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foofygoldfish · 4 years

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I’m not sure what you’ve done so many just the rest of the ship meme for Rosie and abby?

Wedding:

Who proposed? - officially, abby - rosie accidentally called abby her wife one day, though, which is what gave her the idea to properly propose

Who is the best man/men? - lev!

Who is the bridesmaid(s)? - one of rosie’s friends that she makes in avalon that i have yet to name

Who did the most planning? - they work on it together, with the help of the unnamed friend

Who stressed the most? - rosie, but mostly because she wanted her parents to be there

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - uh.... anyone that wasn’t on catalina? it wasn’t a large ceremony, they just invited their firefly friends

Sex:

Who is on top? - ....yes

Who is the one to instigate things? - .....yes. rosie, usually, but abby absolutely will, particularly when they’re still fwb’s

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - at first? the quicker they can go, the better, just because they don’t have the time. after they’re together - well, they don’t usually have much time alone together still...

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - abby is very giving.

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory. [[never in public at first, but as they become more comfortable on catalina, they’re more likely to hold hands or cuddle during movie nights/while relaxing on the beach]]

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - None

How many children will they adopt? - Besides Lev, they’ll officially adopt two - a baby they name Hazel, and a boy that... I have yet to name. They may adopt another little girl they name after Yara, but that just popped into my head lkdjsf

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - ... Abby.

Who is the stricter parent? - Rosie

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - ...... Rosie. Abby may encourage them a bit.

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - They usually get lunches at school, but Abby will remember on the days they don’t

Who is the more loved parent? - all three would say “please don’t ask us that” sldjkf

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? - abby, just because rosie starts teaching again once they get settled

Who cried the most at graduation? - rosie.

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - ......... that fully depends on what the kids did

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - their rule is whoever is home first cooks dinner, including lev (or the other kids, once they’re old enough)

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - rosie, but just because she’s allergic to peanuts - not quite anaphalactic, but she will get very sick if she eats them, so she understandably avoids them as much as possible

Who does the grocery shopping? - usually rosie, because of her allergies - i can’t imagine that peanuts would be as common after the apocalypse, but she still worries.

How often do they bake desserts? - not often enough!

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - rosie prefers fruits and veggies, and abby leans slightly more towards meat

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - it’s not really a surprise, since she does it every year, but rosie is more likely to make one (and send lev to a friend’s house for the night)

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - they both will, usually if they’ve had a long day or they can tell the other has had a long day

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking? - they’re both pretty good (or at least can make edible food) at cooking, so neither

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - rosie - abby’s good at keeping her stuff tidy, so it’s usually her stuff anyways lol

Who is really against chores? - neither of them - abby’s not a fan of doing dishes, but rosie thinks cleaning is theraputic

Who cleans up after the pets? - they both will - both abby and rosie have had dogs, and are used to it. neither are fond of when there’s puke, though...

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - Neither of them

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Rosie, but there’s not usually much to clean up lol

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - ..... is there money in the apocalypse?

#shellibisshe #asks #rosie x abby #rosemary bowers #i'm assuming that the fireflies are based in avalon and not two harbors just because of the mention of the casino #not that it's really important lol

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adapembroke · 4 years

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✖️ ❓ and 🤔 for the witchy asks?

❌ - Type of spell or magick will you never do?

Love spells. I’m sorry, but I am way too proud to beg someone to love me, which is pretty much what a love spell is.

❓ - Is the weirdest question you’ve gotten as a witch? Even from other witches?

I frequent a coffeeshop that I think might be covertly run by an Evangelical mega church where young Mormon missionaries like to practice evangelizing. I am not at all in the broom closet. I don’t have a pentagram tattooed on my forehead, but it is pretty obvious to most people that I’m probably not on my way to Bible study. I once had a new Mormon missionary stop me in the parking lot and ask me if I’d just come from choir practice. Puzzled, I asked her why she was asking. She said, “Because you’re wearing black!”

🤔 - Thoughts on Wicca?

Woo-ee... [rolls for diplomacy]

First, I am not a Wiccan. I’m a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, and the founder of OBOD worked with Gerald Gardner in the early days, so there’s probably Wiccan influence, but I don’t think that gives me any particular insight into Wicca.

Something I’ve been getting a crash course in the last couple of months is that you can read a ritual or watch a ritual from the outside, but if you aren’t directly involved in doing the ritual within that tradition, you are not going to have the same experience of the ritual that people working within the tradition who are doing the ritual are. The difference between reading about a magical tradition and actually doing magic from within that tradition is the difference between reading fairy tales and wandering into Avalon. Just because we can see a person who’s working magic doesn’t mean we can see what they see.

So, someone who is a Wiccan is welcome to step in and share what it’s like on the inside. I won’t pretend to have a clue.

I know that there’s a lot of controversy around Wicca. Did Gardner invent the whole thing? I don’t know. What I know is that I have spent some time around third degree Gardnerians, and I can feel that they’re working with something powerful that has changed them. I have no doubt whatsoever that Wicca is a real religion.

Is it a religion I can see myself joining? No. Right now, I feel much more comfortable in a tradition that refuses to decide if it’s a religion or a philosophy.

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jewishtraces · 4 years

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Neighborhood Spotlight: South Los Angeles

Los Angeles has so many former synagogues, I’ve chosen to focus on them by neighborhood. First in the series, South LA. Many of these buildings have been almost entirely forgotten, and I may have been the first to rediscover them.

As in most cities in the US, the first synagogues were built in the downtown area. LA was no different. The first recorded Jew, Jacob Frankfort, arrived in 1841, and there were eight by 1850 when California became a state. The first rabbi, Joseph Newmark, held the first Shabbat services and helped found the Hebrew Benevolent Society — the first chartered charity organization in Los Angeles, now Jewish Family Service — in 1854. The first cemetery was founded in 1855 near what’s now Dodger Stadium (the bodies were later moved to East LA in 1910), and the first congregation in 1862. The Reform Congregation B’nai B’rith met in rented halls before dedicating their first building in 1873 on what’s now Broadway between 2nd and 3rd Streets. They later built a new building at 9th and Hope in 1896. B’nai B’rith’s Rabbi M.G. Solomon left the congregation in 1899 to join a new Orthodox congregation, which, after merging with another congregation, built the city’s first Orthodox synagogue in 1902 on Olive Street near Temple St.. (All three of those buildings have long since been demolished.) By 1900, the city had 2500 Jews, clustering around Temple St. and Bunker Hill.

As the city grew geographically and in population, Jews moved to the city and followed its expansion to new neighborhoods. The first Conservative congregation, Congregation Sinai, was founded in 1906 and built their first building to the west in 1909 (more on that next time). Boyle Heights is famous as being the largest Jewish hub west of Chicago as Jews moved there in the 1920s (more on that later, too). But a largely forgotten cluster of synagogues was built by the community who moved south of downtown in the 1910s and ’20s, and it’s those I’ll focus on in this post.

The influx of Eastern European Jews in the first decade of the 1900s led to the founding and expansion of social welfare agencies and congregations. Chasidic immigrants built what is either the fourth or fifth synagogue building in the city, Agudath Achim Anshe Sfard, in 1909 (I can’t tell if it predates Sinai, as mentioned above) on 21st St. just off Central Ave. The building was sold in 1945 to an African American church when the congregation moved to a larger building in Mid-City. It was then sold to a Hispanic church in 2005. (I would love to write a longer post about this amazing building! I took a ton of photos.)

B’nai Amunah Congregation established a synagogue in 1914 at Broadway and 40th, then moved to 42nd and Grand in 1921. They remained until at least 1942. The 110 freeway was constructed blocks away in the mid-1950s, which prompted many families to leave, though the Jews were largely leaving this area already. I know almost nothing about this congregation or the building. It has since become home to a sequence of Hispanic churches.

Talmud Torah Tifereth Jacob began in 1922 with fifty families, possibly as two separate congregations, rented space at first, and in 1925 purchased a building at the corner of 59th Street and Brentwood in the southern part of the city. After two years, the old building was replaced by a new and larger one, which served 1500 families. The congregation moved west to Ladera Heights (and ultimately to Manhattan Beach in 1977), and sold the building to the Evening Star Missionary Baptist Church in 1952.

This one was a doozy to find. It appears from building records that Congregation Etz Chayim physically moved their building from Santa Barbara Ave. (now MLK) and Avalon to 4315 McKinley Ave in 1923. It may previously have been Cong. Pahol Zedek, though that’s an educated guess. Turns out the streets and addresses here were renumbered around 1939, 4315 becoming 4361 when 43rd St. jumped a block, so this one escaped me for a while! The Church of Christ bought it in 1945, and the congregation merged with Rodef Sholom in Mid-City. The Church of Christ moved out in 1953 when they outgrew the building, and it’s now the Washington Memorial Church of Christ Holiness.

Sephardi Jews also began to move to the area in the 1920s and ’30s. Congregation Talmud Torah of Peace and Progress Organization bought the property at Hoover and 55th by 1930, and built a new building as the Sephardic Hebrew Center in 1935. The building sold in 1958 to the Second African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church of Los Angeles when the congregation moved to Ladera Heights. Tiferet Israel held services in homes, halls and theaters, but finally dedicated their synagogue at the corner of Santa Barbara (now MLK) and La Salle Avenues in 1932 and remained until 1970 when they moved to Westwood. The two would later merge in 1993.

Tiferet Israel seems to have been the last active synagogue in South LA by the time it moved. Moving east, I know nothing about Huntington Park Hebrew Congregation/B'nai Yehuda, built in 1937, beyond that it appears to have changed hands in 1986-7, or even if the Seventh Day Adventist church it became is still active. (Any information is appreciated!) Temple B’Nai Emet in Montebello and Temple Ner Tamid in Downey even farther east and south, may be the last synagogues to carry this legacy. However, with the revitalization of Downtown LA, there are now two Chabad locations in the area, the one at Broadway and 7th just blocks away from the first Jewish settlement.

All photos are mine. The photo captions don’t appear to be working but the photos are in the same order as listed in the post. Most of this information comes from Jewish Los Angeles - A Guide, published in 1982, the websites of the extant congregations, and public records.

#los angeles #Used to be a synagogue #Is now a church #original photography #california

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 5 years

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Onni Durst – The Dragon Lady

▲ Onni Durst with Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han in Manhattan.

Susan Swatland, from her book, Escape from the Moonies Chapter 8: The Dragon Lady

“If you go away, you dangerous, because you know too much.” Onni Soo Lim (Durst), spiritual commander of the Moonies in California

Onni came sweeping into Hearst Street, [in Berkeley] head held high, unsmiling, eyes glinting fire.

‘Quick, pali-pali. Come sit,’ she barked.

Pali-pali is Korean for ‘hurry’ and we hastily obeyed. When Onni was in this mood, tremors ran through the ranks. Our spiritual lives, which to us were everything, depended upon pleasing her.

She stood in front of us and those dark, fierce eyes slowly surveyed us all. ‘Why you not sell more for Father?’ she demanded. ‘Why you shame me?’

Feet shuffled uncomfortably, but no word was spoken. We had been spending eighteen hours a day for the past few weeks, selling pictures, roses and candy on the streets, and returning each night with just enough strength to slide into our sleeping bags. During that time we had been bringing in around 150 dollars per person per day, but nothing seemingly could satisfy this handsome, forbidding Oriental lady. One of the newer sisters Judith was rash enough to point out that at this season of the year the city was quieter than it had been during the summer months. This only served to stoke the fires of Onni’s fury.

‘Bah,’ she cried, ‘you too selfish. That true reason. Stop your flirt with Satan.’ She was interspersing her words with the karate chops that Moon uses in his speeches. She leant forward. ‘You all work harder for Father. You make promise to me this moment.’

And with shame in our hearts we chorused, ‘We promise to work harder for Heavenly Father.’

It would have been impossible to under-rate Onni’s position of power within the Unification Church. She was the female edition of Moon, fierce, fanatical and with their Korean kinship, his favourite disciple. She was the spiritual commander of all the Moonie forces in California and bodyguard to Moon’s wife, Hak-Ja Han, when she appeared in public. On matters of West Coast policy no one crossed swords with Onni ... not even her husband Dr Mose Durst.

She was said to be so spiritually open that she could walk into a room and see the spirits all around her. She just needed to take one look at you and she’d know your spiritual state instantly, know whether you were closer to God or Satan. This terrified me so much that I didn’t dare look into her eyes. We would scrub and sweep rooms for hours before Onni’s arrival and open the windows wide, so that we could chase out the bad spirits. If we missed the slightest speck of dust or the minutest cobweb, she would be sure to spot it and rain down curses upon our heads.

This was one scary lady and made to seem even more sinister by the presence of her constant companion Teresa, an elder sister with mesmeric eyes. When Teresa became angry, which was often, even the strongest and bravest of the brothers stepped quietly around her.

Two prominent Californian Moonies, Jeff Scales and Evey Eden, had once been taken by their parents (under a court order ) to the Freedom of Thought Foundation rehab centre in Tucson which was being run by the Alexanders, Joe and his wife Esther. Immediately Onni, Teresa and a band of their disciples set off in pursuit.

Upon arrival at the centre, Onni stood beside the front door intercom and barked repeatedly, ‘Evey, Yacov (Jeff’s Moonie name), my children, come out, come out.’ Evey and Jeff were so terrified that they raced upstairs and hid under the bed. Evey’s father, a lawyer from Detroit, asked Onni to leave and when she refused, the police were called.

She continued to scream and shout until a police car arrived, then magically her mood changed, ‘Why, sir,’ she asked sweetly, ‘wasn’t I invited?’

Onni, Teresa and their followers were taken away in handcuffs and the Alexanders went in search of Evey and Jeff. They found them literally stuck under the bed and all four legs had to be lifted clear of the ground before they could be freed. Such was the terror that Onni could inspire. Is it any wonder that ex-Moonies refer to her as ‘The Dragon Lady’?

At the subsequent court hearing some of the cultists were asked to confirm that they had no wish to return to the Unification Church. When one of them did so, Onni spat straight into his face.

On another day Mose Durst was halfway through a talk at Hearst Street when Onni jumped to her feet.

‘Stop,’ she cried. ‘Sister fall asleep. Sleepy spirits get to her.’

And this poor girl had to stand up in front of us all. ‘Come sit here,’ commanded Onni. ‘We chase evil spirit out. Smash Satan.’

The girl, looking absolutely terrified, was forced to sit at her feet. Durst continued with his talk as though nothing had happened at all. But every now and then his wife would aim karate chops at the air around the girl’s head as though chasing away demons.

Onni had first joined the Unification Church in Korea and then moved on to Japan as a missionary. In the early seventies, Moon sent her to California to replace a Korean academic named Mr Choi (pronounced Chay) who had failed to make any impact in the state.

[Mr Choi is Papasan Choi was very successful, but had his doubts about Moon. His foundation was given to Onni Durst in 1974. ref. Michael Mickler. Papasan Choi later gave his reasons for leaving. See link below.]

The Bay Area Moonies have an elaborate mythology wrapped around Onni’s first two years in this new land. We were told that each day she would go to the Oakland Holy Ground and pray for God’s help in building the Church. As she could only speak Korean, she was a stranger in a strange land, existing on four hours sleep a night and a starvation diet. Eventually God rewarded this self-sacrifice by providing her first disciple Kristina; and upon this foundation, the Californian branch of the Moonies was built.

‘How poor Onni suffered for us,’ Teresa was fond of saying. I had heard those selfsame words from Jennifer; only in her case there was a difference. She was using them to describe the sufferings of our Messiah.

For such a dominant, hawklike lady, Onni could show surprising humility in the presence of Moon. When he came to stay at her Avalon house, she would reserve all the finest rooms for Moon and his considerable entourage. Her own room would always be the smallest of all.

Moon called her his ‘daughter-in-spirit’ and once in a jocular mood he said, ‘I am a slave driver for God; but I think compared to Onni, I am a most gentle man.’

Certainly as a slave driver on the city streets, Onni can have had few peers. Her teams of flower sellers brought in the most money; her teams of restorers brought in the most new recruits. They were all motivated by the same potent ingredient. Fear of Onni!

Her advice on the best way to snare the innocents ran like this: ‘Make friends, offer them whatever they are seeking, pray for Heavenly Father to guide them to dinner. Sisters get handsome men, brothers attract pretty girls. It’s good if they come because they like you. Once in God’s house, they learn to love God instead.’

Another bit of practical advice from Onni: ‘When you talk to people, talk only about their needs, their benefits, find out what will get them in. In witnessing, if people get negative toward you, just say that we support all churches.’

She was quite definite too about the targets . . . college types, intelligent, good-looking, respectable, idealistic, healthy, lonely and ideally on holiday. They also had to be white.

‘Black people don’t fit in so well,’ said Onni. ‘Hard for them. Not right time in God’s providence for them. Father says if whites don’t accomplish then use blacks to shame whites in America, but not yet.’

There were no ethics on the streets. Heavenly Deception was encouraged to run riot. One team from the Bay area, not mine, I’m glad to say, used to take out a van filled with wheelchairs. They would park the van in the early morning, climb into their wheelchairs and beg through the long day. Then late at night, they would put the wheelchairs back in the van and return to the centre with a fortune in donations.

Occasionally there would be rewards for the teams. They might be allowed to watch a rented movie such as Lost Horizon, The Sound of Music or The Ten Commandments. Or perhaps there would be a party with ice-cream at which Onni would perform the juggling acts she first learnt on the streets of Korea. Or if she really wished to show her gratitude to a sister she would take her to one of the multitude of massage parlours in San Francisco’s Chinatown. But mostly we would give our eighteen hours of labour in return for a meagre starchy diet, the use of a floor on which to sleep and the knowledge that we were helping to build the Kingdom.

Onni’s own rewards came on a grander scale. She would fly to New York just for a shopping spree. Her collection of jewellery was literally dazzling. And when her faithful disciples presented her with a beautiful blue Mercedes, her only comment was, ‘Why that colour?’

None of the sisters, not even Teresa, could claim to truly understand Onni. Partly because we were in such awe of her. Partly because she was so neurotic, so unstable, so changeable of mood. She was convinced that her phone was tapped and that her life was in constant danger, hence the huge Koreans who guarded her on the special days.

But it was the Moonies who left the cult who created the true traumas for Onni. She didn’t weep for them in the manner of Bethie the mother hen. No, Onni’s motives were more practical.

‘If you go away,’ she said, ‘you dangerous, because you know too much.’

One Family meeting with Onni Durst scarred my soul

The Creative Community Project leaflet

From a talk given by Dr. Mose Durst, President of the Creative Community Project.

Onni Durst’s trips to Las Vegas casinos, New York, and Seoul – and her luxurious lifestyle

Papasan Choi made a public declaration about leaving the Unification Church on January 15, 1987 in Saitama, Japan. LINK

Papasan Choi also held a meeting at a Ramada Inn in Washington DC, giving his reasons for leaving.

“Furthermore, the International Re-Education Foundation [founded by Papasan Choi] had owned some land in Boonville, California, sometimes known as Ideal City Ranch, which it turned over in a simple transfer of title in 1974 to the Unification Church.”

Earl Raab, “Reverend Moon and the Jews – The San Francisco Experience”, Congress Monthly, December 1976.

#Onni Durst #Papasan Choi #Dr Durst #Creative Community Project #Moonies #Boonville #Unification Church

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lanoraalley6-blog · 6 years

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First Male On The Moon.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The Canterbury Crusaders are weary as well as sick from the virtually men" tag they have actually obtained in the 9 years due to the fact that they gained their last Super Rugby name and are actually established to drop that upcoming week, instructor Scott Robertson pointed out on Saturday. Raksha Bandhan or even Rakhi which is actually commemorated on Purnima or full moon time in the month from Shravan (popularly called Saawan) is a time when brothers and sisters renew their pious connections of affection. The following regular key to lunar job presents when the moon is above the multinational United States, and as a result when all animals are actually generally most active. There's normally a power moon right before the exit pipeline, yet there is actually commonly a 2nd one concealed along the road. Party learns assemble a cloaked mob of sorcerers, warlocks, extremely heroes and also storybook personalities to contend for finest costume prizes. As well as if you ponder why this had a moon satellite to have these photos as well as why Hubble couldn't, I recommend you examine optics a little even more. Space escalators would certainly demand tethers that need to be actually very as well as ultra-strong light-weight. So did the old folks and that is why there are plenty of goddesses as well as gods connected to the moon in old opportunities. The common recuperation forces of Virgo and also Pisces are the metaphysical energies existing during this Super Moon. The Half Moon Lake Trail lies in the Williams Lowland Winter Recreation Area from the Apache National park as well as drops under the territory of the Alpine Ranger District. Below, seventh residence lord in the 7th, Second property god Saturn part on Jupiter off l lth residence on the 7th residence lord, Mas component coming from the tenth home on the 7th residence god as well as Moon was in his eighth that time. Although she has claimed to outdo herself off the church in favor of becoming Episcopalian, Black eye's workplace persistently decideds not to respond to press questions involving any sort of continuing to be Moon involvements she may have. Wednesday: Capricorn will have extra good luck in the Third, 10th, 17th, and also 24th hrs past daybreak. A Springfield, Massachusetts missionary society was considering to deliver promoters to the moon to turn and also civilize the baseball bat males. There, you can record a viewpoint from the moon responsible for structures or plants, an impact which makes an optical illusion, creating the moon seem also larger than this truly is. Last year, I was inquired by Avalon Traveling Publishing to manage Chicki Mallan's Moon Handbooks Belize, which, when this initially seemed 15 years back, was the 1st and also very most acclaimed guidebook to the nation. Hey there everybody, Michelle here to share with you my very first style utilizing the fantastic Chipboards you'll find here at CE. So the moon will certainly without a doubt reside in the heavens for a number of years: 14 hours and also 55 moments. Lows and highs ... the Scorpio Moon is actually rather familiar with both conditions from mindset ... much more than the majority of, as a matter of fact. The brand-new 3D moon pictures were constructed coming from photos snapped through NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has actually been snapping high-resolution scenery of the moon's surface area from lunar orbit due to the fact that 2009. But, if those descriptions are ruled Check Out 20sport-portal.info, that still leaves behind the question of what this things is actually, given that that appears to be rising a country mile from the surface area of the Moon. The brand new moon will officially take place at 8:11 p.m. EDT (5:11 p.m. PDT) on Friday in the Western Half. Flashes from light, places of uncommon shade and lightings that appear to get around the area from the moon have actually all been observed by several persons for a long times. Head of state Johnson did not observe his precursor's program, as well as the 2 nations carried on the ethnicity for the moon independently.

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emmagreen1220-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on Mythology.net

New Post has been published on http://mythology.net/mythical-creatures/fairy/

Fairy

What is a Fairy?

A fairy is a magical creature who resembles a human. Beyond that, defining fairies is almost impossible. Their legend is as old as European civilization itself, and they come in all colors, sizes, and temperaments. No two fairy encounters are quite the same!

Characteristics

Physical Description

If you saw a picture of an ancient fairy, you might mistake it for an elf or even a troll! The first fey people certainly weren’t as delicate as the fairies we know and love today. Most were the size of children, although some of them could be as tall as adults. They all looked human, but they ranged from supernaturally beautiful to hideously deformed. Some of them had traits that clearly set them apart from humans, like pointed ears, webbed fingers, missing noses, or green or blue skin.

During the Romantic Period, fairies took the stage in plays and operas. Ugly fairies fell out of fashion and were replaced by gorgeous creatures, whose connection to nature was made obvious by their flowery clothing and woodland companions. Conveniently, these new, beautiful fairies were human-sized and prone to falling in love with mortals!

During the Victorian Era, fairytales for children became popular. Fairies were shrunk down to a tiny size and given adorable, tailored outfits complete with tiny shoes and hats. Fairies with wings also became more popular, especially after the publication of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan.

Personality

The fey people are as diverse in personality as they are in appearance. Their most common traits are a quick wit, a love of parties. Beyond this, they come in all habits and tempers.

Some fairies are helpful. They guide travelers who are lost in the forest back towards home. They help with household chores, often going to work overnight, so that their hosts wake up to a happy surprise. If they are particularly fond of you, they might even lead you to treasure, give you magical gifts, help you win your true love’s hand in marriage, or cast a lucky charm over your life.

Others are mischievous. They delight in misleading travelers or luring them into exhausting dances that go one for days. They also like to taunt domestic animals, pinching horses to make them gallop, stealing milk from cows, and playing cat-and-mouse with cats.

And then there are some fairies who are dangerous—so dangerous that, for centuries, they were called “the good folk,” “the little people,” or “the neighbors” because people were too afraid of them to say their name aloud. These fairies usually live in hierarchies, where the king or queen is the most dangerous of all. They don’t just get travelers lost; they lead them into deadly bogs. When they take a liking to a human baby, they don’t cast a charm over its life. They steal it from its cradle and replace it with a sickly “changeling.” And if they ever share their dances or treasure with you, be sure that the gift comes with a curse. The most dangerous fairies can declare ware over small disputes. Fortunately, they are more likely to go to war with other magical creatures, like pixies or trolls.

It’s important to be aware that most fairies have fluid personalities. They can go from helpful to mischievous quickly, and despite their cleverness, they don’t have to have a reason for their decisions!

Special Abilities

As magical creatures, fairies have almost unlimited power. They can fly. They can make flowers bloom. They can conjure up gold. They can glow in the dark. They can create and cast new charms for any situation, and their curses can last for hundreds of years.

Fortunately, there are some measures you can take to keep fairies at bay. Marigolds, primroses, rowan wood, four-leaf clovers, and St. John’s wort can all be worn or hung over doors to repel the good folk. Iron is even more powerful. An iron nail in your pocket or a horseshoe over your door will provide long-lasting safety.

If you’re hoping to gain a fairy as a friend, leave a saucer of milk, cream, butter, or ale for the fey people to enjoy at night. If you do this on a regular basis, you might be rewarded!

Cultural Representation

Origin

Although the word “fairy” comes from old French, the concept behind these magical creatures cannot be traced back to a single source. Various Celtic and Germanic traditions merged together to create the fairies we think of today.

Many scholars believe that fairies are the modern-day version of ancient, pagan deities. Most regions that have a rich oral tradition, dealing with fairies, have a legend about the fey people being “driven underground” by Christian missionaries. These stories might symbolize a very real historical fact: worship of local deities was suppressed by Christians. Gradually, as people accepted Christianity, they turned their deities into lesser magical creatures, thus preserving their traditions in a way that was compatible with Christian monotheism.

A handful of bolder scholars claim that “fairies,” a prehistoric race of people who inhabited western Europe, really did exist. These people were driven out of Europe by the Celts and, gradually, transformed into legend. The childlike size of fairies corresponds with prehistoric humans in other parts of the world, and their fear of iron could be a cultural memory of how iron weapons were used to conquer a race of people who only had stone age weapons.

Greco-Roman Influence

The arrival of Romans in Europe was a double-edged sword. On one hand, they began changing the ancient culture almost immediately. On the other, they began writing down the region’s oral traditions, thus preserving ancient folklore for future generations.

Long after the first waves of Roman colonization, Rome continued to have a profound effect on fairies. First, Christianity, which was enforced by the Roman Catholic Church, limited the powers of the fey people and associated them with demons and witches. Later, the nymphs form Roman mythology were blended with fairies, turning them into beautiful creatures with strong bonds to nature.

Literary Appearances

The first definitive text about fairies was written in the eleventh century. Since then, they have found their way into many of history’s most beloved legends.

In Le Morte d’Arthur, Morgan, Guinevere, and Merlin are linked to the fey people. Later versions of Arthur’s story state that he was crowned by fairies and, upon death, taken to the fairy realm of Avalon and buried under a fairy hill.

Shakespeare plays with fairies in A Middsummer’s Night Dream, where he describes the beautiful dances and meddlesome impulses of fairies.

By the mid-seventeenth centuries, fairies had even earned their own category of literature: fairy tales. The Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson included the good folk in countless stories, as did other writers. The Victorian Era saw a sort of fairy-mania that spilled into poetry and painting, as well as children’s literature.

But it wasn’t until the end of the Victorian Era that the most iconic fairy of all came along. JM Barrie published Peter and Wendy in 1911, and Peter’s fairy, Tinkerbell, immediately stole the hearts of all his readers. From thereon out, the word “fairy” would bring a tiny, fussy person, glowing with light and held aloft by delicate wings, to mind.

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