#worldly tool

[mondoreb]

End Times Prophecy Headlines: May 30, 2023

End Times Prophecy Report.com HEADLINES TUESDAY May 30, 2023 And OPINION “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” —Matthew 24:4 “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.” —Fyodor Dostoevsky ===INTERNATIONAL UKRAINE: Explosions heard in Kyiv after intense drone attacks RUSSIA: Russia has launched its ‘largest…

[messiahzzz]

thank you sm for the ask!! 💕 i’m glad you enjoy my posts and it is not a strange request by any means!

note: this is merely my read on gale’s sexual preferences/kinks. i don’t want to police anyone on their headcanons or claim they are “incorrect”. since the game doesn’t provide too much detail, many things remain up to interpretation. (and lest we forget fanfiction has always encouraged the exploration of dynamics that may not be present in canon.)

gale is a character who isn’t interested in walking the straight and narrow route. he is all about new experiences, favoring non-traditional means, putting his own spin on things, and the thrill of seeking the forbidden. the sheer romance of the uncharted and the unknown. he is enthusiastic in almost every aspect and possesses an infectious zest for life. in regards to his sexual preferences, this translates into an eagerness to explore, witness new sensations, and reach new heights together. while approaching the topic of sexuality with a generally playful, adventurous attitude.

if you’re looking for harder kinks, however — i don’t believe gale is the character for you. and in case it needs to be said again: there is nothing wrong with being vanilla.

initially, i see gale as a switch, who gravitates more towards assuming a dominant role, due to his ever-present desire to give and to impress. i do think he enjoys giving up control, yet you still have to actively convince him to let himself go and be spoiled for once. his first focus will always be to fulfill his partner's needs and drown them in his all-encompassing love and adoration. i also believe that gale will grow more comfortable with being the center of attention, once their relationship has reached a point of total security (and he had ample opportunities to show in just how many ways he can wow them). gale is not a strict dom, nor a sub. in his ideal relationship roles would be discarded entirely, deeming them too restrictive in his expression of intimacy with a trusted partner. it’s all about variety and ridding oneself of the shackles of the worldly, after all. melting into one perfect whole, not knowing where he ends and his partner begins.

gale: we are all sensual vessels. illusory magic lets us sail farther, and feel more deeply.

gale: [..] i could use the weave to make us feel sensations beyond reckoning.

based on what we know about gale, these could be some of his kinks:

lots of praise (this is non-negotiable), sensation/temperature play (waxplay, electrostimulation/all the many perks magic has to offer), sensory deprivation, light restrictions and bondage, the occasional roleplay, katoptronophilia (self-explanatory), altered mental-states (hypnosis, psychedelics), orgasm control & denial, body worship, olfactophilia and given his propensity towards verbosity: narratophilia and some very inventive dirty talk. as for my own self-indulgent take: due to the recurring emphasis on hands during his romance, as well as his being the main tool in how he shapes and navigates the world: quirofilia.

nodecontext: flustered, standing in front of his romance partner in bondage gear. not necessarily uncomfortable with the bondage aspect, just trying to stay focused.

now, what are gale’s hard-limits?

gale, after the player received loviatar's blessing: your hide, your choice. not quite my cup of tea though.

while projecting your own kinks and fantasies onto fictional characters is fine and well, disregarding and ignoring the source material (and the character's stated boundaries) is another matter entirely. fanon!gale is rather ooc and very different from his canon portrayal, which is something that tends to irk me. although this remains a common fandom phenomenon.

personally, i don’t see gale as someone who enjoys pain of any kind, be it giving or receiving (with the exception of spanking and light choking, if a certain mood strikes. although it is kept mostly playful). contrary to what fandom may claim, having self-worth issues, being loquacious, emotionally expressive, and vulnerability-seeking (as well as being commonly perceived as arrogant and insufferable) doesn't automatically equal having repressed masochistic tendencies. he could be convinced to dip a toe into sadism, but only upon his partner’s insistence. although i doubt he himself would find enjoyment in that.

the same applies to degradation/humiliation. i doubt that a character who is still very much struggling with inherent self-worth issues and a general feeling of being defective/not worthy would derive sexual gratification from being degraded. yes, it can certainly be healing for some, but gale doesn’t strike me as someone who would find particular enjoyment in that. quite the contrary, actually. nor would he like to do the degrading for that matter (he would vehemently refuse. all he wants to do is sing your praises.) gale wouldn’t enjoy being leashed and/or collared in any way either. the prospect of being tied up or restricted is rather intriguing, cause it serves to center one’s vulnerability while also allowing for more intense sensations. anything that taps into the puppy play/slave territory tho? he would find it demeaning… and, quite frankly, silly.

gale is also not a voyeur, nor a cuck. the entire scene with the drow twins leans way too much into dub-con territory for my tastes. the only way you can get him to participate at all is by rolling a persuasion check with DC 25. in every other dialogue option, he immediately (and explicitly) declines. even if you do manage to pass the persuasion check, he is still very hesitant about participating.

gale: i might enjoy watching you tangled up with the drow, as long as i was five paces back.

he then immediately runs from the room, because sending a simulacrum in his place was the only way to somewhat remove himself from the situation while still being able to please tav. because of course he wants to please and clearly this is important to tav so he might just… have to discard his reservations and... just go through with it?!

gale: well i suppose it would do no good to back out now. let us begin this little anthropological study, if we must.

i am aware that fandom uses the fact that his “orb lit up in telltale excitement” as a justification that persuading him was the right choice, as well as confirmation that he was secretly into it and “just needed a little push" to explore his desires/get out of his comfort zone. that implication alone is very suspect and goes straight into the sort of logic abusers often use. you can be physically aroused by certain scenes, images, or sounds, even while being visibly uncomfortable with the presented scenario. it is a natural response that you can’t often control. which is what he is showing throughout the entire scene: discomfort. he was coerced into this situation, without any prior discussion or an opportunity to talk about his boundaries. furthermore, this is what he has to say if you approach him after the threesome:

gale: ahem. i hope you're not here to ask about our recent, erm, activities. i'd rather those were consigned to the footnotes of our romance, if it's all the same with you.

since he is strictly monogamous, any arrangement involving another person is also a no. he made this rather clear when tav sought him out after receiving halsin's proposal. him being monogamous isn't solely rooted in his trauma, it isn't something he has to “overcome” in order to heal, nor does it mean that their relationship is any less fulfilling. call him greedy, stubborn, or old-fashioned, but he cannot comfortably agree to that.

[selineram3421]

*lies awake at night and has an idea*

[Its 4 a.m. by the way.]

Other Worldly

Prologue

Alastor X Shy Reader

(Oneshot turned short story)

Warnings? ⚠

⚠ selectively mute reader, mentions of death-drowning, shaking head = no, signing-ASL ⚠

They were an oddity.

How could such a meek and bashful thing like them end up in this fiery inferno.

Alastor watched from the bar as they bumped into the check-in counter and squeaked before getting off balance and falling.

Clumsy, jumpy, barely making a sound other than some odd squeaks.

Yes, they were quite the wonder.

An entertaining one.

❇

You were somewhat new to Hell. At least two weeks in.

There was an accident where you worked in the aquarium and well..you kinda caused a mass drowning? It sounds impossible but it happened.

It was very challenging to get up after your fall, but you managed and wound up at the hotel.

With the help of the Princess, you were able to figure out what kind of demon you are. It came with pros but it also came with cons. One con being that you couldn't speak unless you wanted to hypnotize someone.

It made you a little sad, but also relieved. You didn't do well around others, too shy to speak up or get involved with anything that put you in the spotlight.

Maybe it was for the best.

There would be one thing you wouldn't give up though.

❇

Alastor was in the hotel's library.

There wasn't a whole lot of demons coming into this room, especially after some guests saw him walk in here a few times.

It didn't matter. At least there were multiple things that could entertain him. A small music room with instruments, projectors in another with film reels and other types of tapes, and the most dazzling room of all was the astronomy room.

The Princess made sure to have this room's dome ceiling painted with an accurate mural of the Earth's night sky.

Deciding to mess with the trinkets on the shelves, the demon in red walked towards the back of the room and glanced at the star charts. Tapping at some of the books and measuring tools on the desk nearby before sitting down on a chair.

No one ventured this far into the library. He was probably the only demon who knew of this room's existence.

And then he heard something.

Someone had entered the room.

Turning around and looking between the shelves, Alastor spots the timid demon that he enjoys flustering so much near the armillary sphere in the middle.

A little spook wouldn't be too bad.

He thought with a small grin, starting to summon up a shadow creature. However both dissipated when there was a note sung into the air.

"Let's go in the garden

You'll find something waiting

Right there where you left it lying upside down

When you finally find it, you'll see how its faded

The underside is lighter when you turn it around "

The Radio Demon sat there, mouth agape as they sang.

"Everything stays right where you left it

Everything stays

But it still changes

Ever so slightly, daily and nightly

In little ways, when everything stays "

Like a siren- a water sprite? A nymph? It was hard to pinpoint what he could compare their voice to.

It was other worldly.

Their voice echoed due to the room's acoustics.

He didn't notice that he had gotten out of the chair, didn't notice he was making his way towards them, didn't notice when they stopped singing until they gasped.

Blinking out of his trance, he found them facing him and covering their mouth with their hands. A panicked look in their eyes.

"You stopped.", Alastor spoke up. "Why not finish?"

They shook their head quickly and backed away.

Before he could say something else, they moved their arms down, one made into a fist on their chest and moving in a circle clockwise. Then they ran out. (Sorry)

He stood there for a while, his smile widening. Maybe there was more to them than he thought.

How interesting~

I'm still on break but I couldn't help myself with this one. 🐚 (Old note)

~Seline, the person.

Part 1

.

Alastor ML I🎙 | ChL OW🦀

[cavegirlpoems]

The Beast & The Church in 'Black Death Rising'

I'm writing a religious horror rpg, in which the End Of Days is in full swing in 15th century Europe. I figured it'd be worth it to talk about that game's religious perspective.

So I'm going to do something inadvisable, and talk about religion from a christian perspective. (religious/setting design ramblings under the cut)

Some context. I'm a quaker; for those less invested in minor christian dissenter sects, I'll give a brief summary. Quakers are a sect going back to the 17th century, with a strong focus on egaletarianism and individual conscience. No clergy or heirarchy, no formalised doctrines, and - historically and currently - a lot of focus on social justice issues. Honesty, equality, pacifism and simplicity as core value. So that's the overview.

This is, you will note, a stark contrast to a lot of what Christianity is currently, and has historically been. Which is to say, quite often on the side of the wealthy, the societally entrenched, and the oppressive.

I am also, as it happens, very openly and obviously queer. As you can imagine, this makes me really quite uncomfortable in a lot of 'christian spaces'.

So. Let's turn our attention to the Book of Revelations, as the various ideas in there are a lot of the game's inspiration. Revelations is written extremely abstractly, with dense metaphorical language rather than a direct accounting of events. There are, needless to say, a wide variety of ways to interpret the text, but I will focus on my own.

A key feature of Revelations is the subversion of religion; the idea of a false prophet turning religion away from its moral/spiritual purpose, and making it a tool for politics, leading to the rise of 'the beast' to power. It's made clear that as the beast seizes power, it goes on to use that power to persecute the outgroup (with whom the text's sympathies lie) and that a church controlled by and reverent of the beast becomes evil and totalitarian, leading to widespread suffering.

The parallels to the state of christianity in the modern day are, to my mind, quite apt. A wide faction - 'conservative christianity' to be polite about it, or christian nationalism to be more blunt - aligns itself with the oppresser over the oppressed, concerns itself with worldly wealth and power, and is actively and openly and inexorably tied to dangerous political forces. That mainstream christianity frequently acts in support of fascism is hard to miss.

There is a particular horror, I think, to seeing representations of one's faith hollowed out and distorted, emptied of their spiritual value and instead becoming a tool for evil. The perversion of what should be sacred has a huge potential for horror.

This is, after all, a particular horror one encounters in a regular basis in the real world. I mean, fuck, one simply needs to see Kenneth Copeland speak for 30 seconds to get a sense of something deeply, deeply wrong.

So, this is the horror the game seeks to capture and accentuate. The sense of what should be holy having been emptied out and used for evil. The twisting of faith to become a tool for fascism.

To this end, the game treats aspects of Revelations quite literally. The Beast is, in fact, the leader of a vast and horrible fascist empire that is the cause of misery on a vast scale. Key to this is the total cooption of the church. The 'pope' is a reanimated corpse issueing proclamations at the Beast's direction, and the church is an engine of propaganda and inquisition that serves to enforce the empire's orthodoxy and stoke hatred against the Empire's outgroups.

This is not to say that faith is absent, but those possessing true spiritual conviction (and with it, in some cases, the ability to perform miracles) are definitively outside the church; actual faith is the domain of religious dissenters and heretics. PC clerics are not members of the church, they're actively persecuted by that church for - essentially - their refusal to spiritually sell out.

(Also, critically, miracles are not the sole domain of christianity; the game treats Jewish and Muslim figures as equally capable of performing miracles, and grants relics associated with those religions equal potency to christian ones; what matters is spiritual conviction, not one's specific denomination).

Other aspects of The Beast's Empire followed from this. Inquisitors and paramilitary agents are common enemies, and the 'seven heads and ten horns' are taken to represent The Beasts inner circle of most powerful servants.

In particular, I've given the Beast's empire it's own form of magic, Defixion, with the name taken from old roman curse-tablets. Defixion is, essentially, the magic of spiritually selling out. In exchange for eroding the user's soul, they become bound to The Beast and his empire; this gives him incredible power over them, but also grants them power based on their position within the Empire's heirarchy. Importantly, it's totally, one-hundred-percent off limits to player characters; playing as the fascists simply exists outside the scope of the game. Instead, Defixion is an explanation for why the Empire's agents have scary monster stat-blocks.

The choice of what to make The Mark Of The Beast was surprisingly easy; it's a cross, the same one that is embraced by fascist groups such as Stormfront.

(This also ties in with the use of the inverted cross as a counter-cultural icon; it's historically been a symbol of humility before God, and in the modern age is associated with strongly anti-church sentiments. In a setting where the church has turned away from God and towards hateful political power, those two meanings can go hand in hand.)

In conclusion: "I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards."

[saintmaudes]

Sacred odors then were notably complex. As in the graves of would-be saints, the smell of sanctity often mingled with the stench of decay and death. Ancient cities, Thurkill wrote, were characterized by “the stench of human excrement, refuse and disease, accompanied with soothing floral scents and perfumes.” Sacred smells like frankincense and myrrh were used over the centuries to demarcate sacred space—but also to disinfect and disguise putrid areas. […]

This gave holy smells a fundamentally paradoxical nature. In a world where breathing foul-smelling air was seen as the cause of many diseases, incense was seen as a barrier against illness, and, with its holy associations, against demonic possession. But equally, powerful scents could be used to disguise a deeper decay, or to tempt the pious with worldly delights and bodies. Even bad smells had an ambiguous quality. After all, the rotting stench of a starved ascetic’s mouth was simply more proof of his profound holiness.

It’s this ambiguity about smell, […] that gives scent its power as a theological tool. In addition to its flexible moral significance, the experience of an odor often reflects our understanding of divinity. Like God, smell can surround you from an indeterminate source, filling spaces with its invisible presence. But unlike sound, which might do the same, to experience a smell it must first be taken within, in an act–breathing–that is both life-giving and volitional.

—John Last, The Centuries-Long Quest for the Scent of God, Noema Magazine

[lewiscarrolatemybrain]

Never getting over the fact that Lan Wangji named both of his spiritual tools after himself.

Like obviously we all know about the guqin, we all make fun of the guqin, Wangji named his spiritual instrument Wangji, it’s very funny.

But people Do Not talk enough about the fact that the name Wangji means to be free of worldly concerns, and Bichen means the same thing.

This man named his spiritual weapons Lan Zhan Jr and Mini-Zhan. I love him so much.

[lets-try-some-writing]

Hello! I recently read your Rites of Cybertron post about the major thirteen holidays for the original Thirteen Primes, but there were only twelve holidays in the post. Is there a holiday for Solus? What would it be like?

WHOOPS totally forgot Solus in my tired writing haze. Here the link to the previous post.

The Rite of Embers

Solus Prime is a legendary figure in Cybertronian mythology. She represents life, creativity, femininity, fertility, and so much more. Her core symbolism shifts entirely depending on city and world (in the case of Caminus particularity). However, there has been one great holiday reserved for her and her great deeds.

The cycle is dedicated to connection and healing. It is a holiday for those with bonds, lovers, friends, family, anyone who has worldly connection. It begins days before the actual holiday as every bot prepares a gift to give to someone special. It is traditional to make a gift personally, but that doesn't stop mecha from hawking their wares deca-cycles in advance. Despite that, most do craft their own gifts and prepare to offer them at first light on the cycle of the rite. Most of the time, the young prepare simple things such as armor attachments and small tools with symbols carved into them. Mentors will offer their wards things that are useful, a way to show their young one that they care while also preparing them for the world ahead of them. Meanwhile friends and lovers will exchange items of personal significance, usually objects that mean nothing to others.

It is a special thing to take a gift. Usually it is something that can be worn or otherwise carried without issue, and so mecha make a point of showing off their gifts. Once gifts have been received, mecha take time to dedicate to working on something together. Solus was a Prime of the forge. It is only right that her holiday allow bonded bots to work to create something together. Families will often prepare meals, especially if they are poorer. Younger companions will usually create jewelry or be "rebellious" by painting each other as a way to show that they helped "forge" the other. Lovers and friends will generally use their respective skillsets to produce items that showcase their unity. Ratchet, Jazz, and Orion Pax made quite a few elegant dagger pens that also doubled as scalpels.

The Rite of Embers ends with every bot, young and old, building a fire, large or small. They then pray beside it, not moving until the fire has burned down to embers in remembrance of Solus Prime's mighty life and unfortunate fall. Those who adhere to the old faith will skip the gift giving entirely and instead use their great bonfires to forge weapons and tools, each made unique. They do this to remember Solus's purpose and kindness in arming her brethren. They take her example very seriously.

[the-fluffy-folio]

False Fae – Small aberration, chaotic evil

Sculpted from eldritch matter; steered by an other-worldly mind. When a spirit of the false fae holds on to a mortal form for too long, it gets trapped in it. Steadily, it builds its cage of flesh, knowing too well that it will break free again anyway – just on another day. As vile as this metamorphosis may sound, the false fae enjoys its stay. Maliciously laughing, it tinkers and schemes; spitefully dancing, it finds itself in places where it can spread its wickedness – be it the well-renowned bakery selling delicate cakes and cookies or a wintery workshop where it diligently constructs cursed toys, tools and instruments.

🔮 If you like my work, kindly consider to support me on Patreon to gain access to monster pages, tokens & artwork of over 220 quirky creatures as well as dozens of potion & item cards based on their lore.

[xylionet]

Clone Force 99 was in trouble

We don’t really talk about just how bad a situation CF99 was in post-Aftermath.

So we have a group of guys who have been raised as soldiers and have functioned in a military their entire lives. They have been fed, clothed and supplied by a military their entire lives. Zero experience with anything else. And then they have to run away from everything they know with nothing but a ship, whatever is on that ship, whatever they are wearing and +1 child.

We then see that they really have no clue how to function outside the military. They have a fairly limited understanding of the value of a dollar. They do not know how to get a job, despite having valuable skills. There’s no indication they are living anywhere but on their fairly small ship.

Most importantly, they are unable to identify that they are being financially manipulated by Cid. Tech occasionally mentions that she’s unreliable and shorting them pay, but none of them seem to understand that she is systematically taking advantage of them. Cid is effectively a loan shark, intentionally locking them in with arbitrary debt and using their financial naivety to keep them working for her.

Echo is the only one to point out that they could just leave, but they don’t. Rex even comes along and offers them a way out. Hunter isn’t wrong to say they want something different, but he’s struggling to achieve that and doesn’t really know what the options are.  It kind of feels like he misses the big picture of what is being offered.

Rex is in a much better position because he is a bit more worldly but also has support from Ahsoka and other contacts outside the military. People who can help him with all of the things that CF99 is struggling with. He also has a goal and a sense of community with other clones that CF99 lacks.

It does feel like CF99 takes comfort in having a chain of command and being in a position where someone is taking care of supplying them, even though it’s actually digging them a deeper hole. It isn’t until mid-Season 2 when Phee comes along and introduces them to a community that they start learning how to cope outside of those structures.

Crosshair is kind of in the opposite situation. He’s still getting supplied by the military but he’s also getting love bombed by the fascists with his fancy new title and all the fun explosives and stuff. He thinks he’s being valued for being special, rather than being used as a convenient tool. He feels like they could just have all this great stuff too, if only they come join the Empire, when in reality he is also in a lot of danger.

It’s rather ironic that Crosshair and Hunter are both able to see each other’s situations for what they are, but not their own.

[generouspersonamano]

I have been praying to God over many things. People are so deceived. Satan is playing our country, our leaders and politicians, like puppets. Everyone is filled with fear and anger, all emotional and very little reason. The Bible is either ignored or being used as a tool to misguide people to do things in the "name of God" which are not according to His will. So, I pray for His wisdom and strength, to have faith in Him, and turn away from worldly rhetoric.

[talonabraxas]

Advanced Kali Mantras

Note: These Mantras are very powerful and will definitely bring results. If you are a beginner it may be safer to start off with the simple mantras first because these Mantras can manifest unease.

Kali: The Power of Destruction of Negative Ego

Excerpted from Shakti Mantras: Tapping into the Great Goddess Energy Within

If you are impatient in your worldly or spiritual pursuits, Kali is for you. She is the fast track, often on a bumpy road, to problem solution and spiritual advancement. When called by mantras that carry her vibrations, Kali responds with a direct power that often leads right through some cherished part of our ego attachments. Her power tools are the Kundalini Shakti (the power of spiritual electricity); the Kriya Shakti, the power to creatively affect the universe; and Iccha Shakti, the power of will that personally compels our physical movements and actions, while in the universe it causes the galaxies to rush away from one another into cosmic night. Although she puts “effective” before “gentle,” it should also be noted that even in the midst of the sometimes turbulent effects she produces, Kali is a repository of great compassion.

General Kali Mantra for Relief from Difficult Circumstances

This mantra can be used to bring one very quickly into balance or alignment with regard to a specific situation. The results can be dramatic and even unpleasant, even if they are ultimately the most compassionate. For instance, if you are having problems with a relationship and you use this Kali mantra to invoke her help with the problem, the relationship may end abruptly, even though this is not the outcome you desired. Conversely, a marriage possibility could develop much more quickly from a relationship than you might have desired or felt ready for. Whatever the issue, Kali gets right to the point and lets your ego attachments fall where they may. She is concerned with whatever will be the most beneficial outcome for you from a karmic standpoint, period.

Um Klim Kalika-yei Namaha [Dm Kleem Kah-lee-kah-yea Nahm-ah-hahl

“Om and salutations. I attract she who is dark and powerful.”

Spiritual Evolution Mantra That Is Quick, Powerful, and Unyielding

There is also a longer form of the above mantra that relates to Kali as the destroyer of negative ego on the one hand, and the provider of a very fast route to spiritual liberation on the other. It would be difficult for you to discover this mantra, usually referred to simply and mysteriously as the Great Fifteen-Syllable Mantra. If you decide to work with this mantra, please have extra patience with yourself. Because it can work quickly, it may also cause some turmoil in your daily life.

The mantra will bring to the surface aspects of our ego that we have decided are “OK.” We all become comfortable with ourselves in certain contexts. We know who we are, make allowances for our aberrant behavior, and fool ourselves that we are trying hard and doing the best we can. But if those internal qualities are truly not beneficial to us, this mantra will begin to eradicate even those characteristics we may have decided are “OK,” and want to keep. If we are determined to hold on to parts of ourselves that are based on a deluded sense of satisfaction, particularly if our behavior is less than ideal, then Kali will come to our aid with a stainless-steel, scalpel-like precision.

When we invoke Kali through this mantra, we are saying, “I want true spiritual advancement by the most powerful and direct route, the consequences to my ego notwithstanding.” So if you pick this route, its only fair that you know what you are in for. It will be intense, possibly unnerving, probably uncomfortable, certainly disruptive to one or more aspects of your mundane life, and also very effective in a short amount of time.

Om Hrim Shreem Klim Adya Kalika Param Eshwari Swaha [Om Hreem Shreem Kleem Ahd-yah Kah-lee-kah Pah-rahm Ehsh-wah-ree Swah-hah]

“Om and salutations to She who is the first one, dark within her own reality, the supreme primordial feminine, who cuts through illusion to the unabridged truth of existence.”

Kali: Seated on a corpse, greatly terrifying, laughing loudly, with fearful fangs, four arms holding a cleaver, a skull, and giving the mudras bestowing boons and dispelling fear, wearing a garland of skulls, her tongue rolling wildly, completely naked (digambara – clad in the directions), thus one should meditate on Kali, dwelling in the centre of the cremation ground.

The Kali Mantra as given in the Mantra Mahodadhi is:

“Kreem Kreem Kreem Hum Hum Hreem Hreem Dakshine KaalikaKreem Kreem Kreem Hum Hum Hreem Hreem Swaha”

It bestows the eight supernatural powers.

The Kali Tantra gives details of the puja of Kalika:-

“Now I speak of the ritual injunction which is the all-nectar-giver of the Devi. Doing this, a person becomes like Bhairava.

“Firstly, I speak of yantra, the knowing of which conquers death. At first draw a triangle. Outside, draw another. Then draw three more triangles. “Draw a circle and then a beautiful lotus. Then draw another circle and then a bhupura with four lines and four doors. This is how the cakra should be drawn.

“Worship the guru line, the six limbs, and the dikpalas (The eight, or according to some, ten guardians of the directions, ed.). Then the mantrin should place his head at the feet of the guru.

“O dearest one, after worshipping the pedestal, set down the offering. Place the mantra in the six limbs. Then, within the heart lotus, the ultimate Kala blossoms.

“Place her in the centre of the yantra by invoking her (via the breath). After meditating on the great goddess, dedicate the ritual offerings. Bow to Mahadevi and then worship the surrounding deities.

“Worship Kali, Kapalini, Kulla, Kurukulla, Virodhini, Vipracitta in the six angles. Then Ugra, Ugraprabha, Dipta in the middle. Then Nila, Ghana and Balaka in the inner angle. Then Matra, Mudra and Mita within this triangle, and then the very dusky one holding the sword, adorned with human skulls, with her left hand showing the threatening mudra and having a pure smile.

“Worship the eight mothers Brahmi, Narayani, Maheshvari, Chamunda, Kaumari, Aparajita, Varahi and Narasimhi.

“In equal shares, give these devis animal sacrifice and worship them, smearing them with scent and offering incense and flame. After doing the puja, worship using the root mantra.

“Give food and so forth to the Devi again and again. The sadhaka should offer flame ten times. So also he should offer flower with mantra according to the rules of ritual.

“After meditating on Devi, recite the mantra 1,008 times. The fruit of reciting, which is light, place in the hands of the Devi.

“Then, placing the flower on the head, do prostration. With supreme devotion, then rub out (the yantra).”

Kali Ma by @lbustamante

[dontbelasagne]

to invoke a fear...

I'm very late posting this but in honour of TMA rising out of the flames and each haunting episode of The Magnus Protocol we have recieved, I have come up with incantations/invocations similar to Jon's "Ceaseless Watcher, turn your gaze upon..." chant for the other entities we see throughout The Magnus Archives. its mostly for fun, but I tried to capture the personality of each fear to mirror how an avatar would express such morbid annunciation :)

ripen this flesh with gruelling guts that devour and mark with eloquent cuts. take what is sacred and make it equal, for all meat is drowned in its own bloodied treacle. hack away at your sense of mortality, your body is pungent with fatty vitality, digest that last ounce of copius sanity and become one with The Flesh in all its totality.

- The Flesh

call to arms and construct your sick barricade, made of chanting screams and an unending human palisade. the piper demands you line up for ransom, let your mind be frenzied to fuel your brutal anthem. extricate your tools and be ready for The Slaughter, there is no set time for bodies in the water.

- The Slaughter

you need not run, for the darkness is patient. in the corner of your eye Mr Pitch remains latent. encroaching in the night, outstaying its welcome. each blink a reminder that safety is seldom. its blanketed grip won't let you be free of what the shifting shadows can always carry. it hides in the places you cannot see, for in The Dark you cannot flee.

- The Dark

will you remain the hunted prey, that sweats and stinks the path in hungering array. you cannot satisfy the everchase, it will feast and feast on your endangered place. so run, little wanderer, wary of your being, only ever good for heart-thumping fleeing. let your breaths arrive in laboured panting, for The Hunt will always sense if you'll be left standing.

- The Hunt

fold into yourself and cripple that heart, for you are alone and alone you'll depart. waste away at your own lack of humanity, the fog will uncover all your human fallacy. fade away like frivolous smoke, don your pretence of an obscuring cloak. and relinquish connection for The Lonely doesn't cling, only your sick solitude it will bring.

- The Lonely

pick apart those sudden thoughts, no way to know how it contorts. winding, finding your way through, I'm sure there is some clue. leave what that mind says, for look again it is Not What it is. twisting, visiting a place of no mind, you'll be sure to know the doorways to find. it's easy to let go, come down The Spiral, and be sure to refute that pesky denial.

- The Spiral

are you sure that is you? with a face so adjusted that it begs the question if it is at all naturally constructed. peer through those absent waxed eyes, The Doll Maker will offer a suprise to your first taste at a porcelain smile, it'll be so worthwhile. do not fret at becoming The Stranger, you'll only pose as senseless danger.

- The Stranger

take this breath and fill it with clay, for you will never again see the day. a grave is waiting, alloted in the ground, to crush your bones, so brittle it won't be found. the weight of others all around, so close that you choke, yet make no sound. lay down and succumb to The Buried, for that body will constrict and be stubbornly wearied.

- The Buried

slough off that mottled skin with putrid holes that leak out things that crawl and creep and scuttle and speak of misery to be worshipped until you hatch that crawling rot. let it recede and uncover the disease, to rejoice in The Corruption out of your filthy predeliction.

- The Corruption

The Mother of Puppets will care for you my dear, don't worry for there is nothing to fear. let go of that innocent worldly desire, do not look to those who only conspire. you won't be safe outside of this cocoon, on the peripheries those spiders loom. come hither and rest on The Web, as the strands of your life fall and eb.

- The Web

ignite the blackened flame that consumes the heart, as each beat you increasingly depart from all that you love as it burns to crisp with every connection becoming a smoky wisp. the poisonous wax only drips further, as you become your own selfish burner. let this light guide you to The Desolation, choking on the smoke of your lost machination.

- The Desolation

there is no need to beg this is simply Terminus, not everything will be alive and feverously continuous. it is lavish to think of equal permanence, so resign to your fate and the universes ordinance. death awaits with weary bones to share the fatigue of a weighted throne, and rejoice with souls who call and lament that this is The End, it is your final descent.

- The End

look at you, in this magnitude of inproportionate calamity that sizes you down to microbial plurality. let yourself be enveloped by the dizzying expanse, we are all pale dots in the universes glance. enjoy sky blue and witness The Vast, can you bare the weight on your bones made of glass?

- The Vast

bring upon the silent decay, delivering life with forbidden foray. eeking out products and sustenance that glitch, don't forget this will only enrich. who's to say what is unnatural? it'll all slog into the ground both new and perpetual. plant those seeds of The Extinction, and sow your last destructive conviction.

- The Extinction

[mr-president]

i think one of my favorite o’saa character moments (other than the confession booth scene ofc) is the bookstore scene bc there it becomes incredibly apparent how close-minded someone supposedly seeking enlightenment can be, especially regarding emotion/compassion

i say this bc it a) shows just how much of an sad pretentious bitch he actually is (karin LITERALLY calls him a “sad man”) and b) it serves as criticism to those in academia/scholarship in an “apply your politics/philosophies to people sort of way”

like, he criticizes a fucking bookstore as a method of “escapism,” as if the fictional world writers create is completely removed from reality, when in fact fiction and stories have always been a tool to help people understand their reality better. fiction can be raw escapism but it often helps us understand our emotions, other people/cultures, and what’s wrong with a little escapism if it even helps you a little bit? that’s not to say he’s wrong—if you want to understand the world then perhaps it is best to see it for yourself—but o’saa doesn’t consider how not everyone had the same options he did, has his willingness to abandon everything in pursuit of a greater goal.

o’saa wants so desperately to understand the world better than anyone else that he completely forgoes the fact that emotions are just as much a guiding factor in the world as any “magic”/science he studies to further his understanding of it. what he views as “reality” is just one aspect of it; yes, gods do in fact control the world and influence it, but that’s only on the most macro scale. but the mundane, arguably, affects peoples lives even more, and isn’t it worthy to understand that as well?

the confession booth scene shows that he’s capable of understanding the emotions of others, but the bookstore scene reveals that there’s a level of elitism to his beliefs and philosophy.

in other words, though he’s a genius, o’saa lacks compassion.

this can be said for a lotta the enlightened souls that we’ve seen actually—nas’hrah’s a complete bastard, valtei can suck my balls, and enki’s a bitch. only nosramus is quite friendly, and he’s also the only one to figure out true enlightenment on his own.

anyway back to o’saa and the bookstore. all of the other playable characters call him out on his bullshit because stories have the power to help people, change them, or even save them. o’saa, in his mad quest for enlightenment, hasn’t really changed as a person, has he? he himself says in his intro that ever since he left home, he hasn’t felt a genuine emotion. that allows him to see how religion manipulates masses of people, to relentlessly pursue enlightenment without worldly ties—

but the bookstore scene shows that you kinda need “worldly ties” to achieve enlightenment because as nosramus said, the world is constantly changing and enlightenment is not one sudden change. rather, it is continuous, and you have to consider everything.

and i like to think that in that moment, getting shat on by his party members about his shitty literary opinions, he maybe realized something like that.

he doesn’t have a nosramus to anchor his pretentiousness like enki did, but i think a lotta the themes of funter (fear & hunger: termina) is how relationships formulate and change people.

o’saa didn’t need nas’hrah, he needed someone to tell him that he’s a stupid pretentious little shit and to stop drawing himself as a mary sue. and then be his friend anyway and listen to his batshit insane conspiracy theories (that are true).

tldr; he’s like me when i was 11 basically.

[beelze-bruh]

The Skalatites are a sophont species originating from the planet Agarat, where all organisms are descended from nanotechnological cellular life with several inorganic qualities. They primarily communicate with each other through radio waves broadcasted by their antenna, though they've since invented speaker-like devices that can convert these signals into an audible language when communicating with other alien species. Their vast lifespans can reach over 300 years under natural circumstances and their civilization boasts a complex and storied history that has spanned over 520 million years, surviving several extinction events and apocalyptic scenarios. Using genetic engineering of their planet's nanotechnological life, they've created by far the most advanced technology known to the universe, most notably warp travel, gravity manipulation, and the living starships and space stations that have allowed them to colonize and terraform planets across space. Using these tools, they've created the intergalactic collective of sophont societies known as The Ecosystem, whose primary goal is the preservation of all intelligent life in the universe by any means necessary, ideally through peaceful assimilation. Typically this assimilation into the collective takes on three distinct phases, an Observational phase where the species is studied and they begin to collect sample populations of voluntary refugees to preserve the species, an Intervention phase where they intervene with the archaic or inequitable aspects of a civilization's political structures to quell conflict and minimize the possibility of self destruction in exchange for the trade of advanced technology and resources, and a Colonization phase where a space station is grown in the planet's orbit and settlements for trade and multicultural exchange are established on-world. In the event that they're met with resistance, they'll conduct a raid on the planet's surface to overthrow and dissolve native governmental bodies by force. If this isn't enough and conflict rages on, the natives may be categorized as a Predatory Civilization, one which is dysfunctional beyond reform and cannot be trusted to expand into space by their own free will, resulting in the wholesale destruction of their worldly society. This final measure has only been made necessary once, when the fascistic Barront refused assimilation at every turn in favor of the genocidal expansion of their own intergalactic empire. The Skalatites are typically respected highly as the founders of an entity as philanthropic and prosperous as The Ecosystem and are valued for their collective wisdom regarding the continued success of all sophont species. Though upon first contact, many might regard them as cold and calculating, Skalatites in reality are a very spiritual and emotionally intelligent people with a long, rich history of creative expression through art and literature. They have a specific passion for the art of dance and famously produce lengthy, operatic ballet performances, a passion thought to be a holdover from their animal ancestors, who used dance as a form of sexual courtship. Their most predominant form of spirituality takes on the form of “Syncasics”, an agnostic school of thought that is primarily encompassed by the belief that a scientifically provable system can be used to determine any aspect of our reality, and what we think of as the laws of physics may be smaller pieces of a larger system that makes up a divine intelligence.

[florideophy-gae]

I pretty much disregarded the verse on the matchbox when I first watched season 2 but now I think it's a really powerful symbol for the strength of beelzebub and gabriel's relationship.

So join me as I obsess over a box...

"Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out." - Job 41: 19

Job 41 is God talking directly to Job (we see it in the episode 2 flashback) essentially to say you could never challenge/question/understand God, how could you if you could never begin to challenge God's creations. This particular verse is part of the description of Leviathan, often said to be a whale, hence why Job mentions whales in the minisode. God is talking in this verse about the mightiness of his creation, how human's could never contend it and from that is where I think the matchox draws it's symbolism.

The matchbox is linked to Gabriel and Beelzebub and they are some of God's most powerful creations, them and angel/demons as a whole exercise God's will, wielded over humanity as Leviathan was. And so it is beautifully symbolic when Beelzebub empties the matchbox; they will no longer 'breath fire', they are not God's threat anymore, and they will no longer exercise divinty over humanity on the whims of some higher power. But still, Beelzebub's fly remains in the box until Gabriel uses it and discarded the box in heaven. The two, in their love, are finally completely removing themselves from the whims of higher powers, they are not purveyors of apocalypse or destruction or war, they are not tools, not messangers, not threats, not warnings, and the self-aggrandising 'control' of God means nothing more to them than worldly trash discarded without care.

The system of heaven and hell requires its operators to be either naive or heartless and love across percieved boundaries is a pretty surefire way to eliminate both those traits. The end of season 2 was obviously devastating in so many ways but Gabriel and Beelzebub is such a hopeful relationship, (it made Gabriel decently likeable!) and it sets up the idea that this system will be broken down by love A premise like that has got to lead to lovely, romantic series ending.

[cryptid-oh-cryptid]

When I say

"down to clown." I mean I shall paint my face I to that of said creature. Dawn my garb & honkest nose. Bring my tools of mischief & as we gather in our hollow community, we shall resend onto the worldly plane to cause mayhem!!!

I just wanna clown around town with the gang!