#why don't I fit in in any Christian spaces

[p0tat0-g0ddess]

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[carrionne0]

Cool Aro and/or Ace Spec Resources + Other Stuff!!

This list is for ALL people regardless of your identity. This blog is a safe space for all types of aro and/or ace spec people. Hate will NOT be tolerated. Questions are okay! :)

Also! I can't fit all the cool things I found on this list, so I'll make another one in the future! :)

Cool things!

Are You on the Aromantic Spectrum (quiz)?

Are You on the Asexual Spectrum (quiz)?

Aro Ace Character Database

Aro Arrows

Aro-Owned Businesses

Aro-Recommended

Asexual Pride Friendship Bracelet Tutorial

Attraction Layer Cake

Books With Asexual Main Characters

Canon Aroace Characters

Canon Aro and Ace Characters

Crochet Pride Turtle Modification Guide

Free Asexual Bee Crochet Pattern

Free Asexual Flag Cross Stitch Pattern Ace of Spades

Free/Online Aromantic & Asexual Fiction

LGBTQ+ Flags in Minecraft - Banner Tutorial

Pride Patch Tutorials

Learning and Resources!

7 Tips For Coming Out As Ace

Ace/Aro Mythbusting

Ace & Aro Spectrum Definitions

Advice on Coming Out As Aromantic

A Guide to Allo Aro Inclusion in A-Spec Communities

Am I Demisexual If...

Aromantic Info Carrd

Aromantic Spectrum Wiki Stub

Asexual Advice Tumblr

Asexual Affirmations: Things That Don't Make You Any Less Ace

Asexuality and Disability

Asexual Spectrum Wiki Stub

Ask An Aromantic Tumblr

Bi-Oriented Aroace Carrd

List of A-Spec Identities & Info

Myths About Demisexuals

Oriented and Angled Aroace Carrd

Split Attraction Model

Types of Tertiary Attraction

What Is Graysexuality?

Why I’m Founding Disabled Ace Day

Queering The Narrative: Tropes to Avoid When Writing Asexual Characters (intended for allosexuals, not asexual authors)

People's Stories!

An Interview About Allosexual Aromantics

Aro/Ace Confessions Tumblr

Aromantic Coming Out Stories

Asexual Authors Discuss Why They Write and Their Experiences

Asexual Coming Out Stories

Asexual Disabled People Exist, But Don’t Make Assumptions About Us

Asexuality Exists Tumblr

Existing and Defying Stereotypes As An A-Spec Disabled Person

Gray-Romantic, Grieving, and Dealing with More Internalized Amatonormativity than I Thought (tw: internalized arophobia, abuse)

How Asexual and Aromantic People Observe a Day Dedicated to Love

If You Can See the Invisible Elephant, Please Describe It

I'm Aromantic and Asexual - And I Love Valentine's Day

Is It Possible For Me To Be Lesbian and Aroace at the Same Time?

I’ve Realized I’m Asexual but Have Internalised Aphobia, So What Now? (tw: internalized acephobia)

Lesbian Ace and Aro Perspectives

‘Not Broken’: The Struggles of Being an Aromantic Allosexual

Three People Who Identify as Asexual and Aromantic Explain What V Day Is Like For Them

What Is It Like Being Allo Aro?

Communities!

Reddit

r/aaaaaaaarrrrro (memes)

r/aaaaaaacccccccce (memes)

r/aaaaaaaspeccccccc (memes)

r/aaabatterycult

r/aaapeople

r/aaarrroooaaaccceee

r/aarrrooooooaaacceeeee (memes)

r/aceandaroart (art)

r/acearoautistics

r/aceconfessions

r/acefood (food)

r/ace_arosover30

r/acesoftwaregeeks (programming)

r/aceteens

r/aegoromantic

r/aegosexuals

r/agenderaroace

r/allo_ace

r/amiace (ask)

r/angledaroace

r/animace (anime/manga)

r/apothiromantic

r/apothisexual

r/arcsexual

r/aroace

r/aroaceadults

r/aroacebooks (books)

r/aroacechristianity (christianity)

r/aroacecommunity

r/aroacenby

r/aroaceflux

r/aroaceindia (india)

r/aroacememes (memes)

r/aroacepoly

r/aroaceteens

r/aroallo

r/aroandacelife

r/aromantic

r/aromanticasexual

r/aromanticcirclejerk (satire)

r/asexual

r/asexualcirclejerk (satire)

r/asexualdating (dating)

r/asexualgamers (gaming)

r/asexualgaymen

r/asexualindians (india)

r/asexuality

r/asexuals_lesbians

r/asexualmen

r/asexuals_in_love

r/asexualteens

r/askallosexual (ask)

r/askaroace (ask)

r/askasexual (ask)

r/biorientedaroace

r/biroace

r/biromanticasexual

r/cupioromantic

r/cupiosexual

r/dateademi (dating)

r/demiromantic

r/demisexuality

r/faceoface (photos)

r/fictoromantic

r/fictosexual

r/fraysexual

r/graysexual

r/greyromantic

r/greysexuality

r/heteroromanticasexual

r/lithromanitc

r/lithrosexual

r/mildly_ace (photos)

r/myrsesexual

r/orientedaroace

r/panromanticasexuality

r/placiosexualityu

r/sexfavorableace

r/sexrepulsed

r/taskforcealphaalpha

r/traaaaaaarrrrrrro (memes)

r/transasexuals

r/tripleabattery

r/quiromantic

r/quiosexual

Forums

Arocalypse

The Asexuality Visibility and Education Network

Demi Grace

Organizations

Ace & Aros

The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project

Ace Week

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week

Asexuality Archive

Asexual Outreach

The Association for Asexuals in Denmark

AUREA

Resources For Ace Survivors

Discord (I don’t used discord so I haven’t verified if these are any good, but I choose the most popular ones)

Ace Homies

Ace Planet

Acing the Arrows

The Aro & Ace Café

Bows & Aros

For Creatives (Artists, Writers, etc.)

Aromantic Writing Month

Carnival of Aces

Carnival of Aros

Arospec Poetry Network

Aro Worlds

Videos

Asexuality 101 (playlist) (Haven't watch all the vids yet, but the ones I've seen seem pretty good)

Ways to Show Your Aro and Ace Pride

Tumblrs

(If I should remove any of these, let me know)

Acespec-Ed

ActuallySafe-For-Aro

Aro Humor

Asexual-Society

Asexual Spectrum Spector

AVENPT (Asexual Visibility and Education Network Project Team)

Fuck Yeah Asexual

Growing Up Aro

Perks of Being Ace

The Humorous Ace

Your Fav Is Aromantic

Inclusive Picrews

Heart Hold Character

Legitimate ID Maker

Little Guy Maker

Opossum Party

PotatoLord’s Persona Creator

Prideful Cats

Pride Icon Maker

Wervty’s Obscured Icon Maker

If you have any other cool aro and/or ace things you’d like to share, please let me know and I’ll add it to the list! :) Also, if there's anything I should remove, let me know (and please tell me the reason why)!

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Hey I know this isn't on-topic for an Eridan blog but you're the best HS theorist I know <3 so do you happen to have any theories about WHY Gamzee faked god tier? I always see theories about how he could be a real god tier too, or about how he manages to be immortal even though he's not god tier, but I cannot find any discussion of WHY he bothered with that ruse in the first place!!! He didn't even fool anyone, unless we count Caliborn for like 2 secs before Hussie told him the truth, and all he got for his trouble was shot!

I think it's mostly a gag, but this is the Analyzing Homestuck blog, so: I think it's because Gamzee wants to look like an adult to impress Caliborn.

Gamzee's lusus is physically neglectful.

But you were never taught that on account of a lousy upbringing. Your custodian was always out to sea.

And several things stem from that neglect - the first, his indoctrination into the Clown Cult, the second, his extensive and all-encompassing drug usage, and the third, his poor social skills, which leave him ostracized by his teammates.

Let's first take a look at what, exactly, that religion entails:

You belong to a RATHER OBSCURE CULT, which foretells of a BAND OF ROWDY AND CAPRICIOUS MINSTRELS which will rise one day on a MYTHICAL PARADISE PLANET that does not exist yet. The beliefs of this cult are SOMEWHAT FROWNED UPON by those dwelling in more common lawnrings.

TC: I PeEpEd oN A PlAcE Of 6 tRiLlIoN HeMoS TC: AlL Up aT OnE RoCk, BlEeDiNg aS EqUaLs TC: It's eAsY To sEe iF YoU SeArCh aLl yOuR FeElInS TC: ThAt pEaCe hApPeNs fIrSt, AnD MuRdEr's tHe sEqUeL TC: It's tHe bEaUtY Of tHe cArNiVaL, tHe mAgIc's iN TeNtS

TC: all my life i believed at a fuckin paradise to come what held the most baller, darkest of carnivals to join. TC: AND A PROPHECY TC: to tell all about a band of rowdy and capricious minstrels steeped in the good harshwhimsy. TC: THE MIRTHFUL MESSIAHS WERE FORETOLD TO BE CRASHING THAT FUCKING PIE STAND AND BRING THE HOLY RUCKUS. TC: like a giddy fuckin ninja one wheeling head long at the hugest fuckin horn heap shangri la's got to see. TC: I'M TALKING ABOUT THE VAST HONK, YOU BLASPHEMOUS MOTHERFUCKER. TC: what i believed in it to be was so beautiful, us and them all mellowing in tents, bumpin sounds, tossing back the faygo and soaking the miracles up our faith sponges, while the special stardust rained down at our elixir sticky faces, like a bunch a fuckin fairy powder from religion space. TC: IT WAS GOING TO BE US AND MOTHER FUCKING THEM. TC: them and mother fuckin us. :o(

In essence: Gamzee's cult believes that there will be a Vast Honk, which will kill all trolls; however, "a band of rowdy and capricious minstrels" will usher in/create a new paradaisical planet of nothing but good vibes and chill times, where the "mirthful messiahs" will get to enjoy eternity.

There's pretty clear parallels here to the Christian concept of the Rapture, which fits in with the Garden of Eden/Original Sin themes of the Dancestors and the Second Coming thing Karkat's got going on. But, more importantly, it's also pretty directly just... what SGRUB/SBURB are all about. Their original population all dies, but a bunch of kids band together to create a new universe, with new planets, where theoretically live out the rest of their godhood in peace and happiness.

Were it not for the casteist influences as a result of being a cult largely followed by highbloods, there'd pretty much be nothing inherently objectionable about Gamzee's belief system - it's fundamentally hopeful, and, in fact, when he raps about it to Tavros, part of it is outright about "equalizing" the hemocaste (they all bleed as equals, see). Tavros agrees:

AT: tHE SLAMS WERE TRULY PRIME, aND, AT: yOUR RELIGIOUS VIEWS, tHOUGH i DON'T SHARE THEM, aRE, AT: rEASONABLY INSPIRATIONAL, AT: i THINK i'M IN THE PROCESS OF RELEASING AT LEAST ONE TEAR,

Next, we'll look at the sopor usage and ostracization together, because I think they're interlinked. People on Gamzee's team are friggin' mean to him.

CG: MIRACLES ARE LIKE POOP STAINS ON GOD'S UNDERWEAR. TA: eheheh makiing fun of people2 reliigiion2 i2 the be2t thiing two do.

GC: NO TH4T SHOULD BOTH3R YOU, TH4T R34SON GC: WHY DONT TH1NGS L1K3 TH4T BOTH3R YOU?? GC: NO WOND3R V4NT4S C4NT ST4ND YOU

CT: D --> What you do appear to know is e%actly how to ma%imize my livid contempt for you CT: D --> With your revolting language and your sense of decorum CT: D --> At such breathtaking odds with the richness and perfe%ion of your b100d CT: D --> I just hate you so much

CA: that is the wworst fuckin advvice CA: wwhat an awwful thing a you to say CA: MAGIC ISNT REAL STUPID STOP BELIEVVIN IN IT

On the whole, the team treats him as the party joke, if not outright worthy of derision. The one person on his team who IS nice to him, Tavros, ghosts him after Gamzee is too forward and asks to make out with him. He's deeply lonely, and what's more, his introductory narration is littered with pessimism.

You'll be doing one thing then something else hits you just like that and you roll with it. That's what you do when life hands you lemons. You sure as fuck don't make lemonade because who the fuck knows where that fuckin' shit comes from?

Someone is bugging you. This is exciting. You're always down for shooting the wicked shit with anyone that who'll put up with you.

That last one makes it clear that Gamzee is also aware of how much people on the team don't like him.

I'm also of the opinion that "Soft Gamzee" was always fake and never existed, which is outright stated by Hussie from the book:

The best explanation for why Gamzee says he's scared of Vriska, in my opinion, is this: he's flat-put lying. It's a good way for him to maintain his cover as 'Soft Gamzee.' It also provides some ammunition for those who, against all sense of good taste and judgment, want to continue to believe and assert that Gamzee is a decent guy with sensitive emotions and vulnerabilities before he undergoes his Muderstuck awakening. He was none of those things, ever.

But there's evidence for this - Gamzee has actually always been kind of casteist:

AT: i THINK i'M IN THE PROCESS OF RELEASING AT LEAST ONE TEAR, TC: Me tOo, BrO, yOu mOtHeR FuCkIn kNoW ThErE Be sOmE Of mY EyE's RoYaL JeLlY To gO WiTh yOuR EmOtIoNaL pEaNuT BuTtEr. AT: wHOA, aHA, hA,

He's trying to be affectionately so here, but given Tavros's "whoa, haha," reaction, it seems like it's still a pretty out-of-pocket thing to say. Especially in light of GamRezi, it's pretty easy to read him as making passive-aggressive digs to Terezi here:

TC: I'm OuTsIdE kEePiNg An EyE oUt HeRe FoR tHe OlD gOaT. TC: yOu KnOw HoW iT iS wItH fAmIlY. GC: NO, NOT R34LLY! GC: 4DURRRR DURR DURP TC: Oh YeAh...

TC: hAvE yOu EvEr EvEn SeEn ThE oCeAn? TC: oR i MeAn SmElLeD iT... TC: SoRrY. GC: >:[

His reaction to Eridan is also "indulge emotional theatrics," but depending on whether you believe Eridan killed his lusus, it's debatably justified. I'm just going to mention that that's also there.

His constant assertion that Karkat is his best friend, which isn't reciprocated until after murderstuck, also kind of reads as a palecrush to me. This is supported by the fact that Nepeta has always had pale GamKat on her shipping wall - which I believe is more representative of how people feel and what they want than whether a romantic pairing is viable, as part of her Heart (and NOT Blood) powers.

He won't stop referring to Karkat as his best friend, really awkwardly changes the topic when the conversation has led to him having to acknowledge that Karkat is closer to Sollux (whom Karkat calls his best friend):

TC: yEaH mAyBe BuT hE's YoUr BeSt FrIeNd ThOuGh So It'S aLl CoOl. TC: AnYwAy I tHoUgHt ThIs SoUnDeD lIkE a PrEtTy BiG mOtHeRfUcKiN dEaL mY mAn. TC: aAaUuUhHh... CG: WHAT. TC: Aw BrO nEvErMiNd, I jUsT fUcKiN dId LiKe To ScArE tHe ShIt OuTtA mYsElF hErE. TC: tHeSe DaMn HoRnS.

(Sidebar about the usage of "best friend," Karkat pretty much outright says he's unreliable when it comes to who his best friend is at any given moment LOL - he spends pre-murderstuck insisting Sollux is HIS best friend. King of mixed signals.)

EB: who is gamzee? CG: HE WAS MY BEST FRIEND. EB: really? i thought terezi was your best friend. ... CG: GAMZEE WAS MY VERY GOOD FRIEND, WHO WAS THIS GOOFY LOVEABLE BULLSHIT CLOWN UNTIL HE WENT PSYCHO AND KILLED SOME PEOPLE. I LIKED HIM A LOT. CG: I DON'T KNOW, I GUESS MY BEST FRIEND IS REALLY JUST THE GUY WHO I HAPPEN TO BE FEELING MOST SENTIMENTAL TO AT THE MOMENT, IS THAT A FUCKING CRIME.

If we take Hussie's statement that Gamzee lied when he chased Vriska (whom he doesn't like) away from his horn pile -

GAMZEE: VrIsKa hEy yOu wAnT To uH… VRISKA: What? GAMZEE: ShIt, I WaS AlL GoInG To aSk iF YoU WaNtEd tO HoP In tHe hOrN PiLe fOr a bIt oF MoThErFuCkIn sHuTeYe, BuT… GAMZEE: I DoN'T ThInK I WiLl cAuSe i'm pReTtY MuCh sCaReD Of yOu, SoyEaH. VRISKA: Aww. ::::)

Then it stands to reason he's also lying about being scared of Jack so he can prevent Eridan from providing Karkat with emotional support:

CA: this is a lot a pointless fuckin rubbish and isnt no emotional help to him or me either for that matter CA: put kar on TC: UuUuH, i cAn't rEaLlY ThInK AbOuT InTeRvEnInG, tHe bLaCk fRoWnInG MoThErFuCkEr kInDa sCaReS Me

So, personally, signs point to Gamzee always having been a lot shiftier and meaner than he let on.

Naturally, that begs the question of why he's pretending to be nicer and higher than he actually is (not that he isn't high, but he's definitely more cognizant of what's going on than people both in- and out-of-universe give him credit for). Well, the answer to that is pretty simple: it's because he loves his friends and wants to get along with them.

You like to chat a lot with your pal Karkat, who is usually pretty cranky, but he is your BEST FRIEND. You have a lot of OTHER GREAT FRIENDS who you also like a lot.

Gamzee's story pre-murderstuck is a pretty tragic one about a kid who never got to learn proper socialization and has whacked-out religious beliefs, whose neglect from his lusus has left him with deep loneliness, who desperately wants to fit in with his friends, especially the lowbloods, and therefore feels the need to hide how pessimistic and angry he actually is under the guise of drug usage and not retaliating against the constant digs they make at him.

I also feel like I have to specify that Gamzee was already a pretty angry, mean, troubled kid prior to Murderstuck, because it helps to clarify his actions after being influenced by Lil' Cal. The nonlinear nature of the story kind of confuses the sequence of events, but it seems to be as follows:

Dave blasphemes against Gamzee's religion so hard that Gamzee has a total crisis of faith.

Gamzee has a breakdown and gets so pissed off that he oopsie-daisy'd a jester puppet into John's room on Prospit.

Gamzee, with his faith lost ("and now i don't know what to think about the spiritual fantasies i had"), Tavros dead, and thus in a very emotionally fragile state, is contacted by Doc Scratch and given instructions (likely to kill his friends and paint his wicked pictures in their blood). At some point during this, he falls under Lil' Cal's influence, too. As every person we've seen under LE's sway has very compelling, natural reasons for acting the way they do, I think it's better to see Lil' Cal's influence as influence and not mind control. It brings out the worst in its victims, but only what was already there.

This seems to give Gamzee a new belief system to replace/supplement the old.

TC: i've been kicking the wicked ignorance on this shit. TC: BEEN MOTHERFUCKIN SLAUGHTERING THE WICKED IGNORANCE, BRO. TC: all up in lifelong denial about my calling. TC: AS A DESCENDANT OF THE HIGH MOTHERFUCKIN SUBJUGGLATORS. TC: we are higher than you, brother. TC: WE ARE HIGHER THAN MOTHERFUCKIN EVERYBODY. TC: honk. CG: GAMZEE CG: PLEASE NO TC: and now i'm the last one, so i finally motherfuckin understand. TC: I FINALLY GOT MY MOTHERFUCKING UNDERSTAND ON TO WHO THE MIRTHFUL MESSIAHS ARE. TC: they were always both me. :o) TC: AND ALSO MOTHERFUCKING ME. Do:

Remember, his original belief system actually emphasized equalizing the castes - in death, anyway. It also never specified that the Mirthful Messiahs would be specifically highbloods. The hint that Gamzee had internalized casteism was always there, but now that his belief system has been supplanted by this new one, delivered by Doc Scratch (the story's Devil figure), his casteism becomes full-blown:

GAMZEE: heheh. GAMZEE: CHECK IT THE MOTHERFUCK OUT. GAMZEE: it's the peasantblood. GAMZEE: HEH HEH. GAMZEE: fuckin heh. EQUIUS: D --> Peasantb100d EQUIUS: D --> Is that a joke GAMZEE: if your blood. GAMZEE: IS A RUNNING MOTHERFUCKING GAG. GAMZEE: then soon. GAMZEE: IT WILL BE RUNNING. GAMZEE: through my motherfucking fingers.

TC: shit was motherfuckin poison, didn't you know? CG: UH... CG: NO? I MEAN, I WOULD NEVER EAT IT, BUT TC: THEN GET MOTHERFUCKIN SCHOOLFED ALL ABOUT THE WICKED NEWS, PUNCHLINE BLOODED MOTHERFUCKER.

Basically, the religious boy had a crisis of faith and was tempted by the Devil into becoming his servant - into desiring utter oblivion for everyone except his own continued existence within the one doing the destroying, rather than a paradise of love, friendship, and hope. And this new faith is what carries Gamzee through to the end of the comic:

KARKAT: HE STARTED GETTING SO UNBELIEVABLY SELF SATISFIED AND PIOUS, LIKE WAY MORE THAN HE EVER WAS BEFORE. KARKAT: LIKE HE'S JUST SO COMPLETELY CONVINCED HE'S FOUND HIS CALLING, THAT THIS SESSION IS THE GATEWAY TO THE PROMISED LAND WHERE HE'LL FULFILL HIS DESTINY. KARKAT: HE'S SO CAUGHT UP IN HIS IDIOTIC SCHEMES HE COULDN'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ME ANYMORE. KARKAT: WHATEVER. AT LEAST HE STOPPED KILLING PEOPLE.

So where does that bring us WRT the fake god-tier ensemble? Well, god-tiering in general is kind of a metaphor for becoming an adult - SGRUB/SBURB sets out for its player a quest directly tied into their maturation into adults, and god-tiering is (normally) supposed to sit right at the end of that questline, a semi-permanent state achieved at the end of adolescence. Characters who DO manage to god-tier without having naturally reached that point in their questline, especially Vriska, Dave, and Rose, have struggles that deal directly with "growing up too fast" - Vriska with the expectation that she be a vicious murderer, Dave with having never addressed his trauma and abuse, and Rose with having missed out on a loving relationship with her mother because she insisted on being more mature than her.

Gamzee's relationship to Caliborn is that of a parent:

ARANEA: It is just as well that cheru8 parents a8andon their offspring. Raising such a child 8y the familial standards of any race would 8e a monumental challenge. ARANEA: Nevertheless, it would seem there were those who tried. ARANEA: Details in my research suggest our villain had a num8er of acolytes oper8ting in the shadows, preparing for his arrival.

Kurloz also directly states that Gamzee's role in their religion is to serve and mentor their young lord:

KURLOZ: I COME BEARING THEE FINAL JOLLY ACCOUTREMENT MY FAITHFUL INVERTEBROTHER KURLOZ: THY BARDLY REGALIA IS DONE AND FUCKING DUSTED BY THE SPECIAL STARS THEMSELVES KURLOZ: ON THIS DAY THE DARK CARNIVAL REJOICED AND SAID IT WAS MONEY KURLOZ: NOW BRING TO LIFE OUR WICKED RUSE WITH APLOMB MY NINJA KURLOZ: OUR LORD AWAITS YOUR SERVITUDE AND TUTELAGE AT ONCE

And even beyond the religion aspect, Gamzee would take this job mother fucking seriously...

... Because his own parent failed him. See, we tie it all back to the beginning! Gamzee putting together a shitty fake god tier outfit is because he wants to be a good parent to Caliborn, an adult figure he never had in his own life, and god tiering is symbolic of that. And I think the saddest part is, he still didn't really manage to do that... because, perpetuating the neglect he faced from his own lusus, he wound up locking the two in a room and leaving them alone - possibly out of exasperation.

ARANEA: We will pro8a8ly never know who these scurrilous conspir8tors were. 8ut it is evident that at some point the cheru8 was locked in a room, either out of exasper8tion, or for its own good, until it was old enough to enter the session.

Like, I feel kind of bad for Gamzee, y'know? Especially since, alongside Eridan, he's one of the trolls the fandom seems to understand the least, and his story is also one of being failed by his family, society, and friends. This winds up turning him towards the worst parts of himself - the religious fundamentalism, the casteism, the emotional isolation - and away from the good - the fact that he loved his mother fucking friends, enough to wish upon them eternal paradise.

[lives4lovesworld]

Truly wish dany/targaryens stans would stop bothering. The amount of daily posts that aim to "counter" or even pander to nonsensical anti bs is excessive and after years quite honestly boring and tedious.

Quite frankly I fail to understand what we gain from this, adhering to a holier-than-thou moral code, especially since no one else is compelled to even pretend to do so? Is the goal here for them be completely distorted to the point they resemble other characters? antis supposed favorites? As uninteresting to us as they subconsciously are to their stans? Which is the real problem here and the reason why they are the way they are (hypocritical stealing clowns and nuisances?) But perhaps I have a completely different less-morality-bound approach to consuming media in my free time than the rest of my fellow stans.

No downplaying/refuting Valyrian blood purity, empathizing non-Valyrian marriages, pointing out the origin of slavery are found in Old Ghis and not the Freehold, no opting for the most gracious interpretation of members of House Targaryen will ever stop antis from painting and hypocritically single out everything Targaryen/Valyrian related as kkk- or "imperialistic" coded or whatever woke buzzword of the day. They live to pretend-clutch their pearls and hold only them to modern standards of a fantastical utopia, while every other feudal character can be as archaic as expected from their pseudomedvial upbringing with their houses being wardlords

Speaking for me, I STAN their blood purity and incest. For me, IT IS a defining characteristic of House Targaryen that makes them unique, no matter how "problematic" it may be. I STAN it because GRRM fabricated scandalous, passionate love stories that I chose to interpret as consensual and politically advantageous, that brought forward incredible, magical gorgeous characters able to ride dragons that inspire love and envy alike. Who shine all the brighter when one contrasts them with literally any other characters and unions that are and breed doomed mediocrity and are born out of stale duty. I perhaps have a bais for pure blooded Targaryens that look the part than any prefect bastards or half breeds, or targ x targ to any other couple.

I also stan cruel Maegor, particularly for showing Oldtown its place and declawing the Militant Faith because I enjoy reading about the presumptuous Christian Vatican equivalent getting its ass handed to them. I stan Rhaenyra and she still can be a pampered proud princess-turned-queen. The same way I prefer canon Daemon as a rogue, an ambitious prince who seduced his brother's heir with perhaps also political hopes in mind and because he wanted his gorgeous niece as a bride instead of his cold barren wife. A legend that slay the pathetic cunt that was his nephew.

And while I'm at it: I also refuse to care about every "likeable"/pitiful character simply because it would be the "morally right" thing to do, nor will I root for the characters I like to do it. I don't care for Helaena and her children, nor the strong boys or any half-considered-"poc" Targaryen, nor will I even pretend to see "reason" in the greens actions, nor do I even want to see Dany "overcome her hatred"/bais against the usurper's dogs and any descendants of them. Or for her to be that altruistic to turn away from the throne to save humanity.

No amount of "call-out-posts" what a misogynist, racist, cultist, classist or elistist I am will change that because why OH WHY should I give a fuck about what anyone online thinks of me. Why should I allow anyone to bully me into streamline my enjoyment?

Especially by the people that do not even have the decorum of pretend to have any sort of decency. So they can use the most misogynistic, classist language and expect submission to their attempts to rule fandom spaces with iron fists and delusions, and canonize their favorites' sainthood and entitlement to feudal supremacy often only because they ✨️suffered prettily✨️ and fit some anesthetics while I must tolerate them trying to scold me into caring so greatly about fictional grey faceless mass of common people that would die were my favorites to pursue their ambitions. Meanwhile the same people would have any would-be-subjects die of famine and cold as long as their favorites get their crowns GRRM would never grant them in canon anyway. Give me a break. And let's not even start on how dragons and incest are suddenly the solutions as long as they don't belong and is not practiced by Targaryens.

To make this clear: this post is NOT a not-so-subtle incognito-anti post of ✨️i lOve all mY wAr CrimInaL eUqally!;' LeT tHeM bE mAd AnD unHinGed uwu,"! love all mY mOderAte chAsTe hoPes Of the fUtUres and mAd imPeriAlistS. 🥰✨️

I simply wanted to say; perhaps we should NOT GIVE A FUCK, "own" the """""bad""""" and be "problematic" and "irrational" in our selective love for characters and houses like EVERYBODY FUCKING ELSE.

[jewish-vents]

i will never understand why goyische women so aggressively want to "reclaim" lilith, just openly insisting to our faces! saying lilith is a "fertility goddess" and usually say something about "she just refused to obey a man so she was villainized!", that it's misogyny- sometimes they even claim antisemitic misogny- to insist that is NOT correct

i still think about this white christian turned pagan's explanation from a discord i was in that she refused to even give a second thought to,

"well, i always heard it was adam tried to make her be his servant while he didn't do anything, so she just grew a pair of owl wings and noped out of there! which, good for her!"

i still dont even have words...

I think a lot of this comes down to a very interesting pipeline I've seen in Pagan spaces: a Christian (usually white) feels either unfulfilled or abandoned or villanized by the religion they grew up with, they learn about other religions and about different worldviews, but because they don't fully relate to them they feel the need to take and change certain parts to fit the narrative they want to follow.

I've seen that with wiccans who claim Lilith as their own, or twist different texts so they're unrecognized from their source (a few years back I've seen a version of Persephone's story being circulated that was unlike any version of her story) and just people absolutely disregarding any criticism of stealing from different religions while paying no mind to these cultures.

I also think that the reason it's specifically Lilith is due to the post-modern "girl boss" narrative - a demonized woman that is simply misunderstood and is secretly the underdog of the story, because they want a character to relate to (and I won't get into details today, but there is a strong relation between relatability -> worship in the west) because they just see themselves as a misunderstood underdog who is judged too harshly. -🧋

[sophieinwonderland]

On "colonizing" spaces...

@obsessive-schizoid

Now, "colonizing" is such an interesting term to use here. It's a very loaded word meant to imply that endogenic systems are oppressors.

The idea that somehow, the concept of being a system is a unique cultural right to traumagenic and disordered systems, and that we're moving in to claim what's theirs.

What's funny about the use of the word here is how DID, and mental disorders in general, are largely colonialist constructs.

The concept of plurality is as old as time itself. Like most other strange and unexplained phenomena, people create their own explanations for what they were experiencing. Usually some sort of ghosts or spirit guides. It varies from culture to culture what plurality was interpreted as. But it has always existed.

But then you have these white, Christian nations that spread their religion across the globe. And with their beliefs, comes those that stigmatize and literally demonize spiritual plurality. To most Christians, there are no spirits other than demons and God's own angels. All possessing spirits must therefore be demonic entities that need to be cast out and destroyed as Legion was in the bible.

And thus, any cultural and spiritual plurality is stamped out by colonialists.

When psychiatry and psychology form as institutions, these doctors have been taught in this environment. An environment where there is only one person per body, and anything outside of that is bad and evil.

Instead of calling it demonic possession though, they call it a mental disorder. Just as these doctors, who grew up in this religious climate, once called homosexuality a mental disorder because even if they're atheist, they're still essentially culturally Christian.

A History of Secrecy

In the middle-ages, plurals couldn't be out as plural because if they were public, they would be accused of being demonically possess or even of witchcraft which could get them put to death.

By the 1900s, we saw the rise of insane asylums, torturous electroshock therapy, and even lobotomies for the mentally ill.

It's no wonder that most non-disordered plurals during this period would have kept their plurality to themselves.

Why risk people thinking you mad and stripping you of your human rights if you can avoid it?

This lasted until the 90s after this thing called the internet came along and allowed people to communicate across the globe anonymously. And for the first time, plurals learned that they weren't alone in the world.

Separatists, Not Colonists

I don't expect anti-endos to have a good grasp on plural history. Or any history. Or psychology, psychiatry, sociology, basic literacy or reasoning skills.

So let's take a moment to remind everyone that in the 90s, all "multiple personalities" were seen as pathological. This was a result of centuries of actual colonialists treating it as either evil or a mental disorder that needed to be cured.

Most non-disordered and endogenic systems at the time started in the MPD/DID community because all systems were treated as pathological. Some had self-diagnosed. Though others were actually diagnosed with DID before rejecting the diagnosis.

This idea of endogenic and non-disordered systems "invading" or "colonizing" is a fiction. It's a rewriting of history. "Alternative facts," if you will.

The TRUTH is that endogenic and non-disordered systems were always part of the DID/MPD community until they decided to break away from it.

And it's that breaking away that sysmeds hate.

The idea of all multiplicity being a disorder is, itself, a colonialist idea. It is inherently rooted in a history of colonialism, pushing a one-size-fit-all world, beginning with Christianity demonizing spiritual plurality, and continuing with Western psychiatry pathologizing all plurality.

Sysmeds are products of this colonialism, and have become its chief propagators on this site and others like it.

When separating themselves from the medicalization of plurality, the new natural multiples created their own language to distance themselves from the medical association.

"Headmate" became the alternative to "alter". "Plural" became the alternative to "multiple" which plural systems at the time felt was too closely related to "multiple personality disorder." "Fictive and factive" were borrowed from endogenic soulbonders.

And all of these are terms that, after being coined by pro-endos, were taken by sysmeds and claimed as their own.

Sysmeds have also attempted to claim resources like Pluralkit and Simply Plural as their own despite both being made by pro-endos. And many have tried worming their way into the Alterhuman community despite "alterhuman" being a term that was made by a pro-endo and is explicitly inclusive of endogenic plurals.

Surely you can see how ridiculous this is, where you have endogenic systems trying to distance themselves from the medical community only for the medicalists to come into our spaces, claim all the terms and resource we built for themselves, and then accuse us of colonizing them.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Hi folks, I added this to my pinned post but I wanted to highlight it separately from that:

***As of 8/4/2023, I am listing this link and this link as required reading for all new followers who are Christian, were Christian, are non-Jews who grew up in a Christian culture and/or have only learned about Judaism through Christianity, before you follow me. I am being completely serious about this, I don't want you in my space unless you have taken a relatively short amount of time to be an ally to Jews and at least learned this perspective. If you fit this description and have already followed me, it would mean a lot to me if you would also do this. Thank you for respecting this boundary. I am happy to be a resource for people who are learning, but there will be required reading and these links are a prerequisite.***

I have gotten a lot of new followers from this post (among other posts in my "every hour is theology hour around here apparently" tag, but especially that one) and while I love that people are interested in what I'm saying I do want to point out a few things:

I am not a formal scholar of theology or religion, or any type of clergy

I am not a Torah scholar either

I am a random person who has informally studied comparative theology and various source texts on my own time because it's interesting and meaningful to a lot of people, including me

I study Jewish religious source texts in particular because I'm a Jew who is both interested in that type of study and also traditional enough to believe we have a religious obligation to study Torah

I have a vested interest in Jewish-Christian relations and comparative theology because I'm a ger who came from a religious Christian background and my family is Christian

All that said, I am happy to be a resource for people who are learning or want to learn about these same things with me. I am happy to share what I know and learn from others. However I want to be clear from the outset that I am just a person and this is a personal blog. You're gonna see other stuff here. I may not be correct about certain things (unintentionally) due to my lack of formal training.

And most importantly, the links: why?

The reason I am requiring that new folks read those links in particular is because that is the baseline I want for our conversation. I have seen a *lot* of liberal/progressive Christians use antisemitic Christian imagery in their progressive Christian posting, some of it on my post calling for Christians to be allies to Jews.

I don't think anyone is doing this with that intention; I think they are engaging shallowly with that part of my post. I have noticed that A LOT. So many goyische progressives either don't understand and/or don't care about antisemitism, despite caring about every other issue under the sun. I am, unfortunately, quite acquainted with this and it is what it is. But I am specifically asking progressive Christians to step up in a big way because Christianity is the root of a lot of antisemitism for the last 2000 years. Not all of it. But a lot of it.

If you are going to claim to be a progressive Christian, you need to start the long journey of unpacking what you think you know about Judaism. Unless you have studied Judaism from Jews, you need to start with the assumption that you know nothing about us.

Again, I am happy to help people who are learning, but if I see one more person reference the Pharisees or the "cleansing" of the [Jewish] Temple as examples of Jesus being a progressive political rebel, I am going to lose my mind.

[broomsick]

Hi, I hope you're doing well. I was wondering if you could tell some things associated with Thor (crystals, animals, colors, food, etc.) I looked through your Thor tag and I didn't really find anything on that (sorry if I'm wrong)

Thanks! I hope you have a wonderful day/night :)

Hi there! I'm doing well, thank you for asking!

Now, I'm sorry to say that correspondences are a rather new phenomenon, and though they're popular in online spaces, one finds out with time that they might not really resonate, or feel truly "right". That's because followers of certain deities often experience these beings in vastly different ways. You might realize that though your friend associates a deity with the deer, that same deity seems to manifest themselves to you in the form of a serpent, instead! This is a grossly over-simplified example of how multifaceted deities can be. Symbolism, when it doesn't have any roots in history, varies wildly from one believer to another. That is why I often don't give much credit to set lists of "correspondences" found online. Especially when they pertain to crystals associated with norse deities! That's because so, so many of the more mainstream crystals you'll find in witchcraft and pagan spaces aren't native to the areas where these Gods were worshipped, and have been imported there quite late in history. For this reason, it's especially difficult to determine, "which crystal would fit the most with my perception of this nordic deity?".

But still, you'll be happy to hear that there are a few unmissable symbols of Thórr! The following symbols have all been associated with him at some point in history:

The bear! One of Thórr's more popular kennings today is Björn, or "Bear" (I often use Bear God in my prayers), which appears in the Snorri's Edda and in the rímur Lokrur.

The goat (by extension, cattle and livestock), as it was said that his chariot is pulled by two goats. One of the main theories concerning Sweden's very famous tradition of building a Yule goat (or using straw goats to decorate) is that it originally stemmed from this particular part of his myth.

Anything that's related to land fertility and the harvest! Sources often depict him as a God of the sky, bringing forth rains and the like. In Iceland, he was primarily worshipped as a fertility deity, giver of good harvests and plentiful soil.

Thursdays, as the term Thursday itself stemmed from his name.

The rowan tree! As I've mentioned before in this post, oral tradition has it Thórr had once been saved by rowan tree which he grabbed, thus saving himself from drowning. This is why the rowan is often considered his sacred tree.

The anvil, as a popular saying had it thunder was the sound of Thórr beating his, as he worked in his forge.

The belt of power Megingjörð, the iron gloves Járngreipr and the hammer Mjöllnir, which grant him part of his strength.

The oak. These particular trees were often associated with thunder deities (famously, with Zeus) because they tend to be the highest individuals in a forest, making them the most likely to be struck by lightning. What's more, 8th century bishop Willibald, in his Vita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldo, tells us of "Donar's oak" ("Thor's oak"), a sacred oak tree which was located in modern day Germany and which was important to local pre-christian worship. This tree was notoriously cut down by missionary Saint Boniface, and what its location might have been unfortunately remains a mystery.

Now, if I'm to dive deeper into his symbols and associations, I'll first mention the Miðgarðsormr, the World Serpent Jörmungandr, a figure which he faces twice in the myths! They are often depicted together, locked in combat, and one of Thórr's oldest attested myths is the one in which he accidentally fishes Jörmungandr after having used a bull's head as bait. Pulling fiercely against each other, they made the sea so agitated that it seemed to be boiling.

Drinking horns can also be associated with him, as he was said to be the best drinker out of all the Æsir! In one of his major myths, he is given a horn to drink by the jötunn figure Útgarða-Loki, who, unbeknownst to Thórr, has magically made it to fill with all of the ocean's water, making it impossible for the liquid to ever run out, or even lower. Still, Thórr drank so much from it than the ocean's level dropped, which stunned Útgarða-Loki. This might have been an early tale to explain the tides!

As for my personal experiences, I tend to associate him with the color red! After all, he was said to be a redhead! And this color feels both warm and fierce, two words I would use to describe Thórr! Earthy colors, like deep greens and browns feel very much like him to me, as well. After all, he is said to be the Son of the earth, and this part of his myth has always been super prominent in my worship when it comes to him. The Futhark runes Uruz and Algiz are also present in my Thórr worship, due to their association with strength and protection respectively. However, the rune Thurisaz (or Thurs) is generally considered his main rune association, as it's often said to represent giants, and their main mythological antagonist by extension. Now this is more UPG, but as for foods, I personally associate him with red meats, hearty winter meals and alcohols, especially beer and mead!

[tio-trile]

Hiiii,

Just wanna say, thank you for giving a space where I feel better to word my crticisms for GOS2. It's funny, in real life, everyone I watched the show with agrees that there's a massive tone shift between season 1 and 2 and that we don't particularly like it, yet when I come on tumblr, everyone screams at me how perfect everything was. Which is fine, it's great for them if they truly loved it, for me, there's just too much drama.

Thing is, I'm a huuuge fan of the book, simply because as someone raised in a church who took the Second Coming very serious, Good Omens the book managed continuously to make me laugh about something that used to terrify me as a child. It was a very healing experience to me, also since it's rather a jab at conservative anglicanism than anything else, so I didn't feel weird as a Christian to read it. And that was a first for me with a fictional media dealing with angels and demons.

But now with the second season, it's basically what Christian-inspired fantasy always looked like and I'm tired. Also, because apparently, Aziraphale just can't get it right, anymore, hated how the 19th-century-plot made look Crowley the reasonable one NO MATTER WHAT. (Also, where does this fit with Zira canonically having done several temptations at this point?)

Also, I actually am an Ineffable Husbands shipper, yet I cannot tell you to what end this kiss frustrated me. Simply because I ship them as my one fluff couple and in my hc, they always smoothly transitioned from being friends to lovers. And that's why this dramatic love declaration and kiss from Crowley feel so out of place for me. It makes me sad, also as a queer person, because I cannot remember one queer couple ever on screen which was just allowed to be functional and not angsty. (I mean, yes, heartstopper, but this show got problems all on its own) It just feels weird that, in my impression, now that we go into the romantic direction with these two, we also need to get ~drama~.

But well, moving on~

Do you know any good Book Omens fanfiction? That is, if you read any....

Have a good day~

Hi! It's funny because it's kinda the opposite experience for me -- my friends IRL love season 2, and my friends on the internet didn't XDD

That's interesting what you said about the Good Omens book/show experience while being religious! The book did seem more edgy (for lack of a better word) and poked fun at religious themes more light-heartedly while the show does seem to approach it more......Supernatural-y......😂 also yeah, I saw somebody else say this but show!Aziraphale doesn't seem like one that would even agree to the Arrangement in the first place.

About the kiss I recently found that I made an incredibly accurate prophecy last year HAHA

But yeah, the book boys definitely have "old married couple" energy, where as the show ones are still......working through things. (The one queer couple on screen that's functional and not angsty is Benuit Blanc and his husband from Glass Onion, btw /hj)

I recced some book Omens fanfic way back in 2016 here!

[artsy-book]

The Social Experiments: The Spirit Of The Cabin

I GOT THE FIRST ONE DONE!!!!! ^-^ I love how it turned out so much!!! especially charlie!! slime demon charlie is my favourite guy and he had to be a main focus in the backgrounds!! ^-^

there is more versions of the background and more rambling about this below the cut :D

OKAY OKAY OKAY I HAVE SO MUCH I WANT TO SAY ABOUT THIS OMG!!!! i love the way this looks so much! i really love that i had taaken notes while watching it live because it gave me a nice checklist of thinsg to include. and i did want to do charlie sneeg and ranboo all together buut i couldnt find good enough pose refrences to make a group of three and decided that it would probably be too busy with all three anyways. but i fee like the pose i picked works so well for charlie and how silly and goofy his character is in tsofc as well as just being really cool looking as he is the slime demon :) i also really like how the cabin room section turned out. i couldt do any super amount of detail because of the really small scale i was working with, but i feel like i emulated it well enought that it is very easy to tell what it is supposed to be. AND the reason it is split into 5 sections is because of the door. one of my notes is literally "door to anywhere and nowhere" and decided that each door would lead to each of the different places the door took ranboo; christian hell with the flames, slime dimension with the slimy goo, the beach with the red ocean and sky, the warehouse that lead us to the mastermind of the warehouse, and i also included the car park that we didn't get to see that ranboo shared on one of his follow up streams after genloss. and i don't know why, but i heavily gravitaed towards the christian hell dimension and made a note that just says hell, so that's why there are big flames all around he outside i feel like its pretty fitting tho with how everything ends in the end haha :) now the little pentagons were just added to fill in the blank space some and i used pentagons to match the big one in the center and figured they could be like soot or ashes from the flames. i had also added the skulls to help fill in the blank space and as a lil representaion of frank :D

anyways definitely check out @ranboolivesaysstuff and check out genloss because I am going insane over it ^-^

[xnoctifers-eveningx]

Re: "Magic makes you a beacon for malevolent spirits" and Christianity in New Age spiritualism

I had a reply for a discussion post in the drafts for 5 months and now I'm too embarrassed to reply to it after so long but I have some Thoughts I still want to share from the perspective of someone raised Christian who now practices magic :]

Growing up in Christianity, it was widely told that if you dabbled in the occult/magic/witchcraft/non-Christian practices it would open your life up to the devil and demons. Even incense was banned in my grandparents' home, they didn't allow their kids to watch things like Pokemon and The Smurfs because they were "demonic". There is thought to be a constant war between good and evil, that you are constantly surrounded by angels and demons duking it out for control over your life. So every little thing you did and allowed to enter your life could give more power to the demonic forces; swearing, promiscuity (including wearing certain shades), lighting incense, playing with Ouija boards, making crude jokes, watching HP, talking to non-believers, etc. All these things were said to literally open yourself up energetically and make you vulnerable to demonic forces, you were inviting The Devil into your life.

When I entered occult spaces online, I heard a lot of old stuff cloaked up in a fancy new-age dress, specifically in relation to evil spirits/energies. A huge idea is that performing magic in any sense opens you up to the spirit realm where evil spirits can easily find you or that doing certain things "lowers your energy/vibrations" like .. swearing, promiscuity, vulgarity, talking to certain people, consuming certain things, etc. Divination was commonly explained by saying you open yourself up energetically to any and every spirit, opening a door to the other side anyone could enter, which is why Ouija boards are 'dangerous' and why you should always vet during spirit communication - lest The Trickster cometh and taketh your goodies. I do think these ideas stem, at least in part, from Christian fearmongering that was never unlearned by those who left the faith for magic, just sidestepped and called something new.

Protection magic was stressed in these spaces, every minuscule off feeling should be remedied through cleansing and banishing. You HAVE to learn the LBRP (ofc without learning its history or origins) and practice it daily to keep negativity out of your space and from interfering with your magic. If you were performing a spell you MUST cleanse, banish, and place a circle down, or else outsider energies can interfere. Every off feeling or squick of anxiety should be remedied through a cleanse, maybe you have a malicious spirit or energy vampire or parasitic astral entity? I witnessed, and still witness, a huge amount of beginning practitioners in actual fear that if they don't learn protection magic they will be invaded by evil spirits and be told that they are always at risk when performing magic so they must read these 5 books on protection magic before even thinking about learning something like divination or doing 'real' magic. I'm sure this push is discouraging and harmful to new practitioners, I know I personally did not enjoy feeling like I had to study subjects that didn't even apply to my personal beliefs to fit into what others thought my practice should be. "Protection magic" can be important, but many are only taught it in one mode/practice/culture which can feel more like a chore to learn if it doesn't even match your paradigm. There is a countless amount of ways to magically protect yourself that don't have to be following elaborate Wiccan rituals or collecting moon water or buying expensive crystals and herbs - more emphasis should be placed on what works for you in your paradigms. Too, I don't think we should be trying to make beginners feel scared about what they're stepping into. I don't think doing magic in general truly puts you more at risk than those who do not. There are definitely certain areas in which I would push for one to protect themselves but to each their own, if you don't fuck around how will you ever find out?

Beyond the faults of the idea that evil spirits are always out to get you, I do believe that if you put yourself out there magic-wise you can make a name for yourself among spirits, maybe even have a few of them call you up randomly because they heard about you from a friend. I think this is a different concept though, more like spiritual networking. This is actually how King Paimon and I began working with each other as he is close to my first infernal mentor, Stolas. However, I don't think that by simply performing spells and rituals you are creating a divine beacon that signals a whole pantheon or demonic legion to suddenly be on your doorstep. And on the topic of malicious "trickster spirits" that pretend to be other spirits, I think this is flat-out fear-mongering, at least in the way it's been talked about for the past few years. This is definitely something I have fallen for in the past because at first it does make sense, especially having been taught that the Devil is constantly trying to trick me into falling for his traps - now it's just mysterious spirits trying to trick me and 'steal my energy'. However, no, I don't believe entities whose only job is to masquerade as other spirits exist. I do believe that we often perceive entities as other ones and they sometimes just go with it, not out of malice but because interdimensional communication is hard sometimes!

You can step away from the church and drop the label of Christian, but that does not strip you of what you have learned. It can be difficult to leave the faith, but it is often harder to unlearn everything you were engrained with. I've found that a lot of ex-Christians who take up new-age spirituality often still hold Christian values to heart, such as fearmongering spiritual warfare by claiming there are evil spirits constantly out to get you, ridiculing those whose practices don't fit into Western ones, forcing puritanical beliefs, and demanding people pray or practice magic daily to stay in favor of the gods. It's good too be able to identify when you're encountering something with Christian, Western, or New Age undertones.I think it can be really beneficial to learn how to dismantle those ideas, open yourself up to a broader perspective and learn about practices and beliefs in other cultures you're unfamiliar with to find what actually works for you.

[midwesternvibes]

Heya! Sorry to send an ask- I’m just confused by the post you reblogged about a thing in the fandom about someone throwing a fit, what happened?

Explanation under the cut, homophobia, transphobia, religious excuses for hatred tw

I don't wanna really get into it too much, bit basically someone made a post (that I believe is now deleted) about how being queer is wrong and disgusting amd using the Christain Bible to back up their claims. I reblogged it because I saw the post in question only a few minutes after it was made due to the fact that I was following the person, seeing as they made some very well done rottmnt comics that I wanted to follow. After seeing their hurtful and angry post however, I unfollowed immediately because what they were saying was just plain cruel and sad.

They were claiming to be a minority as a cishet individual amd how it was unfair that their space was being invaded by queer people, a very bold statement in a cishet dominated world. The rottmnt community is such a queer friendly space that it was just shocking so see such a cruel thing said by someone who is in the Fandom.

I myself am a Christian, and seeing them use the Bible in such a hateful way made me so sad. I was raised on similar beliefs to this individual, but I was eventually able to see past that and see that there's nothing wrong with being queer and that it isn't wrong at all. God only wants his creation to be happy and like, why is it anyone else's concern what others are doing with their life?

Im queer, I'm Christian, this isn't an oxymoron because there's nothing wrong with us and there's not even any biblical proof that there's something wrong with us either.

I hope that this person eventually realizes the errors of their ways and finds peace, bit until then, I will not be interacting with their content nor sharing it with anyone. Hope that explains some things!

[livelaughwhump]

Worthless - Part 13

Masterlist | Previous

Content: mention of past noncon, mention of sexual harassment, dehumanization, degradation, self-deprecation, self-hatred, pet whump, recovery whump, hurt/comfort

-

Landon gently closed the door to Elliot's room, careful not to wake the sleeping boy inside. Landon's face was ghost-white and he was staring far away into space, unable to process Elliot's revelation.

"Hey," a voice called out to him. Landon sluggishly turned his head to face the living room where Karine, Yvonne, and Broderick were all gathered. Karine was smiling deviously at him as she said, "That was cute in there, reading to Elliot like that." Landon was silent. "I didn't know you were so brotherly," Karine mocked.

Landon didn't have the energy to retort. His muddled brain could hardly process her words.

Suddenly, Karine's smile disappeared. "What's wrong?" She asked. "What happened? Is Elliot okay?"

Landon didn't answer her question. Instead, he responded with, "Did any of you know?"

All three team members exchanged confused glances with one another. "Know what?" Broderick asked.

"Did you know that-that Elliot was..." he broke off. He didn't want to say it. He couldn't bring himself to say it, but he also knew he couldn't dance around it this time. "That Elliot was raped?"

The silence in the room was deafening. No one so much as breathed. Each team member wore an expression of shock and horror on their face, struggling to process what Landon had revealed.

Yvonne was the first to break the silence. "Wh-What?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Karine snapped. "Landon, you can't just say shit like that."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just-I just didn't know what else to do."

Broderick hesitated for a moment before he said, "I knew." All eyes turned to him, wide and shocked and confused. Before anyone had the chance to speak up, Broderick said, "I found out when I gave him a bath. After I told him to-to undress." Tears had started welling in Broderick's eyes as he recounted the story. "He-He thought I was going to..." Broderick choked on a sob and buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry I didn't...tell anyone," he sobbed. "I-I-I was just so s-scared. I'm sorry."

Karine's jaw was practically on the floor and she turned to face Landon again. "And how did you find out?" Her voice was shaking ever-so-slightly.

Landon swallowed the lump in his throat and calmly explained what had happened, despite the despair and rage mixing in his gut. His teammates listened intently, their expressions staying consistently appalled.

A loud sob escaped Yvonne's throat. Tears were streaming down her face. "Oh, Elliot," she cried. She broke into a fit of sobs and Broderick gathered her into his arms, both of then crying into the other's shoulder. "H-How could we let him go through something so-so horrible? How could we let this h-happen to him? Poor Elliot."

"It's not your fault, Yvonne," Landon tried to reassure her. "I-I didn't know Christian, but even though you did, you didn't know he was capable of-of something like this."

"Yes, we did," Karine mumbled. All attention fixed on her, but her eyes were only focused on Landon. "Did we ever tell you how we know Christian?"

Landon shrugged. "I don't think so. It was never really important."

Karine nodded and clenched her jaw. "It wasn't," she agreed. "But now it is." Landon waited patiently while she gathered her bearings. She took a deep, quivering breath. "Christian was our previous gunslinger," she admitted. "Before you joined the team."

Landon's eyes widened. "You-You mean he-he lived here?"

Karine nodded. "Your room used to be his. Right next to Elliot's."

Landon shook his head. "I-I don't understand. Why would you let him anywhere near Elliot?" He exclaimed.

"Because we didn't know what he was like," Karine andwered. "We didn't know for a long time. Not until Elliot finally told us that-that Christian was harassing him."

Another sob escaped Yvonne's throat as she buried her face in Broderick's chest.

"Apparently, it had been going on for years, since Elliot was eighteen. He said it started out as casual flirting, which Elliot had even joined in on because he thought it was just a joke. Then, it got worse. Christian started cornering Elliot, trying to kiss him, groping him. Elliot told him to stop, but Christian wouldn't listen, and-and it just kept getting worse." Karine paused to swallow hard, clearly fighting tears of her own. "Elliot didn't tell us until he was twenty. He didn't even tell Lyra because he was so ashamed. He-He finally told us because-because he was afraid that Christian would try to..." Karine broke off, tears beginning to slip down her face. "We kicked Christian out because of it. We knew what he was capable of, but-but we never expected him to actually take Elliot. We-We should've been more careful. We should've noticed what he was doing to Elliot." Karine's lip was trembling. "We never noticed. It was going on behind our backs for two years, and we never..." Karine sniffled and Yvonne rested a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Landon stood there, slack-jawed. He couldn't believe they had never told him, but he also couldn't blame them. They clearly all blamed themselves for what happened. It wasn't fair to be angry at them.

"We can't treat him any differently because of this," Karine said, scrubbing at the tears on her face. "We already knew that Christian did horrible things to him. This doesn't change anything."

"I wish I could agree with you," Broderick finally spoke up. "I haven't spent much time around him since I found out, because-because I'm just so scared. I don't want to accidentally hurt him again."

"But we can't ignore him either," Yvonne said. "That's not fair to him."

Almost simultaneously, each member's phone dinged, alerting them all of a text. They all shared a confused look before each opening the message they had received. It was from Lyra, and it read:

Hey, guys. On my way back from the mission. I should be home in a couple hours. Hope everything went okay while I was gone! See you soon

Everyone in the room stopped breathing as a realization settled over them.

"How are we gonna tell Lyra?" Yvonne asked.

No one knew how to answer. Landon glanced over his shoulder, in the direction of Elliot's room, where he hoped the boy was still peacefully resting. The mere thought of telling Lyra what happened to Elliot made his stomach churn.

"I-I shouldn't have even told any of you. It wasn't my place, but I-I didn't know what else to do." Now, it was Landon's turn to start crying. "Karine, what do we do?"

Karine shook her head. "I don't know."

. . .

When Elliot awoke, he was alone and the room was dark, but a bit of light seeped in from under the door. Elliot stretched and gently pushed himself out of bed. He could hear distant chatter on the other side of his door, but none of it made any sense.

Elliot squinted as he opened the door, unused the bright, yellow light from the kitchen. The voices were a bit clearer now, but he still couldn't make out what they were saying, not that he would try to.

Only bad dogs eavesdrop on humans. Are you a bad dog?

Elliot lowered his head as he rounded the corner into the kitchen.

All conversation stopped the second he entered, and the sudden shift made Elliot unintentionally glance up at his teammates. Karine, Broderick, and Landon were sitting at the small kitchen table in the corner, while Yvonne was cooking beside the stove. All eyes were fixated directly on Elliot, who's first instinct was to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness. Instead, he remained frozen in place, tears welling in his eyes.

What's going on? What have I done wrong?

Elliot lowered his head once more and sniffled.

"Oh, Elliot, don't cry," Yvonne's voice said. Elliot didn't look up, but he tried to stop the tears from falling. Yvonne was suddenly at Elliot's side, tilting his head up and wiping away his tears. "It's okay, it's all right."

Elliot swallowed the lump in his throat. "Are-Are you all a-angry with me?"

"Oh, no, darling, everything is fine. I promise."

Elliot glanced at his other teammates. Broderick was no longer looking at him, Landon held a look of guilt on his face, and Karine was staring at him with sympathy. Elliot was so confused.

Elliot's lip was quivering. He looked back up at Yvonne. Yvonne wasn't that much taller than him, but he still felt incredibly small standing next to her.

Good. It's because you're beneath her. You're beneath every human, you ugly mutt

When he looked back up at Yvonne, his eyes widened. There were tears on Yvonne's face and Elliot felt his heart drop. What had he done wrong?

Yvonne wiped away her tears and sniffled, forcing a smile onto her face. "Don't worry, darling. You-You haven't done anything wrong, it's just..." Yvonne broke off, appearing as though she was on the verge of tears again. "Oh darling. Can I give you a hug?"

Elliot was beyond confused, but it wasn't in his nature to deny such a request. He nodded slightly, struggling to keep the confusion off of his face as Yvonne wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder. Elliot's eyes went round. What was going on?

"I'm so proud of you, Elliot," Yvonne mumbled between sobs. "You've gone through so much, and-and-"

"Yvonne," Karine interrupted. Yvonne let go of Elliot and looked at the team leader. Karine quirked an eyebrow and Yvonne muttered a quick apology before returning to the supper she'd been cooking before.

Elliot looked over at the rest of his team, his brows furrowed in immense confusion. "Wh-What's going on?"

"Nothing, buddy," Karine said, patting the chair beside her. Elliot reluctantly sat down, stiff as a board. "We're just really proud of how well you've done these past few days without Lyra here." Elliot blushed and looked away, frowning.

What had he done well? He couldn't even count how many meltdowns he'd had, he'd made Landon angry, he'd accused both Broderick and Landon of wanting to fuck him. The only thing he'd done right was his chores.

Karine rested a hand on Elliot's back, and Elliot suppressed a flinch. "Lyra's going to be very proud of you." Elliot didn't say anything to that. He didn't believe her. He was sure Lyra would be immensely disappointed when they saw him. "Speaking of Lyra," she said. Almost immediately after she said it, Elliot heard the sound of the front door opening. His eyes widened and he turned to look through the doorway of the kitchen, which faced the front door. Sure enough, it was Lyra that walked in, a black duffle bag slung over their shoulder.

Elliot froze, suppressing the urge to run to them and throw himself into their arms. He knew better than that. If they wanted to see him, they would approach him themself.

As if on cue, Lyra dropped their duffle by the front door and hurried into the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear. Yvonne was the first to give them a hug, quickly followed by every other member of the team, save for Landon. Elliot remained seated, head down. He couldn't initiate anything. It wasn't in his nature.

"I missed you guys!" Lyra exclaimed as she greeted each team member individually.

"It's only been three days," Landon commented.

Lyra rolled their eyes and looked at Elliot, who still refused to look up. "Elliot?" They said. Elliot glanced up, trying to keep his expression neutral. Lyra smiled at him and opened their arms. "Can I have a hug?"

Elliot nearly burst into tears upon hearing that. Immediately, he jumped up from his resting place and wrapped his arms around them. He buried his face into their shoulder, loud sobs escaping his throat.

"Oh, sunshine," Lyra whispered as she hugged him back. "I missed you so much."

Elliot wanted to respond, to tell them that he missed them too, but he couldn't bring himself to speak between his sobs. Instead, he relished their presence and the warm feeling of their arms around him.

. . .

Lyra sat on the couch, holding Elliot as tightly as they could without hurting him. His head was resting on their chest, the smallest hint of a smile on his face. They hadn't asked how things had gone while they were away. They figured that was a conversation for another time.

Elliot hadn't spoken much since they walked in, which was about what Lyra had expected. They'd only been gone for a few days, but they could only imagine all that had happened in that amount of time. They just hoped the rest of the team had treated Elliot well.

Suddenly, Lyra's ring tone sounded, startling both her and Elliot. Lyra cursed silently and smiled down at Elliot before reaching to check her phone. When she saw the name displayed, her eyes widened.

"Sorry, sunshine," she said, gently petting Elliot's hair. "I have to take this, I'll be right back."

"Is-Is everything okay?" Elliot asked, concerned.

Lyra nodded. "Everything's fine, El. I'll be right back." Lyra gently pushed Elliot off of her lap and rushed to her room to answer the call. "Gary?" She said. Gary was the director of the mission she'd just returned from.

"Hey, Lyra, how's it going?" Gary asked.

Lyra ignored his question. "Has there been any development? Have you found a new lead?"

There was silence on the other end for a bit before Gary said, "Sorry, Lye, I-I didn't mean to give you false hope. I was just calling to make sure you made it back okay." Lyra's heart plummeted. They wanted to throw their phone at the wall. The mission hadn't gone as they had hoped, and much of the frustration still lingered.

Lyra sighed. "Yeah, I made it back. Everything's fine."

A couple awkward seconds of silence followed. Then, Gary said, "How's Elliot?"

Lyra shook their head, even though they knew he couldn't see them. "He's-He's no worse. Still really jumpy and-and quiet, but-but He's doing okay. I'm sure he'll be fine...eventually."

"Well, how are you?" Gary asked. This took Lyra aback. "I know the mission didn't turn out how you wanted."

They shook their head again. "I'm fine, just...just frustrated. I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep at night knowing Christian's still out there."

"We'll find him, Lye," Gary said. "This mission may not have gotten us very far, but we'll find him, I promise. We're not going to let him get away with what he did to Elliot."

Lyra sighed. "Thanks, Gary, but it took us nearly a year and a half to find him last time. That's plenty of time for Christian to find a way to steal Elliot back, and I refuse to let that happen again. I promised Elliot that I wouldn't let anyone hurt him again."

"You're gonna have to trust me, Lye. I'll do everything I can to make sure Christian is found and apprehended."

A sudden knock at Lyra's door startled her. She sighed. "I've gotta go, Gary. Please, keep me updated if anything new comes up."

"Will do, Lye. I'll talk to you soon."

Lyra nodded. "Yeah, I hope so." With that, she hung up the phone and went to open her door. On the other side stood Karine, Broderick, Yvonne, and Landon. Lyra felt her stomach sink. "What's wrong?"

Each member of the team shared a somber look with one another before Karine fixed her eyes on Lyra and said, "We need to tell you something."

-

I don't love how this turned out, to be honest, mostly because I didn't really have time to proofread it, so sorry for any typos or anything

Taglist:

@l-antre-des-merveilles @pigeonwhumps @nicolepascaline @burningkittypoet @whumpinggrounds @suffering-and-misery @make-them-scream @honeycollectswhump @rabass

If anyone else wants to be added to or removed from the taglist, please let me know!😊

[halemerry]

you know how the instrumental version of the show must go on plays in the background while the metatron orders his coffee right? the first thing it made me think of is the moulin rouge movie where during that song satine prepares herself to go and break christian's heart to protect him from the duke. it fits nicely with the interpretation that azi isn't completely sincere and is doing what he's doing to protect crowley. but I don't know if moulin rouge is something that would inspire neil and co?? do you think it's at all possible or am I just reaching?

Ohh this is a very fun question for so many reasons, but it’s a bit hard to answer directly. I can’t speak for where any of the folks involved in the making of Good Omen’s is coming from beyond what they’ve answered themselves, but If I had to gamble on it, I’d lean toward the assumption that it’s not a direct inspiration like that.

That being said, I’m not sure how much that actually matters because whether or not people on the team making this movie sat down and said ‘oh we can do this like Moulin Rouge does’ or not there is value in looking at commonality.

And in this context especially I actually think it says more about the lexicon of culture the two pieces of media are pulling from than anything else. Because in a lot of ways they're pulling from the same one.

Both the Red Curtain Trilogy and Good Omens had their first installments release at around the same time. Good Omen's was published in 1990 and Strictly Ballroom released in 1992. They're pulling from similar palettes and touchstones which is why you get the Queen overlap. Baz Luhrmann's films, including Moulin Rouge, all lean very heavily on camp aesthetics. (It's worth noting this is partially thanks to Catherine Martin who is his go to production designer who has a heavy hand in the way his films look and is also Luhrmann's wife.) Queen is a natural choice in Moulin Rouge because the band also operates in camp spaces and is arguably the most famous example of camp from the era (which frankly have stuck around and continued to define what camp looks like to this day) and because the movie is wanting to pull big recognizable songs into it's soundtrack. Queen is camp and yet insanely popular and well received.

The joke with Queen in Good Omens also operates as a nod to the popularity of the band. I know a lot of folks that think of Queen in the context of Crowley liking the band but originally anything being left in the Bentley turning into Queen was a joke poking fun at how everyone who has any kind of physical music likely has a Queen's Greatest Hits CD.

I won't go off on a whole tangent trying to define camp here as much as part of me wants to but camp has always been tied to queer culture and queer history. Its campiness is why films like the ones in the Red Curtain trilogy (especially Romeo + Juliet imo) have had the impact they have on queer media. And Good Omens even in its original state was always something queer people looked at and thought that's me. They're both queer adjacent at minimum, they're both pulling from similar cultural touchstones which also happen to be queer and camp.

They also both operate in spaces - as camp often does - more concerned with emotional impact more than realism. And the Show Must Go on is a very emotional song. Even outside the context of the lyrics itself. The album it is on was recorded during the last year of Freddie's life and was a struggle to record both physically and mentally. It's an intense song. It's over the top and unapologetic.

It's a song about soldiering through the tough times with a smile. Of carrying on the performance under pressure even if it's hard on you to do so because it's worth it. Which is basically Aziraphale in a nutshell. It's also what Satine does in the scene you're referencing. And I quite like the idea of it as evidence that Aziraphale is putting on some kind of a performance here, even if I suspect it's less taking inspiration from Moulin Rouge and more the song being well suited to these two stories operating in similar spaces.

[dreamingquinn]

Thinkin about gender and spirituality

Preface: I don't have a real point to this. I just remembered you can basically post anything to tumblr.

My ex-mother in law said something to me the first time we met. "I've never understood queer relationships. You need the masculine and the feminine to balance eachother out... But I suppose that's why gays tend to have one masculine partner and one feminine partner."

This woman was a huge name in the druidic community of the UK. She is polyamorous. She told me that she remembered past lives and regularly saw the dead, animal and human. But she couldn't wrap her head around the idea of something outside of heteronormativity.

And she wasn't the only one in my life like that. I was basically raised a little heathen but I still grew up white in the US. Christian overtones policed my thinking and the thinking of those who influenced me. Most of my non-male partners have been feminine in their gender expression, and in turn I acted more and more masculine. I tried to fit a role based on expectations rather then what I (or even my partners) wanted.

Now I'm with someone I expect will be for life. They are 'masc' in that they are Butch. Not divorced from their womanhood even if they do not embrace that part of themselves the way someone who really enjoyed more 'typical' femininity would. Meanwhile I just bought two skirts for the first time since middleschool and I'm becoming even more comfortable with the term 'agender'.

I'm still a spiritual person, more now then when I knew and had access to people with connections in the 'neo pagan' movements. And yet every fucking time I see people talking about spirituality I still see people stumble over the ideas of the 'masculine' and the 'feminine' in nature.

My ex-MIL also said once that I should be careful not to anthropomorphize things. That my experience with a specific tree feeling safe when I was a child in need was probably just me projecting.

On this one thing, I actually agree with her. We project a lot of bullshit onto the natural world. And onto ourselves. Especially in the spiritual community. What is masculine about the sun? What is feminine about the moon? Nothing. They are objects in space with mass and gravity. Why would that make them any less magical? They still have a huge impact on our lives. The sun's impact is generally more overt. The moon's is more subtle. We can talk about these things in how they relate to us, I don't think that's unreasonable. You can't experience the world except from your own perceptions. The sun is hot and brings life but also can cause damage and death. The moon and night is cold but gives us the tides which effects us just as much but usually in ways we either live far from or don't directly think about/see.

The problem really comes in, I think, from how we don't just say 'the sun is masculine and the moon is feminine' it's how that inevitably leads us to imposing that duality onto people. People pose anthropomorphized ideas onto things that are not human and in turn try to use it as a mirror or a measuring stick to hold up against themselves or other humans. And not all cultures even believed these things or have lines drawn this strongly, I know. But I can only talk from the experience I've lived. The presence of strict ideals that specifically Christian-fascism (current and historic) have given us are so pervasive in people like me that they go completely unquestioned. Every book I read, including my ex-MIL's did nothing to question it, and in many cases actively reinforced it.

It's really no wonder that there is a fast and ugly pipeline of 'witch' to 'right-wing' if the people who position themselves as outside the mainstream culture are still just recreating it in the spaces they make.

[whoneedssexed]

Is it true that homeschooling in the U.S. is typically done for religious reasons, that's it's not regulated at all and that the children are at a disadvantage, or that they can be abused more easily? I hear about it but when looking it up all I see is stuff for COVID homeschooling reasons.

That it's typically for religious reasons? Not sure about that, especially depending on how one might define as "religious". Some people may talk about how the Christian g-d is their reasoning for pulling their kids out, but nothing they teach has anything to do with Christianity and more to do with conspiracy theories.

That it's not regulated? Unfortunately, this one is true. There are very few regulations, nobody's required to teach their children accurate information, or any information at all. There are a few regulations that basically make it so that the children/families aren't defying any compulsory education laws and the kids are accounted for, but each state is different in how this mandatory reporting works.

This is of course very dependent on what each state wants, but for the most part in the country there's very few defined rules. Here's a link that quickly goes over some of the legalities in homeschooling, and which states actually put effort towards educating children in the home.

That they are at a disadvantage? It can be true, yes, especially for the many parents who choose to "unschool" or otherwise remove schooling from their children entirely. While some have a much more structured approach on this, a lot of people have taken this to mean not even trying to educate their children. You can partly thank the internet for this, in my opinion, as it allows these types of knuckleheads to spread nonsense like that (think facebook mom type of groups).

There's also arguments made that homeschooling limits a child's social development, as they are around a lot less people and peers their age, and don't experience the typical interactions of the world.

This isn't always the case, however, as some homeschooling is done through actual programs offered by education experts, and classes kids can attend at their leisure. This allows them more socialization and to stay up to date, while also giving them the space and freedom to get what they need out of it.

So when it comes to disadvantages, it is heavily case by case.

That they are more likely to be abused? Well, it really depends on how you define abuse in this sense.

Of course, some people absolutely can and will argue that refusing to teach things like basic math or reading skills is abusive, or that forcing kids to believe your theories of the world is abusive, let alone that "withholding socialization" from them can be seen as abusive as well.

But some families abuse in ways that there are no gray areas about, such as families that intentionally leave their girls in the dark because they do not believe women have rights, or that use their older children to enforce punishment and be free babysitters under the guise of "homeschooling". These are pretty clearly abusive.

There was an uptick in abuse cases when children had to stay home as a result of the pandemic. The problem with these stats is that there are so many factors going into them that it's hard to say for certain any specific thing that makes the abuse more likely. Particularly big contributors include the stress of trying to juggle everything added with the fact that just being around someone more often increases the likelihood of abuse. These are two things that homeschooling can fall prey to.

So again, it's really a case-by-case thing.

The major problem is there isn't, and never was, a one-size-fits-all solution on education. That's why a lot of parents choose to homeschool - because their children are not succeeding in a formal public classroom as a result of needing something different than what is being presented to them. This is what a lot of parents with kids who have disabilities have to wrestle and contend with. In the same vein the lack of regulation of education can allow all the negative aspects to flourish. We see the same thing in public schools.

I'm not sure how things are run in other countries, maybe they have figured out something we haven't (which is very likely, considering the amount of things we are so far behind in).

But for the most part, what you've heard is true, it's just not always true for all homeschooled kids.

mod BP