#witch discussion

[theblasianwitch]

So as some of you may know, I am writing a book/s. And I've reached a moment of questioning myself in terms of direction with it.

The book is for creative witches. Specifically, art, music, writing, poetry, dance, et cetera et cetera.

My current stumbling block is whether or not I want to include in the book a glamour magic section and a kitchen magic section, because technically they are forms of creativity, but there are already so many books out there existing for them. So do I want to exclude these sections, or include them and just make a giant compendium of creative witchcraft?

Baring to mind that the art section alone is already 15 pages and I still plan on adding more to that section. My insecurity in this is just whether or not people would want a big book like this

[trials-of-a-spirit-worker]

I would love interaction with this cause I'm super curious.

What do your deities/guides feel like to you? Any Pantheon btw. When you know they're there, or when you feel them guiding you? What sensations do you get?

For me, Apollo is a buzzing in the back of my head when he speaks. I don't hear a voice but I hear words. Something's speaking to me I could just never hear it. But the words are there and they aren't my own. It's like an older protective figure. His touches are warm, like resting under the sunlight.

Persephone comes cooler. A small hand that touches my face and arms. It's comfort. I feel like someone's smiling whenever she's around. And it's a smile that just has you let your guard down. For some reason you just know you're fine. No matter the season she'll always be cold. But it's not a bad thing. Her presence is ridiculously heavy once you notice it. She's much more subtle than Apollo by far.

[rose-colored-tarot]

Personally I've never been a fan of the "magic is a beast that needs to be tamed" metaphor. Magic is more like the ocean: powerful, terrifying, capable of unbridled force. But at the same time, it is gentle, warm, the lifeblood of millions of people. The folk who know the ocean know you cannot harness it's force, you must work within or around it, lest it destroy you. Similarly, magic is great and terrible and gentle and kind, all at once. And those who work with it need to work WITH it, not reign over it. Because the primordial forces have no rules about biting the hand that feeds you.

[lunarharp]

What led to this (orufrey comic, cw an uncomfortable/creepy scene)

[the-eeveekins]

I love G-Witch's ending. While I do wish the journey had been longer, that we had gotten more time with the characters and the world, I would not change that destination. I still want it to end with Suletta saving her family at Quiet Zero.

"It's too happy, no one died!" I actually love this! Gundam has 45 years of bittersweet and occasionally downer endings. We can have one ending that is almost unambiguously a happy one. People always talk about finding non-violent solutions, about solving problems peacefully. And in a Gundam first, Suletta does that. She solves a violent situation with non-violence, and just this once, everybody lived!

"That was accomplished with bullshit space magic though!" Look, setting aside the fact that Bullshit Space Magic has been a part of Gundam since the original (and is often MORE bullshit in UC), this show is called The Witch From Mercury. If there was any Gundam series where Bullshit Space Magic saving the day and solving the problem is thematically appropriate and should not be an issue, it's this one.

"The bad guys lived and escaped jail!" I'm fine with this, especially since every good character survived too. And it's not like they didn't suffer any consequences. Miorine dissvolved the Benerit Group. Their empire is gone, along with their wealth and power. They may be free (for now), but they're definitely miserable. With Shaddiq's help, Miorine exposed the SAL's crimes, and considering the precarious position they were in previously, it's likely there was a major shake-up. The power structures in space were completely shaken up and changed, and much of it's power was transferred to Earth.

"What about Shaddiq?" Look, I definitely understand the contextual issues with Shaddiq being the only martyr. But in the show itself, Shaddiq accomplished his goals. He got to see the Benerit Group dissolved and their assets placed in the hands of Earthian companies, all without further violence. He secured the freedom of the women working for them, and importantly, they all now work for Miorine in her efforts to improve Earth and make reparations for Spacians. And as a last gift and blessing to Miorine and her new family, he took the fall for Quiet Zero while he was at it. Shaddiq may be imprisoned unlike the former BG members, but unlike them, he is a happy and satisfied man.

It's rare for the main characters in Gundam to enact massive, systemic change for the better, especially permanently. Amuro, Kamille and Judau did not change the world in any significant fashion. Their world was still mired in conflict after their reapective conflicts, to the point that Amuro dies in a later conflict and Judau gets so sick of things not changing for the better that he abandons Earth and later the solar system. Yet there is a lot of criticism that Suletta & Miorine didn’t solve all of Ad Stella's problems, that they did their part and peaced out. But their part was destroying the immediate threat of Gundams and Quiet Zero, they dismantled the Benerit Group power structure and put it in the hands of Earth and they exposed the SAL. They made huge changes to the world and they didn't stop. Miorine is still using her company to make amends for the BG's crimes and improve the lives of Earthians. Suletta has built a school on Mercury and is now building one on Earth. Even if they're not going to be fighting on the front lines, they're still fighting to make their world a better place.

That's not to say the ending is perfect. I don't think Nika should have spent 3 years in jail because of a guilty conscience and because Martin is a snitch. I don't think you should ruin the thematics of Suletta facing down and battling Quiet Zero by herself, but the part of me who loves to see giant robots fight wishes there could have been a way to involve the Demi-Barding, Pharact and Schwarzette in more action during the end. If not at QZ, then earlier in the series.

I personally believe a lot of the criticism of the ending boils down to preference, and people not preferring how G-Witch chose to end things, rather than those things being objectively bad. I think a lot of fans struggle to accept that G-Witch was trying to do something smaller, something different, and they still can't let go of wanting it to be something it never tried to be. Did it do what it wanted to do perfectly? Definitely not. It forgot what it was at points in S2 and I'd argue it actually cooked too good with it's background details, making people want more of something it never set out to do. But ultimately it was never trying to be a 50 episode war epic focused on the wider world. It was about these two girls and their families.

Suletta & Miorine's scene together in the wheat field on Earth is perhaps one of my favorite scenes in anime. Maybe in any media. I wouldn't trade that moment for anything short of their actual wedding.

[hagoftheholler]

I asked a friend this question and they essentially said, "That's a really deep question." So I wanna present the question to the masses to see what kind of answers I get. Take your time thinking about the question before answering.

How do you make your practice your own? Regardless of if you learned magic by yourself or with others, regardless of whether or not your practice has lineage-based or community-based traditions. What do you do to make your practice your own, unqiue and special to you?

[sexy-stable-diffusion]

[londonclubofsherwood]

As someone who has studied the history of Early Modern European witchcraft at university it is funny how many terfs spread theories as indisputable fact that are unaccepted within mainstream historical scholarship.

Yes men could be witches. No it was not a conspiracy against midwives. Yes it was rooted in misogyny and the societal disempowerment of women. No this was not the only relevant factor. Religion, class and social dynamics were also super important. Not to mention the blatant anti semitism.

The European witch hunts are such a fascinating and disturbing historical phenomenon, and I hate how it has been over simplified to support a radfem narrative.

[cieric-of-chaos]

I feel like the Scarlet Witch fandom is dying; it's not the same anymore. Please, I want to go back to 2020 to early 2023. I need more people talking about Wanda. I need more Wanda edits. I need more of us talking about Wanda like she's our wild pet hamster. I miss when normal posts about Wanda get more than 100 notes, not just smut fics. I want to see different content every time I look at the Scarlet Witch tags. I wish everyone in this fandom acted like every other fandom. Please put her in a jar and shake her...Put her in a microwave and watch her spin. God, I miss her so much. I feel like a child whose mother never returns home. I miss my angry, pathetic woman. She's such a wet cat. She's so horrible. I love her so much. She has so much potential. I hate you, Kevin Feige and Michael Waldron. All of you can disagree with me all you want, but she's literally the most interesting M*rv*l character. I am literally so scared of being completely obsessed with something new because I am afraid I am going to forget about her. I am so dramatic... I am scared of falling out of love...

[brontidepng]

infodumping

[therealamylee2]

i have a feeling elphaba already knew in her heart she was going to leave shiz and never come back, and that’s why she brought glinda along, because she wanted to at least properly say goodbye to her. 

even if everything went well with the wizard, she still would’ve left. she couldn’t deal with being under madame morrible’s thumb, couldn’t deal with the murder of dr. dillamond. she couldn’t deal with that school.

so she brought glinda along, for company, and maybe because she thought having a nice gillikinese girl along with her would help with her plea to the wizard. better presentation, a rhetoric sort of thing. but most importantly because she had a plan, a plan to say goodbye.

or, she didn’t know what she knew, she knew half of it, had half a plan. she at least knew she wasn’t ever going back to shiz. maybe a part of her hoped glinda would stay with her, would leave shiz too, if all went well with the wizard, if she didn’t have a reason to go “underground.” maybe she would’ve let glinda go underground with her, if things weren’t so dire. she'd stay up all night, nervous about their meeting with his ozness, but nervous about other things, too. how to tell her? how to tell her i’m leaving, and i want her to come with me? how to tell her i’m leaving, and i DON’T want her to come with me? not necessarily in a lovey, romantic way, but in an “acknowledging she (elphaba) can’t be alone” kind of way. she can’t be alone, not now, when she’s gotten so used to how the other half lives, but she also can’t bear to put glinda in danger. so she ponders, wondering what will happen, wondering if she’s made the right choice to have even asked glinda to come with her, if that was right of her, morally, and feeling the girl nuzzle in closer suddenly and deciding yes, she needs this.  

then it goes wrong. the wizard won’t listen. the wizard is toying with her. her plan changes and she knows glinda suddenly can’t come with her, it’d be too dangerous, she feels herself becoming too angry. it’d be asking too much, and she realizes almost with a laugh that she doesn’t know why she’d even ever thought that such a thing was possible. and it almost trips her up when glinda asks, rather frantically, where elphaba is going. she thinks for a split moment that maybe it can happen, maybe she can come, but squanders it. she kisses glinda when she leaves because it’s the best thing she can do. she kisses her twice because she needs it for herself. 

she’s been alone for so long, and being alone for longer will have to do. because it’s the right thing to do, and elphaba always tries to do the “right” thing.

and glinda’s crying, because she’s now lost two very important people in her life. because her elphie doesn’t care about her.

and elphaba isn’t crying. because if she did, she wouldn’t be able to stop.

[the-fox-jawed-witch]

What are your thoughts on Spirit Halloween? Do you think it's wrong for a Halloween store to sell witchcraft items? Do you think the store is "appropriating" witchcraft? Or do you think that it's a good place to shop for witchcraft items that haven't been doused with incense and fake energy?

Imo, I think Spirit Halloween is awesome! It sells the spookier, "darker" side of Witchcraft items and can be a good place for witches who practice the spookier side of witchcraft to buy items. Idk what it is exactly, but Spirit Halloween always seems to have better vibes than all the other "live and light" stores. Maybe because they don't sell Dreamcatchers, Sage, and Chakra related items like the "love and light" ones do. Spirit Halloween seems to sell (I wouldn't say authentic items, but possibly real/er items.)

I know it's a Halloween store, but it feels better walking in there than it does to walk into any of the "legit" witchcraft stores I've ever been to.

[lunarharp]

Very important conferences.

[diakitty]

German in Black Butler Emerald Witch Arc.

Now that it's most likely that we will see an Emerald Witch anime adaptation in the near future, I've had this one question for a while — how will they handle German language in this arc (I'm talking about the original Japanese dub but I guess this question could apply to the English dub as well)? A lot of characters speak German and I don't think that they will simply disregard it, also considering they used French in the Murder Mystery arc. What do you think?

Also I hope there won't be huge gap of 7 years between arcs again.

[rileyisclass]

Pentiment was designed to inflict way, way more circumstances in which you might say "Actually, it's Early Modern not Medieval" only to receive the same stares as when you correct characters' Latin.

[puppyeared]

When you backread through a fun conversation you had with someone for hours an angel gets its wings