#Spiritualist journal

[brontelenoir-alarie]

What the story of The Fall means to me, and how I relate to it.

One of my favorite tumblr creators I've stumbled upon has these really awesome journaling prompts and I thought to share some of my writing on this post of zeirs in particular. Faces of Lucifer #2 talks about Lucifer being the Fallen Angel. Where some may think Lucifer is prone to evil and dispassion, there is no other that can understand the need for tender benevolence, protection and a shoulder to lean on when you are hurt, betrayed and drown trodden.

Zey provide a few prompts and other information. I highly recommend searching zeir page and enjoying their writing prompts! (Credits at end of Journal)

Since a good amount of my time in the Luciferian faith is spent scrutinizing over Christ worshiping scripture, I want to start by dissecting A scripture from Ezekiel, and two statements pulled from a Christ worshiping minister.

First I’ll start with the scripture:

“You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God…You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings” (Ezekiel 28:12–17 NIV).”

I can’t help but feel bitter when I read this. From the mouth of the Christ God, he agrees, stating that Lucifer was the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect beauty. The Christ God anointed him as a protector, The Christ God had given Lucifer a place in Eden. Lucifer was loved, and given love before jealousy and feelings of inadequacy took everything from him.

“Since Lucifer had been the model of perfection, what sort of sin led to his fall? His heart became proud because of his incredible beauty. Lucifer allowed his perfection to be the cause of his corruption.”

Lucifer’s great “evil”, is Pride. Pride in himself, in what the Christ God had indeed created knowingly... Lucifer also had ‘corrupted his wisdom with splendor’ which sounds a lot like “You were being too creative with your resources; we are feeling pretty wasteful and incompetent in comparison so….we can’t have that..”

I also don’t think Lucifer LET these things be the cause of his corruption… If you can really call any of this corrupt. I feel like there was no reason to fight against these accusations. Lucifer has and always will be the light bringer, a Harold of truth. Lucifer had no reason to fight his own authenticity.

After all why spend time squabbling over what is true and righteous? He must have known all along that this would happen eventually and he would just live for himself, un-apologetically, to be his highest and more perfect self.

Other angels fell with him...

“Scripture tells us that he took one-third of the angels (see Revelation 12:4)”

If my math is right, Revelation 5:11 says the angelic host was 10,000 x 10,000, which would equal 100,000,000 angels in the heavens and 33,333,333(.33) left when Lucifer was cast from heaven.

Whether or not these numbers are true, as they are stated by the bible, it seems as if Lucifer was not the only being that was affected by the unfairly contradictory nature of the Christ God.

The story of The Fall is only more proof of the nature between Lucifer and the Christ God for me. There is nothing that can convince me that the true nature of the Christ God is an ugly mess. Lucifer has and always will be the Truth.

I have had to think for a little bit on how I relate to this and how I would like to talk present those thoughts, I don’t like digging up old bones, but if there is something I have learned from Luciferianism is that there will usually always have to be hurt before we heal. It can be scary, but I am not alone in the process.

I have been a “Zero contact” family member for a long while. This is for several reasons, one of which is being un-apologetically myself. I spoke many truths into my home growing up, all of them fell on deaf ears, these truths had to do with lots of abuse and things that didn’t make sense. I needed explanations, I needed love, I needed honesty.

I stood by my truths, and I found closure in different ways, but these truths and independence led to some of my first fall-outs in my family.

At first, I remember feeling nothing but anger. Of course, this anger was veiled hurt, betrayal and abandonment. How can the same people tell me that they love me so much, so unconditionally and then turn around and tell me they hate the way I feel? Hate the way I think? Hate me?

Slowly but surely over the years all contact has been severed.

I still feel the loneliness, and jealousy of others that have not been forgotten and left behind by the people that are supposed to cherish them. However, I can find comfort and love from those that choose to be in my life, including the love of Lucifer, which I feel like I was truly meant for and those like myself. The warmth of his light can usually make my darkest days just a little more bearable. I know I can be understood, and I know he is always there for those that need him.

I did not know cosmic love until I found Luciferianism. What an absolute gift it is.

Gustave Doré, Paradise Lost, Book I (1866): “Him the Almighty Power / Hurled headlong flaming from th’ ethereal sky.” (I.44-45) . Sigil of Lucifer divider by: @peculiar-666 Journal Prompts by: @czortofbaldmountain "Faces of Lucifer #2"

#Left Hand Path #LHP #LeftHandPath #Spirituality #Healing trauma #Spiritual path #Demons #Baphomet #Lucifer #Demon work #LHP essay #Spiritualist journal #Satanist #Left Hand Path journal #Left Hand Path experiences #LHP calling #Luciferian Gene #Path of Cain #spiritualjourney #spiritualawakening #spiritual evolution #consciousness #personal essay

[raining-tulips]

i had a dream Venus got married in a golden room where the floor looked liked Saturn's rings. in the center of the room was a floating representation of her planet. something delayed the wedding.

#dream journal #dream magick #dream work #witchy #witchblr #new age #spiritual journey #spiritualist

[astrogirlvian]

Samhain Rituals

create a comfortable environment, make a sacred space, use a small table or grounding area. utilize special objects or symbols that hold meaning to you. Flowers, beads, seasonal decorations are good for decorating the alter.

Use photos of your ancestors, or items that belonged to them. Place them on your altar too. play some calming music, light some candles, and/or burn some incense. Call upon the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water— Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Visualize the energy from Mother Earth entering your body from the ground below. Embrace the energy of the God and Goddess. meditate on the changing of the seasons and the cycle of life and death.

Speak aloud your prayers, wishes, and intentions for the upcoming season.

Leave them an offering (like a poem, glass of water , a song, or their favorite food or beverage). Take a moment of silence to meditate (like a prayer), Notice your intentions, your feelings, and inner desires, let yourself be known and your voice be heard, ask for your guidance, for patience, and resilience 💪🏽 when you feel the circle is complete, and you are ready, blow out your candles, thanking your ancestors for their time, thank the elements and the gods and goddesses. Then offer the food and beverages back to the Earth.

🕯️For safety reasons, please make sure to BLOW OUT YOUR CANDLE 🕯️, never leave a lit candle unattended.

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💌 Connect with me on a deeper level! Follow my Social Media 👉🏽 @Viansworld28 for daily insights and mystical wisdom. Click the link in the bio ♥️

#Samhain #spiritual #spirituality #rituals #ritual #tradition #meditation #meditate #element #traditions #channeledmessages #spiritualist #intentions #journal #gods #goddess #peaceful #prayer

[yourwitchmama]

How do I make my dreams become reality? Pick a Crystal

Get ready for some tough love

Diamond:

You’re going to have to be more realistic about your dreams. Will you be a billionaire with what you are doing right now? Is it realistic that you’ll get into the music industry? Acting? Preforming? You need to start small and work relentlessly. Dreaming and doing the bare minimum is not going to get you anywhere.

If you want to be signed to an agency, are you taking acting classes? Singing classes? Any music classes? Are you going to school to learn about music, acting, or production? Are you healthy and ready for a perfect reputation? A social media screening test?

This also may be a sign from the universe that you must see the bigger picture of what you want to do in life. Write in a journal, in detail, why you want these things. Keep asking why like a child until you know exactly why you want it and why you feel it is your purpose.

Ruby:

You dream of a perfect relationship/friend group.

If you want to be with someone and have a successful relationship or a friend group, it’s important to get back to the basics of what it means to be in a relationship. It takes time, effort, and selflessness.

Are you ready to call a friend at midnight for hours to let them vent about their breakup? Are you ready to make plans with people and keep them? Are you able to be in a group where you may not like one person? Are you ready for a complicated dynamic? Are you ready to be vulnerable? Are you able to go into this with an open heart and an open mind?

Ask yourself these questions on pen and paper. Maybe you are too afraid of making the right decision. With social lives, you need to dive in and find your way to the right people through experience. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Amethyst

You’re a mystical independent person, perhaps you want to grow as a spiritualist or build a business. Maybe you want to combine the two.

Take your manifestation to a new level by listening to the universe. When you’re doing or thinking the right thing, you’ll see repeating numbers such as 111, 222, 333, etc. this will usually be on a clock. Let the numbers guide you on your journey to success. If the universe offers you an opportunity, take it.

Do not let fear or hesitation get in your way. The universe will give you signs, but don’t hyper fixate on them. Notice them and see if they are relevant. Focus on expansion and exploring unknown territories with an open mind.

Quartz:

You just want to be comfortable, possibly have a family, a significant other, and a generally stable life. You’re DONE. You want peace. It is important for you to budget, pay your small debts off, and use the extra money you get from not having those debts by paying off bigger debts.

Debt is easy to accumulate and hard to get rid of. Being frugal and strategic is going to be your best friend if you want to have a stable life with stable people. Take care of your body, mind, and soul and think about your future. Ask yourself, “do I really need that?” “Will I use that in a month?” “Is this an impulse buy?”

reading books on how to manage your money and make good relationships will also be helpful. If we grow up around people who do not make good financial decisions, or we grew up without much of anything anyway, it’s easy to slip into that pattern because it is all we know.

Start small.

#witchcraft #magic #witch #magick #pagan #paganism #crystals #wicca #metaphysical #pick a pile #pick a card #pick a crystal #tarot readings #psychic readings #psychic reading #witchblr #Crystal healing

[kakiastro]

Lunar Taurus Eclipse

Date : October 28th, 2023

Hey yall! I decided to start doing important transits announcements. As you know and probably been feeling is the upcoming lunar Eclipse. Now mind we still feeling the effects from the Solar eclipse in Libra

What is in an eclipse?

-It’s when the celestial bodies, the Sun and Moon light is blocked for a short period of time.

How long do they last?

- the actual eclipse don’t last long but the energy of the eclipse last for 6 about months.

What do they mean spiritually and astrologically?

-Many astrologers and spiritualist alike believe eclipse are signatures of life changing events. Whether it’s the ending of a cycle or the beginning of a new one.

This is the last Taurus eclipse cycle that we’ll have for a while. This Taurus eclipse cycle started back November 2021 so check back on the events in your life during that time.

-for me, this is when I started my Tumblr blog, so it’s full circle that I’m making this post lol. Taurus rules my 11h of social media!

-Taurus is the 2nd sign of the zodiac. It rules over our values, self worth, finances, our physical home, our voice.

-Lunar (Moon) is our emotions, mom, immediate family, the karmic cycles in our life. Whenever the moon changes phases so do we!

This eclipse is ruled by Venus which is in its fall of Virgo. Venus isn’t comfortable in Virgo so this transit will be intense

Taurus eclipse is also opposing the Sun, Mercury and Mars which heightens the restless feelings.

So what do you need to do?

Rest, drink lots of water, listen to feel good music. Watch your words and thoughts. Journal or do voice notes if you need to get the words out of your head. Emotions will be strong so try to only watch feel good movies and shows. Release what no longer serve you.

Affirmations I personally use, now you can create your own but for beginners who need an example on where to start.

“if there’s anything or anyone blocking me from reaching my potential, then I release them with love.”

“I’m thankful for all the lessons I’ve learned in this cycle whether it was through people or through my own situations. I’m ready to start this new cycle in my life with an open mind and heart, let my new journey be one filled with love.”

“With this new journey, let it be filled with people who has genuine love, and wants the best for me and I them.”

After saying or writing these, just start living your life normally and let God/Universe/Source, whoever you believe do the rest.

Eclipse energy is tiring plus we’re still feeling the last one. So try to get as much rest as you possibly can.

#astrology #astrology community #knowledge #love astrology #astro observations #advanced astrology #birth chart #taurus #eclipse

[shiningmystic]

What I learned from my therapist is that there are 2 steps to fully letting go of emotions:

expression and action.

Expression can be like speaking or journaling your true thoughts and not letting any judgment cloud what you should and shouldn’t write; just do it even if it’s shameful and not you (also take note of your reactions to those thoughts you want to write bad or good). You are only expressing what doesn’t deserve to be trapped within! This is the time to also show compassion to yourself even if what your feeling is “wrong” that does not matter because those feelings are still VALID.

Then action is the second step to letting your body let go of these intense/traumatic emotions, physical activity is letting your body know you are moving out of the stress or intense emotion and releasing chemicals that will help you feel better if not just give you an activity to focus on. For me I exercise (mainly running) and think of the things that have left me feeling like crap (edit: if you don’t want to think of the pain as you take action that’s ok the expression part already acknowledges it) and just go for it!

Other ways of expression are: any vent art form like painting, writing, speaking/talking to a friend; you can incorporate action within expression such as dance, singing edit: writing/ playing music.

Other ways of taking action: running, hiking, get outside in nature, breaking inanimate objects (please make sure you are safe and do not hurt yourself or others while doing this, I ripped apart a mattress with friends and it was awesome!) again you can incorporate expression into action like the examples above: singing, dancing, edit: instrument strumming, playing your favorite music on your instrument or creating music.

Letting go is one of the things I don’t see many spiritualists explain how to do and this is not a one and done deal if you need multiple sessions for yourself to express please go for it!! Healing is an up and down journey and I want to keep sharing what I have learned so you may transform into the butterflies I know you all are 😊

(I’m not claiming this will work right away or for everyone, it does take time and patience for self, it also depends on how deep the pain is and how long your body may have held onto the stress, be gentle my friends)

-ShiningMystic 💕

#therapy #it’s ok to feel emotions #even the bad ones #what I learned #shmtalks #spirituality #letting go #ways of letting go #spiritual journey #trauma #past trauma #trauma healing #cptsd healing #witchblr #spiritblr #psychology

[8rujaa]

i find it so interesting that the steps to healing the nervous system are pretty much the same steps to aligning your chakras. psychologists and spiritualists oftentimes will recommend the same things to heal: meditation, time with nature, journaling, yoga, etc. ironically, thanks to science i feel so much more connected to the divine and my higher self again 💚

#i don’t ever want to let anyone or anything ruin the peace i’ve tried so so hard to cultivate ever again ☀️ #i’ve been learning a lot about psychosomatic illnesses and how to heal a disregulated nervous system #ive been applying the knowledge and trying my hardest to heal my brain and body. and I feel like im Almost me again :) #i’m glad my efforts have been paying off after a long long time of trial and error with no success :) #magic is everywhere and i can see it again!!! #brain vomit

[sisteresstarot]

Religion VS. Spirituality

Can Spirituality still follow Religion??

If you're part of the spiritual community, I assume you're familiar with the numerous practices associated with spirituality: Tarot, palmistry, crystal ball reading, meditation, journaling, sound healing bowls, healing crystals, yoga, connecting with nature, and more.

One common misconception about spirituality is its frequent association with 'demonic practices,' which is untrue. People tend to believe that engaging in spirituality means opposing their own god, any god, or your god. In reality, for the majority, it's quite the opposite.

What is Religion? Religion involves organized practices within a community, centered around worshipping a god. Conversely, spirituality revolves around becoming one with god.

I view spirituality as more of a lifestyle than a religion. Ever wondered how you can be a spiritualist and, at the same time, a Christian, Hindu, Islamic follower, etc.? That's because you can embody both. You can remain connected within your religion while embracing a spiritualist lifestyle. Spirituality is a way of life. Religion involves awareness of your god, whereas spirituality signifies the steps taken to unite with your god.

Spirituality is nothing more than personal development, drawing you closer to your higher self and fostering a connection with your god.

If you’d like a tarot reading from me, please email me

[email protected]

As always, be safe.

#spirituality #spiritual disciplines #spiritual awakening #religion #holy spirit #jesus christ #tarot reading #tarotcommunity #divination #divine feminine #the divine masculine #witch #witchcraft #psychic #tarot requests #free tarot reading #tarot #spiritual knowledge #spiritualgrowth #spiritual guidance #guidance

[thejewitches]

The History of Book of Shadows

As many practitioners, occultists & witches work to decentralize and remove Wicca from their practices, one element that often remains is the term “Book of Shadows”.

Because of the homogenization of Wicca & witchcraft, particularly within pop culture, the term BoS has become synonymized with witchcraft as a whole. But let’s look at the origins of the term & how it even made its way into Wicca.

Gerald Gardner, before his foray in ‘creating’ a religion, was a novelist. According to some, he merely published under the guise of fiction due to the laws regarding witchcraft at the time, however; Others believe a narrative more similar to that of L Ron Hubbard’s failed foray into fiction. His early novel serves as a crystallization of the evolution of his beliefs before Wicca and as such:  there is no trace of the term Book of Shadows. Doreen Valiente, who'd become a High Priestess of Wicca, illuminates why this is. Gardner only discovered the term in 1949 because of 'The Occult Observer'. Published within Volume I, Number 3 of the Occult Observer was Kashmiri palmist Mir Bashir’s article "The Book of Shadows"

His article delved into a Sanskrit text known as The Book of Shadows. The publisher of the magazine was the very same as the publisher of Gardner’s fiction. Advertised within the same magazine was Gardner’s novel, High Magic’s Aid, written under the pen name, Scire.

The Book of Shadows that Bashir writes of is a Sanskrit text that discusses divination using ones shadow and the article follows Bashir and a friend as they travel to visit a pundit who performs said divination using his duplicate of the original Book of Shadows .If you’re interested in reading about the Book of Shadows, you can find a PDF version of the Occult Observer here, where you can read Bashir’s account.

Soon after his novel is advertised in the same magazine that publishes the article on the BOS, Gardner names his book of rites and magic “The Book of Shadows”. Before this, Valiente notes it was very rarely referred to as “The Black Book” within his fiction, but never the a Book of Shadows.

Gardner’s own BoS, she notes, was filled with direct plagiarism from older magical grimoires, as well as the works of Crowley, Masonic rites, & more.  When confronted by Valiente regarding how much of his work was blatantly copied from Crowley, with whom Valiente looked upon with disdain, Gardner said, “well, if you think you can do any better, go ahead”—which she did. Her version erases much of Crowley's influence but takes influence from other writings.

Gardner’s BoS was not what we see today: a personal journal filled with knowledge and documentation of rituals specific to the practitioner, but belonged to the Coven, controlled by the High Priest/Priestess, from which members could at times copy, depending on the coven.

This distinct evolution into a personal journal is sharply divided open, as others conflate it with ‘grimoire’, a book of spells/magic. This evolution of what the term means has, in many ways, shifted how the term is viewed at all within spiritual spaces.

Many contemporary witches/pagans distinguish between the two by stating that a BoS is a personal journal while a grimoire is a textbook of descriptions, spells, rituals & the like, with no personal documentation/thoughts/etc. But this is seemingly subjectively used.

We can argue the 'definition' as provided by the dictionary, of course, but we must also acknowledge how genuine human use varies from dictionary definitions. Book of Shadows has become a term that people expect to hear from spiritualists--regardless of their background

The 'baseline' of Wicca & Wicca-based practices as the 'standard' of witchcraft means that even those who do not ever intend to interact with Wicca do so by immersion--simply being in modern 'witch' spaces means constant contact. And we are not guilt-free either--in the early days of Jewitches, in order to find stability within a community that was, and is, uncomfortable with our manner of magic, we infrequently used the term BoS, thinking it would be an easier way to communicate--but it was never right.

Read more: The Occult Observer, PDF version

 Doreen Valiente's The Rebirth of Witchcraft (1989)

#book of shadows #witchcraft #wicca #wiccan #gardner #gerald gardner #witchy #witchblr #jewitch #jewitches #bos #grimoire #magick #magic #witch #witches

[vagabroadjournals]

At some point the journal makes a demand of us and that is that we change. If we are keeping the books we are meant to keep, then all of these entries we’re recording are initiation. What else is all of this writing for? WHAT ELSE ARE YOU DOING HERE? What are we REALLY doing as we keep our journals? Is it for aesthetics? Is it for clout in a society we are realizing is increasingly and proudly evil, perverted, genocidal and pledged to violence? If so many herbalists then how come there’s no mass healing? If so many spiritualists how come so little deliverance? If so many diarists, then how come so few have revelation and walk in discretion as if wisdom herself is their mother? How come so few witnesses? The motive of all that we do manifests in how we are able or unable to show up when the times call for it.

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If we have allowed capitalism to insert itself as the replacement for our mandate and the dreams it birthed in us to carry out, then we have sold our birthrights in exchange for the lie of success in this system. The god you really serve manifests in the words you are able to share, the books you are able to write, the enemies, you fearlessly confront by name and the indictment you are capable of holding in all its sharpness. Your ultimate goal in keeping your books should be the ability to walk as a sword, dismantling lies, systems, and strongholds and chokeholds with your life and with your voice. We’re not writing as reluctant recluses, who decided to shun the responsibility of ancestry in exchange for being untimely and hidden. What we are given in our books is what we are given to carry out and if that means some of us are assassins, then we cannot fear this either.

#journaling #vagabroad journals #journal #writing #journey soulfully #handmade journal #journal writing #journal entries #Black woman

[monkberryfields]

hi Mads, I was your secret Santa🦋!!! It’s been really great getting to know you this month! Merry Christmas, I hope you had a very happy holiday!! 💜

ooh I’m glad your professor liked your paper, that’s always the best feeling <3 my nature writing was based on an awareness journal where I went to the same wooded area for a couple months, and it felt really great to synthesize my observations and get more philosophical about what I saw :) I hadn’t really written any creative nonfiction before, so it made me feel really good to create a product that I was happy with! and I’d love to hear about your masters thesis if you’re comfortable sharing!!

the premade cookie dough is where it’s at!! I really like to bake breads and pretty much anything with fruit lol. my roommate and I like to bake together to destress. pies can be a lot of work, but I bet you felt really accomplished after baking those for thanksgiving!!

I studied in Switzerland! I finished my minor in French while I was there, and it was such a great opportunity for me to deepen my language study and practice. where would you have wanted to study abroad if you’d had the opportunity?

My gift highlights were some queen albums (jazz and hot space) on colored vinyl, a really nice cardigan, and some eyeshadow palettes! what about you??

my dms and ask box are always open if you want to chat! again, merry christmas, enjoy your time off, and have a great next semester! 🥰🥰🥰

Hello friend!! I had a pretty relaxing Christmas thank you!!

My gift highlights include some kitchen appliances, including an air fryer which I am really excited about! I got some albums like George Harrison's Cloud Nine and Wings' Wild Life (which means I now have all Wings' albums on vinyl). I also got A Hard Day's Night on DVD and the new Mal book! I also have a birthday at the end of this week so I'm expecting more gifts, lol.

That actually sounds really cool and introspective! It must have been really rewarding to combine your thoughts into something like that. My master's thesis is under construction (as I had to rewrite my outline a bit), but this is basically what it is. I'm going to analyze how women have gained autonomy (physical and societal) through communicating with spirits + the dead. I was focusing on the American Spiritualist movement for the most part, but I also wanted to focus on African American women's experiences during the same time of the movement (Mid to late 1800s). I'm going to try and outline my first chapter (I aim to have at least 3 chapters), so I'll probably work on it after my birthday.

I do feel accomplished after baking! I really like to bake, I just wish I could do it more often. I think one of my goals for the next year is to do more baking/cooking for myself, so I'm going to find some cool things to create.

Switzerland sounds so fun! I bet it was such a pretty place to study at. If I could have studied abroad, I would have wanted to go to Ireland or the UK. Maybe even Berlin! If I eventually go into a PhD program like I want to, I may be able to travel to study but we'll see!!

It was really nice to get to know you this December! And yes, let's continue to chat! My messages and inbox are always open and I try to message when I can! I'm glad your holiday went alright and thanks for being a good sport!! :)))

#asks #cottagehowell #srs23

[834k]

You know, the two Hocus Pocus movies are actually a great case study for how the perception of witches has changed over time and especially in the 29 year period between the two movies. In the first movie, the Sanderson Sisters were very much in line with old views of witches as seen in Macbeth and other older media. They are pure evil old women who keep gross things around and drain the life out of children to keep them young and good-looking. They have lucky rat-tails and evil eyeball books and are objectively the villains.

The second movie paints the sisters in a slightly different light. All of a sudden they are sympathetic victims who got kicked out of their home by an angry mob for refusing to be married off against their will. They are strong women who have taken the power that wasn't given to them and they are shown to have a deep bond and care about each other. They went from needlessly cruel villains to people acting out against the cruelty of the world around them. But the movie couldn't just make them the heroes of the sequel and so we are shown the modern witch.

The main character of the film is a spiritualist who discovers she is a witch too and uses the Power Of Friendship to defeat her adversary. The magic she likes more closely reflects the magic used by irl mystics and witches. She stands up against bullies and isn't like other girls, basically the picture perfect kids movie protagonist. Witches in media have gone from Villains to victims and are now the heroes. The two movies are like a perfect time capsule and journal on the perception of the witch and I just think it's so interesting and cool how we have this example right there for us.

#hocus pocus #the sanderson sisters #witches

[mediaevalmusereads]

Possession. By A.S. Byatt. Vintage International, 1990.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Genre: literary fiction

Part of a Series? No.

Summary: Winner of England's Booker Prize and the literary sensation of the year, Possession is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once an intellectual mystery and a triumphant love story. It is the tale of a pair of young scholars researching the lives of two Victorian poets. As they uncover their letters, journals and poems, and track their movements from London to Yorkshire - from spiritualist séances to the fairy-haunted far west of Brittany - what emerges is an extraordinary counterpoint of passions and ideas.

***Full review under the cut.***

Overview: This book has been on my TBR pile for a while, and I was in the mood for something academic, so I picked it up (finally). Overall, I was struck by the "learned-ness" of this book; Byatt is clearly a very intelligent writer who knows how to write beautiful, evocative prose. I very much enjoyed the academic rigor that was put into crafting this story, and I loved the focus on poetry and its influences. While some readers might be put off by this book's density and some might feel in over their head, Possession is nevertheless a masterfully crafted work, and I look forward to discovering more from Byatt in the future.

Writing: Byatt's prose is literary in feel; it moves at a fairly slow yet deliberate pace and is full of descriptions that infuse both the modern day and the Victorian era with a kind of otherworldliness. I really liked how each chapter evoked the senses; I could almost smell Roland's apartment or the dusty books in the library. I could almost taste the rich dinners that Cropper ordered or the salty air by the ocean. It was all marvelously done, and Byatt has a real talent for manipulating language to get the effect that she wants.

I also really appreciated the intertextuality and the way Byatt juxtaposed the mid-19th century with the 1980s. All of the poems, letters, and journals felt like they were written with Victorian aesthetics and sensibilities in mind, and it must have taken a lot of research for Byatt to truly capture the voices of so many 19th century characters (as well as the academic mindset and personal passion many scholars have for their work).

I will say, though, that personally, I found certain parts of the book to drag. Don't get me wrong - I adored this novel, but it took me a long time to read because it was so dense and I wanted to fully engage with it. For this reason, I think some people won't find Possession to be their jam, but if you love academics and literary discovery, a lot of this book will appeal to you.

Plot: The basic plot of this book follows Roland - an early career academic specializing in the poetry of Victorian writer Randolph Henry Ash - as he makes a startling discovery that could upend the field of Ash scholarship. As he pursues his research, he teams up with Maude Bailey - a scholar specializing in the poetry of one of Ash's contemporaries, Christabel LaMotte. Together, they follow literary breadcrumbs that reveal a startling truth about the relationship between Ash and LaMotte, all the while avoiding those who would swipe the discovery away from them.

I really enjoyed the way this book invoked the thrill of academic discovery. Being a former literary academic myself, I could sympathize with the passion the characters had for their fields, and I got excited when the characters did whenever a new clue was unearthed. I don't want to detail to much to avoid spoilers, but I will say that I appreciated how Byatt made this mystery not just about a potential scandal, but about the impact on more academic topics, such as spiritualism, sexuality, feminism, etc. In other words, I liked that this book made me think about more than just historical gossip, and if you're interested in those things, you'll have a good time with this book.

Characters: Roland and Maude, our protagonists from 1980s England, are wonderfully complex in that they have passion for their studies yet also have personal challenges that make them feel more three dimensional. I liked that Byatt didn't romanticize academia and showed Roland struggling with things like funding and an awkward relationship with his adviser, and I liked that Maude was a strong-willed feminist scholar yet was caught up in some of her own insecurities.

Supporting 1980s characters were likewise interesting and varied. Blackadder, Roland's advisor, is grumpy and seemingly distant, but ended up surprising me by the end. Beatrice, an all-but-invisible scholar specializing in the underappreciated diaries of Ash's wife, Ellen, was sweet and it was easy to feel something (pity?) towards her. Even the more boisterous characters had their place; Cropper, an American scholar with the financial means to basically outbid anyone and acquire Ash artifacts, was irritating in his capitalist way, but not wholly unrealistic (as there are many private dealers of manuscripts and the like who act much like him). Leonora, another American academic, was loud and intrusive, yet was dead set on doing the right thing when it came down to it.

Ash and LaMotte, the two Victorian poets, also felt complex in that neither of them acted completely in ways one might expect. LaMotte started out rather shy but later became fairly assertive and powerful in her own right. Ash was surprisingly sympathetic (though could get annoying at times, centering his man pain), and his relationship with his wife, Ellen, felt like it was built on respect and adoration.

All in all, I appreciated the care Byatt took to give everyone a rich inner life, and I found it hard to be completely detached from anyone's motives or desires.

TL;DR: Possession is a captivating novel filled with the thrill of academic discovery and rigor. Reading like a love letter to Victorian poetry, this book is masterfully crafted and will surely enchant readers who enjoy rigorous, scholarly engagement with literature.

[casspurrjoybell-17]

Hart and Hunter - Chapter 31 - Part 2

*Warning Adult Content*

Julian Hart

"My grandfather?"

"More like his grandfather. I went down to the town archives to poke around. I was hoping to find some original building plans but instead I found this. Hang on..."

I wait and a moment later my phone pings as it receives a texted image.

I open it and find a picture of an old photograph.

It's an old-timey portrait of a man seated in a chair.

He has handsome features, slicked-down hair and a somewhat severe expression and he stares directly at the camera with an intensity I feel across the span of time.

He also looks vaguely familiar.

My phone pings again as a second image comes through.

This one appears to be of the photograph's back, on which two words are written in an antique script I can barely decipher.

Freya squints at it over my shoulder.

"Julius Hart?"

"Yeah," Grace confirms.

"And you would not believe the number of dusty boxes of un- cataloged crap I had to sort through before I found even a crumb of information on the guy. Even that is barely a mention but... hang on."

There's another pause as a third image comes through.

This one is a picture of a microfilm screen showing a page from an old newspaper.

I enlarge the image and read aloud.

May 12, 1885 — SPRING LAKES, CALIFORNIA.

Mayor Josiah Inglewood of Spring Lakes has announced the construction of a new town center, to be designed by architect Julius Hart. After a harsh winter marked by bitter losses for the small mountain community, Mayor Inglewood asserts that the modernized buildings will bring new life and prosperity to the region. Lingering anger and resentment following the mysterious disappearances of seven children over the past year has plagued Inglewood's campaign and his choice of Hart to lead the project has not escaped scrutiny. Hailing from Ireland via New York, Hart is well known among Spiritualist circles as a man to call when a problem defies rational solutions. His presence in Spring Lakes has aroused curiosity and suspicion, as well as hope. Since his arrival, no further disappearances have occurred and some... including this reporter... have wondered if there might not be some connection between the two. Construction of the new buildings is slated to begin within the month.

I look up at Freya and see my shock mirrored on her face.

"I did some digging, too," Chloe says, chiming in over the line.

"I found some mentions of a 'Hart' family in my uncle's journals. They were some sort of 'Shifter hunters' but they were all killed off or died out over time. Julian, I think you're the last of their line."

I grimace.

"Great. So, if you're right, I've got wolf-slayers on one side and Shifter hunters on the other. Dane will love that."

"Dane won't give a shit," Freya says.

"The important thing is that whatever happened with the portal back then, your great-great-great-grand-pappy was a part of it. Didn't you say Stephanie saw children in the Shadowlands?"

"Yeah but no children have been reported missing, that I'm aware," I say.

"This is amazing work, anyway, Grace... you, too, Chloe. Obviously the portal and maybe the skin-changers and Fae, have caused trouble before. I just... don't know how it's connected to what's happening now."

Freya sighs.

"Too bad the one person who could probably tell us everything can't speak."

Even as she says this, it hits me.

"Rhiannon," I gasp.

"The rune in Stephanie's shop said 'Hart.' I thought it was about me or my grandpa but what if she was trying to tell us something else? Something about this Julius guy and whatever happened back then?"

"If only there was some way we could ask her," Freya says dryly.

"Maybe there is," I say, my excitement... somewhat feverish from lack of sleep and compounded emotions... growing with every word.

"The spell-kit Danni gave me worked, in its own way and I think Danni has a real Gift... whether they know it or not. Maybe they know something about breaking curses. You said yourself you've seen something similar, right?"

"Similar in effect. That was human magic. This is probably Fae and I have no idea if what works for one would work for the other."

"I say it's worth a try. Chloe, Grace... thank you both. This is the biggest break we've had yet. Maybe you two should be the detectives from now on."

"I'll stick to research, thanks," Grace says.

"I'm not the one who enjoys running headlong into danger. That said, be careful, Julian and call us if you need anything."

I promise that I will and hang up before grabbing my wallet and keys.

"Whoa, where you going?" Freya asks.

"To see Danni. You stay here and wait for Dane."

"No, no, no. That's not how this works, Juju. We stick together, you hear me?"

"Tell that to Dane. We're supposed to be equals, Mates, a team but the second he thinks there's something real to do, he 'goes solo.' Well, he's not the only one who can. So you can either stop me, come with me or let me go because I'm not waiting for him this time."

Freya stares at me as if seeing me for the first time, and then shakes her head.

"Okay, fine... I'll come with you. Just leave him a note or something, okay? Don't let him come back, in whatever state he's in and find the house empty and you gone. He looks tough on the outside but... well, you know how he is."

I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding, and cover my eyes with my hand.

As angry as I am, I understand my mate well enough.

"Okay. Give me a minute."

Grabbing a pen and a pad of sticky notes, I scribble a message, then crumple it up and try again.

On the fifth attempt, I think I have it right.

Dane, gone to Danni's for supplies love you. Julian

Dane will know what it means, while to any other eyes it appears innocuous.

I stick it to the outside of the front door at eye level, the bright yellow paper unmissable against the dark wood, before walking to my car.

As Freya follows me, I pause beside the vehicle and turn in a slow circle, sweeping the land with my gaze.

By this time the sun is up, and the meadow glitters with dew beneath its first golden rays.

The forest beyond is quiet and still, except for the usual busyness of birds. There's no sign of Dane.

Casting Freya a glance, I find her watching me with a worried frown.

I shake my head, open the car door and get behind the wheel.

She circles around and gets in the passenger side, folding her long limbs into the small space.

We share a look and I feel a sort of understanding pass between us.

Then I start the engine, put the car in gear and turn towards town.

[themagikmirror]

‼️ IF YOU'RE A SPIRITUAL PRACTIONER , WATCH THIS‼️

Wow I love when things align with divine timing! This special piece of content is complete just in time for our first New Moon of 2024 in Sagittarius happening now! ♐️ Sagittarius allows us to tap into the power of not just our mind, but our faith. Sagittarius rules what we believe! It allows us to access divine enlightenment & expansion by seeking wise counsel internally & externally! This New Moon is a great time to identify & set intentions around the ways we wish to grow and expand throughout 2024 as well as what beliefs we need to change in order align with that. Yes, the spiritual/energetic new year is at the end of March, but you can still BRAINSTORM using this opportunity to gain clarity within yourself and your guides (physical & non-physical) on a deeper level, helping to foresee a glimpse of your future. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, which also rules topics like spirituality and education. With this New Moon, I’d like to set an intention with this video to inspire practicioners (Root Workers, Readers, Diviners, Healers, Herbalists, Coaches, Mentors, Channels, Astrologers, Psychics, etc. ALL TITLES). This time I made something FOR US : the people publicly/professionally giving the messages, hosting the workshops, creating the content, the journals, doing readings, getting initiated, getting certifications, etc. Before doing a general collective Reading of the Year, I wanted to start with US. I feel in my heart that WE need a check in & a reading of our own. So here I drop off my opinions, experiences, observations and downloads from Spirit about the work we’ve been doing and the potential of where that work is going good / bad. I share vulnerable insights about my life and work in the past & present as a spiritualist. I channel messages about things that Spirit Workers need to steer to & away from in 2024, like why 💘 LOVE WORK & RELATIONAL HEALING is an important topic for practioners in 2024. This is my offering to other spirit workers & to myself in hopes that we can use what's channeled here to elevate ourselves and the work we're doing!

🪞✨Stay tuned for the 2024 Collective Reading-- which will be for EVERYONE-- towards the end of January! For personal spiritual work with me including readings, courses & 1-1 sessions where you can see & work with your authentic reflection, book using "Services" here on Facebook 

#spirituality #astrology #divination #tarot spread #practitioner #diviner #tarot readers of tumblr #oracles #astrologers #advice #tips #new year 2024

[mariacallous]

We’re used to Russian disinformation targeting, say, Volodymyr Zelensky or U.S. presidential elections. But smear campaigns of uncertain provenance are increasingly targeting not just politics, but Western companies too. They’re not just a reputational nuisance, but a genuine economic threat, one that could be wielded by hostile states.

Nearly half of all Americans—47 percent—believe they see disinformation every day. So do 46 percent of Britons, 44 percent of Brazilians, 52 percent of Nigerians, 24 percent of Indians, and 20 percent of both Germans and Japanese, a 2022 report by the Poynter Institute shows. What matters most, though, is whether the public can identify the disinformation. The public mistaking facts for falsehoods and vice versa is fatal for a democracy. And there’s a dangerous mismatch here: Ninety percent of Americans, for example, believe they can spot disinformation, but three-fourths overestimate their skills, academics reported in a 2021 article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

It is, in other words, easy to disseminate falsehoods, and artificial intelligence may make it even easier, or at least faster. It’s no surprise disinformation creators are refining their trade and picking potentially more profitable targets. Disinformation targeted at individual companies is growing fast.

Ninety-five percent of FTSE 100 companies (the London Stock Exchange’s top 100 firms) were frequently mentioned by noncredible publications in the first half of this year, communications firm Kekst finds in a new report. That’s 35 percent more than the year before. There were 348,000 social-media shares of these publications’ articles about FTSE 100 firms, which resulted in nearly 10 million impressions. Some of the articles are likely to have been prompted by companies’ competitors, while others were the result of poor-quality journalism, but it’s not yet clear that hostile states instrumentalize disinformation targeting Western businesses.

That’s likely coming, though. Disinformation today extends beyond mere bots on X, formerly known as Twitter. More than 100 noncredible publications (including a spiritualist magazine, publications known for spreading Russian propaganda, and American and Indian far-right magazines) regularly cover FTSE 100 companies, Kekst reports. What does a “noncredible” publication mean? By Kekst’s definition, it’s one that repeatedly publishes false content, doesn’t gather and present information responsibly, doesn’t correct or clarify errors, blends news and opinion content, uses deceptive headlines, doesn’t disclose ownership or financing, doesn’t label advertising, doesn’t reveal its ownership, and doesn’t name its writers.

But in an era of gullibility and infinite content, it’s easy for them to put out an article that looks legitimate on a quick glance, which then makes its way to interested social-media users, who enthusiastically share the findings because they have no idea how to identify disinformation. “We haven’t directly noticed this trend directly, but we are seeing the use of misinformation being used to force narratives that are malign and are being used to give others market advantage,” Simon Bergman, the chief executive officer of Saatchi World Services, told me. “This is particularly true when organizations have state backing or are operating outside the rules-based system and normal legal frameworks, and it has become more manifest post-covid and since the war in Ukraine.”

Juicy news spread more slowly in the 1980s, but the KGB and other Warsaw Pact intelligence agencies were still able to convince the world that AIDS had originated in a U.S. Army lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland: An article in a serious-looking publication was picked up by some news media, then more, and then the public got talking. The rumor about the U.S. Army creating AIDS remains in circulation to this day.

The time lapse between inaccuracies about a company are published in a dubious publication and the company gets wind of it is critical. And because most dubious publications aren’t found through traditional media monitoring, the targeted company is unlikely to detect the falsehoods straight away. That gives disinformation spreaders a crucial head start. When the company discovers the falsehoods, the stock market is likely to discover it, too, and because traders have to react quickly, a company targeted by disinformation faces a stock-price drop.

“Many organizations don’t realize they are victims of this activity until it is too late and they are on the back foot to react, normally poorly and with little understanding of the complexities and positives and negatives of rebuttal,” Bergman said. “A smart proactive approach to managing their own narrative and corporate messaging can go some way to protect them from this type of activity, but it depends what they are trying protect: share price, corporate reputation, stakeholder value, or critical audience perception.” In its report, Kekst notes that falsehoods about businesses’ adherence to climate targets rose during last year’s United Nations COP27 summit. They’re likely to do so again during this year’s COP28.

To be sure, disinformation directed against companies is nothing new. A few years ago, a forged Defense Department memo appeared to show that a leading semiconductor company’s planned acquisition of another company had prompted national security concerns. The stocks of both companies fell. Such defamation was usually the work of a commercial rival. In a 2021 report, PWC explained how easy and cheap it was to mount such a campaign: “$15-$45 to create a 1,000-character article; $65 to contact a media source directly to spread material; $100 for 10 comments to post on a given article or news story; $350-$550 per month for social media marketing; and $1,500 for search engine optimization services to promote social media posts and articles over a 10- to 15-day period.”

Given this extraordinary ease, it was only a matter of time before state-linked outfits discovered that targeting Western companies was an easy way of harming Western countries. “Russia can use a company as a convenient target,” said Janis Sarts, the director of NATO’s Strategic Communications Center of Excellence in Riga. “Of course, the company suffers, but it’s not the primary target.”

There’s not yet any forensic evidence that Russia or another hostile country is behind the rise in corporate disinformation campaigns, though a hostile state is known to have fueled the bogus findings linking 5G to the coronavirus, which caused fear among Western residents and delayed the 5G rollout in many countries. The rapid increase in disinformation campaigns against companies, though, suggests it’s no longer an activity just involving envious competitors.

A share-price dip based on disinformation won’t last long because the affected company will quickly alert the markets to the disinformation. But even a temporary dip is harmful. And consider the effect on a country’s financial standing if several major companies were to be simultaneously targeted by disinformation campaigns. The stock market would wobble and global markets would begin doubting the country’s financial stability.

I’m not giving hostile states a blueprint for how to cheaply hurt Western economies: They’re already familiar with the secret juice. Western companies should realize that they’re in the firing line, not because they’re in themselves controversial, but because they’re an easy disinformation target. Communications teams should start reading obscure publications that lack author names and ownership details. Or as Bergman put it, “monitor the information environment smartly with good tech tools and people who understand where and how to look.”