#snek answers questions

[papersnakepress]

Heyy,

I discovered, your blog a while ago and have been loving your work!! I wanted to ask how you engrave your titles into the covers since I've been wanting to get into bookbinding!

Have a great day!

Hey there! Thanks so much, I'm so glad people like them!

Most of my titles these days are done with a cutting machine and heat transfer vinyl. I've got a cricut that I bought specifically for doing book covers, though they're not the only brand out there. Sometimes libraries have cutting machines you can use, which might be helpful when you're first starting out.

I used to hand-write the titles but wasn't a fan of that look in the long run. I have also done paper labels (like these pamphlets), which are just printed normally, cut to size and glued on. Occasionally I will also use rubber stamps and embossing powder, like the rose on this cover. That method is actually my favorite but it's got the strictest limits on how and when you can use it, and it's not good for text, so I don't get to do it as often as I'd like.

Hope that helps! Welcome to the hobby!

[waywardsculs-a2]

Alastor is just gonna lick Lucifer up the middle of the face

BONKS HIM RIGHT BETWEEN THE ANTLERS WITH HIS CANE.

[unforestalledreturn-a]

‘ who do you fight for? ’

「   RP MEME :  RANDOM DIALOGUE 2.0   」     || Status : Accepting! "Depends whose asking." The crimson elite shrugged nonchalantly, as though the question were as morally important as what one's favorite color was or least favorite taste. "If you're ShinRa, I fight for the company. If you're a citizen, I fight for you. If you're a critic, I fight for myself." "I don't think it really matters, does it? So long as everyone gets what they want, they'll let you do just about anything..." "So, you can think what you like, I'm sure its true."

[tinylilacbun]

Rafe and Sofia with a little who had their blood taken making them sleepy and very confused- like they have a sleepy mindset but doesn’t want to sleep they want to play. like when your tired thing start to make less sense-

-🩸

"C'mon, one step at a time." Rafe coaxes as he helps you out of the car, being careful to not grab onto the spot where your blood has been drawn about 20 minutes ago. "There we go."

Sofia stands a bit off to the side, ready to help if needed, but Rafe seems to handle you pretty well for now, deciding to get your stuff out of the car instead just as Rafe scoops you up instead of letting you walk.

You place your head on his shoulder with a soft giggle, reaching up to poke at his cheek.

"What's so funny, huh?" He smirks, carrying you inside and to the bedroom, easing you down on the bed sheets.

Before your body can topple over he grabs your shoulders, slowly laying you down on your side as you whine.

"No s'eep. No 'eepy." You mumble, blinking at him with slight confusion.

"You sure about that, baby? You seem pretty knocked out to me." He observes, interlacing his hand with yours as you reach for him again and sits down on the edge of the bed, watching you move your arm from side to side lazily.

"Mmm, play?" You ask a little incoherently.

Sofia then enters the room, your question forgotten as you turn your attention to her, now whining for her instead.

"Mamaaaaaa."

She chuckles as she approaches you both, sitting down next to Rafe and grabbing your other hand that you stretch out to her.

You look up at them with a dazed smile. "Play...now?"

Sofia gives Rafe a knowing look, silently agreeing to engage your current request because you most definitely will forget it again in your current state of confusion.

"Sneks makes blblblbl..." You randomly throw into the conversation, still holding their hands as they move to sit on either side of you. "Floppy play too?"

As you mention your favorite bunny plushie, he's suddenly dangling in front of your face, making you squeal and let go of your partners hands to grab him.

"Floppy wan' play?" You ask your stuffie, nodding your head when you get an answer and look at Rafe again. "Daddy, he wan' play."

"Here." He hands you your Nintendo switch. "You can have your switch for a while." He says, watching as you clumsily hold it in your hands and turn it on.

Rafe and Sofia get comfortable on their sides of the bed, putting on a movie for them to watch while you're occupied with deciding what game to play.

It didn't even take 10 minutes for you to be out like a light, the animal crossing music still playing as the switch lays on your chest until Sofia takes it slowly to place it on the nightstand. "See, I told you."

"Yeah, yeah, you won the bet." Rafe chuckles, placing his arm behind his head, already dreading that he's the one who has to bathe you later, knowing how much you hate it.

[acaesic]

the question in question

DALLON ANSWERED MY QUESTION IN THE DOWNSIDE PREMIERE IM GOING TO DIE

[bats-and-bruised]

⋆˚࿔ Welcome to Cabin 3 ♆˚⋆

link to intro

So, 400 new campers, and ALL of them are in cabin 3? Someone has been busy...

Once you arrived at camp half-blood, Poseidon claimed you to Cabin Three (shh shh, I know not all of you are; just pretend). When settling in, an older camper approaches you with a bag that seems to be full of...trinkets? He introduces himself as Alex and lays out the trinkets, telling you to pick one.

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖ Anyone⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

✮ An old watch: I give you something from my Pinterest wardrobe

⟡ A ring rusted from the sea: Mood board for a character (Marauders)

✮ A scroll of paper- why don't you write something on it? (Send me a question about me and I'll answer it)

⟡ A jar of fresh air: I give you a random pin off of Pinterest that makes me think of you

✮ A feather: I write a microfic from a prompt you give (Marauders)

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖Moots only⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

⟡ A cracked mirror: I'll give you a quote you remind me of

✮ Half a friendship necklace: I'll describe you in three words

⟡ An old cassette tape: A song I associate with you

no pressure, just tagging some moots!

@st4rboyloser @b3lls-the-roach @starkissed-mars @starz-rambles @florian-and-co @forensic-b1tch-aiden @whydousernamesevenexist @marlenemclezzbian @caramello-koalas-for-feminism @historyfan9784 @s1lly-l1ttle-tb0y @garden-of-runar @thegayfoxboy @olliegolliegee @survivingmyownlifetoo @snek-of-eden @kathryn-maraudersversion @gayfrogtime @inlovewithmyhyperfixations @boba-pearl @southerngothhorror

[minervas-hand]

Serpent rage

Reading a neat discussion from @vidavalor on Crowley's use of plosives in dialogue (really cool, check it out here)

And seeing this GIF they include made me finally realize what had been poking me about the scene where C learns Gabriel is in the bookshop.

At first it was hilarious he was simply restating the obvious question thinking he'd get a better answer. But it was how he said it.

It is the most snake-like Crowley has ever been IMO.

GIF by mametupa

As @vidavalor says:

Crowley was literally terrified (and also losing it internally because he just jumped and basically screamed at the sight of Gabriel) and there's a very brief "shhhh" in "bookshop" that starts to slur and has him practically shouting the "OP" to finish the word without full-on hissing.

His plosives are trying to control the hiss, but they're also harsh and scary on their own. And that little head-strike at the end - full on threat behaviour.

Our snek Does. Not. Care. For. It.

[nyaskitten]

Cole and Jay !!! (Unless you mean the purplish one, in which case Nya!!!)

[ask-xanvid-and-whace-mm-aus]

Double the trouble with TWO mastermind aus!

Hi! This is the ask blog for the Xanvid Mastemind AU by @smudgesticksgonnasmudgingflip and the Whace Mastermind AU @ccrisntok

I go by many names but I'll likely refer to myself as Snek! And I use she/they pronouns! You can ask me stuff too or something! I'll likely be either a little doodle of either myself or snakevid lol ( @smudgesticksgonnasmudgingflip ) I'm using red because why not???

I also forgot to mention this, but there will be Xanteruvid- :p

I go by C or Chris, He/They, and I made the Whace dudes. Ask them whatever (nothing explicitly sexual, I myself am a minor, so keep that in mind.) You can ask actual serious lore for their stories/relationship, random bullshit, and of course silly crossover highjinx with the Xanvid guys. This is for fun! (I'm gonna talk in blue because that's Whit's main color.) My artsyle looks really fucking different bc I haven't posted on main in... months... but hey, here I am!

You can ask Whit and Ace stuff in my au exclusively, because other characters aren't changed much from cannon. You can ask about opinions on/relationships with canon characters though, and stuff like that.

Characters might end up being a little ooc at least for mine and I apologize for that - Snek

We might take a while to answer and I also apologize for that! (Both of us get burnt out really easily)

Also my style changes a lot as well as posing is hard so my drawing may not be that great...

This will be the only post to have the actual drdt tags and stuff just to spread this around!

Rules for asks:

No NSFW please! Although... You can simp for the MM Xanvid designs and stuff- I sure am /hj - Snek

You can ask some of the non mastermind characters from each au possibly! And at different points in time of them!

Maybe we'll have some asks where even their universes get merged!

You can do asks that involve like... Headpats or possible situations or something- at least for the Xanvid au and stuff! (this is chill with me too 👍)

For the Xanvid mastermind au though... There are five people you can mainly ask! Xander, David, MonoTV (maybe a humanoid version if you want that), Teruko (perhaps you'll find something out about her??), and ??? (They'll be a secret at first but maybe you'll get hints to who they are if you ask enough questions to them- and maybe I'll then post the full lore-)

I'll give you the killing order of the Xanvid au if you ask! :D - Snek

If you want to look at full concept art and stuff first, they are on our main profiles if you search for them on there!

Here's a drawing from Snek:

heres some example drawings from Chris:

also heres the post with all the mm! whace lore

have fun sending questions, and we'll see you guys with some answers !

[jayjay-thejet-plane]

I GIVE UP the twitter link was only working for those who have the app… so im risking it and just posting it here😶

This is a nsft continuation of my wincest homework help comic, sketches (at the end) and musings under the cut😎

(warning for some VERY nsfw thoughts and power bottom dean lol)

snek pek:

(this sam is at the end of gr 12 and is 18, and this is definitely not the first time theyve had… relations)

After every question dean does something like kiss sam or mouth at his neck etc. but then at some point the reward is moving them to a bedroom, next question sam gets pushed to lay down on the bed, next dean sits in his lap, but when sam goes to put his hands on his brothers waist dean grabs sams wrists “nuh uh sammy, you have to earn that, be a good boy and keep your hands up here and dont move unless i say you can” and pushes sams hands up so theyre crossed above his head on the bed.

(Sam reacts VERY well to being called good boy)

Now dean rewards each correct answer by taking one article of clothing off of either himself or sam, interspersing the stripping with things like licking up sams chest, pinching a nipple (either sams or his own lol), grinding down on sam, biting his earlobe, sucking on sams tongue for a moment etc. as rewards.

Sam is having an incredibly hard time focusing of course and theyre both rock hard from all the teasing by the time theyre naked.

Deans starts prepping himself then, turned around so sam gets an eyeful without being able to touch. Inbetween adding fingers (as rewards of course) dean does things like licking a stripe up sams cock, sucking a hickey into his inner thigh, biting at his hipbone etc. until hes ready and then sits on sams dick (or just puts the tip in maybe?) for the next reward

(could also have dean let sam suck his cock for a bit as rewards before the prepping🤔 dean just holding the tip on sams lips while gripping his hair with one hand and holding the cue cards in the other between questions and rocking back and forth into sams mouth or just letting him suck on the tip for the rewards. Sam is looking just totally blissed out, barely able to answer the questions, eyes unfocused and of course still not touching dean at all or moving without permission))

ANYWAYS now dean is almost through the cue cards and is just sitting on sams dick, maybe slowly rising and dropping himself a couple times as rewards until the last question, he tells sam that hes allowed to move if he gets it right. Sam does get it right of course and as soon as he is allowed to move he snaps, super wound up from all the teasing and flips them over to fuck his brother before dean can finish saying “good boy”😎

Sketches are of that last bit, plez enjoy😈

[waywardsculs-a2]

((hissing-head-honcho to Eve)) "Ahhh there you are madame! I wanted to show you what I've done with that flower you've given me!" He then points to his suit jacket, now accessorized with the flower on his chest. "I think it makesss me look dapper!"

UNPROMPTED // ALWAYS ACCEPTING

@hissing-head-honcho

" Sir Pentious ! "

As soon as eyes fell upon the flower, still looking as beautifully fresh as the day she'd picked it for him, Eve almost couldn't contain her pure elation. Hands clapped together eagerly, smile spreading over her lips as she soon reached out to straighten up his jacket a tad.

" You look absolutely handsome , you know . I think a flower really adds an elegant touch to any outfit , but daffodils really suit you well . If it starts looking a bit sad , you can come see me and I'll liven it back up again ! "

[faofinn]

If yall want a laugh, Shiv reblogged the ask game without Ev noticing and I was SO GD CONFUSED WHAT WAS HAPPENING 🤣

Apparently it never occurred to me to check the blog to see why we had asks🤦‍♀️. Yes, it is that obvious who has the brains in our relationship.

🪩 🍏

🪩 - what's your favorite type of Caretaker?

For me it's definitely family or significant others! It's pretty much what our entire blog is based on 😂 the family dynamic between the boys, as well as their partners, mixed with some hospital treatment too. But it's always the togetherness of our caretakers that we love.

🍏 - How do you get inspiration for whump?

Sometimes real life 🙈 When you've gone through some crap, it's always nice and cathartic to put characters through it too! Otherwise, it's usually TV shows. My guiltly pleasure is medical dramas, and they're always great whump fodder! Plus prompt events, which is the majority of what we post on the blog itself

-Shiv :)

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Sorry for all the questions, just curious!

My favorite sneks are probably a boring answer, but hognoses! I think they're cute, I find their burrowing fun, and the cobra mimicking is neat

Hey, there's no such thing as a boring answer when it comes to your favorite animal! I agree that hognoses are really cute-- their snoots are so boopable. And I had no idea they could imitate cobras!

(Image: A hognose snake, flattening its head similar to a cobra, courtesy of the Cape Cod National Seashore Park)

[greatwyrmgold]

I've been thinking about Kaido's Fish-Fish Fruit: Model Azure Dragon. (Or Uo Uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu, if you don't like translating Devil Fruits.) I'm going to frame the thoughts I want to talk about most as an attempt to answer three questions.

A: Why is it a fish?

Traditionally, Chinese dragons are described as having the characteristics of (usually) nine other animals. One such list is: camel head, stag antlers, demon eyes, snek neck, clam belly, carp scales, eagle claws, tiger soles, and cow ears. Others include things like frog bellies and rabbit eyes and crocodile heads and goat goatees and tortoise viscera, but most include carp scales and no other fish features. Unless we count shellfish.

So, the Azure Dragon has some fishy characteristics. But even if we count the clam belly, it has far more resemblances to non-fish animals than fish ones. For instance, the camel head, stag antlers, and cow ears give it three ungulate, which could plausibly make the Azure Dragon fruit an Ox-Ox Fruit/Ushi-Ushi no Mi.

Of course, I'd still question why the Azure Dragon was classified as an ungulate. It has as few hooves as gills. But you could also call it a Snake-Snake Fruit, or you could invent a Liz-Liz Fruit. Or, you could use the Dragon-Dragon category that Kaido's dinosaur-fruit minions fall under. Surely Chinese dragons qualify as dragons?

Aside: The Japanese term for dinosaurs is kyōryū, which includes ryū, which means dragon.

B: Are there other fish?

The existence of a Fish-Fish Fruit: Azure Dragon Model implies the existence of other kinds of Fish-Fish Fruits. Carp or trout or sharks; judging by what kinds of animal get Fishmen, maybe even whales and cephalopods and the weird fishlike species on the Grand Line.

There aren't any non-dragon Fish-Fish Fruits. I don't find that surprising; the sea hates Devil Fruit users, hence their iconic weakness to seawater. Marine Zoan fruits would be a bit against theme. Also, the iconic abilities most fish have are swimming and breathing underwater; these powers obviously aren't much use if you get paralyzed when dunked in water, never mind if said powers get nullified while immersed.

Some fish (especially the broader definition that includes most marine animals) have other features that could be useful out of water. Archerfish and cephalopods and anglerfish and creatures big enough for their strength to rival or exceed an elephant's. But the existence of fish Devil Fruits raises questions that terrestrial Devil Fruits wouldn't.

Then again, a Fish-Fish Fruit that isn't a fish also raises those same questions, as well as others.

C: Are there Devil Fruits for the other Auspicious Beasts?

"Azure Dragon" is a very specific creature. The Azure Dragon is one of the Four Auspicious Beasts, mythological creatures and constellations from China. There's the Black Tortoise* of the North, the White Tiger of the West, the Vermilion Bird of the South, and the Azure Dragon of the East. And sometimes a Yellow Dragon or Qilin in the center.

*Sometimes a warrior or a turtle/snake

They're a thing, they seem pretty significant, and Kaido has the powers of one of them. What about the other three? (Or four.) You could probably equate the Vermilion Bird with Marco's Bird-Bird/Phoenix fruit, if his feathers weren't made of blue fire. But they are, which means that only one out of four (or five) Auspicious Beasts is represented.

To be fair, the Azure Dragon is by far the coolest Auspicious Beast. Sorry, west; a white tiger might be auspicious, but it's just a big albino cat. I guess the Yellow Dragon is also pretty cool (when it's included), but Azure is a way more mythic color name.

[dndeceit]

Meta post for the fic Accidental Noodle Acquisition...

(and also some headcanons about the mindscape, but read that first or you might be confused)

This fic was originally based on a fic prompt from @monkeythefander, which I initially filled as a one-shot here.

While it was kind of a spur of the moment thing, it was actually pretty important. Because when I first saw the prompt, I'd been waffling about whether or not to join the Sleepy Bean Cafe event. The deadline for signup was coming up, and I was convinced with my usual pace of writing that it wouldn't be a good idea. I take a long time to write, usually, and I tend to wind up underestimating how much space the story in my head is going to take to get down. But I saw that prompt and I got an idea, and I wrote the one-shot very quickly and I kind of loved it. So it was basically the push I needed to decide to participate in the event, which was probably the best choice I made all year.

(And then all of my fills still wound up being way longer than I thought they'd be, and here I am, coming back to this idea with another 17k words months later, so...take that as you will. I don't regret it one bit, though.)

I worked on this fic alongside my fills for the event as warm-up writing, and it really helped me keep the momentum going.

I kind of ripped off the vampiric snake-baby from another fic I have notes for but haven't yet started writing. The idea of a non-mammalian species feeding their children on their blood was just interesting, and the idea of a baby snek with tiny blood-letting teefies was too cute an image not to use it here...

I also spent way too long trying to figure out how to put a diaper on a baby naga before deciding that not answering that question by instituting an in-universe hand-wave was infinitely funnier and more interesting in a setting where biology and physics are just a suggestion anyway.

I consider this fic to have a thematic link to two other fics of mine: The Wrong Office and Soft Little Lies. There's sort of a loose idea in my head of Janus being a keeper of sorts for misplaced or forgotten things within the mindscape, self-indulgently collecting stray thoughts and figments that bring him joy and hoarding them like dragon's gold. I've debated with myself whether they might even take place in the same universe. If I ever write a sequel to The Wrong Office or if some other idea strikes me, I may explore it further and make that connection final, but for now it's just a nebulous things.

I'm also revisiting The Wrong Office a bit with how the imagination works, and how figments work, and how they're different from sides. The ability that Roman and Remus have to conjure entities within the mindscape is really interesting to me.

I imagine Figment!Valerie is probably just a reflection of Thomas's concept of Real!Valerie, while Figment!Nico in WTIT was mostly spun out of Thomas's insecurities. The puppies Roman conjured for Patton were probably not based off of specific real world dogs or else they probably would have mentioned it (in-universe...in reality they obviously used someone's dogs), so...they're the idea of puppies. But they never got brought up again, so there's no reason to think they were any more persistent than f!Valerie. But the Slasher that Remus also conjures up in WTIT had a very specific appearance, and I imagine they're probably some vague boogeyman that Thomas has had manifest in his fears before. Maybe it was just Logan being unflappable, but his reaction to the Slasher made it seem like this wasn't anything he hadn't seen before.

The sides aren't real, but they aren't not real. Figments aren't as real as sides, but how real are they? Do they exist when they're not being thought of? Here, the answer is "unsually no".

But, like Emile in The Wrong Office, Jake now occupies a sort of middle ground due to the involvement of the sides (and specifically Janus's reign over suspension of disbelief) making them more real than they otherwise would have been.

And yes, I named them Jake after Janus's mini from the Among Us stream. What else was I going to call them? Jake the Snake was too funny.

Writing the phone call scene cracked me up enough to make this post while I was working on it. Because a. I wound up really overthinking it for a bit, b. I love Roman being harmlessly goofed on, and c. I just love Janus when he's being petty.

Do I have Janus forgive Remus too easily for his cock-up? Maybe. But it's my fic, and I hate it when those two don't get along. Janus is still Big Mad, but in the long run it's not going to ruin their friendship.

By the way, I did not imagine this fic was going to be as angsty as it wound up being when I continued writing it (though I'm not sure why, this is a common progression for me). And yet, at every turn, Virgil kept showing up to haunt the narrative surrounding Janus's desire to have something he could keep...

Clearly I have a lot of feelings about Janus, and about Virgil and Janus, and about having and hoarding and losing things.

(And I've had estrangements happen in my family that made me want to shake the people involved for their failure to talk to each other, so maybe there's a bit of that in there too...)

And, once again, my muse offered cookies in return for vague Moceit feels. They have their moment, but at least this time they settled down and stayed focused on the important stuff, because Baby Cute, and as much as I love their budding friendship as a concept, it's Not About Them.

[arlechinav-blog]

The Literal vs. Folkloric Interpretation of Spider Bites in Mediterranean Spirit Traditions

June is Spooder Season! aka Tarantella Season so I will be doing dives on Tarantella all month. Here comes a fun one.

One of the things that I find most entertaining about Tarantella is how little people actually knew about it in the last few decades. When humans don't know the answer to something we are inclined to fill in the blanks with a best guess and that has had some hilarious results as that knowledge gets filled in later. For quite a while the prevailing theory around Tarantella is that the ritual evolved as a method of working spider venom out of a person's body by making the body sweat. That theory was held for a disturbingly long time. And as research emerged that showed that this does not actually work, the goal posts started to be moved. Instead of it being a method of working out spider venom in general, it was supposed to be the venom of one particular very rare spider that hadn't been tested for.

The identity of the one spider whos venom could be treated in this manner started to shift. Hopping from native spider to spider, continually being proven wrong, until somebody came up with the brilliant idea that perhaps this ritual involved a now extinct species that nobody could test. And this was around the same time that somebody finally said that it cures a spiritual spider bite. Not a real one. Which was collectively met with the question, "WTF is a spiritual spider bite?" (I am definitely paraphrasing, summarizing, and generalizing the history of beliefs and anthropologist nonsense involved in Tarantella's history but that is perfectly in keeping with the folklore vibe of this blog. It is a story! Enjoy it. lol)

Folklore is fun in that lots of things can be true simultaneously, even contrary things. The world does not have to make sense. That being said, I am going to try to explain WTF a spiritual spider bite is and how Tarantella relates to both material world spiders as well as spiritual spiders. If you guessed that this is cultural code for something, give yourself a treat.

All of this confusion is brought to you by two deities. Dionysos & Eros. Or better yet, the cultural coding that they represent and come from. These were ideological seeds that were planted a very long time ago and we are still enjoying the fruit.

Eros is a little prick. Not as an insult but as a cultural function. A pricking from the arrow of Eros is to be injected with certain overwhelming feelings and urges. These feelings are externalized as not coming from inside you but from without. There may be many reasons for this but the one I am going to hone in on is the idea that humans are not responsible for their actions if those actions came from somewhere else. A very respectable person can be pricked by Eros and do some socially unacceptable things (maybe not morally wrong but still not thought of very highly) without losing the esteem of their community because the community sees those acts as not coming from them but from Eros.

This is also true for Dionysos to an extent. And honestly, how much or how little your fellow humans are willing to look the other way while you do things that seem at odds with the rules of civilization also comes down to how much those people like you. So this is not a get-out-of-social-pariah-jail-free card. Just a running concept functioning in the background that gives people a little leeway now and again.

Moving onto Dionysos and the quintessential spiritual snek. Snakes are code for a lot of different things depending on the surrounding context but the one that concerns us most here is snake as a spiritual envoy and snake bites as vectors of possession. The (folkloric) natural desirable state is to be cool and dry. Or at least not covered in your own bodily fluids as that can lead to dehydration and loss of spiritual potential. So there are a lot of beliefs about the exchange of fluids and the properties of liquids.

All of the modern vectors of possession involve some kind of liquid. The transference of venom or just saliva from a spider or a snake into a human body, or the mishandling of blood, or a suspicious form of running water. These are believed to carry spirits from the spiritworld into our world and more specifically into our bodies. Things like rabies and epilepsy were often filed together under the same umbrella as the prick of Eros or of Dionysian madness. These were things that caused a person to act contrary to their established nature. And this ideological loophole allowed people to continue to engage and be treated with respect even though they had behaviors that would be considered impolite.

Getting back to spiders and what this all has to do with spiritual spooder bites... The arrival of summer brings Tarantella season. This is a warm if not outright hot weather phenomenon connected to some aspect of agricultural field work. The bite of the spider is encoded as the pinch of unrequited love or lust. A hopeless feeling that makes it impossible to concentrate, that gets under your skin and causes you to act contrary to your regular nature (which, of course, is that of an upstanding and reasonable human).

We would all be very respectable people if not for the constant meddling of the spiritworld! ✊ And I would have perfect spelling if not for the constant meddling of the spiritworld too! 🤭 (This can work for a lot of things.)

Tarantella can be described as a broken-hearts-club. Those who suffer from a great burning spiritual affliction that causes them such great distraction that they will humiliate themselves in the name of love. Many Tarantella threads (spirit songs) have lyrics relating to tragic romance, the loss of a loved one, the pain of loneliness, an inability to marry a sweetheart, or even about cheating rascals who broke hearts. There is a bit of a spectrum to it. Some songs are just very sweet and romantic but intoned in a tragic voice.

The purpose of Tarantella is not to cure an actual spider bite by sweating the venom out. That is the kind of nonsense you get when you look at a folk practice and take everything literally instead of as encoded culture. The purpose of Tarantella is to replace that pain in your heart with Dionysos. Because if the person you loved has died, he is not coming back to life but that pain will be there forever if you don't DO SOMETHING about it.

However! The spider is very real. The pain in a Tarantata's heart was probably there before the spider bit them but the bite is the catalyst that tips the balance. The Tarantata has been chosen as a Bride and she must dance to confront that pain and find healing. There are so, so, so many layers to this and I am simplifying it a lot but this is still a good place to begin building an understanding from. All of the behaviors of the Tarantata are a part of the expected cultural coding that gives them the time and space to process these incredibly powerful emotions.

I am pretty sure that I already explained somewhere on this blog that Tarantella is also a misnomer. The spooder gets all the credit but literally any biting creature can set off a Bride. I frequently name 7 vectors of possession, the seven little ambassadors of Eros and the spiritworld. But those are just the 7 most common culprits. There have been cases of dog bites setting off a Tarantata's lifelong journey as a Bride of Dionysos (or St. Paul--whatever name you chose).