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redlegumes · 5 months

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Dec 3rd: Stolen Pine

Written for @steddieholidaydrabbles

Summary: Spontaneous tree theft and decorating, paired with some pining.

⍋↟⍋♡⍋↟⍋

They'd hauled in the tree. Eddie kept talking about how the evergreen part was the important bit and continued to explain Christmas's stolen nuances from paganism. Steve nodded and did his best to follow along. That was what he did lately, follow Eddie. Whether it started with a need to assure himself the guy was okay after their Upside Down torments, or if he'd honestly found Eddie intriguing from the get go, Steve couldn't say.

It didn't really matter anyway. He was positive that his feelings weren't going away as he nodded along with Eddie's excited ramblings. He hadn't even hesitated to join Eddie that night without product in his hair, glasses on.

…

Steve's vision had started to degrade. He'd noticed after his first run in with a Demogorgon. Pretty soon he legally needed corrective lenses to drive. Vanity prevented him from letting anyone other than Robin know. She'd assured him, ‘a boy is allowed to have his secrets. Just not from his platonic soulmate.’ Kinda the same reasoning behind why she knew how utterly hopeless he'd become around Eddie. The type of lovesick that had him helping Eddie with his non-christ related, Christmas tree caper.

continues after the cut

Eddie already knew about Steve's vision after helping Steve through an awful migraine where he just couldn't stand to have the contacts in. Steve'd been so nervous but Eddie just teased him about commiting to an ’Indiana Jones’ look and they kinda just moved on.

Steve hadn't expected Eddie at all that night when he knocked on his door. He'd come late to ask for help stealing a tree off some wooded, government owned property. He took one look at Eddie's ridiculous smile and dancing deep eyes and threw on a parka to help.

…

Now they were attempting to get the damn thing in a stand in the white-walled, impersonal living room of the house the ‘’Department of Energy’ had provided Wayne Munson with. They managed with no small amount of grunting and sappy fingers. More than once Steve reminded himself not to stare too hard at Eddie through the pine branches. He even liked Eddie's frustrated faces, the downward curve of his lips, the wrinkling of his forehead. Jesus, I'm pathetic.

When they finished he and Eddie stood back admiring their fresh cut theft.

“Wayne's at work for another two hours. Think we can get it done ourselves before he's back?”

“Do you have decorations?”

Eddie sheepishly twisted where he stood. “I picked up some lights, and yeah, there's a box of ornaments.”

Steve stilled, bowled over by the waves of ‘adorable’ pouring off of Eddie. “Uh yeah, I think we can manage.”

—

The box was one of the few items in a very small storage room Al Munson's name was on outside of town. Eddie had been contacted once as ‘next of kin' to make payments on the thing, and that's when he went to see it himself. Inside were his dad's ‘tools of the trade,’’ some suspicious looking luggage and duffels he recognized from a hair brained scheme or two. What a lame cache, he'd thought at the time. That was before he reached the cardboard boxes in the back. They were his mother's. Winter decorations and clothes that were never brought back out when the seasons changed after her death.

It was one of those boxes he'd picked up and brought to the new place, dragging it out now for Steve. Steve stopped unraveling lights to examine the ornaments. “These look like heirlooms,” he said, carefully picking up a blue, blown glass sphere and turning it in his strong hands.

Eddie loved the care and attention Steve directed at the one piece. The way a tendril of hair fell over his forehead; the consideration on his face. Steve was already in his ‘Clark Kent look’ when Eddie'd shown up to his place that night. Which made sense, it was late, but Eddie loved the glasses on Steve. He liked the superman analogy too. Steve was basically Eddie's superman anyway.

“They were my mother's,” Eddie said, touching the edge of a carved angel's wing inside.

Steve's mouth made a small ‘o’ shape and he carefully set the ornament back into the nestled layers of tissue paper. “They're beautiful Eds.”

They decorated together, and it was easy. Eddie was warmed just being near Steve but they seemed to naturally work well together, joking and spacing the lights and decorations just right. Steve got Eddie's radio out and they listened to crackly Christmas tunes as they went along.

They finished about thirty minutes or so before Wayne's anticipated return. The men stood back to admire their handy work. Steve took his glasses off.

“Prettier that way,” Eddie asked, breathier than he wanted to sound.

Steve chuckled. “Good both ways, but yeah. One of the only perks I guess? The lights all expand and blend a bit.”

Eddie stared at Steve taking in the tree. If the lights were as fuzzy as he'd said, Steve wouldn't notice Eddie's stare. Truth be told, Eddie always wanted to stare at Steve. The lights reflected in Steve's light brown eyes… Christ, he is so pretty. Eddie's fingers itched to twine themselves with Steve's. He was dying with every little kindness Steve showed him; dying to bite the bullet and confess. He wanted to know if his crush was one sided, but if things took a different turn... Telling Steve could ruin what they had, and then who would help him steal a Christmas tree at two am?

He could live with this for now, watching Steve lit by the glow of Christmas lights they hung together.

“Thanks Stevie.”

“Anytime Eds.”

2023 RedLegumes Steddiemas 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 SteddieHolidayDrabbles 1 2 3 4 6 8 9 10

#steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #ao3 fanfic #i write things #stranger things #christmas tree #xmas #winter solstice #crimes #decorating the christmas tree #idiots in love #mutual pining #steddieholidaydrabbles

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justalittlesolarpunk · 3 months

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You mentioned that you are pagan? Or interested in that side of things? How so, if I may? :)

I'm pagan (non denominational goddess worship) and I'm growing more interested in ecology and everything encompassed in solar punk, so I'm interested to hear how your interest coincides with being/interest in paganism

Hi! Yes. I’m still very much just dipping my toe into paganism, so I use the term loosely as I don’t feel informed enough yet to be more specific. I’m interested by neo-Druidry and drawn to Celtic Polytheism, but mainly because it’s most compatible with my heritage, not because it seems more right or true than any other pagan belief system I’ve come across.

I call myself a pagan because I believe that the matter of the earth itself is what is sacred, that the world is full of gods older than any of the names we have given them, inhabiting the water and the rocks, the trees and the soil, the animals and the herbs. I guess you could say ecology is my religion in some senses - the way everything fits together in harmony, from the Wood Wide Web to the salmon run, never fails to make me feel close to the divine.

For me personally, my paganism is very close to solarpunk. I’m a solarpunk because I think living in harmony with the earth is sacred. I’m a pagan because I think saving the planet requires all aspects of our lives and selves. And vice versa, if that makes sense. Now of course, I’m sure there are many deeply committed, principled and hardworking solarpunks who are atheists, agnostic, humanists, Christians, Jewish, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Baha’is and Zoroastrians, or who follow indigenous spiritualities, and I think all these belief systems are compatible in their own way with solarpunk (which actually has a lot in common with an apocatastatic religion but don’t get my theology nerd brain started on that). But for me, I couldn’t conceive of being a pagan and not a solarpunk too, or a solarpunk and not some sort of nature worshipper. But religion is very personal.

Hope this explains ok - my feelings around faith are very blobby and hard to verbalise 😅😆

#solarpunk #hopepunk #environmentalism #cottagepunk #social justice #community #optimism #bright future #climate justice #tidalpunk #lunarpunk #neopaganism #religion #ecosystem #ecology #nature religion #ecopagan

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ancientcraftnoccultism · 10 months

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BEGINNER CLASS - Session 2

What Is Witchcraft?

By KB[AncientCraft]

Introduction

Hello again everyone! Welcome back to class ♡ Before we actually get in to any work, I really wanted to address what witchcraft really is and what it most certainly is not. In this section, we'll have a small breakdown of a few terms as well as explaining a few things in hopes you will have a better understanding on what witchcraft truly is. Let's get started!

Pagan .vs. Wicca .vs Witchcraft

Pagan

Paganism is an umbrella term that is used to describe any religion outside of the "main world religions". This typically includes being polytheistic or animistic. Although it is true that many Pagan religions have a lot of focus on nature, this is not always the case. Paganism is also commonly used to describe Neo-Paganism/Contemporary Paganism movements as well. Paganus, which originally meant "rustic" and then "civilian," is where the English word "pagan" comes from. During the fall of the Roman Empire, Christians used this phrase to describe non-Christians who embraced polytheism—that is, worshiped numerous gods and goddesses—and were thus not Christians. In the past, the name "Pagan" was applied in this context in a derogatory manner, implying that non-Christian polytheists were uncultured, simple country folk who followed an inferior form of religion. It wasn't until the modern era that pagans began using this term to refer to themselves or their religious rituals. It's important to remember that not all pagans are witches, nor do they all practice witchcraft.

Wicca

Wicca is a New-Age religion that falls under the umbrella term of Paganism. Gerald Gardner popularized wicca after it was created in England in the 1940s and 1950s. The pre-Christian religious and witchcraft traditions of northern and western Europe are heavily emphasized, as is the natural world. Notably, Gardner and his earliest supporters never referred to their religion as "Wicca"; instead, they called it the "witch cult" or the "old religion." The name of this religious movement was modified to "Wicca" later in the 1960s. The Goddess and the God are the two main deities that Wiccans worship. They play a significant part in the Wiccan Wheel of the Year and are the deities responsible for the cycles of life and death on Earth. On the Sabbats and Esbats rituals and deity worship frequently take place. These practices may be mystical. A chalice, candles, a pentacle, an athame (ceremonial sword), and other objects may be used in a Wiccan ritual. The Wiccan religion has several branches now, each with its own fundamental principles and activities, most of which have been borrowed from older religions. As controversial as it may seem, not everyone who is Wiccan is a witch, either.

Witchcraft

Witchcraft is the practice of metaphysics and energy manipulation, often with occultic ties. Witchcraft is not a religion or belief system, therefore it is extremely widespread and encompasses a variety of practices, traditions, and cultures. In the simplest way possible, witchcraft is the act of harnessing and controlling energies around you in order to obtain a certain outcome. The main difference in being a witch and practicing witchcraft is that witches often use other tools and outside sources to help boost their energies during metaphysical workings. You do not have to convert religions in order to practice witchcraft. There is no certain belief system or initiation you have to partake in to practice witchcraft.

Please, remember to be kind and patient with yourself. We are all here to learn, and some may be able to grasp some concept and experiences at a quicker pace than others. This does not mean you are inferior. This isn't a race ~ it's a leisurely journey ♡

#baby witch #elder witch #beginner witch #witchblr #dark witchcraft #witchcraft #astrology #tarot #aesthetic #divination #witchcraft 101

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orangepunkwitch-blog · 4 months

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youtube

Sharing this here in case any Lokean followers haven't seen this yet.

Everything Ocean Keltoi has explained, I already knew, but it's nice to hear him not only say it, but have all the points together in one video.

And as someone who, while a newbie Pagan, encountered and started working with Loki first, I never EVER got the whole anti-Loki stance some Heathens have (despite never interacting with them; I've only ever heard of them or saw comment threads and the like online).

The first I've ever heard of Loki was when I was a kid and heard his name mentioned in The Mask. A god that creates such a mask because he thought that was funny? I loved that concept as a kid (and my weird-ass logic made me think I wasn't allowed to convert since I was baptized in the Serbian Orthodox church; my parents never made it seem okay to explore other beliefs... ever). When I became a fully developed adult and my brother passed away in 2011, I became agnostic, until I once expressed to a friend that I wished one could still worship old gods again, because the Norse gods sounded so much nicer than the biblical god. That's when she told me that that's a thing, and I discovered what paganism was. And then I made it a point that, while I will open myself to any of the gods who listened (and even said to them it's okay if they don't want to interact with me, since I'm so used to no god ever listening to me), I still hoped Loki would be the one to answer, because I'd prefer a god with a sense of humor who doesn't judge a mortal for simply being human. The rest is history.

I've had 2 instances where I've asked him for help, as I was desperate and didn't know what else to do and couldn't figure things out for myself. Both times he helped, it sort of put me almost in a state of madness because of HOW he helped (he's helped me with some small stuff too but sometimes the big stuff is.. a LOT). The first one was we were not able to afford rent anymore, as rent kept going up while my muž and I lived in Pittsburgh, so I asked for help, thinking he'd either help with our financial situation (namely I was hoping for a decent-paying job similar to what my muž made) so we could afford to rent elsewhere or that a place would become available that had significantly lower rent. You know, something like that. Instead, he gave us bedbugs. Because he KNEW that our only option was to move in with my parents and I didn't want to resort to that, so he forced my hand. His reasoning roughly being, "It's either the bedbugs or a fire in the building, and I REALLY don't wanna be that guy, so you got bedbugs."

The second time, without going into detail, he induced a non-threatening medical "emergency" (as in, give me a spook bad enough to warrant my first trip in an ambulance) to get the ball rolling to lead me to getting the surgery I needed for my endometriosis. His reasoning being, "You finally have health insurance and there are vaccines available. You have no excuse now. Not even this pandemic."

I'm doing much better now and it's thanks to Loki. He basically was the kick in my ass needed to make the only decision that would actually work out for me, even if I didn't think it would.

Despite making my practice something along the lines of "Serbian Polytheism Pagan Edition," Loki is still in my practice, and helped me learn an awful lot regarding non-xtian beliefs and beings, including and especially the Trickster archetype.

Any Heathen that bans Loki, avoids him, etc. either have a lot of xtian baggage that they still need to work through, or they're the type of people that don't like being held accountable for their actions and kept in check. Xtianity (as it is commonly practiced and forced onto people by power-hungry assholes) has really affected how many look at non-xtian beliefs, because everything has to be compared to xtianity (even some atheists are guilty of this because everything is xtianity to them).

Lately, I haven't had a whole lot of interactions with Loki I feel could be worth-sharing because I'm not having a whole lot of interactions with him in general the past few years (except for everything regarding me getting my surgery) and that's because the gods are giving me space to learn and grow and figure some stuff out on my own. I do chat with them from time to time via divination, but in terms of actions, they're letting me do my thing for a bit.

#Loki #Lokean #Ocean Keltoi #Heathenry #paganism #I still haven't forgotten this blog!#making posts like this is difficult for me on my phone though #I like doing this on my computer #which I have #my health can be weird both mentally and physically #also I got other things to do as well #and I'm working through some autistic burnout #Youtube

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charmfamily · 8 months

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GET TO KNOW ME: ERWIN PRIES

I was tagged by the lovely talented amazing @theosconfessions for this little OC game thing! Thank you so much! I was gonna do one of the Charms but... I know who the real star of the show is on this blog, so without further adieu, let's get to the goodies! If anyone wants me to do this for another character specifically, let me know which one! I could ramble all day about each and every single sim in my game.

[ PERSONAL ]

$ Financial: wealthy / moderate (June and the Colonel may be well off, but Erwin’s merely doing “okay” with his paranormal investigations and the podcast. Mostly the podcast, that’s his main source of income that funds all the other stuff he does.) / poor / in poverty

✚ Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable

✪ Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other

✔ Education: qualified / unqualified / studying (He's a Practical caster majoring in surprise surprise, cryptozoology.) / other )

✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed (Thanks Mom!)

[ FAMILY ]

◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children

◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased

◔ Affiliation: orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent (They’re not exactly birth parents in the traditional sense but that will be explained later in story SOON.) / not applicable

[ TRAITS + TENDENCIES ]

♦ extroverted / introverted / in between

♦ disorganized / organized / in between

♦ close minded / open-minded / in between

♦ calm / anxious / in between

♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in between

♦ cautious / reckless / in between

♦ patient / impatient / in between

♦ outspoken / reserved / in between

♦ leader / follower / in between

♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in between

♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in between

♦ traditional / modern / in between

♦ hard-working / lazy / in between

♦ cultured / uncultured / in between / unknown

♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown

♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown

[ BELIEFS ]

★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist (All spellcasters in the SCKoL universe are polytheists, since their religion’s main “deities” are the Trinity of the Fates. Some spellcasters do patronage for additional gods & goddesses of various pantheons as well, but yeah, culturally, they’re all pagans.) / atheist / agnostic

☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know (leaning toward yes) / don’t care

❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious

❀ Philosophical: yes / no

[ SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION ]

❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual

❥ Sex: sex repulsed / sex neutral (It’s not that he has no interest in it, but it’s hard to get him to focus and get out of his own head, he’s always thinking about a million other things.) / sex favorable / naive and clueless

♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable (Absolute slut for snuggles any time anywhere. Kisses? Those too. In fact Dylan, just let him koala cling to you 24/7 and climb all over you like you’re a human jungle gym, it makes him happy.) /naive and clueless / romance suspicious

❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious

⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

[ ABILITIES ]

☠ Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

≡ Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✍ Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✂ Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

[ HABITS ]

☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / Alcoholic

☁ Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / Chain-smoker

✿ Recreational Drugs: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict (We’re counting caffeine as a recreational drug here and the boy abuses the shit out of Potion of the Nimble Mind and Potion of Plentiful Needs because fuck sleep and fuck not being able to focus, I got shit to think about and shit to do.)

✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed (Potion of Emotional Stability for OCD and Anxiety) / frequently / to excess

☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater

$ Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic (Dylan has to physically drag him out of Radio Shack type stores and monitor his Amazon account to make sure he’s not blowing through their bill money looking at new gadgets.) ♣ Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler (I mean he gambles with his very existence doing the stuff he does for the podcast and thinks nothing of it lol)

I am tagging: @smok3inm1rrors, @sugarios, @satureja13, & @pringleston (to Compare Erwin headcanons of course 😂)

#TS4 Edit #The Sims 4 #Story Simblr #SCKoL Extras #Semi-Charmed Sims #Semi-Charmed Fun Stuff #Erwin Pries #Semi-Charmed Headcanons

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dairedara · 9 months

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I found your account just for by that I follow the "Christianity" tag and you seem neat and cool; I have a question, what on Earth is the story behind you having such a complex and novel belief system? It's just, really kinda rare for people to "do their own research" to an extent of coming away with spiritual practices that look like a fancy salad with a bajillion different parts, y'know?

Hi!! Thank you for this question, this is a story I’ve been wanting to tell for a while now :)

I was raised in lukewarm Christianity— baptized Lutheran, went to church usually just for events or with non-denominational friends. Because I didn’t go to church regularly, my faith developed in a very individual sense. I have always felt connected to nature and seen it as divine in some sense, which I think influenced my pantheism later in life.

I had a crisis of faith very young. I went to an ultra-Christian summer camp with a friend, which was a lot of fun, but also basically my introduction to modern fundamentalist Christianity. There were sermons twice a day, between the swimming and the flag football, and I distinctly remember borrowing my friends’ “kid’s Bible” which had a bright pink cover because for some reason my dad’s KJV from the 70s was unfit. (I didn’t think much of that at the time, but now I do think that kind of radicalized me. I think that so many modern Christians are only ever exposed to the Bible through a specific lens, and therefore can only possibly come away with the interpretation of their pastor/denomination/youth group leader/translation instead of developing their own genuine, unadulterated view of the Bible.)

But anyway, our camp counselor took turns interviewing us, and when it came to me she asked me this question: when did you know you were saved?

I was nine years old, had absolutely zero life changing experiences under my belt, and was also incredibly devout. I answered: I always knew, because I was raised with the fact that Jesus loves me and he died for me. She wasn’t satisfied with this answer and kept pushing me until she gave up. The question greatly confused me, and when I came home, it triggered a chain reaction. I realized I couldn’t pinpoint a specific moment in my life that would explain my religiosity. I prayed for some sort of sign that I was doing the right thing and received nothing in response. I became, in essence, an atheist.

In middle school, I got my first tumblr account, and I learned about Wicca through that. I’ve always been interested in world mythology and I thought it was insanely cool and insanely right that people still worshiped the gods from those stories, although at this point the only pagan faith I knew of was Wicca, and for some reason I thought you could only pick two gods, one male and one female. Since I liked Celtic myth, I picked Cerridwen (Welsh) and Lugh (Irish). This lasted for like one week, and then I found out about Hellenic (Greek) polytheism, which felt much more right to me. I started doing a lot of research into reconstructionism (basically, using the tools available to us to replicate, as accurately as possible, the religion and religious practice of a person from one of these ancient polytheistic societies). Recon tumblr was very dramatic in the early ‘10s, it probably still is, and I was intimidated and amazed at the same time. Around this time I also got introduced to the theological debate scene and was really interested in the mechanics of belief.

A year or so into this, I had what was probably the most intense religious experience of my life. A whole-ass vision, during a time where I was awful mentally, and in the middle of a crazy thunderstorm. I won’t go into the details here, but it pivoted my path a little and I became interested in Roman polytheism. I built a relationship with the Roman gods Juno, Mars, Venus, Apollo, Jupiter, Minerva, and others. I also got super interested in the idea of religious syncretism that is pretty much exemplified by mid-to-late Empire religion, and encountered deities like Mithras, the Egyptian Isis and Osiris, and Etruscan deities. At this point I was a baby Latinist and experimented with composing my own prayers outside of the very proscriptive rituals in Roman tradition. It was a very comfortable and beautiful practice for that time in my life, and it grew into a very easy rhythm.

My shift to Celtic paganism was pretty sudden and intense. I felt very lost in my identity and began exploring the religious practices of cultures through my genealogical research. I always that Braucherei (Pennsylvania Dutch magic) was cool, as a PA Dutch person, but I couldn’t wrap my head around using the Bible for that kind of mystical practice. I explored Welsh paganism because I have some Welsh roots, and read the Welsh epic Mabinogion. This is a really fascinating work because it seamlessly incorporates indigenous tradition with a Christian framework. Unlike the Irish cycles, it’s not set in pre-Christian Europe. The characters believe in God, they make Christian oaths, and yet they have supernatural abilities and lifespans. The first branch is particularly of interest to me because the character of Pwyll is put into the medieval archetype of the God-honoring feudal lord, and yet he’s relatively unconcenered when he meets Arawn, the king of the Otherworld (also known as Faerieland, etc.). I then read the Irish Cycles, which do lean a bit more Christian-y because of the very strong monastic tradition in Ireland, but they’re no less cool and definitely struck a cord with me.

Meanwhile, in my academic life, I was graduating high school and trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do in college. I’ve always wanted to do Classics, but I began to become super obsessed with Medieval Latin and the early church. My best friend’s family had recently converted to conservative Catholicism, of all things (this was incredibly weird for her), and asked me to go to Christmas Eve mass with her because her parents wanted her to go with them. I readily accepted because it was a Latin Mass, and it was a lot of fun for me because church Latin is very easy and I got to translate something other than Virgil and Livy.

I became really interested in trying to reconstruct what someone in the early British or Irish church might have believed. Christianity in Western Europe was not introduced in a particularly violent manner, unlike what we see outside of Europe or even just in Slavic nations. Indigenous traditions were not systematically erased. Instead, Christianity diffused throughout the culture. It is very likely that my Gaelic and Brythonic ancestors at some point worshiped pagan gods at the same time they honored Christian Saints. St. Brighid, after all, was either syncretized with or is a development of the Irish goddess of the same name– I, personally, treat them as a single entity and she has done so, so much for me. In modern pagan (and Christian!) spaces, Christianity and Pre-Christian traditions are treated as two completely separate, incompatible worldviews, but if that were really true, this transitional period wouldn’t exist. We wouldn’t have religions that draw from both like folk Catholicism or Haitain Voudoun.

My journey to pantheism was pretty easy, all things considered. While I was worshiping Celtic gods alongside venerating Saints and the Archangels, I was coming to terms with the fact that I did really and honestly believe in fate. In neopaganism or modern spiritual spaces in general, you sometimes see this idea of “the universe.” As in, everything happens for a reason, and the “universe” is bringing you certain things or taking them away. I kind of organically combined this notion of the universe with my belief that nature is divine (which I suppose could be called animism) and came out with what I think could be called Spinoza’s pantheist god. I never felt a moment that drove me to God because God is everywhere, and there is no separation, in my mind, between the mundane and the divine. Gods and Saints and Angels and even our deceased ancestors are intermediaries between it and us.

Here’s a list of some beliefs of mine that I didn’t mention specifically mention but I think are important nonetheless:

I believe God(s) exist because every single culture in the world has religious traditions of some sort and similar ideas of religious experience, even if those cultures did not ever interact. If we can trust our physical senses to determine reality (ex. I am touching my laptop so I believe it exists physically) then our spiritual experiences are real and valid.

The God of Abraham specifically made a covenent with the Jewish people and so “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” only applies to that tradition– I also do believe that Adonai/YHWH, based on anthropological evidence, is a member of the Canaanite pantheon and therefore no more or less “powerful” than any other little-g god. YHWH, in my opinion, is not the same entity as the pantheistic God, which encompasses him and then literally everything else ever.

The Bible is not inerrent but everything in there is in there for a divinely inspired reason, even if that reason is so we can understand past cultures and historical context.

Religion tumblr is very weird for me because I can’t tell if I fit into the Christian or the Pagan space more. Christo-pagans are not that accepted in the pagan community and the idea of fate or “everything happens for a reason” is very controversial. Obviously it’s confusing for most Christians, too. Feel free to ask about literally anything– my faith is definitely a Frankenstein’s Monster situation!

#asks #this is so long I’m sorry lol #celtpol #christopagan #pantheism

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papirouge · 1 year

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gay trans pt. 2 (lol) i just think i see you being more ready to call out hypocrisy in today christianity than almost anyone. the original post i read that made me send ask was you talking about western gun culture being incongruent w Jesus teaching non-violence and like as an american particularly it was just really refreshing to see a christian acknowledge that.

anyway i can’t actually find/remember your Exact position re: trans but. my understanding is that any admonishment of self-mutilation in the scripture is referring to ritualistic pagan purposes you know baal-worshipping etc? which doesn’t seem meaningful to connect to transgenderism in any way. maybe tenuous i’ll readily admit i’m probably less knowledgeable than you but i think a more legitimate line to examine for that point is probably matthew 19:12? i don’t think He’s referring to trans ppl there necessarily but i do think it sort of makes the bodily-mutilation argument at least a little shaky. i don’t think you can call srs mutilation while saying castration Isn’t yknow

Well, I think Christians have no room to call non-believers out when our own house is in fire lol The state of the Church is very awful and we should look at ourselves and our own shortcomings before weeping at how evil & satanic the world is, when so-called Christians are entertaining this same evilness. When you read the Bible, you realize that Jesus called out his fellow Jews (Pharisees), not heathens. He knew that heathen didn't know better ; but Jews, they were supposed to know better, because the Jews were God chosen people who were supposed to be the light of the world, and show the good example. Instead, they abused their power and totally manipulated the Law to fulfill their evil deeds. I'm just trying to follow Jesus example by mostly calling out Christians and call out their abuse & twist of the word of God to fulfill their wickedness. Also it's important to note that I'm often including myself in my apologetics. My Christian side blog @pickmeforjesus is kind of diary at times lol

What in Matthew 19:12 do you find "shaky" regarding body mutilation? First of all, there is the famous 1 Corinthians 19-20 verses

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

If you acknowledge that your body isn't "yours" but to God, it implies that we cannot do anything with our body that does not glorify Him. Therefore, changing our body over vanity (tattoo, piercing, hair dye, etc), has to go. But also, if God made you a woman and that you change to become a man, it's literally denying God's decision to make you a female - and vice versa💀

Also Matthew 19:12 when properly examined....goes against trans ideology

For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

Trans people are the "eunuch of men" (literally. SRS literally sterilizes people...) and this opposition is put up in oppositions to "eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's sake" aka people who chosen celibacy/abstinence. If you read Matthew 19 from the beginning of the chapter, Jesus is talking about divorce, marriage, men and women relationships. When he talks about those who were "able to receive it", he's talking about the "kingdom of God". Christians receive it by accepting Christ as their lord and savior. In verse 8-9 Jesus explains that remarrying after a divorce is adultery (except for sexual immorality). Then in verse 10, the apostles say that it's then better for people to not marry at all. So in Matthew 11-12 Jesus is replying as of why chosen celibacy ("eunuch for the kingdom of God") is relevant to God, unlike "eunuch of men". He's making a distinction between people being abstinent because of the flesh (eunuch mutilation), and those abstaining from marriage/sex by & for the Spirit (while they physically still can). By making this opposition/distinction, Jesus implies that both will have a different fate in regard to God's judgment. Only those committed to the kingdom of God while on earth will have a place up there once they die. People mutilating themselves in the flesh won't.

#answered #Christian

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therianomalocaris · 2 years

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I am posting this with links and names blacked out, because of how interesting this ask is to me as a piece of Nazi propaganda. It's got all the common talking points and I would like to put on my text analysis hat and glasses for a minute and explain exactly how asks like these should be deconstructed:

[Joy of Satan] is ran by people of color, they aren’t white supremacists. [...] [REDACTED] was created by [REDACTED] whom is a black woman and the high priestess of JoS.

First line, already starting out strong. "We can't be racist, we have black people in our ranks!" is a very well-known way of deflecting from the true nature of an organization. Having marginalized people in your ranks, even high ranking ones, says nothing of the ideas pushed by your people- I would like to remind my dearest readers that Ernst Röhm was a high ranking Nazi officer, the only person who could call Adolf Hitler by his first name, and a known homosexual. He was killed just like the rest of our people when the time came to enact violence upon us.

JoS follows non-white Pagan Gods.

You will find that by "non-white" they mean "non-Abrahamic", and by "non-Abrahamic" they mean "non-Jewish". This may sound like a reach on my part, but let me direct your attention to the end of this particular message which directly responds to allegations of antisemitism:

The Abrahamic religions are anti-Satanic, anti-Pagan, anti-women and anti-gay so why can’t JoS be anti-Abrahamic?

Nobody accused them of being "anti-Abrahamic", so this is specifically a rewording of terms. This is showing that when they say "Abrahamic", they really mean "Jewish".

Going back to the start:

JoS has a black high priestess, Asian high priest, Hispanic High Priestess, etc.

Note the groups mentioned here. Black, Asian, Hispanic. Interesting that while "Nazi" does imply racism of all stripes, the accusations against them only specifically mentioned antisemitism. Does that "etc." include Jewish people? I would guess not, since they see us as sub-human descendants of Reptilians.

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that, but they see Jews as separate from the rest of humanity: this is written explicitly in their texts if you are willing to look, and let it be known that I would never write anything on a particular organization without doing my due research. The Joy of Satan organization "believes" (assuming they're not jut a grift, which many people in the notes of that post say it is) Satan created humanity and the Reptilian race created Jews by mixing their DNA with non-human animals.

So when they say "people", keep in mind they are implicitly excluding Jews.

According to [REDACTED] which is the official JoS forums, there’s thousands upon thousands of non-white and mixed race JoS members that have their own spaces on the forum.

The number stated here is most likely highly exaggerated, but I am more interested in that wording than on debating numbers. "Non-white and mixed race JoS members [...] have their own spaces on the forum."

This obviously implies that white spaces exist on the forum. This also implies that this forum is divided up by race, and while I have not looked at the link provided as to not increase their traffic I would not be surprised if it was.

JoS supports women’s rights and gay rights.

I'm just going to end on this. Nobody directly accused them of not supporting these issues. This focus on women's right and gay rights is an attempt at moving the goalpost away from antisemitism, a common tactic of debate among right-wing extremist. If you see someone do this, bring back the topic around: do you, or do you not believe, Jews to be human? The answer, as explained above, is a resounding no.

And here concludes our analysis of this text. Come back later for more, probably, unless these Nazi fuckers realize they are giving me the upper hand by coming to my system's blog to try to proselytize for their cult.

#Dirk.#antisemitism cw #homophobia cw #nazi cw #nazism cw #Content warning this one as I am giving specific examples.

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deathaureated · 1 year

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{ Guidelines }

Hi there! I'm Luna!

I’m 26 years old as of writing this, I live in Canada & my timezone is EST. I've been writing in various RPC fandoms for 11 years now, & have been doing so on Tumblr on & off since I was 19. I'm cis (probably) & use she/her generally but I'm also totally okay with they/them used in a general sense if you’re referring to me. I’m Pagan & have been practicing sporadically for about 12 years now, so you could say I’ve always had an interest in religion, folklore & mythology of all different kinds which may explain the weird assortment of fandoms I’ve participated in.

I am neurodivergent & have a handful of physical health issues on top of working a part time job which causes my online activity to be pretty random but frequent, but other than that, I don't think there's anything else important to say. If you'd like to learn more about me feel free to reach out, I'm usually pretty receptive to new conversations even if I’m sometimes shy about reaching out first!

That out of the way, here's a few things to keep in mind when following me:

This is a sideblog for Mori, & follow backs will come from @moonrisenmuses. Now, I understand that multimuse / hub blogs aren’t for everyone, & there’s absolutely NO pressure to follow, interact with or look at my main blog! I’ll only be using it to send asks from my sideblogs, & only if you happen to have anonymous asks off! Seriously, I wont be sad or offended if you aren’t interested in my other muses.

I want to state, my Mori blog is EXTREMELY CANON DIVERGENT with regards to his past & certain aspects of his character. To get it out of the way... I don’t write Mori as being a pedophile. Yes, he’s creepy. Yes, he’ll violate the emotional & probably physical boundaries of anyone he thinks he can manipulate. YES, he has abused several children mentally, physically & emotionally. He basically brainwashed Dazai with his fucked up way of thinking + is probably responsible for at least 1/3rd of Dazai’s physical scars with the way he ‘treats’ his patients, & he destroyed Yosano emotionally. You don’t even want to know what he did to my interpretation of Chuuya over on his blog, man had a breakdown & pushed Mori out the window of the Port Mafia HQ to his death in his Mafia Boss AU.

He is responsible for a huge part of the cycle of abuse that infects the Port Mafia. He abused Yosano, he abused Dazai who went on to abuse Yumeno & Akutagawa, the latter of whom then began inflicting that same pain & awful way of thinking onto Kyōka & even Higuchi.

HE IS A BAD PERSON. If you allow it, he will manipulate your character. Especially young or passive or naïve characters because they are easier to control & have less emotional resistance to his tactics.

But he’s not a pedophile or a rapist so please keep your gross headcanons about what he’s done with any of the underage characters of the franchise to yourself, especially regarding Dazai, Yosano, Q, Chuuya, Akutagawa, Kyōka & Gin. I’m not about that. If you’re interested in following a Mori blog because you think I’d be down for gross proship non-con lolicon pairings, or whatever it’s called, turn back now. I have an alternate faceclaim for Elise & gave him a late wife that completely changes Elise’s manifestation. He’s not a pedophile on this blog because his actions are all based on logic & reason, & in his mind, while he could abuse children that way & not feel an ounce of remorse because he isn’t capable of feeling remorse, he would gain nothing from it. Physical threats & mind games are much more his forte.

MOVING ON! My blog is 18+ only as well as multiship, multiverse, & again, very canon divergent. The events will stay the same, but Mori’s psychological state & past have very much been customized to my portrayal of him.

As a general rule, I strongly prefer my RP partners to be 18+ regardless of the fandom simply due to my age & the sort of content I tend to write. Graphic & disturbing, I use swearing somewhat liberally OOC, sexual content, etc. If there's no age to be found on your blog somewhere I won't RP with you, sorry. Even a general idea is okay, it's for my own comfort & safety as well as yours; a 14 year old for example really shouldn't read the type of writing I'll likely be posting. Thank you.

I do tag triggers! Almost all the default triggers (child abuse //, violence //, murder //) etc will be tagged. If you have anything you need tagged that is less common, don't be afraid to ask me to tag it, I'm happy to do my part to make you comfortable!

On Triggering Material: I will not write any of the following on the dash: graphic animal abuse, graphic sexual assault/rape (allusions/references are fine as it's sometimes part of a character's background including my own). This may be in the form of flashbacks, discussions of trauma, recovery threads, etc. I just won't write scenes of it, I'm also fine with 'close call' threads where my muse rescues yours from assault or vice versa since that’s a very real thing that can & does happen IRL. I’m just not willing to post such content blatantly on the dash as I know it’s a deeply upsetting subject, & I have no desire to romanticize sexual abuse. I will not write anything to do with pedophilia or any sexual content with characters or muns under 18, bestiality (as in actual animals, not ability users who are able to become animals), necrophilia, etc. basically the 'main' major things that would squick out most people. For my own & my mutuals comfort PLEASE DO NOT INTERACT WITH ME IF YOU THINK ITS OKAY TO SHIP MINORS & ADULTS.

I do tend to format my replies using small text & customizing with bold & italics for the sake of the aesthetic/emphasis, but I don't expect you to. If you have any issues visually or language wise with how i RP come talk to me & we can try to work things out. I will also be using icons at some point, but not constantly, mostly just to dress up a reply now & then.

Don't force shipping with any of my characters. If a ship happens, that's great, & you're 100% allowed to just come & ask me if I'd like to ship but don't just go ahead with it without asking. It’s okay if you don’t remember what each muse’s orientation is, I’m fine giving gentle reminders or letting you know what is/isn’t okay to assume if the topic of shipping happens to come up. Just don’t get upset if I turn down a ship because it’s incompatible with my muse’s gender or orientation; it would be uncomfortable & unfair to try to force a ship on him if your muse isn't what they’re typically inclined towards. That being said, all of my muses are open to unrequited romances as well, & in fact you don't even need to ask. It's okay for your muse to have feelings for mine, but they might not always reciprocate!

Finally, my blog is absolutely drama free! I will not share callouts of any kind unless someone is an imminent danger. I've been roleplaying for 10 years now & frankly I'm just here to have fun without getting into fights. IF I FIND OUT YOU’VE SENT ANONS HARASSING MY FRIENDS I WILL BLOCK YOU! Seriously, you have a problem with me, come to me about it, don’t be a fucking pussy.

If you made it to the end of this congratulations! There's no passwords or anything here, please feel free to follow me if you think we'd click, & welcome!

#{ BLOG INFO }

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succulent-gh0stboi · 2 years

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hello i’m coming back to tumblr after a super long time

my name is sedum! you can call me sed for short if you’d like

i’m 19 years old, a college student, artist and activist. i’m autistic, disabled, and have ADHD, PTSD, BPD, MDD, and possibly DID or OSDD??

i’m very queer, my pronouns are in my bio, my gender cannot be explained in a concise manner but to save time i’m a transmasc non-binary genderflux demiboy. i have more genders than you could ever count babey!!!!!!

all jokes aside, pls follow and interact if you are:

LGBTQIAA++

MOGAI enthusiast

otherkin/therian

witch/wiccan/pagan etc

plant person

horror enjoyer

analog horror

mental health/disability awareness

please DO NOT INTERACT :

-Exclus, TERFS, radfems, gender critical, transmedicalists, truscum etc.

-any sort of bigotry including but not limited to: ableism, transphobia, homophobia, racism, transmisogyny, transmisogynoir, enbyphobia, xenophobia, colorism, fatphobia, acephobia etc.

-sorry but minors DNI i’m an adult now lmao

-MAPS, DDLG, kinksters, any unsolicited sexual advances or content

-proshippers

-cishet people, especially m*n

-neurotypicals

-autism speaks supporters

-idk just annoying people in general

anyways hi hello welcome to my blog pls be my friend!!!!!

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concupiscience · 2 months

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In the Soviet past, which has permeated our present and continues to flow into it, there was a lot of black tragedy. There are many worthy of fond memory. But too much in Soviet reality is described by the offensive definition of “something wrong.” Something always didn't work out. "Bad luck." Every now and then some misfortunes happened.

Sometimes the reasons are clear: “It’s not a pipe, it’s the whole system that needs to be changed.” Explaining the social evil that did not want to disappear from socialist society, the Soviets for decades blamed “remnants of the old.” This planted a fantastic seditious thought in some people: what if the revolution had been organized earlier, would they have put an end to the remnants? But the arch-Soviet Robert Rozhdestvensky, without fully understanding what he said, gave birth to a wonderful pun: “Vestiges of the new.”

In the bloodily enraged post-war USSR, for the majority of Russian people (including big bosses), the main thing was right and good things. “I love you, life, and I want you to become better” - what is there to doubt? But for every “better” thing that, at the cost of hard work, beautified Soviet life, for some reason we had to pay for it with a new “worse” one, which even rabid Sovietists admit.

Sometimes one can suspect the intervention of some external force in Soviet bad luck - after all, Soviet true believers are sure that “Gorbachev and Yakovlev were recruited,” and they are increasingly convinced that the Soviet leadership of the first two decades consisted entirely of traitors.

However, the devil knows where the petty unluckiness comes from, the vile inconsistency seems to be the generic curse of our entire Soviet existence, multiplying its annoying incompetence. (Will you say that it has not been Soviet for a long time? Why are they threatening us with distant “de-Sovietization” - and many are afraid?). It is possible to explain why plan A does not work, what is to blame for the failure of plan B - but then why is there no luck?

From a Christian point of view, everything is clear: people rejected God, began to worship creatures instead of the Creator, excommunicated themselves from the sacraments and prayer, subjected the Church to monstrous persecution and became mired in the sins of Cain and Ham. Such a society of apostates and cursed people cannot be prosperous, even if the children in it are “taught good things” (fanatics, too, as a rule, teach children good things). People have implanted their own immunity, damaged their kidneys, torn off their skin - where does health come from?

However, many people today, even if they call themselves Orthodox, have no desire to follow the letter of the Christian faith or even know it. They broadly admit the existence of certain supermundane forces that do not get too involved in earthly affairs and certainly do not reward “everyone according to his deeds” - at least, strictly. Many agnostics and atheists, despite their statements about the absurdity and excess of religion, in fact attribute almost or outright supernatural qualities to various subjects of psychology or sociology, not unlike the pagans. So let's look at the Soviet case from a non-religious point of view, but from the vaguest mystical one.

For example, having barely admitted the concept of karma, it is natural to assume that the bestial Soviet attitude towards abortion ruined this very karma for the entire country, like no other Soviet murder. However, it is precisely among those who operate with this concept that for some reason there are in abundance supporters of the slogan “My body is my business!”

Or here’s a plot for a short story (or a big novel). It is difficult to deny that in Russian villages (as in any other) the traditions of witchcraft were passed on from generation to generation. There lived sorcerers - people who, by all accounts, knew how to deal with spirits and had a lifelong and hereditary connection to them. They treated sorcerers differently, but they recognized something real and dangerous about them. In the lives of ordinary peasants (as those who are not fans of Christianity like to point out), Orthodoxy and millennia-old beliefs and rituals that existed not for show collaborated in relations with other worlds. Soviet history smashed the church into rubble and ground the village into rubble.

And what was supposed to happen when, from the Orthodox point of view, the Orthodox people turned away from the faith and lost the protection of the heavenly powers, and when, from the occult point of view, the traditions of dealing with spirits and witchcraft were broken?

In the fantasies of today's homemade occultists, spirits are like Wolands, providing services to people who are admitted to their illustrious club. According to the village superstition, devils (a pre-Christian word) are simple beasts, sort of banderlogs, who amuse themselves by causing confusion, confusion, quarrels, and can simply throw them off from a height, push them off the road, or tear apart a person who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. . Many observant Christians, including experienced clergy, find this profane opinion reasonable.

In the 60-80s, sorcerers and sorceresses, who had been involved in their work even before collectivization, passed away. In villages that were depopulated (in every sense) many of them had no successors. Others conveyed something that it would be better for an outsider not to know about, to city dwellers who did not understand anything at all or who became too highly opinionated of themselves after receiving the “grandmother’s gift.” Many spirits, accustomed to “working with people,” literally broke loose and went wild.

Despite the post-Stalin softening of morals and improvement of life, the long-suffering RSFSR broke records for unmotivated murders, accidents, and mental disorders. This was explained by high alcoholism, low everyday culture, ordeals endured, and psyche-breaking unpleasantness. But when you analyze, in all their abundance, the misfortunes of those years and right up to the present day, everything comes to mind: shouldn’t we introduce an additional explanation: “the devil has beguiled”, “the devils have saddled.”

And after 15-20 years of timid Christian revival, many social horrors began to dry out: Russians kill less and are killed less, violent madmen have become less noticeable. Undoubtedly, this can be explained by everyday civilization, a certain familiarity with life, the healing of the brokenness of the 90s, the distancing of the dirty sides of the Soviet past, and very specific initiatives from above and below. But all this does not deny the mystical explanation, but only agrees with it: the devils are really afraid of incense, a believer (all other things being equal) is protected from random evil better than an unbeliever, the prayer of even the “small flock” protects society as a whole.

Let's look from the other side. What did Marxism promise? Truly the end of the world. We can recall one well-known joke, lying on the surface, but not noticed by everyone, “on the verge of a foul.” Ostap Bender (on the eve of the nightmare of the first five-year plan) promises to create a “new earth and new heavens” with the help of “chess thought” alone (and the fashion for Marxism and the fashion for chess at the beginning of the century were comparable). The self-proclaimed Grandmaster (that is, the false messiah) proposes to give the center of the new universe the name “Four Horses Club”[1]. For many, many who fell under the four horses of real-Marxism, the last times have truly come.

However, it would be a sin not to admit: the Soviet Union is not only what Lenin and Stalin did, but also the good aspiration of millions of people to live a normal life. Why can’t we agree with those who, even admitting that the Bolsheviks “got a mess somewhere,” believe that we need to act “the Chinese way,” abandoning the Soviet cult of revolution and leaders?

There are several arguments in favor of the inadmissibility of this, and I have already listed them in the text “This is not the time for reconciliation and agreement .” But let’s look at the problem from not even a Christian perspective (“You can’t pray for King Herod” – and especially not for King Herod), but somewhere at the intersection of mysticism and psychology, which is fashionable today.

In the post-Stalin USSR, which hid Stalin away, Lenin became an absolute deity. Of course, this was not the real Lenin, an evil doctrinaire with “the face of the Kyrgyz-Kaisak steppe,” but a mocking good-natured man with a textbook gloss. Soft-hearted regretters of late Soviet life will probably agree with this (there are fewer and fewer of them; Bolshevik bloodthirstiness is in fashion - for now in words). But let’s think: who, out of the kindest feelings or as a diversion, did even the best people of the Soviet Union worship? A total loser. Lenin's murder was not discussed, but his works and deeds were studied.

The history of Lenin in power is a history of complete failure. The world revolution did not happen. Well-fed “statesmen” today telling how “the Bolsheviks seized power” and “assembled an empire”, for the most part simply do not know what, why, how and with what immediate results the Leninist government did, not to mention the lower demons it unleashed.

The country fell from crisis into boiling hell in six months. Okay, civil war - the world turned out to be more disastrous. For the sake of salvation from hunger and cold, we had to return from the declared and butt-established socialism to the beggarly surrogate of capitalism. Lenin fell from the blow when a mixture of pathological optimism and cynicism did not save him from realizing the fact: on one sixth of the Earth a Pyrrhic victory was won. He died long and terribly. The students interrupted each other. “Golden hands - whatever you touch, it’s all in pieces!” If you call failure a victory and punish any disagreement, you can get a great many people who consider the loser a winner. But the sediment will remain and sting. Greatness is shaky, built on the cult of cosmic proportions of a loser.

The Soviet cults of first Chekists and heroes of the civil war are cults of people who not only did terrible things, but also ended ingloriously. Frunze and Kotovsky were killed, apparently, by their own people; even if Dzerzhinsky and Menzhinsky died a natural death, they were lucky, unlike their neighboring Dzerzhinsky residents. And even their cults were supported as plugs, checks, covering other images, which even Soviet science fiction writers could not have presented beautifully.

And you can praise the achievements of Soviet and non-Soviet socialism as much as you like, but only a person very far from communist ideology will not agree that Lenin and his followers promised something completely different, that the Soviet state had other goals than what they achieved, and that communism, in any case, case, as a continuation of Lenin's policy, will never come.

This is what can be said about the “positive charge” of even a relatively decent version of Soviet ideology. Leninism is a cult of failure, of Antifortune.

Of course, stubborn (not from a good life) Soviets have long proposed to separate the failed (initially!) Leninism from “all the good” that happened at different stages of Soviet socialism. Most Soviets remembered that the modest joys of socialism (“Thank you for being alive!”) were the real Soviet idea, and Leninism was something like a religion, which, as they know, is “the opium of the people,” but “teaches morality and spirituality.” " Like, we are no longer so Soviet as to consider religion a total evil, but we are quite sure, in a Soviet way, that this is all untrue.

This is where the line is drawn between an economic attitude towards goods, respect for people and cult. The cult of Soviet socialism is the worship not of the benefits common to the twentieth century, but of the way to obtain these benefits - the idea of selling the real past, present and future for stew and the promise of a bright future. That’s when the hope for a bright future turned into the lot of completely insane people, all that was left of the entire “red project” was a stew full of rubbish, nasty and insanely expensive.

Even a relatively decent version of sub-Soviet loyalism and post-Soviet Sovietophilia is a cult of agreement with the irreversibility of following a deliberately false path, with poverty and stupidity, from which the Soviet Union perished.

When your entire life is permeated by the worship of failure and dearly paid deception, is it possible to achieve anything worthwhile? It is precisely from the Soviet, crudely materialistic point of view that it is quite possible: “They don’t believe in whatever nonsense, but they live.” (Although the first rule of Sovietness is not to recognize the cynicism of Sovietness). If we even admit the importance of the subconscious, the costs become obvious. If, in addition, we assume that “thought is material” (and everything that can be meant by this), the picture becomes even clearer.

Finally, we can admit a completely sad idea: there are certain entities that literally feed on worship and repay for it. And if this is the worship of grief and misfortune, then it is unlikely that the reward will be happiness.

These entities can increase appetite. And those who feed them also develop spiritually. Towards a mutually agreeable direction. For example, they need to somehow rationalize Soviet existence from the position of Soviet cults. If we take a closer look at the work of the Soviet comprachicos, without Soviet crooked glasses, we will find that it was a long-term murder of a complex and promising society and the transformation of a hero who was just coming into power into a funny freak with a murky future.

It is possible to consider such obvious evil as a good only by exalting to the utmost that same rudeness and curse. From justification through the enumeration of benefits, Sovietism turns into an intoxication with nihilism, social and national, and outright murder:

"Russians are dirty savages"

“Russians who have achieved something deserve to die”

“ours killed, destroyed and took away correctly, but not enough.”

Before our eyes, the apology for the Soviet deputies literally comes down to this.

The cult of Soviet misfortune is turning into a cult of Soviet villainy. The carriers of the Soviet brain virus increasingly want to be scum, rather than idiots. However, this does not stop them from being terpilas and food for parasites.

You say there is nothing like that? But why do so many people behave as if this exists?

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bijoumikhawal · 4 months

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"A further notable aspect of the text is the choice of the name of Ḥezekiah, the main protagonist of our story. As mentioned, many scholars were adamant to see in Ḥezekiah a historical person.⁷³ True, that behind the character indeed stands a historical person, though not Ḥezekiah. Instead, I wish to propose a literary explanation for the substitution of the name of the high priest who came to Egypt. We may recall that Ḥezekiah (reigned ca. 715–686 BCE) was one of the most prominent kings of Judah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.⁷⁴ Ḥezekiah witnessed the destruction of the northern Kingdom of Israel by Sargon the Assyrian in 720 BCE and himself reigned over Judah when Jerusalem was invaded and besieged by the Assyrian Sennacherib in ca. 701 BCE. The siege was miraculously lifted by a plague that afflicted Sennacherib’s army. Isaiah (and Micah) prophesied during his reign.⁷⁵ As Josiah, Ḥezekiah is praised for having enacted religious reforms, banning the worship of foreign deities in Judah and cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem, thus restoring the worship of {the Jewish god}.⁷⁶

If we recall Onias’ fate and the function of the Ḥezekiah story in the work of Pseudo-Hecataeus, some remarkable parallels emerge.⁷⁷ Firstly, like Ḥezekiah, Onias was an antagonist to the Seleucids (= Assyrians). Also in Onias’ days, Syrians came to Jerusalem in a belligerent manner (the outcome was of course different, for the invasion of Jerusalem by Antiochus IV caused Onias’ flight to Egypt). Moreover, the Bible praises Ḥezekiah for purging the Temple from all pagan influences and cults and stresses that he performed its rededication as well. If Josephus’ report in Ant. 13.67 is reliable, which I am convinced it is, then Onias too purged a temple (a former Egyptian one dedicated to Bubastis) of the worship of a pagan deity and rededicated it to {the Jewish god}.⁷⁸ The only difference between the two is their means of coping with the Temple crisis: Onias fled to Egypt and erected a new one, while Ḥezekiah stayed on and cleansed the old one." (Pg 282)

"But first, and to return to the question of the aim of the story, I have already illustrated that, next to a constitutional concern, the story is deeply interested in legitimizing Jewish residence and Jewish life in Egypt among non-Jewish Greeks and Egyptians. Of note is that the treatise seeks to defend Jewish residence in Egypt on two fronts, namely vis-à-vis fellow Jews (presumably mostly of Judaean origin) and vis-à-vis Greeks (and Egyptians), all of whom opposed Jewish residence in Egypt. The treatise underscores that Jews are perfectly and comfortably embedded in their Diasporan life in Egypt since, so the author claims, the Jews originated there.⁸⁴ Living in Egypt too, does not militate against rigorously following Jewish law and the willingness to defend it by laying down one’s lives for it.⁸⁵ Concerning the relationship between Jews and Greeks, we take note that the treatise highlights the point that some Jews even went to Greece as colonists together with Cadmus and Danaus, while others went to Judaea (Diodorus 40.3.2). This was obviously introduced to reinforce the view that Jews and Greeks not only get along well with each other, but share a common heritage.⁸⁶ The Ḥezekiah story, we recall, is deliberately placed into the chronological context of the time and reign of Ptolemy I in order to promote the view that not only were Jews welcomed since his reign, but they were also present in Egypt ever since the first days of the Ptolemaic dynasty.⁸⁷ In addition to that, the story of Ḥezekiah’s arrival not only legitimizes the foundation of Jewish settlements (the meaning of which most probably refers to military settlements),⁸⁸ but also seeks to explain the prominence and overall presence of Jewish administrators in the Ptolemaic government and court.⁸⁹" (pg 284-285)

From Priests in Exile by Meron M Piotrkowski

#cipher talk #actually egyptian tag #Masr #Mitzrayim #{} are me not really wanting to just post the tetragammatron on my blog #The Oniad Temple #Leontopolis

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thepastisalreadywritten · 11 months

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SAINT OF THE DAY (June 1)

"We are slain with the sword, but we increase and multiply; the more we are persecuted and destroyed, the more are deaf to our numbers. As a vine, by being pruned and cut close, shoots forth new suckers, and bears a greater abundance of fruit; so is it with us."

– St. Justin Martyr

Justin was born around the year 100 in the Palestinian province of Samaria, the son of Greek-speaking parents whose ancestors were sent as colonists to that area of the Roman Empire.

Justin's father followed the Greek pagan religion and raised his son to do the same, but he also provided Justin with an excellent education in literature and history.

Justin was an avid lover of truth, and as a young man, became interested in philosophy and searched for truth in the various schools of thought that had spread throughout the empire.

But he became frustrated with the professional philosophers' intellectual conceits and limitations, as well as their apparent indifference to God.

After several years of study, Justin had a life-changing encounter with an old man who questioned him about his beliefs and especially about the sufficiency of philosophy as a means of attaining truth.

He urged him to study the Jewish prophets and told Justin that these authors had not only spoken by God's inspiration, but also predicted the coming of Christ and the foundation of his Church.

“Above all things, pray that the gates of life may be opened to you,” the old man told Justin, “for these are not things to be discerned, unless God and Christ grant to a man the knowledge of them.”

Justin had always admired Christians from a distance because of the beauty of their moral lives.

As he writes in his Apologies:

"When I was a disciple of Plato, hearing the accusations made against the Christians and seeing them intrepid in the face of death and of all that men fear, I said to myself that it was impossible that they should be living in evil and in the love of pleasure.”

The aspiring philosopher eventually decided to be baptized around the age of 30.

After his conversion, Justin continued to wear the type of cloak that Greek culture associated with the philosophers.

Inspired by the dedicated example of other Catholics whom he had seen put to death for their faith, he embraced a simple and austere lifestyle even after moving to Rome.

Justin was most likely ordained a deacon. Since he preached, he did not marry. He also gave religious instruction in his home.

He is best known as the author of early apologetic works, which argued for the Catholic faith against the claims of Jews, pagans, and non-Christian philosophers.

Several of these works were written to Roman officials, for the purpose of refuting lies that had been told about the Church.

Justin sought to convince the rulers of the Roman Empire that they had nothing to gain, and much to lose, by persecuting the Christians.

His two most famous apologetical treatises were "Apologies" and "Dialogue with Tryphon."

In order to fulfill this task, Justin gave explicit written descriptions of the early Church's beliefs and its mode of worship.

In modern times, scholars have noted that Justin's descriptions correspond to the traditions of the Catholic Church on every essential point.

Justin describes the weekly Sunday liturgy as a sacrifice. He speaks of the Eucharist as the true body and blood of Christ.

He further states that only baptized persons who believe the Church's teachings, and are free of serious sin, may receive it.

Justin also explains in his writings that the Church regards celibacy as a sacred calling, condemns the common practice of killing infants, and looks down on the accumulation of excessive wealth and property.

His first defense of the faith, written to Emperor Antonius Pius around 150, convinced the emperor to regard the Church with tolerance.

In 167, however, persecution began again under Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

During that year, Justin wrote to the emperor, who was himself a philosopher and the author of the well-known “Meditations.”

He tried to demonstrate the injustice of the persecutions and the superiority of the Catholic faith over Greek philosophy.

Justin emphasized the strength of his convictions by stating that he expected to be put to death for expressing them.

He was, indeed, seized along with a group of other believers and brought before Rusticus, prefect of Rome.

A surviving eyewitness account shows how Justin the Philosopher became known as “St. Justin Martyr.”

The prefect made it clear how Justin might save his life:

“Obey the gods and comply with the edicts of the emperors.”

Justin responded that “no one can be justly blamed or condemned for obeying the commands of our Savior Jesus Christ.”

Rusticus briefly questioned Justin and his companions regarding their beliefs about Christ and their manner of worshiping God. Then he laid down the law.

“Hear me,” he said, “you who are noted for your eloquence, who think that you make a profession of the right philosophy. If I cause you to be scourged from head to foot, do you think you shall go to heaven?”

“If I suffer what you mention,” Justin replied, “I hope to receive the reward which those have already received, who have obeyed the precepts of Jesus Christ.”

“There is nothing which we more earnestly desire, than to endure torments for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he explained. “We are Christians, and will never sacrifice to idols.”

Justin was scourged and beheaded along with six companions who joined him in his confession of faith.

St. Justin Martyr has been regarded as a saint since the earliest centuries of the Church.

Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians also celebrate his feast day on June 1.

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thebrokenrobin · 1 year

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{ GUIDELINES }

Hi there! I'm Luna!

I have ADHD, depression, anxiety & a handful of physical health issues on top of working a part time job which causes my online activity to be pretty random but frequent, but other than that, I don't think there's anything else important to say. If you'd like to learn more about me feel free to reach out, I'm usually pretty receptive to new conversations even if I’m sometimes shy about reaching out first!

That out of the way, here's a few things to keep in mind when following me:

This is a sideblog for Jason Todd, & follow backs will come from @moonrisenmuses. Now, I understand that multimuse / hub blogs aren’t for everyone, & there’s absolutely NO pressure to follow, interact with or look at my main blog! I’ll only be using it to send asks from my sideblogs, & only if you happen to have anonymous asks off! Seriously, I wont be sad or offended if you aren’t interested in my other muses.

My blog is 18+ only as well as multiship, multiverse, & canon divergent. As a general rule, I strongly prefer my RP partners to be 18+ regardless of the fandom simply due to my age & the sort of content I tend to write. Graphic & disturbing, I use swearing somewhat liberally OOC, sexual content, etc. If there's no age to be found on your blog somewhere I won't RP with you, sorry. Even a general idea is okay, it's for my own comfort & safety as well as yours; a 14 year old for example really shouldn't read the type of writing I'll likely be posting. Thank you.

Please note: I DO include the popular headcanon theory that Jason suffered from under age prostituion / child sexual abuse prior to meeting Batman & that will be in my interpretation of the character. Jason may discuss it, & there may be non graphic mentions of it, allusions by himself, or even mild to severe flashbacks or story format character meta posted by me OOC. These will be very raw, real & will not shy away from the trauma of it. It won’t be romanticized or excused, but it will be portrayed as exactly as damaging as CSA is. What I will NOT do on this blog is write threads with anyone that include sexual content of Jason when he was underage, consensual or not. EVERYTHING EVEN ALLUDING TO THIS SUBJECT SUBTLELY WILL BE TAGGED EXTENSIVELY. I don’t fuck around with severe triggers like this. But if survivors of CSA working through or mentioning that trauma is upsetting for you, I gently encourage you not to follow this specific blog, I have plenty of others that do not include this particular subject.

Don't force shipping with any of my characters. If a ship happens, that's great, & you're 100% allowed to just come & ask me if I'd like to ship but don't just go ahead with it without asking. Especially if your muse doesn't fit into my muse's sexuality on one of my blogs. example; I write Chuuya as almost exclusively masc-attracted on his blog (the exception being for shapeshifter/genderfluid characters whom he already has a strong romantic love for); so it would be uncomfortable & unfair to try to force a ship on him if your muse isn't what he’s typically inclined towards. That being said, all of my muses are open to unrequited romances as well, & in fact you don't even need to ask. It's okay for your muse to have feelings for mine, but they might not always reciprocate!

A note on shipping: I do NOT ship Jason with any characters considered to be a part of the ‘Bat family’. That includes any of the Robins, Batgirls, Bruce or Alfred or anyone related to them who made one off appearances. I also will not ship him with any iteration of the Joker as in 99% of his verses, the Joker was Jason’s abuser & murderer. I do headcanon Jason once had a crush on Babs when he was quite young, & had a hero worship thing for Dick as well, but he’s long since grown out of those feelings; he considers them closer to friends or siblings these days. I will ship him with CERTAIN Rogues, however these will all be when he is above the age of 21. I will not ship him with Harvey Dent, Oswald Cobblepot or villains he knew while he was underage.

The only exception to this rule is crossovers where Jason never met the character in question Ad a child in that medium - such as Penguin in the TV show Gotham where all the characters are young & the Batkids seemingly don’t exist.

I’m always open to possibly interacting & plotting ships with crossover characters & OCs!

If you made it to the end of this congratulations! There's no passwords or anything here, please feel free to follow me if you think we'd click, & welcome!

#{ BLOG INFO }

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wisdomrays · 2 years

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The Messenger of God: Muhammad: Part 84

Removing Doubts: Part 1

Some Qur'anic verses appear to reprimand certain Prophets or entertain the possibility that a Prophet can sin, according to the usual definition of that word. Before clarifying specific examples, it may be appropriate to acquit the Prophets of such accusations.

Genesis 19:30-38 states that Prophet Lot's two daughters caused him to get drunk so that he would impregnate them. Such a charge against a Prophet is beyond belief. Lot's people (Sodom and Gomorra) were destroyed by God for their sexual immorality. Even the Bible says that Lot and his daughters were the only ones spared, because of their belief, good conduct, and decency. This supposed "sin" of Prophet Lot is worse than the sin of his people, which caused God to destroy them!

In Genesis 38:15-18, Judah, a son of Jacob, is supposed to have engaged in sexual relations with his daughter-in-law. This woman, in turn, gave birth to twin boys. Some of the Israelite Prophets were descended from them. Genesis 49:4 also claims that Jacob's other son, Reuben, slept with his father's wife (Reuben's step-mother).

Neither the sons of Jacob, whom the Qur'an mentions as "grandchildren" whose ways should be followed, nor his wives could have engaged such a behavior. Our Prophet explicitly declared that there is not a single case of fornication in his lineage back to Adam, [1] and that all Prophets are brothers descended from the same father. Our Prophet is a descendant of Abraham, as were Judah and the other Israelite Prophets. Thus, how could any of them be the result of an improper sexual alliance?

II Samuel 11 records that Prophet David fell in love with the wife of a commander and committed adultery with her. According to the Bible, he then had her husband sent to the front line and, after he was killed, married her.

David is a Prophet who was given a Divine Scripture (the Psalms) and who is praised in the Qur'an for his sincere and profound devotion to God:

Be patient with them, and remember Our servant David, the man of strength and abilities, who always turned to God in sincere devotion and submission. We made the mountains declare, in unison with him, Our praises, at eventide and at the break of day, and the birds gathered (in assemblies): all with him did turn to Him (in profound devotion). We strengthened his kingdom and gave him wisdom and sound judgment (in speech and decision). (38:17-20)

Though a king, he lived a simple life by his own labor. He had such a great awareness of God that he cried a great deal and fasted every other day. Our Prophet recommended this type of fast to some Companions who asked about the most rewarding type of supererogatory fasting. Could such a noble Prophet ever commit adultery with a married woman, plot her husband's death, and then marry her?

In I Kings 11:1-8, despite God's command: "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods," Prophet Solomon is accused of marrying many foreign women belonging to pagan nations and following their gods and goddesses (idols). Would a Prophet be able to commit such a grievous sin as following the idols and deities of other tribes?

If the Qur'an had not been revealed, we would not be sure whether the previous Prophets really were sincere, devout, and thankful servants of God. The Qur'an frees Jesus from his followers' mistaken deification of him and from his own people's denial of his Prophethood, and explains that God had no sons and daughters. It also clears the Israelite and non-Israelite Prophets of their supposed "sins" mentioned in the Bible. It presents Jesus as a spirit from God breathed into the Virgin Mary, Abraham as an intimate friend of God, Moses as one who spoke to God, and Solomon as a king and a Prophet who prayed to Him humbly:

O my Lord, order me that I may be grateful for your favors, which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may work the righteousness that will please You. Admit me, by Your Grace, to the ranks of Your righteous servants. (27:19)

Solomon never worshipped idols or committed a sin. Despite being the greatest and most powerful king that ever lived, he remained a humble servant of God until his death.

Several other assertions are equally impossible to accept. For example: The Bible claims that although Prophet Isaac wanted to bless his older son Esau, he mistakenly blessed Jacob, for he could not see through his wife Rebaka's trick (Genesis 27). Also, the Bible claims that Prophet Jacob wrestled with God, who appeared to him in the form of a man (Genesis 32:24-30).

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