#other civilizations have the myth of the flood or the wild hunt

[haljathefangirlcat]

united AND represented by the primordial fear of Piero Pelù going “o la borsa o la vita” on us and running off with our purses

[avani008]

Historical Make Me Choose! 2. Mughal or Maurya, 8. Religion or Art. Talk About: 3, 6, 9, 15

Make me choose between the Mughal and Maurya dynasties:

This is especially grueling, because--well, luck being on my side--I want to someday write origfic historical fantasy based on both of them. So, to start with, I will take the coward's way out and say both, because they're both entertaining in different ways.

The Mughal dynasty is well-documented, which is amazing for finding out hilarious anecdotes (Hamida Banu dissing Humayun! Akbar's cheetah obsession! Jahangir's hilariously honest autobiography) as well as--reading between the lines--some pretty amazing women. The Mauryas, in contrast, are so spottily documented, we can't even be entirely sure that the Buddhist and Greek/Macedonian sources are even talking about the same events/rulers, but assuming it is so--it's a wild ride, starting with a teenager overthrowing the dominant dynasty and his line conquering most of India within two generations. From a writing standpoint, having so much left empty is a gift, leaving so much available for the imagination. And yet, I wish we knew of more ladies from that history, because what little we do get is so fascinating (Durdhara's family connections and bizarre death! Dharma who sounds steely enough to be a second Kunti! Most of Ashoka's wives, who all seem super strong-minded in their own right.)

Make me choose between studying religion and art.

Oh, religion definitely. Not that art isn't great (it is!), but religion involves so much stories, and such insight into the psychology of any given culture. I had a college instructor who argued that religion and the afterlife told you more than anything about the general optimism/worldview of a culture (ie, Mesopatamia which had erratic floods and a harsh worldview had gods who really didn't care about them; whereas ancient Egypt, with regular floods and prosperity, had an afterlife that, assuming you could get in, was one big party.) Plus, religion affects passing references (how many casual Mahabharata and Ramayana references do you see in India media? Or just in conversation?) and swear words (such that an utterance as hilarious as the word "Zounds" could be an actual profanity. Amazing.)

A historical misconception that you hate.

AHHH there are so many--the inherent classism in deciding Shakespeare couldn't actually be a dude from Stratford, but a university-educated nobleman!--but at the moment, one of the most bemusing is the claim that Mughal princesses were forbidden from marrying. I keep on running into this as fact, and...don't actually see that it has any actual basis in fact, at least not during the reigns of the six major emperors. For evidence, I present the following deep dive:

(behind the cut due to length)

Most of the time I see this cited as "Akbar forbade princesses from marrying" so we'll start with him. Certainly Akbar's aunts and sisters were mostly married, so that's not an issue.

Of Akbar's daughters that I can find: Mahi Begum died young, so she doesn't count. Aram Banu Begum seems to have been --well, if we believe her brother Jahangir--kind of A Lot, despite being her father's favorite, so it seems likely marriage either wasn't her thing, or no one was agreeable to marry her. His other two daughters, Shakr-un-nissa and Khanum Sultan, were both recorded as having married, however, with their marriages arranged by Akbar himself.

But, hey, maybe he came to that decision later. So let's look at his granddaughters: Jahangir had plenty of daughters, and I can't find references to the marriages of all of them (or even how long they lived, for that matter)--at least one, Bahar Banu Begum was married to her cousin Tahmaras, and probably others too. Another of Akbar's granddaughters, Jahan Banu Begum (daughter of Murad) was also married to her cousin Parviz.

Of the generation following: let's put aside Shan Jahan's three daughters for now, since none of them married but i would argue they're a special case. Parviz, who I mentioned before, had one daughter Nadira Banu, who married her cousin Dara Shikoh; his brother Khusrau also had a single daughter Hoshmand, who married (you guessed it!) a cousin. The final granddaughter was Arzani begum, also granddaughter of the disgraced Nur Jahan, about whom I can't find a reputable death date, much less whether or not she was married. So--yes, for the most part, these women all ended up married cousins, but it's not strictly accurate to say they couldn't marry period.

A final note on Aurangazeb, who also gets accused of hte "prevented daughters from marrying" stance: yes, his most prominent daughter Zeb-un-nissa never married, but it certainly seems she had proposals aplenty and her father only vetoed the most prominent because he disapproved of the groom's father (who was his brother. the cousin thing, again.) Two of his other daughters did marry, with no objections recorded.

So honestly? It seems marriage wasn't forbidden by any means. And for those women who didn't--well, is it so impossible to believe that these princesses figured that a life in the imperial harem (which isn't the Orientalist boring fantasy most people imagine, but instead a city of women, with libraries! and schools! and markets! hunt! play chess and polo! From the harem, women could watch politics, or engage in trade, or create architecture, or participate in community service. By no means, it was great, but opportunities sucked all-around for anyone who wasn't a cis-male in that time, and this life must have seemed preferable....) with a loving father/brother was much better than being married to some rando. Plus, esp in the case of Shah Jahan's daughter, their mother died in childbirth, quite infamously--to me, it makes perfect psychological sense that they might all be leery of marriage/childbirth.

A historical figure you think is underrated.

Sadly, most figures from Indian history, but picking one at random: Razia Sultan! Not only awesome for being the first female Muslim ruler in Indian history, but also a really really good one--committed to public service, working for civil rights for the poor and those who didn't share her racial/religious/cultural background, and also open-minded/anti-racist enough to, at the very least, make a man of African descent her foremost advisor and friend. (I ship Razia/Yakut, and NOTP her relationship with Altunia pretty strongly, but even otherwise; she clearly respected Yakut as an equal, which says a lot about her. LOVE HER.

A historical myth/legend/rumour/story (flexible)

Oh, forget it, we're going to talk about Razia and Yakut, or at least the rumor they were romantically involved. A few words on Yakut: he was of Abyssinian ancestry, and actually came to her father's court as a slave, but was soon freed and allowed to rise up the ranks (this was very much a socially accepted Thing in the Mamluk court--more on this later--but he definitely had to face significant racism. Sure, there's no actual proof that he and Razia were involved, but--she made him her Master of the Horse (you know who else did? Elizabeth I for Robert Dudley. Just saying.); she never turned from him, even in the face of nasty rumors, and his loyalty to her meant he died in battle defending her throne; and fwiw, she didn't marry another as long as he lived. It's...questionable, too, how voluntary her marriage to Altunia was to me; certainly, being held hostage by the dude doesn't make for a great start. Now, again like Liz I/Robin Dudley, they could just have been BFFs/platonic soulmates, but if so I don't care--their dynamic is just A+ to me and I love it.

A historical headcanon that you have.

Akbar was dyslexic, and this was the reason behind his famous illiteracy.

[talvin-muircastle]

Fic: Otherizing

[I gotta say it: writing this one scared me. It's not a horror story. It's arguably not even sci-fi or fantasy: "speculative historical fiction" is about right. It scares me because I am taking a risk: I promised myself that I would try to have better representation in my stories by women and people of color. This is both. And I am not dodging issues, either. As for the setting: I did not do exhaustive historical research for this. The setting can be considered an America about like ours, before a Civil War much like ours, in a place like the Gulf Coast, in a culture that is approximately ours in that time period. It's not the setting, it's the situation that matters.]

Long-time readers of my column know that I will brave many things to bring them the Truth: fire, flood, riot, or storm at sea, I will get the Story. This time, I was headed into the wilds, the deadly swamps, in search of Wild Aliénor, the legendary escaped slave woman who is rumored to have abilities that border on the supernatural. After days--nay, weeks!--of searching, I found her. Or rather, she found me...

The musket ball smashed the alligator back into the water before the sound and fury reached me. I lurched and nearly tipped the small, flat-bottomed skiff I had purchased, groping for my own rifle as I looked for whomever had saved me. I had not seen the beast approach.

"Do not touch the gun if you would live." The voice was female, not unpleasant to hear, accent noticeable but not strong. I froze, and turned toward the source of that voice. Standing on the shore was a Negro woman of average height, wearing pants and loose shirt as a man might. In her left hand she held a musket braced on the ground. Her right hand aimed a pistol at me, and I saw another like it stuck in her belt. She also wore a scabbarded sword: an infantry officer's blade once, by the looks of it. I brought my hands up slowly, and attempted a smile.

"Aliénor, I presume?" She snorted.

"You presume much if you are going to come into my swamp no better prepared than you are. Who are you, and why have you been looking for me? I have been watching you for some time now. You are no slave-catcher, no bounty hunter. What do you want?"

I swallowed. I well believed her: every story said she moved through the swamp like a panther, and hunted like one as well. "I am a reporter, and I have come to tell your story. I am prepared to pay...."

"And where would I spend your silver? Foolish man!" She tossed her head contemptuously, but she lowered the pistol. Ah! I had her!

I gestured at the contents of the boat. "I bring supplies. Beans and cured bacon, and flour, and salt, and yeast, some good wine, some spices you cannot get in the swamp, even sugar. Also cloth, and needles and thread. I did not know what you might need. If you will give me the story I come for, I will even let you have the boat--after you drop me somewhere I can walk safely into town."

She shook her head and laughed ruefully, then. "What is your name, reporter?"

"Derek Sullivan. I write for the Chronicle." This won a smile from her, the first I had seen.

"Yes, I know. I have read your column, though I did not know your face. Very well, Mr. Sullivan! Paddle over here if you can do so without being eaten, and I will take you somewhere you can get your story. Afterward, I will take you to safety." I lowered my hands and carefully paddled over near shore. She boarded neatly and sat facing me. At her direction, I set off deeper into the swamp.

I could not tell you where we were: I could make no sense of the landmarks she used, though surely she must have used them. We fetched up on a small island, and she helped me pull the skiff up where it would not float away. Soon she had a small fire going, adding the supplies I had brought to a cache she had left there. We opened the wine, and I noticed that she waited until I had tasted something before she did, and she was never without her weapons to hand. Mine had been left in the boat.

She began to tell me of life in the swamp, of the hazards, and the bountiful forms of life, and even some of the people, though she gave no names nor indication of how they might be found. They were a community of sorts, it seemed, that aided one another in their exile in this place. Some were runaways, others were people who disdained civilization. Finally, as the fire burned down to mere coals, I ventured to ask the questions I had come to ask.

"They say a dozen men or more have died trying to capture you, and many more wounded. How do you do it? One woman, alone...."

She smiled at me, and there was sadness in that smile. "How does Wild Aliénor do it, you mean? What is the source of her magic? What powers do I possess, that I can do the impossible?"

I leaned forward eagerly, quill wet with ink, ready to record these secrets. "Yes, please! I do not expect that I will understand it all, but some hint, perhaps?"

She shrugged and poked the fire with a stick, causing sparks to fly up into the moist air. "I do it just as a man would," she replied simply.

I pulled back, nonplussed. I tried a different tack. "Your Master...your former Master, I mean...was he the first man you ever killed?"

"Owner," she corrected me.

"Your pardon?"

"Your laws said he owned me, but he was never my Master." She reached out and touched the sword laying in easy reach, "In the end, I was his master. And yes, he was the first I killed. It was not so very difficult: he got his commission by paying for it, and he knew more of dressing prettily and bellowing than he did of fighting. I learned to fight with three older brothers, and I was stronger than he was--and I had far more experience with sharp things, and while he was the first man I ever killed, he was far from the first pig I had slaughtered."

"Was it he who taught you to read? To...speak well?"

"His wife did. It amused her, and she thought nothing of the laws against it. I did her a favor by ridding her of that man."

"So, he was hardly a fitting opponent. I can accept that. But the others! The slave-catchers, the bounty hunters, the lawmen, how did you fare so well against them?"

"Ah, yes! Aliénor took down a man with a shot between the eyes at thirty paces! Aliénor took a Sheriff's manhood with her blade and salted the wound! Aliénor braved their volley with a laugh and no bullet could touch her! Aliénor played cat and mouse with the posse for three days, until the alligators took two, her rifle took three, and the survivors were hunted by her pet panther all the way back to town! Are these the battles you wish to hear the tales of, Mr. Sullivan?"

"Yes!"

"They are lies, Mr. Sullivan. Lies they told themselves and then told others because they could not face the truth. I am only what you see. Yes, I can survive in this swamp: so can many others. I can shoot: so can you, though probably you do not have as much practice. I can chop and slice, as can any housewife or butcher. Those stories you were told, Mr. Sullivan, they tell them because they cannot face the truth!"

Her voice had risen at the last, and I stared at her across the fire. She took another pull from the wine bottle and continued in a calmer voice.

"The shot between the eyes was at five paces, he surprised me, and I was aiming for his chest. So with the Sheriff: I was thrusting for his belly, hit him lower than I meant, and I hardly stayed around to salt him down for the winter! Braved their volley? I was running for my life, and I took a ball through the arm, and you may see the scar if you wish! The posse were half-drunk fools, I shot two and one was shot by his fellows in the dark. As for the tamed panther, you see none."

I coughed, "Yes, well, stories will grow in the telling, of course...." She laughed without humor, and I saw that some of her teeth were broken. That lack of perfection bothered me, somehow.

"You still do not understand! I am twice cursed: I am not White, and I am not Man! I am less! Less intelligent, less strong, less capable, less, less, less! In everything, less! They cannot accept otherwise! Yet I have proven I can hunt, and shoot, and run, and think as well as any man. To accept that I am their equal--YOUR equal, Derek Sullivan!--would be to destroy everything they believe! So much like they do with the red folk, they make of me a myth, a demoness. I defy their Natural Order, and so I am Supernatural! They tell themselves they face a witch out of Hell, Satan's Handmaid sent to test them and taunt them, and so take me out of comparison with their wives, their daughters, their servants! Do you not see it now? This is the story, Mr. Sullivan: I do what I do just as any man would do, and that terrifies them more than lightning from a clear sky!"

My quill dripped ink, unused. I had no answer to this.

"Sleep, Mr. Sullivan. Tomorrow I will take you to a place not far from a road. From there you can find your safe little world where women are not your equal. Sleep."

I pitched my tent near the fire, but I did not sleep that night. Her words had troubled me greatly. Her story...my story...had I found what I had come for?

In the morning we packed the boat in silence. I paddled this way and that as she gave curt directions, her eyes ever on our surroundings, her weapons always at the ready. Finally we touched dry land again.

"Through those bushes and on a ways you will find a path. Turn right, and soon you will be in town. From there you can get a coach to your train. Thank you for the supplies,"

"Of course. Thank you for telling me your story, Aliénor." I carefully stepped out onto land.

"What story will that be, Mr. Sullivan?" Her voice was soft, and my ears burned with shame. I finally turned to face her. I expected to find contempt in her eyes, hate, anger. Instead I found something worse: acceptance. Calm acceptance that I was not prepared to tell others a story they were not prepared to hear.

"I...I suppose I will write what my editor expects me to write. We have papers to sell, after all." She nodded. I hung my head. "I'm sorry."

"Goodbye, Mr. Sullivan." She pushed the skiff away from shore and made her way out into the swamp.

After this momentous introduction, she took me to her camp, a place decorated with souvenirs from the men she had bested. I would tell you where it is, but I cannot: the fog rolled in as if she had summoned it, and who am I to say she did not? She told me of the swamp, its inhabitants. She knew every animal by first name, it seemed, and they knew her. Even the snakes refused to challenge her, but moved aside as she passed. I was not so respected, but a stamp of her foot and a sharp word sent the serpent back to its lair before your correspondent suffered a misfortune....

[I first conceived of this while watching some videos of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. Glad as I am to see Aveline, I was struck by the concept that she (and another supporting character) were not "normal" women, but effectively "magical" ones. So, I must give a nod to that game as inspiration for this tale, though it is not set in that universe nor does it use its characters or plots. (Hence, not fan-fic.) As I said: writing this scared me. I had to get out of my comfort zone for this one in a big way. I hope I didn't screw it up. Oh yes: Aliénor is (I am told) based off a French word meaning "Other" or "Foreign"--as in "Alien". It seemed fitting.]

[forksofwisdom]

What do you think witches and mermaids would have been like in the Twiverse? Do you think SM should have included other species?

Despite being a very pragmatic person, I am obsessed with mythologies of any kind, and I loved this idea so much that I took the time to do some research! And BOY did it get out of hands!

Note that I’m not a professional and most of my knowledge comes from scouring the internet, which is fraught with misinformation and I barely scratch the surface for the sake of brevity. I do mention things from my own culture - Icelandic folklore to be exact - but I encourage you to tag onto this post if you have something to add or want to make a correction! :D

I think SM kept a very narrow scope because she never intended Twilight to be anything more than a teenage romance between Bella and Edward. I for one am happy that she didn’t branch out beyond vampires, wolf-shifters, and the Children of the Moon because she was already on thin ice with her appropriation of the Quileute Tribe’s creation story. 

I also think that including more too many species and characters would have overwhelmed SM. Her side characters have spotty backstories, and I have a feeling that she wrote most of their history as an afterthought. Why else would SM have only mentioned Esme’s past in the Official Guide and not included the crucial information that Esme met Carlisle while she was STILL human in the story? 

If I’m honest, I would have loved to see different ending for New Moon and have SM do more character development in Eclipse. Bella’s quick recovery from her crippling depression was unrealistic in my opinion and her desperation to spend the rest of eternity with the Cullens seemed so shallow considering the fact she knew next to nothing about them and their past.

That being said, I still have some headcanons now that you got me thinking about this. I’m fascinated with the idea that some myths and legends around the world were born from encounters with real supernatural beings. 

Shapeshifters

Based on SM’s idea about the Quileute spirit warriors, there should be more types of shifters in the Twiverse since the Quileutes weren’t the only ones who founded their belief on having descended from wolves. 

Therianthropy is the mythological ability of human beings changing into animals via shapeshifting. This concept has been around for centuries, dating back so far that there are cave paintings that depict the transformation of men into animals. (x)

One of the most popular types of shapeshifting seems to be changing into wolves, and subsequently, there are a LOT of werewolf myths or The Children of the Moon as SM refers to them. (I’ve already written an entire post dedicated to them so I won’t talk about them here.) 

I won’t go much farther into Origin Stories than I have above since it’ll take over the entire post. There are so fricking many different tales, especially about randy gods - seriously, it’s wild - that it’s difficult to decide what would lead to becoming a Shifter and what would be considered fables in the Twiverse.

For the sake of clarity, I have made a short list below which includes a few types of shapeshifters from different cultures that people may be familiar with:

· In Chinese Mythology, it is believed that all things are capable of acquiring human forms through shapeshifting. There are the Huli Jing, which is a nine-tailed fox spirit, from which the Japanese derived their Kitsune (any fellow Naruto fan here???) and the Korean Kumiho.

· Selkies are a favorite of mine (Please watch Song of the Sea - I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cried during that movie) since they sometimes feature in Icelandic myths. Selkies are primarily thought to be women who live in the sea as seals but shed their coats and turn into humans on land. They aren’t able to shapeshift without their coats. Most of the tales aren’t happy and are about men who steal the selkie’s coats and hide them to coerce the woman into marriage.

· Nāga from Indian religions are thought to sometimes shapeshift from snakes, most often King Cobras, into humans.

Witchcraft

Witchcraft is tied to many religions, but as an atheist, I only have a layman’s knowledge of the practices that are still in use today. I’m highly skeptical when it comes to spiritual healing in real life, and I’m not at all a fan of the cult cultures that frequently surround religion.

Here’s a brief history lesson: 

Witches were the women who served the goddesses in the earliest centuries of human civilization and were revered throughout their communities. In the ancient civilizations of the Middle East, priestesses trained in the sacred arts and partook in the holiest of rituals. They were seen as benevolent, and wise women who helped deliver babies, and saw to people’s health.

What’s interesting about them is that they are so clearly understood to be positive figures in their society. No king could be without their counsel, no army could recover from a defeat without their ritual activity, no baby could be born without their presence. (x)

The fear of witches stems from the deep-seated misogyny born from male-centric and monotheistic religions such as Christianity and Judaism. The panic spread to Europe and spiked to a level of hysteria with the outbreaks of plagues. (x) Witch-hunts, especially in Central Europe, resulted in the trial, torture, and execution of tens of thousands of victims. About three-quarters of whom were women. (x)

Witch-hunts still claim thousands of lives every year, especially in developing countries that have an inadequate education system. (x) I recommend watching this documentary if you’re interested in learning about a Tanzanian witch-hunt that happened in 2017.

Keeping this gruesom history in mind, I think there would be hidden communities of witches and warlocks in the Twiverse. I’m not here to dictate what sort of magic they would use - I’ll leave the world building up to the writers!

Here are just a couple of examples of witchcraft:

· Shamanism is a practice that involves a practitioner reaching altered states of consciousness to perceive and interact with a spirit world and channel these transcendental energies into this world. (x)(x)

· Druidism is a spiritual or religious movement that generally promotes harmony, connection, and reverence for the natural world. (x) You can learn more about modern Druidry here: (x)

· Wicca is contemporary witchcraft and is one of the fastest-growing religions in the Western world today. (x) Wicca spirituality is earth-based enlightenment. Note that not all Witches are Wiccans. (x) I’m not a practitioner myself, but I quite like the idea of being more in tune with yourself and nature. You can take a test here if you’re curious to see whether Wicca would work for you.

In Iceland, we had what we called Völva (seiðkonur or seiðkarl, depending on the gender) who were seers. Most of their practices were based on herbalism and the use of runes. 

For those of you who are curious about Norse Mythology which hasn’t been altered by the likes of Marvel and Hollywood, I recommend reading Völuspá, which literally translates to Prophecy of Völva. It’s the fundamental source for the study of Norse Mythology because it tells the story of the creation of the world to Ragnarök (end of the world). You’ll also have the chance to learn some freaky shit about Loki - like that time he gave birth to a eight-legged horse - and see that he wasn’t really that much of a dick compared to the other gods *cough* Óðinn *cough* - also Þór once gatecrashed a wedding by dressing up as the bride. 

Mermaids

· Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods, storms, shipwrecks, and drownings. In other folk traditions, they can be benevolent or beneficent, bestowing boons or falling in love with humans.

The Little Mermaid (the H.C Andersen version) happened in the Twiverse and that is a fact!

· Sirens! (You thought I could go through an entire post without mentioning Greek Mythology??? Think again!) They were beautiful but dangerous creatures that lured the sailors with their beautiful voices to their doom, causing the ships to crash on the reefs near their island.(x) This connection to the sea is why many confuse them with mermaids when instead they were believed to be a combination of women and birds.(x)

I can totally see them chilling on Greek islands singing their songs and luring horny sailors to their demise.

Miscellaneous

· Huldufólk (hidden people) played a crucial part in Icelandic folklore. They were the spirits of the land and shouldn’t be confused with fairies. Huldufólk wore normal Icelandic clothing and used the power of words to cast spells on people - either blessing or a curse, depending on how they judge the person’s behavior. They lived inside the stones. To prevent any naughty behavior, it’s said that Huldufólk would kidnap infants and replace them with wizened old elves that pretended to be normal children. They would behave like wild brats, kicking and screaming, and nothing but a good beating could bring back the human child.

These oral tales were used to prevent many children from wandering away from human habitations and instilled fear and respect for the harsh powers of nature. (x)(x)

Contrary to popular belief, Icelanders don’t actually believe in the existence of elves, or anything tbh, we just like to mess with foreigners. So if you’re a tourist then “YES, I am a believer in elves. HoW DarE yOU qUeSTioN my FAith! You dare sit on our precious boulders? Tainting the sacred houses of our elves by touching them with your filthy behind!”

· Tröllskessur (mountain trolls) are usually female, hence skessur. Trolls turn into stone if the sunlight hits them and their tales were used to explain the natural phenomena in Icelandic nature, f.ex. a stone caught between two pillars or the outlines of a face on the side of mountains. (x)

Tröllskessur are extinct in my headcanon but I just think it’s nifty if these stories were true in the Twiverse. 

· DRAGONS! 

Don’t fight me on this!! I have no idea how they would be kept hidden in the Twiverse but they’re out there!

· Spirits (as in the soul) and Yōkai

I’ve watched Spirited Away too many times to leave them out of the Twiverse. They’re probably out there chilling somewhere in a Supernatural Spa Resort…

This was a fun question to answer, anon! Thank you for sticking with me to the end of this post! The sleep deprivation got to me in the end… ಥ∀ಥ

[buzzesquenews]

What do we know about Göbekli Tepe, the oldest city in the world?

Deep in the hills of Turkey lie the ruins of the oldest known city on Earth. It is so ancient, it predates domesticated food and plants. Woolly Mammoths were still roaming the arctic and Native Americans had not crossed the Bering Straight yet, according to mainstream archaeology. What do we really know about Göbekli Tepe and what does it say about us?

A Settlement of Hills

The Sumerians, the oldest known civilization, believed that an ancient set of deities, a set of deities known only as the Annunaki, came to humanity on the sacred mountain of Ekur and brought them the domestication of animals, agriculture and weaving. Göbekli Tepe may have been the origin of this myth. Göbekli Tepe is in the Anatolia region of Turkey, which is between the Tigris and Euphrates, situating it in the general area where the Garden of Eden supposedly existed. The site consists of about 20 'tells' which are hills. Each tell has a circular structure dug into the hill with massive pillars. On average, each pillar is about 20 tons and 6m or 20ft high. The pillars were set directly into pre-carved slots in the bedrock. These pillars presumably upheld a roof over each structure and most of them feature elaborate carvings in relief, the oldest such carvings on Earth. The earliest layers discovered so far date to around 10,000 BC.

Example of a column carved with a detailed lizard in relief.

Detail of lizard carving.

The Younger Dryas

During this time, there was a major cooling event known as the Younger Dryas. Details about this event are hotly debated. Some people believe it happened due to changes in the solar cycle and others believe that it was caused by a cataclysmic comet strike which would have destroyed much of humanity. The latter is building consensus among geologists. A tell at Göbekli Tepe. Image by Teomancimit - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 We are currently in the Holocene epoch, according to geologists. Prior to this was the Pleistocene. The Younger Dryas event is the boundary between the two. It is precisely during this time the mark of the Neolithic age (New Stone Age). Geologists used to believe that the cooling, which resulted in the last ice age, was somewhat gradual, occurring over a few hundred years. Pollen samples suggest that this happened much more quickly than we previously thought. There have also been small glass beads found on layers across the Earth, from this time, suggesting there may have been a major impact of a comet or asteroid, causing vitrification of sediment. Such an event would have been catastrophic for humanity. If the impact occurred in the ocean, there would have been massive tidal waves around the world. If it hit in the ice of Canada, which some are suggesting, it would have caused global wildfires and something like a nuclear winter, which would have killed a significant portion of humanity in weeks. Recent evidence suggests that it was a comet, around 100km in diameter, which broke apart into large chunks, striking different parts of the Northern Hemisphere. This event may be the key to understanding Göbekli Tepe.

Agriculture and Civilization

It is a well known fact that civilizations did not arise until the discovery of agriculture. Every ancient civilization that we know of today was built on a major crop or crops. Egypt had vast stores of grain, as did Sumeria. Göbekli Tepe predates all known agriculture except the most primitive version of wheat, known now as Einkorn wheat, which was discovered within 20 miles of Göbekli Tepe at roughly the same time as people were building the first layers.

Closeup of Einkorn Wheat. Some anthropologists believe that Göbekli Tepe served as a refuge from the ice age following the Younger Dryas event. It was in a fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates and would have been suitable for the start of agriculture. Many people fleeing the frozen North and arid South would have found it the perfect refuge. They may also have found ways of dealing with the catastrophic loss of their cultures. In the region, wild wheat was growing plentifully and would have been a suitable first crop since it would have been through slight interventions that the concept of agriculture would develop. These early attempts at growing wheat would have presumably been to mitigate unpredictability of access to food and to increase the yield per acre, which is the only thing that could sustain a dense community anywhere. Much like Cahokia, in Missouri, it would have been a largely ceremonial settlement until the advent of increased agricultural output.

Cults of the Dead

Before humanity believed in gods and goddesses, ancient religion was shamanistic, much like in parts of the world today. Rather than worship different deities, these peoples venerated their ancestors and sought to contact them through various rituals. The rituals are different from culture to culture but, in some cultures, this was done by making carvings into skulls and leaving them in sacred places or leaving the corpse outside to be eaten by vultures, a form of burial known as Sky Burial. Interestingly, the myth of Prometheus may be a reference to that ancient practice. Skull cults have been found throughout the region near Göbekli Tepe. They are often found deposited in "skull depots" or ceremonial locations where ancient Neolithic people would place them. Typically, they were placed near a monument or megalithic structure. They are sometimes found with deep incisions along skull lines or with holes drilled through them. This is the variety found at Göbekli Tepe.

Totem found at Göbekli Tepe showing the skilled artistry of the people at that time. Image By Cobija - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 During this time, Göbekli Tepe would have been surrounded by lush areas inhabited by deer, gazelles, pigs and waterfowl. Indeed, the bones of all of these animals are found throughout Göbekli Tepe. However, the animals carved into the columns of each circular structure are other wild animals in the area. It is believed that these served as totems where local hunter gatherers would offer game as sacrifices, marking the beginning both of a veneration of the dead and a sense of religion.

Putting it All Together

Considering the growing consensus that a large collision of some kind preceded the last major cooling event, we can reasonably conclude that the damage was profound and any budding communities on susceptible shorelines or in forested areas burning due to wildfires were probably obliterated. Such a trauma would be on a massive scale and humanity would seek warmer climates and protection. Indeed, in mythology around the world, flood myths and myths of great fires are probably ancestral memories passed down through untold generations of these events. They would have found that oasis in Anatolia at the time, making it a natural spot for them to congregate.

Flow of agriculture with Göbekli Tepe being at the center of the oldest origin, dating back to 10,000 BC. Image by Joe Roe - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 With so many people hunting the lands at the same time, the community was probably never a major city in the way we think of them today. The amount of game per acre would not have been enough to sustain a large population and lacking any form of domesticated plant or animal, the early structures probably served as shrines for those grieving the dead. Imagine being a primitive person in a world that changed overnight and everyone near you is fleeing South to warmer climates. You come across a lush landscape and hundreds of people who have suffered the same loss of family and friends you did. You must grieve your loss and emotionally process the vast pain around you. At Göbekli Tepe, you find that spiritual catharsis that you need. Over time, more and more people come and there is less and less game. People start turning to the land, to the abundant wild wheat in the area and learn to harness it because being together and farming is better than braving the wild wilderness of uncertainty again. Göbekli Tepe is the oldest city on Earth and quite possibly the oldest city which could have even existed. While the first layers were probably mostly ceremonial, the region supported a large population which interacted more, perhaps, than any other population previously. Before we had horses, cows, pigs, chickens, religion, numbers, courts, schools, writing, prisons, laws, fruits and vegetables of any kind, we had Göbekli Tepe and it was so valuable that we figured out a way to stay there and be together and giving the world a roadmap for the future of humanity. Before you go: https://buzzesque.com/the-oracle-at-delphi-was-the-most-important-woman-of-the-ancient-world-who-was-she/ Read the full article

[hellocheyenne-ashe]

The Online Influences Of Today

           The internet is a millennial. Officially born and released to the public in 1990 through the studies and efforts of  Tim Burners-Lee, this unfathomable idea of an untouchable “network of networks” (Andrews) had finally become a reality. As the host of our world’s most vast and fast-paced culture, no one could have predicted the extensive influence of the internet. As of today, it is one of the world’s most prevalent and important cultures shaping the radical behavior, trends and outlook of modern society.

           Despite growing from “738 million in 2000 to 3.2 billion in 2015…” (Davidson) the internet still retains a sense of community. Different social media platforms cater to different personalities but there are common threads that tie it all together, into one cohesive virtual civilization.  A civilization is based on and unified by its traditions and customs and the internet is no different. Defined majorly by around-the-clock contact and instant updates from anywhere in the world with access, communication no longer has borders.  Wi-fi culture has allowed this to be the most inclusive and boundless group of people yet. With translate buttons at our fingertips, language is no longer an insurmountable barrier.  Because language barriers are few and far between on the internet, everything from businesses to friendships flourishes.

           Cyberspace does come with its own vernacular, as does every enclave. The closest thing online dialects and communication can be compared to is abstract art and cave paintings. The slang used, the sarcastic humor and the images sent and received are all biased toward those who are aware of and relate to their context. For example, gifs are the tiny and pixelated images on a loop that move for just long enough to convey your point. If someone finds out that their friend has just been broken up with, a gif of a cat being scared and jumping straight up could convey the kind of shock that is being felt without actual dialogue or human involvement.

           Common slang includes the term ‘mood’, which tends to be connected to things sporadically and means “that object/event is something that can be identified with as an emotional feeling.” If one is having a bad day and sees a picture of a child who dropped his taco, one might respond with “Mood.” Another example would be one saying “There’s tea.” which would pertain to gossip or drama. Shortened words and acronyms such as omg, brb, btw, lmao, and af are also highly popular online. For most teenagers who have well developed online presences, including multiple social media profiles, their online vernacular tends to spill over into their daily language and life. One could bump into a trash can and say “Mood.” and one’s friends might respond with “Me too.” or “Same.” even though they did not physically bump into the trash can themselves.

           Internet culture would be incomplete without internet humor and some of it is quite complex. Lack of punctuation and proper capitalization is notorious among younger internet users, so when capital letters are used (see fig. 1) the context and tone are key to the delivery of what is being said. It is important to have the first sentence as a reference sentence so when the irregular capitalization is used in the second sentence it conveys a sense of mockery of what was originally being said, which is only amplified when paired with the photo below. Someone who was not aware of these unspoken grammar rules might see the same photo and only assume that Republicans have poor grammar.

           Other people are the biggest influence on  the internet. As opposed to the culture of a country or a city, the amount of people there are to be exposed to is almost impossible to comprehend. There are billions of people as far as the other side of the world, but also as close as just the other side of a cell phone screen. Everything is a tap, follow or like away. Online culture is having 134 million people check Instagram to see what Selena Gomez had for dinner during Fashion Week (Gomez).

           Food has created its own niche in social media and online platforms. Aesthetically pleasing food pictures are a core part of successful social profiles so much so that the visual aspect of food and marketability of their trendiness has flooded real world eateries. Starbucks previously launched a Unicorn Frappuccino because the pastel color scheme of the drink made it desirable for social media. In spite of its mediocre taste, people spent their money on it. Recent online food trends have also included the infusion of squid ink in food as an anti-pastel option, making the food of choice an abnormal black color instead. Squid ink is being included in ice creams, pancakes, doughnuts and spaghetti so far. This is just the beginning of wacky and wild food trends because food is a necessity and aesthetic is marketable.

           No culture is complete without honoring the ones that came before them and it is seen here through fashion. Vintage pieces become relevant and trendy again thanks to the supermodels posting their outfit of the day. Current online fashion is an art because it enforces the need to “…think nontraditionally and to be on the hunt for the next best thing” (Cummings). It is an homage to one’s parents and the trends that might have been decades prior. It is localized high fashion because getting dressed is now an art of expression. It is athletic but never sweaty, only sporty and coined as athleisure. The difference is crucial because to look too much like you actually just came from the gym would not be high fashion. The terms co-exist and serve as a balance for those who care enough to walk the line. Online is the new standard of style. Trendsetting is virtual, so fashion is the forefront.

           Following closely behind fashion, however, is dance trends. Upload a 30-second video of one’s dance moves and one might go viral. Trends like Whipping, Dabbing, or Juju On That Beat flood social networking sites, being retweeted and recreated again and again. These dances become so popular that they are almost universally recognizable in style and name.

           One of the most recognizable names on the internet is the folktale of Slenderman. Created via photoshop the original photo is a grainy black and white featuring Slenderman. He is characterized as having no face and abnormally long and stretched out limbs and causing death in numerous ways, shapes and forms but hardly by his own hand. The myth spread like a virus, “the legend had become so deeply embedded in the Web…that even its original creator, Victor Surge, couldn’t believe how much it had spread.” (Dewey)

In 2014, when two young girls from Wisconsin attacked their friend and left her for dead in the name of Slenderman, the world was shocked. Every town has a scary story, a boogie monster, but these girls truly believed in what they were seeing go viral. Their belief in him and his promises of immortality led them to attempt a sacrifice by stabbing their friend 17 times. The internet is not entirely to blame. It has been revealed that one of the attackers had early-onset schizophrenia. The girls were tried and convicted as adults. Most societies are susceptible to the darker influences at play, but none more so than the internet.

           The internet is something that has woven itself into almost every aspect of daily life. It is only logical that the behaviors and culture that are experienced on the World Wide Web would eventually bleed into real world societies. The integration and immersive qualities of the internet only further the proof that human bonds have no limits. When limits are broken radically like so, human kind is blessed with a new complex and inclusive culture unlike before. Everyone has a place on the internet, because people are what define human culture.

- Cheyenne Ashe 

[anniversary-magazine]

The Soulless Village

“For the first time, I realise that in the solitude of an all-too-powerful nature things have a different meaning from that we attribute to them in our world of constant reciprocal relations between man and man. It dawns on me that in many cases it may be more difficult for a man to retain his ordinary humanity in the Arctic than to sustain his life in battle with the elements.”

— Christiane Ritter (A Woman in the Polar Night)

I knew a person, a woman, who left the chaotic comfort of a big European city to move to a small town in the middle of the Arctic Circle. A small town, going by the name of Lonewosuss, on an island far away in the north, with 2.000 living souls and tiny houses built at the cross of two roads. The small town had always been considered a remote and hidden treasure. Whalers, hunters, miners and tourists have come and gone over the centuries. In fact, the peculiar thing about this place is that it was initially a deserted place, untouched by human activity. Nowadays, this small town is a place like any other. However, in the woman's imagination, Lonewosuss was a dream, the refuge, the salvation, the adventure. A place where finally she could find herself, where she could express herself but also be understood.

The woman walks to the top of the hill to reach the church. From there she can have a view on the valley and the bay. From this privileged point of view, everything looks like a doll town. The landscape is a greyish backdrop on which are popping out a messy sum of cubic shucks made by composing materials from containers. There is the main shop, the sheriff station, the school and the church. Everything seems in place, but indeed something dark is happening there.

This is not the postcard she was imagining. In those pictures she reminded from some wildlife photographer's Instagram account, there was always a dramatic scene. Wild animals; a fox, a polar bear cub, a seal, or a puffin, and on the backdrop a perfect landscape surrounded by a perfect light. Motionless everything seems to stand there for the viewer.

This construction of beauty in the landscape is a heritage of Romanticism. This vision revives in a fantasy that is fed by a kind of narrative portrait, aimed at producing an idealized reality. But what is the right and the wrong in the flood of images of landscapes, photographs, reproductions, high glaciers (which are fading forever), Seals and polar bears, snow-covered dunes, ruins of huts, old tombs and abandoned crosses? When does reality lies? In the idealized landscape. A symbolic and moral engraving is purging the real world of its flaws.

In an island like this, a No Man's Land, a story becomes exchangeable with fiction.

The woman, she was looking for nature and found the artifice in it. The deluded expectations of a ‘natural lifestyle ‘ faded in an ungraspable dream. That place wasn’t the white mountains covered in snow, surrounded by an idyllic purple pink light, not the magic of the perpetual night interrupted only by green flashes of Northern light, not even polar bears cubs following their beautiful mothers, dogsledges, whales singing in the bay, pancakes ice, etc. Those are just subliminal delusions projected by souvenirs from a major tourist company (owned by a Chinese Corporation).

Those are postcards made to covet. Desire to be the one and only on a desert island. It is the fascination for new beginnings. It is the dream of wild sexual encounters. Being in touch with an uncontaminated nature. It is the chimera of freedom. It is the fountain of Youth. It is the myth of overrule water and fire.

But like in a snake fight this has a second side. It is the fool joy without paying the price. To have violence and abuse and to get unnoticed. To relish our darkest thoughts and let them slides indifferently as the water on the back of a whale — an entire land as a darkroom in a swinger club.

It is to control and to maintain, but still, be considered as environmentalists.

As the first explorers did in the 18th or 19th century, mostly moved by easy earnings but also to challenge their own limits, many men went for whale fishing and later for hunting fox, seal and bear skins. Later, it was the time for the minerals and the energy that they produce. Small communities bloomed around the mines. Communities destined to disappear with the closure of them, emptying these villages of their life. Today, research and tourism have taken over. However, these activities are just a magic screen to reflects other interests, other and more remunerative form of exploitation. In between, there has been human life: families, children, love stories, loneliness, brother and sisters, tears, friendship, deaths.

From the beginning, life in the Arctic regions has fluctuated between this thirst for conquering and exploitation, masked by a sublimated patronizing attitude.

The impact of the human community on such a delicate environment has been so far catastrophic. But nothing stopping people from thinking that it is good to stay in this place and persevere in a destructive, selfish and aggressive lifestyle. Added to this is the complete indifference of the rest of the world, which far away, looks at environmental protests that instead of developing greater awareness, ignore ignorance, distance and feed precisely that idyllic image and illusion that is slowly producing the destruction of this place.

Our civilization has delayed a process of acknowledgment of nature through its imagination and illustrations.

It would be a great step forward if now we could understand we are not the only one on earth.

All images by Julian Charrière

[robbiefarlow-sidequestfitne-blog]

New Post has been published on Side Quest Fitness

New Post has been published on http://sidequestfitness.com/greek-gods-secrets/

The Secret the Greek Gods Didn't Want You to Know

Why You’re Zeus, Athena, and Poseidon All Wrapped into One

In the Summer of 2000, the third single off Vertical Horizon’s hit album, Everything You Want, was released on the radio.

After their second single spent 26 weeks cruising to #1 on the Billboard Charts, the band hoped their third release would send them further up the ladder of stardom. Sadly, the third track petered out at #23. And after that, they all but disappeared from the music scene.

But their third single, “You’re a God,” is the only Vertical Horizon song that eeks out of the ether and plants itself in my mind every so often. The only theory I have for why this happens is due to my fascination with godliness.

A Man of the Cloth

Here’s something you may not know about me: Years before I wanted to be the next Kevin Spacey, and decades before I changed my life via fitness and became a coach, I thought I was going to be a minister.

The notion of “being a god,” or at least, “being more godly,” has always intrigued me. It possibly explains why I love superheroes as much as I do, and why I’ve always wanted to live on top of a mountain where I could watch the world carry on below me as if I were an Olympian perched atop Mount Olympus.

But I was raised to believe in Judeo-Christian ideals. And the stories of Ancient Greece were just that: stories. Still, there was something visceral about The Olympians. The daily life of the Greek gods read more like a script of The Real World than the stories that involved Jesus preaching or roaming through the desert.

Plus, instead of one god in three forms, the Greeks believed in dozens of gods, each dedicated to their own sphere of expertise. Ares was the god of war; Artemis the goddess of the hunt; Athena the goddess of reason, intelligence, and battle strategy; Dionysus the god of wine and ecstasy (not the drug, but I’m sure he’d love Molly). Presiding over them all, of course, was the king of the gods himself—who in most stories spent his time thrusting his thunderbolt into attractive Greek women—Zeus.

Now: unless you had your head stuck up your ass for all of grade school, I’m going to assume you know who Zeus is. If you don’t, I hate you, and don’t want dumb people reading my site.

But here’s the thing about Zeus: (most of) history has been looking at Zeus in the wrong way. And I only realized there was another, far more interesting way to view Zeus while listening to Dr. Jordan Peterson’s lecture series on The Bible.

Toys for the Gods

In the mind of the Ancient Greeks, human beings were the playthings of the gods. Humanity, to the Hellenes, was beholden to the whims of the spirits that sat atop Mount Olympus. They were wild, unpredictable, and when left to their own devices, caused great suffering.

We know more today about how our world works than our Greek ancestors. But there’s still so much we don’t know of our own world. But what if there is another layer to Greek Mythology? What if you viewed The Olympians through the realm of psychology?

How do these gods change if you view them as an anthropomorphized version of our most basic human emotions?

Dramatized stories have been used since the dawn of time to teach all of humanity important lessons about how to live a good life. Greek Mythology was no different. And if you examine The Olympians as representations of our most basic human emotions, you’ll begin to see that Vertical Horizon was right: you are a god.

As Above, So Below

What’s it like when you lose control of how you feel? Does it feel like you’ve been swept away into a part of you that you can’t control? Do you feel like you’ve “possessed” by a spirit?

Or put another way, how many times have you:

Been so angry but had no idea why and blacked out, then said or did something you regret?

Have you ever loved so intensely that it leads you to do really stupid things?

Or have you ever felt so drunk on an emotion or passion that you lost yourself in pure ecstasy for a moment?

Individually, our emotions (or gods) can cause us to slip back into our most basic animal instincts. At their core, these emotions are savage. And raw emotion is untamed; wild, and unhinged. If left to their own devices, these god-emotions will do the only thing they’re designed to do.

But consciousness forces us to recognize our choices and actions. It demands that we take responsibility. It requires us to look at these god-emotions, determine what the hell they’re freaking out about, and keep them in line so that we can make good decisions about our circumstances.

Our conscious mind operates as the king of the gods; making Zeus, the king of the sky (read: mind) and the keeper of law and order, the representation of our conscious self.

Ride the Lightning

Have you ever been struck by an idea out of nowhere? Like it felt as if a light had gone off in your head? The Ancient Greeks had a word for this: enelysion. It meant, “struck by lightning.” (The word later evolved to “Elysium,” a part of the Underworld—The Elysian Fields—where the souls of the heroic and virtuous spent eternity.)

When you become consciously aware of your thoughts, actions, feelings about a situation, or your emotional state: it’s as if you’ve been blessed by Zeus and struck by lightning with (t)his revelation.

  Unconscious behavior, the kind you blame on “unruly spirits,” is you being ruled by your god-emotions. Conscious behavior, on the other hand, is you using your Zeus-mind to maintain law and order over your god-emotions.

Once you become conscious of a problem, and bring it to light with Zeus’s lightning bolt, only then do you have the capacity to make your situation better.

But when we let the gods run amuck, we become their playthings. And when one god gets rambunctious in our lives, we (can) bring about discord and disorder:

Too much spirit, and you become drunk on that which brings you ecstasy. (Dionysus)

Too much love and lust can leave you blind to the actions of those around you. (Aphrodite)

Do you find that you’re quick to anger and easily turn into a hot-headed douchebag? (Ares)

In a Glass Cage of Emotion

Myths of the ancient world may have been considered fact by those in that time, but their true intention was to help humanity understand it’s place in the world. Our ancestors created these stories so that they could explain the seasons, the rising of the sun, fertility/infertility, earthquakes, floods, violence, etc.

Now, thanks to science, we know how/why earthquakes occur, we know why the sun rises and seasons change, and science has shown us how our brains work in terms of emotions.

But how can you increase consciousness? How can you take more control over your god-emotions and live a better life?

5 Ways to Become More Conscious

Take Care of Your Body

Exercise increases your cognitive function, increases the size of your hippocampus (the area responsible for memory), and has been shown to have dramatic epigenetic effects on how your genes express themselves.

Increase Your Inner Knowledge of Yourself (Journal or write in some capacity)

“You can’t solve a problem unless you know what it is.” – Dr. Jordan Peterson. Journaling has been proving to help those with mental health issues better cope with their disease because it helps you become conscious of your problems, fears, and worries. Writing helps you shape your mind. It can show you how you perceive the world, and show you how you respond to your emotions, and how you can better deal with them.

Appreciation (Gratitude)

One of the things I love about The 5 Minute Journal that I bought my wife is that it asks her what she’s grateful for every night. We’ve now carried that over our own relationship by telling each other 3 things we appreciate about one another from that day.

Desire (Set Goals)

Humans are goal driven creatures. Having a lofty goal to aspire to gives our lives meaning. And when you’re conscious of where you want to go, and working towards that goal, your life feels more meaningful.

Attention (Meditation or Nature)

Put the phone down, pick your ass up off the couch, and pause the video games for a few minutes each day. Take a walk in nature and observe the world around you. Or meditate. But find a way to quiet your mind so that you can connect to your mind.

We’re Animals at Heart

Charles Darwin was one of the first scientists to theorize that our emotions evolved over time in the same way as our inherited genetic traits. Our ancestors needed these emotions to survive in the wild. And no matter how much we try and fight it: we’re still animals at our core. There’s still a “lizard brain” that operates and controls much of our day to day life. Our emotions are still as savage as ever.

We’ve civilized as a species. We’ve built cities, honed fine metals, discovered the building blocks of the universe, set foot on the moon, and flown to the heavens. Our ancestors would consider us gods if they could see what we’ve accomplished.

But we still carry around the same god-emotions they did. (So we’re not complete deities.)

Civilized Savagery: Balancing Your Inner Greek gods

Freud believed that we needed to civilize those emotions—or spirits—so that we could live together in harmony with others. Our emotions can possess our minds, and our conscious being becomes beholden to their whims. To resist, we need to be conscious of what they want, and what actions these gods are demanding transpire.

And then, like Zeus, our conscious minds—the rational and thoughtful and just part of our brain—must take control. But the only way to keep your gods in line is to make sure that you’re Zeus-mind is constantly conscious of what’s happening. To live a right and just life, you must civilize your most savage emotions and become the god of your mind. Or something my friend Nick Sorrell referred to as “civilized savagery.”

Our god-emotions are part of us, they’ve helped us survive as a species and avoid dangerous situations. But left unbridled, they can cause great harm; they’re necessary, yes, but our conscious mind must also civilize these basic instincts so that we can live a good life.

Like a god who can see from the highest heights of Olympus, you need to examine, ask yourself questions, and better understand what your god-emotions are doing. Why are they trying to wreck havoc right now? What has spurred them to take over and come forth?

By doing that, you bring consciousness to your thoughts and feelings. Because as Vertical Horizon so clearly stated: you are a god, and you just don’t know it.