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ambermotta · 6 months

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Offerings: What's, How's, When's, and Why's

Below are some of the most common questions regarding offerings!

Disclaimer: Long post. This is based on my experience and research. I don't claim to know the absolute truth.

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TL,DR: A lot of things about offerings are flexible, subjective, and depend on culture, personal beliefs, and mundane constraints. While there are general considerations and guidelines, you will always have to do deeper research in order for the offerings to fit what you are doing and what is within your reach.

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Why make Offerings?

There are many ways to see offerings and it can vary depending on personal beliefs and religion. Some of the most common reasons people make them:

Energy exchange: you give something to receive something. This can be seen as payment, fair trade or as a way to keep balance.

Thanksgiving: you give offerings as a way of giving thanks

Honoring: you give offerings as a way to pay respect

All of the above

When to make Offerings?

It is advisable to make offerings whenever you are doing spiritual work with any kind of spirit. You can make the offering before, during or after your work.

You can also make offerings a standalone thing for praising, honoring or thanksgiving spiritual beings.

What happens to the offerings? "Why do spiritual beings need food"?

Spiritual beings also use energy. Just as you use energy to do any activity, spirits also use energy for their own purposes. When you make an offering you are offering them energy, just as when you eat you are fueling your organic needs.

If you are asking a spirit to help you they may even use the energy from your offerings to fuel the magic needed for what you asked.

They don't need energy to live like we do (they don't die), but we all use energy in some way for some purpose. When you give proper offerings, aligned with the energy you need and the type of work, you can make your magickal workings stronger and develop deeper bonds with the spirits.

The spirits are not going to literally eat food you give them, but you may notice changes in "how it feels/looks like" that are subtle.

For example, when I was a child my parents pointed out that when flowers (such as a rose) are used in strong, successful magical workings they dry after a while but the petals don't fall. It tends to preserve its original aspect.

Of course, it's not an exact science, but you may observe some weird things.

How long should I leave offerings out?

Depends. Some rituals and traditions may ask you to leave them for a few days, some are to be consumed during or after the ritual. If not specified you may leave them for a day or dispose of them the next morning. Non-organic offerings may stay at the altar indefinitely or for long periods of time before being dispatched.

How to dispose of offerings?

This varies with culture and religious beliefs, so look for what was traditionally considered respectful. However, it's also important to take into account your reality, and if you are in doubt you can try to ask the spirits themselves what is the ideal way of disposing of them.

Some cultures bury their offerings. For example, in hellenic paganism it is (traditionally) believed offerings to chthonic deities should be buried and never eaten.

Some cultures don't mind you eating and/or drinking the offerings yourself after the rite is done. In Kemeticism (again, traditionally) eating offerings is preferred as to not waste food. If you are under financial constraints and cannot afford to throw away food this can be a good way of giving offerings while also avoiding waste. Of course this only applies to edible offerings, eaten right after you are done with your ritual. Please don't ingest anything that could be spoiled, illegal (such as underage alcohol consumption) or toxic.

Leaving it in a clean space in nature. This can be controversial and/or illegal depending on where you live and what you are disposing of, so make sure to get that checked out. In some cultures it is traditional to dispose of offerings even if they contain non-organic matter, but I advocate for only disposing in nature organic, non-toxic offerings. Times have changed, nowadays we must be more responsible of what we throw in nature and the effects it can cause.

An alternative to disposing in nature is to dispose of it on garden plants, if you have them, or re-use what would be wasted in some way. This can be an option for smaller offerings and folks with location restraints.

Dispose of them in the garbage. This can be controversial but I don't see it as an issue. If someone has something that makes the other options impossible or a big hassle, should they just not give offerings? I personally don't think so. Anyone is welcome to disagree, but respect the reality of other folks.

Non-organic, devotional offerings may also be kept in your house or garden in a dedicated/sacred space.

Offerings can also be burned. Always be careful handling fire, be aware of accidents and make sure to do research about what you are burning since some things can release toxic chemicals when burned.

Side note on eating offerings: Some spiritual beings like to share food and drink with you as a way of bonding and celebration. In some cultures, it is traditional to share in food and drink for specific rituals. It also may not always be appropriate to eat food on certain occasions.

What to offer?

The most traditional offerings are that of food and I personally like these the most. However, offerings are not restrained to that! You can even give them a more devotional meaning by, for example, offering an action, a song, art (poems, pictures, dance, etc), incense, a candle, water, or your time and energy.

Some offerings are pretty generalist and work for a lot of stuff, such as water, candles, bread, flowers and fruits. You can use these when you are short on supplies or when you are not entirely sure what you should offer.

But ideally you will want to offer something whose energy aligns with your purpose and the spiritual being you are working with. For example, you could offer lilies or white roses if you are doing work associated with peacefulness, but if you want passion you might want to pick red roses and cinnamon instead.

There will be times where you will have to improvise. You don't have to go without giving an offering just because you don't have exactly what you wanted to use. Yes it's better to have everything aligned, but sometimes you may feel the urge to do an offering at an inopportune time and you'll need to be flexible. This is why it's always good to have some generalist ingredients laying around.

How to make offerings?

Again, this can vary with culture and religion. You will have to find out what is the best way for your culture and beliefs.

But if you are unsure, here is a general setup:

Gather your offerings and everything you'll need for what you're doing.

Ideally cleanse and protect yourself and the environment you're in. If you have a space dedicated for offerings it's even better.

Remember you can give offerings before, during or after spiritual workings. Know at which point of the process you'll make the offering before you get started.

When you are ready to make your offering, start by saying a prayer and/or saying a few words. Try to tune in with the energy you are making the offering for. Here you can declare why you are making this offering and what you want (if applicable). Remember offerings have many uses, so here you can give praise, express your thanks and/or petition something to the forces you are making the offering for.

After making the offering you can meditate and try to tune in with spirits and what they feel. You can try talking to them. You can also carry on with whatever you planned to do.

Finish your ritual in a way you see fit and thank the spiritual beings involved.

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Final considerations!

Please, PLEASE make sure what you are offering and disposing of is LEGAL to acquire and dispose of.

Be conscious about the environment .

There needs to be a balance between honoring tradition and your reality living in the modern era.

To give offerings is to give energy. Make sure you are "feeding" the right spiritual beings, and not just being exploited for energy. Protections first, offerings later.

Be mindful of any potential accidents, especially concerning fire, children and pets. Be careful with potentially toxic offerings accessible to children, pets and wildlife.

Thank you for reading and best of luck in your practice ♡

#offerings #long post #witchcraft #paganism #magick #witchblr #spirit work #deity work #deity worship #witch tips #baby witch #paganblr #pagan tips

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speadrunner · 1 month

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Who is (actually) the hottest Monsters & Girls character?

Link to poll: https://www.tumblr.com/idolomantises/745892368364060672

CW: This will be a long post;

(Note: this is completely for comical purposes, please don’t take this too seriously. I have all the respect in the world for @idolomantises and their work)

1. Sera

👍: Perhaps the titular character of the series, Sera is beautiful angel (literally) and is arguably the kindest character in the whole series

👎: I challenge you to draw this woman without screaming at yourself/into a pillow

2. Lili

👍: Endearing, welcoming, understanding, and can be very fun. Pretty much wears her heart on her sleeve with how open she is.

👎: Literally THE sexy character. It’s obvious why you picked her as the hottest, now go get better tastes.

3. Cheri

👍: She’s sooo soft omg. She’s so sweet you’ll have a sweet tooth just for her even if you don’t like sweets

👎: I will not talk ill of this lady because I literally cannot, but for all intents and purposes this is a contest to see who is the hottest, not the most wholesome. Sorry 🫡

4. Junior

👍: Blunt and cute, plus a goat. Cute goats are always an A+ character design. Where would we be without them tbh?

👎: Bluntness can lead to rudeness and or discomfort. Nothing super bad about Junior just prob not the best choice for this. Just sayin

5. Scylla

👍: Lord have mercy I understand where people are coming from. Hooo doggy what a woman.

👎: I can’t remember the exact post but I recall it being said that she bites your head off or something if you get too close or look at her weird. That’s no good

6. Ciel

👍: Easily one of my favorite designs. He’s definitely the prettiest boy of the entire cast

👎: One of those cases where he’s too good for you, ya know what I mean? He’s way out of your league I don’t make the rules

7. Catty

👍: Nya~ Very fashionable going off of recent appearances. Design hasn’t changed too much in comparison to others, meaning that

👎: I like dogs more, plus she’s not open with her thoughts and feelings, leading to awkward moments when she lets it all out

8: Luvart

👍: Big, beefy, strong, fire. Need I say more? She treats sex workers with respect for their profession and would be a completely package when you don’t consider…..

👎: …She has no qualms murking you just because and her greatest offense is being the arch rival of the best character a special someone

9: Adam

👍: Dude can become a dog for you to pet and is quite honest in most cases. Plus those scars look neat wouldn’t you say?

👎: Unless you are a - former angel now fallen, a TV show host, have a broken halo, while simultaneously sharing a name with a pizza company and a game tile, then you ain’t getting nothing.

10: Domino

👍: I can see why so many are stricken by this fella, he’s quite cute, quirky, and has an adorable way of being blunt

👎: (Domi- No hoes) He’s just not good enough. He seems so ideal at face value but he berates angels to the moon and back and for what? His fault for his own downfall.

With all that said, clearly the hottest character of Monsters and Girls - for appearance AND character - is obviously….

POWERS

LITERALLY PERFECTION IN ITS PUREST FORM! CHISELED LIKE A GREEK GOD(DESS), ROSE TO BE AN ANGEL - REJECTING HER DEMONIC ORIGINS, FOLKS IT JUST DOESNT. GET. BETTER!

A Vote For Powers Is A Vote For Truth, Love, And Happiness!! Vote For Powers in the Home Stretch Now!

#I was serious when I said I’d post propa- I mean #Posting undisputed facts over opinions #idolomantises #monsters and girls #powers #Vote. Powers. Now!

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apas-95 · 1 year

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dan olson is generally a good video essayist, but has a consistent and specific problem of idealism. as with other breadtubers, this is usually not a problem when sticking to analysing art, but becomes fairly egregious when trying to discuss real life.

the issue of public schooling existing, under industrial capitalism, to provide business-owners with tax-funded workforce training, is presented as one 'driving idea' that exists in conflict with an equally-influential 'driving idea', of an abstract philosophical good served by education. the fact that one of these 'views' on education has direct material benefit to the ruling class, and thus is directed resources, and the other does not, isn't mentioned, simply that it has been 'winning the ideological battle'. similarly, the issue of low-quality food being provided in public schools is not linked to any actual real-world mechanisms, no conflicting interests, but instead to 'classism', specifically the existence of a 'negative perception' of public schools and poor people.

fundamentally, this is a limitation of liberalism. without a clear class analysis, one where ideas are understood to come from really-existing material differences in positions and interests, there can only be a conception of the ideas themselves being in conflict. without an understanding of the fact that, say, the president of the USA has genuinely different interests than the workers of the same country, the actions that harm said workers can only be understood as being due to either incompetence, or Wrong Ideas. if benefits are underfunded, it's due to the idea that poor people are lazy; if homeless people are harassed at a greater cost to the state than housing them, it's due to a blinding bigotry against them, not the economic need for a reserve of labour. the fact is that the terrain these ideas can affect is defined entirely by the strictly material conflicts they arise out of. you cannot simply Educate the ruling class's bigoted philosophy away, because the philosophy was created to justify the oppression that already existed. the oppression itself must be fought, and for that its basis must be fought - the conflict between different political-economic groups with different material interests.

olson describes the 'ideological battle' between the two 'views' on schooling as one that necessarily must be 'eternal', must continue on forever. the conclusion of the real-world, material conflict that generates these ideas isn't considered. society will stay generally the same, just its ideas will change. it's a position as fundamentally myopic as a declaration by a medieval scribe that there will be an 'eternal debate' over the role of feudal lords in commerce. history has not ended.

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randomthingsthatilike1 · 11 months

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honestly I think the wrong parent was sent to pick up Aly in the ending of Trickster's Choice

the entire book we see through Kyprioths visions to Aly that Alanna, above all, cares for Aly, that she really does see Aly for who she is and worries terribly for her lost, hidden daughter, angry and upset and scared. She's constantly scrying for her with the mirror Thom gave her--her daughter is missing and her husband lied to her about it.

After months and months of worrying and praying, Alanna finally knows where her daughter is. She loves George, she does, but he lied to her about her only daughter's well being. And after the 8 years of her training constantly lying to everyone Alanna is sick of it, sick of doing it and avoids it at almost all cost--but for this? For the love she has for her daughter?

She’s been worried sick, scrying every free hour, distracted and blaming herself for her daughter’s disappearance. She's not needed in Frasrland, not really, not with this stalemate at the border. The killing devices are all gone and nothing is happening there. They don't need her--but Aly does.

She’s been married to George for 20 years and she’s known him for 30--she’s picked up a few tricks on how to go around unseen, how to slip away seamlessly but first there are a few things she has to do.

Her husband with his nondescript features can roam freely. She cannot. She’s far too distinctive nowadays, but to quote her daughter that is what razors and dyes are for. Her long hair is her pride and joy. After years of cutting it boyishly short, as well as being a good enough fighter she can have long hair--it’s her one vanity.

She loves her hair. She’d topple kingdoms for her daughter.

A short and stocky man with copper red hair isn't the ideal spy, but shes here to find her daughter--its the story she goes with. She’s looking for her daughter, a Tortallan, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Copper Isles.She speaks enough Carthaki to get by and well it’s not like she can’t defend herself, even with just a knife and hand to hand.

The only dead giveaway about her are her purple eyes, but she's a mage, with a powerful Gift specializing in manipulating the human body--if there's a magical way to create an illusion or temporarily change your eye color she would know it. If not, I'm sure George has found a way and she's already used it before.

This barely scratches the surface of what she’d do for Aly. She's a mage, with a powerful Gift specializing in manipulating the human body--if there's a magical way to create an illusion or temporarily change your eye color she would know it. If not, I'm sure George has found a way. She glamors her eyes to look the same as her daughter and her husband. She lightly dyes her hair, making it a more blondish red like Aly's.

She finds a young squire stationed at the border and surreptitiously steals some of his clothes and other supplies around camp, her personal weaponry far too flashy and distinctive.

Aly isn’t the only one who was trained by the King of Thieves.

You can’t tell me she’s never done anything like this with George, not wanting to be stared at by people who recognize the famous Lioness, either getting him out of some scrapes or just relaxing and having fun.

Kyprioth is sweating bullets. There's only so much he can hide, although he has far more power in the Copper Isles than Tortall so he can't stop her but he’ll do his best to hide her from the Goddess but uhhhhhhhh there’s only So Much he can do.

Alanna is Determined--she will find her daughter and is she maybe less subtle than George was? Sure. But all the same, she’s brought to the Balitang’s home in Rajmuat and makes her way to Lombyn.

It’s the same scene, of Alanna approaching Winnamine , introducing herself as Alan Cooper and asking to buy Aly-- Winnamine realizing “Alan” isn’t really here to buy Aly.

It takes Aly just a little longer to recognize Alanna--and she comes to a halt and is filled with shock because this is the Lioness, her mother who is persona non grata to the Copper Isles due to killing one of their princesses decades ago (and wow that might actually get Ochabu to tolerate her mother) and would probably be either killed or ransomed as a hostage p much on sight, the King’s Champion, one of the most distinctive and famous women in the continent--is here.

She’s here, her hair short and lighter and her purple eyes--they’re very similar to Aly’s now. Alanna letting out a sob at the sight of her daughter--her hair also shorter, eyebrow scar, broken nose, but alive and safe and still with that spark in her eye.

Just. The PARALLELS of both having the explicit approval of their god to deceive and lie and how they both deceived so many people to achieve their goals. Aly seeing her mother engage in spycraft and trickery to try to find her is probably a better apology than Alanna could ever find the words for

Later after Alanna had her Own standoff with Kyprioth she tells Aly she didn’t want this life for her, not because she was a noble or a Trebond but because she’s Alanna’s daughter and she knows how hard it is to keep a secret and deceive the people she cared about, and how much it hurt when it all came out. That’s something George never had to deal with--George has never really had to deceive his loved ones. They’ve always known he’s Crooked and an inkling of what he’s been up to--but Alanna has. She did it for 8 long years and she was good at it too, but the amount of pain it brought her after meant she never wanted that for her daughter.

Alanna earned her shield through treachery, the constant fear of being found out dogging her footsteps and once she got it she made sure no other girl would have to.

For Aly just to be reminded how similar she really is to her mother and begrudgingly putting that together--for Kyprioth to tell Aly that yes George gave her the skills he needed that made Aly his ideal Spymaster and what she’s done so far in keeping the Balitangs safe is why he wants her to stay, but it was Alanna’s actions that really sold him on recruiting Aly in the first place.

(I have other feelings about Kyprioth and Alanna here because d a m n “they say he loves a good trick”--as a girl for 8 years Alanna fooled the Tortallan monarchy and nobility. That’s what his Promised Queen will have to do. And he is George’s patron--it would make sense that both of them loved aspects of Alanna.)

(also while she’s there it’d be hilarious for Sarai to spar against Alanna and have her ass handed to her--it’d be a great nod back to when Aly was observing Sarai and thinking about her own training bc it sure would make Ulasim wonder wait can Aly use a sword????)

(also if anyone wants to write this go for it)

#tamora pierce #alanna of trebond #aly cooper #george cooper #alianne crow #alianne cooper #tricksters choice #tricksters queen #i've been working on this in my drafts since 2022 #kyprioth #alanna of pirate's swoop #alanna of pirate's swoop and olau #alanna the lioness #daughter of the lioness #1.1k words of meta later #meta #dove balitang

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acetone4veins · 1 month

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Quotes + Mean Girls

associating angsty quotes (and some fluffy ones) to mean girls characters and dynamics, this is definitely longer than it should be and will probably be part 1 of many but anyways. lmk which were your favorites and which ones ruined you :) also shoutout to the cautionary tale discord who saw some of these already and ramble about these characters with me <3

posting under the cut so i don't clog anyone's feeds

Regina

"what a terrible thing to wound someone you really care for - and to do it so unconsciously."

Haruki Murakami

"and when nobody wakes you up in the morning, and when nobody waits for you at night, and when you can do whatever you want. what do you call it, freedom or loneliness?"

Charles Bukowski

"i am changing. i am trying to be better. it is slow; it is rough; it is repetitive, but i swear i am."

Abdulsamad S. M.

"i did not like to be touched, but it was a strange dislike. i did not like to be touched because i craved it too much. i wanted to be held very tight so i would not break."

Marya Hornbacher

"i was not a loveable child, and i'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs."

Gillian Flynn

"if only my heart were as cold as i pretend it is, maybe i could get over this."

Jessica Katoff

"i wasn't beautiful anymore. now i looked like what i was, a raw wound."

Janet Fitch

"i'm restless and harsh and despairing. although i do have love inside me. i just don't know how to use love. sometimes it tears at my flesh, like barbs."

Clarice Lispector

"i did not mean to be cruel. i swear i am good, i am good, i am kind. i have love inside me. some place far far away."

unknown

Cady

"how much can you change and get away with it, before you turn into someone else, before its some kind of murder?"

Richard Siken

"your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing."

Dyodor Dosteovsky

"what and how much had i lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what i myself wished to do?"

Ralph Ellison

"my god, my god, whose performance am i watching? how many people am i? who am i? what is this space between myself and myself?"

Fernando Pessoa

"it was good for a while, being empty. i didn't hurt anymore. but as time went on, it was like i could hear myself from far away, begging for permission to come back."

Myra McEntire

"is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured?"

Friedrich Nietzsche

"who's the real you? the person who did something awful, or the one who's horrified by the awful thing you did? is one part of you allowed to forgive the other?"

Rebecca Stead

"you're a mess of good intentions gone wrong. you strike a match on yourself to keep others warm, and now the whole goddamn world's on fire. you try to put it out, and you try so hard. the dam breaks, and the waters of your sorrow pour free. you are sorry; so very, very sorrow - and you will drown everyone to prove it."

unknown

Janis

"there are times when i am convinced i am unfit for any human relationship."

Franz Kafka

"i am eternally, devastatingly romantic, and i thought people would see it because 'romantic' doesn't mean 'sugary'. it's dark and tormented - the furor of passion, the despair of an idealism that you cannot attain."

Catherine Breillat

"but whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself."

Kate Chopin

"there were two reasons i was scared to let people in; the damage they could do, and the damage they could find."

Chris McGeown

"perhaps its good for one to suffer. can an artist do anything if he's happy? would he ever want to do anything? what is art, after all, but a protest against the horrible inclemency of life?"

Aldous Huxley

Gretchen

"i want so obviously, so desperately to be loved, and to be capable of love."

Sylvia Plath

"she wanted to say 'don't leave me', but she couldn't do it, not again. she was so tired of begging people to love her."

Kristin Hannah

"he is charmingly telling me how much he does not love me...and i, - listening to him carefully, - am approving it."

Marina Tsvetaeva

"she's gonna forever say 'i got this' even with tears in her eyes."

unknown

"still there is this terrible desire to be loved. still, there is this horror at being left behind."

Michael Cunningham

"can you understand me? someone, somewhere, can you understand me a little, love me a little?"

Sylvia Plath

"i am trying to make myself digestible. i am trying to make myself easy to love."

I.B. Vyache

"do you think it is possible that some people are born to give more love than they will ever get back in return?"

Tyler Knott Gregson

Karen

"the sensitive suffer more; but they love more, and dream more."

Augusto Cury

"a lot of people tell me i'm a bit dreamy. but i like the idea of that. of being somewhere else."

Alam

"you cannot make everyone think and feel as deeply as you do. this is your tragedy, because you understand them but they do not understand you."

Daniel Saint

Regina and Janis

"the bear loved the deer, it was obvious. it ripped the deer's throat out, and then licked the dying deer with the most passionate affection. i thought of you and me."

David Cronenberg

"can you hate someone for what they have done, but still love them for whom they had been?"

Jodi Picoult

"love isn't soft, like those poets say. love has teeth which bite and the wounds never close."

Stephen King

"i love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul."

Pablo Neruda

"they will hook me up to a polygraph and ask me if i love you and i will say no but the needle will jump and sputter exactly how you laugh."

unknown

"there's a sickening feeling of familiarity, when the wrong person knows you too well and you know them too well. and they weren't always the wrong person."

unknown

"we don't mean to hurt each other, but we do. and perhaps no matter how right we are for each other, we'll always be a little wrong."

Beau Taplin

Regina and Cady

"i am intense darkness and you are a golden sunrise."

Arijit Singh and Pritam

"even before you touched me, i belonged to you; all you had to do was look at me."

unknown

"whether you come as a lover or an executioner, i am ready to receive you."

Agustin Gomez-Arcos

"for the longest time, i saw myself as a bad person. you don't know how much it meant to me when you looked at me and could see the good."

unknown

"but i have seen the best of you and the worst of you, and i choose both."

Sarah Kay

"i promised myself i would never fall in love with you. but it was 4 am, and we were laughing way too hard, and i felt happy for the first time in a long time, and i knew i was screwed."

unknown

Gretchen and Karen

"i would rather be with you - even the you that you seem to think is diminished - than with anyone else in the world."

Jojo Moyes

"it hurts, he realizes, to love someone who can't love themselves. like watching a work of art set itself on fire."

unknown

"how amazing it is to find someone who wants to hear about all the things that go on in your head."

Nina LaCour

"come love, make me better than i was. come teach me a kinder way to say my own name."

Andrea Gibson

"i wanted you to see a mess and still find me worthy of love, to tell me that you could still love me anyway."

Georges Bataille

"sometimes, love is as simple as watching the moon and sometimes its as difficult as counting the stars. but i love doing both for you."

unknown

Janis and Damian

"you may be born into a family, but you walk into friendships. some you'll discover you should put behind you. others are worth every risk."

Adam Silvera

Regina and Gretchen

"but i am very homesick for arms that have never held me."

unknown

"i burned so long so quiet you must have wondered if i loved you back. i did, i did, i do."

Annelyse Gelman

"so i wait for you like a lonely house till you will see me again and live in me. till then my windows ache."

Pablo Neruda

"how do you tell someone that the reason you're sad is because you love them?"

unknown

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transmutationisms · 2 months

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been thinking it for a while but it is both an interesting and frightening thing to see more and more people in their 20s who are usually self-professed hard-leftist progressives get more and more into emotionally-driven, kneejerk 'takes' about how everything new to them is bad and evil and 'this generation' (usually people younger than them who they seem to base all their opinions on from some teens dumb tiktoks they see) is stupid and doomed and the world/'our culture' is constantly degenerating, etc. many of the people who think of themselves as radical leftists are coming out with more and more barely-formed, incoherent and emotionally-driven reactionary ideas, and respond to any criticism of these ideas with defensive appeals to disgust or a general sense of 'everyone just knows this is bad!', bypassing needing to think over their own ideas or articulate the reasons they hold them entirely in favor of reactive outrage.

it feels to me like were watching in real-time how many of us will progressively turn into reactionary liberals or right-wingers - something many of these people have observed in older people, in their parents, but believe will simply not happen to them on account of having good intentions and progressive views, which they think means they dont need to watch themselves for impulsive, reactionary thinking, and even that their kneejerk reaction to anything is automatically the correct one because they themselves are already inherently good. of course it starts with generally inconsequential takes, its not like saying 'the tiles are ugly' automatically makes you a right-winger, but i reckon the festering of such modes of thinking shows the cracks in the foundation of many peoples professed political and social beliefs.

point being, i think there certainly are discussions to be had about the ways architecture - both as a tool that serves a material need and a form of art - changes, and what we may be losing to capitalist priorities on that front, but if the only argument people are making are "its ugly and degenerates our once beautiful culture" and their defense to anyone addressing how that sounds ends at "well its still ugly!", im thinking that kind of reactionary opinion-forming is going to seep into other, more important matters sooner than they may think. sorry for the long ask!

yeah i mean i definitely don't think this is a new problem or a generational one, it's just liberal idealism, but yes this is exactly why this type of aesthetic discourse irritates me so much lol. like i've said this before in regards to clothing but aesthetic signifiers gain their meaning in a social context and conditionally. if your analysis is "it's ugly and therefore bad" you're not only attenuating an actual read of what's being signified and why, you're also just veering directly into the most boring ass "everything is worse now and change threatens me" conservatism. the idea that ugliness and beauty are not transhistorical or transcendental truths should ideally be like, a starting point to both questioning other socially mediated constructs and to then moving toward a theory of asethetics as products of social discourses and economic conditions but instead people just cannot ever fucking resist yelling about how much beige or concrete or whatever the fuck is "soulless" or "lacks artistry" agabshxhsg it's so fucking cornball. get over yourself

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contemplatingoutlander · 9 months

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Worried by Florida’s history standards? Check out its new dictionary!

As always, Alexandra Petri is spot on in satirizing the right-wing censorship and educational nonsense happening in Florida. This is a gift 🎁 link, so you can read the entire column, even if you don't subscribe to The Washington Post.

Below are some excerpts 😂:

Well, it’s a week with a Thursday in it, and Florida is, once again, revising its educational standards in alarming ways. Not content with removing books from shelves, or demanding that the College Board water down its AP African American studies curriculum, the state’s newest history standards include lessons suggesting that enslaved people “developed skills” for “personal benefit.” This trend appears likely to continue. What follows is a preview of the latest edition of the dictionary to be approved in Florida. Aah: (exclamation) Normal thing to say when you enter the water at the beach, which is over 100 degrees. Abolitionists: (noun) Some people in the 19th century who were inexplicably upset about a wonderful free surprise job training program. Today they want to end prisons for equally unclear reasons. Abortion: (noun) Something that male state legislators (the foremost experts on this subject) believe no one ever wants under any circumstances, probably; decision that people beg the state to make for them and about which doctors beg for as little involvement as possible. American history: (noun) A branch of learning that concerns a ceaseless parade of triumphs and contains nothing to feel bad about. Barbie: (noun) Feminist demon enemy of the state. Biden, Joe: (figure) Illegitimate president. Black history: (entry not found) Blacksmith: (noun) A great job and one that enslaved people might have had. Example sentence from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R): “They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.” Book ban: (noun) Effective way of making sure people never have certain sorts of ideas. Censorship: (noun) When other people get mad about something you’ve said. Not to be confused with when you remove books from libraries or the state tells colleges what can and can’t be said in classrooms (both fine). Child: (noun) Useful laborer with tiny hands; alternatively, someone whose reading cannot be censored enough. [...]

[See more select "definitions" below the cut]

Classified: (adjective) The government’s way of saying a paper is especially interesting and you ought to have it in your house. Climate change: (noun) Conspiracy by scientists to change all the thermometers, fill the air with smoke and then blame us. [...] Constitution: (noun) A document that can be interpreted only by Trump-appointed and/or Federalist Society judges. If the Constitution appears to prohibit something that you want to do, take the judge on a boat and try again. [...] DeSantis, Ron: (figure) Governor who represents the ideal human being. Pronunciation varies. Disney: (noun) A corporation, but not the good kind. [...] Election: (noun) Binding if Republicans win; otherwise, needs help from election officials who will figure out where the fraud was that prevented the election from reflecting the will of the people (that Republicans win). [...] Emancipation Proclamation: (noun) Classic example of government overreach. Firearm: (noun) Wonderful, beautiful object that every person ought to have six of, except Hunter Biden. [...] FOX: News. Free speech: (noun) When you shut up and I talk. Gun violence: (noun) Simple, unalterable fact of life, like death but unlike taxes. [...]

Jan. 6: (noun) A day when some beautiful, beloved people took a nice, uneventful tour of the U.S. Capitol. King Jr., Martin Luther: (figure) A man who, as far as we can discern, uttered only one famous quotation ever and it was about how actually anytime you tried to suggest that people were being treated differently based on skin color you were the real racist. Sample sentence: “Dr. King would be enraged at the existence of Black History Month.” Liberty: (noun) My freedom to choose what you can read (see Moms for Liberty). Moms for Liberty: (noun) Censors, but the good kind. [...] Pregnant (adjective): The state of being a vessel containing a Future Citizen; do not say “pregnant person”; no one who is a real person can get pregnant. Queer: (entry not found) Refugee: (noun) Someone who should have stayed put and waited for help to come. Slavery: (noun) We didn’t invent it, or it wasn’t that bad, or it was a free job training program. Supreme Court: (noun) Wonderful group of mostly men without whom no journey by private plane or yacht is complete. Trans: (entry not found) United States: (noun) Perfect place, no notes. [emphasis added to defined words]

#florida #ron desantis #black history #educational standards #alexandra petri #satire #the washington post #gift link

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sora-of-uranus · 2 months

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The removal of the sexism pisses me off not because it just affects Sokkas character but because it has ruined almost every woman in the show.

Suki takes off her make up often, as if it isn't a large part of her cultural identity and personality, as if her being a kyoshi warior and her destinctly femenine clothes are something to be ashamed off or that hinders her. Because its only her that gets this treat amongst the warriors, and shes the only main kyoshi warrior for the audience.

Yue's entire character is removed. It is replaced with what I think is meant to be a sympathetic princess to the people, she joins the nans in the kitchens and make deserts for the children. Like a disney princess whose quirky and silly and held back only by her title of a princess. Gone is the battle between her desire to help and her duty to be a water tribe ideal woman. Gone is her realising that the best way to help her people is to not be an ideal woman, but to take action and to do what no one else can, to become one with the moon so that she can forever help not just her tribe but the entire world. It is depressing, it is deep, it isn't fair to her but when has the world ever been fair?

Katara aswell. Her bending is forever unlocked by men (Aang and Jet), her defiance of authority is lessened and her naievety is also changed. A lot of her motherhood role is also completlty gone since they have changed Sokkas sexism into elder brother smothering. Her fight with Paku holds a lot less significance since she has no RAGE behind her. No rage that has built for YEARS as time and time again people have said no to her face for being a woman, for being weak, for not being enough simply because of who she is. that doesn't exist for her anymore because the water tribes are just...nice. We see one bad person in the water tribe and its Hadoka and he's mean to sokka! Kataras rage comes from Paku saying no to her, and whilst thats swell, it changes her entire "I'm a master now" moment into just...lame girlbossery. Thats kinda how the entire last 2 episodes felt like for her character. A common girlboss character without the emotional depth to make it femenism.

I think my main issue is that both shows set themselves up as being femenist by nature. The og show wanted to tackle issues with sexism, using book 1 as its main demonstration with it, but the theme still follows throughout the narative. netflix's show outright said they were removing the sexist elements. When you place youself onto that pedastal, any sexist writing you have becomes emphasised.

The og show undoubtably has sexist moments! Irohs comments to June are the most obvious to me, a long with a couple comments from Zuko later on. You can certainly argue that the extreme lack of GOOD mother figures is an issue (Kat and Sokkas mother is dead, Zukos is 'dead', and Toph is awful and rather quite compared to her father). Theres other examples, although currently my brain cannot think of any since I don't often write indepth critisms.

The live actions main point of sexism is its female main characters. we literally meet Yue in the kitchen! Women can be in kitchens but that is certainly a choice! Theres this strange hatred for make up aswell, yes with Suki but also with Sokka. His war paint is removed. Its like saying make up cannot be worn by strong fighters which is rather sexist. Speaking off: not putting Sokka in the kyoshi outfit is just...dumb? If you want to show him learning the style, having him wear the outfit. Its an aspect of the style and philosophy. A man wearing make up and a skirt doesn't emasculate him yet the show makes it feel that way with the refusal to do it. "Oh but then you'd have Sokka and Suki kiss in the kyoshi outfits" who cares. "it will look like lesbians" it won't. Even if it did, who cares? you can't be 'femenist' and anti-lesbian. Putting Sokka in the Kyoshi outfit, having him respect it, is just as important as having Aang learn the other elements, or Iroh creating lightning redirection. Why? because it shows a respect of culture, and how you can blend that into your own way of thinking. It's cultural extchanged based on respect.

When you name yourself femenist, yet have explicitly sexist writing, your GOING to get dogpiled with critism based on that 'femenist' msg.

#avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar the last airbender #katara #princess yue #atla suki #the og show has its problems please I am acknoweldging that!#BUT it was also A LOT of peoples introduction to femenism in writing and gave examples of strong women in a large variety #the netflix show just doesn't do that. The women feel flat #I see A LOT of love for this show #but it revolves arround ZUKO and IROH and sometimes AANG #notice how they are all men????#Maybe its just how i've curated my feed #Or maybe the show just kinda sucks when it comes to women.#Also I find it so funny how most of the talk surrounding the women I see are critisms for their looks. I mean all the cast is getting it #but specifically with the Mai tylee Azula and Yue #its fun

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alvindraperzzz · 8 months

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One thing I want to see explored more in both canon and fandom is Cassie’s relationship with Diana’s mission.

Cassie is a powerhouse. She’s a fighter. She’s aggressive, and loves kicking butt and taking down villains who deserve it. She’s been that way from her earliest appearances, and it never really changed, all the way through the end of preboot. That may be fine for most superhero characters, but it’s a constant that just doesn’t really make sense for a protege and disciple of Diana of Themyscira, who has a mission, ideals, and an approach to heroism that differs from most. I can’t think of a single plot line that explores Cassie’s relationship to Amazonian ideals, and how they (should) affect her work as a hero.

What are those ideals? What is Diana’s mission?

The specifics tend to change between eras, writers, and reboots, but Diana’s mission is to bring peace and justice to man’s world. That’s pretty vague, and broad, and Diana is canonically often distracted from it by crimefighting and superhuman threats (which, fair, hard to teach peace when some megalomaniac is tearing up a city).

“The superheroes of this planet and beyond… their mission is to avenge, to protect, to police. Mine is different. My mission is to teach, to learn, to serve. Hippolyta preached, as I and all Amazons believe, that with understanding and respect all things are bearable, believable, and possible.”

In its simplest explanation, Diana’s mission is one of peace and equality. She’s an ambassador, bringing Amazonian forms of diplomacy and social structure to man’s world, and creating reform through education, opportunity, and service.

“I am trained as a warrior, Barbara, but I am trained also to think of those skills as a last resort. There is no human conflict which cannot be served better with words than with the sword.”

Her greatest tools are not her lasso or gauntlets, but reason and compassion. Violent force is her last resort; while her use of violence varies by writer, that was a recurring trait for the best WW writers.

“We have a saying, my people. Don’t kill if you can wound, don’t wound if you can subdue, don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it.” —Wonder Woman, Vol. 3, No. 25

Diana may utilize violence when the situation calls for it, but her objective first and foremost is peace. Before violence, no matter what they do to her or what they’ve done in the past, she reaches out. She tries reaching people through conversation, treating enemies and ordinary people alike with kindness, respect, and empathy. Love without discrimination. Redemption and transformation over punishment.

Cassie adores Diana. She believes in her, and shares many traits. She absolutely believes in helping people, and that protecting another is worth her life. But she’s also inclined toward holding grudges, and often has a very black and white perspective on good guys and bad guys. She has compassion in spades, but has a difficult time putting herself in other people’s shoes. She was always gung-ho for a fight, but after Donna’s death, and the string of losses that follow, she grows increasingly angry and unforgiving in both her heroic and personal life.

I want Cassie to argue with Diana’s nonviolent principles. I want her to struggle with understanding and incorporating this pacifistic view, when violence is so ingrained into her own view of superheroes.

I want her to grapple with Diana’s teachings, and be at war with herself because a bad guy might deserve punishment in her eyes, but that isn’t always the right path to justice.

I want Cassie to act as a diplomat.

I want her to talk villains down, instead of punch first, ask questions later.

In that Titans storyline where she visits Alcatraz and sees the terrible conditions there, I want her to say, “What the fuck is this?” And force a prison reform.

I want her joining Diana on outreach efforts, advocating as Diana does for education and equality, and acting as her liaison.

Just. Stories about Cassie dealing with the teachings of her mentor and the Amazons, whether it’s enacting those teachings or coming into conflict with them.

#cassie sandsmark #diana of themyscira #she’s a brute force kinda gal and that’s great but it shouldn’t be that way every time #I know it’s probably a difficult thing to work into superhero comics #considering how much action and fight scenes play a role #But good writers managed a fine balance of Diana’s views and her handling of conflict #don’t ask me where those screenshots are from I forgot #the second one is definitely byrne’s run bc that’s his art style #I need a tag for my Cassie meta #this is my third or fourth big post on her #talking about cassie #cassandra sandsmark

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obeetlebeetle · 2 years

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when is honor not honorable? when it is prescribed by a system of nobility that perpetuates itself through the destruction of its subjects.

rue watched hob sit there bleeding, arrows in his back, waiting until they nearly pierced his lung to remove them -- all for the honor of the goblin court. for the courts. for the system that stole rue as a child and twisted them into a pleasing shape, a desired doll. for the system that has used hob’s body on the field of battle and rue’s body in the field of politics to the benefit of the system, not the bodies being used.

rue spent every interaction with hob this episode saying, Are you okay? Are you hurt? Does anything about your life of service actually make you happy? Are you ever happy? Will you ever let yourself be happy? I hope you will. I hope you find happiness. I wish it was with me.

and then at the very end hob goes, I was miserable until you held me.

hes finally able to say it but the issue is, rue never needed to be told that hob loves them. they clocked it. they know he wants them. so finally learning how hob feels, that doesn’t change anything. what they were really saying is, Can you admit that service makes you unhappy? Are you capable of prioritizing desire? I am offering you devotion.

as long as hob pursues honor as prescribed by the court system, as long as he plays the political game, he can never love anyone. least of all rue; rue who has been so damaged by their obligation to the court of wonder for so long. rue who has chosen to use all their power to dissolve political bonds and facilitate emotional ones, at the hope of destabilizing the system. rue who has finally revealed themselves as both a monster and a dissident, prompted by their love for hob, in a show of force -- they are finally rebelling, openly, against the court and the system that tried to cannibalize them. and they’re watching as hob commits himself more deeply to the goblin court, putting his body in their hands for both battle and marriage.

rue tries tirelessly to get hob to answer this question. You are unhappy; what is it for? Tell me so I can understand. and hob’s response is, I choose to be unhappy because otherwise I would be wrong.

his defense of the court system is that it tells him what to do. he believes himself to be so fundamentally incorrect that his wants, desires, and instincts cannot guide him -- the only way to be a good man is to serve something greater than himself. this belief, as we can see in his conversations with boil and blemish, has been reinforced through scorn and humiliation.

hob says, I choose this unhappy life because it is right to serve. I know that it is right to serve because those in power tell me what is right. I know I am wrong because they tell me I am wrong.

upon learning that rue dissolved the marriage between apollo and grabalba, the thing that hurts him the most is the feeling of being used by rue. of being taken for a fool and manipulated in a political game, of falling in love with someone that doesn’t care about him. but even as this misinterpretation wounds him, he tries to defend his service to the goblin court.

and all rue ever wanted was to show him that his life of service is just a matter of being used, being taken, loving those who do not love you but only what you do for them. they wanted him to see that the pain he feels at the perception of being manipulated by rue is a pain he has felt at the hands of the court system for far longer than they have known each other.

hob’s real answer can be found in both what he has said and what he’s unwilling to say. For what? Nothing. Not even love. so rue offers hob what the court system has always denied him.

honor, service, obligation, duty -- everything hob has hinged his identity on and everything he ever believed to be good, to make him good -- are tools, not ideals. the court system designed fealty so that it would be easier to exploit people like hob and rue, people that feel like monsters, people who are empty and need to be filled. rue sees that hob believes himself to be a monster, and they aren’t asking him to change that. they know that monsters will always know themselves to be monsters. instead, they are trying to convince hob that being good is not what he thinks it is, when it’s being defined by the court system.

when is a monster not a monster? when you love it. when what is monstrous is worth loving. in their last attempt to wrest hob from the court system, rue tells him they love him, and in the same breath they tell him that love and honor are not the same. rue tells him that they are a monster. that in seeing him, they finally realized that being monstrous isn't being damaged; the damage comes from elsewhere. so they ask him to see them outside the moral structure that has been imposed on him and that he imposes on all others. they ask him to see the ways in which that structure and the system that created it have wounded them for being monstrous.

in doing so, hob would have to acknowledge his own wounds. he would have to acknowledge that he has been wounded for a very long time. that is what he has been resisting; if at any point he had acknowledged his wounds, he would have needed to care for them, and hob is not equipped to care for himself. care is not something afforded via lines of support in the court system; care was never part of the conversation. but when rue speaks of love, and divests it of honor, they offer, instead, care.

this is a love story.

#just the one post tonight . sorry it is so goddamn fucking long i feel like it's just the same sentence eighty times #dont even care if it's good #brennan went you cant dismantle the courts where would the orders come from #and my head popped off and rolled away #this is just. mad rambling in response #he is SO MUCH PAIN my sick twisted little hob.......#as i just texted ari. i am striding around in the rain. i am striding around the moors. i am not crying abt it #(im crying so much abt it)#kprue #ruehob #acofaf #a court of fey and flowers #battlemaster of ceremonies

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whitedemon-ladydeath · 6 months

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I feel like Rhys would be more interesting for me if SJM made up her mind on what kind of character he is supposed to be. If he's the "ideal man" then why write him performing textbook acts of abuse. the "ideal man" who is the pinnacle of Healthy Relationship Material cannot really mesh well with grey morality

part of being a morally grey character is,, the fucked up morality that "normal" characters would be like "dude wtf" which you can see with characters like Kaz Brekker and to an extent Damon Salvatore. Their grey morality is tied to their actual personhood and their actual sense of morality. they're not haunted by their actions. it is *within their morality* in their own ideals of what they consider right and wrong

Rhys' "grey morality" is tied to that of his "mask" and then he gets so tortured by how he just has to hurt all these people for the "greater good" my good dude that's not morally grey. a morally grey character is going to see it as worth it and not blink an eye bec it was what needed to be done- see Kaz literally ripping out that dudes eye and not blinking about it while everyone else was like what the fuck

Rhys is written closer to a character similar to Stefan who is just so tortured and the narrative and the people around him (and by extension many of his Stans™️) will go out of their way to completely forgive all the problematic shit he did bec he "has a pure heart" or "hes an addict tho" or whatever and it's easier to excuse when he's standing next to Damon, who is outwardly fucked up and problematic in such an obvious way (Rhys next to Tamlin or even Nesta)

she Wants him to be a morally grey bad boy but he's not *written* like one. he's not allowed to be problematic the way morally grey characters are problematic. Morally Grey characters are inherently toxic and problematic and often to the point where they can be/are abusive

but also, it's the fact that he just,,, doesn't have any real character growth outside of MAF. he becomes stagnant. his characterization doesn't really change. he keeps lying to Feyre. His actions don't really change bec the narrative doesn't challenge him to bec he's "the ideal man"

Hell Rhys taunting Tamlin in TAR was interesting and entertaining for me to read but when we get that in later books from his POV with Tamlin literally just beaten down and having had given up there is nothing to gleam from that. it's beating a dead horse, it's kicking someone while they're down. it's not taunting, it's not entertaining where someone can snap back, it's just demeaning and cruel at that point like fuck just leave him alone and maybe stop trespassing

I'd probably view Nesta and Rhys' beef differently if he didn't abuse political and magical power over her- if the narrative itself didn't immediately side with Rhys as objectively in the right despite lying and abusing his power over her. and maybe to an extent I'd forgive it if we had more scenes with them where they, more or less, buried the hatchet and let their relationship actually develop and build nuance

he gets boring. no one pushed back against him in a way that actually challenges the plot or Rhys, outside of Maybe Nesta when she told Feyre about the pregnancy but even then that went out of its way to vilify Nesta and not Rhysand for putting the gag order in place in the first place

like maybe if SJM committed to a Side with Rhys or actually got the plot to challenge him and give him actual growth I'd be more interested in his character. Right now he's just boring. and he's a dick. and not in the way I find very entertaining in characters

#anti rhysand #a court of thorns and roses #acotar #sjm critical #Rhys! is not! morally grey!

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elysiansparadise · 1 year

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you’re my fav astro blog! ✨ can you please do a post for pluto in the 1st house? 🖤

Aw, that means a lot to me. I’m glad to know it, thank you so much. It’d be my pleasure. 🤎

Pluto in the 1st house

Life has not been too kind to them, many of them have had to harden over time, generating an appearance that exhorts a lot of strength and independence, this appearance eclipses a personality that feels that they have to always be alert, that is afraid to trust others easily or others think you are manipulable, weak or scared. They have learned not to back down in the face of difficulties that may come. Many of these natives are demanding of themselves, not consciously or unconsciously allowing themselves to be vulnerable with anyone. They have a tendency to mistrust other people's intentions and it is very difficult for them to feel that they are close to others or to feel that others know them well. If it's making a hard aspect with Moon, Sun, Chiron or Saturn, they may have grown up with a fear that they feel they cannot leave behind, and in general, they may feel they have a hard time getting over or forgetting/forgiving. These natives are more likely to know you than you ever will. Many of them may fear that other people will take advantage of them and the extreme devotion they can bring to their relationships, so they become selective with whom they open up. It is very likely that some of them have felt left out or judged by others, coming to think that there was a problem with them. They may feel that people have hasty and wrong impressions about them. These people are incredibly magnetic, attractive and easily attract the attention of others, this can lead them to attract a lot of envy. They have many good things that even they don't usually see, this is their high level of loyalty, their cunning, the passion and devotion they put into what matters to them and their strong values and unwavering ideals.

As stereotypes dictate, there is something intense about their gazes, which are naturally daring, mesmerizing and sharp, for even if they don't mean it, they seem heavy on their judgment to others. They may have a slightly furrowed brow, thick eyebrows, or some other feature that makes their gaze somewhat penetrating. There may be two possibilities, either they like to wear oversized clothes that hide their body figure, or wear clothes that flatter their figure and make them feel a certain empowerment, they can even oscillate between the two, because despite being people with many skills and power of attraction, their self-esteem and way of perceiving themselves varies intensely. In some cases they can become sexualized. People see them as people who have a high degree of self-confidence, who know what they want and are known for tenaciously pursuing their ambitions. In the eyes of others, the natives know that they should and can go far if they set their minds to it. Many times they tend to give vibes of being superior to others in some way (more attractive, more powerful or more interesting). If Pluto is highly aspected, conjunct Mars, Sun or in Aries degrees (01°, 13°, 25°) the native may feel that drama is somehow following them or they have to witness dramas of all kinds throughout their lives. Life has certainly brought a variety of changes to your lives, changes that lead you to look uncertainty at your past selves, contemplating all that you have had to grow up to and how quickly and intensely you have had to. Growing up fast has its advantages, and they know it, but not everything on that path has been easy for them. They may even feel that they have had to detox from some aspects of their early environment, where things started to look not so easy. This is a placement for breaking a generational behavior, mindset or trauma.

They have an ability to read and sense people's intentions even if it is the first time they see them (enhanced if they have water placements or Pluto aspecting Moon and/or Neptune). Some things may be hard to imagine for some, but for the native they are predictable or even obvious. Excellent analysis skills, they have a brilliant mind, as they let themselves be guided and think with their minds and quite a few touches of intuition. They are excellent at planning and leading, they can naturally attract people who follow them, act like them, or view them as role models. They really care about their own, they defend what they love with tenacity and strength. There is something with the way they present that is very appealing, a mixture of intensity and some indifference, they seem to just go about their business, many people are attracted to them at the first glance, but they are tied to them once the degree of intimacy increases, that something special in them, their way of acting, seeing and facing life that makes them intoxicating and addictive for others. Some of them may attract people who get fixed on them. The natives want to delve into all areas of their life, they don't like the mundane, simple and boring, starting with themselves. They like to get to know each other better, to meet the ones they love to the core and to know where they are. Uncertainty is something that they do not tolerate, because it makes them nervous, they like what is stable and what can augur security, one that they have hardly felt.

-> Go back to the masterlist

#pluto in the 1st house #pluto #astrology #natal chart #natal placement #1st house #pluto in the 1st #astro note #pluto in 1h #pluto in the 1h #birth chart #astro content #astro observation

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pumpkinstrawbrew · 7 months

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❣️.ĐØ₥Ɇ₴₮ł₵₳₮Ɇ V₴ ₵₳₱₮ɄⱤɆ. ☠️

...

(i love playing with various branches of scarebat inside my head. even if it's one-note idea. but in this current bit, i was thinking about a core view on certain things, that most of their versions have in common. mainly the difference between jon's n' bruce's outlooks on how they picture 'ideal' encounter between one another. or more so, what the best outcome of it might be. what their 'great end game might look like.

bruce *for the most part* wants to believe in reabilitation. in a change for the better. it's possible to tame n' domesticate a wild crow. it might not change its habbits fully, but it's possible to make the bird less harmful *to smaller animals as they do feed on them* by keeping it happy and fed. by nurturing it into state, where it'll be mostly comfy with getting food by less extreme means. n' where it might trust you to not to harm it or stop giving it food. while, i view this set-up from a perspective of a shipper, i also can see gen approach here as well. mostly, bc i don't think that bruce would have ever left any of his *potentially ex* rogues fully unsurpivised. esp someone with history like crane's. batman is too much of a control freak to not peak into his villain's personal affairs, even if just to make sure, that they haven't went back to crime. him befriending / having a chance to impose influence on a troubled, malevolent 'crow via smth other, than use of force would have been a nice change of pace. batman is pragmatic, but i love how he doesn't ever fully dismiss the idea of 'what if', n' desire to see his rogues improving themselves. but at the same time, usually, he's the one who puts said crow back into cage *arkham*, so there is that too. he wants to do the right thing, but the bird keeps glaring at him through the narrow bars, bc it doesn't get why must it be caged for hurting n' killing other animals, when they *totally* picked on it first.

now, jon would have almost an oposite view of this, i imagine. where bruce can picture a second variant, another *brighter* path, crane kinda just cannot do the same. from his pov, there is no way for batman to ever become a villain. somebody who would team up with him. so they can't be 'together' this way. there is also no way for crane to ever get onto batman's level. esp bc he doesn't want *can't* change this drastically. therefore, the only way to keep the bat in his possession is to lock it up, trap it n' hold it in a little metalic box. hide it inside his basement, bc so many other people would love to have the bat too. he doesn't want to clip its wings, but part of him is paranoid enough to consider it. he has no idea how else to make a wild bat stay. it doesn't listen to him, like his birds do. but crane will take good care of it, anyway. make it dependent on him. caged by him, n' no one else can steal it away this time.

maybe, this reads as gibberish to some, but i really love how both bruce n' jonathan have animal analog / name in their aliases. bruce's is more apperent, bc well, batman lol. he even dress up as this. crane's case is more subtitle, but still, the scarecrow. even if he supposed to scare said birds away, he keeps them as pets as offten as we see bats hanging inside bruce's herocave lol. those animals also suit their personalities to a degree. the only other animal, that i can see crane as be a possum lol. sharp teeth, always hissing, long rat tail, but despite the ragged apperance, they are the only mamal that cannot get rabies bc of their body temperature, even tho by looking at it, you'd think that it surely would have that disease, haha. that's kinda very crane. he tends to subvert expectations, but in a strange ways.

an' well, where bruce can step down to extremes, n' i don't mean putting crane's scawny ass back into asylum, i mean also consider other methods of keeping him declawed. including trapping him inside his cave / basement. still, i feel like for jon's those said extremes are default line of thinking. socially inept, distrustful n' lonely, it would make sense for him to assume, that he can only co-exist with batman, if he will lock him up n' be the only one, who has a key to his prison. generally, it always seems that while jon's views on things n' his way of persiving / feeling affection are twisted, it's also pretty sad too. technically, he doesn't have any frame of referance here. of affection, that is returned n' not played as a joke at his expense. an' being humilated by the bat in such manner would sting way harder, than his high school crush rejecting him. he'd also would have that yandere u-turn. but not in like 'if i can't have you none one has'. more like 'i really want to have you, so i'd do every terrible thing in the book to make it possible'. well, almost 'every'. i feel like there be things, that jonathan *most versions of him, anyways* just kinda won't do. he does have some class, after all.

overall tho, i do love jon as that needy 'creep' archetype *which is pretty much a canon in old comics too*, who would kidnap / do awful things to a guy he likes, simply bc he has no idea what else he can do with him. at most times, he's that meme of 'idk how to hit on him, so he has to die'. meanwhile, bruce thinks that if you feed a stray bird enough, it might consider staying or well, not being as troublesome as it usually is.

in some timelines, this even might work out, who knows.

less so jonathan's side of things, since i feel like he would end up screwing his own plan over. i even have a lil drafty thing for a fic with similar premise, but it's for some other time. atm. just lil art, while i'm working on bigger things, haha. gotta store all these bits / concepts somewhere, so that i don't forget that they exist.)

#batman comics #bruce wayne #jonathan crane #scarecrow #batman #scarebat #batcrow #brew draws

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genderkoolaid · 9 months

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as an arospec person who has experienced romantic attraction before i want an opinion on posts that are about love being special but deliberately mention on the post itself that the love i'm talking about isn't about people. i find posts that say Loving Other People Is The Most Important Ever and cringe and feel weird but like. what if by love i mean i love the sky and water and my mom's cookies. are those types of posts also not it

To me the real problem is that most (specifically alloro) people have not deeply interrogated what "love" is & how it is constructed & used to control.

What's annoying about posts where people respond to criticisms of love-focus by saying "its not all about romance/people!!" is that they are still taking "love" as this like, platonic ideal which must really exist, instead of a concept we made up in response to emotions & relationships. And, ultimately, I think a lot of this focus on love as the Most Universally Important Thing Ever isn't anti-amatonormative, its just amatonormativity changing itself to avoid criticism, because it still carries the message of "you need to feel this specific emotion and have this specific kind of relationship with people/things or you're Bad."

Like. What do you (general you) mean by "love"? How are you constructing love? Why does it need to be called love at all- why is it so important that the word "love" and all its cultural associations is used here?

I'm very religious and very interested in mysticism, and "love" is used constantly in these areas, so I've had to grapple with this a lot. I don't think anything which praises "love" as important is de facto "not it," I just think that in the vast majority of cases "love" is going unanalyzed and taken as a reality instead of a construct. I think the core of those kinds of "love is all that matters" posts is the significance of being intimately connected with the world, as opposed to distancing yourself from it emotionally or physically. And this doesn't have to be based in physical emotions. But because the general concept of "love" is so heavily tied to feeling a certain way, a lot of people (like aromantics and aplatonics, but also many neurodivergent people) who just don't feel certain things have been alienated by the use of "love." We have been told we are less human, evil, or broken & in need of fixing because we don't experience a certain feeling. So even if there are constructions of love that do not focus on romance or on feelings at all, the word cannot be separated from amatonormative, aphobic constructions either, and its worth it to think about that when talking about love.

Basically the posts themselves (generally) aren't bad, you can make posts celebrating love and talking about its importance to you. But its important to understand love as a construct & why many people dislike the term, and also making sure you are not promoting the idea that you need to feel a certain way to be human, or be a good person, or live a good life.

#m.#ask box

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im-a-regular-joe · 14 days

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MY THEORIES ON VAL

The most obvious place to start upon analysing such a character would be to start with his name: Valentino. One of the most popular things associated with this is the designer brand of the same name. Said brand is often known for its high prices, which could translate to Valentino himself having expensive taste.

This is confirmed as we find out soon enough that he almost certainly overworks his employees likely paying less than they deserve. This could also lead to the idea that other peoples opinions are very important to him. By wearing expensive clothing and high fashion, he may be hoping to appeal to others he sees as being higher than himself, and with his overlord status that cannot be very many. This then offers the possibility of an inferiority complex and lack of true self worth if he still feels the need to try so hard to appeal to everybody despite being of equal power. It could also reference a sensitive nature and fear of rejection due to not being good enough.

Another symbol within Valentino’s name can easily be its close resemblance to Valentine. Valentine's day, of course, being the celebration of love, is often associated with hearts, which Valentino displays on the fur collar around his neck and in the shape of his glasses. All these things can easily combine to not so subtly present a man who enjoys the idea of being loved and presents a possibly needy character if he feels he must go so far out of his way to show how much he likes the idea. It presents us with a character that may feel that he needs an excuse to be loved, just as Valentine's day is no more than an excuse to show affection to those you should show love to regardless of the day. But that could also completely miss the point. Alternatively, it could be a reference to the Valentine's day that it really is: one day a year where people pretend love is simply shown in a card or a box of chocolates. By many is seen as an overly advertised cheap ideal of romance. Valentino could therefore possibly be the kind of character that enjoys a short-lived good time with little effort rather than somebody willing of commitment and resilience in a relationship. This isn’t surprising, given his profession related primarily to sex and lust over romance and commitment. We know this to be a fact as we look further into his on again off again relationship with Vox, who he appears often abusive towards. There must be an excessively good reason that the other overlord keeps returning, and I personally doubt it's for a long time given the apparent dynamic. Valentine’s day is only for one day a year, which can represent Valentino’s quickly changing emotions. We see he is easily angered by things, but this day could possibly show that he is also easily won over again by the simple gestures on valentine's day. His love appears to be purchasable with gifts rather than genuine acts of kindness. Or perhaps, he sees it as the other way around. We are quite aware that Valentino keeps his workers under contract that they likely aren’t allowed to leave, so perhaps he believes he can buy their commitment with just one special day. Either way, the audience are still inclined to believe that he is a shallow person and continue to feel he is not a character that they would like to romanticise.

Moving on from the name, Valentino’s species is a sensible place to continue from. Being a moth demon opens up a lot of possible symbolism, so expect a few paragraphs. Let's start off with the fact that moths are often overshadowed by other animals in society. They are often seen as pests, which many people see Valentino as anyway. In comparison to the largely considered more beautiful butterfly, moths are often considered to be quite ugly insects too. This could possibly emphasise the previously mentioned inferiority that Valentino feels, which he makes up for with his designer fashion labels. It could also refer to how, morally, Valentino has committed

some excessively “ugly” acts both in life and death. Children are taught more about butterflies from a young age rather than moths, which also symbolises how Valentino is the kind of guy you don’t talk about to children. However, by teaching children only of butterflies so they later discover moths makes them, even as adults, often see a more beautiful moth but instantly consider it a butterfly because of simply learning that it is the more beautiful species.

This can show that, even if Valentino were to do good things, a large majority of the audience watching already have these views built into their minds about him and will ignore the act or find some sort of ulterior motive behind it. Valentino may have only gained this reputation in Hell, or when he became a pimp, but if you take a moment to consider that he may have grown up with those attitudes towards him, then you may start to understand that he had to take that societal role. A lot of people headcanon that, before his death, Valentino was a person of colour, and if this is true then it is quite possible that he was subjected to systemic racism and was forced into this role from childhood and is a product of what a cruel society forced him to be. But that is just a theory, now back to moths. In the wider food chain, moths are right at the bottom. Many don’t even eat at all, but an immense number of other animals feed on moths as a main source of food. If demons have instincts related to their species, it's unlikely that Valentino could be around other demons without at least feeling unnerved. This may be the source of the feeling of inferiority I have previously discussed to the point where it's probably boring you, but I’m not skipping over it. Valentino’s closest companions, from what we have seen so far, are Vox and Velvet: neither of which are animals above him in the food chain, being a tv and a doll.

It wouldn’t be surprising if he feels more comfortable around these two because they are not naturally a threat to him. However, Angel Dust being a spider, one of the most famous predators towards a moth, may now be cast to be his eventual demise. But there is no way of knowing such so far. It all represents Valentino as quite a vulnerable character despite everything else, which may create sympathy or he may simply be used to show the weaknesses of people such as Valentino, as it is simply poetic justice to see his failures in the end.

More about moths, but different enough to warrant a new paragraph, is that they are nocturnal creatures, notably attracted to light. Night is often a euphemism referring to sexual activities, demonstrating that area to be one Valentino is not only made to be in, but most comfortable in. However, the true symbolism behind this is that Valentino is clearly more comfortable in the dark, though attracted to light. Considering the connotations, it's quite clear that Valentino, while possibly aspiring to be good, will forever be much more comfortable in the more sinister side of things. Moths have evolved to be in the dark, which fits in with the previous suggestion that systemic racism forced the evil nature onto Valentino, to the point where he feels he can no longer go back. Alternatively, it could be that Valentino was raised in an environment similar to the one he now runs, as moths adapted to stay in the same sort of environment and not change. This implies that he likely has trauma, or more specifically, possible sexual assault at a young age. But this is still simply a theory. Another implication about the moths coming out at night is how light is naturally painful to them. Valentino notably wears tinted glasses, and it is highly likely that these have a more practical purpose than simply being fashion, and likely defend his eyes from the daylight. Vox, being a tv demon, has a natural light. It's possible that this hurts, or at least irritates Valentino, to the point where he feels he must lash out on the other to make him feel equal pain. This is no justification for what he does, but it's possible that it is a reason he feels the need to attack someone with such power. Alternatively, the pain of the light could symbolise how morally good acts hurt Valentino. It's unlikely that it is physical pain, but Angel Dust being rehabilitated will definitely hurt Valentino economically, and possibly emotionally despite how cruel he is to him at the studios. Living in darkness and shying away from the light, however, not typically what the crowd wants in a show with the primary goal of redemption, which easily paints Valentino as the antagonist we know him to be.

A final thing we can possibly gain from Valentino’s species is development. Moths famously go through the transformation from a caterpillar, just as butterflies do. An evolution to something more beautiful could foreshadow a positive redemption arc for the pimp throughout the series, but it quite possibly could show that it will never happen. Valentino is already a moth, which is the end of the transformation. It’s likely we will not see further development of his character, or at least nothing significant. This is most likely his final form which will not change, as depressing as that may be. Audiences should see that this man is past the point of change and will lose the hope that they may have once had that he could improve, which makes his character even less appealing to those watching, confirming Valentino as a primary antagonist.

Now let's focus on his design. Red is the most prominent colour shown on Valentino, in his coat and his hat. Red is stereotypically a colour representing stereotypical and romance, which reiterates the earlier statement of Valentino’s attraction to the depiction of a romantic relationship. It can also represent anger, presenting him to be a character that will be easy to make angry and be a threat during the series. Red can also symbolise danger, or a lack of inhibitions, relating once again to anger but also the impulsive abuse he shows to those around him. Red is also the colour blood, therefore has connotations including murder and violence. The use of blood is famously used in the play Macbeth, where it is shown to be unable to be washed off of characters hands. This could represent how Valentino is not a character who will change his ways and will forever be damned to Hell. Red is a strong colour made to stand out from the crowd, which may be a way of showing that Valentino feels the need to be noticed while also displaying that he himself is strong and bold. It shows that he fits into Hell easily as he matches the colours, just as how a moth's wings are often used to camouflage them in their habitat. The entire outfit reiterates how Valentino believes fashion and looks to be very important for status and control. The dangerous colour instantly opposes people to the character and makes them feel threatened by his existence, exaggerating that he is a primary villain.

Valentino’s skin is shown to be a muted blue colour. Due to it being skin, this is not something that can easily be changed or hidden in any way, so is likely to be truer to his genuine character. Blue has connotations primarily around the motif of sadness, which may suggest that Valentino isn’t so carefree in his afterlife as he appears. It may show a better, more caring side to the pimp, despite the harsh exterior he displays. “Muted” suggests that it is certainly a side to him that wouldn’t be voiced, so true or not we are unlikely to see it. This may cause a slight bit of sympathy from the observer despite the current opposition. However, often in official images released of Valentino, his skin appears closer to purple. This is famous for being a royal colour and is generally used by those who want to give off an impression of superiority. It is possible that, due to the light in hell being mostly red, that the blue naturally appears purple, or it may be that, specifically for the Instagram posts, Valentino edited the lighting to give him the more regal look so he could demonstrate his superiority. It shows a self-conscious side to him, as he possibly is embarrassed of the blue undertone, knowing its symbolism of sadness, so as often as he can he covers it to look more purple. Yet it may just be a coincidence. Either way, it once again confirms that Valentino is important in Hell.

Arguably, pink, although only a very small part of Valentino, is the truest colour to him. His eyes are something that cannot easily be changed colour either, especially since it is the entire eye, which makes it one of his most true colours. Pink typically represents self-love and passion in literature. It could be that in Valentino’s eyes we see what he truly wishes for, in this case a strong sense of self appreciation and love from others. More simply, passion could refer more so to sex, which we know already firs his character. Valentino’s teeth, all but one, are also pink. This could represent that he feeds off of passion and love others give to him, exaggerating the possibly neediness mentioned before. Alternatively, being a pimp, it could show how he feeds off of others passion in a more literal way, by getting money from the sex industry. It could also show a more feminine side to Valentino, which can sometimes be seen in official content released. It adds an element of confusion, making the character unpredictable and a source of danger to the observer.

A minor colour on Valentino that can be seen is gold. Obviously, this represents power and wealth, so may be a fashion statement to try and prove superiority. However, gold teeth specifically are used in the media to show criminals and those who would rather spend money on things that needn’t be so expensive rather than helping others, showing him to be selfish. Being a tooth, it could represent that he feeds off of wealth and craves more money as part of his business, emphasising the idea. A similar gold tooth is owned by Angel Dust, likely showing Valentino’s possession of him with a sort of trademark. This causes him to be viewed as antagonistic as modern society views people as much more than property.

The final colour to discuss is black. This is used on Valentino’s hands, or possibly gloves. Black is known as a colour to represent evil and fear, so being on Valentino’s hands gives the impression that he has done undoubtably evil things with them which we know to be true. They are clearly shown as impure, to which nobody has doubts that they are. It causes an instant dislike towards him and unnerves the audience at the things he could have done. There is the chance that these are gloves, and not the true colour of Valentino’s hands, but that can either be simply to give the impression that he does horrible things to make others fear him, or he considers what he does to be too evil to physically touch, so continues to demonise him to the audience.

Another thing that is difficult to miss when looking at Valentino is his height. Even compared to the other tall demons we have seen, Valentino has a significant height advantage, standing at around three metres tall. This means he literally looks down on those around him, which is an obvious symbol of power. This could prove the inferiority complex wrong, and perhaps he does feel superior because of this, though it could simply mean he has more of a reputation to hold up and more eyes on him. Being so tall creates a literal and metaphorical distance between him and others, making it impossible to be close to people without having to lower or humble himself, which doesn’t seem something he’s likely to do. It shows Valentino being likely to be a very large and obvious obstacle in the show, specifically for Angel Dust, who will have to find some way to get around him to succeed in redemption.

Finally, the fluff around Valentino’s neck. Primarily it is white, which shows comfort and purity, but can occasionally be classed as weakness. It is possible, being so close to his head, that it is more of a quick retreat to hide away from Hell in somewhere soft and pure for a short time. Or, it being such a pure colour, it may show his pure emotions, because who doesn’t want to see it go all poofy when he’s mad? Either way, it slightly softens his character to the audience, though doesn’t necessarily cause any sympathy. The fluff is known to have red hearts on it, which further reiterate that Valentino’s comfort is the stereotypical idea of romance, which he seems to find appealing and safe within. This, of all things discussed, is likely one of the only things that will truly soften the audience towards the pimp, making him seem more than the purely evil villain he is perceived as. Then again, it's unlikely that a ruff will redeem the whole character to the audience, especially regarding his other aspects and actions.

What do you think ??

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