#really wanted to focus on the process of transformation and rebirth

[kmkxn]

𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍 - 𝔪𝔢𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔷 portals series x | x | x

[astroariska]

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT 8TH HOUSE" DICTIONARY THREAD

Astrology threads sometimes way too confusing. There are so many words that just come out there and make us wonder what we supposed to do then??? It made people think impractical to make astrology into your daily lifes because it's hard to be understood.

Have no fear. I am here to give you a mini thread about the 8th house.

Transformation : What the hell is this word? We never really use this world in our daily lives, isn't it? But really. Transformation is about realizing you need to ELIMINATE that shitty behaviour you didn't want to tell everybody that it's a part of you annd the reason why there is some drama in your life and REPLACE it with a better attitude.

Intimacy. It's not about getting that bombastic sex with your partner. It's about you realizing ... After all the shit and the shot you've been through ... All you need is that person and all you wish is that person to stay with you through thin and thick while wishing life could be better for you.

Power struggle : Simply the imbalance of the relationship that makes you feel you less than equal. Either it makes you feel you work it all or makes you feel you are so fucking useless. This imbalance, let your heart have the urge to solve it out while your heart cannot even simplify the problem within you two.

Inheritances : Doesn't always about money. Sometimes it's about debt. Sometimes it's about what the good, the bad and the ugly shit you share with your parental figure, caretaker or even another family member.

Rebirth : When you are realizing you are not the same anymore after shit happens. When you are realizing the current version of you is really way too different than the old version of you.

Power : Influence over someone, something or a cause that makes a really noticeable change in physical, material, phsycological, spiritual and mental of other people.

Bonus a mini thread about zodiac in 8th house.

Aries 8th house : You hate to acknowledge you are too offensive. But you do have a reason. Acknowledge it now and change the offensive feeling into more passionate attitude as a sign of leadership. Know the differences when you try to give support or just hate to see other being a competitor.

Taurus 8th house : You are way too rigid, slow, stubborn and sometimes ... a boring basic bitch that keeps repeating the same pattern in order to keep you same. It's okay. You've been through a lot. But maybe, you need to change the value that you hold because changing yourself is actually way easier than changing the world?

Gemini 8th house : The best advice to this placement is ... okay, sometimes it feels so good to process everything with your own logic. Math is mathing but you'll end up more anxiouse and less consistence than ever. Maybe it's because you're hard to gain focus but it's a signal you need more dynamic approach so your emotional life could be more interesting than just a typical sadness.

Cancer 8th house : Oh, do you hate feeling vulnerable? Do you think you're weak? What about realizing that your care and your need for nurture is the sign of you being a human being instead of feeling insecure about feel something inside you? Your feeling shows you that you are alive. OWN IT AS YOUR POWER and NOT YOUR FLAW.

Leo 8th house : You're tired of being strong and lead all the time, don't you? But please, just because you're trying to be strong for a long time then you justify all the drama you've punch in people's face. You just need to realizing that sometimes ... The rage is coming from your wounded little child in you that unhappy for the longest time. Remember that when you happy, you gain power.

Virgo 8th house : Oh, snap! You MADE A MISTAKE! Is it small? Is it big? You analyze it until you paralyzed yourself. But honey, mistake were made for you to learn by doing. Instead of punching yourself and hyper-analyze it inside your head, use your mistake to serve those who you love as a lesson that you need to share.

Libra 8th house : Sometimes, it's scary to be lonely but it's more haunting to be with the wrong people and trapped forever with them. But whatever the reason, don't you ever think that you have no right to get the partnership you really wish. You just need to understand that you don't need to please anybody to make them stay. Cheaters always cheat. Haters gonna hate.

Scorpio 8th house : You want to end this life because you feel you can't handle it anymore? But you didn't want everybody know that you're dying inside ... While you actually understand that the key of your life is to breath out your fear and insecurity.

Sagittarius 8th house : It's easier to run away, pack your bag, ghost everybody then pretends like you are the chillest person in the room instead to face how big the mess you need to tidy up. Sometimes is easier to tell people what to do rather to tell yourself what you need to do. When shit comes down, come into your higher self and find the meaning of it. Everything happen for a reason. It's happening not to you, but for you.

Capricorn 8th house : Numbing feeling and hardship makes you out of a breath. I swear, you need a mentor and become more diciplined in your way through because that's the only thing you could do to master this life. Every pain worth the gain.

Aquarius 8th house : If you're feeling like you're out of place, had nobody to stand with you or feeling alienated ... Maybe it's not because people suck. Maybe because your decision was made based how you quickly disengage and diconnected from people you love as you had 0 trust in them. Instead of feeling like you're the black sheep. Channel your brain competency into finding the right purpose, dream and community you're aspire to.

Pisces 8th house : Just because something ends, doesn't mean your life end. Remember. You're not rejected. You're redirected. You're in pain because life will challanges you to take a new path and plant new seed because it's a sign of a fresh start and brand new day. Put your rose colored glass now, it might over but it's doesn't end something. Connect to yourself. You'll found out soon.

[lunarliyah]

Mercury retrograde Aries 2024 is wrapping up next up..

Pluto Retrograde

We all probably noticed a lot of arguments and disagreements. We have to make sure that we are still double checking things. Make sure not to get too aggressive on the road. Make sure that when you feel overwhelmed, use this time to workout and get moving. Let off some steam by being active. After this Mercury retrograde we will soon enter a Pluto retrograde in Aquarius.

Pluto Retrograde is May 2nd to October 11th. Pluto is the planet if destruction, rebirth, power struggles, control, and transformations. These are the main themes. This mean to mainly focus on your emotions. This can be a vital thing to do is to control what you can. If something is out of your control, please let it go. This will not be the time to be overbearing. It’s best to go with the energy’s. This may be a time where working together with people could be better than having the mentality of “me vs the world”. Be a good sport, lend a hand, accept help, and lastly accept things for what they are. Do not be too hard on yourselves. Literally, the entire summer will be in Pluto retrograde. Let loose and have fun. Do not over analyze. Feel how you feel. Do not try to rationalize during that time too. Allow things to flow. Also this could manifest in people feeling like they should take matters into their own hands. People could be tired of passiveness and become more aggressive with what they want. They let it be known what they want and go after it.

With Pluto being in Aquarius. Togetherness and community will be a big theme. More so of people trying to lead. Everyone will be trying to do their own thing. There could be a lot of entitled behaviors. Lots of controlling behavior. Relationships may be turmoil due to the energy of need to be freed and doing what people want to do. Not the best time for relationships. It’s actually may be hard to talk to new people. Frustration may appear because people aren’t behaving like how we may thing they should. Having high exceptions for others. Of course technology will be big. Social media mainly. TikTok may actually be banded or going through legal processes of trying to figure out who takes over that app. People will feel more confident with starting youtube channels. Lot of content creating endeavors. Being unique online will be the way to go instead of following trends for instant engagement.

What does this mean for your sign?

Let’s look at your rising sign

Aries.

Networking a lot with others. Trying to built connections. May be easier with Aquarius being in Pluto. May work in your favor. Having fun with others. Others may be a big theme. Letting go of your ego. Letting go of thinking you can do everything by yourself. People reaching out to help you/guide you.

Taurus.

This is a time where new experiences will cause a transformation. The more you explore, the more things will reveal themselves. Try to be open minded.

Gemini.

This is where things that cause stability with be transformative. This is a time to make sure that you can handle things on your own. Build things on your own to benefit you in the long run. This does not mean don’t accept help, but make sure you’re doing things for yourself. Not the time to by hyper dependent on others.

Cancer.

This is time to consider your community. Work with others and build connections. Network like crazy. And give back to those in need. This will be beneficial. Make sure this is coming from a genuine place though.

Leo.

This is the time where things may feel very Deja vu. Your intuition is heightened during this time. Trust your gut.

Aquarius.

This is the time to try to stay as organized as possible. A lot of things may feel like they’re hitting you all at once. Remember to stay strategic.

Pisces.

Do not try to force any connection or conversation. If they wanted to, they would. Let it go if you have to. Please to don’t form any attachments.

Virgo.

This is the time where you really want to prioritize yourself. Do not allow people to control or manipulate you. You may be tried by people trying to control you, make decisions for you, etc. Make sure you stand your ground as it may be difficult to.

Libra.

You may find it difficult to relax. Very anxious during this time. Make sure to find some healthy coping mechanisms. Do not panic at all as you may overreact.

Scorpio.

This is the time where you may be more in your head than normal. It may be difficult to communicate with others during this time. Make sure to slow down and double check things as this may feel like mercury retrograde part 2 lol. Slow down.

Sagittarius.

This is where you may feel misunderstood from your family. Or family trying to make decisions for you. Trying to control or being overly critical. This is the time to prioritize your home life and make it a safe place for you to relax. Get rid of things or people that do not serve you in your home.

Capricorn.

This is not the time to let your ego do the thinking. Make sure everything is genuine. Do not do a lot of bragging as karma may come around and cause a huge 360. Be humble and continue to let your work do the talking. This will be very rewarding.

Be sure to book your readings using the link in the bio. Thank you all for reading, hopefully this was helpful and informative.

[demodraws0606]

What is q!BBH's end goal with the Soul Vultures ? (and his plan in general)

I'm making this in turn because I'm frustrated with the "q!BBH will die and come back with no memories" theories purely because I feel like they're really unsatisfying from a storytelling standpoint. I also have been thinking a lot about q!BBH's plan and how it could all tie together.

I've been specifically thinking about what cc!BBH has been hinting with his character's dialogue with others and the smaller details.

Now I'm gonna get started with the obvious : The Soul Vultures

We know q!BBH has been letting himself get hurt by the Soul Vultrues HOWEVER there is a big thing people are ignoring about this...

q!BBH also kills the Soul Vultures after getting attacked by them. You can see that happen at the end of this particular stream, where he even says "all according to plan".

Now I think most people know at this point know this information about Soul Vultures but after having attacked something, the soul vultures become "bloated".

When a Soul Vulture is bloated they can drop a Soul Heart.

Now those Soul Hearts can be used to make a Soul-stealing potion which can grant it's user the same abilities as the bird but after seeing some people talk about it and thinking about it...

I don't think q!BBH has been using the hearts to make potions, I think he has been eating directly.

I'm saying that based on two major things. The first being that q!BBH's ability to eat literally anything has been shoved in our faces a looooot of times to the point where it has to come into play in some way. The second is that we never really see q!BBH with the soul-steal potion effect which...tbf isn't that much of evidence but I still feel like its important to mention.

Either way, weither he has been drinking Soul-Steal potions or straight eating the hearts raw, q!BBH is not just letting himself getting attacked by Soul Vultures for no reason. He is doing so to gain something from it.

There is also a huge detail that people have missed and it's that this particular stream and it's end is the starting point of when q!BBH starts turning blue.

Meaning what is making him turn blue is not just the Soul Vultures attacking him...but the Soul Hearts (or soul steal potions) themselves.

Now let's focus on the big elephant in the room, q!BBH's clear death flags and him seeming to plan his own death.

However there are a tons of things that don't make sense with q!BBH planning to die. We know he doesn't know exactly how to get the Eggs back so him dying to get them back doesn't make sense.

He also says multiple things like him planning to escape the island with the eggs which just ends up contradicting the idea of him dying in a literal sense.

I've said it multiple times that I him dying would be most likely metaphorical but I do actually think it's a little more than just that.

I've pointed this out in a theory thread before but q!BBH's skin went through a strange transformation

He went from being extremely pale almost like he was fading away or turning into a ghost..

However, he is turning opaque again, you can see his skin almost seeming to grow back (I have no better words for it) but...he is not returning back to how he originally was. He is still changing.

I decided to compare how he was before turning to pale to the skin he currently has right now.

Now of course q!BBH now is still more pale but I want to point out to people how q!BBH's entire hood changed hues.

They're still blacks and grays so it's a lot harder to tell but I screenshoted the color wheel after picking the colors on the hoods between the two skins. You can see an EXTREMELY visible difference between the two color's hues, in fact i'd say the values of the colors are the thing that are left the most unchanged despite the fact that it's the most visible difference.

I've said this in a theory before but I do believe this heavily implies that q!BBH has died or is in some kind of strange rebirth process. I do think it's still true however I think it's slightly more different than that.

I think q!BBH is dying through this strange transformation he is going through, I don't have any other better ways to phrase it. q!BBH is slowly losing more memories and has lost any sense of pain/smell. It's quite obvious that he is dying however I don't think him dying is gonna be just him keeling over and taking his last breath. I think this transformation that q!BBH will be q!BBH's death.

When the "transformation" is fully done q!BBH won't be q!BBH anymore but be replaced by something else. That something else weither it will be completely seperated from q!BBH or be just another version of him, we don't know.

Now let's get back to q!BBH's plan, how can this transformation be beneficial for his plans at all and how does it fit with everything else he has stated about his plans.

I think q!BBH's main goal is to transform himself into something stronger because, here is the thing, q!BBH has blamed himself constantly for the eggs getting hurt. cc!BBH has said it loud and clear q!BBH's main goal has always been the Egg's wellbeing.

However his plan also involves hurting the Federation severely leading to pose the question...which is it ?

(I also want to say since I don't know how to insert it organically into my arguments but q!BBH's plan is something he had before the eggs even disappeared meaning him planning to die to get the eggs back doesn't make sense if that's part of his plan)

But I think seeing that as a contradiction might be missing the point because we assume q!BBH's Massive Omega Secret Plan only has one end goal or that it's end goal isn't broad enough for it to fill multiple purposes.

I think q!BBH's end goal is to become stronger

q!BBH is going through this transformation on purpose to become stronger most likely by giving himself the power of the soul vultures. He is going through this transformation that will most likely "kill him" to become more powerful and thus being able to protect the eggs.

The question is where does the whole "falsely emprisonned" part of this come in, why does he want to be thrown into jail for something he didn't do ?

Well I think q!BBH by making himself go into the jail..is trying to make himself snap and fully finish that transformation I was talking.

He said himself that if he doesn't time his emprisonnement correctly it could throw his entire plan into the water. Possibly because if he ends up not actually triggering the transformation it would both be harder to get emprisonned again and also would end up wasting a lot of time.

Now the reason why being falsely emprisonned would make q!BBH snap and finish his transformation would be well....we know q!BBH holds negative feelings over being emprisonned. Him getting thrown in jail at the museum for something people had no evidence for (even if he DID do it) is something that still affected him.

I think q!BBH's plan basically is the representation of what he told q!Bagi about wine glasses. When glass is broken, you can't piece it back together, you have to melt it into another whine glass. Basically q!BBH is trying to make himself shatter to reform himself again into this new wine glass.

It also fits another thing that q!BBH has said to q!Bagi, about how sometimes death is just the beginning of something else (not exactly the words he said but i digress)

And that's my theory, I probably left out some things there but I pretty much said the basics on what I think q!BBH's ultimate goal/plan is.

[mahapralanya]

I have been reading the From Lostbelt manga translations and my mind got absolutely fixated on these panels from chapter 11.

This isn't the only time that cannibalism is invoked as part of the process of Arjuna Alter's ascension to godhood. He acknowledges it during his interlude:

"The battle where everything spiraled out of control. A great war in which god, man and beast were liquified into sludge. I then consumed that sludge, slurping it down as if it were soup. Forgive me, that was just a figure of speech. Truthfully, what I actually did was far worse." (Source)

Although he doesn't say it with his own words, the implication is there - that was just a figure of speech; what I actually did was far worse.

This, combined with the manga panels, made me think many thoughts.

The first thing that caught my attention was the lack of gloves; we almost never see Arjuna not wearing them, and the image of seeing his bare hands, knowing how princely and royal he is, comes as striking. This, along with the focus given on his hand gestures, makes me feel like I am witnessing something that shouldn't be seen - something intimate.

And it got more intimate when I realized that it looked like he wasn't wearing any clothes. There is nothing covering him, at least from the angle we get. It might be a stretch, but I do believe that he was naked there.

Nakedness implies intimacy, but it can be translated into other things as well; in this case, I think about vulnerability, transformation/rebirth, and returning/embracing nature.

The first one should be obvious enough - humans are pretty frail without clothes, and it is far easier to hurt yourself if there's nothing protecting you. Clothing keeps us safe from the extremes of both heat and cold, and in the context of a war, paired with armor, they exist to keep one alive.

The other two things are closely tied, although I do see them as being different enough to be listed separately.

We are all born naked - and in this moment, the key point to the lostbelt's existence, Arjuna is going through a transformation, a rebirth process. He has discarded the things that made him human and is going to grow stronger, the result different from the Arjuna that he used to be.

For this to happen, he also had to embrace his own human nature, flawed and fragile, exposing himself, offering his body and soul to the earth and gods that made him what he is, embracing his primal instincts.

Every creature needs to eat.

Cannibalism in art can have many readings, and has been used as a metaphor for many things, ranging from love, depravity, and hate. Eating something because you love it so much you want to become one with it, being overcome with desire that you must eat the other to saciate your hunger, consuming your enemies so you can absorb their strength and laugh as they are reduced to nothing more than fuel to your body.

It is usually something very violent.

While not fully shown, it is easy to imagine the process of eating an entire being with one's bare hands to be a messy ordeal. Killing by itself is already dirty and violent enough, but eating one's own kill like an animal is truly something else.

It makes me wonder about how broken Arjuna's mind was at the time, as he accepted the need to do something so extreme. Baring himself, tearing the gods apart with his own hands, taking them bite after bite, enduring the taste and the sin.

The third panel says more than enough.

He hated it.

This also reminded me of a certain piece of information delivered to us during LB4: he refused to devour and absorb Karna, even after effectively killing him with his noble phantasm.

While the story paints it as a sign of Arjuna's distastes for Karna as his rival, I never really bought into that explanation. Thinking deeper, I do believe that there were other factors that played a role in this decision.

If he truly hated Karna, I believe he would have eaten him - it would have been the ultimate demonstration of power, and to devour him after killing him in his own terms would be incredibly cathartic... In theory.

One could say he was far too removed from his humanity to care about his feelings for Karna, but we know that this isn't exactly true either; it is Karna, after all, that ends up being able to reach Arjuna's core, his humanity, which he hadn't truly lost but actually buried away, hidden deep under his skin.

I believe he spared Karna as a call for help.

Arjuna Alter's origin story is nothing more than a tragic tale, full of trauma and horrible, complicated feelings. He wants to get rid of it all, to discard and erase them away - to remake the world over and over, until there are no traces of suffering, of the things he lost, the sins he commited.

But it's impossible to erase one's own flawns; in Arjuna's mentality, that would mean erasing himself. Karna says so directly to his face, making him confront himself and do some actual self reflection after centuries of denial.

Of course, this doesn't mean that other characters wouldn't have been able to figure this out themselves and have this dialogue with him; however, having it coming from Karna hits him different. It makes him realize how far he has come, to the point that he isn't, as he directly says shortly before dying, the man he used to be.

Arjuna never wanted to become evil. He never wanted to lose his humanity. All those violent things he did, stripping himself from who he was raised to be, it was all an act of desperation.

He never wanted to lose his ties with Karna, as severing them would make his world imperfect, exposing him to the flaws that are his own feelings, the fact that he isn't as emotionally detached as he wanted to become.

Karna needed to exist to save Arjuna from himself. Karna needed to exist to become his downfall.

Arjuna Alter, unconsciously, bared himself to be devoured by Karna, as only destruction could be his salvation now.

And Karna saved Arjuna, both god and human, at the end of the world.

[charlotte--kensington]

So, a thought that I've had for a while now - Which is to say that if we're friends on Discord, I've likely yelled to you about this idea already (Sorry about that) - is a Siren AU.

Since I am actually in the process of writing it and don't want to spoil my own fic the way I always do when I get to excited, I'll try to limit myself to the early parts of the story.

Imagine a human can become a siren - under certain circumstances. The transformation does not happen randomly, there's some prerequisites to it. The human has to enter the water voluntarily and they have to actually believe the sirens are there.

And lastly, they have to accept a kiss from another siren.

Either way, the transformation isn't just sparkles and shiny fins, there's some drawbacks to it, the biggest of which being memory loss. Upon transformation a new siren loses all connections to humanity they might have had, except perhaps the strongest of emotions. The transformation is a rebirth of sorts, so it would make sense to give up on the other life.

Now, as for the AU, I imagine it to be set in the late 1730s, during the pirate age. Arthur - rather predictably - is a pirate captain, Alfred is his first mate, at least by the beginning of the story. They are both mutually in love and together, which would be a good thing, if this wasn't the beginning of the story. There's nowhere up from this, all roads lead southward.

Now, you might have noticed neither of them is a siren, and you'd be right about that. The thing is, in a recent fight, Alfred was shot. The wound gets infected, and soon enough it's apparent that it would have to take a miracle for him to survive. He's feverish, as pale as a ghost, barely coherent enough to speak. And yet, he tells Arthur his final wish - not to let him die like this, but rather to give him to the sea.

Arthur complies, or at least he tries.

He doesn't want to see Alfred this way, this miserably, but at the same time he cannot bear the thought of just letting him go. He knows Alfred believes in the myth of the transformation, and even though he himself does trust in the fact that the sea is wide and wild, that there are things and beings beyond what he knows hidden among the waves, he doesn't trust the story.

The thought of whatever hides among, and worse yet, beneath the waves scares him, and yet he does as Alfred asks of him. He knows they are running out of time, and he cannot bear looking at him in a state like this.

So, the next night, as their ship still lies docked near a small English town, Arthur slowly carries Alfred out towards the sea. They have a small lantern with them, a small flickering light they leave behind on the shore as Arthur steps into the cold water, Alfred in his arms.

Alfred's shirt lays flush against his skin, soaked in sweat as he himself struggles to focus on Arthur. As the waves rise higher and higher around them, his hands clench around Arthur's shirt, holding on for dear life. The water is colder than the moonlight streaming down from above them, but he holds on, he has to.

Arthur asks him one last time whether he is sure, whether he really wants this, and Alfred merely nods. As Arthur stands there in silence for just a moment, Alfred meets his eyes again. He asks him not to cry for him.

He won't ever be gone after all, and there is no reason to cry as long as Alfred is still out there.

He promises, and begins looks at the waves around them. As the moon peaks through between dark clouds, he catches a glimpse of a shimmer beneath the water, and he knows it's them, hopes it's them. As Arthur allows for Alfred to enter the sea completely, to disappear among the water, he is sure to see one of the merfolk come forward and press a soft kiss to the lips of the dying sailor, but the moon disappears behind another cloud before he can be sure.

When it returns, Arthur is alone with the waves and the flickering lantern-light on the shore.

[theawakenedstate]

Your Life is Nothing But A Bunch of Habits.

All of your Life is literally made as a string of habits that you have personally installed, & chosen on repeat. So when it comes to understanding Manifestation, we must realize that we can always change our Habits. We can replace bad habits with good habits. We can actively shift mindset habits that drastically don’t serve us like overthinking or negative self-talk and change these with repetition into true good habits.

How can we develop & manifest good habits using the law of attraction?

Repetition, consistency and Persistency leads to Mastery.  I remember the first time I really followed through on my habits, I set a commitment to do a 40 day Kundalini Yoga challenge to lose my post-prego weight.

After those 40 days, with a solid intention, mindset and habit, i lost almost all of that weight in 40 days or less.

It was in that moment – I realized something pivotal,

If I just stay the course, push through my resistance with consistency and momentum – I can have what I want.

After that I became obsessed with understanding the power of Energetic Patterns, Mindset & Habit creation.

How is a habit formed? What is the way is it Broken? How is a pattern created in the mind? Now, How is it broken in the Mind? Habits have been a continuous obsession of mine for good reason – I see the power they hold in our reality. Your Life is nothing more but a string of habits you developed over time through your past thoughts, behaviors, feelings and actions you decided to take. Isn’t that MIND BLOWING? After that Kundalini yoga challenge, I started doing gratitude challenges for 30 days, just like the one you see in my newly published book Awaken your Power to Manifest. Then I started doing Mindset mantras and talking to higher self for 30 plus days to build a relationship with my Spiritual self/my higher self, Following that, I did meditation challenges with deepka chopra for 40 days to work on mindfulness and present awareness,  finally, I started setting intentions every single day with the innate power of Manifestation – My Life has NEVER been the same since. What was the point of all that? Endurance. Mind discipline. FOCUS.

Repetition yields results. Momentum Breeds Change and Sustainable Results. If at first it feels tedious, annoying, downright stupid, dumb or like you’re doing a whole lot for nothing, KEEP GOING – that’s just the death of the ego talking, If you meet a shit ton of resistance, a lot of whiny ‘i don’t really wanna’, feeling like it’s all for nothing and that you don’t know what you’re even doing – Stay the course and keep going, At the beginning of every workout, when first starting, it’s painfully slow, you feel like you’re either dying, annoyed, frustrated, or beating yourself up – but if you need picking up that weight, if you keep building that habit, eventually it overflows into REAL tangible snapped into the physical real results. Sometimes we gloss over the journey with highlight reels and end results forgetting the Endurance of navigating change in the JOURNEY is the TRANSFORMATION PROCESS. The Process of Transformation is a Rebirth, a Death of the old you, a BIRTH of the new you, It alters you, it is an ego death, It’s a rebirth. But the transformation built from the habit – sustains and you reap those benefits becoming smarter, stronger, more capable, more adaptable to change, more open to creative wild expression and without that – we snap to baseline, we don’t push ourselves out of our comfort zone. If you’re living comfortably – you’re not listening to your soul’s wild expression burning in your heart – It’s in the cultivation of new habits, new choices, new decisions THAT – Is what Breeds real results. It is not about doing what familiar – it’s about training yourself to do the impossible so you can normalize it that it is possible. The journey of transformation is not always for the faint of heart – but Rarely do we see extraordinary results, when we decide to do things in a familiar, ordinary ways… This week on Youtube I am sharing with you my TOP 3 tips on How to develop habits with the compound effect and the law of attraction. If you are OVER your bad Habits or simply want to improve an area of your life. Tune and watch, these tips can shift your life:

Here’s your Soul Work Exercise:

Step 1. What is the habit that isn’t working?

What are the top 3 habits that are not serving me or my personal wellbeing?

Remember You always hold the power to change your habits by changing your decisions.

When you change your decisions, you change your energy.

When you change your HABITS, You start to change your Identity.

This is always the beginning thread of every manifestation.

Step 2. What are 3 Habits that are drastically not serving you! List them out.

What is triggering those bad habits – what are the triggering that connect to that habit that are essentially fueling the habit’s momentum. For example, Late at night reaching for the ice cream or every emotional storm, you reach for the alcohol. etc.

What are simple actions that you can start to do to start implementing that?

Step 3. Create Good habits to Change Out & Replace the Bad Habits.

What are healthier behaviors that I can change that habit with to fully replace that habit.

What would you essentially let go and walk away from, but then what would you replace that with so you don’t fall into the trap of the “trying to fill the void” syndrome where you basically get sucked right back into the old habit. that’s the secret you know. The more you replace the new habit, the easier it is to exercise the muscle and train it so it becomes stronger and stronger. When we think about the Habit, the easiest way to replace it is to fucking replace it fully and drop all shoulds, supposed tos and identity habits that are sufficating the NEW habit from taking form

which leads me to step 4.

PRACTICE.

Step 4. Start Practicing the new habit.

Consistency leads to Mastery, I am always a firm believer of conscious choice and habit go hand in hand like brushing your teeth and flossing. You have to see that habit is built on repetition. You don’t just drink coffee once a week, eat once a week or brush your teeth once a week. that shit is trained in on repeat –

So if you want something different than your old normal, its’ time to work out that mindset habit like a muscle with practice. Consistency and repetition.

So what do you think? Are you working on shifting your habits? I would love to hear your thoughts about habit creation and law of attraction in the comments.

Remember,

the universe is inside of you

and you hold the power to design your life,

P.S. Ready to Get Started? SOUL NOURISHMENT BOOTCAMP IS OPEN THIS WEEK ONLY! https://www.theawakenedstate.net/soul-nourishment-bootcamp-official A 5 week kick your ass Soul fuel injection bootcamp to recommit to your Soul’s truth, wake up your Purpose, Own your Power, Activate your Self-worth and Most importantly Increase your Intuition for Next level Magnetism.  Take your Intuition to the Next Level with,  Soul Nourishment Bootcamp is enrolling this week only  A Micro-learning Experience that is made so that you get your weekly dose of Soul Fuel to Recommit to Soul, Awaken your Purpose, Activate your Personal Power  and Manage your energetics for true Emotional Empowerment.   Learn Full Details on the entire Bootcamp experience Below:  https://www.theawakenedstate.net/soul-nourishment-bootcamp-official   The Enrollment for this class closes on Sunday Sept. 18th at midnight.    Any Questions about the program or working together, reach out via the teal bubble on the website or hit “reply” below

https://www.theawakenedstate.net/3-steps-to-manifest-new-habits/

3 Steps to Manifest New Habits

Your Life is Nothing But A Bunch of Habits. All of your Life is literally made as a string of habits that you have personally installed, & chosen on repeat. So when it comes to understanding Manifestation, we must realize that we can always change our Habits. We can replace bad habits with good habits. We can actively shift mindset […]

[saturnrevolution]

sources of anxiety in your chart and how to overcome them

Saturn - Saturn is the planet of restriction, it shows the area of our life in which we feel limited and we find it hard to move forward, but also the area in which we learn, through work, how to overcome these setbacks. Until then, especially at a younger age and until we fully realize our potential in that certain house, we might have feelings of anxiety or setbacks that seem to keep us from moving forward.

how to work with Saturn: accept the fact that getting away from this fear takes time and be ready to do the work, go to therapy, talk about your fear, let others around you know you find it hard to open up in that area of your life and that they should be patient and then put yourself in situations in which you are forced to overcome that fear.

Pluto - Pluto in our chart shows where we might have experienced some trauma or where we might have to gone through some phases of death and rebirth in order to transform. It's a very fluctuating energy and the house where we have Pluto in shows where we might encounter change a lot. Change can be scary and intimidating, which can make us anxious. Pluto also shows our sources of fear.

how to work with Pluto: understand that the source of this fear is you trying to control things that are not in your power to be controlled. Whenever you feel anxious in this area, just feel the feeling and then let it go - know that things that are not yours to control are not important and if you lose something in the process it means that it was not made for you. Also, catch yourself before assuming things and talk the problem out before acting on it.

Mars - Mars is the planet of motivation, but it can also be the planet of restlessness. Wherever we have Mars in our chart that is the place where we might be feeling impatient to fulfil certain goals and that impatience can create a type of anxiety out of fear of failure or out of wanting to do so much at once without actually putting in the work. Depending on which sign your mars is in, this can also indicate the way you approach this restlessness - if it motivates you (with a fire mars or scorpio), if it makes you want to procrastinate more (pisces, cancer libra mars) or if it makes you overthink (air mars) or overly stress (earth mars)

how to work with Mars: whenever you feel as though you want to do something, but you are not there yet and this creates sort of an anxiety in that specific area of your life where your Mars is - shift your focus. Focus on something else and get back to this when you are not in such a restless space. After you come back to it, start planning. Write down the small steps you can take in order to reach that goal and start the work.

North Node - the North Node in our chart talks about reaching our life purpose and our goals, but in order to do that we have to get out of our comfort zone (south node), which can be uncomfortable and make us feel scared. Check where you have your nodes and see if it explains some of your fears.

how to work with the North Node: put yourself in those uncomfortable scary situations related to this area of your life, there is no better way to grow than through experience.

Chiron - the house and sign that Chiron is in tells you a lot about the things that scare you, but the things that you encounter anyway just to be able to learn from it. Wherever there is Chiron, there is a need for healing and we might feel called to go along on our healing journey, no matter how scary it can be and overcome it in order to help others overcome their fears.

how to work with Chiron: do your thing, without comparing yourself to others, feel the hurt and make sure you learn from your mistakes. This will come in handy once you are ready to show others the way.

Saturn, Pluto aspects can also show where we might have intense feelings or fears towards something, especially if we talk about squares or oppositions.

For instance - I have my Mars in Libra and my NN in the 9th house of travel and I have a great history of travels, but still I am scared of planes and I find it difficult to travel on my own. These together bring me a source of anxiety. Being in my hometown (3rd house where my south node is) is familiar, but is also a source of anxiety sometimes as I have my Saturn here. Being in my hometown makes me feel as if I am stuck, there is some restriction connected with it, so travelling would be really good for me. No matter which way I choose, I encounter fear. It's not something that I cannot overcome, though, but knowing the source of it helps me want to go head first and do it anyway. So for any of these placements, just know that there is so much waiting for you on the other side of fear.

[jiannaeloise]

Shōwa Day

I was randomly surfing the internet, endlessly searching for a random quote about gold and nature. I don't know how I stumbled on the Golden Week (Ōgon Shūkan) results but I was surprised to know that these are four holidays celebrated in Japan.

Now before we get into the heart of this entry, I think I may have mentioned this previously in one of my entries. I was able to visit Japan around 2018. I don't know why the moment we landed, I smiled and said to myself: "I'm home." I don't know why I feel like that strongly and until now I can't find my way around it. During that time, I was not in deep into animes just yet and got to appreciate Japan when I promised myself to watch at least two or three once I get back in the PH. And to my surprise, I already crossed off five or more anime films on my list without even knowing. I was obsessed with van Gogh paintings around that year and was delighted to know that he took his inspirations from Japanese printmaking.

There was one moment where I took a video of the cherry blossoms against a clear blue sky. It took me a while to realize that the exact video I took is an echo of van Gogh's Almond Blossom painting in 1888.

Suddenly, I was taken into his perspective while he was painting that masterpiece. I thought: "van Gogh must have painted against a clear blue sky too." I had to verify it. "The large branches on this tree are among one of Van Gogh’s favorite subjects to observe with the sky against a blue background."

As the hours go by until the clock turns twelve and I turn 29, finding out about Shōwa Day was no accident. There are so many layers and underlying meanings to my birthday that I discover each year as I grow older, it somehow makes me special and unique. You can pertain it as The One That Happens in Spring (renewal, rebirth, new beginnings, and transformations). Or The One That Falls on International Dance Day (one of the many things I enjoy doing).

This year I want to refer it as The One That Falls on Shōwa No Hi Day, which marks the beginning of Golden Week. For the Japanese people, Shōwa Day is meant to be a time of reflection on the past and anticipation of the future. I figured it is such a timely and fitting theme for my birthday when I usually want to reflect on events and memories that happened in my life and still be anticipating and be hopeful for the future.

In a couple of minutes I will be turning 29. I have done things that I really am proud of and even caught myself by surprise in the process of doing so. I want to keep doing that. There are still so many things that I need to focus on especially with my self-growth. I am not yet the woman I want to be, but in the matters of the heart, I love how gentle she is when she deals with people and how she tries in life. I don't feel that I found my purpose just yet. But I am searching and discerning. I hope that when I turn 29, I can do so much more. And to remember that I can pursue things that will make me happy and that I can always seize the day if I choose to.

My relationship with my parents may not be the squishy kind like my sister or brother has with them, but now I feel that I can open up to them little by little. They respect and understand my decisions now and that really makes me feel like an actual grown up. It's one of the best priviledges and freedom to have as a human being, more than going places where most people have gone and done so much. I do promise open communication. Reasonable acceptance of flaws and mistakes. Respectable use of language (because I get easily pissed off and a little bit of irate sometimes).

I may be celebrating myself in just a few minutes, but I also want to learn how to keep on celebrating others with their achievement and goals. Comparison is a thief of joy, indeed. It's one of the many things I had to remove as my bad habits because aside from the fact that it is degrading, it is also unproductive to compare myself. I shall take it to myself to recognize what milestone I have reached because looking back, I don't think I'm as confident and daring to be taking concrete steps to what I really want to do.

Nine minutes to go! I'm getting sleepy. I might edit this entry in the morning. For now, I shall bid my good night.

PS. I forgot to post this last night! 😅

Grateful for life,

Jianna Eloise

[arjunasearth]

Facing Reality. Accepting the Change. Transforming it into Healing.

In Germany, they gonna shut basically everything down for non-vaxxed people (besides supermarkets and cosmetic stores; starts next Wednesday). During the last 3 years and a whole bunch of shitty experiences, I have consciously decided to minimize my contact to others. But not in a completely passive way. Don't get me wrong here. I am still communicating with people, primarily virtually and sometimes in person. So how can I transmute this destructive and controlling, manipulative energy into a productive and transformative one without having to suffer mentally and/or physically on a daily basis ? I wanna share some thoughts and suggestions here in order to reflect my own thought patterns more efficiently. Feel free to add whatever you want ( in your head, silently thinking it ,or even better, writing or typing it down. What have I learned during the last three years from being at home almost everyday? I am experiencing death and rebirth on a constant level. My personal, destructive thought patterns and behaviors are constantly uncovered since I shifted my focus to healing not only as a temporary process, but furthermore , a way of life. Not only are my innerst shadows brought to the surface; this is not enough. But every step is a step. Our shadows grow from our roots. Eventually, everything grows from them. You have to feel in your deepest depth to really understand that. And you also have to acknowledge the fact that it will take you a lot of time but also gift you with a lot of insights. Connect the polarities. Integrate both aspects into ONE holistic understanding. Separation is useless ( What can also be obvisously seen on the outside , though. We have to beware of that.)

~Let's start simple here. As a Taurus, i can only highly recommend to ground yourself daily. Walk barefoot in your apartment. Dance. Move your body. Feel into your personal healing crystal(s). Feel into wood. Feel into stones. Feel into other earthy materials. Connect with Nature. Feed your body with healthy and nourishing foods and clear your water. Do not use fluoride in any form. Meditate. Let your soul gravitate.~

~Practice conscious breath work NO MATTER WHERE YOU AT. This is like the most powerful change happening to me right now. I am realizing that the more stress is generated in my environment, the worse I am beginning to feel and the more I am beginning to absorb instead of observe.. And overall, I can be triggered easily as well, which is also a huge transformation process I am going through in my life for a longer period of time now. Breathing is the essence of life. Breathing IS Life. Life heals you when you allow it to flow freely.~That's exactly what I have been noticing while consciously in- and exhaling everytime when I am outside ( And especially when I am forced to completely cover my mouth).

Deep breaths. Don't absorb their bullshit. It's THEIRS. Don't allow it to become a part of you, in any way. Otherwise, you will be sensing an intense energy drain and may possibly feel exhausted very quickly. Instead, observe their behavior and ask yourself if it is truly aligning with your inner peace. Mostly it is not. So let the person speak out and treat yourself with the respect you would like to be treated and then mirror it to them. It may function as a catalysator, but that is definitely not under your obligation. Basically, this is what i would consider the best way to protect yourself energetically and on the inside, as well. ~

~Cleaning your space physically and energetically. Lighting candles and/or cleaning with white sage/ palo santo /whatever feels best for you. Manifest into holistic cleansing. I also had to learn this fundamentally. I had enormous (!) struggles with procrastination and can give you one advice which helped me on my daily basis. Instead of repeating your old cycle(s) and therefore also your old behavior patterns, react differently. Don't push yourself too hard, rather say to yourself ' I can try it. I just need to start. Let's see what happens then.' Leave it open. Limitations led me to even more procrastination. There will be days where it will be extremely difficult. This is also okay.If I don't feel the motivation , I am shifting my focus for motivational energy towards something different. I prefer to choose something that makes me completely feel good. Like e.g. self care cooking, baking or listening to my favorite tunes.

~~Surrender to the flow.~~

~Move your body daily. You can actively choose and try out which type of movement is best for you. It's regenerates and restructures your thoughts more easily and contributes to the release of anxiety, depression, destructive energy as much as kinetic energy of course. Yoga, Dancing. Walking. Try it out. And I am repeating it again: Never judge yourself for not making it all at once. You were never supposed to. The only constant is change. Look at the cycles of nature. They move steadily in their cosmic rhythm. Constantly. Always in motion. Always some form of development. Noticing and really feeling into lunar phases or the warmth of the sun is everything for me and opened my eyes for many things ( and pretty sure for many more).~

~As already mentioned before, practicing any type of selfcare is now essential~it is now more important than ever before. Choose what is possible and acceptable for you. You will thank yourself later. Trust me, you deserve it. I love taking purifying baths and listening to meditative and deep sounds . Lighting a candle and making use of essential oils also works pretty good. Realign and re-attune with your true nature. Calm down physically and mentally while tapping into the desires of the soul and your higher self.~

~Reflection. Intention. Manifestation. Writing is my biggest passion and I would consider it as the second , strong healing tool. Writing is reflecting your thoughts and channeling your soullight. A very powerful healing mechanism. Journaling helped me a lot to regain clarity and see a 'problem' not as a struggle anymore, but more as a healing solution. See what happens. Write it down. Of course , you can perfectly connect writing to creating art, as it is being created itself as much as it is creating and generating new thoughts, insights, visions.~

~Recently , i discovered ancient slavic/nordic (especially interesting for me because of my roots and strong connection which I can feel within these tunes) and indigenous pagan music as a 'new' music genre in my life that flows right into the strains of my dna. It is prayer, meditation and movement . So powerful and healing. And in total alignment with all of the elements. Really helps me to tap into my connection with my ancestors and the ascended master. I am so grateful for having the possibility to listen to this music. I noticed how my migraine just disappears . Binaural Beats are also very powerful. Find it out for yourself. See what happens.

You definitely came not in this world to suffer all the time. It is, what we have been programmed to believe . And the mass is really believing it, while absolutely ignoring at the same time that they are mentally suffering. They are locked up in their head. Do not absurb . Unlock yourself. Reprogram yourself. They really try to break us, but they are not able to. Because Darkness cannot exist without light. Lights illuminates every darkness as much as darkness is able to show us what needs to be illuminated. Connect the dots. Understand that collective consciousness is really and that these messages are coming from our brothers and sisters all around the world. Every day. Or i wouldn't be writing this, would I ? I am a strong believer of karma, interrelation and synchronicity. Remember: It will never work out all at once. It is not predestined to happen in an artificial and fictive world. It is happening inside of us as a direct connection to the cosmos and the cosmic healing energy from higher realms. It is a part of us and we are a part of it, as well. There can be no rebirth without death. I am learning to really feel this and integrate it in my life. Slowly but steady. We are the dots that connect as much as the dots that have to be connected right now.

~I AM SENDING LOVE AND BLESSINGS TO YOU, NO MATTER WHERE YOU MAY BE RIGHT NOW.~

~I AM SENDING YOU CALM ENERGY, TRANSMUTATION AND TRANSFORMATION.

~WE ARE WARRIORS OF LIGHT, CARRYING THE SWORDS OF TRUTH.~

~TOGETHER WE STAND: UNITED WE HEAL.~ <3

~~ AH YUM HUNAB KU~EVAM MAYA E MA HO!~~13:20~~

Love and Light,

Arjuna

[merelliahallewell]

The Drust in Ardenweald

This post is going to sum up everything I’ve learned and inferred about the Drust from Ardenweald and what they’re up to there.

This will contain information from the main Ardenweald questline in Shadowlands, random world quests I’ve done, the zone in general, and the Mists of Tirna Scithe dungeon, but not the Covenant Campaign. 

Part 1 - The Drust Backstory

Part 2 - The Drust in BfA 

Part 4 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (1)

Part 5 - The Drust in the Night Fae Campaign (2)

Recap

Let’s begin by laying out what’s going on, in case you zoomed through the Ardenweald story.

Ardenweald is a place of rest and rebirth, representing the “winter” as compared to the summer and springtime that the Emerald Dream is. It is where spirits of nature that die go to rest before they return to their worlds. Spirits are contained within Wildseeds, and nurtured by the native Night Fae, keepers of the many groves and great trees there. With the flow of souls having entirely abated and Anima no longer arriving, Ardenweald has felt the drought more acutely than the other realms. The Winter Queen must make the difficult decision to let some groves and wild spirits die in order to save others and conserve what resources they have. This drives the local fauna into a frenzy. Gorm, Devourers, and Spriggan are all making other things worse too, and the realm is in dire straits. 

In the middle of all this, the fucking Drust show up. Assholes.

The Invasion

Apparently they’ve invaded once before, according to Marasmius. This time they’re invading directly from the Maw of Thros, stealing anima, and taking advantage of the drought’s chaos. The Drust have been utilizing the abandoned groves as bases to fortify, with Darkreach and the Oaken Assembly being chock full of elites and acting as their main base. On top of this, the Drust have somehow convinced (forcibly, in many cases) a number of Fae to don various masks. This places them under the control of the Drust. At this point in the story, it’s unclear if they can be freed from their control. What’s worse, it’s revealed that these masks will, at some point literally turn them into Drust. It is not clear if they outnumber the Wild Hunt or not, but they are able to stretch them thin.

Per the Ingra Maloch boss description, The Drust are invading in order to utilize Ardenweald’s “mechanism of Rebirth.” This, presumably, is the mechanic that can be seen in the Queen’s Conservatory and in the cinematic with Ursoc- wildseeds containing souls are nurtured with anima and then sent back to their home worlds. 

The Drust are general boogeymen throughout the Ardenweald storyline, with the Masked Fae as the regular foes that have to be fought. They steal and hoard anima and attack the special wildseed we escort all around Ardenweald. They do not necessarily do or say a huge number of things or even have many notable characters introduced at this point in time. Most of the foes seem to be either converted Fae or Drust behemoths (which I think are constructs), rather than true, breathing Drust. 

When a vrykul-shaped Drust does show up, it’s treated as a large and powerful threat, needing several fae and the Champion to defeat. It is unclear after a certain part who is or isn’t a true Drust, and I think this may be deliberate- the Night Fae once fully converted are no different than any other Drust. 

This may explain how they managed to rebuild their armies after their initial defeat, since many of them had their bodies destroyed twice in Kul Tiras. 

The Possessed and the Masks

The Drust use masks to convert the fae into their own kind. However, the methods of getting them to don these masks are left pretty vague. It is implied that it’s a choice given to the fae. 

Join us, Niya. Don the mask and serve the masters! 

We get hints of this in the side quest chain, An Ominous Stone. In a village on the far east of the map, you collect the journal of Lewor, who described his village’s struggles with the Anima drought. The Gorm were began to gorge themselves on the land and have collapsed whole chunks of the village due to their tunnels. Land even broke off of Ardenweald, and the messengers they dispatched to ask for aid but the Wild Hunt was unable to spare any. 

At some point, a strange stone appeared that was certainly not of Ardenweald, radiating with power. He believed that it was not of Ardenweald, but that the forest may have provided it from another land. Lewor even believed that they could use its power to drive off or even defeat the Gorm. 

What happened between then and the current events are unclear, but this stone seems to have spread some sort of corruption or magic to the fae, leading to them all donning the masks. There is no mention of the Drust directly being involved in what happened there- this was a conquest through subterfuge. 

Why would a Fae willingly wear a mask and serve unknown masters from another realm? At first it may be confusing to see them join a faction known for decay and destruction, but one has to remember how seriously the drought affected Ardenweald. It may be that the Fae, dispossessed and lost after their groves were culled, were tempted by the power the Drust offered to drive off the enemies already in Ardenweald. This is speculation, though, and not hard lore- we ultimately do not know why they accepted the masks. 

There is no hope for any Fae once they have donned the mask. From the quests:

There is no coming back for those who have become possessed. Believe me... I tried.

Thank you. I tried so hard to save them... but once that mask is on, there is no return.

They are all wearing these masks now, and they are not themselves any more. 

A Pause for Speculation

If the Drust possess a curse that can be used to enslave the minds of any it touches without even having to be physically touching them, why are they doing this mask stuff and not following the same tactic as the Coven did in Drustvar? My speculation is this:

1) The Drust are known by the ancient and powerful beings of Ardenweald, mainly Marasimus and the Winter Queen. They want to avoid displaying who real threat is and taking advantage of the chaos to build their army. 

2) They disappear into the chaos caused by the Gorm and Devourers and Spriggan and even Mueh’zalah, who have already stretched the Wild Hunt so thin they can’t assist outlying villages. If those beings knew what was really happening with the Drust, they would turn their focus onto them more fully and employ the whole Wild Hunt to stop them. 

3) They needed time bought by the masked fae menace to position their existing forces to capture many of the outlying groves and fortify them. They may also have wanted the secrets Tirna Scithe held or the wildseeds hidden there.

Drust Types

I slapped this together to show the different types of Drust present in Ardenweald. Gorak Tul’s model is on the left for comparison. As a small aside, I find it interesting that the vrykul Drust almost appear to have had their heads fused with the masks somehow. Gorak Tul is so deep into that process (if it exists) that he has sprouted another few eyes and his mouth has elongated. 

Weirdly, the lady Drust do not appear to have any weird bark skin or masks anything, and the only effect they have is a general loss of bulk compared to the vrykul model used for them in BfA and freaky looking fingers. It seems as if the matrons of the Heartsbane Coven slit their throats to transform themselves into Drustlike forms. 

Motivations

While it’s stated that the Drust want to escape their curse, that’s never really expanded upon. Let’s examine the phrasing from Ingra Maloch’s dungeon journal:

Cursed to exist outside the cycle of Life and Death, the Drust now seek to circumvent their fate using Ardenweald's mechanisms of Rebirth.

The mention of a curse is interesting, because that has never really been said before in an explicit fashion. Thros must be the reason they are cursed in this sort of fashion. It’s not mentioned just what being cursed outside this cycle means, for it’s stated in the Pride of Kul Tiras storyline that Gorak Tul could be slain within his own realm, and was defeated for good.

There are also some curious lines from NPCs that intrigue me.

The Drust will rule all realms!

Nature is meant to be controlled. Conquered. And the Drust will conquer all!

At face value, I think that this implies that they want to go around conquering more realms, either of the Shadowlands or elsehwere. Maybe they already have conquered other realms, during the time they’d supposedly been stuck in Thros? They have attacked Ardenweald once before, after all. It’s an interesting mystery for the time being but unless we get a Thros raid, I don’t see this being expanded upon. I wonder if the nature of this curse will be expanded upon at any point, but knowing Blizzard that is probably not going to happen.

Miscellaneous Bits

Stone is said to be a rare find in Ardenweald by Droman Tashmur. It seems that the Drust utilized strange rocks with runes chipped into them to spread their blight everywhere or potentially influence the Fae. 

I found these lines interesting, as all are references to the Drust or their magic. 

“Creatures of decay and destruction”

“This stone speaks of hate and broken branches”

"Alien presence that threatens the forest”

"A master who will watch Ardenweald wither”

“All shall wither”

“ Where she appears, decay follows.”

Ingra is a title used by several NPCs. I wonder if it some title of nobility in Thros or meant for commanders.

A Tiny Mystery

Soultwister Cero in Tirna Noch is opening some sort of a portal. It doesn’t appear to be some sort of a standard portal, because the ground bears a ritual circle akin to what the Heartsbane uses, and at each point of it are great stones bearing runes upon them. Atop the portal is a mask, and there are two large runestones on each side as well. Something had to be important to put so much effort into opening this gateway- but why? Is it a portal to Thros to bring more troops in through? A gate to another realm of the Shadowlands, akin to De Other Side’s entrance?

It may also just be the entrance to a lovely little vacation island just across the gap that has been occupied by the Drust, but that seems like a lot of effort to reach something that is a goblin glider jump away.

[nonbaznary]

Carry On Countdown - Days 29 & 30: Gift Giving & Any way the wind blows

AO3 // Read it on Tumblr below the cut! Words: 997

But I’ll walk beside you, love: “Simon is almost falling asleep on Yule's Eve, and Baz wants to give him his first Holidays present.”

  (It’s just happy Simon and a lot of fluff)

“I don't know where this road will end But I'll walk with you hand in hand I can't promise you fair sky above Can't promise you kind road below But I'll walk beside you, love Any way the wind blows “

- Hadestown, “Promises”

Happy SnowBaz day, everyone! It was awesome to be part of the Countdown for the first time this year, thanks to everyone from @carryon-countdown for making this event so amazing and gratifying

But I’ll walk beside you, love

Simon was almost napping. It was Yule’s Eve, the 20th, and they – him, Baz, and Penelope – had been arranging the celebrations for the next day since they woke up. It had been a very long and tiring day, but it was worth it. Simon had always liked Sabbaths. The magickal energy in them, the changing of the seasons. Plus, on Yule, they exchanged gifts. He was excited for the next morning. Of course, he was looking forward to other things, too. The whole flat was beautifully decorated in gold, silver, red, green, and white, and Baz had brought a lot of stuff for that date specifically. Incenses, candles, herbs, tea, crystals, glasses for witchy balls, everything you could imagine. He couldn’t wait to see all that.

Penelope and Baz were cautious about celebrating with magick. But Simon didn’t mind, not anymore. He had had the time to process and accept that he had chosen to give away his magic, and that was it. Of course, this time of the year always came with bad memories, but he’d learned to cope with that, and focus on the good stuff. On how he was getting better every day, on everything this date meant to him and Baz, on all the magick that was still in his life.

And it was kind of beautiful to know what this celebration meant.

Yule is a time of rebirth. Transformation, inner renewal. The promise of the returning strength of the sun. It felt incredibly important to Simon to celebrate that. He finally felt like he, too, was getting out of the dark, and heading out to the light as a new person. A New Simon. He desperately needed that.

As Simon slowly drifted off to sleep, he could only think that this year’s holidays were going to be perfect. He didn’t actually fall asleep, though, since a tall figure opened his door just in time to prevent that.

— Hey.— Baz sat on his bed by his side.— Sorry. Did I wake you up?

— No.— he mumbled. Baz raised an eyebrow at him.— Okay, kind of.

— I’m sorry, love. I just wanted to-

Simon accidentally cut them off when he groaned and pressed his palms to his face, trying to actually wake up. Baz smiled oh-so-softly and Simon sat up next to them. 

— Can I give you your first gift already?— Baz asked. Simon frowned.

— First? You’ll give me multiple gifts?

— You deserve it, Snow.

Simon shrugged.

— You didn’t need to get me anything.

— We have this conversation at least three times a year, dear. I wanted to. I love getting you presents.— Baz reaches out for his hand, holding it between theirs.— You know this, it makes me so happy that I can actually do something about how I feel. That I can properly express my love for you.

Simon smiled and hugged them.

— You’re a sap.— he murmured, burying his face in the spot their neck met their shoulders.

— I’m in love, you nightmare.— Baz whispered, kissing the top of his head.— But you should get to sleep. The gift will still be there tomorrow, you should rest if you’re this tired.

— I’d love to get your gift, I really would. I’m just too sleepy for it. 

— I know, Simon. It’s okay. I don’t mind waiting one night.

Simon put some space between them, sitting up again. He touched the side of Baz’s face, looking into their eyes.

— Can you stay with me?

Baz smiled.

— Of course. Just let me change.

Once they were wearing their pajamas, Baz got into bed with him. They covered themself with their fluffy blankets, scooching close to Simon so they could hug him. They both loved holding each other, sleeping at each other’s arms. That’s where they felt safest.

— I’m sorry I didn’t get you a ton of gifts.— Simon mumbled to Baz, playing with their hair.

— You don’t need to give me anything, Snow.— Baz kissed his jaw.— You’ve already given me everything I could ask for.

— Eh, I don’t know. I never need or want anything, not anymore, and I always love your gifts so much. I wish I could do something as special as what you do for me.

— Simon, I do mean it when I say you don’t need to feel like that.— Baz kissed him again, in the cheek this time, squeezing his hand.— You’re everything I want. Everything I need. Everything I could ever ask for.

— You, too. Baz, you are too. If you’re by my side, I don’t need anything else. I don’t think about anything else, I don’t wish for anything else.— he presses a kiss to their forehead.— It’s always you, only you.

— Well, then it’s a shame I’ve been getting all these gifts.— they joked, resting their head in Simon’s chest to get in a more comfortable sleeping position, closer to him.— Because you’ll have me forever, Simon Snow. You know I’ll always be with you, right, love? Any way the wind blows.

Simon’s smile was too big for his face.

— Me too, darling. Any way the wind blows.

It felt incredibly important to be with Baz in that way when Yule was coming. Simon was heading towards something new, a new start. It was everything to know that he’d have Baz by his side no matter what. And making sure they knew he’d be there for them, too.

As the night progressed and as Yule came that new chapter started, not only in their lives but to everyone, Simon felt it was just right to be sleeping in Baz’s arms. He didn’t know what would expect them, and he didn’t know what they’d both become, but they had each other, and that brought him clearness. Nothing else was certain, except that they’d love each other no matter what. And there would be gifts in the morning.

While Baz was by his side, their hand in his hand, nothing else mattered. They’d just keep walking. Together.

[onceklaudiaspiechowicz]

Slavic Gods Associated with the Underworld

Veles

“Slavic people believed that this god is often shown in a form of a bear, even though Veles is capable of transforming into other animals too. But, in later writings, this god is presented as a demon, where he lost his old functions and then linked to the devil and the underworld. Fact is that mythology among early Slavs also developed as their own turbulent lives, so naturally even the gods changed during ages in the eyes of the common folk. When their crops would die out due severe droughts they created a myth how Veles stole the heavenly cows and rains stopped. Even thought Veles with no doubt was considered a “mischievous” God, he was still a subject to worship and respect. It was him that protected farmers cows from plague or improved their crops and land fertility. Average people didn’t want to interfere in mythological fights between Veles and Perun, but in fact worshiped them both as major forces of this world, often according to their own needs.”

“Veles (or Volos) is sometimes called the second most important god of Slavic religion. The old Ruthenian chronicle which calls him skotiy bog makes him the god of cattle. This would also position him as the god of wealth (as cattle was one of the main markers of a family’s wealth). Other hints suggest he could have been linked to such domains as magic, poetry, oaths, the underworld, and the dead.

Veles is sometimes seen as the mythical antagonist of Perun, part of a structural pattern that may reflect a more ancient Indo-European myth of a primordial rivalry between the two opposing supreme deities (compare: Mitra and Varuna in Hindu mythology). Historians and ethnographers suspect that the relics of this ancient notion may have survived even centuries after Christianisation, and can be found in the Slavic Cosmogonic myth which transposes the same theme of rivalry between God and the Devil (See below: Slavic Creation Myth), the latter being a version of Veles. This identification can be observed in Czech folklore as late as the 16th century, where the phrase ‘Jdi za moře k Velesu’ (Go across the sea to Veles!) means ‘Go to the devil!’.”

Chernobog

“Also spelled as Czernobog, Tchernobog is a Slavic deity, whose name means black god, about whom much has been speculated but little can be said definitively. The only historical sources, which are Christian ones, interpret him as a dark, accursed god, but it is questionable how important (or evil) he was really considered to be by ancient Slavs.

About Chernobog, there was just one written document named Chronica Slavorum from Saxon missionary Helmold that says:

''Among Slavic people, there is one weird belief that is kept in their drinking fests and feasts. They at same time bless and curse under names of their Gods, respectively in the name of good One and evil One, saying that good things come from good God and evil comes from evil One. In their language they call evil God ''Chernobog'', or ''black God''.''

Morana

“Morana is a pagan Slavic goddess associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature. She is an ancient goddess associated with winter's death and rebirth and dreams. In ancient Slavic rites, the death of the Goddess Marzanna at the end of winter becomes the rebirth of Spring of the Goddess Vesna representing the coming of Spring.”

“In modern times the rituals associated with Marzanna have lost their sacred character and are a pastime – an occasion to have fun and celebrate the beginning of spring. The tradition is usually celebrated around the spring equinox (March 21). Usually schoolchildren and young people participate in the celebrations alongside local folklore groups and other residents. A procession consisting of men, women and children carries handmade Marzanna to the nearest river, lake or pond. The participants sing traditional songs and throw effigies of Marzanna into the water. Sometimes the effigies are first set on fire, or their clothes are torn. On the journey back to the village the focus falls on the copses, adorned with ribbons and blown egg shells. The procession, still singing, returns to the village."

“Researchers emphasise that Marzanna functioned not merely as a symbol of winter, but also as a Slavic goddess. Marzanna's later association with death (in some regions Marzanna is called Death Crone) trivialized the importance of the goddess, who was the lady of not only death, but also life, and commanded the natural world.”

“Drowning Marzanna in water (an element of high importance in season-related folk celebrations) is understood as the goddess' symbolic descent into the underworld, to be reborn with next winter. Some researchers underline the sacrificial character of this ritual and suggest that Marzanna is sacrificed in order to appease Winter. The authors of Wyrzeczysko propose that Marzanna is sacrificed to the demons of water, whose favour was necessary to ensure a plentiful harvest in the coming year.”

Karna

“Goddess of the funerals, personifying tears. She is compared to the Indic Karna.”

“Yet another goddess of death, the ancient Karna is depicted as a young woman with black hair and bright red clothes. She is said to be the daughter of the goddess Lada. She spends most of her life down in the underworld. Some sources claim her to be related to Marzana (the goddess of winter and death, it might be a region differential)”

Oźwiena

“Goddess of the echo, and generally of voice and oral communication.”

“She was a companion of the god Veles, the goddess of echo. Some specialists in mythology connect her with Greek nymph Echo. She was also the goddess of gossip. According to the legend, it was impossible to her keep something she heard as a secret. Whatever you told her, she shared it. However, if she liked someone, she spoke only good things, but when someone became her enemy, she spoke all the bad things about this person. Moreover, Oźwiena loved glory, fame and listening to the stories.”

Flins /Hela

“Hela, the death goddess, is represented with a lion head with an outstretched tongue. As Myda, an aspect or another name of hers, she is represented as a crouching dog.”

“God of death who may be a Wendish name of Veles, although the iconography is rather different. He is sometimes represented as a skeleton with a lion upon his shoulder, holding a burning torch in his hand, and placing a foot on a large pebble. In other cases he is represented as an old man, with the same attributes of the skeleton, except for a flint instead of a pebble. His cult was widespread in Lower Silesia, Lusatia and Saxony.”

Morok

“Morok, literally “Darkness” in Russian, is a concept that has been deified in modern Slavic Native Faith (Rodnovery). He is the god of lie and a deceit, ignorance and errors. At the same time, he is a keeper of ways to the truth, hiding such ways to those who pursue truth for vanity and selfishness. He has a twin brother, Moroz (“Frost”), and they switch into one another at will.”

Nemiza

“God who cuts the thread of life, sometimes represented as a male with four beams around his head, one wing, and on his chest a dove with outstretched wings, and sometimes represented as a naked female with an eagle by her side gazing up to her. Nemiza was regarded both as a calamity for bringing death, and as a beneficial figure for introducing the soul to a new life.”

Ny

“Ny is the god of the underworld who acts as psychopomp, that is to say the guide of the souls into the underworld. He is associated with subterranean fire and water, snakes and earthquakes. Peklabog or Pekelnybog is another name of the god of the underworld, and he has been compared to the Indic Shiva. Etymologically, the word peklo means "pitch", and after Christianisation, its meaning became that of "hell", often personified as the Devil, and pekelnik any being of hell.”

https://www.slavorum.org/veles-the-slavic-shapeshifting-god-of-land-water-and-underground/

https://mythology.wikia.org/wiki/Chernobog

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morana_(goddess)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deities_of_Slavic_religion

https://aminoapps.com/c/pagans-witches/page/blog/dark-slavic-gods-goddesses/xpdX_JM6s2uVLKp7bdXgQmXmqBXQQrvBvG

https://culture.pl/en/article/what-is-known-about-slavic-mythology

[dandivinity]

Madokannon: Religious Symbolism in Madoka Magica

If there’s one word I’d use to describe the show, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, it would be deceptive. If you’re wondering how a cute Sailor Moon rip-off with even brighter colors and a moe art-style is deceptive, congrats, you fell for the deception. As the series continues, it becomes clear that the show is not a cut-and-dry monster of the week where good always triumphs. Rather it is a pastel-colored Faustian bargain where even the best intentions can lead to dire consequences. In the end it is only through the titular characters unshakeable hope and faith and no small amount of divine intervention that the series reaches it’s bitter sweet conclusion. This is obvious upon a first viewing. What is less obvious is the nature that this divine intervention takes. While the show occasionally makes direct connections to Christianity, It seems to me that the theology implemented is Buddhist through and through complete with Four noble truths, samsara, vile rebirth, and an allegory of the bodhisattva Kannon. 

Let’s start with the basis of the show, the wishes. This is one of Madoka’s most prominent aspects and the largest concern from the beginning of the series before the villain’s true underpinnings are revealed. For those of you not familiar, 1). Why are you reading this? And 2). The set-up of the Madoka,  like most magical girl anime, involves a cute animal mascot offering the girls magical powers in order to fight monsters. What makes this set up unique however is that the oh so cute cat-bunny-thing known as Kyubey also offers the girls one wish as an incentive so that they would accept it’s “contract”. Now the use of the word “contract” is an obvious red flag meant to alert us to the Faustian nature of the deal. And yes, the agreement comes with several hidden clauses that Kyubey conveniently leaves out such as the fact that becoming a magical girl involves having your soul removed from your body and placed into a gem because it’s “easier to protect”. But Kyubey’s not exactly stealing it like a Christian devil would. More importantly than the hidden clauses though, is the wishes themselves.

Now stories of the devil tempting people with promises of wealth or power are quite common in Western literature, as are tales of djinn or monkey paws providing wishes that always go wrong in Near Eastern lit. But what’s extraordinary about Madoka is that for the most part the wishes the girls grant are simple in nature and rather generous. Our main focus point, and the only wish we see pursued from beginning to end in chronological order is that of Sayaka Miki. Sayaka is established to be crushing on a boy who was a former violin prodigy before a car accident left him paralyzed with no hope of playing ever again. Sayaka wishes for him to be healed, and just like that, it’s done. 

The boy does not relapse, nor does he lead into another accident. He simply starts a miraculous yet slow path to recovery, until the series finale where he is shown without crutches and playing beautifully for a wide audience. The problem? Well as pointed out before Sayaka even makes the wish, she’s wasn’t actually doing it for him: she was on an unconscious level hoping that he’d be forever grateful to her. Does she hold this over him? No. Does he reject her? No. She simply doesn’t ask. Sayaka is too busy with her new responsibilities and ashamed of what she has become to ask. 

And frankly the importance of Kyosuke in Sayaka’s fall is largely overstated by the fanbase. Yes, he’s a large factor but even more so than wanting to heal him or his gratitude, Sayaka wants to be a hero. This is heightened when their magical mentor dies within the first three episodes. Sayaka now feels like it’s her responsibility to protect her city as no one else will. Unfortunately, she’s simply not as strong as her former mentor or the new morally unsound magical girls that seeks to dispose of her (both Kyoko and Homura). This is really what leads to Sayaka’s downward spiral as she comments, “The world doesn’t need a magical girl who can’t even kill a witch”. Sayaka wants to be a hero, and she wants to get the guy and she gets neither. Her desires, both fulfilled and unfulfilled, all lead to her suffering. This is the First Noble Truth of Buddhism. 

I realize this isn’t the most convincing argument on its own but let’s zoom out a bit here. What is desire if not earthly attachments? Attachment and inability to let go of attachment is a concept found in nearly all the wishes in the show. It doesn’t matter if it’s Sayaka’s wishing for her friend’s health, Mami literally trying to cling to life, or Kyoko (in the most directly religious moment in the show) wishing that people would come to her father’s sermons so that her family could have enough to eat. All of these desires are moral in some way and yet they are still desires. More importantly, they all involve a longing for what once was, and are attempts to return things to how they were rather than moving on. This inability to let go is characterized not just in the wishes but in the reason they’re implemented in the first place. 

When Kyubey finally explains why they knowingly cause suffering to countless adolescent girls throughout time, they explain it’s to harvest enough renewable energy from the emotions of magical girls to stave off the entropy of the universe. The whole process is rather convoluted and -let’s face it- an excuse to deconstruct magical girl tropes, but that doesn’t change the fact that preventing the heat death of the universe is still Kyubey’s number one goal. That combined with their inability to truly understand the suffering they’re causing has caused some of the community to question their villain status or at least say they’re a villain with a just cause. And while postponing the heat death of the universe may be noble in the long run, it is a literal fight against the impermanence of the universe. A fight that we know from Buddhism is doomed to only lead to personal trauma in the face of inevitability of a changing world. But it is this fight against impermanence that kyubey embodies so well, and one that is baked into the wish-based magical girl system they run. 

Ok, enough beating around the bush. It’s time to talk about Homura. After spending most of the show as a mysterious red-herring villain that knows far too much, Homura finally gets an episode dedicated to her near the end of the show where it’s revealed she’s a time traveller who restarted the timeline over and over again in order to make her wish come true; to be able to save Madoka. Specifically  Homura has to replay the same month over and over again until she can succeed in saving Madoka’s life and cannot escape until this goal is reached.  This obsession leads to a very literal samsara, by repeating the timeline again and again Homura is actively choosing to trap herself in endless cycles of suffering, death, and rebirth all because of her attachment to the mortal world. Through this process we can see Homura fall apart becoming more and more monstrous in her single-minded focus to save Madoka at the expense of everything else. By the time she arrives at our main timeline that the rest of the show takes place in, Homura is comparable to a hungry ghost. She’s directly accused of walking through the world as if dead, unable to feel anything except for the desire that damned her in the first place, her obsession with Madoka. When even this too seems lost, she nearly becomes a witch. 

In Mahayana Buddhism, rebirth on earth is not the worst thing that can happen after one’s death. If one leads a sufficiently desperate life they can be reborn as an animal, hungry ghost, or in hell. This is where Madoka’s witches come from. Perhaps the most tragic twist in Madoka Magica is that if a magical girl falls into despair (usually due to her wish’s inability to make her happy), her soul gem will transform into a grief seed which then becomes one of the monsters they fight. These nightmare collage monsters have new names separate from their old identities and live in pocket dimensions where they lure people in. These pocket dimensions often in someway manifests the desires of their old lives being filled with sweets, TVs, or (in Sayaka’s case) violinists. Interestingly, when Sayaka first dies and is reborn as the witch Octavia in a train station, her labyrinth is also full of railroad tracks. She relocates to a concert hall and the labyrinth follows suit, but train wheels remain despite having no apparent bearing on her previous life. This could be a reference to Buddhist beliefs about your final thoughts and which direction you look when you die having bearing on which realm you’ll be reborn into. 

Homura’s obsession in contrasted by Madoka’s ability to let go. Madoka’s final wish and subsequent ascension has often been compared to Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, and rightfully so. Madoka’s wish to become a cosmic force that can take on all the despair of magical girls before they become witches at the cost of her own mortal life has many strong parallels to Jesus suffering on the cross to redeem humanity. However that idea only works if Jesus is suffering. Madoka is stated to be taking the grief of every magical girl who ever became a witch onto herself and we even see a far future version of her becoming a witch large enough to destroy the world. But before it does it is shot down by another version of a truly ascended Madoka in a white dress. This version states paradoxically that since her wish applies to all magical girls that would become witches, that includes herself. The fluidity of time and direct denial of the necessity of suffering or sacrifice are at odds with Orthodox Chriastianity, or at least its perception of Jesus. Rather I argue that the way Madoka saves all the magical girls, her subsequent erasure from existence, and even such mundane symbols such as the white dress all link her closer to the Bodhisattva, Kannon. 

Let’s take a closer look at the scene where we see Madoka actually ascends and manifests to relieve the potential witches of their grief. We see Madoka split herself into thousands shafts of light, all of which appear above different suffering magical girls in different places and time periods. And above all of them Madoka appears, she touches their corrupted soul gems which are then purified before shattering, allowing the magical girls to die in peace. A rather sad ending, but one that’s better than rebirth as a witch, which we already identified as equivalent to the hell realm. So while it is unclear where the magical girls are going to go after they die (or even if they go anywhere at all as we just saw the gems holding their souls shatter, possibly destroying them), we can know that Madoka is saving them from a worse rebirth. This directly parallels miracle tales that surround the Bodhisattva Kannon, especially in her Chinese incarnation as the white-robed Guanyin. 

Kannon is the primary example of Bodhisattva or one who has put off Budhahood to aid those still on earth. Kannon in particular swears to never ascend until all living things have been freed of samsara. She’s often depicted as having 11 heads and a thousand arms to better reach all those suffering in the world at once, like how Madoka splits herself into a myriad of forms. Many of these tales have devotees of Guanyin spared from tragic fates such as beheadings or shipwrecks. However a few, adapt these stories to instead refer to a more metaphorical salvation, especially in the pure land tradition popular in Japan which then says that anyone who calls out to Kannon on the verge of their death will be still die and be reborn to the pure land rather than wherever else they were supposed to reincarnate. Madoka’s god form even highly resembles the Chinese incarnation, Guanyin. Wikipedia states, “Guanyin is generally portrayed as a young woman wearing a flowing white robe, and usually also necklaces symbolic of Indian or Chinese royalty. In her left hand is a jar containing pure water, and the right holds a willow branch.” While we never see Madoka with any water; the flowing white dress, red gems along her collar bone, and branch-like bow (though on that seems to be more of a sakura branch) all bring to mind Guanyin.

Finally Madoka’s ascension ends with her body dissolving into glimmers of light as she explains how no one will remember her, but she’ll still be there. This dissolution of the her spiritual body is a visual symbol of ego-death. Madoka recreates a word where she does not exist, and had never existed, yet still manifests as a concept and virtuous force that leads others to salvation rather than as a sentient entity. This is the Nirvana. Madoka hadn’t just ascended to godhood, she had surpassed it and achieved nothingness, as her buddha nature radiates throughout the world, ultimately changing it into something better. This is the paradox of Buddhism and the goal of any buddhist practitioner, to achieve an inner peace so strong you become a part of the universe like madoka had. And the new world she created was better for it. 

That is at least until the show decided to  make a movie sequel and trick madoka into descending. At that point she stops acting as a Buddha and instead as Pistis Sophia in line with the obscure belief system of 2nd century Gnostics. But that will be a conversation for another time. 

[demons-fanatic]

Firekeepers: Cycle of Blind Optimism

Spoilers for Dark Souls I, II and III for the entire post:

Fire Keepers have always been prevalent in the Dark Souls Series. In Dark Souls 1 they seem to be somewhat common and serve a different purpose than in Dark Souls 3. Fire Keepers are always Women, it is unknown why this is but some things in Dark Souls can only be done by Women. They all seemingly have a disability; Anastacia is mute, Quelaag’s Sister is blind and ill, Darkmoon Knightess has a lot of humanity swarming out of her soul(presumably) under her Armor. The Old Women are all blind as well. Irina is blind, as are all Fire Keepers in DS3 Firelink Shrine. It is unknown why most of them are blind, even the uncursed ones, but that’s just how it seems to be.

In Dark Souls 1, Fire Keepers seem to have individual names and identities and are key-part in keeping the local Bonfire lit. However, not every Bonfire in DS1 has a Fire Keeper, usually places of importance, like Firelink Shrine or the entirety of Anor Londo; Which are important places. It can be inferred only important places need Fire Keepers, and maybe Anastacia’s power can provide enough power to have all Bonfires lit. But, when she, Anastacia is dead, only Firelink Shrine’s Bonfire is unkindled.  For Anor Londo, the Darkmoon Knightess’ death shuts down all Anor Londo Bonfires, so consistency is very strange and not one for deciphering. The third and final Fire Keeper in DS1 is Quelaag’s Sister, who barely does anything at all; It can be assumed she was always a Fire Keeper and in her transformed state she’s still trying to keep up her duty and her Bonfire. It’s better to say they’re important for specific Bonfires. Fire Keepers also have notable Souls that are charged by infinite Humanity, this soul is also what connects to the power of the Bonfire; In Dark Souls 1, Humanity is what can keep kindling a Bonfire, making it brighter. So, it just shows that a soul of infinite Humanity is what keeps a Bonfire going. So it can be assessed that Fire Keepers are the world's solution to just keeping a Bonfire forever going, since it is unknown when the first Fire Keeper was created. It is possible the world itself is giving these Women the ability. But, this is really all that can be said about Dark Souls 1 Fire Keepers.

In Dark Souls 2, there are only three Fire Keepers. They are the Old Handmaidens in red Clothes in Things’ Betwixt. They serve no purpose only to reassess players’ points, they drop Human Effigies, but that is no surprise since it is essentially Humanity. They don’t even seem to be keeping any Bonfires alight. But, to get meta, it’s definitely just an oversight by the Writers who chose not to really expand on the lore of Fire Keepers at all, and no issue with that, honestly. It is also possible Shanalotte is a Fire Keeper, however, it is explicitly said she is not by another character; But, that does not mean it’s true.

In Dark Souls 3, Fire Keepers are extremely important and seem to have completely changed. It’s still possible for Women with names to become Fire Keepers if they want. It is seemingly connected to Miracles, at least for Irina it is. She must teach every non-dark Miracle and she will be able to transform Souls into power; The correlation of these aspects are very unknown and seems to be confusing. It seems it is also possible to fail to become a Fire Keeper, as Irina also does but later succeeds. She and Eygon come from Carim and have headed to Lothric for it seems to be the land to become a Fire Keeper, for what reason is unknown despite Carim being a religious and place of Miracles. However, it could be possible because a Firelink Shrine is needed to become one and they are only found in the area of Lothric and Lordran. Speaking of such, there seems to be a special shrine in Lothric. In this shrine, there are 5 thrones that are custom built for each Lord of Cinder, previous people who linked the fire and most likely had their own Fire Keeper. This shrine also seems to be cursed; Certain denizens of the shrine cannot die. These being the Ashen One, Andre, Shrine Handmaiden and the Fire Keeper. But, we’ll focus on the Fire Keeper; She is a young Woman with mid length Silver Hair, Pale Skin and a Blindfold Tiara. This Tiara, as seen from the intro CGI of Dark Souls 3 seemingly has a glimpse into the Age of Dark. But, Fire Keepers have no eyes in Dark Souls 3. They are seemingly purposefully left ignorant, but they also do not care what the Ashen One does with the Fire. She is just subservient to her Ashen One. This is the first obvious change, Fire Keepers are seemingly ordered to serve somebody, not multiple people but one person who will link the fire. Whether they do or not doesn’t matter, they are just there to assist them and transform souls into power. She chants something while transforming these souls, it is unknown why: “Let these souls, withdrawn from their vessels, Manifestations of disparity, Elucidated by fire, Burrow deep within me. Retreating to a darkness beyond the reach of flame, Let them assume a new master, Inhabiting ash, casting themselves upon new forms.” It essentially explains the process of Souls and how they transform and are rebirthed into the body and the Soul of their “New Master”. It’s nothing anybody couldn’t figure out themselves, but is an interesting addition. Now, Dark Souls 3 has a very noticeable apocalyptic vibe and by the end, it is very obvious the Universe is trying to collapse in on itself. The fire keeps getting linked, but the fire cannot sustain itself much longer. However, in the regular world aside from Firelink Shrine; The linking of the fire and the act of a Fire Keeper and her wish for a Champion is mocked to the point that plays are put on like comedies. The world knows of the struggles of keeping the world alight by these Champions, but they do not treat it with respect as they should. And what they also seemingly don’t know is how many times the fire truly has been linked. If the Tower Key is purchased and is explored, for one, a Fire Keeper Soul can be found. The Soul of a Fire Keeper who returned from the Abyss and was tainted by the Dark Sigil. Secondly, going down the tower next to the shrine’s main building will prove a horrific scene: Hundreds of corpses of Fire Keepers, all Silver Haired with the same Black Dress. They are carelessly piled up on the floor, discarded after their Champion links the flame. It’s possible they are killed or are “programmed” to die after the linking of the fire. This also begs a question of how are there so many identical Women? It’s possible they are quite literally spawned right after one dies. She walks into the shrine and picks up the Tiara and dons it, in the intro CGI this is exactly what our Fire Keeper does. This almost maddening scene should truly be terrifying for anyone in the Dark Souls world. So many times the world has been kept alive in this singular place, just to prevent an age that has to come one day anyways. Fire Keepers by now are treated like tools to complete something rather than real people. But, it’s not like this comes out of nowhere, Fire Keepers treat themselves as such. It’s like brainwashed slavery, the slave has been conditioned, probably since birth, their Slavehood is good and they are only worth their work. Of course, Fire Keepers aren’t really like slaves but they are there only to serve others. The whole cycle is something that reflects real life as well. We, as humans and human society have had something presumably our whole lives to keep a system going; Say bankers that keep our money in check. There’s not many things that are common that could ruin this, right? Well, having this system our whole lives gives leeway for most people to take it for granted and never expecting it to completely fail. This is how it is for Fire Keepers and keeping the fire lit for the world of Dark Souls. They most likely do not expect anything to go wrong, despite the mechanics of the world(Hollowing, Dragons/Drakes, etc...). Therefore, Fire Keepers don’t really need to be treated as people if their only purpose is known as that one thing society expects to be taken care of. To move on, Fire Keepers have evolved in this world. It’s still seemingly admired to become a Fire Keeper in the modern world, yet, it seems people like Irina do not exactly become the same kind of Fire Keeper as the Silver Haired ones. All Irina says is let the souls be the strength of the Ashen One, while the Silver Haired Fire Keeper is always asking to bring the Ashes of the Lords and strive to bring them. However, as previously stated; She just does not care how the fire is kept as long as she fulfills her duty which is just to serve her Champion. This Fire Keeper can also be given the Eyes of a Fire Keeper, which are the eyes of the first Fire Keeper who has seen a World without fire. She is intrigued by it, and almost wants it to happen. She says she sees tiny flames, alluding that even in the Dark and possible future age of the Deep Sea due to the many times the flame has been lit; There will always be a Flame in this world even if it is the Age of Dark. Giving hope that the world may start again as it did for the Fire Keeper who saw the Age of Dark and the tiny flames. 

Even in the ending where the flame goes out, the Fire Keeper explicitly states there will be tiny flames that will appear in the world again due to the lords who linked it before. However, this time the world will not be reborn as it is usually; This time, it will be the Age of the Deep Sea. Fire and Water mostly never coexist for they both dissipate each other. Refraining from turning into a Deep Analysis, just know this is the Age the Fire Keeper sees in her vision. It is not known why the Fire Keeper is able to see into the future with eyes from the past, but she can, suggesting Fire Keepers have more to them than they may even realize, almost like an Oracle. 

So, what can be said about Fire Keepers and their connection to the seemingly alive planet? Now, it could be that Gwyn himself created Fire Keepers; But, all Gwyn really seems to do is cast Lightning. He’s never shown to be able to create Humans, in fact Gwyn really hates Humans and Humanity and Gwyn’s only stated to just destroy Dragons, put the Pygmies in the Ringed City and have Children. It could have been the Primordial Serpents, their powers are seemingly unknown, but it could be they were tasked with creating a Fire Keeper Soul and planting them into shrines, at least our shrine in Dark Souls 3, since it seems to have had the most successful links. Though, Primordial Serpents serve no purpose other than to teeter the current linkers of the fire to one side or the other. As said before, it’s most likely Fire Keepers are just the World’s solution to keeping the Bonfire going, but after sometime they just became servants for people who are destined to link the fire. This isn’t the first time the world has seemingly created something to fit a purpose; The Undead themselves are created due to the fact Gwyn refused to let the Age of Dark come about. The World uses its own curse just to resurrect someone to link the fire, despite the odds of the entire Universe(seemingly, keep in mind). So, it’s not entirely out of the question the same Woman is created over and over again just for the same purpose. It’s fair to say that the world itself has taken what it has created and slowly evolved and shaped it into something. But, given by the first Fire Keeper, she was most definitely the same one as our current Fire Keeper. For some reason, probably after the first Fire Keeper, every proceeding Fire Keeper after her was born without eyes so she cannot see a World in the Age of Dark, or possibly the future. Where Fire Keepers are born are never alluded to, it is entirely possible they are plopped into the shrine or are born from the Ash; Which is possible and likely. This is just a copy and paste of a theory I wrote in August! I hope you enjoy.

[zephyrthesolitary]

Astrology Basics - The Houses/Ruling Planets

We talked about Chiron, The Lunar Nodes, and personal planets and what they mean to us. Now, let's take a look at the Houses.

What are the Houses in Astrology?

Most horoscopic traditions of astrology systems divide the horoscope into many houses. The position of these houses depends more so on the time and location of your birth as opposed to just the date of birth. If you notice, even when you enter your date of birth on an astrology website to see your natal chart; if you select Unknown Time or ‘Use Noon’ as the time due to not knowing what time you were born, it will only provide you with the Planets and which signs are in them. 

You’ll be missing the houses and you'll also be missing your Ascendant-- which is why knowledge of time and location is extremely vital!

Think of a clock or a wheel. A house in astrology is very similar to either of those things. The zodiac is divided into 12 houses and each one is ruled by a different sign/planet. 

The zodiac starts with the 1st House, which is represented by the sign of Aries and then proceeds in counterclockwise order, ending in Pisces.

Each house identifies and defines the exact areas of your life your chart and horoscope references. Each house also represents something entirely unique. They can determine the different types of people we are, or encounter, the places we go and the life circumstances we experience during this lifetime and in many others!

As the houses are, so too are the planets. For the 12 houses, on our charts, we may have planets existing in all, some or maybe a majority of our houses. Planets move constantly from house to house. In your birth chart, you can identify which planet is in which house. 

Pretty cool, right?

The locations of each planet at the time of our birth and even throughout our lives (called progressions and transits) can provide very valuable insights about us, our growth and our developments as individuals, in all of our relationships (love and platonic friendships), and our ambitions and goals. 

But I’m sure you may have noticed when looking at your birth chart also, that there might be multiple planets in certain houses while other houses are totally empty! 

Don’t panic! This is totally normal. It really just shows us what makes us unique and our life path too. So no fretting. :)

Now let’s talk Rulership!

What Sign is Each House Ruled By?

Not only do we have planets in houses, but we also have signs and planets that rule OVER each house and so in turn, they represent something to us.

1st House - ruled by Aries.

2nd House - ruled by Taurus.

3rd House - ruled by Gemini.

4th House - ruled by Cancer.

5th House - ruled by Leo.

6th House - ruled by Virgo.

7th House - ruled by Libra.

8th House - ruled by Scorpio.

9th House - ruled by Sagittarius.

10th House - ruled by Capricorn.

11th House - ruled by Aquarius.

12th House - ruled by Pisces. 

What about the planets that rule over the houses?

Well, we’ve already acknowledged that each house has a sign ruling over it. Let’s take a look at the ruling planets. Something interesting you’ll notice is that some signs may have 2 ruling planets instead of 1. An example is Pisces, who has Jupiter and Neptune as rulers. You might also see that a couple of signs might share the same ruling planets such as Aquarius and Capricorn; they share Saturn as a ruler. 

Let’s just chart it out to make it easier. 

Aries is ruled by Mars.

Taurus is ruled by Venus.

Gemini is ruled by Mercury.

Cancer is ruled by the Moon.

Leo is ruled by the Sun.

Virgo is ruled by Mercury.

Libra is ruled by Venus.

Scorpio is ruled by Mars & Pluto.

Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter.

Capricorn is ruled by Saturn.

Aquarius is ruled by Saturn & Uranus.

Pisces is ruled by Jupiter & Neptune. 

Straightforward enough right? Sign rule over houses and planets rule over signs. 

This goes without saying, as we have places where we are comfortable, we also have places we are the utmost uncomfortable with. So too, do our signs.

A place of discomfort for signs in astrology is also known as a ‘Detriment’. 

What Is a Detriment?

In astrology, for a sign to be in detriment or exile, it is positioned in the zodiac sign OPPOSITE of the sign it rules. An example: Mars meets its Detriment in Taurus and Libra. Mars is MOST comfortable with the ruling sign Aries. For obvious reasons.

But with Mars in Taurus and Libra, it is a very unhappy camper. Mars is happiest when it can express itself freely and directly. Think of an engine of the car. It doesn’t matter who’s driving and where it's going. It just wants to move!

Now: Consider Taurus. Taurus is Earth. Mars is fire. Speed vs. one of the slowest moving signs in the Zodiac. Taurus wants to be methodical, practical, and deliberate. So Mars is weighted down and cannot take action as quickly, thoughtlessly, and impulsively as it would like to. Mars in Taurus worries about finding a sensible and stale course of action. Because Mars’ energy isn’t built for slowness and deliberation, it often grows frustrated and angry as well as impatient. Pressure builds the less action that can be taken.

Still confused?

Try to think about the qualities of the planet vs. the zodiac.

Mars is explosive, fast, impulsive. Taurus is careful planning, realistic, and sensible. 

Seeing it clearer now? They do not go hand in hand. It's uncomfortable for poor Mars. This is what a detriment is. I’ll also chart it out for you so you can see which signs are Detriment in certain planets.

Detriment Chart

The Sun is in detriment in Aquarius.

The Moon is in detriment to Capricorn.

Mercury is in detriment to Sagittarius & Pisces.

Venus is in detriment in Scorpio and Aries.

Mars is in detriment in Libra & Taurus.

Jupiter is in detriment in Gemini & Virgo.

Saturn is in detriment in Cancer & Leo.

Uranus is in detriment in Leo.

Neptune is in detriment in Virgo.

Pluto is in detriment in Taurus. 

Lastly, let talk about what each house focuses on!

Houses and Their Meanings

1st House = The Self/Ego; physical appearance, the image we portray, self-esteem, and the first impression we make on others. The way you start something new. It is the “I am” energy. 

2nd House = Material Possessions and Security aka ‘Our Values’; including our finances, personal belongings, and our relationship to the gifts we possess both physically and spiritually. What are your spending habits? It is the “I have” energy. Sometimes your self-worth and self-esteem are apparent here too.

3rd House = Communication style and learning ability; local community and transportation can be affected here too. Planets located here are motivated by expression and focus on building close relationships with peers, siblings, coworkers, and classmates. When planets pass through here, we oftentimes receive important information about our immediate network. This house governs our thinking process and cognitive functioning. It influences our voice via writing, speaking, media, or communication arts. It is the “I think” energy.

4th House = Inner foundation; Homelife and the base of operations. This house rules the home we grew up in and our inner home. It determines our roots, sense of security, and emotional foundation alongside our connection to the past and ancestry line. It looks at our relationship with the maternal figure in our lives and the outlook on domesticity. We are often encouraged to invest in ourselves by creating more private and, nurturing spaces. It is the “I feel” energy.

5th House = Inner Child; playfulness, joy and creativity, pleasure, and romance. It affects our creative and spontaneous self-expression. What were we like as children and what made us happy? Planets that transit here deliver eureka moments that boost confidence. It is the “I will” energy.

6th House = Health and Routine; day-to-day life. It is responsible for our levels of mindfulness and problem-solving skills. This house focuses on daily responsibilities, health habits, and, due diligence. It also governs our domestic pets and our attitudes towards routines, scheduling, and, organization. It is the “I analyze” energy.

7th House = Partnerships, Marriage, soulmates and relationships, and our take on these unions. It also looks at our open enemies. Anything such as contracts, lawyers, and compromises made fall under this house. It is the “I balance” energy.  

8th House = Transformation, Meeting needs, life secrets, and joint resources; it is commonly referred to as the house of death, in both the literal and figurative sense. This house governs sexuality as well, revolving around rebirth, crisis, and change, addiction and transformation, regeneration, and the attitude we have about these subject matters. It rules over our relationship with other peoples’ money (i.e. inheritance, debts, taxes, money left behind from a deceased marriage partner). It is the “I desire” energy.

9th House = Traveling, higher learning, philosophy of life/spiritual understanding; this rules your expansion of belief systems and personal philosophies you may possess. Because it is ruled by Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius, it revolves around long-distance travel, foreign languages, cultures, and publishing as well as commerce. It is the “I see” energy. 

10th House = Legacy and Reputation; career, achievements in society, the areas of life where we make a name for ourselves, and something of our lives. It pertains to fame, material success, and our desire for achievement. It also rules our relationship to authority (father figures and government) as well as our relationship to success and achievement. It is the “I use” energy.

11th House = Network and Visions; Friendships, associations, ideals, and causes. It is our personal goals and the areas of our lives that fall under the section regarding our wishes, hopes, and true inner purpose. It also governs our sense of community. It revolves around our teams, friendship groups, extended networks, and tribes. It is the “I know” energy.

12th House = The subconscious, psychological issues, and secrets. It looks at our actual dreams and nightmares. It governs our karma, self-undoing, and the soul growth that comes from our own undoing. It determines hidden strengths and weaknesses. It is the “I believe” energy.

Well, that’s all for now! Any questions? Just ask. I love to teach and share knowledge. Feel free to repost/reblog too!

Until Next Time!