#to prevent spiritual withering

[polutrope]

I sincerely love how sea-longing in Tolkien is presented as a legitimate and sufficient motive for sailing away and never coming back.

#sea longing #tuor #earendil #legolas #and others #not that I sail #but proximity to the sea is non-optional #to prevent spiritual withering #there's no arguing with Ulmo

[skipper728]

My Fluttershy human and pony redesign/AU!

For her pony design, I wanted to incorporate her interests into her design! I gave her more earthy tones for her skin and hair and gave her a few accessories like a hibiscus flower, a flowering vine, and a plain vine. She has a garden which is where she gets her hibiscus flowers! When the one she’s wearing withers, she picks a new one, and often times she’ll pick a different color flower. Both of the vines are from the local animals! They had them enchanted with a potion from Zecora to make sure they never die. She’s actually pretty heavy-set, despite her looks! Her mother was an Earth Pony and her father a Pegasus, which is the reason! In my AU, Earth Ponies have much denser bones than Pegasi and Unicorns. They evolved to have denser and stronger bones due to the fact they’ve done heavy labour for centuries, and it helps prevent debilitating injuries like a broken back or legs! They also evolved to have much thicker skin for similar reasons. It helps prevent deep wounds, which could easily get infected since most Earth Ponies work in places that house lots of bacteria! Although the skin is thicker, it scars very easily and can be pretty heavy if you don’t have Earth Pony bones! Fluttershy inherited most of her traits from her mother, so she has both Earth Pony skin and bones. Though these traits really only affect her movement, the thicker skin helps with gardening. She doesn’t get pricked by roses or vines often, but when she does it’s not a big deal. She lives in a treehouse on the edge of the Everfree Forest to be with the animals and nature. Although she enjoys the semi-isolation, she loves to hang out with her friends when she has time! As for her cutie mark, I wanted to keep it relatively similar to the canon one. Although it looks similar, the way she got it is pretty different from canon. When she was a filly, she got lost in the Everfree Forest while exploring! A butterfly found her and led her out safely, becoming Fluttershy’s new best friend! Butterflies have been her favorite creature since that day, but she’d never admit she has favorites!

For her human redesign, I’ve always imagined her as a very sickly person. Because of that, she has a severe anemic disorder that developed over the years. It’s partially genetic and partially influenced by her diet! She’s strictly vegan, which lowers her salt intake severely and causes her to be malnourished. I always imagined she’d wear “hippie-ish” clothes if she was a human. I tried to incorporate her colors into her clothes for the redesign, because they weren’t really natural human colors. I also imagine she’s really into crystals! She doesn’t believe they can treat illnesses or anything like that, but she loves to carry different ones in her pocket depending on how she’s feeling. She sees it as more of a hobby than a spiritual belief, but of course she still respects those who do see it as a spiritual belief!

!!DISCLAIMER!!

The disclaimer for my art can be found in my pinned post! It’s called “My Twilight Sparkle pony and human redesign/AU!”

#drawing #digital illustration #artwork #digital art #artists on tumblr #mlp au #mlp art #mlp fim #mlp redesign #mlp g4 #mlp #mlp fandom

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: Dear mbti-notes, Thank you for your blog 💜 I hope you enjoyed your holidays. I'm infp, 16 years old and female, who has low-self esteem and feels dissatisfied with life.

My main problem is that I've been skipping school for multiple days because I stay up late, worried if I'm missing out on social media or how I'm going to mask myself the next day. I'm constantly chasing after the satisfaction of completing personal projects online. The 'high' of it and validation from social media is what attaches me to it. Only sharing art I'm proud of. Only sharing idealized surface level tidbits about myself to my classmates. I'm basically pretending to be someone I'm not both online and offline, and so I dig myself into a hole of preventing myself from relaxing or experimenting with my self-expression. I want to grow and learn to be myself, but I'm afraid of feeling exposed.

I crave meaning in my life instead of chasing after something out of my control. I want to finally feel at ease and sleep for my own health. Maybe there's a healthier way to share my artwork and collaborate with other artists? What guidance or advice would you have? I'd like to learn from your wisdom. Best regards, Anon.

-------------------

Wasting mental resources on social media has become a rather widespread problem, so you're not alone. Sharing of yourself in a public forum often means you're socializing in a chaotic and indiscriminate manner, which unfortunately sets you up to live at the mercy of external stimuli. Your social behaviors become more and more automatic as you keep reinforcing the same validating reward patterns over time. Eventually, your attention, energy, time, self-esteem, and self-worth slip out of your hands. It's hard to feel good about yourself once you've crossed the line from enjoyment into powerlessness.

I use terms like "stimuli", "reinforce", and "automatic" for a reason; they come from a particular branch of psychology called behaviorism. Many people still don't know that tech companies spend money on behavioral science, even recruiting psychologists to their projects. Behavioralists approach human behavior as "programmable", in the same vein that Pavlov trained his dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell. Social media companies invented "bells" to make you feel good (engaged), to make you feel bad (reactive), and to keep you running back to them regularly for instant gratification (addicted).

The difference between Pavlov's dog and you is that the dog begins and ends under the control of its owner and thus has no choice but to learn the automatic behavior, whereas you gave up your free will to become an automaton. When your mind has been reduced to such a primitive state of chasing base desires on an endless loop, your intellectual faculties wither from disuse, and your soul eventually feels starved of meaning. Worst case, one becomes a dull and empty shell of a human being.

"I crave meaning in my life instead of chasing after something out of my control." The word "crave" is significant. Humans need a sense of agency and autonomy. Humans need a sense of social belonging. Humans need intimate and loving relationships. Humans need to occupy themselves with meaningful activities. The issue is whether you know the right methods of fulfilling your needs.

Choosing the wrong methods is one major reason people feel that life lacks meaning. When important human needs go unfulfilled for too long, they morph into desperate and seemingly irrational "longings", "desires", and "cravings" that lead people to choose worse and worse methods in a vicious cycle. Just think of how poorly your rational mind works when you get too hungry; food becomes the only thing you can think about and you're liable to grab anything and put it in your mouth without any regard for its nutritional value. The same goes for psychological, social, and spiritual needs.

A need is legitimate, universal to all humans, and must be satisfied in order to live a healthy and fulfilling life. A want is a method of fulfilling a need, but wants are not always legitimate. A want is legitimate if it is a positive and constructive way of obtaining what you need. A want is illegitimate when it leads you to destruction or to harm yourself/others, which, in the end, actually prevents you from obtaining what you need. Skipping school and sabotaging your own future is a good example of destructive behavior. If a want is determined to be illegitimate, then you must find a better method, if you care about your well-being. People who confuse needs and wants often end up chasing the wrong things in life and/or feeling inexplicably unsatisfied whenever they get what they want.

Why have humans proven so easy to manipulate? Because:

many people lack the self-awareness to understand their own needs and wants, and

they were never taught the right methods of fulfilling them.

Companies wanting to profit off you will try to find the most effective way to trigger a sense of privation in you, to bring up an unmet need, and then manufacture a "desire" or "craving" for a product that supposedly meets that need. The more desperate your feeling of privation is, the faster you'll run and the more you'll pay (not just in money) for whatever they're selling.

Therefore, inoculating yourself against such manipulation involves:

improving your self-awareness so that you fully own your needs instead of ceding control of them to others, and

learning healthy methods to attend to your needs so that you aren't easily taken in by harmful quick-fixes or false remedies.

"Maybe there's a healthier way to share my artwork and collaborate with other artists?" This is the right question to ask. If you develop Ne properly, you'll understand that there's almost always a better way of doing things. You don't have to live life always reaching for the stars, but at the very least, you should know to be proactive and seek a better way when the current way is harming you.

Let's examine two needs at play in your situation:

1) The Need for a Healthy Social Life: Why do you think that, in the age of social media, society is grappling with an epidemic of loneliness? When people feel lonely, their desire for social connection grows louder and louder. Suffer loneliness for too long and people start to get desperate and settle for whatever social contact they can get. Social media makes it very easy to get social contact... but it's like eating leftover scraps when you could be feasting on wagyu.

In terms of personal growth, the easy way isn't usually the right way. Sure, subsisting on scraps helps ease the hunger to socialize, but it's no way to live in the long term. For life to feel meaningful and fulfilling, one cannot only survive, one must also flourish. To flourish includes living up to your potential and living your life with purpose.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with having online friends, people who only have online friends tend to report dissatisfaction with social life. The fact of the matter is that online friends should not be used as a substitute for real-life relationships. Online friends should only be used to complement an existing social support network or used as a convenient gateway into a new real-life friendship. Online friendships are simply missing too many key ingredients that are needed for meaningful relationship.

There are tried-and-true ways of: improving friendships, making new friends, and building a strong social support network. E.g. Spend more quality time with old friends but perhaps in new situations that allow you to get to know each other even better. Extend your network by getting to know friends of family or friends of friends. Take a class or join a group of people with similar interests. Get more involved in your local community or volunteer. Take more initiative to organize get-togethers, invite people out, or lead a group activity.

Socializing is a legitimate need, so you should allot time for it. However, time is a finite resource, which means use it wisely. Do you want to spend most of your time collecting scraps online, socializing with undiscerning people and getting less than satisfying results? Or do you want to socialize in a more purposeful way, setting the right goals, targeting the right people, and getting more satisfying results? The choice is yours.

2) The Need for Personal and/or Professional Development: You are using art as a way to develop your potential and perhaps develop a professional skill. Good learning is something that can only happen under the right conditions, so the issue is whether you have set up the right learning conditions for yourself. Is soliciting (at times ignorant) feedback from people who only care about you to the extent that you can entertain them the best way to learn and improve? As long as you feel like you're being rewarded for putting on a show, won't learning always take a back seat to ego?

Would you be better off embedding yourself in a group of art enthusiasts, devotees, and experts who have real-life knowledge and experience of the art world? Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, even the smallest towns have artsy people floating around, perhaps there are a few you don't yet know in your school. Forming close, real-life friendships with them would be more rewarding and also more likely to get you that safe and nurturing environment you need for freely exploring your talents, wouldn't it? It's just one idea. I'm sure you can come up with more ideas through assessing all the resources available to you.

Sixteen is usually the time when teens start really venturing out into the world to explore their options. You need to get out into the world and challenge yourself more in order to grow your self-esteem. Don't limit yourself by becoming overdependent on social media scraps for cheap validation.

**

Inferior Te means that Fi doms often don't place enough value on goal-oriented behavior, and as a result, their behavior is often inefficient and ineffective. It's fine to want to explore and enjoy some fun moments online, but exploration should eventually be leading you somewhere positive, good, real, and meaningful. And if you already have some idea of where you want to go, the key is to choose the right path for getting there, even if it's the harder path. It sounds like you have a problem of too often choosing the easier path.

If you're like other INFPs, you easily get swept up by your feelings and it causes you to perceive situations in a distorted way, unable to objectively weigh the pros and cons, which leads to miscalculating the consequences of your behavior. If your behavior keeps getting negative consequences, it's an important sign that you're not caring well for yourself - it's a call to change your behavior. Fi can't feel at ease as long as you're acting against your own well-being. It's good that you have some idea about what your needs are and you're trying to respond to them, the crucial step is to put more careful thought into choosing healthy methods.

#infp #auxiliiary ne #inferior te #social media #socializing #needs #ask

[ri47]

Pygmalions eat people sometimes, right?

it's a complicated issue, but the answer is basically "yes"

lesser pygmalions subsist on L-FH primarily, but absolutely would eat people if they were capable of it. they usually have their mouths bolted shut and are armoured in all kinds of restraints that prevent them from consuming their pilot (note that a pilot is not a vessel)

a big part of what makes a true pygmalion different from a lesser one is that true pygmalions seek out a vessel and share their blood. the spiritual energy of blood (an ayin of sorts) is what pygmalions consume, so the quantity matters less than the life energy that their donor is providing them

that being said, they can still consume all of your blood and kill you on accident. that's a physical process, but it does happen. "blood is the currency of the soul"

a pygmalion without blood withers away (think of alucard from the intro to hellsing) but doesn't truly die unless its sense of self decays. this happens almost immediately with lesser pygmalions, who are deliberately lobotomised and undergo measures to prevent them from ever fully developing that kind of internality

a pygmalion absolutely can consume people, flesh and blood and all. they're wholly carnivorous and often starving, so if they begin to eat something, they'll proceed ravenously. tempering the hunger and learning to ignore it is a skill, and it's one that's eroded in seconds by indulging it

also just because it's tangentially related, different pygmalions have different mouth structures. in true pygmalions, the vessel usually rides in the mouth (or else somewhere else inside of the pygmalion proper), but in lesser pygmalions, the mouth is best avoided entirely

#VesalBlood

[guardiandae]

“The Wounding Sickness” - Chapter 4/?

Fandom: One Punch Man / Original AU setting Characters: Healer!Genos, Hunter!Saitama, Original Characters Rating: M Word Count: 18k (so far) Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Folklore, Medieval Medicine, Hunter!Saitama, Healer!Genos, Original Character(s), Original Character Death(s), Poisoning, Illnesses, Blood and Injury, Major Character Injury, Mystery, Vampires, Witches, Herbalism, Not Beta Read; we die like people from ye olden dayse - horrifically and quite preventably

Summary:

Directly following “Silver-bound” Genos sets out to join Saitama in his monster-hunting adventures. They come across a family in need, and a town where people have been dying from a mysterious illness. There’s an abundance of clues – too many, in fact – but the only thing for certain is that the longer they take to figure things out, the more people will die, and no one is safe.

Teaser snippet:

"This… wounding sickness… does it have another name? Might it be a strain of influenza, or some other disease?"

The vigil shook his head, resolute. "No. Might it be? That's beyond my knowing. But this is an affliction unlike any others. You may call it influenza, or plague. But in my eyes, and in my learning, I can only call it devilry. There is nothing of earth nor nature about this."

"What do you mean?" Genos asked, his brow furrowing. "We know very little of it still, except that it kills. What about it seems unnatural to you?"

The vigil was quiet for a moment, as if contemplating what he should share with them. Then at length, he finally spoke.

"It is no mortal sickness," he said, quite certain. "This is a spiritual plague, inflicted by an unseen hand. Some say witches. Whether it be devils doing the bidding of witches, or devils alone, I cannot say. What I do know is that the devils attack these victims. They leave their mark, and once the mark is upon them, their souls wither."

Read on AO3 - Chapter 4

#opm fanfiction #au fanfiction #au fantasy #genosai #science and superstition au #my fic #big big thank you to everyone giving this a chance 😊🫶

[emcapi-gaming]

Important update from honour mode:

...Yeah so my plan for that fight went COMPLETELY sideways but somehow worked out in my favor.

Long as hell story under the cut.

The Enemy:

The Original Plan:

Inquisitor W'wargaz of the Githyanki creche, notorious honour mode run ender because of his legendary action. He summons 2 very powerful spiritual weapons every round, and unless you kill him really fast, you'll get swarmed by then. He also does the mindsteal link, boosting his defense by a ton.

The main goals were:

1. Kill him as fast as possible, and

2. Knock him prone as much as possible, because it apparently prevents him summoning the weapons and possibly interrupts the mindsteal link.

I also was going to send in someone with invisibility to sneak in ahead and crack open the hallway to the Lathander mace, and possibly grab it since we already had the crest, which would offer an easy escape route; enemies won't follow through doors into different areas, and you can fast travel out from that hallway.

The (Originally Planned) Team:

After that was set up, we'd go in, say hi to Vlaakith, take a little astral prism jaunt, and hop back out ready to kick githyanki ass.

1. KARLACH, best girl, as throw build barbarian.

2. LAE'ZEL, who got her personal development arc skipped ahead slightly and reclassed to Way of the Open Hand monk. (I had the thought before that this would be really cool character-wise for her, given the Orpheus situation and his monk honour guard.) Tons of damage, lots of stun and prone abilities. She's most of the reason Auntie Ethel didn't even make it to the fireplace.

3. ASTARION, double hand crossbow, thief rogue/gloomstalker ranger with sharpshooter feat, who can do a baseline 3 shots per turn + 4th shot on the first turn. (And who, I'm sure, is having the time of his undeath going "pew pew pew >:D")

4. WYLL, who wasn't set up to put out consistent damage on par with the other 3 yet, and therefore was not part of the frontline team. He had the critical job of being our insurance at camp to go running to Withers if things went south - which from the things I've heard, I fully expected. He would also be playing support/indirect heals via tossing potions at-

5 and 6, SHADOWHEART and RANDO CLERIC HIRELING, who were going to be rigged up to Lae'zel and Astarion via warding bonds to hopefully keep them alive a little longer, and tossing a couple of death wards and other non-concentration buffs on the frontline team.

What Actually Happened:

Per plan, Astarion went in with invisibility and cracked open the secret mace hallway.

And then, on my way out, I noticed that the npc standing closest to that hallway had only 36 health. Which Astarion could take out in one turn, easy.

I assumed it would flip the room to temporarily hostile and then Astarion could bail back down the hallway, then come back with the full team later, but now with one less enemy to beat us up and give W'wargaz that extra mind link.

Good news: he did indeed take out that one npc.

Bad news: the rest of the room became hostile of the non-temporary variety.

Good news: Astarion had first initiative, and everyone else in there - except W'wargaz - was surprised. This was the first major way the plan failed in my favor, because we couldn't have gotten a surprise round on the way out of the prism.

Bad news: my original plan kind of hinged on Lae'zel's monk skills. Except I had no idea how pissed off she would be about the current state of affairs w/r/t "inquisitor trying to kill us," and because no savescumming, I wasn't willing to risk bringing her in. I did search and see that she would be more or less chill with whatever went down as long as we still went into the prism and told her about it after, though. The in-between part, I was less sure about. So. No monk.

Karlach, still in camp, grabbed Gale (since Lae'zel was a risk) and got as many of the planned buffs set up as possible, while Astarion stalled the hell out of the initiative order. In my imagination, he bought time by busting out his ridiculous villain monologue you just KNOW he's been planning out for decades, and basically became an unskippable cutscene nightmare to the githyanki on par with the Gaius Praetorium Elevator Speech.

The second way that my disaster of a plan ended up working for the better: I forgot that I had specced Gale as Divination. Which means he had portent die.

If you are unfamiliar with what those do: every morning he gets three or four (not sure the exact number) D20 rolls that he hangs on to all day. And then, when an ally misses an attack/saving throw, or an enemy passes one, if he has a portent roll on hand that's higher/lower than the target number, he can just go "nope!" and expend it to straight up replace the result to reverse a pass/fail.

This is, as you can imagine, VERY powerful.

So Gale and Karlach finally arrive, toss in some sneak attacks, and get things moving for real. Everyone took haste potions because if they couldn't get him down before 3 rounds they were probably dead anyways.

Karlach and Astarion start spamming their usual attacks. Gale, meanwhile, proceeds to both dump fireballs on W'wargaz's head (along with any other githyanki close enough to fit in the aoe), and flip him the Portent Die Middle Finger Of Fuck You on pretty much all his attacks, dodges, and saves.

He went down in just under 2 rounds and it took all of my restraint and remembering that we have neighbors to resist jumping up and screaming.

The rest of the room gets mopped up, Karlach gets to do a little wave at Vlaakith, and we go to meet the Dream Visitor. (I decided to be Awful and modeled them almost precisely after Tezalin, my beloved paladin Tav who romanced Karlach on my first playthrough. Which, uh... I still haven't finished because I was procrastinating the ending before the epilogues were announced... and then I got distracted with tactician and honour mode...)

And this is where I discovered the THIRD major way that my backfiring plan actually saved my ass:

Wyll, who was ungrouped from the party and chilling in camp as our contingency plan, ALSO GOT YOINKED INTO THE PRISM.

Meaning he would have gotten spat right back out into a horde of angry githyanki with the rest of the team in the original plan, rendering his contingency status pretty much useless.

In conclusion:

#bg3 #bg3 spoilers #Karlach's Super Chill And Fun Adventure #honour mode

[shammah8]

"For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, 'All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.'"

1 Peter 1:23-25

SATAN'S ATTACK ON THE BIBLE

Brother Andrew continues his teaching on Satan’s strategic attacks:

The second prong of Satan’s attack is on the written word of God. He has historically tried to prevent Christians from having access to the Bible.

Satan understands the power of the Word of God. At the temptation of Jesus, he even made a sly attempt to use Scripture (actually misapplying it) to deflect Jesus from His true mission (Luke 4:1-3). Twisting Scripture is still a favourite tactic of Satan, and we believers need to know the Word so we can respond, just as Jesus did, with a well-applied “It is written…”

Peter recognised the significant role the Word has in our salvation. In his epistle to Christians passing through “fiery trials” he gives the words of encouragement in today’s scripture above.

Now you can understand my life’s passion to distribute the Bible, even in places where its importation or distribution is prohibited. Because I’ve gone around the world preaching that message, many people assume that I must have been the first “God’s smuggler.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

I personally believe that the first Bible smuggler probably was Timothy, the man Paul looked upon as his son in the gospel. This young man of delicate health, but of great spirituality and loyalty, was converted in Paul’s first campaign at Lystra.

At the end of his life, when Paul was in prison in Rome, he looked to Timothy for comfort. In a letter to him, Paul asked his friend to bring his books to the prison the next time he visited.

In 2 Timothy 4:13 it becomes clear Paul was requesting that scrolls of Old Testament Scriptures be brought to him for further study. But how could Timothy get them into Rome and into the jail when, by that time, Christians has already become an outlawed sect? The only possible way would have been to smuggle them in with other items.

Billy Graham, in his book Hoofbeats, suggests that John the apostle had to write his Revelation secretly, while closely guarded by the Romans. The parchment manuscript pages would have been smuggled off the island of Patmos and Christian volunteers copy them for the churches…

This world is an enemy-occupied territory filled with souls to whom Christ holds rightful claim. Under Christ’s command, we invade countries by any means that will help us to get in with the Word of God…

Today I want others to have what makes me grow spiritually — the Bible.

Response

Today I will make every effort to ensure that the Bible is available to everyone to read and practice.

Prayer

Pray for many believers around the world still waiting for their first personal Bible.

© 2013 Open Doors International. Used by permission.

[wisdomfish]

Un-sunned: the weakness of the human race

In the Howard Prize Essay for 1885, on “The Preservation of Health,” by Dr. Clement Dukes, the following passage occurs: “Light is not only the great preserver of health, but a great preventer of disease; for Tyndall found that sunlight arrested the growth of organisms, so that, as Dr. Murphy states, sunlight serves the double purpose of aiding the growth of those organisms which are necessary for man, as well as of man himself, while it retards the production of those which are antagonistic to his existence.” 

Many illustrations are given of this in the essay. The author, drawing upon his own experience, says that when house surgeon in a London hospital, he found that in one of its wards, which was very dark, simple fractures took seven to fourteen days longer in uniting than they would have done in a well-lighted ward, whilst they were afraid to put compound fractures in it at all; and when, from want of space, they were compelled to do so, they chose a bed where the light was greatest. Florence Nightingale, as the result of her wide observation, remarks: “One of the greatest observers of human things says: ‘Where there is sun there is thought.’ All physiology goes to confirm this.

Where is the shady side of deep valleys, there is cretinism. Where are cellars and the un-sunned sides of narrow streets, there is the degeneracy and weakness of the human race; mind and body equally degenerating. Put the pale, withering plant and human being into the sun, and, if not too far gone, each will recover heart and spirit.”

In France, there are hospitals that they trust almost entirely to light for the cure of disease. Surely there is here an earthly analogue to a spiritual fact, namely, that only by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness can the evil growths in humanity be stayed and the good ones be fostered.

~ James Hastings, [Great Texts, B. Herford, Courage and Cheer, 144.]

#howard essay #dr. clement dukes #the preservation of health #florence nightingale #streets

[zapolinien]

Symbolism in Kingdom clips. Issue #4

The ROSE is the most popular, but very complex floral symbol.

The rose has two opposite meanings at the same time. It symbolizes both heavenly perfection and earthly passion, time and eternity, life and death, fertility and virginity.

In the West, the rose symbolically takes the place of the eastern lotus. It is an immaculate, exemplary flower, a symbol of the heart, the center of the universe, the cosmic wheel, as well as divine, romantic and sensual love. "Strewing the path with roses" meant removing all obstacles, making the road easy and comfortable. Rose petals were the personification of effeminacy.

Rose is perfection, completeness, the mystery of life, its focus, the unknown, beauty, grace, happiness, but also voluptuousness, passion, and in combination with wine — sensuality and seduction. Symbolizing the heart, the rose occupies a position in the center of the cross — the point of unity. As an attribute of female deities, the rose means love, creativity, fertility. A rosebud is a symbol of virginity. The withered rose symbolizes the transience of life, death, sorrow; its thorns represent pain, blood and martyrdom. In funeral rites, it symbolizes eternal life, eternal spring, resurrection.

Prudence and caution are an important, though not the primary component of the symbolism of the rose. In the ancient Roman myth, Cupid stopped rumors about the infidelity of Venus by bribing the god of silence with a rose. There was a belief that roses reduce the likelihood of intoxication and prevent drunken chatter, so garlands of roses decorated holidays in honor of Dionysus (Bacchus). The rose also symbolizes silence and secrecy: everything that is said sub rosa (literally: "under the rose") is not subject to disclosure.

A golden rose means perfection. Red symbolizes desire, passion, joy, sensual beauty, completeness (this is the flower of Venus, the blood of Adonis and Christ). A white rose is a "flower of light", a symbol of innocence, virginity, chastity and purity, spiritual disclosure, charm. Red and white roses joined together symbolize the union of fire and water, the union of opposites. The blue rose is a symbol of the unattainable and impossible. The four—petalled rose represents the quaternary division of the cosmos, the five-petalled rose represents the microcosm, and the six-petalled rose represents the macrocosm.

The "Wind rose" is drawn in the form of a circle covering a double cross, which symbolizes the four cardinal directions together with the intermediate directions, thereby it shares the symbolic meaning of the circle, the center, the cross and the rays of the sun wheel.

In alchemy, the rose is wisdom, and rosarium is "work"; in addition, it is a symbol of the rebirth of the spiritual after the death of the corruptible. The Rose Garden is a symbol of paradise and a place of mystical marriage, the union of opposites. The rose in alchemy is also a symbol of mystery.

In the Greco-Roman tradition, the rose is a triumphant love, joy, beauty, desire. In ancient Rome, garlands of roses were also a symbol of virginity. The rose is also a symbol of perfection, and the shape of its half-opened bud has become the image of a cup with the elixir of eternal life. A blooming rose symbolizes death. Roses were grown in crypt gardens as a symbol of resurrection and eternal spring.

In Christianity, the rose symbolizes martyrdom, as well as charity, it is the flower of paradise — thanks to beauty, perfection and fragrance. The thorns of the rose are sins that began with the fall.

In Judaism (Kabbalah): the center of the flower is the Sun, the petals are the infinite but harmonious diversity of nature. The rose comes from the Tree of Life. In Hinduism, a parallel to the symbolism of the Mystical Rose is the lotus as a symbol of the spiritual center, especially the chakras.

#rose #kingdom kpop #kingdom #kpop #symbolism

[moonlightserenities]

The consummation of all desire

The divine perspective is the ecstasy of purpose, as it is the source of all existence and the dancing star mirrored with the Moon through the emotional equilibrium of our being.

All desire and its ecstasy of purpose are the consummation of existence and divine discontentment, which is a part of eternity.

It is the sphere of Maya with its self destruction, and the fountain of wisdom. To think with the mind of teachers and leaders, given false ambitions and titles is the illusion and the suffering of the soul.

 Some people risking there life, by plunging deep into the sea of trouble, to find the pearl of abundance, never finding within the self the courage, to find the abundant pearl, of the self.  

 The eternal tree and its play with the passing winds depend for its strength in the hidden roots.

The mind must look beyond the self, to establish the hidden strength deep within the self, able to play with the passing winds of the world. As the sunset dances on the water with the horizon in the light of the sun, so everybody can dance in that light of eternal knowledge.

It is like the distance star that scintillates in the dark and discovers itself as constant unfoldment.

The tranquility in the waters that reflects the heavens above is the reflection in the mind to blossom in that light.

Prejudice is as blindfold on the face of the withered rose that ceases to delight the world. It is a destroyer of the beautiful; it kills affection and prevents the thought to be free, and become the root of all sorrows. When the eyes can perceive all things in its pure nakedness with a serene heart, the gates of that garden of divine happiness is open.

True self will is the strength of the spirit and only when the false ego expresses the self will, the soul suffers, as it works against its nature.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

As the moon is full and serene in the days of harvest, so am I In the days of my liberation.

#self improvement #psychology #emotional intelligence #love #fearless #spiritual disciplines #prejudice

[qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcv-he]

(This on my self coded blog)

Tonight, you asked me what I like to read, what song I listen to, the basics, as if you were reopening the case, questioning everything. I lie there, feverish, always the wrong words ready to leave my mouth, to be rising like a thin layer between me and the rest.

I reached my limit quite metaphorically the maximum amount of open tabs, I’m now speaking to you through this.

Yesterday I felt so loved , held .

But there's a problem, I wanted to hold you back, completely embrace it. And I couldn't. It seems you always come to me at the wrong moments, when anemia eats me, always when am even less like you should have known me from the beginning. I texted you something nice, and at the same time I want a break, to not be a burden to you, that you can see I'm strong enough to live for myself, only.

Suddenly I'm sick. Weak. You're in the bar with the dirty, shining ,layered floor and doing what I can't. If I've already lost you, don't you dare dream of us anymore.

The possibility of anything sinking in. You're leaving. I'm being reasonable. From this point on, all words are superfluous. Again I think of how you ask what I read, hear, do, re evaluate. I sink, throat turning outward. I'll treat it with reason.

I am not made to be close to anyone, I am made to be misunderstood, I unfold

Questions , how can we prevent disenchantment , sorry I am so cold . The wood is so warm toned, there is violence in the looks, my breath stinks, wrong time, wrong place, I've been gone for a while now.

Can you see me through the fog

I have given up, staring through grey eyes, the cut of words I forgot and never knew. I can't let you in, my nails are missing and my mind is dandruff. Outside, wires cross, I throw my head back, shaking, falling into the gray, deep, minus. There is no word between my legs, there is no word for oak, maple walnut. Organize hand prioritize.

Bringing me back from the time I tried everything.

The child runs with thick short legs, the snow races upwards becomes golden capsules of Alzheimer's.

This is a second good bye.

The child has been left behind, counting its mistakes , stumbling, dying. Withering, in the snow, it creeps into sinuses.

Imagination:

The boy at the prom, the opera ball, the victim, the haunted dreams.

is disappointment, is echo , Jasper , it shoots up from the green plastic sheets , rankles , the input was poison.

I want connection but struggle with interaction

I fill the cracks and holes , wordless , in silence

Can I even be close to people , to them as entities, not their most conflicted sides

My doll lies awake at night

Again,The claw clenchend against blue light

The claw draws its shadow on the low ceiling

Clay

Structure, layering

Instructions,What to touch, what not to touch

On the gray asphalt plain that stretches endlessly, the hail bites , a food chemist’s laboratory, the cold sun falls through the slits of the apartmentent complex

Clay

I am down, on my ankles

kneeling in memory

I run , my hair does not belong to me , something flows out of my body gone with the breath

+1

This year permeated by regaining strength exchange from exhaustion I count on my fingers, the few memories that remain, back and forth, it becomes less, it was good, constricted compressed , preparing

I saw someone just like me

You state that you’re just like me

Yet it seems easier

I’m so isolated I can’t even make salad

Spiritual death

I feel myself becoming less

I am watching my hands grow bigger my skeleton change it’s the strangest thing

[focr]

In the Howard Prize Essay for 1885, on “The Preservation of Health,” by Dr. Clement Dukes, the following passage occurs: “Light is not only the great preserver of health, but a great preventer of disease; for Tyndall found that sunlight arrested the growth of organisms, so that, as Dr. Murphy states, sunlight serves the double purpose of aiding the growth of those organisms which are necessary for man, as well as of man himself, while it retards the production of those which are antagonistic to his existence.” Many illustrations are given of this in the essay. The author, drawing upon his own experience, says that when house surgeon in a London hospital, he found that in one of its wards, which was very dark, simple fractures took seven to fourteen days longer in uniting than they would have done in a well-lighted ward, whilst they were afraid to put compound fractures in it at all; and when, from want of space, they were compelled to do so, they chose a bed where the light was greatest. Florence Nightingale, as the result of her wide observation, remarks: “One of the greatest observers of human things says: ‘Where there is sun there is thought.’ All physiology goes to confirm this. Where is the shady side of deep valleys, there is cretinism. Where are cellars and the unsunned sides of narrow streets, there is the degeneracy and weakness of the human race; mind and body equally degenerating. Put the pale, withering plant and human being into the sun, and, if not too far gone, each will recover heart and spirit.” In France there are hospitals where they trust almost entirely to light for the cure of disease. Surely there is here an earthly analogue to a spiritual fact, namely, that only by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness can the evil growths in humanity be stayed and the good ones be fostered. ~ James Hastings

#focr #focr 43 #light #james hastings #Bible Illustration

[gatekeeper-watchman]

Daily Devotionals for January 26, 2023

Proverbs: God's Wisdom for Daily Living Devotional Scripture: Proverbs 3:30-32(KJV): 30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he has done thee no harm. 31 Envy thou, not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. 32 For the froward is an abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.

Thought for the Day

Verse 30 - We might phrase this admonition as "Don't start a fight without a reason." Some people just love to argue.

Verse 31 - Sometimes it seems that oppressors are better off than those seeking to do what is right. However, Psalm 37:1-9 tells us not to envy such people or choose to follow their ways:

"Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth."

In time, the ungodly will perish, while those who wait upon the Lord and follow Him shall see the righteous desires of their hearts fulfilled.

Verse 32 - When the Bible speaks of a forward person, it refers to one who is crooked and perverse. It calls such people "an abomination to the Lord." This verse tells us of an advantage the righteous have over the wicked - the Lord shares His secrets with them. He knows the secrets of all hearts. When we are walking in God's will, the Holy Spirit will warn us if anyone tries to deceive us. This discernment will prevent us from being deceived by unscrupulous people and from becoming entangled with those who have wrong motives. 1 Corinthians 12:10 mentions this as the gift of "discerning of spirits." God not only shares His knowledge but His hidden thoughts and feelings with those who love Him. This is the wonderful privilege of knowing God! God blesses us in so many ways. This is another reason why we should praise our Lord every day!

Prayer for the Day

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for all Your wonderful gifts. We are especially thankful for the gift of discernment. Thank you, for the many times You have saved us from bad situations that we would have engaged in if it were not for You warned us. We do thank you for your spiritual eyesight. Lord, we pray today that we will always walk in Your way and will seek to avoid strife and be a peacemaker. You said, "Blessed are the peacemakers". We need Your blessings today so we seek to be at peace with those around us. Help me personally to solve my differences peacefully, according to Your will. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. Steven P. Miller

Founder of Gatekeeper-Watchman International Group Jacksonville, Florida., Duval County, USA. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Sparkermiller.JAX.FL.USA Instagram: steven_parker_miller_1956, Twitter: @GatekeeperWatchman1, @ParkermillerQ, @StevenPMiller6 URL: linkedin.com/in/steven-miller-b1ab21259 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ParkermillerQ/ #GWIG, #GWIN, #GWINGO, #Ephraim1, #IAM, #Sparkermiller, #Eldermiller1981

[yanderes-galore]

I suddenly craving for Tatsuya

Will you make some headcanon for him ? 👉👈

Thanks, Panther 😳❤️✨✨✨

Ah, yes, Tatsuya whom has been neglected. Let's give the fox guardian some love. I don't have a picrew for him....

Yandere! Tatsuya (OC) Concept

Possible Trigger Warnings: Yandere behavior, Possessive behavior, Overprotective behavior, Yokai

- Let's do this based off the original scenario of his debut.

- That would make Tatsuya your spiritual guardian who originally made a vow to protect your ancestor and her descendants.

- It's shown in his behavior Tatsuya doesn't wish to be so attached.

- The fox spirit was originally attached emotionally to your ancestor before her mortality got the best of her.

- So for years he's only made a promise to watch over your bloodline.

- It was only when he encounters you does he decide to reveal himself fully to interact.

- This is because you and your ancestor look so alike...it makes him recall his time with her.

- So, this is what sparks the kitsune's obsession with you.

- The silvery white spirit can be quite affectionate with you.

- Beckoning you to the ancient garden by your house to sit with him.

- He may even lay against you, a content look on his face.

- Tatsuya is skilled in fire magic, too, having the ability to summon will-o-wisps.

- While he has developed a guardian role he is still quite a trickster.

- Luring you in closer and closer...just until he can get his claws on you.

- Due to his power, Tatsuya is also able to make you immortal.

- Through training and age he's managed to perfect a craft that will prevent anymore mistakes.

- Now you will no longer wither like your ancestor did when with him.

- "I'm sorry for this trick, but it must be done."

- Some little things -

- I'd say Tatsuya is possessive and overprotective in nature.

- He could also work platonically or romantically.

- The silvery fox loves flowers.

- If I had to give an age...he has to be around 500ish as he has a human form.

- His tails and ears are soft to the touch.

- He finds the term 'Silver Fox' amusing, as that is his color, he's a fox, and he's quite old.

- Tatsuya has met other spirits and demons but does not talk about them much.

- He usually dwells around your bloodline's home, but there is a 'Yokai Realm' he visits, too (Based off an upcoming request)

- When he met your ancestor he was actually quite a young fox.

- He finds books about history fun to read, sometimes correcting the material he reads.

- He prefers white kimono as it matches his fur

(If you need more, ask ^^)

#yandere x reader #yandere oc #yandere oc concept #yandere kitsune #yandere yokai

[star-anise]

How do you feel about the Tarma and Kethry books? I recently re-read them and despite some serious blunders in the first book/short stories, I think overall a) lackey gets better / learns from her mistakes in that series and b) hold up better than Valdemar did.

(I am also biased I guess because Tarma was the ONLY explicitly ace rep I'd seen in fantasy until VERY recently, I guess, speaking of being starved for queer rep)

I've always thought of them as the "best" of her Velgarth novels. Not the ones I loved the most, but the best. They're lively and interesting and varied, even if they do the rape & revenge plot a little too often. In counterpoint to your ace rep, I love Jadrek as a fellow spoonie whose chronic pain don't stop him from saving the kingdom or getting the love he ardently desires.

I also think that they benefit a lot from taking a less reverent approach to the idea of objective moral good than the Heralds. Tarma and Kethry are very frank and honest about the moral tradeoffs they're making. Stories about Need are just as likely to be about the really difficult and absurd situations blind principle will lead you into.

I do have some reflections about Lackey that aren't very flattering, so feel free to skip.

It's lately seemed to me that Lackey seems to think that the worst sin of all is arrogance, but is very arrogant herself. That is, her stories are full of puffed-up younglings who think they know a thing or two, and the knowledgeable older generation whose self-assessment isn't pride, it's just... ~objective reality~. And it's the job of the old to humiliate the young, show them they know nothing, and then school them in an unforgiving manner until they're headed down the right path.

Her work has obvious heapings of sympathy for young people who have been treated unfairly by the world around them and need love and protection. But the older I get, the more I consider the incredible misanthropy that underlies her writing. She seems to think that 95% of the human race is a total write-off. Young people are dumb; countryfolk are narrow-minded; the practical and wise are too small in number to truly improve the world. It's best to be levelheaded, limit your attachments, and view the world with a very careful cynicism. She doesn't think that warmth or kindness except of the briskest kinds are important or even very wise, and focuses far more on individual strivings to handle disaster than the idea that we should expect institutions or communities to prevent those disasters ahead of time.

Or maybe I'm just extremely embittered by finding her Quora profile earlier in the week. Her online activity appears to be 25% answering pet owners' questions about bird care with accurate and helpful advice, 25% answering pet owners' and young writers' questions with image macros and withering contempt, and 50% responding to people asking questions about jewelry and spiritual practice (eg. "Do I need to cleanse the energies of crystals I bought second-hand?" or "What does it mean if my evil eye charm bracelet broke?") by basically saying, "Jewelry cannot have supernatural powers because there is no such thing as the supernatural. Grow up and stop being stupid."

#valdemar revisited #staranise original #mercedes lackey

[captainkurosolaire]

Prompt #23 ~ Uebok

Reference - ♫Gotta Run♫

A callus brute drying himself off with a towel presented before a standing mirror. That reflection previously brought him shame, of seeing his own-self. Sending him to strike against it... Now, a strange sensation pulsated inside him. His soul had labor drastic exposures to new sources and foundations. A withering flower... Was being revitalized! Harvesting in the abundance of acquaintances. Recuperating his past with courageousness. It was strange. Half his being... Was devoid, gone. Fragmented, yet. He didn't feel empty like should've. The mightiest forebear of knowledge on his Sea-Vessel. Imparted him on a spiritual journey. For a Captain who's lost, doesn't help following. Sometimes even leader's need guidance, advisement. Hence why those who have excelled, above come in pairs of insurmountable Crew; who in-turn, became new charts, compasses. The series of eyes that punctured fog. Captain had found an Inner-Guide, which hatched. Was the symbolism of him... A butterfly fluttered around his room. Where did the connection lay? The Seeker pondered back. Captain had proved, in his life, those scar's that dressed him. He held wing's but yet wasn't able to fly. These resulted in multiple failures. The Butterfly had many colors, beyond one. It's pattern was unique, diverse, there was no other like it. But the butterfly couldn't admire its own-self... Only others could. It became blind. That it received, compliment's gaze's of genuine, unconditional, admiration for it.

As well, the butterfly ran into dangers, when it finally learned how to fly, it grew too close to being snapped by the jaws of carnage, bigger than it. Captain was tasked to watch over it. As essentially, everything shares with it. If the Butterfly feels pain, so does the Seeker. If the Butterfly becomes corrupted, its poison won't heal. It'll kill. Even all those who hold it fond, no matter how delicate... Every response. It tethered in this world. What you take, has repercussions. A man can be as wicked, as humanly possible. They can go on a genocidal killing spree. Yet, there are those, who may have had a connection with such evil. If that person; died. It would hurt them. Recreating viciousness; on seas If you take down, a Captain of such magnitude. Not all will follow, which is why most Crew's won't abandon ship even if they, go-down. And in the event-some will keep it alive, rebuilding. Loyalty can be undying. The scoundrel, looking over him in this reflection as his Guide, came to shoulder. They stood there and felt. Captain. Recognized, change, comfort, hope. More than prior. His feature's of doubt, the wrinkles that came from stress, were being purged. He felt free. There were many enemies left. The board of a map behind Captain, showed many Red-X's, of travels. Places uncharted, or written too deathly. He turned into a ghost, and hid away. His past brought him into slavery as in being one, or doing the condemning of vile and treacherous unforgivable acts, because the necessity, of feeling like it was required to compare. Unironically. His worst, enemy outside of himself, was a man of nobility. They fought tirelessly but learned, they were alike, especially now. The Pirate had responsibilities, left ungoverned. What he does. Reflects and responds to nature. The Butterflies life held dependency on being maintained by his own core. When things make you uncomfortable; holds the solutions of TRUE healing. We of nature; are inclined to not continue. A trick we create by preventing our growth, nurturing. The Captain... Recalled, everyone, everything. How he presented himself, conducted, would carry his wings. The man felt alive; and he wouldn't abandon it. He withdrew to his dresser and looked through his wardrobe. Then suited up, it felt uncomfortable, too restrictive. Something he disliked. He once felt his Tricorne was a Crown that was too heavy; a burden. There were many heartbreaks, his heart when was born was small, fragile, insignificant. He was abused, crushed, and given into vices of temporal treatments. But now, he had help. The Captain exhaled relief. Seized dressing up. His posture straightened and returned to a bolster of confidence not of something deathly ill! Nothing to mourn! He was above his own mental-anguish. The steps of cure were here. Something to behold, like the wing's of a butterfly. He was living color. The philosophy of nothing can beat me; only me. Awoke.

#Prompt - Soul #Confidence Returned #FFxivWrite2021 #The Man of the Five Seas #-Captain Kuro Solaire #FFxiv2021 #FFxiv #ffxivwrite2021 #Creative Writing #Heaven on High Tides #Perish