#i was spiritually compelled

[sindirimba]

Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)

[doomedpuppetyuri]

they could never make me hate you shellsy woolbag

[echthr0s]

every day I ask myself, what even is religion? what even is being religious? because unfortunately the default way people tend to use this term is to say "are you Christian or something very similar to Christian in my limited understanding (aka Abrahamic in some way)" OR "are you specifically this kind of pagan" (the kind that, to me, has "this is clearly a backlash against monotheistic hegemony" vibes). I guess Buddhism may get a nod here too, as an afterthought, since it's been incorporated into Western collective consciousness for better or worse

am I religious? not by those connotations, certainly, but "I'm not religious" doesn't feel right. not when the possibilities of religiosity reach so far beyond those limitations. can being a divine entity make one religious by nature, since the nature of being divine often stands in direct concert with being treated with religiosity? does my self-gnosis denote religiosity by default? what about divinity as a kink framework (related to the aforementioned, obviously)? if I'm inclined to do that, does that not suggest a tendency towards religiosity? frankly, it's unclear what practices do denote religiosity -- a desire to do ritual, I'd imagine, but then what rituals are considered sacred as opposed to profane? is it intention that changes the vibe? are witches religious? if there is no deity involved, is religiosity entirely off the table? of course not (see: mention of Buddhism, above), so then where does the line get drawn? do metaphysics of some sort need to be involved? is a cosmological framework required? or a holy text? yeah, what about holy texts, can anything be a holy text? the Snapewives could be considered religious, so clearly religion can be derived from a multitude of sources. is it the element of consensus? is it when UPG becomes SPG? is fervour a required attribute? to do something "religiously" can just mean you do it a lot. are "Chreaster" Christians religious? how often does one have to participate in the rites that define their chosen religion to be considered religious? what about belief? does what one choose to believe denote religiosity? does credibility or lack thereof play a part? if a sense of morality is sufficiently strong and rigid, does that strong belief still tilt one towards religiosity even if this sense wasn't developed in a typically religious context?

with all these inconclusive questions (and I didn't even get to all of them, I just got tired of typing), I'm going to assume being religious is a matter of such subjectivity that if I say "I'm religious, I have a Saint David Bowie candle and I burn it every January" no one can definitively say otherwise

[black-salt-cage]

ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚

[allgremlinart]

having to keep seeing “AI art is bad cus it doesn’t have a SOUL like how HUMANS have a SOUL which is why we have EMOTIONS and can paint them good” when you’re someone who doesn’t believe in souls but DOES believe in the inherent danger of AI art is like. shut up shut up shut UP be better at arguingggggg

[remyfire]

ok i managed to dig up some caps ( and i’m gonna find more >:] ) i know you already got some trapper ones but i’m so soft over him taking his cap off and his curlies being smusied down … he looks like a lil cockatoo !!! im so hewohdneen

( me when he )

SMOOSH! LOOK AT THE SMOOSH!! BLESSED!

[chiropteracupola]

anyway fun fun fun that the character that gets the actual textual tell-tale heart comparison is also the one who ate a heart while it was still beating in a previous book!

[riverwithoutbanks]

Cas and hunger and love and how he cannot differentiate except because when he was under Famine influence, the body prevailed (hunger as in food), but the confused mind/grace wanted reciprocation/concordance (hunger as in desire— him asking Dean whether he’s affected).

It’s not even dominance (‘you should show me some respect’ vs Godstiel who doesn’t seem to care for Dean on his knees). He’s infinite so it only stands to reason that he’d try to consume, but he’s not a leviathan. He feels hunger, but he won’t even try to bite.

He always seem so sorrowful until he makes it clear that he is a warrior, that he can destroy and kill — but then he’s playing along with the Winchesters.

He has seen most of history, the fish leaving the ocean, yet he’s been lobotomised again and again, which is almost comical. There is so much to him, and yet we see basically none of it. And it suffices. Because he’s trapped in a loop of rebellion and wisdom and forgetting. Until he isn’t. He’s infinity reduced to a singular point and that’s breaking my mind.

[theaggresivepacifist]

luthen, andor, and rogue one

The doom has finally come upon me, I care about a piece of Star Wars media (everyone who’s here for Stranger/SF, forgive me and avert your eyes from the spectacle that’s about to follow, unless you too share my obsession with the above topics)

We have to wait until 2024 apparently so please excuse me while I scream into the void about LUTHEN in the context of Rogue One - 

- or more specifically his ghost, how Cassian becomes for Jyn Erso what Luthen is right now for him, because I’m obsessed. (Forgive any minor inaccuracies as, as I say, I have never really paid attention to Star Wars much before now, other than when Rogue One initially came out.)

We know that by the end of Andor S2, everything will have to have gone to absolute hell for the Rebellion and specifically Mon Mothma, who is forced to go fully into hiding with the Rebellion, and Saw Gerrera, who is badly injured and breaks away from the mainline Rebellion. There are apparently canonical reasons for that that are way too far over my head right now, but what interests me is that Luthen Rael, “Axis,” the master of the Rebellion’s spy network, one of its key strategists and financiers, who brought in the man who helps to ultimately secure the Death Star plans and turn the tide of war, is gone by the time we make it to Rogue One/the end of Andor. I can only assume, based on the foreshadowing we’ve seen so far, that he’s dead (more on that later). 

Now enter Jyn in Rogue One. Like Cassian at the start of Andor S1, the Empire has separated her from her family. She too has been in the Empire’s prisons and what appear to be some kind of labor/mining camps. She’s been a child soldier, like Cassian in “the mud at Mimban.” She’s still hoping to be reunited with her father, just as Cassian is looking for his sister. She’s so beaten down that at this point, all she cares about survival, not rebellion. Sound familiar? And just as Luthen does for him in Andor S1, Cassian is the one who encourages her to take this war seriously, “to fight these bastards for real.” He becomes her handler, as Luthen is his, and works with her as she discovers her own reasons for wanting to fight the Empire. 

And Cassian, from the first moment we see him in Rogue One, is the one making all of the horrible, messy, secret choices and sacrifices necessary to keep the rebellion going - killing his injured comrade rather than letting him be captured, using Jyn to get him to her father so that he can (unbeknownst to her) take him out. The kind of vicious, tragic decisions that Luthen had to make, or felt he had to - his “I’m damned for what I do,” Cassian’s “We’ve all done things we’re not proud of in the name of this rebellion.” Cassian knows about and has some kind of precarious dealings with Saw Gerrera - who was Luthen’s contact, as well as Jyn’s guardian, and now Luthen is gone. And as many people have already pointed out, Cassian and Jyn end up dying in the very goddamn poetic sunrise Luthen said he burns his own life for, and will never see. ARGH

In closing, a few theories on what might have happened to Luthen based on what we’ve seen so far, because I live for the angst and GOD I NEED TO KNOW:

1) Mon Mothma betrays Luthen to the Empire for some reason in the name of the greater good of the Rebellion, cementing what we already saw at the end of S1 re: her daughter – she’s beginning to take initiative in making ugly sacrifices for the cause.

2) Luthen dies for Cassian in some way, whether that’s protecting him or allowing Cassian to kill him, cementing his growing sentimentalism/that he’s tired of hiding and sacrificing love and connection, and wants to be a more humane person – to make the Rebellion more humane.

3) Luthen dies in some kind of fallout with Saw Gerrera, cementing the tensions there and the break with the main Rebellion. (Also, if this is not the case – the fact that Saw outlives Luthen is so ironic given what we know about them so far, how isolated Saw is and how central and well-connected Luthen is, and I wonder if that influenced Saw’s decision to leave the Rebellion. That would especially be true if Mon Mothma or someone else sold out Luthen.)

4) I doubt it, but Luthen betrays the cause because he’s tired of sacrifice, and either disappears or gets taken out by Mon Mothma, Cinta, etc., or Cassian (also would cement Cassian’s growing coldness and allegiance to the cause that we see in Rogue One, when he kills his own injured operative).  

He could also just die in some tragic random way, which wouldn’t fulfill a narrative arc but would speak to the cost of war, and how even the greatest among the great can be brought down by chance, by a single cog in the machine, even by someone who’s just scared or following orders or unaware of what they’re doing. The show certainly has killed off a lot of its compelling characters quickly so far. There’s also potential for the arrestor cruiser incident to come back to bite him, because that was extraordinarily close and showy by Luthen’s standards, but that seems like too much of a stretch.

Anyways, I CAN’T BELIEVE I JUST WROTE 900 WORDS ON THIS and am so mad we won’t have closure until end of 2024, ow. 

[nohkalikai]

to think of it now, it's strange i never went up in front of everyone in church and gave a 'testimony' despite being raised in churches where it was very much the norm. i always got out of it by telling people that it didn't feel like the lord was leading me to do so and also that i had stage fright.

[nateconnolly]

hi! this is @arkefthos , on my main; love your blog! i wanted to ask as well, is that lyric in your intro from rainbow kitten surprise? quite a nice surprise honestly!

Yes! I had their album RKS constantly playing during one of the most transformative periods of my life. I listened to them going on loooong night jogs thinking about God and stuff. They were playing during the precise moment I stopped being an atheist, so, for me personally, the quote relates a lot to the topic of this blog. Like thinking about divinity, thinking about the cosmos, working out your place in the world by trying to figure out what the world is...

[vampyrebond]

sometimes grief processing is throwing yourself into the hero’s story (re: when my dad died is about the same time i started writing scott)

sometimes it’s the opposite (re: throwing myself into louis rn)

[cannibalpool]

Hail Lucier, the morningstar, bringer of light.

May the casting light of his infernal, morning glory illuminate darkness and pull forth liberation and transformation for the empowerment of the self.

Renich Tasa Uberaca Biasa Icar Lucifer.

Hail Lucifer.

[swallowtail-ageha]

"Hey you like bloodbore have you ever heard of redgra-"

[ochibrochi]

spontaneous magic manifestation was NOT mentioned in the parenting handbook 😬

I know this isn’t how magic in dc works, but the fact that Damian’s ancestry includes some pretty powerful magic users is… INTERESTING 🤔? Drabble under the cut!

I wanna preface that I'M NOT SAYIN' that Damian should/does have magic powers, but there’s still so much unexplored potential with Damian's character, and the thought that he has a dormant adeptness in magic is somewhat compelling to me. Most importantly it would FREAK! BRUCE! OUT!!!!! What is this, magic puberty 😭??

By DC laws, anyone has the ability to learn magic, but it is also possible to be an innate ability. The Al Ghuls are no strangers to the occult-- Ra's has had increasingly been portrayed as a magic user, and the recent establishment of his mother being a sorceress/witch?? Even Talia dabbled in a bit of magic, I think. There is a catch that their power is suggested to be due to Lazarus exposure, but for arguments sake let's say the Al Ghul lineage is inherently proficient in magic (and Lazarus exposure simply enhances it).

I can't recall "magic" being a part of Damian's training/upbringing (I'm still slowly catching-up on Damian comics so apologies if I miss any canon examples of magic use). Not sure why Talia wouldn't want her little "heir to an ancient assassin empire baby" to learn magic, but it would at least give reason to Damian not knowing about his magic potential, or lack of interest in it.

Through the power of pseudo storytelling, what if Damian's encounter with Mother Soul could have triggered a manifestation of magic that was once dormant; like a pressure cooker waiting to explode with energy when it hasn't been given a safe outlet.

I've yet to read a satisfying arc where Damian truly gets to contemplate his Al Ghul roots outside of "dad is good guy, mum is bad guy". Damian's initial character growth stems from him running away from, and renouncing his association with the League (i.e. "I'm nothing like you, mother and grandfather!").

The most recent thing I've read was Robin (2021), and whilst Damian is much more cordial with his mother, there's still an emotional distance and sense of distrust/resentment (for good reason, even if the context was some cartoonishly evil writing). But there is a silver-lining that they still appear to be fond of each other, in a melancholy kind of way.

Realizing he's "genetically" primed for magic would be especially confronting to Damian. There's no denying his Al Ghul blood, forcing him to confront a facet of himself he can no longer ignore or reject. A family that he likely has to approach for help/guidance.

Damian is put in a position of acknowledging this power could be used for good, to be stronger, to fight crime, balancing it with the implication that what he possesses could be rooted in dark magic (Lazarus enchantment).

If he decides to embrace it, would that be too much of an endorsement of the Al Ghul's dark occultism? Can he separate the two ideas? What if he can't control it? What if he accidentally hurts someone? What if has the ability to save someone where his other skills fall short?

Ideally, I'd love for this hypothetical story to lead into Damian exploring his Al Ghul heritage more intimately, historically, and spiritually (à la RSoB: Year of Redemption adventures). Another little coming-of-age self discovery journey.

I have my own little personal thoughts on what Damian decides to do with his magic powers, but I'd like to leave that open to interpretation... By the end of it I hope that he will at least find some forgiveness over resentment, and a balance between accepting that side of his family a little easier. It is finally a sense of inner peace :)

Any thoughts? Did I get any characterisation wrong? Let's talk over on my DC blog @arkhamochi! I'm currently trying to read all Damian-centric comics until I catch up with the current run. I'm hungry for discussion and analysis!!!!!!

[neverendingford]

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