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demcnsinmymind · 2 years

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cult members and NPC infos for mobile, long so behind a cut as always

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Possession timeline and lore for mobile Azathoth info and traits for mobile Azathoth powers for mobile

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Dr. Arthur Friedkin

Leader of the cult of Azathoth, 1940s *01/05/1900- +08/16/1948

"Dr Arthur Friedkin was a Harvard graduate neurologist who was Collingwood's head physician from 1937 to 1948. He was famous for his work in experimental brain surgery. He was a major advocate of prefrontal lobotomy. Under Friedkin's supervision, there were about 140 lobotomies." - Morgan Turner, March 2003

Born in the year 1900, Arthur Friedkin grew up in a world all too familiar with death and suffering. Losing his father in the first world war and his mother to the influenza pandemic of 1918, the young Bostonian wanted to get answers just like anybody else in that time period. All thanks to the US' spiritualism craze around 1920, he became fascinated by the occult. Seances, spirit boards and spirit photography were an exciting opportunity and distraction from all that death.

The birth of his son Sean Everett Friedkin in the year 1921 marked a happier period in his life, and his acceptance into Harvard and a detailed dive into the world of neurology turned Friedkin away from the occult at least for a little while. Nevertheless, he remained an avid reader of works of fiction similiar to Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, whose focus on cosmicism and scientific horror fascinated him especially. And even though he was a doting father and seemingly a 'family man' through and through, Friedkin's general misantrophy and generally cold and methodic approach in his field were somewhat infamous.

Friedkin moved to Maryland in 1933 and worked as Neurologist at Danver's State Hospital. When his wife became pregnant with their fifth child, they decided to leave the city and move into a spacious subburbian mansion in Ryerson Valley, a quiet little town known for its gigantic psychiatric hospital. Friedkin became part of Collingwood's medical staff in 1935 and was subsequently appointed head physician in 1937.

Since the state's focus was primarily set on Danver's State Hospital, being in charge of Collingwood allowed the neurologist, who was much younger than most his peers, to start experimenting with new and questionable procedures on the surplus of patients his hospital provided.

After the loss of his son, Friedkin founded the cult of Azathoth within the walls of his hospital and began experimenting with the idea of disrupting the veil between the real world and the spirit world. See more details for that in my detailed possession timeline.

On August 16th, 1948 six patients broke out of their room, freed more of their fellow inmates and wrecked havoc inside Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. In the chaos, Arthur Friedkin was killed by one of the patients, Lance Preston.

The Cult

Friedkin's nursing staff, 1940s

Death, as fate would have it, would never stay far away from Arthur Friedkin, this time with a twist of irony. At the age of just 21, his first born son Sean was drafted into the US military to fight in World War II. The horrors he witnessed during that time left the sensible young man shell-shocked and damaged beyond repair. Severe PTSD, depression and psychosis were taking their toll on his mind, and despite having learned so much from his father in the field of psychology and even wanting to become a neurologist himself after the war, all hope was lost.(keep scrolling)

Sean Everett Friedkin committed suicide just three years into his military service abroad. Running straight into enemy territory and getting torn apart by heavy artillery fire, leaving his father without a body to bury, without closure, without answers, and utterly devastated. With his belief in the ability to cure mental illness shattered, and succumbing to madness himself, Friedkin once again turned to occultism to search for a solution to destroy the monster that was insanity and death once and for all.

Due to the horrors of world war II and many men lost to the battlefields abroad or on their own soil, it was not hard for the charismatic neurosurgeon to find like-minded souls within his own staff. Nurses and orderlies alike had lost loved ones and family as well and were desperate to see them return. Ever surrounded by the madness of an overcrowded insane asylum, with many patients dumped and forgotten in their care, Friedkin soon decided to combine pseudo-science with his occult beliefs. Delusions of grandeur dictated that together with new surgical treatments for the insane, they could not only cure insanity, but death itself.

Their God

Azathoth and Nyarlathotep ∞

"Outside the ordered universe is that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity, the boundless demon sultan Azathoth whose name no lips dare speak aloud and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable unlighted chambers beyond time and space, amidst the muffled maddening beating of vile drums.”

A man of science from an early age, Friedkin never believed in any conventional gods or common religions such as Christianity. Instead, he became obsessed with the Cosmic horrors described in H.P. Lovecraft's works, the most powerful Outer Gods in particular. Ever linked to psychology and insanity, Friedkin took a special interest in the likes of Azathoth and its offspring Nyarlathotep. Even seeing himself as the human embodiment of 'The Cold One', and his deceased first born as the reincarnation of 'The Crawling Chaos'.

Azathoth, known as 'The Blind Idiot God', 'Nuclear Chaos' or 'Demon Sultan' is a supreme omnipotent being. It is a significant malign presence in the Necronomicon as both Albert Wilmarth (HPL: "The Whisperer in Darkness") and Walter Gilman (HPL: "The Dreams in the Witch House") are horrified at the mere mention of its name having both read about it in the occult tome.

There is no definite description of Azathoth because everybody envisions it differently and it is always changing. According to some accounts, it is a huge sentient black hole. Among its many followers, "obscene rites" were often performed that involved "atrocities practiced on still-living victims".

Nyarlathotep, known as 'The Crawling Chaos' is a supreme omnipotent being as well, a direct offspring of Azathoth's. He differs from the other deities in the Lovecraft's Mythos in a number of ways. Most of the Outer Gods, like his father Azathoth, are exiled to the stars, Nyarlathotep, however, is active and frequently walks the Earth in the guise of a human being, usually a tall, slim, joyous man. He has "a thousand" other forms and manifestations, many reputed to be quite horrific and sanity-blasting.

Most Outer Gods use strange alien languages, while Nyarlathotep uses human languages and can easily pass for a human being if he chooses to do so. Finally, most of them are all-powerful yet evidently without clear purpose or agenda, yet Nyarlathotep seems to be deliberately deceptive and manipulative, and even uses propaganda to achieve his goals.

Unlike the other Outer Gods, spreading madness is more important and enjoyable than death and destruction to Nyarlathotep. It is suggested by some that he will destroy the human race and possibly the earth as well.

Brenda Peterson

Head nurse and member of the cult of Azathoth, 1940s *10/28/1905 - +08/16/1948

Brenda Peterson was born in Baltimore in 1902. The eldest of 9 daughters, Brenda faced the brute force and hatred of her father from an early age. A failed physician with an alcohol problem. Throughout the remainder of his failed life and with their family left in poverty, Brenda's father pushed hard for her to make it into the medical field, knowing that even though his daughter would never become a successful doctor herself, nurses and other medical staff were well sought after during the first world war.

Life in poverty as well as the ongoing abuse from her father rendered Brenda a bitter, violent woman with a sadistic streak. Feared among the patients she looked after and her peers alike, Brenda's steely attitude and work ethic made it possible for her to become head nurse at Collingwood Psychiatric hospital in 1941.

It was there that she began idolizing Dr. Arthur Friedkin, who represented everything her father failed to achieve in his life. Infatuated, almost obsessed with Friedkin, she soon clung to his every method and teachings, and was the first to join his cult when he founded it. It was her who provided Friedkin with sufficient input on which patient to chose for the next experiment and ritual, and she was also the one to admister sedatives to get their patients where they were needed. Covering their tracks by falsifying patient records and only having members of their cult on the clock whenever a ritual was supposed to take place.

Brenda became so convinced of what they were doing was right and the only way for their world to make it past the 40s, that she too involved her children in Friedkin's teachings and cult from a very early age, leaving the path wide open for future generations of said cult to come.

Brenda was the only other cult member killed along with Friedkin on August 16th, leaving behind her 21 year old son Emmett and her 18 year old daughter Jennifer. With the former continuing on the rites, rituals and beliefs of their cult despite Friedkin's passing.

Andromeda Peterson

Leader of the cult of Azathoth, 2000s *08/07/1983

Andromeda Peterson is the great-granddaughter of Brenda Peterson. Her grandfather, Emmett, went on to pass along Friedkin's teachings of the cult of Azathoth to his children, and with his entire circle of friends consisting of members of the cult, it came as no surprise that Andromeda, too, would come to believe that the veil between the real world and the spirit world ought to be broken, that chaos and a complete reset of everything that is known and conceivable is the only way for humanity to surpass its misery and death itself.

Coming from a long line of psychiatric nurses, she happens to work not just at Danvers Psychiatric hospital by the time she's 24 years old, but she is also the head of the CPH (short for Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital) historical society. A new, far more inconspicuous name for a cult that is still active and waiting for their most promising experiment and subject to turn back up in their current timeline - Lance Preston, who brought about the death of their original cult leader as well as Andromeda's great-grandmother all the way back in 1948.

With her father's passing in 2015 Andromeda has only just become the new leader of the cult of Azathoth, and just like Brenda, she's a fiercely loyal, cold and sadistic individual who will stop at nothing to unleash their god and teachings upon the world.

By 2016, it seems that her ideals are well on their way of becoming real, when Lance Preston turns back up in their timeline and is brought to her hospital, where she's more than eager to interview him in the name of the CPHHS. Lance is quick to catch on to her and the cult though and runs, leaving Andromeda and the members of her cult no choice but to try and follow him wherever he goes. Eager to catch and kill him so that his body can be fully taken over by their deity.

Matthew Sinclair

Member of the cult of Azathoth, 2000s *11/30/1986

Matthew Sinclair is another member of the cult of Azathoth and Andromeda's right hand man. Born in 1986 in upstate New York into a rich family of investment bankers, Matthew never felt quite at home where he was. By the time he was 17 years old he ran away from home, and spent the next five years on the road travelling all over the states in order to find himself.

By 2008 he ended up in Baltimore, Maryland, where he crossed paths with Andromeda Peterson and quickly became infatuated with her. Andromeda, a gay woman with no interest in men whatsoever, still saw a chance in using Matthew's infatuation for her own purposes. Promising him a place to stay and a way inside a career he's always wanted, but could never pursue to his lack of credentials and medical training.

Matthew always saw his parents as heartless bloodsuckers without a purpose, and always wanted to help people as a doctor - a career choice they heavily objected, and which ultimately forced him to run away in the first place. Andromeda's family as well as the CPHHS made almost all of his dreams come true the second he walked into their open arms though - providing him with a job at Baltimore Psychiatric Hospital as a janitor, with the prospect of making his way into a nursing position by 2014.

With his ongoing love for Andromeda, the Peterson family paying his rent and having the last say in his employment, Matthew is at the complete mercy of the cult and easily susceptible to its expert brainwashing methods. He soon follows their teachings and beliefs to a T as well, and will stop at nothing to make Andromeda happy.

When Lance Preston turns back up in 2016 Matthew catches glimpse of him and becomes a fullblown believer, convinced that everything the cult and Andromeda have been saying to him about their origins is true and worth pursuing. When Lance flees Baltimore in an attempt to get away from the cult, Andromeda sends Matthew after his known family in Washington and California, where he tries to worm his way into their lives so that the CPHHS has leverage against their most valuable asset yet.

Police Captain Malcom Hodge

Police detective for Baltimore PD, 2000s *03/03/1962

Captain Malcom Hodge was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Incredibly involved in his community from a young age, Malcom first wanted to become a fireman, but changed his mind after witnessing severe misdeeds in the local police force and crime scene. Determined to make his hometown a safer, juster place, he pursued a career in law enforcement. Starting out as Valedictorian for his academy, Malcom was quick to climb the ladder, working his way up to Police Captain.

Him and his team have been building a case against the Peterson family for several years now, and as a former Ryerson Valley local, has had a very personal interest in the disappearances of the Grave Encounters crew for the past 13 years as well. With Lance having turned up in his city again and killing a member of the nursing staff at Danver’s Psychiatric Hospital in Baltimore, Hodge and his force are actively trying to recapture him, so they can solve not just the current murder, but the Ryerson Valley cold cases as well.

Unlike his RCMP counterparts, Hodge has a thorough and levelheaded work ethic and believes in uncovering the unfiltered truth, whatever it may be. Whether that ends with him putting Lance behind bars or putting an end to decades of debauchery and torture at the hands of the cult of Azathoth is left to be discovered.

Kiara Evelyn Miller

The only remaining family *12/10/1987

See thatevester for more detailed infos on her, as well as threads I'm writing for her.

Kiara is Lance's only biological daughter and the accidental result of a onenight stand he had during his first semester at film school. For the first 28 years of her life, Kiara has had no contact with Lance whatsoever.

Born on December 10th 1986 in Santa Barbara, California, Kiara was raised by her doting mother and adoptive father, and only learned about her heritage on her 16th birthday. By the year 2003, Lance promised he'd meet her at least once, but a month before that could ever happen, he vanished off the face of the earth for the next 13 years. Kiara spent her teens and early 20s troubled by severe problems with self worth, and more details about her can be read in her blog bio if interested.

In 2016, she was the first person Lance came back to, hoping to deliver on the promise he made all the way back in 2003. With his mother suffering from severe dementia and having placed in a nursing home, Kiara is pretty much the only family Lance has left, and the years inside Collingwood after losing all of his friends have taught him to appreciate that a lot more.

His choice to come to her has put her in the crossfire though, and it doesn't take long for both Azathoth as well as its cult to show an immense interest in her, hoping to use her as leverage against her father. Kiara in return is just as eager to find out the truth about his disappearance, and soon digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding Lance, Collingwood, as well as Friedkin and what remains of his cult.

Hayley Anne Miller, nee Thompson

The teenage trouble *07/19/1969 - +12/15/2016 (verse dependent)

Hayley Anne Miller was born as Hayley Anne Thompson on July 19th, 1969 in Santa Barbara, California. From a very young age, she developed an interest in all things photography and film. By the time she was 18 years old, she was more than happy to begin film school at UCLA-TFT, where she met Lance Preston, a fellow film enthusiast and student.

While Lance could be considered an overachiever, stockpiling sports trophies and top grades in all their classes as the years went by, Hayley was more of a free spirit, out to meet as many creative and interesting people as possible.

It was spring 1987 when Hayley took an interest in the infamous guy that was top of her class, sitting somewhere in the shadows on campus, writing, planning, alone and constantly busy. A snapped candid photo of the person of interest soon turned into casual conversation, and the Santa Barbara native was determined to make the broody Washington film nerd her next muse and project for the summer. Ever the collector of interesting stories, faces, people.

While the desired friendship between them never really hit it off because Lance was much more interested in his studies and projects, friendly 'hi's and 'how's your latest project doing' still turned into the occassional meet up for coffee, and Hayley, as stubborn as ever, was determined to turn him into someone to her liking. Knowing that much more might linger beneath if only she pushed him in the right direction. After weeks of nudging, she eventually managed to drag Lance to a frat party on campus, where she proceeded to get him drunk, high, and focused on something other than his projects for once. Minutes of drinking and talking turned into hours, one bottle of beer and a shot of whiskey turned into two, three, four, and by midnight, all was said and done.

The endeavour resulted in an accidentental pregnancy. After much consideration and despite their young age of 19 and 18 respectively, Hayley chose to keep the unborn girl that would soon become one Kiara Evelyn Miller. She quit her studies by spring break and left UCLA to live with her childhood sweetheart back in Santa Barbara.

Lance never bothered to question or challenge her decision. Instead, he gladly accepted her proposal to have the other man named as the father just before she left, because he considered family life an unnecessary bump in the road to his filmmaking career. Parting on mutual and respectful terms, Hayley left for Santa Barbara while Lance focused back on his studies. He graduated from UCLA with honors, scoring several internships and freelance jobs as a cameraman and screenwriter. It was the last time either of them would see each other for the next 28 years.

In early 2016, Hayley filed for divorce from Kiara's adoptive father when she found out that he was cheating on her with a much younger woman. Spending a couple of months griefing the loss of her marriage as well as worrying about her daughter's mental health. It was in late November of the same year when things seemed to be looking up for her, because a young man by the name of Matthew Sinclair started courting her at her local café.

Hayley, flawed and still hurt from her divorce, flees into an affair with the man, not knowing that he's only come to California to keep an eye on her and her daughter - hoping to catch glimpse of her long lost one night stand. It doesn't take long, because only a couple of weeks later, Hayley receives a call from her daughter, who lets her know that her elusive biological father has turned right back up on her doorstep. Naturally, Hayley is more than eager to come right over to L.A. - unknowingly leading Matthew and thus the CPHHS right back to Lance.

Depending on the verse and timeline, Hayley ends up in the crossfire and gets killed by Matthew and the cult (or Klaus Mikaelson in my TO verse with @sanguinelupus)

#text post #mobile resource #headcanons #hc : azathoth #hc : relationships #hc : cult #hc : daughter #npcs #demons in the halls : aza/thoth

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aza-trash-can · 8 months

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Twitter is so much more dangerous to open in public than tumblr

#aza's trash #the suggestive fanart there is on another level #this dumpster fire only has weird text that's fine

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cadavertrolls · 10 months

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Y'all don't even know about Aza and his 2 girlfriends and dubious hate boyfriend

#.txt #talking cadaver #azazel text #i love aza you see

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shatteredsnail · 2 years

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the talimar adventurers guild is a great place

#mithid #tagverse #is it real? absolutely not. kathani runs that city #but it is my excuse for my brain to create fun interactions across all of mithid history #sorry keifer laxyus and ophelia starseer are going to go slay the beast of valewood #meanwhile amaya beckett and kathani of the wastes drink rum and argue about god #somewhere syl is reading ancient texts that she stole from aza bryntarii. she accidentally curses everyone in the room #atticus lurks in the basement and takes all the weirdest jobs. there’s a betting pool on if he’s real or not #pudding the raccoon and the guardians of balance manage the job board (renaux redoes it when they turn around)#they may exist in different centuries and continents but i’m forcing them to all be in the tag

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why-animals-do-the-thing · 1 year

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Happy National Zookeeper Week!

I’ll admit, I’m feeling a little spicy about it this year (well, every year) because zoos use the celebration for lots of positive facility PR, yet staff don’t often get the support and respect that is claimed in those posts.

So I want to share this great article written by a zoo industry consulting group last year looking at the reality of what happens when a workforce ends up conflicted between their passion (zoos and animals) and pragmatism (paying rent, existing in a capitalist society). They assessed AZA compensation rates by region against things such as a living wage and rental rates in the area. (All text formatting within quotes, such as bold and italics, is original to the article text.)

I cannot give the Canopy Group enough support for the way they framed this research:

“By observing the economics of keeper compensation, it’s no secret that keepers land on the lower end of the wage spectrum. Like all other wages and salaries, the market value of keeper compensation is driven by several economic factors – including the size of the labor pool, the rigor and danger of the work, the technical ability required, and the educational requirements. However, there is one factor that artificially lowers the market value of keeper compensation more than any other: passion.

In this article, we’ll take a look at why passion lowers the market value of animal care worker wages. More importantly, we’ll consider many factors that have emerged in recent years that are making people reevaluate the value of following their passion – a trend contributing to The Great Resignation, especially as it applies to zoos, aquariums, and similar organizations. (…)

The argument here is passion versus pragmatism: the unknown versus the sure thing. It is a decision all zookeepers and animal care technicians have made. Working with animals is immensely rewarding, but this passion is also very popular. This, historically, has meant that the keeper candidate pool is very large. Therefore, if the wage is livable and working conditions are reasonable, the pool should remain large. In a very real sense, a passion for animals drives down the market value of keeper compensation. Anyone who has been through an Economics 101 course will recognize this as a fundamental market principle: supply vs. demand.

However, many zoos and aquariums are having a more difficult time filling positions than normal and have started to see higher turnover rates in recent years. This begs the question – is the current keeper wage too low?”

Their findings?

Here’s their graph of “the median wage of keepers from organizations in different AZA-defined regions” from an AZA survey done in 2021. (Median is the type of average that looks at the middle of a data set’s range).

The median wage for AZA keepers in the South/Southeast was just over $15/hr at the low end, and the median wage for AZA keepers in the Far West / PNW was a little under $26/hr. That’s pretty dang low everywhere, especially when you factor in the increased cost of living in places like the West Coast. Also consider that looking at the median wage doesn’t mean this reflects just entry-level compensation - this data indicates the the compensation middle for all keeper positions, including people who have built their careers as keepers in those places long-term.

Then, they compared those wages to the “living wage” in each region - which they defined as “a calculation of what it takes to live in a particular area, without any other income. A living wage calculation takes into consideration how many earners are in a household, how many children are being supported, etc. The living wage includes the costs of all the basic items a household needs to be self-sufficient.”

“If you receive a wage for a job that is below the living wage, then you are essentially taking a negative net income. This is unsustainable for the long term, and essentially defines where wages start to exploit passion.”

Here’s a figure they provided using the MIT Living Wage Calculator showing the average living wage for each of the AZA regions. The chart on the left shows the living wage for a single person with no kids; the second, for two parents with two incomes and one child to support.

“By comparing the two graphs [to the earlier graph of the AZA median compensation rates], we find that median wages in the Southeast/South and Southwest regions are lower than the living wage for each household configuration in those regions. In other words, if you are a single person household or part of a two-income household raising 1 child in the South, a starting keeper salary will likely leave you with a negative net income. While many people work at this level, it increases the risk of accumulating debt, lowers a person’s ability to afford a home, set a much later retirement age, and can lead to many other negative, long-term effects.”

Big yikes, right?

Next, they looked at living wage vs. compensation for single parents.

“The single-parent living wage exceeds the average keeper wage in all AZA regions. In fact, the living wage required as a single parent is double the average AZA keeper wage in some regions.”

And then they did housing, specifically, being able to purchase a home.

“In many places, even a two-income household at an average keeper salary would not purchase a mid-level home. This means that keepers have to wait far longer than their peers to purchase a home. While paying rent in the meantime, this rent will account for a larger portion of their income than their peers. All in, these effects can set hopeful homeowners back years or decades.”

Canopy’s conclusion was something anyone involved in the field knew was coming.

“Companies like Chipotle, McDonalds, Best Buy, FedEx, Home Depot, Publix, and Walmart are all offering similar starting wages near starting keeper wages – plus many fringe benefits (like tuition reimbursement) and ample advancement opportunities. Many potential keepers in younger generations are putting their passion on the shelf so they can meet basic standard-of-living concerns.

To attract and retain quality candidates, an organization must consider the journey each new employee would have to make over their career. If the journey is fraught with massive debt, decreased disposable income, and limited career opportunities, then you are limiting your potential candidate pool to the small group of people who have decided that following their passion is worth significant lifelong financial hardship. There are many potential candidates out there willing to sacrifice and arm and leg for animals and conservation, but they wouldn’t dare jeopardize the financial future of their dependents and families.”

This is something I’ve heard about for years, and seen first hand. The low average wage at zoological facilities has been damaging their ability to hire and retain skilled staff for as long as I’ve been involved in the industry. I know so many zookeepers who still have roommates into their 30’s, or work multiple jobs, just to be able to make ends meet.

There’s a mythology about zookeeping jobs, a narrative that seeps into the field and actively exploits people’s passion for the job: it tells people that they’re so lucky to be able to work with these rare and cool animals; that they’re greedy and ungrateful when they ask for more compensation because they’re privileged to get to have the job at all. It says that most people would give anything to have these opportunities, so current zookeepers are interchangable and easily replaceable. Ask for too much? Push for a living wage? There’s always someone willing to take your spot. Not all facilities perpetuate this mentality - some places do treat their staff well without intentionally manipulating them to stay them in unsustainable jobs, and there can be legitimate financial reasons that limit staff compensation (mostly at smaller facilities, afaik) - but it’s a reality in the field.

For a long time, this type of mentality towards staff was sustainable. There really were always more people wanting to work in the field. But now, after three years of pandemic stressors and inflation, it’s starting to be a problem. A lot of staff left during the last few years, and facilities are having a really hard time hiring people and retaining them for any duration. I think a large part of that is low compensation rates. People are prioritizing long-term financial stability and recognizing when their passion is being exploited.

When I first started on tumblr back in 2011, there was a whole group of us within the United States who were baby zookeepers or volunteering as industry hopefuls. We all became friends, and I’ve stayed in touch with, or at least aware of, most of them as their careers progressed. Of the 10-15 or so people in that cohort? I can think of three who are still employed in the zoo industry. Everyone else has moved on into other fields - often with great grief over the loss - because of the extreme emotional labor, the physical exhaustion, and the lack of appropriate compensation.

But I guess that annual pizza party, being featured on social media, and maybe getting additional snacks all week makes up for it all?

#national zookeeper week #zoo industry #living wage #compensation #please support your local zookeeper #AZA accreditation #AZA zoos #zoos

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elliebelliegirl · 27 days

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okay following up though... i understand that you are jewish and Israeli but (not trying to attack you, just trying to understand) how can you stand with the state of Israel after seeing the numbers of atrocities that the IDF has committed - of course the hostages should be released, but palestine will cease to exist if this continues and this is an active genocide. people are being displaced and thousands have died. how can you in good conscience stand with the actions of Israel ?

im still assuming this is in good faith! i do appreciate that you're asking and not attacking, it's really nice change of pace tbh. please understand that my ethnicity and my political opinions are not the same thing and how i feel about the state of israel is divorced from my religious beliefs. i just also believe that my people have a right to live in our indigenous land. i also believe palestinians should be able to live in israel (many already do.) anyway, here's the deal.

first, im not israeli, but my family is. i was born and raised in the u.s. while most of my family is israeli, i am not (yet.) im an american jew with strong roots in israel.

second! israelis have been displaced since october, since the attacks by hamas, the governing body of gaza. they've been attacked and killed for years (the whole reason the iron dome exists is because missiles are such an active threat.) getting displaced or killed has happened to israelis and gazans. its terrible for everyone. i am human, and therefore uncomfortable with war, but i don't think it's a genocide. i am horrified by the deaths in gaza. i hate that innocents are being harmed. i don't want to add a however, but there's a big one- it's that the ratio of killed militants v.s civilians is unfathomably low. if israel wanted to kill everyone in gaza (which is 100% not the goal) they would be dead already. the war is active now only to eradicate hamas, which would be beneficial to gazans and israelis, and to rescue the hostages. israel has offered to end the war multiple times and hamas has refused.. because they refuse to return the people they kidnapped. the war could've been over months ago!!! months ago. israel did not instigate this war, and has repeatedly offered ceasefire deals. hamas is the one shooting these offers down. also, palestine wont just cease to exist.. im not sure what that part means, can you explain it? i want to understand you, too.

also. i have cousins in the idf. one of them was supposed to come over before last days on sukkot and couldn't make it in the end. over the weekend, october seventh happened. the next time we spoke, it was a phone call right after simchat torah ended. he was on his way to the airport, having been called back to israel to meet his unit in kfar aza and start collecting bodies. i only had a few minutes to tell him i love him and to stay alive on behalf of me and my siblings. the memory is so surreal. we turned on our phones for the first time in days to texts from our israeli family saying they were alive, not to watch the videos, not to look at the pictures. im still kind of stuck there on my couch, holding my siblings in a hug and wondering if someone who hadn't texted yet was dead. then we saw people celebrating the massacre. they haven't really stopped. so we knew we couldnt really count on anyone to protect us, and this was way before israel entered gaza. people were just happy jews were dead. don't know if this is a huge sidetrack, but. this is why i stand with israel. their goal is to keep my family alive. their goal is to keep as many gazans as possible alive. that is not the goal of iran and hamas. this goes further than zionism though, tbh. zionism is pretty simple as a principle 😅

#this fairly off the cuff #i dont think its very articulate #sorry about that #i hope i answered in a way that makes sense?#feel free to ask more questions if you want #jumblr #jewblr #i stand with israel #these are personal thoughts and not universal i hope that's clear :)#israel #also like. if youre asking if i support netanyahu?#i do not

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talonabraxas · 2 months

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Kabbalah - Tree of Life

Kabbalah (Hebrew קַבָּלָה “reception”, Standard Hebrew Qabbala, Tiberian Hebrew Qabbālāh; also written variously as Cabala, Cabalah, Cabbala, Cabbalah, Kabala, Kabalah, Kabbala, Qabala, Qabalah, Kaballah) is an interpretation (exegesis, hermeneutic) key, “soul” of the Torah (Hebrew Bible), or the religious mystical system of Judaism claiming an insight into divine nature.

Kabbalah became a reference to doctrines of esoteric knowledge concerning God, God’s creation of the universe and the laws of nature, and the path by which adult religious Jews can learn these secrets. Originally, however, the term Kabbalah was used in Talmudic texts, among the Geonim, and by early Rishonim as a reference to the full body of publicly available Jewish teaching. In this sense Kabbalah was used in referring to all of known Oral Law.

Kabbalah, according to the more recent use of the word, stresses the reasons and understanding of the commandments in the Torah, and the cause of events described in the Torah. Kabbalah includes the understanding of the spiritual spheres of creation, and the ways by which God administers the existence of the universe.

According to Jewish tradition dating from the 13th century, this knowledge has come down as a revelation to elect saints from a remote past, and preserved only by a privileged few. It is considered part of the Jewish Oral Law by the majority of religious Jews in modern times, although this was not agreed upon by many medieval Talmudic scholars, as well as a minority of current Orthodox rabbis.

Origin of Jewish Mysticism

According to adherents of Kabbalah, the origin of Kabbalah begins with the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible). According to Midrash, God created the universe with “Ten utterances” or “Ten qualities.” When read by later generations of Kabbalists, the Torah’s description of the creation in the Book of Genesis reveals mysteries about the godhead itself, the true nature of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life, as well as the interaction of these supernal entities with the Serpent which leads to disaster when they eat the forbidden fruit, as recorded in Genesis 2.

The Bible provides ample additional material for mythic and mystical speculation. The prophet Ezekiel’s visions in particular attracted much speculation, as did Isaiah’s Temple vision (Chapter 6). Jacob’s vision of the ladder to heaven is another text providing an example of a mystical experience. Moses’ experience with the Burning bush and his encounters with God on Mount Sinai, are all evidence of mystical events in the Tanakh, and form the origin of Jewish mystical beliefs.

Jewish mystical traditions always appeal to an argument of authority based on antiquity. As a result, virtually all works claim or are ascribed ancient authorship. For example, Sefer Raziel HaMalach, an astro-magical text partly based on a magical manual of late antiquity, Sefer ha-Razim, was, according to the kabbalists, transmitted to Adam (after being evicted) by the angel Raziel. Another famous work, the Sefer Yetzirah, supposedly dates back to the patriarch Abraham. According to Apocalyptic literature, esoteric knowledge, such as magic, divination, and astrology, was transmitted to humans in the mythic past by the two angels, Aza and Azaz’el (in other places, Azaz’el and Uzaz’el) who ‘fell’ from heaven (see Genesis 6:4).

This appeal to antiquity has also shaped modern theories of influence in reconstructing the history of Jewish mysticism. The oldest versions of the Jewish mysticism have been theorized to extend from Assyrian theology and mysticism. Dr. Simo Parpola, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, has made some suggestive findings on the matter, particularly concerning an analysis of the Sefirot. Noting the general similarity between the Sefirot of the Kabbalah and the Tree of Life of Assyria, he reconstructed what an Assyrian antecendent to the Sepiroth would look like.[2] He matched the characteristics of En Sof on the nodes of the Sepiroth to the gods of Assyria, and was able to even find textual parallels between these Assyrian gods and the characteristics of god. The Assyrians assigned specific numbers to their gods, similar to how the Sepiroth assigns numbers to its nodes. However, the Assyrians use a sexagesimal number system, whereas the Sepiroth is decimal. With the Assyrian numbers, additional layers of meaning and mystical relevance appear in the Sepiroth. Normally, floating above the Assyrian Tree of Life was the god Assur, this corresponds to En Sof, which is also, via a series of transformations, derived from the Assyrian word Assur.

Furthermore, Dr. Paropla re-interpreted various Assyrian tablets in the terms of this primitive Sefirot, such as the Epic Of Gilgamesh, and in doing so was able to reveal that the scribes themselves had been writing philosophical-mystical tracts, rather than mere adventure stories. Traces of this Assyrian mode of thought and philosophy eventually makes reappearances in Greek Philosophy and the Kabbalah.

Skeptics would point out that the doctrine of the Sefirot only saw serious development starting in the 12th Century CE with the publication of the Bahir. To argue that the concept of the sefirot existed in an occult and undocumented form within Judaism from the time of the Assyrian empire (which fell from cultural hegemony in the 7th Cent. BCE) until it “surfaced” 17-18 centuries later strikes some scholars as far-fetched. A plausible alternative, based in the research of Gershom Scholem, the pre-eminent scholar of Kabbalah in the 20th Century, is to see the sefirot as a theosophical doctrine that emerges out of Jewish late antiquity word-mythology (as exemplified in Sefer Yetzirah) and the angelic-palace mysticism found in Hekalot literature being fused to the Neo-Platonic notion of creation through progressive divine emanations.

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