Being a kid is wanting to be Gryffindor, being a teen is realizing that Slytherin and Ravenclaw were way cooler. Becoming an adult is realizing that Hufflepuffs were the only ones that weren’t complete assholes.
You are a demon, a creature of hellfire and ash and sin. You are not meant to have a heart, you are meant to fill the world with pain and discord and suffering. You do this for centuries, it isn’t pleasant but it’s your duty to your prince. One day, you infiltrate a home to plant discord, only to find the place is ravaged with it. A young child sees you, and you see the light in their eyes threatening to fade away. You remember you were once an angel before you fell, and you vow to protect that innocent light in whatever way you can. You can’t do good, but you can purposefully do evil to those who threaten the child. Months pass in this fashion and one day you find an ivory feather sprouting from your wings.
“son of a bitch,” keli said, plucking the feather from the tip of her wings. it licked up the sunlight, edges curling inward. she could feel its warmth through her hand, soft and inviting, as gentle a lull as the way BabyTodd’s eyelids drooped when he got sleepy.
“what’s wrong?” asked norma, poking her head into the nursery. she glanced at where BabyTodd was kicking idly at his mobile. “did he poop?”
keli held up the feather.
norma raised her eyebrows. “….very pretty?” she offered after a moment, voice pitching up in question at the end of the word. “i didn’t know they grew in colors other than black. i thought that was like, the whole vibe.” her brow furrowed suddenly. “oh–is that like–the demon version of a gray hair? are you getting old?”
keli is older than time itself. she was called into creation by the unexpected voice of the blackest heaven, pieced together by the inverse desire of the too-small things which would become men. she watched them grow from the very first pieces of matter, and waited in moonlight for them to evolve enough to hear her voice, and follow it.
she has explained this to norma many times.
“no, norma,” she says, somewhat patiently, but also somewhat like she is saying how many fucking times do we have to go over this, norma? “this is not a demon gray hair. it is an angel feather. here, listen.”
keli ran her fingertip along the edge of the wing and the feather sang out, a soft and lilting tune like a harp, but also like the sun filtering through the leaves of lush, green trees. the song that david wrote, that night so many years ago when he had sat on the floor and loved god the only way that he knew how.
“oooooo,” said norma. “neat. can i touch it?”
keli handed the feather over, and norma strummed it a few times. even keli had to admit the song was beautiful, although it wasn’t exactly pleasant for a demon to listen to. “this could make top 40 radio, easy,” norma mused. “like, throw in a baseline and some peppy lyrics about being single for the summer and you’d make bank. new music friday all the way, baby.” she frowned suddenly, then narrowed her eyes at keli. “did you kill an angel to get this?” she asked. “because we have talked about this. i am not bringing BabyTodd to visit you if you go to jail.”
“no prison can hold my dark power,” keli said. “norma. i need to know that you understand this, because we really have gone over it a lot and i’m starting to think that maybe you don’t listen to me when i talk to you.”
“well, i’m not bringing BabyTodd to visit you in hell, either,” norma answered placidly, “because hell is no more a place for baby than prison is.”
keli pinched the bridge of her nose. “i didn’t kill an angel for it,” she said on a sigh. “i grew it. by accident.”
“you grew it?” norma’s eyebrows rose. “like … on your body? yours? the demon one?”
“yes.”
“but you’re a demon.”
“i know.”
“but if you’re a demon, how can you grow an angel feather?”
keli waited a few seconds, until norma got it.
“holy shit,” norma said. “holy shit, you’re turning into an angel! holy shit!! your redemptive love for BabyTodd is making you a warrior for god!”
keli slumped into the rocking chair and covered her eyes with one hand. “not if i can help it,” she said grimly.
This is so gorgeous and perfect and funny. A great, great story with such rich emotion and tension and loveliness. I MUST FIND THE CREATOR AND SCREAM AT THEM IN TUMBLR FASHION
reblog to SCREAM YOUR LOVE AT THE CREATOR IN TRUE TUMBLR FASHION
There’s a few things to unpack here, the first being that I am not Wiccan and witchcraft and Wicca are not synonymous. However there is nothing (to my knowledge) that would keep a Wiccan from following a bioregional worldview.
When you practice witchcraft it is informed by your land. When you practice witchcraft somewhere else, it changes drastically. Witchcraft in Florida is inherently different from witchcraft anywhere else. We live on a peninsula with the Atlantic on one side and the Gulf on the other. We have swamps, rivers, sloughs, lakes, and everything else you can imagine.
So yes, witchcraft in Florida is different from witchcraft anywhere else. No where will have the combination of ocean, swamp, and scrub lands that we do. The same way that Louisiana, California, and Oregon all have their own land and a witchcraft beneath the soil there. When your witchcraft comes from the dirt it has to change from place to place.
Do people think Wicca invented witchcraft? All magic leads back to Wicca or something?
Guys, other magical traditions exist that were never related to Wicca, that never interacted with Wicca, that were developed long before Wicca. Wicca does not own witchcraft. Wicca is a British import from the 50s, conceived only a few years earlier. America already had a variety of its own magical cultures before Wicca was created, like most places, since it’s a young religion.
Saying American regional magic is basically just rebranded Wicca is like saying santeria is basically just rebranded chaos magic. It doesn’t even make chronological or geographical sense. What does that even mean? Really.
Yes! This legitimately boggles my mind because in no way does, like Pennsylvania Dutch folk craft even scarcely resemble, like, Louisiana hoodou
New England alone is a magical knotball of specialized state-by-state (county-by-county, even) practices
You guys America has a rich cultural tapestry of folk magic and ceremonial tradition from all angles
Tbh trying to make sense of the energy in the DC/Virginia/Maryland area is fucking wild because it changes so rapidly with the construction we have going on 24/7
Like lets be real. When you change the physical structure of a space, the energetic structure is gonna change too.
This place is both Very Old AND Brand New.
It is super super weird.
You want battlefields? We got it fam. You want water spirits? Check out the potomac river. What about the bay? Or the canals? Or the feilds and feilds of flowers and corn. Or the wide cities with buildings that seem to shift constantly while others are unmoving and haunting?
It is so confusing?? I love it.
I grew up split between MD and FL and can vouche for how incredible spirit work there is. There nothing quiet like it.
Look.
People.
Anybody who has half a lick of sensitivity can travel from one region to another – and even from place to place within a region – and tell the difference. People who are attuned to one area can have severe difficulties practicing in other areas because it’s so damned different.
Even within the same state it’s kind of a crap shoot, depending on where you’re at. Like… I’m from Colorado originally. The plains are different from the mountains are different from the western slope. The northern part of the state is different from the southern part of the state.
Florida has just as many regions. I have yet to go very far south and like… there are places where things JUST DON’T WORK for me because it’s not the same as what I’m used to. In all honesty, I live in a place that’s very bad for my witchcraft because it butts up to a protected wetland. You walk out the door and turn around and BOOM! swamp. To me, it’s just stagnant and hostile, and hard to work with. But go out to the river (15 minute drive) or over by one of the beaches (about an hour to the nearest one, hour and a half-ish to my preferred) and it all comes naturally.
For the first time since 1941, anthrax has hit Western Siberia, with 1,500 reindeer dying and 13 Yamal nomads being hospitalized including 4 children.
This is because unusually high temperatures (it’s 10 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal) have melted permafrost containing the corpse of a reindeer that died of the bacteria 75 years ago.
Anthrax goes dormant when frozen, turning into a spore that reanimates when the temperature rises. Scientists estimate it can survive in this state for a minimum of 100 years.
In Siberia, dozens of herders have been relocated, a quarantine is in place and a state of emergency has been declared by the mayor.
This renews concerns that ancient viruses and bacteria could once again pose a threat, as the earth warms.
In 2014 scientists discovered that a Siberian virus, pithovirus sibericum, which lay dormant in permafrost for 30,000 years, became infectious again once thawed.
My doggo, Ezri, who rarely barks and mostly borks.
When I got her, she’d been abused and would cower and pee at almost everything, and had been mistreated when she’d barked, so she never would. One day months after I had her she got excited on a walk and borked at a bird, and then immediately cower-peed. I had to re-teach her to bark by gathering her whole human pack and having everyone bark and howl and feed her treats and pet her till she got excited enough to join in, and then got more treats. Took a while but I was able to teach her to bork on command (and she’s gotta be excited or she just stares at me like “Sorry, the bork system needs charging”) and she’ll do it happily when she’s excited to go for a walk or upon seeing a friend, and at birds. I love her croaky borking, especially when she started off terrified of making a joyful noise.
What kind of dog is Ezri? I love her!!
I… did not expect this post to blow up this much but I am delighted at all the tags and replies and Ezri has been told the internet thinks she’s a Very Good Dog. 😀
She’s a German spitz – in the same family as keeshonds and pomeranians. She might be crossed with something else as her freckled coat, non-pointy nose, and personality are not standard for her breed (they’re usually a lot more high energy and excitable – she’s super laid back and chill). She’s a bit less fluffy than breed-standard too, mostly because she’s grown out from her spring/summer trim (not usually necessary/good for her type of coat but she gets terribly itchy otherwise). It also makes her look like a puppy of a large breed:
Ezri’s best friend is Murder Cat, who is a gentle friend to humans and Ezri, but does things to mice that would make Hannibal Lecter go “Isn’t that a bit much?”
I got Murder Cat as a kitten, and she used to try to nurse on everything when she was small. Eventually, she settled on her favourite thing to nurse on, Ezri, who has never had puppies and a little confused at first but eventually went with it. She grew out of it, but they have stayed snuggly buddies ever since.
New Years here is full of fireworks outside and Ezri gets Vry Scared. I usually set her up somewhere with a snuggly spot right by me, and Murder Cat comes and does this all night:
She goes everywhere with me in my bakfiets (cargo bike) and lets me warm my hands in her fur on cold days.
And her ears disappear if I say her name to get her attention.
ok so great thanks for coming to my TED talk about my dog, good night, drive safe
Actress Loan Tran speaks up for the first time after leaving social media because of the online hate she recieved in this piece she wrote for New York Times.
The Mr. Darcy Fantasy isn’t based in what it’s usually made out to be based in
The fantasy isn’t that a brooding “tall, dark and handsome” man will come and swoop you of your feet.
Darcy changes for Elizabeth. She rejects him, she stands up to him, she insults him in a magnitude of ways, both warranted and not, and he takes all of that, and he reflects on it, and he changes his behavior. He tries to be better. Because he respects Elizabeth and he finds her opinion valuable.
Think about it. A usual response, both back then and today, would be to dismiss Elizabeth as a “crazy bitch.” He doesn’t do that at all, no, he takes valid criticism found among misunderstandings and takes it to heart.
The Mr. Darcy Fantasy is a fantasy about being respected and having your opinion be valued very highly.
The Mr. Darcy Fantasy is that a man would be willing to change his behavior just to be worthy of you.
god im just thinking about how much going to public school in the MCU would’ve made me hate captain america. every time i got caught giving some bitch the finger or writing on bathroom walls or ditching class or stealing books from the library cause i got a fine or what have you, and then they gave me lunch detention or ISS and i sat in that dumbass eraser-smelling room and im in My Chair (the chair i always sit in and yell at anyone else who tries to take it), fuming, arms crossed, full of teen angst and hating everyone around me, and AGAIN had to watch this stupid fucking video ive already seen so many times that i know it by heart and every word grates on my eardrums and i’d just see this fuckin familiar face
and i would be ready to LOSE MY SHIT
Villain Origin Story
god imagine Steve giving Peter his Captain America is Disappointed in You face/lecture over something dumb and Peter just fucking dissociating and zoning back in to “Peter! Are you even listening to me???” and looking him in the eye and being like “I’m completely immune at this point. You can’t even touch me.” and walking the fuck away
canon.
the real reason why Peter agreed to fight cap at the airport
I found this thing on Facebook… and I fell down the Humans Are Weird hole yet again. 😂(I first did before I even started my blog – Pinterest is sooo full of these posts! And I keep falling down it from time to time, when I discover something new)
Artisan Scribbles 