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hausofneptune · 6 months

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(repost) [the astrology of pedro pascal] - hard moon aspects (major) | moon square pluto

hey y’all! in this series we’ll be covering major hard/challenging aspects (squares and oppositions) to pedro’s moon. minor challenging aspects to his moon (semi-squares/sesquiquadrates and semi-sextiles/inconjunctions) will be covered in an upcoming series, as well as the rest of the major and minor aspects to the rest of his planets, and asteroids in his chart! i also want to note that when it comes to these aspects, they have to be examined through the lens of the entire chart, as they’re influenced by a myriad of factors within it.

disclaimers | masterlist | ask

moon square pluto (5°13’)

– discussions surrounding plutonian themes can be heavy so content warning for violence, (childhood) trauma, death, and abuse. nothing detailed or explicit, just an advisory for those who want to avoid these topics. we do discuss parental loss at length in this post, so if that’s a subject anyone would like to avoid feel free to skip this one. ♡

in this aspect, the planetary bodies are in conflict with one another. the moon represents our subconscious feelings, our feminine (light/yin) sides, how we show up emotionally, how we crave nurturement, as well as our home and familial dynamics. it’s also indicative of our mother/maternal figures, our relationship to them, and how we perceive them to love and nurture us. pluto is considered the co-ruler of scorpio in modern astrology, and is representative of sexuality, the taboo, fears, death, control/domination, destruction and rebirth. pluto is also a generational planet, and stays in the same sign for 12-32 years, therefore people born within that time frame will all share the same placement.

this aspect indicates a struggle within the emotional subconscious. these natives tend to be private people, and constantly operate on offense. they’ve experienced turmoil in their lives, and therefore tend to assume all good things must come with a “catch”. there’s an innate fear of being controlled or overpowered by others, and they may isolate themselves for long periods of time as a means to maintain a sense of control. they may also self-isolate to gain a better understanding of themselves. their inner world is tumultuous, but they don’t typically show this side of themselves.

pluto is in an everlasting battle with their moon. their emotions, desires for nurturement and security, are constantly being overpowered by pluto’s need for control and deconstruction. these natives may suffer from stress as a result of subconsciously feeling like they’re always under threat, they tend to see others’ motivations through the lens of their own negative past experiences. they may anticipate being emotionally ambushed or attacked, and when they find themselves in a situation where that’s the case, their repressed destructive emotions will come to the surface in full-force.

the mother/maternal figure plays a significant role in the native’s life with this aspect. similar to having the moon in the 8th house or the moon in scorpio, the mother’s lived experience may have been 8H related, scorpionic, or plutonian. she may have been a caretaker to someone who was sick or struggled with addiction, experienced abuse or trauma, been a practicing occultist, worked in the sex industry, or (in the case of pedro’s mother) been a psychologist, social worker, or counselor. in extreme cases, this can also manifest as having a mother who was a source of trauma for the native. the mother could’ve been abusive, manipulative, or neglectful. she may have also been sick, struggling with addiction, or may have passed away when the native was young, the latter unfortunately being something that pedro experienced in his early 20s.

he discusses what the loss of his mother entailed for him emotionally in the Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso podcast: “‘it was summer in Chile as well. so it was very beautiful out, and a very beautiful day, and none of that seemed to coincide very well with what was happening. and so i remember it being an unbelievable thing to get through, to be honest with you.’ what do you mean by unbelievable? ‘i just love her so much, and she’s just kind of the love of my life in a way. the world doesn’t stop, and the sun doesn’t stop shining. [emotionally] it was hard for me to register, just to comprehend that you could be in a car going to a cremation service and see family playing in the yard, experiencing something so drastically different, right in front of you.’ that other people could be experiencing joy. ‘not even mildly, you know, like a beautiful summer day, and I remember that more than anything - everything stopped, and I was very resentful that nothing stopped.’”

apart from the maternal side of this aspect, moon square pluto can also manifest as disruption within their immediate family or in the home, as well as extreme separation anxiety, alongside fears of losing the parent(s) or home. this is also another part of this aspect we can see the manifestation of with pedro, not only in his parents escaping Chile when he was a child, but as well as the fear he had in relation to his parents’ safety, specifically his mother’s. this is something he also mentions in the Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso podcast: “‘[there’s a] Costa-Gavras movie called Missing with Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon, which deals with the military dictatorship in Chile at the time. it’s a true story where an American journalist went missing and was found dead. i remember watching this at home on cable, and there was a moment where Sissy Spacek‘s character - she doesn’t make it home before curfew, and she just kind of gets trapped in the city. and, again, sort of a beautiful, small framed woman that reminded me so much of my mother, i sort of projected these kind of images of my mother into these characters’ circumstances.

“‘and i just remembered completely falling apart when she was in danger, when she was so afraid, and imagining that that could’ve happened to my mother. i remember having a little bit of a breakdown,’ it’s like in the house, no one in the family talked about it, ‘no,’ and it took a film from Hollywood to kind of give language to something no one was giving language to. ‘yeah, and you know, i could sit through anything at the time and i remember, like, just starting to cry and being like ‘i can’t - i can’t watch this.’ and i was like, gosh, i don’t know, i must’ve been like eight [years old].’”

in youth, these natives may have felt like their emotions were bigger than them. this, alongside the turmoil within their households or families, could’ve made them hypersensitive or anxious. their childhoods tend to be a source of wounding, resulting in their deep-rooted insecurities and fears. their need for control comes from a place of feeling as though they never had it, and therefore, they feel they need it as a means to feel safe and secure at all times. throughout their lives they will encounter dramatic changes and growth that will inevitably bring them closer to their families. over time, they may end up feeling like their family members are the only ones that truly understand them and accept them for who they are.

because those with this aspect tend to “protect” this intense side of themselves, pressure will inevitably build under the things that they attempt to keep a lid on, and burst when push comes to shove. while their innate desire for control may be understandable, they struggle to recognize that repressing this side of themselves is ultimately working against their best interest, their internalized anguish will end up controlling them in the long run.

in relationships, this may manifest as a fear of intimacy or a refusal to show up emotionally. they’re emotional hermits, and can be aloof when it comes to their own feelings. their preconceived notion that others innately want to hurt them typically manifests the most in this area of their lives. they may want their partners to “prove” themselves, and can be very expectant of others to adjust or change themselves to best suit their own desires and needs. they can come off as emotionally demanding, and tend to be non-reciprocal in return.

they hate feeling restricted/controlled by or subservient to their partners, and when this is the case, they can grow resentful and may resort to manipulative, subversive behaviors. these behaviors are triggered by their deep-rooted fears of heartbreak, loss, and rejection. it can be difficult for those around them to understand the way the natives’ emotions overwhelm and restrict them. unfortunately, they may even subconsciously sabotage their own relationships as a result of their insecurities and fears. they could encounter power struggles frequently in relationships, and must work to know when to mediate and compromise with their partners.

mastery of this aspect takes time and patience, there is a metamorphosis that these natives must go through. as mentioned, they tend to self-isolate to work and heal themselves, they may also favor being single or alone for the most part. it takes time, maturity, and healing through what they’ve experienced to reach a point of self-actualization, they could benefit from therapy or counseling as well. they grow to have a great understanding of the dark side of life, as they’ve lived through so much of it. they must productively channel their energy into self-growth or servicing others, rather than intense reactions to the people and situations around them. when they learn to trust life and unlearn the expectation of betrayal, they can become amazing mentors, teachers, counselors, etc. and have the capacity to nurture and help others, especially the most vulnerable among us.

i mentioned before how i’m a (virgo) moon in the 8H girly myself, and i find the similarities between the moon in the 8H, moon in scorpio, and moon square pluto to be so interesting. my mom was actually a scorpio moon and struggled with an illness since she was born, which in turn made my childhood pretty turbulent, and she actually ended up passing away when i was a teenager. i also have the “emotional hermit” trait as well. i tend to self-isolate a lot and getting me to be vulnerable is the equivalent of pulling teeth:). it should go without mentioning that these placements aren’t going to manifest the same for everyone, though. you could have these placements and have the perfect relationship with your mom or a great childhood. every part of your natal chart has varying degrees of influence, so the impact will be different for everyone!

but as always if anyone has any of the placements or aspects mentioned in this post i’d love to hear how it personally manifests in your own life and how it impacts your personality, or if anyone has anything to add in general feel free to reach out and let me know!

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richincolor · 1 year

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New Releases

New week, new books out tomorrow! Are any of these on your TBR pile?

Kismat Connection by Ananya Devarajan

Is it possible to change your fate? Madhuri Iyer is doomed. Doomed for her upcoming senior year to be a total failure, according to her astrology-obsessed mother, and doomed to a happily ever after with her first boyfriend, according to her family curse.

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Everyone Wants to Know by Kelly Loy Gilbert This ripped-from-the-tabloids young adult drama by the critically acclaimed author Kelly Loy Gilbert about a girl’s famous-for-being-famous family fracturing from within as their dirty laundry gets exposed.

The Lo family sticks together. That’s what Honor has been told her whole life while growing up in the glare of the public eye on Lo and Behold , the reality show about her, her four siblings, and their parents. Their show may be off the air, but the Lo family members still live in the spotlight as influencers churning out podcasts, bestselling books, and brand partnerships. So when Honor’s father announces that he’s moving out of their northern California home to rent an apartment in Brooklyn, Honor’s personal upset becomes the internet’s trending B-list celebrity trainwreck—threatening the aspirational image the Los’ brand (and livelihood) depends on.

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As increasingly terrible secrets come to light about the people Honor thought she knew best in the world, she’s forced to choose between loyalty to her family and fighting for the life she wants.

#new releases #ya lit #everyone wants to know #kismat connection #what she missed #boundless

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kudosmyhero · 8 months

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Spider-Man #75: Revelations, part 4: The Night of the Goblin!

Read Date: January 29, 2023 Cover Date: December 1996 ● Writer: Howard Mackie ● Penciler: John Romita Jr. ● Inker: Scott Hanna ● Colorist: Kevin Tinsley ● Letterer: Liz Agraphiotis ◦ Richard Starkings ● Editor: Ralph Macchio ◦ Mark Bernardo ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● dr folsome drugs peter ● people locked in the Bugle

● peter wakes up in spidey costume ● Harry Osborn is dead :( Norman Osborn is back

● (I was really trying to finish the arc before I fell asleep, so not much in the way of notes. great issue, though!) ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: Note: When Spider-Man Vol 1 75 was reprinted in Spider-Man: Revelations #1, an additional 13 pages were included. Subsequent reprints of Spider-Man Vol 1 75 include these additions. This synopsis includes the full version of this story. All the additions are listed in italics.

All Hallows Eve:

Children are out trick-or-treating, and among them is young Normie Osborn who has been taken out by his babysitter while his mother Liz Osborn and her boyfriend Foggy Nelson are at a party at the Daily Bugle. They bump into a man who is impressed by Normie's goblin mask and gives him some candy. As they go on their way, Normie recognizes the man as his grandfather.

Elsewhere, Peter Parker is rushing across the city in order to get to his wife, who is giving birth to their child. He is blaming himself for not being there after getting dragged into a fight with Mendel Stromm along with Ben Reilly. When arriving at the hospital his panic and the indifferent staff get him turned around and he feels utterly lost trying to find his wife. That's when he is found by the doctor who helped with the childbirth, Doctor Folsome. He explains that food poisoning somehow triggered early labor. Folsom also tells Parker that there were some complications in the pregnancy. With his spider-sense starting to buzz, Peter begins demanding to know what is going on and where his wife is. Peter's panicked state leaves him open to being injected with a drug by Doctor Folsome. As Peter begins to black out, Folsom assures Peter that the injection is not lethal as he is wanted alive.

Fifteen Minutes to Midnight

J. Jonah Jameson arrives at the Daily Bugle and just manages to catch the elevator with Joe Robertson and Flash Thompson. Jonah is unhappy that the board of directors has called a meeting so late at night. Joe and Thompson however, are going up to the newsroom for a Halloween party that has been put together for the staff. When they arrive in the bullpen they find Glory Grant, Betty Brant, Ben Urich, Angela Yin, Ken Ellis, Foggy Nelson, and Liz Osborn are all in attendance. The only person who is unaccounted for is Peter Parker, who must be running late, something that doesn't surprise Jameson. However, everyone is wondering who was responsible for this gathering.

Elsewhere, Peter Parker wakes up in a dark room and discovers that he is wearing his original Spider-Man costume. His captor, holding out a pumpkin bomb, tells Peter that the pumpkin bomb is emitting a gas that will keep Parker disorientated until he is ready to get his final revenge. In the darkness, Peter can see that his attacker is wearing a Green Goblin costume and at first he thinks that somehow Harry Osborn, even though he is dead. That's when his captor walks into the light he is revealed to be Norman Osborn. Peter cannot believe it, as he believes that Norman Osborn has been dead for years, impaled on his own Goblin Glider on the day he murdered Gwen Stacy. To prove that he is not a clone or some kind of impostor, Norman rips open his shirt revealing a cross-shaped scar marking where he was impaled during his last battle with Spider-Man.

Back at the Daily Bugle, suspicions continue to mount as everyone notices that the paper's night staff is nowhere to be found. Adding to their paranoia is the discovery that the phone lines are dead, the elevators have been shut down, and all of the emergency exits have been locked, effectively trapping Jonah and the others in the Bugle's office. While at a sports bar in downtown Manhattan, Arthur Stacy is meeting with Detectives Francis Tork, Connor Trevan and Lou Snider. Arthur explains that he has come back to New York after hearing of the recent discovery of a skeleton in a Spider-Man costume. Stacy has come to believe that Spider-Man murdered someone and intends to find out. He has sought out the aid of these three detectives as they have all worked closely with the wall-crawler in the past.

Meanwhile, Norman Osborn mocks Peter Parker, deducing that his old foe is worried about his wife and their unborn child. Peter then asks how Norman managed to survive being impaled with his Goblin Glider. Norman gleefully explains that the Goblin formula that gave him his powers also gifted him with a healing factor that allowed him to recover from the otherwise fatal wound. He continues explaining what happened after his apparent demise, Norman begins putting on his Green Goblin costume. He tells Parker that he woke up in the morgue to see his son Harry bribing the coroner to alter the reports. Norman killed a homeless man who was put in place of his own body and is the corpse that was buried in his grave. He intended to strike at Peter right away, but he later discovered his son had found his Green Goblin gear. Thinking his son would finally become a man, Norman decided to fade into the background and give his son a chance to succeed. Norman spend the ensuing years carving a criminal empire. When Harry died recently, Norman blamed Spider-Man and decided to come back. Peter demands to know what Norman wants, and Osborn explains that he wants to take everything Peter Parker has: his friends, his family, and lastly his life.

At the Daily Bugle, the staff has decided to try to get the attention of people in the neighboring windows in order to get free. Suspecting that something is up, Ben Urich begins working on a story so he doesn't miss a possible scoop. Looking out one of the windows, Flash Thompson bumps into Betty Brant. However, it is not the happy reunion he was looking for, as Betty reminds him that their relationship was a long time ago and very much over, prompting Flash to find another window to look out of. this is witnessed by Liz Osborn who is surprised to see Flash react that way, as it was much different than the Flash she knew in high school. After being introduced to Liz's friend Foggy Nelson, Flash explains his troubled relationship with Betty Brant. The two of them remark how much they have both changed since they were kids and they wish Peter was there to reminisce with them.

Revelations

Still at Norman Osborn's mercy, Peter tries to explain that Osborn has the wrong person. However, Osborn knows that Peter is going to stay he is a clone and gloats over how deeply he was involved in the events in Peter's life. That's when the Goblin pulls Ben Reilly out of the swirling smoke around them. Osborn then explains that he was manipulating everyone behind the scenes from the Jackal down to the and Seward Trainer, all in an effort to trick and confuse both Parker and Ben Reilly. In reality, Peter Parker was always the genuine article and Ben Reilly was the clone. Now fully in costume, the Green Goblin tosses Ben Reilly into Peter Parker and mounts his Goblin Glider and prepares to fly across the way to the Daily Bugle building. When Peter tries to stop him he is blasted and left falling down the side of the building. However, Parker manages to break his fall with a web-line. Still groggy from the gas, he can only watch helplessly as the Green Goblin flies over to the Bugle Building.

Back inside the building, Ben Reilly comes around and witnesses the Goblin flying away. Having heard none of what was revealed earlier, he is completely confused by the whole scenario. Still, he tries to struggle to his feet, but after the beating he received, Ben collapses to the floor again. His mind then drifts back to earlier that night when he was at the mercy of Norman Osborn.

Then

Ben had just been blasted by Norman Osborn who then loads Reilly onto a helicopter. The whole time Norman mocked Spider-Man, calling him a clone. Thinking this is yet another lie and manipulation, Spider-Man lashes out refusing to allow Norman Osborn to cause more grief for Peter Parker and his wife Mary Jane. Knocking themselves back outside of the helicopter, Norman beats Ben into submission. He then reveals that he is coming to the climax of a scheme that was years in the making. Not only is he going to utterly destroy Peter Parker, but he has also tricked all of his friends to meet at the offices of the Daily Bugle.

Now

… His recollection last but mere moments and the Green Goblin is still flying toward the Daily Bugle. Once again, Ben Reilly tries to must the strength to stop his mortal foe, as the lives of his friends and family are on the line. Helping Peter back up into the building, Ben warns his "brother" that Osborn has rigged the Bugle with explosives that are set to go off at midnight. Ben tries to get up to go after the Green Goblin, but Peter points out that he suffered a savage beating and is in no shape to go after their foe. With no other choice, Peter decides to fall back into the role of a hero and swings off as the original Spider-Man once again.

Across the street at the Daily Bugle, everyone there is shocked when the Green Goblin comes crashing in through the window. When J. Jonah Jameson recognizes Norman Osborn's voice, the Goblin is flattered and drags the newspaper publisher back outside. When Spider-Man tries to save Jonah, only to get his hands blasted by the Goblin's gauntlet blasters. This causes the web-slinger to let go of his webbing and fall down to the street below. The Green Goblin tells Jameson that he will die, but not yet and carries him back inside. Norman then confronts the window of his son, Liz Osborn, and slaps her across the face for encouraging his son Harry to be a weakling. As the rest of the Bugle staff watches in horror, the Green Goblin is then pulled back outside by Spider-Man who recovered from the fall. As the two eternal foes fight it out, people on the street begin to panic. Seeing this from across the street, Ben decides he can't just sit back and do nothing and begins to crawl down the side of the building.

At that moment, at the Daily Grind, Devon Lewis catches a news report about the battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin and decides to go and see it, despite the protests from his mother, Shirley Washington. Also seeing this is Arthur Stacy and the three police detectives who also begin rushing to the scene. Back uptown, Spider-Man dodges a barrage of pumpkin bombs as the Goblin rants about restoring his good name. However, Spider-Man refuses to stop until Norman finally tells him what happened to his wife and child. By this time, Ben Reilly has forced himself into the Daily Bugle newsroom, creating an escape for the others. Ben stays behind, using his spider-sense to locate all of the bombs that were planted by Norman Osborn. Flash Thompson comes back for Reilly, one of the bombs begins to go off. His spider-sense warning him of this, Ben shields Flash from the blast. Although the force of the explosion knocks out Thompson, he is alive. Unfortunately for Ben, he was seriously injured by the shrapnel. After binding his wounds, Ben decides to take the remaining bombs back to their own.

Triumph and Tragedy

Back outside, the Green Goblin continues to toss a barrage of pumpkin bombs and razor bats. He is furious how the wall-crawler continues to stand no matter what he throws at him. Spider-Man manages to kick the Goblin off his glider, explaining that he does it out of spite. Peter then pulls off both of their masks, saying that this battle is not just a war between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, but between Peter Parker and Norman Osborn. Osborn begins to buckle under the stress of Parker's resistance and is knocked down by a single blow. That's when Ben arrives with the live bombs and asks Peter to do something about them. Putting his mask back on, Spider-Man prepares to dispose of the bombs when Norman activates the remote on his Goblin Glider. Seeing that it is heading on a collision course with Spider-Man, Ben Reilly leaps in its way, getting impaled through the back by the device. The glider then carries Ben over the rooftop where he falls to the ground below. Horrified by this, Spider-Man is caught off guard by the Green Goblin, who resumes his attack. With his lightning-fast reflexes, Spider-Man tosses the live bombs at the Green Goblin, catching the villain in the explosion. Set aflame, the Green Goblin curses Spider-Man and vows to return even though he goes crashing down onto the street and is seemingly vanquished in a massive explosion.

Spider-Man then rushes down to the street to check on Ben who is already being examined by paramedics. They tell the wall-crawler that there is nothing they can do to save Ben. Still clinging to live, Ben tells Spider-Man that -- clone or no clone -- Peter has earned the right to be Spider-Man. His final words to Peter are for him to raise his daughter well and to tell her about her "Uncle Ben". That's when Spider-Man notices something abnormal about Ben's arm and realizes the truth. He quickly scoops up Reilly's lifeless body and carries it up to a nearby rooftop where it finally dissolves into powder, the end result of instant cellular degeneration when one of the Jackal's clones dies. This proves to Spider-Man that he is the real Peter Parker after all. This does little to change the mood, and the wall-crawler begins to mourn the death of the man he had come to call his brother. Changing back into Peter Parker, the web-slinger rushes to the hospital to find out what happened to Mary Jane.

This time, he finds the room where his wife is resting after her complicated childbirth. There, she tries to tell him that their baby girl was stillborn. Peter already knows this and tells Mary Jane that they will get past this all the tears and pain and their love will see them through this tragedy and make them stronger than ever.

Epilogue One:

Several days after the death of Ben Reilly, the Parkers have a wake in the home of Peter's Aunt May. There they are gathered by friends and acquaintances of both Peter Parker and Ben Reilly. Among the mourners is mobster Jimmy-6, who approaches the Parkers and Mary Jane's Aunt Anna. He offers his condolences, telling them that Ben once saved his life. He then asks to talk to Peter Parker in private, Peter agrees and the pair walks out onto the front porch of the house. He tells Peter that he meant it when he said that he would do anything for the Parkers. He also vows to kill the Green Goblin if he turns up alive, and he will kill Spider-Man as well if he learns that the wall-crawler has anything to do with Ben's death. Peter tells Jimmy that he wishes he could talk about this more but he has one last thing to do for Ben.

A short time later on the Brooklyn Bridge, Spider-Man holds an urn containing Ben Reilly's ashes. He says his final farewells, saying that Ben changed his life forever and he will remember him always.

Epilogue 2

As Ben Reilly's ashes spread across Manhattan, engineers are assessing the damage done to the Daily Bugle during the battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. While their backs are turned, the Green Goblin emerges from the rubble and murders the two men in order to cover up the fact that he survived. As it turns out, the Green Goblin planned for such an outcome from their battle. As he strips off his costume, Norman Osborn leaves so he can prepare for what comes next…

(https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Spider-Man_Vol_1_75)

Fan Art: G - is for Green Goblin by anklesnsocks

Accompanying Podcast: ● Amazing Spider-Talk - "Revelations"

#marvel #marvel comics #my marvel read #podcast recommendation #comics #peter parker #spider-man #comic books #fan art

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mmmmalo · 3 years

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I was reading homestuck and remembered stuff I heard in a podcast I think. Was it ever implied that the Dave that became Davesprite and the doomed timeline Rose had any relationship? I truly don't remember but regardless I'd love to see your thoughts on it all.

In the commentary for the VIZ volumes, Hussie wrote something to the effect of “Gee, Rose and Dave didn’t know they were siblings at this juncture and 4 months is a LONG TIME. I wonder if anything happened between them?? (Something totally happened between them)” -- that bit of annotative dickery is what the podcast was responding to, probably. I have yet to notice anything implying the liaison in the main text.

Having said that, there is a different moment of similar interest in Cascade, so let’s ramble in that direction.

1. The bomb that generates the Green Sun is an ectobiology machine that combines universes A and B. Instead of a central baby-making beam, the bomb has a detonator and two beds. For lack of a more precise phrasing, I gather that the kids’ death beds have formally replaced the baby-making beam, in line with Homestuck’s tendency of linking sex and death. (Why did the sex-crazed tricksters go directly to their death beds? Same principle.)

2. Adding to the above, just before the bomb detonates we get the above rapid cut: Dave’s eye > PM putting a ring on her finger > Rose’s eye, mirrored from Dave’s. The red-blue halves of the yin-yang bomb becoming one is accompanied by the suggestion of Dave and Rose becoming one (in some sense or other) with a crude 👉👌 kind of gesture. Compare with the image of trickster!Roxy aggressively trying to put her ring on Dirk’s finger while demanding babies.

(Aside: Given the abundance of overt references (a bunny named Liv Tyler, a stolen suicide mission), this may be a good time to note that Michael Bay’s Armageddon has a similar, ah, climax. Just before the bomb detonates (x) we get a zoom into Liv Tyler’s eye; then a memory of a young Tyler running into Bruce Willis’s arms (from Willis’s POV, despite our being in Tyler’s eye); then a vision of Tyler in her wedding gown; and finally, the rapid intercutting of Willis and Tyler’s ever-closer faces, facing eachother. Boom. The fleeting images of psychic and physical union make a curious refrain to the film’s incestuous undertones, even as Willis formally accepts separation from his daughter with his fiery death.)

3. Its perhaps relevant that a panel from the double-suicide mission is reused when a Rose and a Dave are outright discussing incest over the story’s latest reproduction of Death’s tea table from Problem Sleuth (the earliest instance being the tea set in Mom’s ectobiology lab, which was accessible through Jaspers’ grave).

(Aside: Oh man, Davepeta would be so thrilled by that yarn ball, huh. I wonder if it’s pertinent that the detached moon and chain resemble the ball and loose strand...)

So: what to make of all this? Aside from the idea that we’re operating in a story in which the pursuit of death is eroticized.

Davepeta seems to distill the sex/death equivocation into a two-pronged metaphor for achieving self understanding (“how about we help each other GET ourselves”), but even though I can visually see how Dave and Rose’s union in flames might resemble the cherubic process of maturation via union with one’s opposite (which Caliborn euphemizes as check mating), I don’t have much a sense of what way Dave and Rose might be consider opposites aside from their being contrarily gendered twin. Maybe it’s a question of how they regard each other that determines what each is “integrating”? But I couldn’t tell you what

I tried going through their pre-Cascade conversations again to see if I could assemble something cogent, but there’s too many things I’m not getting: e.g. I have no clue what rhetorical function blackness is serving in this instance (we made some nice progress regarding its function in a Jade log awhile back), and I have a terrible suspicion that Doc Scratch’s scattered pages are all interact with eachother, meaning you have contextualize everything in relation to the surrounding pages. And to be perfectly honest, I do not have a fourth reread in me at the moment.

...I think one thing I would be very curious about is how literally the gesture at integration is taken. The bomb integrated the universes of Alternia and Earth, and the product of that union (I’m kind of collapsing the Scratch and the creation of the Green Sun into one event) is an Earth with notable Alternian features. So it’d be interesting if Rose and Dave post-godtiering bore traces of eachother’s personalities? But I don’t think that’s the direction the story took with regard to personality modification, so I’m left wondering what impact, if any, the gesture at unification had...

#Anonymous #epistemic status: hell #homestuck commentary #incest cw

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inkblotsandeggshells · 3 years

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Sorcerers and Sorceresses

Hello again!

After talking with my friend about it, I decided I still had some more to say about sex addiction. Clearly, we’re being pushed to this way of being by our modern culture, but I also notice this coming from the holistic New Age community. The most obvious example, in this regard, would be holistic sex coach Kim Anami, who I talked about in my last post. In contrast to the standard, faster kind of sex that gets referenced in movies and music, Kim Anami wants to teach people to use slower, orgasmic sex as a means to harness energy, which can be utilized to help improve your life. However, Anami claims that this level of personal control through sex cannot be achieved until you become addicted to it. While I can see the appeal for this kind of education, I remained pretty indifferent until I looked deeper into what happens when we fall prey to addictions.

When I was younger, I had thought that things like alcohol and recreational drugs were the things that led to addictions, and as long as you stayed away from those things, you were in the clear. However, we often overlook things like electronics and artificial foods like candy, which can be just as addictive as the more typical harmful substances. In regards to sex, I think it sounds like an attractive thing to be addicted to because it doesn’t necessarily harm your body or cause your teeth to decay. Even so, by becoming addicted to any substance, including orgasmic sex, it can chip away at our identities little by little until we become, as Michael Knowles says, enslaved. We become dependent on it to cope with life and it ends up controlling how we respond to our human experience. Furthermore, an addiction of any kind leaves us vulnerable to be controlled by outside forces.

This is something I became more aware of last year, during a time when I learned how easily people can be used by unseen beings when they relinquish control of themselves. One content creator who gave me a new perspective on this is a young woman named Galatea Van Outersterp, who created the YouTube channel called the Authentic Observer. Even though she creates content about storytelling and fictional works, I think she offers a refreshing perspective on what it looks like when something or someone strives to control the collective. In this way, she also raises the question of how much power we have to resist. She does this through her videos, the primary examples being her two-part video series about the story archetypes of the Sorcerer and the Sorceress. She describes these archetypes as two sides of the same coin. They both aim for absolute power and control, but they work to achieve those goals through different realms of humanity. The sorcerer is the yang aspect of this archetype that focuses on the external realm: the physical plane, the conscious and will. The sorceress is the yin aspect that focuses on the internal realm: the emotional plane, and the subconscious.

We’ll start with the sorcerer archetype. In her opinion, Galatea states that if a character has most, if not all, of these traits, then they can be defined as an evil sorcerer. These traits are as follows: They can see all, or they have eyes everywhere. They manipulate the events of the protagonist and the people around him/her to get the hero to certain places or people. They are extremely arrogant and have massive egos (which can also be their downfall). As a result of this arrogance, they often have a title, because they’re a recognized authority; they also have many followers. They have often given up something essential to humanity to gain their power, whether it’s their soul or just their morality. They often have a non-human physical form, or some kind of deformity to show their loss of humanity. Most importantly, they only desire for power and control, “power above all.”

In regards to Kim Anami teaching students to utilize BDSM in the “Well-F*cked Woman” course, she would frequently use the book “50 Shades of Grey” as a reference for this method and its alleged importance. In some of her stories, she also talks about how some of the men she has been most drawn to in the past are “smarter versions of Christian Grey.” According to Galatea, the way the sorcerer archetype is used in modern day stories is by portraying those archetypal traits through characters like abusive partners. In other words, characters like Christian Grey are definitions of this very archetype.

For example, Galatea lists off the traits of the sorcerer that Mr. Grey exhibits in the books. She observed that “he has a beyond normal ability to know what Anastasia is doing all the time because he stalks her and hacks into her phone. He manipulates not only her, but he’s also a powerful enough to manipulate events and the people around her to get her where he wants her. He’s arrogant in the extreme and believes he’s superior and has the absolute right to exert dominance over the people around him. This is particularly the case for Anastasia, as he wants her to sign his contract against her will. He’s a figure of authority and has many followers (his employees). He has also given up something essential to his humanity to gain his power: the ability to be a good person, respect others, and have healthy relationships. Finally, above everything else, all he wants is total power and control, both of his own world and of Anastasia.”

In contrast, the sorceress archetype primarily rules the internal domain. While this archetype shares similar traits with the sorcerer, Galatea describes the sorceress as primarily wanting to be adored. They use emotions and temptations rather than blatant orders and force. They are also represented by “complete and unbalanced chaos, hysteria, unpredictability and insanity.” They understand people’s deepest desires and control them by dangling these things in front of their faces. This point also gets highlighted in Galatea’s video, where she would describe sorceresses “to generally work more through an understanding of people, through intuition, really understanding people’s deepest desires.”

So the big question is how does the holistic sex practice of Kim Anami relate to the topic of being vulnerable to someone else’s control? How does this topic of orgasmic sex addictions, or addictions of any kind, relate to the archetypes of sorcerers and sorceresses? The purpose of the sorcerer and the sorceress is to show that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Whether addictions play a role in our lives or not, when we lose the ability to think for ourselves and take control of our response to life, we become susceptible to being controlled by beings such as these. If being “well-f*cked” means becoming attracted to men like this, or even, God forbid, marrying someone like this, than I would rather not reach such a standard at all.

During my conversations about the “Well-F*cked Woman” course with Lee Yun, I often wondered if Kim Anami herself was a sorceress in some ways. In my opinion, it seems that Kim does exhibit a few of the traits: she has hundreds, if not thousands of followers (her clients and coaches-in-training), and you could argue that she gave up part of her humanity through the use of neural therapy injections to change how her body responds to trauma. She sometimes demonstrates arrogant behavior in how she disrespects her partner’s boundaries and openly insults people who are unlike her or think differently from her. In my opinion, she also works within the emotional plane through her marketing strategies to get people to take her courses, buy her tools and practice her methods. Her philosophy in becoming “well-f*cked” feels very confusing, with some conflicting teachings, which you could argue is a reflection of the sorceress’ inclination for chaos. In my previous blog, I explained how this is further demonstrated in her marketing tactics, especially during 2020 when people felt lonelier and desperate for contact during lockdown. In her podcasts, Kim states that the point of her courses isn’t necessarily to use sexual energy to get whatever you want. However, this statement feels very contradictory when you observe how she teaches and how she speaks of her relationships with her partners.

In a different way than the sorcerer archetype, Galatea observes that the sorceress is almost the scarier of the two. Galatea explains that “the truest kind of freedom is freedom over your heart and mind. No one can truly own you if you at least have that, if you’re at least free in your own heart, mind, body and soul. The sorceress wants to take that freedom away. If you aren’t sovereign over yourself, then you don’t have freedom at all, because the sorceress is a jealous mistress, and you can be damn sure she will not allow any room in your heart or mind for anyone but her.”

To conclude, I want to share some quotes from the book “The 21 Lessons of Merlyn” by Douglas Monroe. Since the system of Celtic magic seems to be what I’m naturally inclined to, this is one of first the books Lee Yun recommended for my studies as a witch. Even though the teachings in the book sound outdated for our time, some passages intrigued me in regards to how the Druidic community viewed sex. Specifically, Monroe explains, through his characters, how using sex for gaining power isn’t admired at all among the druids. He states that “the world is full of those who pretend to use sexual union as an instrument of spiritual gain under the guises of ‘soul-love, true fulfillment, destiny’, and many other romanticized notions. But such could never be the case outside of their own minds, as this purely animal behavior belongs to another world altogether, a world that minds such as these cannot pretend to change by wishing it were so.” He goes on to add that “against truth, these people will continue to say that lust elevates them into the world of Magic along with their pleasure; that sex generates a force which may be turned to loftier things. They will continue to confuse the spiritual with the physical, for the sake of convenience.”

By encouraging us to become addicted to orgasmic sex, it seems very likely that the kind of freedom and “healing” Kim Anami offers comes with a serious price. Do I think she herself is a sorceress? I don’t know. She may be one, but I don’t know. Because they work in the subconscious and in the unseen realms, sorceresses can be much more difficult to spot than their male counterparts. However, in my opinion, if she won’t step in to control the collective through addictions—even holistic, orgasmic sex addictions—then someone will. So I encourage you to not give up that inner freedom so easily, because that’s where our real power lies.

#theauthenticobserver #holisticsex #addictions #holistic sex #archetypes #21 lessons of merlyn #douglas monroe

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xavinisms · 4 years

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2019 Round-up | A Vintage Year

Wow... What a ride it's been.

Between trips to places I have never been before, from Copenhagen to Tasmania, Melbourne to Ahmedabad and New Delhi, I have worked with and met so many amazing artists, thinkers and activists that have shaped the way I came to understand the world this year.

I felt equally privileged, delighted, sad and unwelcome in various capacities throughout the year.

The quality and breath of work I had the pleasure to engage with this year has been incredible. Every artist, producer, curator, tech manager, designer, and overall colleague, has shown me what humanity can create: a sense of risk, ambition and most of all, humanity. For that, I am incredibly thankful.

The political and social developments in the UK continue to disturb me and at the same time meant I joined groups of activism that I consider to be of the utmost importance right now, namely Momentum and Migrants in Culture.

It is no surprise that I am quite tired with constantly being told - directly and indirectly - that I am not welcome in the UK. It's been like that for a while and if it wasnt for the people here mentioned (and many,many more) I most probably would have left by now. The fight continues though, and as the UK enters a new darker period where fascism is ever creeping up our public and private systems and life, we must never loose sight of the end goal: each others and our well being. So much is dependent on our generations to turn this around, and it all feels impossible at the moment. I don't know exactly what I can tell you about the future. What I know is that things wont be the same in the new year and beyond, personally and professionally.

Nonetheless, there is plenty to celebrate...

2019 in Chronological-ish order:

🇮🇳 Travels to Ahmedabad and New Delhi in India where I was privileged enough to work with my friend Pankaj Tiwari on a performance research and then spent time exploring, learning and adoring the culture and people I met.

The project, Coding The Currents, is set in the river Khari in the vicinity of Ahmedabad, in the Gujarati state. Led by Pankaj and Agat Sharma. You can read more about the work here and the overall project (which you should, because it is excellent). https://codingthecurrents.cargo.site/Post-Human-Dinner-Party

I will forever cherish the time I spent there, the people I met and that made me feel so welcomed. Experiencing the local cultures, the food, the history of the country and learning how to get around was a breathtaking experience - and I look forward to returning in the future.

🇦🇺 Travels to Australia, where I hang out with my friend Bek Berger and met some new wonderful friends and colleagues, swam in the ocean and the swimming pools of Melbourne, went to music festivals in Tasmania, and generally relaxed.

💃🏼 Toured POST a bit more including a run at Battersea Arts Centre and gathered some of the best feedback and reviews of my career. Some info here: https://www.xavierdesousa.co.uk/post/165981228414/post-tour

👑 Got commissions, residencies and performances booked and engaged on for new show REGNANT which I will open in 2020. A durational play, REGNANT focuses on structures of power and local government. This project will be the biggest of my solo career, and it will be a new chance to work collectively and learn new skills along the way, as well as collaborating with new and exciting artists.

🌆 Curated and delivered a lot of New Queers on the Block across the UK:

· Returned to the towns and cities we visited in 2018, from Folkestone to Blackpool, via Hastings and Bradford, to present small to mid-scale performances, film works, talks and events by Ira Brand, Last Yearz Interesting Negro, Harry Josephine Giles, Demi Nanhdra, Marikiscrycrycry, Harry Clayton-Wright, Rachael Young, Mandla Rae, Lucy Hutson, Samir Kennedy, Istanbul Queer Arts Collective, Benjamin Sebastian, Nando Messias and Subira Joy, amongst many others.

· Commissioned local LGBTQ+ artists such as Sea Sharp, Subira Joy, Wandia Wahogo, Kirsty Taylor and Adam Frost to create their first theatre shows, with development and producing support from us, as well as producing teams around them.

· Commissioned Oozing Gloop, Marikiscrycrycry and Rachael Young to create new work and upscale their practices to larger, tour-able models or to experiment with new forms.

· Released ‘New Queers On The Road’, a documentary following our first ever tour and explores the impact the work has already had in local communities. Directed by the incredible Rosie Powell, this has been seen by over 100,000 people across the country and online, as well as local TV stations.

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· Worked more closely with our Local Ambassadors Bean, Benjamin Sebastian, Elis Johnson and Sonia Sandu across those locations, and developed new local audiences; Welcomed new members to the New Queers team, such as our General Manager Carmen D’Cruz, Marketing Manager Rasheed Rahman and Associate Producer Lee Smith, who, together with our PR Anna Smith have taken the projects to new hights of efficiency and awareness.

· Partnered with new friends, such as SHOUT Festival and FIERCE Festival (Birmingham), Art BnB and Abingdon Studios (Blackpool), Brick Box Rooms (Bradford) and Camden People’s Theatre (London) to present new performances, a full day symposium on care practices in the queer arts scene and co-produce the development of local queer artists.

· New Queers on The Block is a Touring and Artist Development Scheme led by Marlborough Productions in partnership with Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (Brighton), Theatre in the Mill (Bradford), Left Coast & Art BnB (Blackpool), Home Live Art (Hastings), Creative (Folkestone), FIERCE Festival & SHOUT Festival (Birmingham). Funded by Arts Council England, Jerwood Arts, Esmée Fairban & The Space.

✊🏼 Curated and delivered a LOT of performingbordersLIVE with my friend Alessandra Cianetti

· Commissioned new performance for camera by Istanbul Queer Arts Collective and Tara Fatehi Irani

· Live interviews with Nima Séne and Tuna Erdem (Queer Contact, Manchester), Sim Chi Yin and Annie Jael Kwan (Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton) and Anti-Cool & osborn&møller (Artsadmin)

· Commissioned All The Tea in China by Burong (曾不容) and Patrolling by Critical Interruptions

· Curated and produced the event Curating Borderless Spaces at Live Art Development Agency, which included provocations, talks, interventions, workshops, key notes, performances and food by Season Butler, Instanbul Queer Arts Collective, Raju Rage, Bojana Janković, Dana Olărescu, Kai Syng Tan, Helena Walsh, and Lois Keidan.

· Online interviews with Pelin Başaran and Warehouse9

📻 Did an extensive residency with Warehouse9 in Copenhagen with An* Neely that resulted in an exhibition and a series of podcasts with Lasse Lau, Jupiter Child, Sarah Lamming and Lukas Raki.

✊🏼 Co-founded Migrants in Culture and launched an investigation and the final report on the Impact of the UK Home Office's policy Hostile Environment against Migrant Culture Workers. You can read it here.

👨🏻‍🏫 Taught at Central St Martins for the first time and had a great time, although this time no-one called me Professor X. A bitter highlight.

🥖 Presented a new work in progress of a one-on-one piece, Breaking Bread, at ARC Stockton as part of Curious Festival

And more... much much more...

May 2020 be the year we turn things around politically and socially. And may it be a vintage year for you, for me, and for us.

Xavier

#2019 #year review #theatre #performance art #queers #queer #lgbtq #live art #uk #australia #india #tasmania #travels

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handlewithcharacter · 6 years

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Timeless Superhero AU

(for @taleasoldastime-andspace as part of @savetimelesshq‘s Timeless Birthday Fanwork Exchange)

New York: The city that never sleeps, where, in the shadows of those sleepless nights, vigilantes have taken residence. Some with powers fight to live a normal life and stay under the radar, while others fight for to gain power and control. Others still fight the villains in the hope of making a difference, of protecting people, or of making up for their sins.

Lucy Preston is a journalist, and that’s all. She writes the columns she’s told and she’s worked steadily for years to gain the favor of her bosses. She’s never made waves. Lucy’s little sister, Amy, is the opposite. Amy runs a true crime podcast and loves to investigate anything suspicious, running around where she doesn’t belong. When Amy goes missing, Lucy is distraught, but it isn’t until a mysterious man in a mask corners her on her way home from work that Lucy starts to look into the leads Amy was following to figure out who took her - an organization known only as Rittenhouse.

The man is Garcia Flynn, gifted with the power to freeze everything except time. Time was what he needed to save his family. He wasn’t in the room in time, and they died before his eyes. He barely escaped with his life. It was Emma Whitmore, a woman with the power to absorb the life force of others, who helped him get free. Together they chased every clue they could to discover who had killed Flynn’s wife and daughter, until Flynn uncovered the truth - Emma’s mysterious benefactors were Rittenhouse, the very organization Flynn thought they’d been chasing. Emma left Flynn bruised and bleeding, but he’d stolen from her a ledger that contained a name - Preston.

It’s then that Flynn finds Amy’s podcast, and through her disappearance, finds Lucy. He tells Lucy to look into Rittenhouse - she is a journalist, after all. He says he’ll see her again, and leaves her with the page of the ledger containing her last name. Lucy goes straight to the police, but no one believes her except Denise Christopher, a detective in the Superhuman Crimes division who has seen enough evidence go missing and forms incorrectly filed to know that something weird is going on. She and Lucy work together in secret to track down Rittenhouse, and it’s while investigating that mysterious organization that they uncover the secret about local billionaire Connor Mason.

Mason is the CEO of Mason Industries, and, in secret, works with two young employees to stop the havoc that Phantom Frost and his sidekick The Swallow have wrought. Rufus Carlin, a former hacker, is his prodigy, though powerless, and together they create the technology that Mason takes to the streets as The Shadow Master. Jiya Mari started as Mason’s intern, recruited onto their team when Rufus discovered that she had visions of the future that could help them. It was a man involved with Rittenhouse that pointed them in Flynn’s direction, and Rittenhouse has financially supported their efforts. Because of this, The Shadow Master faces off occasionally against a superpowered former couple, Crossfire and Cascade. Wyatt and Jessica Logan are yin and yang, both in their personalities and their powers - fire and water, respectively. For a while, they were married, and fought crime together side by side. When Jessica learned the truth about Rittenhouse, people she thought were the good guys, the marriage fell apart. Wyatt, a veteran, could trust no one anymore. Jessica was forced to choose between the family she knew and the home she wanted with Wyatt. The two have recently reunited, and are still learning to navigate their new team dynamic, but when they take down Rittenhouse, they’ll take Rittenhouse down together. When Lucy and Denise find Mason and his team, they’re surprised to learn that the mysterious man from the alley is a villain. But Flynn finds Lucy again and warns her not to trust anyone, that The Shadow Master and his team are under the thumb of Rittenhouse. Lucy doesn’t trust Flynn until he crashes into her apartment one night, battered after a fight against Crossfire and Cascade, who believe that he and Emma are still partners working for the enemy. It’s as Lucy stitches a gash in his side that Flynn tells her everything - about Emma, about his family, and about Lucy’s own familial connection to the organization bent on taking over the city. Lucy must use all her skills as an investigative reporter if she wants to find Amy, but her editor, her mother, has other plans. As Lucy’s suspicion of her mother grows, so does her suspicion of the new partnership she and Denise have with Mason and his team. It seems that she can’t trust anyone, but, though Denise warns her against it, she still finds herself in late night meetings with the mysterious man whose ice cold touch leaves her burning with a desire to uncover the secrets that have lived beneath the surface of her city and bring them out of the shadows.

#timeless #garcy #nbc timeles #lucy preston #garcia flynn #sorry this is so late!#i had some volunteer commitments this past week and time got away from me #i hope you like it #happy timeless birthday!#mine

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bookshelfoffairiesandfoxes · 5 years

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My Most Anticipated Books of 2019

A TON of amazing books are releasing in 2019, and even before the year began, I knew this was going to be a big reading year for me. Once the year began, and authors began announcing even more books, I realized how busy my reading life is going to be.

I'm listing these in order of release date, since there's no way that I could rank these books (especially the ones in the second half of the year) by which one I'm most excited for. There's just SO MANY.

the mermaid's voice returns in this one by Amanda Lovelace. (03/05/2019). The Women are Some Kind of Magic series is just so beautiful and emotional, and I was so excited for the third and final book of this poetry trilogy to be released. I was lucky enough to have an ARC of it from NetGalley, so I was able to read it early, and I just loved it so much.*

Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa. (o6/18/2019). You definitely all need to preorder this one. I was so happy to find out that Soul of the Sword was coming out in June, only 8 months after Shadow of the Fox came out. Soul of the Sword is the second book in a YA Asian fantasy duology based on Japanese mythology, in which a girl named Yumeko, who is half fox spirit, teams up with a young assassin named Tatsumi to find the second half of an ancient magical scroll to prevent demons from coming into the human world. What Tatsumi doesn't know is that Yumeko has the first half of the scroll, and she knows he would kill her if he did.

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho. (06/25/2019). I first heard about Wicked Fox in the 88th episode of the podcast 88 Cups of Tea in which Yin Chang interviewed 8 members of the 88 Cups of Tea community, including Kat Cho. As soon as Kat described Wicked Fox, I knew I was going to have to buy this book. It's the story of Miyoung, a gumiho, or immortal nine-tailed fox spirit who devours men's energy to survive. Miyoung ends up saving the life of Jihoon, a human boy, which violates the rules of survival. Their friendship blossoms into love, and Miyoung must decide between her immortality and this human boy.

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. (08/06/2019). The Dragon Republic is the sequel to The Poppy War, which absolutely destroyed me. Imagine a fantasy version of World War II in China, focusing on The Rape of Nanjing. It's absolutely heartbreaking. The Poppy War is much darker than the books I normally read, but I loved it, and I can't wait for the sequel.*

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell. (09/24/2019). This is the long-anticipated sequel to Carry On, which for those who have read Fangirl, is about Simon Snow, the Chosen One in a wizarding world, but he can't control his magic. Also, gay wizards. Wayward Son is the story of a Chosen One after he has saved the world, where he must move on with his life. I hear there's going to be a roadtrip through the American West, and I am so here for it.*

Supernova by Marissa Meyer. (11/05/2019). I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS. Supernova is the conclusion to the Renegades series, in which Nova, a member of the Anarchists, must go undercover among the heroes, the Renegades. Here she joins the team that is headed by Adrian, the son of the Renegades' most respected superheroes. Adrian is also the man behind the mask of the mysterious Sentinel, and in this conclusion to the trilogy, Nova and Adrian fight even harder to keep their identities a secret.

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan. (11/05/2019). I absolutely cannot wait for this book! Girls of Storm and Shadow is the sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire, a fantasy version of Malaysia which tells the love story of two concubines of the Demon King. Natasha Ngan often describes the series as lesbians up against the patriarchy. The first book was so good! I read it in a day, which rarely happens anymore. In the sequel, we'll be getting to see more of the world, which I'm super excited for!*

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater. The highly anticipated beginning of the Dreamer trilogy, this is for anyone who loved The Raven Cycle and can't wait to see more of the characters and awesome new ones. We'll be concentrating a lot more on Ronan in this series, and I've already preordered my copy!

Honorable Mentions:

Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard. (02/12/2019). The third book in the Witchlands series. I loved Truthwitch, and I'm in the middle of Windwitch, and then I have to read the prequel Sightwitch, before I'm letting myself buy Bloodwitch. I've only heard fantastic things about it so far and I need it in my life. Apparently this is the book where all the plot points really begin to come to a head, and I'm super excited.

Weight of the Soul by Elizabeth Tammi. (12/03/2019). I've been following Elizabeth on Tumblr since 2013 (has it really been almost 6 years?!) and it was amazing seeing her writing journey and how her writing developed over time. Her debut novel Outrun the Wind, a lesbian Atalanta retelling, came out in November 2018. Weight of the Soul is her sophomore novel and is going to be dealing with Norse mythology.

*Content Warnings.

the mermaid's voice returns in this one - Amanda includes a content warning at the beginning of each of her poetry collections, so check the content warning page at the front if you're worried.

The Dragon Republic - R.F. Kuang hasn't released a list of content warnings for The Dragon Republic, but here's the list for The Poppy War. It's pretty much all of them.

Wayward Son - Rainbow Rowell hasn't said yet what readers need to be careful of in this book, but considering the first one dealt a lot with anxiety, Wayward Son will likely need a cw for anxiety, as well.

Girls of Storm and Shadow - In Girls of Paper and Fire, Natasha included a content warning at the beginning, as it contained sexual assault and violence in it. Please take care of yourselves while reading the sequel, as well.

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sneek-m · 5 years

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Monthly Listening: March 2019

The year has now officially reached its point where releases start flooding in, and I’m in an endless process of catch-up. The list feels way longer than the past two months. I’m at least feeling the abundance of music. On the bright side, I already met quite a few records I can call favorites for the year, including that Ebi Chu album that graces the header for this. Fortunately, I got a space to talk in length about it, so I’m very excited about that.

Here is this month’s playlist highlighting my listening. Below is the full list of stuff I checked out. (I say “stuff” because I got a few mixes in there, a format I’m glad to be keeping up with in some degree!)

2019 albums

2 Chainz -- Rap or Go to the League

Aleksi Perala -- Sunshine 3

American Football -- American Football (LP3)

Atarashii Gakkou No Leaders -- Wakage Ga Itaru

Ayaka Segawa -- Tender

BBG Baby Joe -- Boo Mode 4.0

Blu & Oh No -- A Long Red Hot Los Angeles Summer

Carpainter -- Declare Victory

Changsie -- Crack Mix 251

Chief Keef & Zaytoven -- GloToven

Colorful Scream -- Colorful Scream (Colorful Edition) / (Scream Edition)

DIA -- Newtro

Dis Fig -- Purge

Dosii -- Dosii

Dreamnote -- Dream:Us

Epik High -- Sleepless In ____

Everglow -- Arrival of Everglow

Finlands -- Utopia EP

Flora Yin-Wong -- Fresh Kicks 95

Flower -- F

(G)I-DLE -- I Made

Gunna -- Drip or Drown 2

HEALTH -- Vol. 4: Slaves of Fear

Heize -- She’s Fine

Helado Negro -- This Is How You Smile

Higher Brothers -- Five Stars

Hong Jin Young -- Lots of Love

Ibibio Sound Machine -- Doko Mien

iri -- Shade

Jane Dong Woo -- Bye

JASSS -- Dekmantel podcast 217

Jayda G -- Significant Changes

Jenny Lewis -- On the Line

Jus2 -- Focus

Kolokol -- Bookmark

Lena Raine -- Oneknowing

Lomelda -- M for Empathy

M83 -- Knife + Heart

Matmos -- Plastic Anniversary

Native Rapper -- Trip

Noisem -- Cease to Exist

Nonlocal Forecast -- Bubble Universe!

The Novembers -- Angels

Nulbarich -- Blank Envelope

Nuvolascura -- Nuvolascura

Octo Octa -- For Lovers

Park Hye Jin -- i-DJ mix

Pentagon -- Genie:Us

Reol -- Bunmei EP

SASAMI -- SASAMI

Sato Moka -- Merry Go Round

Satoko Shibata -- Ganbare! Melody

Sawa Angstrom -- DdTPt EP

Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku -- Music

Sik-K -- FL1P

Skee Mask -- 808BB

Snail’s House -- Scenery

Sora Tob Sakana -- World Fragment Tour

Suran -- Jumpin’

Tacoyaki Rainbow -- Nantaiteki Voyage

Tamaryn -- Dreaming the Dark

Tanya Tagaq -- Toothsayer EP

Tofubeats -- Asako I & II original soundtrack

Tricot -- Repeat

Westkust -- Westkust

William Basinski -- On Time Out of Time

Wooseok & Kuanlin -- 9801

Xeno & Oaklander -- Hypnos

Ximena Sarinana -- Donde Bailaran Las Ninas?

Xosar -- The Possessor Possesses Nothing

Yerin Baek -- Our Love Is Great

Non-2019 albums

2 Live Crew -- The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are

Deftones -- Saturday Night Wrist

Dir en Grey -- Gauze

Dir en Grey -- Macabre

Kyosuke Himuro -- Neo Fascio

Morning Musume -- First Time

Morning Musume -- Second Morning

Sumiko Yamagata -- Emerald Shower

Underworld -- Beaucoup Fish

#Monthly Listening

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stucktounstoppable · 3 years

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82. How Water Can Heal the Mind and Body | Bonnie Tsui

EPISODE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION: Bonnie Tsui is an American author and journalist of Hong Kong descent. She was born in New York, New York, graduated from Harvard University, and currently lives in San Francisco. She grew up a competitive swimmer. Her book American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods was published by Simon & Schuster's Free Press in 2009 and won the 2009-2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. The Los Angeles Times said it "explored their class struggles, rivalries, customs, and dialects," of the cities' Chinatowns. Tsui also contributes essays and cultural commentary to well-known American magazines, including The New York Times and California Sunday. Her accolades include the 2019 National Press Foundation Fellowship and the Jane Rainie Opel Young Alumna Award at Harvard University. In 2020, she published a memoir, Why We Swim, with Algonquin Books, which delves into the history of swimming. The New York Times called it an enthusiastic and thoughtful work. Her third book, Sarah & the Big Wave, about big-wave women surfers, will be published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers in spring 2021. She is a member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto.

A longtime contributor to The New York Times, Bonnie has also performed numerous times at Pop-Up Magazine and other live storytelling events. She helped to launch F&B: Voices from the Kitchen, a storytelling project from La Cocina that shares stories from cooks and kitchens that are less often heard. She also appeared as a talking head in the documentary The Search for General Tso, to explain the curiously foreign-yet-familiar quality of Chinese-American food and was featured in the History Channel series “America: Promised Land.”

NEXT STEPS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO: 1. Get the book Why We Swim.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS VIDEO: [0:00] – Intro [0:28] – This Water Thing [2:38] – Water & Healing [8:19] – Water & Spirituality [11:46] – Fear of Water [16:17] – Gudlaugur Frithorsson’s Journey [25:38] – Cultures Around Swimming [28:37] – Water Kept Her Safe for Security [32:09] – Water is Special [39:44] – Called to Write about Water [41:57] – Soul Speaking to Another Soul [42:53] – Who Needs the Book & Could be Convinced [43:56] – Yin & Yang [44:28] – To Be Able to Reach You Where You Are

ABOUT ME: Hi, I'm Stephen Scoggins. After fighting from homelessness and depression to build multiple businesses employing hundreds of amazing people, I've learned a lot about what it really takes to overcome your limitations and build your dream life. Now, my goal is to help one million people get from where they are today to where they want to be in life. To help with that, I'm releasing videos on this channel several times per week and posting regularly on social media. On this YouTube channel, I interview the world's most foremost thought leaders on what it takes to master your life. I also have a library of free resources, downloadable eBooks, and personality tests to help you become the person you’ve always wanted to be. Just check out my websites below!

MASTER YOUR LIFE WITH FREE RESOURCES: My Website: https://www.stephenscoggins.com Free eBooks & Resources: https://www.stephenscoggins.com/resources My Blog: https://stephenscoggins.com/blog/ Stuck to Unstoppable Podcast: https://stephenscoggins.com/stuck-to-unstoppable/

CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephen_scoggins/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephenscoggins/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenscoggins Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_scoggin

Check out this episode!

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jyslifetimes · 2 months

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Yin & Young Podcast EP 71 Aileen Cho - Intergenerational Trauma, Marriage, and Healing

youtube

We’re so happy to have Aileen Cho, a licensed therapist based in the Southern California area, as our guest this episode! Aileen is a 2nd generation Korean-American clinician that offers psychotherapeutic services in both English and Korean. In this podcast (a first for Aileen) she shares her personal and professional insight into intergenerational trauma, marriage challenges, and the various ways she helps individuals to find their own way to heal.

Aileen’s website: https://www.aileenbcho.com/

Contact Aileen (currently not accepting new clients until Sept. 2024): [email protected]

Highlights:

00:00 James gives a brief intro of Aileen. They met at the Asian American Theater Festival at UCSD.

01:45 We do a check-in. Aileen is very pregnant.

04:25 Born in LA, her mother's family were North Korean refugees and shares a story about her paternal grandfather who was sold as a child slave to a Japanese family.

07:00 Discusses how she was born into intergenerational trauma due to her family’s history. She is the keeper of stories for her family.

09:45 Started off in acting and theater in college, while also going to therapy.

11:25 After college: Her shift to the mental health field and eventually getting her Master’s in Drama Therapy.

12:40 Intergenerational trauma:

Separation of North and South Korea.

The way we rear children is influenced by our own trauma.

16:00 Advice to young people deciding about whether to go to therapy.

20:20 How were your first steps into therapy?

23:11 Finds that Korean American therapists are rare in her field and overall there’s a dearth of Asian American therapists.

25:25 More Asian Americans are going into clinical practice as well as seeking therapy. Most of her clients are now Asian Americans.

28:27 Mental health issues particular to Asian Americans.

31:55 Aileen’s Time Capsule Theory in regards to immigrants and the children of immigrants.

36:10 How to get boomer parents into family therapy.

37:35 How has being a therapist and going to therapy affected your own relationships?

40:50 Challenges with married life.

48:05 Communication issues with couples.

49:50 In the current social climate, the pressures of expectations of marriage has never been higher. Recommends Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel.

57:27 Collective grief and drama therapy.

What do you to stay balanced? (59:40)

Language corner （01:02:27):

Circumstances that bring people meant for each other together; destiny; connection.

Mandarin: 緣分 (yuánfèn)

Korean: 인연 (inyeon)

Empathy*

Korean: 공감 (gong-gam). From the hanja 共感, gung6gam2 in Cantonese, gònggǎn in Mandarin.

*Aileen shares that the word “empathy” comes from the Greek words “in” (em) and “feeling” (pathos). Compare this to Korean, empathy = 공감, which is “communal" (공/共) + “feeling” (감/感). Shows individualistic vs collectivist cultural differences in the languages.

01:09:17 Aileen and her husband have inherited her mom’s secret kimchi recipe.

———

Follow and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube: @yinyoungpodcast

FB: https://www.facebook.com/yinyoungpodcast

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yinyoungpodcast

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Like/comment to helps others find our work! Yin & Young is produced by James Y. Shih and Daniel Yin. Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/yinyoungpodcast

Email: [email protected]

#yin young podcast #podcasts #language #Therapy #drama #theatre #trauma #relationships #marriage #psychotherapy

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sshannonauthor · 6 years

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I've been trying to work on a novel for months, but between uni, work and family/friends I feel like I've made no progress for where I should be. I'm so tired at the end of the day/week from keeping up with the basics I don't have any creativity left in me. I've tried different methods (e.g. giving up social stuff to write) but so much writing advice seems to be aimed at middle class people who can afford to do whatever they want? Do you know of any resources for young working class writers??

I’m so sorry you’re finding it difficult to protect your creativity.

I’m afraid I don’t know any resources specifically for young working-class writers, or many writing resources in general. The main thing I used was The Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook. Author blogs and newsletters might be a helpful way to get bursts of inspiration, as you can read them quickly between your other commitments. I hear @stdennard’s newsletter is very good.

I asked about this for you on Twitter and somebody recommended the 88 Cups of Tea podcast with Yin Chang. Podcasts in general might be a good resource, as many are free and you can sneak them in when you’re between uni and home or anywhere else.

Is there anything you could do at your local library – any writing groups that could take you through some small, creativity-boosting exercises? (Does your uni offer anything like that?) Or maybe you could give yourself some library time every weekend and try your best to protect that hour or half-hour or however long you can spare. It would get you away from your usual environment – give you a space dedicated to creativity – and you can sit there without having to spend a penny.

Don’t listen to too much writing advice, and definitely don’t take any of it as law. It’s all subjective, and like you’ve realised, it doesn’t work for every individual or every situation. Take it all with a pinch of salt.

You’ve said you’re worried that you’re not ‘where you should be’ – try not to think that way. It’s never too late to start or finish a story. At the moment you feel like there’s no room for your creativity to breathe, and putting yourself under time constraints will only worsen that feeling. Even if you write a few minutes whenever you can, those bits and pieces of work will accumulate into a novel. 100 words a day, for example, gives you about half an average-sized YA in a year. Some authors and blogs will frighten you by insisting you have to pump out 1000 words a day without exception or you will never be a writer, but clearly not everyone has the time or headspace to do that. Ignore what doesn’t work for you.

Also – I’m not sure if you’re in a position to do this, but it might be worth having a chat with your family about giving you some time to work on your manuscript. I had to do this with mine when I was working on The Mime Order and still living with them, as they kept interrupting me to make tea and do chores and thinking I could just get straight back to work. They’re not creative types, and I had to explain so many times before they understood that I needed to get immersed for a while in order for my writing to flow. Eventually my mum got me a ‘do not disturb’ sign for my door, and that meant that I would deal with everything I had to do at home after I’d finished a chapter or hit my word count.

Maybe at some point you could start a resource for working-class creatives – a blog, perhaps, or a forum. There is a serious lack of working-class voices in the publishing industry. Yours might help others out there who are struggling with the same issues. (Let me know if you do and I’ll shout about it.)

#sshannonauthor writing asks #sshannonauthor publishing asks

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w3transform3d · 4 years

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TUNE IN to @riseupworldwide Every Wed 6-8pm est & during your daily commute from 8-10am est on @w3transform3d with @joebossradio Ep202 - Joe Boss Birthday Celebration It’s a celebration!! Tune as we celebrate @JoeBossRadio’s birthday with some uptempo music and more! Topic - What age are you no longer considered a Young Adult? Other topics #InvestInYourself - Why Tithing is Important Lakers clinch Championship, Lebron MVP Is Lebron Best player ever!! Why voting matters (Video) Doc Rivers as a coach Playlist by Joe Boss Middleman - Canton Jones 10k - KB Shibuya Roll Call - Andy Mineo, Wordsplayed Tunnel - DJ LostNFound I.G.G.T. - Dru Bex Godzilla (Momentum) - Bridgewater Speak to Me - Koryn Hawthorn Reasons - Y’Anna Crawley Lord’s Will - Mali Music Don’t Fail Me - A.I. The Anomaly No Enemies - Bizzle, Jered Sanders Alright Alright - Derek Minor, Canon Bass - Mouthpi3ce Hands in it - Evan and Eris All the Waves - Sstedi Black Woman - Serious Voice Yin and Yang - Mali Music #RiseUpWorldwide #Podcast #Radio #NowPlaying #ArtistManagement #SocialMediaMarketing #CHH #RealCHH #TruthMusic #ChristianRap #Rapzilla #JamTheHype #Trackstarz #BeWise #InvestInYourself #UrbanGospel #Trending #HipHop #TransformationRadio12_2 #GynesisRadio #YesHourRadio #HisHopRadio #HisHopNation #trending #ChristLikeRadio #ShareTheWealth (at Transformation Radio 12:2) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGVx6MSH5G-/?igshid=jany7l6cuo25

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riseupworldwide · 4 years

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Ep202 - Joe Boss Birthday Celebration It’s a celebration!! Tune as we celebrate @JoeBossRadio’s birthday with some uptempo music and more! Topic - What age are you no longer considered a Young Adult? www.RiseUpWorldwide.net Other topics 1. What age are you no longer a young adult 2. #InvestInYourself - Why Tithing is Important 3. Lakers clinch Championship, Lehron MVP 4. Is Lebron Best player ever!! 5. Why voting matters (Video) 6. Doc Rivers as a coach Playlist by Joe Boss 1. Middleman - Canton Jones 2. 10k - KB 3. Shibuya Roll Call - Andy Mineo, Wordsplayed 4. Tunnel - DJ LostNFound 5. I.G.G.T. - Dru Bex 6. Godzilla (Momentum) - Bridgewater 7. Speak to Me - Koryn Hawthorn 8. Reasons - Y’Anna Crawley 9. Lord’s Will - Mali Music 10. Don’t Fail Me - A.I. The Anomaly 11. No Enemies - Bizzle, Jered Sanders 12. Alright Alright - Derek Minor, Canon 13. Bass - Mouthpi3ce 14. Hands in it - Evan and Eris 15. All the Waves - Sstedi 16. Black Woman - Serious Voice 17. Yin and Yang - Mali Music #Podcast #Radio #NowPlaying #ArtistManagement #SocialMediaMarketing #CHH #RealCHH #TruthMusic #ChristianRap #Rapzilla #JamTheHype #Trackstarz #BeWise #InvestInYourself #UrbanGospel #Trending #HipHop #GynesisRadio #YesHourRadio #HisHopRadio #HisHopNation #trending #ChristLikeRadio #ShareTheWealth (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGVTzt9Hm3V/?igshid=1p7n14yjseyw7

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theworldaswedontknowit · 7 years

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China: Historical Overview

5000 years of history that honestly, never really gets boring

I would also like to point out my knowledge doesn't go very far after The Three Kingdoms and it is noticeable in my writing. I also wrote this while incredibly sick. Any errors please point them out.

China has a long, long history. There’s no denying it. Even if you were to ignore the mythical time of the 3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors and the undocumented but “it probably existed” Xia Dynasty (more on that in a moment) the documented history of the country still stretches over 3600 years. There’s approximately 10 Dynasties we know existed but the country has seen multiple periods of division and in fighting, even up to the 1900s. So, with the monstrous task now ahead of me, let’s get started!

The first people who were human like to arrive in China were Homo Erectus and the estimated dates are between 2.24 million and 800,000 years ago. That’s quite a while. Tooth fragments have been found elsewhere that date back 80,000 years.

So, how about mythical beginnings? Well, one of the key mythical figures in almost every story told is the Jade Emperor. The first Chinese people came from Fu Xi and Nü Wa, brother and sister who survived a flood that swept away their homeland. The siblings came to the Jade Emperor for help and he gave them the power to create new human life. The two married and made the human race through clay models. Fu Xi then ruled over the group for 115 years, establishing the ritual of marriage and making conception a shared act, having previously been a miracle occurrence that solely involved females. There is a monument erected in his memory in Gansu Province.

There is a slight…erm. Okay let’s be frank, girls don’t win in history very often. This mythical period is known as the era of the 3 Sovereigns and 5 Emperors and there is some debate about who the three sovereigns were. While most name them as Fu Xi, Shennong and Huangdi others declare Nü Wa the first or second sovereigns but most of the time gets left out almost altogether. Sucks to us.

So, onto the next Sovereign – Shennong. Shennong is famous in Chinese mythology for introducing tea. He was also known for making himself a guinea pig and regularly testing new medicines on himself – tea being his antidote. Shennong, it should be noted, was also known as Yandi (炎帝) and is the God of Agriculture, supposedly teaching Slash and Burn techniques to his people. It should also come as no surprise that Shennong’s death is related to his habit on testing things on himself. He died after consuming a poison herb and his intestines putrefied as he was unable to reach his tea in time. There is also speculation that the title Yandi was a dynastic title and that it spanned a longer period of time, some sources recording names for the Kings of Shennong.

The final sovereign is Huangdi, for whom we have an actual name for, he is noted as Gongsun Xuanyuan which was recorded by the Grand Historian – Sima Qian. Another name, Youxiong, is also noted but the consensus seems to be that this was more of a clan name than anything else.

The myth goes that Shennong and Huangdi ruled in neighboring states – wikipedia likes to suggest than Shennong (or Yuwang) and Xuanyuan were in fact brothers, born to Lady Fu Bao and step sons of Shao Dian, a supposed ancestor of Boyi who we well get to later. Either way, during their reigns an evil spirit named Chi You attacked Shennong with 86 other tribes, so Shennong enlisted the help of little brother/neighbor Huangdi. The two defeated Chi You and joined their two lands, naming their people the Huaxia whom the main Han ethnic group all claim descent from.

However, both Emperors’ pride was damaged and the two went to war. Huangdi would win and become sole ruler of the Huaxia peoples. Huangdi would rule for 100 years – from 2698BCE – 2598 BCE – and is credited with the creation of a calender, the writing system, laws and even football. Hats off to you indeed Huangdi. One of his wives, Leizu, is also credited with teaching people how to weave silk and dye clothes.

Now, this is where things get a little weirder. 5 Emperors with almost 450 years to cover stretches the bounds of credibility just a little bit but that’s fine. There’s also something to be said about the number 5, it’s a symbol of completeness so there were probably (definitely) more than 5 Emperors but 5 have been crammed in and strung out over impossible periods of time to fit this. To confuse just about everyone and fitting this idea of 5 but there were actually more there are six potential rulers for 5 spots.

The six are: Shaohao (reigned c. 2598BCE - 2518BCE) he was the son of Huangdi and is also the one who is passed over by Sima Qian. Zhuanxu (reigned c. 2518BCE - 2440BCE) a Grandson of the Yellow Emperor and nephew of Shaohao he either followed his Grandfather or was his Uncle's assistant from the age of 10 to 20 years old. Emperor Ku (reigned c. 2440BCE - 2377BCE) the Grandson of Shaohao. Supposedly rode on Dragon back for half of the year. His four sons would ultimately all rule, two as Kings/Emperors in their own right and two who became dynastic founders of Shang and Zhou. Emperor Zhi (reigned c. 2377BCE - 2368BCE) Emperor Ku's son who was passed over for his younger brother, Yao. Promptly usurped the throne and lasted a meagre nine years. Well, you tried Zhi. Emperor Yao (reigned c. 2368BCE - 2269BCE) the younger son of Emperor Ku. He is remembered as a wise and kind ruler who those in the future sought to emulate.

Emperor Shun (reigned c. 2269BCE - 2219BCE) A distant relative of the yellow emperor through Zhuanxu he either took over from Yao peacefully after making himself well respected for his humble life. Alternatively he usurped the throne, killed Yao and banished his heir. Honestly, seen as this I mythology you can take your pick.

Finally, we get onto Dynastic China. China’s first dynasty, the Xia, is still largely considered fictional and wasn’t believed to have existed at all until the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology project lead to the uncovering of evidence of a culture called the Erlitou who were around the same time as the dates we’re given for the Xia.

The Xia would have a total of 17 Kings over 395 years. The first would be Yu the Great, calmer of the flood waters and his son, Qi, would begin the rule of primogenitor (as put by The History of China podcast, “the first-born son wins rule”). The final King of Xia would be Jie and they would be usurped by the Shang Dynasty whose dynastic founder was one of the sons of Emperor Ku.

The Shang Dynasty had 30 Kings over 630 years and has two names. It is known as the Shang Dynasty as that is where the rulers were from however in Korea and Japan it is known as the Yin Dynasty as that was the city where they had their capital. The first King would be Tang of Shang and the last King Zhou of Shang, a tyrant. An additional note on the Shang – this is where China’s written history begins as the Oracle bones date back to this period and provide an insight into the beliefs and lives of the Shang people.

Next come the Zhou, the longest reigning (sort of) Dynasty in Chinese History, their own Dynastic founder being the other son of Emperor Ku. I’m sure when that happened one looked at the other and said, “Thanks. Thanks a lot.” The Zhou Dynasty is split into two halves, the Western and Eastern. Western Zhou saw almost complete rule by the Kings of Zhou and lasted from 1046CE – 771BCE. In Eastern Zhou this changed, the Kings became little more than puppets and were eventually deposed in 256BCE.

During this time the two periods Spring and Autumn and Warring States would take hold of China, fracturing it once Zhou rule became nothing more than a memory. The separate states and eventually Kingdoms would spend centuries fighting for the right to be Hegemon. The period also brought the classics The Confucian Analects and The Art of War. The infighting would continue for another 30 years after the final Zhou King was deposed before the Qin Dynasty and China’s first real Emperor claimed rulership over the land.

Despite the permanent mark it left on China and the culture the Qin Dynasty was something of a blip. Qin Shi Huang would take the throne in 221BCE and rule for only 14 years before ingesting Mercury in a bid for immortality and instead, not surprisingly, dying. His eldest son, Fu Su, would be forced to commit suicide by his minister Li Si and the Eunuch Zhao Gao and his 18th son, Huhai, installed as Qin Er Shi.

Boy that went well. Qin Er Shi, only a teenager at the time, fell under the influence of the Eunuch Zhao Gao. Oh and get ready for Eunuchs, they really, really love bringing an end to Dynasties. Eventually Zhao Gao would force the young Emperor to commit suicide and pass power onto Ziying – generally accepted as another son of Qin Shi Huang – who, along with his two sons, would murder the Eunuch.

Another warring states would follow, known as the Chu-Han contention, which ended with the succession of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty is undoubtedly one of China’s most famous Dynasties and left the most visible print on the country. The main ethnic group are known as the Han people, the clothes are called Hanfu and the writing system is Hanzi. The Han would rule for a little over 400 years, only facing usurpation once when the Xin Dynasty tried to take hold of the country. Han would have 30 rulers in 414 years and was followed by The Three Kingdoms.

You ever played Dynasty Warriors? Or just heard of it? I love those games, they’re what got me into this period to begin with. The Three Kingdoms – Wei, Wu and Shu – would fight for dominance over China for almost a century before all three of the ruling families (Cao, Sun and Liu) would be beaten and usurped by the Sima family. The age gave us some of the best tactical thinkers in Chinese history and some of the most badass warriors ever. If you want to know more about this period than what I’m telling you I suggest you go and read the blogs of @daolunofshiji and @the-archlich , though, you’ve probably already heard of them. Bonus they're both pretty funny.

Not that the Jin Dynasty did very well. It took two Emperors before pretty much everything went horribly wrong in the form of the War of the Eight Princes. The monarchs would ultimately become utterly powerless over the 155 year rule and the land would fragment into 16 Kingdoms. Nice going, Sima family. I can see Sima Yi shaking his head in shame.

The Northern and Southern Dynasties saw the land fragmented again for almost 180 years and eventually it culminated into the Sui Dynasty. The Sui were another blip in history, lasting for only 37 and going through three emperors it was something of a Qin 2.0. It had reunited China after a long period of division and had only three Emperors. The Eunuchs seem to be missing from this time, it was more a demand of labor that brought the Sui down.

Tang would take over from the Sui and last for 289, seeing 21 Emperors and the first and only Empress of China, Wu Zetian who would rule as Empress Dowager Wu of Tang and then Empress of Zhou. Two of her sons would sit on the throne and another would be given the title of Emperor posthumously. I’d personally argue she was one of the most powerful women of the time.

After the Tang, China would fracture once again into the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms which would shrink to just four. Song, Liao, Xia and Jin. Song would reign triumphant eventually, splitting into two periods, Northern Song (960 – 1127) and Southern Song (1127 – 1279) after which it was conquered by Kublai Khan and brought in the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.

The Yuan dynasty, beginning officially in 1279, was the first foreign Dynasty to rule China. Headed by Kublai Khan, a Grandson of Genghis Khan, it consisted of most of modern day China, Mongolia and Korea. During the Yuan dynasty Princes from Korea would spend several years at the Yuan court, allowing for greater culture exchange. The Dynasty would begin to falter in the early 1300s with onsets of famine and general unrest. For the other Khanates, the Yuan had become “too Chinese” and distrusted them while the populace saw them as foreigners and so they were untrusted by both parties. It would fracture in 1368 into the Northern Yuan and Ming Dynasty.

While the Northern Yuan retreated to Mongolia (although it would keep right on going until the Qing Dynasty) the Ming set up in Beijing and were the last Dynasty that was ethnically Han Chinese. They’re known well throughout the world, especially for their vases. The Ming also saw much increased trade with other countries both in Europe and nearby Japan. The 276 reign of the Ming dynasty saw 18 emperors before being taken over by China’s final dynasty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The Qing dynasty is the one no one seems to have heard of but everyone knows exactly what they look like? They’re the ones where the men’s hair is braided and shaved at the front. The Qing dynasty was turbulent at best, it’s when my country (yay Britain…christ I hate this) decided that we’d sell Opium to them and there’s a political cartoon of European countries and Japan dividing up China and I’ll be honest that is basically what happened. Towards the late 1800s there were multiple rebellions and the Dynasty finally fell in 1912 when Emperor Puyi abdicated, although there was a botched attempt to reinstate the dynasty 1917 which went…swimmingly.

The Republic of China was ushered in and would continue until 1949. The period was also devastating, seeing civil war, the Japanese invasion and the second world war. In 1949 the Communist Party of China would come to power under Mao Zedong. There are endless, endless books you can read on this period and it’s common knowledge that this was perhaps some of the darkest years of Chinese history. After Mao’s death in 1976 and the student protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 China has turned around. Though still legally communist, the economic make up of the country takes it further from this definition often as it moves toward the status of super power, industrializing and producing most of the world’s goods.

What a ride that was.

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