#the catalyst magician

[owlf45]

I'm imagining Cyber would have to steal multiple of your shirts and Frankenstein them together in order to actually fit them. Rip to your shirt supply

Please,, if Cyber actually had to do that they would combine the tackiest shit together too. It would be awful

#my asks #a lanky bastard AND a fashion disaster #the wordt combo #the catalyst magician #ego cryptid tree

[acircusfullofdemons]

paracosm // phantasmagoria [i’m not the one] || para inspo + influences // calypso raymond & rowan dellacroy

These are all characters that either: remind me of my paras or influenced how I've characterized them. Only Cali & Rowan for now, I would've liked to do my main group but tbh I don't think the rest are as fleshed out enough for me to do this (I'll do it for them, one day...).

Calypso

PT Barnum (The Greatest Showman)

Roman Sanders (Sanders Sides)

Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland)

Jervis Tetch (DC Comics)

Jason the Toymaker (Creepypasta)

Rowan

Hunter (The Owl House)

Loki (Marvel)

Beetlejuice (specifically the musical version)

March Hare (Alice in Wonderland)

Jonathan Crane (DC Comics)

#paraportal #luka.txt #console: phantasmagoria #game: im not the one #calypso raymond #rowan dellacroy #tgs was THE catalyst for me creating cali. it is quite literally the REASON he exists. #i havent posted that picture of rowan yet lol i will soon dw #love how both have dc & aiw as inspo. iconic of me tbh. #tho ive always associated cali w the mad hatter. rowan getting the march hare is bc the two are supposed to be Buddies #loki is bc that used to be rowans mom at one point. dont ask. but now its bc Trickster! #cali is really just. the ultimate magician huh. damn i really went off at 14. #cirque de la queue

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

The blue book here in the S2 Opening Title is Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring by Professor Hoffmann from 1876 and can be read online under the Project Guttenberg :).

From wiki: Modern Magic by Professor Hoffmann (real name Angelo Lewis) is a treatise in book form, first published in 1876, detailing the apparatus, methods and tricks used by the magicians and conjurors of that era. Hoffmann was considered to be one of the greatest authorities on the theory and practice of magic, despite his own limited professional experience as a magician.

The first edition of Modern Magic "sold out within weeks and subsequent printings continued to fly off the shelves." Its popularity was due in part to the scarcity of teaching materials available to would-be magicians in the late 19th century. Modern Magic was the first book in the English language to really explain how to perform magical feats The publication of Modern Magic was controversial, however, as some magicians were outraged that their secrets were now published On the other hand, it appears that Hoffmann only published secrets with their creators' permission.

Modern Magic, and Hoffmann's writings in general, influenced several well-known magicians including Howard Thurston, Chung Ling Soo, Alexander, and Harry Houdini. David Copperfield's private museum is home to Hoffmann's personal copy of Modern Magic. Copperfield believes that "the book eventually played an essential role in elevating the art of conjuring and may have acted as a catalyst for the entire golden age of magic".

#good omens #gos2 #season 2 #s2 opening title #fun fact #books #magic #modern magic #Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring by Professor Hoffmann

[waltzingwithspirit]

PICK A CARD: MANIFEST YOUR DESIRES---BIG MAGICIAN ENERGY!!

Left: 111; Right: 333

Disclaimer:

🪈Disclaimer in highlights applies here

🪈Take what resonates and leave the rest

🪈No one is allowed to copy my work under any circumstances

🪈All personal readings are paid. DM to book a personal tarot session.

🪈Thank you for letting me read for you, it has been a pleasure.

🌸111🌸

To manifest your desires, use beauty. While you are showering, doing skin care and dressing up for the day, use affirmations. Even if it isn’t a fancy outfit or you would rather stay home. Still, dress up, you don’t need a reason, just dress for life, get ready for the day. If you are preparing breakfast, present it beautifully. I am seeing you should clean your room and re-arrange it an a different way, or even your home if you have the time. When you are reading or writing or just relaxing, put on candles and create a vibe. Weather it is jamming to music with led - lights, or something else, give into the beauty of things. Romanticize your life, give yourself roses for no reason and you’ll see your desires coming true. Butterflies are a sign you are on the path. 

For some- you have a dream of dominating the beauty industry- you need to study more, research more. 

COMMENT ‘111’ to manifest this! 

Thank you for letting me read for you, it has been a pleasure. 

🌙To find your specific way of manifestation, DM for a personal tarot reading 🌙

🥀333🥀

To manifest your desires, surrender to complete healing. Be open to the loving, compassionate forces of the universe that support your physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Watch the sunrise and the sunset, its great if you can watch both. You need a serotonin boost. Just silent walks in the sun for 10 mins can do the trick, even better if you have a walking partner who cracks you up, laughter is your catalyst. And always remember: YOU ARE THE MEDICINE. All you need is to allow the healing to take place, rest is taken care of. 

COMMENT ‘333’ to manifest this!

Thank you for letting me read for you, it has been a pleasure. 

🌙To find your specific way of manifestation, DM for a personal tarot reading 🌙

-

EL TAROT

#pick a picture #pick a pile #pac reading #pick an image #ask response #pick a card reading #pac tarot #pick a photo #pick a card #free tarot

[jgoddesstarot]

Pick-A-Pile: Moon & Stars | Aspects of Compatibility Between You & Your Future Spouse's Natal Charts

👑Check out my masterlist to see all of my pick-a-card readings😊

✨ Visit my shops at Ko-fi.com or J.Goddess Tarot✨

🔮Disclaimer: This reading is for entertainment purposes only. Tarot readings are based upon my intuitive interpretation of the cards and about possibilities based on your current energy. Energy is forever changing and nothing is set in stone. Always remember, you have your own free will to make whatever decision you feel is best.

🔮How I read: I use a mix of tarot cards, oracle cards, along with my intuitive abilities of claircognizance, clairaudience, and clairsentience.

🔮How this works: Close your eyes and take deep breaths, pick the pile you are most drawn to. If you aren’t drawn to any pile then that’s okay, these messages aren’t for you.

Pile 1

Tarot Cards: 4 of Swords, The World, 8 of Swords, Page of Wands (in reverse), and 5 of Wands.

Oracle Cards: 4th House: Home & Family, Libra: The Beautiful Mind, On Sunday.

Welcome, my Pile 1's. Let's dive deep and explore what the cards have to say about the compatibility between you and your future spouse's natal charts. Starting with the 4 of Swords, it suggests a need for rest and retreat. In regards to compatibility, it signifies that you both will find comfort and solace in each other's presence. A sense of peace will prevail when you two are together.

Moving onto The World, this card is all about completion and fulfillment. It suggests that you will find a sense of wholeness with your future spouse. You might have different backgrounds or perspectives, but together, you form a complete picture. You compliment each other and that's something truly special.

As for the 8 of Swords, this card often represents a feeling of being trapped or restricted. However, in the context of your future compatibility, it signifies that both of you will help each other overcome personal fears and limitations. You both will act as each other's catalyst, pushing one another towards growth and self-improvement.

The Page of Wands in reverse indicates a certain level of immaturity or impatience. This suggests that there might be occasional conflicts due to a lack of maturity or understanding. However, with the 5 of Wands in the spread, it indicates that these conflicts will be resolved through communication and mutual respect.

The Oracle cards further paint a picture of your compatibility. The 4th House: Home & Family card suggests that family will play a significant role in your relationship. Libra: The Beautiful Mind adds another layer, hinting at a strong intellectual connection between you two. Lastly, 'On Sunday' suggests that your bond will be characterized by a sense of peace, tranquility, and a slower pace of life.

In conclusion, my dear Pile 1's, your future spouse is someone who will complement you in every way. While there might be occasional conflicts, you both will find a way through them. Your relationship will be based on peace, intellectual connection, and family values. So, keep your heart open and let the magic of love weave its spell. After all, it's all about finding that perfect harmony in the dance of love.

Pile 2

Tarot Cards: 9 of Wands, Ace of Swords, The Tower (in reverse), Knight of Wands, and The Magician.

Oracle Cards: 12th House: Spirituality & Art, 7th House: Love & Partnership, 3rd House: Communication & Interaction.

My dear Pile 2's, let's delve into the mystical realm of your future spouse's compatibility with you. The 9 of Wands card is our first clue, suggesting a bond that can withstand the test of time. You both are resilient, standing strong in the face of adversity. Challenges may come, but together you can handle anything.

Next, the Ace of Swords presents itself, symbolizing a relationship rooted in truth and clear communication. Intellectual stimulation and honesty are key themes in your connection. Your future spouse will be someone who values communication as much as you do, leading to a bond that is transparent and filled with clarity.

The Tower card, in reverse, signals a turnaround from a rocky phase. This tells me that while there may be initial hiccups or misunderstandings, these will be resolved, leading to a stronger and more stable relationship. It's almost as if these trials come to strengthen your bond, not break it.

The Knight of Wands suggests an energetic, passionate connection. There's a lot of movement here, perhaps indicating travel or shared adventures. This energy, when combined with The Magician card, speaks of a relationship that's full of potential and creativity. You both will have the power to manifest your desires and create the life you dream of together.

The Oracle cards further add depth to this narrative. The 12th House: Spirituality & Art implies a shared interest in the esoteric or artistic avenues. You may find common ground in spirituality or creative expression, strengthening your bond further. The 7th House: Love & Partnership confirms a deep love-based relationship, while the 3rd House: Communication & Interaction reiterates the importance of open dialogue and mutual understanding.

In conclusion, my dear Pile 2's, your future spouse and you are set to create an energetic, passionate relationship. The cards speak of resilience, clear communication, and a bond that grows stronger with trials. A shared love of spirituality or art and an emphasis on partnership and communication will be your strengths. So, brace yourself for an exciting journey of love, growth, and shared adventures.

Pile 3

Tarot Cards: 10 of Swords, 8 of Wands, Knight of Pentacles, Queen of Pentacles, 3 of Pentacles, and Judgement.

Oracle Cards: Scorpio: The Mystic, 10th House: Career & Success, Sextile: Change & Opportunity

Greetings, my beloved Pile 3's! Let us embark on a mesmerizing journey into the mystical realm that your cards unveil. The 10 of Swords, the harbinger of transformation, reveals an enchanting path for your relationship. Embrace this card's message of endings and new beginnings. Fear not, for it signifies that you and your future spouse will evolve and flourish together, casting away old patterns and embarking on a wondrous voyage of mutual understanding and growth.

Now, behold the 8 of Wands, a card brimming with optimism and vibrant energy. It foretells rapid growth in your connection. Imagine the sparks igniting the moment you meet, a magnetic force drawing you closer. This immediate connection shall swiftly blossom into a profound and profound bond.

Let us not forget the Pentacle cards, the Knight, Queen, and 3 of Pentacles, which weave a captivating tale of stability and shared values. The Knight of Pentacles represents a steadfast and reliable partner, cherishing loyalty and hard work. This essence resonates with the Queen of Pentacles, a nurturing figure who values stability and security. The 3 of Pentacles further signifies a robust partnership built on common aspirations and mutual respect.

Ah, the final Tarot card, Judgement, a powerful symbol of realization and awakening. It signifies that your future spouse and you will deeply understand one another, unlocking a profound awakening that leads to personal and joint growth.

Now, let us delve into your Oracle cards. Behold Scorpio: The Mystic, a testament to the profound emotional bond and magnetic attraction between the two of you. The 10th House: Career & Success, a clear sign that your relationship will play a pivotal role in each other's professional achievements. And the Sextile: Change & Opportunity, perfectly aligned with the Tarot, promising a relationship adorned with opportunities for growth and transformation.

In conclusion, my cherished Pile 3's, your future spouse awaits in a realm of transformative passion. Together, you shall embark on a journey of mutual growth, understanding, and shared values. The cards whisper of a thrilling adventure, where rapid growth, abundant opportunities, and resounding success intertwine. Brace yourselves for an extraordinary voyage filled with love, magic, and boundless excitement!

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#j goddess tarot #jgoddess tarot #bipoc tarot reader #tarot reading #tarot community #pick a card #tarot pick a card #pick a pile #intuitive tarot reader #future spouse readings #pick a card reading #moon and stars #astrological compatibility

[theintrovertbean]

I wanna see how Nadia realized she loves Mc. Like when she realizes just how much she loves and cares for Mc and I’m talking bout before they got together because the M6 describes Mc , Mc is strong, caring , smart, talented and I just wanna see when Nadia realizes she loves Mc. ( also wanna see how she reacts to Mc being the strong Magician people say they are)🙃

Oh boy, I made this so long. I think I got a little bit carried away, but that's okay because the more Nadia content the better.

Thank you for the request, Anon! It was a delight and I had the time of my life writing it.

How Nadia realized that she loves MC

Nadia loved MC long before she even realized it. For three months, she dreamt of them and she saw their face everywhere. She already loved the idea of MC and having them in her life, but since there isn't much logic in that, she pushed it away until it was no longer possible to ignore.

However, MC was not entirely the same person in reality, but the potential was always there.

Remember the part in Nadia's route when MC was in The Tower realm with Nadia, and they woke her up from her magic slumber? Yeah, that's the person Nadia was already in love with. That version of MC didn't exist yet, at least not at the beginning of the game. But when Nadia finally invited them to the palace, and as they spent more time together, MC eventually became that person.

MC was once a powerful magician, I guess even stronger than Asra. Because MC died and lost their memories, it's likely that a lot of those abilities were lost, but not entirely. Still, this doesn't mean that MC is not a powerful magician, they just need to find a way to tap into that power. MC literally goes from cutie patootie who can summon a ball of light to breaking the Devil's chains. If that's not powerful, then idk what is.

On the one hand, Nadia is glad that the people didn't lie about MC being powerful because she hates liars. On the other hand, she found MC's power quite attractive and relieving. It gives her some peace knowing that MC can take care of themselves.

Not only MC is powerful, but also smart. Nadia was surrounded by incompetent dumbasses (except for Portia), so she wasn't joking when she said that MC's presence was refreshing. Being around someone with common sense made her life a whole lot better.

As for caring, it was something Nadia had experienced before from her family, because, let's be honest, the Satrinavas never seemed as bad as Nadia portrayed them. Still, Nadia refused to accept their affection and care, which was something she didn't do with MC. It was unusual to her at first and a little scary as well, but being cared for by MC felt so good. It took some courage, yes, but she did enjoy having someone care for her the way she cared for them too.

Loving MC was the easiest thing in the world. Nadia felt it pretty soon after MC came to the palace. It was natural, and there was no need to put much thought into it. Because of that, Nadia needed a catalyst, something that would help her realize her own emotions.

The moment when Nadia truly realizes that she's in love with MC is when Lucio steals their body and she almost loses them. You know how it is. People don't always realize how much something/someone means to them until they lose them, and that's exactly what happened to Nadia.

Suddenly, MC wasn't there, and the world felt empty and dull without them in it. And it hurt. Gayness, did it hurt. If it wasn't for her incredible self-control and because she was more focused on bringing them back, I'm sure Nadia would have had an entire breakdown. Not the pretty princess tears from a Disney movie, but actually crying.

Her heart was aching so bad, and she was horrified of losing them. Was she losing her independence if she felt like she could no longer imagine her life without MC in it? No, she was simply in love, and it was the most heart-wrenching yet beautiful feeling she had ever known in her entire life.

This person, MC, uplifted her in such a short time. Her resentment towards her sisters is almost gone, her memories are coming back, she's a better ruler, and MC has helped her with pretty much everything. MC makes both Nadia and her life better. How could she not love them?

It also made Nadia realize that she had to tell MC about her feelings. To lose them without ever telling them how much she loves them would have been far too tragic. And Nadia didn't want to let go of MC.

#nadia satrinava #countess nadia #the arcana nadia #nadia the arcana #arcana nadia #the arcana #nadia arcana #arcana #the arcana headcanons #the arcana hc #nadia deserves forehead smooches

[luciehercndale]

A comment under something I wrote about Kell's childhood got me thinking about antari and how they are objectified. I also briefly touch on their boundaries and dynamics and parallels.

I want to believe that Kell's parents cared about his well being and that the only reason they surrendered him to the Maresh family was to protect him. Imagine if Kell had continued living with his biological parents. They were likely thieves on the run without a home and they probably lived on scraps. Once it would be known that Kell was antari, someone could've taken advantage of him, or worse. Someone could've attempted to kill him. Offering Kell to the king and queen would grant him protection, an education in magic. He wouldn't have to worry about eating and where to sleep. I don't think it was an easy choice for his parents, but they did it because they believed it would be for their son's good. They couldn't know that Kell would end up being dehumanized by his new "parents" and like a bird in a golden cage.

The main og antari and how their storylines reflect each other in different ways.

Holland is the representation of the life Kell would've probably had if his family wouldn't have surrendered him to the royals, and if he wasn't born in Red London. His brother and the woman he loved tried to end him and he had to murder them to survive. Then the Danes and then Osaron made him their pet by literally erasing his humanity by controlling him.

Lila's father sold her to pay a debt and he didn't care about her. But she didn't know she was antari, so her magic couldn't be exploited and this somehow was her luck. Lila could run away from her oppressors, and in theory, is what Kell and Holland both longed for. Freedom. (Side note: that's why Kell likes Lila so much but she also gets on his nerves - affectionately -. The things that come easily to her, are harder for him. And he gets a little irritated by this but I think she also inspires him to improve and believe more in himself.)

Lila is the only antari who wasn't objectified up to this point. She didn't let the black stone or others take control of her, unlike Kell and Holland. It isn't a question of power. This is more of a question of mindset/personality. Lila shares personality traits with Kell and Holland and so do they (and they're a trio of introverts). While the other two are still trusting and kind despite it all, Lila is selectively trusting and kind. She built strong walls around her to protect herself and this is probably why she could resist possession. Perhaps this is her strength. She is also vary and hardly lets people in. She has strong boundaries but she's is selective about them.

Having been treated as servants and not human beings, Kell and Holland do have boundaries but they waver. Kell tries hard to put boundaries but he sometimes loses the fight. Holland has his boundaries destroyed after he was possessed, so it's no wonder he doesn't know what boundaries are anymore. They knew that they needed to get away and could try to leave (they were powerful magicians, after all!) but at the same time, they didn't know how. Oftentimes, the person who lives in a toxic environment knows it's toxic but is unable to leave. Holland was teetered by an enchantment to the Danes and then to Osaron. Kell was bound by duty and by loyalty to Rhy, whom he didn't want to leave because he loved his brother. Rhy was the only reason for him to endure this treatment.

This is why, once again, when Lila appears in Kell's life, she is the catalyst for his growth and for his possibility to get away from the toxic environment he was in. And at the same time, Lila appearing in the story influences Holland's story too. And they also influence her personal growth, because Lila learns to trust people a little more. At the end of the series, their power come together to destroy the enemy, which is cool.

After seven years, things have changed a bit. Kell is free from his royal duties at the end of acol, but his magic is broken and he finds himself without purpose. I think of him as a broken vase that was fixed with a thread of silver just like Japanese do (but with gold) to embrace the philosophy that humans have flaws and they're not perfect.

Lila is more trusting and letting people in (albeit still selectively), and I think that these seven years weren't easy for her either. She was the last antari left (I don't think she counted Kosika because she was still a child and uhm, what did I say about Lila trusting strangers? Read that again lol). I think she felt a huge responsibility on her shoulders, especially because she didn't want to involve Kell in any of the things regarding antari and such (see, reason why she didn't tell him about Kosika either). She was also emotionally tested because of Kell. She was desperately looking for a way to help him but also tried not to show him how desperate she was because she didn't want to show her feelings so openly (vulnerability again).

Holland is haunting the narrative. If the ghost Kosika sees is the real Holland, because I have few doubts that he is the same Holland we know. He's doing to Kosika what was done to him, but in a softer way, because he quietly speaks to her and helps her, and only later she realizes that was the reason she knew how to use her powers. He is using Kosika to act as his vessel so she can finish what he started years before. There's an interesting parallel with Kosika and Tes and the antari but I need to reread Threads to analyze it better.

If you read until the end thank you! lmao and if you have questions please send because I like to talk about adsom

#I hope I explained clearly (reason n1 why my analysis are too long. It needs to be clear and not confusing) #shades of magic #kell maresh #lila bard #holland vosijk #delilah bard #the fragile threads of power #adsom #tftop #a darker shade of magic #a conjuring of light #a gathering of shadows #tweety writes analysis

[smilingangel582]

Heey, I wanna write another lee!lyney and ler!wriothesley. I delayed that because writing my grizzly's -ahem Wriothesley's name is a bit lazy for me, hehe . anyway, I like to see them in bonding more, hehe

Spoilers for fontaine

Cure for boredom

I love the way they both pose so well... ehehehe

Once more. Lyney sighs, trying to build another trick with his cards but fumbles a bit as he tries.

He's been in the fortress for too long. After all the wallets haven't been found yet and recently only has the traveller helped him in various deeds.

"Ah, Mr. Lyney... I see you've gotten quite the good arm for tricks. " Lyney almost fumbles with his cards because of all people. He didn't expect Wriothesley to make a visit to his cell. Freminet and Lynette have taken it themselves to work in the production zone, so he's taking a day off today now here the Duke himself in front of him.

"Wrio -ahem your grace" Lyney greets politely, slightly awkward since he has been on bad terms with him, somewhat guilty for the commotion he caused. However they had tea once and seem to have build a better neutral relationship. Still... guilt is a funny thing...

"No need for titles, I always come around to see how prisoners make a living, so I was curious why didn't you back for tea"

The taller man's reply caught Lyney off guard. He seems confused to why Wriothesly is implying this "I... didn't see any reason for me to come back though?"

Too late... it came wrong. Lyney stammers back now stepping towards him "I didn't mean tk be rude"

The black haired guy chuckles now, waving it off. "Water under the bridge, honestly, I was teasing... I kind of liked it when you were fierce, or maybe when you are the confident magician"

He adds playfully. "To think you have a soft side like this..."

Blushing, Lyney might have become too nice. Sighing he gives a smile "Well... I'm honoured that you came to see me... I'm sure you have other pressing matters to attend to"

Wriothesley smiles "Are you trying to chase me away Mr. Lyney?"

Lyney widens his eyes, his new found confidence deflating "W-what no... I though..."

The cryo catalyst user is closer to him now leaning forward and making leaning, stumbling back and grabbing the wall "I must say that's quite the shame..."

Lyney growls a bit, turning away instantly, his arm still raised to grip the wall, "for someone who addresses me so formally, you are too touchy, your grace"

Wriothesley laughs. Of course, he loves the magician more when he's this snarky and honest. Seeing his eyes lower, he slowly wiggles his finger under Lyney's armpit, making the latter squeak and stumbled back, clutching his shoulder "h-hey!"

"I apologise but... Its rude to put your backs against your superiors, Lyney" dropping the honorific means business.

Lyney backs away when he see the tall figure slowly advance.

"W-What do y-you m-mehehehean hehehey why hehe are you tihihickling mehe!" Lyney stumbles back but Wriothesley catches him swiftly and still tickles his sides with the intention of making him squirm against the wall.

"Goodness, the little fatui member from the house od the hearth is actually ticklish?"

Lyney shrieked when he felt larger arms tickle his delicate armpits. "NOHOnoho! Ihihi am nohot!"

"Hm, very convincing... but you know the truth yourself Lyney"

"HAhaha why haha Wriothesley!"

The Duke shrugs. "Maybe because I'm a little upset thar you didn't come for to have some tea tea me... Ms. Lynette and Mr. Freminet offered me the liberty to do so."

"Eehehe whahaht? Ihihis thahahat ihihit?" Lyney squeals when his ribs began to be tormented and he squirms more to escape the playful touch "ok! Ok hahahaha PLEHEHEASE haha ill hehe stohohop by hehehe any time ehehe"

Satisfied and also seeing Lyney's red face, he stops and then pats his shoulder "there are people I'd rather have tea with... and one of them is you Lyney... I hope I'm not too forward... you must apologise but you should lighten"

Lyney sigh straightening his hat "Well I suppose I could come by and do dome magic tricks... offer our grace some entertainment..."

"Wpnderful..." Wriothesley gleefully place his hands together. Somewhat happy.

Lyney also mentally noted to extract his revenge along with that menu.

Short and sweet, but I hope it's ok, hehehe. Thanks for reading

#tickle lyney #lee!lyney #ler!wriothesley #lyney #wriothesley #genshin impact tickling #genshin impact #tickle fic #cute

[cryptotheism]

got liked by a guy on a dating app with a bio including "animist, beginner occultist and magician, entropic catalyst, psychonaut, yaldabaoth's biggest enemy." should I match with him to study his brain. time sensitive question

Yes

[owlf45]

Owl!!!!! Hope you're doing well you awesome little owl you!

LOLLITREEEEEE I’m fluttering I’m gushing hi oh my gosh I haven’t spoken to you in a while I hope you’re doing well and that your XY brainrot is still treating you nicely and I am obsessively keeping up with Liro’s cute face

#my asks #the catalyst magician

[uh-e-rinnie]

[click/tap images for better quality]

(1/3) of my TSS RPG au, originally posted on IG

Character Details and Backgrounds underneath:

[This was formatted for Instagram!]

Logan

Prodigy turned Professor of the Academy of Knowledge

Character Class: Magician

Weapon Class: Catalyst

Specialization: Time and Space

Associated Titles:

Royal Magician of the Kingdom of Creare

[Text Content]

Character Background [Lore]

There is much praise for Creare's Royal Magician. Despite his cold and icy gaze, Logan has the heart of a humble man, shaped by hardship and trial.

Logan was not born a magician, unlike his peers in the academy. A simple farm boy living with his parents, poor as they may have been, the young boy was determined to pursue a life of knowledge with the support of his guardians through every step. Poverty be damned, the boy held his head up through every step he had to take.

One day, while out staring into the deep blues of the night sky, a star fell into the young boy's hands, and in the blink of an eye, magic bloomed on his palms and through his veins. A case, not unheard of, but extremely rare; A gift from the heavens above, some say, only given to those who are destined for greatness.

Of course, Logan would roll his eyes, and simply state in a monotone voice; Coincidences.

Still, many believe that to be the case; For little farm boy Logan, not having the gold or silver to afford the teachings of skilled magicians, took it upon himself to turn this blessing into a miracle. Stars blooming from tired palms, restless eyes scanning through every word in every book he could find, whatever may help this star shine brighter.

Such hard work was deserving of a reward, and rewarded he was. Why, anyone who catches the eye of the previous royal magicians from the Academy of Knowledge, must be quite the special star, wouldn't you agree?

Role in Party [Position]

Logan is a magician that specializes in space-based magic, heavily on elements of Time and Gravity, as well as common elements that may be associated with space (See: Fire, Electricity, Water, Earth, etc.). He uses a book (Letters from the Universe) passed down onto him by the previous Royal Magician as a catalyst for his magic.

Logan is well equipped in using his magic for combat, making him a good Damage Dealer. His range allows him to fight from up close and from afar, however, it has been observed that the closer he is to the target, the more damage he deals. The father he is, the quicker he is able to cast more combat magic.

Though he is more common with combat magic, he may also serve as a Support magician. With the ability to increase his party members' fight speed, or decrease enemy speed. He may also increase his party member's gravity to increase the weight of their damage, of course, this is only applicable to physical fighters or members' with physical weapons.

Logan also has minor healing abilities, but does not use them often as it is not his speciality. 'Leave it to the Sunshine Frog', he'd say.

Virgil

Odd Magician found on the outskirts of Creare

Character Class: Magician

Weapon Class: Catalyst

Specialization: Unknown - Not Previously Recorded

Associated Titles:

Wanderer to and from nowhere.

Character Background [Lore]

While only few know about this strange wanderer, many have seen him soaring in the sky as he travels from one kingdom to the next, never staring for longer than a week or two. Those who have interacted with the wanderer describes him as quiet, almost docile despite his rough appearance; Speaking in hushed tones and staring at the world around him wide-eyed and curious. For that reason, amongst many others, the wanderer was welcomes as he never seemed like a threat.

What may be even more odd about this wanderer is the question of what he is. Many had mistaken him for one of the beastfolk; of the avian kind, wings and all. Upon being questioned so, the wanderer would shake his head and shrug, before moving onwards on his path, unwilling to continue the conversation.

A particular debate surrounding the wanderer is the color of the feathers on his back, and the mop of hair on his head; Some say it would be a deep dark black, too dark, almost like the shadows beneath his feet. Others would say it would be as pale as the moon's glow.

Currently, the strange wanderer takes rest on the outskirts of the kingdom of Creare, garnering the attention of many of its people. Not just for the strange wanderer's eccentricities and mysteries, but for the new development in the wanderer's routine;

It's been over three months, with no tells of leaving anytime soon. How odd, this wanderer.

Role in Party [Position]

Virgil is a magician that uses a floating crystal (Eye of the Storm) as a magic catalyst in battle, such is a gift from a member of his previous party. He has two forms that he can interchange in battle, with the condition that he must give his previous form time to recharge. His role and range in the party depends heavily on the type of form he's taken.

Flight form is similar to his dormant form at night; His hair and wings turn a bright white, with his wings growing slightly larger than in his other form. His speed increases greatly, but his strength lowers just as much. This is his best form to take role as a Support, as this form consists of magic that can boost the other members.

Fight form is similar to his dormant form at day; His hair and wings turns a deep black, with his wings growing denser and feathers sharper. His speed decreases greatly, but his strength increases just as much. This is his best form to take role as a Damage Dealer, as this form consists of magic that can boost himself.

Changing forms while a form is still partially recharges is dangerous, and thus, not advisable.

Other Concept Stuff

Design: Logan appears tall and lean, with tan skin, dark blue eyes and black, slicked-back, hair. He wears rectangular shaped glasses with golden frames, attached to a golden beaded glasses chain.

He wears a dark blue tunic with gold accents; You may also notice golden planets, moons, stars, orbits as well as a large golden sun with the silhouette of a crescent moon in the middle. There is a noticeable sparkle of glitter surrounding those golden shapes. These golden swirls and shapes are also seen on his sleeves.

Two brown belts, with one connecting to a small pouch, hangs loosely around his waist and over his hips. Two ribbons are connected to one of the belts, a red and cyan crystal hanging from a respective ribbon.

Under his tunic is a black button up shirt and a blue tie.

He wears long fingerless black gloves that take up most of his forearm, with gold lining at the end of the glove and around his wrist. A blue crystal is attached to the glove, below his knuckles.

He wears black pants that are tucked into a pair of brown and white leather high boots that reach a few inches below his knees. These boots are accented with gold and a blue crystal is noticeable above the bridge of his feet.

There is a noticeable pin on the right of his chest, colored gold and shaped like a thing four-pointed star, with arrows and a golden ring around it. Much like a clock or compass.

His weapon is a dark blue floating book, with two dark blue ribbons attached between the pages with golden stars hanging from the tips, serving as a sort of book-mark. There are rings, similar to his pin on the upper right corner and lower left corner of the book.

Design: Virgil is a pale skinned man with a short frame, a short mop of hair on his head, with a noticeable braid of hair starting from his temples. His hair switches between black and white, depending on the time of day.

His ears are slightly pointed, with a black ring helix piercing on his left ear, and a black studded earring with a purple crystal hanging from both.

He has heterochromic eyes, with his right eye being purple and the left being green, with a black/purple ring of color under his eyes.

He wears a cropped hoodie, it is a pale lavender, with three patches of various shades of purple (with two being plaid) sewn together in the hoodie's lower half. The hood is dark purple and plaid, with two dark purple hoodie strings.

He has long gray half gloves, starting from under his shoulder to a few inches over his wrist. The gloves are secured on him through black strings, on his shoulders and wrist. There are three, beads around the string on his left wrist, colored in yellow, green and orange. Similarly to Logan, he has purple crystals on his gloves, under his knuckles.

He wears baggy dark gray pants that hang from his waist, secured by a brown belt, with two long belt straps hanging from it. There is also a gold strap on the same side, with red, blue, and cyan circles on it.

He wears long brown boots with black accents, stopping several inches below his knee.

He has thick wings that switch between black and white together with his hair. Though the wings do look bird-like, feathers and all, none can point out the type of bird it can be associated with.

Virgil also has black long nails with sharp tips.

His weapon is a crystal orb that consistently swirls between the colors black and white, usually towards its center. Floating around the orb are two golden shells shaped like wings turning inwards toward the orb.

this was tiring! but i missed designing characters so yay!

edit: 7/5/22 ID added.

#wooooo #look at em #rin tss rpg au #this was totally genshin inspired #sanders sides #logan sanders #virgil sanders #rinart #ts sides #ts logan #ts virgil #ts art #tss

[wanderingsorcerer]

Do you have to be born with magic, or can anyone learn it?

Blood Or Knowledge by W.S

Anyone can learn Magick, that's the stone cold truth. Its an artform and skill which takes years to master. I've known powerful mages who started their journeys way later in life and grew in power with hard work and years of study. I've also known people with the ability to see spirits who just ignore their innate gifts entirely.

"Magick Comes From Pain"

~The Magician's

That being said I do fall under the category as someone raised by the old by-laws. The belief that there are those predisposed to be "better" at Magick than others...

(this in the modern age feels very anti community, but back then these traits would usually lead to these poor people being excommunicated from the normal group, or even attacked and killed. Physical deformities, autism and neurodivergence. Seeing spirits and so on. If they were lucky enough to find a master to take them in they would be molded into practitioners of Magick and healers)

These ostracized individuals were prime apprentice material as my grandfather called them... cause people who have lived good lives, have no reason to wield magick, the mortal world makes them soft.

The Lottery Of Birth

There are traits which showcase a higher attachment to the spiritual realm, different cultures say different things.

Albino people had it unfortunately rough in this department, being hunted down even in the modern day, because of the strong belief that they are inherently magical or even evil.

Some cultures state red or black hair is connected to the fae and the occult.

In Mexico it is those with birthmarks on their lips, or in their mouth, people with those marks are said to be able to weave spells simply by speaking.

Personal Experience

For me when I was being raised, my catalyst to getting trained was my sight, I could see the other side as clearly as I could see other people. Thankfully both sides of my family practice Magick so it was more of a don't talk to spirits because they aren't all nice vs a trip to the psyche ward.

But yeah that's my point of view on the subject at least,

and again I'm not saying that anyone is more powerful one way or another, magick is for everyone a tool left by the creation of the universe, whether you started life off with innate power is neither here nor there.

Because while talent can start a journey, it takes hard work and dedication to grow into a master of the craft.

So pick up a Grimoire and get to studying, I hope one day you grow to be confident in your craft :)

☕If You Love My Blog Consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi☕ 😊

#occult #occultism #occultist #demons #ars goetia #solomonic magick #magick #witchcraft #folklore #folklorist #magi #magus #grimoire #grimoires #witch #witchblr #witches #witchythings #witchlife #pagan witch #WanderingSorcerer #herbalist #plants and herbs #herbology #herbalism

[linkspooky]

Yu-Gi-Oh GX Season 2 - The Fool's Journey

This is an analysis of Yu Gi Oh Gx's season 2's use of Tarot, in regerence to the Fool's Journey, specifically in regards to our proverbial fool and favorite idiot Judai Yuki, and every other Tarot card referenced in this season. Of course, this requires coming through every season 2 episode to look at each individual card Saiou pulled from the deck or referenced so pardon me this is going to be a long one.

What is The Fool's Journey

The Fool’s Journey is a sequence of 22 cards, from 00 the fool and 21 the world. It’s meant to represent the journey of the proverbial fool, a blank slate defined by both naivete and ignorance in their personal growth. In other words the fool leaves on a journey...

...to grow from a child to an adult.

In this journey each card is symbolic for a stage, person or ecounter that the fool makes on his journey of personal growth, and the fool must weather all of them in the journey he can't skip the so-called "disaster" cards like "The Devil" or "The Tower" because part of life is coping with tragedy and loss. So the fool's journey is essentially twenty-two cards that represent different encounters, events, and people in a person's life as they grow up.

Judai is the focal character of Yu Gi Oh GX, and while other characters do matter the central focus of the anime is Judai growing from his "pure" childlike self into a fully grown, well-rounded adult.

The Tarot symbolism is most prominent in season 2, but I'd argue that much like the alchemical symbolism it permeates the whole show especially labeling Judai as the fool. Make no mistake from episode 1 on he's the fool, the very first thing he does in series is run into a magician (Yugi who's signature card is Black Magician) who gives him guidance (the second step of the Fool's Journey. I'm going to quote another post here who states it better than me.

In GX, Judai is, symbolically speaking, The Fool of the Tarot Deck, the Novice Alchemist — a person brimming with infinite potential, yet one who is also supremely ignorant, who walks forward with his eyes closed and often unknowingly causes harm in his great ignorance. In this, he is very much the embodiment of the faults we most commonly associate with teenagers — selfishness, recklessness, shallowness, a lack of dedication or empathy when it’s most needed. Like most people, he has good traits that work to balance out some of the above, but his narrative path through GX ends up being that of the flawed hero undone by his faults — and then that of the atoner, the repentant sinner. In his case, the mistakes of his teenage years are the catalyst for his growth from a boy into a man burdened with duty and purpose. 

Judai is a blank slate brimming with potential like the fool, and he's also an ignorant child who doesn't look before he leaps - and there are great consequences for his ignorance. Even in Season 2, a majority of the conflict could have been avoided with the Light if Judai was on the ball, instead of ignoring his friends for weeks after they were brainwashed. Judai is more often than not someone who has to be pushed into being a hero, not someone who voluntarily walks the path and this is something that lets the villains easily manipulate him. Especially in Season 2 where the main villain Saiou's gimmick is convincing the other characters that he's in control of their fate. Someone who doesn't grab the reigns, who doesn't try to control their life will see reality as something that happens to them rather than something they make with every single decision and those people are the kind who easy fall prey to Saiou's manipulations.

It's easy to see life as entirely out of your control if you don't take control. For Judai this manifests in two seasons worth of him resisting growing up and taking responsibility. As the fool he's not wise to the world and because of that, he's often caught guard by what's happening around him and the schemes of villains until it's almost too late.

The need for Judai's growth is especially emphasized in Season 3, where his "pure" nature that he's constantly praised for in the first two seasons becomes heavily criticized as a character flaw. However, the setup is present in Season 2. The first card that Saiou pulls for Judai is the fool, specifically after all of Judai's cards have gone blank and he leaves the academy. The fool is wandering in search of something, because the Fool is missing somethig. You don't leave to go on a journey if you're content and have everything you need at home.

We'll learn in Season 3 just what it is Judai is missing (*cough* Yubel *cough*) but this begs the question if Judai actually needed to reunite with Yubel. After all for the first two seasons Judai seemed to be managing fine without Yubel. In a jungian sense, yes he did because Judai in seasons 1 and 2 had yet to go through the process of individuation. It's the process by which one achieves psychic wholeness, similar to the fool's journey it's necessary for growing up and becoming one's own self.

Judai cannot continue to remain a child, nor can he remain "pure" because pure people don't exist in this world. Judai's pureness comes from a mix of innocence and ignorance, because he's quite literally forgotten some of the darker memories of his past (like Yubel quite literally sending all of his friends into comas until everyone became scared of him) and also from a refusal to "get smarter' or "grow up" on his end. For example does all of the trouble Judai faces in Season 3 come entirely from Yubel, or does Judai also struggle because behaviors that are okay when your first year of high school and still growing become less okay in your third year?

Judai's childish and pure heart that makes him the fool is both his greatest strength and weakness, his strength because he's optimistic, open to new experiences and generally trusting of people which makes him so easy to befriend. However it's a flaw when Judai's childishness turns into childlike selfishess, when his ignorance leads to him making foolish, impulsive decisions. Judai's downright refusal to think, about other people's feelings, about the consequences of his actions leads to great suffering later down the line. After all in the art of the Rider-Waite Tarot card, the Fool is taking the first step of their journey blithefully unaware that they're about to walk right off of a cliff.

So the Fool's Journey is something Judai must complete to grow up and complete his character arc, because the fool may be innocent, and pure of heart, but they're also empty and empty things need to be filled. Each of the cards Saiou pulls this season, are representative of Judai's journey throughout season 2 and some of these are going to be characters, because some of the cards represent people the fool encounters.

Destiny

Before I start breaking down every single tarot card that Saiou pulls, I also want to go into why Destiny is such a huge theme in season 2. There's Saiou's ability to see the future, the multiple tarot cards that are refereced, Saiou's entire deck archetype being based around the major arcana with "Arcana Force" monsters, Edo's obsession with Destiny, the "D-Heroes" or Destiny Hero Archetype that Edo plays which work around the concept of effects that manipulate time (such as sending a card two turns into the future, or flipping over a spell card on your deck to use next turn.)

This season isn't just a typical "there's no such thing as destiny, you can change your fate if you want to" story, because of the way it uses tarot symbolism / Jungian Symbolism. Basically the whole theme of Season 2 (and the leadup to Season 3) boils down to this quote.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will rule your life and you will call it Fate.” CG JUNG

The biggest example of this is Edo, who is also someone who desperately wants to believe in destiny, and that he's a person chosen for a great destiny at the beginning of the season.

Edo’s obsession with destiny comes from not wanting to confront his past and his inner wounded child. If he believes he’s a chosen hero on a quest for revenge, he doesn’t have to confront what DD pointed out that he’s still the grieving child who lost his father.

Since Edo ignores the unconscious, he is for most of the story a pawn in some way or another. He’s a pawn to Saio believing and following his prophecies, he’s a pawn to DD who killed his father never once suspecting him. 

Characters who ignore the unconscious, become pawns of Saiou / the Light. What this basically means is that if you are not aware of a flaw you have, you'll be sabotaged by it in some way. Problems don't usually go away by ignoring them after all as nice as that would be. In Jungian symbolism the shadow is made up of the flaws that you would rather ignore or not confront, and all other parts of the personality that you're not aware of. Confronting the shadow is necessary for individuation which is the same goal as the Fool's Journey. Saiou's strategy is to duel someone, exploit some subconscious flaw, Manjoume's inferiority complex towards Judai, The pressure Asuka feels to conform, Misawa's desire for validation and praise from his peers. Once he's exploited that flaw he brainwashes them with the light, because while being controlled they don't have to think about that flaw. Since they don't want to confront their flaw / shadow and it's easier to just keep o ignoring it then they become pawns to destiny.

Now, for the breakdown of every card that Saiou references this season.

53: Destiny Begins The Freshman Edo Phoenix

Pull #1: Death in Reverse

XII - Death I am Wary

Death doesn't mean literla death, but rather change. Dath means change. Death means change. Death means change. Means change.

However, Saiou pulls Death from the deck inverted. You have to have death to have rebirth. If it's inverted then it's stagnancy. It's refusing to acknowledge change, or in some cases it's refusing to grieve and because of that you're unable to move on or move forward.

The situation that Saiou pulls this in is during the middle of Edo's duel with Judai. A duel that Saiou set up, and then told Edo to lose, which Edo obeys because up until a certain point he's always done what Saiou's deck told him to do - because of his firm belief in destiny.

Death in reverse in this case is Edo - because his desire to belief in destiny comes from his refusal to grieve or move on from his father's death. If he believes that everything is predetermined and he's a chosen one, then he's not some sad orphaned kid, he's a hero with a great destiny ahead of him.

Edo is the one refusing to acknowledge death, and refusing to grieve, and therefore he's the one who is stagnating at the start of the story.

Pull #2: Chariot in Reverse

VII - The Chariot I am Driving

The chariot is the card of ambition, action, energy and most of all control. In the rider waite tarot the image is of a hero riding the chariot. However, in reverse it means a hesitation to grab onto the reigns and take control of your life.

This is once again in reference to Edo, who because of his belief in destiny leaves all the decision making up to Saiou. Edo who would normally be a very strong, ambitious, willfull individual is easily manipulated by Saiou because he refuses to take the reigns into his own hands.

The chariot in reverse can also sometimes mean chaos, as in someone who refuses to take control of his life in an "I do what I want" sort of way. In that case it could be referring to Judai, especially the way Judai's extremely self-centered egotism, only dueling for fun compares to how Edo who is always carrying massive burdens on his shoulders and believes a hero has to carry such things (in spire of the fact that Edo is essentially still a child, just a child playing at being an adult). Saiou says that a encounter with Judai is necessary for Edo's growth and that's true, because Edo just like Judai is still a child, but Judai's aware of that fact whereas Edo thinks he's an adult when he's not. Sometimes the first step to growth is taking a good long look in the mirror.

57: The Kaiser vs. Ed

Pull #1: The Chariot - Upright

I already elaborated on the Chariot's meaning above - but it's upright this time. There's an interesting line where Edo says he was going to win his first duel with Judai until Saiou ordered him to lose. Which implies that it's not destiny at play here, but rather Edo's belief in destiny which influences his choices.

The Chariot could also be a reference to Hell Kaiser Ryo. As the sense of loss and powerlessness in this episode that Kaiser experiences humiliates him enough that he has a full breakdown and becomes obsessed with achieving victory above everything else - much like the triumphant hero holding the reigns of the chariot.

Unlike other characters who fall prey to possession (Fubuki, Asuka, Manjoume, etc...) Ryo repeatedly emphasizes that he's not being possessed by darkness internal or otherwise, his apparent change in behavior is the result of his own decisions. Ryou for all of his flaws is much more of an adult than Edo who's being controlled for more than half of the season because of his belief than destiny, he takes responsibility for his own choices when others like Fubuki try to make excuses for him.

In that sense he embodies the chariot much more than Edo as it's the card of having both hands on the wheel. Though once again the chariot in reverse is the perfect card for Edo, because Saiou's trick is convincing people they're not in control of their destiny which is when he starts making all of your choices for you.

61 - Enter Saiou the Tarot Deck of Destiny

He is a duelist who is able to communicate deeply with Duel Spirits - or so my divinations tell me.

X - Wheel of Fortune: I am changing

Saiou pulls this card after Judai's deck has been bleached, when he's standing on the precipice to leave Duel Academy where he'll later have an encounter with the Neo-Spacians. He doesn't name the card, but it's clearly the Wheel of Fortune, he later pulled the card in association with Edo when he believed Edo was the one who could change his eventual fate.

Here Saiou pulls the card while ruminating on Judai's connection to the spirits. In context he believes the spirits are what's protecting him from the fool as pictured above. I went into great detail for how the fool represents Judai so let's skip that to stop from repeating myself and focus on the Wheel of Fortune.

The wheel of fortune is chaotic chance by the ordained power of gods and the celestial heavens/earth. It's also a card heavily associated with Alchemy.

“The Waite-Smith Wheel of Fortune is fourfold in construction, signaling all that is known in the world of matter: directions, elements, Kabbalistic worlds, fixed signs of the zodiac, etc. Spaced around the wheel’s rim is the divine name, , counterchanged with English letters. Most will instantly pick up the word TARO(T)—sometimes called the “book of fate.” But you might also see ROTA (“wheel”), ORAT (“speaks”), TORA (the law or “Torah”), and ATOR (“Hathor”). Alchemical glyphs adorn the axes of the circle. At the top, mercury’s symbol; at left, the salt symbol; at right, the sulfur symbol. These three are the tria prima of alchemy. The glyph at the bottom, though it resembles the Aquarius glyph, is more likely the alchemical sign for multiplication, a process by which the alchemical product becomes more voluminous. Or the four symbols may be elemental: mercury/air, sulfur/fire, salt/earth, wavy final glyph/water. Atop the Wheel is the enigmatic sphinx. Modern tarot scholars consider the yellow descending serpent to be monstrous Typhon and the red “devil” figure to be jackal-headed psychopomp Hermanubis. The Kerubic beasts from Ezekiel 10 occupy the card’s four corners; their books may be the Gospels: Lion[…]” Excerpt From Tarot Deciphered T. Susan Chang

The connection to divine aspect in this context is Judai's connection to the spirits. However, pulling the Fool right afterwards is interesting because it's the card of ignorance. Judai doesn't know why he's connected to the spirits because he's forgotten, both his childhood connection to Yubel and the fact he could see spirits long ago. This is a plot point that's foreshadowed three times, first Judai telling a scary story to his dormmates of when he used to hear spirits in his childhood, then in season 2 when he suddenly remembers entering the Kaiba Corp contest for the Neo-Spacians, that's only half the story though as in season 3 Judai begins to question when he first saw spirits until he finally remembers Yubel and sending them away on another satellite.

The last card he pulls is the hanged man which is a card tied directly to Manjoume. Manjoume is Judai's foil in a sense. Saiou even uses Manjuoume as a replacement head of the cult something he originally planned for Judai. Manjoume also primarily wears black, a color associated with Nigredo. Nigredo is the first stage of alchemy the where most of the impurities are boiled out until the alchemical mixture turns pitch black. Manjoume similiarly, is a character who carries around an inferiority complex and constantly battles with his low self-worth and the pressure to succeed unlike Judai who spends the first two seasons repressing all those feelings.

XII - The Hanged Man I am releasing.

Some people argue that Manjoume has no character arc past season 1, but I'd argue being the villain exploiting you with your worst insecurities and flaws is impressive character work because we learn a great deal about Manjoume here.

The hanged man is the card of surrender to outside forces, the card of taking time to contemplate, and also the card of self-proclaimed martyrdom.

There is more than one religion that speaks of a man hanged from a tree. Mithras in roman mythology, Odin from Norse, Jesus in Christianity, and Osiris from Egypt. This card is often interpreted as a representative of martyrdom - the more accurate word other than a martyr is sacrifice. One of my friends recently shared this with me: "Remember that surrender is an act of will. It is a choice to unclench one's fist and hang oneself upside down and stay there." Kitchen Table Tarot

The use of the word "Sacrifice" is ironic here, because Manjoume is basically used as a human sacrifice to become a vessel of the Light of Destruction.

Using the Hanged Man as the Self-Made Martyr is meaningful here too, because Kenzan proves that losing a duel to Saiou doesn't automatically result in brainwashing. My theory on what makes others fall prey to the light's influence is when they accept Saiou's words about their inner desires, essentially falling prey to their insecurities. The light is a relief in a way to those riddled by insecurities they don't have to to think about the things that worry them if they're brainwashed. If you think about it, Manjoume is exploited for his inferiority complex, Asuka is forced to conform into a more feminine role, and Misawa joins a cult to get validation from his peers after they start ignoring him.

The Hanged Man is all about the choice to hang oneself, and while Saiou is incredibly forceful including using the surrounding plant life to hang Manjoume the card ultimately implies it was Manjoume's choice ultimately because he kept judging himself on his ability to beat Judai instead of just looking at his own merits.

You have a rival that you wish to surpass. However, deep within your heart you have all but surrendered. That's not all, you even entice him with friendship in order to prolong your battle. Yes stagnation stemming from a failure to defeat Judai. You cannot continue like this. That said, you happened to pull he who hung in reverse. This foretells progress from stangation.

The choice to stop believing in his own cards and accept the cards that Saiou gave him was ultimately his own in that moment. As evidenced by the fact that Manjoume is able to throw off his own brainwashing later on and take the Ojamas back.

In the duel itself the hanged man arcana force card lands in reverse, and the meaning is exactly as Saiou states it, stagnation, but a stagnation you have to make the decision to pull yourself out of. "That said you happened to pull he who was hung in reverse. This foretells progress from stagnation. Yes - one can choose their destiny."

Of course the irony here is Manjoume's not really making the choice to escape stagnation here, because he's accepting Saiou's will over his own.

62 - A New E-Hero Neos!

This time a card falls out of Saiou's deck, which is something that happens in real life all the time actually when I'm doing readings. Which is a fun little detail the creators threw in. The card itself is death, it falls in a diagonal position ambiguous to whether or not it's upright or reverse which Saiou terms "rebirth if reversed, destruction if upright."

XIII - Death "I am Weary"

Saiou's reading of the card is a little weird. Death in Tarot is the card of Death and Rebirth in the sense of change. Destruction is more in the wheelhouse of the Tower.

Of course his reading could be referring to the necessity of letting things die, in order for change to occur, whether they be old ways, old ideas, etc. Death in reverse isn't rebirth though, but rather stagnancy and the resistance of destruction.

The definition of Death here does fit with the alchemy symbolism surrounding Judai's character. The main philosophy of alchemy is "Dissolve et Coagula" which basically means death and rebirth. A person is dissolved and reformed into a purer metal until eventually alchemical gold is formed. Judai is in fact a character that has been resisting death, because he spends basically two seasons a stagnant character and his immaturity as a result of his lack of growth is a big focus of season 3.

In the Fool's Journey the death tarot card is all about accepting both grief and death as inevitable facts of life.

The Fool now begins to eliminate old habits and tired approaches. He cuts out nonessentials because he appreciates the basics of life. He goes through endings as he puts the outgrown aspects of his life behind him. He process may seem like dying because it is the death (13) of his familiar self to allow for the growth of a new one.  Learntarot.com

Clinging to the familiar self is definitely a way to describe Judai. One of his biggest flaws is his tendency to settle into a comfortable status quo and take things for granted. Hence why he takes so long to try to save his friends from brainwashing in this season.

"It is the ego that sees itself as separate from life; because it is only a mask the ego does not wish to die. It wishes to make itself superior to the universe. If we accept death we will be able to live more fully. The ego never wants to release energy, it wants to hoard it more fully, as a result new energy cannot get in. " Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A book of Tarot

Jung even defines death of the ego as something necessary for growth.  In The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1959; 2nd ed., 1968), Jung characterized ego death (which he referred to as “psychic death”) as a fundamental reordering of the psyche with the liberating potential to reset human consciousness so that it might better align with the “natural” self. 

Which you know season 3 foreshadowing again, Judai accepts death in himself in quite a literal sense as the end of the season he dies and is reborn as a new being entirely.

I'm probably reading too much into it, but it's pretty clear Yubel was the plan at this point, considering both the season 1 Judai seeing spirits in his childhood, and the launching trading cards into space are both things that get added into Yubel's eventual backstory.

70 - Asuka Vs Manjoume White Thunder

The upright Hierophant! It refers to someone who will be of use. Could this mean that it is Judai Yuki and not Edo Phoenix that I need?

V - The Hierophant I am unlocking

In this scene Saiou directly states the card could be referring to either Edo or Judai. Sorry Asuka no card for you this episode (if I had to assign her a card it would be the high priestess passive, feminine inspiration who appears after the Magician she is basically the first friend Judai makes and one of his first duels when he comes to Duel Academy). The hierophant is also the masculine counterpart to the high priestess so that's more evidence for Asuka being subtly marked as the high priestess.

Saiou first pulled the Hierophant in the past shortly after meeting Edo, to show Edo his belief that Edo can be the one to change the terrible future he's predicted for himself.

The hierophant sits between two pillars wearing three robes - red blue, and white - and a three-tiered crown, both erepresenting the three worlds over which he rules (the ego, the id, and the supergo). In his left hand he holds the Papl Cross. He raises his right hand in a blessing, with one two fingers pointed to the Heavens and two to Earth. This represents the connction between man and the divine. While the crossed keys at the Hierophants feet represent the balance between the conscious and subconscious minds. Overall it's a card for a figure that appears and offers you guidance.

A card that is appropriate for Saiou who's conscious and subconscious minds are completely out of whack. The state of Saiou's possession is left a little bit ambiguous in the text. Saiou claims he's completely controlled by the Light of Desstruction, split into two entirely seperate halfs ala Marik and Dark Marik. His good half does in fact go to Edo and help him in the duel. However, the Light of Destruction claims that he is Saiou, and he's enacting Saiou's vengeance against a world that shunned and feared him for his powers. However, either way the fact that Saiou has divided himself into two distinct halves shows a serious imbalance in his conscious and subconscious he wishes Edo to help him fix.

Before the Hierophant kneels two followers. The hierophant's role is to pass down spiritual wisdom. That's likely the Judai part of the card.

I read something that likened the Hierophant to trickster gods. What's this? Coyote, Hermes, Fox, Loki - they take information that we can't quite wrap our heads around and make it discernible. The Trickster is the messenger between the gods and Man. Stealing fire, teaching us forbiddensecrets, giving us an apple. Joseph Sober called the Hierophant "He who shows the Sacred" in The Book of Oracles, or A Poet's Tarot.

If the Hierophant is linked to trickster gods as well then that's the Fool / Judai's role, also as the character who acts as the messenger between spirits and humans which is Judai's role as Edo can't see spirits. Linking both Judai and Edo to this card also foreshadows Judai's eventual role as someone who becomes a guide to help Duel Spirits and Humans coexist.

Judai is also much like Edo, someone who's conscious and subconscious minds are completely out of whack. All of Season 3 is a balancing act for the 3 parts of Judai's soul, Judai (Ego), Supreme King (Id) and Yubel (Superego). The entire duel between Edo and Saiou is basically setup for what Judai must do at the end of Season 3 when facing Yubel when it's time to find balance in his soul (and Yubel is definitely his soul).

Judai is the guide between spirits and humans, but he's still in the process of learning how to guide others something that takes him about four seasons because Judai is a slow learner.

73 - Kenzan VS Saiou! It's Dinosaur DNA, Don

Saiou starts the episode with a four card spread, card one wheel of fortune, card two the fool, card three the hierophant three cards we've already covered and four is The Strength which refers to Kenzan.

And what is this card that accompanies the Fool? The Strength... Power? A symbol of unwavering Power. Do I take this to mean this one might also affect my fate?

VII - The Strength I am graceful.

That sure is interesting card art for the Strength. For the most part Saiou's cards resemble the Rider Waite decks, a religious leader for the hierophant, a fool for the fool, a figure on a chariot pulled by a two-headed figure (as opposed to two lions), Death shows a figure of Death (in Rider-Waite it's the pale horseman but in other decks it's just the reaper himself) but the Strength Card is traditionally a woman in a white dress taming a lion. The white dress is purity, the infinity symbol atop her head an endless supply of strength, and the act of taming the lion itself is feminine energy controlling the lion a symbol of untamed beastly power. Saiou's card art looks like some sort of alien crawling out of the earth with a crumbling tower and the moon in the background.

It's most likely just a reference to Saiou's alien-like / eldtrich inspired Arcana Force cards, which mixes the major arcana with lovecraftian lore to reference the alien nature of the Light of Destruction as an unknowable force from outerspace tampering with earth. Since the Strength is about taming beastly power, the representative of powr isn't a lion, but rather an alien like the strange Alien force Saiou gets his power from - which makes sense as Kenzan is the first character we're shown able to conquer the light on his own.

As I stated above it's ambiguous whether the light is straight up mind control, or just a corruption. Saiou seems to be possessed as in there is an alien force in his body controlling his body like a puppet, but the Light itself claims some part of Saiou too wants destruction. It's different then the way Yubel possesses people, which is just quite literally using their body as a puppet. Johan isn't even inside of his body when Yubel possesses him he gets shoved into a card, Yubel / Johan isn't a reflection of any of Johan's desires or internal darkness. Yubel themselves are referred to as being corrupted by the light, but they're clearly not possessed their actions are their own no matter how twisted they may be. In that case the Light is more mental damage that comes from enduring painful torture for years on end.

In Duel Links, Yubel has an encounter with Saiou where Saiou detects the light's influence on Yubel and asks them to join in his mission only for Yubel to turn them down.

Saiou: Let us fill the universe with light together. Yubel: No. Saiou: What? Yubel: I don't care about the light. I don't care about you. I only care about Judai.

Which is evidence that the Light doesn't fully possess you so much as corrupt what's already there, Yubel already had an unhealthy fixation on Judai before this and the Light made it so Yubel and Judai were the only two people in the universe that mattered in Yubel's eyes.

The point of this long tangent is that this episode shows once again that people can resist the light. As Kenzan is the first person to successfully do it, he shows that losing a duel =/= possession. Misawa wasn't even going to lose his duel, the pressure to conform and join the cult with everyone else because he wanted to be recognized by his peers just made him lose on purpose.

The Light and season 2 as a whole is a reference to the Albedo or the Whitening phase of alchemy, the second stage where the metal has been cleansed of all impurities. Similiarly, the Light seems to work by promising to cleanse the characters who fall victims to it of their impure thoughts, ie their insecurities because while being brainwashed for the whole season more or less the characters brainwashed are succumbing to flaws that are a part of their arcs for the entire show.

Manjoume is constantly battling against his inferiority complex, which is both a springboard that motivates him to get stronger but also sabotages any self confidence he might build up for himself. Asuka is continually fighting the constant pressure of Duel Academy and sometimes even the people around her like Fubuki, telling her to conform to more a more feminine ideal, the conflict between perceived obligation to fill others expectations vs. doing what you want in life. Even Manjoume and Asuka's duel is Manjoume basically brainwashing her because his subconscious romantic feelings and longing towards her makes him want to brainwash her to being his queen at his sides -> forcing her to conform to femininity when previously she responded to his feelings by telling him she didn't have room for love in her life because her first love was dueling. Misawa presents himself as an island who only cares about dueling and intellectual pursuits, but both Tanya and the Light reveal how much he needs love in his life.

When Kenzan resists the light's brainwashing he claims it's because of his dinosaur DNA, but it's more than likely Kenzan himself - his upbeat nature means he doesn't have the same insecurities that Alexis, Manjoume and Misawa have. In season 3 when he's used as a part of the sacrifice ritual to create super polymerization he even says that he's never felt such strong hatred before. Not to say Kenzan's without flaws, he idolizes Judai way too much, but he's also achieved a peace with himself other characters haven't b/c he's tamed his wild side.

You could also tie Jim Crocodile Cook in Season 3 to the strength, because he's heavy foils with Kenzan, Kenzan uses dinosaurs and Jim uses fossils, they're both tied to earth, they both are good-natured guys who value friendship and loyalty above else. Jim also plays a big role in taming the beast when it comes to the fight against the Supreme King / Haou and Judai's inner darkness. Since the Shadow in a Jungian sense is composed of all the hidden parts of our personality, including the beastial instincts that are suppressed by the ego. Jim and Kenzan by embodying the strength card, display find a balance between the ego and the shadow that other characters lack.

The fact that Jim and Kenzan also both conquer this darkness / light respectively shows that in the end it is the character's choice to succumb. Judai when succumbing to the supreme king is SHADOW POSSESSED which is a Jungian term where unaware of our worst flaws we become essentially possessed by them and unknowingly keep committing the same mistakes.

As stated above until you make the unconscious conscious it will rule your life and you will call it fate. The same mistake every character who falls victim to Saiou makes, believing fate is something that happens to them because he called a few coin flips right in a duel rather than something they create with every single decision they make.

Supreme King Judai snaps and decides that nothing else matters except for power and that if he already lost four friends to it he might as well finish Super Polymerization. He's not being puppeteered or controlled though, Judai is falling prey to his worst instincts but it's still Judai making the decisions here. Which is the same for characters possessed by the Light, ultimately Manjoume, Alexis and Misawa have to throw off the shackles themselves. Which makes these possessions part of an arc and not just the characters being reduced to agenciless puppets for half a season (no that's the zombie thing in the third season.)

They key to doing this is embracing your wild instincts / your shadow and taming them rather than trying to repress them entirely. For Manjoume it's throwing his black coat back on and embracing the fact that he's a messy person full of pride and flaws (which is color symbolism b/c the black coat is Nigredo, but also just funny because he doesn't wash his coat), for Asuka it's embracing the fact that she doesn't fit the ideal of queen of obelisk or the stereotypical unemotional ice queen because she has too many fiery emotions (elemental symbolism and color symbolism). The light tries to rid you of your shadow, but you actually need your shadow to be a whole person b/c all those niggling little flaws are a part of who you are.

97 - He Appears! The Mysterious World Champ

"He's actually searching for his father. I understand how he feels. Every man sees his father as someone to surpass eventually. However, Ed had his father taken from him by a murderer. If he wants to surpass his late father, he will have to defeat that crimminal. That's what he believes. That's why he searches so fervently for an opponent to surpass in his father's place."

There's no tarot card pulled in this episode, but these two episodes take a right turn from Jung Territory right into FreudVille with the insanely oedipal speech the principal gives about Edo's relationship with his father.

Oedipus Rex is a play about many things, chiefly family ties and fate. Oedipus hears a prophecy about killing his father and bedding his mother, so in horror he leaves his home. On the highway to thebes he gets in an argument with a man and kills him on the side of the road. Then in Thebes he solves the Sphinx's riddle and is proclaimed a hero and a king for saving the city. He marries the recetnly widowed queen and has several children with her.

Years later a plague falls upon the city. He summons the prophet Tiresias to tell him who's behind the plague, and Tiresias the blind prophet tells him that he doesn't want to know the truth. Oedipus eventually discovers that he was adopted. That his birth parents heard the same prophecy that he would kill one and bed the other, and decided to leave him on a cliff to die - only for him to be saved. The man Oedipus killed on the side of the road was Laius, the former king and his father, and his wife Jocasta is actually his mother.

Oedipus is revealed to be the culprit of the plague in Thebes all along, because he unknowingly killed his father and bed his mother. Ironically, it's also Oedipus's attempts to defy his fate that lead him to committing the sin he was prophesized to do. Oedipus believes himself to be the hero trying to solve the plague in Thebes only to learn he's the very cause of the plague.

Freud believed Oedipus Rex to be a play that speaks to a fundamental truth of the human subconscious, and named the Oedipus Complex after the play. The Oedipus Complex is a Freudian Term that states a boy develops an unconscious infatuation towards his mother and simultaneously fears his father to be a rival.

Edo doesn't even have a mother so the incestuous interpretation doesn't really apply here. Freud can be interpreted another way though, basically the first relationship we ever experience is with our parents, and the relationship we have with our parents teaches us about all other relationships in life (google attachment styles / theory this is a well studied phenomenon).

The principal takes the heavily Freudian interpretation that Edo can't grow up because due to the fact that his father died early, he never surpassed his father as young boy's due. Edo is still stuck in this stage of immaturity where he views his father as a rival because his father was taken from him too early.

Edo also symbolically kills both his father and his adoptive father in defeating DD and killing the remains of his father's soul that was in Destiny Hero Blood-D! in order to finally grow up. Symbolically he's killing his father like Oedipus, but in actuality what he's doing is choosing to let go of the feelings of the past that controlled him for so long and move on. In order to grow up you have to symbolically kill your parents, or at least in childhood your parents have control of every aspect of your life and seem all knowing and part of growing up is separating from your parents, taking control of your life and making your own decision.

Edo is more closely tied to the fate aspect of Oedipus Rex, in the sense that Edo believes himself to be the hero of the story that is center to the narrative but is blinded to the truth all along. He is even at parts the villain of the story, because for so long he helps Saiou's machinations by willingly choosing to be his puppet because he wants to believe he's a chosen, destined hero so badly.

Much like Oedipus, Edo (oh my god... is that why he's named Edo) spends his entire arc searching for the culprit when the culprit has been right next to him all along. He even gets used as a part of the culprit's plan, because DD encouraged Edo to search for the person who stole Bloo-D in order to spy on the police investigation and make sure Edo didn't get close. Edo, like Oedipus believes himself to be the hero of the story.

But maybe, being chosen by fate isn't a good thing. Oedipus technically is a hero, but he's the hero of a tragedy. He's chosen by fate, but that fate means he's ultimately helpless and agenciless destined to commit a horrible disgusting act he doesn't want to do. All of his attempts to avert his fate and exert his free will just end up with him fulfilling that horrible fate instead.

Edo wants to believe in destiny because of his childish belief in heroes, and his need for heroes to exist because his father's killer went unpunished. He also copes with the reality of his father's death by creating a fictional narrative, he was the hero, his father's death is his tragic backstory, and one day he'll avenge his father and get revenge because that's how stories go. Once again though to be a character in a story is to have no agency, because characters don't have control the authors do. Characters are just tools of the narrative, just like how Edo spends so much of his arc a tool of Saiou, and DD.

When DD is justifying himself and his actions in killing Edo's father he sounds a lot like Edo, proclaiming himself one of the chosen ones.

DD:Self-interest? Not quite. I wanted to know whether or not I was the chosen one. Just look at history - all the greats who seized power would always commit some number of crimes. In killing your father, I became a great myself and I proved my status as the chosen one. Edo: You've lost your mind! DD: Edo, I wouldn't expect a commoner like you to understand. The path of a great is a unique one, after all - one devoid of laws and common sense.

DD's logic is a reflection of Ed's, and also Saiou's, as all three of them believe themselves to be chosen by a special destiny, and in all 3 cases it's actually a terrible thing to be a chosen one. DD is even split down the middle just like Saiou, and it's implied for all the victories Bloo-D brought him he might just be possessed by that card, an angenciless tool just like Saiou is to the light.

In Season 4 Saiou even succumbs to his flaws and turns against Judai because he can't stand to be powerless, and getting his powers to see the future back is in his eyes worth the possession it might bring too. All three of these characters want to believe in a fixed destiny because it makes them special, but by believing in fate they also give up their ability to make choices and become tools. Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will ruin your life and you will call it fate.

Even Saiou's narrative of gaining revenge for his father turns out to be unsatisfying in the end, after his long quest for revenge all he accomplishes is finding out his adoptive father never once cared for him all along, and he has to kill the last living memory of his real father. The revenge that he thought would bring him closure just rips the wound right back open. His narrative is proven false and Edo is shown not to be a hero as he imagined himself, but just a child who's failed to grow up, or grow past the day his father was killed.

100 - The Ultimate Arcana, The World

I've foreseen what my future will bring - my fate. THe sign that I've derived is destruction. The upright Devil card. Crime, injustice, temptation, restraint.... It implies them all.

XV - The Devil I am choosing.

Saiou pulls The Devil in a flashback in reference to himself and his future, right after pulling Hierophant in reference to Edo and his role in Saiou's future. We went over the Hierophant above so I'm just going to focus on the Devil.

Saiou's reading of the Devil is pretty much dead on, however, he leaves off a critical part that the man and woman who are chained to the devil in the Rider Waite card have loose chains around their necks that they could take off at any time. The Devil is the card of chaining yourself to your own worst habits.

Do you see how people are chained to this throne? Those are pretty thick chains and look fairly sturdy. Look at their necks, they could slip off at any time but they’re choosing not to. That’s what this is about. Who could create a better hell for us than ourselves? Who knows our weaknesses? Who knows how to make us feel low and dirty and worthless? Who is ready to exploit these vulnerabilities and hurt us at a moment’s notice? Yep. Ourselves. We don’t always chain ourselves without help, peer pressure, poor guidance from parents, but whatever your path is - at some point you have a choice to make. Do I wear this chain or not? Do I drink to excess? Do I hurt someone just because I can? This card is about chaining yourself to those things that pull you down. Why do we do things to ourselves? When does it become okay to verbally and emotionally abuse ourselves? I think it comes down to two things, fear and doubt. Fear that we’re not as good as everyone else, and the doubt that allows that fear to trickle in.  -Kitchen Table Tarot

It's almost characteristic of Saiou to leave out the part where the Devil is the card of chaining yourself down, because Saiou doesn't believe he has any freedom or choice in choosing his future. He paints himself as the helpless victim of fate, and that makes it easier for the Light of Destruction to control him. As I said before it's left really ambiguous if Saiou is 100% possessed or just corrupted like Yubel, but the Light of Destruction makes the case that on some subconscious level Saiou wants to lash out against the world for excluding him.

Saiou almost exhibits a learned helplessness in regards to his own fate. He doesn't fight back because the light has him totally convinced that he can't fight back. The light also tries to convince Saiou that his destructive impulses are Saiou's own destructive impulses. Unlike Yubel it's less clear - like Yubel is clearly painted as being in control, all of the schemes are Yubel's own designs, Yubel's feelings for Judai are so strong even the Light can't sway them.

Saiou is a mix between being corrupted by teh eldtrich madnezz and just having a powerful dark side ala Dark Marik that takes total control. In favor of the Eldtrich explanation we have the clear lovecraftian inspiration in Saiou, the Light of Destruction, and his deck the Arcana Force. Most particularly the Light is a clear reference to the Color Out of Space.

The color out of space is a short story where a meteorite crashes into a farm owned by Nahum. As a result of the meteor the crops grow large and abundant but are inedible. Thewell water all goes bad. The livestock start to mutate and die off, and their meat is inebile. One of his sons locks himself in the attic and dies, the other vanishes while retrieving water from the contaminated well. The wife then goes to the attic and mutates into a horrible indescribable form.

When Nahum is discovered dying he tells the others that the "color" that arrived on the meteorite is responsible. The color then pours out from the well and makes everything around it go mad, killing the trees, greying organic matter. The "color" itself is an alien entity that corrupts everything around it, much like the Light is described as evil space rays from a White Hole deep into space that corrupts everything it touches. Like the Light makes no sense but it's not supposed to make sense, it's just some weird, unknowable cosmic sense of corruption that twists everything it touches, something with no motivation or sense behind its actions much like alien colors pouring out of a meteorite.

The lovecraftian explanation for Saiou's corruption removes all agency from Saiou, it's not his fault he has just been touched by teh eldtrich lore.

The other explanation is that Devil, that Saiou willingly puts the chain around his neck, that his belief in a fixed future is makes him easy to possess and control. His actions in Season Four support this notion, because Saiou ends up wanting his powers back because of the sense of control that seeing the future was able to give him. The idea that you can control or know the future is a comforting notion to some people, while insecurity and uncertainty over the future is deeply uncomfortable.

There's a quote I love from Choujin X that perfectly describes this very human tendency.

Humans are creatures who tend to put faith in uncertain possibilities, and prophesies are troublesome because they make the possible seem probable.

In other words prophecies provide a false belief of certainty in an otherwise completely random world. Saiou is definitely a victim of this tendency because even his good half so to speak acts completely helpless in the face of the Light instead of fighting back, and it takes Edo's encouragement in order to do so. Edo goes from saying that he wants to hold an umbrella over Saiou's head, to realizing simply standing there in the rain together underneath an umbrella isn't enough, they need to keep walking forward too.

In other words it's Saiou himself who puts on the shackles, and it's Saiou himself with Judai and Edo's help who has to throw them off. When Saiou is liberated from possession he also loses his ability to see the future, the very thing that made him destiny's puppet in the first place.

The World is also referenced by the episode title. It's Saiou's ace Arcana Force card which he uses against Edo, (though his true ace is the Light Ruler which he wins the duel with).

XXI - The World I am Transforming

The world is the last step of the fool's journey. It's the card of self-realization and self-fulfillment. The world is typically depicted a woman standing in the cnter of a wreath, surrounded with four images four astrological signs. The Lion is Leo, the Bull is Taurus, the cherub is Aquarius, and the Eagle is scoprio. These four signs also represent the four elements of aclehym, an fire sign, earth sign, air sign and water sign respectively.

The world represents the final step of the fool's journey, a journey of self-discovery.

"I found this quote about the World and it always strikes me as perfect: "One does not conquer the world, one discovers it." Kitchen Table Tarot

It also symbolizes the final step of alchemy, which is to create gold, or in a Jungian sense to finish individuation.

What can we say of an understanding, a freedom and rapture beyond words? The unconscious known consciously, the outer-self unified with the forces of life, knowledge that is not knowledge at all but a constant ecstatic dance of being - they are all true and yet not true. The purpose of this card can be described as that of uniting ourslves with all thos things seen in trump 10 as the external vision, that is, fate, the workings of life, the element of existence. When the unity is acheived the symbols vanish, dissolved into a dancing spirit. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A book of Tarot

The most important aspect of The World in this case is spiritual unity. Yu-Gi-Oh and its various spinoffs is after all, the friendship show about friendship. Though I'd argue that Yu-Gi-Oh surpasses the typical "solve everything with nakama speeches" of the Shonen Genre by showing that showing friendships can be conflict ridden, even trying at times, especially in Season 3 which shows the difficulty of trying to save a friend when they are in a self-destructive spiral. The difference between Yu-Gi-Oh! and other shonen manga is that it's themes of friendship are more solid because these friendships are continually tested and tried.

Friendship in this case also means an alchemical union, alchemy is symbolic of the bonds between people. In order to make a bond stronger it has to be broken and reforged again the same way that alchemy's chemical reactions melt down metals and reforge them as something purer.

The unity aspect of the world shows not only what Edo needs to do to reach Saiou, (The holding out the Umbrella under the rain metaphor) but also it foreshadows the union between Judai and Yubel in season 3. In both cases the solution is a union, and in both cases it's not an easy union because Saiou is in conflict with Edo, and Yubel is in conflict with Judai.

Afterwards Saiou has to reform his sense of self without his powers (something he struggles to do in season 4) and Juadi / Yubel has to reform themselves (once again his entire character arc in Season 4) after all the changes they've endured. The World is a card of transformation and once the transformation is complete there's nothing to do but go out into the world and face it, just like when children are finished growing into adults the final test is for them to leave their parents home and embark on a journey out into the world.

There we go every tarot reference in Yu Gi Oh - oh wait I forgot one. One last Tarot card for the road.

XI - The Justice I am balancing

Judai: I am going to save Ed - and you know that goes for the lives of everyone in the world, too! Saiou: Oh? Playing superhero are we?

In this conversation Saiou calls out Judai's decision to gamble with the fate of everyone else on earth, by trying to save Edo instead of just throwing the key into the ocean so Saiou can never get access to the satellite. It's a very selfish, and very Judai-like decision.

I'd say that this is again setup for Season 3 which goes more in-depth into Judai's tendency to make decisions like these, only looking at saving the person in front of him instead of the big picture. From a simple utilitarian perspective you should sacrifice Edo to save the rest of the humans on earth, but life is more complex than just the trolley problem.

There are some times when Judai's desire to save one person over the group is a bad thing, such as when his fixation on saving Johan leads to a situation where the rest of his friends get killed because of his self-centered thinking.

There are times when the characters admit they aren't trying to be a hero just save a friend, Jim Crocodile Cook and August O'Brien save Judai not because it's the heroic thing to do but because they want to help their friend - it's something they admit is selfish on their part. A lot of Season 3 is showing that heroes aren't just slaves to justice and right and wrong and they can often make selfish decisions, but also putting one person over the many isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The utilitarian thing to do would be to kill Saiou, to kill supreme king Judai and then later kill Yubel for the sake of the world, but is that really going to be the solution in the friendship anime about friendship? Especially in an anime that borrows so heavily from Jungian themes, in Jung the solution is not to kill your shadow but unite with it.

Invoking the Justice in this Situation basically symbolizes this conflict between saving your friends and saving the world. As I said Yu Gi Oh Gx doesn't really give a definite answer on the "Needs of the Few vs. the Needs of the Many" debate it just portrays it as something complciated.

I always thought that the Justice card was male, but then I did some research and found that it's based on Athena. If you look at the card, there is no water. This is a bit unusual for tarot cards, particularly in the major arcana. No water? No emotion. This card is about being critical and impartial. There is no room for empathy. Everything in this card is even. The roes are symmetrical, the pillars are parallel, and the sword held straight up balance the scales hanging straight down. She (justice) will start moving as soon as she makes her decision and will carry it out. Justice is about action. Also don't forget that she's holding a sword. The swords suit is about intellect. If you can imagine that Justice is holding the Ace of Swords, you can get an idea of the pragmatism that lives in this card. When this comes up in a reading you have to take all of your emotions out of the decisions you need to make.

Justice is primarily about two things, it's about removing emotion from the equation, and also about balance. Once again I think this is foreshadowing a later conflict, because for the first two seasons Judai makes all of his decisions with his emotions and that works out for him for the most part, until it doesn't.

Judai deciding to surrender the key to save Edo is a purely emotional decision on his part, he's not really weighing the life of Edo against the world he just wants to save Edo.

Judai's decision making is pretty biased but it's not entirely wrong either, like what's the point of calling yourself a hero if you don't even try to make an effort to save somebody in trouble right in front of you.

He's also following the concept of alchemy, as above, so below. That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above.

In other words decisions in the microcosmos (the world of humans) affect decisions in the macrocosmos (the heavens). This alchemical premise that the decisions you make in your everyday life ripples out to affect the world, because everything is connected, is woven into the show itself. Neos literally tells Judai that his duel against Saiou on earth, will also ripple out and effect the cosmos.

Judai's reasoning isn't entirely selfish, why can't he try to take a third option and save both Edo and the World?

Which is I think why we're invoking the justice here, Judai does in fact need to learn to remove his emotions and think pragmatically, he spends basically all of season 3 and 4 doing just that - but too much cold reason is just tipping the scales in the other direction. There's no such thing as a completely objective person, in the end Judai is a human being making a decision.

Jim, and later August's decision to save Judai when he becomes the Supreme King is a selfish one because they're putting Judai above the world, but they're also teenagers, and they admit that they're not being heroes of justice they're just kids who want to save their friend.

So the Justice here indicates the very balanced take on justice and heroism that the show gives us. People can't completely embody justice because they are biased unlike lady justice herself, however you can't compeletely decide things based on your emotions either because that will blind you to the consequences of your actions. Judai's selfish desire to save Johan and play hero in Season 3 hurts his friends because he only thinks of his own feelings, not the bigger picture or the feelings of his friends.

Honestly this whole concept of love vs. justice that GX is trying to balance reminds me of an anecdote I heard in church from my childhood where the priest was ruminating on god and faith and he basically said, that you can't have justice without love, because without love to guide it Justice becomes cold and unfeeling and basically becomes just about punishment.

That seems to me what GX is trying to tell us with Saiou, and then later Supreme King Haou, and Yubel's arcs. That yes all three of them did bad things, things that hurt other people. Justice demands that they be stopped, and that they face some sort of consequences for their actions. However, justice without any sort of love is just punishment.

Maybe Saiou, Judai and Yubel deserve punishment for their actions, they hurt a lot of people, but they themselves were hurt too. Killing them for the greater good is certainly an option, and maybe that is justice but there's no love in the action.

You could say that Yubel deserves to die for the sins they committed, but every soul lost that could have been saved is still a life lost.

Judai could have killed Saiou for the sake of the world, but because he saved Saiou, Edo spends the next two seasons selflessly helping Judai in thanks for Judai deciding to help his friend.

Jim and O'Brien could have killed Supreme King Judai for the greater good, but the decision to save Judai later saves Yubel as well because if Judai had died do you think anyone would have been left to stop Yubel?

Saving Yubel is also a part of Judai's own atonement arc because from Season 4 on, both him and Yubel are able to work together to help bring balance between humans and duel spirits.

Therefore the solution comes in finding the balance between love and justice.

In the friendship anime about friendship, helping your friends is a good thing and abandoning your friends is a bad thing.

In other words, I could have summarized this entire overly long post in one sentence. I wrote way too many words about the Card Games Anime TM but congratulations to all of you who read until the end - here's a cookie!

#Yu-Gi-Oh Gx #yu gi oh gx #yugioh #yugioh gx #judai yuki #saiou takuma #edo phoenix #ed phoenix #yu gi oh gx meta #Yu-Gi-Oh Gx meta #gx meta #jaden yuki #yubel #jun manjoume #asuka tenjoin #chazz princeton #alexis rhodes #the fool's journey #tarot #ygo #ygo gx #ygx meta

[v3lv3tf0x]

hihi so im interested in a request because i never see anyone write for ocs so i kinda got really excited. scara x my oc pleas 🙏🙏

heres some images of my beautiful baby girl(she is 27)

shes 5'2(157.4 cm)

her names skull and shes a popular and admired magician in Snezhnaya but she also works as a fatui harbinger which is something common folk dont know. Her rank in the fatui is rank delphic because no one, not even herself, knows her limits. She's hydro catalyst, but if she's feeling extra then shes also good at using at a scythe.

so her personality is likeee the average extrovert, but around scara shes like nagatoro if you know that character 🧍 she just loves annoying him. She can also be extremely unhealthily obsessive.

for the genre i want it to be silly but hints at nsfw at the end- but no full nsfw.

I wasn't sure what you wanted me to write or how their dynamic is, so I kind of took it into my own hands. If it's wrong, please let me know! I hope I did your girl some justice, though!

Scaramouche watched with a bemused expression as Skull set loose yet another flock of colorful birds from seemingly nothing. The crowd cheered loudly, tossing coins, gems, and flowers onto the stage, showering the girl with wealth he knew she didn’t need. Her skirt twirled as she swung her arm in an extravagant arc, the little trinkets disappearing from the stage. More cheers arose from the crowd, but Scaramouche stayed silent. She turned to face him, winking when she saw him watching. He rolled his eyes but didn’t look away as she performed more tricks, enrapturing the audience with her boundless energy.

     Once her show was over, Skull sauntered over to Scaramouche, who was waiting by the caravan, a grin on her face.

     “Well? Did you enjoy my show?” She asked, standing on her tiptoes to get in his face. He scowled at her, pushing her down.

     “No.”

     “Awwh, don’t be like that, Scara!” She said, bouncing on the balls of her feet as he opened the door to get in.

     “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Scaramouche sighed, grabbing her hand and haouling her into the caravan.

     “You’re so mean, you know that? I did extra tricks just for you!” Skull exclaimed, sitting almost too close to the harbinger. He glared at her.

     “I’m not mean.” He pinned her with an annoyed stare when she tried to climb into his lap.

     “You are,” she pouted. “You’re supposed to say ‘Wow, Skull, what an amazing performance, I couldn’t take my eyes off you!’” She narrowed her eyes. “You only looked at me, right? No toher girls?”

     Scaramouche rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

     “What?! Are you telling the truth?! If you looked at another girl, I’ll kill her! You’re only supposed to look at me!” Skull’s voice turned whiny and high pitched. Scaramouche grimaced.

     “No, I only looked at you, don’t worry,” he sighed, patting her head. She smiled up at him, pressing into his touch like a cat.

     “Good. Cuz I love you, you know?”

     “I know.”

     “And you love me, right?”

     “Yeah.” Scaramouche held in his sigh. Skull giggled, wrangling her way into his lap.

     “How long until we get back home?” She asked cheekily.

     “Few hours, at best,” Scaramouche answered, narrowing his eyes up at her.

     “Wanna do something fun~?”

#v3lv3t asks 🦊 #genshin impact #wanderer #kunikuzushi #scaramouche #genshin #genshin x oc #oc #original character #genshin impact x oc #scaramouche x oc #scara x oc

[dammarchy211]

THE POLLS HAVE SPOKENon my instastory. Here’s Dex’s family under the cut😎

Okay so! For his parents I believe I mentioned in the archetype post that despite not really being openly anti-psychic, they still undermine and dismiss him for being so, since as magicians they think being psychic and a magician is “cheating” (which I imagine is a common opinion in the pn universe). Like, it’s not a magic “show” if there’s no show and everyone knows how you did it. Because of this and in conjunction with their parenting style just generally causing Dex to act more defiant, they kind of dump him on his grandpa. Whose death is the catalyst for Dex joining CRIME!

This relationship with his sister is kinda difficult, at the time being they do not get along, just an unfortunate outcome of their upbringing. They’re meant to mirror Frazie and Raz, but instead of their shared psychics (and one wanting to be open about it w/ the other hiding it) bringing them together, it divides them. I think Dex especially resents her on account of how much shit she simply didn’t have to deal with by hiding her psychics because like, HE didn’t know the amount of shit it would get him in if his parents knew, how is that fair? Also the fact she can and totally does get away with a tone of shit simply by blaming it on Dex since he’s the family scapegoat and she’s very much the golden child. I think as she grows up, she’d start tobecome a magician like her parents, but eventually decides to become a psychonaut instead, probably going by her mother’s maiden name since Fahrenheit would be more associated with a villain at this point lol. She would definitely turn out to be a normal and level headed person (w/ therapy), and I really do believe her and Dex would reconcile but like! As adults and when their brains aren’t stupid kid teen brains lol. I don’t really think she would keep in touch with her parents as an adult either, which is probably one of the reasons for her career change but I do like to think she would still put on magic acts at the Aquatodome in her free time. OH AND! She’s good friends w/ Sam! Since both of their grandpas were/are psychonauts n they were both in the motherlobe a lot, by default Dex has to hang out with Dogen bc their sisters are friends but they do actually like es other it’s not like forced or anything (tho I imagine Dex might make Dogen a lil nervous). Also Dex would have to go to whispering rock when he was way younger until he probably got grounded from it.

ALSO IMPORTANT

I know Franke is the name of a pre-existing character, but to be fair psychonauts canon has a Bob, Bobby, and Bobbie (background character). BUT I am thinking about changing it anyway? I might not bc I do love Frankie but here’s the other options

Taffy, Billie, Max/Maxine/Maxie, Eden, and maaaybbeee Agnes or Clara

#my art #psychonauts #raz aquato #razputin aquato #psychonauts fanart #psychonauts art #psychonauts raz #psychonauts razputin #thedamtalkingtag #psychonauts ocs #psychonauts oc #psychonauts original character #i should probably just make a tag for each main oc name at some point #i love franke sm tho holds her picks her up wow #also Dex Dogen and my friends oc are all friends n that’s were the Dogen Dex friendship originally came from and then I was like #WAIT FUCK SAM N FRANKE SHOULD TOTALLY BE FRIENFS OMFG