celestialastronmy

[celestialastronmy]

#lin yun #photography #hanfu

[celestialastronmy]

#hanfu

[celestialastronmy]

My favorite signage from the NEW Zoo in northern Wisconsin.

#ferrets #zoo animals

[celestialastronmy]

#landsccape #paradise #nature #flowers

[celestialastronmy]

Cuddling. don’t mind the claws of the beast

#ferrets #cute animals

[celestialastronmy]

The Portrayal of Religious Trauma and Spiritual Abuse: Kate Marsh's Story

Let's dive into the heavy topic of religious trauma and spiritual abuse through the lens of Kate Marsh's disturbing experiences in Life is Strange. Fair warning - this gets pretty dark and covers sensitive subject matter around mental health, abuse, and religion. But it's an important conversation to have.

I'll try to break it down in sections, Kate was a kind, religious student at Blackwell Academy who was viciously bullied and slut-shamed after a video of her making out with several guys at a party surfaced online. The emotional fallout was devastating for the vulnerable, sheltered Kate who turned to her faith for refuge.

But the devout church group she was a part of largely turned their backs on her at her most desperate time of need. Rather than supporting and protecting one of their own who was victimized, many in the community embraced a cruel "she had it coming" mentality filled with harsh judgments and rejection.(Mainly her mother and Aunt) It's a sickening injustice that sadly rings true to the experiences of religious trauma survivors.

Religious trauma is the psychological damage caused by severely negative religious experiences, often involving emotional manipulation, toxic teachings, and authoritarian abuse from a faith community. Spiritual abuse takes it a step further by leveraging the faith beliefs against the person through tactics like shunning, shaming, blaming, and enforced deprivation.

And that's exactly what seemed to happen to Kate. When she needed her church the most, they failed her miserably. She was essentially spiritually abandoned and abused at her most vulnerable point by the one place that should have been her ultimate safe haven. No wonder she became depressed and suicidal.

Toxic Purity Culture Playing a Role

A major factor that enabled Kate's spiritual abuse was the deeply engrained "purity culture" mentality that sadly permeates many conservative religious circles. Placing extreme, repressive emphasis on sexual purity before marriage for women while glorifying female submissiveness, modesty, and chastity as moral virtues.

The blaming and shaming of Kate seemed directly tied to this subculture that essentially slut-shames any woman who doesn't rigidly conform to those outdated, sexist standards of feminine purity. Rather than showing compassion to a young victim of exploitation, they turned on her with unbridled judgment and alienation for the perceived sexual "sin." It's dehumanizing victim-blaming crap that can utterly demolish someone's mental health and self-worth.

Frankly, the community's reaction reeked of misogyny masked by feigning moral superiority over Kate's sexuality. An undercurrent of the age-old condemning "she was asking for it" dismissal of sexual assault that has enabled abuse against women for centuries.

Lack of Support Exacerbating Mental Health Struggles

With her church circle reinforcing the vicious bullying through their ostracization and shaming, it robbed Kate of what could have been a core support system to help her through the trauma. Having that foundation ripped out from under her only exacerbated her deteriorating mental health and feelings of existential despair.

In healthy faith communities, spiritual support is meant to be a therapeutic anchor helping guide people through severe crises with acceptance, compassion, and affirmation of self-worth. When that lifeline is cruelly replaced with damnation, dejection, and reinforced self-loathing, it can trigger or worsen clinical depression, PTSD, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.

The spiritual abuse Kate endured represented a profound emotional betrayal compounding her already staggering psychological distress. With the roots of her identity and personal value system embedded in those religious bonds, having that ripped away left her feeling profoundly insignificant, unworthy, and alone.

Clearly, her community failed her abysmally in her hour of greatest need. The very sanctuary meant to provide unconditional acceptance, safe harbor, and trauma-informed care through a spiritual framework kicked her to the curb instead based on a deeply flawed fundamentalist sexual ethos.

Unhealed Trauma Perpetuating a Vicious Cycle

The heavy implication seemed to be that Kate's virgin/whore complex wasn't properly processed or healed from her traumatic experiences. Which is understandable given how spiritually adrift she was abandoned by the one faith support system she invested everything in.

Without a safe outlet to properly unpack the acute shame, rejection-sensitivity, objectification, existential brokenness and myriad other complex emotions involved in her ordeal, it's no surprise she sank deeper into despondency and self-harm reinforcing patterns.

With virtually no healthy framework to recontextualize what happened and rebuild her self-worth, she remained stuck in a purgatory of unhealed trauma and spiritual abuse aftershocks slowly tearing her apart.

That's what makes the cycle of religious trauma so insidious and damaging. The very sociological underpinnings that are meant to affirm someone's humanity within a belief system get hijacked as weapons to degrade and dehumanize them. It fundamentally distorts their entire sense of identity, purpose, and cosmic belonging.

Breaking the Cycle through Awareness and Support

Which is why greater mainstream awareness around religious trauma and its mental health impacts is so crucial, especially for practices that enable spiritual abuse and toxic fundamentalism. The more we can shine a light on these cycles, the easier it becomes to recognize the warning signs and intervene before vulnerable people get systematically stripped of their dignity.

Ultimately, it's about providing a compassionate environment that deconstructs shame, learns from past mistakes, and rebuilds supportive networks for those in crisis based on healthy spirituality and belonging.

Kate's isolation was one of the most heartbreaking parts of her story. If she'd had access to affirming support systems equipped to empathize with her pain and guide her through it based on universally human values like grace, acceptance and resilience, perhaps the outcome could have been different.

Because at the end of the day, faith is meant to provide sanctuary and healing from suffering - not be another source of torment. Kate deserved so much better than to be discarded and shamed by the very community that should have fiercely protected her.

Hopefully through greater empathy and open discussions on religious trauma, spiritual abuse and their horrific toll, we can learn how to cultivate spiritual environments that truly embody the unconditional love they preach - especially for those who need it most.

#kate marsh #life is strange #cw sui ideation #cw abuse #analysis post #this is definitely one of the more underrated aspects

[celestialastronmy]

Send me a character and I'll answer these!!

1: sexuality headcanon 2: otp 3: brotp 4: notp 5: first headcanon that pops into my head 6: favorite line from this character 7: one way in which I relate to this character 8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character 9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

#ask game

[celestialastronmy]

#green aesthetic #green moodboard #greenery #nature aesthetic

[celestialastronmy]

Anyone wanna run away with me to live in a little cottage in the woods where no one can bother us and we can garden and make our own cute clothes annnd be one with the grass??? 🙂 maybe cast a spell or some cute dumb shit??

#green moodboard #green aesthetic #greenery #green

[celestialastronmy]

#sexymeowmeow #lmfao

[celestialastronmy]

One of the best shot of Total Solar Eclipse from 08-04-2024.

Via @nasa-official

#solar eclipse #The sun #sun and moon show

[celestialastronmy]

André Breton, Mad Love (trans. Mary Ann Caws)

#quote #love #surrealism #words #literature

[celestialastronmy]

Another aroace Ford idea that came up. I just really like the idea of Ford going to Mabel for these types of things :’)

#gravity falls #stanford pines #mabel pines #ford pines #grunkle ford

[celestialastronmy]

“For everything sacred has the substance of dreams and memories, and so we experience the miracle of what is separated from us by time or distance suddenly being made tangible. Dreams, memories, the sacred—they are all alike in that they are beyond our grasp.”

— Yukio Mishima, Spring Snow (trans. Michael Gallagher)

#qoutes

[celestialastronmy]

Okay … but like, this color palette is gorgeous. Prove me wrong lol

#green aesthetic #green moodboard #greenery

[celestialastronmy]

Chasing the moss somewhere in Switzerland by @90377

#nature #landscape #forest #trees

[celestialastronmy]

Pride Kisses: Day 9 - Cozy

A kiss pressed to the top of the head.

It's one of them lazy sundays~

Early access to Day 8-13 are up on Patreon!

#rk1k