#i know nothing about more modern occult stuff

[yuri-is-online]

Well damn now I want to tell them about witchcraft.

Ruggie: what the hell are you doing?

Yuu: money spell.

R: *looks at the weird jar of random shit that yuu is currently sealing with green wax* ... what?

Y: just trust me bro

And like a week later they randomly get a promotion or a 1000$ art commission or something or just straight up find a stupid amount of money on the ground and rugginald bucchiland is like

Azul comes knocking at their door the next day with the aura of an eager salesman and the intentions of an FBI interrogator

rugginald bucchiland is his official name now, mickey mouse told me himself.

Something I have always wondered about isekai settings is if magic from one world would even work in another because like. Would the forces you are attempting to invoke be able to respond? I like the image of the universe tapping on the window between worlds separating you to try and get your attention because they have some good luck they want to send your way but being unable to make it through.

But assuming it does work I feel like Yuu would need to be in witness protection from Azul. Or like to successfully reverse psychology him into thinking that it wouldn't really be his money if he made it off their spells because he didn't really work for it and strike at his ego a lot little bit.

#<3 asks #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #i need to give you a tag my love you always have such fun asks #i know next to nothing about modern witchcraft #if you want to know what medieval peoples thought i can tell you a stupid amount but despite owning a tarot deck #i know nothing about more modern occult stuff #... the deck was a gift from my sister after my ex dumped me though so does it really count

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

I am recently going through all your Ficino posts with great joy (I need a new historical rabbit hole!). Do you have any preferred sources to recommend if I want to start reding or listening in for more grounding on his life, weirdness, philosophy, and all the other funky queer Florentine folk surrounding him?

yessss come down the rabbit hole with me! He is such a delightful weirdo <3 Get ready to learn so much about Saturn and Saturn's Malice (which is not in the room with us, calm down Ficino).

He's a hard one because, in English, there aren't really any biographies on him. (Italian, obviously, is a different story.)

A lot of the grounding works - good essay collections, academic texts etc. - are prohibitively expensive. They can range from $100cad to over $400cad, depending on the work. This is because most are purely that: academic texts. Meaning the print run was like 100 copies and all were bought by university libraries lol

He is also not a well known figure outside of those who study quattrocento Italy or those who study Platonism and other philosophical movements. Some of those who operate in the occult world are familiar with him due to his writings on astrology and natural magic.

Florence also had a huge flood that tragically decked a lot of their older archives and that has also sadly impacted many historians' work in the early modern field.

Now, all this said, I'm going to give you my current piecemeal recommendations:

Eight Philosophers of the Italian Renaissance - Paul Kristeller - a classic survey work based on a lecture series he gave in like the 60s, I want to say. It's very much "what it says on the tin" and provides a healthy overview of eight philosophers of the Renaissance. Ficino is one of them and it's a good place to start on who/what/where/when/why.

Others are those like Bruno, Pico Della Mirandola, Valla, Petrarch etc. All worth knowing something about because they either knew Ficino or influenced him or were influenced by him.

Kristeller wrote a lot on Ficino and is one of the "founders" I would say of the 20th century revival in the interest in Ficino. So, noodle around his works as there is always something interesting in them. They are dated, he was writing in the 60s - 90s, but it's broadly good stuff.

---

Volume 1 of Ficino's Letters, 2nd edition (make sure it's the second edition). This has great front material that goes into him and his life, positions him in the period and those who he knew and was corresponding with.

I will say, they do write in the introduction: "He [Ficino] was apparently the least active of men. It is probable that in his sixty-six years he never set foot outside the territory of Florence and the record of his life is little more than a chronicle of his books."

Which I take umbridge over as his life was very interesting, people just haven't dug into it to the degree they should.** Like, what was going on in the 1480s with all those land disputes over his father's will between him and his brothers? We need details! We need the family gossip! Alas, we don't have it as it may not exist, anymore, or the related legal papers are in an archive and it's not been made available to the public.

--

**Note: Paul Kristeller, and others, make occasional references to someone who was working on an English biography of Ficino. But this would have been in the 80s and 90s and nothing appears to have come of it. So I presume that project is languishing in someone's desk drawer.

There was talk of Arthur Farndell publishing a biography but I haven't seen any signs of it - last I heard mention would have been in the early 00s. Farndell's done most of the modern translations of Ficino's works, so he's quite prolific and you'll see his name a lot.

--

Ficino's Letter Collection (the remaining volumes) - there are 12 volumes of letters that Ficino began pulling together in the 1470s, but he regularly added to, edited, and tweaked the collection over the course of his life.

Letter collections of this sort were a genre of writing at this time and would have been understood to be a vehicle for expounding on philosophical or political issues rather than literal transcriptions of letters written to people.

Which is to say, Ficino did write some iteration of the letters included to the recipients identified. But what was printed, the manuscript editions we have, are highly edited for the purpose of public edification. This does make it super interesting to see what personal details he chooses to leave in.

For example, November 10, 1476 Ficino writes to Cavalcanti about some theological works he was putting together. Ficino also notes that he is returning to Florence soon, he had been at his father's country farm/house/thing, and he intreats Cavalcanti to also return to Florence so "we may at least be close companions in the city, even if we have not been close companions in the country this summer."

Now, as an addendum after the farewell Ficino includes this gem:

"But why do I write nothing about the recent birth of your third daughter? Because you did not write a word to me. Do you wish me to tell the truth? I will not write a word about this before I hear whether I am to congratulate or to console you. But rejoice in the gifts of the Great King, whatever they may be, for nothing from the great is mean or worthy of scorn."

What an interesting bit of personal correspondence to keep in a letter set meant to bring people closer to Platonic ideals of love, civic duty, and their relationship with the divine.

But all of Ficino's letters to Cavalcanti are odd like that. They're half personal correspondence ("I'm sad and bored, please write me!!!" or "I have Luigi Pulci. So much. Have I told you that recently? Hate him. I love everyone in the entire world with every fibre of my soul except Gigi. Fuck Gigi." etc.) and half actual philosophical musings.

Anyway, the letter collections are worth reading. Each volume also includes relevant historical details on what was happening in his life or the broader world at that time. So, for example, the back matter for Vol 4 dives into the Pazzi conspiracy since that is relevant to the letters of that volume (and Vol. 5 to be fair).

---

De Vita (Three Books of Life) - Carol Kaske and John Clark - This is Ficino's "medical" text plus the third book which is where Ficino is like "and this is how you use magical properties of certain stones, sigils, planets, and daemons to heal yourself" and other normal things like that. (He broadly fits into the mode of natural healing magic that was very common for the time - magic/medicine/science all being tangled together in the medieval and early modern period - however he does go a bit further than some. This is the book that got him into hot water with the Church.) Ficino was the son of a doctor and studied and practiced medicine so it makes sense he added medical texts to his repertoire.

I have version put out by The Renaissance Society of America: Renaissance Text Series with critical notes and introduction by Carol Kaske and John Clark.

High recommend, if only for the front notes and introduction. They do a great job positioning Ficino in the broader intellectual landscape of the time. They do a bit of attempting to track his education which wasn't as formal as one might think (he attended the University of Florence but I don't think he ever graduated. He was self-taught in many respects). They also get into what his thoughts on magic were and how they fit, or didn't fit, with the broader framework of faith and magical practices of Ficino's contemporaries.

In addition, they get into how his medical and magical thinking differs from others, where he was innovative, where he leaned on existing traditions, and the repercussions of having published this text.

---

The Bookseller of Florence - Ross King - this is a great, vey accessible book. It uses Vespasiano's life, a contemporary of Ficino, as a lens through which to explore the manifold changes in manuscript/book creation and distribution that were happening over the course of the fifteenth century.

The book also weaves in the shifting intellectual, religious, and political movements and the big, and small, players that participated and influenced these changes. Naturally, Ficino makes appearances throughout and he is described delightfully.

But I highly recommend it as a means to get a backdrop of the intellectual and political world Ficino was born into and operated within. Also, there's fun gossip about people in it and that's always a plus.

An example of some humourous bits:

"Ficino was scholarly and pious, [Luigi] Pulci (known as Gigi) boisterously scandalous, famous for his insults, invective, and sarcastic humour; he also had an unblushing fondness for taverns, brothels, and black magic. He lived up to his surname (Pulci means "fleas")--a maddenly irritating parasite. As one Florentine frantically complained in a letter to Lorenzo [de' Medici], "Gigi is annoying, Gigi has a bad tongue, Gigi is crazy, Gigi is arrogant, Gigi spreads scandal, Gigi has a thousand faults." Ficino triumphed when Gigi wrote a series of sonnets scorning pilgrims, miracles, preachers, and the doctrine of the immortal soul--and, in doing so, Ficino declared, made himself "odious to God" [...]"

Phenomenal. None of them should ever change. Also just the mental image of this pissed off Florentine frantically writing to Lorenzo "Get this man OUT of our City or so help me God!!"

---

Friend to Mankind: Marsilio Ficino - editor Michael Shepherd - ok so this is an essay collection that is really hit and miss. More misses than hits, now that I'm looking at it. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way for it, but if you see it in like a bargain bin or something it's worth picking up.

That said, there are a few essays in it that are worth finding, if you can:

"Fellow Philosophers," Linda Proud (this one is Great if you want the hilarious hot gossip of Pico Della Mirandola, Poliziano, and Ficino squabbling over Plato's concepts of Love. Well, Pico and Ficino cat-fight over it, if in a loving fashion. Poliziano eats popcorn and laughs.)

"In Praise of the One - Marsilio Ficino and Advaita," Arthur Farndell

"Ficino and Astrology," Geoffrey Pearce

"Ficino on the Nature of Love and the Beautiful," Joseph Milne

---

On the Nature of Love: Ficino on Plato's Symposium - translation by Arthur Farndell

It is 100% worth reading Ficino's commentaries on Plato's Symposium if only because I am convinced he wrote the entire thing as a love letter to Giovanni Cavalcanti.

---

Marsilio Ficino and His World - Sophia Howlett - if you can find this at the local library or used somewhere and it's not $150 I recommend it. This is the overview book that I think you're after that doesn't really exist in English, aside from here.

---

Marsilio Ficino: His Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy - editors Michael Allen and Valery Rees - This is another expensive one, sitting around $250/$300 - but I've read excerpts from it and all that I have read is amazing.

It's an essay collection covering his thoughts on Hermeticism, Plotinus, the soul and primacy of will, musical therapy (Ficino was very keen on musical therapy), Jewish concepts of the prisca theologia, the 15th c. Plato-Aristotle controversy among other philosophical items. There are also essays exploring his influence on art, thinkers, and writers both in his own lifetime as well as throughout history.

---

Plato's Persona: Marsilio Ficino, Renaissance Humanism, and Platonic Traditions - Denis Robichaud - I just spent too much money and bought this book. Will report back as I read it - however, based on the excerpts I read online, I'm super stoked.

Robichoud seems to be exploring how Ficino wrote and created his sense of self through interpretation of Platonic writings and thought. There's lots of stuff about how Ficino interacts with Plato and interprets and understands himself as, like, Plato's "spokesperson" if not a full extension of Plato himself.

---

I hope this helps! Ficino's such a weird little man and I love him. I hope you enjoy going down the rabbit hole as much as I have - and I'm always here to talk Ficino, or anything early modern Italy really. <3 <3

#ask #reply #marsilio blogging #marsilio ficino #early modern italy #early modern florence #renaissance #renaissance florence #renaissance italy #marsilio sourcing

[offbrand-deltatraveler]

You ever wonder why fan content of Deltarune’s future Chapters never really hits the same way as the real thing?

Like, no matter how accurate it can get to how things could go down in the original game, it always feels like something that you just can’t put your finger on is missing?

Or is that just me

If you are like me and do wonder why you feel that way, you’re in luck. Because what you’ve stumbled upon today an analysis post about it

Spoiler Alert: It’s not because of the ideas present in the Chapter 3+ take in question, nor is it because none of us are Toby Fox (Not directly, anyway)

It’s because we don’t add anything

—————————————————————————————————————

Not in the sense that we add nothing to the game’s story, considering we literally hand-craft the entire hypothetical story by ourselves. I’m talking about the… Revealed stuff, I guess

You know how in Chapter 1, when you check Asriel’s bed, the game console under it has two controllers? One official and one knockoff?

Originally, people thought the knockoff controller was used by Kris, and that this interaction was meant to further symbolize how the game frames them as a bit of a loser compared to Asriel. But it was actually revealed in Chapter 2 that this wasn’t the case. The knockoff controller was instead used by Asriel so Kris could have the real one

And you know how prior to Chapter 2, we didn’t have as much of an idea that Dark World food didn’t actually count as real food? We had that one Susie line to work with about nothing she eats there mattering, but it was more solidified once we saw that Kris ripped their Soul out to eat a pie because they were starving from how little they had eaten that day (And didn’t want us going outside to harass people in the middle of the night)

Or how, again, prior to Chapter 2, we had no clue that Berdly could’ve ever been into gaming? All we knew is that he was an asshole smart kid that likes to put Kris down about how much of a loser they are. He could never BALLIN’. Or so we thought

And or so we no longer think, now that 2 years later we’ve discovered not only that he and Kris are actually speedrunning rivals and that was just lighthearted banter, but also that he really was BALLIN’ after all, and that he and Noelle are a lot more than just one-time project partners

Something about Sans

You probably get the point by now, but in case you didn’t:

We don’t just add things

It’s because while we do do a lot of building in terms of Dark World stuff, that’s because it’s an unexplored Dark World. It’s new inherently, you can put literally anything you want in it as long as it follows the theme of that Dark World’s room. Unlike adding new Dark World characters, going wild as we explore the completely uncharted territory in front of us, everything we do with the characters we already have, Darkner or not, is ultimately based solely on that which we already know

Takes on future Chapters don’t have things like Catti & Kris’s occult studies, or Jockington’s zine. Or Noelle’s fear of mice or love for scary things. Or Queen sipping battery acid to the beat of the music after every text box (As well as Rouxls being her lamp). Third Dark World example (Hold On It Will Come To Me)

For whatever the reason may be, we don’t just make stuff up the way Toby does. We always either recycle old stuff or add references that are way too modern to be included in the real thing. And that’s why we don’t have that same “Literally anything could happen at any time” flair. Because anything can’t happen at any time, anything only happens in the times we know they’re supposed to happen

Not that you can really blame the makers of this fan content though, to be fair. It’s not something we really think about immediately and I’d imagine there are some concerns about how poorly some things might age, especially after what happened with Mike

Though I think the biggest contributor to that is how in the scene of future content, there’s just generally a lot of “This person is barely a character. Get outta here with that shit” instead of “Is there a reason this character would have a Dark World or fill this role?”. When talking about the future of a game who’s creator is famous for pulling complete 180’s, we can’t be shooting down ideas left and right because “Lmao this dumbass thinks Jockington will have a serious story”. We can’t be telling each other certain ideas are unlikely based on stupid things like “This character can’t be important! They don’t even have a unique text sound!!” or “This is a single door. Dark Worlds don’t appear behind single doors”. This kind of limiting logic just isn’t something the creator of the real thing would adhere to

Unless the person in question thinks that like. A character or version of a character that originates from UT’s universe affects DR in any way, or Rouxls is secretly Gaster and will betray you, assassinating Seam (who actually turned out to be the real Queen of Spades) as he transforms into The Angel in the secret 8th Chapter. Or anything else that either goes back on something Toby said previously or is just bad storytelling

But yeah, that’s why. With limited information comes limited results. Who’d’ve guessed /lh

And nobody’s to blame for that, it just is. That being said though, I’d hope reading this post has inspired at least one person to go crazy. Go out and like. Find this really insignificant detail and just add the shit out of that

Like be that one guy who made that theory that the kitchen could end up being an Undertale throwback in the Dark World. Unironically have Rouxls make Mac & Cheese in such a manner that nobody can stop him. Make the Yoshi Kris sacrificed for an extra jump a Secret Boss. Give Napstablook a tragic backstory. Include your wildest headcanon. The possibilities are almost endless

“I am cringe but I am free” and so forth

—————————————————————————————————————

I actually forgot I was terrible at ending posts for a sec

#utdr analysis post #deltarune #utdr #deltarune chapter 3 #useful

[occultboyscout]

What does it mean to be a Hermeticist for you personally? I’m curious about the core beliefs and practices you follow, I don’t know much about hermeticism

Feel free to ignore this if you don’t feel like answering :)

Hey! This is a great question!

It's harder to answer than it probably should be lol, but I will do my absolute best.

Ultimately Hermeticism is a lot of things to a lot of different people. That can come down to how hard or soft you are on its use and definition. I'm *somewhere* in the middle between a couple extremes.

For me, Hermeticism means that -I believe in a single divine entity I call God. Although their being a single divinity does not preclude them from having aspects or segments which are derived from them (the Nous or the word being one example). -I believe that the natural world is a reflection of that divinity, and that divinity is not created by the natural world -I believe that closeness to that divinity, and the freedom there, is found through knowledge, through noesis. -I believe that the natural world, even if it is derived from demiurgic forces (I frame this in my own way, but the Poimandres cites a fiery demiurge) is wholly good, and that the act of love and the will to propagate is wholly good. -I believe that there is value in autonomy and that autonomy is claimed through knowledge. -I believe the universe is describable, and that scientific and mathematic achievement do not distract from the divine but describe it directly.

Most of those things are pulled from the most firmly Hermetic documents we have access to, the Corpus Hermeticum. I'll include a link to the Salaman Clement translation of the Corpus below.

I also draw from the Emerald Tablets, another foundational and notably Hermetic document.

There's a Hermetic interpretation that discredits the holiness with which I treat the material world. It's a pretty valid interpretation and the ideas were certainly present (at the time of main body hermetic texts creation) that the material world is dirty and flawed, and the holy act is to transcend to achieve closeness with the divine.

I don't like that take quite as much, and there is textual evidence contradicting it. But you can find a summary of that mainline interpretation here:

My Hermeticism is not the *only* Hermeticism, of course. The Hermetica saw a reawakening in the Renaissance along with the advent of a Christianized form of Hermetic thought. I do describe myself as a Christian Hermeticist, primarily because I am culturally Christian, and because my primary magical work comes from Christian sources (like the majority of the Grimoires). But my Hermetica differs a little from how the Renaissance thinkers incorporated it. We saw another reawakening of the Hermetica with Newton and his translation, which I love (well, I love that it's a thing we know exists. There's less available about Newton's occultism than I would like). I'm obsessed with Newton and I think his use of the Hermetica is one the best in modern times. I mean, it gave us Calculus guys. Like, come on. (Special shoutout to Gottfried Leibniz who also invented Calculus you deserve the credit too dude but you didn't do a translation of the Hermetica so bummer for you no wizard points.) And Newton's Hermetica and mine might look a little more similar.

My Hermetica has nothing at all to do with modern texts like the Kybalion, which I strongly dislike (it's a baby of the New Thought movement and is essentially pulling the title of Hermetic for clout, which doesn't necessarily discredit it as a text but hard to approach in good faith). And especially nothing to do with texts spouting that Thoth the Atlantean stuff. I really hope people aren't reading that shit with any seriousness it's so... fanfiction-y.

"What if Thoth was an Atlantean God King and he wrote the Emerald Tablets and..." fuck off dude.

Ultimately I call myself a Hermeticist to place me in a tradition stemming from the man turned syncretic "god", Hermes Trismegistus. We are called to follow, like the initiatory structure of the Poimandres, to seek knowledge and to find the Divine there.

I place myself in the tradition of people like Newton, Boyle, Yates, Ficino, Paracelsus...

And no I'm not an egoist why do you ask?

I mean I inform what I do by the things these people wrote and thought and created. And I strive to be a little better, a little closer to divinity, every single day.

That's my Hermetica I suppose.

That was a really really long answer and I apologize for inflicting it upon you lol. I truly appreciate being able to talk about this sort of thing long form. I hope some of this was helpful, or at least passing interesting.

#magic #magician #goes #magick #occult #ceremonial magic #hermeticism #hermetica #corpus hermeticum #asks #answered

[meowsabhorrently]

For fans of Old School Death Metal

This post is to serve as a list of recommendations of niche or newer Old School Death Metal-esque bands, and what bands they’re most similar to.

Let me preface, if you’re looking for Cannibal Corpse you’re not going to get it. I like some Cannibal Corpse songs, but they’re not the kind of music that I want to get from Old School Death Metal (OSDM). You’re going to get a lot more stuff similar to Morbid Angel or Death because that’s mainly what I’m into.

I’m also going to mention themes here, which you may find confusing if you don’t pay attention to Death Metal’s themes but there’s something much more interesting to me about Death Metal that goes into mythology, history, or the occult, in the stead of the classic “Gore and Misogyny” that lazy Death Metal bands tend to do.

With that out of the way, here we go.

Gruesome - For Fans of early Death

American band done explicitly in the style of/in tribute to the band Death, with albums reminiscent of Leprosy or Spiritual Healing.

Sijjin - For Fans of Morbid Angel

A personal favorite of mine, this one has hooks and riffs for days. I found myself surprised to like this, as I had expected modern death metal bands to have nothing interesting in store, but this 2019-born band delivers just as well as any old Florida Death Metal band.

Atrocity - For Fans of the general Florida Death Metal scene

If you search this band up on Spotify, you’re most likely going to be greeted by their shitty cover albums. Yeah, in my opinion this band definitely fell off. I would, however, highly recommend their sophomore release “Todessehnsucht”. It even happens to feature a cover of a Death demo song, Archangel.

Perdition Temple - For Fans of Deicide and Morbid Angel

You’re in for a lot of Morbid Angel-type stuff, even though Death is my favorite band. This one isn’t necessarily just death metal though, as it’s sometimes labelled Black/Death Metal. Not in like, a war metal/bestial black metal kind of way though so don’t get your hopes up if you’re into that. I would personally recommend their first release the most, “Edict of the Antichrist Elect”.

Nile - For Fans of Morbid Angel

You might cry, “That’s not niche or new!”, but if I can get through to at least one Morbid Angel fan who just happens to not know about Nile, my job will be done. As the name suggests, this band thematically pertains to Egypt, particularly Ancient Egypt. I’ve never been a huge Nile fan, but of the few songs I do love I really love them.

Xenomorph - For Fans of Morbid Angel

Specifically, the American band that only released Empyreal Regimes in 1995. I really love the production on that album, something about the tone feels warm.

Angelcorpse - For Fans of Morbid Angel

If you love Morbid Angel but hate the groovier or slower parts, this band is for you. Personally, never been a big fan since I love the slower stuff from Morbid Angel, but you may love this.

Altars - For Fans of Morbid Angel

In direct contrast to the last band, here’s a bit of a groovier death metal band. Specifically, this the Altars that is an Australian Death Metal band that released “Paramnesia”.

Necronomicon - For fans of Morbid Angel

Canadian Death Metal band, I would specifically recommend “Pharoah of the Gods”, if you can get past all the unnecessary intros on multiple tracks at least. Generally, mid-paced sorta stuff.

Sentenced - For Fans of Death

They had a similar thing to Atrocity, except they went into rock music later on instead of just making covers. I would recommend their first album, Shadows of the Past, if you’re looking for that Florida Death Metal sound, and their second album if you’re looking for a more prog extreme metal sound. Anything beyond that I don’t like.

Mithras - For Fans of Morbid Angel

I would recommend specifically their album “Forever Advancing...... Legions”. It’s more on the groovy end of that Morbid Angel sound.

Scarab - For Fans of Morbid Angel (or Nile)

Excellent Egyptian Death Metal band, except this time actually from Egypt! I would highly recommend “Blinding the Masses”.

Coffin Texts - For Fans of Morbid Angel

A very underrated Death Metal band that is yet again, thematically about Ancient Egypt. If you’re tired of this theme, at least know it’s better than the alternative of just gore and femicide.

Nader Sadek - For Fans of Morbid Angel

Morbid Angel-esque riffing, sung over by one of the Morbid Angel singers, but oddly enough, about oil? I would recommend their excellent release from 2011, “In the Flesh”.

End of Recommendations

That’s all I have for now! If anyone has any suggestions I’d love to hear em, if you reply with a suitable band I might give em a listen and reblog this with more!

#death metal #old school death metal #osdm #morbid angel #death band #chuck schuldiner #deicide #trey azagthoth #david vincent #glen benton #extreme metal #heavy metal

[therealityhelix]

Shards of the Nexus: Applesauce pt 2

What did those elf eyes see?

Content warning: Gore, violence, torture

@cardwrecks​ @captainbaddecisions​

?~?~?~?~?

The Nexus had wound tighter in the past few months, opening new doors, introducing more brothers. The Family dynamic was shifting again, to accommodate. Narci was making overtures, forging friendships with those who hadn't known him before. And Helix, as was her way, greeted them each in turn.

One of these new selves, a quirky fellow, to say the least, had been expressing quite a bit of interest in her. It shouldn't have bothered him, but this 'Codec' seemed less stable than most, and Swag could see a disaster waiting. It wasn't any of his damn business. But what if it was?

Swag tapped his fingers on the kitchen table, staring down a basket of apples she'd left. Home grown and bright green; she knew he liked them. Where did her generosity come from? Why them? Why this Nexus? Why was she really here? There had to be something that she actually wanted here, from them.

Even if it was nothing more than companionship; he could understand that. But he wanted-no, now that he'd been thinking about it for so long, he needed to know. This was exactly why he didn't like to let himself dwell too much. He couldn't help but to spiral into obsession.

He needed to know more about her. He needed to know what she really wanted. He needed to know what it was that had cowed Narci, had silenced Arkham. What she could really do. What his actual danger quotient was. He needed to know...just for the sake of knowing.

Unswag was worried. He showed it in accusing stares over dinner, short, snapped replies. Swag imagined all the sudden upheaval must be unsettling him. That part of himself had never been as flexible as he was now, still didn't seem too fond of disruption unless he was the one causing it. It really did all come down to control.

“You need to let it go. Whatever it is, I can see it gnawing at you. You know what happens...”

“Since when do you give me life advice? Man, don't worry about it, I've got this on lock.”

He didn't, and U.S. could tell, and Swag knew he could tell, but he really did not want to have a discussion about his new obsession with the very embodiment of the part of himself that had been created by those obsessive tendencies.

But Unswag was determined to force it. He held up his phone and swiped with a flourish, sending the screen into an endless upscroll of occult and magical texts.

“I hacked your kindle. You used the same number sequences we always did.” he stopped just short of calling Swag a dumbfuck, but the insult was layered under his expression. “You don't understand this stuff, and you don't have to. You don't really want to know, trust me. Just let it go.”

“S'all bullshit anyway.” Swag griped. “Either a buncha medieval blowhards mistranslating Hebrew, or modern grifters with names like 'Moonraven Crystalwolf'. Nothin' real. I gotta find somethin' real.”

Then his eyes fell back on Unswag, who shifted uncomfortably. Wait just a damn minute...

“Hey. You. What did you actually see?” Swag demanded. Had the answer been in front of him the whole time?

Unswag looked away.

“I've already told you. The two of you teamed up and kept me from returning to my 'sinful ways'. I saw no other options, so I have behaved myself. Is that not enough?”

“Oh, no no no, what did you actually see?” Swag crossed the space between them, taking his reflection up by the collar of his pressed white shirt. “What is it that makes you tremble every time she touches you? You ain't smitten, you're scared. What is it? What did you see?”

Unswag kept his head turned, lips pressed thin.

“Riddle me this...” he hissed quietly.

“Don't.” Swag growled back. “This ain't that. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of some things.”

Unswag related to Helix differently than Swag did, and he'd long suspected his pallid twins quivering ardor was based on more than just being unfamiliar with positive feelings for others. He was frightened of her, even as he poured adoration at her feet. And yeah, maybe he was frightened of those feelings, of what she represented. Lord knew, he'd been there. Back in the beginning, when he'd had to pry himself open, expose himself to the terrifying ordeal of being known. Maybe some of it was that. But definitely not all of it.

“Spit it out. Or...” he let the threat dangle.

“Or what?” Unswag snapped, calling his bluff.

“Or. Hm. I could stop letting her see you?” It was an absolutely toothless threat; he obviously couldn't and wouldn't do that, and Unswag laughed in his face.

“Even if you were serious, you couldn't stop her. Nothing can stop her. Don't you see? She has access to spacial reality, her power is limited only by her imagination. And wouldn't you know it, she's surrounded herself with the intellectual titans of a dozen worlds. She's learning, constantly! She will never be as intelligent as any of us, but that doesn't matter. She just has to be smart enough. Don't you see? You all think you know, Detective, Narci, you, you think you know but you're blind! None of you see!”

He'd grown agitated, grasping at Swags shirt like a pale mirror of his actions, shaking him slightly. It was...almost revolting, seeing this from the outside, this wide-eyed, stretched mouth rant's-edge he'd been on so many times before.

“Look-” he started.

“She flayed me alive.” Unswag said, a sudden quiet smallness taking over his voice.

Swag recoiled, as much as he could while his twin still held him by the collar.

“Wh-what?”

“She locked me in the circle, and left me to starve to death. She tore the air from my lungs, and you just watched. She crushed me like an insect. She ripped my limbs off, one by one.”

“Stop. She wouldn't-”

“She squeezed my heart until it stopped! You just watched! She broke every bone in my body and left me to drown in my own blood! She liquefied my organs and you just watched! She dissolved me into loose atoms and kept me alive nearly to the end! You don't see! None of you see! She's a monster! You opened your arms to a monster! And I did the same because I want to live! Of course I'm smitten, this one lets me live! I will revel in that mercy! And of course I'm scared, you thick-witted buffoon; you are going to fuck it all up!”

He released Swags shirt, slipping from his numb fingers and backing away.

“She's as mad as any one of us, and like an infant elder god, she doesn't know it. She doesn't know her impact, doesn't understand what she does to the people around her. She's the most dangerous thing you've ever come into contact with, and you want to confront her? Because you got a question lodged in your brain, and can't let it go. Let me know when you plan to do it, so I can get a ticket out of town. I do not intend to be here when you make this mistake.”

He stalked to the door to his room; Swag could see his hand trembling on the knob. He turned back.

“Oh, and that Codec fellow? You're right; he's going to be a problem. He sees even less than you do. You should have been more assertive. Now you're going to have to deal with the backlash. Again; I'll be out of town.”

He didn't slam the door, but the soft click was loud in the sudden silence.

It was too much to take in, too at odds with what he knew. Helix didn't do things like that. He knew she didn't do things like that, because she hadn't. And damn if she hadn't been provoked. Unswag had to be...what, lying? Exaggerating? Faking that shuddering grip, that horrified grimace? To what end?

He shouldn't be going down this road, he knew he shouldn't. But he was like a rock, hurtling down a hill.

The next time she visited. He would just ask. What could that hurt?

Helix seemed frazzled when he saw her next, eyes slightly red around the rims. He set to mixing her favorite cocktail. It looked like she could use something.

It was pomegranate vodka and dark chocolate liqueur, a simple mix he'd taken to calling a 'Double Helix', though he hadn't told her that.

“Hey, Starlight, how's it going?” he slid the drink over to her. “Haven't seen you around for a bit.”

“Didn't know you were back in town yet. You've been gone for some time.” She accepted the drink, taking a small sip.

He couldn't get his hands on the metal circling his finger in Gotham, so he'd gone to where he could, and turned it into a sort of impromptu vacation.

“Something happen while I was gone?” he asked.

“Well...Narci's been troubled. Yeah, I know, tell you another one. But he's been doing really well! Going out, meeting new people...”

“New Riddlers. That might be the problem really.”

“Maybe? I've been encouraging it. For one thing, you guys understand each other. Shared experiences. For another thing, I want him to see all your variances. Noticing the differences between you might help break this idea of Riddler supremacy that had him so wound up. Help him understand his place in all this. I can't keep him isolated from everything, after all; that's no good for him either. He's tried to forge relationships with some of these new fellows. I'm glad to see him being more honest with himself, but they all seem to be going wrong. And he's still so young, and distressed by it, and...I'm a little worried that he might be going off his meds.”

“Oh. That. That would be bad.”

Narci's medicine was a chemical barrier to homicide. Him being without it would indeed be bad.

“He hasn't gotten violent with you, has he?”

“No. No, but he has become withdrawn. Sometimes he comes home, and he smells of blood. I don't know if it's his, or someone else's, and I honestly don't know which would be worse.”

“Holy shit. Are you okay?”

“I'm fine.” she said firmly. “I'm more worried about him. This is so important to him. He wants to make it, but he's got no frame of reference for healthy, much less happy. So I'm afraid he's falling back into familiar, for lack of anything else.”

And 'familiar', for Narci, was grotesque. Grotesque and intensely personal.

“Do you need help?” It was foolish to ask. What could he do? He didn't really want to get involved, did he?

But he'd fallen into the habit of offering her help very soon after meeting her. It was as if he had this drive to be useful to her. To prove something.

Was he really that different from Unswag?

“Yes, but I'm working on it. I've approached the new guys, the ones he's been talking to. I've asked them to keep him out of their schemes, but I don't know if they're willing to listen. I think little Vex views me as some kind of captor. He's not ready to entertain the thought that a Riddler could just...not. Be that. Or at least turn the identity into their own thing. The Old Man seems willing to at least discuss it though. Seems a responsible sort, though I guess you don't get to be that age in this kind of game without an abundance of caution and experience. I've also sorta...um...been trying to steer Narci away from his ideal role model being Arkham, and, uh, more towards...well...”

Her gray eyes snared his. He swallowed.

“Me.”

“Isn't it a better choice? If he's going to model himself off of anyone?”

Swag rocked back, uncertainty in every line.

“Helix, I do not want this kind of responsibility.”

“Neither did I, but it takes a village, damnit.”

He drew back further, surprised.

“Wait, but didn't you volunteer?”

“Yeah, because he needed me to! Puzzles needed me to, you all needed me to! I was the only logical choice! Narci was falling apart fast. Did you want to see Puzzles die again? I didn't!”

A whiplash of anger, because she knew, she knew how he felt about Puzzles previous death.

“I figured you would understand.” she continued, before he could snap back. “I can take care of his physical needs, I can teach him many new things, but I cannot be his everything. Peel back all the fear, the suffering, the anger, the guilt, and he is still no more than a teenage boy, with all that comes along with that, and I...I can't relate. Not like he needs me to. He is too old for me to be his mother, but too young to be on his own out there.”

Swag shrugged, a little at a loss.

“I was on my own younger than him.” he pointed out.

Helix just looked at him.

“Okay, yeah, that's not the best point, huh?” he muttered. The anger lingered, transmuting into irritated acceptance. Because she was right, damn it all. Narci had been right on the edge, maybe mere days from murder, and everyone had known it. He had known it, which was why he'd argued with her in the first place: over the danger Narci posed to anyone around him. And he was just a kid still, even though that was easy to forget under all the layers of horror. His youth was just one more of those layers.

Helix was clearly certain that he could turn himself around, if he had the support structures needed by a kid on the cusp of adulthood. And she was correct that it could not be her. At least, not her only. Narci needed friends around his own age, a variety of positive influences, mental and emotional support, a metric shit ton of therapy. He needed his Family. And no slight to Helix, but while she might be family, she wasn't Family, not fully. Mentally, she simply wasn't on the same level as the rest of them, and would not be able to keep up with him like they could. Emotionally, her scarring was so very different as to be nearly unrelateable, and she recognized all of this.

She knew that she needed help, their help, his help, and he didn't want it, but he was going to do it. It was a foregone conclusion the minute she'd brought it up. Because it was the logical thing to do.

“S'not just me though, right?” he checked. “Like, I'm not objecting to helping you out, I just don't think that's something I can take on all by my little lonesome, y'know?”

“No, of course not! I just focused on you because I felt you were the most different from where he used to be.”

“Oh, well thanks.”

“I'm pretty sure YJ would be happy to get involved. He was willing in the first place. Puzzles is likely to lend a hand here and there as well, he just couldn't shoulder the whole burden. I...I wish I could ask Detective, but...”

“Yeah.”

“But Narci and Vex are getting along really well, The Old Man seems to really like him, Bambi and Ark, uh...probably won't be hostile? At least? I still don't know about that Bird fellow-”

“He seems all right.” Swag interjected. “Pretty well collected. Real proper, not unfriendly. I don't really know what he's like on the criminal front; he didn't say and I only barely asked. The details ain't really my business.”

“You're more influential than you think.”

“Don't want it.”

“Wouldn't trust anyone who did. Anyway, there's others but...ehhh, I don't have to get along with them, as long as Narci does.”

“Who don't you get along with?”

It was a serious question. Helix got along with practically everyone, in one way or another. Even Arkham. Sorta. Somehow. Nobody had a normal relationship with Arkham.

“Wait. Is it Codec?”

“It's Codec. You knew, huh?”

“I had an idea. Let's just say looking at him feels kinda...familiar.”

“And that's why I thought I should give him a shot!” she said, spreading her hands. “He has so much potential to-”

“To be like me? Maybe. But not everybody can do it like I did. I barely did it like I did. I did it the hardest possible way. I didn't get any of the help he probably needs, though I likely should have. Now, I'm not saying he's a lost cause or anything, but he's probably not ready to reach out for that help, and he might never be, and that ain't your fault or your responsibility.”

“I know.” she sighed. “And I don't think we'll be seeing each other anymore anyway. Some lines were crossed.”

“Howwww, do you mean?” he drawled, uncomfortable curiosity slithering along his nerves.

Helix placed a handful of rusty screws, and a broken spring on the bar between them.

“A'ight, you got me. What are these?”

“They're from the deathtrap he made to put me in.”

?~?~?~?~?

Artist: @cardwrecks​

#shards of the nexus #Riddler Family #Swag!Riddler #Unswag!Riddler #Helix

[cupofdirtfordinner]

i kinda fucking hate 1.20

(image from the minecraft wiki)

Cherry blossom forests do not work at ALL for minecraft, and make the game look like half the textures were swapped for a 2015 kawaii texture pack. The color palette for this biome compared to the rest of minecraft clash so hard it's distracting, like an anime fan has a field day in aseprite. this looks bad.

I absolutely refuse to call this update "one point twenty", because it's NOT, it's update 3.0. updates went 1.8, 1.9, 1.1, 1.11, 1.12, that's not how decimals work. if we *were* at 1.9, the next logical step is 2.0, but for some reason nobody called it that. im no mathematician, but 1.20 is equal to 1.2.

Pottery feels like a mod. Not a good one, either. not even for minecraft mod standards. "oh you like creating things? create a pot!" why on earth would I build something small and lifelike with powers-worth of less combinations than if you were to build a house, or a castle, or whatever because it's minecraft. this feature doesn't tie into anything else, this is completely self contained and adds nothing except bloat to the game. why anyone would bother to do this in survival is beyond me.

I've been dying to rant about this one! Archaeology breaks minecraft's world building outright, and destroys any lore building to now. Minecraft has always had magic and occult themes; enchanting tools and items, pillagers and woodland mansions, potion brewing and witches, zombies and skeletons and giant spiders, the stronghold, the end portal (and igniting it via enemies' eyes), and now we have the most normal form of human science. if it was astronomy or botony or chemistry (alchemy would be sick but that's not a modern human science) then MAYBE but it ISN'T. it's fucking rocks. god knows they aren't gonna do anything creative like you find an ancient artifact or something, you just dust off "suspicious sand" and get in return just completely random and useless shit. If you're late game enough to start adventuring around in search of suspicious sand, why on EARTH would you need ANY of this?

now, to further this fruitless endeavor of adding more stuff from real life to make minecraft more "realistic" or whatever, why would they backpedal SO HARD to add the sniffer? An entirely fictional creature in an update with otherwise exclusively real life additions, there's no theme here. From what i've seen of the sniffer, it looks like a fine mob that actually has something worth adding to minecraft, it just digs around and has fun and acts like a big wacky turtle. love it. A+. why the fuck does it not spawn naturally. the only reason archaeology is useful to any degree to to spawn sniffers, and sniffers dont serve any functional purpose other than to rizzen up your base with ancient plants. why not just make sniffers dig up food for themselves, and then you can tame them to start digging up plants? having sniffers wander around would make the game way cooler, but instead they had to use them to justify a completely useless unrelated system to exist. god that pisses me off.

I had to get this out of my system, but I would like to use this blog for shit im doing in addition to long posts like these about whatever laith is thinking at 11 am on a sunday. I dont like limiting myself to just the funnies and having a shit ton of side blogs is annoying, so if you didnt like this change of form i am not sorry and I will be doing more. ok bye gang

#minecraft

[orlissa]

February reading summary

Another month has passed, so it’s time for another book round up :)

In February I managed to read 8 books (and had one DNF). Altogether, altogether, I’m at 16 individual books read this year, which is pretty good considering that my goal is 50 books by the end of December.

But now let’s see what was on the menu for this month:

Rob Sears: The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump -- Just to make it clear, this is not a poetry collection written by Trump XD No, it’s a poetry collection edited together from stuff he has said, which is nothing short of brilliant. Like, the author(s) when through everything he has said, and rearranged them in a way that they mean something (every line is annotated, bwt). It’s just simply funny and even poignant at some places -- a “poem” especially stayed with me, where what he said in the Access Hollywood Tape (”grab them by the pussy”) was juxtaposed with a pre-prepared speech about the horrors of domestic abuse and rape.

Jenna Evans Welch: Love & Gelato -- Overall a nice coming of age story about a girl, who, after the death of her mother, moves to Italy to live with her father she’d never even met before, and then discovers Florence through her mother’s diary written the year before she was born. I love Florence, so it was a treat to me in that aspect, but I did feel like that author didn’t really know the place (the characters were complaining about the lack of AC, lack of American fast food, bad internet...), and I think the present-day romance was a bit stupid (the author clearly wanted to parellel the past/the mother’s romance with the present/daughter’s romance, to make the point that the daughter is not making the same mistake, but that wasn’t exactly what she ended up doing). Plus I read the Hungarian edition, and there were some seriously issues with the translation.

Mary McMyne: The Book of Gothel -- Easily my favorite book this month. I went in expecting a Rapunzel-retelling from the witch’s POV, and I got so much more, a lamentation on wise women’s situation, on magic, the occult, Christianity, and Christian mysticism in the 12th century Germany. Wow. Absolutely recommend.

Liz Braswell: What Once Was Mine -- DNF. Sigh. So after The Book of Gothel, I decided to go with the other Rapunzel story on my list. This book belongs to the Twisted Tale series, which is basically standalone novel of Disney What ifs with a dark twist. I read the Mulan one some time ago, and that was absolutely phenomenal (in that one Shang gets injured in the mountains instead of Mulan, and as he is dying, she goes down to the underworld to bring his soul back), so I had high hopes for this one. Yeah... it didn’t work out. The whole book is framed as a 16 years old guy telling the story to his twin sister while she is getting chemo, the language/narrative stlye is all over the place (sometimes it’s all jokey, sometimes it very serious and old timey, but nothing like how a 16-y-o kid would speak), we keep switching back to the hospital room which breaks the rhythm, and for some reason it takes place in the real world, and apparently Elizabeth Báthory is the bad guy? Yeah, I gave up after about 10%

Cory O’Brian: Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes -- There were only two reasons why I finished this book: 1, I didn’t want to have two DFN’s right after each other, and 2, it was a quick read. It is supposed to be a funny, modern retelling of myths (not just Greek, but from all around the world), making them widely accessible and weeding out the classism aspect surronding them, and it even started out promisingly when the author talked about Joseph Campbell’s work in the preface. But then... Sigh. It’s endless dick jokes, misogyny, and low-key racism (e.g. the African section has three myths, and in the section preface the author talks about how hard it was to choose these three, because there are just so many different myth. Yeah, dumbass, because Africa is a whole continent with a bunch of cultures. He could have just chosen to focus on, let’s say, Yoruba myths, he could have avoided this).

Katharine & Elizabeth Corr: Daughter of Darkness -- Solid YA fantasy based on Greek myths (but not a retelling of them). In a world where the tyrant Orpheus reigns over most of what we know as Greece today, some people are being marked by the gods--they get a fraction of the power of the god who marks them, which mark appears in early childhood, after which they are brought to and raised in Houses; after their training is complete, they are to work there for forty years as indentured servants. Deina, our protagonist is marked by Hades, and there is nothing she wants more than freedom--which seems to be within reach when Orpheus is looking for volunteers for a quest, which turns out to be going down to the underworld to retrieve his queen’s soul. I really enjoyed the early/worldbuilding parts, and the last couple of chapters after the twist(s), but the middle part--where the characters were traipsing through the underworld--did drag a little. The characters were generally very interesting, and although the authors built a bit too much on secrets and the twists coming from these secrets being revealed, and the romance aspect felt a little weak, and it went really dark, and I mean really dark by the end, I actually enjoyed it a great deal. It was the first part of a duology, with the second one coming out in July I think, and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna read it.

Karen Cushman: Katherine, Called Birdy -- I downloaded this book when I saw the trailer for the movie back in like September, then promptly forgot about it. Anyway, so it’s the fictional diary of the daughter of a 13th century English knight, on the cusp of adulthood, chronicling her daily life for a about the span of a year. It’s delightfully medieval and modern at the same time, in a sense that the narrative focuses on the realities of everday medieval life, while Birdy... well, Birdy is being a teenager with an attitude that that reflects the attitudes of modern teenaged girls. Really funny and thought-provoking, an absolute delight.

Natasha Bowen: Sould of the Deep -- Sigh. Nope. No comment on this one. 

Sasha Peyton Smith: The Witch Haven -- YA fantasy set in New York, 1911, with the driving force behind the narrative being the murder of the protagonist’s brother. It started out really strong (like, it’s almost as if the first two-three chapters were written by a different author), but the rest is a little (a lot) all over the place. The book is somehow about too much and too little at the same time, trying to virtue signal and address everything, but in the process making most of the characters unlikable and just underdeveloped, swmming in a mess of a plot. But I did like Oliver, the protagonist/her brother’s childhood friend, who depicted as a model of gentle masculinity. Also a duology, but I don’t think I’ll read the second book.

#orlissa reads #books

[mostspecialgirl]

oc rambling again - mage society

excited to spend my weekend building mage society lore

ive spent too long painting them as incompetents when they’re supposed to go through a whole renaissance post-devil’s manner, and the magic towers are actually supposed to be a powerful worldly presence. for the amount of importance i put on relic earth (the plane) i dont ever seem to dabble very much on relic EARTH itself aside from a few choice individuals.

in shadows is currently my only Large Series Piece that holds the affairs of humanity as a primary focus. It also happens to be the story where the magic towers are preoccupied with trying to keep the mage society separated from that of that of the non-magic civilian lives with the emergence of the shadowless. in shadows is essentially one of Novekhrys's (who has also recently been elevated to status of Ninestrike Divison Lead) proposed “mage awakening doomsday’s” come to life and as such everyone’s busy freaking the fuck out. my point is, they don’t really get highlighted anywhere aside from extraneous strands loosely attached to side characters.

but the fact is, they REMAIN extremely important and as such i feel it’s only natural i go to flesh that out. hana is receiving funding from the Beast Tower, Father, Wintergreen and Polonius were students under Hermes at the Science Tower, PROTEUS SINAI is a PROFESSOR of Advanced Modern Spellcrafting, Lesser Familiar Summoning and Beginner’s Golemancy within the Blue Tower !!!!!!!!! THE UNNAMED WHITE TOWER MASTER IS THE RELICVERSES STRONGEST MAGIC USER !!!!!!!!!!! THE ONLY ONE TO ACHIEVE FINER CONTROL OVER ARS SUBTILIOR THAN LAWLIET Y LEBLANC HIMSELF !!!!! A MAN WHO HAD UNDERSTANDING OF ITS EXISTENCE FROM BIRTH!!!! (breathing heavily) perhaps, i am to suggest, it is not that the mage society are incompetents, it’s that i, their writer, am. i’m starting to understand how the lorekeepers feel. fucking voxel. you make it look so damn easy

anyway, the mage society has been left undeveloped for way too long, and i feel like there’s a lot of untapped potential there. i really could write a mage society arc or two into in shadows. i’ve still got time! (I probably wont, in shadows is pretty loaded as is) but at the very least i can have access to another location to plop people in with another defined set of characters to pull from. i’ve barely used novechrys and proteus because i’m still kind of unsure what i want the mage society to be like in terms of what they mean for my greater universe. They’ve always had a nebulous sort of rivalry with the demiurge, but i’ve never worked out the finer details. do they want to planeswalk? are they on his side of defending relic earth from outsiders? how do they feel that he’s made connections to talented professors and even a tower master? who is he to the tower masters as a unit? what changed within the mage society after the fall of the science tower? what does this all look like to people like lucille and ophelia, tangentially related to the affairs of the magic towers and mage society but not being a part of it themself? I’ve got an large well to draw the waters of content from here, not even counting on the fact it shares a plane with both the affairs of devil’s manner and in shadows.

oh god. that’s right. am i going to have any organized supernatural religious groups in relic earth? obviously, nothing as straightforward as Encauth’s Holy Church, but at the very least, large occult congregations? i’ve already got existences of closed door practicing groups like berrosus’s church of tiamat. maybe something more akin to how the church is handled in the nasuverse? probably that. i’ve got to close that can for now because im supposed to be focused on the mage society

anyway. I can’t wait to work on a whole bunch of stuff i never show anybody unless someone randomly asks to know about it (always a possibility)

i’ll return with art within a fortnight

#stupid oc rambling #leastspecialgirl

[traegorn]

Why is it every time I find a new book not claiming to be about Wicca, it always is 🙄 I am wiccan but its like this is why everyone hates us. I've been reading Practical Magic a Beginner's Guide to Crystals, Horoscopes, Psychics and Spells by Nikki Van De Car. The art in this thing is beautiful but it is full of closed practices, false info, and pretending that Wicca is the only pagan religion there is. And it claims to be an intro to the occult. Nothing in any of the descriptions says anything about Wicca but she's using wicca interchangeably with pagan. Idk. I needed to vent to someone who is also wiccan. I see this stuff and im like yeah I see why the internet hates wiccans and I wish people would stop doing it. Ugh ugh ugh

I haven't read any Nikki Van De Car, but yeah -- this shit happens constantly.

There's a reason why when I hear someone say Wiccans are the worst... I usually respond with "Yeah, I know..." and then add on ten more things to complain about.

But the first clue that it wasn't going to be historically significant was the inclusion of crystals in the title. That's very much a modern addition to witchcraft.

[thorraborinn]

Waywardtravelerfart check in from out of home: what’s our leftist damage control plan for the horned Nazi at the capitol?

You mean because of the heathen imagery? I have a bunch of thoughts.

From what I gather the guy is some kind of weird syncretic spiritual Christian and heathens have been pretty quick to point this out both as a way of distancing themselves from him and just because it’s important context generally. But I think what heathens are missing is that we’re not as unconnected to this guy as they think. While I don’t know the details of what he says or believes or where it comes from, the roots of modern heathenism include syncretic Christian mysticism, Theosophical spiritual racism, and conspiratorial occult revisionist history. The most (or at least second-most) influential author of books about rune magic (Thorsson/Flowers) is keeping alive the theories of a nationalist (Johan Bure) who thought that an order of masters of the “runic mysteries” had guided the transition from pre-Christian heathenry to Christianity such that the important parts are the same in both. We really don’t have the luxury of not knowing this stuff, and if we want to convince others that we have nothing to do with the Q-shaman we better make sure we’re auditing our own influences.

On a different note, I think it might be helpful for heathens to start thinking less in terms of “racist vs. anti-racist” and more in terms of the three-way fight between us, the fascists, and the neoliberal settler state. This is basically what I’m getting at in this post. This is playing out in a very broad way as people argue that we all have a duty to side with the state against the chuds who stormed the capitol, as if this weren’t the same security apparatus that REGULARLY funds, plans, and trains people to enact coups and put down rebellions all over the world. We can’t base our appeals for legitimacy in complicity or nonconflictuality with the settler state. The openly reactionary nationalism of the MAGA people and the neoliberal security state that has finally started taking a minimum of action against the former now that it’s politically convenient (remember, they already had the anti-terror laws they needed to stop this at any time, chose not to, and do not need more), are two different, competing but barely conflicting strategies for preserving white supremacy; both have in common ICE detention facilities, bombing hospitals, seizing Indigenous lands on behalf of corporations, the prison industrial complex, and again, I really can’t stress this enough, staging coups.

The reason this is all so important for our messaging is that when heathens actually do have a real anti-racist movement, we will be discredited in ways that are related (though, not as intensely) to the ways movements in the history of the Black radical tradition have been discredited (or, maybe the environmental movement is a better comparison). The heathen strategy for public relations has usually been to appeal to media and organizations like the SPLC, but we need to learn to speak for ourselves and not beg for approval, because then that's what informs our values and our actions. Let me put it bluntly: liberal heathen anti-racism is an appeal to not be excluded on religious grounds from the benefits of white supremacy.

All of this being said, it remains true that we have to make it clear who we are and what we stand for, vocally denounce folkish heathenry and this Q-shaman loser, because we also have to remember that there are heathens and heathen-curious people out there who aren’t white, are queer, are disabled, and are otherwise marginalized, who need to know that there are people out there that they can relate to and trust. It’s just that making ourselves deserving of that trust comes first.

Since we don’t have a real heathen antifascist, anticolonial movement (i.e. we have antifascist heathens, but no ability to coordinate action as antifascist heathens at a scale beyond the individual affinity group), the best things for heathens to do are to start building the connections to develop one, and simultaneously do work toward these ends with non-heathens. Just to be clear, when I say “coordinate action” I’m not saying that we need another national heathen org that can disseminate orders but this time make it good. I mean building relationships with people who have goals in common and working together to accomplish those goals without collapsing or undermining their unique identities and autonomy. This applies equally among heathens, and between heathens and non-heathens. I think what would be unique about heathenry in this context would be the way that our relationships of solidarity impact the way we express our religion and feed back into the continued development of heathenry. It would also establish a place for heathenry in the histories of other, non-heathen communities, and thereby make these appeals for approval from big platforms less relevant or even obsolete. Undoubtedly this would, over time, develop a wide-ranging diversity of heathen thought and expression that would make its distinction from folkish heathenry self-evident at even the most superficial observation.

#ask #waywardtravelerfart #heathenry

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi, do you know of any good vamplock fics? I especially like the ones where John realises what Sherlock is and is like, into it. Tbh anything fluffy is good — I do like some angst but preferably nothing too dark. My favourite one ever is ‘An Acquired Taste’ by kinklock on ao3. Thank you as always for doing god’s work!

Hey Nonny!!

AHHHH Okay. I get asked about Vampirelock a lot, and all I ever offer is a REALLY old and ugly list that needs cleaning up. So you know what? I’m going to finally just... post an updated one with stuff people have suggested to me too. I haven’t really read any other ones since 2018, my personal recs are old. Like I’ve only 3 personal recs, LOL. But as I said, I’m going to go through all my past lists and compile them here so I finally have a nice list to point y’all to, LOL. So, it’s not EXACTLY your request... just check out the tags and make the decision to check out the fic! <3

Love you Nonny! 

EDIT: I meant to upload this last month, so... Sorry?? LOL. 

VAMPIRES (Dec 2020)

See also:

Vampirelock (Updated June 10, 2018 || Mine)

Johnlock & Bloodplay (bonus Vampires) (ALEXX LIST)

Vampires (ALEXX LIST)

Longer Vampire fics (ALEXX LIST)

A Study in Black by Reapersun (T, 27 Pages || Vampire AU Webcomic || Vampire Sherlock, Hunter John, Case Story, Supernatural Elements) – A Johnlock vampire AU with a bit of occult stuff.

An Acquired Taste by kinklock (E, 31,059 w., 4 Ch. || Vampires AU || Vampire Sherlock, Misunderstandings, Bat!Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Humour, Magical Realism, Fluff and Angst, Blood Drinking, Holmes Family, Slow Burn) – At Montague Street when Sherlock was forced to sate his body’s needs, he was at least able to wander about the flat as much as he pleased. At Baker Street, it was mini-bags in a mini-fridge and bedroom confinement.

Bleed Me Out by antietamfalls (E, 87,987 w., 14 Ch. || Vampire AU || Bonding, Vampire Sherlock, Fluff & Angst, H/C, John Whump, Magical Realism) – John isn’t exactly surprised to discover that Sherlock isn't human. His vampirism doesn't pose a problem, even when their relationship gradually grows into something more. That is, until a deadly revelation about John’s blood sends their lives spinning dangerously out of control.

MARKED FOR LATER

The Art of the Blood by Vulgarweed (E, 6,335 w., 1 Ch. || ACD Canon Vampire AU || Past Sherlock/Historical Character, Blood Drinking, Blood Play, Cutting, Hand Jobs, Frottage, First Time, Vampire Kink, Timeline Jumps) – Watson finds a disturbing, barbaric, medically out-of-fashion item among Holmes’s possessions, and simply cannot let it go. How does Holmes happen to own not just any bloodletting kit, but one that once belonged to a great violin master who died before Holmes was born? The answers revealed will change both their lives - forever. Warning for cutting, but not in a mental illness context.

Pulse by SoftTae (E, 6,620 w., 1 Ch. || Vampire AU || Vampire John, Human Sherlock, Dark John, Dub Con, Rape/Non-Con Elements, Blood Drinking, Anal, Light Bondage, Violent Sex, Biting, Vampire Sex, Angst, Preditor/Prey Dynamic) – This was written for a friend who asked for vampire John, and human Sherlock.

Making History by SaraDobieBauer (M, 8,622 w., 6 Ch. || Vampire AU || Season 1, Vampire John, Dark John, Bondage, Dub Con, Virgin Sherlock) – Sherlock Holmes lay unconscious and handcuffed to John’s bed. John had been waiting for this day ever since he’d first met the consulting detective. He'd been waiting for centuries really.

Let's Say I Let You In by kedgeree (E, 9,972 w., 1 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Halloween, Costume Kink, Est. Rel., Humour, Smut, Vampire Sherlock, Bloodplay, Biting, Romance) – It's Halloween and Sherlock's vampire costume is turning John on, but Sherlock doesn't quite get the idea of a sexy vampire. At least…not at first. Part 4 of the Holidays series

Between the Tongue and the Taste by philalethia (E, 13,290 w., 1 Ch. || Vampire AU || Blood Drinking, Blood Play, Blood and Gore, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Daddy Kink, Daddy Sherlock, Vampire Sex) – In which John gets turned into a vampire and everything gets a bit weird.

Nine Tenths of the Law by bendingsignpost (M, 18,545 w., 3 Ch. || Modern Vampire AU || Territorial / Possessiveness, Dark John, BAMF!John, Vampire John) – John knows what's his - of course he'll kill for it.

The Halloween Party by XistentialAngst (M, 19,044 w., 3 Ch. || Halloween, Sexy Sherlock, Vampires, Costumes/Disguises, Mutual Masturbation, BAMF John, First Time, Humour, Romance, Frottage, Friends to Lovers) – Sherlock and John attend a Halloween party on the trail of a vampire killer -- a man who's been seducing his victims and taking all their blood. Sexy costumes, bad puns, hideous danger, frantic sex in hidden places and some Halloween-flavored fluff are all on hand to "treat" you. Boo.

Still of the Night by michi_thekiller (E, 30,762 w., 22 Ch. || 1950s Dark Vampire Greaser AU || Vampire Sherlock, Greaser Sherlock, Nerd John, Rape/Non-Con Elements, Period-Typical Homophobia, Horror, Seduction) – 1.) Curfew must be obeyed. 2.) Streets must be clear by sundown. 3.) If you find yourself out after curfew, seek shelter at the home of a friend, relative, or neighbor whom you know and trust. 4.) Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should any unknown persons be allowed into the home after curfew.

Sanguineous Serendipity by CarmillaCarmine (E, 34,783 w., 14 Ch. || Vampire AU || Alternate First Meeting, Turning a Character, Vampire Sherlock, Captain John, POV John, Feeding, Blood Drinking, Crossdressing Sherlock, Genderfluid Character, Sherlock in Heels, Transphobic Behaviour, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Soulmates, Romance, Happy Ending) – Vampire Sherlock meets a dying John in a field hospital in Afghanistan and gives him a whole new life.

How to become a (nice) vampire in 10 days by MorganeUK (T, 39,366 w., 17 Ch. || Vampire AU || Mystrade with Side Johnlock, Vampire Holmes Brothers, Developing Relationship, Protective Mycroft, Sick Lestrade, Angst with Happy Ending) – After something bad happened, Mycroft Holmes must help Greg to get his life back. Even if the only way to help him is to open himself like he never did before... Part 2 of the Vampires BBC Sherlock AU series

Soldier of Fortune by Laiquilasse (E, 47,116 w., 25 Ch. || Vampire AU || Soldiers, Vampire Sherlock, Anal Sex, Top Sherlock) – The only vampire working with the military police, Sherlock is sent to investigate a mysterious death in a regiment in Afghanistan. Given Captain John Watson as a go-to man, Sherlock can't work out if the man is distracting him from the case, or aiding him. And in this case, everyone is a suspect. Part 1 of Fighting For Air

The Vampires of London by consultingdetective (E, 72,660 w., 21 Ch. || Dracula AU || Pining Sherlock, Army Doctor John, Sharing a Bed, Porn With Feelings, Plot Twists) –  Over one hundred years after the first battle, a series of murders have caught the attention of London's police force and Sherlock Holmes. While most of the city has forgotten the vampire that once walked its streets, the descendants of the Van Helsing, Harker, and Seward families have not.

Stranger at the Gate by bendingsignpost (E, 85,190 w., 11 Ch. || Vampire AU || Vampire Sherlock, John with a Sword, Hypnotism, Vampire Sex, Dub-Con, Lying Sherlock, Vampire Puberty) -  As far as initiation rites go, kidnapping a human doctor from a defended town ought to seem extreme. When James Moriarty offers him the challenge, Sherlock never considers saying no.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #vampires au #vamplock #my fic recs #Anonymous

[stylishanachronism]

Okay, but when will we talk about the Readcerans? 👀 (and maybe a certain book....?👀👀)

It’s Late, I’m Exhausted, I’ve thought of nothing else for two days, let’s go.

So I already talked about Readceras and marriage, elsewhere, much more coherently, and it took me a hot minute to realize you were talking about the hysterical Eothas/Waidwen porn, so let’s talk about theater and the Ideal Romantic Partner. And hysterical porn.

So we’ve got an extant canonical morality play (which, like, somebody read extant irl morality plays because it’s really well done), which means I’m not just spitballing this. (I mean I am but) Readcerans are weird Calvinists, which means everything is Extremely Dour All The Time, but probably in practice if you’re not right in front of the Dawn Council you’re spicing it up. Virtue and Charity get into a fistfight. The Dawnstars get stuck on a roof and can’t come down to talk about the penitent, and instead yell rude things whenever he messes up a line. Somebody throws a brick. Y’know, normal stuff.

Probably not a lot of secular plays? Definitely nothing borrowed from Aedyr. Pre-everything, you’ve definitely got acting troupes crossing the border, so on a broader scale there’s still probably a lot of similarity between Readceras and the Dyrwood’s theater scene post-everything.

Your Ideal Romantic Partner (not necessarily romantic, Good Readcerans Get Married, whether they want to or not, and the social shunning for noncompliance is brutal enough you’d better have a damn good reason not to, and even then you might be better off booking it out of town) is pious, dutiful, and a little somber, but with a brightly optimistic attitude, serious about everything they do and thorough about whatever duty they’re given, a good listener, strongly community minded, did I mention the piety?, ambitious without being grasping or cruel, and vigilant both within their home, for things that could be improved, and outside it, for threats or weaknesses to be strengthened.

Divorce is even more of a Thing That Does Not Happen, more for social reasons than expense, it would be deeply ugly not only for the adults but also any children that might be about, but on the other hand everybody’s having a Really Bad Time, so an early death wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Certainly no need to go to the lengths our canonical spousal murders go to.

Eothas is obviously Best God for everything, including marriage, but tbh you’re also probably invoking Waidwen himself, which must get pretty weird for anyone who knew him!

Speaking of, let’s talk about the porn. (I mean, let’s actually talk about the implications of the porn. Y’all can go read the book if you need context. Also yes I know the excerpt is not actually porn but that is definitely where the text is headed.)

There’s two major directions your inferences can go(1), both about equally likely, and they both lead to the same next step so in this context it doesn’t even matter. Either:

-Somebody Expensive with too much time on their hands, who tbh probably knew the dude, or at least knew someone who knew the dude, those last few doomed months, wrote a highly deviant(2) work and were lucky if the Hand Occult got to it before the rest of the Council did

Or

-Paper is cheap enough and labor light enough that somebody who never even met someone who met someone who knew Waidwen had enough time on their hands to write a highly deviant work, and required less luck for the Hand to get there before their neighbors did.

Either way, we’ve got a strong cultural push for literacy and more importantly, public libraries, and also a, well, grand is the wrong word but, tradition of extremely Romantic (as in the literary movement) novels, probably roughly as smutty as modern romance novels but with even purpler prose. And like, morals.(3) Actually, thinking about it, it points to novels even being a thing in the first place, because accessible widespread printing presses do not a literary tradition make!

Anyway.

I do sort of wonder what freaked Hand out so badly about it, as BoW makes it pretty clear it wasn’t actually possible, much less on the table, and since this is the first we hear about it we can presume the author was not caught by their neighbors (this does not preclude their murder), because it’s the sort of piece that, being so incredibly awful and deviant and nobody should ever read ever, everybody has to read it immediately. Which obviously the Hand did not want. (I have so many questions??? Why did the Hand give a shit? I mean, why did the Hand give a shit about a lot of things, really, someday I should like.... chart out what we’re told/shown them to have messed with and see if anything interesting turns up, but why blasphemous porn in particular?)

Anyways I really wish you could get your companions opinions on things because I would actually die to know what Xoti and Edér think about it, among other people.

1: technically three but ‘actually it’s au fanfic and Not Relevant to Eora as is’ is much less fun to consider, so we aren’t.

2: the porn is not the deviance, that’s the blasphemy

3: morals as in ‘good Readcerans get married’ and ‘good Readcerans embody the virtues of grace and charity’, maybe even emphasized with a nonsensical rhyming couplet at the end. This is not a judgement call about irl romance novels!

#pillars of eternity #thanks for memeing me!! #look I’m not saying everybody who knew and loved Xoti breathed a huge sigh of relief #when she and her highly visible deeply ugly crush tore off after the Watcher and/or Edér #but that is exactly what I’m saying she wasn’t being shunned just for the lantern thing #I think Waenglith brings it up obliquely? but yeah it’s a thing #also I really wish I were joking about the rhyming couplets but I am not #tbh if it wasn’t canon I would not have guessed how badly divorce was taken on Eora #like it’s definitely Obsidian not thinking it through but it’s a weird trend #ALSO I FORGOT HOW FUCKING INTO WAEL THE READCERANS ARE???? #I did not cite this but I did attempt to confirm a detail #and got fucking blindsided with that fact #*bangs fists on table* obsidian what’s Readceran literary canon look like inquiring minds want to know #fuck I didn’t talk about Adaryc #is Adaryc almost word perfect the Ideal Romantic Partner? yes yes he is #but he’s not enough of an optimist and he feels things too strongly in a way the Dawn council doesn’t like but can’t argue with #which is why it’s a toss up if he himself is married #if you would like a terrible bulletpoint essag of your very own hit me up

[resinatingbeauty]

Real Talk Time (#RTT) - My Messages to all “Baby” Witches / Anyone Discovering Their Spirituality

•When it comes to magick, if it feels right you’re doing it right. You won’t know if it feels right if you don’t do it. A lot of us fall victim to the obsession that is part of the process, in my opinion, of realizing your potential as a witch/magician/wiccan/magick user of any sort, that is the compulsive consumption of all things magickal or new age/occult related. You begin building this collection of books, accumulating supplies, candles, symbols, accents for your altar-all this time reading and searching for things to perform spells and rituals that you never end up performing because of all the time and energy put into accumulating ..stuff.

The irony being is there is nothing inherently magickal about stuff. Magick is not a tangible thing, it’s a spiritual thing. The reality is you don’t need much stuff at all to manifest your desires and intentions. You don’t need to have the equivalent of the Library of Congress filled with books and texts about magick spells, invocations, rituals, etc. either. Don’t get me wrong, knowledge is a great thing, knowledge is power, but balance is a very important fundamental concept in all new age/occult/pagan traditions and if all you’ve been doing is absorbing and not performing then you’re missing out on what makes magick worth doing- doing it. Just do it *itnsert angry Shia Labeouf motivational meme here*

The problem with the over consumption of knowledge is the lack of experience to go along with it. If you’re moving constantly through various texts, chances are you haven’t taken the time to act on what had been written. Magick is about finding your connection to the universe, finding that perfect balance of confidence, humility, understanding, and inner peace that allows you to be just so in tune with yourself and everything around you that you truly, without a doubt, feel a part of it- not just a little part, but a BIG part- big enough to move mountains. What one author says to do may be contradicted by another even in the same vein of thought, but that’s them. You have to find what works for you. Once you find it, never let it go. Elaborate on it, because you can do no wrong spiritually, so long as you aren’t, you know, committing mass murder or persuading others to do it a la Jamestown.

•Those elaborate and intriguing rituals sound great until you do them (or not). I am admittedly guilty of this, as I truly enjoyed the textbook style of Donald Michael Kraig’s writing on Ceremonial Magick (highly recommend Modern Magick any edition to anyone interested in that kind of thing) and good old Aleister Crowley who could turn a mundane love spell into something out of an HP Lovecraft novel (I’m sure it’s intentional), but the wonderful imagery these texts would form in my mind couldn’t, nay, wouldn’t be manifested into reality because, quite simply, I don’t have the kind of attention span or space for that kind of thing, and I ultimately found that I don’t need all the props and paraphernalia to manifest my magick. This also goes along with my first message about accumulating stuff. While there is more than enough reason behind all the symbols, tools, and objects we utilize as spiritualists, the chalice is just a pretty cup to those who aren’t inclined to use it as such. Rituals obtain power through the repetition, focus, and energy put into them, not the objects used to facilitate this process, though these objects help maintain that focus or visual, they are not sources of magick unto themselves. The talismans I create are not magickal themselves, they were made into talismans through energy transfer and intent, the ritual is in their creation, my own essence flowing into them through my hands as they work. If you aren’t the type of person who regularly goes through these grandiose measures and thrives in the complex and detailed who also has the time to devout to several hour long invocations for regular cleansing, keep it simple. Unless you’re that kind of person, chances are the more complex it is the less likely you are to do it. While you’re researching and visualizing these rituals in your mind’s eye like a movie, ask yourself if that type of thing is something you have the time, space, and attention span for (I know I don’t.) Any magick is better than none.

Now, some rituals are supposed to be complex, intricate workings that are intended to work off around a high level of energy and commitment (think exorcisms / banishing rituals, summonings or invokations etc). Crowley and Peter Carroll (another of my favorites) openly wrote about long, sensual, demanding rituals where trance states induced by drugs, sleep deprivation / sensory deprivation, hypnosis, and other means were incorporated into rituals, but they aren’t exactly a requirement.

In the same breath, anyone who criticizes how you perform a ritual (unless you’re asking for assistance or experiencing adverse affects) is full of shit. If you have channeled the energy and focus toward your intent, you will manifest results. Period. It doesn’t matter if you focus your altar around summoning Lillith, make the necessary offerings, draw the sigil, etc., if you’re actually thinking about what you’re going to have for dinner on March 3rd, you’re probably not doing it right. I don’t know you, however, you may have great success completely detaching yourself from your purpose- whatever works for you.

•Don’t fixate on labels - fixate on bettering yourself and your connection to the universe. There’s a lot of elitist internet witches and what not around, but hear me brothers and sisters, they are nothing but psychic vampires trying to throw you off your game. “My Book of Shadows is bigger than yours” is only relevant if you give a damn. I sure as hell don’t. I’m not impressed with lengthy resumes of spells and rituals performed over the last twenty years. If you choose to keep a Book of Shadows, its primary purpose should be reflection, allowing you to correspond your craft with reality and for you to look back at and troubleshoot or reiterate. It isn’t a badge of honor. The choice of keeping one is also entirely optional- though recommended, some do better performing their piece and setting it aside until the see the results they desire. Unless your spells affect me (or I ask you about your work) , you do you and I’ll do me. The only important thing is that you do so for yourself, you do so because it feels right and natural for you to do so, and you do it for the betterment of yourself and all of us who have to live in the world you have directly influenced. Whether you’re a “baby” witch, a cape wearing pointy hat toting broomstick bombshell, a woods witch, weed witch, green witch, black witch, voodoo priestess, magician, chaote, occultist, necromancer, reiki practitioner, shaman , level 300 Geodude- we are all working toward the same goals, one way or another. Regardless of what you choose to identify yourself with or what system/rules you choose to follow, we need to build each other up, not put each other down. We have the major indoctrinated religions doing that for us.

That is all.

#baby witch #witchcraft #witchblr #paganism #pagan woman #wiccan #new age #witchy things #witches of tumblr #witch #ecletic pagan #chaos magick #magick #magician #text post #motivation #inspiration #affirmations #philosophy #new witch #beginner witch #voodoopriestess #positive vibes #positive energy #magical #spells #spell craft #handmade #one of a kind #crystalhealing

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

She-who-fights-and-writes Coronacation Book Rec List

I know that a lot of people are stuck at home right now in dire need of entertainment, so I decided I’d put out a book recommendations list of all the books I’m currently reading and all of my must-reads!

(Just a note that a lot of these are Fantasy because I’m a fantasy nerd haha)

Books/Series I am currently reading

1. The Folk of the Air Trilogy by Holly Black (Currently on #2, The Wicked King)

Genre: High Fantasy

Setting: The land of Faerie which is kind of historical, but in the human world it is modern day

Main cast :

Jude Duarte (white, human, cutthroat, if I saw her in a Denny’s Parking Lot at 3am I would RUN)

Cardan Greenbriar (white, faerie, the true embodiment of Bastard)

Vivienne (Jude’s half-sister, lesbian with canon gf, half-human half-faerie, I would totally try to be her friend)

Taryn Duarte (Jude’s twin sister, queen doormat, still, I would take a bullet for her she’s jUST TRYING TO FIT IN)

Rating: 5/5 Stars

These books have been on my “To Read” list for so long now and for some reason I just never got around to reading them! Hands-down, these are some of the best high fantasy books that I’ve read in a long, long while.

I finished the first book, The Cruel Prince, in just two days and rated it 5/5 stars! Even though these books are high fantasy and focus on the traditions and ways of life of faeries, somehow all of the characters seem like I could meet them in real life!

The main character actually has genuine flaws and not just “””“flaws”””” and is a Bad Bitch down with murder, and the plot had me on the edge of my seat from page one!

The summary makes it sound like it’s going to be about their romance, but it’s really mostly about a power struggle and Jude being a badass.

Goodreads summary for The Cruel Prince:

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

2. The Raven Cycle Series by Maggie Stiefvater (Currently on #1, The Raven Boys)

Genre: Present-Day/Realistic Fantasy (?)

Setting: The fictional town of Henrietta, Virginia

I haven’t gotten around to much of the book, so there’s not much I can tell you about the characters and I can’t properly give it a rating yet.

These books were also on my “To Read” list for a while; I was a huge fan of her book The Scorpio Races and have also been looking for something to quench my thirst for “private school/ghosts/magic” that I’ve been dealing with ever since I read The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.

I’ve only JUST started The Raven Cycle yesterday, but so far I am hooked! I’m super worried because I’m TERRIBLE at juggling two series at a time but both of these are just so interesting! 

Goodreads Summary for The Raven Boys:

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.” It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

MY MUST-READ BOOK LIST

1. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: 1700s Europe (England, Paris, Barcelona, Marseilles, Venice)

Main cast (I’ll try my best not to spoil anything because you find out a LOT of different stuff about these characters throughout the book):

Henry “Monty” Montague (white, bi/pansexual, attitude problem)

Percy Newton (mixed race, gay, very sweet boy, definitely got “most likely to bring home to mom” in the yearbook)

Felicity Montague (white, Monty’s little sister, headcanoned as asexual, I love her to death)

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Daring adventure, gay representation, historical setting, hilarious characters!

This book literally has it all! I would consider it one of my favorite books of all time, yet for some reason I’ve never gotten around to reading any of the sequel books! The ending is very satisfying and ties everything together, which I feel is part of the reason why I haven’t gotten around to them yet. 

Therefore, it can serve as a one-shot read or a full series if you want to dive into something good!

The humor made me laugh out loud at points and all of the characters are very real and very, very relatable, not to mention the vivid settings of 1700s Europe!

Goodreads summary:

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy. Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

2. The Ninth House By Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Horror, Fantasy 

Setting: Yale University and the town of New Haven, Present Day

Main cast:

Galaxy “Alex” Stern (Hispanic, sees dead people, very scary)

Daniel Arlington “Darlington” (white, rich, an angel who can sometimes be a dick)

Pamela Dawes (tbh I honestly don’t remember what she looks like, only that she’s a tired grad student with big nerd energy)

Detective Alan Turner (Black, takes shit from nobody, husband material)

Rating: 4/5 Stars

(NOTE: THIS IS VERY DARK ADULT FICTION AND CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING FOR SOME PEOPLE, WOULD NOT RECOMMEND FOR PEOPLE UNDER 16)

This book is a great read for someone who’s looking for a disturbing, gritty book with layers upon layers of secrets that you have to peel away as the mystery unfolds. I love the secret societies and the intricate magic systems that the book introduces, and it actually made me hungry for more books like it!

 Alex is a three-dimensional, very real character who also serves as an unreliable narrator who witholds or warps the information that she’s telling you, making the narrative all the more riveting.

The only issues that I have with it are the fact that Leigh Bardugo kind of just dumps you in the middle of it without explaining stuff first, to the point where it kind of feels like you’re reading the second installment of a series rather than the first one, so things can get a bit confusing at first.

The book also can drag and draw things out for a bit too long, but once the plot fully kicks into gear, you will not be able to put it down!

Goodreads summary:

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her? Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

3. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Setting: Earth, Space, The Moon

Main cast :

Linh Cinder (Chinese, based on Cinderella, cyborg, certified badass)

Scarlet Benoit (French, based on Little Red Riding Hood, farmer who is not afraid to shoot you)

Cress Darnel (White, based on Rapunzel, nerd, I will protect her with my life if I have to)

Kaito “Kai” (Chinese, based on Prince Charming, kind of has to run a whole country, a very kind soul, deserves a nap)

Carswell Thorne (White, based off of Rapunzel’s Prince, bastard)

Winter Hayle (Black, based off of Snow White, royalty, has super special powers)

Wolf (Race unspecified, based off of the Big Bad Wolf, charming killing machine, furry????) 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Do you like fairy tales?

Have you ever wanted to know what fairy tales would be like if they took place in the FUTURE instead of the PAST? 

Do you like an amazing, hilarious cast paired with a super interesting plot? 

These are the books for you!

I haven’t read them in so long, but I remember how much joy I felt while devouring these pages. Definitely something you will not able to put down!

Goodreads Summary for Book #1: Cinder: 

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.

4. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Genre: Fantasy

Setting: Ancient Greece

Main cast:

Patroclus (Greek, Gay, quiet pining) 

Achilles (Greek, gay, very strong, student athlete energy)

Brisies (Anatolian, clever, literally the only one in this story who has a brain cell)

Rating: 100000/5 stars

This is basically the Iliad but if historians hadn’t completely erased Patroclus and Achilles’ relationship. “Haha yeah these guys were totally bros” they say, even though I have read the Iliad and their relationship isn’t even subtle.

This book made me cry at least ten times. It’s just so beautifully written and has such a distinct vibe to it that whenever I crack it open for another time, it takes me straight back to the vacation that I read it on. (Needless to say, sobbing your eyes out can be less than helpful when you’re on the beach)

If you can only read one book on this list, it should be this one. I could talk all day about it and write novels on just how much of an incredible writer Madeline Miller is, but I feel like you’d get my drift a bit better if you actually read the book.

Goodreads Summary:

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear. Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

Hope this list helps you through your coronacation, and please don’t be afraid to reblog or message me to tell me if you’ve read/will read any of these!

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