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earthbased · 3 years

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Making Your Own Correspondences for Plants

Disclaimer: This post is about magical and spiritual use, not medical, and medical use is mentioned only for historical examples. Don’t mess around with medicine unless you know what you’re doing, or consult someone who does. I’ve previously written about where the majority of magical plant correspondences tend to come from in modern pagan & witchcraft sites and books. If you decide to DIY some or all of your correspondences, how you do it will depend on what your beliefs and practices are. Some things to consider:

Do you believe the magical properties are already in the plants, are unchangeable, and need to be discovered? Or that they depend on your beliefs and associations?

Do you value individuality and personal significance, or having shared lore with your community and culture? Or both?

Do you value the process of relationship-building with a plant or spirit?

Do you value receiving lore through ancestry or lineage? Does it matter to you how old it is?

I’m going to delve deeper into 3 main sources: existing lore, physical characteristics and the plant itself.

===1. Building upon existing lore===

Learning the history and folklore of a plant, even if it doesn’t have existing magical uses, is likely to give you ideas and a deeper understanding. Some potential sources of lore: recorded folklore and common names, oral tradition, fairytales and nursery rhymes, etymology, flower meanings, appearances in mythology, appearances in well-known books or poems, pop culture and fiction.

Whether or not you want to think about it, the greater story of your practice includes the story of your lore and how it came to you. Oftentimes that story involves violence, theft, deception and ridicule. BIPOC have written at length about cultural appropriation [link, link, link, link] & cultural genocide as one of the ongoing harms of colonisation and racism. If you’re not part of a culture that traditionally stewards a certain plant or body of lore, listening to (whether literally hearing or by other means) and respecting those people’s voices is your ongoing responsibility when engaging with it. Navigating these issues as a member of an oppressing group often involves ambiguity and discomfort. This is also part of the path. Remember that we’re blessed to have the opportunity to listen to these voices today. Others did not survive.

Practical uses, both modern and historical often include medicine, but there’s much more, e.g. thorny plants’ association with protection - not only because the thorns protect the plant itself, but because thorny hedges have been grown in many times and places to deter large animals or trespassers from crossing a fence. More recently, I suspect the modern-day association of lemon with cleaning products has led to its current use in magical cleansing. In any case plenty of common correspondences have arisen fairly recently from modern-day uses. Whether you place special value upon ancient or pre-modern lore is up to you. The reasons behind old magical lore were often related to practical use, so I see it as a continued tradition.

===2. Looking at physical characteristics===

What you see depends on how you look (and think). Many plants have heart, star or crescent-shaped leaves. What do these things mean to you? A crescent usually reminds me of the moon but you could also see it as a claw or a smile, two things with very different connotations. Sympathetic magic (a phrase from anthropology) is the idea that things can magically affect each other based on their similarities. But beyond the obvious, there are also symbolic meanings. Many unrelated trees across the world happen to have dark red oozing sap, often earning them a name like "bloodwood". A straightforward use of sympathetic magic would mean it can affect blood, e.g. to stop bleeding. But symbolically, blood often means vitality, death, birth or rebirth, so that oozy tree could be thought to represent any of those things too. Learning observable facts about a plant can be a rich source of inspiration and understanding. Some things to consider: habitat, place of origin, endangered or invasive status, the wild form of a domesticated plant, gardening information, close relatives, lifecycle and seasonal cycle, and parts of interest (leaves, roots, flowers, seeds). For example, a plant well known for its flowers could have something interesting about its seeds which are usually overlooked. The internet is a bountiful source of information, as are books. Your local community likely includes many people who might be willing to pass on their knowledge, for example in local gardening or nature enthusiast clubs, nurseries, environmental groups, and cultural organisations.

You can apply a traditional method of Western astrology to make brand new correspondences to use for sympathetic magic, even with plants that have never been used this way before. This involves comparing the physical qualities of plants (shape, colour, smell, texture etc) with a list of qualities associated with each planetary energy. You might pick one or two features that stand out and concentrate on those. The planet it matches best is considered its ruling planet and will determine its magical application. It's possible for different parts of a plant to have different ruling planets, but not necessary. Common references for planetary qualities include Renaissance philosopher HC Agrippa and famous herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, but your associations may differ, or come from another system of astrology entirely. In any case, once the plant is connected to the planet, it’s also connected to everything else the planet represents. For example, if I determined that a herb in my garden had Venusian qualities, I’d consider it useful for any magic involving love, beauty, harmony or comfort. By a similar process you can assign herbs to a list of deities, zodiac signs, tarot cards, or whatever you want.

===3. Asking the plant itself===

What this looks like depends on your personal beliefs and practices. It might mean asking an individual plant or a spirit representing the whole species. It may involve trance or ritual, or be as simple as listening inwardly for an internal voice in your thoughts. Will you seek out a living plant, contact it through its dried leaves, invoke its spirit into your space or meet it in a non-physical plane? Additionally, not all communication is about sound and words. Among humans some languages are signed and some people communicate with picture boards. Images, emotion, gesture, touch, music and body language are things to consider.

In some belief systems listening to plants may be interpreted more metaphorically, involving intuition or imagination. Using intuition-enabling practices such as dream work or trance may help you to connect your accumulated knowledge to a spiritual or magical meaning. Imagination and roleplay is also a way of gaining a new perspective, such as the deep ecology practice of a psychodrama called the Council of All Beings (note that the original form was heavily influenced by misappropriated Native American practices and stereotypes).

“What [something/someone] is telling me” is a phrase that can be used literally or figuratively in English. In other languages, especially Indigenous ones, such a distinction may not exist. This use of grammar can reflect a way of thinking and relating that considers humans as one part of a whole. If you were raised in a colonial mindset, asking the plant about its correspondences (whatever form that takes) and considering the plant’s priorities can be a way of challenging that mindset by reframing the interaction as one between two beings, rather than a human acting on a passive object. To me this way of thinking invites respect and reciprocity. How you can act upon that is a topic for another post, or maybe another author.

#advanced witchcraft #green witchcraft #paganism #magical correspondences #witchcraft #magick #Herbal magick #herbal magic #wicca

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bestworstcase · 4 years

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a comprehensive guide to zhan tiri’s lore or, it’s not that confusing or contradictory, i promise

first things first: if you are somebody who pays attention to creator interviews and you are interested in canonical zhan tiri lore, i want you to gather up everything you’ve ever heard chris say about zhan tiri and erase it from of your brain. i know he’s made statements regarding his interpretation of her backstory but this post was made by death of the author gang and we are interested ONLY in what is stated and shown in the text itself. meaning belongs to the viewers, and creator interpretation is irrelevant.

ready? let’s go!

who or what is zhan tiri?

zhan tiri’s first appearance in coronan history occurred thousands of years ago; in plus est en vous, rapunzel specifies two thousand, but every other mention of zhan tiri as a historical figure is “eons” or “millennia,” and the most objective source we have—the plus est flashback—is marked “thousands of years ago.”

there is no direct evidence to suggest that she existed prior to this, but i think there is enough circumstantial support for this theory to conclude that she did: namely, the existence of idols and other religious iconography associated with her name. my reasoning here is as follows:

the plus est en vous flashback shows demanitus banishing zhan tiri to the lost realm. this makes it—give or take a few years—the last point in time when zhan tiri would have been free and thus able to make any lasting cultural impact.

it follows that any relevant historical artifacts we see must predate the plus est flashback, as they represent a time when zhan tiri had a significant enough cultural impact to fuel their creation.

moreover, though sugracha and tromus are the only disciples of zhan tiri who directly appear in the series, it is implied that there are many more:

Lord Demanitus was in a constant battle with Zhan Tiri and his brethren. Over the years, Demanitus captured many of the evil spirits and held them prisoner in that chamber. (S1, Painter’s Block)

much of the coronan folklore concerning the demanitus-zhan tiri relationship is... wrong, but due to sugracha’s verifiable imprisonment in the demanitus chamber, i feel it reasonable to conclude that this tidbit is correct in that there are, or at least were, other disciples held inside the demanitus chamber. and, as with the historical artifacts associated with zhan tiri, it is logical to conclude that whatever cult produced these disciples predated the plus est flashback.

so, we’ve established the historical artifacts and iconography associated with zhan tiri came before the plus est flashback, but what exactly does that entail, and what does it tell us about zhan tiri’s true nature?

icons of zhan tiri: an overview

#1: janus point

janus point is a henge, and based on the iconography—the ram’s head symbol is plastered all over the jardinière and the henge pillars—it appears to be a site dedicated specifically to zhan tiri. the same symbol also appears on the seal in which sugracha’s spirit was trapped inside the demanitus chamber and is unique in that the muzzle appears to corkscrew.

the appearance of the henge evokes a quasi-religious flavor, and in who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, rapunzel refers to the site as a “mystical ground.” at the very least, this is a ritual site that was heavily associated with zhan tiri, and it would not be much of a stretch to conclude she was outright worshipped here.

#2: the spire idol

this artifact appears in both the keeper of the spire and race to the spire. it’s a small stone idol kept in the spire’s... gatehouse, for lack of a better term, and it depicts the basic ram-headed hulking demon zhan tiri. nothing is said about it in either episode.

#3: the tree of zhan tiri

there is zhan tiri iconography all over this tree.

the stone ram’s head over the entrance...

...the bas-relief in the first chamber...

...more ram’s heads over all the interior archways and the scroll shelves...

...and a return of the corkscrew-snouted ram’s head from janus point on the altar for this glorious oversized flytrap.

#4: the shell house

tromus’s shrine gives us yet another variation on the ram’s head symbol as well as another full-body idol and also, though i didn’t get a screenshot of it because it’s hard to see with the way tumblr resizes images, a little ram’s head symbol on the clasp of his robes.

so where did this imagery come from?

with the exception of the spire idol, there is evidence to suggest that zhan tiri herself had direct influence over the design of all this iconography.

janus point seems to have held some importance to zhan tiri herself; when she appears to varian in cassandra’s revenge, she surrounds herself with pieces of it and superimposes her own head on top of the tree.

further, the corkscrew-snouted ram’s head reoccurs at the great tree, which is unique among the sites associated with her in that we know zhan tiri actually resided there for what sounds like a significant amount of time; according to the legend adira shares, the great tree was zhan tiri’s “stronghold.”

this means that it’s plausible that either (a) zhan tiri herself shaped the symbols on display in the tree, or (b) they were modeled after her by her contemporaries. the interesting thing about this, there are four distinct variations on the ram’s head symbol inside the tree: 1) long, thick snout with elongated horns; 2) angular, no snout, short horns, 3) corkscrew-snouted, and 4) humanlike skull with ram horns.

and likewise, the iconography inside the shell house was created by someone we know to have been a contemporary of zhan tiri’s; tromus was one of the students of demanitus who turned against him to join zhan tiri instead, and it is logical to assume that he did, in fact, see zhan tiri in the flesh at some point—and his ram’s head design is yet again different.

this begs the question: if all five of these designs were modeled on zhan tiri herself, why is there such variety in the basic shape? i believe this is a strong point in favor of considering zhan tiri a shapeshifter who chose and stuck with a single general form for long periods of time but casually and frequently modified the smaller details. and in fact, we do see her do this in season three, with the most notable occurrence being. this:

so, we have concluded that:

zhan tiri’s historical iconography predates the plus est flashback, and

accurately represented her physical appearance from that time

from this, the only reasonable conclusion is that zhan tiri is a shapeshifter, who spent a considerable amount of time in the giant, ram-headed demon form depicted in all of her pre-demanitus iconography.

but she’s human in the plus est flashback!

in the series, human characters are designed with a wide diversity of shapes and sizes, but their color palettes stay within the range of realism, with natural skin tones and eye/hair colors. zhan tiri is... not like that.

she may be human-shaped, but her color palette sits drastically outside the norms the series has established for human characters; her skin is dead white, her hair is a dull lilac color, her eyes are bright purple with a circle of gold around the pupils. none of these are natural human colors.

there is precedent in the series for marked changes in appearance and coloration as a result of meddling with magical forces: when cassandra claims the moonstone, it turns her hair and eyes bright blue and gives her an unhealthy-looking pallor. rapunzel’s hair, likewise, turns gold due to the sundrop’s influence. thus, taking this in isolation, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to conclude that zhan tiri, too, has had her appearance altered by whatever magical nonsense she’s been mucking around with.

however, if we look at this design in the context of the conclusions we’ve already drawn about her historical iconography and what that tells us about her true nature, i think a much simpler and more plausible explanation is that zhan tiri, being a shapeshifter, donned this humanlike form in order to get closer to demanitus. there could be any number of reasons for doing so—considering demanitus’s fixation on seeking the drops for the right reasons, i would imagine creating some distance from the malevolent monster form in order to gain his trust would have played a role in this decision.

five final points in favor of shapeshifting

#1: zhan tiri in the lost realm

we see in plus est en vous that the lost realm causes absurd magical mutations in people who are trapped there. varian theorizes that these mutations could become irreversible if they stay in the lost realm for long enough, but given that they are all freed shortly thereafter and the changes revert, there is no concrete evidence for or against this theory.

still, this raises an interesting question: if the lost realm mutates anyone who enters it, and if these changes become irreversible after long periods of time what would happen if a shapeshifter was trapped there for thousands of years?

when zhan tiri escapes from the lost realm, she isn’t all that different in appearance from when she entered it. she’s much smaller. her hairstyle has changed a bit. she lost the bag at some point. but that’s... really it. it’s a much less drastic alteration than we see happening with the coronans, who are shown transforming into objects and animals, with their bodies distorted, or with pieces of themselves becoming detached and floating away. and these changes also serve her manipulation of cass by making her appear small, weak, and harmless, so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility for zhan tiri to have chosen this form for herself.

i think it is reasonable to assume that zhan tiri, being a shapeshifter herself, was able to, if not outright resist whatever magic in the lost realm causes these mutations, at least “fix” them as they happened. her brief appearance in painter’s block supports the idea that she retained the ability to shapeshift while inside the lost realm, since she appears there as the ram-headed demon.

#2: her shapeshifting disciples

both tromus and sugracha are able to appear human, and sugracha states that she can take “many forms” in painter’s block. though it’s never explained where they got this power, it is reasonable to conclude that they received it from zhan tiri—she is their master, and the implication very much seems to be that it was she who gave them their creepy green spirit form of immortality.

and, if zhan tiri is handing out powers of shapeshifting to her minions, it follows that she must be capable of shapeshifting herself, too.

#3: gremlin zhan tiri’s demonic shadow

this shows up in cassandra’s revenge and plus est en vous and seems to straightforwardly suggest that zhan tiri’s true nature is closer to the ram-headed demon, with the humanlike form being more of a disguise.

#4: we see her shapeshift in plus est en vous.

she briefly loses her grip on the humanlike nature of the gremlin form when rapunzel blasts her with the sundrop, as i noted above. and later—once she has the drops in hand and the gremlin form has no further use to her—she sheds it altogether to return to yet another variation on the ram-headed demon, albeit one that looks more... monkey than ram:

#5: and finally, zhan tiri herself says so

in race to the spire:

I believe Cassandra promised us a proper introduction, but she failed to deliver, didn’t she? Frankly, I’m surprised you hadn’t guessed who I am—seeing as how we’ve already met, in a way. You see, over the centuries, I’ve taken the form of whatever suits my needs: a warlock, a demon... even a blizzard.

she also portrays herself as the ram-headed demon in the vision she gives to cassandra in once a handmaiden:

now... zhan tiri is a liar, and if these were statements given in isolation of any supporting evidence, i would be skeptical. however, when all the evidence in the text points toward zhan tiri being a shapeshifting entity as the most logical explanation for everything we see of her throughout the series, i’m inclined to take her corroborating statements as a factual confirmation.

in conclusion: zhan tiri is, and has always been, a shapeshifter. if she has a “true” form, the evidence points toward it being the large, ram-headed, tentacled demon, while the humanlike shape(s) we see in season three are forms she assumed to ingratiate herself to demanitus and, later, cassandra.

what’s the timeline with her and lord demanitus?

time in this series is fuzzy. this applies not only to zhan tiri and demanitus, but to every historical event discussed by the characters and the timespans covered by each season, where the only time markers are the lantern festivals that celebrate rapunzel’s nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first birthdays and a few throwaway lines about the passage of months. thus, there is no way to say with absolute certainly when any specific event in zhan tiri’s backstory occurred chronologically. we have to do our best to arrange the events we know about in an order that is logical.

this is complicated by the fact that we know demanitus fudged some of the details to make himself look better to rapunzel and eugene: he obscured the fact that he and zhan tiri were working partners for an unknown length of time. this verifiable lie of omission casts a patina of doubt over everything else he says regarding their shared past, but it also accounts for discrepancies between what we see and what we’re told.

as always in unreliable narrator situations, what we see has far more weight than what we’re told. with this in mind, there are three tiers of trustworthiness in the information we are given about zhan tiri’s past: most trustworthy are the flashbacks and things we see with our own eyes; in the middle are the accounts of zhan tiri’s contemporaries—demanitus and the disciples; and at the bottom are the folk legends recounted by xavier and adira.

so what do we see?

#1: zhan tiri and demanitus searched for the drops together

just how this arrangement came to be is unclear, but i think we can glean some interesting information from the plus est flashback.

DEMANITUS: Zhan Tiri! This is your last warning! Give up this foolish quest for power.

ZHAN TIRI: This quest for the sundrop and moonstone was both of ours.

DEMANITUS: It was, until you made it about something darker. You made it all about gaining power for yourself! You turned your back on what was right!

ZHAN TIRI: And you turned your back on me. As long as I live, I will never stop until I have that power!

DEMANITUS: I know.

[He activates the portal to the Lost Realm.]

ZHAN TIRI: This is far from over! I will have that power, and when I do, I will destroy your beloved Corona! I promise you!

[The portal closes.]

DEMANITUS: I had no choice, Vigor. I had to send her to the Lost Realm.

this suggests a couple things.

first, the working relationship between demanitus and zhan tiri broke down because her selfish desire for power clashed with his idealism. demanitus didn’t want the power of the combined sundrop and moonstone for himself; he wanted to reunite them in the service of a cause he believed to be right. zhan tiri, by contrast, was interested solely in acquiring that power for herself—but given how demanitus reacted when he learned this, it seems obvious that he didn’t know that about zhan tiri until later in their relationship.

in other words, there was some level of deceit on her part involved with their partnership from the very beginning. she hid her true motives from him; she may also have hidden her true nature from him. i think there is support both for and against the latter point: in the present day, demanitus describes zhan tiri as “a warlock”—a word zhan tiri uses as an example of her duplicitous shapeshifting—but he also describes her as being “from another realm”—suggesting he knew her to be something otherworldly or inhuman.

i tend to fall on the side of demanitus knowing her basic nature while they were contemporaries, but believing she shared his more noble motivations at first, but i think a strong argument could be made in favor of him believing her to be human from the start and only discovering her true nature later.

second, demanitus appears to have cared for zhan tiri far more than she cared for him. in the flashback, she’s angry at his betrayal, but her focus is on her desire for the power of the sundrop and moonstone. by contrast, demanitus gives her plenty of warning and chances to turn away from her dark path, pleads with her to “give up” her selfish motivations, and expresses clear regret after her refusal forces him to banish her to the lost realm.

this, again, supports the interpretation that zhan tiri manipulated or used demanitus to further her own goals, just as she would later do with cassandra, rather than this being a true partnership that broke down as a result of differing goals. she doesn’t care about him any more than she cared about cass.

#2: zhan tiri’s behavior in season three

season three firmly establishes zhan tiri as a skilled manipulator who does not care about anyone or anything besides herself and her pursuit of her own power. i won’t get into the weeds with this—if you want to read a breakdown of (some) of zhan tiri’s manipulation of cass in season three, i wrote a post about once a handmaiden here—because for our purposes, we just need to understand that the basic character of zhan tiri as we see her in the present should inform our interpretation of her behavior in the past.

in other words, i think it is safe to assume that zhan tiri applied similar techniques and principles of manipulation to demanitus as we see her do to cassandra in the present; to wit, she would have sought to make him emotionally dependent on her by exploiting whatever vulnerabilities she could find and presenting herself to him as a trustworthy friend and kindred spirit.

#3: she is not close to her disciples

once she is freed, zhan tiri never so much as mentions tromus or sugracha again. moreover, it is unclear how much personal information they actually know about her: in painter’s block, sugracha refers to zhan tiri as “he,” which could indicate one of several things:

zhan tiri is female, but her disciples don’t know her well enough for assumptions they made about her gender based on the appearance of the ram-headed demon form to have been corrected, or

zhan tiri doesn’t subscribe to human conceptualizations of gender, and both “she” and “he” are acceptable pronouns because the gendered connotations of both are equally irrelevant.

i, personally, prefer the second explanation, but the first is tenuously supported by how little zhan tiri cares for her disciples.

what do her contemporaries say?

lord demanitus’s telling of his conflict with zhan tiri is as follows:

Millennia ago, a mysterious event in the heavens divided an ancient power in two. The sundrop and moonstone fell to the earth. Three of my pupils and I researched the legend of the sundrop and moonstone, two elements that longed to reunite. We searched, but alas could not find them.

Unfortunately, we were not the only ones looking. My pupils betrayed me, and summoned my old nemesis, Zhan Tiri: a warlock from another realm, bent on destruction. It took all of my powers to banish the evil from our world.

I knew the research I had written about the sundrop and moonstone was valuable. Dangerous, in evil hands. So I tore the scroll and hid the pieces...

this exposition also shows us the identities of the three pupils who turned against demanitus and joined zhan tiri instead: sugracha, tromus, and gothel.

their identities are all confirmed outside of this sequence: sugracha and tromus appear as loyal servants of zhan tiri, and in a tale of two sisters, rapunzel and cassandra discover gothel’s research on the sundrop flower, including a piece that is an obvious attempt to recreate the demanitus scroll, indicating that gothel was indeed his student at one time:

though it appears that gothel abandoned zhan tiri as well once she found the sundrop flower, as she hoarded its power for herself rather than seeking to use it to free her former master from the lost realm.

now... because demanitus leaves out the part of this story that would involve admitting he worked with zhan tiri before she became his “nemesis,” we can’t say with any certainty when this business with his traitorous pupils freeing her happened—or, indeed, if it actually happened that way at all. it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that the three disciples could have been pupils of both demanitus and zhan tiri, who stuck with zhan tiri after demanitus betrayed her and banished her to the lost realm.

my personal belief is that demanitus gathered his pupils to help him continue the search for the sundrop and moonstone after the flashback in plus est, only for them to be lured away by zhan tiri (perhaps via communication in dreams or visions, as cassandra’s revenge establishes that she’s capable of entering people’s dreams whilst trapped in the lost realm) and free her by reactivating the portal—thus shifting demanitus’s focus from “find the sundrop and moonstone” to “put the demon back in her prison and clean up this mess.”

however, this is all very up for personal interpretation, because demanitus’s version of events is verifiably deceptive and thus cannot be taken as hard fact.

and what do the folk legends say?

#1: the blizzard

Eons ago, an evil warlock, Zhan Tiri, had a deep hatred for Corona, and cast a spell which caused a blizzard to sweep across the land. The storm destroyed everything in its path. All would have been lost, had it not been for the ancient engineer and inventor, Lord Demanitus.

Using both magic and science, Demanitus built a massive subterranean machine deep in the Coronan mountains. This mighty device had the ability to change the direction of the wind, and it pushed the flurries out to the sea. The day was saved. Zhan Tiri had indeed been defeated. But some say the curse of the storm lives on, and is simply waiting to strike again...

we know that the basic event described here really happened, because the demanitus device does exist in the location indicated by the legend and works just as described. the details may have been glossed over or elaborated on over the centuries, but we know it is accurate in the essentials.

until recently, i put the events described in this legend immediately before the plus est flashback, to account for the snow on the ground during the flashback, but over the course of writing this post i have actually changed my own mind, and i now think that zhan tiri’s blizzard occurred when the disciples freed her from the lost realm for the first time. why? well, the imagery used to illustrate xavier’s telling of the blizzard legend is directly echoed by the imagery used to illustrate zhan tiri’s release in demanitus’s account in lost and found:

queen for a day.

and lost and found.

the color palettes here are identical, and in both, zhan tiri is depicted as the ram-headed demon, in almost the same pose, rising out of the mountains—which fits with both the location of the demanitus device and the possibility that she created (or became) the blizzard immediately after being released from the portal in the coronan mountains. moreover, her hatred of corona is based on her hatred of demanitus and her vengeful desire to destroy everything he loves, which would logically be stronger after he successfully imprisoned her once.

#2: the great tree

Millennia ago, this tree was once a sentient being, a force for good. But it was corrupted by the evil sorcerer [Zhan Tiri] to destroy any who approached it. It was Zhan Tiri’s stronghold. Inside it, he was invincible. But Lord Demanitus put a stop to the tree’s magic using an enchanted spear.

as with xavier’s blizzard legend, the fact of the spear’s existence and the behavior of the great tree itself once the spear is removed proves the basic accuracy of this legend.

the difficulty hear lies with pinpointing when all this occurred. unlike the blizzard, there are no contextual clues to suggest where this conflict at the great tree may lie in the general timeline, so any conclusions we draw must be based on speculation. the only thing we know for sure is that zhan tiri’s residence in the great tree ended during demanitus’s lifetime, which puts a hard stop in it at about two thousand years ago.

my theory is that zhan tiri corrupted and resided in the great tree long before demanitus’s time. adira calls it her stronghold, and as discussed in the first section, the great tree has the greatest variety and frequency of zhan tiri iconography of any location in the series. one of the symbols inside the great tree is even found thousands of miles away at janus point—the corkscrew-snouted ram’s head—which draws a possible line of influence from the tree to janus point. taken together, all of this suggests a long period of time during which the great tree was zhan tiri’s tree.

and as for when it entered into the conflict between demanitus and zhan tiri, i believe there are two possibilities:

demanitus knew of zhan tiri’s use of the great tree as a fortress, and she allowed him inside while they were collaborating in their search for the drops. she likely hid the violent nature of its defenses from him for a while; then she either let her guard down and allowed him to glimpse more of the truth, or the tree as attacked and he inadvertently witnessed a brutal massacre. either way, this is what clued him in to her ulterior motives, and he crafted the spear to destroy the tree’s magic—and it is this betrayal that zhan tiri references in the plus est flashback when she says “you turned your back on me.”

zhan tiri had been using the great tree as a home for many years without the aggressive kill-anyone-who-enters security measures, allowing it to function as a library or house of research. this may have been how she and demanitus encountered each other in the first place, and would go a long way to explaining why demanitus trusted her initially. it wasn’t until demanitus turned against her and imprisoned her in the lost realm, and her subsequent release by his pupils, that she became enraged and turned the great tree into an indiscriminate killing machine and demanitus forged his magical spear to stop her.

i think both options are equally plausible, and since there isn’t any direct evidence one way or another, this is another case for personal interpretation and preference to really come into play.

so, to sum up...

at some point around two thousand years ago, lord demanitus encountered zhan tiri, and she persuaded him to trust her and work with her to find the mythical sundrop and moonstone. she was most likely just using him the whole time, while he grew to care for her but became so uncomfortable with her violent methods and selfish motivations that he felt he had no choice to imprison her in the lost realm.

his pupils—whom he either once shared with zhan tiri, or gathered after the breakdown of his relationship with zhan tiri—turned against him, and either took her side in the conflict, or successfully freed her from the lost realm. i think the latter explanation(s) fit better with the information we are given.

the blizzard discussed in queen for a day most likely happened after the plus est flashback and her subsequent release by the disciples.

the conflict at the great tree most likely occurred either right before or at some point after the plus est flashback and her subsequent release, but it is plausible to assume that by this point she had been residing in the great tree for a considerable amount of time prior to working with demanitus.

demanitus defeated zhan tiri and her disciples, imprisoned her in the lost realm, imprisoned most if not all of her disciples in the demanitus chamber, destroyed the portal to the lost realm so she couldn’t easily be brought back, and transferred his soul into the immortal body of a monkey so he could spend the next two thousand years as a... watchman of sorts, over the drops, probably with the hope that he could step in to prevent zhan tiri’s release if necessary.

#rta #tts #zhan tiri #demanitus #w h e w

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

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Stark Spangled Banner One Shot: Arrows, Gods and Dogs

Intro: Thor is intrigued about these little things called Urban Legends, but after a night spent with the rest of the Avengers discussing them, one of them in particular becomes a little too real…

Pairings. Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Bad language.A bit of very light smut, if you squint hard enough…no under 18s.

A/N: This takes place in the SSB universe in early 2015 just before the events of AOU. You don’t have to have read that series to understand or enjoy this but feel free to check it out: Stark Spangle Banner Masterlist

This is written for @waiting4inspiration ‘s Myths and Legends Writing Challenge.

My prompt was no.6- The Licked Hand- urban legend of a killer who spends the night under a girl’s bed pretending to be her dog.

“What the fuck…” Tony mumbled as he walked into the common room, glancing around. 3 faces peered back at him, one of which was dark green, from the chairs and sofas that surrounded the coffee table.

“Hey Tone…” his sister grinned up at him. “Nat and I were giving Thor a Seaweed Mask…”

Tony looked at the God who was sat in the chair, the dark green slop slapped all over his face. “It is stupendously beneficial Stark.” he said, grinning at him, his teeth sparkled white against the dark colour of the mask on his face “Anti-inflammatory, moisturises, increases skin metabolism and is anti-aging.” “Well considering you’re over a thousand years old that could be useful…” he said, and as he spoke Steve walked into the room “Oh, and speaking of old, you got any left for Spangles?”

“You ever gonna get tired of that joke?” Steve said, not even looking at Tony or Thor as he passed.

Tony shook his head “No.”

With a sigh Steve dropped onto the floor in between Katie’s legs, his back resting against the sofa.

“Hey…” she said softly, her hands reaching to his shoulders, as her lips softly kissed his cheek. He let out a soft noise of acknowledgement as his eyes closed and he simply let her hands work out some of the tension he was feeling, her fingers expertly dancing across his muscles. “You’re really knotty.” she mused.

He cracked his head side to side, still not opening his eyes “Feels good…” he said softly and she smiled, looking up as Clint walked into the room.

“You giving out massages to anyone Nova?” he looked over as he dropped onto the sofa, swinging his legs over the arm. “Because my back is killing me.” “Book an appointment with a chiropractor then.” she said, her hands still working at Steve’s shoulders. He was blissed out, she could tell from his body language now. His head was hanging forward slightly and his breathing was even.

“C’mon don’t be mean!” Clint pouted.

“Sorry, only Stevie gets my hands all over him.” she winked back. Steve let out a soft huff of a laugh as Tony groaned from across the room where he was stood behind the bar placing several types of snacks into bowls.

The elevator opened again and Bruce stepped out, completing the Friday Night Film Club assembly, something the Avengers did weekly providing their search for the sceptre permitted. Bruce headed over to the seating and stopped as he saw Natasha now wiping the mask from Thor’s face with cotton pads.

“Ok so this is weird…” He said.

“Aren’t you the one that turns green when you get angry?” Tony looked at him, dropping a bowl of popcorn onto the table in the middle of the seats “Because some people might say that’s a little strange too.”

“Touche…” Bruce shrugged, sitting down.

“He has a point though…” Clint said, “I mean he reminds me of that Pittsburgh Green Man dude…the Urban Legend…what was his name?”

“Charlie No-Face” Tony said.

“Charlie No-Face?” Steve asked, opening his eyes and fixing Tony with a sceptical stare.

“Yeah, the tale has it he was disfigured in an accident and could be seen at night, blowing cigarette smoke through the holes in his cheek, lurking by the roadside, trying to stay out of sight. Classic boogie man story”

“Total load of bullshit.” Banner shook his head.

“Actually, there’s some truth to it.” Katie said, her hands still working on Steve’s shoulders “It was a guy called Raymond Robinson who was so severely disfigured as a kid in an electrical accident that he couldn’t go out in public without creating panic. Instead he took to taking long walks at night. Local tourists would drive along the roads hoping to catch sight of him.”

Steve paused, how the fuck did she know that? She was a font of utter useless knowledge, his time at SHIELD with her had shown him that, but still…

“What?” she asked, suddenly aware everyone was looking at her, including Steve “It was part of my degree…” “What, Urban Legends?” Clint frowned.

“I did English Lit and Mythology.” she said, her hands laying still on Steve’s shoulders. “One of my papers was on Urban Legends and the true stories that inspired them.”

“Wait, what is an Urban Legend?” Thor asked, sitting forward, curiosity piqued.

“Exactly what they say on the tin Thunder God.” Katie looked at him “It’s a modern genre of folklore and consists of fictional stories associated with the macabre, superstitions blab la bla. and more often than not rooted in local history and popular culture.”

“But they have elements of truth?” The God asked.

“Some do.” she nodded “But some of them are total myth.”

“So some are Urban Myths, some are Urban Legends?” Thor pressed, eagerly.

“Aint that the same thing?” Clint asked “A myth and a legend? At least that’s what I heard.” Thor and Katie both shook their heads.

“You heard wrong.” Katie looked at him “A legend is a collection of stories about a person or significant event and whilst unverifiable they are handed down and accepted as historical. So, things like King Arthur. It’s accepted there WAS a King called Arthur and he had a set of Knights, but the stories about his Wizard friend, Merlin, Excalibur… no way of proving.”

“And a Myth is bullshit?” Clint asked.

“It’s a made up story, an idea or a concept. Sometimes an imaginary thing, or person. Mythical stories often contain heroes or deities and explain a practice, rite or natural phenomenon.” Katie said, “Mind you, until Thor arrived on Earth Norse Gods were a Myth in themselves so who knows…” “Well that’s not confusing.” Clint mumbled, snatching a handful of popcorn.

“I had this exact conversation with Fury a few years back” Katie chuckled “You re-wrote our entire History books Thor.” The God grinned. “I would very much like to hear some of these Urban Legends or Myths.” he said eagerly.

“Or we could go one better.” Natasha suggested “It is movie night and there’s a film called Urban Legend…” Tony groaned “I was gonna suggest watching Point Break.” “Watch me do what?” Thor asked, puzzled.

“No, the film.” Tony sighed. “It’s about surfers who rob a bank.”

“Why would surfers want to rob a bank?” Thor asked. “Same reason anyone wants to rob a bank I suppose.” Steve said, pushing himself up off the floor and reaching for the beer Tony had placed on the table, before settling next to Katie on the sofa “Money.” “It’s quite a good film actually.” Katie mused “Plus Keanu Reeves looks hot in it…” “Yeah well I belive it is my turn to choose so…” Thor clapped his hands together. “I would very much like to see this Urban Legends…”

“Alright…” Tony sighed, settling down “Prepare to have your mind rotted into nothingness…JARVIS, play the movie…”

***** “God I forgot how crap that film is.” Natasha grumbled as the credits started rolling.

“It’s not so bad.” Clint said.

“Only because you fancy Tara Reid.” she shot back.

Clint shrugged and Katie glanced up from where she was snuggled under Steve’s arm to see her fiancé had fallen asleep, his head lolling against the back of the sofa. She smiled and took a second to just watch how relaxed he looked. It had taken him a while to get this comfortable around the other members of their team, but over the last few months especially, it was as if something had just twigged within him. And the relaxed, tactile, cheeky boy from Brooklyn she knew and loved seemed to bust free more often in front of everyone else. She reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek and he stirred slightly, blinking down at her and gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok.” she chuckled, rubbing his chest “You weren’t snoring. How much did you see?”

“Erm…” he pondered, his hand curling round the one that was rubbing over his T-shirt, fingers gently playing with hers. “The bit where the girl was strangled in her bed when her room mate thinks she’s having sex.”

“I thought that was the best bit.” Tony said, wiping his face “Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the lights…”

“Yes.” Thor agreed eagerly “A real legend, something that could easily be true.” “You know, I remember when I was a kid, some guy in Oklahoma got arrested for trying to enact the whole headlight one.” Banner mused “He pursued the first guy who flashed him for not having his lights on but ended up crashing into a tree. Suppose that’s Karma.”

“But he re-enacted that legend…” Natasha said, “He wasn’t the cause of it, surely?”

Bruce shrugged “I assume so, isn’t that the point though? You can’t trace half of these stories to an origin?”

“I was always convinced that the crazy cat lady who lived next door to us killed one of her kittens in the microwave when she tried to dry it after it fell into our swimming pool” Katie said, looking at Tony and raising her eyebrow “Mind you, that’s because you told me she did.” Tony laughed. “You were so gullible.” “I was 6.” she shook her head before she snorted, “Dad kicked your ass because you gave me nightmares for a week.”

“There is one that wasn’t in the film that I know for a FACT is true.” Clint said, and everyone turned to face him. Katie moved so she was sat up and looked at him, frowning and he gave her a soft wink. Steve gave a little whine at the fact she had moved and she turned to look at him as he held his arms out. She smiled, he was always clingy when he was tired, like a giant, oversized baby. She shuffled over onto his lap and he wrapped his left arm around her waist, laying his head against her chest as she looped her right arm over his shoulder. He loved snuggling up to her. The normality of being able to do and enjoy these type of moments was something he adored. His right hand dropped to her thigh, thumb gently skating over her leggings.

“Truly?” Thor sat forward, listening intently.

Clint nodded. “It happened in one of the towns I visited when I was part of the circus. There was a young girl, left home alone for the first time with only her dog for company. She’s sat watching the news and there’s an urgent report of a killer on the loose in her neighbourhood.”

Tony and Banner exchanged a look, the pair of them rolling their eyes. Katie glanced down at Steve who was listening intently. Biting her lip she looked back at Clint as he continued.

“Terrified, she locks all the doors and windows, but she forgets about the basement window…”

Thor gave a gasp and at that point Katie had to look away as the God’s face was utterly horrified. Natasha was suddenly focusing on her beer bottle, trying not to laugh. But Clint carried on, deadly serious, and Katie had to hand it to him. His poker face was impeccable.

“So she goes to bed, taking her dog to her room with her and letting it sleep under her bed, coz you know, she’s scared. Anyway, she wakes in the night to hear a dripping sound coming from the bathroom. It’s disturbing her a little but she’s too scared to get out of bed and find out what it is. Instead, for comfort, she reaches a hand toward the floor for the dog and is rewarded by a reassuring lick on her hand.”

“Good, good…” Thor said, nodding along “Man’s best friend after all.” “Exactly” Clint said, and in the corner of her eye Katie could see Tony and Banner both shaking with silent laughter. Looking at Steve again, she suppressed a snort of her own as the Soldier was frowning slightly, his eyes focused on Clint as he sat up.

“Anyway, the next morning when she wakes, she goes to the bathroom for a drink of water only to find her dead, mutilated dog hanging in the shower with his blood slowly dripping onto the tiles. On the shower wall, written in the dog’s blood, are the words “HUMANS CAN LICK, TOO.”

There was a pause for a beat before Steve let out a snort “What a load of crap.”

Tony and Banner began to laugh and Natasha grinned, but Thor was completely and utterly serious when he looked at Clint.

“So there was a killer, in her house…under her bed?” Clint nodded, a small smile on his face.

“Hey Thor…” Tony quipped, “Did you know they’re taking the word gullible out of the dictionary?”

Thor looked at him, frowning “Why?” ***** “Want me check under the bed for any serial killers?” Steve asked as he emerged from the en-suite in his boxers, top half bare.

Katie grinned “I’m sure if there’s one hiding you’ll keep me safe Soldier…” He frowned playfully as he pulled back the duvet and crawled onto the bed so he was hovering over her “Does that make me your dog?”

“Down boy.” she smirked as grabbed her wrist and licked her palm. She shrieked, laughing as she wiped it on his back “That’s disgusting…” “You don’t usually complain when I’m using my tongue.” he quipped cheekily.

“Steven Grant Rogers…” she said in a mock tone of shock. He chuckled slightly, pressing his lips to hers. The kiss quickly grew heated and his hands dropped to her hips, clutching at the hem of his shirt she was wearing, as ever.

“I don’t know why you bother wearing anything to bed…” he grinned as he pulled it over her head “It always comes off…” “That’s because you’re a sex fiend.” she smirked as he kissed her again, his hands tracing up her ribs. She tipped her pelvis up to meet his and he let out a soft groan as she pressed against his groin, his arousal becoming more and more evident as he took over, grinding up against her spot, his lips moving across her jawline and to her neck.

Then, all at once there was a huge crash of what sounded like thunder, and the alarm began to ring out through their apartment.

Steve stilled, and he glanced at Katie for a second.

“Are you fucking kidding me…” She groaned as he jumped off her, pulling on a pair of sweats, tossing her the shirt she had been in. She pulled it on and grabbed a pair of shorts to cover her underwear clad bottom half before she reached under the dresser for her gun and they darted into the living room.

“JARVIS?” Steve spoke as he grabbed his shield which, ever since the whole incident with Hydra the previous year stayed in their apartment.

“Disturbance detected on residential floor 29.” The AI offered as called the elevator.

“That’s Clint and Thor’s floor…” Katie muttered as the elevator doors opened and Tony was already in there, his iron man gauntlets on his hand.

“Precaution…”he muttered as Steve looked at him. “There’s no way anyone could get in here…”

The elevator stopped and the doors opened onto the floor. The three of them stepped out to see Clint sprawled on the floor surrounded by bits of plaster and breezeblock, groaning, Natasha bent over him. Thor stood a few feet away by a huge hole in the wall to their right. The door to the stairs flew open and Banner emerged, frowning as he took in the scene in front of him.

“What the fuck?” he asked as Katie’s eyes diverted to Thor who was panting, hammer in his hand, his bare chest heaving.

“I’m sorry…” Thor said, bending over to help Clint to his feet “But you scared me Barton.” “Scared you?” Steve looked at him, frowning. “How did he scare you so much that you put him through the wall?

“He’s done A Barton” Nat smirked as Clint doubled over, groaning, clutching at his side whilst the rest of the team smirked or let out a chuckle. A Barton was a term Nat had coined ages ago for when Clint did something utterly stupid, like taking out a full horde of hostiles only to then go and knock himself out by colliding with a tree branch when running back to the jet, or managing to spill boiling hot coffee all down his front when the lid to his cup wasn’t on properly.

“So what did he do this time?” Steve asked as the arm holding his shield dropped to his side.

“He led under my bed.” Thor said, “And licked my hand.” There was a pause before Katie and Tony both let out huge snorts of laughter, as Steve rolled his eyes, a smile tugging on his face.

“I think you broke my ribs.” Clint groaned, and Thor looked devastated.

“Serves you right.” Tony said, glancing at the hole in the wall, shaking his head. “JARVIS, arrange someone to fix this in the morning. I’m going back to bed…”

“Do you need medical?” Steve asked, looking at Clint. He shook his head. “Well looks like you just made an Urban Legend of your own Hawkeye.” Katie said, grinning. “The story of the dumbass Archer who thought it was a good idea to scare the shit out of the God of Thunder.”

@the-omni-princess @momobaby227 @geekofmanythings16 @angelofhell-666 @thewackywriter @marvelfansworld @cobalt-gear @asgardlover75 @jennmurawski13 @jtargaryen18 @saiyanprincessswanie @navispalace @patzammit @joannaliceevans-fanficblog @icanfeelastormbrewing @djeniiscorner @ayamenimthiriel @coldmuffinbanditshoe @disneylovingal @madzmilllz @sgtjaamesbaarnes @waiting4inspiration

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thegreenwolf · 4 years

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Note: This post was originally posted on No Unsacred Place in 2011, and then later Paths Through the Forests. I have reposted it to my personal blog at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/blog so I can have more of my writings in one place.

When I’m making artwork, I often enjoy having some music or video going on that I can listen to and watch while I work. The other day I finished up watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which I’ve been watching segments of over the past couple of weeks. For those who haven’t seen it, it is an epic, thirteen-hour-long exploration of the Universe we live in, from the atomic level to the entirety of everything, ranging from the Big Bang itself all the way up to the present day. In each of the hour-long segments, Sagan touches on many diverse sciences, as well as history, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines. He puts into layperson’s terms the processes of evolution, the geologic history of the Earth, and the origin of life on this planet and even of the Universe itself.

What I found most invaluable, though, was how the series gives us perspective of where we fit into the grand scheme of things. Until not too long ago, most cultures had a very human-centric view of reality, where we were at the core, and everything revolved around us in importance. Cosmos is both beautiful and controversial because it shows us how very small we are, but also what amazingly intricate and long-lived processes we are an integrated part of. There were many times throughout the series where I was reminded of just how impossibly vast the Universe is, how very tiny the Earth is, and yet also how we ourselves, and everything else, are made of stars–and just how unlikely was the chance that we and everything else on Earth are here today. As humbling as it is to realize just how tiny our “pale blue dot” is, Cosmos also dedicates time to showing what does make us, as a species, so significant in our knowledge of the Universe. As Sagan said in the introduction to the series, “We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself”.

This is simultaneously humbling and inspirational. Much of human religion and spirituality is so heavily anthropocentric our spiritual cosmologies are largely concerned with the interest the Universe and its denizens have in us, and most of our deities are created in our very human image. Many of us never get further than “Earth” and “Sky” as the primordial, “biggest” concept-deities, because that’s how our ancestors understood it to be.* The celestial bodies we most acknowledge are the Sun and the Moon and our closest planetary cousins, but even astrology primarily concerns itself with how the positions of the stars and planets are important to us humans. And yet the Earth, and the visible parts of the Sky, are minute compared to the immensity they, and we, are a part of. It’s humbling because we find more and more that humans are far from the most important collections of stardust, and also inspiring because with every new discovery in biology, in astrophysics, and in so many other disciplines, there’s so much more we can know and explore about Life, the Universe, and Everything, even as laypeople.

I have, over the years, heard pagans and other such folk complain that there’s no real magic in this world, simply because we can’t do things like shoot fireballs from our fingertips or physically shapeshift or heal life-threatening illnesses with a touch. And yet Cosmos is a perfect illustration of the magic that is inherent to this physical reality. Look at evolution, for example. It is not just the “survival of the fittest”, as many oversimplify it. Rather, it is a many-generations-long progression of tiny shifts and alterations, and somehow one ancestral being has offspring which, over millenia, branch off into many diverse creatures. The phylogenetic Tree of Life is full to overflowing with living and extinct beings that are fascinating, beautiful, and inspirational simply by being themselves, without layering on subjective meaning like totemic lore or other symbolism. Or, on a smaller scale, I like to think about photosynthesis. The chloroplasts in plant cells, which are likely derived from cyanobacteria that formed symbiotic relationships with primitive plant cells, take sunlight and turn it into food. All the food we eat is created from sunlight changed into sugars by photosynthesis–we are eating transformed light waves**. How are these things not magical and miraculous, especially the more we know about them?

Cosmos is a massive journey through many of these manners in which star-stuff has formed over billions of years, and I can’t but think of it as revealing why the physical reality I live in is sacred. “Sacred” means “to inspire awe or reverence”, and with each new piece of knowledge about the Universe I acquire, the more deeply I feel that sacredness. Mythos and folklore and divine inspiration are great and beautiful things in the sphere of human experience, but if we are to understand the roots of those experiences, we need to dig into the (sometimes literal) dirt where those roots are grounded.

I think, perhaps, Cosmos could be in and of itself a ritual tool. Thirteen hours is a long time, and while most pagan rituals last an hour at best, there’s also something to be said for an immersive experience. So here’s a suggestion, whether you’ve seen this series in its entirety already or not: Set aside an entire day where you can be undisturbed, either alone, or with other interested, curious and respectful parties. Get comfortable. And then watch Cosmos from beginning to end. (Take breaks for the bathroom and food as needed, of course, but keep them short.) It will be a lot of information, and you may wish to go back at a later time and watch it over again in smaller segments. But this time, simply open yourself to the flow of information, and see how it affects you and your understanding of the Universe.

It may seem odd, on this nature-spirituality-themed blog, to suggest such long immersion in media. Yet not all media is created equal, and this series is much more information about the Universe than what we can immediately observe on our own, condensed into a few hours. Sitting in front of a television won’t show you the spirit of the land where you live, but it can offer you so much more backstory on its geology and biology and ultimate origin than you could get by watching the denizens of the land interact. It’s a complement to direct experiences with nature, not a replacement, and I see it as inspiration to make more forays out of our homes and into the world around us–and, perhaps, to support more exploration beyond where we can currently go. To know about evolution is one thing, but even scientists best appreciate it when they are able to actually see the plants and animals that resulted. (In fact, some of the most glorious marvels written about nature have been penned by scientists, not about things going on in laboratory settings, but our fellow beings in their own habitats–or the habitats themselves.)

Whether you choose to immerse yourself in a thirteen-hour marathon, or take Cosmos in multiple smaller doses, I encourage you to take what you learn and apply it to your experiences in the world around you. I know for myself that having more of the story has enriched my hikes and rituals outdoors, and I hope this can be a valuable resource for you as well.

* Ancient mythos from various cultures worked with what the people of those cultures knew at the time, with great wisdom but without the benefit of high-powered telescopes and other very helpful technology.

** We are still unable to shoot fireballs from our fingertips. But isn’t it cool that in a way, through photosynthesis, we can eat fire?

Did you enjoy this post? Please consider supporting my work on Patreon, buying my art and books on Etsy, or tipping me at Ko-fi!

#Cosmos #science #naturalist paganism #nature #pagan #mine

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zuzannaezurek-blog · 4 years

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The Spirit Within Us

God is all around us - literally. God is on our dollar bills, in our television shows, films, books, history, music, and politics, even in the United States Pledge of Allegiance. Yet, when questioned about our faith or spirituality many people doubt and question a spiritual existence. What if religion were more than a sociocultural system, made up by early humans to help them explain the things that they didn’t understand. If that were the case, then why are there still many believers who continue to worship, even though science continues to prove the world otherwise? Are those who believe in a higher power are just like our ancestors? Who we view as barbaric, uneducated and unsophisticated in today’s day in age? Or did they have it right all along? By learning more about the rich archeological history of early human worship, we can understand that the belief in a higher power is a natural instinct exhibited by the most sophisticated living creatures on the planet, humans.

Humans are recognized as one of the most intelligent species on the planet; they walk on two feet, communicate in complex languages, think and solve complex problems, write, read, create, and most interestingly of all, believe and worship a higher power, that predates the early humans from all Paleolithic periods. Archeologists, over the past decades, have discovered burials of homo sapiens, dating back 300,000 years ago, as examples of religious practices or ideals. It is believed that religions began to develop after the discovery of writing, as seen with Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform writing system of the Samaritans that date back 3000 BCE (over 4,000 years ago). However, discoveries like the sculpture “Lion Man,” a figurine over 40,000 years old carved out of mammoth tusks discovered in the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave in Germany’s Swabian Alps, shows one of the many examples of early signs of worship that can be similarly compared to numerous religions that use hybrid creatures. This can be seen with the Ancient Egyptian gods who have human bodies and animal heads like Anubis, the jackal-headed god, and Bastet, the cat-headed goddess. Other hybrid creatures are also represented in Hinduism, like the God of beginnings, Ganesh, who is portrayed with an elephant head, and Garuda, the god of birth and heaven, who is portrayed with the head and wings of an eagle. Even in Judeo-Christian religions, God’s angels are usually depicted with a human body and bird wings on their backs. Such can be seen with the cherubim and seraphim angels from the Bible that depict these divine creatures with multiple wings and some with animal faces (Ezekiel 1: 1-14).

In 1994, archeologist Klaus Schmidt traveled to Turkey to further excavate Gobekli Tepe (Belly Hill in Turkish) and discovered that the massive, carved stones of the site were 12,000 years old that even predate another ancient site called the Stonehenge, a sophisticated prehistoric stone circle located in Salisbury Plain, England. The design of the pillars of Gobekli Tepe and other structures suggests that the early humans who had built the site, built it for religious purposes, as seen by the elaborately carved images and statues of foxes, lions, scorpions, snakes, and vultures. Although the purpose behind these animals is not written in stone, their images share religious and symbolic meanings that are shared with other cultures throughout the world. The vulture, for starters, are known as birds of death and misery because they eat dead or dying animals including other birds, eggs, food waste, and insects. Psychopomps, which are defined as creatures or deities responsible for guiding deceased souls to the afterlife, often took the forms of birds; ravens, vultures, owls, and sparrows, explaining the site's choice to use the vulture as a symbol for the afterlife. The fox is also significant to other cultures, as seen in Japanese and Chinese folklore, and in Celtic culture, which believed the fox to be a guide to the spirit world. In Ancient Egypt, the lion was represented in the goddess of war Sekhmet, who was the patron and protector of the pharaohs and of the people, as depicted in the Sphinx and other Ancient Egyptian artistic subjects. Interestingly, Ancient cultures like Babylon, Persia, Greece, and India also view the lion as a symbol of strength, courage, and kingship. The scorpion, for example, is also affiliated with life and death, since its venoms can either kill a human or become an antidote to other scorpion stings, in the Bible, the scorpion, as well as the serpent, are portrayed as evil (Luke 10:19).

Another religious indicator found in the site was the abundant amounts of skeletal animal remains, which reveal that these early humans were part of a hunter-gatherer society. Based on that evidence, archeologists concluded that early humans hunted their prey, and then carried it to the site, where they feasted and celebrated together. The fact that there were no signs of agriculture shows that the early humans established the temple for religious purposes, and put spirituality first, before farming, contrary to what we were taught in school. In Global Studies, many of us were taught that early civilizations started to thrive in cozy, agricultural landscapes, like the Ancient Egyptians, who thrived by conveniently settling near the Nile River. Although that notion is true, it does not mean that humans had suddenly begun to think and form religion, since Golbeki Tepe just proves that human thought and religion are much older than the pyramids. Knowing this simple fact, we should give early humans, or ourselves, more credit.

Similarly, in the late 1990s, archeologists discovered a huge stone snake that dated back 70,000 years ago in Tsodilo Hills in Botswana, Africa That is older than all the other discovered archeological sites mentioned previously. The significance was not only in the way it resembled a python, but further excavation of the site revealed that early humans worshipped the snake by performing sacrifices--but not the kind of sacrifice you’d think. They sacrificed red spearheads, gathered from hundreds of kilometers away just to burn it for their God--the python. For instance, the San peoples, an indigenous hunter-gatherer group that is considered the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa, has been viewing the site as sacred for thousands of years. But why did early humans correlate the divine with animals like Gobekli Tepe and the python? Why do we seem to worship animals when they certainly do not worship us or God for that matter? or maybe they do and we just don’t know it? The closest mammal to the human species is the chimpanzee and if we compare them to the human species, a large factor that separates them from us is their intellectual abilities. Due to their incapability to understand syntax, they can’t speak different languages or communicate with words. Despite understanding body language, chimpanzees don’t know how to contemplate another being’s state of mind, which means chimpanzees don’t have the incentive to communicate with each other because they won’t understand.

According to science, humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas have evolved from the same ancestor that eventually diverged into the separate groups that we see today. After thousands of years, early humans formed language, religion, and established advanced civilizations, whereas other primates have remained the same, walking on all fours and swinging from trees. This goes to show that humans hadn’t just evolved out of coincidence over time, but rather they had this capability all along. There is a difference between giving a human an object, who can make something useful out of it, and giving the same object to a subordinate animal, in the case of a chimpanzee, the object will never reach its full creative potential. This is similar to saying that humans haven’t suddenly begun to worship out of ignorant fears otherwise humans today wouldn’t pray. Praying requires a spiritual connection. Just because many people have stopped affiliating themselves with a particular religion, it doesn’t mean they don’t believe in something greater (after all, religions are human institutions). Because of our ancestor’s devotion to a higher being, they have shaped the world we now live in. Worship and spirituality did not hinder human development, as seen in the remnants left behind in Germany, a desert in Turkey and a cave in Africa, but rather became the foundation or the incentive to create greater things in a tough world. God became the light, the way, and the life. Just like how early humans progressed through spirituality, modern humans should take up their example. Just look at what they left behind; stunning statues and architecture that was all made possible because they believed in God. We no longer have to walk in the same darkness that our fellow ancestors had paved the way for us, but acknowledge the spirituality within ourselves, rather than doubting or fighting it. If we take that further step, we may be able to discover the meaning or purpose of our existence--maybe even God.

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rizaaaaaaaa · 4 years

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Why I want to explore Maldives?

I love to travel esp. In Maldives to experience different cultures, places, cuisines, and sights there. Many of them also fantasize about discovering an island paradise where they can jump into clear blue seas straight from their bungalow and be greeted and feted by friendly locals. Maldives is well known for its crystalline waters with beautiful shades of blue, swaying palm trees, and sparkling white sand under the limitless blue skies. With good weather throughout most of the year, Maldives makes a great choice for an idyllic beach getaway. It is the ultimate dream of luxury and tranquility.

The Republic of the Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. It is composed of multiple atolls which are made up of a total of 1196 islands, and is located in the continent of Asia. The country covers an area of around 90,000 square kilometers. However, only 298 km² of that is dry land, an area smaller than the city of Munich. The outstanding coastline of the Maldives is around 650 km in length. The Republic of the Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. It is composed of multiple atolls which are made up of a total of 1196 islands, and is located in the continent of Asia. The chain of islands is to the south-west of India and Sri Lanka and stretches over 871 km.

Maldives lies subcontinent extending up to 823 kilometers to the west of Sri-Lanka. The weather is mostly sunny throughout the year, which makes it easy to plan a vacation in the Maldives anytime of the year. The country is located in the north of the equator and lies between latitudes of 4 degrees-17 North and longitude 73 degree-50 East. Maldives has a total coastline of 644km with northernmost atoll is situated around 110 km south of India’s Mini Coy Atoll, 480 km south east of India Cape Comorin and 649 km west of Sri-Lanka.

The islands of the Maldives are lowlands and none of them rises 6’ above sea level. The pure white sand beaches along with turquoise lagoons and coral reefs make the country one of the most heavenly destination for a vacation. So if you are thinking of a change of scene to relax from your daily life tensions, the Maldives could be the perfect vacation spot you can think of.

The southwest of the southern tip of India is such a lovely place. The Maldives is a collection of coral islands and atolls that offer a wondrous array of tropical experiences. If you aren’t familiar with the magic or the beauty of this incredible place, read on to learn why the Maldives needs to be added to your travel bucket list.

One of the smallest countries in the world, and the smallest in Asia, the Maldives is comprised of 1,192 islands over 90,000 square kilometers. Its waters are home to a number of marine ecosystems, and its white sand beaches are world famous.

Unfortunately, due to climate change and rising sea levels, the Maldives are at risk of disappearing into the sea. Although this will not be happening anytime soon, the impact of this slow encroachment is not yet fully understood. So, the sooner you visit, might prove to be better.

The local culture is influenced by its proximity to India and its conversion to Islam in the 12th century. Mainly a fishing economy, the Maldivians discovered a major new revenue stream in tourism in the 1970s. Since then, they have developed into an enticing tropical island destination.

Spreading the wealth of relaxation

Once thought of only as a honeymoon destination for couples, the Maldives has embraced its position as a once in a lifetime island destination for all, for play and even for work.

There are office outings and then there are awesome office outings. What separates run of the mill team building trips from trips that actually build teams, often comes down to the enthusiasm and the commitment of the man in charge. Chatri Sityodtong, the founder and chairman of mixed martial arts company ONE Championship, stepped up and shared a piece of ONE’s success through an all-expense paid trip to the Maldives. But it wasn’t just him.

Mr. Sityodtong took his 100-strong team to the Maldives where they played on the beach, snorkeled with exotic sea life among colorful coral, and partied the night away, sounds luxurious, right? What looked like frivolous fun also created bonds that should go a long way to ensure further future successes. And confirmed Sityodtong’s title as “Best Boss in the World”.

Whether you win the workplace lottery and your boss treats you and your colleagues, or you are vacationing with family and friends, the Maldives is a perfect destination to mix sun, sea, sand, and fun. Plus, you may learn something new about a unique culture and habitat. Until recently, visitors to the Maldives could only stay at one of the resorts, isolated and separated from the local population. Now, the rules have been relaxed, opening up the local villages to foreigners and a booming guesthouse and homestay economy.

Here, we share with you eight reasons why Maldives should be on your travel bucket list.

1. Most Romantic Place on Earth

A visit to the Maldives is a dream come true. Each resort is a private enclave perched on an individual island, providing its occupants with exclusive tranquility. This is a great place to relax and spend quality time with your other half or family. Imagine waking up on the private island, surrounded by swaying palm trees, azure blue sea and pristine soft white sand every day. Maldives is where you create magical memories with your loved ones.

2. Amazing Myriad of Marine Life

No trip to Maldives would be complete without a dip in the waters teeming with rich marine life. Maldives is world-famous for its amazing myriad of marine life, and is considered to be one of the best snorkeling/ diving locations in the world. Resorts with private house reefs are exceptionally attractive because you get to snorkel at any time of the day. Swim freely in the Indian Ocean among the colorful arrays of corals, sea turtles, reef sharks, stingrays, and a multitude of other underwater species! It’s almost like swimming in a giant aquarium.

3. Unrivalled Luxury and Pampering

If there were one luxury destination in Asia that comes to mind, it has to be Maldives. Over here, you will be treated like royalty. From the moment you arrive at the Male Airport, resort representatives will be there to escort you to your luxury speedboat or seaplane. This is where your fuss-free vacation begins. From the unparalleled top-notch personalized service to the romantic Dhoni cruises to dining on a private sandbank, you will enjoy unrivalled luxury and pampering.

4. Living on the Ocean

Overwater villas are all over the world but you should not miss out on the ones in Maldives. Everyone should experience staying in these villas at least once in their lives. Waking up to the paranomic view of the vast turquoise sea with only the sound of the waves lapping against your resort and gentle sea breeze blowing against your face, while watching the resplendent egg yolk sunrise, is the ultimate Maldivian experience. What’s more, the colorful corals and rich marine life are right at your doorstep.

5. Beautiful Scenery in Paradise

Well known for its picturesque beaches with sparkling soft white sand, beautiful azure sea, and impossibly clear skies, the term “tropical paradise” for Maldives is almost an understatement. Basking on your sundeck while enjoying the heart-stopping views of the Indian Ocean is like a dream. Every single angle seems to be the perfect vantage point for taking picture-perfect postcard-worthy photos.

6. A Paradise’s Race Against Time

You don’t want to miss out on this paradise, do you? Maldives is the world’s lowest lying nation, at just 1.3 meters above sea level. If the sea level rises by just another meter, the island nation would become uninhabitable. With global sea levels rising rapidly due to unpredictable climate changes, Maldives may disappear from the world in the near future. Start saving, start planning and visit Maldives before it’s gone forever.

7. The Ultimate Privacy and Seclusion

A trip to the Maldives is an ultimate vacation where you get to enjoy a combination of nature, luxury and privacy. Sandbank dining is definitely one of the most serene and romantic experiences in Maldives. Enjoy the sandbank in private with your special other half on the stark white sand while being surrounded by the endless Indian Ocean. Savour your meal as you witness the first rays of morning light on the horizon.

8. An Unforgettable Travel Experience

I strongly encourage you to put Maldives on your travel bucket list because life is too short to miss out on this paradise! Maldives is truly one of the best vacation destination in the world and you will have unforgettable memories here.

Culture

The islands of Maldives appear in-between the trading route of the Indian Ocean. Thus settlers, and visitors from neighboring regions and around the world have come in contact with the islands for as long as history has been recorded. Such is the to-and-fro flow of people and their cultures, that a marked effect has been left in the Maldivian people, the language, beliefs, arts, and attitudes.

The looks of the Maldivian people may differ from one atoll to the other, attributing to the genes passed on by South and Southeast Asians, Africans, and Arabians. The language, Dhivehi, differs in dialect in some regions in the south of Maldives, possibly due to the secluded nature and subsistent ways of island life. Maldivian beliefs have been very much based around religion and superstition, often used together in matters of significance but given separate positions in society. In matters of faith, Islam dominates, but influence of the supernatural still continues to play a major role in most island communities, possibly giving credit to the folklores and Buddhist traditions of the islands’ first settlers before conversion to Islam in 1153 AD.

The mixing of cultures is very much seen in Maldivian arts. The music played with the local bodu-beru (big-drum) resemble that of African drumming. The dhoni (a unique Maldivian sailboat) is an art form itself built with skilled craftsmanship, with significant similarities to the Arabian dows. The fine artistry of Maldivians, seen in the intricate details on wooden beams in antique mosques, represents what we have gained from Southeast Asian architecture. Then there is the undefined: the distinct geometric designs used in mats woven from local materials, the embroidered neckline of women’s traditional dresses and their ornaments too, expose another story brought in from an unknown culture that has seeped in to Maldivian society.

Maldivians are quite open to adaptation and are generally welcoming to outside inspiration. The culture has always continued to evolve with the times. Locals still eat fish and fishermen still spend days out at sea, but tourism now takes a standing prominence. Most Maldivians still want to believe in upholding unity and oneness in faith, but recent waves of reform in the country have created a whole new culture of new ideas and attitudes. The effects of the modern world are now embraced, while still striving to uphold the people’s identity, traditions and beliefs

History

For Maldivians, who love a good story, it is somehow fitting that the early history of the country is enshrined in myth and legend. There is the story of the Rannamaari, a tale about a sea monster than demands a virgin sacrifice every full moon, until a brave man from Morocco, Mr Abdul Barakaath-Ul Barbary decides to confront the monster and prohibit him from coming into the Maldives.

There is the story of Bodu Thakurufaanu, renowned for its length, who saved the Maldives from Portuguese Invaders. These stories, while very

much anecdotal, are based on the real facts that form the history of the country. Written accounts portray a Maldives whose people have traveled far and wide, adventurers whose geographical isolation had not limited the boundaries of their world. Maldives today remains very much like it had then – small, but not lacking;

isolated, but not invisible.

@queenlupitajones

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tipsycad147 · 5 years

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Ancestral Magick and Communion with the Cult of the Ancestors

BY RADIANA PIȚ

Ancestral magick, ancestor work, or as I call it, “ancestral communion”, holds a sacred and central place in my belief system and practice. I revere it just as much as I do natural and animal magick. The essence of these three pillars of magick are an inherent part of the natural and metaphysical world, and so it is inherent to each and every single one of us. I’ve become aware of this early in my childhood, largely due to my ancestors and cultural heritage.

Everyone’s experience of ancestral magick is different and it is influenced by factors such as family history, culture, blood ancestry, magickal ancestry, personal belief system, and more. I found that, regardless of said factors, the naivety I was born with is what makes my experience of ancestral communion rich and productive. This naivety, which is characterised by simplicity, truthfulness, and a lack of “spiritual sophistication” in the presence of instinct and intuition, is very potent and despite the dedicated study and a lot of experimental practice with ancestral magick, which can often “tame” said naivety, I’ve somehow been able to preserve it.

I recommend the same naive approach when you begin your ancestor work, and this is because often times, naturalness is more potent when dealing with the ancestors because it is symbolic of the traits inherent to your “ancestral family” and it makes you more identifiable to them and vice-versa. For whatever reason you chose to begin your ancestor work, make sure you are candid about it and try to draw from your naturalness, rather than your expectations, emotional ties, and even memories of your ancestors.

When you think of your ancestors, you have to understand that your lineage is old and doesn’t consist of just the recent dead in your family. Your ancestors are ancient, unknown to your memory, you cannot remember them and channel your own projection of them. To put it simply, your ancestors consist of your family, whether known or unknown to you, they are your familial ancestors, the ancients who are your cultural ancestors, the magical ancestors who may or may not be genetically related to you, but whom you’ve chosen as part of your family, and then there’s something else, an “undefined energy” that comes from the very proverbial beginning of the lineage through each of the ancestors.

That energy is natural, untamed, and it reflects in your own naturalness, but in order to draw from it safely, you can have the members of your lineage intercede and trust that they will only allow to come through what you can handle. This is why the members of your lineage that you work with have to resonate with you. It’s easier to do so working with the ancients or familial ancestors that have passed before you were born and to whom you feel attracted to.

Familial ancestors who have been a part of your life when they were alive or those who have passed recently might not be ideal to work with because of the emotional attachments that may be involved. Likewise, if you’ve had family members that were toxic to you, you might experience the same toxic effects if working with them in death. However, be sure to forgive, ask for forgiveness, or say what you have to in order to release yourself and them from the emotional attachments that may not serve you.

The Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, Maramures county, Romania is famous for its tombstones with naive colourful drawings, the distinct shade of blue called ‘Sapanta blue’, and for the sincere and funny depictions of the deceased’s live through drawings and poetic epitaphs. The making of these tombstones became a respected craft and it has great artistic value. It’s the most ‘death positive’ cemetery in the world and its philosophy is derived from the Zamolxianism of the ancient culture of the local Dacians. I often use it as an example to depict how my culture influenced my naive approach and fundamental understanding of the dead. A death positive attitude is necessary for ancestor work. Photo of Radiana Piț by Kevin Davis. Instagram: @crowhag

The ancient and familial ancestors are not only soothing for one’s soul, but they can also help channel that untamed energy at the very beginning of the lineage, which your intuition might tell you it’s your very essence and you would not be wrong, to do work such as healing, divination, and clairvoyance if you feel inclined to do so. You can do the same if you know of ancestors who have been healers or psychics and call upon them to impart that power and ease you into it.

But the ancestors from the ancients to the magical may serve you in different ways. They might fulfil requests you make, they might send you visions of immemorial times or the future, warn you about certain situations, protect you against spiritual threats, and much more. And the communions you make with them help you sharpen your magical sense and perhaps even attain wisdom in some aspects.

So, for whatever reason you decide to start your ancestor work, make sure you have a fundamental understanding of your ancestors and the dead. Before you learn of your family, genetic, and cultural history, which is something you must do as you begin your ancestor work, be sure to revisit your perception of the dead, what you feel when you think of “the dead”, and if necessary, return to that simplicity with which you thought of “the dead” in childhood and look at your cultural tradition for inspiration.

Folklore and tradition are important to our understanding of the dead, especially if the dead we’re trying to work with were immersed in said tradition. And even though you may not use tradition as practice, it helps form your comprehension, which stands at the basis of your ancestor work.

I was born and raised in Transylvania, Romania. Transylvania is a confluence of culture and although my family is Romanian whose ancestors are mainly the ancient Daco-Thracians and the Greeks, the Transylvanian Saxons and the Hungarians have also contributed to what the Transylvanian heritage truly is. And this is significant because my cultural heritage influenced my mythical beliefs, which in turn have influenced my spirituality.

A significant part of the Romanian folklore and spiritual culture is dedicated to the veneration of the dead. The tradition of honouring the dead also ran in my family and this was significant for me in my childhood. Aside from the celebrations, ceremonies, and traditions that most Romanians took part in as well, my experience with dead veneration and ancestral communion was also marked by my family’s inherent affinity towards passing down family history and the history of our ancestors, but especially by my paternal grandparents’ behavior towards the dead.

I’ve spent a significant part of my early childhood with my paternal grandparents who lived across a cemetery, less than 5 minutes away from our home. Almost every single day when it was warm and sunny, my grandmother went for long walks in the cemetery. And she took me with her every time. While other children spent their time on the playground with their grandparents, I spent most of my time outside with my grandmother in the cemetery, and happily so I might add.

For my grandmother, the cemetery was quiet and it relaxed her, but for me it was vibrant and alive. She always sat on a bench next to some distant cousin-in-law’s grave and I would always sit next to her just to greet said cousin, before I went on my exploration of the cemetery in the company of my “friends” there. I’ve looked at every tombstone, photo, and picked mirabelles from every single bush and tree in that cemetery.

In many traditions and dead veneration practices throughout the world it is customary to offer cigarettes, especially for the dead who loved smoking. While many smoke at the graves of the deceased and leave a lit cigarette for them at their graves, I prefer (and recommend) a more discreet approach in the comforts of the ancestor work-shrine built for them. For this offering, I use the wooden cigarette holder that belonged to my grandfather. Photo by Radiana Piț, Instagram: @crowhag

When the fruit I picked was sweet, I’d conclude that the dead nearby was good. And when the fruit was sour or bitter, I was convinced that the dead nearby was just as sour and bitter as the fruit. Although this was regular pastime, I always discovered a new story, a new friend, a new relative of someone dead who’d tell me stories of the one they were visiting there, and it was always fascinating and endearing. As I matured in my adolescence and adulthood, I continued to return to that cemetery to visit old friends, and I continue to do so, especially now that both my grandmother and grandfather are buried there.

My grandfather never joined my grandmother and I in our cemetery walks. He was bedridden at the time from a fatal car accident he had before I was born. That accident almost killed him, leaving him in a coma for six months. The doctors said he wouldn’t survive or if he did, he would forever be brain damaged and in a vegetative state. They considered him a walking miracle for surviving the accident, the medical interventions, and waking up from the coma without any brain damage.

But he was not the same. While he was in the six-month coma, my grandfather never opened his eyes, but he spoke. He spoke to the dead relatives of the doctors, nurses, and complete strangers that were in the same hospital room as him. He also spoke with the dead relatives in our family and he seemed to have acknowledged my grandmother’s presence, who was at his bedside every day and night. My grandfather’s conversations with the dead were loud and my grandmother often heard him saying he’ll go with them, but she insisted and begged him not to. When he finally woke up, his ability to speak to the dead stayed with him. He could hear and sometimes even see them.

I visited my grandfather in his room every night before bed, and asked him about those he saw and was always curious what else was out there that I couldn’t see. My grandfather told me stories about our ancestors, our family, his post-war childhood, his beliefs, and he taught me chiromancy as much as I could understand it back then. He read my palm, and allowed me to practice by reading his.

He always took it up a notch and pulled another interesting book from his bedside cabinet, which was converted into a small library of his favourite books on medicinal herbs, palmistry, the paranormal, Romanian history, and… cars. I remember one night from that learning period when I came across a book, which I can’t really remember anything about other than the fact that it had depictions of the devil pulling a child from their bed by their legs into a hell that seemed to be located under the child’s bed. That image struck me and upon seeing it, I remember feeling a spike in my heart, which is a feeling I still experience today when I look at empty and dark hallways.

I remember asking him what was happening in that picture, but before he could give me any insight, my grandmother interrupted us to ask me to go to bed because it was late. She let the door open for me to go to my room, and I could see the dark hallway I had to go through to reach my room. My room seemed so far away at that moment and I was terrified for the first time to go through that hallway I’ve crossed in the dark many times before.

My grandfather took the book from me and wished me good night and I told him I was afraid to go. He asked why and I replied that the devil is in the hallway and I didn’t want to cross him. My grandfather raised himself halfway up, looked down the hallway and symbolically spit towards it, as Romanian superstitious folks do, and told me that now I was safe to go to bed. Now, through all the dark and scary hallways in my life that I have to cross, I know that my grandfather, Babacu’, as we all lovingly called him, is with me.

Because of these experiences in my early childhood, I have a unique understanding of the dead and my ancestors, from the recent to the ancient ones and I carry them with me. Your ancestor work and ancestral communion start with your very own understanding of the dead and knowledge of the ancestors.

Ancestor work-shrine. While there should always be a place for your ancestors in your heart and on your altar, ancestor work-shrines shouldn’t be constantly open and on display, unless they are attended to. These shrines should not be neglected and only used for ancestor work and celebrations such as birthdays, death dates, and days dedicated to the dead. Photo by Radiana Piț, Instagram: @crowhag

Ancestral Communion and Necromancy

All cultures of the world from European, to Asian, African, and Oceanian, from Sumer to Mesoamerica, and from pre-history to the present, have their own versions of veneration of the dead, ancestral communion traditions, and a day of the dead. And from the Egyptian Book of the Dead to the Bardo Thodol, there are plenty of texts that describe the transition from life to the afterlife.

Your own understanding of ancestral communion is defined by the traditions of dead veneration you’ve inherited and those you identify with, followed by your own personal experiences or lack thereof with your ancestors. This makes it an understanding of dead veneration that is unique to you and which comes naturally as a result of the aforementioned factors.

When you actively seek ancestral communion, it is almost impossible not to do so without the practice of some form of necromancy. From Shamanism to Obeah, most systems include the practice of necromancy, on their own terms of course. I will not focus on specifics, because regardless of which day of the dead you celebrate, your cultural heritage, and your choice of spiritual practice, ancestral communion works on the same principle of actively seeking the dead by means of necromancy based on a fundamental understanding that you are your own ancestors.

You are the result of your ancestors’ lives, it’s in your genetic memory, in your spirit, and in your very essence of being. Furthermore, their gods, myths, and their pantheons are part of your magickal legacy and they deserve a place in your cult of the ancestors which I will elaborate on later. For now, I’ll insist on this fundamental understanding a bit more

Rock from the ancient Dacian capital, Sarmizegetusa Regia. Rocks are said to retain ‘memory’ and energy from their places of provenance. I always have it on my altar and I place it on my ancestor work-shrine during communion with the ancients as a symbol of my Daco-Thracian ancestors. Photo by Radiana Piț, Instagram: @crowhag

Once you’ve identified with your own ancestors, you begin to know them. If you start close to home, perhaps you begin your communion with the spirits of recent ancestors. And from there you can go further back, to your ancient ancestors and if you feel adventurous, you can go even further, although I recommend against it, unless you’re very experienced in dealing with primeval manifestations of energy which can be uncontrollable.

If you are naturally hypersensitive to spirits, you may easily seek your ancestors intuitively, without the need of any form of practice. A simple meditation could be sufficient to open the door to ancestor work. However, whether you’re hypersensitive or not, always protect yourself before a communion, because unless you already have an established cult of the ancestors, you may encounter unpleasant spirits, even among your ancestors.

As I’ve said before, everyone’s experience of spiritual communion is different, but for many is similar to a meditation, a trance, or a conversation with the spirits. It can be ceremonial, on occasion and according to your tradition, or it can be a continuous flow, heightened by ceremony and from which you can unplug when you choose to do so. But to be honest, not many practitioners can commit to the continuous flow of ancestral communion.

Contrary to popular belief, you shouldn’t reserve your ancestral communion for celebration dates dedicated to the veneration of the dead or celebrations when the veil between worlds is lifted. On those days make sure you do honour the dead and commune with your cult of the ancestors, but if you believe that you are your own ancestors, then any day of the week is the right day to begin your ancestral communion as long as you feel it in your bones.

You can start by clearing your mind and allowing it to blend your imagination and memory into a vision of your ancestors or a specific ancestor you’d like to call upon. Meditate on that vision and allow your intuition to guide you. The more you do this, the more familiar you become with this process and it’ll start coming to you naturally.

Then you can start introducing objects into the process, little by little. You may use photos, jewellery, clothing, dust from their graves, hair locks, or any object that might’ve belonged or could be associated to a recent or even distant ancestor. Additionally, you may use location as a way to grow closer to their energy by visiting their resting places, homes, or places of significance associated to them.

Certain objects can be very potent during ancestral communion. While animal bones can represent spirit animals and work as messengers and guardians, a hair lock from an ancestor can represent them and placing it on your ancestor-work shrine may convey to them that they are welcomed to join you in the communion. Photo by Radiana Piț, Instagram: @crowhag

Once you are familiar with the energies and you’ve nominated the very first spirits you’d like to continue to commune with, you may dive into it and prepare offerings for them. Think of it as if you are their version of heaven (which in some regard, you are, we all are). Offer them what you know they’ve loved and enjoyed. Food, water, alcohol, flowers, incense, and lit candles are usually among the favourites of the dead. Place them with your objects and begin your invocation.

Before you end your ceremony, eat the food or drink the water you have offered, so they will draw it from you, and only then give thanks and end the ceremony. Your ceremony may differ according to your practice, it may involve sigils, burying the food, or performing it in the cemetery or another place significant to the dead.

However, I believe that unless this is part of a traditional celebration or an occasion such as the Day of the Dead, doing this in your own home is more respectful, discreet, and safe. You can do this type of ancestor work on occasion and according to tradition, but if you feel like there is more to explore here, you may start creating your cult of the ancestors.

Cult of the Ancestors

The Cult of the Ancestors is first and foremost a commitment. It’s a commitment to the continuity of your family lineage, as well as ancestral and magickal lineage. Secondly, your Cult of the Ancestors is a temple for your ancestors, gods, legacy, and even for yourself and your descendants.

An important part of the cult of the ancestors is keeping a written chronicle of your cultural, familial and magickal ancestry in the way you perceive it, with collected lore, history, and accounts of your communions. This will not only serve you, but it may serve your descendants in the future. Photo by Radiana Piț, Instagram: @crowhag

The metaphysical aspect of the cult of the ancestors involves the creation of a pantheon that consists of your ancestors and gods, documented history as well as mythical history, folklore and family lore, and the corpus of all aforementioned elements, as well as magickal workings, traditions, and celebrations that you know of from as far back as you can investigate and are of importance to you, as well as an account of yourself, your practice, and spirituality. Since it can be rather impossible to remember it all and the part involving you implies that you will continue to add to it in the future, I recommend the written version of the corpus, which brings me to the physical aspect.

The physical aspect of the cult of the ancestors involves setting up an altar or a shrine, which again, you will do according to your own tradition. It should contain objects that have belonged to your ancestors, and organic elements such as sea shells, animal bones acquired ethically which help intercede between you and the ancestors, dried flowers, dust, wood, or stones which would be ideal if you could get them from your ancestral locations, and also symbols and representations of the gods that were most significant to them but which are also in resonance with your own spirituality.

On traditional celebrations, dates of death and birth, as well as every time you wish to commune with a certain spirit of a dead relative, set their portrait on the altar or shrine, but do not leave it there if you are not working with it. On the same occasions, put fresh flowers on your altar and allow them to wither until the next occasion.

For your written corpus, there is a lot of information you must gather and remember as I’ve mentioned before, but don’t allow yourself to be intimidated by it. There is no deadline for it, so write it all down, little by little. Include in it an account of your experiences with the ancestors and your visions and dreams of them.

If you will have descendants, whether by blood or not, this will be part of your legacy to them and establish your authority. Nowadays, you can also record what you gather and remember, but for discipline purposes, sit down when you can and write down what you’ve recorded. It’ll give you a chance to revisit the information and reformulate it more coherently.

This specific ancestor work-shrine is dedicated to my grandparents and for my communion I used their photo, as well as animal bones and a rock from the ancient Dacian capital for the intercession of spirit animals and the ancients. I’ve also used dried flowers, incense, candles and țuica (traditional Romanian spirit) as offering, and a dried olive branch I’ve kept from Greece to honor my Greek ancestry from my grandmother’s side. The candle covered in white fabric and tied with a black thread is a funerary candle traditionally given in Romania to the attendees of someone’s funeral. This one is from my grandmother’s funeral and I only use it to imbue with energy, rather than light it – which is something I keep for another occasion of a greater importance. Photo by Radiana Piț, Instagram: @crowhag

As you can see, your cult of the ancestors is not separate from you, at least not to me. Just as I’ve said about the spirits in animal magick, it’s an inherent part of you and it is an extension of who you are. While your cult of the ancestors will continue to expand for as long as you live if you are dedicated to it, the creation of the cult is marked by your established bond with the ancestors, which doesn’t need a written corpus to occur.

Finally, keep in mind that you don’t have to work with “dead people” you don’t like. Your Cult of the Ancestors consists of your magical, ancestral, and familial lineage and you choose to whom you bring offerings and commune with. But a true Descendant will not exclude anyone, because they understand that it’s not their personalities from life they commune with, but the Ancestral Spirit which is present in all of the ancestors. The Ancestral Spirit is an egregore in which the astral impressions and memories of mankind’s physical and metaphysical ancestors are crystallised.

Likewise, they will understand that while this is true, each ancestor has their own identity and it should be respected for what it is, regardless if they choose to honour and remember them or not. But generally, those who enter the Cult of the Ancestors are respected, honoured, and remembered, they are loved and beloved, regardless if their identities are known to us or not, if we remember them from when they were alive or from legends, history books, and folk tales.

Once the cult of the ancestors is created, you may commune with it to support your practice. All types of practitioners from healers and mediums to witches and shamans do this on their own terms, of course, for divinatory purposes, to perform better, attain wisdom, or simply to be in the presence of spirits that love and nurture them. But to me, there’s more to the cult of the ancestors that is left unexplored by many. On this note, I’ll end by saying: let us always remember the good dead, the wise ancients, and the immemorial ones, lest they be lost to us in the mists of oblivion.

https://www.nettlesgarden.com/2018/04/11/guide-ancestral-magick-and-communion-with-the-cult-of-the-ancestors/

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