#stephanie purification ritual

[heart-shaped-horns]

sapphic bitches

[krovscastlerpg]

Rhys Dasior | Staff | 43 | Witch | Versatile

"The most sublime act is to set another before you."

Born in Mayfair, London to Jonathan and Stephanie Dasior – High Priest and Priestess of the Mayfair Coven – Rhys was the only child of two incredibly doting white mages and was consequently introduced to white magic from an exceedingly early age. The Dasior bloodline is one of high prestige, with a number of those within its lengthy family tree serving a considerable number of London’s lords, ladies and other high-ranking individuals over the centuries. The family did not flaunt their abilities under Jonathan's insistence and lived their lives as best they could mimicking the humans around them for the sake of their safety. 

Jonathan, a skilled animancy practitioner, worked long hours as an emergency medicine doctor at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Stephanie, an expert in divination trained as a child psychologist working from home in her study, so the family home Rhys was raised in was a very sociable environment, enabling him to learn the necessary social skills to utilise his abilities most effectively in tandem. Jonathan and Stephanie would set aside four hours each evening (work schedules depending) to teach Rhys all they knew, keeping the young mage’s mind alert and trained to ensure an almost seamless transition into harnessing his abilities as he matured.

Returning to Mayfair following his graduation from university, Rhys dedicated the vast majority of his time to the coven due to his father’s insistence that Rhys would be financially secure should he wish to take a break from academic commitments. Given his birthright of Lord within the Coven hierarchy, Rhys spent the vast majority of his time as his father’s understudy and eventually grew confident enough in his standing to lead meetings with his mother, oversee rituals, exercise his purification magic to aid and assist others and allow for his divination abilities to strengthen through tending to coven members and their loved ones.

One summer’s eve three or so years ago, Rhys found himself pouring over his family’s history as the weight of his bloodline’s prestige was pressing heavily upon his shoulders. It was within the wealth of various documentation and diaries that Rhys discovered the Dasior family’s involvement with assisting and protecting a number of vampires within the Second War in Krovs, both on the battlegrounds and within the medical aid branches.

When politely questioned by his son over breakfast the next morning, Jonathan recounted the same information that had been passed down the lineage for the past century in extensive detail and thus awoke a curiosity in Rhys with a hunger like never before. He knew at once that residing within London for the rest of his days to one day inherit the Coven was no longer a viable option and began to make arrangements to depart for Krovs within the next month.

Rhys’s rash decision to leave caused a rift between the family for at first, his parents were aghast to learn that their only son would so quickly decide to abandon everything they had laid in place for him in such an ungrateful fashion. Having only just mastered the advanced levels of his abjuration magic at the tender age of twenty-six, his mother loathed the idea of Rhys not being quite as prepared as he needed to be for an area such as Krovs. It was only through her tearful pleading that he conceded. He dedicated the next thirteen years to studying tirelessly and honing his innate abilities in abjuration, divination and transmutation.

On the night of his thirty-ninth birthday, two weeks since finally classifying as an expert of abjuration to his parent's delight, Rhys left two letters for each of his parents by their bedroom door and left for Krovs. There was no exact plan in mind initially – he was willing to trust his intuition that this was indeed the right path for him to be on; everything else would fall into place once he was there. Determined not to appear as a byproduct of naivete and nepotism, Rhys worked hard to prove to the Council that he would be an invaluable addition to the Castle and the Council themselves, pledging his dedication to the role of Head of Magic Consultants. He wasted no time in showcasing the breadth of his knowledge and abilities to prove his worth.

In the past three years, Rhys has repeatedly proven his worth and his dedication has never once faltered. a naturally sociable gentleman, Rhys enjoys every aspect of the location of his role. It’s not unusual to find him mid-conversation with any passer-by or wandering into the doctor’s office to offer any extra assistance should it be required. He’s certainly the happiest he’s ever been at the castle, even if the moral part of him feels incredibly conflicted about the slaves in the Undercroft. 

Schools of Magic: (white magic) Abjuration / Earth Magic (expert), Divination / Air Magic (advanced), Transmutation / Water Magic (advanced)

Positive Traits: Personable, empathetic, reliable, dedicated.

Negative Traits: Workaholic, perfectionist, stubborn, bossy (only under pressure, however).

3 turn-ons: Dirty talk, praise, body worship.

3 turn-offs: Watersports, scat, feet. 

[meditationklaus]

Cleaning Up Bad Habits: Upward-Facing Dog

In the yoga sutras 3.18, Patanjali writes samskara-saksatkaranat purva-jatijnanam. T.K.V. Desikachar translates this sutra (3.18) into the idea that “samyama on one’s tendencies and habits will lead one to their origins. Consequently, one gains deep knowledge of one’s past.” It is this intentional focus on our habits that allows us to learn and grow.

Specifically, the Sanskrit term samskaras are purification rituals intended to make the purified individuals more perfect. In yogic philosophy, samskara is universal and considered to be the mental and emotional patterns that are kamically inherited when we are born and cycled throughout our lives. In addition, samskaras are generalized patterns that make up the conditioning of our lives. Focusing on the impressions and patterns created in our yoga practice is an important preliminary step to clean up bad habits.

Through practice, habits are developed and flowing becomes easier as our bodies start to integrate their training. This can be helpful because the mind can start to zone out from focusing on the anatomy of a movement and channel attention to the breath or endless other areas of interest. However, over time without checking in on the autopilot movements of our bodies, we develop bad habits and may not even realize the long-term damage we are creating. In this particular article, I will focus on cleaning up the bad habits we create in Upward-Facing Dog, or Urdhva Mukha Svanasana.

Bad Habit #1:

Gaze is too far back and overextension damages the tender cervical spine of the neck.

Quick Fix #1: Lift the gaze slightly above the horizon of your field of vision or keep the gaze neutral.

Bad Habit #2:

Collapsed chest, rounded shoulders, the weight of the world on the back all just to protect the front from contact with the world.

Quick Fix #2: Opened collarbones, chest and heart create vulnerability and acceptance in a gentle way. Expanded chest cavity also encourages more movement for the diaphragm and subsequent deeper breathing to help embrace life.

Bad Habit #3:

Heavy and loose legs with flexed/tucked toes places strain and crunches the spine.

Quick Fix #3: Toes untucked stretches the top of the ankles. Thighs rolled slightly inward engages the entire leg to lift it off the mat to promote lightness in the body as well as add length and strength through the asana. This also provides stability in the lower abdomen and lengthens the lower back.

Bad Habit #4:

Weight anywhere in the arms, not sure which part of the body is lifted or which part is grounded.

Quick Fix #4: Focus on equal weight, evenly distributed between both palms to prevent inequalities of the body that can lead to strain in the lower back. Align shoulders above the wrists and lengthen through the arms, allowing the backs of the elbows to point backward. In addition, strong arms help lift the body. Activate the shoulder blades gliding toward the tailbone to help lengthen the neck and back. The thighs, shins and pelvis are lifted up off the floor, with only the palms and the tops of the feet grounded.

Bad Habit #5:

Finally, Upward-Facing Dog is a gentle backbend and a common bad habit is crunching the back to get a more picturesque look of an extended spine.

Quick Fix #5: For a supple spine, the abdominal muscles need to be stretched up and lifted to help decompress the spinal column. This helps decompress spinal nerves which in turn promotes energy throughout the body.

Considerations for breath work:

Often people inhale when expanding an asana and exhale when compressing; therefore it would appear that lifting into an Up Dog should be an inhale movement. While this can be beneficial during a Surya Namaskar flow, it can also be beneficial to play around with exhaling into Upward-Facing Dog and experiment with how it feels. The inhale can restrict the extension of the thoracic spine and the expansion of the rib.

Upward-Facing Dog is a dynamic stretch that counters gravity thus requires strength and energy. Incorporated in millions of daily personal practices, it is important to clean up bad habits for the long-term health of the body. Feel free to add any comments or helpful clean up moves in the comments section below!

Image Credit: Stephanie Birch

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