#trad community do touch

[honeyed-fawn]

I see so many people saying that they're gonna be homeschooling their children and I just wonder why? You can let your children go to school and still give them good values, and correct their learning at home so why not let them go socialize with other children their age, I think learning different opinions is very valuable

#tradfem #tradblr #trad community #feminine #femininity #homeschool #homemaker #homemaking #tradman #trad men #trad community do touch

[trans-cuchulainn]

Could you recommend some good resources on accurate depiction of parchment in the medieval period? I feel like most people interested in medieval studies have a basic understanding of what it is and how it’s made, but you seem more well-versed than most on its tactile properties and regular use cases. Where can others acquire this knowledge?

most of what i've learned about manuscripts and book history has been either during my degrees or from work (i have worked in various libraries including with special collections, although mostly with early printed books and later paper manuscripts in that capacity). and in terms of what it's like to interact with, i have learned this mostly from interacting with it, but if you don't have a library or museum near you that will enable you to do this, it's a bit harder. this makes it hard to give recommendations although there are lots of very good books out there about books and manuscript history

(there's one i read early on in my journeys with palaeography etc that went into loads of detail about different writing surfaces including wood and wax tablets and so on, but i cannot remember the title and past me did NOT write it down which was really unhelpful. if i remember it i'll post about it)

there are also a ton of online resources about manuscripts though. lots of museums have online guides to manuscript production, parchment, writing through history. there's lots of codicology stuff out there. so it's not like you have to learn it in a formal environment -- that's just where i learned it and therefore mostly from lectures rather than shareable resources

but to understand parchment specifically i think understanding the process of making it is a crucial step to understanding why it is the way it is (and why it's not paper). here's a couple of youtube videos that give an overview

this is a more detailed video about a project that got people to make parchment themselves which is just kinda interesting (haven't watched it all the way through but am watching parts):

once you understand how parchment is made and the resources that go into it, i think it's easier to understand why it probably wouldn't be used for ephemera and scraps, and that helps you think about situations where people might use something else -- e.g. a wax tablet to take hasty notes, send messages that don't need to be permanent, send messages that are emphatically not permanent (your recipient can melt it and hide the note), etc -- as well as beginning to rethink the modern world's reliance on the written word in general and consider how oral messages and other non-written communication might have been used

as for the tactile side of things, as i said in a previous post, if you can't touch book parchment, go find your local irish musicians and see if the bodhrán player will let you handle their drum (or good quality orchestral timpani will do too! but with a bigger drum it's harder to feel both sides of the skin). drumskins made of goatskin are very similar on a tactile level to parchment, just a little thicker and not processed to quite the same level as a writing surface. it helps you stop thinking of them as super fragile once you realise people are whacking them with a stick regularly, and you can learn about the difference between the hair side and the flesh side of the skin and stuff and see the way the hair leaves traces in the skin and so on. this helps with the tactile understanding

(the cheaper the bodhran, the rougher the reverse side will be even if the front is still nice and smooth, which also makes you realise the difference between high quality books where you can barely tell which side of the page is the hair side, and low quality ones where they're not fully treated, there's still hair, whatever)

i talked to a conservator lately who told me the way he got into book conservation was via musical instrument repair -- they are more similar than you would think -- and i know trad musicians scattered far and wide enough to be reasonably confident that even if you're in an area with no touchable medieval manuscripts, you can probably at some point find a drummer who will let you play with their bodhrán in exchange for a pint or something, lol

but in the mean time there's lots of cool videos about there about parchment making which i do think is a crucial step to understanding it as a writing surface! and i will see if i can remember the names of any of the books i've read...

#maniculum #answered #parchment problems

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

I know this is a dinosaur themed blog, but what do you get up to when you're not thinking about dinosaurs? Any hobbies? Favorite books or games?

Thank you for asking!

so a truly alarming part of my life is dinosaur themed. it's not just my job - I have pet birds (which is a Whole Thing, the Pet Bird community is huge), tons of dinosaur toys and games, and I just have a Special Interest ya know

but! I do have many other interests

I'm extremely interested in Judaism, and my Jewish life is the second biggest part of my life after dinosaurs/prehistory/birds. I practice rooooughly trad-egal (masorti), and I do lots of Torah study every Shabbat with my spouse. I am, however, bad at not using the internet on Shabbat, which is something I wish I could commit to.

I am a lifelong anarchocommunist (parents were socialist-democrats and most kids go more left than their parents, not much more left I could go) and politics and social justice have always been important to me. From a very young age I took on equality and justice as things I believed in and I never stopped fighting for them. and this is more than just me being multi-queer and multi-disabled. So a lot of my life is fighting for "tikkun olam"

I love music, I'm a very musical person. Specifically I enjoy punk and alternative, though Jewish music is awesome and there's a lot of obscure rap hip hop and electronica I enjoy. Google told me my music taste is "deep cuts" and I am proud of that, honestly. I can play lots of instruments and I was in choir for most of my childhood! I'm a decent singer, I'm just shy about it. The spouse and I enjoy playing Rock Band as well!

I used to be a much more voracious reader than I am, mainly because being in academia is a one way ticket to not reading for pleasure anymore. That said, my favorite book is probably still "Ishmael / My Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn. I also enjoy the works of Suzanne Collins (hunger games, gregor the overlander), the Green Brothers (sue me, Looking for Alaska was very important for Teen!Meig), and Shakespeare (yeah, I read Shakespeare for fun. What can you do.)

I loooooooooooove computer games. Love. Ever since I was little. I played tons of point and click games, especially educational ones, as a kid. I love tycoon games, most of all zoo tycoon, and jurassic park operation genesis was one of my favorite games as a kid. I play a ton of them now and my Steam account is overloaded. I often use mods and stuff for accessibility, but I enjoy many different games

I also love playing board games! My spouse Max and I have an extensive collection of board games including all of Wingspan, Holotype, and this cool game we found about the Permian period called Pangaea. We have many others, too, of course! We've just been playing Wingspan and Holotype a lot lately

I enjoy crochet, but I only learned it last summer. I also enjoy origami, though I haven't touched it in a while. I like swimming and hiking when I'm able to, disability kind of gets in the way sometimes. I also enjoy riding my bike, though see the former again. I am quite good at baking, but lately I haven't been doing it as much :/

I love my friends. I am extremely loyal to them and center them in my life. My spouse is included in this, but also my best friend from childhood Taryn, my best friend from college Carmen, and all of my wonderful dinosaur-community friends who are too many to list.

so yeah! I'd say the biggest things are Judaism, Music, and Computer Games, but I have tons of interests and lots of fantastic friends and loved ones, so my life does have a lot going on outside of dinosaurs and birds ^_^

#about the blogger #about me #get to know the blogger #actual scientist #actual paleontologist

[headspace-hotel]

Okay I was planning on staying out of it but this is painful to watch.

To be clear, OP was being very weird and didnt at all need to say that. But it seems like hald the people since then have just been trying to explain what OP mewnt and doing it horribly, because I do in fact get ehat thry were saying.

Theres been a bug movement with online fascists thats like "modern society is too urban (see: diverse). Weve gotten too far from how we traditionally lived, and were so out of touch with nature. Kids spend all their time inside or in the suburbs and never get to see real nature." And its all a recruitment tactic.

The Start of that pipeline is often just "huh modern scoiety is extremely out of touch with nature. Kids grow up without the experiences I had as a kid running around in creeks and stuff. Kids cant recognize plants." And most of that is true and it Is bad, but they then often make a very quick leap to "this is a problem with Society." And from there to fascist talking points.

And like, if you squint, you can very easily draw similarities between the very start of that pipeline and your recent posting.

Again, this is Obviously incredibly stupid and anyone who actually reads anything you post can see that. But like, I can at least see how, if someone is primed to always look only for fascist dog whistles, and one of your recent posts crossed their dash, if theyre not smart, they could arrive at that anxiety.

Everyone since then has just been dumb about it.

...Okay I'm thinking the "cottagecore" discourse has just rotted people's brains out here. I didn't realize it until now but "posting pictures of a basket of freshly picked strawberries is a fascist dogwhistle" really was a Thing on here a while back. Okay. That makes sense now.

I know about the "trad"/fascist-adjacent 'homesteading'/off-the-grid doomsday prepper attitudes. Where I live, being a 'homesteader' often goes along with stockpiling guns.

But these people's attitudes are individualistic, it's all about personally escaping the "Modern" world and living in The Wilderness(tm) somewhere and being "self-sufficient" (lmao). Kind of a manifest-destiny adjacent fantasy (gross)

This is where the "cottagecore" discourse brain worms did immense damage—no one wanted to explain why the individualistic, intrepid settler homesteader fantasy was a problem, so all the well meaning people on the margins of the discourse went "oh, okay, wanting to reconnect with your natural world and consciously participate in your local ecosystems is a fascist/colonialist thing."

I have multiple posts buried deep in my drafts about this somewhere that I was afraid to post, because I was met with the "google is free" stuff when I tried to figure out what was going on, and Google was entirely empty of any material explaining the (alleged?) fascist and colonialist roots of cottagecore.

It makes my brain hurt because yes, actually, I *see* how "homesteading" is sometimes related to white supremacist and colonialist shit, and the fascist and "cottagecore" communities do have an overlap that is not purely coincidental. That's real. It's not made up. But. A lot of people on the internet have learned to recognize fascist "dogwhistles" instead of learning to recognize fascist ideas.

A lot of the work of recognizing fascist-adjacent stuff in the wild does rely on developing a sensitivity to such "red flags." I've talked about things that I consider to be red flags, and I sometimes respond strongly to them. But—it's crucial that you understand that the red flags themselves are not what fascism is. You have to be able to see and recognize the actual harmful components of an ideology instead of deciding that any similarity, no matter how superficial, Is Fascism.

A lot of colonialist and fascist systems of thought have "relationships with nature and growing plants is good" somewhere in there, but the actual poison here comes in a few forms:

unquestioned romanticization of settling/colonizing an Untouched Wilderness

deciding that some kind of stable, inherent 'natural' state of human existence is always good, and 'unnatural' things are bad

modern society is decaying and degenerate, "traditional" values and lifestyles are better (enter romanticizing the past as a paradise of moral and racial purity)

Yes, there were statements in my post that looked superficially similar to some of these. No, those statements were not even remotely close to communicating the same things.

And "dogwhistles" are not about superficial similarity. If you learn about 'homesteading' as a white supremacist fantasy being a thing, and you jump onto a post talking about growing native species like "Oh look I've found a fascist dogwhistle!" You've misunderstood the assignment.

[museenkuss]

just letting you know the post abt the lashes is by a terf, and talking abt fake lashes and nails is a really common terf thing that specifically targets black and latina women (by singling out trends they started as uniquely vulgar and feminine in the “wrong” way)

Thank you for letting me know! I agreed with the sentiment(more on that below), but was really uncomfortable with how mean it was expressed, so I’d deleted the post before even seeing your ask, but I really appreciate you reaching out with this addition!!

This is going to be a longer message that touches on feminism, and, by association, terfs. I’m doing my best to express my thoughts through the language barrier and I hope I’m getting my points across. It’s also just my personal thoughts because your last sentence rung some bells for me. So there’s no need to read it, of course. My message is mainly a “thank you for letting me know!!”

I just felt the need to say this:

I’m not sure the reason why terfs call out make up culture is because they think it’s “vulgar” or feminine in the wrong way. That sounds more like conservative reasoning, as in, something trad wives or fundamental Christians would say. This is not me defending terf transphobia in any way, please don’t take this the wrong way. I just think it’s important to acknowledge that terfs have feminist beliefs, because denying that that’s what those beliefs are is going to circle back into something akin to “criticising make up in any way is transphobic and conservative”.

I’m saying this because being make up critical is a core feminist issue and while I don’t associate with terfs OR agree with their transphobia, I’m a feminist. So I agree that make up culture is bad, that it’s terrible how women are taught to hate their faces and to spend so much money, time and mental peace on what they get glued to their body or ripped out of their body. HOWEVER, this is very much an issue with society and not with the individual. This is also something I struggle with, because I personally always prioritise empathy — hence me deleting the post. I feel bad for the girl who feels the need to spend hours on “natural make up” AND I can see that make up can be self expression & build community AND I hate hate HATE the beauty industry for making us feel like there is only one way to be beautiful — by being consumerist objects. It’s a very difficult topic to me.

The thing is: terfs agree with that last point. I know because I see many posts I agree with that turn out to be terf posts. That’s because terfs are, by definition, radical feminists. There is an overlap between feminists and terfs. That’s why I don’t think that terfs target make up because they think its “vulgar” — that word really sat wrong with me. This is a difficult topic to navigate, I think. Because they have bad opinions, but also have opinions I (and other feminists, I’m sure) agree with. That doesn’t mean I agree with their hurtful opinions, but it also doesn’t mean their other opinions are bad by association.

That’s what I meant at the start: I worry that we see feminist talking points (prostitution, make up, porn, kink…) through the lense of terf transphobia. To illustrate this in a philosophical argument structure:

Terfs agree make up culture is bad. Terfs are transphobic. Therefore, the opinions terfs agree with are transphobic. <- as a feminist, I worry about this conclusion.

DISCLAIMER: I might be wrong. Maybe I read something in the post that wasn’t there. I’m not a terf and I don’t make it a habit to associate with them. So maybe all of this is me being way too kind.

I hope what I’m trying to say is coming through. I think terfs hate make up because they’re feminists. I worry that we are going to start associating feminism with transphobia (and racism, if I interpret your message correctly). I personally (to make my stance clear) will always value empathy over anything else, I support trans people and people who wear make up (I have complicated feelings about make up).

This is a really difficult topic, imo. I’m sorry for making this whole rant, frankly, but I really am worried. This is also not attacking you for telling me, of course!!! I’m thankful for that. I just took this chance to express some thoughts.

[all-things-gothic12]

GOTH FASHION

For my fourth post I want to talk about an equally important aspect of Gothic culture/aesthetic. The outfits, the fashion, and the accessories!

Gothic fashion has spanned centuries. Specifically starting in the Victorian era. A surge in gothic fashion truly started because of the beginnings of gothic novels, gothic architecture and even gothic classical music happening with the late 1800s early 1900s.

As you can see from these two images, Victorian gothic fashion is absolutely gorgeous, playing heavily off of Victorian fashion, the garments themselves usually being in full black or a mixture of black or white. Playing into the darker aesthetics of gothic cultures.

A lot of the accessories themselves again play off of the chic victorian aesthetic, with tight lace, bodices and darker makeup.

I really enjoy this aesthetic because of how classy it appears, it’s especially a nice choice when you want to present more high fashion. Although, the garments themselves can be quite expensive.

Another gothic fashion subgenre termed `Romantic Goth` is quite similar to the Victorian gothic iteration. Although the main stark differences are that the romantic aspect is entirely because this gothic sub-fashion started and takes direct inspiration from the romantic era. A Lot of people who dress in the romantic goth aesthetic, play heavily into the vampiric vibe.

I enjoy this subgenre of gothic fashion just as much as victorian goth, they both serve as similar yet different juxtapositions of one another. Although, both aesthetics can be quite hard to source and maintain unless you can find well made garments or know how to sew yourself.

Moving on to possibly my favourite gothic sub fashion of all time is the obvious Traditional goth, more commonly said as Trad- Goth for simplicity.

This gothic aesthetic arose in the early 80s right after goth music started becoming popular. People such as Siouxie Soux from Siouxie and the banshees, and Robert Smith from the cure show great examples of what traditional gothic fashion entails. White faces, exaggerated yet gorgeous contours, and black clothes! Reminiscent of industrial and clubbing scenes. Trad goth is easily accessible with thrifting, makeshifting, etc. Although the trad goth makeup is a plus, a lot of goths prefer to only wear the clothing pieces and not full makeup. (It takes forever to do without practice lol).

It’s interesting to note the similarities between trad goth makeup and corpse paint. Both styles include mainly white bases and heavy dark black makeup, usually coinciding with the ìdea of ‘trying to look dead’.

Another great sub fashion within the goth community is cyber-goth! Although I don’t know a ton about the history of the aesthetic itself, the outfits are wonderful and serve as great clubbing outfits. As the name suggests cybergoth takes a lot of elements from the cyberpunk aesthetic, including tons of bright colours (usually neons as shown in the picture down below). Although this aesthetic isn’t as popular as trad goth it’s super cool and super campy. I really like how cybergoth incorporates a lot of masks and headgear into the mix of their outfits.

Finally, I want to touch on the Nu-Goth aesthetic. As the name suggests, Nu means ‘new’ in this context. Nu-Goth is a much more modern take on the gothic aesthetics of the past. Still incorporating a lot of darker colours; black, greys, etc. Nu-Goth takes a modern approach of the gothic aesthetic placing a lot of emphasis on modern prints and modern edgy aesthetics like ‘tarot’ cards, moons, suns and overall more popular things that were present in the 2000s tumblr aesthetic lol.

And although there are a lot of different gothic aesthetics I haven’t covered in this blog. The ones I did cover are generally the most popular and my overall favourites (excluding Nu-Goth, which is good, just not my daily wear. I just included that in there because of how popular it was and still is).

As a little addition I should mention that a lot of goths don’t dress this way all the time and mainly wear band t-shirts and black clothes without a lot of the extra makeup as a lot of these outfits require sometimes hours to prepare.

Thank you for reading my blog! Looking forward to sharing more in my next post.

#ranting #gothic

[beelsari]

hii congrats on 100 followers!! i wanted to request a romantic matchup for the matchup event for the obey me demon brothers so

im 18, 5'4, with black curly bob length hair, brown eyes, im a gay transman that likes dressing in mall/trad goth type clothes+makeup and is really into 80s/90s metal and nu wave goth music as well as just music in general and playing instruments, for hobbies i like watching old horror/slasher/mystery movies and doing art. i also have autism and borderline personality disorder so i have a hard time with communication and can tend to be very emotional and go into like extreme episodes of sadness or anger and it hard for me to work through but i do try my best, i also really love physical affection but am not the best at initiating it, i do really like making or getting things for people i care about though and doing things for them or just spending time around people i care about even if we're doing our own separate things in the same room :))

I pair you with…

Satan!

I believe you and satan would be the best match because he would understand you the most! Satan would study everything about you, how you feel, subconscious movements to indicate what you want etc. He’d know you inside out and whatever you’re interested in he’d study till he knows everything there is to know about it. He’d be extremely accommodating to you and try his hardest to comfort you if needed. Even with him having an extremely dangerous anger, he’s so gentle with you. You have very much calmed his anger down, earning you thanks from all his brothers. He wants you to feel completely safe with him. I personally believe Satan would very physically affection, but the difference between him and his brothers is that he’d know when to stop or when you just don’t want to be touched. Satan would definitely love just having you in his room in his bed while he’s studying at his desk. You bring him peace.

You’re laying on satan’s bed doodling while he is studying cursed potions. It’s been this way for a couple hours now, just peaceful silence between the two of you. That’s when suddenly you get the sudden wave of sadness, its so extreme you feel like you’re drowning. You feel hopeless and unloveable. Satan hears the sound of pencil stopping and turns to check on you. He sees the subtle difference in your eyes and how your face has dropped. Satan immediately gets up, “honey are you alright?” He says walking over to you. You don’t move or say anything but a tear runs down your face. Satan immediately is picking you up and laying you on his chest. “It’s okay honey, cry all you need, you’re safe with me I’ve got you”. you curl into him crying for an hour. He sits with you on him, holding you as close to him as possible, letting you listen to his calm breathing. You peak your head up with tears dried to your face “I love you”, he looks down at you with adoration, “i love you too my sweetheart” satan says as he kisses you’re head, causing you to drift to sleep.

Thank you!!

#obey me #obey me! shall we date? #obey me brothers #obey me shall we date #obey me x y/n #obey me x mc #obey me matchups #shall we date satan #obey me satan

[misssakuramochi]

greetings and salutations, hope I don’t bother you too much by sending in such a random ask. may I please have a romantic matchup for bg3?

I use they/them pronouns and I’m pansexual. my myers briggs type is INFJ and my star sign is taurus.

Im about 4’11..not to happy about it. I’m kind of introverted, and can be considered not a people person. I find life a little nihilistic. I’m into dressing in all black (trad, mopey, mall, black-metal, and hippie goth styles mainly, both fem and masc) or and taking a liking to gruesome and morbid things like slashers, analog horror, witchcraft, true crime, necromancy, anatomy, etc. I typically consider myself a "gorehound" ig. I participate in "Vulture Culture"; and I also like to visit abandoned places just for fun, along with playing quite a few escape rooms. I just have a genuine comfort in the uncomfortable.

I’ve come to the conclusion I just scare people off. In reality, I’m intimidated by everyone around me and find it hard to start talking, which may or may not come off as rude to people.

when I become comfortable with someone I start to become really sarcastic and joke around with them with witty banter. most of my humor comes off really insulting, and I’m brutally honest, but I’ll apologize and say it’s a joke or I didn’t mean it if it becomes a problem. even though I do have a hard time understanding social cues.

lots of people don’t like me or stay away from me because of my rude behavior. I’m not good with overly sensitive or overly annoying people at all because of that, and I can’t stand kids. Idiocy can get on my nerves too sometimes. I’m a huge animal person though, and I own four guinea pigs that I protect with my life. I have my moments where I can get really feisty, or very quiet and closed off. I’ve been told I’m also a laidback person. I’ve also been told I never know when to quit, and I find I hold grudges for certain things. It’s not as common now but I used to get called a vampire by other kids when I was younger since I had oddly pointy canine teeth. I find it funny, seeing how I am today. I also have an inside joke with my family where they call me "Irl Daria" which I find funny.

I’m the type of person that has lots of opinions on things but I keep them to myself and bottle them up. If pushed far enough I’ll become unforgiving, and aggressive. especially with the types mentioned above.

I find the most comfort in just being in my room drawing, listening to music ( the cure, pierce the veil, deftones, soad, cannibal corpse, slipknot, rob zombie,,,, sometimes radiohead, insane clown posse, jazmin bean or mother mother, etc. ), or even occasionally playing video games, reading, writing, or talking about a random conspiracy theory I have. I do acting in my spare time as a small hobby too, and I’m learning how to play electric guitar. I also work as a scare actor.

I’m a plushie maniac and when I fall asleep you can always see me cuddled up to one of them. I find it because I’m really touch starved. I also have this specific blanket I can literally not sleep without. Im also a caffeine addict, and I’m guilty of being very submissive and maybe even masochistic- and a bit of a pyromaniac. I dissociate or daydream a lot, so you can often catch me starring.

I suffer from a handful off mental and physical syndromes like asd, insomnia, asthma, depression and anxiety. These have all been diagnosed professionally, and I’m definitely not trying to make myself "quirky". unfortunately health problems run in my family.

I’m very fidgety, and often bite the inside of my cheek or bounce my leg rapidly. you don’t need to rocmantasize this stuff ofc, but I think it’s good to know so the person can tolerate me.

you do get to this, thanks for your time. <3

I match you with...

KARLACH

○ The thing that makes your relationship with Karlach so strong is that you two have amazing communication. No social cues? No problem. She's not subtle. By which I mean she very directly tells you what she's thinking and leaves little to no room for misunderstanding. You're able to be honest with her as well, and working through your problems becomes as easy as talking it out when anything comes up.

○ Both of you are extremely determined. While you can but heads at times it's only ever you both trying to do what's best and you can usually talk out your differences. Once you have and you're on the same page the two of you are an unstoppable force once your minds are set

○ Though for different reasons Karlach also is a big fidgeter. She never minds she's very open minded and understanding that your mental health sometimes comes first, as well as to the fact that you may have alternative mental health related needs - ones she's always happy to try to fulfill. Open minded to mental health, she's the most understanding rock you could ask for

○ Debates are common. You have a lot of opinions and Karlach is super open about hers. Hearing each others perspectives is interesting and you both learn to be more open minded to others thoughts because of each other

HEADCANONS

○ Karlach takes interest in you from the beginning. She tries to get to know you, but, rather intimidated by her, you at first give her the impression you don't like her!! When someone (Shadowheart probably) tells her you're just shy, she makes it her MISSION to warm you up. It works. The first time she makes you laugh she gets so excited she sets something on fire.

○ Karlach likes to pick you up. You're so tiny and cute she can't help but wanna throw you around a little you know? You're not the biggest fan at first but being effortlessly lifted and swung in circles by an excited Karlach is actually cute and kinda fun. You warm up to it

○ Karlach is so careful with your things, especially your blanket. She knows she cam be rough and understands how important your special things are to you. When you first share your blanket with her to sleep with she is so excited she shares it with you even though she doesn't really need it.

○ Karlach is a big cuddler and ehike it makes you feel awkward at first, as you get used to being touched it makes you feel more and more loved. Though it's usually something small like.hding hands or placing a hand on your.leg, Karlach is usually touching you somehow whenever you'll allow

#matchups #headcanon #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #karlach

[overfedvenison]

The thing is, I feel like improved infrastructure for non-drivers is a pretty universal issue The right-wing guys? They LOVE traditional architecture, they LOVE traditional spaces, they are also pretty in support of building areas with communities. They think it is enriching to the community and the people therein. And those trad-architecture spaces? They’re very much about the human-scale, they are all about walkability The left-wing people? Walkable, cyclable, and human-scaled spaces - and public transportation, especially - are important for emboldening the poor and impoverished, and things like food deserts are caused by car-focused infrastructure. All the issues of car-focused infrastructure unusually effect marginalized communities, as well Green politics? We absolutely need to lessen our dependency on cars for a sustainable future - and so these walkable spaces are of utmost importance for breaking that Apolitical? Even if you have no opinion on the deeper issues or grand ambitions, it’s still nicer to be able to walk to the store if you need it and to live in a nice city. Most people think that nice, human-scaled areas are at the very least a nice place to live And so on. It’s the issue I see that has a lot of support from people everywhere, and the only people I see opposing it are people very in to driving, and people who are caught up in some outdated and out-of-touch ideas about city design. The opposition is almost never “This is bad,” but like, “That seems untenable and hard to do.” So I think it’s really just... A long, slow process of getting people in power to listen to these needs and fix it, you know?

[bugjizmsquawk]

This is a growing playlist and mostly an attempt to get back into the habit of writing regularly. I don't know if I will find an audience but it would thrill me to stumble into a community of feverish writers who happen to be into the darker realms of music/art/fashion.

I accept that compared to most everyone here I am ancient and might be susceptible to being labeled "out of touch". Certainly youth Culture confuses and baffles me but only in the sense that I perceive it as a challenge albeit a highly distracted one. There are certain things that I will never bother trying to understand because the generational divide is just too vast. Now, Generation X were born roughly from 1965 to 1980 which means they were too young to be trad Goths or Punks but might have caught the death throes of Punk if they were precocious and unruly. They existed for certain in various contingents across the globe with their precious Ari Up sticker collections and Barking Metaphor 7 " pile. The difference between them and most of you was that their music consumption was mostly deliberate. The key songs were purchased or exchanged or perhaps heard in clubs or on very specific radio programs.

St. Nicholas lounging (poetically) in his lair.

Survival is not guaranteed let alone any type of recognition for your talent or your pain or your ideas. Most people are not recognized for anything they have done, said, thought, or preserved. We are not useful in this way and our lives remain a series of meaningless gestures that do not impact the structured lives of the general taint who are busy suffering anonymously for no cause and no care. Of course, in our minds we are all blisteringly important and exciting and vital which means we are terribly delusional and histrionic to a fault.

That one friend who introduced you to all the music as she gazes outward at something only she can see.

The key is to reach the destitute, the desperate, the scarred and scared in such a way that they feel obligated to fuel our fancies with their hard won dinero. Get them to pay us for something they did not even know they needed until it was too late to back down. Yet we fail because we haven't talent enough to rise above the mediocre and risible which means we do not actualize our aspirations. Subsequently, we have nothing to sell them and cannot even reflect their fragmented desires back at them.

Fortune smiles upon the very few who demonstrate a viable service that others are mesmerized by and this service provides a Satanic demon-stration that becomes impossible to ignore or withstand. Fast music, fast food, fast fashion all whipped up to feed the relentless, churning appetite of the perpetually bored and restless.

Do not listen to those who insist that you can do anything you set your mind to because this is one of the most pernicious lies and should not be heeded. You simply cannot be a popstar or a professional athlete or a nuclear physicist just because you really want to. Only incredibly special individuals are able to do the type of things the rest of us can merely gawk at. Or, perhaps it is different today where Fame does not carry the same meaning it did in previous eras. Music does seem extremely easy to make these days but that just might be because everyone has access to technology that requires very little musicality to operate.

The Piano may be decrepit but its Music still Haunts Me.

Nobody has to spend years becoming proficient on an instrument or even forgo a serious study by simply jumping up on a stage caterwauling, making a tremendous racket. That was thing in 1976, natch. But the refuse of those times are relegated to the dustbins of history but that does not mean they were not important at the time. I was not there but there was everywhere for a while--people just didn't know it because they couldn't see it. Still, each lousy town had its share of Teenaged jerks whose ideologies and hair and fashion gave the regulars stuff frights. Certain places produced more of these creatures and some of these began to express the venom musically. Anger, violence, smashing every pretty thing for the sheer thrill of it until some others, inspired by the Victorian age and 19th century poets and bondage and lace and the Church started drinking absinthe and masquerading about in clubs and bedrooms so that an entire way of existing developed into a military existence. Gothic interludes became an expression of severity and tyranny which ultimately led to massive hairspray bills and a seeming dearth of good humour. Why smile? Laughing is for imbeciles?

Broken Nostalgia for the Innocence of Hard Drug consumption via Stiv

The 1980s are so distant from you. I was your age in 1987 which is as far removed from you as 1950 was from me back then. Of course technology has accelerated everything so a fair comparison is categorically impossible. Still, I don't expect any child of this age to fully comprehend a Time so distant from them in every conceivable way. It is always a miracle when I read a playlist or something similar from a younger sort of person that seems to reflect a keen awareness of post-punk, new wave, goth, etc. They are the rarest ones who I cherish even though they remain mostly spectres tormenting my imagination. Admittedly they are always difficult to fully apprehend and impossible to decipher. Mystery is their preferred state and they aren't in my town presently so I go on begging.

The perennial, elusive Scott W.

It is true that we despise you for your youth because your lives are a perpetual circus of furious jumping. Certainly, some of you are anguished routinely and this should never be because the Young should not be burdened by a world that their elders have nearly ruined but that's the way it is. Joy is wasted on the young who are provided with the genuine treasure of experiencing phenomena for the first time. If they lack the capacity for wonderment everything they encounter will simply fail to elicit any type of response out of them. Most people are precisely this way in that they constantly look yet never see. You get old. It sneaks up on you and time moves faster as you age. I am 53. It seems like yesterday I was 17 and first getting into Skinny Puppy and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. It still freaks me to think I am old enough to be the grandfather of most of you. What a paralyzing and preposterous proposition.

Release the Bats/The Birthday Party

Last Exit For the Lost/Fields of the Nephilim

Glass Houses/Skinny Puppy

My Heart is Empty/Nico

Siamese Twins/The Cure

Stone is Very, Very Cold/Spell

Terror Couple Kill Colonel/Bauhaus

Listen, Somewhat Awkward/David E. Williams

Lisa's Party/Legendary Pink Dots

Ignore the Machine/Alien Sex Fiend

Up Jumped the Devil/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Avalanche/Leonard Cohen

Cut the Tree/The Wolfgang Press

Isolation/Joy Division

She Is Beyond Good and Evil/The Pop Group

Next/Scott Walker

Why'd ya do it?/Marianne Faithfull

Bird Song/Lene Lovich

You Don't Own Me/Klaus Nomi

Hungry, So Angry/Medium Medium

A Girl Doesn't Get Killed by a Make-Believe Lover Cuz It's Hot/My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult

Weathercade/The Creatures

Mr. Clarinet/The Birthday Party

Dusk of Hallows/Corpus Delicti

Celebrity Lifestyle/Swans

Teenage Whore/Hole

Rehab Doll/Green River

Death Valley '69/Sonic Youth (w/ Lydia Lunch

Greatest Gift/Scratch Acid

Human Cannonball/Butthole Surfers

Isle of Man-Version II/Ministry

Go to Hell/KMFDM

King of Negativity/Godhead

More Beautiful Than Barbie/The Jesus Lizard

Crow/The Southern Death Cult

Cannibal Queen/Sex Gang Children

Fields of Rape (Tibet Mix)/Death in June

Free Money/Patti Smith

It's Too Late/New York Dolls

Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell/The Stooges

Sister Ray/The Velvet Underground

Lucretia My Reflection/Sisters of Mercy

Helter Skelter/Siouxsie & the Banshees

Beauty of Poison 12 " Version/Specimen

Mirror People/Love and Rockets

Station to Station/David Bowie

Me and My Girl and the Cold Grey World/David E. Williams

A Forest Live France Jun '80/The Cure

Insecure Me (Extended Ver.)/Soft Cell

Not Any More/Dead Boys

Thieves Like Us 12 "/New Order

Who Makes the Nazis?/The Fall

Here Today/The Chameleons

The Spy in the Cab (Live)/Bauhaus

Voodoo Dolly/Siouxsie & the Banshees

Blood On the Wall/Skinny Puppy

Rituals of Love in the Passage of Genocide, Song of Rose/Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio

The Descent of Long Satan and Babylon/Current 93

Long Live Death/Sol Invictus

Love's Promise/Sieben

Eternal Soul/Blood Axis

White Knuckles/Scraping Foetus off the Wheel

Luxury/Fad Gadget

Womb/Einstürzende Neubauten

To Tirzah/Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio

Separated/Throbbing Gristle

Are You Out There?/Boyd Rice and Death in June

Beautiful Brownshirted Man/Rozz Williams

The Secret Germany/ROME

New Gold Dawn/Fields of the Nephilim

Skald au Satans Sol/Darkthrone

Déjà Vu/The Tear Garden

Zero Sex/Christian Death

Like a Prayer/Bigod 20

Decay/Sanctum

Bites and Bloody Kisses (Long Version)/Two Witches

Clown/Switchblade Symphony

Insane Asylum/Diamanda Galás

Some Kind of Stranger/Sisters of Mercy

Stagger Lee/Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Black Betty/Lead Belly

Rape Me/Nirvana

Deity/Ministry

#rock music #my writing #talent #skill #goth #nick cave #spotify #goth aesthetic #scott walker #Spotify #Lonely Is An Eyesore #Stiv Bators #apocalyptic folk #neofolk #industrial music #haunting #fear #generational discord #Youtube

[tipsycad147]

Smudging vs Smoke-Cleansing

Is it Cultural Appropriation? Smudging vs Smoke Cleansing History and Info

A topic that has been hot on the radar in the Pagan/ new age community for a few years is Smudging and Smoke Cleansing. Is it a closed practice? Who can practice it? If we can’t smudge what can we use? If I’m interested in a culture and their beliefs is it still considered appropriation?

And what is Appropriation? This discussion has been buzzing around the spiritual and herbal communities for a while now. What has become a mainstream pop culture “wellness tool” is infringing on certain cultures and causing traditional herbs to be incorrectly over harvested, slowly driving them out of the landscape and potentially out of existence.

There are a million questions that can be asked about is this(plant,ritual,invocation,technique, other insert here) okay for me to use? Or how do I know what herbs I can burn? We’re going to touch on some of these today as well as ways you can connect closer to your own blood-line and being mindful of cultures in the future.

Appropriation Vs Appreciation

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been fascinated with other cultures since I was a kid. Native American, Celtic, Egyptian; Books on Cleopatra or the Native Tribes were checked out of the library constantly. And while I feel a connection to these groups around the world and their practices, I have to ask myself honestly, “Am I being appreciative or am I cherry picking the things I like?”

In the simplest of terms, when a person “cherry picks” or sifts through someone else’s culture and history for the pieces they want to use, that’s where cultural appropriation starts. You’ve seen the arguments that start online over Halloween costumes, white women wearing dreads or saris and much more.

Much like when people take a wild animal from it’s home and post it on social media for kicks, it messes with not only the animal its-self(potentially hurting or killing it) but also the ecosystem it came from and appropriation is very similar.

You can’t take a tradition from a culture( like smudging and smoke cleansing) and use it to gain likes on Instagram without some form of fallout happening(karmatically or otherwise). When cultures are misrepresented, we as a non-POC try to force POC into a mold WE created that is nothing like what those people actually are.

What does it all mean?

First let’s separate what Appreciation and Appropriation actually mean. Appreciation is when someone seeks to understand and learn about another culture in an effort to broaden their perspective and connect with others cross-culturally. Appropriation on the other hand, is simply taking one aspect of a culture that is not your own and using it for your own personal interest.

So a lot of us in the new age community are striving for appreciation.We just have to be mindful of our sources,if we are taught by an actual person in that community and if we are being respectful to that culture and tradition. There are people that are staunch believers that if you aren’t from that culture you should have nothing to do with their traditions.( IE buying and wearing Hopi or Native jewelry,the “Irish for a day” on St. Patrick’s day,wearing dreads or viking braids and more)

My personal belief is that leads into a lot of knowledge being lost and connections with other cultures missed. I feel you should be very respectful of cultures you would like to learn about and ethically buy your supplies from reliable sources and it’s better if you have a hereditary connection to the culture whose traditions you are using.(But claiming to be native american just because there might be .0087% native american in your blood from really far back doesn’t really count.) But in the end it will be up to you on how specific you want to be.

So What is the Difference between Smudging and Smoke Cleansing?

When you start to see how much or a worldwide reach Paganism and the New age community has you’ll find there are traditions that are similar across each culture. Smoke cleansing is one of the most similar rituals worldwide(hence why many think it’s interchangeable with smudging), differentiating in each community only by the plants used and the ritual it’s being used for.

One of the earliest uses of smoke cleansing was in France. Rosemary and thyme were burned in hospital and sickrooms during wartime and times of serious illness to burn out any bad energy as well as clear the air of bacteria and pathogens.

DID YOU KNOW? Herbal Smoke clears pathogens and bacteria in the air by as much as 94%. Asia still uses the smoke of mugwort for tissue healing after childbirth and for other menstrual issues.

Other records of smoke cleansing date back to Ancient China, Egypt in 1500 BCE and more. Incense as offerings for the gods were the most common use. In Asia specifically, buildings were erected solely for the purpose of burning incense all the way until the 12th century. In Japan, samurai warriors would sometimes perfume their helmets with incense as a gesture towards those who may decapitate them in battle.So as you can tell burning herbs and using the smoke has been around for a while.

So what makes Smudging so different?

While it hasn’t been officially called smudging until recent times, the art and ceremony of using white sage and sweet-grass to bless and charge each member of the circle used by Native American/Indigenous people has been around for quite some time.

While the secrets of the tribes have not been put out before the public, what we do know about smudging and the ceremonies using them involves a lot of experience and wisdom by the elders.

The term “smudging” was not popularized until the late 1900’s when it also became married to the specific Native North American practice, which often involved the use of sage, sweet-grass, cedar, tobacco, a feather, and a sacred dish, often a shell.

It was a form of not just “cleansing” but a kind of offering or invocation of sorts (the details of which are considered legally bound and protected intellectual property that belongs to and on the reservations that practice it) that can’t be performed without drawing attention to yourself from the spiritual realm.

Smudging should never be performed without experience or guidance from someone who had experience in the spiritual world, since performing such sacred rituals incorrectly could anger the spirits and bring forth negative results.

Traditionally smudging was used as a “pre-ceremony/ritual”, It does cleanse and purify people but not in the same way we use smoke cleansing. Many times using smudging, chanting, stories and dancing were used to connect with the spirit world and call spirits forth while smoke cleansing in modern times is used to cast out negative energy and spirits.

The Incrimination and Struggle of the Native Americans and their Spiritual Practices

A lot of the struggle with trying to not appropriate and mainstream the Native American’s culture is realizing that when you are doing smudging because it’s “trendy”( look at the issues going around on witchtok right now with the cursing the Fae and the Moon crap) you are insulting The People.

A big part of the Native American’s history is they were incriminated, imprisoned and hurt for the very practices being flaunted and playing around with. Even today, many Indigenous people are fighting for approval of smudging and saging in hospitals as part of their healing rituals and have to fight for the rights on their history and culture tooth and nail.

“It is exceptionally ironic, given that after colonization, it was not until the passage of the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act that Native people in the United States were legally permitted to practice their traditional spirituality.”

Since the arrival and colonization by the Europeans and other white settlers, Native people have faced monumental obstacles to the free exercise of their spiritual practices, including death.

So if you have the chance to be allowed in and observe, then definitely do it! It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and you’ll learn quite a bit. Just make sure you treat all parts of any ceremony with respect and an open mind. ( if it seems like I’m ranting a bit i apologize, I’ve become quite enthralled in this topic recently)

The Over-harvesting and Destruction of the Earth

One of the other things that sets Smudging apart from smoke cleansing is what is used. Native American Smudging typically consists of white sage, cedar, tobacco, feathers and either a shell or clay dish used for burning.

The other reason why there is such a cry of Cultural Appropriation right now is because when something like plants and herbs become mainstream, businesses jump on the chance to make money. And when that money is made from something grown from the earth, the people extorting it don’t take the best care in how they get a hold of it,as long as they have something to sell.

Right now White Sage, and Palo Santo(a holy wood from the Amazon and South America and Peru) are endangered due to over harvesting and not harvesting properly.

DID YOU KNOW? Most cultures that harvest Palo Santo only gather the fallen branches, They never take from the living tree its self.

When white sage especially has so many medicinal uses as well as energy clearing abilities, losing this plant would be very hurtful to our planet and in turn to ourselves. As a Wiccan, as a witch, my first loyalty is to Nature, because without nature we would not survive.

Always be Mindful of your sources no matter what it is you are buying.

So using ethical and reliable sources, growing supplies yourself or being frugal with what you already have are all good ways of being mindful of the environment. (For white sage especially, if you can’t grow it yourself,make sure your sources are Native tribes, or try a different plant. Garden sage is an abundant replacement)

There are some who proclaim that white sage should only be used by Native Americans, I feel that since most of the responsibility of caring for and harvesting white sage falls on them(there are rituals and things to be done and said in a specific manner when harvesting for smudging ritual use),therefore they have the most rights to it. But! As long as it’s not being over-marketed(IE if you decide to grow your own instead of buying at a New Age store or other trendy shop) then other’s can use it too. But again this will fall into your personal opinion.

So What Sets Smoke Cleansing Apart?

Smoke Cleansing has had many names over the centuries but always boils down to the same thing. Burning wood, herbs plants or resin and using the smoke produced to charge, energize and cleanse a person, location animal or tool. Cultures worldwide have used some variation for centuries.

History of Smoke Cleansing

Early European peasants used burning herbs to cover the smell of farm animals and to smoke out bugs in homes and clothing.

France used rosemary and thyme in hospitals to clean the air.(Rosemary and mugwort are really good herbs for when someone is sick in your home.)

The Scottish culture has it’s own version of Smudging and Smoke Cleansing they use called Saining. Typically using Juniper and Rowan,or the elements like fire and water, Saining is used to purify a person, place or animal. One of the reasons Bonfires feature so heavily during the festivals is because everyone jumping the fire in celebration was the easiest way to cleanse the entire community in a short period of time.(Beltaine and Samhain are the most well known festivals).

For a really in depth discussion on Saining check out Cailleach’s Herbarium for more info and details on each type of Saining.

Egypt is one of the cultures known for their heavy use of incense. Many temples burned different types of incense all day long, each on associated with a different god or goddess.

Asia as a whole probably holds the record of the earliest recording of incense and smoke cleansing. Buddhism, Taoism and Shinto temples were prominent in their use of incense. Thick coiled incense hung from the ceiling, incense sticks held vertically over a person during prayer and a form of incense set horizontally in a plate for the ashes to fall( similar to today’s modern version of incense sticks) are all variation developed and used during this time.

Even Catholicism acknowledges the power of smoke cleansing. Frankincense and Myrrh were 2 of the gifts brought by the Three Wise Men at the birth of Jesus. They were considered a sign of wealth and abundance. In modern times, Catholic Mass uses swinging braziers held by clergy men to waft incense smoke made from the resin of Frankincense and Myrrh during prayers.

So Who Can Use Smoke Cleansing?

Smoke Cleansing can by done by anyone and used for just about anything. The most common use is to cleanse a home or sacred space, and to purify people and tools. Using woods, herbs and resins, there a numerous combinations that can be made and used.

Research your family’s history and see if you can find a herbal smoke blend connected to that culture. Celts use a lot of Juniper and rowan wood. The Greeks used thyme, lavender or rosemary. There are countless combinations you can make, just be sure to research what plants can be burned and what can’t!

The process of Smudging and Smoke Cleansing look very similar. The main differences are the intention, the herbs and how you approach the working space. Both share similarities such as wafting smoke across a person’s body and around a room which is where a lot of the confusion about all of this came from in the first place.

How to Smoke Cleanse

When smoke cleansing you can use loose herbs, resin or a herb bundle or “stick”. I recommend using a fire proof bowl or Abalone shell no matter what type you plan to use just for catching any embers that may fall.

Start with getting a good amount of smoke billowing and then starting at your feet, pass the smoke over your entire body front and back(and anyone else who is participating with you). Any tools you’ll be using, like a feather for pushing the smoke you will cleanse next. After that you enter the space you are cleansing.

Ritual Intentions decides which way you go.

Now depending on what your intention is, going around the room Counterclockwise from the door will remove negative energies and spirits( potentially all spirits so if you have a spirit you want to stay there they may get confused or upset).

Going Clockwise encourages energy to come into that space, whether for cleansing, a spell or empowering before a ritual.

If you are using Smoke Cleansing to remove negative energy from your home, you want to start on one end of your home and work your way through each room pushing it towards and open window or door. If you can, opening a window in each room helps but at the worst case, push it all to your front or back door and push it outside.

After that you can either extinguish your embers or let it smolder by our outside your front door.( If you are using pre-made sage or herb bundles, break them apart and only use a few leaves at a time, this makes it last longer and keeps from wasting it) Once the embers are cool, dump or bury the ashes outside in some way. Some people let a breeze carry it away, others dump them into water and some people just toss it out. Its up to you as to how you want to do that.

It’s probably a good idea to know WHAT herbs you can burn BEFORE you go and try to burn them. These are some of the more common Woods, Herbs and Resins used for Smoke Cleansing that can be used.

Woods

Birch: This tree is very protective, not only in the visible world, but with unseen energies as well. Birch holds strength over new beginnings and drives out negative energies.

Cedar: The pines from the tree make for a great alternative to sage. Cedar is known for its healing and protection qualities. As it clears the negativity, it brings in the good spirits. As a tree, cedar is great for grounding.

Juniper: When burned, juniper will ward off airborne illnesses. It is cleansing, purifying, and healing.

Palo Santo: Holy Wood, which is what Palo Santo translates to, is used for the deepest of healing. *Get from reliable sources to keep from over-harvesting

Pine: As an evergreen, it is forever green. Pine is full of life, abundance, growth, prosperity, immortality, and renewal. It offers protection from a cycling process or embraces a cycling process. Your intention is your choice, either with growth or stagnation. Make sure your intention is true through time.

Willow: Wood used for burning has additional qualities as it comes from a tree. Willow is much more healing and protective. It brings a regenerative process into view or existence and holds a destructive strength, yet that destruction will only bring forth growth and renewal.

Resins

Frankincense: Calming and connective, frankincense sets your mind to embrace spirit or what is unseen. It is purifying and capable of washing away the ill that affects thought/mind.

Copal: This resin will help you bring in strength, motion, and energy. Copal is used for purification, protection, and opens spiritual portals. This is often substituted for frankincense as they have a similar scent and come from the same tree family.

Myrrh: This resin will help you embrace what is true and honest. Myrrh fills you with strength, courage, and awareness while helping you become mindful of your potential.

Pine Resin: This resin aids in speed of action or thought. It holds the ability to sustain determination over time. Pine resin has an immortality aspect, is purifying and cleansing.

Herbs

Lavender: Most of us are aware of the calming effects of lavender. It relaxes our minds to allow us to key into our psychic ability while deepening our meditation.

Mugwort: This herb is burned to place you in a trance-like state. Known for its assistance in divination, Mugwort is a favorite for people who meditate and wish to create a sacred space. This herb is great for dreaming and those who wish to work in the in-between worlds.

Mullein: A unique herb that it is said to shine light upon the darkness. It brings divine energy into reality while holding strength in both the visible world and the unseen world. Mullein brings strength to breath. It feeds life and understands change.

Rosemary: As it clears the negativity, rosemary brings a sense of calmness. Rosemary is known for clearing the mind until your mind can remember things. It’s a great herb for dream recall.An Old saying for Rosemary is ” Rosemary Remembers.” speaking of Rosemary’s ability to help with memory and dreams.

Sage: This herb is known for its antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. Not only does sage clear the negative energy, but it removes most bacteria from the air. Sage is a great bug repellent. Metaphysically, sage is known for its healing, cleansing, and protection properties. Sage has several varieties including White Sage, Blue Sage and Common Garden Sage. *Please source your White sage sustainably.

Thyme: This herb offers strength and calming of the mind. While clearing, cleansing, and purifying, burning thyme will disrupt air traveling illnesses. Thyme is known to bring courage, strength, and healing. Use thyme to invoke spirits.

Grasses

Sweetgrass: Used to bring sweet, positive energy or spirits (ancestors, angels, guides) into your space. It is particularly powerful when combined in practice with sage, as sage clears out old and negative energy and the sweetgrass brings in positive to fill the void that is left.*Please purchase your sweetgrass from reliable Native sources.

Some other plants you can use include:

Aspen

Bay

Catnip

Fir

Lemongrass

Lilac

Peppermint

Rose

Spruce

I’m sure there are many more you can use(dragon’s blood, sandalwood etc) but that’s a good start for now.

Ways to burn herbs

Smoke wand/herb bundle/sage stick(all different names for the same thing basically)

Loose herbs or resin on a charcoal briquette

Incense

Campfire

Herbal Cigarette( using safe to ingest herbs, you can make a rolled cigarette for dream-work, medicinal uses and more)

Other ways of cleansing without using smoke

Herbal Cleansing Spray(use your favorite herbs or essential oils mixed with water)

Asperging( I had never heard of this one before, apparently it’s the witches equivalent of holy water. Using a salt water use it to cleanse objects or sprinkle around a space to cleanse and bless it.)

Sound( sing, chant, bang a pot with a spoon, use a bell or a singing bowl. If you’re trying to clear a particularly stubborn spirit out, yell at them to GTFO works well.)

Sweeping( a witches besom is used to sweep around a room and out the door to clear negativity as well as dirt and debris)

Sunlight/Moonlight( charging tools, crystals and water all fall under cleansing)

Crystal Grids( Selenite is a good crystal to cleanse the surrounding area and recharge other crystals. Setting the crystals up in a grid helps to cover a wider area with more power. Black Tourmaline, Lodestone and Smoky Quartz are other good crystals to use.)

Salt Bowls( Place the tool or object you want to cleanse in salt or place salt bowls around the room you would like to cleanse.Leave for 24-72 hours.)

There are tons more like tornado jars, using onions and casting a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram(That’s a mouthful…) so feel free to research it up. Willow at Flying the Hedge has all of these and more listed with explanations.

Also check out my posts on all the beginner witchcraft we’ve covered so far for more ideas. Find them via the Blog Page.

What are your thoughts on Smudging vs Smoke Cleansing?

So there you have it! I probably could have covered this a lot more in depth but definitely do some research and see for yourselves!Is there anything you didn’t quite understand? Do you feel that smudging is appropriation or is it being blown out of proportion? I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions so leave them in the comments section!

P.s. If you would like more information on smudging / smoke-cleansing check out Rebekah’s 4 part post at Holistic Practitioner.

[honeyed-fawn]

Gonna be posting much less today and tomorrow, my boyfriend is having some medical issues so he has my attention. Love you all, I'll be signing off for a bit, give him your well wishes please!

#trad #tradblr #tradfem #trad community #trad community do touch

[trans-cuchulainn]

your posts about English folk culture being treated as esoteric within England reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad relatively recently. I was complaining about how much I hated doing scottish country dancing in P.E every year in school and he, having grown up in London, mentioned that he never did any kind of folk dancing in school and it really surprised me.

Having an Irish family and growing up in Scotland I just assumed that folk culture would be a big part of national identity in England because it def is in Ireland and scotland. I mean I grew up in the city and I went to a Catholic school where a lot of pupils didn't come from Scottish backgrounds so I'm sure my experience would be different from somebody who grew up in a smaller town or a rural area, but my school still dragged out the girls who could sword dance every year on burns day y'know

Also now I'm wracking my brain trying to remember all the English folk songs I know and realising that it's comparatively few next to the hoard of Scottish, Irish and American folk songs I've accrued over the past 2 decades. That's definitely partially just due to being connected to the cultures those songs come from and that American folk songs are generally quite a bit younger than the scottish & Irish ones, but it's still not something I've ever really thought about

yeah absolutely. it's something england -- and probably urban england and london especially -- has really lost touch with. a lot of my friends and colleagues are irish, and when the topic of things like irish dance comes up, it's always like "oh yeah i did a bit of that as a kid, everyone did" or "yeah i learned the whistle, obviously, but i stopped when i was eight" -- but there'd be no obviously about that here (even when people learn the recorder at school, it's not often trad tunes they're learning to play!)

i don't know if this is to do with the proportion of the population that's urban vs rural in england compared to ireland or scotland (not sure where wales is at with this, they have a strong song tradition but i don't know much about the welsh equiv of trad dance music nor tbh enough about the song tradition to say anything meaningful on the topic), or if it's a "survival of trad culture to spite oppressive dominant cultures" thing so england lost it due to lack of need to defend it, or if it's predominantly a class issue (but that wouldn't wholly explain schools/the national curriculum, particularly at primary level)... i think there's a lot of factors at work

but it's something i do notice because i spend time in those irish-dominated spaces where the attitude towards trad music and dance is so different. but then those are also often irish language communities, so they're specifically irish communities that are interested in their cultural heritage, and maybe that's not representative of the whole country. still, it feels like even people who aren't interested and haven't carried that interest through to adulthood were exposed to it in childhood in a way that many english people weren't because our equivalent traditions have been relegated to this very niche, marginalised (and potentially very rural) status

#sometimes i think i've learned an english folk song but then it turns out it's scottish #it just got written down by an english song collector who got rid of a lot of the more distinctively scottish features #RIP #if i start thinking about how little i know about welsh traditions #i'll get sad again about not knowing any of my dad's family except his brother #a lot of his family was from rhosymedre and llangollen and places like that #i've never even been there although i've been to other parts of wales #i hope to change that this year though. not for Heritage™ reasons but that's a bonus side effect i guess #i need to take a ferry across to ireland so i gotta go to north wales anyway so might as well make a party of it #answered #anonymous #english folk traditions

[eruverse]

Being a communism hater whose families and ancestors (THANKFULLY) didn't even need to live under it, coz I'm Indonesian and stuff, I naturally sympathize with anyone whose countries had to undergo communist history but now no longer wants to deal with it. I can't even imagine the whole ordeal. Communism just sounds like a very unpalatable food I don't even want to touch with a ten foot pole.

*I hate communism but am still not a capitalist btw. What do you call individualistic centrists who can't be assed to deal with both extremes and want to live more off the grid? Whose values tend to be quite trad?

#disclaimer: i personally dont condone the mass murders but i like the end result that communism is illegal in my neck of woods #my family history isn't actually free of any kind of marxist ideology tho #my late grandpa was a marhaenist (Indonesian style marxism) in his youth. like he was actually active in it #and considering that he and my grandma were ardent Sukarno supporters they prob needed to shut up during the whole new order #me reading abt marhaenism: huh this is just basically normie Indonesian mindset #personal #prob marhaenism is a bit more authoritarian but its not an extreme left afaik #its my grandpa that i relate to the least also lmao but ok

[papirouge]

Do you have any recommendations for blogs that talk about the Bible, God, His Word, prayer and repentance? I'm getting burned out of the traditional femininity, future-wife/marriage obsessed, overly political, everyone's-a-sinner hate laden blogs. It's taking a negative toll on me.

Not really lol

To be frank I think me not looking up any Christian bloggers or going to any church helped me build a more authentic relationship with God because I don't rely on anyone else. I don't drink the Kool aid if these demon filled church and am content being homeschooled by the Holy Spirit lol. It's just me and God. You don't need nothing else, really. That's how primitive Christian were doing and they were just fine.

... I would lie if I said I didn't have Christian channel I genuinely enjoy though lol but you'll notice they're extremely small (a good sign), not clickbaity or political (I personally will never take seriously a Christian being into politics or voting)

My favorite Christian channel EVER is french so idk if it might be relevant here but here is it. His predications truly helped me on so many levels...!! :

It's mostly after prayers that God led me to content totally answering my issues so I'd say that the drill is to talk to God FIRST and then you'll stumble upon good content.

But I really warn you about hyping up Christians medias bc there 99% chances they are crooked. The concept of professional Christian blogger is a joke. I loathe Christian bread tube. Preaching the Gospel isn't a job. God never asked you money to be Saved - that's why it's called Grace. I'm conviced you can't be a BIG Christian blog without selling out at some point lol

About burned out by the whole trad feminitity/Christian doomcult political weirdos: I totally feel you. To give you some perspective I'm into my 30s so I'm too old to subscribe to "clubs" like some of them do. I'm very confused at how hating your governments and basically anyone not thinking like you (liberals, LGBT, BLM, anti Capitalists, Socialists, etc) has become so widely accepted into the Christian scene. I'm sick of seeing Christians joking about killing people. And I'm also sick of their hypocrisy. I'm on this hellsite long enough to remember them making fun of SJW in the early 2010s for calling anyone they didn't like Nazi..... and NOW watch these right conservative call the government "Nazi" just bc it doesn't do what they feel entitled to🤔

They don't seem to realize how pathetic and whiny this behavior looks like. It did in 2013, and it still does today. Everyday logging in to whine and complain about their government, taxes, mUh LibERAliSm/eVryThInG i dOnT LiKe iS cOmMuNiSm!!.....Yall grown adults, DAMNIT! GO OUTSIDE AND TOUCH GRASS. 🌿GOD IS GOOD AND YOU ARE STILL ALIVE!!!🌞 Some of you are literally frying your brain being terminally online hanging around equally mentally damaged basement dwelling weirdos entertaining this doom mentality ALL DAY LONG!!

It's sooo obvious none of them engage with people they don't agree with IRL and can't properly argue without babbling slurs and cuss thinking their the smartest bulb bc their circle jerks of deranged fellas uplift each other in this mess (i.e online Libertarians).

About tradfeminism: I agree with you, I'm very tired by *some* toxic tradwomen thinking seeking for marriage/wanting babies is a personality trait and that any women having standards/ambitions beside homemaking is a gold digging whore brainwashed by modern society. I'm in my 30s and for some I might be too old for marriage and am just an old hag ranting but IDC, I wish more Christian celibate women of my age would speak up about their life which doesn't have to involve child, marriage and performative feminitity to be fulfilling. God made me a woman. Woman isn't a perform, it's an all around Existence. And I don't need no fluffy dress, baby around my arm or ring around my finger to achieve it.

Sorry for digressing anon but to sum it up

TL;DR:

98% of the online Christian scene is wack - especially on Tumblr

You'll find more equilibrium in your faith with hanging around people IRL than online

Tradfeminism is cute for what it's worth but don't let yourself be burnt by it. Femaleness isn't a performance, and traditionalism ≠ Christian.

Having standards isn't anti Christian or anti trad. Yall forget that women in the old days sought after rich men for survival....so in a way, gold digging is more "traditional" than marrying for love. Let that sink in. You can't pick the trad lifestyle only when it's fitting.

Follow older Christian. I wish I did when I was younger because older people have a more laid back perspective on thing and are not getting hysterical at everything. That's why Christian kids out there are insane. Also follow (older) Christian regular women who aren't making a weird fetichization around marriage, babies or feminitity. there is life for childless women past 30 (lol). And life never goes as you expect...and that's okay.

#answered #tradfem

[nightswithkookmin]

First, this is my THIRD TIME I send you my question. If you don't response I move.

Second, why still jikook shippers exist when jimin & jungkook was barely communicate. The fact, we can't ignore that, jimin & Jungkook avoid each other. Something between them was not good. I really miss their genuine interaction. Other hand Jk seems normal with other members. WHY?

👀 Ok but I'm really doing my best here 😒

There's literally 400 plus unanswered Asks in my inbox. If I answered one Ask each day it will still take like a whole year to clear my inbox and there will still be some unanswered Asks sitting in there.

Besides, I think I have answered this exact question? I have said I believe Jikook experienced a hiccup in their relationship between October and November last year post JM's birthday but I don't believe they broke up. Not sure how many times you want me to repeat that.

Most of the content with 'no interaction' and 'tension' between them were filmed around the same period within this timeline.

I will uploading a blog on that timeline soon. I have a rough draft of it sitting in my drafts somewhere. I've been answering a lot of Asks lately and I just haven't had time to write an actual blog post. Sigh.

Why Jikook Shippers still exist...

I ask myself this question every single day darling- why do people still ship Jikook when Jikook is more than a ship? They should be supporting them not just shipping them.

Also, I don't think real Jikook supporters support Jikook just because they interact. Those are the shippers. The trad shippers as I like to call them. I support Jikook because they are queer first and foremost and secondly because they are in love with eachother.

Just because they 'don't interact' in a moment, on camera, don't make them all of a sudden straight. It doesn't work like that.

Jimin is my bias and I know beyond a shadow of doubt he is queer. I love him more for it. I really love him more for it. You have no idea. I am not going to withdraw my support for him as an LGBTQ plus member in a conservative space just because he isn't interacting on camera with another member. That's just silly.

The love between them isn't going anywhere anytime soon. As long as they both want it and they both go out of their way to nurture it, it will always be there. I think that's what you should be paying attention to- whether or not they are nurturing their bond outside their interactions on camera during this period.

Because if they are not, then that's when they will become a real fanservice ship. No shade to a certain ship💀

JIMIN AND JK AVOID EACHOTHER. WHY?

Well damn I got nothing. Lol. My crystal ball is on the fritz. Would have to call Dumbledore for assistance. Help, Dumbledore! Lol.

Jokes aside, I see what you mean. But I keep saying Jikook are not broken up. It hasn't been smooth sailing all 7 years you know- ok take a few years. I don't think it will be either going forward either.

Jikook are not jikooking all the time. It's part of the contract they have with us. Lol. Sometimes it's because they are having relationships problems, other times it's their environment, a producer they ain't vibing with, bad hair day, the members getting on their nerves- a myriad of reasons Anon. A ton. I can only speculate. Could be anything from a break up to a lost change. Know what I mean?

They do have issues from time to time. They are human too. Sometimes they hide it behind smiles and perform knock off versions of their bond for us.

Other times they choose not to perform their bond, especially if whatever they are dealing with is serious- if it is, they set boundaries and respect eachother's boundaries to allow them to emotionally process and deal.

Most times too they push and poke at eachother's boundaries till the other cave. Especially if one of them feel whatever is getting in their way is a trivial issue.

During Jin's birthday VLive in December, they sounded a lot like they were enjoying eachother's company to me- apart from the part JM was throwing shade at us left right left, I didn't sense any tension between them then.

Chilee JM, whatever did we do to you?🤧

All we did was call you 'a liar' once and now you just keep rubbing your relationship in our face?😥 You really didn't have to tell us you were with Jungkook when Jin put you on speaker.😒 You really didn't. You knew he was putting you on speaker. Acting like Jin was bothering you or something. I see you. Smirk.

Their moments at GDA and the end of year award shows were equally telling of the state of their relationship.

In some content post Grammy you could see them hanging in the background playing games and what not.

Arriving together at KBS in the same car at 5am, leaving set together at 1am and heading lord knows where- cough, Itaewon.

Then this happened... was JK high? Chilee.

Like I know my bias is sexy and fine but JK you don't have to be scanning him like that😭

I've been saying, Jikook 'relax' in certain contents, act serious in others- as they should. They literally had the GMA performance before this shoot and people were screaming there was tension between them and what not and that JK seemed mad at Jimin. Mad bunny where?! Lmho.

The 'less open' one in that performance was JM not JK. To me. I felt he was putting up a tough exterior, acting like he don't kiss ass in that time period. Not sure if it was the haircut or his inner shadow hunter but something had shifted in him. Lol.

You could tell JK really wanted to show off their bond and chemistry in that event, and had perhaps wanted JM to engage like he'd done with him in previous performances?

But JM wasn't doing none of that for whatever reason- No, I don't think it was because he was mad at JK.

He just wasn't on his Jikook agenda.

They enjoy eachother and when they get lost in a moment it's usually for them not us. But they know and are well aware we like their bond and we love to see it. You'd often hear them, JM especially, ask the fans if they like certain moments especially after he's interacted with JK in a certain way or shared certain intimate details about their relationship with fans at fansigns.

They troll us, they tease us, they include us in certain moments- Jk deliberatly stealing JM's tear stained tissue( a reenactment of a popular Korean sitcom where a creepy ass lady stole her crushes used tissue to convey she adored him) him pointing at JM to indicate he desires JM, slowly taking off his shirt while holding JM's gaze, the you are me, I am you, what's tasty in Busan and all these other moments.

They each have their own Jikook agenda. But they are both not always in on it. Sometimes JM has no idea what JK is up to, other times it's JK who's clueless. Like the Holiday remix video where JK bolted after that intense fanservice moment with JM.

I don't think he knew JM was going to do what he did. It was shock and desire rolled into one for him. I just know it. Lmho.

As I said, the director probably had whispered something in JM's ear and had asked him to give them a moment.

JK was probably having wedding dreams flashbacks. His entire Itaewon gay future flashed before his eyes. I'm dead. Lmho.

Jk'd initiate in moments where JM wasn't initiating (during performances) and he'd bump shoulders or just shamelessly wrap his hands around Jimin and have a moment.

Same energy from JK different periods in the timeline- one before Grammy, one after.

May be you should be paying close attention to the things they do when they 'don't interact?' What they do when they do interact. Who initiates, whether the other reciprocates or not etc? The setting and environment equally counts as well.

Literally these two contents were filmed on the same day but half the fandom was screaming there was something off with Jikook in one just because Jikook didn't touch eachother.

JK was hesitating to initiate skinship with JM in one content, but didn't in the other- on the same day. What gives??

Contents filmed with Suga, Tae in dark hair, JM with an undercut were all filmed after 11th October and before 3rd November when Suga had his Surgery.

Content with JM in blue hair were filmed after 24th November.

JK's mood was pretty consistent to me till the pop up in late October, the holiday remix filmed after 3rd November but before Grammy, the Grammy reaction on 24th November and the recent run which was also filmed after Grammy where he seemed mostly closed off to JM's Jikook agenda- do you see what I mean when I say all those moments on 'tension' you and others mention were filmed within the same period?

Jimin's reaction has equally been consistent, going from putting up a tough exterior to being mellow and somewhat humbled or subdued.

Make of it what you will.

Not sure what you mean by genuine interactions. I think you have to embrace all aspects of them and their relationship. They have 'genuine' moments, they have fan service moments, they have good days, they have bad days. Sometimes they don't interact at all.

It's ok to miss them. But don't demand that they change or interact in a certain way to suit your shipping desires. That's dangerous.

They are human.

Signed,

GOLDY