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iwritenarrativesandstuff · 2 months

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Ok, so because I was feeling a certain way today, I decided to try and approximate how many Avatars there have been throughout the Avatar cycle. It's really shoddy, but this is the best I can do.

WARNING: TERRIBLE MATH AHEAD!!!

So, I think it's confirmed that most Avatars live very long lives naturally, and indeed, the only ones we know of who died younger than 100 were killed and did not die of natural causes.

I don't think we know how old Wan was when he died, but he looked not quite elderly - given he was on the battlefield surrounded by arrows, he may have received a mortal injury, though honestly, it was a bit unclear. Anyways, we don't have enough information on his death to say for sure.

Kuruk died really young due to fighting off dark spirits which corrupted him. He was only 33, poor guy.

Roku died due to the volcano and was killed by pyroclastic flow which is... an awful way to go oh my god. He was 70.

Aang died at 66, but I believe it's confirmed that the 100 years in the iceberg took its toll on his lifespan, even though his body and mind were in suspension. So we can consider his full lifespan as 166 before he died peacefully.

Yangchen lived to 155 - we don't know how she died but since nothing was mentioned, it was probably old age.

So it seems most Avatars, if they are not killed, live to be well into their hundreds.

And finally, "average Avatar lives to be over 200" actually just statistical error. Avatar Kyoshi, who was 7 feet tall and lived to be 230 years old, is an outlier adn should not have been counted.

Ok, so I took an average with just Aang and Yangchen, and another that includes Kuruk and Kyoshi, as well as Roku, who did not die of natural causes. The final one excludes outliers Kuruk and Kyoshi, who we know canonically did not live as long/lived to be much older than anyone else.

First average: (166 + 155)/2 = 160.5 years

Second average: (33 + 70 + 166 + 155 + 230)/5 = 130.8 years

Third average: (70 + 166 + 155)/3 = 130.3 years

I find it unlikely that Kuruk and Roku were the only Avatars to be killed instead of die peacefully, so I think going with a lower average is the safer bet, though it seems that 150 to 170 might be the natural age limit of an Avatar who lives a full life. (We're working only with two Avatars though, so it's hard to say with any certainty.)

I'm using the third average because we know with certainty Kuruk and Kyoshi are far from the usual lifespan.

We know that Wan became the Avatar 10000 years before Korra. Wan's initial element was fire, so we know the number of Avatars we end up with must be a multiple of 4 (Fire -> Air -> Water -> Earth) minus 1 (Korra is a waterbender). Korra was 18 at the 10000 year point, I believe.

10000 - (155 Yangchen + 33 Kuruk + 230 Kyoshi + 70 Roku + 166 Aang + 18 Korra) = 9328

9328 / 130.3 = 71.5886 which is roughly 72.

72 is a multiple of four, which brings us to the last earthbender in the cycle before Yangchen. Going up to Kyoshi brings us to 76, plus three more to bring us up to Korra -> 79.

It seems likely that there were actually far fewer Avatars than we've imagined, unless a lot more of them died young.

In short, Roku. You said you mastered all four elements in "a thousand lifetimes" just to sound cool and intimidating, didn't you?

#why did i do this #storyrambles #atla #lok #if you would like to know approximately how many avatars there were. here you go.#call me ace detective the way i am ace. and also a detective.#<- yes i'm using my analysis tag even though this is objectively terrible. you cannot stop me.

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familyagrestefanblog · 4 years

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Ml analysis: Native American miracle box

While is it obvious that the new miracle box is of native American origin I still went to do some research on it to see if I can narrow it down to a certain tribe and find more connections hidden in the lore.

So not to waste any time, here is my result:

The native American miracle box is in possession of the Souix Lakota tribe. Just like with the Ml Tibetan guardian monks represent not only 1 but 4 groups, the native American Miraculous tribe is a combination of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota and where we can safely say that the monks will primarily lean towards the Tibet representation, I would say here we will primarily lean towards the Lakota. Therefore, I will call the native America Miraculous tribe Lakota but know that the other two tribes are included in this as well.

So a dead giveaway for the identity of the ml Tribe is Jessicas Shirt. In general Jessica has the hairstyle, the physical features and the accessories typical for representing an “Indian” character and her shirt is a direct confirmation of that heritage.

On her shirt is an obvious reference to the Lakota flag which pretty much tells us that this is the Tribe we are dealing with. Nice, why cant it always be this easy?

Under the cut I cover three more points to go into more detail, read more if you’re interested ^^

1. The medicine wheel

I must give it to miraculous, using the medicine wheel for the upper layer of the miracle box is one genius move imo.

The Medicine Wheel is a sacred symbol and way of life used by the indigenous Plains tribes to represent all knowledge of the universe. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to really get into its teaching and living ways to be comfortable explaining its practice in more details, so in this part I want to cover only what has been directly acknowledged by Thomas Astruc. And that would be the animals (duh, obviously) and the elements.

The first thing I had to learn the hard way in this research is that there is not one "true" way for this symbol to be arranged. The way its used, what animal belongs to which color or element and even what KIND of animal is in it can vary STRONGLY from location to location.

So I accepted that the arrangement can not be pinpointed down to perfect accuracy through research. We were already given all the animals and colors, now all I can really do here is present to you a possible variation of the miraculous arrangement I put together after looking up and trying to understand the differences between the real life ones to continue from here on.

There are only two animals we know for sure the connected color of: The eagle, Jessicas miraculous of freedom and the Thunderbird. In his tweets Thomas mentioned the elements so I decided to include them in the arrangement, how or if they will be incorporated into the show I can not tell you though. But still I wanted the elements in here as well ^^

As already said, the eagle is red and the thunderbird is in the green center. As you can see I put the bear to black, the Wolf to yellow and the Buffalo to white. Those seemed to me the most likely combinations and even if they don’t end up right, it wont do harm to any of this.

Buffalo: white and air because the Lakota have a white Buffalo woman legend where air was one of the main elements she controled and used.

Wolf: yellow and fire. Fire because in Lakota legends the wolf/ coyote is a very unpredictable animal. He's both a trickster and a hero, not always moraly sound but always clever. It's a dangerous but strong and lively nature that I do think the show could represent with the fire element. Yellow is one of the two cases where I was left with this option by default.

Bear: I choose black and water because that's a combination I have seen the most

Eagle: I already know Red and choose earth in combination. At first I thought about putting fire in this place because of its normal association with red but in the end choose earth because I think it's the element that fits the best to Jessica.

But the reason why I decided to include the elements is because of the green thunderbird in the middle. Because where the other 4 animals are connected with the 4 elements, the thunderbird would here represent inner balance and harmony. Of course this isn't it's power, but the layout makes it quite obvious that the thunderbird is the equivalent of the ladybugs and cats yin-yang. My assumption right now is that this is how the show will cover the different types of "balance" although the world cultures it incorporates, but let me come back to this one another time.

2. more cultural references and meanings

The thunderbird represents the most powerful one of this miracle box because the thunderbird is the one animal that is present in every Souix Lakota tribe and holds an enormous cultural and spiritual significance. It is a mythological bird and is associated with several legends starting from controlling the storms, lightnings and thunder to being the protector of the humans and even being a helper of the creation of reality (Reality in Ml are the LB and Cat hence why its place in the middle of the box is well deserved) It only makes sense that it would be chosen for this and I know it may seem cliché but please hear me out, which is why im convinced this is the miraculous of the chiefs.

A couple of details do support this for me but please remember I'm not exposed to alot of native American cultures I'll do my best to get things right but if I do interpret something(s) wrong feel free to correct me.

For one, well, the symbol. While looking up the clothing for a later point I did see a symbol like this on some of the feather headdresses.

Definitely not on all of them, I couldn't figure out if there is a system behind the pattern usage or tied to a distinct area but I do know that it is THERE and not exactly rarely either. Noticeably it isn't a 1 to 1 fit but that is an all time returning thing in miraculous. Real life and historical things like this have to be slightly altered for the show to be able to incorporate them. A great example for this is the old English flag in "Darkblade".

So at this point I'm used to this pattern, so yeah, this could very likely be a symbol they took inspiration from.

The second reason why I think it it's the miraculous of the chiefs is because the piece with the symbol on it looks like one of these

In combination with the feather on it. The feather headdress is also called a war bonnet and was originally only worn in battles and only by the person who has truly earned that honor. Each feather represents a distinct honor earned in battle which is why we see feather headdresses in such different lengths. How this translates perfectly into a miraculous I think is obvious. The headdress is a symbol of true leadership and worthiness of such a status, hence why it were especially the chiefs to earn such impressive ones. Turning it into a miraculous wouldn't change too much about it since such a powerful miraculous is an honor and duty you have to be worthy of as well. Them being originally used only for battles is a perfect fit too, because so are the miraculous.

Then of course once again, the thunderbird.

The thunderbird being the great mythical protector animal of these tribes makes it naturally a perfect fit for the miraculous animal of the great chiefs. The chiefs were not only the leaders they also were the primary warrior in battles which is seen by the war bonnets. Having the Thunderbird be the miraculous of the chiefs highlights their status as the tribes protector in such a genuine way, I personally really really love it.

As the last point of 2. I want to bring up the outside top of the Miracle box and the way its designed. While looking through the clothing symbols and pattern I did notice some that looked similar to the ones on the box. I deliberately tried to find a more recent example of usage because in the end of the day Miraculous is a show for TODAY so if the show used patterns for example that may not have been used in the past but are now associated with the Lakota that’s still valid. So the possible matches for design inspiration I found stem from a picture of chief Arvol Lookinghorse who holds the responsibility of spiritual leader among the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota People to this day.

3. Their location and monuments

Researching the lakota made me think of where this guardian group has its roots, which made me remember something I found on my guardian mountain - mount kailash theory a while ago (I swear right now everything comes back to that theory). In it I showed you the monuments-line around the world always separated by a length of 6666km between each other (basically the height of Mount Kailash) and while I didn't mention it there, there is also one of those "mythical" monuments in the USA.

The bears lodge butte (in Wyoming)

I mean LOOK at this, that is out of this world and breath-taking in every sense of the word! That is a location of a miraculous guardianship if I had ever seen one. Also known under the (sadly) much more well known name of "Devils tower" but this will be the one and only time you will read of me calling it like that. The fact that this butte is still officially called by this disrespectful and bastardized white peoples name is a freaking insult. I'm calling it the bears lodge as this was its original english name.

The bears lodge is not just a monument in the USA it is the VERY FIRST official monument (1906) and the location of the butte also checks out perfectly with the areas the Lakota settled in real life. I couldn’t get the exact scale but I think you will still understand just fine.

Adding to the Bears Lodge butte I also wanna bring up the "other" medicine wheel. Which is, just like Bears lodge, located in Wyoming.

As we know the rest of the native American miracle box is made of the zodiac signs just like in our normal miracle box. Confirmed not only on Twitter but also in the very intro of the New York special.

But the same way the miracle box is similar to ours the Medicine wheel as monument reminded me of something as well. Of course I'm talking about the ritual circle in the Kwami "dimension" of the box seen in “Sandboy”.

And just like the native American monument it is also of "astronomical" nature. Taking a closer look at the Chinese Kwami circle one can see that the outer ring is made of specific places for each Kwami signified with a picture of their "animal".

And in the inner circle is obviously the moon circulation.

Meaning, put very simple, this is a design specifically meant to represent the Chinese calendar and culture this miracle box is based on. Therefor this should also exist for the native american one. My guess Is that for all the boxes/cultures Miraculous is gonna include they will also have an “ritual circle” equivalents for each based on all the different kinds of stone circle monuments around the world, including the medicine wheel of the Lakota.

But not only was the medicine wheel monument used for astronomical purposes, with it the people wanted to give things back to mother nature. They placed things right in the middle of the wheel under the stones so nature could take it back "spiritually" (for a lack of a better word on my part) through their rituals and chants. Which is something once again similar to what we see with the Kwamis.

First if all, when the Kwamis (who are the embodiments of the abstract concepts reality is made of) enter their "dimension" in the miracle box the guardian symbol opens right at the center point, letting them cross the layers of reality.

Second, the Kwamis are obviously able to take material objects with them to the in-between dimension. Supporting and verifying the Lakota’s ritual because at the very least in the ML world its actually true. And thirdly, when the Kwamis try to reach Nooroo they chant as well and once again the collected energy is combined in the middle to cross the layers of reality. Gabriel is transformed though so he, as Hawkmoth, is able to almost take over the connection and therefore the miracle box if the Kwamis hadn’t blocked him.

This shows that the spiritual dimension layers are interactive from both sides under certain circumstances. A normal human being wouldn’t be able to cross the layers and take control like this but the more a person is involved with/ powered up by the miraculous the more power they hold interdimensional. Which is the idea of a ritual to reach the spiritual side of nature brought to a new 11 as TV shows usually do.

4. The design of the guardian.

I'm definitely not the right person to properly judge this in depth therefore I will just showcase my opinion based on the research.

The way I see it for the guardians design they tried to combine the guardian "look" with the native American one.

The pants, staff and robe-like upper part are obviously influenced by the guardian we already saw through Fu's flashbacks, whereas the colors, the hairstyle and shoes (etc) are kept more Lakota-like. Though, as far as my opinion counts in this, the much darker skin and the eyebrows in comparison to Jessica does make me question if he is supposed to represent the same native American tribes as her. His bushy eyebrows are a physical characteristic I recognize in rarely any real life photos and neither did I notice such a noticeable difference in skin color.

Jessica and the guardian simply do not really look like they are of the same heritage to me, but again, who am I to say this isn't a legit representation? Besides that, it makes alot more sense that this guardian wasn't lost for almost 200 years like the ones in Tibet, so it is a fair option to consider that this black guardian may not be of "original Lakota heritage" but he is simply a worthy man born in this area of the USA (who knows in what year considering the guardians life spans) who was chosen and trained for the guardianship simply because he was the right fit for it just like Marinette.

I think it's only fair to consider that option as well, especially since we have NO official background on him. But that's just my opinion.

And as the last thing I want to bring up is the symbol on his robe because this is something I'm going to need help with.

We can hardly see it and I've tried my best to find something in my research but I just couldn't find anything fitting.

If anybody has the means and knows if this is a cultural reference as well, I would appreciate it if this knowledge could be shared here as well. I really would love to know ^^

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #ml theory #ml new york special #ml new york spoilers #Native american miraculous #Lakota tribe in Ml #ml sugar #Miraculous world #Miracle box #ml sandboy #thomas astruc tweet #guardians of the miraculous #Jessica Keynes

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thenightling · 3 years

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A list of petty hedge-magicks that work against Dream of The Endless...

Rules, rules, rules...

The Endless are powerful beings but there are laws that govern the universe that they are slaves to obey. These rules include old magicks.

Now, the summoning spell, itself, could have easily been brushed off if Morpheus had not been weakened, but once summoned it was certain “Petty hedge-magicks” that held him for over seventy-two-years.

Morpheus has (at least twice) referred to some of these old spells as “Petty hedge-magicking.” Hedge-magick usually means low level, weak, or amateurish, spell casting. Or as I like to say “Something he woefully under-estimates.”

Here are some of the petty hedge-magicks that have worked against Dream of The Endless.

1. A summoning / binding circle. In many occult practices a summoning circle can double as a binding circle and whatever you summon within it cannot leave the circle until banished or if the circle is breached.

Often these sort of circles are based on figures from the key of Solomon. They can be drawn with things as simple as white chalk. It’s the symbols and the beliefs behind them that matter.

The pentacle design in the summoning spell in Sandman is very elaborate and full of actual arcane symbols from alchemical sigils and Futhark runes and I think I see Hebrew in there. It’s a magical hodgepodge. I won’t go into too much detail about these because some of them are hard for me to see in the illustration even when I enlarge it.

However...

Notice the use of the pentacle at the four points of the circle. In the Sleep of the Just splash page (issue 1 of The Sandman) I can only see two points but I believe there is a pentacle at the North, South, East, and Western points of the circle.

The pentacle is NOT Satanic in nature, despite popular misconception. It is an ancient symbol of elemental magicks. Each point is an element. Water, Fire, Earth, air, and spirit at the top. Water, Fire, Earth, and Air are each associated with a direction. For example, water is associated with the west. (Ironic that The Wicked Witch of the West was destroyed with water, isn’t it?)

The pentacle is a fairly ancient Pagan symbol however it also has had popular use in Christian lore.

In one folk belief a ring with a pentacle on it was given to King Solomon by the Archangel Michael and this helped enable him to bind djinn or demons.

in Goethe’s Faust Part 1 we find out that a pentacle used as a protection ward over the entrance of Faust’s home can successfully ward against demons. In German lore the pentacle was once known as the Drudenfuss (The Druid’s foot.) The demon, Mephistopheles AKA Mephisto, is only able to get in the home because one of the points didn’t quite meet the edge of the circle. However the pentacle was correct enough that he could not leave until the pentacle was destroyed.

In the 1941 film The Wolfman the pentacle could be used to ward off the werewolf, prevent the werewolf transformation (when worn by the werewolf), and would appear in a vision to the werewolf on the next victim as a warning.

This carried over into the TV series Dark Shadows, which used the same rules for its own werewolves. However Dark Shadows preferred to use the unbound pentacle (without the circle around the star). This carried over to the 1981 film An American werewolf in London where the tavern “The Slaughtered Lamb” was warded against the werewolf with a similar unbound pentacle. And was possibly drawn in lamb’s blood (More on that later).

2. The crystalline cage.

While the circle holds Morpheus incorporeally, the crystalline cage holds his material aspect (his physical form). This cage isn’t merely glass though there is an irony to it being glass as glass is made from sand. Sand that has been transformed into something else. The Sandman trapped by sand... Ha! That must have pissed him off...

Anyway, it’s not purely glass. It’s leaden quartz crystal. In folk belief from many parts of the world quartz crystal can absorb and contain magick. In some lore it can even trap a ghost. Modern day Wiccans and other Neo Pagans often use quartz crystal in spellcasting. It’s a common tool in scrying practices.

That and it is an aspect of sand...

3. True name. Though Dream of The Endless is more of a function than a name, the aspect known as Morpheus is so much a part of his identity that on some level he must perceive it as his true name. Hence why he hears and answers to it when Rose Walker calls out to him.In folklore if you know a supernatural creature’s true name that’s how you can invoke or banish them. It’s also why you should never give a fae your full true name. They can use it to cast magick against you.

The story of Rumpelstiltskin uses this rule as once the queen knew the imp’s true name she was able to banish him.

You see it all the time in pop culture such as summoning The Candyman by calling his name five times, or Beetlejuice- you can invoke or banish him by calling his name three times. Or the old party game of Bloody Mary. A true name isn’t necessarily the name you were given at birth. A true name is the name you most heavily associate with yourself. The Endless supposedly don’t have true names but the aspect of Dream of The Endless that answers to the name Morpheus certainly treats it as his true name.

4. A circle drawn in the blood of a black lamb. This one has it’s origins in Exodus. The passover story. It was the blood of the lamb that kept the angel of death from entering the Jewish homes so that the angel could claim the first born of every Egyptian family and passover the slave homes. Because of this there was established lore that the blood could protect against demons and angels. Lamb’s blood was used in early exorcisms and sometimes as a sacrament in place of sacramental wine. In the TV show Forever Knight it could even ward against vampires if blessed or with faith behind its power by the person trying to use it as a ward.

5. A geas tattoo in the form of the tree of life merged with a dreamcatcher. As Dream is not of any particular race and represents the dreams of all sentient life, symbols of faith in regard to dreams will work on him (on some level) from all beliefs.

This one from the 2018 The Dreaming by Simon Spurrier is a combination of the Tree of Life from Kabbalah mysticism combined with a dreamcatcher sacred among Native American / First Nations / Great Plains cultures. According to popular belief if you hang a dream catcher over the bed it will protect against nightmares. The nightmares will be caught in the net while good dreams can pass through. The nightmares burn up in the early morning sunlight. As Dream of The Endless is the anthropomorphic personification of both dreams and nightmares this ward can successfully bind him.

A geas, by its very nature, is a spell to prevent someone from revealing something, or to force them to say or do something, or in most cases prevent them from saying or doing something in particular.

In light of how often he has been thwarted with petty hedge-magick, this ultimately leads to the realization that Dream’s true greatest enemy is the master of all hedge-magick, the Arch Hedge-Wizard!

I know that’s a long way to go for a cheesy pun but I couldn’t resist...

#The Sandman #Sandman #Neil Gaiman's The Sandman #Neil Gaiman's Sandman #Neil Gaiman #Dream of The Endless #Morpheus #Daniel Hall

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blacksunscorpio · 4 years

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Hello there! I'm confused about why do I keep begin seen as an Scorpio when I'm not. People tend to say that I look and act "dark", "dangerous", "mysterious", "secretive", the Scorpio stereotype lol. I'm a Saggitarius asc, but Pluto it's in my 1st house... but it's not close to it, so no conjunction. Also, my Sun (Cancer) is in the 8th house and my moon is in Scorpio. So yeah, I'm like.. okay, but I'm not Scorpio (?) Thanks!

Why You Feel Like A Scorpio When You’re “Technically” Not.

I’m happy you asked me this because I have numerous asks in my inbox [and Dm’s] inquiring about that.

Possibility 1: You have 8th House Placements/Stelliums

This includes Luminaries like the Sun which is your ego and basic core, your Moon which is your emotional habits, your Mercury which is your mind, how you communicate and/or how you process information, or your Venus/Mars which are how you show appreciation, your love language, and your sexual nature/drive. Any of these planets living in Pluto’s realm [the 8th house] are going to flavor the planet with Scorpionic energy. Even if one of your inner planets is in Libra [a very Venusian/diplomatic and light-hearted sign], living in the 8th, it’s going to put some of that intense underworld energy on it. Your moon in a sensitive water sign like Cancer or Pisces is going to super-charge it with depth and even more intensity, so the way someone handles their emotions will play out in a very Plutonian fashion. They’ll be intense, perhaps a bit introverted and quite observing. Their natural intuitive/psychic abilities will be bolstered because of that Plutonic energy that will make them go from observant to investigative [to even a fantastical degree]. The type to see through people very easily.

Possibility 2: Pluto is in your 1st House

Pluto in the 1st, regardless if he is conjuncting the ascendant or just living there is going to put his energy on your ascendant. As a result, whether it’s a Capricorn rising you have or an Aries rising- Plutonic energy will be exhibited in how you display yourself to the world. People will be able to sense that 8th House energy and will react accordingly. This often displays itself as the native coming off as intimidating, aloof, reticent to share their real feelings, intense, sexy but in a more bad-boy/femme fatale way. They’ll often be mistaken for Scorpios even when they’re not. People may actually react to them the way they react to Scorpio Risings.

Possibility 3: You have a Scorpio Signature

A signature sign is basically the sign you can come off as even if you have none of the particular placements. It is calculated when you add the modality [cardinal, mutable, fixed] and the element [Fire, Air, Water, Earth] of all your planets and your rising + MC [if you have your birth time]. So, if you add up all your inner planets [Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus & Pluto] and the equal a majority “fixed” and majority {water], your signature sign would be Scorpio since Scorpio is Fixed Water.

Possibility 4: One of Your Persona Charts has significant Scorpio Energy

This possibility came about by a sweet user who’s DM’d me about the very same question you’re asking. We went through a few of the aforementioned possibilities and they came back with this. I personally don’t use persona charts as much and prefer to stick with the solar chart [your natural natal wheel] but as astrology is a study, we must consider all possibilities and routes. With that being said, the definition of a Persona Chart is the first transit of the Sun over the position of another natal planet. So, when the Sun makes its first circle around your wheel [in the 1st year of your birth] it 'wakes up' one subpersona after the other. This goes from Moon to Mercury to Venus, to Mars, and so on and so forth. Your Ascendant can even have a persona chart as well. You can calculate all 9 here.

Possibility 5: You have a Hades Moon

A “Hades Moon” is a synonym for a Scorpio Moon. Scorpio Moons, like I always say, my heart goes out to you. Since your moon is a very sensitive point in your chart, having Scorpionic energy living there can make your emotional states very intense. Regardless of your actual sign [Gemini, Virgo, Taurus, or Aqua], when your emotions are triggered or when you are alone you can feel very much like a Scorpio or people may observe Scorpionic tendencies from you. In addition to having a Hades/Scorpio moon, significant aspects from inner Planets to Pluto like Moon conjunct Pluto, Venus opposing Pluto, Mercury trine Pluto, Mars Square Pluto, etc can make one feel Plutonic influence quite strongly. If your Nadir is also in Scorpio, your “inner you” or adolescent environment could have very well had a tint of Plutonic influence that may cloak how you operate in your day to day life. Lastly, your most elevated planet could be Pluto. All in all, there are various factors that can contribute to one feeling like one sign more than another. See if any of the above explains your connection to Scorpionic energy/influence.

#Scorpio #Scorpio rising #Pluto in the first #8th house astrology #Hades moons #Scorpio moons #elevated planets #nadir #stelliums #persona charts #Hope this helps ❤#Plutonic placements #plutonic influence #astro asks #bruja tips #astrology asks #astro tumblr

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luna-tormenta · 3 years

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Lúthiena & The Fam Book Review: Urban Faery Magick by Tara Sanchez

This is my first witchy book review, please bare with me. It may not be the best review but, I wanted to share my thoughts and experiences, as well as some of my spirit family's opinions on it! Hope you all enjoy it! Thanks for reading💀🌙🌻

Lúthiena's Review

This book challenges the reader to "stretch their understanding of the world around them" (pg 7), and after reading, I believe it truly lived up to these words. Urban Faery Magick is dedicated to techniques, experiences, encounters, and everything in-between of working with and learning about the Fae in modern times!

Firstly, I would like to say, the title of this book should be "Modern Faery Magick" or "Faery Magick of Today", because it has a TON of information on working with the Fair Folk. Not just working with them in an "Urban" sense. Yes I know it says "Connecting to the Fae in the Modern World" underneath the title, but I just think it should have been named differently🤔🤷‍♀️

The first portion of this book, is all about techniques of meditation, protection, and how to build up necessary skills for communicating and working with the Fae. Such as working with your imagination to build up your Sight, practicing Pareidolia (the ability to see faces and shapes in objects), and dowsing for Fae activity. There are a bunch of techniques, that I will describe in a later paragraph! It also contains information on the Courts, names, and folklore surrounding these amazing spirits. Tara does an amazing, in-depth job with writing about the Fae, especially when in the case of working with them.

Chapter 3 contains detailed descriptions of basic techniques to aid the reader in their exploration of Faeries. It covers breathing techniques, rhythmic breathing and walking, and a meditation called "The Silence Between" (pg 42).

This involves listening to your heart beat and feeling your pulse to meditate (your heartbeat and pulse don't line up and there's a small pause between each.) While using this technique, it allows you to enter into the Otherworld through the slight pause, it's a neutral ground between our realm and theirs, it's "the silence between" both worlds.

Next in line comes a cleansing/grounding technique, called the Verdant Breath, which uses the aid of an Ivy plant spirit. In chapter 4, Tara uses this breathing technique to go a little further and work with this spirit to protect yourself. I really enjoyed learning the different techniques throughout this chapter, it was really cool to see new components I've never learned before. I have tried the Verdant Breath and have seen a difference in my ability to meditate. Next, I will be trying the Silence Between.

Teachings in chapters 3 and 4 are there to help you build up skills for further exercises and meditations that are placed throughout the entire book. Tara also uses these chapters to explain why it is important to build up your abilities before interacting with the Fae, and why it's highly recommended to protect yourself. Amongst these pages are different charms and amulets to use, as well.

Next we further our understanding of the Fae through chapters 5-7, and look into further techniques used in folklore and history. I really like Tara's use of history and folktales because she touches on bits and pieces of EVERYTHING, and knows when to stay in her lane.

The second half of Urban Faery Magick is my favorite. Tara introduces an elemental system known as Wu Xing, because not all Faeries "fit neatly into the boxes" of the five elemental system we know as witches, and I highly agree with her! (Pg 101) In ways this system is alike the five elemental system we know and frequently use, but is a bit different. I highly recommend looking into Wu Xing a bit further after reading Tara's book.

Leaving out Spirit of the western elemental system, Tara combines the Wu Xing elements with the 4 elements of our normal system, to create more categories for identifying and labeling species of Fae. I have included a quote of page #104 for a better understanding of how Tara classifies and combines the elements.

"Note: ...The manner in which my system combines the Eastern and Western systems follows a very similar process, with each of the Eastern elements combing to make aspects of the Western (or vice versa), as can be seen in the table below.

[Picture ID: Columns of the Eastern and Western elementals systems. Across the top are five boxes containing the words Wood, Fire, Metal, Water and Earth, each box contains a element. On the left side of the graph contains four boxes, from top to bottom, with the words Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The different element columns are combined. Top to bottom, under the "Wood" category, we have "Earth of Wood, Air of Wood, Fire of Wood, Water of Wood". To the right of "Wood", under the "Fire" category there is "Earth of Fire, Air of Fire, Fire of Fire, Water of Fire". To the right of "Fire" is "Metal". This category starts with "Earth of Metal" then "Air of Metal, Fire of Metal, Water of Metal". Next in line is "Water". Underneath we have "Earth of Water, Air of Water, Fire of Water, Water of Water". The last category is "Earth". Underneath is "Earth of Earth, Air of Earth, Fire of Earth, Water of Earth". END ID]

This was also my first ID description. Please let me know if I need to make any changes to it! Thank you!

Therefore a being who is traditionally considered a water elemental may well actually be earth of water. Or, as with one of the entities I have worked with, fire of water. Another being may be air of metal rather than entirely air. Yet another, earth of wood, and so on.

...For each element, we will follow a case study for a particular Fae, getting to know them within environments where you may have not have thought to find them." (Page 104)

The case studies are a mix of Tara's personal experiences as well as experiences of mutuals of hers, and range across a few generations.

Each element has its own chapter, and contains a lot of information about each element. Tara does "modern sightings" for the elements, as well as two case studies. There are paragraphs dedicated to aligning yourself with each element, which I wish were a little bit longer. She also gives lovely guided meditations to visit and learn about each element's realm. At the end of each element chapter, Tara concludes with "Finding Other Fae" which includes names of Fae species to be on the lookout for!

The only bad thing I'd have to say about this book is the paragraph on giving thanks to Faeries. It states not to directly say "thank you" or acknowledge them for helping you. I, and I state again, I believe in giving thanks to my Faerie friends. Plus, Tara kind of contradicts herself by dedicating a paragraph to "not thanking the Fae" then tells you, in a later chapter, to "thank the Fae you work with". But, I digress.

I'm super grateful to have come across this book! I highly recommend it to anyone who works with the Fae, as well as beginners, because like Tara says in the beginning, everyone can learn at least one new thing! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Spirit Family's Reviews:

Dawn, the Selkie:

"I really enjoyed the classification of the elemental systems combined. It adds a deeper perspective and understanding of Fae for humans to learn about us. This allows them to form a better viewpoint on our aspects as Faeries."

L, a Lunar Moth Faerie:

"I enjoyed the element system like Dawn, but got a bit confused on how to categorize Fae, like myself, who have planetary aspects. I wonder if Lúthiena will write to the author for me!! Other than that I agree the info gives aspiring AND experienced Fae workers a ton of info to starting and maintaining relationships with spirits of our kind. I also believe it is in our nature to urbanize and I like Tara's view on it. She should write another book!!"

Ly, High Lord Fae of the Night Court:

"The information provided in Urban Faery Magick is simply put and highly informative. As a High Fae Lord, it is my duty to join together with different types of Faeries, meaning I have met quite a few species. Tara adds great descriptions to each element she provides, and elegantly designed ways the reader can interact with each element. This is a must-read for anyone wishing to add a little magic to their lives, or is wanting to find a path into our world."

Tar, High Lord Fae of the Summer Court:

"Continuing off my friend's review, I would wish to add that Tara magnificently wrote Urban Faery Magick. You can clearly see the dedication she has towards working with Faeries throughout the pages. She must have a higher purpose of working with the Fae. I especially enjoy knowing she is teaching others about things like the Thorn Gates, since a lot of portals have been destroyed. Hopefully, thanks to Tara's book, they may gain the respect they once had."

Bo, a Boggart:

"Let's just say I did NOT like the stuff said towards boggarts. We are not house faeries gone wild. Yes, sometimes we have slightly irritating tendencies. But we always mean well to you humans. Other than that the book was great."

Hank, an Eyeball Demon:

"Even though I am no where near a classification of Fae, I have had many encounters with them over my many years. Tara has an interesting take on the modernization of the Fae species that is very true and real. I agree the titled works, Urban Faery Magick, should be on every spirit worker's shelf."

Dara, a Toddler Fae*:

"I really liked the story of Rumpleskillson. (Rumpelstiltskin). It was like so cool he could turn that stuff to gold. Maybe I can do that someday. Also, there's like so many stories of us in that book! El Cadejo was another cool one! If you like stories about us you should read that book"

*For those who are not aware, Dara is an experimental hybrid Faery. He was rescued from a Spirit Hoarder who enjoyed experimenting on faeries.

Ra, a Rose Demon:

"I didn't enjoy being called a plant diva, no matter how true the statement is.

The Earth class was slightly misunderstood as we are still here, thriving ever beautifully on. Some of us just choose to hide in your plants more carefully.

Like Hank said, I don't technically fall under the Faery thing either, but I am a plant spirit and Tara mostly depicted us perfectly. I mean she did write some pretty neat stuff." **brushes hair off shoulder**

Aaron, a Hellhound:

"This was a very knowledge filled book."

LA, a Dandelion Angel:

"Firstly, we're not ALL plant divas. We just really like things to go certain ways. Other than being called a diva, the pages of Urban Faery Magick contained useful information for Fae workers. I especially liked reading the Cairn exercise and how it instructed to build it at home, NOT in nature. I also agree Tara should create another magical read like this."

We hope you enjoyed our reviews!

For more information on Urban Faery Magick please visit:

Search "Urban Faery Magick" on Amazon

Www.TaraSanchez.com

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pk-majora · 3 years

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exploring my natal chart like pt 13 i think. found another really great website for a free chart astro-charts.com

I was born during a waning crescent moon and a lot of planets were in retrograde when i was born.

"A Waning Crescent is a wise, aged moon that has already experienced every phase in the cycle. This causes people born under a Waning Crescent to possess special talents or knowledge. Having this unique perspective can lead to a life of success, imagination, and fulfillment."

SOURCES: https://www.yourmoonphase.com/blogs/your-moon-phase/what-the-moon-phase-on-your-birthday-says-about-you#:~:text=A%20Waning%20Crescent%20is%20a,success%2C%20imagination%2C%20and%20fulfillment.

"Retrograde Mercury: These people absorb thoughts and ideas through repetition and osmosis rather than careful, deliberate study. Constantly editing, reviewing, rethinking, replaying it in their mind. Own best teacher. Questions what others accept as gospel. More capable of dealing with abstractions and impressions than those with Mercury direct.

Retrograde Jupiter: These people are capable of taking advantage of opportunities that others ignore or pass by. They prefer to “take another crack” at things others have tried and failed. Their moral and ethical code, religion, and philosophy are their own. They seek answers from within rather than subscribing to the dogma of the outside world. They seek abundance in new, untried, and unproven areas.

Retrograde Saturn: These people may doubt their worthiness as human beings. May avoid taking responsibility for their mistakes and be fearful of taking chances. There is often subconscious fear of rejection and loss. Their limitations and burdens are self-imposed. This may be the most difficult retrograde.

Retrograde Uranus: Here is a natural-born rebel. Strong reformer instincts — for everybody else. These folks have a strong inner need and desire to persistently test their personal abilities against those of others. They must constantly prove themselves to themselves. In seeking greater freedom for themselves, they may limit the freedom of others.

Retrograde Neptune: These people may be confused inwardly as to whether they are “virtuous” or not. Persistently seek to help others, whether their help is wanted or not. They are more susceptible and more easily taken in by others."

SOURCES: https://www.mollysastrology.com/lessons/retrograde-planets/

Some other information about my chart:

"Most of the inner planets are located in the top hemisphere

Mars is on the Midheaven

Ascendant and Mc are in 9 aspects

Venus in Libra and Uranus in Aquarius are in the signs of their rulership.

The Square aspect occurs the most, a total of 11 times

Uranus and Neptune are rising

The bottom right quadrant is empty

The Fixed mode is dominant among the inner planets"

SOURCES: astro-charts.com (they give you all that info if it applies to you when you make your chart super cool website)

Based on my chart from cafeastrology.com I have:

6 masculine/4 feminine placements

3 cardinal/4 fixed/3 mutable mode placements

and my breakdown by element is 3 fire/3 earth/3 air/and 1 water sign lmfao which is my scorpio mars + midheaven lmfao.

Going to see if I can find out what that all means too lmfao.

Also found some really cool websites with info on chiron and lillith placements.

"Chiron is the wounded healer and shows our long-term wounds that often come from a past lifetime. Chiron in Libra is the particular wound of relationships.

We tend to overcompensate in Chiron areas by becoming a bit extreme. It’s natural to try and “fix” the wound, but often I find that we chase a solution to fix our Chiron, instead of uncovering the solution inside of us.

Unlike other planets, it’s hard to ignore your Chiron. It will hit you in the face, over and over, and can make your life pretty terrible, especially if you don’t know how to work with it. The Chiron in Libra wound is especially difficult because it’s all about relationships, something we deal with almost every day.

Chiron in Libra means that you feel like there is something missing from your life. Usually, this “something” is your soul mate.

The Chiron in Libra wound might feel like a hole inside you. You may spend time trying to fill it with things from the outside world. You might also feel as though the world is just a bit off-balance at all times.

With Chiron in Libra, you are hurt by loneliness, but you are also hurt by relationships. Whether you’re in a relationship or are alone, the wound is there. Chiron in Libra shows itself no matter how hard you try to hide it.

There can be a lot of anxiety and guilt surrounding the Chiron in Libra wound. These people typically feel inadequate socially as a child, regardless of whether or not this is apparent to others.

This Chiron in Libra wound can show itself in a variety of ways. Often, these people feel alone and incomplete without a relationship, but they never find the fulfillment that they’re looking for in any relationship, either.

The Chiron in Libra wound usually manifests as conflict in interpersonal relationships. It is really difficult for these folks to have relationships without triggering the wound. This can include conflicts in romantic relationships, as well as partnerships and friendships. If you have Chiron in Libra, be wary of self-neglect in relationships.

Most relationships for the Chiron in Libra person will be karmic. It is important for these folks to focus on relationships in order to heal the wound, but this spotlight must have the intention of learning and working on ways to approach relationships that are more authentic.

It’s not abnormal for the Chiron in Libra person to wear a mask in a relationship. It might be really hard for them to show their true self to their partner for fear of losing the relationship.

The terror of being alone makes it hard for a Chiron in Libra person to get out of a relationship, even if it becomes unhealthy. It’s not uncommon for these relationships to have some sort of abuse involved in them, mainly because the Chiron in Libra person is passive and malleable, so they’re really a prime target.

I find that those with Chiron in Libra tend to give far more than they receive. This is most likely due to their fear of being left alone. There are definitely “people-pleaser” tendencies with this placement; these are the classic conflict-avoidant individuals.

Alternatively, the Chiron in Libra individual can be so afraid of being alone that they refuse to engage in relationships at all. I don’t see this outcome as much, but it is certainly a possibility. These people are often able to give others relationship advice that they can’t follow themselves.

Typically, the Chiron in Libra person gets into relationships with those who show a mirror image of the qualities they can’t see in themselves. They might also give to their partners what they aren’t able to give to their inner selves.

A Chiron in Libra individual might live a double life. It’s easy for them to hide who they truly are inside if they feel that they must put on a face in order to stay in a relationship. Sometimes, these people will do this for years, even while living with a partner.

This really is the classic Romeo & Juliet placement. Chiron in Libra is all about sacrificing yourself for the partner. Often, individuals do this because they are desperately trying to heal the wound, but it doesn’t fix it.

I find that most Chiron in Libra placements are developed in a past life. Unlike other wounds, this wound is about karmic relationships, so Chiron in Libra people will usually meet the same souls over and over until the wound is healed.

Sometimes, these Chironic beliefs are cemented by parents or through other early life experience, but the original wound almost always comes from a relationship trauma in a past life.

The first step to healing Chiron in Libra is to recognize that the true soul mate is within. The Chiron in Libra person is constantly looking to fill that “soul mate” void with other people, but they will only feel truly complete by connecting with the inner self.

You will find with this placement that others reflect your own needs back to you. If you see qualities in others that you feel you lack, then it’s time to try and discover those qualities within yourself instead of outsourcing.

You will need to learn how to be authentic in a relationship, without hiding any part of yourself. You probably feel fear that you might be left alone if you do reveal your true self, but this is fear that you have to process and move through. It’s okay to be afraid. The lesson with Chiron in Libra is to do it anyways!

Unconditional love for the self is something that will be helpful for you to develop. You will learn, by doing this work, that separateness and aloneness were simply illusions. I find that energy work can be especially helpful, as well as meditation and inner work."

SOURCES: https://teaandrosemary.com/chiron-in-libra/

(Lillith in Virgo) "Rebellion against order; provocative humour.

Their sensuality is strongly suppressed by trying to appear calm; emotional conflicts often occur because it is very difficult for these people to feel relaxed. They want to suppress their instincts or they appear to be cold and perverted.

Beware of alcoholism and surgery of the intestines."

SOURCES: https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/lilith-in-virgo-sign-astrology-meaning

I also have something called a yod that i dont quite understand yet lol. it looks like an isosceles triangle in my chart between my MC, North Node, and Saturn and it looks like its pointing at my saturn but idk what that means lol. the chart on astro-charts.com just let me know i have it lmfao.

#my natal chart #pt 13

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dolly-decadatia · 3 years

Text

Notes 12/1/20 s.c book

Incorporate altered consciousness into practice as soon as I move to Nevada.

Reach state of ecstasy during rites- incorporate Invocation of Lust rite from LaVey?

Eww so much gender binary bullshit... kind of toying with the idea of pop culture paganism using Spike and Drusilla but grossed out by the gender binary and heteronormativity of the god and goddess and I don’t want that ickiness all over my comfort characters. Something to ponder further.

Reincarnation is brought up. Not sure how I feel about that either. This all made so much more sense to me when I was like 12.

Magic is the practice of moving natural energies to effect needed change.

I’m like 2 pages in and he’s annoying me already. I was definitely remembering Scott Cunningham with a nostalgia lens.

Next chapter is The Deities. Skipping this completely.

Chap 3 Magic:

2 main sources of energy: personal power, earth power.

Personal power- is the life force that sustains our earthly existences. We absorb energy from the moon and sun, from water and food. We release it during movement, exercise, and sex. Even exhaling releases some power, though we recoup the loss through inhaling. In Magic, personal power is aroused, infused with a specific purpose, and directed toward its goal.

Earth power- is that which resides within your planets and in it’s natural products. Stones, trees, wind, flames, water, crystals, and scents all possess unique, specific powers that can be used during magical ritual.

No matter the magical system, personal power must be infused with the need and then released.

I am more than comfortable incorporating negative Magic in my practice. Scott is super judgmental and priggish and I am not feeling his sanctimonious ranting on the topic.

You don’t need elaborate rites every-time. If nothing else, light a candle, settle down before it and concentrate on your magical need. Trust yourself.

Chap 4 tools

The broom- oh lawd he really thinks there were Wiccans during the burning times before Gardner was born. I can’t with him....

Anyway the broom is used for spiritual cleansing (don’t let the bristles touch the ground). Visualize the broom sweeping out the astral buildup that occurs where humans live. This purifies the area to allow smoother ritual workings. Since it is a purifier, the broom is linked with the element of water. Thus it is also used in all types of water spells including those of love and psychic workings. To make your own broom the classic formula is a ash staff, birch twigs, and a willow binding. The ash is protective and the birch is purifying. The willow is religious and therefore non applicable. A tiny broom of pine needles can also be used. There are many old spells involving brooms 🧹. In general the 🧹 is a purificatory and protective instrument used to ritually cleanse the area for Magic or to guard a home by laying in across the threshold, and under the bed, in windowsills, or on doors 🚪.

I personally like cinnamon brooms 🧹. I used to customize them for the sabbaths when I was Wiccan with colored ribbon and sprigs of the appropriate herbs or flowers. I miss doing that.

The wand:

Instrument of invocation. Also used to direct energy, draw magical 🧙‍♂️ symbols or a circle ⭕️ on the ground, to point towards danger ⚠️ while perfectly balanced on a witch’s hand ✋ or even stir a brew in a cauldron. The wand represents the element of air.

Traditional woods used for wand: willow, elder, oak, apple, peach, hazel, cherry 🍒 and more.

Can even use a wooden dowel and carve and/or paint it.

Crystal can also be used.

Any stick you find will be infused with energy and power.

Censer:

Incense burner. I liked the gold swingy ones because they remind me of Spike but I’m uncomfortable with the concept of a breeding pair of deities and don’t want to taint spike and Dru by pigeon holing them into those gross roles. Really really like that censer though... will have to ponder.

When no specific incense is called for in rituals and spells, use your own intuition and creativity in determining which blend to use.

Spirits can be called to appear in visible form in the smoke rising from the censer. He said “command” which seems rude and I don’t vibe with bullying spirits. I want to be their friends. He also said this is not a part of Wicca. I’m not Wiccan sooooo. C’mon incense ghosties. It’s party time at my place .

Sitting while breathing slowly and watching the smoke can be an entrancing act, and you might slip into an alternate state of consciousness.

Cauldron- ancient vessel of cooking and brew making, steeped in magical tradition and mystery. (Grain of salt- he’s talking about Wicca which is not ancient at all.) the cauldron is the container in which magical transformations occur; the sea of primeval creation. The cauldron is often a focal point of ritual. During spring rites it is often filled with fresh water 💧 and flowers 💐; during winter ❄️ a fire 🔥 may be kindled within the cauldron but the reasoning behind this is very religious so.....

The cauldron should be should be iron, resting on 3 legs, with its opening smaller than its widest part. It can be used for scrying by filling it with water and gazing into it.

Athame:

Used for directing energy not cutting. Often dull, usually double-edged with a black handle because black absorbs power. When the athame is used in ritual a bit of energy gets stored in the handle for later use. A sword can be used (like in Church of Satan rituals) if space permits. My trailer is so small it’s tempting to temporarily use a pocket knife until I move 😂. Scott says knives are phallic but pre op trans men aren’t shaped like knives. Coming out has really opened my eyes to how bullshitty concepts of yonic or phallic are. Not feeling it.

Bolline -

White handled practical working knife you actual use as a knife unlike the athame.

Crystal sphere- used for divination. They remind me of Dru because anything psychic does but like I said- I don’t want to disrespect Drusilla by show horning her into the Wiccan idea of goddess. Can be used to store energy or receive messages. Periodic exposure to moonlight, or rubbing the crystal with fresh mugwort will increase its ability to spark our psychic powers. It may be the center of full moon 🌕 rituals.

Cup- simply a cauldron on a stem. Scott calls it a fertility symbol. Gross. Not in my practice. Contains ritual beverage imbibed during ritual. I need to decide what my liquid will be. It was cranberry juice when I was a teen witch, wine as an adult, and Jack Daniels when I was a pop culture pagan (for spike). Cup can be any substance. I have an awesome baphomet goblet in the storage unit I can use. I still love satanic imagery.

Pentacle- Wiccan specific. Non applicable.

Book of shadows- can be handwritten or digital. Ideally rites should be memorized which is daunting with my learning disability and memory issues brought on by depression but I’ll try.

Bell-

Ritual instrument of incredible antiquity. (Source needed on that, Scott). Ringing a bell unleashes vibrations that have powerful effects according to its volume, tone, and material of construction. Also rung to to ward off evil spirits (what does he mean by that? Let’s not be frigging fluffbunnies) to halt storms or evoke good energies. Placed in cupboards or hung on the door, it guards the home. Bells are sometimes rung in ritual to mark various sections and signal a spell’s beginning or end.

As you collect each tool, you can prepare it for ritual. If old, it should be stripped of all associations and energies; you don’t know who owned the tool or what purposes it may have been used for. To begin this process, clean the tool physically using the appropriate method. When the object is clean and dry, bury it in the earth or a bowlful of sand or salt for a few days, allowing the energies to disperse. An alternate method involves plunging the tool into the sea, river, lake, or even your own bathtub 🛁 after purifying the 💦 by adding a few pinches of salt 🧂.

Use common sense and don’t wreck your tool with water or salt if the material would get wrecked.

After a few days dig up the tool, wipe it clean, and it is ready for magic 🪄. If you use the 💦 method, leave the object submerged for a few hours, then dry it.

There are consecration ceremonies later In the book. Use common sense and edit them as needed to make them non secular or hunt on tumblr for alternate methods.

#atheist witch #secular witchcraft #witch journey #pop culture paganism #ex wiccan

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thesorceryman · 3 years

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Possession is defined as ‘‘the belief that an individual has been entered by an alien spirit or other Para human force, which then controls that person and alters his action and identity. The word Jinn in Arabic (Alujonnu in Yoruba "borrowed from Arabic word JINN") refers to something that is (concealed and hidden from the human eyes ) in Al-Qaamoos Al’muheet ( which is the biggest Arabic dictionary of all times ) said this about the word ” JINN ” { Jannahu al-layla } which means ( the night covered him ) ( or concealed him) so this word simply means some being who is Hidden from the normal human eye. JINNS (demons or devils) are unseen creatures that are believed to exist in all major religions and have the power to possess humans and cause them harm. Jinn possession can manifest with a range of bizarre behaviors and unusual movements which could be interpreted as several different psychotic, non-psychotic mental disorders as well as feelings of the implant by foreign bodies or aliens. They do, common with humans, such as they also have the ability to, however, possess some characteristics in the ability to think and reflect. Similarly, choose between the path of good and the path of evil in the same manner as humans.

These are conscious beings, which are invisible, among the ordinary people they are known as ‘fairy’, ‘giant’, ‘genie’, ‘ghost’, ‘JINN’, ‘elf’, ‘aliens’ and various other names are given to them depending on the image they display. The people think that they are the SPIRITS of the dead people, so they try to establish contacts with them by calling them. Last but not least, these conscious beings introduce themselves as ’BEINGS FROM OUTER SPACE’ to those people whose level of knowledge is insufficient to be able to buy their stories. The JINN takes its existence, its liveliness, and its ‘self’ conscious from the absolute ‘SPIRIT’. With regards to the perfection it possesses within the consciousness, it is something that comes after the ‘HUMAN BEING’ in the whole universe. It is fully aware of its own consciousness only after it can enfold itself in the periphery (the body of light). This, in a way, can be considered as the birth of the JINNS concerning their structures.

Their death in the absolute sense takes place right at the moment of the doomed event, just like human beings. Their death in the simplest sense (i.e. the kind of death we know in general) takes place whenever their periphery (body of light) gets isolated from them at the end of their planned life span. The JINNS can understand the death of each other simply by finding out the loss of another jinni from their group. Even though their lifetimes are as long as the humans in reality, due to their structure and some properties they possess, this period could be as high as the age of 700-1000 when compared with us. In actual fact, when their life span of 60-70 years concerning their own unit of time is compared with our unit of time, we can see that it amounts to a life span of nearly 1000 years. Due to their structural behaviour, they also possess quite sophisticated potentials and some of them are even more superior to humans in terms of their conscious level. However, it is known for sure that the superior human being is much more superior to the most superior JINN. Concerning their character, they are weaker than humans. They are more inclined to display such behaviours, which can be considered as negative. In general, they deal with such activities. Despite this fact, there are also good ones among them as well as the ones who are more religious and even ones who are saints although this is very rare.

Their most significant characteristics and pleasure is to manipulate the weak points of the people, make individuals depend on them and make them do what they want, make them serve as well as worship them as if they were their servants.

So what are the ” Elemental Spirits “ ?

Elementals spirits are what some call the Nature Spirits or Devas or the Faeries . this type of Spirits have only one element to their nature usually Air, Fire, Water and Earth , so Djinns are part of the Fire Spirits.

Yes, the Spirits of the Four Elements are divided into four categories, earth, air, fire, and water. Let us look at each of them in turn.

1. EARTH: Earth spirits, that is the beings, which relate to rocks, stones, minerals, precious gems, hills, and mountains are traditionally called in English ( Gnomes ). All aspects of the solid physical structure of the planet come under their domain. Although they can be found within rocks, they also have the freedom to move around but generally stay close to the ground. They are a) Gnomes b) Kobolds c) giants d) mountain spirits, they are short about 1 to 2 feet tall and thy look old with full beard those are the Gnomes or the Ghulz, the other type are bigger and bit taller, most of them live underground, under the trees or on hilltops.

2. WATER: Water spirits are connected to all liquids, but their presence can be felt in a much more powerful way by streams, rivers, lakes, and, of course, the sea. They are traditionally known as Undines, they have males and females. but their females are shining as if wet, is female, nude and without wings, the exquisite limbs gleam through the white auric flow, the arms are particularly long and beautiful, and she waves them gracefully in her flight. She is about four feet in height and her general coloring is silvery-white, with gold stars around the head.

3. AIR: The spirits of the air are connected to all gaseous substances but like water, beings are best sensed in winds and breezes. Because air moves so quickly they can be difficult to pin down. They are known as Sylphs in tradition although the perception of a ‘fairy’ with tiny wings that can fly is a close approximation to how they appear to children.

These live in the element air and are like light in the atmosphere. Sensitive to the movement of the atmosphere, they have a sleepy consciousness. Their task is to transfer light to the plants. The stream of air caused by a flying bird creates a sound they can hear. They like birds flying through the air. Sylphs are connected to movement in space, like modeling and directing the wind. Elves (or fairies) are more connected to the expansion of life in their area.

4. FIRE: (these are what most people call the JINN ) Fire spirits can be found in volcanoes in nature but also in any fire, from candle to inferno. They are known as Salamanders or Vulcanii and are the most difficult of all of the elementals to connect with, being said to the only associate with philosophers and adepts of the magical arts.

Possession worldwide is found more commonly in women and marginalized groups and maybe a vehicle through which they can express their complaints in a context in which they can be heard. Spirit possession generally occurs in cultural contexts in which the self is more likely to be fragmented. Whether or not possession is itself seen as pathological is dependent on the cultural context in which it occurs; by no means are all cases of possession seen as signs of illness. Being possessed by demons or evil spirits is one of the oldest ways of accounting for bodily and mental disorders. The idea that spirit possession and mental illness are related has a long historical legacy.

Possessed individuals sometimes exhibit symptoms similar to those associated with mental illnesses such as psychosis, hysteria, mania, Tourette syndrome, epilepsy, schizophrenia, or dissociative identity disorder; this includes involuntary or uncensored behaviour. Since possession is not normative in Western cultures, it is the cultural context that determines the distinction between psychosis and the spiritual. Spirit possession is a culturally specific way of displaying symptoms of psychosis, dissociation, social anxiety, etc., and is a fairly global idiom of distress. That is, whereas a person with psychosis in the West may believe he is being controlled by a computer, a member of a community that beliefs in spirit possession may believe his body to be taken over by a demon.

How does JINN possess people?

1. Weak spiritual protection

2. Hexing and cursing

1. WEAK SPIRITUAL PROTECTION : The JINNS establish their connections especially with nervous women following the time they’ve given birth to a baby or during illnesses accompanied by high fever or during accidents. This is because during those periods, the brain is busy with the extra activity taking place in various parts of the body and therefore the human being simply cannot have control over the brain’s activity in a desired manner. As a result, the JINN takes over the control in the related part of the brain at that particular weak moment by becoming visible

to the person in whatever form he likes and force him/her to do whatever he desires.

Sometimes this act of forcing can take place by the impulses that the JINN sends to the part of the brain that is connected with the faculty of pain centre and making the individual feel that pain. At other times, by triggering the centre of fear, JINN could make the individual even more frightened so that the individual can do whatever they desire. Most probably, what is simply being carried out is that they send out light signals to a certain centre in the individual’s brain and therefore create the desired effect. Whenever the mediums go into a trance, they experience exactly the same situation. This is the reason why they are asked to relax and let themselves loose in the first place. Here, the objective is to decrease the control that the human being has over his

brain. In this way, the JINN desired to be contacted would be able to possess the individual more easily. In such connections, the women particularly say that the JINN becoming visible before their eyes appear as a very handsome man.

The JINNS who establish contacts openly with the women or the young girls usually marry them and have sexual intercourse with them. During these connections, the women see the JINN as a solid object and have a sexual contact with it as if it were a male from the human kind. However, as the JINN do not have a tangible solid physical body, then the following question comes to the minds.

How on earth the JINN who cannot even be transformed into a complete physical object can manage to satisfy a woman belonging to the human race during this connection?. Under such conditions, the JINN stimulate the part of sexuality centre in the brain of the woman involved and cause her to get satisfaction. As a matter of fact, all the scientists who work in the field of physiology know very well that when an electro shock is applied to a certain centre of the brain, it is possible to make that person do whatever you want. In fact, these are just the sort of contacts, which do not only take place between a woman from the human kind and a man from the class of JINNS. There can also be a sexual relation between a woman from the class of JINNS and a man from the humankind as well. Moreover, it is also said that the JINNS have homosexual contacts too. In all of these connections, the point which is usually discovered in common is that a member of the JINN makes a contact with a human being only for the purpose of fulfilling his selfish desires on the human being forcefully. In general, the people who have been forced into such positions do complain about this. These events take place without consent of the individual.

In such cases, especially when there is a connection between a woman from the human kind and a man from the class of JINNS, the woman isolates herself from the world outside and most of the time she wants to stay in a room.

2. HEXING AND CURSING: These are done by individuals who possesed power to manipulate or control JINNS to do whatever they want. In this case, the JINN is sent to forcefully ententer the body of the victim and do as it pleases. The victim will exhibit some of the symptoms listed below.

SYMPTOMS OF POSSESSION

1. Hearing voices

2. Erratic behaviour in one's words, deeds, and movement.

3. Being quick to get angry or weep with no apparent cause

4. Seeing metaphysical objects

5. Irregular menstruation in women

6. Constant headache

7. Frightening nightmares which include seeing various kinds of creatures such as ghosts, or apparitions, seeing oneself falling from a high place, seeing people in strange forms and snakes.

8. Insomnia, anxiety, and fear upon waking.

9. Talking loudly in one's sleep, or moaning and groaning.

10. Having sex in dreams.

All these symptoms still need to be examined by a professional or priest before establishing the fact that truly one is possessed by JINN through reading or divination.

Nowadays, the medical science cannot diagnose these cases and therefore they try to cure the patient by means of applying electro-shock for the sake of the positive science. However, in these cases too, hardly any result can be obtained. At the end of the electro-shock process, there is a disorder and an agitation in the brain cells of the individual causing a state of calmness. This of course does not mean that the person has been cured, it is because of the disturbance that she had due to the shock. Generally, it is seen that the people who have good healing powers can correct such situations by way of prayers, spells and ritual blown upon to the depressed person.

If you're experiencing any of the symptoms above or needs spiritual help, contact me. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @thesorceryman

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justgottafinishthischapter · 5 years

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Building A Character: Creating a Personality

Coming up with a character in and of itself is easy. Let’s use for example a tough chick who grew up on the streets and steals, kills, and spies to make ends meat. So I’ve created an ends justifies the means, self-preserving, and probably loner rogue archetype. So congrats, I’ve made a character. What she lacks however, is a personality. She has no depth or anything interesting about her. For this exercise, I’ll be referring to her as Samantha Pole.

Something that works for me that might not work for others is that I tend to form base personalities and character arcs from characters I’m reminded of when I think of the character I’m creating. With regard to Sam, characters like Raven from Teen Titans and Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time are great models for her character because both are closed-off loaners who have a hard time letting people in. This is helpful for me personally as a way of recognizing traits I see in this character in other similar characters. Then I can evaluate their characters and their arcs and see how the writers handled their characterization, and how I might have handled it differently. This might also be when I look at their character’s tropes on TV Tropes to see what might work for the character of Sam.

Now that we have a base template and outline of who Sam is, let’s start analyzing ways and methods to help give her depth. For me personally, it really helps me to sort my characters. Such sorting includes:

Myers-Briggs Test 4 Temperaments Hogwarts House Avatar Element Game of Thrones Play style Astrological Sign Sense of Humor

MYERS-BRIGGS TEST

The Myers-Briggs test divides people into 16 personality types in 4 fields of traits and dynamics. The first letter is either I (Introvert) or E (Extrovert). What this means is not whether they’re sociable. I myself can be very friendly and outgoing. However, at a big social gathering with lots of strangers, I feel uncomfortable and would rather stay close to someone I know. Thus, I am an Introvert. The second qualifiers are N (Intuitive) or S (Observant). Intuitive types think about the world in the abstract and what could be rather than what is. Observant types see the world for what it is and take the world more literally, focusing more on the present than daydreaming about what might be. The third category is T (Thinking) or F (Feeling). Do they act more on logic or emotion? Do they lead more with their head or their heart? Thinkers tend to plan ahead while Feelers tend to act first. Thinkers are more practical while Feelers are more empathetic. Finally, we reach J (Judging) vs P (Prospecting). Judging types are orderly, procedural, predictable, and well-structured. Prospecting types live on a whim doing whatever feels right in the moment and meeting challenges when they arise. So based on these traits, I would have to label Sam an ISTP type. She’s a loner so she’s not going to like large groups or put her trust in others. She’s in a bleak and realistic situation, so she’s probably not going to have her head in the clouds if she wants to survive. Being a thief and sneak is going to require some forethought, and being able to overrule emotion with logic. And because she’s probably always on the move, she can’t really let herself fall into routine. This may be her most balanced trait, as there would likely need to be a lot of judging in order to look out for herself, but I feel that due to the unpredictable state of her life, she can’t really rely on structure and order. So now that you’ve learned what your character’s Myers-Briggs personality is, it’s time to figure out what that means. But while there are plenty of websites that have tried to paint out exactly what each trait could mean, I personally found a lot of value in videos put out by IDRlabs on Youtube that all follow the format of ISTP in 5 minutes. They use cute little cartoon cut outs to explain in a dry but informative way how a personality type works best when problem solving, figuring something out, how they go about putting their trust in others if they do at all, etc. I recently sorted one of my own characters as an INFJ, and their video helped me figure out when he’d seek the advice of others and when he would seclude himself to try and work through problems on his own, which I found to be very useful.

FOUR TEMPERAMENTS

The four Temperaments or the Four Humors is a construct straight out of Ancient Greece, and was even still upheld in Medieval Europe. It was believed that these personality types were actually caused by contents of the body, and that letting out certain fluids would change one’s temperament. Those being Choleric (Yellow Bile) Sanguine (blood) Melancholic (Black Bile) and Phlegmatic (Phlegm). Cholerics are aggressive leaders who charge into danger, but can be bossy dictators. Sanguines are jolly and cheerful, if not a little immature. Melancholics are reflective artists, but can be aloof and worrisome. Phlegmatic are calm and level-headed mediators, but can be shy and meek. Fun fact, in Medieval medicine, women were always supposed to be Phlegmatic, and being too much of the other three meant she must have been unbalanced and it was time to call the doctor to come bleed her or pull out some bile so that she could return to normal. TV Tropes has a page listing all the different associated traits, and some do overlap so it’s a good idea to arrange these into a graph. It’s also worth noting that unlike other personality tests, this one is not so much about just picking one. Everyone has all 4 types inside of them, it’s more a question of how these traits rank in order of relevancy to one’s personality. For Sam, I would say that she’s primarily Choleric with that aggressive drive to survive, followed by a stoic and reflective Melancholic, a compassionate Phlegmatic, and then at the bottom a jovial Sanguine.

HOGWARTS HOUSE

Everyone already knows this one, I don’t really need to explain it. But if you’re not sure where a character would be sorted, Mawrti on Youtube made videos for Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff that sort multiple fandom characters into houses and have much longer lists of character traits to really help you get a feel for where your character belongs. While I don’t agree with every sorting myself, I still think it’s a useful guide. For Sam, I’d say she’s a Slytherin. She doesn’t have time to let emotion cloud her actions, and she does what she feels is necessary in the name of self-preservation. It doesn’t mean she’s heartless, it just means she knows when to set emotion aside and do what needs to be done. Slytherins understand that sometimes completing the goal is more important than sparing someone’s feelings.

AVATAR ELEMENT

Water is the element of change. It is the element of adaptability and balances offense with defense, able to turn one into the other. Water follows the path of least resistance, spreading in every direction until it finds the shortest and quickest route to the sea. The people of the Water Tribe use wolf symbolism frequently in their culture, as they are focused on the benefit of the group rather than the individual which is crucial for surviving in their arctic home. Earth is the element of substance and defiance. Its people are determined, stubborn, and unyielding. Their spirit and will is as solid as the very earth they bend. Earth benders are hard to rattle, and when something goes wrong, they’ll dust themselves off and push forward. Rather than avoiding obstacles, they ride it out and overcome. Fire is the element of Will. Firebending is the act of taking ones desires and willing them into affect. Firebenders are passionate, ambitious, and merciless in pursuit of goals. They have the foresight to envision what they want to achieve and the drive to make it happen. Air is the element of freedom. The Air Nomads value peace, harmony, and oneness with nature. They are pacifistic, valuing spirituality and mediating tensions between the other three elements. But they can also be too detached, avoiding problems and running away from responsibilities rather than dealing with them. Sam is tricky because she has the drive to survive and accomplish this goal of a Firebender, the resilience and fortitude of an Earthbender, and the adaptability of a Waterbender. However, I would ultimately rule that she is a Firebender, as she is most heavily characterized by her will to live and overcome by any means necessary.

ZODIAC SIGN

There are multiple websites dedicated to this stuff, so I won’t really bother to go into it here. But something I personally enjoy doing is combining Zodiacs with alchemy ideas to decide someone’s “Core Element” as I like to call it. What I mean is that each Zodiac basically comes with 3 elements. Each Zodiac itself is tied to Water, Earth, Fire, or Air. Each season is tied to an element as well. Spring is Air, Summer is Fire, Autumn is Earth, and Winter is Water, at least in Medieval alchemy. And each zodiac is aligned with a celestial body, each of which is also tied to an element. Combine this with the 4 Temperaments: Phlegmatic (Water), Melancholic (Earth), Choleric (Fire), and Sanguine (Air); and with Harry Potter Houses: Slytherin (Water), Hufflepuff (Earth), Gryffindor (Fire), and Ravenclaw (Air); and the Avatar element you gave them and the element that appears the most frequently across the board is their true “Core Element”. For Sam, I would say that she is a Scorpio. Scorpio is a Water sign starting in November. Sept, Oct, and Nov are the three Autumnal months, so she’s seasonally Earth. Neptune and Pluto sort of both rule Scorpio. Neptune is Water aligned and Pluto is Earth aligned. She’s Choleric, a Slytherin, and a Firebender. Her final element tally would come to: Water (3), Earth (2), and Fire (2). Thus her core element is Water.

GAME OF THRONES PLAY STYLE

Each of the houses in Game of Thrones tend to play the game differently. House Stark are the honorable rule-followers. They keep their oaths, and are very traditional. They bow to the way things are, and tend to die because of this honor. They only start to thrive when they break this honor system and play the game like the rest of Westeros. Their words Winter Is Coming implies a readiness to face hard times, and a determination to survive as a group. A single wolf hunting alone in Winter is far less likely to survive. House Lannister is about upward mobility and maintaining their place. They are cunning and manipulative, able to play the chess game to put themselves into positions of power and influence. But that can also be a corrupting force. Their words Hear Me Roar speak to their ferocity, and their sigil of the lion showcases that with them, Family is about the survival of the pride. But that word pride is also a major flaw of the house, and their pride is one of their biggest detriments. House Tyrell strikes a balance between the two. Like the Starks, House Tyrell is unified with a genuine familial love for one another, like branches of a tree that all share the same roots. Like House Lannister, the Tyrells know when it its time for sweet honeyed words, and when it is time to wrap a thorny vine around their enemy’s throat. Their words of Growing Strong implies that they tend the garden of their schemes and they reap what they sow. They have an eye for the long game and the patience of a gardener to bring that plan to blossom. The exact counter is House Grayjoy, who take what others have made for their own. They are as hard as iron and as cold as the salty sea. They are raiders who take what they must to survive. Their words We Do Not Sow speaks to this willingness to take what is not theirs by right and reflects the pirate and viking origins they get their historical basis from. House Targaryen is the near extinct house of Daenerys, characterized by Machiavellian strategy, cunning, and a merciless iron fist to opposition of authority. While Danny fights for just causes, yelling and burning is a primary method of dealing with her problems, and her stubborn pride causes her to be unreasonable and arogant at times, especially when she was the Queen of Meereen. House Baratheon are really better soldiers than politicians. They make better walls than scholars, and have a temper about them. It is only Renly, who lacks many of the Baratheon traits, who is a genuinely fitting politician. Their words Ours is the Fury speaks to their aggression and wartime tactics. Their sigil of the deer is fitting not only as the king of the forest, but that deer fight a lot among themselves during mating season. Frankly, I don’t know the playstyles of House Martell, Tully, or Arryn. They’re smaller houses in the narrative of the show. If you want to know more, check out their house symbolism videos on Youtube. As far as Sam goes, I think she’s a Grayjoy. Not necessarily looking to claim the Iron Throne, just working to keep herself alive no matter who she has to hurt to do so.

SENSE OF HUMOR

Everyone has some sense of humor. Some have more than one. But the kinds of things they find funny says a lot about the kind of person they are.

Sarcasm (snide remarks, usually pessimistic. Think Daria.)

Irreverent (nothing is sacred, anything can be made fun of. Think Family Guy)

Toilet/Low-Brow humor (bathroom and sex jokes, think Teen Titans Go!)

Gross-out Humor (comedy from making people cringe at the disgusting nature of what they’re seeing.)

Slapstick (physical comedy, laughing at pain. Think Three Stooges)

Satire (parodying and mocking other things, often centered on a theme or running gag. Think South Park.)

Social Commentary (An exaggerated or satirical jab at real world issues facing the modern world at the time the product was made.)

Dry Humor (often pairs with Sarcasm, it’s a witty remark that’s often either a veiled, subtle, or clever jab at someone or something. Think Olenna and Tyrion in Game of Thrones.)

Dark Comedy (humor that comes from joking about a dark subject matter, or making light of a serious topic. can overlap with self-deprecating humor and aggressive comedy.)

Wholesome (jokes that don’t make fun of or belittle anything to make the joke. Think knock-knock jokes.)

Vaudevillian (comedy that often comes in the form of routines or running gags. Coyote and Roadrunner, Bugs and Elmer, and Tom & Jerry are all examples of Vaudeville style comedy routines.)

Self-Deprecating (comedy at one’s own expense.)

Pranks/ Deprecating (comedy at someone else’s expense)

Aggressive (comedy aimed at telling jokes that would upset certain types of people, often with little regard for how they’d respond. Think Ron White or Lewis Black.)

Sight Gag (comedy that is found in facial expressions, costumes, etc. Looney Tunes is a master of expressive sight gags, and Monty Python is no stranger to costume gags.)

Situational (comedy that comes from telling real life events where something funny happened. Think Gabriel Iglesias.)

Pop Culture Reference (jokes that acknowledge other works. Often overlaps with parody or in-universe play-on-word. Think Bojack Horseman.)

Torture Porn/Butt Monkey (comedy focused around torturing and kicking around a single person repeatedly, even when they didn’t do anything to prompt just comeuppance. Think Jerry Smith on Rick & Morty or Squidward in later seasons of Spongebob Squarepants.)

Conversing with the Camera (fourth wall breaking jokes that recognize the media that the story is set in. Ed Edd ‘n’ Eddy and Chowder both used this type of joke a lot.)

Once you’ve completed this step and have a solid idea of your character’s personality, it’ll be time to move on to motivations and character traits, but that’s for a later post.

#writing #writing advice #writing tips #author #writeblr #writer problems #writer tips #writer advice #do it write #write #writer #characterization #character building

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supernova1us · 4 years

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Top 10 things a Bionicle G3 reboot would need

In the case that a G3 reboot of bionicle is made, here are the improvements or necessary changes that I think it would need to rise above the failures that doomed G2.

1. Better structure to the elements. It has always been redundant that of the core 6 elements, we had water and ice as well as earth and stone. It just didn’t quite make sense. And don’t get me started on g2 swapping air for jungle. G3 should try find a better balance. My ideal list is energy(evolved from lighting in G1), fire, water, earth, air, sound and metal(evolved from iron in G1).

2. More focus on mythology and fantasy. Many fans agree that in G1, though the continued story and lore did grew, the fantastical elements of the series were diminished by the more sci-fi setting/direction.

3. Better definition of mata nui and makuta. Their relationships and status were an ever changing facet in G1 one that grew less special and complex over time as more light was shed on it. I think a more clear interpretation, like the first years of G1, would be appropriate; they are brother deities, one representing light, the other darkness.

4. A consistent design for makuta. Bothe g1 and g2 have done this. I just feel like the main villain should have a constant, recognizable appearance. Not always changing so we are unable to identify with them, or sometimes not even recognize them(the maxilos robot in g1 through me for a loop for a while)

5. Breaking from the standard toa team. The toa mata are undoubtedly the main characters of the franchise but like the elements, I think after two series a change is needed for a fresh start. I have my own team roster, based on other toa from G1, but that isn’t the focus here. I’m just saying that an update would likely be in the franchises best interest.

6. Focusing more on the main island. As the main setting, I think the primary island, whatever it may be called, should remain the primary focus. It can be any size and could have so many locations and plot possibilities. Seeing and exploring other islands is fine but I feel like mata nui, like many things from the early g1 years, was abandoned and forgotten fast.

7. Toa armor/designs reflecting their elements. In both g1 and g2, the toa were very generic or non-distinct mechanoids in design. If you took away the colors and weapons of the toa, there was no identifying their elements or tribe. Many, including myself, liked how the looks of the glatorian incorporated armor parts associated with their elements(ice shards, vines/leaves, rocks, fins). I feel like more distinct and element specific looks should be designed for the toa. It would also bridge that gap of just robots to something more in tune with nature.

8. Emphasis on masks. I believe that masks should be very special and rare things with more ceremony and importance on characters who have special ones. I did like the G2 idea of all the islanders having a uniform one, though I think something more tribal would be more appropriate, and special individuals earning new masks being a big deal. I can also go either way on the idea of masks having powers or not.

9. Not forgetting what worked. That last thing a reboot should do is everything different and forget the past. There were a lot of great things that worked in g1 and even some in g2. They should be carried over an improved on, not forgotten or diminished like other franchises have tried to do.

10. Canonize romance. G1 basically denied it existed and g2 might have had it but lets face it, it never told compelling stories or went into characters developments of any kind. I know it can be a groaner but any sentient race, even if it doesn’t reproduce, will develop relationships akin to love. It doesn’t need to be a focus, but it is always a good factor of telling a story. Hewkii X Macku forever!

#bionicle #top 10 list

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snowflakesandsandsunflowers · 5 years

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Let’s talk about the Leaks.

I want to attempt to ease some minds here about the book that was leaked a few days ago with the apparent “ending” to Frozen II. I have this post tagged and you can choose to keep reading if desired. Not only did I want to ease my own mind, but I hope that if anyone sees this, maybe they will also see something that I did not see. I have included direct phrases from the books pages, so if you haven’t read them, or don’t want to, please feel free to scroll on by. If you do, hopefully we can figure out this whole thing together!

Alright. Some of the rumors I have heard thus far.

1) Elsa will sacrifice herself. (She will come back to life, or she won’t)

2) She is changed after she “dies” and becomes a spirit, ghost, goddess, or even a snowflake. (The 5th spirit)

3) Elsa will stay in Northuldra and Anna will return to Arendelle as Queen = Separation of the sisters.

I know there are plenty more speculations, but these are the ones that I continue to see floating around.

I also recognize that there is some resentment toward the directors and writers of the movie due to these “undesired” endings. The main argument that I have read of is that the whole point of Frozen was to keep family together because they are the bond that can thaw the ice. Why would the writers and directors of the film so quickly trash something that made the first move so iconic and memorable? I understand where people are getting a little upset, I do. But I think we are making some unnecessary assumptions to torture ourselves here. We don’t need to be in pain while waiting to see what is reality. So, let’s take a look!

The entire 5th spirit argument is quite confusing and it’s hard to fully understand what is happening here. Elsa’s magic is “connected to the fifth spirit.” We know that Ahtohallan is the river that Iduna tells of that has the answers to all of their questions. So it is safe to assume that she is traveling to this river to understand where her powers come from. But, wait.. How does Elsa even learn about this fifth spirit? Because she suddenly has knowledge about this spirit, she most likely learned it from the villagers of Northuldra, right? They told her about the elements and that they take forms of different spirits? This is most likely. From the trailers we see that Earth --> rock giants, Air --> wind/leaves, Fire --> salamander/Bruni, Water --> Nokk. Those 4 spirits are VISIBLE in the trailers. We KNOW they exist. But a fifth spirit is never shown (at least not yet). So the question I’ve been asking is, “Has Elsa ALWAYS been the fifth spirit? Or is there a fifth spirit in existence already that she has to find?”

“She thinks it (THE FIFTH SPIRIT) has been calling for her from Ahtohallan.” The way this reads, I’d assume that the fifth spirit is separate from herself. She has to find it and THEN she can transform in some way. The only way this could be false is found in the words, “..she thinks..” She isn’t sure, but has an idea. Maybe she makes it to the river only to find out that the fifth spirit was within her all along. Now, we don’t know how it got there, but I’d assume that when we find out, it will answer the question of, “How did Elsa get her powers?”

Let’s talk about Elsa’s transformation now. Clearly something is going to change within her or about her in entirety. It states clearly on this page that “many characters in fairy tales and heroic myths experience a transformation or a change, by the end of their story.” Can we name any examples of this in storytelling?... Wait.. can you name any examples in storytelling where this ISN’T the case? Characters HAVE to change in order to internalize a moral or theme that is being taught. This is CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT at it’s prime. This is how the characters we know and love “transform.” Think of Frozen I. What was Elsa’s transformation there? She’s filled with fear, anxiousness, suffering.. She hates who she is and can’t bear the thought of who she could become. She’s isolated and is convinced that she is only a monster to the world around her. She doesn’t understand love and decides that she probably never will because of who she is. She transforms because she learns to love herself and what makes her unique (Let it go, anyone?). She transforms because, through Anna’s courageous sacrifice, she learns that love can thaw. She transforms as she walks back into her kingdom and, with family by her side, takes her throne as Queen. TRANSFORMATION! Now, I know I know. It’s safe to assume that the transformation in Frozen II won’t be as simple as most films are. But it’s also safe to assume that much of Elsa’s transformation comes from what she LEARNS. I personally believe that she will stay the same person. But her understanding of her purpose and role is what will change.

The last line of this page says, “Elsa has transformed, and this means Anna has to change her role in Arendelle too.” Because of this line, we can safely guess that something has to happen to our Queen Elsa to make it so she no longer is either fit, capable, or desiring to rule Arendelle anymore. Otherwise, why would Anna have to change her role and become the Queen? Elsa’s transformation into the fifth spirit must make it somewhat impossible to rule the way she used to, therefore passing the torch onto Anna. Here’s where the speculation comes in that Elsa must die and become some sort of a literal spirit or ghost.

“Elsa finally understands her powers and finds her true destiny as the Snow Queen, the fifth spirit.”

Now, I don’t know what route you turn to when thinking of ghosts or spirits, but in my religious upbringing, I’ve never been told that spirits, after this life, have the agency to choose. In our mortal form, we make choices, suffer the consequences, and learn. Obviously, this is just my own personal understanding, but I have a hard time believing that the writers would go as far as to create a character that we know, and completely change her form, leading to the necessary consequences. I don’t see Elsa ever wanting that. The story through the first film and what we’ve seen of the second one thus far has been CLEARLY about Elsa learning to accept who she is. EVERYTHING SHE IS. This not only means her powers, but it also means her ability to control them in her physical body. I highly doubt, after so much development and learning, she would give up all that she has learned for an “easier” route.

Can I provide a theory momentarily? Do I think Elsa will die? Not a clue. I DO think she provides some sort of sacrifice though. Whether that’s through death or not, I do not know. I imagine her making her way to the river. She’s seeking the fifth spirit remember? She believes it is something she must find and the river is the destination. I wonder if she misunderstands what the “voice” is telling her. “Where is the fifth spirit, it should be here at the river?” Maybe she doesn’t even know that the fifth spirit is her own magical element. Maybe she just knows that there is another one and she needs to confront it in order to bring peace. Clearly she’s done that with every other elemental thus far from what we’ve seen in the trailers.

I believe her “sacrifice” will lead her to realize that she IS the fifth spirit. That she was that person all along. Ever since she was born, it’s who she was and it was within her, she just didn’t know it until now. With everything she’s learned on this journey, in addition to her magical abilities, she UNDERSTANDS what her destiny is. Her entire life, her destiny was to be THE SNOW QUEEN. With that being said, I do not believe she will turn into a ghost, spirit, or a snowflake. I think that her transformation is really just a vivid realization of who she truly is. She’s battled with that her entire life, not knowing where she fits in or why she’s even alive. Her discovery of this truth could be LIFE CHANGING. Therefore, I believe, “transformation” would be the proper word to use in order to convey that immense change in emotion.

Alright, let’s get to the part that people are REALLY upset about though. Will Anna and Elsa separate? I wish I knew. But it is SAFE TO ASSUME the answer is either no, or not permanently. My first thought when I heard that they may separate was.. well why is that so bad? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always BEEN obsessed with the dynamic between their loving bond together.. But think about it in modern terms. When two sisters grow up, get married, and start their career.. They don’t live together! They go off to college, start a family, and learn about what they are supposed to do with their life! Separation is a necessary part of our reality and I don’t see anything wrong with trying to make that easier for people by allowing two of our favorite characters to go through it themselves.

In all honesty though.. I don’t believe they will separate. Everything within the few pages that were leaked, the words “they” “together” and “each” are used. Those are words that imply connections. Not separation. From the book we learn that the bond they have as sisters is what will bring healing and peace to both kingdoms. In the trailers, we see that the team CANNOT get into the forest until Anna and Elsa hold hands (could be speculation, but Olaf was unable to get in and Elsa was near the fog and it wouldn’t part either). Why would both Anna and Elsa work so hard TOGETHER to open the mist, to work TOGETHER yet apart on their own separate journeys, and to finish TOGETHER to break the curse? It makes no logical sense.

The guards from Arendelle that are in Northuldra, including Mattias, were once Arendellians. I see no reason why after 30 years of being trapped behind this mist and curse, that they would choose to stay. I’m sure they are so desperate to return to Arendelle. Also remember that “something went wrong” and magic and nature could no longer be together. It is my sense that after Anna and Elsa fix what has been broken, Magic and humanity can finally live together in peace! Why is it that Elsa was the only one with powers outside of Northuldra? It’s because Agnarr and Iduna CLEARLY escaped before the mist covered the forest. The rest of magic and spirits and elements were TRAPPED there. I predict that all magic and all of Northuldra will be happy to return to either Arendelle, or at least go exploring a bit.

With this in mind.. What purpose does Elsa have to stay? Who else is there for her? Magic and people have left the forest. I’d assume that she leaves with them and returns with Anna and do you know why? Because their UNITY is what broke the curse in the first place. Also, might I mention this.

In the book, NOWHERE does it ever say directly that Elsa stays in the forest. No where at all. Here is what it says directly. “Elsa finally understands her powers and finds her true destiny as the Snow Queen, the fifth spirit. Anna embraces her new purpose: Leading the people of Arendelle as the new Queen. Each sister has found her role in the world.” Again. Nothing that screams separation at all. In fact, the words used to describe Anna’s feeling about being the Queen after Elsa is, “Anna EMBRACES her new purpose.” Trust me. Anna would be devastated if Elsa stayed. We KNOW THAT. There is no way the directors and writers can just pretend that she would be fine. It’s not in her character, she loves Elsa far too much.

I bet Northuldra and Arendelle merge. Because Elsa is MAGIC and Northuldra is made up of magical beings and elements, she becomes the SNOW QUEEN and continues to rule. Why else would they use that term “Queen?” Why not, snow element/spirit? She clearly has some authority still and is going to be the voice of reason.

Both People and Magic were SEPARATED. Anna is “normal.” In other words she is without magical properties. She is now Queen of the people of both Arendelle and Northuldra. Elsa is “magical.” She understands magic and the elements that create it. She becomes Queen of such spirits and elements, maintaining harmony so that humans and elements don’t have to be separated ever again. The sisters work TOGETHER to maintain the kingdom. One sister over people and humanity, and the other over nature and magic. Again, just a theory, but I feel like this makes the most sense to me, personally. (Also, nothing says that Elsa steps down as Queen). Maybe Elsa decides that she is going to need some help in ruling both kingdoms AND magical elementals and spirits.

Here’s how it would go.

Anna: I can’t also be the Queen Elsa, it’s never been done!

Elsa: I see no problem with there being 2 Queens in one kingdom..

Thus satisfying the need for extra support in ruling, but also satisfying everyone who is desperate for some LGBT representation.

In conclusion.. I don’t think we need to worry. We have been blessed with one full feature film and two animated shorts. I personally saw not a single flaw in either of them. Remember, Jennifer Lee DIDN’T want to make another Frozen movie. She thought the story was over. Only after storyboarding and storyboarding and journaling and hours of thought did she finally decide.. Hey, this is a story that needs to be told. So the crew stepped up and created another masterpiece. Be not afraid fellow Frozen Fandom! We can do this! And We can trust in the creators of a franchise that has never ceased to bring us joy. They have too much at risk to drop the ball now.

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packupyoursins · 4 years

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ok, so i already asked how the world works in general terms but i didnt have time to get into how magic works, like its separated into elements? it depends on the purpose you give to it? is there like just one general rule and from there everything is more complex?

welcome back bro!!! we missed you!!!! (or ik i did i love ur asks) but umm... hOO... Well, magic in this world is kind of like... organized into 4 main classes, those classes being: Elemental, Light, Dark, and Shadow... and then 3 subcategories within those, being: Charms, Offensive, and Defensive. Now, any magic user can technically use ANY kind of magic, but Specific Kinds of magical beings will typically prefer one over the others. The only exception to this is humans, who... tend to use whatever. Elemental is easiest to them naturally, but they may dabble in all 3 (not including Shadow for reasons discussed later).

Elemental magic is primarily used by earthly beings - that is to say, creatures that aren’t humans like nymphs, dragons, mermaids, stuff like that. By elemental, think things like fire, water, earth, air, and all the more specific things that go along with those. With mastering Elemental magic comes the ability to do anything from Avatar The Last Airbender-esque bending stuff, to summoning elementals, to... well... anything you can imagine! The sky’s the limit, basically. This class deals mmmostly in Offensive and Defensive, with very few Charms.

Light magic is primarily used by Angels, and other heavenly creatures. It involves things like calling down heaven’s wrath to smite anyone who would stand in your path, divinity and seeing the future, blessings, luck charms, flight charms, transformation charms, things like that. Generally more positive and helpful spells that... can be used in bad ways, but typically if the intent behind the spell is to do evil, then by nature Light magic simply will not work. This class deals primarily in Charms and Defensive, with very few Offensive spells.

Dark magic is primarily used by Demons and other hell-born creatures like hellhounds and such. Dark magic is not necessarily ENTIRELY evil, but if you’re not careful with how you use it it is very easy to twist it and become evil. Spells like Curses, violent physical attacks like slashing spells (think Sectumsempra from Harry Potter), necromancy, possession, and mind control are all considered Dark. Anything not considered traditionally “good”. This class deals mostly in Offensive and Charms, with very few Defensive spells.

Shadow, as mentioned before, is BANNED and very taboo and is not even TALKED about. It’s mostly faded out of existence, and only very old magical creatures even know it exists, or what it really is. And yes, it’s different from Dark magic. Anyone can use Shadow magic if they are able to find the means through which to learn it, with the catch being that if you learn too much, or use too much, you will become a creature of shadow. Shadow creatures are dark, wispy versions of normal creatures, made up of, well, shadows. Usually, they’re quite featureless with only bright white eyes peering through their dark forms. Shadow magic, unlike Dark magic, is by nature INHERENTLY evil. Shadow creatures are often times cruel, evil, without morals, and unable to control themselves.

Some unfortunate souls are born with the curse of Shadow magic naturally “gifted” within themselves, and in order to avoid succumbing to it, must wear special amulets somewhere on their bodies that keeps it “in check” of sorts. Their bodies remain shadowy, unfortunately, but the magic in the amulet keeps their minds unclouded from the evil that would otherwise take over. Shadow creatures without these amulets also cannot exist in the light. During the day they must hide, because otherwise light will destroy them in minutes. WITH the amulets, they can SURVIVE the light, but they will feel drained and tired and weak in it. Shadow magic is a pretty even mix of Offensive Defensive and Charms.

This is just how magic is classified, though. In reality, with magic, you can do almost anything. You just have make the spell, first. It’s primarily fueled behind the purpose you give it, you just have to have the will of mind to make it happen. There are, of course, techniques behind certain spells that make them easier to cast and learn as a junior magic user... but really great masters of magic can do almost anything without even saying a word, and can make up spells on the spot with nothing but their own sheer will of mind.

Wands, as well, help to Channel one’s inner magical ability, and makes it easier to cast. Without a wand, magic tends to be more wild in nature, and unpredictable, if not just not work at all. Those who cast magic WITHOUT a wand, staff, or... some kind of magical focus, are all the more impressive, and also rare.

#puys #lore #Anonymous #Answered

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hillbillyoracle · 6 years

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Divination with DnD Dice

There seemed to be enough interest in the DnD Dice Divination system that I decided to go ahead and write it up. I couldn’t fit it all on here though so I might be making more posts in the future about it. I’ve included the most important stuff here to get started.

I’ve included a zine to download and print off if you want to take it with you. I actually recommend the zine, it’s a better format than what tumblr would let me put together.

Please consider tipping me and definitely credit me where you can.

I know there are other systems out there and I don’t have a monopoly on dice divination but this guide did take a lot of time to put together and is built on my own collection of frameworks, meanings.

Dice sets can be picked up for cheaper than most basic tarot decks making the barrier to entry lower. My goal was to create a system that could get a similar level of complexity of information to tarot and oracle cards. I found in test readings, I could get roughly the same as I would get from a four card reading. So it’s a good start!

It’s my mission to make divination more accessible, tipping me helps me devote more time to this.

Zine: https://www.scribd.com/document/380692727/Divination-With-DnD-Dice

If Scribd gives you trouble try here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21613135

Read description for printing directions or it might not come out right.

If you can’t print it off, the same information is included below the cut.

Hope someone finds this useful!

D4 - Element

1 - Air - Mental, Academic, Communication, Anxiety

2 - Fire - Spirituality, Passion, Ideals, Anger

3 - Water - Emotional, Romantic, Connection, Depression/Sadness

4 - Earth - Physical, Material, Home, Emotional Block

I use the Element dice to give an indication for the area of life the reading pertains the most too. I look for indications with other dice as to what the element dice might be speaking to more specifically, but it gives me a place to start.

D6 - Problem

1 - Plot - drama, conflict, things outside of your control, change

2 - Character - another person is blocking/causing problems, fixation on a person, possibly even loss of a person

3 - Thought - paradigms getting in the way, not in touch with reality, judgmental, fear/anxiety, getting stuck in your head

4 - Diction - how a person talks is causing problems, speaking too much/too little, passive aggression, divisive or hateful language

5 - Song - Harmony with another, being out of sync with oneself or another, learning to join the choir/group, teamwork

6 - Spectacle - Things seem worse than they actually are, petty fights, aesthetic/surface level changes, playing with how things are perceived to achieve an outcome

The Problem dice is based on Aristotle's Six Elements of Tragedy, a dramatic and literary analytical framework. I use this to see what might be the at the crux of the problem in the area the Element dice indicated. The Action Needed dice can also refine the Problem.

D8 - Action Needed

1 - Right View - seeing the situation for what it truly is, actions have consequences, material reality, paradigm shift

2 - Right Resolve - being intentional, recommitting, choosing what is right, dedication and ambition

3 - Right Speech - be honest/don't lie, don't be passive aggressive/be forthright, speak compassionately and for the benefit of others.

4 - Right Action - don't harm others, act compassionately and for the benefit of others, take positive action

5 - Right Livelihood - don't profit from harming others, long term commitment to benefiting others, take only what you need and give what you do not, ethical employment

6 - Right Effort - Exert influence on your environment to cultivate a better internal world, set strong boundaries, avoid negative influences and seek out positive ones, "just do the thing"

7 - Right Mindfulness - Don't make things out to be more than they are, see them for what they are, know life is in transition, don't define the self by these external transitory states

8 - Right Concentration - unification of the mind/body, unlocking higher levels of thinking and feeling and operating, don't let desire for what might be get in the way of what is, healthy detachment

The Action Needed dice is based on the Eightfold Path of Buddhism. While the particulars of the path vary by the different schools/traditions, these seem to be the most common English translations. This dice is usually pretty straight forward, especially when taken in consideration with the rest of the dice.

2D10 - Difficulty

Pretty self-explanatory. The higher the difficulty, the longer the process will take. Gives an indication about how important or long term the reading will be.

D12 - Time

The number can refer to a month of the year which you may have your own associations you can pull from or classify into a season and pull meanings from that. I use the seasonal method most often.

Winter - focus on the self, rest, restore yourself, weather the storm, be the light the world isn't giving you, inner strength

Spring - new beginnings, plant seeds, the rain and the storms lead to new growth

Summer - wait to harvest, find shade, relax

Fall - harvest, make preparations for winter, celebrate accomplishments.

You can also think of what sabbat is in that month and the lessons inherent in that holiday. It can also be time of day.

9-5 - Work related, stress, out of your control

5-12 - Free time, friends and family, hobbies

12-9 - rest, dream, restore yourself

AM if there are more even than odd numbers and PM if there more odd than even. You can also take the month and the time to be literal if the reading calls for it.

D20 - Lesson

1 - The Magician - jack of all trades, master of none, experiment, unfocused, learning, skilled but unrefined, beginning

2 - The High Priestess - balance, intuition, insight, between worlds, lessons learned while solitary

3 - The Empress - growing, flowering, creativity, taking what you have and making it thrive, thriving where you're planted

4 - The Emperor - expand, leader, confidence, step up and create the life you want/need, protect what/who you have

5 - The Hierophant - balance between material and spiritual, lessons learned from teachers, benevolence, structure

6 - The Lovers - connection, union, positive outlook, nostalgia, romanticism, love given freely

7 - The Chariot - power, confidence, leadership through passion/emotional intelligence, decisive action

8 - Strength - rely on internal direction/sense of self, internal strength and peace, resilience

9 - The Hermit - internal knowledge and discovery, minimalism, truth is inside you, you are capable on your own

10 - The Wheel of Fortune - things are outside of your control, this too shall pass, ebb and flow of fortune, reversal of luck

11 - Justice - objective truth, standing by/doing what is right, lawful good, cutting ties with deceivers, protect the community

12 - The Hanged Man - Insight, understanding impermanence, sudden realization, enlightenment, major paradigm shift

13 - Death - the old makes way for the new, the cycle of life, we all die in the end, reinvention

14 - Temperance - spiritual balance, abstaining from negative influences, taking responsibility for one's internal well being

15 - The Devil - materialism as bondage, enjoy pleasure without becoming victim to it, pleasure seeking as escapism

16 - The Tower - being shaken to the core, foundations pulled up, self of self overturned, ego shaken

17 - The Star - uneasy hope, possibilities, leaving and traveling, opportunities somewhere else, dare to dream

18 - The Moon - deception, things aren't always what they appear, intentions and actions do not line up, reflect, see the true nature of things

19 - The Sun - relax and enjoy your accomplishments, celebrate with friends and family, share your abundance, revel in joy

20 - Judgment - shine a light on everything, be honest, be critical and fair, lay firm boundaries, take up the old and make it new

The lesson dice is there to indicate what can be learned from the situation. Every situation is an opportunity to grow and evolve. It's based on the framework of the Major Arcana as teachers and posits that every situation can likewise be a teacher to us all. This dice can help refine the problem dice as well. It can be hard to keep this dice from getting preachy so make sure to be honest about what this dice is saying but temper it so as not to be patronizing.

Putting the Reading Together

Like all divination, the goal is to look for patterns and craft those patterns into coherent themes. Like reading a novel, you’re reading between the lines to make the reading more useable than the raw info the dice turn up. An example of my notes for a reading are:

D4 - Element: 2 - Fire

D6 - Problem: 3 - Thought

D8 - Action Needed: 3 - Right Speech

D10 - Importance: 51 - Middle

D12 - Time: Evening/Summer

D20 - Lesson: 8 – Strength

This is the reading I gave:

“The reading suggests there’s some conflict stemming from letting passion overtake reason in your interactions with others. You believe very passionately in your ideals, but how you talk about them to others looks like it’s causing tension. This seems like it will be of moderate difficulty to grapple with, not easy but by far not the hardest thing you’ve dealt with. The reading suggests being mindful of your words and advises to concentrate on your inner power rather than seeking validation for your ideas from others. “

When pulling together a reading you want to look for conflict, strengths, and resolution.

There was a lot of fire (passion) and air (communication) in this reading, while they work great in harmony, they can really hurt the user when out of balance so that was the conflict. Passion is a beautiful thing even when it’s not in alignment and I didn’t want the reader to think their ideals were the problem since the rest of the reading pointed out their words so their passion was their strength. The resolution lay in relying on their own internal strength for validation rather than others, that that would lead to better communication and less conflict overall.

I’m still learning myself. It takes practice so don’t give up!

I hope this was helpful! Please let me know how this works for you. I’m totally open to people changing it to fit them better but I wanted to provide a model for how this could be done. I also got some really solid readings out of it. So it definitely has potential.

#astraglomancy #dice divination #tarot #witch #witchy #witchblr #dnd #dnd dice #divination #pagan #magick #dnd divination #Dungeons and Dragons #witchcraft #dice

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nyxelestia · 5 years

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Xerxian Nouns

So there are three main components to nouns: grammatical gender (aka "noun class"), grammatical number, and grammatical case.

For Xerxian, I've combined grammatical number and gender into a noun class system with 4 genders, each with a different number system. The six cases, however, apply across all the noun classes.

Noun Classes

What Are Noun Genders and Numbers?

Grammatical gender does not exclusively mean masculine/feminine. All it means is that other parts of speech (i.e. adjectives) have to change to match to the noun. Americans might be familiar with this from Romance languages like Spanish, where you would say "el techo rojo" for "red roof", but "la mesa roja" for "red table".

Grammatical number means things like singular, plural, collective, paucal, etc. Where English just has "singular" (one) and "plural" (more than one), some languages have things like "dual" (two) and "paucal" (a few/group of). There are also "mass nouns" (can't be counted without a quantifier, i.e. 'sand' vs 'grain of sand') and "collective nouns" ('flock' vs 'bird').

You can learn more about grammatical number and gender here.

Xerxian Grammatical Genders and Numbers

I wanted to have grammatical gender, but not sex-based ones. In addition, I want Xerxian to be at least somewhat influenced by alchemy. So, I created genders based on the four classical elements of alchemy: Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. Then I gave each one its own number structure, making that number structure the primary definition of the genders/noun classes.

Air - Mass, Quantified Mass

Water - Collective, Singulative, Plurative

Earth - Singular, Paucal, (Distributive) Plural

Fire - Singular, Plural

Air / Aerial Nouns - Mass, Quantified Mass

Air nouns are mass nouns - they don't have a singular or plural form because they do not exist in a countable state. For example, water: you can only count it once there is a classifier (i.e. "drops" of water) or in some kind of container ("buckets"), but there is no such thing as "two waters" (unless there is context implying a classifier, such as ordering two cups of water at a restaurant). Once there is such a classifier, though, it is now a 'quantified mass' noun.

Most elements are mass nouns, as are things like powders, gasses, and liquids. Other aerial nouns include substances; components/ingredients of another thing; certain abstract concepts, like "time"; and fields of profession or information, like "agriculture".

Water / Aquatic Nouns - Collective, Singulative, Plurative

Water nouns are collective-singulative nouns. They start out referring to a collection or group, and then the noun gets changed in some way to indicate a specific instance of it. This structure does not exist in English, but examples of this exist in Welsh and Arabic.

i.e. In the natural world, we generally see a bunch of birds together, moreso than we see one on its own. So in a collective-singulative system, "flock" might be the default term, and then you change the word to indicate "one of a flock", re: a (single) bird. This can then be turned into plural again, and in this system such a term is called a plurative. For example, if I see two birds flying around - there is clearly more than one bird, but they are not a flock. This is what the plurative form is for.

Earth / Terran Nouns - Singular, Paucal, (Distributive) Plural

Earth nouns have singular, paucal, and plural nouns. Singular is pretty obvious/self-explanatory.

Paucal nouns generally mean "a few of". In Xerxian, it often carries an additional connotation of those few being in a collection or group of some sort. There is no set number this applies to (though generally will be used for ten or fewer nouns). If you can figure out how many of the things there are just by looking at it or without having to count it off, it's probably paucal.

For the most part, the Earth plural is for anything where there is too many to figure out many there are just by glance. But you might also use it for a few of something, if they are not "together" so to speak. So if you have five tools on your belt, you'll use the paucal, and if you've got a large bag of tools you'll use the plural. But if five workmen are each holding up their own tool, you might also use the plural then, even though there are only five tools.

This noun class is common in day to day life, as it usually refers to most man-made objects, as well as people and some animals.

Fire / Incendiary Nouns - Singular, Plural

Fire nouns follow the pattern most familiar to English speakers, singular and plural, so it doesn't need much explaining.

This noun class encompasses anything with a beginning and an ending. The most obvious examples are weather events and natural phenomena, such as rain, earth quakes, day and night, sunrise and sunset, etc. This also includes events like lessons, ceremonies, or festivals abstract ideas like "life", and common temporally spanning occurrences like "stories". And, of course, fire itself - fires have to be started, and eventually they all burn out.

"Multi-Gender"/Multi-Class Nouns

In gendered languages, there are often nouns which can take on more than one gender, and usually change nuance or meaning when they do, such as in Spanish. For example, the world "busca" means a 'pager' in the masculine form, but a 'search' in the feminine form.

Similarly, some nouns in Xerxian can taken on multiple genders, and usually change nuance or meaning when they do.

For example, "alchemy" is normally an Air noun - alchemy is a general activity/abstract concept, so therefore it is effectively a mass noun. When used as a Fire noun, it means a transmutation. Where in ~~Amestrian~~ English, there are two separate words for these two things ("alchemy" vs "transmutation"), in Xerxian, there is just one word, but with different genders/classes to mean the two different things.

Noun Cases

What are Noun cases?

Grammatical case is the role of the noun in a sentence. For example, in the sentence "Mei kisses Al", Mei is the subject, Al is the object. English uses word order to indicate case, so "Mei kisses Al" and "Al kisses Mei" have different meanings. Some languages change (decline) their nouns to indicate case. The only example of this in English is in pronouns: "she kisses him" vs "he kisses her". In a language where all the nouns do this (and has free word order), "she kisses him" and "him kisses she" mean the same thing: that Mei is the one kissing, and Al is receiving the kiss.

The subject does not always have to be "committing" the verb, though. In the sentence, "Your face asplode!", the subject "your face" is carrying out the verb of "exploding", even though in context this verb is actually being caused by an external agent, not the subject.

There are also a lot of other noun 'roles', such as the instrumental case. In the sentence, "Winry hits Ed with a wrench", Winry is the subject, Ed is the object, and the wrench is the 'instrument' of that sentence's verb.

You can learn more about grammatical case here.

Xerxian Cases

Mesopatamian languages (being one of the main inspirations for Xerxian) tended to have a lot of cases. However, the majority of Xerxian's other inspiration languages (i.e. Semitic, Ancient Greek) used something called nominative-accusative, which is different from Sumerian's ergative-absolutive system. So, I settled on these cases (with quick demonstration/simple explanation):

Alphonse sent the letter to Edward's house in Risembool via courier.

Nominative (subject) = Alphonse - he's the one doing the sending

Accusative (direct object) = the letter - the thing that's experiencing the verb/being sent

Dative (indirect object) = house - the thing having something sent to it

Genitive (possessive) = Edward - who the house belongs to

Locative (proximity/location) = in Risembool - where the sending is happening

Instrumental (tool/method) = via courier - how the verb/sending is happening

This is also the most common noun/word order they appear in, in Xerxian (though not the only one). You can find more information about these cases on Wikipedia.

#xerxes #fma #fullmetal alchemist #conlang #conlanging #full metal alchemist #xerxian conlang #xerxian #nyxie conlangs #fma conlangs #linguistics

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douxreviews · 5 years

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The Craft (1996) Review

"Now is the time, now is the hour. Ours is the magic, ours is the power."

Witchy powers given to angsty teenagers, what could go wrong?

(This review includes spoilers.)

This movie happens in fours. There are four main characters. Four directions. Four elements. Even the movie can be seen as four parts: 1) New girl in town. 2) Girls forming a bond. 3) It's all fun and games until someone gets thrown through a window. 4) Magic tears them apart/final showdown/Bug-o-rama. I appreciate patterns I can follow.

The new girl in town is Sarah. Her family moves into a mansion in Los Angeles that's been neglected and is now falling apart. I only mention this because with all the overgrown vines and snakes, it looks like somewhere that's closer to a swamp in Louisiana than any part of LA that I've seen. Sarah is a natural born witch (she can balance pencils with her mind, don't be jealous), and has always felt like an outcast. Probably because she was sporadically going deaf, but whatevs, it makes her more than ready to embrace friendship with the fellow outcasts or as they're affectionately known, 'The Bitches of Eastwick.' Chris, the cool jock, takes an interest in the new girl too, and of course proceeds to spread rumors about her promiscuity and lack of a skill set in bed. Naturally, this makes him even more appealing to her and she eventually casts a spell "to love [herself] more and allow [herself] to be loved more by others. Especially Chris Hooker." You know what they say... if he's mean to you and shows a general lack of respect, then he must be a good guy underneath that really cares about you.

Bonnie is a burn victim with low self-esteem. You can tell because in the first part of the movie she wears a lot of giant coats (which have to be uncomfortable in the heat of LA), keeps her hair in her face and never looks up. She wants "to be beautiful outside as well as in," and once she gets it she heads straight for the backless shirts and push-up bras, because who wouldn't?

The bonding part of the movie is my favorite. It's so cheesy and predictable that it's perfect. They laugh, they watch Bewitched reruns, play light as a feather stiff as a board and have glamour makeovers. So much fun is had, but it all falls apart when Chris becomes an obsessed stalker and Rochelle's bully start losing her golden locks. There was that scene when Rochelle couldn't look at herself in the mirror, so her reflection turned away from her, but other than Sarah the girls showed no remorse for the people that were affected by magic. In the end, it splintered the group.

Mean Girls taught me that every group of girls needs a leader, no matter how insane. Enter Nancy. She's probably off her rocker from the beginning, but the power she receives turns out to be too much for her to handle. She uses them to kill her stepdad (he sort of had it coming), get rich, and if that's not enough she also wants "all the power of manon." The thing about Nancy is she doesn't bother me nearly as much as Bonnie and Rochelle. Sure, she earned the room in that padded cell, but insanity can't be helped. The betrayal and blatant disregard for their actions could be. Bad sister witches, no broomsticks for a week.

For me, watching this movie is like listening to The Spice Girls. I still enjoyed every minute of it, but how much of that is due to nostalgia?

2 or 3 out of 4 kaleidoscopes of butterflies??

Bits and Pieces

I wonder if those dead sharks that manon sent Nancy came with gift receipts, because they really won't go with anything.

At one point Rochelle said that Sarah made Laura Lizzie's hair fall out? Did she make all the wishes come true or was it just meant as a thank you for showing up and completing the compass circle?

When the girls 'called the corners' I noticed the following... — Rochelle brought a fish and called to the west with the powers of water and intuition. She was on the swim team. — Bonnie brought a butterfly and called to the south with the powers of fire and feeling. She was burned by fire and had scars all over her body. — Sarah brought a bird and called to the north with the powers of mother and earth. Her mother died during childbirth. — Nancy brought a snake and called to the east with the powers of air and invention. I can't make a connection here, and I've tried.

Also, the animals they brought were sacrificed, right? Isn't that the first sign of an unstable person?

There were two instances of leaky roofs. First, when Sarah got to her new house and again in Nancy's trailer right before her step-dad died.

The way Bonnie's spell backfires is a little confusing. She becomes mean. She specifically said that she wanted to be beautiful on the inside and the outside. So did her spell only half work?

The magic shop owner served as the obligatory sage teacher, but they never listened to her so I don't know that she really served much point other than candle provider.

The bugs were a bit much, but effective. I would almost certainly die of a panic attack.

Chris: "Oh, shit. It's the bitches of Eastwick."

Bonnie: "Everything in nature steals, you know. Big animals steal from little ones." Sarah: "Animals steal for survival."

Bus Driver: "You girls watch out for those weirdos." Nancy: "We are the weirdos, mister."

Rochelle: "I think she doesn't want to be white trash anymore, but I told her, like, you're white, honey, just deal with it."

Lirio: "True magic is neither dark nor white. It's both because nature is both. Loving and cruel all at the same time."

Lirio: "Whatever you send out, you get back times three."

Bonnie: "I spent a big chunk of my life being a monster and now that I'm not I'm trying to enjoy myself. Sorry if that bothers you."

Sarah: "Let's go." Nancy: "No. He's gotta pay." Chris: "You're just jealous." Was he right? I mean she seemed to get most upset after he rejected her each time.

Nancy: "God, if I was as pathetic as you are I would've killed myself ages ago. Get on with it."

#The Craft #Robin Tunney #Fairuza Balk #Neve Campbell #Rachel True #Doux Reviews #Movie Reviews

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