#empty nest syndrom is real and ruthless

[gareleia]

THE KNITTING SAGA BUT HERMES IS A DUMMY

update: my co-writer friend FINALLY got a tumblr account, so I can tag them now!!

previously: part 1 part 2 part 3

next: part 5

m'kay, so, we've talked about Athena & Telemachus' issues. now let's touch on Hermes, because a Diva™ like him deserves his own post. and also because this had been sitting in my notes for so long i've genuinely forgotten about it (i'd say that it's what translating a musical does to you, but honestly my attention span is just shit)

now, as much as I love Soft Boi!Hermes, I even more so love prankster Hermes who doesn't really recognize personal boundaries or the meaning of 'too far'. he's the guy who'll commit to the bit so far, he'll commit mass murder with a Tee-Hee and genuinely wonder what has got everyone so upset.

kid!Telemachus, holding a cup of poison: grandpa, are you sure it's a good idea? I'm scared… Hermes, laughing his ass off in the corner: of course I'm sure, champ! it'll be hilarious! good ol' game of Ithacean Roulette! now dump it into the wine, let's see who we'll get this time!

at the same time, he's not selfish. he's very keen on doing things for the people he likes, and he cares enough to know when someone is distressed. he, as a god, is just so removed from traditional human morality that casual acts of cruelty are perfectly acceptable to him, while, for example, breaking an oath is a horrible sin.

think blue and orange morality stuff.

telemachus, outraged: …murdered his own family, can you imagine? hermes, equally outraged: I know, right? he gave a blood oath and broke it! disgusting! telemachus: why is that your only concern?!

but don't worry, helping to raise Telemachus and hanging around the same people consistently makes a real boy outta him gives him enough time and insight into humanity to start understand mortals better, and, as consequence, adopt some of their values.

especially the concept of spousal loyalty. Hermes is a patron god of thieves, and at the time taking someone's wife was viewed as an act of theft (because women were property, yeeesh). which is why to him Penelope's situation was less of a tragedy and more of a "well, my dumbass great-grandson Odysseus should've seen it coming. snooze you lose! ¯_(ツ)_/¯"

that is, until he gets to know her better. and suddenly she's not a prize to be won or a challenge to conquer. she's a smart, capable person that commands respect from anyone who's got a shred of self-awareness. she's got gentle hands, and a radiant smile, and a spine of steel. Penelope looked Hermes dead in the eyes and told him serenely to keep being a good influence on her son, she does not deserve to be reduced to a token and given away to the highest bidder.

hermes, initially: well, penelope's a rich, gorgeous, basically single queen. I'd steal her too, if she was my type. hermes, 10 years later: she's the smartest, ballsiest human woman I've ever met and if she only wants her Ugly Ass Groom then she'll fucking stay single until he comes back.

unfortunately for everyone else, Hermes cannot step in to protect her, because Zeus and Poseidon are both pissed off at Odysseus already, and if either of them notices Hermes (and/or Athena) interfering with mortals on Ithaca, they might take it as an invitation to follow suit, and then it'll be Troy Story 2: Electric Boogaloo.

so he stays his hand, and hangs around Telemachus discreetly, mostly posing as a human. for a god of liars, he's surprisingly bad at blending in for long periods of time. Hermes thinks he's an awesome conspirator. meanwhile little Telemachus didn't even realise it was a secret.

the only people who don't know that [insert alias] is a god in disguise are the suitors, who are notoriously either too stupid, too overconfident or too busy drinking to connect the dots. the exception is Antinous who pretends to be oblivious and makes sure the gods don't see him as a threat to their beloved little pup (otherwise he'd have killed the prince long ago).

the suitors, however, unanimously agree that they hate this weird annoying stranger, and try to get rid of him in increasingly elaborate ways, from poison to stabbing to wild animals to dropping pots on his head.

spoiler alert: it doesn't work.

hermes, next day: *comes back every morning like nothing had happened, whistling cheerily* suitors: WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!

eventually Antinous convinces them to give up so they don't piss off Hermes.

years pass, Telemachus grows. Athena teaches him strategy and arts of war. Aeolus gradually comes out of the hiding and becomes the resident lovable comic relief side character. and Hermes? he teaches the kid all the good stuff.

and it's not just lying, okay? (though it's a significant part of it) music, diplomacy, geography, street smarts, some history. he's a worldly god, had observed and been a part of countless cultures. above all else, he knows people. he may not really understand them, but he knows how to get what he wants from them, how to find common ground and how to spin things to get along with practically anyone.

and girls. Hermes helps Telemachus with girls.

because he's the cool uncle figure that Telemachus admires, the kid trusts him enough to ask the god for advice when he starts growing older and gets his first crush in his early teens.

and, on one hand, Hermes is ecstatic. on the other one…

telemachus, blushing and stuttering: there's a girl I met, she's so pretty, and cool, and, and, and how do I talk to her, do I just come up and say hi, but what if sh- hermes: … hermes: *blue screen of death* hermes: MY BABY-

it's the first time he truly starts to grasp how short the kid's life will be. because in the blink of an eye he turned from a newborn to an adolescent, and soon enough he'll have his own family, and Odysseus was already a king himself at this age, and Hermes is not ready this can't be it he can't just grow old and die

so anyway, he pushes the thought aside and pretends it never came up at all (because that always works, and bottling shit up never blows up in anyone's face, right, Athena?)

he gives lots of advice, from useless macho stuff to golden nuggets like "be yourself" and "show her respect". and, of course, he cheers from the sidelines, hiding 'inconspicuously'.

and it goes surprisingly well. the girl appears to find Telemachus' awkward attempts at flirting sweet and charming, and the boy is on the cloud nine.

but Hermes isn't. because, unlike the prince, his judgment isn't clouded by a puppy crush and he can see that the girl is actually a lying bitch, who's playing Telemachus like a fiddle, hoping to become the next queen of Ithaca. and he won't stand for it.

except Telemachus, for some reason, doesn't seen thrilled when Hermes tells him to dump the girl?? he flat out refuses to believe that, because love is blind and so are sheltered insecure teenage boys.

so Hermes, in his infinite wisdom, decides to prove to his naive little charge once and for all that the girl is just using him and doesn't actually love him. now, what's the first example of true selfless love from a woman that comes to mind to the god who had spent the last few years hanging out with the royal family of Ithaca? right, Penelope. and the one thing that characterises Penelope is her unconditional loyalty, even into the face of countless threats and temptations.

hermes, to himself: so, if I show the kid that the bitch will leave him as soon as she finds a better prospect, he will definitely admit I was right all along! and dump her! it's a perfect, easy, foolproof plan! I am so smart! what could possibly go wrong!

another spoiler alert: everything goes wrong.

the girl does happily jump into his arms as soon as he hints that he's a god/demi-god/just a cooler prince or something. she does it right in front of Telemachus, in fact, so there's no way he'd be able to deny the obvious.

on the bright side, Hermes immediately outs her as a lying bitch and publicly shames her, embarrassing her family and ruining her prospects of marriage and causing her to suffer for the rest of her life ('disproportionate revenge'? what's that?).

on the down side, for some unfathomable reason, Telemachus doesn't seem very grateful??? what???????

hermes: and so, AS ALWAYS, I was right. telemachus: hermes: but please, hold your applause! telemachus: hermes: I did it all for you, out of the goodness of my heart! telemachus: hermes: and please, don't apologize! you were wrong, I get it! no need to- telemachus: *bitch slaps his smug face and runs away, hurt and betrayed* hermes: *shocked pikachu face*

thing is, Hermes doesn't understand what he did wrong. in his mind he did a rather good deed: showed the liar's true colors, and spared the kid a lot of heartache down the line. he doesn't understand the feelings of betrayal from having someone he trusts explicitly outing him as a naive fool in front of everyone he ever dreamed of earning respect from. doesn't get the pain of having been cast aside by someone he liked in favor of a god, with whom he could never compete. can't imagine living in the shadow of someone he had never even known and being constantly reminded of all the ways he's lacking.

telemachus: I'm not a stupid child, hermes. I could've handled it. hermes: but you didn't listen to me, maybe you'd have never seen it on your own- telemachus: and maybe I would've. maybe I would've had the opportunity to find out myself, and maybe I would've learned from it, but you never gave me that choice, did you?! did you think i'm that dumb?! hermes: oh, come on, kid, you're not dumb- telemachus: THEN WHY DO YOU TREAT ME LIKE I AM?! WHY DON'T YOU EVER TRUST ME?!

aaaaand there's the core issue. Telemachus had spent his whole life being babied at best and looked down upon at worst. constantly compared to Odysseus and his more vicious peers, always shielded from making tough decisions and proving himself. he feels like he will never amount to anything, because no one ever lets him really try. as soon as it looks like he's going to make a mistake, someone (usually Athena, Aeolus or Hermes) swoops in and 'fixes' everything for him, just like they used to do when he was an accident-prone toddler. which he isn't anymore.

and Hermes doesn't understand that. to him, ten years is basically nothing. the kid can't have changed that much in ten years. because if he did, then he'll change a lot in the next ten years, and the next, and very soon he won't change anymore, because ten years are nothing and so are human livespans.

ten years are nothing, because to admit otherwise would force Hermes to face the fact that Telemachus, no matter how precious, is just as mortal as any other human. which amounts to basically losing him already. and Hermes can't.

he held that boy as an infant. he fed him, helped to teach him walk and talk and make silly faces. he can't lose this child to time, the one thing even gods can't really protect humans from.

Penelope finds Hermes sitting on her balcony with the most human expression on his face she'd ever seem him wear. he's lost, and confused, and full of regrets, and kind of terrified. in that aspect, he reminds her painfully of her husband.

hermes, mumble: he's growing older penelope, sighing: I know hermes: he's not a baby anymore penelope: believe me, I know hermes: but... what do I do now??? penelope: you let it happen. not much else you can do.

she talks him through it.

hermes, rambling: but I will lose him. I'll lose him if he grows old and dies. this is why I don't get attached to mortals, you die too soon. he can't die now. penelope: he's not going to die now. he'll become the king first, he will find a good wife and have children and grandchildren. he will become great, greater that I and his father could ever dream of. and he'll be happy. don't you want to see that? hermes: I do, but- I don't want him to grow up! penelope: then you finally know the biggest joy and the deepest pain of parenthood.

it doesn't fix his fear. doesn't fix his pain, either. but it does help fix his attitude.

because she's right. Telemachus is growing old, and he can't shelter and protect the boy forever. soon he'll become a man, then an elder. and there's nothing Hermes can do about it, short of dragging the prince to Olympus and begging Zeus to grant him immortality, which will never work.

Hermes and Telemachus make up, of course. the latter knows, deep down, that the former is just trying to take care of him. they make up and forget the fight - at least, the boy does.

Hermes will always remember.

and he will count every day, every wrinkle, every grey hair.

the joy and pain of parenthood indeed.

[thornfield13713]

Very sorry, Thornfield! The 5 headcanons for the Harry Stark AU, please!

I was going through my tag looking to see what I’d already put out, and found I’d already done one for the major events of this AU, which may be found here. As such, please have one of the smaller details.

Obie does not approve of Tony acquiring a kid. At all. For a lot of reasons, starting with the fact that it seems to be a sign of Tony taking more responsibility, which might lead to his uncovering Obie’s dealings, but also just because he really doesn’t want to be responsible for another Starkling. Tony was bad enough and cost him enough of his hair, thank you. Harry isn’t quite as much of a tearaway as young Tony - at least not at first - but he and Obie never really warm to each other, partly because Obie was so obvious in his initial belief that he’d be able to talk Tony into sending Harry away. 

Harry and Tony have a massive fight over the Sokovia Accords, and the reason for this is simple - Harry knows what happens when you start putting people on a register for something they can’t control. Tony tries to justify it with the Animagus register - but people choose to become animagi. They don’t choose to develop superpowers, and Harry has no intention of signing any such accord, even if doing to wouldn’t get him hauled up in front of MACUSA for Statute of Secrecy violations. The fight is bad enough that Harry and Tony don’t speak for a couple of years, which is also a part of why Tony starts reaching out to Peter Parker, in what Pepper calls the world’s most extreme case of empty-nest syndrome.

That Harry is a) planning to blow up Voldemort and pick off the Horcruxes while he’s still re-forming and b) could actually pull it off forces Dumbledore to tell him the real plan a full year earlier than in canon because, while he is very ruthless, Dumbledore’s whole reasoning behind that plan, and why he was so pleased that Voldemort had used Harry’s blood in book four, was that he didn’t want Harry to permanently die as a result of that plan. He was willing to take the risk, yes, but he wanted there to be some chance that Harry would survive, and Harry’s plan, while a lot more direct and probably likely to limit the damage Voldemort could do, would likely end with either Harry being possessed by Voldemort when the last other Horcrux was destroyed or Harry having to be permanently killed to destroy Voldemort. Thus, he ended up having to tell Harry everything at their next lesson, which threw off all his plans for the foreseeable future.

The Avenger that Harry gets along best with is actually Steve, once they’ve got past Harry’s trolling at their first meeting. Part of this is that Steve actually appreciates good-quality trolling, and likes to engage in it himself. Part of it is that Harry is also a bit of a little shit who can’t back down from a fight, which is a quality Steve appreciates. Part of it is that they are two people who absolutely get what it is to suddenly find yourself a legend with no preparation, and can commiserate about it on a more-or-less equal playing field. Either way, they get along pretty well and Steve is something of a favourite uncle-figure until the events of Civil War.

Harry meets Peter Parker between Homecoming and Infinity War, and they get along pretty well. Harry’s a few years older and intimidatingly cool, having saved the world (or at least the UK) once already, and having a bit more experience at the hero gig. From Harry’s perspective, he and Peter have a lot in common re: being young heroes with mentors who seem to obstruct them as often as they help and don’t give them enough information or support when they really need it, and Peter’s powers are much cooler than what Harry had to fight Voldemort with. (Ok, yes, magic is a lot more versatile, but Harry’s used to thinking of that as the default.) They team up to make fun of Doctor Strange’s name.

[circe-poetica]

Pluto and Saturn in Capricorn - The Shadow of Power & Fear

Personal Empowerment by Conquering the Shadow

For you reference, Saturn entered Capricorn in 2017, and Pluto is there since 2008. Pluto is the Lord of Power, wealth, personal resources, regeneration, and human evolution. His impacts our personal life through ruthless challenges, crises, terrible suffering, disempowerment. He forces us to transmute, to refine our desires, to accept our spiritual power and become independent. Pluto rules also the infinite creative energy of the cosmos, and the human creative sexual power in relationships, or sexual intercourse. It is often by merging with another human being that we experience the most transformative powers within. Then, we start the transformation of our own desires into the desires that benefit two or more people, the partner and the procreated children. It is when we intimately relate to another person that we can see our shadow. The ego desire is threatened and we begin the power struggles necessary to learn the dimensions of our own power, accept it and use it properly. However, we often fail to achieve the complete process and lose the chance to evolve and empower ourselves. The shadow then shows in our need to control others. We manipulate, obsess, keep secrets, act compulsively, abuse power, or , scared of our own power, engage in self-undoing behaviour. Then Pluto puts us face to face with powers greater than ourselves to challenge us, heal us and empower us. He creates traumatic crises, we enter in co dependent partnerships, we have an overpowering boss, we become unable to pay a mortgage, or become victim of a crime, or we develop an addiction, all of which can generate cruel and terrifying sufferings. In those situations we may feel the urge to transform our ego desires in a way that benefits all involved. If we succeed in the transmutation process that Pluto imposes, we learn the dimension of our power, we accept it and learn to use it, not only for personal benefit but in a way that everybody benefits. Saturn is the builder, organizer, agent of division and separation, discipline and maturation. With his strict, sometimes menacing treatment, he may manifest in the fear of not being able to comply with his requirements and 'adulting' demands. If authorities are tough on us, we may try to slip away to avoid responsibilities, or we may comply in fear. It is like having your father index finger pointed at you, 'do it or else!' However, we are greatly rewarded if we accept the discipline and learn the lesson. Our shadow shows up as avoidance of taking responsibility or discipline, or eluding a required deep recognition and transformation of our weakness, shortcomings and faults. At this stage, Pluto shows us how and why he became the Lord of all the Riches of the Earth, and we understand it.

by  riccardo torri

What is your shadow?

What is your Pluto in Capricorn shadow? Here are some ideas according to your Rising Sign, and to some extent to your Sun Sign if you're older than 30: CAPRICORN You undermine yourself emotionally resisting your own power, doubting your own skills, or capacity to do what you want. Your partner, spouse or significant other in your life may manipulate you, be jealous, do things behind your back that infuriate you, so you discover your own power, and learn how to use it. Pluto and Saturn seem to weaken you so you find your own strength. AQUARIUS You may have to face your secret enemies, like addictions, shady dealings, unconscious psychological material, self undoing behaviour, family history 'baggage', past life unfinished business or skeletons in the closet that haunt you even in your dreams. Pluto and Saturn bring any of that to the surface so by resolving those issues you discover your power, and learn how to use it. PISCES In your social life, you may be facing friends, older relatives, or groups of people to which you belong that are trying to impose on you their ideas, refute your position, or obsessively persecute you for what you say or do. By reacting to those situations, you may discover your own creative power, and learn how to use it. ARIES You may have experienced power struggles with your boss because of your or his/her hidden motives. Also a father figure or external powerful force, like government authority, regulation or institution may be pushing your buttons. This way, Pluto incites the recognition and transformation of your own power to confront them and develop your own personal authority. TAURUS You have the opportunity to see raw and clear your faulty ethics. Some powerful spiritual teacher, or having access to eternal truths through higher studies, reading an inspirational book, or learning different lifestyles from people of other cultures creates an internal battle of ideologies. Pluto works slowly and runs deeply inside your consciousness to show you that real power lies on not letting your beliefs be in the way of accepting the truth, no matter how fearful you might be. GEMINI A profound crisis, traumatic events, financial misfortunes or criminal behaviour overpower you, and trigger your primal survival instincts. Also sharing financial resources with a partner or financial institution may disempower you so you can learn how to stand on your own feet. Sexual merging with your partner can also awake your fears of losing your own power. Pluto and Saturn present those situations to teach you how to conquer your fear and manage your own energies in relationships. CANCER Similar to Rising Capricorn because the opposition always involves relationships, through the manipulation, power struggles, obsessive compulsive and jealous behaviour of your life partner, you are forced to learn how to stand for yourself, defend your position and empower yourself. Pluto and Saturn present you with this person's behaviour to teach you how to conquer your fear to be you, and manage your own energies in relationships. LEO You may have an overpowering health issue, a challenging workplace or situation, or a daily schedule with which you have a hard time keeping up. Saturn and Pluto will scare you to death, literally, fear of death. You are forced to tap into your natural healing ability, or into your regenerating power, determination, and stamina to overcome the situation, or illness. This way you discover your own inner power to sustain your life and heal. VIRGO You may experience strong feelings and desire for someone who is not romantically available, feeling powerless in face of the impossible love. You may have a strong longing for a connection with your children that are separating from you for whatever reason, like in the empty nest syndrome. Outer forces may remove all possibility of enjoyment, or you may not be able to experience joy in your life. Saturn and Pluto make you fear loneliness so you learn to generate joy within your own soul. LIBRA You may be deprived of home and family life, which makes you fear for your safety, comfort and nurturance and feel abandoned. Pluto and Saturn gives you these experiences so you find those powers inside of yourself and learn how to provide security and wellbeing for yourself. SCORPIO Siblings, classmates, neighbors or just your immediate environment can present overwhelming influences that seem to crush your life force. Saturn and Pluto are trying to teach you that you don't need to surrender to what happens to you, and that you have the power to influence your environment and affect the lives of people with whom you relate every day. SAGITTARIUS Scarcity, personal financial instability, material deprivation, lack of life essentials to survive, and even hunger squeeze your life force energy to the point that you are compelled to work harder to be able to thrive. This way, Saturn and Pluto show you that you have the power within to stand up for yourself and be strongly independent.

https://satsangatastrology.blogspot.com/2019/12/pluto-and-saturn-in-capricorn-shadow-of.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR1T0_DQ1FlEMaKJGFV47DHigHu19fhPRPJEg3W0CdEfP9nzDbOkmUtTiG0 Read more about the Great Conjunction in Capricorn HERE

[indomitablekushite]

The patriotic, intelligent, enlightened, sophisticated, reliable, upwardly-mobile, proudly African, particularly the young and young at heart, is a Ma’at. It is probably too late to reform our over 40, 50 or so years old already too deeply captured by our oppressors’ lies and brainwashing and serving as the master’s megaphones, preachers, promoters and agents in our midst.

No true African is a Christian or Muslim. It is a contradiction in terms to link a legitimate African born, with Christianity or Islam. The idea is simply absurd, an abnormality, to say the least. These religions were the tools used to suppress and enslave our ancestors, and exploit and condemn us to our current state of wretchedness as a people, through ruthless brainwashing. A real African would have to be insane to identify with the religions the slavers used to obliterate his/her name, language, self-esteem, family, industries, history and intellectual, spiritual and material contributions to modern civilization. They are insane, because they rejoice the most over Yahweh’s ten plague attacks on our ancestors in Egypt. They compose songs, dance and make-merry over the idea, until they run out of strength and sleep off only to wake up the following morning and begin the shindig all over again over our adversities.

Of course, many would argue that there are some genuine Africans who are Christians or Muslims. Such arguments are usually based on the empty surface value of skin colour. The truth is that not every one that is Black or African on the outside is African inside. That is why after fifty years of flag independence, they are still hanging on to some mundane, outmoded, barbaric, narrow-minded, false, senseless, racist, alien spiritual pre-occupations, imposed by our selfish, de-humanizing slave masters. Typical African Christians and Muslims, call African cultures, traditions, values, and works of arts: primitive, savage and pagan. They smugly try to speak and carry themselves like the slave masters; insanely bleach to sore point to try to pass for White; arrogantly claim to be Christians and Muslims first, and due to their helpless, unappreciated freak of nature, Africans second. They are our Pastors and Imams, political leaders, school teachers, business tycoons and merchants, importing European excrements into our climes as fertilizers, because they believe, European excrement is superior to ours. They are usually the first to claim to be the authentic Africans only to be kneeling or hitting their heads on the floor the next minute, before images of their White and Arab gods, (Jesus, Muhammad, Yahweh-Allah), who they call their messiahs, husbands, fathers, saviours.

After the middle of the 17th century, the demand for Atlantic slave trade became insatiable and peaked in the 18th century. Each year, seven times as many slaves were leaving Western African coasts. For 500 years, from (1441-1870-1960 CE), with the Bible in one hand and the gun in the other, they unleashed a devastating, unprecedented, unrelenting, and un-godly, tyranny of hate, torture, enslavement, and colonization, on Africans. Africa was doubly disadvantaged; it was excluded from the economic flow engendered by the supposed ‘discoveries,’ and was bled dry by the exportation of humans in their dynamic ages, destined to replace the American Indians decimated by their European incursions. Progress on the continent came to a stop.

Many of the slave ships had Christian names, such as the ships of the slaver, Sir John Hawkins, licensed by Queen Elizabeth, named Jesus, Angel and Grace of God. Quite often, the captains of the slave ships were Christian clerics or priests. John Newton was one such captain of a slave-trading vessel. He read the Bible daily on board the ship while hundreds of human souls were in his ship’s hold. Pursued his studies for his ministry and held prayer services on deck twice daily. He wrote a hymn: “How Sweet the name of Jesus sounds.” Here is a White writer’s description of what happened on those ships: “Below the deck…sometimes more than five feet high and sometimes less; and this height is divided towards the middle, for the slaves lie in two rows, one above the other, on each side of the ship, close to each other like books upon a shelf…so close that the shelf would not easily contain any more. The poor creatures, thus cramped, are likewise in irons for the most part, which makes it difficult for them to turn or move or attempt to rise or lie down without hurting themselves or each other. Every morning, more instances than one are found of the living and the dead fastened together.”

To break and humble Africans, some of the most brutal and inhuman treatment in the history of mankind were practiced against them by Whites, on board those slave ships. Some captains, at the start of a journey would chop a number of slaves to bits, and force the others to watch and to eat the flesh. Torture and dismemberment were used to deter rebellion. White laws sanctioned the punishment meted out to Blacks by categorizing Africans as chattels, which like horses and cattle, could be bought, sold, mortgaged, borrowed, rented, bartered, etc. Christianity made slavery divine, arguing that the Africans were the children of Ham, who bore the curse of darkness from God. Missionaries often forced slaves to promise not to seek freedom, as a condition for being baptized. Women were routinely severely raped, and men were regularly castrated, their sex organs severed.

C.L.R. James in, (The Black Jacobins), tells us about some of the things that happened to our kith and kin on the sugar plantations in the Americas. “The whip was not always an ordinary cane or woven cord…sometimes it was replaced by a thick thong of cow hide, or by the lianes, a local growth of reeds, supple and pliant like whale bone…The slaves received the whip with more certainty and regularity than they received their food. It was the incentive to work and the guardian for discipline. But there was no ingenuity that fear of a depraved imagination could devise which was not employed to break their spirits and satisfy the lusts and resentment of their owners and guardians. Irons on the hands and feet, blocks of weed that the slaves had to drag behind them wherever they went, the tin-plate mask designed to prevent the slaves eating sugar cane, the iron collar. Whipping was interrupted in order to pass a piece of hot wood on the buttocks of the victims; salt, pepper, citron, cinders, aloes, and hot ashes were poured on the bleeding wounds. Mutilations were common, limbs, ears, and sometimes the private parts, to deprive them of the pleasure which they could indulge in without expense. Their masters poured burning wax on their arms and hands and shoulders, emptied the boiling sugar over their heads, burned them alive, roasted them on slow fires, filled them with gun power and blew them up with a match (this was called 'to burn a little powder in the ass of a nigger'); buried them up to their necks and smeared their heads with sugar that the flies might devour them, fastened them near to nests of ants or wasps; made then eat their excrement, drink their urine and lick the saliva of other slaves.”

Sir Han Sloane, an obvious sadist, who visited the British Islands in 1688, didn’t think the punishment he described (and quoted here), were harsh enough: “The slaves are punished…by nailing them down on the ground, and with crooked sticks on every limb, and their applying the fire by degrees from feet and hands, burning them gradually up to the head, whereby their pains are extravagant…by gelding (cutting off the balls) or chopping off half of the foot with an axe. Their punishment are suffered till they are raw; some (masters) put on their (slaves’) skins, pepper and salt to make them smart, at other times their masters will drop melted wax on their slaves’ skins and use several very exquisite torments…” In 1759 CE, F. Voltaire, who had all his life asserted that Africans were naturally inferior to Whites, published ‘Candide,’ a sting on religionists’ slavery of Africans. In 1772 CE, Rev. T. Thompson of the USA wrote that “the trade in Negro slaves on the African coast is in accordance with human principles and the laws of revealed religions.” In 1852 CE, Rev. Josiah, published a Bible defence of Black slavery in America, and in 1863 CE, ‘The London Times, with blazing headline, thundered that the Bible justifies Africans being sold and bought. It advised African slaves to ignore their freedom. Legal abolition of slavery was promptly replaced with colonization from 1880 for the next 80 years. The Berlin Conference to consolidate colonialism took place from Nov. 1884 to Feb. 1885. Charles Carrol published his “Biblical and scientific proof that the Negro is not a member of the human race, in 1900 CE.” Christianity and Islam create dichotomy between ‘Gods’ and humans to foster the master or select elite syndrome, to numb followers, to raise a loyal tribe of mindless servants, useful as idiots.

Islam de-humanizes Africans. Arabs are the most implacable and rabid Black haters on earth. Arabs call Africans abd (abeed), meaning, their ordained slaves. Islam, is their camouflage instrument of coercion, a comprehensive, abeed numbing, brainwashing, entrapping, mass breeding, lethally intoxicating concoction.

The Qur'an distinguishes between races by discriminating against Africans. There is a strong legacy of racism against Africans from early Arab-Islam because the language, traditions, and customs of the Arabs, support the down grading of the African race. Arabs’ attitude to Blacks derives from Genesis’ racist fiction about Noah’s sons. Arabs claim that “the accursed Ham was the progenitor of the Black race; that Japheth begat the full-faced, small eyes Europeans, and that Shem fathered the handsome of face with beautiful hair Arabs.” Arabs conveniently forget that they were produced by the mixture between their most advanced and superior race, the Kushites (Blacks), and the low-class, primitive White tribes that invaded Arabia land of the Blacks from 1550 BCE.

After conquering Egypt, Arabs began demanding Nubian slaves. From as early as 6 CE, they had developed slavery supply networks out of Africa, from the Sahara to the Red Sea, to Ethiopia, Somalia, and East Africa, to feed demands for slaves all over the Islamic world and the Indian Ocean region. The African male slaves were castrated and used as domestic servants, or to work the Sahara salt deposits, or on farms all over the Islamic world. The African female servants were continuously raped before being sold to households to be used as sex labour. This Arab trade in African slaves went on uninterrupted from the 6th century CE, to the 19th century CE, softening Africa militarily, culturally, economically, socially and politically, for the joint European and Arab onslaught on African people and economy, from the 15th century CE. Arabs, not only pioneered African slavery, they were also the principal raiders and middle men for the Atlantic slave trade that decimated populations in West African. Arabs in 1400 years enslaved and killed twenty times more Africans than the Whites did in 400 years. In the late 18th century CE, with most of the slave trade along the West African coast dominated by Christians, the bulk of the Arab slave trade shifted to Zanzibar, conquered then by Omani Arabs.

Dr. Azumah in his book, The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa, provides several examples of Islam’s hatred of Blacks. There is the hadith example in which an Ethiopian woman laments her racial inferiority to Muhammad, who consoles her by saying, "In Paradise, the whiteness of the Ethiopian will be seen over the stretch of a thousand years." Another hadith quotes Muhammad thus: "Do not bring black into your pedigree." In fact, the Arabic word for slave, “Abd,” became equated with Blacks with the advent of Islam. Osama Bin Laden, in a discussion with the Sudanese-American novelist, Kola Boof, in Morocco in 1996 said: “When next you meet an Arab, you should ask what the Arabic word is for slave; you’ll discover that the words are the same “abeed.” Which is why, when an Arab looks at a black African, what he sees is a slave.”

Muhammad owned and sold Black slaves. He ordered and built the pulpit of his mosque with African slave labour. The Qur'an encourages sex with female slaves in several places. Classical Islamic law allows a light-skinned Muslim man to marry a Black woman, but a Black Muslim man is restricted from marrying a light-skinned woman. As their literature puts it: "Only a whore, prefers blacks, the good woman will welcome death rather than being touched by a black man.” So interwoven is slavery with Islam that Islam’s holiest city, Mecca (site of the Hajj pilgrimage), was a slave trading capital. Quoting Azumah again, up until the 20th century, Mecca served as the gateway to the Muslim world for slaves brought out of Africa. "It became a custom for pilgrims to take slaves for sale in Mecca or buy one or two while on Hajj, as souvenirs to be kept, sold, or given as gifts, back home.” The African male slaves were castrated and the African female slaves were continuously raped. Off-spring of the illicit encounters were largely destroyed as unworthy to live. Between 650 CE and 1905 CE, over 20, 000,000 African slaves had been delivered through the Tans-Sahara route alone to the Islamic world. Dr. John Alembellah Azumah in, ‘The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa,’ estimates that over 80 million more died en-route.

A text from Dr. Azumah’s book provides this quote from a Zanzibar observer about the travails of African slaves’ en-route to slave markets around the Arabic world. “As they filed past, we noticed many chained together by the neck... The women, who were as numerous as the men, carried babies on their backs in addition to a tusk of ivory or other burden on their heads... It is difficult to adequately describe the filthy state of their bodies; in many instances not only scarred by [the whip], but feet and shoulders were a mass of open sores... half-starved ill-treated creatures who, weary and friendless, must have longed for death.” A Muslim herdsman, in Dr. Azumah’s book described the fate of those who became too ill or too weak to continue the journey as follows: “We speared them at once! For, if we did not, others would pretend they are ill, in order to avoid carrying their loads. No! We never leave them alive on the road; they all know this custom.” When asked who carries the ivory when a mother gets too tired to carry both her baby and the ivory, the herdsman replied, "She does! We cannot leave valuable ivory on the road. We spear the child and make her burden lighter.”

Arab and Persian literature depicts Blacks as "stupid, untruthful, vicious, sexually unbridled, ugly and distorted, excessively merry and easily affected by music and drink.” Nasir al-Din Tusi, a Muslim scholar said of Blacks: "The ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro.” Ibn Khaldun, an early Muslim thinker and scholar, writes that Blacks are "only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings." To Ibn Khaldum, “Blacks are characterized by levity and excitability and great emotionalism,” and added that “they are every where described as stupid.” Ibn Sina (Avicenna 980–1037), Arab’s most famous and influential philosopher/scientist in Islam, described Blacks as “people who are by their very nature slaves.” He wrote: “All African women are prostitutes, and the whole race of African men, are abeed (slave) stock.” He equated Black people with “rats plaguing the earth.” Al-Dimashqi, an Arab pseudo scientist wrote, “the Equator is inhabited by communities of blacks who may be numbered among the savage beasts. Their complexion and hair are burnt and they are physically and morally abnormal. Their brains almost boil from the sun’s heat…..” Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadhani painted this no less horrid picture of Black people, “…..the zanj (the blacks) are overdone until they are burned, so that the child comes out between black, murky, malodorous, stinking, and crinkly-haired, with uneven limbs, deficient minds, and depraved passions…..”

NAIWU OSAHON