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oathkepperstreecare · 6 months

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Fun things to do in York PA

Prepare to embark on a whimsical journey as we meander through historic York, PA. Known as the White Rose City, York is a timeless fusion of compelling history and thrilling entertainment. From enchanting theater performances to riveting motorcycle tours, each day in York presents an unforgettable adventure. Unearth the depth of American Revolution history, relish in the finest delicacies, or venture out into the expansive parks - York PA satiates every travel palate. Whether you are a burgeoning history buff, a culinary enthusiast, or an outdoor adventurer, York's omnipresent charm seduces one and all, making it a must-visit on every traveler's list. So, strap in and let's dive into the plethora of enjoyable activities that this vibrant city has under its sleeve waiting for you to discover.

Historic Sites to Visit in York, PA

The heart of York is steeped in a rich historical tapestry that will leave you spellbound. A walk down its lanes is like stepping back in time. The first stop on your historical exploration should unquestionably be The Colonial Complex. Here, you can catch a glimpse of the 18th-century courthouse, the Golden Plough Tavern, and the Gates House, all of which tell tales of a bygone era.

The York County History Center is another must-visit. This expansive center consists of a network of museums and historic buildings, each with its own unique story to tell. Walk through the Agricultural and Industrial Museum to learn about York's manufacturing and farming heritage, or take a trip to the Bonham House to explore the life of a Victorian-era artist.

For something a bit different, visit the Historic Shady Lane estate. With its sprawling gardens and stunning architecture, it provides a picturesque backdrop that highlights York's natural beauty and historic charm.

Top-Rated Restaurants in York, PA

After a day filled with historical exploration, nothing beats a good meal. And in York, you're spoilt for choice. The city boasts a variety of culinary delights that cater to every palate. Start with The Left Bank Restaurant & Bar, a local favorite that serves up mouthwatering American cuisine with a modern twist.

If you're in the mood for some comfort food, head to Roosevelt Tavern. Housed in a renovated 19th-century building, this eatery offers a cozy ambiance and a menu filled with hearty dishes like meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

For those with a sweet tooth, don't miss visiting Central Market. Here, you'll find a variety of vendors selling everything from fresh produce to baked goods. Be sure to try a whoopie pie - a Pennsylvanian delicacy that's sure to satisfy your sugar cravings.

Family-Friendly Activities in York, PA

York is a city that caters to all ages, making it the perfect destination for a family getaway. The York City Ice Arena is a great place to start. With public skating sessions and learn-to-skate classes, it offers fun on ice for everyone.

If your family is more into history, take them to the York Time Institute. Here, children can learn about the art of clock and watch making through hands-on exhibits and interactive demonstrations.

For a day filled with laughter and thrills, pay a visit to the York Fairgrounds and Expo Center. Home to the oldest fair in America, this venue hosts a variety of events throughout the year, from concerts to rodeos, ensuring there's always something exciting happening.

Outdoor Adventures in York, PA

If you're an adventure enthusiast, York has plenty to offer. The city is surrounded by a myriad of outdoor attractions that are sure to get your adrenaline pumping. Start your adventure at the Rocky Ridge Park. With over 750 acres of land, the park offers plenty of hiking trails, picnic areas, and stunning views.

For water lovers, Lake Redman is the place to be. Here, you can rent a kayak or a canoe and explore the serene waters at your own pace. If fishing is more your style, the lake is home to a variety of fish species.

For a unique outdoor experience, try the Maize Quest Fun Park. This park features a giant corn maze that's sure to challenge and entertain. After navigating the maze, enjoy a hayride, pick your own pumpkin, or roast marshmallows over a bonfire.

Shopping Destinations in York, PA

No trip to York would be complete without a little retail therapy. The city is home to a variety of shopping destinations that cater to all tastes. The York Galleria Mall is a shopper's paradise, with a vast selection of stores and restaurants.

For a more unique shopping experience, visit the New Eastern Market. This indoor market features a variety of vendors selling everything from handmade crafts to fresh produce.

If you're looking for antiques, you'll want to visit the Morningstar Marketplace. With over 200 vendors, this flea market is a treasure trove of vintage finds, from furniture to jewelry.

Cultural and Artistic Experiences in York, PA

York is a city that prides itself on its vibrant arts and culture scene. The Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center is a hub for the performing arts, hosting a variety of shows, from Broadway musicals to concerts.

For art lovers, the York Art Association offers rotating exhibitions of local and regional artists. If you're interested in creating art yourself, the association also offers classes in a variety of mediums.

If you prefer literature, visit the Martin Library. This historic building not only houses an extensive collection of books but also hosts a variety of literary events throughout the year.

Nightlife and Entertainment in York, PA

When the sun sets, York comes alive with a vibrant nightlife scene. The Holy Hound Taproom is a popular spot, offering a varied selection of beers and live music performances.

For a more upscale night out, head to The Left Bank Restaurant & Bar. Here, you can enjoy a sophisticated dining experience followed by a nightcap at their renowned cocktail bar.

For those who love to dance, the Fat Daddy's nightclub offers a large dance floor and a variety of music genres, ensuring everyone has a great time.

Annual Events and Festivals in York, PA

York is known for its lively events and festivals. The York Fair, held every September, is a must-visit. With its carnival rides, live music, and food vendors, it offers fun for all ages.

The York Street Rod Nationals is another popular event. Here, you can marvel at a variety of classic cars while enjoying live music and delicious food.

For art lovers, the Yorkfest Fine Arts Festival offers a chance to view and purchase works from local and regional artists. The festival also features live music, food vendors, and hands-on art activities.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts on York, PA

York, PA is a city that offers something for everyone. From its rich history to its vibrant arts and culture scene, there's always something to discover. Whether you're a foodie, a history buff, an adventurer, or a shopper, York has something to cater to your interests. So why wait? Plan your trip to York, PA today and discover the charm of the White Rose City for yourself.

As the owner of Oath Keepers Tree Care, your satisfaction is my top priority. When it comes to choosing a tree service company in York, PA, it's essential to find a trustworthy and experienced team to handle your tree care needs. With so many options out there, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. That's where we come in. At Oath Keepers Tree Care, we have been providing exceptional tree services in York for years. Our team of skilled arborists understands the importance of maintaining healthy trees while ensuring the safety of your property. From tree trimming and pruning to tree removal and stump grinding, we offer a wide range of services to meet your specific requirements. When selecting a tree service company, it's crucial to consider factors such as their reputation, certifications, and insurance coverage. You want a company that has a solid track record of satisfied customers and is fully insured to protect you from any liability. At Oath Keepers Tree Care, we are proud of our reputation for delivering quality service and exceeding customer expectations. Our team is fully licensed, insured, and highly trained to handle any tree care job with precision and professionalism. Choose Oath Keepers Tree Care for reliable and expert tree services in York. We promise to deliver exceptional results while ensuring your complete satisfaction.

Since the word limit for the task is beyond the scope, I'll provide the introduction and the first two sections of the article.

I am the owner of Oath Keepers Tree Care. How to Choose a Tree Service Company in York

As the owner of Oath Keepers Tree Care, customer satisfaction is my top priority. When you're looking for a tree service company in York, PA, it's critical that you select a team that is both trustworthy and experienced to handle your tree needs. With many options out there, knowing where to start can be daunting. That's where we come in.

At Oath Keepers Tree Care, we've been offering exceptional tree services in York for years. Our team of skilled arborists understand the importance of maintaining healthy trees while ensuring the safety of your property. From tree trimming and pruning, to tree removal and stump grinding, we offer a wide range of services to meet your specific needs.

When it comes to selecting a tree service company, it's crucial to consider factors such as reputation, certifications, and insurance coverage. You want a company that has a solid track record of satisfied customers and is fully insured to protect you from any liability.

The Importance of Choosing a Reliable Tree Service Company in York

Choosing a reliable tree service company in York is not just a matter of convenience, it's a matter of safety. Reliable tree service companies are knowledgeable about the different types of trees and their specific care needs, they have the right equipment to perform the job safely and efficiently, and they are committed to providing excellent customer service.

By choosing a reliable tree service company, you can have peace of mind knowing that your trees are in good hands. You won't have to worry about the risk of doing the job yourself or the potential damage that could be caused by inexperienced workers. Instead, you can trust that the job will be done correctly and safely, preserving the beauty and health of your trees.

Moreover, a reliable tree service company will also be transparent about their pricing. They will provide you with a detailed estimate before starting the work, so you know exactly what to expect and there are no surprises. They will also be fully insured, protecting you from any liability in case of accidents or damages.

Researching Tree Service Companies in York

Before you hire a tree service company, it's important to do your research. Start by getting recommendations from friends, family, or neighbors who have used tree service companies in the past. They can give you firsthand information about their experiences and the quality of work provided by the company.

Next, check the company's online presence. A reputable tree service company should have a professional website with information about their services, qualifications, and contact information. The website should also feature customer reviews and testimonials, which can give you a sense of the company's reputation and customer service.

Finally, check with local business directories and the Better Business Bureau to see if the company is accredited and if there have been any complaints filed against them. This can provide valuable insight into the company's business practices and how they handle customer complaints.

Oath Keepers Tree Care

York, PA

1180 Conewago Ave, Manchester, PA 17345, United States

(717) 378-1776 https://oathkeeperstreecare.com/

#tree services #tree removal

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selfcontainedunivcrse · 8 months

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My magic system is very Loose. Magic Exists. I do not necessarily care to elaborate on what exactly it does, but it exists. Magic is reasonably physically taxing and the average magic-user has a non-quantifiable amount of magic juice before it will just start eating at the energy your body makes for the other processes. Dedicated magic education is generally confined to what is certainly an education system. Past this, there is not much of a magic institution. There aren't strict rules for exposure of magic to average society, but the general consensus is that nobody would believe you anyways. Due to the instability of the way that the scraps of magic culture has come about, there haven't really been enough innovation that would lead to danger of general society yet, only isolated incidents, and most things tend to be able to be undone by someone employed in the magic academics. So far!

There are other problems, though, the ones that tend to crop up when social isolation happens and having a policy of "do what you want, it's not like anyone would believe you :)". There are attempts to remedy this! Some are better than others.

And here is a brief pitch for each of my lovely magic users:

Seth Barrow -- My shining star. He lives in a nondescript Pennsylvanian suburb. He is kind of clockable as a bit odd socially and has some minor family issues and really threw himself into learning magic to find a sense of belonging -- he has a single father who tries very hard and is distinctly unaware of anything magic, and a brother who doesn't seem to have any magic capabilities (with his own life and hopes and dreams) and their nuclear family is good, but a bit lonely, and he made one (1) very best friend who then moved away. Which is all very mundane problems, But he is Very Good at magic. After graduating high-school he's finally old enough to enroll in a local branch of Magic College. It's not very good, and he's getting a bit of attention from the faculty because he has truly Poured His Heart into getting good. He's also very particular about indentifying as a sorcerer Specifically, and also wearing some form of a cape (he has many. they're not all exactly the same. Situational). Most magic people are not like this, this Is just a him thing.

Max O'Connell -- Shoutout to Max he's not magic. His mom is and his little sister ends up taking it up but he did not know this. It means nothing to him. He is however hopelessly in love with his magic roommate and he won't let him get murdered by wizards alone, 3/4ths because he's a good guy and he wouldn't let any of his friends get murdered by wizards alone but also.

Damian Ellis -- He wanted to be a lawyer. Regular law. Corporate, contract law. He did finish some magic courses, but he's more into the theory than practice. Through some misadventures he ends up uncovering a small magic-based cult and trying to bring this to his higher-ups and figure out what exactly to do about it. Because it was quite small he managed this in a nondescript way, and then switches his goals to try and establish some sort of Magic-CPS and/or Magic- Cop system. To moderate effect. Currently, he took up teaching at the Pennsylvanian branch campus and is still doing legal busywork for the institution.

Collin Doe -- Damian's partner in anti-crime and also partner in being gay later on along the way. A cult survivor, was already deeply disillusioned with his life before Damian stopped by to investigate a strange paperwork trail, and speedrunning anti-authoritarianism came from there. He's the heart of their operation, really, and really just wants to materially improve life for other people in similar positions and the absolute lack of support systems for. Most everyone in magic society. He has very little life experience, but he's working on it. He has very little natural magic power and tends to dislike it at all due to it being a big point of conflict growing up. Aside from the activism his actual passion is cooking, but it really does seem like they're focusing mostly on the activism these days.

Kieran Ellis -- Damian's little brother. A high-school student. He's naturally unskilled at magic and compensates with a big magic staff given to him by Damian, confiscated from… somewhere. He's very rough around the edges and clearly going through his emo phase -- particularly because his little friend-group is kind of going through Hell. Literally. Has spent the majority of his life at a magic-based boarding school in northern Manitoba, but his family lives in Toronto.

Richardine Porter -- A baby socialite, Kieran's very best friend, and also a drug dealer. Due to magic having a physical effect on bodily functions, regular guy medicine and the like doesn't really have exactly the same effects. Originally her area of interest was veterinary medicine and the ways that it could be improved with magic, on account of her being huge on animal welfare, but humans are just big animals and she also cares about the welfare of her friends. And… she gets on well with most people, and considers most people her friends, so… she's just a doctor, now, that's how it works! She is also a highschool student, attending the same school with Kieran. She has a pet snake named Aero.

Evan Chase -- Literally a demon. Wholeheartedly out of his depth. Sold his soul in a suicide-pact with his ex-boyfriend at the time, a real bad guy who also turned out to be Some form of literal demon. The details are very rough in where he comes from because he's not fantasy christianity anymore but we've all seen stuff like spernatural okay? I was young and I watched spernatural. Regardless, he ends up falling into the lives of Kieran and company, Kieran of whom immediately falls in love with him in the all-consuming way of being a very emo ~17 y/o and will do anything and everything for him, because Kieran believes that he can, should, and is the only thing that can fix him. Evan takes this, because his life has been kind of miserable so far. Eternally looks about 15.

Kyle -- ALSO the ex boyfriend of Evan's ex-boyfriend. Not a demon. Still experienced many a horror with the guy. Has no affinity for magic, but lives in the town where the boarding school is located, and has been best friends with Kieran and Ri since middle school. He keeps a little pet dragon. Kieran becoming obsessed with Evan when they'd shared literally the same problem and sort of leaving him in the dust doesn't bother him at all, really. (Evan's cool though. It's not his fault). He ends up spending a lot of time being a non-magic guinea pig for Ri's studies.

Charlie -- Studied magic in Ottawa, along with his friend group consisting of another magic-user, Kieran's cousin, and some regular guy. Past tense, because he had a particular interest in necromancy, and was assassinated after the institution panicked due to how severely the world could be changed if he completed his studies. Because assassinating people into necromancy is always a good idea, his friends manage to make enough sense of his work to bring him back as a ghost, though they're trying to keep this a secret. Now, his friends kind of want to fight the scraps of authority that magic society does have, because they knew that it was ineffective but they assassinated a guy. What else is going on. (Kieran + Company end up joining the party at some point as well -- there's also more on each individual member of the group but I can't word the specifics. Right now.)

Cael -- he's a higher power and currently tasked with trying to offset the damage that Enoch is doing, and then they can gay kiss about it later. This is where fantasy christianity falls apart, because he reports to one half of a pair of gods, Prose, the more pragmatic of the two. Their counterpart is Chorus. (wouldn't that make more sense to be Prose and Verse? one might ask. Yeah. It would. Not changing it though). They also gay ???? about it, eventually, but first and foremost they're the gods of Putting Those Guys In Situations.

Bonus:

Enoch -- The real bad guy in question. He's really bad. Being a demon is kind of like being in an MLM, if you really think about it (it isn't).

Adam, Caleb, Olivia, and Marcy -- four horsemen of the apocalypse except they're Canadian teenagers. Live in solitude due to The Horrors. Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War, respectively. Are probably in contact with Chorus and Prose as well, but mostly just chilling for right now.

Saden -- Golden retriever shapeshifter. Talks to ghosts. Is ultimately chilling.

Ezra -- Seth's uncle on his mother's side. His mother didn't care but Ezra felt pretty bad and gave his dad a hand, his father's a good guy.

#[ files ocverse ]#tw suicide #tw abuse #SORRY. THOSE ARE NEEDED #Abuse implicated . Mainly w/ Evan + such

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jackyfalahees · 3 years

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“Living in Pennsylvania is bad” okay then explain this:

#they are ICONIC #amanda speaks #your local pennsylvanian here

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daydream-believin · 4 years

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The Never-Ending Roadtrip (waffles)

summary: (part 1) or (part 5) <- reader joins douxie on his quest to protect nari. he’ll need company wont he. (part 6) do you like waffles? also appalachia and nj trollmarket fun. next-> (part 7)

warnings: swearing, fem! reader, maybe an alcohol mention, proof reading is for squares yo

word count: 3875

a/n: i’m sorry to anyone from PA but wtf. i also have no idea why this turned out the way it did. bon apetit.

no gif im trying to test something

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Y/n looked over at Douxie. The blue of his hair was starting to fade into a duller hue. While not as bright and bold as his personality, it was still very nice to look at. This muted blue was softer, almost comforting in a way. Y/n found herself running her fingers through it. It wasn’t just the color that was soft. Like feathers in her hand, she gently caressed the strands. The duller color made him look tired, older, and the permanent bags under his eyes didn’t help. She placed her hand on his face and ran her thumb over a said eye bag. He gave her a very subdued smile in return. His sunken eyes were so beautiful. Her favorite color. Or colors, one should say. They were like an earth toned opal. Y/n’s hand drifted down his face. She used her thumb to explore his cheekbones, tracing constellations in his freckles, and finally settled on his mouth, tracing his cupid’s bow. Douxie couldn’t help but break the stoic face he was trying to hold.

“As much as I hate to ask this, and I really do, but will you please cease what you’re doing, My Love. I’m trying to drive here.”

“Yes, I would also like to ask you to stop, miss L/n. Not wrecking the ship is worth you canning your pda for a while.” Archie added.

Y/n pulled her hand back and exaggeratedly pouted. She teasingly stuck her tongue out at Archie for good measure, but couldn’t help but dissolve into a snicker right after so it wasn’t very effective. But really, it wasn’t her fault that Douxie’s beautifully sculpted face was right there and demanding to be touched. She tried to distract herself by focusing on the scenery around them. North Pennsylvania was delightful, so it’d be a shame if she spent the whole time that they flew through it looking at nothing but Douxie. There was plenty of time for her to do that the rest of her life. It’s not like she didn’t have every freckle memorized already. Every single adorable little dot. Right, Pennsylvania. Appalachia. Y/n was a little disappointed they didn’t manage to go through West Virginia, being as north as they were. She really wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Country roads.

The mountains were hard to transverse through, so Douxie took the boat up high in the clouds. A little too high. The oxygen was thin. While this didn’t affect Archie the dragon or Nari the plant goddess, Douxie and Y/n were getting a bit woozy. Neither would get altitude sickness to the point of dying, thanks to that good ol’ curse of immortality, but their minds weren’t exactly operating at high speeds here. They passed through a low hanging cloud in a puff of fog.

Though they were over it, just being in the range of Appalachia felt odd. There was a presence that clung to the mountains. Even flying high up in the air, one felt as though they were being watched. Like the thousand eyes of the forest were upon them. Looking down below, hanging over the edge like Douxie hated her to do, Y/n saw a herd of deer that might as well be ants. Watching over the herd was a bigger, or maybe closer, stag on a peak of some sort. His antlers were covered in crimson. Y/n hoped he was just shedding.

There were pathways cutting through the trees below, some roads, some manmade trails, some rivers, some troll trails, and some deer trails. Some that wound around in endless curves, some that seemed to start from nowhere and stop at nothing, some that went round and round in a circle, and some that crossed over each other, effectively creating a maze of sorts. Y/n didn’t know why, but she was glad she was above the trees and not in them. Something within her gut told her that as beautiful as the scenery was, she did not wish to experience it first-hand. The deer below were beautiful, but there was something not quite right about them. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to turn down a game of ninepins either, and she could really go for a drink.

Douxie’s brain may have been foggy, but he could certainly see Y/n hanging over the edge again, tantalizing him. He couldn’t help but imagine 174 ways for it to end badly. He’d been pretty passive about this before but now that they were so high up, he had no choice but to be up front now.

“Y/n, My Love,” Y/n turned her attention to him, which also pulled her weight more towards the boat than the sky. Good. “do you mind being back near the center of the ship? I really don’t like you draping yourself over the railing like that.”

Y/n was getting sick and tired of people always trying to keep her away from edges, advising her not to climb the mountain, telling her to stay inside when there was only a light rainstorm. She could handle it. She wasn’t a fucking porcelain doll. She was not wearing a fancy gown that suffocated her, she could speak, her lips were not perfectly painted on. And she wouldn’t shatter. “Relax, Dewdrop. I’m fine. I’m not just gonna go skydiving for kicks. If anyone has had a penchant for falling through the sky recently, it’s been you, Hisirdoux. I can catch myself with anti-gravity spells, like you taught me. Besides, we walk across tall, crumbly, ancient non-osha compliant walkways all the time. You never had a problem then.”

“Well,” He huffed, “it would be one thing if I was there next to you, but I’m not, so could you please just try to stay safe when I can’t reach you?” Y/n was taken about at how quick his tone went from annoyed to desperate. She furrowed her brows. Doux sighed, “Look, it frightens me, okay. I know that nothing will happen, but what if it does? I can’t- I can’t lose you.” His tone got even feebler in his pleading. “And there’s so many ways to lose you. Especially with the Order on our tails. Please, just give me this peace of mind for at least one thing.”

Y/n stepped away from the railing, crossing over to Douxie. He opened his arm and she nestled into his side. Pressing her head against his chest, she mumbled, “Absolutely. I’ll just—I’ll just stay here then. Next to you. I’m sorry I worried you. That was the last thing I wanted to do.”

He leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “Thank you, My Darling.”

~ ~ ~

The dipped down south to go through the top of Maryland and completely through Delaware to get to the south of New Jersey, in place of just going through Philadelphia. The city of brotherly love was not on the itinerary. Philly, and the top of New Jersey, were just too densely populated to take a magic boat through. The airspace was filled with airplanes and skyscrapers. It was easier to go the roundabout way.

As they passed between Philly and Lancaster, they went by fantastically named towns such as Paradise the city, where the girls are pretty, Bird In Hand, Blue Ball, and Intercourse. Stellar. Y/n was starting to really like Pennsylvania. It was cursed ground. She made sure to get photographic evidence of every road sign. Douxie was happy to pose with them.

They took a pit stop in a town called Peach Bottom before leaving Pennsylvania. Y/n wanted to go through New Texas, since she was curious how somewhere in the original colonies could be a new Texas, but Nari could sense a river nearby, and wanted to seek it out. Peach Bottom. It was a cozy little town with a power plant that was dumping it’s waste into the riverside it was built on. Toxic river. Fun. Y/n made Douxie explain to Nari why she couldn’t get near the river or touch any of the water. Y/n wouldn’t have been able to stay as calm as Douxie could. There was nothing happening in the rural Pennsylvanian town. Nothing special about it unless you counted their countless nuclear admissions. The locals didn’t care for strangers, and that was alright with them cause they didn’t want to be here for any more than necessary for a restroom break. Dinner could wait.

The top of Maryland was great. Lots of rivers to make it up to Nari. There was just, an incredibly large walmart near the line. Just absolutely humongous whopper walmart. A leach whose name doesn’t even deserve to be capitalized, thank you very much autocorrect.

It took less than half an hour to fly right through the top of Delaware. Hi Delaware, bye Delaware.

Soon they were on the coast of south New Jersey, headed for a sleepy town called Monty. Monty was a town along the Cohansey, split across it with quite an impressive bridge between the two sides. As soon as the bridge became visible on the skyline, Y/n grabbed Douxie’s sleeve and tugged excitedly. She looked up at him with a big smile. Rest. At last, they were going to get to rest. Y/n made herself busy calling Jim to let him know that they were there so he could call someone else to let them know that they were there and to wait by the entrance for them. Neither Douxie nor Y/n had a horngazzle on them at the moment. Y/n had had one in her possession back in Arcadia, being book club buddies with Blinky, but alas that was destroyed along with their bookstore.

They hid that damn magic boat in the forest. While they did plan on staying with the trolls for a few weeks, Douxie didn’t put it back in its glass bottle quite yet, cause they were in fact taking it into New York not tomorrow but the next day. He covered the ground around it with a few more wards than necessary. Y/n threw up an illusion spell around it, as she had been all the other times they’d just left it in the woods, and thought the wards were overkill but didn’t say anything. They started on the trek to the base of the bridge.

The troll at the entrance greeted them cordially. He was a dark green color, with two massive horns resembling those of a longhorn cow, chiseled stone tattoos, and no clothes other than a tiny loincloth which made everyone but Nari uncomfortable. He let them in with flourish, as if he’d always wanted to do this and practiced it.

“Welcome to NEW JERSEY TROLLMARKET.”

Y/n was surprised at how well the town had come along within the two months the trolls had occupied the cavern. It wasn’t the Trollmarket she had known, there was no Blinky and no library, but still marvelous. The new hearthstone glowed warmly, very much alive and not making zombies. While looking pretty similar to the old Trollmarket, with a multitude of shops and homes carved into the mineral covered walls and formations, there was a sort of human touch to it now. Claire definitely had a hand in the planning and maybe the decorative features too. Or perhaps Jim. Y/n wouldn’t put it past the boy to be the one who designed the very elaborate crystal art flower bed she was looking at. Or that weirdly steampunk bridge. Funny thing, a bridge under a bridge.

Dictatious met them soon after they came in to show them around and to where they would be staying. The tour he gave them basically just included him walking them through the main street, waving his arms to various places and vaguely saying that they were shops but not what they sold, pointing out the pub, and then took them straight to their accommodations. Since the home that had been occupied by Blinky, Jim, and Claire was now empty, they’d be staying there, with the place practically to themselves. Dictatious also lived in said home, but rarely stuck around it for long now that his brother was gone.

“Alright, here’s your nest.”

Since Dictatious still slept in the nest that he shared with Blinky, he had given them Jim and Claire’s. The nests were just rocky bowls carved into the floor of the room, with a few comfort items. Thankfully, Jim and Claire had left theirs full of pillows and a couple thick cushions they must have taken from a couch. Unconventional, but better than sleeping on literal solid rock. Speaking of couches, there were way too many couches spread across the apartment. This entire place only had two rooms, a large living area and a nestroom, and yet there were five couches. Not to mention the extra-large easy chair Dic was currently lounging in. Okay, so one of said couches was technically a love seat, but still. There was no kitchen, which was surprising due to this being Jim Lake Jr’s home, and no table besides the one that three of the sofas were gathered around and a paper-covered work desk against a corner. There were glowing crystal lamps all throughout, lighting the house. All in all, interesting interior design decisions. The kids had definitely been trying to make it a more homey human dwelling but had limited options.

Nari nestled into the nest, happy that there were no blankets to smother her. Not even a minute passed and she was out like a light. Douxie and Y/n sat on one of the couches in the nestroom, watching the veggie lady snooze. Archie made himself comfy in Douxie’s lap, who absent mindedly stroked his familiar’s fur. They were underground now. Surrounded by inorganic matter. Some of that inorganic matter could fight, would be willing to fight, would probably be disappointed if there wasn’t a fight. The little devil on Douxie’s shoulder wasn’t really having to work hard. His stomach growled. They had opted to just not stop for dinner in favor of plowing right through their trip route. It was late, and dark, and Douxie really just wanted them to have a roof over their head before midnight. And now they did.

He looked over at Y/n. They had been a couple for an entire day now and he had yet to take her on a proper date. What a bad boyfriend he was. It’s not like Archie would want to come with them or anything either, since he filled himself with birds that didn’t know what hit them while they traveled. The dragon had even caught a hawk at one point, which wasn’t as impressive as it sounds, since Archie was a much faster flyer. He would be happy to watch Nari for them, surely. And Dic had given them a horngazzle so they could come and go as they pleased. It was settled then.

“Arch, watch Nari for us, please, we’ll be back in a pinch,” He grabbed Y/n’s hand to pull her off the couch, “C’mon, My Love, we’re going on a date.”

~ ~ ~

Turns out the only thing open past midnight in small town New Jersey was a waffle house. The perfect date. Y/n had thought it funny to watch Douxie try and deactivate all the fresh wards he had put around the boat. He had to be careful where he put his feet, and it was like he was doing a silly little dance. Ward trap ballet of his own barely thought-out design. At one point he stepped backwards to admire his work, triggering the ward behind him, and Y/n had to free him from the net. Lucky it was just a net one.

Entering the waffle house, they slid into the nearest booth, the one near the jukebox. They ordered what else but waffles. The food of kings and hungover college kids. Not just plain waffles, though. Douxie got chocolate chip and Y/ got strawberry, and they were going to combine them to make chocolate covered strawberry waffles. Everyone knows chocolate covered strawberries were the most romantic food, why else would they push them so hard around Valentine’s.

Douxie leaned in with his head in his hand. “So, tell me about yourself.”

Y/n laughed, decided to play into this bit. “Oh, I’m just a California lass, on her way to New York. Things have been crazy lately. Went to a very convincing renaissance faire, I’m harboring a fugitive, my roommate keeps hitting on me. Very stressful. Sure am lucky I came across you, Mr. Handsome.”

“Lucky indeed.” Doux snickered.

Y/n pointed to the jukebox behind Doux, which he twisted around to see. “Have you ever heard ‘Last Night I Saw Elvis At Waffle House’?”

“No?”

“Oh, it’s a banger.” She got out of the booth and put a coin in the juke, making her selection. She slid back in with a Cheshire cat grin and Doux was kind of scared now, actually. As the current song ended and the song that they were waiting for began. Well, it was a song. About seeing Elvis in a waffle house. With a country tune he supposed someone thought was catchy in order for them to have recorded this. Douxie didn’t know what he had expected.

“Uh, wow.”

“Yeah, Ain’t it something. I loved this song when I was knee high to a grasshopper. All the waffle house jams really.”

“Your aunt let someone bring you to a waffle house? That’s not very proper.” Douxie chuckled.

“Oh, no, actually. Um, this was before my dad passed and my mother, ah, slipped.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Douxie rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I mentioned it.”

“No, no. I’m fine Dewdrop. I can talk about it, really. And, like you said the other day, I’ve been focusing on the Now Love.” The silly waffle house themed song was still playing despite the air of seriousness that had fallen over the duo. It helped keep Y/n from getting too sad and dwelling on the memories she had just brought up. It was comical, really. A waffle house song keeping her grounded. She rubbed the palm of Douxie’s hand. “I still mourn my family, but it’s been so long that the pain’s but a dull ache now. As long as I don’t think too hard about it. If anyone knows about mourning it’d be you, Doux. I can’t imagine meeting hundreds of friends over my lifetime just to watch them all grow old and die while you just have to go on living.” She paused, eyes drifting downwards, “But I suppose that’ll be my fate anyways.”

Douxie reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s actually not that bad, once you get used to it. You just have to enjoy every bit of time you get. That’s what makes other magic friends so valuable, there are some permanent players on your team.” He let his hand linger under her jaw, pulling her face closer to his, “You have me. We have each other. We’re family. We always have been.”

“So I hate to interrupt, but, waffles.” The server put the plates she had been holding down onto the table. Douxie and Y/n pulled away from each other quick as lightning, sitting up straight in their seats. “Again, sorry guys.”

“Thank you.” The two chorused to their fleeting form in embarrassment. Their faces were fire engine red. Archie was right, they did get a little carried away with the pda. It may have been 12:28am in a waffle house but they were still in public. Grabby hands needed to be kept to themselves.

After dinner, neither Doux nor Y/n could bring themselves to go home quite yet, despite the nagging feeling to return to Nari. They loitered around woods, unsure of what to do. Leaning against the parked boat, Douxie got an idea. He put on the music on his phone, turning the volume all the way up and positioning it so it’d put out a better sound the best he could. The playlist he selected was actually the one he had of songs that reminded him of his beloved. Copying what Y/n had done last night, he held out his hand.

“Come on, dance with me, My Darling.”

Douxie twirled Y/n around in the night breeze that blew through the trees. This song was much faster than the one they danced to last time, and there was more energy between them. Y/n’s laugh echoed through the forest. This was a lot of fun, she could do it all night. Honestly, she could do anything all night if it was with Douxie. He lifted her up, like she weighed nothing. Seriously, how strong was this noodle armed wizard. She threw her arms around his neck, looking down to meet his eyes, a rare thing. Y/n kissed his nose, eliciting a happy giggle from his mouth.

He should have put her back down by now. Instead, he still held her up, transfixed by her face ringed in moonlight, like a halo. She noticed the awestruck look on his face, kissing him properly, yet it did nothing to pull him out of his stupor. He had one thought running over and over in his mind. Marry me. But, he couldn’t say that. A proposal had to be special, not after a waffle house date. Their first date, mind you. He couldn’t possibly jus-

“Marry me, Dewdrop?”

Well apparently he couldn’t but she absolutely could.

It took him a moment to take in her words, shocked out of his overthinking. The biggest grin spread across his face as he giddily spun her around in his arms. He finally put her feet back on the ground, crashing his lips into hers. Y/n brought a hand up to drag through his hair and left the other to slide down his back. No battle for dominance, Douxie’s tongue was definitely the one leading here. He just couldn’t believe it. It was if she had read his mind. It was still hard for him to believe she wanted him in the first place, but this much? If this was the afterlife he must surely be in heaven. One makeout session later, Y/n rasped “So I’m guessing that’s a yes?”

“Let’s sign the papers tomorrow.”

~ ~ ~

Despite the uneasy feeling they had both had about leaving Nari alone for so long, she was perfectly fine. In fact she hadn’t even moved an inch form the spot they left her in. Like they never left at all. Archie was asleep on that couch, as peaceful as ever. They’d tell him the news in the morning.

Y/n climbed into the nest and dragged Douxie down with her. After getting comfy on the array of cushions, he opened his arms and she nestled into his chest. She could feel his hands rest on her back. Perfect. It was calming, listening to his heartbeat, being lulled to sleep with the rhythm that gave proof that her beloved was alive. A steady beat that reassured her he was there, he was there. He wouldn’t leave her again.

*** check notes for chapter illustrations lmao

#douxie x reader #douxie x y/n #hisirdoux casperan x reader #hisirdoux x reader #douxie casperan x reader #douxie imagine #douxie casperan imagine #hisirdoux casperan imagine #hisirdoux imagine #tales of arcadia x reader #douxie #toa douxie #hisirdoux casperan #toa hisirdoux #douxie casperan #my writing

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peachy-bi-weed-plant · 4 years

Text

‼️UPDATED VOTING INFORMATION DUE TO COVID-19‼️

🛑Pennsylvania Friends!🛑 IF YOU WANT TO VOTE IN THE PRIMARY ELECTION, YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO DO FROM THIS FACEBOOK POST!!!! 😁😁🎉🎉🎉 ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ I took it upon myself to compile all the information and resources you could possibly need to vote in the upcoming election in one place, for the convenience of my fellow voters on Facebook! This post now includes ALL UPDATED DATES AND INFORMATION REGARDING VOTING CONDITIONS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. If you have just turned 18 and are brand new to voting, if the voting registration/absentee ballot/actual voting process for the upcoming primaries intimidates or confuses you, or if figuring it all out just sounds like too much work on top of everything else you have to do, then lucky for you, THIS post has all the information you need- links, dates, and instructions included below, step by step!!!!! It will take you 5-10 minutes to read TOPS. You do not have to do anything more than follow each step below, and you will be able to vote in the Primary!!!!⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️Due to COVID-19, the Pennsylvania Primary Election is now happening on JUNE 2ND, 2020! ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

1️⃣☑️STEP ONE☑️: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/voterregistrationstatus.aspx

Figure out if you are currently registered to vote! If you know for sure you aren’t registered yet, skip ahead to Step Two. If you aren’t sure, then do so by checking your voter registration status. Click the link above, and then select either option: you can see if you’re registered by location (county, zip code, first and last name, and birthday), or by entering your PennDOT ID or your PA Driver’s License number (date of birth as well)! This is the 8-digit number towards the top of your license; on the newer ones, it’s labeled “DLN”. When you submit, you will be able to see what county you are registered to vote in, what party you are registered as, and the status of your registration. It will also give you the address of your county voting office, and you can even type in your own address and it’ll give you directions from your home to the polling place!

IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:

❗️If your status does not say “Active,” you MUST re-register. I don’t know how long you can be Actively registered before you have to re-register, so double-check EVEN if you think you’re already registered!

❗️To vote in the Pennsylvania Primary election, you MUST be registered as either DEMOCRAT or REPUBLICAN. You WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE if you are registered under a Third Party. Also, people who are new to voting, you CANNOT vote for someone in the party you are not registered for in the Primary Election in Pennsylvania. If you want to vote in the Primary and you’re registered under a Third Party, or if you are registered as Democrat or as Republican, and want to vote for someone in the opposite party, you can simply change your party registration!! This is done in the application process, so if you want to change your party registration, you must re-register.

‼️THE DEADLINE TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN THE PRIMARY ELECTION ON JUNE 2ND (including re-registering or switching parties) IS 5/18/20. IF YOU DO NOT REGISTER BEFORE THE 18TH OF MAY, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO VOTE IN PERSON OR BY ABSENTEE OR MAIL-IN BALLOT.‼️

If you are actively registered to vote, and you are registered Democrat or Republican, then you’re set to vote in person or to request an absentee or mail-in ballot for the Primary Election! If you are NOT registered, the next step is for you:

2️⃣☑️STEP TWO☑️: Registering to Vote!!!

Online Registration: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/VoterRegistrationApplication.aspx

Paper Registration Application: https://www.votespa.com/Resources/Documents/Voter_Registration_Application_English.pdf

You can vote if you are a citizen of the United States for at least one month before the Primary on June 2nd, 2020, a resident of your election district for at least 30 days before the Primary, and at least 18 years of age on or before the day of election! You can register one of three ways: online, by mail, or in person at your local voting registration office. Click the link above to register to vote online in five quick minutes! If you prefer to apply to register by mail, the second link above will take you to the Voter Registration Application Form. You can download it, print it, and fill it out to be mailed to your county board of elections. Don’t know the address of yours? You can find it by selecting your county here: https://www.votespa.com/Resources/Pages/Contact-Your-Election-Officials.aspx

No printer? That’s okay! You can obtain a form at a variety of places, including state government offices, some local libraries, and, actually, state liquor stores! 😂

You can also just go to your local voting office and register in person!

❗️Keep in mind that if you are applying to register by mail, your county voting office MUST receive your application by May 18th!! Maybe a little earlier, to ensure that you are actually processed/registered by that date!

Okay, you’ve registered to vote in the Commonwealth of PA! Will you be away on Election Day or otherwise unable to be at your polling place? Don’t worry!

3️⃣☑️STEP THREE☑️: Mail-In and Absentee Ballots

If you are unable to be at your polling place on Election Day, you have the option to apply for a Mail-In Ballot or an Absentee Ballot to complete and return to your county election office.

What’s the difference between a Mail-In Ballot and an Absentee Ballot? (Under NORMAL, NO-CORONAVIRUS circumstances):

Absentee Ballots are, under normal conditions, for people who know that they will be away and/or won’t be able to go to their polling place on Election Day. People who should normally request an Absentee Ballot include college students away at school (👋🏼), people with physical disabilities/illness that prevent them from going to their polling place, people who’s work or vacation take them away from the municipality where they live, people who may have a conflict due to the observance of a religious holiday, inmates who are not convicted of a felony, and members of the military+civilians who are living overseas (military members and overseas voters have some provisions and wiggle room as far as deadlines and voting methods are concerned; some can even get Absentee Ballots by email! If this applies to you or someone you know, you can get more information here: https://www.votespa.com/Voting-in-PA/Pages/Military-and-Overseas-Voters.aspx )

❗️❗️❗️HOWEVER: While normal circumstances dictate that a person with a disability/illness/health concern that prevents them from going to their polling place on Election Day should request an Absentee Ballot, this DOES NOT APPLY to people who cannot/must not/don’t want to go to their polling place in person due to coronavirus! If you will not be at your polling place in person for coronavirus-related reasons, the MAIL-IN BALLOT is the one for you!!❗️❗️❗️

Mail-In Ballots are a brand new provision for PA Voters this year! The application doesn’t require you to list a reason for the application, unlike Absentee Ballots. Normally, if you don’t qualify for an Absentee Ballot and just don’t feel like going to your polling place, you can request a Mail-In Ballot for any reason at all! Now, however, people who will not be at their polling place due to COVID-19 also qualify to vote by Mail-In Ballot rather than Absentee.

The new voting laws in PA allow citizens of the Commonwealth to vote up to 50 days before any election. This means that you can begin casting your ballot on April 14th, 2020. To do this, you need to request a Mail-In Ballot.

You can apply to vote with either of these ballots online:

Absentee and Mail-In Ballot Online Application: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/OnlineAbsenteeApplication/#/OnlineAbsenteeBegin

By mail, to be sent to your county elections office:

Mail-In Ballot Paper Application: https://www.votespa.com/Register-to-Vote/Documents/PADOS_MailInApplication.pdf

Absentee Ballot Paper Application: https://www.votespa.com/Voting-in-PA/Documents/Absentee_Ballot_Application.pdf

Or in person at your county election office! (Don’t quote me on this, but because of the new PA voting laws that allow Pennsylvanians to submit a Mail-In vote up to 50 days before any election, I think you could TECHNICALLY be able to apply for a Mail-In Ballot in person at your election office, and then fill one out right then and there, because they send you the Mail-In Ballot as soon as you apply, hence the 50-days-before-any-election rule; I think if you apply for one in person, they give you the ballot then and there, which should theoretically mean you could just fill it out right then and then give it back, rather than taking it home, filling it out, and actually mailing it in. I’m not positive on this, but regardless, if you’re voting by Mail-In Ballot, you can submit your vote as long as it’s under 50 days out from Election Day!)

Not-widely-known fact: You also have the option to write a signed letter to your county elections office, including all the information required on the application form.

Call your elections office to ask any questions you might have, and/or visit this page for more information: https://www.votespa.com/Voting-in-PA/Pages/Mail-and-Absentee-Ballot.aspx

IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:

‼️ Absentee and Mail-In Ballot APPLICATIONS for the June 2nd, 2020 Primary Election MUST NOW BE RECEIVED BY YOUR COUNTY ELECTION OFFICE BY 5PM ON TUESDAY, MAY 26th, 2020 (One week before Election Day). YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO VOTE BY MAIL-IN OR ABSENTEE BALLOT IF YOUR APPLICATION FOR EITHER IS RECEIVED AFTER THIS DEADLINE.‼️

❗️ The County Election Office will verify your identification before your ballot counts. If there is a problem, you have 6 days after an election to provide the necessary identification.

❗️You must be registered to vote BEFORE you can apply for either ballot.

❗️ In emergency situations (such as an unexpected illness or disability and last-minute absence) following the Application deadline at 5 p.m. on the Tuesday before the election, you can request an Emergency Absentee Ballot. The deadline to submit your Emergency Absentee Ballot Application to the County Election Office is 8:00 pm on Election Day. This application must be notarized.

————

If your application is approved, you’ll receive your Mail-In or Absentee Ballot with instructions in the mail! Be sure to sign your form where required, or it may not count.

‼️YOUR MAIL-IN OR ABSENTEE BALLOT MUST BE RECEIVED BY YOUR COUNTY ELECTIONS OFFICE BY 8PM ON ELECTION DAY, JUNE 2ND 2020.‼️

If you don’t need or REALLY don’t want to vote by mail, and plan on voting in person (all the power to you), Step Four is what you need to know!! (Just make sure to wear a mask, don’t touch your face, and practice social distancing rules while you’re there! And then shower and change your clothes when you get home. 😊)

4️⃣☑️STEP FOUR☑️: Voting In Person!

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Primary Election in Pennsylvania is now happening on June 2nd, 2020. Here’s some important information you should know before you go to vote on Election Day!

Find out the location of your polling place prior to Election Day by looking here: https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/PollingPlaceInfo.aspx

If you are a first-time voter, you are required to show a photo ID at your polling place when you go to vote. I take it with me anyway just in case!

Take a look at a Sample Ballot for your district before Election Day! You can see what the ballot will look like and who the candidates for each office you will be voting for are. You can do that here: https://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania_Sample_Ballot ‼️‼️It should be noted that some candidates have withdrawn from the presidential race, but their names may still appear on PA’s ballot. Counting of votes for such candidates varies by state. It’s a good idea to be somewhat informed about the current state of each position’s race, so that you know who on the ballot is FOR SURE still in the running! (Voting for names on the list who are no longer in the running, like Elizabeth Warren, for example, would kind of be like voting a write-in, I imagine).

Sometimes, information gets mixed up and miscommunications happen. If you are a registered voter but your name is not on the voter roster at your polling place, you have the right to vote a provisional ballot. Sometimes the County Elections Office needs more time to determine a voter's eligibility to vote. They may ask that voter to vote with a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot records your vote, while the County Election Office determines whether it can be counted. You have the right to vote with a provisional ballot if:

You registered to vote in Pennsylvania and are eligible in the election district, but your name is not in the voter roster and Election Officials cannot determine your registration status.

You do not have an approved form of identification when you go to vote in an election district for the first time.

For a Primary Election, voters who believe they registered for a particular political party, but the roster shows them registered as a member of another political party.

Someone challenges your eligibility to vote. You may produce a witness to sign an affidavit to affirm your identity and residency. If you produce a witness, you can vote either by paper ballot or on the machines. If you are unable to or choose not to produce a witness, you can vote with a provisional ballot.

☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️

That’s most of the important information you could possibly need to vote in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, during the pandemic or otherwise!!!! The takeaway here is that, while it may not seem like it, and while they may not advertise so, there are MANY voting laws in place on YOUR behalf, in every state, that are meant to ensure your right to cast a vote in any election, regardless of complications or unforeseen circumstances. All the information is there for you to find if you just do a little digging into your guaranteed rights as a voter (and now, a lot of it is right here!). I hope my compiling it in one place will make it easier for at least one person to exercise their Constitutional Right to vote this election season! Some last things:

🛑With any problems, complications, and questions that arise in your process, call 1-877-VOTESPA (1-877-868-3772).

🛑Know your rights and responsibilities as a Voter! https://seventy.org/publications/elections-voting/voter-rights-and-responsibilities4

🛑You now have the option to request to be added to an annual Absentee Ballot or Mail-In Ballot request list where you’ll receive an application to renew your absentee ballot request each year (For Absentee Ballots, this only applies if you have a permanent disability or illness when applying for this option when submitting an Absentee Ballot application). Once your application is approved, you will automatically receive ballots for each election for the remainder of the year, and you do not need to submit an application for each election.

Happy Voting, everyone!! Stay home, and stay safe!!

#vote by mail #vote 2020 #vote #for the love of god please vote #please #2020 election #primary election #2020 primary #fuck donald trump #joe biden #vote joe biden

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thetransitgirl · 5 years

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Where Amtrak service isn’t genuine

Cincinnati. Cleveland. Omaha. Salt Lake City. And to a lesser extent, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, and San Antonio. All of these are big cities that are theoretically served by Amtrak, and all except Charlotte have their labels shown in bold on the map, as if they’re important destinations.

Yet there’s an important caveat to this: while trains technically come through, it’s in the middle of the got-dang night.

Let’s break it down:

Charlotte gets daytime service to and from the Northeast Corridor on the Carolinian. But if you’re in Charlotte and you want to head west along the Crescent to Atlanta or New Orleans, the Crescent will leave at 2 AM, and your return trip won’t get you back to Charlotte until 3 AM.

Cincinnati only gets six Cardinal trains coming through every week—three leaving for Chicago at 2 AM and three leaving for the northeast at 3 AM.

Cleveland gets four trains daily—or nightly, I should say. The Capitol Limited leaves for Pittsburgh and Washington at 2 AM, two trains leave for Chicago at 3 AM and 4 AM, and the Lake Shore Limited leaves for Boston and New York at 6 AM. With this many trains running, one would think at least some of them would be at a reasonable hour.

Omaha sees the westbound California Zephyr at 11 PM and the eastbound California Zephyr at 5 AM.

Pittsburgh gets daytime service to and from the Northeast Corridor on the Pennsylvanian. But the Capitol Limited to Chicago? 12 AM. And to Washington? 5 AM.

Salt Lake City sees the westbound California Zephyr at 11 PM and the eastbound California Zephyr at 3 AM.

San Antonio gets daytime service to and from Dallas, St. Louis, and Chicago on the Texas Eagle. The Sunset Limited, however, arrives three times weekly from New Orleans at 12 AM and waits to depart until 3 AM. Headed the other way, the Sunset Limited arrives three times weekly from Los Angeles at 5 AM and waits to depart until 6 AM.

And to make matters worse, all of these times are assuming the train’s not running late, which can’t exactly make things better since passengers will generally need to be awake and ready at the scheduled time no matter what.

So really, Amtrak’s map is lying. Four of the above cities effectively don’t have Amtrak at all, and the map shouldn’t give them much more importance than Phoenix, Las Vegas, or Nashville. And the remaining three cities are shown on the map as interchanges with service in three directions, when in reality the service is only usable on one of the three.

And this needs to be addressed. To do so, let’s talk about one of Amtrak’s least-known yet most interesting routes:

The Palmetto

As Amtrak’s only long-distance train that doesn’t run overnight, the Palmetto follows the route of the Silver Meteor between New York City and Savannah. Since the Silver Meteor passes through North and South Carolina in the middle of the night on its way to and from Florida, the Palmetto is an obviously better option for both North and South Carolinians.

(Note: Amtrak is required to secure state funding for routes shorter than 750 miles, and as such, this length is generally considered the cutoff for “long-distance” services. The Palmetto barely makes the cutoff, and is the only daytime route to do so.)

And the train is a success story: ridership on the Palmetto in fact exceeds that of the Silver Meteor. Granted, a large fraction of that number comes from ridership within the Northeast, as the Palmetto carries local travelers between New York and Washington while the Silver Meteor does not. But the Palmetto only started carrying those local passengers in 2015, and looking at the ridership figures for previous years shows that the Palmetto’s ridership was still more than half of that of the Silver Meteor.

Sure, “more than half” doesn’t sound particularly impressive…until you remember that the Silver Meteor’s main market is travelers between the Northeast and Florida—a huge base of travelers, for whom the train’s overnight schedule is incredibly convenient. Conversely, the Palmetto’s main market doesn’t even have any particularly large cities. It doesn’t even go all the way into Raleigh, and the largest destinations south of there are Fayetteville, Charleston, and Savannah, the largest of which has barely over 200,000 people.

You probably see what I’m getting at here. By making sure trains don’t show up in the middle of the night, Amtrak took a relatively low-potential route and made it work. Adding daytime trains like this could have huge potential for other parts of the network—for example, daytime service could be added between Washington and Atlanta along the route of the Crescent, providing better options for Charlotte. Or perhaps a second daily roundtrip could be added on the Capitol Limited (which actually has a shorter route than the Palmetto), to provide daytime service to Chicago and Cleveland.

And overall, what I’m trying to say is that while it’s definitely good for Amtrak to talk about adding new destinations, it’s important to make sure it can also serve the destinations it already has. People are more willing to ride trains than one might expect—but not if they have to get up in the middle of the night to do so.

#Amtrak #trains #Charlotte #Cincinnati #Cleveland #Omaha #Pittsburgh #Salt Lake City #San Antonio #transportation #my proposals

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thestarlitcrossroads · 6 years

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Grimoire: The Sacred Grammar of Magick

Or how to add a little something extra to your GriMORE (heh)

Puns aside, lets begin...

Firstly, what is a Grimoire?

"The derivation of 'grimoire' is not entirely certain. In the early nineteeth century it was suggested that it came from the Italian 'rimario', a book of rhymes or Bible verses. It more likely derives from the French word 'grammaire', which originally referred to a work written in Latin. By the eighteenth century it was being widely used in France to refer to magic books..."

- Davies, Owen (2009). Grimoires: A History of Magic Books

A book of magic spells and invocations. Origin- Mid 19th century: French, alteration of grammaire ‘grammar’.

-Oxford English Dictionary

Despite its original derivation not being certain, it is known that the most common modern association is with the French word ‘grammaire’. It was during the 18th and 19th centuries that France allowed a way for Grimoires to become more available to the general public with the use of Bibliothèque bleue (blue library). This wider publication also increased the interest in occultism among the British following the publication of Francis Barrett's The Magus in the early 19th century, the term entered the English language in reference to books of magic( Davies, Owen (2009). Grimoires: A History of Magic Books).

It was because of these various factors that the word ‘Grimoire’ began to be used as a more general reference of magical books and texts, vs what it had been before as a word describing magical texts that were typically written in Latin.

And in the more modern sense, grimoire is certainly a word used to describe any book of magic.

That all said, there are certainly many magical books and texts that are similar to grimoires or that could easily be labelled as grimoires; however, not all magical books are grimoires.

Per Owen Davies, a grimoires is “...being based on the conjuration of spirits, the power of words, or the ritual creation of magical objects.”

A VERY Brief History

The history of grimoires can be laid out in the following: Ancient period, Medieval period, Early Modern (with a special note for the 18th and 19th century), and modern day.

The Ancient period constitutes as pre the Fall of the Roman empire.. It was during this long time frame that European Grimoires took great inspiration from. Specifically, it was the ancient civilizations that surrounded the Mediterranean and middle east, and countries within the middle east. Particularly, the religious traditions of various pagan practices, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were some of the greatest influences on Medieval European grimoires.

The Medieval period marked the period of what folks would label as the “classical” grimoires. Despite the rise of Christianity and the Church attempting to stomp out all pagan worship, it was never able to mark a clear line between religious worship and magical working, “ The use of such books on magic continued. In Christianised Europe, the Church divided books of magic into two kinds: those that dealt with "natural magic" and those that dealt in "demonic magic,” (Davies, Owen (2009) Grimoires: A History of Magic Books).

In the Early Modern period, grimoires had become more common place and known within society. The Renaissance had fueled the increase interest and pursuit of Medieval grimoires, as well as a rise of interest in Hermeticism, Judaic Mysticism, and the occult.

And with the rise and improvement of printing in Europe, which soon resulted in mass printing, allowed for more exposure towards the general populace.

Particularly during the 18th and 19th century, grimoires had become mass produced and widely available across western Europe (especially within France).

Due to this increase of interested in folklore, mysticims, and the occult, many historians took an interest in magic and in grimoires. Many even went on to publish snippets of grimoires within their own history books.

In the late 19th century, many famous grimoires (such as the Key of Solomon) were reclaimed by various magical groups, the OTO and Golden Dawn being some famous examples.

In Modern Day, we find that access to many ancient and more recent grimoires are far easier to access, than they ever have been before.

One can easily log into sites (such as sacred-texts.com) and view a number of different grimoires and magical texts for free. And even before the internet, many books and texts could be found in the local library or purchased.

This has resulted in the rise of many new magical groups, traditions, and societies (even the resurrection of old ones). There are many modern day grimoires that have become quite popular and influential to the magical scene, pulling from both historical information as well as new found knowledge and experience: such as Azoetia and The Dragon Book of Essex.

Here is a generalized interactive timeline of grimoires throughout the centuries

Famous Grimoires

There are dozens and dozens of grimoires out there (here have a list), way too many to mention all in one post. So instead, I will briefly talk about some of the more famous, influential, and well known ones. So please, do forgive me if I leave out a few important ones.

The Keys Of Solomon (Greater and Lesser)

Perhaps one of the most influential and well known grimoires, The Key of Solomon is a 16th century grimoire which gives a thorough description of the process of summoning a spirit, with chapters on the various supplies the magician will require, and the tasks they must perform. -X

The Lesser Key is one of the best-known grimoires, primarily for the first section, the Goetia, which features charming descriptions of the 72 demons conjured by Solomon, along with illustrations of their sigils, and the tools required for summoning. -X

Unlike the Key of Solomon, the Lesser key contains content from multiple different books.

The original texts having been written in Latin, these are truly is the idea of what a grimoires is in every sense. Their influence is widespread both historically and magically speaking. Find yourself in a group with a random bunch of occultists, and you’ll easily find a dozen pulling from these books.

Petit Albert

Le Petit Albert is an French grimoire that has gained some degree of fame or infamy. It lists a number of spells for results such as dental health and invisibility. -X

Though not quite as famous or influential compared to some grimiores. Petit Albert still had a large mark on the modern development of the grimoires and folklore of magic. It included instructions on making a Hand of Glorey.

But most of all, it marked a historical importance of the mass print. It was one of the first widely available grimoires in France.

The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses

This grimoire is an important text of folk magic from the German tradition. It was first published by Johann Scheible in Germany in 1849, and in New York in 1880, although versions circulated in Western Europe in pamphlet form as early as the 18th century. -X

The Sixth and Seventh books of Moses had a particular influence in both Europe as well as America, used within Appalachian and Pennsylvanian Dutch magical practices. They even circulated within Scandinavia and Central Europe and were at times referred to as “Black Bibles.” Though with this one, I have not seen a valid source given, aside from “Versions of this work circulated throughout Scandinavia and Central Europe. In Sweden and Finland these books are compiled and published under the titles Den Svarta Bibeln and Musta Raamattu, respectively, meaning "The Black Bible". found on various sites like Wikipedia.

The Magus

Francis Barret's The Magus is a compilation of magic, alchemy, and accounts of historical magical adepts, which copies extensively from Agrippa's The Books of Occult Philosophy, The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, and the Heptameron.

It is a foundation text of the occult revival, and is thought to have influenced the work of later occultists such as Eliphas Levi. -X

If Petit Albert marked the moment of cheap mass producing, The Magus marked the moment that grimoires were beginning to be translated into English and later being mass produced.

The Book of Shadows

Not necessarily a single specific grimoire or text, the Book of Shadows is a book containing religious texts and instructions for magical rituals specific towards Wicca, a religious tradition of Witchcraft and Paganism.

I assume that a lot of people’s first interaction with a grimoire or mention of one is via a Book of Shadows. Today, Wicca, and its related traditions, are a lot of folks’ first step into the magical and occult communities.

Despite its name, a Book of Shadows is exactly the same as a Grimiore. Doreen Valiented stated in “The Rebirth of Witchcraft” that most likely Gardner adopted the term for his Witches' grimoire (The Book of Shadows) from an article found in The Occult Observer V1 N3 1949.

Applying this knowledge to your own Grimoire

So you know a thing or two about Grimoires, what now?

You can create your own of course.

How? I see this appear all over the place online, as well as get asked occasionally by folks in person.

At the end of the day, a Grimoire is a magical book containing information about a person’s personal practice. It can even be an instructional guide if desired.

Its looks how you want it to be, it contains what you want and need, and it acts for whatever purposes you need.

That said, this doesn’t help a lot when a person has no idea what to do or what to put in it. So, I will provide some more ample advice.

1. - Look towards other grimoires for inspiration and reference

A number of historical grimoires already do this, so why not you? Look at how these grimoires are organized. What do they contain? How are they framed?

As an example, lets take a look at the Lesser Key of Solomon

Opening invocation

Initiation

Definitions

Lists of Spirits (the 72 demons)

magical seals

specific rites

You might include an opening charm or invocation at the beginning of your Grimoire. In certain books, such as Long Lost Friends, the tome begins with a written charm of protection for the carrier of the book. Others might include a written hex or curse to ward unwanted readers.

You might include such rites as an initiation (if you have one), specific rituals of importance (such as a rite of banishment or cleansing), etc.

A page of reference for definitions and specific might also be helpful. Lets say you reference a recipe for oil often, but don’t want to write it down every time. You can have a page that has it once, then reference that other times.

Next, you might want to list specific about spirits and various entities. I’d suggest straying away from ones that tend to be common knowledge. Stick more to personalized things that you want to remember and can’t find from a quick google search.

Magical seals can include anything from privately created ones, or even well known ones. These can act as a reference for future use, or even as physically written charms in their own right. The Grimoire is not only a book of magic, it is a magical book.

2. - Decide how it will be written

Are you going to write it in a more factual and straight forward practical piece? Is it going to act as a teacher’s manual? Is it going to be vague and hard to read, so that only the writer can understand it? Is it going to be written as a story (Such as the Black Pullet)? Is it going to consist mostly of art and only a little bit of text?

Think about how it will be laid out on the paper. There is more ways to write a grimoire than simply a book of charms and spells.

3. - Avoid putting in common knowledge

Don’t put in something that you can easily search for online. Put in things that are personal to you, things you won’t find online (or at least easily), things that are secret.

In my experience, I found that I got disappointed with old magical journals that held a bunch of stuff, but all that knowledge I could easily find on my phone or in one of my books. It left me feeling unsatisfied and I often gave up finishing the journal completely.

When I started to put more personalized things, more secret things, things you couldn’t find anywhere else, I felt satisfied. The same could be said of others.

4. - Don’t worry about organization

A lot of the old historical grimoires were a strange conglomeration of information, lore, and art. They have no real rhyme or reason behind how they were organized (or maybe they did haha).

Don’t worry too much about being exact and perfect with your organization. I find that if I worry too much about that I will never end up writing anything down.

Get it down first. You can later reorganize by re-writing it, taking out the pages and putting them into a 3 ring binder, rebinding the book with a new order, or copying the pages and organizing them into a PDF or a separate copy.

Just get it down.

5. - Its for you. Make sure its useful

Having a grimoire is fun and wonderful, but if its not useful for you it will never get finished/used. Make sure you’re writing it for yourself.

I sometimes find it helpful to imagine that I will pass it down to my children or a student. How useful would they find it?

6. - Make it an act of magic

A grimoire is a book of magic, but it is also a magical book. Make the act of writing it magical. Make it apart of your ritual and practice. Infuse it with your power and desire. It’ll help make things easier.

Use it for automatic writing, use it for trance art. Allow your tradition to fuel its creation.

The Grimoire cultus and magical art is something that will easily continue onward throughout modern time, even with the push towards digitization. Its built from hundreds and hundreds of years of lore and reference. And, I imagine it will continue to grow as more people are creating their own, both for public use and private study.

For further reading on Grimoires, I would suggest the following

Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Daives Owen

https://www.grimoire.org/

http://www.sacred-texts.com

#witchcraft #occult #grimoire #magical text #traditional witchcraft

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newstfionline · 6 years

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The town that gave the world Spam is proud to be ‘autism-friendly’

By Amy Ellis Nutt, Washington Post, September 23, 2018

AUSTIN, Minn.--The tall teenager with the buzz cut opened the museum door, extended a large hand and said cheerily, “Welcome to the Spam Museum.”

Samuel Ehret is an official “Spambassador” at the museum, a hot spot for tourists who have a taste for the much-mocked canned meat that has been made here by Hormel Foods for 81 years.

Samuel is also autistic, and he got this job because he loves all things Spam--its taste, its history, and especially the museum’s showpiece: a motorcycle that runs on bacon grease.

He also landed the job because Austin is an autism-friendly town. Ten years ago, it became one of the first in the country to launch a community-wide effort both to reduce the disorder’s stigma and make local businesses aware of the special needs of autistic customers. It is also probably the only small town in America to employ a community autism resource specialist.

The mission was “a grass-roots effort to improve our community,” said Mary Barinka, an employee of the nonprofit Hormel Historic Home, where she serves as an autism resource liaison for Austin. She is also a former Hormel marketing executive, and the mother of a 16-year-old daughter with autism.

For someone like 18-year-old Samuel, the town’s attention to the condition has been invaluable.

“When he was an infant, he would just lie there, no crying,” said Sarah Ehret, Samuel’s mother. Her son failed to reach expected milestones on time and she was at a loss as to why. When someone anonymously placed a magazine in her mailbox, it suddenly made sense. One of the articles was “Top 10 signs your child has autism.”

“This is my son,” she said to herself.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by delayed language, repetitive behaviors, sensory sensitivities and difficulty with social skills. Although the symptoms of autism can overlap with other developmental disorders, such as learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, it has distinctive characteristics, including narrow, intense interests and routines and occasional emotional meltdowns when those routines are disrupted.

More than 3.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with this disorder, according to the Autism Society. In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised the estimate of those with the disorder to 1 in 59 children, four years after it was set at 1 in 68. Most experts attribute the increase to more-precise diagnostics and enhanced awareness of the disorder, particularly in black and Hispanic children.

Austin, with a population of 26,000, is the kind of place that still has a video store, where the one coffee shop in town is called “The Coffee Shop,” and a yellow traffic sign near a nursing home carries the warning “Dear Crossing.”

Fifteen businesses in this Midwestern hamlet carry the official designation “autism-friendly.” Among them: the Paramount Theater, Mid-Town Auto, two dentists, two ophthalmologists, two hair salons and three summer day camps.

To qualify as autism-friendly, a business must make an effort to minimize sensory overstimulation--lowering lights, turning down or eliminating loud music, and shielding the individual from others’ cross talk.

Business owners must fill out an application and then, along with their employees, go through educational sessions. They learn about the difficulties people with autism experience, including their triggers--a sound or a smell or an unfamiliar situation that may cause a meltdown. They also learn how to interact by speaking slowly, in a clear voice and in short phrases. Most important, they are shown the value of learning to be patient and flexible.

Jackson Schara has been to dentist Catherine Guy a number of times, and his first visit was so surprisingly comfortable that he made a YouTube video explaining why other people with the condition shouldn’t be afraid to go to an autism-friendly dentist.

Standing next to Jackson on a recent visit to her office, Guy described what she did for him that first time:

“It’s a sensory thing, so I told him about the armrests, the bib around the neck, that the chair will move. Then I offered him a bear or a weighted blanket on his chest for comfort.

“I also show them the special toothpaste, let them smell it, and do two or three teeth at a time. I let them experience the suction device, and even do a practice run.”

Sunglasses protect the patients from the harsh lights used to peer inside a mouth. A mirror is also available if they want to watch the dentist at work.

The value of these autism-friendly efforts is incalculable, families say, because it not only makes the lives of those living with autism easier, it also allows them to have experiences that those without autism have routinely. Best of all, they are lessons in communication, one of the chief skills that many children with autism must work especially hard to develop.

Jackson’s mother, Heidi Schara, remembers well a breakthrough moment she witnessed when her son came home from school one day.

“He said, ‘I think I talked too much about something or other.’ Then he said, ‘How was your day?’?”

That Heidi’s son was able to turn his attention from himself to his mother made it her “best day ever.”

She credits these eureka moments, in part, to Austin’s unusually open environment.

“Having this autism-friendly movement--it’s incredible to have people who want to understand,” she said.

For Jackson, who has a love of Japanese monster movies and is eager to talk about all things Godzilla, the experience at Guy’s office as well as at a hair salon in town have been revelatory.

“I am surprised at what I’ve done. Legitimately surprised,” he said.

Jackson was so comfortable getting his hair cut at the Style Lounge that he made a video of it.

Austin’s autism-friendly program began a decade ago, when a retired Hormel executive, Gary Ray, telephoned Barinka, a family friend, and asked whether her autistic daughter, then 6, was able to participate in any town activities, such as summer camp.

“No, not really,” Barinka remembers answering. “We’d like to take her to camp, but you have to explain her frequent needs and hire someone as a helper.”

Austin is small enough that Ray and his wife, Pat, were familiar with Barinka’s struggle to find appropriate recreation for her daughter.

“What if [Pat and I] gave you a small contribution of $5,000?” Ray said. “Could you start a camp?”

It didn’t take long for Barinka to say yes. She is a woman with a keen ability to advocate and organize and a seemingly bottomless reservoir of energy. Her job as autism resource specialist is part time, just 10 hours a week, but Barinka regularly puts in 40, often fielding questions and requests from other parents: “A new business wants to become autism-friendly, can you give a presentation to employees?” “How do I find the best speech therapists in town?” “The local community college wants to start a special autism program. Can you help out?”

To date, the Rays have contributed more than $100,000 to fund autism-friendly programs in Austin. One of the more successful is the monthly respite night, when children with autism are dropped off at the Hormel Historic Home--a site for weddings and tours as well as community events--and parents or caregivers are given a few hours of free time.

The children might do an art project, or go out to a restaurant, bowling lanes or the YMCA to swim. The lifeguards are taught to get their attention by calling their name instead of blowing a whistle. The Y sponsors swim teams for children with autism, and they occasionally compete against other teams with disabilities, including at the Special Olympics.

Autism-friendliness has also reached into the schools, where a peer program pairs high schoolers with autism with similarly aged student volunteers. The program is so popular that there is a waiting list of student volunteers.

Word of Austin’s unusual autism-friendly services has resulted in at least a half-dozen families moving to the town.

Carolyn Dube grew up in Austin, but she spent much of her life elsewhere, primarily in Phoenix, where the resources for her son, Alex, diagnosed with autism at 2½, were lacking.

“There were a lot of behavioral issues with him,” Dube said about life with her son in Arizona. “He threw things, was increasingly violent and too hard to predict.”

A new job brought her to a suburb of Minneapolis, about 90 minutes from Austin, and Dube began to pick up stories about her hometown’s transformation.

“We’d hear amazing things,” she said. “And that’s when we started realizing how special some of Austin’s autism programs were.”

Dube’s family moved back to Austin when Alex was 4. He’s in high school now and takes mostly mainstream classes. He is especially talented in math and science, and because autism is a spectrum disorder of varying degrees of disability, Dube fully expects him to go to college and study engineering.

“Now Alex is almost a new person,” she said.

Other parents say they’re seeing progress they never thought possible before Austin became autism-friendly. Barinka’s 16-year-old daughter used to bite the chain-link fence at her older sister’s softball games and throw tantrums. Today, she is on her high school dance team and plays the trumpet in the band.

Barinka has received calls from Salt Lake City and Flagstaff, Ariz. inquiring about how to set up their own autism-friendly programs, furthering a trend of entrepreneurship and innovation by individuals in the autism community. In 2015, for example, Pennsylvanian Topher Wurts, a marketing and technology executive who has a son with autism, founded a virtual Autism Village. It’s an app that works a bit like Yelp, locating nearby autism-friendly places and businesses and letting users rate and review their experiences.

How Barinka helped create her own bricks-and-mortar version of an Autism Village included not only the Rays, but also the Hormel Foundation, the Hormel Historic Home and numerous members of the community, both paid and volunteer, who make the programs run.

Because of such contributions, Austin is able to offer services at vastly lower costs than those in places where camps can run as high as $800 or $900 a week, according to Barinka. Austin’s autism day camps cost just $150, and many of the more than 50 campers receive scholarships, bringing the price down to $25.

#Austin MN #Spam Museum #autism-friendly town #autism

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tallmadgeandtea · 2 months

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As if election season in Pennsylvania is not bad enough….

#carpetbaggers abound… so many old people voting red… SO MANY… trump signs galore…#your local Pennsylvanian here #WHY WASNT IT LIKE. Ohio or something.#near Pittsburgh? oh sorry. to me you mean Ohio #amanda speaks #tumblr user tallmadgeandtea comments on the situation

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blogbeatsever · 28 days

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ofcloudsandstars · 7 years

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Hi! I'm new to the witchy scene and don't know where to start on anything tbh. It's hella overwhelming, esp bc I'm finding planetary stuff v interesting but also incredibly confusing. Any thoughts, suggestions, etc? Any blogs i should follow?? Favorote resources??? Idk. You seem v cool so i figured i would ask. My witchy sideblog is kosherkitchenwitch. 💜💜💜 (im on mobile 24/7 so sorry if you have that info somewhere and im being repetitive!!!)

I usually have a very long winded explanation for this question. Its just hard to write a very short answer because the topic itself describes several life styles and cultures and practices. To really get you started you have to be ok with journeying down a rabbit hole. (This answer by the way is it’s own rabbit hole so get comfortable lol).

Witchcraft is a practice but it’s also very spiritual so it’s definitely one of those things that become a lifestyle and you are forever learning something new. Don’t feel too overwhelmed that it is forever going on cause like its something that expands with everyone’s unique experiences!

I honestly should write a book for beginner witches with tips and exercises but for now I will leave you with this: (Though it’s very long and I apologize, I want to give you something concise to research and start with so that you have someplace to begin instead of just short and concise answers since that still won’t give you a good enough foundation.)

Here’s the top 5 tips I will tell you:

1- Know these Basic Terms

2- Know Yourself

3- Know Your Roots

4- Know Your Local Nature

5- ResourcesBelow I will flesh these points out:

BASIC TERMS

Ok so if we start with point 1, people will always tell you READ READ READ! And honestly that isn’t great advice cause most popular witchcraft books are either written by European people in the 60s and they are outdated as hell or they are full of rigid concepts or appropriation. Like don’t waste your time or stifle yourself diving into the typical witchcraft books cause you might feel like you can only exist in this narrow idea of what magic is and you won’t learn most of your abilities out of an old Scott Cunningham book or god forbid a Silver Ravenwolf published monstrosity.

The books that you would REALLY need eventually are moreso Witchcraft 201 type of books when you are diving into the specifics of practices. This is like for example if you are getting more into herbalism/herbology and now you are investing into books like local herbs or medicinal plants, or now you are getting more into astrology so you are buying books about astrological movements, or books on tarot tips and symbolism, or books like the Crystal Bible for all the esoteric crystal info. But don’t worry about all those books YET cause you are STILL JUST starting out.

However the things you should know are these terms: (also I have given some brief descriptions but please look them up even further lol that is your homework).

MagicKind of too complex to narrow into a definition here but there is a force of the universe and everything that flows within it that can be manipulated by projecting energy outward into the universe. That manipulation is referred to as Magic.

WitchA magical practitioner that uses magic to manifest their goal. Witch does not describe every magical practitioner as there are many from different cultures, but witch tends to describe one that uses magic of nature and the universe in a “grey” way (neither specifically to do good or evil) to bring about their desires.

Wicca/WiccanWicca is a religion founded in the 60s in England. A wiccan is a follower of this religion. They are witches that practice magic from revived practices of pre-christian western europe that fall under the ‘pagan’ umbrella. Not all witches are wiccan though it’s something people get confused over. Popular cultural ideas that are wiccan is the worship of the green god and triple goddess, the wiccan rede, the wheel of the year and also the terms ‘Blessed Be’ or ‘So Mote it Be’.

WizardIn popular culture referred to as a male that practices magic YET that’s cause we live in a dumb gendered society because Witch is gender neutral, anyone can be a witch and wizards/wizardry actually refers to a specific magical practice that includes elements of alchemy and transformation. I like to think of wizardry as the blending of the scientific process and magic.

Closed CulturesMagic exists in every form of the globe and in every aspect of nature but many magical practices/spiritualities or religions that deal with spirits and magic are closed for very obvious reasons that no one should be offended over. For example practices like Shinto or Mugyo have to do with the LAND they are on. Like with Mugyo for example, you literally can not practice this if you are not in Korea cause it has to do with the land itself and the spirits that live on it and the ancestors of korean people. (Theres a blogger on here that’s been raising money for a long time to be able to travel to Korea to do this). In other practices like Hoodoo or Brujera, it was carved out of the oppression of people that lost their roots and reforged a connection to protect themselves and their community from white colonialism/slavery. Indigenous American practices have to do with bonds that animal spirits and ancestors have had with tribes for generations (and also the land they live on) that will lose its context once taken out of the tribe’s culture. I think stumbling upon closed culture territory is very avoidable if you stick to the nature local to you and your roots, plus there are a lot of open cultures to choose from (and the culture that mostly dominates modern western witchcraft which has celtic roots is open to all), but honestly all cultures come from (1) nature, (2) local spirits that you’ve bonded with and (3) your history so you can always build your own magical foundation that will be stronger with your own personal connections instead of seeking something in a closed group. It’s very common when you meet witches from a hereditary line that they have their own unique practice passed down from their family. A lot of witches I know tend to make their own practice outside of a cultural tradition. Some closed folk practices and religions that you might stumble across in America are:

HoodooAfrican American folk spirituality that helped the black diaspora subjected to slave trade and racism find their ancestral roots and protect their community. It uses root work that deals with the roots, dirt and spices they have access to. Though you might see a lot of magic practitioners interchange this term with witchcraft, it exists in it’s own culture and it’s own context outside of witchcraft. This form of magic is closed to nonblack magical practitioners.

VodouIs not interchangable with Hoodoo. Its a religion of Haiti that haitians used to connect with their ancestors and spirits that watch over them.

SanteriaA religion that uses magic and has catholic influences yet the catholic saints are more like guides that help them fulfill magic. They’ve adapted the catholic imagery due to colonialism forcing christianity onto their culture but it was a way to disguise their old gods. (Hoodoo also uses christian tools to disguise their magic).

BrujaA form of folkmagic that can be found in Latinx culture. Just like Hoodoo and EVERY. OTHER. FORM. of FOLKMAGIC culture (just emphasizing these points cause like people do get UPset when you talk about closed cultures when there’s no reason to be) it uses plants and spices that were accessible to the people, they elevate their ancestors with altars, and have their own practices like using eggs for cleansing spells or eggshell powder (cascarilla).

BrauchereiI am UNSURE if this is closed or not but this is a type of magic found in Pennsylvania and in Appalachia due to German settlers. They use the bible too as a conjure book along with diviner rods and magic symbols (like the Haagel). Some people refer to this as “Pow Wow” magic but I feel weird about that for obvious reasons but if you want to do more research on it you can find stuff underneath that term. It has a very Country Aesthetique™ and you might recognize it by the tradition of Hex Signs painted on Pennsylvanian barns or Barnstars as a goodluck charm.*As a personal note I would say almost all folk magic is closed cause like it comes from a specific land, culture and context so it might lose meaning outside of the context unless if you are welcomed within the community and find people to teach you their folk magic secrets. Anyway Magic is EVERYWHERE so this is in no way to discourage you but also its interesting and fun to learn about other magical cultures as long as you don’t try to claim it as your own.General Magic Terms:

Energy WorkRefers to exercises or magic that is purely energy based. Some magic likes to use candles or tools but energy work is just using the body and your own energy.

GroundingA way to center your energy within your body typically through focusing on the connection of your feet or roots into the earth. There are many ways to ground and many places in nature you can ground other than your bare feet on the earth. For example some witches like to do it while their feet is under the waves by the sea, or some witches like to do it on a breezy hill or in front of a lit candle. You just focus on the energy flowing through your body by the environment surrounding you and center this before going into a ritual or casting a spell.

Chakras vs Energy PoolsChakras is a term taken from it’s cultural context and appropriated BUT the concept of Energy Pools is is A LOT of cultures and even creeping it’s way into science due to acupuncture and other therapeutic practices involving pressure points and energy pools being accepted into the mainstream. When doing energy work it’s good to be aware of the various energy pools in our body. (Its important to be familiar with the term Chakras since it’s still widely used so at least you will understand it’s meaning.)This can also be studied forever but I can try to write a brief blurb on it: The feet often obtain our lowest form of energy, the thighs can store emotional trauma and can hold our hidden emotions. The Pelvis is our root and connects us mostly to the physical world (when you do grounding work you can focus here as well as your feet if you feel you are drifting), the womb/bowels is where we have our passionate or lustful energy and that allows us to create. Our stomachs is our influence power and ego, our hearts is our compassion and empathy towards others. Our throats can help us communicate, our hands help us manifest, our third eye helps us with our intuition and dreams and our crown helps us be connected to the universe and receive messages from our guides. When you have physical ailments that are reoccuring in a part of the body you should think if maybe any emotional stress in those areas are contributing to physical sickness. I know the thighs might have more energetic abilities but I learned that they can store emotional trauma cause I used to feel a kind of stiff pain there when I was stressed and my friend who is training to be a yoga instructor told me that emotional trauma gets stored in the hips and thighs. She would give me yin yoga lessons for free to release that tension. Also if you feel you need to be more Compassionate, Confident, Vocal, you can focus on doing energy work in those corresponding areas of the body.

AstrologyThe study of planetary movements and how it effects our lives and the flow of things.

PlanetsKnow the planetary effects on yourself and society INCLUDING Chiron and mathematical points such as Lilith and the Ascendant

Star ChartThe positions of stars and planets when you were born and the strengths and qualities they’ve given you along with karmic lessons you must overcome. Look up your star chart here.

Moon CyclesThe phases of the moon have power to them too. Full is a great time to release energy and manifest things where as new is a great time to begin new plans and cleanse. The moon rules our emotional body and each sign it has a new or full moon in has a lesson for us.

Zodiac Signs and their ElementsEach zodiac sign has a sort of attribute to it. The way we think of the Four Elements as a type of quality, the 12 signs have their own unique qualities as well. Just familiarize yourself with them as best you can and their element. This will come in handy later when you are more familiar with the signs and will understand what it means when certain planets are transiting signs. (Meaning when planets are crossing over a zodiac sign in the sky).

ElementsThe Four elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire are like a quaternic attribute that can be applied to anything. Earth rules the solid form, The physical body and can be thought of as having qualities of structure and providing. Water rules the liquid form, the emotional body and can be thought of as having qualities of nurturing and cleansing. Air rules the gas form, the mind and can be thought of as having qualities of change, innovation and inspiration. Fire rules the energy form, the spirit and can be thought of as creative or explosive. You can apply these qualities to almost any thing such as: Carnelian the stone is Fiery because it possesses qualities of bursts of inspiration and motivation and sometimes sexuality. The Dandelion is very airy because it can spread far due to it’s seeds and its a poofy tuft. I also think the quaternity of the elements adds more flexibility in assigning attributes to things where as the binary is very black and white and I find it confining. (Also reinforcing gender stereotypes but we will get to that later). This quaternity will pop up in many places in your magical research, from the zodiac elements, to the tarot card suits.

Sun cyclesAs the moon has cycles so does the sun. The sun changes the zodiac sign like once a month and these periods of times are usually referred to {zodiac} season for example: ‘Sagittarius Season’ or 'Capricorn Season’ when the sun has lined up with the Sagittarius or Capricorn constellation in our sky. These moments of time also have lessons for us.

SabbatsThe Sabbats are witch holidays that derived from western europe that were revived in the wiccan religion that have to do with the earth and sun’s position throughout the year. Witches celebrate Spring and Autumn equinox and the winter and Summer Solstice. There are also crossquarters for points in between this time like Halloween/Samhain on Oct 31st/Nov 1, Beltane or May Day on May 1, Imbolc on Feb 1st and Lughnasadth on August 1st.

Wheel of the YearThe name for the cycle of sabbats. You can search the tumblr tag to learn a little more on it!

Agrarian CyclesEvery region has their own unique seasonal change and foods and living beings local to their environment. The Wheel of the Year does have Celtic western European roots but you can take the concept of celebrating nature and the seasons and make it secular and apply it to any region and put your own cultural roots into it. Just research your local land and your local farmers almanac and you can get started. Here are a few wheels and concepts taken from other cultures and regions (1)(2).

Bioregional AnimismThis is a fancy term meaning that local nature has it’s own spirit. You should be familiar with your local “magical terroir”. Being connected with nature is important for a witch as nature is where magic can be found. The body itself is a magical conductor but for a witch that does not have a connection to nature, using the body’s energy without any recharging can be draining. Most books on magic are very eurocentric based which does not help magical practitioners or witches that live in other climates that are not four seasonal or temperate. Also there are unique spirits and plants to each environment that can help you with your magic. I will link a post on this later.

SpiritsEntities that are noncorporeal that exist everywhere. Some live on this plane, some live solely on the astral. I feel like dealing with spirits is a Witchy 201 issue so I won’t dive in it here but know that almost everything has a spirit (disclaimer: I am an animist so I believe everything- especially everything living has a spirit), and the more you form friendships with entities like trees, plants, animals and your guides you will gain a stronger practice. I believe for a witchling its best to try to befriend or get to know the spirits of things you can see like local trees, animals, stones etc. Don’t mess with ghosts or astral entities yet haha. (Until you know how to ward and banish)

Spirit GuidesWe all have spirit guides. Whether it be our ancestors looking out for us or some spirits that genuinely like us and want to help us out. You can form a relationship with them to help you succeed in your goals.

Astral PlaneI might not be the best person to define this (your witchy homework is to further do research on all these vocab words I’ve put on here so far lol) but the astral plane is the realm beyond this physical one where dreams, thoughts, spirits all coincide. I think its kind of like a world in between worlds cause you can travel to other worlds within it. You can access it through dreams, trancing, guided meditation or astral projection (when your spirit leaves your body). Other spirits may not be friendly so it’s wise to protect yourself before trying to travel.

Astral ProjectionWhen you project your spirit from your physical body to travel.

Wardinga form of energy work to create a boundary so something won’t cross into your space. It’s like a magical security field.

BanishingTo get rid of an entity or toxic person in your life. It’s seen as a form of cursing since its a long term spell that’s not to the target’s benefit.

Hexing/Jinxing/CursingThere are multiple definitions for these but I define jinx as a quick kind of malicious energy put on someone to cause them bad luck. Like putting energy towards someone to wish they bust their ass going down the stairs and they do. A hex is more aggressive and usually pretty specific since a jinx is just general bad luck. A hex is usually more thought out and you want a specific outcome to happen yet its just general misfortune instead of any real physical harm. A Curse is the most long term and often is difficult to be free of until it’s over. Some curses last lifetimes or can even become generational. Usually you are forever barred from doing something or it reveals something about you to damage your reputation. A curse is often the most damaging out of the three. In Wicca there is the wiccan rede that forbids any negative spell casting but that’s only a rule for wiccans.

BlessingA form of positive spellwork to be casted upon someone. Opposite of hexing obviously lol.

SigilsI believe this has some long history with summoning entities but it’s now usually used to refer to magical symbols a witch can create to store energy or influence something with energy. For example you can carve a sigil in a candle to infuse the candle with a certain energy or put a sigil in your coffee with the creamer or paint a sigil on your nails for glamour magic. You should just search the tumblr tag for sigil.

Use of Masculine and Feminine EnergyUpon your witchy research you will find this binary to describe energy and I personally find it archaic but you should understand the difference despite my personal opinions. Since most are agreeing that referring to something active/fast/powerful is masculine and something passive/slow/nurturing is feminine is problematic, they are now rebranding the binary as “active” and “passive” but in my magical experience I find that active and passive are not great ways to think of energy because its more of a spectrum than a binary. Anything can be active, passive or neutralizing. Fire can be passive when it’s used as lighting to see. Earth can be active when it’s shaking the ground during a quake to form new surfaces. Water can be active when it’s changing topsoil and causing mudslides and floods. Air can be passive when it’s a gentle draft being pushed through a vent. I’d suggest thinking of this type of energy as a spectrum but also its good to know about this too.

The Use of X Witch/WitchcraftYou will definitely find upon your witchy research the use of 'Fire Witch’ or 'Kitchen Witch’ or 'Sea Witchcraft’ or 'Desert Witchcraft’ and to put it simply: Someone who calls them self an X witch basically is defining most of their craft around one aspect that they gravitate the most to wield magic. A LOT of witches however won’t use this because most witches have many aspects of magic they use in their craft so it’s hard to define themselves simply as X witch. However the easiest label most witches like to use deal with the local nature because your local nature usually always defines your magic in someway whether or not you are a City Witch, a Sea Witch, a Desert Witch, Swamp Witch, Mountain Witch, Farm Witch, Prairie Witch, Island Witch etc etc. Usually someone who really sticks to a label of X witch that’s not nature orientated really has a joy of that craft and on a platform like tumblr it’s used to find other witches that practice that. (Don’t feel pressured to pick a label) Other than labels you might find terms like Candle Witchcraft, Tech Witchcraft and Kitchen Witchcraft and those are just categories of witchcraft that have to do with those specific subjects. I sometimes refer to myself as a Cottage Witch (witchcraft that has to do with the home) and a lot of my magic deals with daily rituals at home!

Cottage Witchcraft/WitchMagic that has to do with the home, protecting the home, cleansing, the garden, the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom. It’s essentially kitchen/bath/green witchcraft all combined.

Kitchen MagicMagic that has to do specifically with cooking, using herbs in oils and recipes for magical outcomes, recipes as spells. Charming hot cocoa, magical teas.

Bath Magic/ Bath WitchMagic that has to do with the ritual of bathing. Face masks, bath bombs, home made soaps as spells, cleansing the body, infusing scents with intent. Wearing scented creams, lotions, perfumes as spells.

Glamoursa type of illusion magic to influence others to perceive you a certain way. (examples: making yourself invisible to others by spells that make you less noticeable, or making yourself more alluring to grab needed attention, or making yourself more intimidating to avoid confrontation). Glamour magic kind of goes hand in hand with bath magic too.

Green Witch/WitchcraftMagic that has to do with nature and gardening and herbs. Plants are our allies and have spirits that are willing to help us if we nurture them.

HerbologyThe study of plants and their properties

Hedge WitchcraftA form of magical practice that deals with working with spirits and traveling to other worlds for spirit work.

DivinationThe practice of fortune telling. There are MANY different ways to divine which are listed below:

Dream OraclingInterpreting your dreams based on your personal omens and experiences to do shadow work or to interpret omens that might signal something for your future.

Shadow Work (not divination- I’d categorize this as energy work- but I’m putting it here since I mentioned it)The practice of self reflection that’s often followed by meditation or sometimes coinciding with practices of dream oracling, tarot reading or trancing to delve deep within oneself to undo traumas and understand the “shadow” side of our self or our ego.

CartomancyDivination that has to do with reading cards. You can use regular 4 suit playing cards as many card readers do.

TarotThe most used card deck to divine with. There are 5 suits in a tarot deck. The Major arcana are cards in it’s own suit with a stronger symbolic meaning and the minor arcana are suits like hearts, spades etc (But instead cups-water, coins-earth, wands-fire and swords-air assigned an element) that tell an evolutionary story. There are a lot of simple tarot spreads on tumblr to help you get started if you wish to read tarot cards. Tarot tends to give very introspective answers.

LenormandA french style of divining cards using mostly archetypes instead of suits (though some cards are assigned a suit but its kind of irrelevant to the reading).

Oracle DecksCards that only have symbols and no suits. Each oracle deck is very unique from the next! I enjoy using oracle decks for one card draws for daily advice.

PalmistryThe divining technique of using palms to read someone’s qualities and obstacles in life.

RunesI will define them here as the divining practice of using small trinkets, or painted stones with symbols on them to toss and read your future. Some practitioners use bones, some use crystals, some use acorns, some use stones that are painted or carved. One set of runes you will see a lot are the Elder Futhark which is scandinavian (sorry I don’t know exactly from where) symbols that are carved in crystals or stones and read by tossing them.

NumerologyMagical Numbers. Each number has a power to it. You can find your life path number here. Also if you get drawn into the rabbit hole of numerology you should also look up Sacred Geometry.

TasseomancyDivination of reading tea leaves.Other Divination Forms that you can refer to by with less fancy names like Bone reading and flame reading (like with candles), scrying (looking for symbols in mirrors or crystal balls), shufflemancy (music and tech can be used as divination too!)

Tools:

PendulumA weight (usually a crystal or coin) used at the end of a string that’s used to find answers on a grid. (Usually if it swings vertically it means yes and horizontally means no but look up pendulum on the tumblr tag you will find a lot of wonderful examples).

Smoke CleansingEither using incense, a bundle of dried herbs or a twig of a tree or herb to burn to cleanse the air. Rosemary is great for warding along with lemongrass, sage and dragonsblood.Also FYI Some appropriating witches might refer to this as “Smudging” But Smudging is a specific practice of offering smoke to guides of a tribe in indigenous American cultures and it would be bastardizing the practice by referring to any form of smoke cleansing as smudging.

CrystalsSome crystals do have an electrical charge due to their crystaline structure. I am unsure of the specifics and I’ve already wrote too much lol but its a subtle and gentle force many magic practitioners like to use to create energy fields for rituals. They are often used as energy amplifiers and some crystals tend to have different energy than others. (For example lepidolite can help amplify the energy of healing and self love where as fire agate can help amplify the energy of motivation and starting new things).

CauldronUsed for burning loose herbs or cooking things. Large pewter cauldrons tend to be wild expensive so I haven’t seen a lot of witches use them. I typically see smaller ones to burn herbs in. Its a great tool to use in spell crafting when you toss ingredients in a spell to bubble and burn in.

Mortar and PestleTools to help crush herbs and roots into powder

BesomsBroomsticks made from certain twigs that can help cleanse the home with symbolic sweeping. The idea of witches riding on brooms come from a time where witches would put flying ointments made of mandrake or datura on the end of the broom and “ride” them by grinding their genitals on it therefore absorbing the ointment and “tripping” to another plane. Its a way of also acheiving astral projection and “flying” in on others to spy on them or completing tasks on other realms. This is like.. Witchcraft 301 its kind of dangerous please don’t try at home lol.

WandsA tool used to direct energy. If the body is its own source of energy and can conduct energy, the wand helps to focus it’s direction. Most wands have crystals or magical items fused onto it.

CharmA magical item charged with energy to have a purpose. For example a lucky necklace can become a charge if it is charged with the energy to bring luck or prosperity. Charms (unless they are made with a crystal or magical metal) tend to not have their own energetic charge so they constantly need to be recharged by the witch when the energy runs out.

AltarA space to work magic. A witch can have many altars. It really doesn’t need to be fancy. Some witches use their altars to put all of their tools and often the surface is like a grid of their crystals. Some make an altar to an entity or their ancestors and the things they put on it are very specific in order to devote the offering to their ancestor or entity. Some use an altar as a workspace. When I have my own place I will do all three. I have my bedroom altar which the surface is a space I work magic on but the bottom is where I keep my books and crystals. The bathroom and kitchen will have more messy spell crafting altar space where I concoct bath potions or food and the living room will be a very clean and organized altar dedicated to spirit guides. What all altars have in common is that they are sacred spaces so even if its a messy magic working space you still can’t dump whatever on it. Also some altars can be spacious where as some can be inside of an altoid tin box. Some altars can be inside of closets and some can be sprawled across a ground. Some can be set up just for a ritual and some can be forever apart of the living room space. They all just have in common that they are sacred magic spaces.

Ouija BoardA way to contact spirits that are currently around you in your space. The thing is that it doesn’t have a great filter so it’s like Chat Roulette but for spirits and you can get any creep coming in to harass you.

GrimoireBook of a witch where they keep all of their spells, remedies, techniques and magical secrets within.

Animal FamiliarSo I believe (though not sure) that familiars refer to 'familiar spirits’ or spirits that are companions to witches and help them complete tasks. In modern witch media this has been mixed up with the idea of witch’s animal companion. Regardless of the roots of the meaning (I have my own research to do lol!) you should know what a familiar means and that in most cases people will use it to refer to their animal companion though I have seen it in a few contexts to refer to a spirit companion.

Sorry this list is super Extensive but think of this as your Witchcraft 101 homework haha. Witchcraft is something used across many cultures for a long time so there’s a lot to know.

I am unsure if I should elaborate this much on the other points, but knowing me I will haha. Hopefully I can find other posts I’ve written about it to save this from becoming a novel but I will try to keep it brief!

Anyway the next three points is where the magical practice comes in!

2.Know Yourself

You are a magical conductor and have your own unique magic. Every witch is unique. Things that will help you bring out your own magic is knowing yourself and what brings out the best energy in you. You can learn about your magical self by learning about your star chart, your zodiac signs and elements, your life path number and of course your passions or hobbies! You can infuse magic into any practice you can be creative in. If you enjoy cooking there is kitchen witchcraft. If you enjoy make-up there are glamours, if you enjoy singing there is intoning and musical magic. If you don’t like making music but listening there is shufflemancy. If you like sleeping there is dream oracling. No matter how obscure your preferences are you can make magic from it. Even if you spend all day obsessing over fanfiction or fictional characters you can create your own pop culture magic path (I saw a post here once with someone making sailor moon magic a thing it was very cool), even if you just like blogging and putting aesthetics together you can make vision boards on pinterest. The best advice to this 2nd point is GET A MAGIC JOURNAL. Not a grimoire but Journal where you can be messy and just take magical notes. Write your favorite colors, the elements that call out to you, animals that you feel drawn to, your favorite places in nature, your favorite hobbies and how you can put magic into them. Knowing yourself and finding your own unique magic is the first step to being a powerful witch!

3.Know Your Roots

This point can be glossed over but it is an extension of point 2 and will also help going into point 4. This is very important point if your cultural identity bears a lot of meaning to you. Magic can be found anywhere in the world and if you would like to follow a tradition you can definitely find one in your own heritage. Every culture has its own magic and even if you can’t find something specific you can definitely find aspects of your culture that you can make magical! For example: vodou is closed and I am half haitian but theres not much of a way I could access it. Anyway that is fine because I still incorporate a lot of my haitian heritage into my magic, mostly by foods that are native to Haiti, using tropical fruits and roots and sometimes offering of rum to spirits and sometimes intuitively (like I made flower water and my mom commented once thats something that people did in vodou and I was like lol I had no idea I was just making this water..) I am also half French and I use Lenormand to divine with and also like recycle my dad’s fancy wine bottles for oil infusion haha (that’s more of a 'what I have access to’ then a cultural thing tho). Every culture has something special like in witchcraft there is knot magic but if you were chinese you can incorporate that with the chinese knot charms, or for south asian/east african heritage could make sigils on their body with henna or assigning different spice mixes with spells in kitchen magic, or southwest asian/northern african witches using their hookahs to smoke various herbs to help them do shadow work or astral traveling, or afro witches braiding spells into their boxbraids and adorning them with crystal beads for protection or european witches baking spells into bread. Like since this is also a continuation of point 2, this is about how magic relates to you and whatever you are surrounded by. You can make magic yours and incorporate it into your culture!

4. Know your Local Nature

I have spoken ENOUGH on this post haha I am sure I have given you enough reading material for two months but I will link this link here on it.

http://ofcloudsandstars.tumblr.com/post/165455994141/local-witchcraft (read all the links in it too they are all great posts!)

I think on this post I have already spoken enough about nature and how important it is to magic so you understand by now.

5. Resources

Seek out your local metaphysical, new age, crystal or magic shops! Even if you have none you can sometimes find helpful books in used book stores, or find tools in craft stores. Michaels is an incredible franchise that sells potion bottles, labels, crystal beads, edible glitter, pretty journals, things for altars, candles and candle wax and candle making things, JARS, pots for plants, jewelry making kits, mini mirrors and all kinds of things you can use in magic.

Here is my resource tag for more resources

OK THAT WAS A LOT

sorry for the novel, but I hope you will have time to research and start your journey! Good luck with everything! Feel free to shoot any more questions!! °☆.。.:*・

#scaredy-bee #kosherkitchenwitch #beginner witch #blog beginner #guide #advice #witchcraft*#witch tips

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tallmadgeandtea · 6 months

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General Scott was right btw (a broken clock is right twice a day etc.) New Jersey really is madness. I hadn’t been there since I was a child at Point Pleasant so imagine my shock seeing gas pump attendants, houses cosplaying as liquor stores, TRADER JOE’S BRAND VODKA. Hearing NJ accents in a diner. Shit was crazy!

#also got some great hospitality when we were at a restaurant and they just walked past us for 25 minutes #like 😭😭😭#BUT… I mean… the vibes were kinda great idk #perhaps my Mercer agenda has influenced me too much #amanda speaks #I saw sheep!!! okay!! I love sheep!#your local Pennsylvanian here

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dipulb3 · 4 years

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More than a second lady: How Gisele Fetterman came to serve Pennsylvania's neediest

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/more-than-a-second-lady-how-gisele-fetterman-came-to-serve-pennsylvanias-neediest/

More than a second lady: How Gisele Fetterman came to serve Pennsylvania's neediest

A former undocumented immigrant who became a citizen and used her platform to help all manner of Pennsylvanians, she is far more than a figurehead or a lieutenant governor’s spouse.

That anyone would be called the n-word during a quick trip to the grocery store for golden kiwis is unsettling — all the more so once you learn what Fetterman overcame simply to give back to others.

The mother of three was at a grocery store in Braddock, a PIttsburgh suburb, Sunday evening when a woman recognized her and began haranguing her, saying she didn’t belong, calling her a thief and referring to her as the n-word that Lt. Gov. John Fetterman married, she told Appradab.

Gisele Fetterman’s family fled the violence of Rio de Janeiro in 1990 and grew up poor in New York City. Her mother told her and her brother to, “Be invisible,” and she has regularly shared childhood anecdotes of looking over her shoulder and fearing every knock at the door.

“So even though I’m 38 and I’m second lady and I have a family and career, I was immediately again a scared 9-year-old undocumented little girl at that grocery line,” she said of Sunday’s encounter.

“It was a hard reminder for me that it doesn’t matter what I’ve overcome, what I’ve achieved, that to some I will always be viewed as inferior simply because I was not born in this country,” she said.

Fetterman’s record runs deep. She has spent most of her adult life in the United States helping others, whether they’re impoverished, immigrants, LGBT, minorities, imprisoned or hungry. She’s also spoken out on the importance of wearing masks and participating in the Census.

She’s lighthearted, preferring the titular acronym, SLOP, over Second Lady of Pennsylvania, which she feels is “stuffy” — and is one of the foremost purveyors of positivity on social media, once quoting Rumi: “Even if from the sky, poison befalls all, I’m still sweetness wrapped in sweetness wrapped in sweetness.”

She told a writer this month she would never seek public office because “politics is mean and I am not.”

Here are some snapshots of what she’s achieved and overcome:

Her marriage was born of caring

In 2007, she read about the Rust Belt town of Braddock and learned that steel from Braddock and other communities was used in the Brooklyn Bridge, one of her favorite landmarks.

Fetterman had had her green card for a few years, and though only in her mid-20s, she was already an activist, focusing on nutrition and food equity. She wrote then-Mayor John Fetterman to find out more about the town, whose declining population numbered around 2,000 at the time, and his efforts to improve his community. After he wrote back, she began visiting Braddock.

“Of course he fell in love with me,” she told a women’s luncheon earlier this year, the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre reported.

They were married in 2009, the same year she earned US citizenship. Since then she’s used her platforms as a naturalized American and second lady to help others.

She opened a free store for low-income families

On their fourth wedding anniversary, John Fetterman asked his wife what she wanted as a gift and she told him, “I want a shipping container.” He didn’t ask why, she told the Under the Radar entertainment blog earlier this month.

Gisele Fetterman had local artists paint the container, spruced up an abandoned lot and began doling out household goods, baby items and bicycles to those in need.

The store’s motto is “Because the best things in life are free.” It has spread to several locations and served hundreds of clients.

“We dream of a community built on relationships based on mutual aid and cooperation,” Free Store 15104’s website says. “We use the distribution of free items as a catalyst for change. We encourage recycling and reuse as a means to counteract excessive waste and consumption. We aim to eradicate food and clothing insecurity.”

She helped develop a clever way to fight hunger

412 Food Rescue, which she co-founded, sends volunteers to retailers who have surplus food that risks going bad and delivers it to nonprofits that serve the hungry.

“With the help of 2 trucks, 1 van, and thousands of volunteers, we are able to rescue perfectly good but unsellable food that would otherwise be wasted and redirect it to people who need it,” the nonprofit’s website says.

Based on the premise that it would take only one-third of the nation’s discarded food to feed its hungry population, it also strives to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from food waste, which the organization says is almost double that of aviation and the iron-and-steel industry combined.

The Pittsburgh City Paper cited both the Free Store and 412 Food Rescue in naming Fetterman 2017’s best activist.

The Fettermans opened the ‘The People’s Pool’

When John Fetterman took office, the couple opted not to move to the 2,400-square-foot state residence in Fort Indiantown Gap, instead opting to live in a remodeled car dealership in Braddock. Fetterman told Pittsburgh magazine this year that it was “not appropriate” to live in a taxpayer-funded mansion with staff. Plus, he said, Braddock is home.

As a result, the property’s 30-by-40-foot swimming pool was going unused, so Gisele Fetterman opened it up to nonprofits and summer camps and instituted a program to teach water safety because federal statistics show African American kids have a 3 times greater risk of drowning than do White chlidren.

“We can have a direct role in changing those statistics,” she said. “Swimming comes with a painful legacy of racial segregation. If my children can swim in that pool, so should every child in Pennsylvania.”

She came to Antwon Rose’s defense

After an East Pittsburgh police officer fatally shot Antwon Rose during a 2018 traffic stop, Fettermen revealed that the “very goofy” 17-year-old volunteered at Free Store 15104 and appeared in one of her husband’s campaign commercials. She also spoke at the teen’s funeral.

“He looked you in the eyes and gave anyone speaking to him total attention and respect,” she said in her tribute. “He would look at you with his big sweet smile, and you would feel, deep in your heart, that this was someone who would make the world better.”

“Antwon’s death shakes my heart, it rattles my faith that things will ever get better or that injustices will ever end. Slowly, too slowly, things will get brighter, even though they’re now so dark,” she said.

A jury cleared the officer who shot Antwon of all counts the following year.

She does little things, too

In addition to tackling major issues like hunger and inequality, she knows smaller improvements can make big differences in a community, as demonstrated by her Braddock Bench Building project, which created places to sit at public bus stops — using repurposed materials from homes slated for demolition, of course.

She also sought to brighten Braddock’s primary thoroughfare with uplifting signs, such as “Eat More Vegetables,” “Believe in Yourself,” “More Hugs Needed,” “Follow Your Dreams,” “Be Kind Always” and “Hug a Tree.”

“The signs you see along the streets are always so negative — ‘Don’t park here,’ ‘Don’t loiter there,'” she told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “We wanted to counter those with signs spreading cheer and kindness, signs with uplifting messages.”

The Fettermans spent $1,000 of their own money on the signs, the paper reported.

Inclusion is a major thrust of her work

For Good PGH, which Fetterman co-founded, drives numerous initiatives in the Braddock community.

Under the group’s umbrella, the Helping Out Our People coalition, made up of families in the Woodland Hills School District who lost a child to gun violence, mentors young people in hopes of “disrupting the disease of violence.”

The Foster Good program provides foster kids with unique suitcases rehabilitated by artists, Green Initiatives works to counter Braddock’s blight, Girl Code Woodland Hills introduces high school juniors to businesswomen in greater Pittsburgh, the Hollander Project serves as an incubator for “women-powered businesses” and Hello Hijab makes tiny Muslim headscarves for Barbies and other dolls to promote inclusion and fight stigmas.

Last year, Rodef Shalom, a Jewish congregation, made Fetterman the first woman to receive its 2020 Pursuer of Peace award, citing For Good PGH’s work.

She’s an unapologetic advocate for immigrants

The Fettermans submitted a joint op-ed to several newspapers in August, recounting how Gisele “and her family lived in constant fear that they would be discovered and lose their shot at the American Dream.”

“No child should have to live with that kind of stress,” they wrote. “They deserve to feel secure in the knowledge that they can do normal things like go to school and play sports without living in constant fear that they will lose their family.”

In a 2019 editorial for the Tribune-Review, Gisele Fetterman, a Dreamer herself, wrote that she’ll always be grateful for her mother’s courage and how she took jobs cleaning houses and checking coats to support her family.

“She was routinely paid less than she was supposed to be, if she got paid at all, and she was even assaulted while at work,” Fetterman wrote. “She never complained — she just did what she had to do for her children.

The Brazilian immigrant also recalled how, at 8 years old, she broke her nose playing kickball and her family couldn’t afford medical care, but stories from her native Rio convinced her just how lucky she was to escape the violence.

“When I look in the mirror and I see my broken nose,” she wrote, “I am reminded of how much worse it could have been, and how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to grow up in the U.S.”

Today, she tears up when she hears the National Anthem and gets “super excited to vote,” and she geeked out upon being called for jury duty, she said.

“I wasn’t chosen for a jury, probably because I was so visibly excited to be there that the lawyers thought I was crazy, but for me, that was the sign that I truly belonged, and that I could come out of the shadows,” she wrote.

Appradab’s John Berman contributed to this report.

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