tulpamancy community. While looking up how to make a tulpa will give you guides using psychological methods, looking for information about thoughtforms gives you information like this:

To be fair, some of the methods are actually similar to tulpamancy if you can ignore it calling a thoughtform a spirit and making it to repair wards, but then there are other oddities here like... making it able to die of old age???

The people presenting thoughtform as a valid alternative are mostly ones who are neither involved with the tulpa community, NOR the communities who create thoughtforms.

While I believe different communities can learn from each other, (like exploring how that "vessel binding" thing can be adapted to psychological practices,) I think mashing a pre-existing mostly-psychological community with a pre-existing mostly-spiritual community is just going to be harmful to both.

This also means if academic research into the practice continued, it would shift to becoming slanted further towards spiritual practices. This is a problem for the psychological endogenic community overall since one of the (bad) arguments against exceptions in the DSM and ICD is that those only apply to spiritual practices. (Which is a lie.) Studies into tulpamancy, a mostly psychological practice, can put the final nail in the coffin of that wrong interpretation. And may, in fact, result in the DSM-6 and ICD-12 using overtly psychological examples in addition to mediumship and spiritual practices.

Besides that, it's also not even realistic for the term to change. Because of the way Reddit works, r/tulpas literally couldn't possibly change its name. Tulpa.info might be able to, but I believe doing so would instantly break every link to tulpamancy guides there since it would need a new domain. And the tulpamancy discord servers... just won't. They're too isolated and cut off from the wider communities and conversations.

There is no universe where the change outsiders are expecting to happen would be plausible with the infrastructure these communities are built on.

You can scream at a mountain to move if you want, and you might even cause an avalanche and think for a moment that it's possible. But try as you might, that mountain isn't actually going to budge. 🤷‍♀️

Some seem to believe that convincing tulpamancers on Tumblr will be effective. But what they don't understand is that we're mostly just snow here. Less connected to the whole mountain. Even the few who buy into their rhetoric aren't going to make a difference overall.

[natequarter]

the use of piety and perceived 'zealotry' in anglophone (typically renaissance) historical fiction is to me a transparent projection of modern protestant values onto the past. protestants are devout and wish to restore the church to its full glory so that people may know the love of christ, but catholics are greedy backwards hypocrites and fanatical in their beliefs. it's particularly odd given how piety can be transformed into fanaticism - in one scenario we may perceive a king's piety as a defence of his moral character, in another we may perceive a bishop's ardent devotion as evidence of his corruption. it's a double standard which varies depending on whether a particular person was protestant or catholic (or sometimes puritan, bringing us back to the same stereotypes about catholics), but it's also a modern belief. no fifteenth century person would have seen a devout catholic as fanatical in their beliefs; they would have seen it as a mark of morality and something to respect. it's only in a significantly more secularised age that we tend to interpret piety as fanaticism - even though the difference between the two seems to come down, essentially, to 'do we like this person or not?' if we do, it's piety; if we don't, it's fanaticism.

it particularly seems to shape how we see historical figures - most famously mary i for her burnings of heretics. this is understandably seen as extreme - cool it, mary - but we routinely forget to mention that burning at the stake was the standard punishment for heretics and would have been viewed as acceptable in early modern england. mary was cruel and vicious towards protestants who preached what had only a few years ago been moderate and acceptable views - i don't think this is unfair to say - but was she any more fanatical than her brother, who also doggedly pursued religious reforms, or her father, who oversaw the destruction of monastic life in its entirety and, funnily enough, also burnt people at the stake?

i don't know. fortunately, tudor media can answer this for you: henry was an unscrupulous brute with no manners who used religion to get his own way. never mind his desire to be perceived as pious - we like to think of henry viii as uncultured to uphold our pop culture view of him, so unreligious it is! not that henry's religious views made any sense, but that's not what i'm interested in. we can again see the influence of anti-catholic stereotypes of zealotry and persecution (with a healthy dose of misogyny and stereotypes around overbearing mothers) in the characterisation of margaret beaufort. never mind that being a devout catholic was expected and indeed normal for her time, she was religious and a supporter of The Evil Tudor Usurper (who is apparently not henry viii, which sounds fake, but okay), and also have i mentioned that she was a mother-in-law from hell and do you see what i mean about misogyny? god forbid she care about her son. that would just be weird for a catholic bigot who doesn't care about anything except superstition and prayer. good thing that we have katherine of aragon to show us how to be obsessive about catholicism in a good way!

my point is, modern british and american historical fiction uses anti-catholic prejudice as a way to make caricatures out of what was for the medieval and early modern period a fairly normal part of life - religious devotion. nobody would have told a medieval catholic, well, you're being too catholic. in fact, the church tends to like it when you're very catholic! of course, there are always some good catholics in historical fiction - like everyone's beloved more versus the evil protestant cromwell. i suppose you have to mix things up every so often. regardless of the people involved, it's very annoying, so please stop.

[theresattrpgforthat]

(possibly too specific) but any games where you’re able to play something akin to a D&D mindflayer? looking to steal brains and create thralls

Alright friend, nothing's a direct match but here's what I got. There seems to be a connection between Caltrop Core and these kinds of monster games, as I found three that use this system!

Locum Tendons, by Elijah Raine Plant the seeds of deceit, harvest the flesh.  Locum Tendons, a butchering of the Latin phrase locum tenens, meaning "to substitute for," is a role-playing game about one or more doppelgangers infiltrating an adventuring party and systemically consuming them. You, the players, will take on the role of monsters while your GM takes the role of the party members you'll be massacring.  

This is a one-page game with two stats: Deception and Consumption. It's based off of Caltrop Core, so you'll only need d4s. You'll be working to increase fear levels of your final victim so that your last meal is deliciously terrifying. Not exactly mind-flayers, but the devouring of adventurers might fill some of that niche. No Sacrifice Without Blood, by hyphenartist.

Vampire, werewolf, troll, ker, chupacabra — the names are as subtle and subjective as they are distinct and seemingly endless. Your life among the Hungry has been complicated and painful. It has cost you much, and yet it has also been undeniably rewarding. You have been hurt, but you have also hurt others. You are a Predator, and that sort of thing is to be expected.

No Sacrifice Without Blood is a modern gothic tabletop roleplaying game about the lives of immortal, cannibalistic beings called Predators. It uses a deck of cards to play out your attempts to sate your Hunger, with powers that may dwindle along the way. The Predators of this game are up for interpretation. You can choose something classic, like a Vampire, or something specific, like the Mindflayer you're looking for! However, the game focuses mostly on the themes of making sacrifices for power. You might very well steal brains but you'll be confronted with the cost.

Fever Pitch, by Liam McCrickard / Tomahawkbunny.

Enter a world of Curses and blood, of haunted forests and ruined streets. A band of Outcasts with strange abilities despised by the mundane, the faithful, and the arcane alike band together to face the Cursed creatures of the world while finding their own paths.

Another Caltrop Core game, this time focusing on the monstrosity of not belonging. You'll face off against foes, wrestling with Curses and unlocking your powers the closer and closer you get to death.

There are a few playbooks within this game that might get you the mindflayer vibe you're looking for, like The Drinker, who must feast on others to grow, or the Hive, which strives to add more useful branches to their network. The themes of this game seem to resonate somewhat with the idea of pursuing revenge even at the edge of despair. B.B.E.G., by Maps N' Quests.

So, you’re the bad guy... 

Or, in this case, you might be a group of them. You’re the villains of this story. You’re not that different from the heroes you fight against, really. If they really thought about it, they’d probably see that they have a lot in common with you. Why won’t those heroes ever just consider those things, right? Regardless of their reasoning, or yours, you have a vision of what you think things should be like, and you’re going to make it so. You’ll fight against those heroes in whatever way you need to, so you can make things the way you want them to be. See, there’s a similarity already. Maybe, just maybe, if you can’t beat the heroes, you can convince them to join you.

With flexible archetypes and stripped-down rules, you can flavour this to make your villains any monster you want. You can choose to fight the heroes if you like - but you can also try to convince the heroes to see things from your point of view, if you like. If all else fails, I'm sure you can find some way to steal their brains...

They Feed on Fear, by Alexei Vella

THEY FEED ON FEAR: A Horror RPG is a stand-alone RPG system that allows the players to create and take control of Fear-Eaters, horrific inter-dimensional beings that sustain themselves by devouring the Fear/Essence of their victims. Players name their Fear-Eater and create their appearance, behaviour, background, and mythology. The players must then stalk their way through the world outlined by the game master, called the Provider. The Fear-Eater's goal is to sow discord, fear, and horror, all while avoiding the feeble attempts to end their rampaging unquenchable feast.

You build your mythology in this game, so if you want to give your characters distinct Mindflayer vibes that seems pretty doable. You'll be descending on a town to feed yourselves, increasing the panic of the local townspeople until you've accumulated the Essence you need to move on to the next stage - whether that be Hibernation, Ascendancy, or something else.

[dwellerinroots]

Musings on a Prince of Dreams

Since I am now mercifully unburdened by obligations, but way too tired to do anything - plotted, for lack of a better word, I thought I'd finally get around to writing a bit about Daedra, Dreams, and meaning. CW; dark themes, nothing in particular, but 'generally dark.' And remember, we shall not abandon the dream...

I. A brief overview of Daedra and their role; Daedra are often crudely interpreted as 'bad gods.' Part of this is through authorial intent, but a great portion is through reader intent, and reader interpretation. I want to state of course that the latter is entirely valid, it's one of the reasons we're all here, but authorial intent matters as do the tools given to us to interpret. From a modern perspective, the Daedra offer very little. No matter how much power and how good the terms are, it often seems a difficult proposition to approach the Daedra for a bargain, even if you are fundamentally amoral. The cost for entry is high; you will be asked to do something that is either abhorrent, or difficult, and often both. In return, you get - something, perhaps powerful, but in a setting where it is possible for a farmer to trip over tools of great power; perhaps beyond their understanding, yes, but still present. So, why not turn to active gods who are actively good or at least benign, instead? Understanding this means understanding Tamrielic theology. That would be a post several novels in the making, and one I do feel qualified to write, but over time. What we can boil it down to here is this: * Daedra offer extraordinary power for those who take the greatest devotionals, but offer subtler gifts to those of more common bent and desire. * We rarely see these common gifts, but they are described and implied in every game the Daedra are present in. * In-universe, the Daedra are not universally viewed as 'bad gods' or even demons. It is important to remember that the structured pantheism of most Nedic religions, the ancestor cults + gods that are found among some Mer and Beasts, and the very funky Hist are entirely apart from how we understand religion, not just in our present, but in our past. * Though comparisons can be made, suffice to say that it is unlikely that pocket dimensional entities will offer you a cool stick that zorches your enemies into pecan pie right now. If they do, you probably voted for Ted Peterson in the sexyman contest, and it's a proper reward for devotion granted. * Even in areas where Daedric worship - any/all - is soundly rejected, there are regions that, either philosophically or openly, do not denounce them entirely. In Cyrodiil itself, traditionalist Colovian and Niben Valley philosophers will come to very different conclusions on what should or should not be worshipped - or propitiated - and that is right in the Empire. Now know that people like this are scattered everywhere, and so even where Daedric worship is stamped out, it is only done so on a very surface level.

So why do people worship Daedra if they aren't interested in a skull that is arguably one of the most useless artifacts of the game? Daedra grant relief from life. II. Daedra and their teachings; People see Molag Bal, look at his* divine profile, and immediately retreat. People see Mehrunes Dagon, see through his clear bluster, and immediately retreat. You can repeat this for almost all the Daedra without exception, but to a lesser extent to the more 'harmless' ones. But there is no harmlessness in life. Molag Bal's cruelties may effect a fraction of Dagon's chaos; does that make the one worse then the other? If Namira sends a pestilence that kills all of their followers, but many innocents as well, who is 'good' here? Who is 'least vile?' (If you immediately went 'Clavicus,' you can pause here for a brief chuckle. You've earned it.) What the Daedra offer is relief. And you might roll your eyes and think that few would be tempted to petty cruelty to scratch an itch on existence, but think about how many people use words like kill with - obviously hyperbolic intent. Hyperbolic. They'd never. But let's pretend that they really wouldn't; the Daedra are not monoliths. They are Princes, whose demesnes are vast, as the names of the gods have epithets. Namira's domain of pestilence and decay also feeds into rebirth. Canny farmers might look to their gods or ancestors for good harvests, but observe the worms in their gardens, and know. Sanguine's hedonism leads to decadence, sloth, pride, and loss; there are always dark undersides to his revelries. But those who endure them become more disciplined, more aware of the self, and more worldly in turn. The blood-hunts of Hircine are violent and primal; but that is life, a constant struggle for existence where vitality and skill are rarely enough to make it another day. Hircine teaches honour and a degree of understanding, not just of the natural world - but of the shunned, and those that cannot make it. At the end of the hunt, it is their blood that stains the spear; and that is of value, too. None of these are 'good' nor are they 'easy,' but they happen. In a world where gods and spirits, mages and planar powers regularly interact with the world, accepting them is almost as important as our own. So, what then of Vaermina? III. VAERMINA Widely considered to be one of the most undesirable Princes for a follower, Vaermina has almost-total control over the realm of Dreams. This demesne is unfathomably wide; all creatures, perhaps, dream. And even if you view that only 'sentient' souls dream, craving a dividing line between things that think and things to eat, how many souls does that remain? Countless. Countless souls who feed into the power of the Prince, herself. Yet Vaermina often comes across as simultaneously impetuous and shortsighted, authoritarian - even for a Daedra - and almost weak-willed, which seems peculiar. Surely, with such a wide net to draw from, she should be considered one of the most powerful and terrible of the Daedra, and treated accordingly..? We must backtrack, for a moment. Daedra are not wholly evil, nor or are they particularly acknowledged by the known gods. If it were a contest, any of the Aedra could probably one-versus-one them; but the Daedra to the Aedra are as we are to the Daedra.

Unworthy of notice.

Each, despite having unfathomable power to us, is limited by how cunningly they can interpret their domain, and the rules within. This is dangerous; Sheogorath famously 'cursed' himself and Jyggalag, or perhaps the inverse. It hardly matters; if Jyggalag truly saw and understood the situation, I think you will find that relevant as we discuss Vaermina.

'Safe' Princes attempt to hew to their boxes of sky, or merge them into our known material world. Both of these are less risky then expanding too quickly, and being struck down by powerful gods - or Men, or Mer, or Beasts - for there are heroes who might challenge even Daedra and win. (Also, the Argonians. Dagon, you absolute clown. Get fucked throughout all kalpas.)**

'Aggressive' Princes dream of how they might use their powers to greatest advantage.

But Vaermina rarely dreams; they are for others. Her actions see her most often acting like a petty-tyrant. I don't think I need to detail her quests, here.

And yet...

People continue to seek her out. Why?

Life is hard; life is often terrible. There are countless people who might dream of horrible tortures, alien skies, cruel and unknowable creatures and think -

ah this gentleness is a relief

and i would stay here, forever, if i might.

Is it so strange to think that - if your dreams are demon-haunted realms, but they are a momentary reprise from things you do not, cannot bear - That even the faces of imagined tormentors might one day be thought of as friends..? The gentleness of nightgaunts is not something everyone would understand. Vaermina does not need this; after all, she has a near-monopoly on dreams - though that is not enough, of course. For there is one last thing to mention. This is entirely my personal thought, and though I'd strongly defend the above as - at the very least - canon-adjacent, this next bit is guesswork. A dream, if you will. IV. the death of dreams Dreams have special significance in Elder Scrolls. All of the world is a dream, or perhaps the dream that is all of the world. The edges of the world are a dream, and when you forget what they look like, you forget what you look like in turn. Some think that the Dwemer understood the dream, and were destroyed by it; or destroyed themselves. What matters is that Vaermina, as master of all dreams, must surely be aware that no matter how great and powerful she is, it is in fact just another dream inside a dream. What is the most infuriating thing you could imagine? How would it feel to be aware that reality is fake, lack the words to articulate, lack the creativity to depict it in anyway, and be bound to holding up the corners of the illusion, forever? Might you grow cruel, and vicious, especially to those followers who worshipped the fake reality, their idealised and painful dream, over the dreams you might even wish to grant them..? This maze of dreams goes incredibly far; farther than I could do credit. Blessed as I am by the Prince, I notice these things. How could I not? After all, when you first start a certain journey, born under a certain star, one of the first things you hear, is... As all Princes can be aspects of - if not good things, things that inspire growth - I think it is worth taking a look at just how fittingly ironic the shackles that hold the Daedra back are; self-inflicted flaws in their plans or schemes, or perhaps Vaermina being stuck in a quagmire she cannot quite escape from. Her frustrations leading to her relying on the quick fix of nightmares, of terror without purpose, ends up closing the door on followers who seek anything BUT nightmares, even if just as a balm. These are the least likely to understand her own frustrations and limits, leading to further frustrations - a fittingly Sisyphean punishment, one ensuring that the end of the dream will ever be out of reach. But to those few whose affections reach her, Vaermina can be generous, even kind - and perhaps even the cruel and mercurial Prince wishes, at times, that she might grant sweet dreams - or even just the peace of a night without thought, adrift in a starless sea. * Obviously, Daedra are sex/gender agnostic. I use the pronouns they are most known by; but they're Daedra. ** I just love the canonical lore of the Hist being like 'hey little lizard buddies/pollinators/friends/serfs (interpretation may vary), could you go fuck the ever-loving shit out of the weak planar parasite bothering me i'll give you buffs owo' and then it does. I'm not saying the Hist is the best true divine/intercosmic entity, but......... *** Here's the punchline. I have a diagnosed sleeping disorder, it's quite manageable, but my eyes are dark portals into the void and my (likely former) roomie pointed out I was clearly in with Vaermina. So that's it. That's why I'm here to talk to you about Our Prince of Nightmares.

[alicentsgf]

i've never seen anyone have anything but good things to say about madeline miller, so i'm genuinely curious why you don't like her?? :0

Im not gonna go too crazy with my criticisms because a lot of it is personal taste and im sure people have very valid criticisms of haynes work too (as i have expressed i Love her work but even i have a few critiques) and like i said before, millers not a bad writer her use of prose is very competent......... but i hate when people place such a modern lense over historical works just to make it more sanitised for a modern audience. i mean you've all witnessed how much i hate it even when stories like hotd, which only mimics a historical setting, are viewed through that lense.

but i also kind of get that it probably wouldnt have done as well if she hadnt modernised some of the attitudes to make the characters more relatable so.... u kno. it is what it is. i think the fact we're in these characters heads in her books makes it all the more obvious to me and it just wasnt something i could get past. like achilles just seemed a bit too cool towards spilling blood for a famed warrior. idk. and Patroclus' characterisation totally confused me he just seemed so incompetent and i dont really get why she interpreted him that way.

then theres the fact i just dont think she does great work with the women in her stories. shes never made me care about them and thats a red flag personally. and she has this weird negativity toward motherhood that kinda persists throughout her work which could use some nuance imo (but maybe im biased just because mother/child dynamics fascinate me). i feel like she even sometimes misrepresents the lives these women would have lived just to make them even more tragic in a way thats excessive and yet somehow boring to me.

but like i said. these are just thoughts i had whilst reading and its been years since i read one of her books. they're just my opinions and not exactly guaranteed to be well-formed ones. theres nothing inherently wrong with liking her work imo these stories are always passing through iterations and im not gonna stand here and say shes wrong for writing her version or that people are wrong for enjoying them.

[captureatrips]

Work And Chill In Ladakh

This might seem to be an unpopular opinion, like why would someone in their right senses go to Ladakh for work!! You must be thinking we have lost our minds, but hear us out. With the advent of work from home, there is one thing that we all miss is enjoying our work. Earlier we would have gone to offices had a few meetings, had few presentations (if you had many not my fault!) had tea and had some office gossips then went home, happily waiting for the weekend.

However, now everything has changed. Our bosses just usually assume that working from home is convenient and now most of us work for 7 days a week. Even if we are not working that impending tension of work is always there. But as they say every problem offers an opportunity, and the solution to this problem is Workation!

What is workation?

Well typically it is a Gen Z thing, but why should Gen Z have all the fun? Workation is a portmanteau of two words work and vacation. Literally, it means working on a vacation.; but you will be wrong if you interpret it in the wrong way. It is traveling while you are working. Usually, we go on a vacation to rejuvenate ourselves to re-explore ourselves, but what when we don’t want to recharge our batteries

Working and vacation are considered to be opposite, but that is not true! When we are on a workation we typically have more time to travel and explore the place, as we are not missing out on any important aspect of life. On a workation we can enjoy both work and vacation and make the best out of both worlds.  On a workation, we can typically be more creative and productive in the beautiful valley of Ladakh. So, let’s dive deep into the concept of workation on a Ladakh trip!

Workation in Ladakh

If you are someone who immensely loves mountains and their work, a workation in Ladakh will be your dream come true. The first myth that we want to burst right away is- Yes! There is good internet connectivity. Jio and Airtel provide internet services in Leh and even if not, you can find strong Wi-Fi connections during your stay to attend your meetings. Ladakh is an extremely friendly place to be and you can find hotels and stays for a reasonable rate for a long duration. If you finish your work early you can go and explore Ladakh and its beauty. You can even work in beautiful cafes in Ladakh. Most of these cafes have high internet connectivity and you can easily work here with a great view and great food.

So, before booking your Ladakh trip package, go through this list of some of the most beloved cafes in Ladakh where you can work and chill:

1)      Coffee culture: This café is located at the meeting point of Zangsti Road and several other streets, and here you have a high probability to bump into someone whom you know.

2)      Lala’s Art Café: This is one of the most remarkable cafes we have been to. With a great terrace view and ambience, you will get a lot of creative ideas here.

3)      Lehvenda Café: This café has great music, mouth-watering food, and amazing sitting space. It has a remarkable blend of traditional and modern ambience and is great to hang out for hours.

For More Info, Visit US:

[ctenvs3000w23]

Unit 4: Nature Interpretation Through Art and Planning for "All" Scenarios

After learning about the importance of interpreting nature through art, I was able to reflect on my own understanding of these ideas and ponder how the arts effect my perception of the natural world. In modern day society, it seems as though the gap between people and nature has only grown wider and the human connection to the environment has continually weakened. The use of phones, computers, and technology in general has in many ways transformed reality from the natural world as we once knew it, into a virtual simulation. As Boeckel (2015) puts it, "The divides variously conceptualized and experienced between the modern self and the rest of nature have been attributed to different root causes, including a disenchantment of the world, loss of direct nature experience, and replacement of the real with simulations." He goes on to explain the importance of the role art plays in bridging our damaged relationship and connection with nature. For example, he highlights that activities involving art education in nature study bring about fascination and curiosity in participants, that's ultimately grounded in a new sense of awareness from their interactions with the natural world.

As an individual who is constantly looking for adventure and loves to travel, I realized that I often use photography and videography as a way to interpret nature through art. One idea that stood out to me after reading through the course link content for this unit and parts of the textbook was that you don't have to be a talented artist to appreciate nature through art. To illustrate proof of this idea, I have provided some of the many pictures and videos I have captured over the years.

The first picture was of a golf course in Niagara, the second photo was captured on Cape Breton Island along the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia, and the video was taken to remember one of the many views my friend and I saw, as we climbed one of the Appalachian mountains in Vermont. Although these photos and the video certainly weren’t professionally taken by a skilled photographer or videographer, they still hold value and allow people to perceive nature both intellectually and emotionally (Beck et al., 2018). 

With respect to the question, “How do you interpret the gift of beauty?”, I personally see it in many aspects of nature. As a firm believer in creationism and as a Christian myself, I am amazed by even the small and seemingly minuscule parts of the natural world. For example, the way a plant takes up water through its roots or uses the sun to produce energy and sugars through photosynthesis. These intricacies are so small, yet so important to our survival and the sustainability of both the biotic and abiotic environment. Not only do I find beauty in the small areas of life, but I also find it in breathtaking views as well. For example, watching the sunset over a lake, seeing the bright solar system of stars and planets up north, or taking in a picturesque view of mountains amongst valleys of grasslands and forest. I can remember being at my friend's cottage in Algonquin a few summers ago and stargazing at night. Since there is almost no light pollution from cities and towns, I could see space as clear as day! It was incredible and honestly made me realize how amazing God really is. It also made me feel so small in comparison to the universe! One quote that I’ll leave you from the textbook is, “For the greatest artists do not make their best works of art in clay or paint or sound or words; they make them right inside us, within the heart of the reader or audience.” (Griffiths, 2013). 

References:

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For a better world. SAGAMORE Publishing.

Course link Unit Content - Unit 4: Nature Interpretation Through Art and Planning for "All" Scenarios

van Boeckel, J. (2015). At the heart of art and earth: An exploration of practices in arts-based environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 21(5), 801–802. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2014.959474

[weemsbotts]

We Interrupt This History Blog…

By: Lisa Timmerman, Executive Director & Ghost Jeff, Ghost Guide

Ghost Jeff: Sorry Lisa, I need to interrupt your blog. As we get closer to Halloween, people may be looking for paranormal experiences and I think the following information would be helpful.

Lisa: But ghosts aren’t real.

Ghost Jeff: *sighs* Can I? Yes…let me just borrow your computer for a second…

Each year, thousands of people attend ghost tours or visit haunted locations with the hopes of experiencing something paranormal.  While these encounters are typically rare, some participants have life changing interactions with the unknown that alter their view the world.  Someone once said that hunting the paranormal is similar to fishing in many ways.  If you are prepared and follow these tips, you will get more out of your “fishing trip!”

Try to attend a tour that is being led by an experienced guide.  Tours guided by someone who knows the area will increase your probability of encountering something strange.  For example, they may be able to share the best time of day for an interaction. People mistakenly think that spirits are only active at night, but this is not true.  Many go about their business during the day.  Some will follow the same daily routine as they did when they were living.  Others might give the living their space during the day, but they will take ownership of the location after hours – and some become very agitated if the living are present when they are not supposed to be there.  This was the case at an antique store I visited a couple years ago. The owner had made a bargain with “Frederick,” a male spirit that occupied the location.  He told Frederick that he would allow him to have full run of the place after business hours, but he required a peaceful partnership during the day so he could earn a living.  This respectful agreement helped to calm the negative behavior being exhibited by the male spirit. All experienced guides should know where the “hot spots” are located at their haunted site.  They may even share some lesser-known locations where the spirits might retreat when they need their own space.  There are as many reasons for this behavior as there are personalities for people. Some spirits are actually frightened of strangers!  Others may despise our modern behaviors, and some are, quite frankly, racist!  Keep in mind that people who lived during different time periods did not share our same sentiments or contemporary “inclusive” attitudes.

If you are going to bring equipment, know how to use it!  Practice, practice, practice – and read the manual!  Is your cell phone causing your EMF meter to show “false positives?”  Is your voice recorder set to record at the highest setting?  Did you remember to bring fresh batteries?  Did you take the lens cap off of your camera before snapping that once in a lifetime photo of a full body apparition?  Every paranormal researcher has made their fair share of mistakes in the field, but with proper preparation you can capture the evidence you are looking for.

Be wary of conducting “online research” prior to your visit.  Speaking from experience, I can tell you that there is a lot of incorrect paranormal information online about the Weems-Botts Museum where I volunteer.  The Dead Files filmed an episode a few years back, and stated that there is an angry spirit of a widow that has attacked past volunteers and shoved people down the stairs.  Have people been touched while visiting the historic house?  Yes.  Have people been hurt or forcefully pushed – not that I am aware of.  There is a big difference between being poked by someone that is trying to say “Hello” and being forcefully shoved in a manner that can only be interpreted as “GET OUT!”  The female spirits that seem to occupy the historic home don’t seem to mind visitors, as long as guests are well mannered and respectful.  One of the spirits may be a prankster, and I think they have fun playfully scaring the living every once and awhile.  For example, I have been told that during one daytime tour, our antique doll, April, opened her eyes and lifted one arm into the air. This, of course, frightened a group of guests and they quickly exited the building.  I do not believe the doll is haunted, but I do believe a spirit may have manipulated the arm to frighten the guests. On more than one of my tours, guests have claimed to see the dolls eyes fluttering or moving rapidly.  We have tried to debunk it by checking to see if a window mounted AC unit could be blowing on her, but it was not.  Perhaps a spirit was manipulating the dolls lashes with their hand?

Pay attention to the little things.  Spirits may attempt to communicate with you, but it will often be very subtle. Sometimes spirits may cause the lights to flicker after a statement has been made on a tour.  Sometimes a guest may report feeling an odd “pressure” in their head or a buzzing in their ear when entering a room.  One guest saw a heavy planter suspended by metal chains begin swinging on the porch during my tour – despite the fact that no breeze was present to cause it to move.  These events have happened and have left me wondering “Did that really just happen?” On one of my October ghost tours, after my group relocated to the next stop, a young lady asked meekly: “Mr. Jeff, has anyone ever reported seeing a tall shadow figure wearing a top hat?”  “No,” I responded, “Why do you ask?”  “Well, there was one standing behind you when we were over at the elementary school…” After hearing that, I informed her that she was more than welcome to interrupt my spiel in the future to point out anything she witnessed nearby…

REMEMBER: You can have the best gear, hire the best guide and go to the best fishing spot, but sometime the fish just aren’t biting. Enjoy the tour and appreciate the experience of visiting somewhere new.  Listen carefully and take plenty of photos.  You never know, you may find something in a photo weeks after your tour. Regardless, your participation in the tour may help fund programs and renovations at the site - it is all for a good cause!

Ghost Jeff: Ok Lisa, you can have your computer back now.

Lisa: Ok, then you can have your car keys back.

Note: Want a chance to meet Ghost Jeff? Our Ghost Guide is THE best. Tickets for our Ghost Walk program “Return to the Shadows” are available here and here! We may have room on our tours, so do not let the “sold out” status keep your name off the wait list! Interested in a more scholarly and literary presentation? Join the Executive Director for a Gothic virtual tea this Saturday, 10/22/2022, 1pm, where she will share historical ghost stories and share recipes and gaming ideas for your festivities! Receive tea in the mail along with a useful PDF guide, tickets available here.

[bike42]

Tuesday May 23 Agia Roumeli

The original plan for today was to hike from Sougia to Tripiti Beach, about 5 hours walking along the coast, stop for lunch and a swim, then have a cousin pick us up in a small boat for a transfer to Agia Roumeli. When Michalis saw the sea yesterday, he knew that was improbable. It would be possible to hike all the way, but he said that would be a very long day of hiking.

We were happy to go along with Plan B, and it fits the pattern we’d established cycling last week - one tough day, one easy day. This plan had us taking the 8:30am ferry back to Agia Roumeli, where we’d do a small hiking loop and have some time to relax.

We met Michalis at a beach cafe at 7:30am. We ordered fried eggs and toast, and it came with bread so we ended up with like 12 pieces of toast! Haven’t quiet got the hang of breakfasts, which is “normal” for us traveling in Europe.

We’d left our bags with the proprietor of last nights hotel to be transferred to the ferry dock. As we were making our way to the ferry, among other tourists (including many backpackers), a man in a pickup stopped to chat with Michalis. Unbeknownst to us, he was brokering a deal to have the guy load our bags into his truck and deliver them to our next hotel. It appeared he already had passengers and their bags (and a large plant he must be delivering somewhere). A Volvo pulled up to the boat ramp and it was Idomemeas with our bags. They were transferred into the bed of the waiting pickup!

While waiting for our ferry, we walked around the corner and saw a small boat harbor, naturally protected from the sea.

We asked Michael about the lack of police presence, on Crete in general, but specifically in these remote villages. He said there is no need as there is little crime. People just do the right thing. An ideal culture, just as we saw in Gustavis, Alaska!

We also learned that Michalis owns a share in the ferry service, so he rides free (he also walks on like he owns the place!). Jeff has taken to calling him “governor” since he seems so well connected.

It was a beautiful morning for a boat ride and there were few passengers. I was really glad we weren’t trying to wrestle our large suitcases onto the ferry - instead, we just watched the truck drive on with our bags in the back! Some locals, and some backpackers on the ferry. This route is part of Europe’s E4 Walking Path, and it seems like many are trekking along on that.

As we got off the boat back in Agia Roumelia, the guy with the truck and our luggage pulled up to Paralia, the restaurant/hotel closest to the boat dock, owned by Michael’s uncle. A young boy grabbed a key and went up the stairs to open our room for us - small room, but fairly modern and you can’t beat the view from our balcony!

Toilet stop, and we were out on the street ready for our hike to the castle. On the boat we’d been talking about the Milwaukee Bucks star from Greece, Giannis Antetokounmpo. I figure it’s the best was to tell people where we are from, but they don’t know where Milwaukee is located geographically, so it doesn’t matter! As we climbed, Michalis said there is a county song with “Milwaukee” in the name. I thought of a few, but nothing he knew. He kept trying to work the lyrics, and he remembered “square” and “ball.” Then he remembered a guy with braids like an Indian, obviously Willie Nelson. We finally figured out it was Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee” he was talking about - he later played us a video on his phone where Willie joins Merle singing it. We helped him interpret some of the lyrics like “even squares can have a ball,” which don’t make sense with a literal translation!

We got to the top of the ridge and paused there, looking at the sea and down the gorge on the other side. There was a Greek flag flying there, and Michalis explained the meaning of the stripes (9 that stand for the 9 syllables in a phrase that means something like freedom or death) and the cross for Christian symbolism. He became very emotional and teared up telling us about it, which is a testament to the kind of man he is. We’re lucky to be spending these days with him!

We went down the back side of the ridge on the “road,” and around to the spot where his cousin’s shuttle and orange juice stand is located. From there, we walked the road back to the village, crossing the river a few times. People who had been on the boat with us were just beginning to make their way up the gorge.

We parted ways, Michalis to his house, and we went to lunch, had a nap, and had a swim. We went to the beach to the west of the ferry docks. Several beach bars there were hopping with folks who probably had hiked the gorge earlier in the day and were now chilling while they waited for the 5:30pm ferry. We rented beach chairs, stashed our stuff, and went into the VERY cold water. The waves were spectacular and we dove into a few, but we didn’t stay in the water long! Quick rinse in the shower, and time to soak up sun and warm up! The people watching was amazing.

Gradually, people began to change into their clothes and migrate back to the ferry dock. We’d had enough sun, so we ambled back to our room for showers. I watched the ferry load from our balcony. After the first one (to Sougia) left, the couple who had been right in front of us on the beach ran up - I couldn’t hear what they were told, but they went and sat on the wall. Lucky for them, the smaller boat arrived from the east, and the ferry circled back to get some passengers the small boat was bringing. The ferry redocked, and the couple got on. The shuttle van arrived and several more people got on. Just as they were shutting the doors, someone yelled and ran up, and they were let on too. Everyone else will have to sleep in town tonight. Michalis told us it occasionally happens that the ferry doesn’t run (weather or mechanical breakdown). Then, everyone has to spend the night in town (or walk back up, which is hardly possible for most). Doesn’t matter if your flight leaves the next morning … no boat, you’re staying!

We met Michalis for dinner at his Brother-in-law’s place on the edge of town - Roussios. We had red wine, appetizers made by his mother-in-law (spinach pie and tomatoes stuffed with rice), davos, and Jeff and I had the highly recommended goat with potatoes and vegetables. It was wonderful, but we should have split a portion! After dinner we had really good chilled Raki (and a lesson on Crete being the only place allowed to create Raki - and only the 1000 people with a “license,”,and nobody drinks Ouzo on Crete), and a yummy yogurt/fruit dessert.

We were the only people eating in the restaurant, but it was a Monday night in preseason. Soon the rooms and the tables will be full of guests all summer. I think we timed it just right!

We walked back to town in the dark - peaceful village that was pretty much shuttered for the night. Great to sleep with the sound of the sea!

About 3 miles of hiking today, but LOTS of relaxation!

[that-spider-witch]

On “Dead” Cultures and Closed Spiritual Practices: Why Colonialism Is Still A Problem.

Let me start this by saying that, as far as my knowledge of Paganism and Polytheism as a whole goes, I’m what the internet witch community calls a “Baby Witch”. I’m stating this out of the gate because I know there will be lots of people, including witches who have more experience on the craft than me, who might decide to ignore what I have to say based on that fact alone, stating that I’m not knowledgeable enough to give my opinion about this.

Here’s the kicker: I’m a ‘baby witch’, yes, but I’m also a twenty-six year old Venezuelan woman. I’m an adult. I’m Latina. I’m a Christian-raised Pagan,but I’m also a Latinoamerican woman over all other things including that. I grew up on this culture, these are my roots. It is because of this background than I’m writing this post today.

Looking through the “Paganism” and “Witchcraft” tags of this website, I’ve seen a few posts throwing indigenous deities and spirits’ names around on lists alongside deties of open cultures. Yes, you can know better by doing your own research and not going by what just a random Tumblr user wrote on one post (as I hope its the case with everyone on this website), but the fact that pagan beginners are still getting fed misinformation is still worrisome to me.

There’s nothing like reading a so-called expert putting Ixchen (Maya), Xolotl (Nahuatl) and Papa Legba (Vodou) on the same damn list as Norse, Hellenic and Kemetic deities and tagging it on the tags aimed at beginners who might not know better to truly ruin your morning. I’m not mentioning user names here: If you know then you know.

To quote @the-illuminated-witch on her very good post about Cultural Appropriation: 

“Cultural appropriation is a huge issue in modern witchcraft. When you have witches using white sage to “smudge” their altars, doing meditations to balance their chakras, and calling on Santa Muerte in spells, all without making any effort to understand the cultural roots of those practices, you have a serious problem.

When trying to understand cultural appropriation in witchcraft, it’s important to understand the difference between open and closed magic systems. An open system is one that is open to exchange with outsiders — both sharing ideas/practices and taking in new ones. In terms of religion, spirituality, and witchcraft, a completely open system has no restrictions on who can practice its teachings. A closed system is one that is isolated from outside influences — usually, there is some kind of restriction on who can practice within these systems.”

A counter-argument I’ve seen towards this when someone wants to appropiate indigenous deities and spirits is to use the “dead culture” argument: Extinct cultures are more eligible for use by modern people of all stirpes. It is a dead culture and dead religion. It would be one thing if some part of the culture or religion was still alive, being used by modern descendants, but the culture died out in its entirety and was replaced, right? They were all killed by colonization, they are ancient history now, right?

Example: “If white people are worshipping Egyptian deities now, then why can’t I worship [Insert Aborigen Deity Here]?”

To which I have two things to say:

Ancient Egypt’s culture was open and imperialistic, meaning they wanted their religion to be spread. This is why Kemetism is not Cultural Appropriation, despite what some misinformed people might tell you. Similar arguments can also be made for the Hellenic and the Norse branches of Paganism, both practiced by people who aren’t Greek/Norse.

Who are you to say which cultures are “dead” and which are not?

Religious practices such as Vodou and Santería certainly aren’t dead, not that it keeps some Tumblr users from adding Erzuli as a “goddess” on their Baby Witch post, something that actual Vodou practitioners have warned against.

Indigenous cultures such as the Maya and the Mapuche aren’t dead, despite what the goverment of their countries might tell you. The Mapuche in particular have a rich culture and not one, but two witchcraft branches (The Machi and the Kalku/Calcu). Both are closed pagan practices that the local Catholic Church has continuously failed to assimilate and erase, though sadly not for lack of trying:

“The missionaries who followed the Spanish conquistadors to America incorrectly interpreted the Mapuche beliefs regarding both wekufes and gualichos. They used the word wekufe as a synonym for ideas of the devil, demons, and other evil or diabolical forces. This has caused misunderstanding of the original symbolism and has changed the idea of wekufe right up to the present day, even amongst the Mapuche people.”

For context, the Wefuke are the Calcu’s equivalent of the Familiar, as well as reportedly having more in common with the Fae than with demons anyway.

This and other indigenous religions are Closed because it is wrong for foreigners to just come and take elements from marginalized groups whom are still fighting to survive and that they weren’t born into. To just approppiate those things would be like spitting in their faces, treating them and their culture like a commodity, a shiny thing, a unique thing to be used like paint to spruce up your life or be special.

I know some of you are allergic to the word “Privilege”, but on this situation there really ain’t a better word to explain it. You weren’t born here, you don’t know what it is like, you are only able to see the struggle from an outsider’s point of view.

If a belief or practice is part of a closed system, outsiders should not take part in it. And with how many practices there are out there which are open for people of all races, there is really no excuse for you to do it.

Why Colonization Is Not “Ancient History”

If you have kept reading all this so far, you are probably wondering “Ok, but what does Colonization has to do with any of this?”

The answer? Everything.

With the general context of culture appropriation out of the way, let me tell you about why the whole “dead culture” argument rubs me the wrong way: Here in Venezuela, we have a goddess called Santa Maria de la Onza, or Maria Lionza for short, whom’s idol statue I have been using to illustrate this little rant. If you happen to know any Spanish, you might recognize the name as a derivative of Santa Maria, aka the Virgin Mary, and you are mostly correct: Her true indigenous name is theorized to have been Yara.

And I say “theorized” because it is a subject of hot debate whether she was really ever called that or not: Her original name, the name by which she was adored and worshipped by our ancestors, might have been forever lost to history.

That’s the legacy of colonization for you: Our cultures were stolen from us, and what they couldn’t erase they instead tried to assimilate. Our ancestors were enslaved, their lands and homes stolen, their artwork and literary works destroyed: The Maya and the Aztec Empire were rich in written works of all kinds, ranging from poetry to history records to medicine, and the Spaniards burned 99% of it, on what is probably one of the most tragic examples of book burning in history and one that people rarely ever talk about. 

People couldn’t even worship their own gods or pass their knowledge of them to their children. That’s why Maria Lionza has such a Spanish Catholic-sounding name, and that’s why we can’t even be sure if Yara was her name or not: The Conquistadors couldn’t steal our goddess from us, so they stole her name instead. Catholics really have a thing with trying to assimilate indigenous goddesses with the Virgin Mary, as they tried to do the same with the Pachamama.

On witchy terms, I’d define Maria Lionza as both a deity and a land spirit: Most internet pages explaining her mention the Sorte mountain as her holy place, but it is more along the lines that she is the mountain. 

You’d think that, with Venezuela and other Latinoamerican countries no longer being colonies, we’d be able to worship our own deities including her, right?

As far as a lot of Catholics seem to think and act, apparently we are not.

The Catholics here like to go out of their way to shame us, to call us “cultists”, to ostracize us, with a general call to “refrain from those pagan beliefs” because they go against the Catholic principles. Yes, the goddess with the Catholic-sounding name, a name she happens to share with a Catholic deity, apparently goes “against Catholic principles”. You really can’t make this shit up. (Linked article is in Spanish)

This is just an act of colonization out of many, of not wanting to stop until the culture they want to destroy is gone. Don’t believe for a second that this is really their God’s will or anything like that, they are just trying to finish what years of enslavement and murder couldn’t. They might not be actively killing us anymore, but they still want us dead.

So no, colonization is not some thing that has long passed and now only exist on history textbooks: It is still happening to this day. It is by treating it as old history that they can keep doing it, and it is by pushing the narrative that our indigenous cultures are “dead cultures” that they try to erase our heritage.

Because we are not dead. We are still here, we are alive, we have survived and we’ll keep on surviving, and our gods and goddesses are not yours to take.

¡Chao! 🐈

[be-gay-do-heists]

hello yall :) the holy month of elul started last night, which is typically a time for contemplation, so since it is impossible for me to stop thinking about leverage, i decided to write an essay. hope anyone interested in reading it enjoys, and that it makes at least a little sense!! spoilers for leverage redemption

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Leverage, Judaism, and “Doing the Work”: An Essay for Elul

When it comes to Elul and the approaching High Holidays, Leverage might seem like an odd topic to meditate on.

The TNT crime drama that ran from 2008-2012, and which released a new season this summer following its renewal, centers on a group of found-family thieves who help the victims of corporations and oligarchs (sometimes based on real-world examples), using wacky heists and cons to bring down the rich and powerful. In one episode, the team’s clients want to reclaim their father’s prized Glimt piece that had been stolen in the Shoah and never returned, but aside from this and the throwaway lines and jokes standard for most mainstream television, there’s not a ton textually Jewish about Leverage. However, despite this, I have found that the show has strong resonance among Jewish fans, and lots of potential for analysis along Jewish themes. This tends to focus on one character in particular: the group’s brilliant, pop culture-savvy, and personable hacker, Alec Hardison, played by the phenomenally talented Aldis Hodge.

I can’t remember when or where I first encountered a reading of Hardison as Jewish, but not only is this a somewhat popular interpretation, it doesn’t feel like that much of a leap. In the show itself, Hardison has a couple of the aforementioned throwaway lines that potentially point to him being Jewish, even if they’re only in service of that moment’s grift. It’s hard to point to what exactly makes reading Hardison as Jewish feel so natural. My first guess is the easy way Hardison fits into the traditional paradigms of Jewish masculinity explored by scholars such as Daniel Boyarin (2). Most of the time, the hacker is not portrayed as athletic or physical; he is usually the foil to the team’s more physically-adept characters like fighter Eliot, or thief Parker. Indeed, Hardison’s strength is mental, expressed not only through his computer wizardry but his passions for science, technology, music, popular media, as well as his studious research into whatever scenario the group might come up against. In spite of his self-identification as a “geek,” Hardison is nevertheless confident, emotionally sensitive, and secure in his masculinity. I would argue he is representative of the traditional Jewish masculine ideal, originating in the rabbinic period and solidified in medieval Europe, of the dedicated and thoughtful scholar (3). Another reason for popular readings of Hardison as Jewish may be the desire for more representation of Jews of color. Although mainstream American Jewish institutions are beginning to recognize the incredible diversity of Jews in the United States (4), and popular figures such as Tiffany Haddish are amplifying the experiences of non-white Jews, it is still difficult to find Jews of color represented in popular media. For those eager to see this kind of representation, then, interpreting Hardison, a black man who places himself tangential to Jewishness, in this way is a tempting avenue.

Regardless, all of the above remains fan interpretation, and there was little in the text of the show that seriously tied Judaism into Hardison’s identity. At least, until we got this beautiful speech from Hardison in the very first episode of the renewed show, directed at the character of Harry Wilson, a former corporate lawyer looking to atone for the injustice he was partner to throughout his career:

“In the Jewish faith, repentance, redemption, is a process. You can’t make restitution and then promise to change. You have to change first. Do the work, Harry. Then and only then can you begin to ask for forgiveness. [...] So this… this isn’t the win. It’s the start, Harry.”

I was floored to hear this speech, and thrilled that it explained the reboot’s title, Leverage: Redemption. Although not mentioned by its Hebrew name, teshuvah forms the whole basis for the new season. Teshuvah is the concept of repentance or atonement for the sins one has committed. Stemming from the root shuv/shuva, it carries the literal sense of “return.” In a spiritual context, this usually means a return to G-d, of finding one’s way back to holiness and by extension good favor in the eyes of the Divine. But equally important is restoring one’s relationships with fellow humans by repairing any hurt one has caused over the past year. This is of special significance in the holy month of Elul, leading into Rosh haShanah, the Yamim Noraim, and Yom Kippur, but one can undertake a journey of redemption at any point in time. That teshuvah is a journey is a vital message for Harry to hear; one job, one reparative act isn’t enough to overturn years of being on the wrong side of justice, to his chagrin. As the season progresses, we get to watch his path of teshuvah unfold, with all its frustrations and consequences. Harry grows into his role as a fixer, not only someone who can find jobs and marks for the team, but fixes what he has broken or harmed.

So why was Hardison the one to make this speech?

I do maintain that it does provide a stronger textual basis for reading Hardison as Jewish by implication (though the brief on-screen explanation for why he knows about teshuvah, that his foster-parent Nana raised a multi-faith household, is important in its own merit, and meshes well with his character traits of empathy and understanding for diverse experiences). However, beyond this, Hardison isn’t exactly an archetypical model for teshuvah. In the original series, he was the youngest character of the main ensemble, a hacking prodigy in the start of his adult career, with few mistakes or slights against others under his belt. In one flashback we see that his possibly first crime was stealing from the Bank of Iceland to pay off his Nana’s medical bills, and that his other early hacking exploits were in the service of fulfilling personal desires, with only those who could afford to pay the bill as targets. Indeed, in the middle of his speech, Hardison points to Eliot, the character with the most violent and gritty past who views his work with the Leverage team as atonement, for a prime example of ongoing teshuvah. So while no one is perfect and everyone has a reason for doing teshuvah, this question of why Hardison is the one to give this series-defining speech inspired me to look at his character choices and behavior, and see how they resonate with a different but interrelated Jewish principle, that of tikkun olam. 

Tikkun olam is literally translated as “repairing the world,” and can take many different forms, such as protecting the rights of vulnerable people in society, or giving tzedakah (5). In modern times, tikkun olam is often the rallying cry for Jewish social activists, particularly among environmentalists for whom literally restoring the health of the natural world is the key goal. Teshuvah and tikkun olam are intertwined (the former is the latter performed at an interpersonal level) and both hold a sense of fixing or repairing, but tikkun olam really revolves around a person feeling called to address an injustice that they may have not had a personal hand in creating. Hardison’s sense of a universal scale of justice which he has the power to help right on a global level and his newfound drive to do humanitarian work, picked up sometime after the end of the original series, make tikkun olam a central value for his character. This is why we get this nice bit of dialogue from Eliot to Hardison in the second episode of the reboot, when the latter’s outside efforts to organize international aid start distracting him from his work with the team: “Is [humanitarian work] a side gig? In our line of work, you’re one of the best. But in that line of work… you’re the only one, man.” The character who most exemplifies teshuvah reminds Hardison of his amazing ability to effect change for the better on a huge stage, to do some effective tikkun olam. It’s this acknowledgement of where Hardison can do the most good that prompts the character’s absence for the remainder of the episodes released thus far, turning his side gig into his main gig.

With this in mind, it will be interesting to see where Hardison’s arc for this season goes. Separated from the rest of the team, the hacker still has remarkable power to change the world, because it is, after all, the “age of the geek.” However, he is still one person. For all that both teshuvah and tikkun olam are individual responsibilities and require individual decision-making and effort, the latter especially relies on collective work to actually make things happen. Hardison leaving is better than trying to do humanitarian work and Leverage at the same time, but there’s only so long he can be the “only one” in the field before burning out. I’m reminded of one of the most famous (for good reason) maxims in Judaism:

It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you free to neglect it. (6)

Elul is traditionally a time for introspection and heeding the calls to repentance. After a year where it’s never been easier to feel powerless and drained by everything going on around us, I think it’s worth taking the time to examine what kind of work we are capable of in our own lives. Maybe it’s fixing the very recent and tangible hurts we’ve left behind, like Harry. Maybe it’s the little changes for the better that we make every day, motivated by our sense of responsibility, like Eliot. And maybe it’s the grueling challenge of major social change, like Hardison. And if any of this work gets too much, who can we fall back on for support and healing? Determining what needs repair, working on our own scale and where our efforts are most helpful, and thereby contributing to justice in realistic ways means that we can start the new year fresh, having contemplated in holiday fashion how we can be better agents in the world.

Shana tovah u’metukah and ketivah tovah to all (7), and may the work we do in the coming year be for good!

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(1) Disclaimer: everybody’s fandom experiences are different, and this is just what I’ve picked up on in my short time watching and enjoying this show with others.

(2) See, for example, the introduction and first chapter of Boyarin’s book Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man (I especially recommend at least this portion if you are interested in queer theory and Judaic studies). There he explores the development of Jewish masculinity in direct opposition to Christian masculine standards.

(3) I might even go so far as to place Hardison well within the Jewish masculine ideal of Edelkayt, gentle and studious nobility (although I would hesitate to call him timid, another trait associated with Edelkayt). Boyarin explains that this scholarly, non-athletic model of man did not carry negative associations in the historical Jewish mindset, but was rather the height of attractiveness (Boyarin, 2, 51).

(4) Jews of color make up 20% of American Jews, according to statistics from Be’chol Lashon, and this number is projected to increase as American demographics continue to change: https://globaljews.org/about/mission/. 

(5) Tzedakah is commonly known as righteous charity. According to traditional authority Maimonides, it should be given anonymously and without embarrassment to the person in need, generous, and designed to help the recipient become self-sufficient.

(6) Rabbi Tarfon, Pirkei Avot, 2:16

(7) “A good and sweet year” and “a good inscription [in the Book of Life]”

[writing-in-april]

Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde (1/?)

Part One: The introduction

Spencer Reid x Female Reader

Summary: Reader meets a mysterious stranger at the library during a book club meeting.

Part Two, Part Three

Series Masterlist

A/N: Hey Heyyy! This is my first Dom!Spencer fic in so long!!! My last one was also funnily enough for a fic swap as is this one! I had @aperrywilliams for the fic swap organized by @imagining-in-the-margins. I had so much fun writing this one- it’s based on a prompt that I got from @andiebeaword and @spencers-dria helped me by guiding me with the book club idea- with a little twist! I am considering making this a series, if y’all are interested PLEASE let me know- I really want to because I had so much fun writing this. Thanks to all y’all for reading and requests are open!!

Warnings: 18+, Dom Spencer, Public Sex (is anyone that surprised??), Impact Play, Post Prison Spencer, Use of the nickname Doctor during sex, Spencer is a brat tamer, Spencer is morally ambiguous but doesn’t do anything explicitly immoral

Main Masterlist Word Count: 3.0k

As soon as you walked in through the large wooden doors it felt like history hit you over the head with a book. Even though it was on the small side for a library it still probably held more books than a normal public library, almost every wall was adorned with built-in shelves stacked from bottom to top with old books. They ranged in every subject you could think imaginable, from every point in history imaginable, and from every point of view that was imaginable. When you had first discovered this place it had felt like you had been transported to another world. You were surprised that more people didn’t know about this old library nestled in the corners of D.C, it was just sitting there idly watching as history passed by day by day, while it sat writing down all its secrets.

A meeting of the classics was scrawled on the standing white board you saw right when you walked into the library. A meeting of the classics from 7pm to 11:30 in reading room C were the exact words, you didn’t even really need to read them as you had been looking forward to this event for weeks.

You made your way down to the reading room that was specified, only encountering a few stragglers similar to yourself on the way down. You were somewhat new to the events that this library ran, only coming to the past four months. It was quickly becoming your favorite thing to do every month.

There was always a theme to each of the parties, ranging from different eras of history, specific novels, and including things that were open to interpretation. Tonight’s theme was as stated on the white board, a meeting of the classics, which had been described as “Pick your favorite literary icon from a classic novel and dress up as them.”

You had decided to not pick a character from a classic novel, but rather an author, Mary Shelly. You based your entire look on the iconic writer of Frankenstein (with a twist of course) because it had been your favorite novel as a child, it still was your favorite novel.

Once you had made it into the large reading room you took in the full room like you did every week. People were dressed as many outlandish characters, with some being more difficult to decipher than others. As you walked around the reading room you could feel the eyes of another on you.

You could feel his stare following you intently as you walked around mingling with the others that you had met before. The eyes belonged to a man you hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting yet, a man dressed as someone instantly recognizable, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. What other iconic character would be split down the middle, half innocent doctor and half evil alter ego.

Even behind the costume you could tell how attractive the man was. He was extremely tall and lanky, with deep brown eyes and the fluffiest brown hair you had ever seen.

“Who’s that?” You asked the married lady and gentlemen dressed up as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Maybe it was shameful that you didn’t know their actual names, but you guess that’s what some people want when they come to an event like this

“That’s Dr. Spencer Reid, he hasn’t been here for a while and he sometimes misses things because of work. You didn’t hear it from me, but I heard he got in trouble with the law, that’s why he hasn’t been here for almost six months.” Her gossipy voice was drenched in fake sugar that made you gag on the inside. You still did appreciate her information as it gained you the name of the man who couldn’t stop staring at you like he was trying to figure you out.

“Must not have been that bad if he’s already out now, or maybe he’s innocent.” Ms. Bennet shrugged her shoulders at that. You may have even been naive to not heed her warning, but the idea of getting to know the mysterious fluffy haired man that had been staring at you all night was too intriguing for you to ignore.

“Who are you?” The mysterious man asked when he finally decided to approach you instead of staring at you from across the room.

Trying to maintain the same level of mystery as the man had you dodging his question with a simple redirect, “Who’s asking?”

“I thought it was quite obvious who I was.” He was right it was obvious, but why would you let him know that despite the fact that you knew what character he was you could tell the man underneath was the real mystery of it all.

“You’re the one who is not obvious.” The back and forth you had already picked up with him was thrilling, you sensed the fact that in most conversations you would have with him it would be a kind of battle that you would have to win.

“If you must know, kind sir, I am dressed as Mary Shelly, author of Frankenstein, with a bit of a modern twist.” You made sure to call him sir instead of his earned honorific this time, to see if it would poke any buttons.

“I am not a sir since my name is Dr. Spencer Reid. I can see now who you are dressed as, but I would still argue that it is not what the intentions were when they set this up.” You could tell that he was only teasing you with the way the inflections of his voice sounded, you were glad your teasing had been a moderate success.

You did also provide him your name before deciding to poke his buttons once more,“But, isn’t she a classic, Dr. Reid?”

“But, you have not made her a classic anymore by putting as you say a ‘modern twist on things’ though I must say it does look well made.” You would’ve been offended if you could not tell that it was all in jest, though you still got the sense that you still were not seeing what all this man was about.

“Thank you, Doctor I made it myself. However, you still haven’t answered my question yet, Dr. Reid.” You asked the next question hoping he would get what you were implying, “Who are you?”

“I suspect you may already know, but I am dressed half as Dr. Jekyll and half as Mr. Hyde.” At least he started to somewhat catch on to the hidden meaning in your words, though you still had not dug up the real answer you were looking for. He was too intriguing to persuade you to stop digging, you wanted to find who the doctor really was, not the partial mask he was still using.

“Yes, I suspected as much, but aren’t you breaking the rules by dressing up as technically two characters?”

“Were there rules that said I couldn’t dress up as two characters?” He fell nicely into the small trap you had set for him, retorting quickly without thinking. Which you found odd for a man that was clearly intelligent.

“No, but were there rules that said I couldn’t dress up as a classic author with my own twist?” The look on his face had let you know you had won the debate. You smirked with triumph as you glanced over the man, taking note of each of his handsome features in case you would never see him again.

You decided to pivot the conversation to another question that was on the forefront of your mind,“Do you have a dark side, Dr. Reid?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” He was deflecting, but he didn’t seem agitated by your question, simply amused by your dogged curiosity.

“I am curious though, what are you exactly underneath it all Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?” Your coy smile was most definitely not lost on him, he could see right through your facade. He could see right through Mary Shelly to find the true you underneath. You only wished you could figure him out as well, you wondered how he got so good at being able to read people in an instant.

“I haven’t figured that out yet.” Well, at least you got the answer to what you were looking for, even if the answer wasn’t as straightforward as you may have been expecting. But, you were realizing that Dr. Spencer Reid was probably anything but straightforward.

Your heart was pumping fast, his words had a bigger effect on you than he had probably expected, your panties hidden underneath your long dress were dampening quickly. Though as you saw the smirk on his face grow as you fidgeted in your chair you realized that maybe this was intention all along.

You excused yourself for a moment with a veiled excuse of going to the bathroom. You hoped he’d follow right behind you, to see that you were going to one of the empty reading rooms. If you had read his intentions correctly the heavy doors on each of the rooms should significantly squash any noises he or you would make.

Sure enough after an appropriate amount of time had passed so as to not raise suspicion, the good doctor (that may or may not be good at all) entered the empty room.

He brought you into a dominating kiss that made you want to cower at the same time as be completely defiant. You fought with valor as he tried to consume you entirely with the kiss, not letting his tongue slip into your mouth for as long as you could hold off. In the end you still lost the fight when he lifted you up onto one of the large wooden desks in the room, causing a gasp to fall from your lips that finally gave him full access to your hot wet mouth. He suddenly pulled away to pinch your cheeks together with his hand to make you look at him which made you whimper pathetically at first, but you appreciated his next question immensely.

“Do you want this?” You nodded as vigorously as you could with his hand pinching your cheeks.

He however was not satisfied with my eager nod and prompted you to confirm once more with an even harsher tone, “Speak up when you’re talking.”

“Yes, Doctor.” You replied with his honorific instinctually and you were pleasantly surprised with the eager groan that came from his lips in response. Plus, you were slightly rewarded with being able to feel his lips on your collarbone, sending even more shivers down your spine.

“Let me know immediately if that changes.” The contrast of his sweet meaning words with his hand gripping your jaw was jarring, but you couldn’t deny that you enjoyed it. It just made you want to be as bratty as possible because even if he was harsh there was still the underlying care in everything he did, you felt safe.

“Maybe I should just call you Mister instead, since that’s clearly your dominant side.”He growled into your neck that was quickly getting covered in hickies, next thing you knew he flipped you around to face the desk closest to you with your back to his chest.

“Bend over.” He commanded, to which in response you opened your mouth to retort. Instead of letting you run your mouth as you had done before he wound his hands through your hair and pushed you down to take the position he wanted. He then pulled up your dress to uncover the panties you had soaked through. You thought maybe he was going to give me some relief of the ache in my core, but you were given a harsh slap on your ass instead.

A whimper involuntarily came out from your lips from the harshness of the slap that you assumed was revenge for not following his commands. He then spoke with deadly conviction, “I want you to say thank you, doctor after every time I spank you.”

You only agreed because you were afraid that if you did not comply now he may not give you what you wanted. So, as soon as the next stinging slap came down on the same spot as before the phrase fell from your lips, “Thank you, Doctor!”

He continued his repeated hits onto your ass and you made sure to never miss thanking him with a cry. Once he was satisfied with how much you were punished for your sassy remark he rubbed over the inflamed skin of your ass with his large, unbelieving hands. He moved your panties to the side to dip his deft fingers to run through your folds, collecting some of your wetness. You whined loudly and perhaps pathetically in response to him only lighting touching you instead of obliging the heat you felt everywhere.

“Be patient, you’ll get what you want since you decided to start listening to me.” He snapped which caused your knees to buckle again.

“I can be patient, Doctor.” He definitely appreciated the continued use of his honorific in this scandalous situation as he let out a groan almost every time you said it. Instead of answering you he started to undo the pants of his outfit, a pair of slacks that were also equally as split as the rest of his costume. You didn’t look back to see his cock because you did not want to be punished by him twice in one night. But, you certainly felt it.

You could tell just as he was running the head of his cock through your folds and pulling your panties to the side again that he would be the biggest you had ever been with. What should have worried you slightly only ended up sending a shock through your core instead. He was at least somewhat gentle when he finally started to enter you, letting you get somewhat adjusted before sinking in all the way to the hilt.

As soon as he sensed that you had adjusted he started a rough brutal pace, not that you were complaining as he hit all of your most sensitive spots as his cock dragged through your walls.

He made no effort to stifle the loud moans that were coming from your mouth, maybe he thought the thick wooden doors would stifle the noises. But, there was no way no one would be able to hear the unintelligible wails that were coming from you.

“You like bringing out this side of me don’t you?” He rasped out after he pushed your torso back down to flat on the desk once you started to lift yourself up on your elbows. When you only answered with a noise that was not understandable he prompted you to speak up with another slap on your ass and said, “I said earlier to speak up when you’re trying to talk to someone.”

“Yes, Doctor!” You finally were able to cry out with a few more slaps to your ass from him.

Each time you kept getting close to the edge he’d pull away from you slightly dashing your orgasm away from you cruelly. Each time you decided to whine out loud to voice your displeasure even if it was involuntarily he would just prolong edging you for even longer. You were babbling incoherently when he pulled you by the hair so your back was pressed into his chest and after a few more moments of hearing you beg nonsensically with tears in your eyes he finally gave you the command,

“You can cum.”

“Thank you, Doctor!” You wailed as your orgasm washed over you in devastating waves, you were sure no other man had made you finish so hard in your life. You kept repeating, “Thank you, Doctor!”over and over until you had completely come down from what was arguably the best orgasm of your life. Your own orgasm helped propel his forward, and you made sure to confirm out loud that you were ok with him cumming inside you. The warmth that filled you as he pumped into you a few more times caused one last groan to come from you that was weirdly harmonious with the groan from the doctor.

Normal aftercare wasn’t really applicable in this type of situation, you hardly knew him and the added fact that you were in an old library with a party down the hall didn’t help either. He still cleaned you up with a softness you had yet to see from him during your short encounter. Aloe probably would’ve been the best option to soothe your raw bottom, but he did massage you for a few minutes after he cleaned the rest of you. He had even made sure your clothes that were not period accurate, as he had pointed out earlier, were neat before you both left. There were no cuddles and soft loving words exchanged, but you still felt immensely cared for by a man who claims he might not be a good man. He was a strange case.

“You still never answered my question, Doctor.” You stated as you stood on the steps of the library after you two had slipped out to leave.

“That’s because I still don’t have an answer.” And, with that you parted ways into the cool air of D.C. You hoped he had the same feelings as you when you had both parted ways, you wanted to see him again. There was another meeting next month, maybe then you would get your chance again.

The thrill that ran through your veins whenever you interacted with him, whether he was fucking you or having a rousing conversation about classic literature made you want him no matter whether he was Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. You’d take them both.

Part Two, Part Three| Series Masterlist

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Tag list (message me if you want to be added):

All works:

@shotarosleftpinky @90spumkin @kyra-morningstar

Spencer Reid/CM:

@calm-and-doctor @destiny-tsukino @safertokiss @slutforthegubes

Dom Spencer (new tag list):