I have an end-of-life patient to whom I spoke today. She burst out laughing and said, “It was all such fun. I just had so much fun.” I wish this for everyone. I wish that we each would meet death laughing, with little regret and even less fear.
YEAHHHHH ok. I need to post about this but uh. Tumblr has a very fun glitch! If you press R ONCE on the desktop ver of the site, it will reblog the focused post instantly, no tag editing or blog selection. it may accidentally post it a couple more times , but that’s it.
however. if you fucking hold R? it’ll reblog the post instantly too, but MULTIPLE TIMES INSTANTLY. like I hit post limit bc I thought it wasn’t actually reblogging the post. I only held the r button for a solit 10 seconds for it to reblog that post 200+ TIMES. my big ass mistake
either use or abuse it is up to you, but I reported it to Tumblr bc holy fuck dude. that’s too much instant power
Tumblr Support just said this is a feature, not a glitch.
A good piece of advice I hear often is that you should complement your magical learning with some practical learning. From a spirit work perspective, I figure a plant spirit is much more likely to work with you when you’ve shown the good faith to learn something about it. My background in ecology has given me a good handle on working with plants, and it’s definitely improved my craft as well. I thought I’d share a few books and websites that I use extensively.
Foraging and plant identification
Botany in a Day by Thomas J. Elpel: gives a crash course to botany, focusing on getting you familiar with key botanical features. Highly recommend to anyone, especially beginners
Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians by David Duhl: obviously fairly specific to these areas but it’s been recommended by every botanist I know. Even if you’re outside of this region, find yourself a reputable field guide for your habitat.
Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora: oh mushrooms. We all need to know more about mushrooms. This book may be more suitable for people who are already familiar with things like dichotomous keys, but it explains itself very well if you’re wanting to jump off the deep end.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: this website has absolutely beautiful pictures. You can put in your location and they’ll give you a list of what kind of wildflowers you can find
Gardening and landscape plants
Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Michael Dirr: pretty much all the information you’d ever need to know about trees and shrubs including what climate they prefer and what varieties you should look out for.
Herbaceous Perennial Plants by Allen Armitage: another book with an insane amount of information. More focused on things like flowers.
Herbalista: an organization bringing herbal community care to Atlanta. They have a free intro course that I’m currently working through, plus recipes on their website
Principles and Practices of Phytotherapy by Kerry Bone & Simon Mills: if you want to get into the real nitty-gritty of herbalism, this is the book. Research based encyclopedia of plant-based remedies
One important thing to remember in life: Do not coddle men. Do not do their work for them. Do not perform uncredited labor for them, including intellectual labor. Do not bend over backwards to help them. Do not tell them they are good at things they are bad at. Do not smile at them when you don’t want to. Do not laugh at their terrible jokes or stroke their egos or let them think they are better than you when odds are good that they are almost definitely not. Do not even deal with men whose presence bothers you when you can get away from them/when you aren’t regularly forced to be near them for things like work. Do not include men in your life who don’t deserve to be in it any time that you can avoid it at all.
this post pairs well with this one:
This is the best pair of separatist manifestos I’ve seen.
Yule, pronounced “yool”, falls on the 21st of December in the Northern Hemisphere, a date that is also known as the Winter Solstice. In the Southern Hemisphere (below the equator), Yule falls on the 21st of June.
The Winter Solstice is the day of the year when the night is longest and the day is shortest. After the solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.
Some Historical & Cultural Stuff:
Yule is the time of the year when the “dark half” of the year ends and the “light half begins”.
Until the 16th century, the winter months were infamous for being times of famine in Europe - most cattle were slaughtered during this time so that they did not need to be fed during the winter. The feed was needed for the mouths of the farmers and the people. This meant that the solstice was a time when meat was plentiful, and is the reason why a lot of the celebrations surrounding this time of year centre around feasting and merriment.
In pre-Christian Scandinavia, there was a feast (named the Feast of Juul) that lasted for twelve (12) days. It celebrated the rebirth of the sun, and from this feast came the custom of burning a Yule log.
In ancient Rome, the Festival of Saturnalia (famously referenced in an episode of The Big Bang Theory) was the pillar of solstice celebrations. It was used to honour the God of agricultural bounty, Saturn and lasted around a week. Saturnalia was characterised by feasting, debauchery and the exchanging of gifts. Does that sound familiar? Well, it should! Many of these customs were absorbed and assimilated into Christian Christmas celebrations upon Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. This was done to make the conversion less of a shock.
Activities & Things to Do: Carolling. Wassailing, feasting, exchanging gifts; burning fires/candles; decorating a Yule tree and making decorations to put on it, such as Witch Balls, clove pricked fruit; make Winter potpourri.
Spells, Magick & Rituals: Cleansing, taking down old wards and putting up new ones, divination; reflective workings; workings related to new beginnings and fresh starts. Workings for goals and ambitions. Earth based magick.
“My suggestion was quite simple: Put that needed code number in a little capsule, and then implant that capsule right next to the heart of a volunteer. The volunteer would carry with him a big, heavy butcher knife as he accompanied the President. If ever the President wanted to fire nuclear weapons, the only way he could do so would be for him first, with his own hands, to kill one human being. The President says, “George, I’m sorry but tens of millions must die.” He has to look at someone and realize what death is—what an innocent death is. Blood on the White House carpet. It’s reality brought home.” - Richard Fisher, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (1981)
Never forget that part of the reason this system was never implemented was that when he presented it to his colleagues, their response was IIRC “George, that’s terrible! If he has to take an innocent life, he may never press the button.”
ALT
