#creation: galina

[orginllazyblog]

Another Headcanon, only this time: Gender Swap Au

Eugene to Eugenia, Gavus to Galina, and Lucilla and Liberta's switch their names. (For reasons)

Warning: gruesome torture

Eugenia

Before meeting Galina, Eugenia was the absolute beauty that made her one of the mid ranks. No one knows where she came from, but rumors said she's one of Lady Lei (Leofric) creations.

Eugenia had many suitor candidates, mainly hypogeans. One of them be (Mehira, Lucretia, Mortas, Framton, Zolrath, and Ezizh) but most of them were either too violent, untrustworthy, or toxic. Eugenia simply wanted a healthy long relationship. Luckily, her wish came true after all those lonely years.

Eugenia's hypogean powers come from her hair. The longer and well kept is what made her strong. Only Lady Lei, her creator, knows about as she created Eugenia to be able to defend herself.

Like the original Eugene, Eugenia has red streaks of hair that resemble like a fire, and the end of her hair faded red. Long finger metalic purple nails, a faded face streak on the check. The only difference between two genders is the body figure, but what both have in common is

T H I C K N E S S

Eugenia's signature artifact would be a war fan. Eugene is more into mortal creations he would be into craftsmanship, with Eugenia interested in fashion. So, with a fan and infuse with her hypogean powers, a magical fan that can throw blades and flames. Gotta fight in a dress/jumpsuit with heels 💃💅🏻✨️

During her prison, Eugenia had to deal with her magic draining away by her hair getting cut off, torture, and rape. One of her potential suitors told her that she could be set free if she agreed to marry them, which sent her blood to boil in rage.

"I would rather die than marry you filth!"

Don't worry, Eugenia managed to get her revenge when she was freed by Lucilla and Liberta. Though she had to tell her kids to not look as she was brutally killing the hypogean guards and couples of other hypogeans who might have been her suitors, already dead on the ground. Slay girl 💅🏻✨️

With her now shortened to the length of her neck, she could barely defend herself. So when they got back together, the twins would ask Galina if there was a way for Eugenia to grow her hair back, or at least get her regular strength back. Hmm.. might make a small series, but that's for another time

Galina

A student of Michael (Morgana) and training to be one of the high-ranking Celestials. With training, Galina gains muscles. Instead of scholar, a soilder in training.

Her appearance is giving lesbian vibes by having short hair because she didn't want her hair to get in the way during battle and studying. Instead of star face mark, a star mark on her forehead. Especially the marks on the arms as well on her leg ankles.

Her signature artifact would be a sword. Why is that? Referring to Greek mythology, titaness of Law and Justice, Themis. Her symbols are the scales and a sword, specifically a bronze sword. So with AFK Arena lore, Galina does swordtraining and was gifted a sword, Claymore sword.

Also, doesn't wear earrings, sadly. Galina wouldn't be interested in jewelry accessories other than armor since she's training to be a soldier. But when she started living with the twins and Eugenia, Eugenia would introduce her jewelries. Galina would wear hand bracelets, and soon a ring.

When they reunited, now Galina the one with long hair and Eugenia having short hair.

Lucario (Lucilla) & Liberty (Liberty)

With male Lucilla being named Liberta, he would sneak away from training, wanting to have his own freedom. Similar trait from Eugenia. And with female liberta named Lucilla, had the most brightest personality, but Michael taught her to be cold like a weapon she's supposed to be. That is what Galina was trained to be, but luckily, Lucilla was able to show her true emotions when both her brother reunited with their moms.

Both Lucilla and Liberta want their hair to grow like their mom Eugenia

Liberta's signature weapon would be a giant scissor, and Lucilla's weapon would be a magic wand

Liberta doesn't like being told what to do and perfers to do his own way. Lucilla is the sweetest, her name meaning light or bundle of joy.

Tho, @tatarella suggest their names to be Lucario and Liberty. Which sounds perfect. Let's go with it

Lucario horns, I picture to this:

From pinterest. idk if I'll be able to finish the sketch while I still need to do Galina.

Family Moments

When they were still babies, Galina still had no idea how to get them to fall asleep. Eugenia taught her by singing lullabies. I could imagine her singing "Stay Awake" from Marry Poppins. Eugenia's voice was soothing like any mother's voice.

"You also have to carry them close to your chest so that they can hear the heartbeat."

"Why is that?"

"From what I know, babies remember their mother's heartbeat before they were born. So, as long they know our heartbeats and a couple of songs, we will get our little devils to sleep."

"How do you know about this information, Eugenia?"

"Well...it's one of the things I had to learn from Lady Lei since I was to be married to another hypogean to create a stronger heir. Luckily, I meet you and the little devils."

Eugenia would make matching clothes for the twins, even make dresses for her beloved pigeonhead

"You don't have to-"

"Nonsense! I have worked on this dress for weeks. Plus, you can be beautiful too and show your muscles~"

"Alright, alright, I'll wear it. Thank you, Eugenia."

One time, Lucario raised his voice on his celestial mom. Let's just say he was grounded for a week.

Eugenia and Liberty would have teatime, and soon Galina and Lucario join.

Eugenia is more of a stay house mom as she knows how to cook and sew clothing while Galina goes out to get materials from close by town.

Lucario and Liberty would ask Galina if they could braid her hair now that her hair had grown more since her prison.

It drives Eugenia crazy, having to tell Galina to wear at least socks or sandals inside the house instead of walking barefoot.

"At least the kids wear socks. Go put some socks or sandals!"

"But I don't have sandals."

"Are you that really picky? I can get you sandals, shoes, or slippers. You can't walk around barefoot!"

"Moms are fighting again"

That one meme (which I'm trying to find) explains the dynamic:

Eugenia: *grounded both Lucario and Liberty for whatever reason got them in trouble*

Galina: *trying to reason her hypogean wife*

Galina: *also got scolded*

Yeah, Eugenia may be the demoness of chaos, but when it comes to her kids, it's a no. They must get it from Galina for fighting so reckless without a plan to backup. Forget getting her hair long again. She's gonna get gray hair from all the troubles. Literally karma for Eugenia.

#afk arena #afk eugene #afk gavus #afk liberta #afk lucilla #gender swap au #eugenia giving off lilith vibes from hazbin hotel #mommy sorry mommy sorry

[adarkrainbow]

The Yaga journal: Baba Yaga in Soviet movies

And we reach the final article I will translate from the “Yaga journal”: Baba Yaga sur l’écran soviétique (Baba Yaga on the Soviet screen), by Masha Shpolberg! 

In 1979, the Soviet studio Soïuzmultfilm produced a three-part cartoon for the Olympic Games that had to happen the following year. The first episode opens with a choir of journalists proclaiming in all the languages of earth: “Micha the bear-cub was just elected Olympic mascot of Moscow”. Baba Yaga listens to this in her cabin, and becomes enraged: “Why him? Why him and not me?”. “Everybody agrees to it!” the journalists say. “And Baba Yaga is against it!” she says, before attacking the television screen with her broom. Throughout these three short episodes, the “Baba Yaga is against it!” cartoon tells the various attempts (and failures) of Baba Yaga and her assistants (Zmeï Gorynytch and Kachtcheï the Immortal) to prevent Micha from reaching the games. The plot relies on the omnipresence of Baba Yaga in the Soviet imagination, and her importance as a symbol of folk-culture. However Baba Yaga did not always have such a status. The witch and her tales were banned by the Soviet Union soon after its creation. Starting in 1918, the year of the creation of the komsomol or “union of Leninist-communist youth”, the Soviet Party reorgaized the educational system: it was decided that fairytales had no place in education. Its rural and pagan roots were problematic for a State which wanted to create an industralized and rationalized world. Galina Kabakova explained that on one side, the fairytale did not carry the values of the new society, and on the other the marvelous and fantastical was considered toxic for the minds of the youth that were to build socialism.

The persecution of the fairytale knew its peak in 1924, when Nadejda Krupskaïa , the companion of Lenine and the president of the Glavpolitprosvet, the Central Comity in charge of Political Education, demanded that all public libraries got rid of the books “with a negative emotional or ideological influence”, as well as the books that “did not conform the new pedagogic approach”. This included the fairytale books of Afanasiev. As the cultural historian Felix J. Oinas explains, in the beginning of the 20s several Soviet critics argued that the folklore was carrying the ideology of the dominant classes, which in turn led the proletarian literary organizations to receive very negatively folktales and fairy tales. A special section of the Proletkult for children even attacked fairy tales based on their “glorification of the tsars and tsarevitchs”, claiming that they were “reinforcing bourgeois ideals” and “causing unhealthy fantasies” in children. When the fairytale re-appeared in the middle of the 30s, it was because the Soviet political culture had decided to re-appropriate the Russian folklore for itself. Just like the Romantic nationalists of the pre-Revolutionnary era, this ideological turn aimed at melting the personal identity in a vaster, collective identity. And what was the best medium to do it? Cinema. Alexander Prokhorov, in his “Brief history of the Soviet cinema for children and teenagers”, explained that the cultural administrators of Staline changed their view on folk-culture, and the fairy tale became a legitimate cinema genre since it helped visualize the spirit of the miraculous reality proclaimed by the Stalinian culture. The end of the NEP, in 1928, also put an end to the importation of foreign movies, freeing the Soviet cinema from all competition - and of all commercial goals. 

In 1934, during the first congress of Soviet writers, Samouil Marchak and Maxime Gorki insisted on the importance of childhood literature for the creation of a new Sovietic man, and in 1936 the Sovnarkom, the highest governemental authority, established two new studios out of the ancient Mejrabpomfilm: Soïuzdetfilm, for children movies, and Soïuzmutfilm, for cartoons. It is in this political and institutional context that the young moviemaker Alexandre Ro’ou (in English his name is spelled “Rou”) decided that, for his first film in 1937, he was to adapt a very famous fable, “Wish upon a Pike”. The success of this movie allowed here to adapt a fairytale, more complex on an ideological level: Vassilissa the Beautiful, in 1939. Through this movie he became the “founding father” of the genre of the cinematographic fairytale. It is in this movie that Baba Yaga made her first appearance in cinema, played by a man - Guéorgui Milliar. Throughout the next thirty years, Milliar would play Baba Yaga in three other movies of Ro’ou: in Morozko (1964), in “Fire, Water and Brass Pipes” (1968) and in “The Golden Horns” (1972).

In this article, the author will analyze the evolution of the character of Baba Yaga throughout these four movies - based on the social and political context. While always created by the same movie-maker, and played by the same actor, Baba Yaga is never the same character in these movies. Throughout the years she is slowly “domesticated”: from a macabre and intimidating force of nature, she becomes a vain hag, more superfical than wicked, from a relic of the past, she becomes a modern mascot. By analyzing the narrative and aesthetic choices causing this transformation, the author wants to analyze the allegories of each movie in their historical context. 

I) Baba Yaga in the Stalinian era: Vassilissa the Beautiful (1939)

Vassilissa the Beautiful, a movie adaptation of the story “The Princess-Frog”, was conceived as much as an entertainment as a teaching tool. In the version of Ro’ou, Vassilissa is not a princess and Ivanouchka is not an idiot. The two are rather hard-working, intelligent, honest people. The brothers of Ivanouchka oppose the duo by the women their find as wives: an excentric aristocrat, and a gluttonous merchant’s daughter. The entire first part of the movie presents an allegory of the fight of the social classes. The brothers and the wives do nothing while Ivanouchka goes hunting and Vassilissa does the chores, and then they pretend to have done the honest workers job. 

Baba Yaga only appears in the second half of the movie, when the wives burn the frog skin of Vassilissa, and the maiden is ravished by Zmeï Gorynytch. A title-card mentions “In the land of the Zmeï, Vassilissa the very beautiful was guarded by Baba Yaga”. Traditionally, the role of kidnapper in Russian fairytales is played by Kachtcheï the Immortal, who doesn’t appear in the movie - but the Zmeï here fills his role as “the rival of the male hero for the hand of the woman, usually a fiancée or a wife, sometimes his mother” and “the male counterpart of Baba Yaga”. So, as much in their home as in the magical land, Ivanouchka and Vassilissa must fight against oppressors that take away their goods and exploit their work. Jack Zipes noted that, according to the marxist reading of the fairytales, Baba Yaga symbolizes “the entire feodal system, where the greed and brutality of aristocracy are responsible for the hard living conditions. The murder of the witch is the symbol of the hatred felt by the peasants against this aristocracy, that hoards and oppresses.” However, in the Vassilissa movie of Ro’ou, Baba Yaga plays a more ambiguous role. Her skinny and nervous figure, the rags she wears, allows her to hide herself in nature. Her hunched back imitates the rocks, the way she spreads her arms and legs imitated tree branches. By fusing with the landscape, she can attack Ivanouchka without ever being seen by him. Often Ro’ou likes to superposition to allow Baba Yaga to appear and disappear suddenly. As a result she seems half-translucid in many scenes, suggesting that she is a force of nature - or even the personification of the forest. 

The “magical” part of the movie plays on the contrast between the domain of Baba Yaga (the forest) and the domain of the Zmeï (the mountain). The two realms are heavily inspired by the expressionist cinema of Germany (especially the sets of the Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, in 1920), but couldn’t be further from each other. The world of the Yaga is the one of the dark forest, confusing and threatening, but deeply organic and human. The world of the Zmeï, however, is an industrialized, hyper-sanitized, geometrical world. A post-human world, or one devoid of humanity: a fascist world. Indeed, the historical context of the movie invites an allegorical reading: the Germano-Sovietic Pact was signed the 23rd of August 1939, and the movie was released the 13th of May 1940, one year before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in june 1941. At the time, while Germany wasn’t an official enemy (and it is hard to imagine that Ro’ou selected this tale with a political purpose in mind). But the movie is a proof of the tension that existed at the time about the entire situation. Baba Yaga, who keeps turning and roaming around Vassilissa, reminds of the painting of occidental paintings, “Death near the Maiden”. It isn’t just the virginity of Russia (aka, the integrity of its frontiers) that are threatened - it is her very life that is at play. 

Vassilissa, a girl who is obedient and modest when she is free, becomes proud and rebellious in captivity. She is a model of resistance that anounces the true female heroes of the Second World War in Russia, such as Zoïa Kosmodemianskaïa (made famous by the movie of Leo Arnchtam in 1944). Just like Zoïa, Vassilissa is ready to sacrifice herself for the good of others, and to follow her own principles. When Baba Yaga discovers the hat of Ivanouchka in her isba she aks Vassilissa “Where is he? You say nothing? If you say nothing, I will make you talk. Maybe fire will make you more talkative.” Vassilissa is only saved from torture by the arrival of Zmeï Gorynytch. 

The analogy between the monster and the foreign invader is reinforced by the third cinematographic fairytale of Ro’ou, Kachtcheï (Koschei). Filmed in the Altaï and the Tadjikistan in 1944, and released the day of the victory (9th May 1945), the movie tells “how Koschei the Immortal fell onto Russia like a thunder clap in a peaceful sky, burned out houses and our bread, massacred the population and took away thousands of women”. Even if the historical facts cannot allow us to read “Vassilissa” as a simple allegory of the war to come, the images still carry the possibility of an upcoming conflict. We can read it in the presentation of Vassilissa as a resistant-model, as much as in the glorification of the elements of folk-culture (aka, part of Russian culture). The movie is also preceeded by a prologue in which three bards introduce the tale by playing gousli (gusli), a traditional musical instrument. When Ivanouchka goes searching for Vassilissa, the text says “He wandered for a long time throughout his native earth” - even the typography of the title-cards reminds the medieval books. All these elements create throughout this movie a new “nationalist vocabulary”, and so unite a nation threatened by an external force. As Prokhorov explains, “The movies of Ro’ou, just like the kolkhoz musical comedies of Ivan Pyr’ev, were answered an official demand of art inspired by the narodnost (popular spirit/folk spirit)”, an art that “allowed the entire Soviet community to stay in touch with their popular spirit, as the metaphysical source of the communal strength”. The internationalism of the first years of the Soviet Union was slowly breaking down in front of this romantic and deeply essentialist view of the nation. 

II) Baba Yaga throughout the Thaw: Morozko (1964), Fire, Water and Brass Pipes (1968) and The Golden Horns (1972)

The period that followed the war was once again difficult for the fairytales, and all those that studied folk-culture. Félix Oinas explains: “After the war, the Russian folklorists knew another series of trials, perhaps the most difficult of them all. The era of the ideological dictatorship of Jdanov, nicknamed Jdanovchtchina, started in 1946, and quickly became an anti-West witch hunt”. Vladimir Propp had just published “The historical roots of the fairy tale”, which was heavily criticize due to containing numerous quotes of Western folklorists, as well as comparativist ideas, not to say cosmopolite ones. In 1947, Soïzudetfilm was re-organized and became the Gorki studo: the studio however did not have any order or demand for children movie.  In 1952, the situation led Constantin  Simonov and Fedor Parfenov to publish an open letter in the Literaturnaïa gazeta “Let’s resurrect the cinematography for children”. However it was only in 1957, after the death of Staline and the succession of Khrouchtchev, that the minister of culture finally commissioned an augmentation of children movie production. In 1961, the Gork studio was named “Gorki central Studio of cinema for children and the youth”. 

When Ro’ou produced Morozko, in 1964, it was in conditions very different and yet paradoxically very similar to the ones in which Vassilissa the Beautiful was produced. The first novelty was the use of color: the second half of the movie takes place in winter, which forces a restrained color palette, even in the makeup and costumes - it is limited to the red and pale blue of the traditional Russian paintings. The appearance of color makes the Baba Yaga younger, as well as more visible in the landscape - but it doesn’t make her more lively. When Ivan discovers the isba in the middle of the forest, and when said isba obeys his order for it to turn towards him, he is sincerely surprised. Baba Yaga gets out of the house yawning, and she asks grumpily “What do you want? Why, unexpected, uncalled, did you dare turn the cabin and wake up the crone?”. It is almost as if everyone in the story was forced in their part of the story against their will.  If the Yaga of Vassilissa was jumping from tree-top to tree-top, but the Yaga of Morozko keeps complaining about back problems and she asks Ivanouchka to leave her alone. She only does magic because Ivanouchka forces her to, and her speech is filled with affective diminutives ending in -tchik. Ivanouchka, in the end, doesn’t need to vanquish Baba Yaga, he rather has to convince her to help. 

The male equivalent of Baba Yaga, Morozko (Grandfather Forest / General Winter) turns out to be just as harmless as the witch. When he sees Nasten’ka, abandoned by her family to die of cold in the forest, he immediately comes to her help. The role of the two magical characters (Morozko and Baba Yaga) in the life of the young protagonists is limited to the one of a godfather or godmother. The equivalence of these two relationships is highlighted by a sequence which puts in parallel Morozko putting warm clothes on Nasten’ka and Baba Yaga doing the same for Ivanouchka. Another parallel can be found in the way the protagonists call their helpers: Ivanouchka calls Baba Yaga “Yagusia” or “Babulia-yagulia”, while Nastenka calls with affection Morozko “Morozouchka-batiouchka”. From villains, Morozko and Baba Yaga are transformed into helpers, the Donors of the Vladimir Propp’s functions. 

The most important consequence of this transformation is the new nature of the “source of Evil”. Evil doesn’t come anymore from what is supernatural, but it rather comes from what is too natural: the flaws of ordinary humans. It is the jealousy of Nasten’ka stepmother and the boasting of Ivanouchka that cause their initial separation and the unbalance that Baba Yaga and Morozko try to remedy to. The qualities preached by Morozko are very close to the ones glorified by “Vassilissa the Beautiful”: hard-work, modesty, and intelligence. What is different is the goal of these virtues: the seriousness and gravity of “Vassilissa the Beautiful” is gone. In Morozko the characters are funny and light-hearted. Ro’ou was trying in “Vassilissa” to animate the visual popular culture, inherited from the lubok and illustrated movies. But in Morozko it all becomes a great show, a smooth surface without any depth. When Ivanouchka leaves his birth-house to go seek his fortune, he passes by a group of young girls that dance and sing when seeing him - these are traditional dances and songs, but the aesthetic is much closer to the one of a technicolor musical than a medieval fantasy. 

“Fire, Water and Brass Pipes”, filmed by Ro’ou four years later, in 1968, goes even further in the idea of a show or entertainment. Caracterized by saturated colors and random explosions of music and dance, the movie is aiming at the audiovisual variety show at the cost of the stylistic coherence. This excess alos manifests at the narrative level: while Morozko reunited two distinct fairy tales (Morozko and Ivan-with-the-bear-head), “Fire, Water and Brass Pipes” is a sort of remix of elements taken from numerous myths, cultures and legends (not even all Russian!). The skeleton of the plot is roughly the same: as usual, Kachtcheï kidnaps the beloved of Ivanouchka, and he must undergo a series of trials to get her back. These trials, symbolized by the fire, water and brass pipes of the title, are so many occasions to introduce very different elements, ranging from Greek philosophers to the god Neptune. 

In this movie, Ro’ou also modifies the traditional structure of his cinematic fairytales in another way: instead of beginning by the human drama which starts the plot, he begins by the presentation of the magical beings. It is in this “prologue” that we have a full humanization of Baba Yaga: she becomes a mother, and is shown to be able to feel empathy and sorrow. The movie opens with Baba Yaga flying through the sky, rushing to the wedding of her daughter with Koschei the Immortal (also played by Milliar). When she arrives, she is humiliated twice. First, she fails to land properly, implying she can’t move as she used to. Then, nobody recognizes her at the court except for her own daughter and Koschei. This is quite revealing that in this context she introduces herself not as Baba Yaga, but as a relative of the happy couple: she joyfully says (rhyming in Russian), “I am the mother of the bride, Koschei the Immortal is my son-in-law”. This image of Baba Yaga as a mother is not taken out of nowhere: already in the story of Afanassiev called “Baba Yaga and Small-One”, the witch had forty-and-one daughters, that died by her hand. In the movie of Ro’ou, a new importance is given to her maternity as well as to her physical problems (she handles her mortar badly, she falls every time she tries to dance): it all indicates that maybe the life of a witch can be affected by the flow of time. This Baba Yaga is implied to have always been as she is now: she lived a period of youth, and now she is aging. So her life can have a beginning... and an end, like the life of all mortals. 

The prologue that presents the maternity of Baba Yaga also has a role in the narrative of the movie: it explains why the Yaga is so willingly helping Vasia (the new name of Ivanouchka). Indeed, when Zmeï Gorynytch offers Koschei a magical apple that makes him young again, he sends away his bride, deeming her too old for him, causing a public humiliation. By helping Vasia defeating Koschei and freeing his beloved (Alionouchka), Baba Yaga is actually avenging her own daughter. She needs Vasia as much as Vasia needs her. 

The Golden Horns, made in 1972, thirty-tree years after Vassilissa the Beautiful, was the last movie of Ro’ou that uses the character of the Baba Yaga. After being reduced to a second role in Morozko and “Fire, Water and Brass Pipes”, she finally regains a prominent role. Queen of the forest, she has no rival except for the deer with golden horns - as she complains to a group of hunter, the deer keeps undoing all of her traps and ruining her projects. She doesn’t have back problems anymore, and she is healthy enough to dance and sing. Indeed, throughout the movie she keeps insisting that she is still young. In the beginning of the story she is playing cards with a friend, Duraleï. When he accuses her of cheating and calls her “old hag”, she throws him away from the isba and she says to herself “He dares to call me hag, me, who everybody says has a young soul!”. The Baba Yaga of The Golden Horns isn’t wicked, but she is vain - she is a pretentious old woman that spends hours in front of her mirror. The three young lechïï that serve her constantly flirt with her, and calls her by the diminutive “Babou-yagusen’ka”, and the witch herself flirts with a group of hunter-robbers. Baba Yaga even has a musical number, a song throughout which she turns her hand-mirror into a guitar and sings “I can’t see her enough, Yaga the Fair / Oh my love, me, me me!”. 

Beyond the changes brought to the very image of Baba Yaga, Golden Horns is different from the previous movies in two main aspects. The first: the question of the relationship between genders. In Golden Horns, it isn’t a young man who tries to save his beloved from the hands of Baba Yaga or Kachtcheï. It is rather a mother, Evdokia, who tries to save her children. The final conflict is one between two women: one a mother, the other (the Yaga) an old maid. As a result the values of the more are much more conservative in nature. The song of the young girls in the prologue, with the title-cards, compare Russia to a mother. “Always happy, and a bit sad / So is Russia, my mother. / Like the fairytale, intemporal and kind / So is Russia, my mother”. It is this same Russian earth that protects Evdokia in the final battle against Baba Yaga. As the Yaga takes weapons, Evdokia remembers a small bag of soil her neighbor gave her. “Native earth, protect me!” she screams as she throws the soil towards Baba Yaga. These two sequences insist on the sacred nature of the Russian land, “mother” of the people and symbol of maternity itself. The movie implies that it is Evdokia’s maternity that makes her invincible, and that it is the vanity (the “wrong use of her gender”) that dooms Baba Yaga. The absence of a father figure also helps the manifestation of more conservative political messages. It is possible to read Evdokia as a feminist figure: she is independant, and she goes searching for her two daughters without fear. She is intelligent and strong: she isn’t even shocked when she learns she must battle Baba Yaga in a sword-fight. However, she is continuously guided and helped by masculine figure in positions of authority: the Sun, the Wind, and Golden Horns. Golden Horns also offers the perfect example of a theory brought by Evgueni Margolit and summarized by Prokhorov: “Soviet cinema expressed the ideal community of the future as a land of children, where the government filled the role of the strong, order-giving father of the people”. Evdokia, the figure of the mother, is thus treated like a child by the figures of the Father.

In conclusion, this movie offers a new definition of the political action. Like in most fairytales, the movie starts with a transgression: the twin girls of Evdokia, Machen’ka and Dachen’ka, disobey their mother’s instructions and go too far in the forest. What they cannot know is that two wicked spirits trap them, and use them to start a revolution against the Baba Yaga’s tyranny. The movie ends with a tribunal, formed by the small children-wood spirits, alongside the former friend of Baba Yaga, Duraleï. Through a vote, they decide to punish Baba Yaga by banishing her to the swamp. The events of this tale must thus be understood in a wider context, that is seen at the beginning of the movie: this movie represents a shift of powers in the forest, and is the triumph of the humble people, of the simple folks against the monarchy. 

Conclusion

In “Vassilissa the Beautiful” (1939), made before the movie, Ro’ou tries for the first time to give a cinematographic shape to the world of the folktales. Taking inspiration from the iconography of the lubok, of the illustrated book, and of the German expressionism, he creates a ciaroscuro universe filled with heavily connotated characters, all either wholly good or wholly evil. Baba Yaga, in this universe, like in the one of fairytales, according to the interpretation of Propp, is a liminal character, the guardian of the frontier between the known and the unknown. Often camouflaging herself in the forest and the rocks that surround the isba, she embodies the dark side of the nature. In a movie whose goal is to enrich the nationalist vocabulary of a land threatened by an external force, Baba Yaga becomes a problematic figure, at the same meant to be “one of us”, since she is part of the Slavic folklore, but also “one of them” since she is unpredictable and hostile. 

In the three movies realized by Ro’ou one after the other during the period known as the “Thaw”, the Baba Yaga of Vassilissa is domesticated, becomes a satire, her fangs are removed to make people laugh. While these movies keep feeding from the imagery of Russian nationalism, and keep trying to maintain the authority of the State, they are aimed at being more of an entertainment than a mystical communion with the soul of the people. By giving to Baba Yaga a biography - children, love interests, a passion for clothes and other fashions - these movies remove her from the mythological world, and give her a place in the contemporary world. It is how she becomes, at the time of the Olympic games of 1980, a cult figure, a legitimate rival to Micha the bear-cub for the title of Soviet mascot. 

#the yaga journal #baba yaga #russian fairytales #alexander rou #soviet movies #fairytale movies #censorship of fairytales #literary censorship #banning of fairytales #russian folktales #vasilisa the beautiful #the golden horns #morozko #fire water and brass pipes #georgy millyar #baba-yaga

[elderdragonreen]

Don't mind this post, it's a quick Personal Story recap (up to Claw Island) for my own ref. Feel free to ignore this!

Act 1 (Sylvari Personal Story) Ch1 - Following the Dream Ch2 - The Teachings of Ventari Ch3 - Justice for Riannoc

🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲

Act 2 The Orders Ch4: Order Neophyte The character witnesses a meeting between the members of Destiny's Edge. They then meet with their new order, are assigned a new mentor, and are sent on their first mission, where they prove themselves worthy of becoming a full member.

Priory - Dredging up the Past https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dredging_up_the_Past Whispers - Stealing Secrets https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stealing_Secrets Vigil - A Fragile Peace https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/A_Fragile_Peace

💠💠💠 Ch5: Helping Hands The character's order assigns them the task of assisting one of the tribal races of Tyria (note not all racial sympathy plotlines are available for each playable race). The character will assist in one of the following:

[Choices for Sylvari]

Champion's Sacrifice https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Champion's_Sacrifice Bad Ice https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bad_Ice Rat-Tastrophe https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rat-Tastrophe

💠💠💠 Ch6: The Battle of Claw Island The character's order sends them on a mission that leads them to discover that Lion's Arch is Zhaitan's next target. The character and the mentor leave for Claw Island to defend it, but the fortress is lost. From there, the order sends the character and Trahearne to gain an ally for retaking the island fortress. Each order has the choice between two potential allies:

Priory characters can make use of stolen dredge weaponry or get help from Carys and Tegwen.

Order of Whispers characters must decide whether to use a weapon made from Professor Gorr's research or to enlist the help of Benn Tenstrikes and his mercenaries.

Vigil characters chose either Fibharr or the competitive Charr: Snarl and Galina.

After bolstering the pact, Trahearne suggests visiting the Pale Tree to get her advice. She offers a vision of the future, taking the character and Trahearne to Orr. After returning from the vision, the pale tree gives the sword Caladbolg to Trahearne.

This sequence ends with defense of the character's order's headquarters, the creation of the unified Pact with Trahearne as its military commander, and the retaking of Claw Island.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #gw2 personal story #ref #reference #basically copy-pasted from gw2wiki but put into one place for me to look at #this was made for my rp/story purposes

[thefranklinoutdoor]

Need a friend?

Curated by Dennissa Young and The Franklin

Opening reception: Saturday, April 30th

From 7pm to 9pm

From April 30th to July 2nd, 2022

‘Need a Friend?’ is surrounded by connection, friendship, and togetherness. Showcasing the wear and tear of relationships, the promise of returning for what was left behind, and the hope of new friendships to be formed. ‘Need a friend?’ captures humans and the bodies that hold memory, time and space for deep vulnerability, conversation and connectedness.

Each artist invited rallies around the theme of old and new relationships, considering their communal ties. These ties resulted in creating space for the audience to text in, reflect, and see themselves in the works by Rainn, MK Joss, Hugo Ivan Juarez, Whitney LaMora, Dennissa Young, Galina Shevchenko and Frank Vega.

Whitney LaMora (she/her) is a queer creative based in Chicago. She is the Founder & Curator of The Martin, an artist-first community space located in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago. Her curatorial work has been featured with Woman Made Gallery, Stay Home Gallery & Dear Artists With Anxiety. Outside of her curatorial work, she specializes in building intimate, immersive & relational performances and experiences. You can find her work on Instagram @whitneycurates and her website whitneylamora.com. She lives in Ukranian Village with her partner and their nice & naughty pets.

Rainn (She/They) is a Black, queer writer and artist living in Chicago. Her writing explores the intersections of Black pop culture and religion, as well as Black sexuality. Her work has been published in various publications online. Rainn is also host of a queer, monthly open mic called, “Fruit Salad”. Rainn’s artistic work focuses on found-object sculpture, installation, and photography.

Hugo Ivan Juarez (he/him) was born and raised in Dallas, TX. He could be identified as Mexican-American but embraces the philosophy of no nation. H.I.J. dropped out of college in 2012 to pursue dreams in streetwear fashion. He put to rest a clothing line after it began to compromise his ethics but then quickly discovered the world of printmaking. Print has since become a gateway back into education but in the last decade, he labored as a yardero, farmer, catholic worker, and ESL teacher. During the pandemic he gave himself two years of limitless creativity while milking the institution for all it's got. In Chicago, he is performing the social and repurposing left behind art materials. In Dallas, he co-runs Familia printshop in which he attempts to activate as a rallying point. H.I.J. believes that energy can be shaped and that making friends is an art form.

Dennissa Young (she/her)  is a Native New Mexican with Spanish and Indigenous roots, currently residing in Chicago. She works primarily in performance and relational aesthetics. Her art focuses on activating, organizing and collaborating. Dennissa has exhibited in almost all the places she has lived, both nationally and internationally. Her work strives to foster friendship, radical softness, and to question the spiritual journey we are all on. Dennissa’s artistic practice creates time, space and honesty, where audience members can engage and participate however they see fit.

MK Joss (She/They) is a photographer and visual creator from the San Francisco Bay Area. Forced by her youth pastor to join the drama team in Junior High, she fell in love with the stage and performance. This love and passion for performance transformed over the years into a deep love for film and photography. She moved to Los Angeles to study film production and telecommunications. After growing to loath Hollywood and their racist, homophobic and misogynistic ways, she lost her passion for creation; until a global pandemic no one was prepared to deal with forced everyone into their homes. She spent this free time getting reintroduced to film photography. Following work to NY, she spent most of the last 2 years living between Long Island, Bushwick, BK, and Los Angeles, eventually landing in Chicago with her partner and two cats. Her work focuses on the beauty in the everyday through intimate portraits of family and friends and architectural landscapes.

Galina Shevchenko is a Moscow-born, Chicago based multimedia artist and educator working across multiple modes of expression and image processing. Fluid, elusive and illusory entity of her video-scapes and permeable transparency of her constructed objects manifest her ongoing exploration of post-feminist identity through mediation. Galina’s work has been featured at Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts,  Moscow; CADAF Paris;  Aqua Miami International Art Fair;  Berlin’s Director’s lounge video festival; Chicago Motion Graphics Festival;  Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago and numerous Chicago Art Galleries. Galina holds an MFA in studio art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she is currently a resident artist at Chicago Art Department and an Assistant Professor of Art and Digital Multimedia Design at Harold Washington College.

Frank Vega is an Ecuadorian-born interdisciplinary artist living and working in Chicago. This May he will receive his Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Vega’s work includes a combination of sculpture, painting, and hybrid objects. Using found objects as a starting point, he collages them into larger structures that resemble bodies, altars, and amulets for their healing abilities. Some exhibitions include Ambiente Humano, Galeria 54, Curated by Anna Garner, Mexico City, Mexico, Visceral, two-person exhibition, Extra Projects, Chicago, IL. Some awards include the Helen Frankenthaler Scholarship from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Florence M. House Scholarship, and the Helen E. Platt Blake Scholarship from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

[consciousvortex]

A Witch’s Library 📚 🧙🏻‍♀️

A comprehensive reading list for beginner, intermediate & advanced practitioners 🔮

General reading for complete beginners:

'The Occult Book': A Chronological Journey, from Alchemy to Wicca’ by John Michael Greer

‘The Door to Witchcraft’ by Tonya A Brown

‘Learning Ritual Magic’ by John Michael Greer, Clare Vaughan, and Earl King

‘Paganism for Beginners’ by Althaea Sebastiani

‘Wild Witch’ by Marian Green

Explaining magick as science:

'The Book of Lies: A Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult’ (various authors)

‘Quantum Psychology’ by Robert Anton Wilson

‘Psychology and the Occult’ by Carl Gustav Jung

‘Dream Psychology’ by Sigmund Freud

Books for beginners about specific practices & traditions:

‘Wicca: a guide for the solitary practitioner’ by Scott Cunningham

‘Living Wicca: a further guide for the solitary practitioner’ by Scott Cunningham

‘High Magick’ by Damien Echols

‘Liber Null & Psychonaut: An introduction to Chaos Magic’ by Peter J. Carrol

‘The Temple of High Magic’ by Cüsters-van Bergen

'Out of the Shadows: an exploration of Dark Paganism and Magick' by John J. Coughlin

‘The Celtic Golden Dawn’ by John Michael Greer

‘The Druidry Handbook’ by John Michael Greer

‘Slavic Witchcraft’ by Natasha Helvin

‘Northern Magic’ by Edred Thorsson

‘A Modern Guide to Heathenry’ by Galina Krasskova

‘Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition’ by Raven Kaldera & Galina Krasskova

‘Folk Witchcraft’ by Roger J. Horne

‘Fairycraft’ by Morgan Daimler

Intermediate & advanced books:

‘Angels and Archangels: A Magician’s Guide’ by Damien Echols

'Transcendental Magic: its Doctrine and Ritual' by Eliphas Levi

‘The Mysteries of Merlin: Ceremonial Magic for the Druid Path’ by John Michael Greer

‘Infernal Geometry and the Left Hand Path’ by Toby Chappell

‘The Corpus Hermeticum’ by G.R.S. Mead

‘The Tree of Life’ by Israel Regardie

‘The Middle Pillar’ by Israel Regardie

Ancient wisdom & Occult knowledge:

‘The Secret Teachings of All Ages’ by Manly P. Hall

'The Secret Doctrine' by Helena Blavatsky

‘The Book of Secret Wisdom’ by Zinovia Dushkova

'The Power of the Word: the Secret Code of Creation' by Donald Tyson

'The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece' by Three Initiates

Sacred texts & books that formed the foundations of specific practices:

The Kybalion

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

The Holy Vedas

The Holy Bible (Old & New Testament)

The Quran

The Kabbalistic texts

The Tao Te Ching

Grimoires, spellbooks, & reference guides:

‘The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells’ by Judika Illes

‘The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols’ by Adele Nozedar

‘A Witches’ Bible’ by Janet Farrar

‘The Magician’s Companion’ by Bill Whitcomb

‘Complete Book of Witchcraft’ by Raymond Buckland

‘Wicked Plants’ by Amy Stewart

‘The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts’ by Arthur Edward Waite

The Necronomicon

The Greater & Lesser Keys of Solomon

Miscellaneous esoterica:

‘High Weirdness’ by Erik Davis

‘The Doors of Perception’ by Aldous Huxley

‘The Book of the Law’ by Aleister Crowley

‘Waking the Witch: reflections on women, magic and power’ by Pam Grossman

‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle

‘Prometheus Rising’ by Robert Anton Wilson

‘The Book of the Damned’ by Charles Fort

‘Sacred Geometry and Magical Symbols’ by Iva Kenaz

‘The Satanic Bible’ by Anton LaVey

#witchcraft #magick #spirituality #magic #high magick #slavic witch #damien echols #chaos magick #cosmic witch #chaos witch #baby witch tips #beginner witch #beginner witch tips #druidry #books #reading list #meditation #the golden dawn #the tree of life #beginner wiccan #wicca #wiccan #wiccablr #spellwork #academia #witchy books #occultism #hermeticism #astrotheurgy

[art-now-usa]

Make a wish., Z E D

These are artworks for the chosen few. It is elitist art. Collectors from around the world willingly pursue it. My goal is to make elite art accessible and affordable to anyone. Perfect combination of quality and price. Highest professionalism and unmatched vision. Welcome to the world of art. Make a wish. Painting on canvas, canvas on stretcher, stretcher thickness of 2.5 cm, sides painted, can be exposed without a frame. EDUARD ZENTSIK Paintings Eduard Zentsik is a prolific Estonian-based artist of many faces. He’s developed radically different artistic personas, refusing to link his name to a single signature style, technique, or theme. Instead, Zentsik mixes genres and media and playfully subverts the traditions of old. Zentsik’s oeuvre is as enormous as it’s diverse. Some of his endeavors, like the mildly macabre art brut series, focus on physical metamorphoses and flourishes of the flesh. Others, like the highly symbolic paintings made in the surrealistic canon, accentuate the spiritual aspects of his philosophy. Elsewhere, the artist indulges in formless Pollockian color drippings or flirts with digital media. Zentsik’s paintings contain an open-ended space, a distinctly magical reality where entities, artifacts, and concepts from seemingly arbitrary eras and cultures serve their enigmatic purpose. No mythology or esoteric teaching is immune to the artist’s tactful manipulations - Zen in Zentsik goes hand in hand with Tao, Krishna, Christ, and the Twelve Olympians. This is not an intellectual game, though. Those willing to unlock the code are likely (and welcome) to reveal metaphysical depths. Some may find his work pretentious, but Zentsik is not afraid to use self-aware decorative strategies and deceptively simple tropes to convey big ideas. Behind the images, there is a powerful coherent cosmology explaining the underlying natural order, the ulterior essence of everything. This is true spiritual art with a transcendental message, ostensibly co-created and inhabited by the spirit of the Creation itself (all artworks have always existed, you know). Zentsik’s mission, therefore, is to cut open two-way windows between our world and the fantastical realm through which mystical figures and phenomena on the other side meet our gaze. Aren’t these the proverbial Platonic ideas represented on canvas in vaguely familiar forms? Painter, photographer, graphic artist, designer, author of installations, performances and musical improvisations. Organizer of youth exhibitions and projects. For over years of creativity had more than fifty personal exhibitions and took part in numerous joint projects. Participant and winner of international Photographic and Art competitions. Numerous works are in private collections around the world. 1995 year – member of avant-garde artistic projects. 1996-1997 year – personal classes in art studio of I. Lukyanov. 1998 year – accepted into the closed club of artists "April". 2000-2004 year – study at the Art Academy of Estonia. Freelance artist since 2006 year. 2011 Author's works were included in the book of art-critic Galina Balashova "Installation on the background of estonian landscape" about the important russian artists in Estonia. 2012 Publication of personal book about art Eduard Zentsik "My universe". 2011 The first prize in the international competition "Art Moment", St. Petersburg, Russia 2012 Prize in the biggest international photo competition - Wiki loves monuments 2012 Annual premium young talented artists Kultuurkapital. Member of the Russian Artists Union in Estonia. Member of the Photographers Union in Estonia. 2012 annual premium young talented artists Kultuurkapital. Seven works by the artist acquired the collection of the Pushkin Museum Preserve. Two works are in the collection of the Museum Reserve Plyos. The four works are in the collections of the Gallery of the Narva. Two works in the museum’s collection of Sillamae. One work in the collection of the New York Outsider Art. Art video are in the collection of the Pushkin Museum Preserve.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Make-a-wish/733440/3241542/view

#artdeco #figurative #zed #fineart

[tonystarkbingo]

TSB MIV Week 24 Roundup!

Lots of fills this week, in part because of our last Discord party from this round!  Some awesome stuff up ahead, so go spread some love!

Title: Extra Chocolate Chips Collaborator: rebelmeg Card Number: 4034 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - Sharon Carter / Agent 13 Ship: Tony & Aunt Peggy, Tony & Sharon Carter Rating: Gen Major Tags: grief/mourning, angst, hurt/comfort, family, baking Summary: The New Year’s Eve after Tony’s parents die is a rough one. Aunt Peggy refuses to let him spend it alone, and his favorite little cousin has a great suggestion to lift his mood. Word Count: 1245

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Title: Road Rash Collaborator: newnewyorker93 Card Number: 4042 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K3 - Trapped in the Armour Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: Art, Iron Man 2 Summary: Pencil drawing of Tony with the palladium poisoning “high-tech crossword puzzle” on his neck, based off a screenshot from Iron Man 2. Word Count: N/A

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Title: No Time Like the Peasant Collaborator: 27dragons Card Number: 4027 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Reincarnation Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Carnival midway, Fluff, Fortune Teller Summary: Apparently, having failed to succumb to the carnival’s midway barkers thanks to Bucky’s uncanny sense of aim, the phony fortune tellers were going to take a turn trying to separate them from their money. Word Count: 448

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Title: By Design Collaborator: periwinklepromise Card Number: 4053 Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - Faulty Programming Ship: Dum-E & Tony Stark Rating: Teen  Major Tags: Anti Team Cap Summary: He's functioning exactly as he's programmed,” Tony defends quickly. One must wonder, is he defending himself or his creation? Word Count: 638

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Title: With a Twist Collaborator: SomeSortofItalianRoast Card Number: 4036 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Lemon  Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: AU: No Powers, AU: Coffee shop Summary: It’s Lemon Day at Wide Awake. Neither Steve nor Happy are amused.  Word Count: 646

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Title: On Ice Collaborator: ABrighterDarkness Card Number: 4074 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R4 - Date in the Park Ship: Stony Rating: G Major Tags: Moodboard Summary: It had been years since Tony had gone ice skating and the last time had been memorable for all of the wrong reasons. Of course Steve had convinced him to try again. And it was memorable too, this time for all the right reasons. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Extra Chocolate Chips Moodboard Collaborator: rebelmeg Card Number: 4034 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Adopted - Art Format: Digital Medium Ship: Tony & Sharon & Peggy Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard, based on fic Summary: moodboard for my fic “Extra Chocolate Chips” with tiny!Sharon cheering up a grieving Tony with help from Aunt Peggy. Word Count: N/A

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Title: If the Stars Should Appear Collaborator: starktrekkingaroundasgard Card Number: 4048 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - Paparazzi Ship: Tony Stark/F!Reader Rating: Mature Major Tags: Paparazzi, Charity Auctions, Suggestive Themes, Flirting, Fluff, First Kiss, First Dates Summary: Following Tony’s invitation to a charity auction, the reader finds herself uncomfortably out of place on the red carpet. However, she learns that with the right company these events aren’t quite so bad after all. Word Count: 3049

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Title: The Four Question Problem Collaborator: remreader Card Number: 4042 Link: AO3 Square Filled: S3 - Pseudo-Villain Ship: Tony Stark. & Steve Rogers Rating: Gen Major Tags: Drabble, Humour, Passover Summary: It's Passover at Avengers Tower and Tony and Steve are bickering. Because why should this night be different than any other night? Word Count: 100

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Title: An unlikely friendship Collaborator: Gottalovev Card Number: 4077 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A3 - Free Ship: Tony Stark & Nebula Rating: Gen Major Tags: Moodboard Summary: He felt as if she needed a win. And, maybe for the first time in her life, a friend. Tony's kindness meant more to Nebula that he'd ever know. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Food Coma Collaborator: eachpeachpearplum Card Number: 4003 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Adopted - Coma Ship: N/A Rating: Gen Major Tags: Food Coma, Pizza, Clint Barton Summary: One day, Clint will learn to stop at one pizza. One day… Word Count: N/A

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Title: the best babysitters Collaborator: eachpeachpearplum Card Number: 4003 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Adopted - Peggy Carter Ship: N/A Rating: Gen Major Tags: Art, Peggy Carter, Edwin Jarvis, tiny Tony, fluff Summary: Howard and Maria are, as ever, too busy to look after their son. Luckily, Tony has the best godparents in the world. A day at the park is just what they all need. Word Count: N/A

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Title: Happy Scrubbing Time Collaborator: Gottalovev Card Number: 4077 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R1 - Cleaning Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Cap-Tsum loves when Iron-Tsum uses the toothbrush at bath time! Word Count: N/A

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Title: Stuffed Marvel Sketch - Iron Man Noir Tony Collaborator: PoliZ Card Number: 4007 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Adopted - Noir Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: none Summary: Stuffed Marvel sketch of Tony Stark based on the Iron Man Noir run Word Count: N/A

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Title: The Dumb Jocks, Cute Butts Club Collaborator: ceealaina Card Number: 4008 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 - AU: Rivals Ship: Gen Rating: Teen Major Tags: Humour, Team as Family, Crack Treated (Semi) Seriously Summary: Rhodey, Bucky, and Bruce bond over the absolute idiots in their lives. (AKA I got drunk and hate-watched Endgame, and then this happened.)  Word Count: 848

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Title: Who I Am Inside Collaborator: 27dragons Card Number: 4027 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Super Soldier Serum Ship: Stony Rating: T Major Tags: A/B/O Dynamics, Secrets, Getting Together Summary: Tony and Steve fight a lot, which is only natural when two alphas are on the same team. Clint thinks there’s another reason for all the tension between them. Word Count: 1326

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Title: the weight of all these dreams of mine Collaborator: peachy Card Number: 4017 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - Cliche Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Angst with a Happy Ending Summary: It shouldn’t be enough to undo him, spilled tea in the early morning hours, but standing there, looking at the mess on the floor, still haunted by his dream and the countless sleepless nights that lay before it, Steve feels something in his chest tighten and splinter.  Word Count: 1495

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Title: This Is Not Work, Only Creation Collaborator: periwinklepromise Card Number: 4053 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - AU: Artist/Muse  Ship: Natasha & Tony Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Natalia Romanova is the best principal ballerina Tony has ever had the honor of composing for. With her, it is not work, only a shared creation. Word Count: 100

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Title: Fashion Forward Collaborator: 27dragons Card Number: 4027 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - Mandarin Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: AvAc, Jan is a Good Bro, Fashion Advice, Borrowing Heavily from RDJ’s Fashion Disasters Summary: Jan, I need you to get over here now,” Tony begged, eyes locked on the mirror.“What kind of emergency is it?” Jan asked. “Are the Hulks all trying to fit in the hot tub? Galina asked you on a date again? Hydra is tunneling under the hot dog stand?”“Worse than that.” Word Count: 412

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Title: Happy Endings Collaborator: JehBeeEh Card Number: 4058 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - Intimacy Without Sex Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Tooth-rotting fluff and softness Summary: Steve gives his husband a massage Word Count: 929

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Title: Into the Time Slip Collaborator: RoseRose Card Number: 4022 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R2 - Image: Jarvis Ship: Pepper/Steve/Tony Rating: G Major Tags: Time loop, BAMF Pepper Potts, Previous Temporary Character Death (cause time loops) Summary: Pepper has been looping through this day an innumerable number of times. This time, she was going to fix it. And then she and Tony and Steve were going to talk. She was tired of hiding. Word Count: 4519

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Title: my house of stone, your ivy grows (and now I'm covered in you) Collaborator: chel Card Number: 4011 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 - Reverse Soulmates Ship: IronHusbands Rating: G Major Tags: Reverse Soulmates Summary: Reverse Soulmate AU where when you meet a person who's meant to betray you, their name appears on your body. Also a Soulmate AU where when you meet your soulmate (platonic or romantic) their name also appears on your body. -- Tony let himself be pulled into Rhodey’s arms and sagged against him. Safe, his mind whispered. For the first time in three months Tony finally felt safe. It was a fucking shame the man holding him was bound to break his heart. -- Tony has two different names on his arms. Obie's on the left, and Rhodey's on the right. He's entirely certain Obie wasn't going to betray him. So how did he end up in love with Rhodes? Word Count: 3888

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Title: Good New Stories Collaborator: JehBeeEh Card Number: 4058 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: Adopted - Christine Everheart Ship: Christine Everheart & Tony Stark Rating: Teen Major Tags: N/A Summary:Christine runs into Tony Stark and proposes a Vanity Fair cover story with the worlds most famous Superhusbands Word Count: 626

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Title: It’s Always the Quiet Ones Collaborator: Faustess Card Number: 4059 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Bodysharing Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Sharing a Body, Awkward Dates Summary: Tony Stark and Stephen Strange have had some kind of magical ...mishap. Now they are both sharing Tony's body and Tony's late for his first date with the former Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes. What could go wrong? Or more probably, what wouldn't go wrong? Word Count: 2025

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Title: When is a Goose not a Goose? (When it’s a Fury) Collaborator: MagicaDraconia16 Card Number: 4019 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Wingfic Ship: Nick Fury & Avengers Team Rating: Teen Major Tags: Humor, animal transformation, bodyswap, cats Summary: Tony Stark hates magic.Nick Fury isn't too fond of it right now, either. Word Count: 2113

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Title: Must Be True Love Collaborator: ralsbecket Card Number: 4056 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - Photoshoot Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Texting, Digital Art, Superfamily, Cheeky Steve Rogers, Pranks Summary: Steve decides to play a prank on Tony before their yearly Christmas card photoshoot. Word Count: 795

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Title: Endless Collaborator: RoseRose Card Number: 4022 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - marriage Ship: Stucky Rating: Gen Major Tags: Poetry, Judaism Summary: Jewish Bucky reflecting on his relationship with Stev Word Count: 182

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Title: Pretty Boy [!Moodboard] Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange Card Number: 4022 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - KINK: Body Modification Ship: Stony Rating: Mature Major Tags: Sexual content, Body Modification (piercings), Nudity, Swearing Summary: Tony loves getting Steve little gifts to adorn himself with. Word Count: 200

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Title: Take my words, my heart, my love [!Moodboard] Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange Card Number: 4022 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - AU: Historic Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Moodboard + 100 Words Summary: Tony writes, his head swimming with love and dreamings of a possible future. Word Count: 100

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Title: Cold Crash [!Moodboard] Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange Card Number: 4022 Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - Huddling for Warmth Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Blood and Injury, swearing, moodboard Summary: Steve and Tony crash into a snowy mountain. Thankfully Tony finds them a cabin to take shelter in. Word Count: 565

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Title: Speed Demon Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange Card Number: 4022 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - All's well that ends well Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: drabble Summary: Tony didn't care how quick they got there, or how 'efficient and effective' the man's driving was, he was never going to get into a vehicle driven by Steve Rogers ever again. Word Count: 100

#tonystarkbingomarkiv #tsbmiv #tsb weekly roundup #tsb week 24

[12raben]

Autumn Rotation

Wow, I can’t believe I posted another rotation in its entirety! At this point both my sims and I are desperate for new faces. And lucky so, because: *drumroll*

Twinhills moved from level Settlement to Hamlet!

Huzzah! This is of course due to the fact, that family Druggald has also climbed the social ladder. They raised from peasantry to yeomanry paying the necessary fees. That money has been re-invested by Twinhills Government (me) to ulock the Cemetery.

That means I have unlocked a free communtiy lot for myself as well as some careers. There are other things, I’ll adjust, if you’re interested, you can keep reading, for everybody else it’s hidden to not block your dash. (Happy scrolling!) ;)

I haven’t unlocked any other community lots even though there are some funds left in the treasury. There are some bigger lots coming in the next levels, so I decided to save the money.

To avoid my business-owning sims getting rich, I have added a new tax to my game. I plan to have a bank in my game, so my sims can invest/get loans. This banker will recieve a small chunk, when another sim unlocks a money-perk. (Because he was most likely the connection to the investor.) The Money Reward Tax has to be paid with the beginning of winter:

Lvl1 LeTourneau Prize Reward: 1.000$ Fee: 100$ Tax: 500$

Lvl2 Valued Client Rebate Reward: 2.500 Fee: 250 Tax: 1.250

Lvl3 Chamber of Commerce Prize Reward: 10.000 Fee: 1.000 Tax: 5.000

Lvl4 Owners Association Award Reward: 20.000 Fee: 2.000 Tax: 10.000

Lvl5 Will Wright Grant Reward: 50.000 Fee: 5.000 Tax: 25.000

Since there is no banker in Twinhills yet, the fee is also paid to the crown.

In winter my poor teens were aging up and none of them were able to get a university education. So for now I made a compromise for my nobles and the midwife. When the Midwife reaches level 4 of her career (Apprentice), the midwife gains a college diploma, so she can get promoted. Same applies for sims of a noble class, but they’ll have to pay for it. Right now I’m aming at 10.000$ per college education hence the need for a banker, who can give a loan.

Another annoyance, which bugged me much: CAS-Sims don’t have any skills. For toddlers and maybe even children this might make sense, but for teens, adults and elders it’s just inconvienient. So, to make my live easier, I retroactively, add a roll to the creation of sims for skills:

-Children: D(6) -Teen: D(12) -Adult: D(20) -Elder: D(50)

The Sim Ranomizer offers an option to randomize skills. Here an example for a child:

This might seem like many skill points, but there is a chance that sims, who rolled for a maximum of 50 skill points only gain 5. And the sims of Twinhills seem to be a uneducated bunch, because none of them rolled an atonishing amount of skill-points :p

I’m addressing this now, because the free lot, that I unlocked for Twinhills reaching level Hamlet, is the Orphanage. (Well it is the most expensive community lot thus far, so I might was a very easy pick.)

And the inhabitants also moved right in:

When I used the Randomizer to create this household, my only goal was to have two adult/elder sims. The fact, that both of them are males seemed inconvienient at first and I thought about just turning them into females, but then I just decided to roll with it. (And I’m so happy I did this, because these guys are precious.)

The household is named Fundling, but every orphan has a unique surname. I’m going to make a seperate introduction post for them, because this post is getting to long as it is. Sorry.

In autumn there has been only one birth: Ben Hlothran, the new heir of the Hlothran household has been born.

The family also lost a family member. Vebjorn Hlothran, husband of Moira, father of Bjorn, Madleine, Harry, Galina, Molly, Ylvie and Ben died.

And let’s not forget the slightly grumpy Inn owner: Zacharias Cullroth, father of Primrose and Cara, Grand-father of Leesha and Hannes.

I have not given up on the idea of adding a downtown and vacation districts, but I have too much on my plate with the sims as it is. But, if I ever come this far in the challenge, supernaturals will be living in vacation districts and my downtown will be a bustling pirate bay.

One last thing: I have installed the Ultimate Collection recently. I have all games as disks, but I wanted to switch to english language. Having a mix of two languages while playing is exhausting for my brain, so I’d rather have everything in english. I have read about ways to manually switch languages, while the game is installed, but I just didn’t. And somehow... I don’t know, whether or not this is true, but I have the feeling, that the game runs better? I really don’t know, if that’s true, but in recent gameplay my game crashed... once? After a really long playsession with switching lots frequently. I’m optimistic. That beeing said: Winter is always taxing, because of the snow. So, you might see a varying degree of surrounding neighborhood decorations/neighborhood houses in lot-view.

#sims #sims 2 #sims 2 medieval #ts2 #twinhills #a01 #y01 #recap

[nurhanarman]

Shostakovich documentary / Шостакович - Эскизы к портрету композитора

A fantastic 1967 documentary on Dmitri Shostakovich with footage of Leonid Kogan, Sviatoslav Richter, Galina Vishnevskaya, Mstislav Rostropovich, Evgeny Mravinsky, Nazim Hikmet, Aram Khachaturian, a re-creation of the legendary concert in which Karl Eliasberg conducted the seventh symphony.....and much more. https://youtu.be/65cM2t8XPL0

#classical music #orchestra #symphony #shostakovich

[hypexion]

A Pile of Fanwalkers (Part 3)

Part three of all these fanwalkers. Now it’s time for all the ones who are mean, and should not be trusted. Sometimes because they’ll stab you, and sometimes because they’re just... kind of massively evil.

The basic format for each planeswalker will be a Name/Colour Identity/Pre-Ignition Typeline/Homeplane blob of information, a quickish description of them and some “fun“ facts, and then some hits and misses for extra flavour. Also, I’m going to split this into three posts - “Heroic“, “Okay“ and “Villians“, for I believe I have the moral authority to judge my creations.

Also some of these are going to be from fanplanes, which will go undescribed beyond whatever tidbits come out the character flavour. Others will just have a ?, representing a lack of knowledge and/or sufficent worldbuilding. With that out of the way, let’s go!

Villians

Evil is not a state of being. It is a form of intent, and a form of action. Some of these Planeswalkers can be trusted. Some of them may even appear to be nice. But make no mistake. They have caused suffering. They have altered lives for the worse. Either by design or consequence, their effect upon the multiverse marks them as villians.

Aster - B, Human Warlock, Zodyas - Aster was born under the influence of a bad star, which granted him the ability to draw power from negative emotions. But don’t think that makes him a bad person. Aster’s powers do not compel him to perform evil deeds. They simply enable him. Motivated by nothing greater than his own self-interest, Aster is the truest example of a disaster with a point of view. He was, while it lasted, a member of the Infinite Consortium. After Tezzeret forget how to run it, Aster managed to… convince a number of cells to accept his leadership. While lacking a grand plan for his splinter group, he’s interested in expansion, if only for the sake of increasing his own personal power. Aster may possess a certain kind of charm, and some level of restraint when compared to other ‘walkers, but do not be decieved. The moment harming you becomes worth the effort, Aster will be ready to do so.

Aster is often described as being pale of skin and dark of hair. There’s some weird magic causing that, since different cultures usually focus on different things when describing others. Aster prefers to dress in the fashions of power, whether that happens to be expensive robes, hand-tailored suits, togas or other such clothing. He preferes to wear darker colours, but if opulence is the style of a plane’s elite, then opulent he shall be. While he does carry a mean looking dagger, his primary form of defense are his so-called attendants - humanoid shades he commands via magic. These can perform many tasks, such as “fetch me more wine“, “open that door“ and “kill them“. When Aster planeswalks, he dissipates into a fine black mist. Interestingly, if he’s thinking about planeswalking, his magic generates a similar mist, that trails from him as he moves.

Hits: Power, influcence, tormenting his enemies, using people’s guilt to literally physically crush them. Misses: The undead, constructs, Loxy, Constellation Cults trying to recruit him, being around Ashiok for too long.

Galina - WB, Human Advisor, Ithmorne - In her early life, Galina leaned much more towards the White aspects of her personality. Even as a member of the Zoriac Imperium, she valued their goal of peace greatly, and was one of those that saw certain practices as a detriment to that goal. However, this did not last. When the outpost she was in was raided, everything changed. The ignition of her spark saved her life, but not her right eye. Fortunately for her, Galina arrived on Ravnica within dragging distance of a Simic emergency care clinic, where it was assumed she was an Azorius member who had suffered a run in with the Gruul. This was a role she was happy to take up for real, once the chance provided itself, seeing the Senate as an obvious parallel for the Imperium of her homeplane. In fact, Ravnica seemed to have many similarities with Ithmorne. This could only be due to the work of Azor, the great Sphinx who had brought peace to her warring plane so long ago, and whose Compact still enforced it now. Galina soon realised that her ability to traverse the multiverse would allow her to find more worlds ‘saved’ by Azor, and in turn learn more from them. Ultimately, she decided, those factions on Ithmorne too small to be affected be the Compact would be forced into co-operating. And if not? Then they would perish. Such would be the price of peace. The process had already begun, Galina believed, and if accelerating the pace was necessary, it would be done.

Galina has white skin and long brown hair. Additionally, the events that led to her ignition left her with a noticeable scar, running from her temple, across her right eye, to halfway down her right cheek. Many wonder how her right eye survived such a wound, and the truth is that it didn’t. Instead, she had it replaced by the Simic while on Ravnica. Galina generally wears the standard uniform for those in her position in the Zoriac Imperium - navy blue military robes, kept in the best condition possible. Rather than carry a weapon, Galina relies on her mastery of law magic, using it bind and impede her enemies. She is also capable of many of the standard black mana abilities, especially those which weaken her foes. When combined, these make her a formidable, and potentially deadly opponent. Galina’s planeswalking effect is a jagged and chaotic burst of darkness, which can cause minor damage to living things that nearby.

Hits: Peace through power, Azor, law and order, her own take on the concept of justice, Simic biomagic. Misses: “Barbarians“, insubordination, traumatic memories.

Malius - UBR, Human Wizard, Innistrad - In every profession, there are those that push boundaries. They look at the rules, and wonder which are truly needed. These are the kind of people the majority of Innistrad distrusts. And in the case of the stitcher pariah Malius, they are completely right to do so. While his fellow skaberen found his “wolf with werewolf arms“ experiment a daring new idea, even they had limits. Rumors began that he had started to use demons as a source of parts, and that he consorted with diabolists for unknown purposes. These rumors contained some truth - Malius was interested in demons and had, for a time, used them to “improve” his creations. But over time, he had become interested in the nature of demonic pacts, and how one might acquire the benefits without having to pay the price. Somehow, he was able to construct a device that extracted the source of a demon’s power, and began using it to infuse himself with dark power. For a time, not demon, nor mob, nor torch-wielding monstrosity could stop him. The destruction of the Helvault was an opportunity to Malius, bring him yet more specimins. Everything was going well, until an angel arrived. She cut through his creations, and had both the strength and motivation to kill Malius. In an act of desparation, he activated the extractor, aiming it at the angel. She exploded (don’t worry - she got better (sort of)). This would have been incredibly fatal to Malius had his Spark not ignited, sending him across the Blind Eternities to Zendikar. And so, he soon discovered all sorts of new things to stitch. Including Eldrazi. In fact, Malius was straight-up ecstatic during the events of Eldritch Moon.

Malius’ various experiments have left him with sickly, pallid skin, and pale white hair. His eyes no longer appear human, and those who spend time around him soon feel uneasy. Malius wears the standard dress of the stitcher, a white labcoat, brimming with tools and notebooks. Malius often manipulates his tools via telekinesis, either to work upon a new creation, or as a method of attack. In dire situations, he calls upon the demonic powers he has infused himself with, physically taking on the form of a demon. This grants him signifigance strength, speed and endurance while it lasts, but prevents him from planeswalking, making it as risky as it is useful. When Malius planeswalkers, he disappears in cloud of dark and burning ash, crackling with lightning. This occurs even when he cannot actually planeswalk due to being a demon.

Hits: Extracting demonic power, demonic infusions, terrifying creations. Misses: Angels, torch-weilding mobs, basic medical ethics.

Skath - WBG, Naga Assassin, Orpheri - At first glance, Skath is like any other planeswalker assassin you might meet. She kills people for money, and she does it well. However, she is still a member of the organisation that trained her, a religious order of assassins on Orpheri. So Skath will not kill those standing on sacred grond, those not old enough to be an adult of their kind, and she requires more than just a payment before targetting a diplomat or member of a religious order. Beyond the rules of her faith, however, Skath kills without hesitation, selling death for gold and jewels. When not killing, she is surprisingly thoughtful, a writer of poetry and cultivator of interesting plants. And while unrepentant, she not always unrelenting. Put up enought of a fight, or simple hide in a shrine for a few days, and Skath will move onto easier targets.

Skath has copper-brown scales, and no hair, because Naga don’t have hair on Orpheri. She wears light armor on her torso, which is engraved with protective magic. Her favoured weapons are two scimitars, enchanted to deliver venomous strikes. She also carries a dagger, and a number of poisons, so that she might have the perfect tool for any assassination. In a pinch, she can bite someone, however the Naga Assassins of Orpheri consider this an act of last resort. Mainly because once you identify the cause of death as Naga venom, finding the killer is fairly simple. Skath planeswalks with a flash of pale orange light, leaving behind traces of sand. Interestingly, she is capable of being incredibly precise with her appearance on a plane, and has sometimes managed to planeswalk into a room based on it’s relative position to a know location.

Hits: Getting paid, botany, the statisfaction of a job well done. Misses: Cold places, oath-breakers, Locke, people attacking her from sacred ground (this is actually a bad idea - her religion sees this as an act of desecration, meaning you ultimately forfeit the protection provided).

Look at all these not nice people. It’s probably best to keep a distance between you and them. Of course, their motivations differ greatly, so if you were to find yourself in close proximity to them, you might be able to avoid getting stabbed. Or worse.

#fanwalker #magic the gathering #fan character february

[gifts-of-heimdall-runes]

“Wodan, Id est Furor.” (Woden, that is Frenzy.) With these words, eleventh-century chronicler Adam of Bremen described Odin, one of the best known and most compelling of all the Norse Gods. Odin is frenzy, furor, hunger, and drive. These things define this God's nature, and quite often they come to define those who serve Him too.  He is the All-Father, the Chieftain of the Aesir Gods, the Master of the Runes, God of warriors, kings, poets, and shamans. He is a complex God, as even the briefest description of His surviving praise names – or heiti – show. He is a God of hunger, power, knowledge, ecstasy, magic, kingship, and war. He was worshipped across Germany, Scandinavia, Anglo-Saxon lands, and Iceland. He is worshipped and venerated across the world today.

Odin is a restless, wandering God. First, He was the ravening storm wind battering at the borders and boundaries of the human world. He was called Wodenaz and was a raw and terrifying God, a spirit of wind and storm and fury. It was only much later, a time so long ago our eldest ancestors would be hard pressed to recall even its barest memory, that through His constant wanderings for power, knowledge, and above all else wisdom, He learned to wear the masks of civilization, and He became a God of kings, poets, magicians, shamans, and far-seeing wanderers as well.

Odin is a God of magic and power. His most well known tale (and one of His core mysteries) tells of how He went in search of that power. First, He sought out Yggdrasil, the Tree of Sacrifice, of Knowledge, the World Tree whose branches support all of creation. He ascended its boughs, cut Himself with His own spear allowing His blood to wet its hungry bark, and hung Himself there for nine days and nine nights. This was His ordeal, His agony, His triumph. This sacrifice tore open the fabric of creation and allowed the Rune Spirits to seize Him up, and His pain and sacrifice allowed Him to seize the runes in turn. He brought this power and knowledge forth and from then on became known as the Master of Runes. Not satisfied, He went to His maternal uncle Mimir, who holds sovereignty over the Well of Wisdom, an eldritch place nestled in hidden roots of the Tree, avoided by men and Gods alike. He asked Mimir for a draught from the well, for one sip would give Him wisdom in equal measure to His knowledge. There is always a price for such things – a gift demands a gift our ancestral wisdom teaches – and so Mimir named the price: one of Odin's eyes. Without hesitation, Odin plucked it out and seized His prize. Thus He became not only a Master of ordeal, but a shaman to Whom no world is closed … well, no world but one. He cannot enter the realm of the dead. I personally believe it is because He died on the Tree and by His will alone brought Himself back to life and were He to enter Hela's realm, His life would be forfeit for no one, not even a God, can escape the obligation of death twice, not in the very territory the Goddess of Death governs.

This ties into another facet of Odin's nature as well: His reliance on and trust in powerful women. Time and again He seeks out powerful Jotun women for their counsel. He calls upon human prophetesses and seers, He surrounds Himself with wise and powerful females including His warrior Valkyries. Many of His most fervent contemporary devotees are also women. In the Poetic Edda, He first mentions one of His female mentors in the Havamal where He talks about the Goddess Gunnlod. Gunnlod had charge over the mead of poetry and inspiration. Odin wanted this. So, to shorten a long and convoluted tale, Odin came to Gunnlod’s father with the face of Bölverk, the Baleworker. He became a snake. He slithered deep into the mountain where this mighty chieftainess bore stewardship over that sacred mead. This mead was a toxin. It seared the warp and weft of the wyrd of all it touched. No man could bear it. No man could taste it without eventually being corroded by it. It was a gift with a terrible blood price. It had a body count -- it was formed by the terrible death and dismemberment of the Vanir God Kvasir, and many people had died trying to steal it. It was a curse that Gunnlod was sent to guard. Odin bartered, negotiated, serpent power for poison, and She taught Him the way of wearing civilization on his face. He gave Her what She sought; She gave Him the mead. He took that poison inside Himself. He brought it full circle to Her in Their union. Ecstatic Poetry was born, when having devoured that searing brew, it was transformed. It took Them both to free the soul of Kvasir, else bound forever in the blood-hued drops of the mead created by an ancient greedy act of alchemy and slaughter. It took them both to manifest the fullness of its ecstatic power. Through Their union, Odin gained the mead of poetry and Gunnlod gained a son born of that poetic fire: the God Bragi.

Odin is wed to the Goddess Frigga, and in every surviving instance in lore, when the two of Them go up against each other, it is Frigga Who inevitably emerges triumphant. She is every bit as skillful, wise, and cunning as He and, I suspect, every bit as ruthless. She is a power-broker extraordinaire. He has many sons in addition to Bragi: Thor, Baldr, Vali, Vidar, Hermod, Hod, Heimdall. (Snorri Sturluson claims Tyr, but I don’t believe it.) He begat a line of kings by the Goddess Skaði, and sired Baldr’s avenger in a brutal encounter with the Giantess Rind. There may be more, as many of the surviving texts are somewhat contested in this respect, and He has at least as many human sons recognized in the surviving lore, having a penchant after all for fathering heroes. Once, when His son Thor challenged Him to a game of verbal insult (a rather Norse equivalent of “playing the dozens”, I’d warrant), to each instance of Thor's proclaimed prowess in battle, Odin fires back with another tale of seduction of one or another of His women.

Odin is not blind to the power inherent in sex. It, like everything else, is a tool in His quest for power. In His search for knowledge of magic and sorcery, He loved for a year as a woman, and is said to have bedecked Himself in women's garb and to have engaged in women's magic. One of His names, Jalkr, even means “gelding”. Freya was a master sorceress, and this type of gender transgression and sexual submission was necessary for Him to learn to be opened to the flow of the type of power She wields. He may be Master of Asgard, but He was and is ruthless in His search for experience, knowledge, wisdom, and power, and allows nothing, especially not something like gender or sexuality, to stop Him.  Men who consciously choose to submit can do so as an offering to Him, in honor of this particular sacrifice made in His search and acquisition of both skill and power.

Odin has many allies. He is known to have in His company two ravens – Huginn and Muninn – whose names translate to Thought and Memory. It is said He fears the loss of the first, but not so much as the loss of the second. He has two wolves – Geri and Freki – both names of which mean “hunger”. He sits on a throne named Hildskjalf from which He can see anything in all the worlds, and He bears a mighty spear Gungnir; when He hurls it against an army wars begin. He is the spear God, the Raven God, the High God. He rides a mighty eight-legged grey steed Sleipnir, who is the child of His blood brother Loki. He is a Seeker of Power and a Wielder of Fury. He is the maker of heroes, goad of warriors, Master of the Wild Hunt, an army of wandering and fierce dead.  He is a master diviner, a magician, and also a healer. His name means “ecstatic fury” and He often bestowed this on poets and warriors alike. For the latter it manifested as the famed berserkergang. Wednesday is His day and nine is His number.

He is a God of extremes, of a focus so brutally vicious that it leaves no room for anything else. I call Him “God of my Longing” (and many other names) and those who love Him sing His praises and adorations. He is a complex and terrifying God and throughout the lands and peoples by which He was worshipped, He was given many epithets. I have no way to tally the names His devotees call Him in the hard and secret fastness of their hearts.

In the end, praise Him. Praise His hungers. Praise His ruthlessness. Praise the way He takes us up. Praise His sacrifices. Praise Odin, God of the bloody tree.

Source: Galina Krasskova

Artist: Grace Palmer

#odin #odhinn #norse god odhinn #Galina Krasskova #norse gods #norse mythology #norse myths #norse gods art #norse mythology art #norse myths art #odin art #odin's secrets #odinism #norse paganism #norse pagan #norse heathen #gifts of heimdall runes #gifts of heimdall

[thxvvxtchx-x]

THE ELDER FUTHARK This Beltane just past, a few of my favourite witches and I got together and did some crafting. One of the things we made together was a set of runes for myself as I’d been having trouble connecting to the wooden set I have. Although beautiful, it didn’t inspire me to want to learn the Elder Futhark by working with them. However, this set pictured above, is so personal and special that I’ve started learning straight away. I wanted to share this journey with you. Below are brief overviews of the first two Runes in The Elder Futhark. FEHU Meaning: Cattle Phonetic equivalent - F Gods/Goddess: - Freya Polarity: Masculine Key Words: Wealth, Abundance, Peace, Love, Strength. Other Correspondences: - Frankincense, Citrine, Aventurine, gold, Sunstone, Marjoram. The first of The Elder Futhark, this rune traditionally means “Cattle”. At the time of the Elder Futharks creation, Cattle and other livestock were a currency, the more Cattle you had, the wealthier you were. Which explains why this rune also symbolizes wealth and abundance. Fehu is sort of a master key, the abundance and richness this rune symbolizes in universal and ever-changing. Fehu is almost a life force. A happy and gleeful rune and can be cast to bring peace to relationships and healing in love. Fehu is movement, winding, flowing, a tread of “liquid gold”. To me, Fehu feels like a river. Strong, powerful, adaptable, healing. It is also said that Fehu is a rune of Luck and opportunity. @witchbitchameturehour describe this rune as “the Daddy” in one of their episodes and I am HERE for that description. 

URUZ Meaning: Aurochs/ wild bull Phonetic: U Gods/Goddesses: Eir, Sunna, Thor,  Urd Other correspondences: Dark green, Sap, Maple, Bloodstone, Earth Polarity: Masculine Keywords: fire, growth, strength, challenge, tested, healing, endurance. Uruz is a Young Warrior symbol. A representation of the tests of initiation, as mentioned traits such as strength and endurance. It is that fiery drive the young warrior has to prove his or herself. It's a passionate spirit that burns almost uncontrolled. Although this is another Masculine polarity, it is a gentler Masculinity than that of Fehu. Like the wild bull, this is untamed. But Uruz is transformations, signifying the movement from this untamed passionate young fighter to cooler, more calculated and centered mature warrior. It is a good rune to use while trying to find balance as it can serve as a reminder that both attributes of the untamed and the controlled are needed. Source: Living Runes. Theory and Practice of Norse Divination by Galina Krassova

#runes #divination #magick #germanic runes #rune casting #witch #pagan #norse pagan #norse magick #norse witch

[spaceyecho]

So as mentioned in Sarai’s bio, the angels from Asherah’s new universe aren’t warriors first, but rather more nurturing and caring in general (while still acknowledging that individual personalities develop for her angels), and she will not be making the same choices with her creations as were made previously amongst Her, Adonai, Chuck, and Adam. True, she wants to give them the chance to learn and grow, but this is her personal project to immerse herself in, especially given that I am also acknowledging and following the event going on primarily between Gene and Adrian, along with others, known as the irrevocable.

The angels already created for this new universe are as follows

Sarai, the prince, housed here on @stcrsloved

@fortitudina with Liora, the lightbringer, and Malachi, the messenger

@multiplvs with Davian, the healer

@ofinfiniteuniverses with Hezekiah and Chana

@angels-of-la with Nitza

@angelicluck with Asher and Amitai

@manyshadowsmanylives (eventually) with Galina and Benyamin

#[ headcanons | asherah ]

[galinadamodred]

After lunch, Galina had some hours to her own, while Lilith now had the task to give a lesson. So the Accepted went to her room, sat down on the bed and started practicing the weaves for the Testing. They seemed so menial after having had control over so much more of the Power. But still they had to be done, if she wanted to be Aes Sedai. Actually it was no use, just repeating the weaves. The practice was most effective if someone else helped you with distractions. But the other Accepted stayed away from her, since her return to the Tower. Lilith was the only one who dared to speak with her. At least more words than the bare necessities.

It was like they knew of her conflict, that she no longer fully walked in the light.

But was reaching for power, abandoning the light? Asmodeos had said, that the aspect of Shadow, that the Black Path encompassed, was the same as the Shadow that had dreaded to end her world. But was it?

The Black Dragon‘s major aspect was the End. But not an infinite ending, but one that also allowed regrowth and creation. So unlike the Dark One, the Black Dragon did not exist outside the Pattern or the cycle, how the people of the Dragonlands called it. Shadow at least the aspect of it seemed more like a tool to attain power, like deciet and secrecy were, enlightenment too in a way.

The pursuit of Power did not make her a bad person or a darkfriend. It was neither bad nor good. What you did with that Power, was what determined how you were perceived.

She could follow the path of the Black Dragon without abandoning the light, or at least without straying into the ranks of the Shadow. She just had to find a way to skirt the rules.

Becoming an Aes Sedai would burden her with the Oaths, something that would hold her back in a major way. But attaining the shawl held it’s own powers and freedoms, resources more than useful. And she finally had the opportunity to return to Potentia a place she longed for ever since she had left it.

Galina finished the last weave, she hadn’t really paid attention, but still managed to complete every single one. Maybe it was time to claim what was hers. She got up and straightened her banded skirts. The light willing, she wouldn’t wear them for a long time after what she was about to do.

Calmly she checked herself in the bubbled glass of the mirror, before leaving her quarters. Determined she left the Accepted‘s wing with her goal in mind, the way before her. Only the price was not clear yet.

On her way to her destination, she remembered something Amsodeos had said in the circle. „Elements are willful beings. Do you really think, they like to be commanded?“ The same applied to Aes Sedai. So she laid out her words carefully. Cammanding would not do, begging wouldn’t either. But maybe a firm demand, conveyed in a civil manner could have the desired effect. That realization woke the urge to touch her forehead once more. But she withstood this time.

She wove her way around Novices in the halls on her way down to the Misstresses‘ study. Erelle would not be pleased to hear what she had to say. But she wasn’t either, when she had asked her to go to the Dragonlands and still she had been allowed to leave. The Mistress of Novices might be a Gray, but logic seemed to impress her as much as a White.

Her cool determination, granted her the ability to remain utterly calme, she already felt like an Aes Sedai, as she glided through the white halls, despite wearing the dress of an Accepted. Finally she reached the door made of dark wood, a door dreaded by almost every girl in the Tower. It was a symbol, a harbinger of the punishment that awaited her here, every time she misstepped. Galina had been here more often than she could count, at least in her time as a Novice. Once or twice she had been spanked then. The last time was so long ago, before all that with Tulius and her father had happened. She had been called back to the Tower, since the last Mistress had gotten reports of her misbehaving, prompting a stay in the Tower, including mortification of the flesh. Only a few days after her return to Sutch, the message about her father had arrived and everything had gone south. She suppressed the memories of it and set her mind back on the task at hand. It would never happen again. That was why, the thing she was about to do, had to work.

Galina knocked. Silence. She withstood the urge to fidget nervously, in fact she took all her nervousness and stuffed it in a box in the back of her mind, whilst imagining herself being a flower opening to the sun.

Again she knocked in a firm but still polite manner. Finally she could make out Erelle Sedais voice from inside the study. „Come In, child!“ she said, a tinge of irritation in her voice, only audible to those dealing with Aes Sedai for some time.

Galina opened the wooden door and entered the small room, head held high. It had no windows and the walls were of dark wood like the door. A big mirror hung on the wall, for the delinquents to watch themselves being chastised. Light willing she would not do the same in the near future.

Erelle was an older sister, her hair already turning grey at the temples, putting her between approximately 200 and 250 years in age. She would never know for certain, age being a delicate matter among Aes Sedai. Her otherwise dark blonde hair was in a bun on the back of her head, no strand of it, out of place. She wore round glasses, sea-folk work. And through them, her steelgrey eyes measured her with an air of displeasure at the interruption.

She was not alone, Galina had noticed instantly. A woman with reddish blonde hair sat on the other chair, clad in a white algode blouse and dark brown skirts, her neck was decked out in jewelry and a brown scarf hung around her shoulders. Unlike Erelles smooth features, her face was marked by fine lines. An Aiel Wise One.

She watched her enter curiously, her eyes resting on the face a moment longer, the eyepatch.

Before Erelle could say a word, the Aiel woman spoke: „I did not know, you sent the apprentices into battle too, Erelle Mosalin!“

The Mistress blinked and remained silent for an instant. When she spoke the irritation had increased „No we do not, Galina here is a... special case.“

The Wise One raised an eyebrow, now watching her with intrigue. „I will listen to that story with great interest, Accepted Galina.“ Erelle shook her head. „Not now Kaline. I am sure the child has something she wishes to discuss with me. Were you sent here?“ the Aes Sedai‘s hands went to a quill and the book of punishment but the Accepted quickly shook her head. „No, I am here of my own volition, Erelle Sedai!“ she courtseyed. „And I ask your forgiveness for interrupting your conversation! If you wish, I will gladly wait outside for it to finish.“

The Mistress‘s eyes went to her guest, who only shrugged, still watching Galina with great interest.

„Well it is already interrupted and it was me who asked you in. So what is it, that you wish to speak about? Your reports about the Dragonlands?“ - „No! They are already in the hands of Antonia Sedai. But it is the same direction.“ She suppressed the urge to shift on the spot, while calmly making her demand: „As you well may know, I belong to the very few, who can say, to have seen the worlds beyond the portal stones. And I know First Hand, what dangers they hold, for everyone! Dangers that need to be assessed, so the Tower can prepare, for the case, that these dangers find their way to our world. And who else but, me would be suited better for such an endeavor?“ Erelle looked like she wanted to throw in something, but Galina kept on, voice firm but calme. „I am in the unique position, of having gained some measure of trust by some of the most powerful mages beyond the Stones. And to keep me in the Tower, robs us of valuable time, to prepare all the means necessary to avert catastrophy. Even more, the venture beyond the stones, can give us valuable resources, to counter other threats, from within our world. That is why, I now formally ask of you, to let me take the test for the shawl as soon as possible!“

Galinas last words seemed to hang in the air, as the room turned eerily silent. Erelle watched her for almost a minute, disbelieve, peeking through her Aes Sedai serenity. That demand was nothing she heard everyday, as it was custom, that a girl was tested when the Mistress saw fit, not the other way around. Kaline in the other hand, watched her with a spark of fiendish pleasure in her eyes.

The Accepted just stood there, serene and collected, like expected of an Aes Sedai, shoulders straight and head held with confidence, but not smugness.

„Has she been among the tents?“ the voice of the Wise One broke the silence with a chuckle. The cairhienin shook her head gracefully. „No, I was trained by the atha‘an miere for a time, before gaining a position in a academy beyond the Stones.“

Erelle still seemed to be at a loss for words. Just watched her, face now thoughtful. Kaline shrugged. „I could have sworn to see a spark of Amys in you.“

A gentle smile flashed across Galinas lips. Being compared to her, was an honor.

Finally Erelle spoke. Her voice was collected, she did not seem phased anymore by what the Accepted has asked of her. „You are aware child, that it is custom for the Mistress of Novices to decide, when a woman is tested for the shawl. But do you know, why this custom is in place?“

The woman had not expected her to just say yes and questions along those lines had seemed very likely, so she was prepared. „Because the Mistress of Novices watches the Accepted very closely and has insight into their development and abilities.“ Erelle nodded satisfied at her words and seemed like she wanted to point out, that this was the exact reason, why an Accepted did not make such demands. But Galina kept going. „But isn’t it the woman in question, the one who has the greatest insight into her own advancement? Or at least she should, if she is really ready to become Aes Sedai. I am fully aware of my abilities, my strengths and my challenges. I know my goal, I know the way and the price that needs to be paid. Let me prove myself in the Testing! And if I fail, I will claim responsibility in front of the Tower, in front of the whole world of you wish and then quietly take my leave!“

The Wise One had listened, face thoughtful. Now barely recognizable, she seemed to nod, and Galina recognized a sense of approval on her face.

Erelle‘s face on the other hand, had turned to a cool mask, violently keeping back any trace of emotion.

Maybe she had gone to far. Nervousness crept up once more and she had to stifle the urge to swallow.

„You have made your point, child. I will consider your words.“ her voice showed next to no clue on how she would decide. Galina felt a strong sense of reluctance, but she could have imagined it aswell.

With that she was dismissed.

Out in the hall, she had to pull herself together, not to lean against the wall, around the next corner. Instead she crossed her arms behind her back and glided back to her quarters.

She made her way back to the Accepted‘s wing and her room, where Lilith waited. The other Accepted sat on the bed, muttering over a book. Galina closed the door quickly a and sank against it, needing all her strength to not slump down.

„There you are! I‘ve been waiting for... Galina? Are you okay?“

The Cairhienin had bowed her head, and her hand once more rested on her forehead. Shadow, to cloak her from the eyes of her enemies.

She shook off the stupor and with a sudden laugh she looked up to her friend.

„I must be mad Lilith! I just outright demanded of Erelle to test me!“

#wheel of time #larp #larp character #metaplay #fantasy larp #drachenfest #black dragon #magic #aes sedai #white tower #accepted

[thelittleukrainianwell-armedgirl]

Ukraine: Fight for freedom

Welcome to this photographic project about modern Ukrainian history. The events mentioned here started in November 2013, when the Revolution of Dignity began, and are still continuing today.

Our Revolution has showed the great ability of Ukrainians to self-organize: all necessary resources (clothes, food, and money) were raised in just several hours. This website was created in the same way. All photos, web-developing, texts and translations were provided free of charge. And we’re deeply thankful for that to all contributors!

The project was created with the assistance of the Information and Analytical Center of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Web-developing and design: PR-agency emagine.com.ua, Mykhailo Djakiw, Oksana Romaniv, Maryna Ladzhun.

Photos: all authors of these wonderful photos listed under their creations.

Bild editor: Roman Baluk

English: Natalia Voloshin, Yuri Suchowersky, Taisia Nakonechna, Mariya Petriv, Anastasia Kohun, Karina Zheleznyakova, Olha Luchyn, Maryana Drevitska, Elizabeth Savchuk, Alina Shkribliak, Taras Ferencevych

Belarusian: Julia Baltsevich

Greek: Elvis Salati, Oleksandra Koval

Italian: Dana Kuchmash

Latvian: Anna Aurora Berg, Alina Zhezlova

German: Anastasiya Slyusarenko, Konstyantyn Polishchuk, Olena Erstenyuk, Julia Kyryatska, Iryna Lelyk, Yaromyr Delikatnyi, Khrystyna Khomyk, Maryana Fedyuchka, Liana Al-Shavavrekh, Petro Kozak, Tetyana Struk, Bohdana Hainal

Polish: Piotr Bobolovich

Portuguese: Andriy Yatsynych, Dr. Mendes Pereira, Andriy Yatsynych Jr.

Russian: Maria Petruschenkova

Ukrainian: Oleksiy Kopytko, Yarema Dukh, Maria Petruschenkova (editor)

French: Sebastien Desbois, Solomia Martynovych, Solomia Tkach, Julie Baklakh

Spanish: Ivan Dmytriw, Camila Holik, Anna Sofia Nazaryk

Dutch: Oksana Senyczak

Czech: Dana Mykytiuk, Inha Mashkova, Michal Hagara, Marko Petsiukh, Ksenia Zhabska,Karin Hoření

Romanian: George Bodnarash, Nadine Chilianu

Lithuanian: Vasyl Kapkan, Danguole Kotryna Kapkanaite

Chinese: Dmytro Kulak, Zhang Xiaofang, Chen Jinrun, Ianna Shuliak (Ukraine House www.uahouse.net)

Special thanks to: Pavel Bobolovich, Jana Lotovska, Igor Nakonechny, Galina Synyeoka, Natalya Skolozdra, Oksana Yatsynych, Oleksandr Yavorskyi, Volodymyr Tokach and the Senate of the United States

#Ukraine #revolution #Maidan #euromaidan #history #photo #freedom #Украина #Україна #фото #Майдан #Євромайдан #Евромайдан #історія #история #свобода #революція #революция

[sjecblogarchive]

ADULT FORMATION

11/27/2020

BY ANNA GALINA PETTY

ADULT FORMATION

We will continue next week to cover the appendix November 29ths at 8:30AM.  I hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving! In December, will will be focusing on the weekly Gospels and pick up with a new book in January.  

The schedule is updated below.

Join Zoom Meeting  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85490733654?pwd=RWlGOVhkanFGTkRYM0c1MjVLcWJLQT09 ·       Phone number: 301 715 8592 ·       Meeting ID: 854 9073 3654# ·       Password: 006182# You can also join the group using your mobile phone or landline using the same phone number, meeting ID and password as above.  

The full schedule:

Sep-13:  One – From Atheism to Belief

Sep-20:  Two – The War of the Worldviews

Sep-27:  Three – The Origins of the Universe

Oct-04:  Four – Life on Earth: Of Microbes and Man

Oct-11:  Five – Deciphering God’s Instruction Book: The Lessons of the Human Genome

Oct-18:  Six – Genesis, Galileo, and Darwin.  

Oct-25:  Seven – Option 1: Atheism and Agnosticism (When Science Trumps Faith)

Nov-01:  Eight – Option 2: Creationism (When Faith Trumps Science)

Nov-08:  Nine – Option 3: Intelligent Design (When Science Needs Divine Help)

Nov-15:  (Chapter 10 and 11)Ten – Option 4: BioLogos (Science and Faith in Harmony).  

Nov-22:  Eleven – Truth Seekers

Nov-29:  Appendix: The Moral Practice of Science and Medicine: Bioethics

#general #adult formation