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vitaminseetarot · 8 months

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PAC: How Can Nature Heal You? 🍃💎🐾

Hi everyone, I'm officially back from my long and crazy trip to the outdoors! If there's one thing I've learned from the trip, it's that yellowjacket stings are 10x itchier than mosquito bites!

And learned how to stay grounded.

Since the start of October, things have felt like a whirlwind, but knowing that I (eventually) get to come back and post some more feels strangely grounding. Right now, especially as winter approaches, it's important to find ways of keeping ourselves grounded. I don't know the exact astrology, or if it's just from eclipse season, but things feel topsy-turvy at this point in time.

So to make up for some lost time, I have decided to prepare three different PACs for you as we approach the full eclipse moon and end of the month. Here is my first of the three. I'll have something very different prepared for next week as well… perhaps a game or two? Stay tuned!

☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦☼♦

Try to find some moments out in nature, Autumn is calling. Take some time to head outside, even for just a few minutes, and find a natural focal point. When I went into the city to work, I'd find a rare bird who'd perch by a parking lot light just to say hello. Even rain puddles in asphalt may have something to say. Feel which way the wind is blowing. It's much easier to ground with natural focal points, and with camping they're everywhere, but surprises await you anywhere you are.

Nature can heal us all in different ways. While camping by the pond, I decided to create three piles to see how nature is able to help you when times get stressful. I consulted the sea, earth, and sky for these cards to find out new ways for you to refresh and recharge while outside. Please choose any one of the three pictures below for your reading: Origins, Reconnect, or Friends.

Pile 1:

Origins: Remember Your Roots; 46. Facing Your Fears, Service, Page of Swords, Tower, Nine of Cups

Nature heals you with its pleasing aromas. In the autumn breeze, the smell of fallen leaves can lift you away from the chaos surrounding you. Smell the crackling bonfire and listen to its ancient stories that have been carried through time. Let the old stories sustain you when the world feels like it's shaking.

The scents of nature have an immediate effect on you. Smell the hot cider from fresh tart apples, or the memories from the scarf your relative or ancestor left behind. Smell the dark October rain and the many chilly nights preceding the storm. Where does it take you? Do you let your lungs fill with the world's organic potpourri? Do you allow yourself the space to roam through the woods to find what you've never experienced before? Or give yourself the chance to reset your body through mindful breath as your worrisome thoughts are replaced with cool, misty serenity?

Take some time to name each thing you smell, perhaps in your journal. The more we are able to name what we smell or taste, the more we can establish a relationship with it, whether through hate or through love, brine or breeze. Welcome more fresh air into your life at this time. Breathe deeply in the smells of the changing seasons and infuse your affirmations with them, knowing that your intention will be carried away with the turbulent winds.

The lionfish is dangerous to many ecosystems through its invasiveness. Yet people have learned how to prepare lionfish as a meal. So now there are holidays dedicated to hunting these fish to reduce their effect on coral reefs. It says to you: "Look for ways to strengthen your connection to the Universe and others. Stay peaceful and calm in the knowing of who you are."

A necessity brought a community together for an important goal. You too have a place where your actions and desires are aligned with the universe; don't discount your capabilities just because things look too tough to tackle. When situations in your life seem out of control and overwhelming, take a step outside and connect to the smells of the woods, or an essential oil blend to safely diffuse in your room. I'm picking up on clove and cinnamon in particular but whatever blend works right for you.

Pile 2:

Reconnect: Secrets lurk in the captive shadows deep in the woods; 24. Love Where You Are, Bliss, Seven of Pentacles, Five of Swords, Six of Swords

Nature heals you with its deep underground connections. It lies dormant within layer upon layer of mineral, silicate, and pulsing soil. You can dig and dig for days because you've seen the glittering amethyst geode hiding beneath the surface of volcanic debris. You're adorned with the roots of a single glowing mushroom that splits in a thousand directions at the strike of lightning.

It seems as though there is no end to the digging, even when a dead end scrapes against your shovel. It may also feel like each direction you take on is limitless, stretching the roots as far as they can go. The desire to know and resolve tugs and pulls like a sprout emerging from seed. You're here to learn the mysteries of life, carve the revelation upon stone, and somehow hold them firmly in your hands. A pumpkin may not hold all the answers to our lives, it can make for a enjoyable pie with ice cream. And sometimes simple and pleasant things like that are all that's necessary in the time you have.

The earth calls you when you are in a fuss, when you can't see eye to eye with another. When things get tense, go for a walk. Imagine your roots traveling beneath the earth as a fish rides the deep currents. Remember there is always more going on outside the troubles of the everyday. All it may take is a morning in the garden, sifting through the dirt, and planting delicate seeds to clear your mind enough to make the next moves in your day.

Clams love the earth as well. They find a comfortable place on the ocean floor, slowly filtering sand and grit into incredible works of beauty. Each pearl forged is the result of a lifetime's worth of sustained effort. It says: "Use your sensitivity to know when to act. Connect your heart with your head when determining what you would like."

Sometimes, we can solve our problems by nagging over the details, but in other times, we must sit it out and let things unfold as they intend to. Sometimes it's best to settle matters rationally, but in other times emotional wisdom is required. Stay in touch with your roots in the present and move one muddy step after the other. Whatever the issue unfolding, let the earth heal you in the now.

Pile 3:

Friends: The most unlikely friendships can form; 16. Inner Desires, Family, Fool, Five of Wands, Tower

Nature heals you with its menagerie of connections with the feral world. A day where you learn about a new species is a jackpot; you bask in abundance through admiring the vast animal kingdom. There is magic to be found in the growth and decay of a beast. Joy emerges from its shells, which grows into a love that spreads its wings and flies west into eternal peace and infinite renewal.

In each paw print, you can see evolutionary fragments of your own. Hearing the birds call in liquid notes, you venture into the thicket in hopes of encountering a part of yourself once forgotten. Is it easier to relate to animal kind than it is to people? Even when their display is for tricks or camouflage, they will not misjudge or criticize against you for who you are. At the same time, each animal desires its own space in the wild in which it can't be disturbed. It can be difficult to leave behind a difficult situation at home to find anyone who will relate with you deep within the shadowy woods. But you are being called by the chipmunks and squirrels to carry your acorns to the next level, beyond the stress, and give yourself the chance to plant them in a more nurturing, caring land to thrive.

You are being asked to, as the birds and cattle do, migrate into a whole new feeding ground. You may be a fish that has grown too big for the pond and now must plunge into the waterfall, a snake ready to shed coiled skin, or a butterfly emerging from its cocoon into new heights. Are you in a transitional phase, like a job or school change, perhaps even a move? Wherever you end up in next, the resources and guidance you need will await you at the bottom of the pool. The place your heart seeks to go the most is where you'll find your unique calling for your next adventure.

This mollusc seems humble up front but carries a powerful and influential role; they are the creators of the cowrie shell. It has been seen to represent abundance, love, and connection to the ocean's splendors through the shells they leave behind. Many people around the world have used these shells as currency. It says: "Set your intentions. You are entering a phase of plenty or have a sudden windfall. Goals are within your grasp."

Transitions can always feel unsteady, but you have many helpful animal guides by your side. Even your pet can sense that change is in the air and wants to be there for you during moments of doubt and strife. And look out for the occasional ladybug, hare, or black cat as you map out your goals to prosperity and healthy social networks. The animal world trusts you to make the right decisions with its welfare in mind.

This reading has not been evaluated by the FDA to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or infection. Please ask your physician before going online.

2023, @VitaminseeTarot ™

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sparklypinkflightsuit · 4 months

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Star Crossed: Chapter Three

Pairing: Detective David Loki x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, Cheating, Intimacy Issues, Slow Burn, Reader is in an Established Relationship (for now), Sexual Themes, Eventual Smut. Investigative Inaccuracies. I think that’s it?

Summary: You and Loki become more friendly. Carters affair becomes the reason Loki thinks he’s disappeared.

- Chapter Two Here -

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The next morning Loki got a call that they’d had a hit on the registration plate and that the vehicle was found abandoned just off of the highway near the local rest stop.

He drove straight there and checked the car and surrounding area for any signs of a struggle or a break in. There was no broken glass and no noticeable blood splatter. The car looked tidy apart from a small dangly diamond earring in the footwell of the passenger seat. He bagged the earring and made a note to ask you if it was one of yours. He called forensics in to dust for fingerprints and swab for blood traces and headed back to the office. After a couple hours of rechecking hospitals in the area, and trying to find what he could on Katelyn Edwards, Loki decided to grab a coffee in the kitchen.

As he sat drinking his coffee and stewing in his own bad mood, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and Rodger’s name flashed on the screen.

“Yeah?” He answered.

“Loki, we’ve got a pin on that IP address you were after. The emails trace back to 492 Fairmont Circle.” Rodger confirmed.

Loki pulled out his notepad and scrawled down the address, and mumbled a thanks to Rodger before hanging up.

Maybe Katelyn was telling the truth and had nothing to do with this, her address was nowhere near Fairmont. He left the station and drove to number 492, trying to contemplate how he’d play this.

He pulled up on the drive and walked up to the little green door, knocking sharply three times.

A small old lady answered the door, to which Loki was a little surprised.

“Good morning ma’am, I’m Detective Loki and I was just hoping to ask you a few questions regarding a missing persons investigation.” He said with a smile, holding out his badge.

“Oh, certainly officer, please come in!” She hobbled out of the way and ushered for Loki to enter.

The house was small but neat and decorated with tasteful floral knickknacks. The house smelled of potpourri and cookies, and Loki felt uncomfortable. This was not something he had the privilege of growing up with.

“Please sit down, can I get you a cup of tea?” She asked sweetly, smiling down at him as he sat.

Loki smiled as he shook his head softly and lifted his hand indicating ‘no thank you’.

“So what can I help you with, officer?” She said sitting down.

“Is it just yourself living here, ma’am?” He asked.

“Please, call me Marge. And no, my granddaughter lives with me, Melanie, such a sweet girl!” She mused.

Loki nodded, making notes on his pad.

“And does Melanie have a boyfriend or anyone who comes round often?” He asked.

Marge shook her head, “None that I’m aware of, she just works, comes home and then spends weekends with her friends. She knows better than to be bringing boys home late at night.” She said matter of factly.

Loki smiled at her, “How old is Melanie if you don’t mind me asking?”

“She’s 22, she moved in with me after college when she got a job nearby. She works over at the golf club, makes great tips.” She sounded so proud.

Loki recalled you saying Carter played golf of the weekends with his buddies, and made a note of this. He asked Marge a few more questions about Melanie to which she answered honestly as he scribbled on his notepad.

“Thank you ma’am, that will be all.” He made to leave.

“Is my granddaughter okay, officer?” She queried.

Loki turned back to her and gave her a reassuring nod. “Yes ma’am. Everything is fine, we’re just trying to find something we think she may have been friends with.”

“Well I hope you find them.” She said kindly before showing him out.

Loki decided his next plan of action would be to show you the earring and to rule out if it was yours or not. He decided not to bring up that the emails more than likely belonged to a younger woman who probably met Carter while he was golfing, until he was completely sure. You weren’t much older than Melanie, but he felt like it would be a bit hurtful regardless.

He drove to your house, and sat in his front seat for a moment, noticing a fluttering feeling in his stomach. Was he nervous? Excited? He’d never felt anything other than adrenaline, frustration and anger on a case before, so this was completely unfamiliar. He wondered if he was coming down with a bug.

He climbed out of the car and made his way up to your front door, knocking softly.

You opened the door, looking more refreshed than the day before.

You smiled up at Loki, “Hi David.”

You moved aside to let him in.

“Hi (Y/N), how are you doing today?” He asked, blinking hard.

“Better. I actually got some sleep last night.” You chucked softly.

Loki smiled, “Good. Look I just wanted to apologise again for-“

You cut him off, “No please, don’t. I overreacted. I feel bad about it, I was just… exhausted, frustrated, none of it was your fault. You just needed to know those things for the case.”

Loki smiled sadly. Truth was he didn’t need to know any of that for the case.

“You been keeping busy?” He asked, noticing the paint pallet and different oil paint tubes littering the kitchen island.

“Oh, yeah. I haven’t been to work in a few days in case Carter showed up, thought I’d at least make use of my spare time.” You shrugged.

“I’d love to see your paintings some time.” He said, looking around the house and trying to determine if any of the paintings on the walls were yours.

You blushed, embarrassed, knowing what you had painted last night to keep your mind occupied.

“Uh, they’re really not that good.” You laughed. “How can I help today anyway?”

“Oh, yeah. I uhm… we found Carters car near a rest stop on the highway leading out of town. There was no sign of a struggle or anything which is good, but also no sign of Carter, yet. But we did find this in the passenger footwell-“ he said pulling out the small plastic bag holding the single earring, “is it yours?” He asked. You took the bag and inspected the earring closely, before handing it back to Loki.

“No.” You shook your head, “not mine.” You crossed your arms and frowned slightly.

Loki nodded, pocketing the bag. “Thanks.” He said softly, biting his bottom lip awkwardly.

You both stood there looking at each other for a moment, unable to think of anything case related to say.

“Is it ok if I use your bathroom?” Loki suddenly said, realising he could bag Carters tooth brush for DNA which he’d need to rule out with forensics.

“Yeah of course, it’s down the- never mind, you know where it is.” You laughed, remembering he’d been in the house before.

He smiled and nodded, and made his way down the hall.

In the bathroom he had a quick snoop around again, checking to see if he’d missed anything that might be useful, before bagging Carters tooth brush and shoving it in his pocket.

On his way out he passed your bedroom and noticed your easel facing away from the door near the bedroom window.

Curiosity got the better of him and he walked over to it.

He was surprised and confused at what he saw, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away. Staring back at him was… well, him.

You walked in to see what was taking him so long and clasped both hands over your mouth.

“Oh my god, I’m so embarrassed, you weren’t meant to see that.” You slowly edged inside the room, “I was going to throw it away after, I just… I couldn’t… get your face out of my head yesterday, I needed to just paint, you know? Yours was the only face I could think of.” You blurted, unable to stop the words from coming out.

“It’s beautiful.” Loki breathed. He felt so flattered but also unsure of what this meant. Were you thinking about him as much as he’d been thinking about you?

You stood awkwardly at the bedroom door, unsure of what to do.

“Do you… want it?” You offered.

“You mean it?” He smiled, looking at you for the first time since walking into the bedroom.

You nodded, smiling back. “If you don’t think it’s too weird, yeah, please take it.”

“I don’t think it’s weird, I’m actually flattered.”

“You need to wait for it to dry, but once it is you can take it.” You shrugged, walking over to him to look at your work. The light from the window illuminated your eyes as the embarrassment faded and you were taken over with a bit of pride.

“Hey.” Loki nudged you with his elbow.

“Yeah?” You looked up at him.

“You’re really talented you know? I’m glad that all of this hasn’t dampened that.” He smiled down at you. You could smell his cologne again, it was intoxicating and you felt yourself leaning slightly closer. Loki felt himself being drawn in by your eyes as you both stood there for a few seconds in silence.

You cleared your throat, realising what you were doing and took a step back to distance yourself a bit. Loki did the same, and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

“Anyway, I uh… I’ve got Carters toothbrush, we need forensics to rule out his DNA from any others we might find in the car. Am I able to take a sample from you to rule out yours?”

“Yeah, of course, I have a spare tooth brush under the sink, I can give you the one I’m using now, will that be okay?”

“Yeah, thank you.” He nodded and followed you out to the bathroom. You gave him the toothbrush and he bagged it up before slipping it into his pocket.

“I better get going.” He said, heading for the door. You nodded, but suddenly Loki turned back.

“I want you to know you can call me whenever. It doesn’t need to be case related. If you’re ever feeling scared, or need to talk, just call.” He said, a genuine look of sincerity in his eyes.

You smiled back at him, flushing slightly.

“Thanks David.”

Loki spent the rest of the day back at the station, flitting through the notes he’d made and preparing to go and question Melanie about her involvement with Carter. It was late and he was aware she wouldn’t be at work, and not wanting to worry her grandmother with another visit, he opted to wait until the following day and headed home instead.

Loki threw in a microwave dinner and leant against his kitchen counter waiting for his dinner to cook. He was deep in thought about the case and about you. He rubbed a hand over his face with frustration and groaned. He felt like he was getting too invested, he actually cared about you and felt sad when you were upset. His stomach turned in a weird way when he went to see you and he cared what you thought about him.

But you were taken, maybe not happily so but he knew you were out of bounds, and when he found Carter you would probably just go back to your life as normal, and overcome the cheating.

As he stood in his kitchen cursing himself for suddenly having feelings other than anger and frustration for someone, his phone began to buzz.

He picked up his phone and your name flashed on the screen.

“(Y/N)?” He answered quickly.

“Hi David…” you said softly, it sounded like you’d been crying.

“Are you okay?” He asked, worried suddenly.

“I found something, I know you said to call but you probably didn’t mean right away, but I need to show you.” You sniffed.

“I’ll be right there.” He said, ignoring the microwave beeping as he grabbed his coat and made his way out the door.

He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he would have gone to you regardless of the reason.

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- Chapter Four Here -

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din-skywalker · 1 year

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Your stories are awesome and I appreciate the time and energy you put into your stories💗

Prompt

Kratos makes Atreus a delicious meal but Atreus feels bad Mimir can't eat food with them. Big hearted atreus decides to go looking for nice smelling ingredients for potpourri, oils, or candles with Kratos. Kratos admires his sons kind heart and they bond while doing a good deed for mimir.

so many of y'all have left such great prompts, but imma start with answering this one!

thank you for your kind words, and i hope you enjoy!

(again, on mobile. no read more avaliable. also i know there's more to making surtsromming but for the sake of this fic pretend it's easier)

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"Atreus, what are we doing?" Kratos calls as he trails behind his son, watching the young man leap from outcrop to outcrop. Atreus had suggested they visit the Lake earlier that day, not really explaining why, only requesting it. Kratos assumed that it would be to hunt or fish for food- they need all that they can get with this enternal winter- but he has quickly realized that this is, not, in fact the case.

At the sound of his voice, Atreus looks up from the rock he'd just been looking under, water lapping at the base of it. Most of the Lake has frozen over at this point, except for a few small pools surrounding larger rocks upon the beach. Atreus has been scouring these the entire time, popping up and out from behind them every now and again.

"Fishing," Atreus says. He darts to the next pool, dropping to his hands and knees to try and get a better look into the water. Kratos raises a brow, because it does not seem as if they are fishing. Atreus appears to be scavenging.

He grunts, conveying he wants Atreus to further explain himself. The boy does so, "I'm looking for a specific kinda fish." He hops to his feet. Must not have found the specific fish. He hurries to the next pool, which is hidden between two larger rocks. He shimmies himself between them for a better view. He continues, "Surtsrömming."

Kratos frowns, his nose scrunching subconsciously. He does not like that fish, and there are still plenty of other kinds. Kratos is not a picky person when it comes to food. Food is food. But this fish? Rotten. He would rather avoid eating it if possible.

"Why." He steps onto the rocks behind Atreus, arms crossed over his chest. "You do not like it."

"Yeah I know," Atreus says, hand darting down a thin crack between stone. He grimaces when it comes back empty. He looks back up at his father. "But... it smells."

He continues down the frozen beach, and so Kratos follows. He waits for further explanation. "I feel bad for Mimir," Atreus finally says, revealing why they're here. Not completely, but it's the start of it. "He can't eat anymore, and I see him looking at us eating jealously."

"What does that have to do with rotting fish?"

"It smells!" Atreus exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. "He can taste something that smells really strong!"

That... has logic to it, no matter how fragile. Kratos can see what Atreus is getting at with this.. "strategy" of his. Of course he is worried about Mimir being left out during meals, it's just like him. So of course he'd try to find a way to include Mimir...

...No matter how foul smelling.

Speaking of which, the pungent scent of rotting fish hits Kratos's nose and Atreus perks up. He rushes towards the smell and bends over, letting out a happy whoop as he holds up a handful of... nearly rotten fish. The perfect condition to create surtströmming... wonderful.

"Found some!" Atreus exclaims with excitement. "Come on, let's get it ready!"

---

And so they get it ready.

Kratos ends up cooking fish stew- not from the surtströmming- to try and cancel out some of the rotting fish scent for when Atreus brings it out. His boy brings Mimir to the dinner table, the head rambling about one thing or the other as he's set down.

"Dinner looks great tonight, brother!" Mimir chirps, his eyes aglow. "I can almost imagine how it tastes!"

"Be prepared for more," Kratos grunts, sitting himself down at the table. Mimir raises a brow at him, about to speak, when Atreus brings over a plate of the surtströmming. His nose wrinkles back instantly.

"Oh, god! What is that?!"

Atreus sits down beside Mimir with a triumphant grin. "Your dinner."

"What? Lad, I can't eat-"

"No, but you can taste it, right?"

Mimir stops, considering. Atreus watches him closely, anxious to see if his idea has worked as he'd planned. Mimir hesitantly takes a deeper whiff of the horrible smell, and his face relaxes.

"That's surtströmming, aye?" he asks, whimsical. How is he whimsical about that scent?

"Yep!" Atreus says, vibrating in his seat.

"I can certainly... taste it," Mimir says thoughtfully. He sighs heavily. "Why, thank you lad. I see what you were thinking... Now, how about I tell you about the time I ate surtströmming with the goddess Ran?"

"You did not," Atreus says with disbelief. But Mimir only chuckles, and dives into the retelling.

Kratos half listens, watching his small family at the dinner table.

#weak ending but eh #wow i talk #gow #gowr #god of war #god of war ragnarok #kratos #atreus #mimir #my writing #my fic #ask

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ode-on-a-grecian-butt · 2 years

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I had mango for the first time I feel lied to and will never trust another human again. It tasted like a mix between like how grass smells and potpourri. The milk of human kindness is as dirt to me now.

#Eve wouldnt have listened to that snake if it was a mango

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mi-sona-lili · 2 years

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kasi en kili— herbs and vegetables/fruit

toki Inli: so I’ve been thinking about how herbs would be described or used in toki pona. I like the bluntness and honesty of the language due to it’s simplicity, so I want to keep to that theme.

Firstly, I don’t think specific herbs would be named the way they are in other languages. No scientific name or local name. Rather, the herb, vegetable, or plant in general is described for it’s use in the present moment.

Example:

Lavender is used as a floral scent in perfumes, as a concentrated oil for aromatherapy, in baking for taste/color, and is most popular as a herb to help relax during birth.

Perhaps it could be pointed out as “kasi loje laso,” aka “purple herb,” if you see lavender and point it out to whomever is with you. Now let’s say you have essence of lavender you use for baking. If you have only that essence or extract in your cabinet, you could give it a generic title such as, “telo kasi.” But if you also have tea at home and use that phrase to describe tea, you might instead say, “telo pi kasi loje laso.”

Then there is the medicinal use. Maybe a lavender tea is “telo kasi loje laso.” But if you use lavender tea for a specific health reason, such as to ease anxiety or stress, you could call it “telo kasi lape.” If you have other teas or herbs with similar properties, you could be more descriptive. So: “telo kasi loje laso pi lape.”

And do you just like having dried lavender in potpourri or hanging up for the nice scent? Dried lavender flower of any kind could be called, “telo ala kasi.” And again, using color or smell to describe it further if it’s necessary to differentiate it from other dried herbs.

You could even say “this lavender is for eating” by simply saying “ni li kasi loje laso tawa moku.” This makes it clear to the person you are talking with knows that it’s different from the medicinal lavender in your home, which could be named, “misikeke” if you want to use a ku word. For pu words, you could say “kasi pi lon” or “kasi pona sijelo.”

Hell, you could even just call any useful herb, fruit, or vegetable as “kasi/kili pona” and point at it.

This post is long enough so I will stop here. 😂 But I love how situational, present, and aware toki pona is, and how it directly defines your views and needs of the moment.

#toki pona #lipu mi #toki inli #kasi #kili

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tipsycad147 · 7 months

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Cinnamon Magic: 15 Ways to Use Cinnamon in Witchcraft

Posted by : kitty fields

The aroma of cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. The pungent taste on your tongue. You have it in your kitchen. And use it to bake goodies of all different kinds. You might even have cinnamon sticks and powder in your cupboard. But did you know you can use cinnamon in your witchcraft? Let’s talk all thing cinnamon: cinnamon magic properties and 10 easy but powerful uses in the craft.

The POWER of Cinnamon

Cinnamon, Cinnamomum, is essentially a common spice that’s made from the inner bark of Cinnamomum trees. This genus of tree belongs to the Laurel family and are considered evergreen. These trees emit aromatic oils which have seduced people for centuries. Cinnamon is a spice used mostly in baking and cooking, and it also comes in essential oil form.

Cinnamon has been traded and used for thousands of years. Records show since at least 2000 BC. Ancient Egyptian priests used cinnamon in the mummification process, giving it an inevitable link to the spirit world and the dead. It was also given as offering to royalty and to gods and goddesses in ancient times. It has been traded from various countries in tropical Asia and in high demand all over the known world since.

Cinnamon Magic Properties

Cinnamon is used by magical practitioners and witches of all kinds and for many reasons. Cinnamon’s magic properties include protection, money, strength, love, amplification, divination and connection to the ancestors and the spirit world. Cinnamon is also used medicinally for many reasons including as an anti-inflammatory, for its antioxidants, to lower blood sugar and aid in the body’s insulin-production, and to decrease risk of heart disease.

It’s particularly present during two seasons: Autumn and Winter. And is frequently used in dishes, potpourri, essential oil blends, crafts and much more during the holidays. You’ll notice the scent of cinnamon wafting from every witch’s house from Mabon Eve through the Winter holidays like Yule and Saturnalia. You might see it accompanying orange slices on evergreen garlands and wreaths. Or smell it when it’s baked into a pumpkin pie. Whatever the method, this herb is powerful.

12 Sweet and Potent Ways to Use Cinnamon in Your Craft

Cinnamon comes in a few forms, making cinnamon magic versatile and fun. Find cinnamon sticks, chips, and powdered at your local grocery store. Cinnamon essential oil is sold by natural food stores and herbal shops. How you use cinnamon in your witchcraft is only limited to your imagination. Here’s a few ideas:

1. Cinnamon Magic With Coffee or Tea

Sprinkle cinnamon on your morning coffee and visualize your intention: love, protection, strength, vitality, etc. for the day. Add cinnamon chips to herbal tea or sprinkle over top in the same way.

2. Cinnamon Magic in Bottles and Bags

One of my favorite forms of magic is spell bottles and jars. Add cinnamon chips, powder, oil or sticks to your spell bottles, jar, and bags for your intention OR to amplify the effects of the spell. Cinnamon is a known strengthener of any magical intention = it yields more powerful results.

3. Cinnamon Oil as Offering

I don’t know if anyone else does this, but I use cinnamon essential oil (among others) as offerings. I sprinkle a few drops on my ancestor and deity candles, on god/goddess statues, and more. It smells amazing and pleases Spirit.

4. Cinnamon Rolls for Joy & Comfort

5. Cinnamon Candle Magic

The first candle spell I ever cast included a red votive candle and McCormick’s powdered cinnamon. If all you have is a candle, a bit of oil, and some cinnamon, you’re good to go! Sprinkle cinnamon around the candle, or anoint the candle with a bit of oil and roll it into the cinnamon. Great for love, money, protection, and all kinds of spells!

6. Simmering Cinnamon Magic Potpourri

You all know how much I love my simmering potpourri spells. SUPER EASY, cheap and effective in the home. Add cinnamon to an Autumn or Christmas simmering potpourri to cleanse, invigorate, and promote love in the home. Here’s our article on Simmering Potpourri Magic to give you ideas.

7. Mulled Wine with Cinnamon

Nothing reminds me of Autumn or the Winter holiday season like mulled wine. Great for family dinners, holiday parties, coven meetings, and more. Making mulled wine in a Dutch oven over an open fire or on the stove always makes me feel like I’m brewing a magical potion. Mulled wine wouldn’t be the same without cinnamon sticks. Add for protection, health, love, and more. Here’s a recipe for mulled wine.

8. Door and Floor Washes

An old folk magic tradition is working magic into chores. The next time you have to wash your front door or floors, make an infusion of herbs and spices. Include cinnamon for whatever your intentions are that day. Cinnamon brings abundant blessings into the home. Making an infusion is easy: simmer water with herbs on the stove for 10+ minutes, strain and use as door wash or mop water.

9. Cinnamon Stick Runes & Symbol Craft

I’ve seen a lot of cinnamon stick decorations during Christmas time. It’s as easy as gluing or stringing cinnamon sticks together to make a symbol. Witches can use this craft to make runes, pentagrams, etc. Pinterest has some great crafting tutorials – just search for “cinnamon stick craft”. Then add string or ribbon to the top and hang your cinnamon magic runes above your altar, around the home, and even in your car.

10. Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Magic

Snickerdoodles are basically sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon. Sounds delicious, right? It is. Add a little magick to your cookies by visualizing your intentions while baking them. You could even draw sigils and symbols into the cinnamon before rolling your cookie dough in them.

11. As a Magical Additive to Healthy Smoothies

The same way you add cinnamon to the top of your coffee and tea, you’ll add it to your smoothie. Cinnamon literally goes great in almost every decadent smoothie containing banana, pumpkin, coffee, cacao, peanut butter, apple, and even pear. Whenever I add it to my morning smoothie, I envision it’s energies speeding up the healthy benefits of each ingredient. I also visualize it providing protection and strength to me so I can get through my day.

12. Cinnamon Pine Cones

A legitimately fun activity to do in Autumn or Winter is to make scented pine cones. If you live in a place where the pine cones are aplenty, gather 12-18. You can then either drip cinnamon essential oil onto the cones and bake them at 200 degrees for 15 minutes. OR bake them first to dry them out completely THEN add the pine cones to a bag along with the oil, shake, remove and let air dry completely. Adding other oils to the mix increases the aroma these babies give off including clove, orange, or mint oils. Leave them in a bowl near your front door or on the coffee table.

13. Cinnamon Bread for Prosperity

One of my favorite magical things to bake is cinnamon bread. It’s a delicious dish for the Winter holidays (Yule or Saturnalia) and is versatile. Eat it for breakfast, brunch, snack or dessert. Every time you eat it, visualize prosperity filling your house and bank account. Cinnamon is, after all, a potent multiplier for prosperity spells.

14. What does cinnamon mean in divination?

Cinnamon is powerful on so many levels. Many magical practitioners, mediums, and witches use it in their divination practices. Some ways might be to gently blow cinnamon over the table or space you’ll be using before divining. Washing your hands in a gentle cinnamon hand wash before reading the runes or Tarot (be sure to always dilute cinnamon essential oil with a carrier oil as it will burn the skin!) or even burning a cinnamon candle during a session.

15. Blow Cinnamon through the Front Door (TikTok Trick)

One tip that went viral on TikTok involves taking a small handful of cinnamon and blowing it through your front door on the first of every month to encourage prosperity to flow into the home. I’ve done this a few times and have seen definite results!

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billconrad · 10 months

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Perfect Words

Our vocabulary is nonexistent when we are born, but we see the big people making noises and want to join in. My first spoken word was “apple,” and my daughter’s was “mom.”

As our vocabulary grew, we began reading and understanding the power of words. Soon, we were writing and creating our sentences that other people could understand. This ability allows us to look at something and explain how it looks, works, feels, tastes, and smells. See that? I am using words to describe words.

How did I do it? To write that sentence, I needed a mental database of words and used my writing experience to choose the right words and logically string them together. The result was easy to understand and conveyed my exact thoughts.

All adults have a broad vocabulary after many years of life experience, reading, and writing. From this immense number of words in my vocabulary, I chose the best ones to describe my thoughts.

Yet, my sentence could have been better. Instead of “looks, works, feels, tastes, and smells,” I could have written, “appears, functions teases my fingers, and fills my nostrils with sent.” That second attempt is not as direct, but it is more flowery. Flowery? Wow! What an extraordinary word. In fact, it is the perfect word to describe that second attempt.

This is the area I wanted to explore. In every sentence, there is a possibility of having the perfect word (or phrase). This single gem outshines all the others and makes the writer look like a superstar.

Here are four bad/good examples. “Let’s adjust and tweak the controls for the best performance.” “Let’s optimize the controls for the best performance.” “Paint that section light-blue.” “Paint that section turquoise.” “Add a pinch more salt.” “Add 1/8 tablespoon more salt.”

How about a real-life example? My Uncle Al was a larger-than-life man who went far out of his way to make a powerful impression. I remember a conversation where somebody attempted to impress Al by bringing up a useless fact. Al commented, “Aren’t you a potpourri of information,” Potpourri? A perfect word that shut the arrogant person down.

In another conversation with Al, we were going deep sea fishing. He hooked a “giant fish” and reeled it in as fast as possible. Because of the depth, this took time, and Al boasted about the epic size as he cranked away. Near the top, the fish became unhooked, or a seal took it.

The six hooks and weight came out of the water, revealing a tiny fish. “Nice keychain,” was my brash comment. We still speak fondly about that conversation, all because of one word.

I view sentences like a pyramid with a single word standing on the top. Yet, perfect sentences are difficult to create. Take the word blue. When I plug it into thesaurus.com, it lists blue-green, azure, beryl, cerulean, cobalt, indigo, navy, royal, sapphire, teal, turquoise, ultramarine, and blue-gray. Beryl, cerulean? I have never read these words before.

This brings up an important point. A writer must consider their audience. Take the previous example. “Paint that section blue.” “Paint that section beryl.” (I had to look the word up. It means dark-blue.) If I spoke that sentence to a color expert, it would sound impressive, but it would be nonsense to the rest of us.

How do we choose the perfect word? It is tempting to answer, “Keep a thesaurus nearby.” However, I often find that the perfect word comes from outside the topic.

I have found that an excellent source of outside-the-box words and examples of how to use them comes from comic strips. To create these, the cartoonist must think ultra-carefully about each word because they only get a few. The Farside cartoons by Gary Larson are perfect examples. Each one contains a gem of a sentence, and I keep them in the back of my bonkers mind as examples of humor.

Am I advising you to read cartoons and use their wisdom to write the perfect sentence and have a robust vocabulary? Umm, yeah. Umm, yeah? Wow, that is not a powerful sentence to make my point.

You’re the best -Bill

August 16, 2023

Hey book lovers, I published four. Please check them out:

Interviewing Immortality. A dramatic first-person psychological thriller that weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense, and self-confrontation.

Pushed to the Edge of Survival. A drama, romance, and science fiction story about two unlikely people surviving a shipwreck and living with the consequences.

Cable Ties. A slow-burn political thriller that reflects the realities of modern intelligence, law enforcement, department cooperation, and international politics.

Saving Immortality. Continuing in the first-person psychological thriller genre, James Kimble searches for his former captor to answer his life’s questions.

These books are available in soft-cover on Amazon and eBook format everywhere.

#writing #vocabulary #words

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nyc-uws · 1 year

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What to do with Orange Peels? GREAT LIST OF IDEAS!

What To Do With Orange Peels will give you some ideas on orange rinds and how not to let them go to unnecessary waste. Citrus peels not only smell amazing, but you can use them for cleaning, beauty products, in gardening, and as an ingredient for recipes.

If you’re looking for more articles on not creating waste, How to Use Leftover Ingredients and How to Dry Orange Slices will help you on your journey.

I use at least one to two oranges a day to make an orangeade or to add to my morning juice or smoothie. Throwing away the orange rind seemed like such a waste. I knew there had to be multiple ideas on what to do with orange peels.

Who knew there were so many unexpected ways to use the skin of this popular fruit?

Creating a Cozy Life Group

Since you clicked on this found this article on what to do with orange peels, I’m guessing you like all things cozy living. I created a Facebook group called Creating a Cozy Life with over 67,000 like-minded souls.

It’s a group where we share recipes, pictures of things that leave you in awe, and ideas on how to make your life just a little bit more snug. Join here to be part of the virtual cozy cabin.

Here’s What to do with Leftover Orange Peels?

Using Orange Peels for Cleaning

Yumiko Sekine, in her book Simplicity at Home, gives her favorite recipe for her own natural cleaner using fresh orange peels.

Orange peels have the perfect concentration of limonene oil that is great for cutting through grease and conditions wood surfaces. Simply peel one orange for every 1/2 cup of water and let simmer for 15 minutes. Let cool and pour into a spray bottle for a natural way to clean surfaces.

Leftover Orange Peels for Freshening the Garbage Disposal

Cut your orange peels into thin strips and add to your garbage disposal to eliminate bad odors. Turn it on and let the oils from the peels deodorize the garbage disposal. You can also use other citrus fruits like limes and lemons in addition to the orange rinds.

If you’re not ready to clean your garbage disposal, place the citrus peels in an ice cube tray and add water. Freeze the cubes and place them in a freezer bag. Use In the citrus peel cubes at a later date.

Remove Coffee Stains in Mugs

Coffee stains will disappear if you rub the pithy side of an orange peel on the inside of your mug.

Orange Rind Candle

A friend of mine loves to make candles out of orange rinds. She starts with a half an orange shell base and pours the wax in the rind with a wick. They look beautiful on her dinner table and she will often gift me with an orange peel candle.

Stove Potpourri

Make stove potpourri with a handful of orange peels, lemon peels, and a cinnamon stick to give you home a fresh scent with a citrus.

Using Orange Peels for Beauty

Invigorate Bath Time

Store your orange peels in a mason jar in the refrigerator. When it’s time for a bath, throw a handful of peels into your tub. The heat of the water will release the citrus scent, making bath time even more special.

As an extra bonus the citric acid in the peels will help slough off dead skin.

Orange Peel Powder

You can dry orange peels and grind them up in a food processor to grind into a fine powder. Store in a glass jar until you use the powder in recipes. It’s a popular ingredient in making beauty products at home for your hair, skin, or teeth. You can find different ways of using orange peel in beauty recipes here.

What to do with Orange Peels in the Kitchen

Make Candied Orange Peel

This is my favorite idea on What to do with orange peels. You can easily make your own Candied Orange Peel recipe at home. Make sure you take off the white pith, it makes the it bitter tasting. Here’s a recipe for how to make it on Epicurious.

Use Orange Peels for Zest in Recipes

There are a lot of recipes that call for orange zest. If you’re not going to use it right away, freeze the zest in a freezer bag for future use. Orange peels are loaded with Vitamin C and add an abundance of flavor.

Fresh Bouquet Garni

What is a bouquet garni you ask? It’s a French term for a bundle of herbs like parsley, thyme, and bay leaves. It’s usually tied together with fresh celery or leek. Adding a twist of orange peel will give even more flavor to your dish.

The French use these bundles to give flavor to soups, stews, roasts, and sauces.

Orange Peels for Tea Blends

If you enjoy herbal teas, you can make your own blends using dried orange peels. Mix it with herbs, florals, and even black teas for a wonderful combination.

Dried citrus peel has anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it a good thing for you body and taste buds.

Lump-Free Brown Sugar

Prevent your brown sugar from getting hard by keeping a 3-inch piece of orange peel in the container.

Orange Rind Bowls

If you want to add a little beauty to your table, use orange rinds as a bowl for ice cream, sherbet, or fruit ice is a simple way to impress your guests. It’s a great way to give visual interest to your dining table.

Orange Peel Cocktail Garnish

Your cocktails will be elevated to a new level with fresh orange peel garnishes.

Adding orange zest as a garnish to food makes an inviting presentation. Chocolate desserts look especially festive, topped with orange zest. The holidays are a perfect time to use the orange rind creatively.

Infused Water

Add orange peels mixed with other ingredients to create infused water is one of the easiest ideas for what to do with orange peels.

Orange Peel Olive Oil

If you like infused olive oils, you’ll love making your own orange olive oil. They are great to use in salad dressings. It’s easy to make with just two ingredients – oil and orange peel. You can find the recipe here on Epicurious.

Citrus Butter

One of my favorite ways to turn my meals from good to great is to make compound butters. Using fresh orange peel to make a citrus butter is a fun way to elevate pancakes, waffles, toast, English muffins, and even fish.

Homemade Orange Marmalade

Orange Marmalade uses fresh orange peel in thin strips as an ingredient. It’s the perfect idea when you are searching for what to do with orange peels.

What to do with Orange Peels in the Garden

Orange Peel Starter Pots

Use the hallowed-out orange peel halves as starter pots for seedlings. Fill half orange rinds with potting soil, seeds, and then water.

Plant the “pots” directly into the garden once the seedlings are mature enough.

Orange Peel Bird Feeder

Turning your orange rinds into homemade bird feeders is a fun activity for both kids and adults. They look so beautiful and vibrant against a winter backdrop.

Using Orange Peels for a Compost Pile

Adding your orange rinds to your compost pile to help make healthy soil is a perfect solution for what to do with orange peels. It’s good for the environment and will help you create the garden of your dreams.

Repel Insects and Cats

Use small pieces of orange peel as a natural insect repellant in your garden is a great use for your leftover peels. Cats don’t like the scent of oranges as well. If you have a problem with stray cats digging in your garden beds, simply scatter orange peel in the areas they frequent.

Decorate Snow Art

Saving your orange peels for snow art is a fun project to celebrate the holiday season. Look how cute these orange peel lips are!

We’ve reached the end of the What Can You Do With Citrus Peels? I hope you enjoyed it.

Let me know in the comments below how you liked What Can You Do With Orange Peels and your favorite ways to use them.

Make sure you join our Creating a Cozy Life – Hygge Style Facebook group. You’re not going to believe how amazing it is. Join here to be part of the virtual cozy cabin.

Please pin this leftover orange peels pin on your life hacks board on Pinterest so that you can refer back to it again.

Thanks for stopping by. I’m so happy you found us!

Orange Recipes You’ll Love

Easy Orange Dreamsicle Smoothie

More Posts You’ll Love

31 Ways to Add Flavor to Mashed Potatoes

How to Use Leftover Pesto

What to do with Leftover Potato Peels

https://montanahappy.com/what-to-do-with-orange-peels/

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levixmatthews · 1 year

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What’s their favorite smell?

What’s their least favorite smell?

If your muse had a taste, how would you describe it?

What’s their favorite smell?

Homecooked meals

What’s their least favorite smell?

Potpourri

If your muse had a taste, how would you describe it?

A sour patch kid. Sour and sweet.

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is-the-snake-video-cute · 2 years

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Hello! It's suggested to use alcohol solution on your hands when handling to dissuade feeding bites, but could this be unpleasant to the snake and end up making a handling session uncomfortable or stressful? Or is it just like, an appetite turn-off?

And slightly related question: obv you should wash your hands before/after handling to prevent spread of disease, but are there certain products to avoid that could be harmful to a snake even with that precaution (like certain lotions, cleaning supplies, even foods?) I don't know how resistant snakes are to foreign products on their bodies. I assume the risk might be lower than with other animals that lick themselves to bathe etc.

Hello hello - great question! Alcohol on your hands, more than anything, helps ensure your hands smell like the opposite of food. Snakes don't love the smell, but they don't want to eat it, and that's all that matters! They do hate the taste, though, which is another reason using a strong-smelling alcohol-based hand sanitizer before handling snakes is a good idea. Most snakes will detach from a bite very quickly once they taste that on your hands!

Reptiles are usually very resistant to harmful substances getting on their bodies (like you said, they don't lick themselves or absorb things through their skin), but there are some things that are very harmful to them. Here's a short list:

- Pine, eucalyptus, or cedar-scented things: may cause respiratory problems or skin lesions

- Wood contaminated with pesticides

- Smoke and fumes from ANY source, including fumes from paint, cleaning supplies and disinfectants, scented candles/plug-ins, perfumes, potpourri, anything. Always let snake enclosures dry and air out completely after cleaning before you put the snake back in, and just keep air fresheners, candles, and scented plug-ins in a different room.

#not a rating

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siofra3448 · 2 years

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Things You Might Have Missed About Winx Club’s Flora

You know the drill: i don’t own anything, all rights go to deserving parties. This is just for fun. Here we go!!! 🌺 Flora’s eyes are described as almond shaped

🌺 Flora’s season 1 outfit is referred as “Flower Child” outfit

🌺 Flora loves to keep peace and harmony amongst the Winx girls

🌺 Her teachers and friends tell her to be more confident

🌺 Flora’s special feature is her gentle smile

🌺 Flora’s name comes from Roman goddess of natura Flora. From Latin word “Flos” meaning “flowers”

🌺 Flora’s roomate Bloom has nightmares at night and she screams, Flora has to endure it

🌺 Bloom is very sympathetic about sharing the room, which suprises Flora, considering Bloom’s room is in unimaginable chaos so she expected Bloom to want more space

🌺 Flora loves Bloom’s red hair and the hilarious mess she gets in with her rabbit Kiko

🌺 Flora loves being surrounded by all kinds of flowers and plants. She loves their aromas, bright colors and shiny leaves. She loves to watch them stretch up, curl and cling into each other.

🌺 Flora has a climbing plant named Liana that grows in tropical equatorial forests

🌺 Flora’s favorite color is green and her favorite school subjects are English, History and Magical Forestry

🌺 Flora makes tea for the girls

🌺 Flora’s grandmother taught her how to read tea leaves

🌺 Flora says goodnight to all of her plants and they first her goodnight first

🌺 Flora has a little pansy shaped pendant that has been in her family for hundreds of years

🌺 Flora prefers movies based on true stories and historical places

🌺 By Bloom’s request, Flora made sachets with potpourri for their room, with colored ribbon, fabric of podka dots, flowers and stripes, cut in rectangles and filled with lavender

🌺 Flora admires her grandmother who developed 12 new species of flowers used in medicine

🌺 Flora’s room is always very organized and smells wonderful

🌺 Flora is a Pisces with rising Virgo

🌺 Flora’s pixie Chatta is not fond of Kiko at all

🌺 Flora is very close to her mother. They have very similar looks and personalities. But she’s less close with her father because he mostly absent due to his occupiation as an environment activist during Flora’s youth

🌺 As a kid Flora loved making garlands and walking barefoot in the meadow

🌺 What attracted Flora and Chatta to each other is their differences: Flora is insecure, timid, withdrawn and thinks long before acting. Chatta on the other hand is daring, extrovert, loves to talk and acts first then thinks

🌺 Flora uses lotus flower to put enemies in sleep. And wormwood powder ( wormwood is a herb from which a bitter tasting liquid is extracted) to cause them hallucinate

🌺 Remember Flora’s plants from season 1 episode 11? The ones that tied up Tecna and hid her in the closet and used Stella’s makeup? Flora found them in Black Mud Swamp. Probably around episode 4, where they all go to Black Mud Swamp for an exam

#winx club #winx flora #enjoy

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 years

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"Heard you've been busy lately!" A woman in green peeked through the door. She looked very similar to a certain soup kitchen owner by the name of Theo. "So many people are coming. It must be taking up alotta energy. You're this school's lifesaver, so…" She waved around a little bag of assorted seeds. "That Jade girl came by! Said she was concerned for you y'know. Said you liked spicy food and I should make you fried chicken... I made ya this instead, used my own spice blend! Take care now!"

My weekend was basically being spent writing m!Raven interaction responses 😂 They’ve been so entertaining disbsjevekdbkdbsjs

***Art is by tinyfantasminha!***

Judging by her hair net and apron, the jolly lady (Theo?) sweeping into his room was cafeteria personnel. Raven relaxed his posture at the writing desk and waved a hand, welcoming her in. (It helped that she stroked his ego a bit upon her entry.)

“You’ve come at just the right time, my good woman. I’m up to my ears in work, not to mention keeping an eye on an interdimensional guest. I’m positively exhausted—I could make do with a break from it all.”

As the cafeteria lady approached, a cloying aroma of spices emerged. It only intensified the closer she drew, until Raven’s nose was wrapped in a delicious, reinvigorating heat.

“... What is that smell?”

His eyes widened when Theo produced the satchel of spices from an apron pocket and placed it in his hands. The potpourri pouch was made of tight pastel mint mesh, secured with a dark green ribbon with a little pink water lily at its crux.

“Hmm. So you’ve heard of my tastes through the... grapevine, shall we say.”

He had a tight grip on his composure in the presence of school staff, but it took all of his energy to avoid gnashing his teeth at the thought of Jade Leech. That girl got on his last nerve—always with the teasing and the smiles and the fake niceties.

She’d lift the corner of her long skirt up slightly, revealing her dark leggings, then make a passing remark about how Raven would throw a fit at the sight of a woman’s exposed ankle. She’d giggle and flutter her lashes, leaning against him to make his feathers stand on end. She’d promise the world and then snatch it back just as fast, leaving only a whisper of her presence on the wind.

How he loathed her.

Yet it made his heart pitter-patter knowing that she had been thinking of him, and worrying for his health.

... Though what was she thinking, telling Ms. Theo to prepare fowl for me? That would be akin to me consuming my own distant relatives...!

“If you happen to see Ms. Jade Leech, please thank her for me. And, of course, thank you for your lovely gift. I will put it to good use.”

Raven offered a practiced smile. “Please do remember to take care of yourself as well. I know it may not always be easy, given that you regularly deal with us rowdy students and preparing large batches of food for us on the daily, but... Everyone should get a moment’s respite every now and again.”

#twst oc #twisted wonderland oc #m!Raven Crowley #Raven Redux #Theo #f!J word would be hot I JUST KNOW SHE WOULD 🤤#She would definitely ‘ara ara’ you #mmm casual cannibalism

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moshintheteagaiwan · 2 years

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Tasting: Yu Lan Xiang Dan Cong Oolong

Back with another Dan Cong from last year’s stash! This time I’m tasting, Yu Lan Xaing, which translates to “Magnolia Aroma. While the majority of the Dan Cong’s I purchased were from a spring harvest, this particular one comes from the November winter harvest. While there is no doubt that spring harvest teas deliver the best product, winter harvest teas can also produce amazing tea, and in my opinion, they are quite too commonly overlooked. In fact, and a side by side tasting I did last year of the same tea of the same year, but two different harvests really showed not only the differences between the two harvests, but also just how tasty winter harvest teas can be.

The dry leaf has an immediate fresh type of aroma. Almost like the smell of spring air when the flowers are in bloom. I detected a slightly vegetal aroma which I don’t find too often on Dan Cong teas. Also found it to have a subtle tart fruity notes that reminded me of plum sauce. The floral notes I would normally expect came out of the wet leaf. A heavy floral melody of flowery potpourri, orchids and the expected scent of magnolia. The strength of the floral notes were very similar to a the strong perfume of a flower scented shampoo or hand cream. I detected the plum note again, as well as the vegetal note I found on the dry leaf.

It was on the brew that the vegetal notes I had been detecting finally came. An odd flavor to find on a Dan Cong, when compared to the much more usually fruity flavors. The tea has a thick body, with a warm buttery mouthfeel, followed by a sweet corn like vegetal flavor. It has a hint of magnolia floral notes and a soft and subtle fruity finish. The second infusion was a bit sweeter, but still very buttery and creamy, with less of the vegetal flavor and a strong presence of aromatic magnolia. By the 4th infusion, the brew was dominated by the magnolia and flowery perfume, with the buttery and vegetal notes having disappeared, but remained quite creamy.

This winter harvest tea brought many different aspects of Dan Cong’s I had yet to experience. I was a little put off by the vegetal flavors, but learned to appreciate them in this form. While this tea isn’t the best Dan Cong I’ve had so far, it’s nowhere near being the worst. It’s got great flavor and a strong aroma with unique characteristics, but ultimately, it’s not one I want to keep around full time. However, I will enjoy what I have while it lasts.

3 out of 5 stars.

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mmikmmik2 · 3 years

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maybe my weirdest, most niche hcs yet: Train Smells

One-One has a concept of what "smells good" because he can tell how cars are going to smell during his car construction process, and has a vague intellectual understanding of how humans are affected by different smells, but he doesn't really have a sense of smell while hanging out in his orb form (at least, not smell the way humans think of it)

Most denizens have a sense of smell, even if they don't have noses. (Generally they can't taste things unless they actually have a mouth, though.) It helps them relate to passengers.

The wasteland smells like ozone

A lot of cars, especially "puzzle cars" like the color clock car, are weirdly sterile and have no natural odor

Other cars have a smell for ambiance even when there's nothing that could be making it - the ball pit car always smells very faintly of feet and crappy pizza

No smells in the mirror world! Reflections mostly align with human aesthetic senses (fresh baked bread smells good, rotting food smells bad, etc) but they're a little more objective about it.

Reflections have a very, very faint metallic odor if you're really up in their personal space. When they're hurt or killed, that silver "blood" reeks horribly and smells the way coins taste.

Lake did try to smell asphalt or gasoline or sulfur at their first opportunity and immediately felt stupid for following One-One's advice. Smells they do eventually like include dead leaf/forest smell, grass, and chlorine.

Contradicting their "feral children" aesthetic, the Apex are for the most part the cleanest and best-smelling passengers on the train. Most passengers manage to regularly find places to at least take sponge baths, and most of them scavenge like at least a comb and toothbrush within a week or two of boarding, but it's harder to find deodorant or launder their clothes. The mall car has a couple Bath and Bodyworks-y outlets, and facilities for laundry, and enough clothes that each of the kids has at least a couple of outfits.

The docent's physical form has a god awful formaldehyde stench. Ever dissected something for bio class? It becomes very faintly perceptible when the shadow form is at its most intense and you really notice it when the arms reveal themselves. Min asked Morgan to launder his jacket between episodes nine and ten because he kept thinking he was smelling it again when he didn't have anything else to think about.

Kez doesn't smell like anything. Morgan's rooms smell like her mood... usually it's a gentle, pleasant floral smell like a guest room with a tasteful quantity of fancy potpourri, but after Jeremy left, her whole structure smelled faintly of mildew and dust.

#infinity train #infinity train spoilers #long post #long text post #the train itself #reflections IT #one-one #one one #i love denizens #lake IT #the apex IT #the docent IT #morgan IT

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undoundue · 3 years

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caliban iv: glass and scissors / giantess / heaven

1. there's a new cult around town that holds glass and scissors as sacred. glass, scissors, locks, walls, and white paint. glass, scissors, locks, walls, white paint, ghosts, chasms, oceans, and space. their sacredness is in approximately that order. whatever separates. whatever mitigates. whatever promotes distance from the immiserating world of people and things.

well, i won't pretend to understand "youth culture," but i can't say i approve. for one, they are virulently anti-semitic, which i am not. for another, they reject any skin-on-skin contact that breaks the five second rule, which i do not. and furthermore, i don't like how they look at me. their evangelist grins run thick as cough syrup, and their eyes, shadowed by cowls, still gleam like a scarab's back. they preach outside cvs pharmacy in the bad part of town, thocking cowbells and chanting, offering pamphlets called HELPING THE HYLICS while their leader calls out to passerby: "hey brother, hey brother, the rules have betrayed you. hey brother, hey brother, because of your vagueness, the rules have betrayed you, now the ogre of shadows has caught you in his evil eye. hey brother, hey brother, lock your doors and smash your idols, wash your hands and shave your head. beat your breast, kill your darlings, put a glass window in an empty field, yes brother, a glass window, to promote distance—"

their smiles betray poor dental hygiene, for in their cosmology dental hygiene belongs to the world of things. when i pass by, there are three of them. one does the preaching. one holds the pamphlets. the third hits the cowbell and chants. they have a donation box, lined with aluminum, but i never give. instead i check my cellphone and smile bitterly, thinking: "well, i wouldn't want to immiserate them in the world of things!"

when i sneak a corner-eye glance, i find them smiling back, as if they expected this.

2. well, on the bus the other day i heard an argument between two giantess fetishists about how tall giantesses should be.

one guy said they should be between 100 and 120 feet tall. any shorter and you're leaving eternal feminine on the table, any taller and they might not feel it when you put it in.

this guy argued for giantesses between 30 and 50 feet tall. his argument was that giantesses over a hundred feet tall are so strongly associated with vore, diaper/scat, and unbirthing, that humble lovers of gentle femdom need a separate height to clear the libidinal palate ("my dick has locked me in a cell with three types of fetishes that i absolutely hate, and thrown away the key.")

well, that sounds rough, but i get where the first guy was coming from too. if i might paraphrase robert frost:

Some say the world will end in vore giantesses (100-120 ft) Some say in gentle femdom giantesses (30-50 ft) From what I’ve tasted of human boredom I hold with those who favor vore (dom) But if I had to die again, I think I know enough of tender closeness, To say that kindness I would commend, Is no less potent To the same end.

this is all conjecture, of course. my personal experience extends only to a 5000 foot giantess, Gnathaena Moedecker—and at such a scale the rules of everyday giantesses simply do not apply.

it was a few months after college and i was desperate for a job. the margrave of zebulon, that damned miser, only offered two grand for disposing (by any means necessary) of the giantess who had wrecked zebulon's economy; for every unmarried man, and some married men, and some women, had emigrated to Gnathaena's armpits, kneepits, or pubis, as she passed zebulon, north carolina, heading north to who knows where; maybe pittsburgh; and now, the scarcity of local labor was intolerable.

it took a day to climb her knee-high stockings, for her legs shook like earthquakes with each county stride, and besides i had to go around the men who were clinging like limpets and sniffing. the smell, to be fair, was quite nice—like potpourri, but sweatier. in a virginian corn field she lay down for a nap and i made progress more quickly, though there were still obstacles. the ass-cultists who lived in the pockets of her jean shorts tried to wicker man me in a denim effigy. the slow respirations of her tanned abdomen tumbled me towards her umbilicus, from which it was said no one could return. dozens emerged from her rose-gold gucci handbag and explored her snoring corpus, playing guitar, composing sonnets, painting portraits that were also landscapes, masturbating, looking for meaning i suppose, and it wasn't hard to find, because everything you do on a 5000 foot giantess feels meaningful, and the way the moonlight fell on the surrounding corn stalks was pristine.

well, in the early morning i reached Gnathaena's mouth. i tried to pour in the potion, but her lips were slippery with lip balm, and too heavy to part an inch. i pored through my textbooks and ruined them with my balm-stained hands. could the potion be administered aurally, as well as orally? i did not recall. but in a compendium of fairy tales another solution presented itself: i kissed her. her eyelids made a sound like waves crashing as she blinked awake.

"sup, pervert," she said.

"i am not a pervert," i said defensively, hiding the potion behind my back.

"sure ya are." she yawned. "did you like kissing me?"

"well, they're softer than i expected...given their size..."

"anyone who likes kissing is a pervert. anyone who likes parts of things is a pervert. you're supposed to like everything or nothing at all. anything else, that's what being a pervert is."

i started to object, but well, she was obviously right. the moonlit corn stalks had indeed been beautiful, and while watching their sway there was a moment when, a little high from the estrogen fumes, i accepted existence in its entirety, as a transcendent calm flowed through me and i felt like crying at nothing at all. but it only lasted a second, and then i glared at the crescent moon and moved on. for i didn't know what to do with moonlit corn stalks or transcendent calm, any more than i knew what to do with a 5000 foot giantess, and something very old and never satisfied, not with the kernel that preceded the big bang, not now, turned the machinery within me and crunched transcendence into its parts.

well, but now i felt a little bit sorry for Gnathaena Moedecker, who after all was not really existence but merely synecdoche for it. so i said: "well, perversity aside, around your sternum i really started to wonder: where are you going?"

"new york city," she said, and exhaled a slow twister. "i started working right out of high school, but ever since i saw Lady Bird, i've been obsessed with the idea of going to NYU. so i've decided to pull together a personal statement and apply." she bit her lip. "do you want to read it? i don't know if it's very good..."

well, it now became apparent to me that Gnathaena, if she was synecdoche for existence, was not very smart, or at least she was younger than i had expected. i mean, Lady Bird is not a very good movie, and i was sorry to learn that her personal statement was equally saccharine. she had an uphill battle, to be sure: most admissions officers can't relate (and not in a "good" way) to the experience of being a 5000 foot giantess hiding out in the appalachian mountains, emerging only at night to devour the sheep of terrified farmers, all while harboring a secret, lifelong dream to work on sustainability in high-end fashion.

so i told her that a few edits might help, and together we came up with a statement that de-emphasized her size and instead focused on a formative trip to Madrid and her volunteer work for the ASPCA. but it wasn't enough, and we both knew it. and, softly, though even her regular voice was softer than i had expected, she told me to "just do it."

"do what?" i said dumbly.

"give me the potion you've been hiding behind your back for the past three hours."

and since it was going to happen eventually, i did.

so it happened that Gnathaena Moedecker shrank to five foot eight inches, which is taller than average but by no means bestiary-worthy. sudden whumps, painful yelps, and angry shouts accompanied this rapid shrinkage. since i doubted the mob of recently giantess-deprived individuals would understand the inverse relationship between the abstract and the individuated, i took gnathaena's hand and read my scroll of return.

in zebulon, north carolina, the weather was warm but cloudy. we rented a room at the motel 6 and spent a few lazy days drinking and eating mexican-asian fusion. it was strange to get to know her, strange to get to know her until it felt like there was not much more to know; for she was young, and we didn't have much in common. her freckles were smaller than i had remembered. i saw her off at the airport, and we promised to get coffee if i was ever in new york, or she in zebulon.

the margrave cried and gave me a $500 bonus when i told him the news. i was stunned—i guess his interest in the local economy was more sincere than i gave him credit for. i bought takeout sushi and ate it crosslegged on my hotel bed. i flipped through the channels. sports. news. rocky iii (1982), pay-per-view. scooby-doo. news. ghost world (2001), pay-per-view—

whoa, what are the odds? ghost world was my favorite movie as a teenager. maybe this is just nostalgia speaking, but enid seems a tier above any cinematic art girl this side of anna karina. her jokes are weirder, her worldview is firmer and yet less legible. you can't quite identify with her, so you get the feeling she might still exist when you turn off the screen. plus, steve buscemi—i mean, steve buscemi's always great. it's a great movie. every time it gives me a feeling sort of like transcendence, but while transcendence happens in my skin and spine this feeling happens mostly in my chest. it's sharper too, less like a flow and more like an arrow emerging. i'm still not sure what to do with it. but, since it's a movie, i guess there's only one thing to do. i hit play.

3. the divine offers strange incentives. if you're angry, god grants you nothing, but hate yourself and he descends. blessed are the meek and masochistic; cursed be the paranoid pugilists. well, i'm no atheist, i've met the big man himself once or twice, but i can't stand him getting up in my business. "jesus takes the wheel," says the sucker. what—and i suppose you play videogames on easy mode, too?

that's why, whenever i feel i'm becoming too sympathetic, i go to my walk-in closet and whisper hateful words. last monday, for instance, i meticulously insulted the irish, the choctaw, the norwegians, and the balinese. i could practically feel the freedom as omniscience looked away. kind of a nausea, but kind of a pleasant dizziness too. if you've ever walked on a hardwood floor in fresh socks, you've felt something like it.

so i don't swing too far, i keep it fair. it's not like when comedians claim to "offend everyone equally." nice try, buddy—ever heard of the availability heuristic? no, what i've done is write each entry of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_contemporary_ethnic_groups on a flashcard, with the harmful and unjust stereotypes on the flip side. then i use a random number generator to pick the cards.

it's not a perfect solution—even 4chan can't provide stereotypes for the more obscure peoples. still, up until now it's worked.

but now a beam of golden light enters my living room, not even bothering to knock. a holy refridgerator humming fills the air. and, despite my best efforts, the archangel michael descents, cherubim fluttering around him, and the room is perfumed with frankincense and myrrh.

the archangel michael tells me the gig is up.

"the gig is up," the archangel michael says, "too many people are exploiting the 'good intentions' loophole—thinking of the reduced carbon footprint when committing arson, or whatever—and on occasion there are 'bad intentions' exploiters, like you—so we're closing them in the next moral patch. it's good works or GTFO."

"this is bullshit, mike," i tell him, "matthew 5:27-28, for instance."

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

"i commit adultery in my heart constantly. depriving me of purgatory is unjust."

"you're single," michael says.

"i have a tulpa," i retort.

"tulpa tulpa!" motte says indignantly, setting a cheese plate on the table.

"that's masturbation," michael says. "it's not great, but it's definitely a venial sin."

motte shrugs. we eat the brie. the cherubim flutter nervously, deck us in laurels, make kissy lips, send stylized hearts through the air which i puncture with carefully aimed magic missiles.

"so the nerds won, eh?" i lean in confidentially. "you can be real with me, mike. a bunch of heaven's eggheads got together and decided that silicon valley guys deserve a shot at passing through the eye of a needle? probably for the best, really—presuming that manna is vegan. i hope you enjoy your donated benches. hell, even tolstoy said that goodness was fungible. but villainy, now that takes courage. to not do what everyone else is doing, even when what you're doing is obviously and horribly wrong—"

"don't blame the nerds," michael says angrily. "if it weren't for people wanting so desperately to be something they're not—!"

michael's golden, pupil-less eyes glow with an impossibly compassionate and righteous light. i blink away tears.

"heaven could use you, bill. you belong there. everyone does, if they would only let themselves be."

"nope," i tell him. "nope! for i am no sorry do-gooder. i am bill caliban: the graye wizard of new canaan! and not in the next life, but in this one, my name shall be known! mwa—mmmph. sorry." i finish chewing and swallow. "mwahahaha! ahahahah!"

the archangel grumbles inaudibly, then pops a mouthful of gouda. the cherubim give up their visual antics and instead launch into a surprisingly capable harp rendition of the first eight minutes of st. matthew's passion. we listen.

"it's beautiful," michael says. "you have to admit."

it is.

then michael stands, thanks motte for hosting him, says "bill" in a neutral and vaguely paternal voice, and teleports away with the cherubim.

nothing is left behind but a faint scent, a mix of baby powder and incense, and a few silvery-white feathers from angel wings.

i bite my nails. "you don't think i'm a good person, do you motte?"

"tulpa tulpa tulpa tulpa tulpa tulpa tulpa," motte says.

and i know what she means: that i am vile. that everything about me disgusts her. my face, my body, my odor, my habits, my personality, my spells, my staff, my tattered grey robes. that if it weren't for my explosive sexual charisma, she would never dream of choosing to spend time with me, and the fact that she does proves that something has gone deeply and profoundly wrong in her astral life.

i hug her. i love her very much.

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