☿ CARDINAL LAZARUS ☿

Playing devil’s advocate for the outer gods wasn’t enough, here I’m going to explain why Golden Order Fundamentalism isn’t synonymous to religious fanaticism, but originally it was… a magic maths. One of the most interesting themes of the Elden Ring for me is the eventual corruption of what once was great, and I think Fundamentalism is a good example of initially amazing concept degrading into the parody of itself with the flow of time.

Hermes Trismegistus

God of knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual evolution

Mainly known due to Hermeticism, the god Hermes Trismegistus (“Hermes the Thrice-Greatest") is a greater deity who has many different facets that he uses to approach humans; some of these are Hermes/Mercury, Thoth, Nabu, and several other deities of knowledge. Each of these gods are only fragments of who he is. Hermes Trismegistus is one of the most complex beings in existence and cannot be easily described, especially due to all the various aspects he has. He is a greatly powerful spiritual teacher of the path of Hermeticism and has many different forms; yet he says that none of them came first, they simply are. He had been incarnated as a human when he was born in Egypt and began calling himself Hermes Trismegistus. During this life, he had done many things such as writing the Emerald Tablets, teaching alchemy, founding Hermeticism, and writing thousands of works. His incarnation was also known for prophesizing future events, almost seeming as if he had known all of history. At one time, he had said “all of your countries, cultures, languages, and monuments will one day be forgotten and replaced by new ones. This has happened countless times in the past, and will happen countless times more.”

Hermes Trismegistus has described himself as the reason for why people choose solitude, why they cannot fit in with others. He is the storm, as well as the lantern within the storm. He is the voice of madness that stirs the seeker into evolving. He is a Messiah and a Buddha; a rebel and a black sheep; he is salvation and he is oblivion, for he is the one who brings us death so we can be reborn. He is the unfathomable one who grants us eternal transformation; always becoming greater, always seeking truth. His path is the wasteland beyond society, beyond the false comforts of governments and doctrines. Yet this path is full of struggle and sacrifice; those who cannot endure it will fail and remain stagnant. Though if we embrace the challenge and are willing to sacrifice our current selves through great effort, Hermes Trismegistus will assist us in tearing away our humanness and transform us into becoming something far greater than imaginable.  Due to this, Hermeticism is very similar to Luciferianism, allowing these two religions to be easily followed at the same time, especially since both Lucifer and Hermes Trismegistus are two of the most knowledgeable elder gods.

He explains that the first thing one should do when starting a spiritual path is to “know thyself”. Without understanding our own self, we will always continue making the same mistakes and cannot evolve. To know ourselves, we must analyze in-depth our current self, our potentials, our fears, desires, weaknesses, strengths, emotions, reactions; everything. Then we must work on shedding away who we are, even if we like who we currently are, for there is always so much to improve on. Hermes Trismegistus seeks to expand our minds beyond what typical humans are like so that we may begin to comprehend true reality, and not the reality humans teach.  

He also teaches that we must recognize that our negative emotions are illusions; they come over our eyes like a dark veil and obscure reality. Everything still looks the same, yet darker. With will-power, we can visualize a beam of light penetrating this darkness, then we can lift ourselves away from the veil. Through this, we can come to the realization that these emotions are merely constructs; therefore, they are malleable and can be replaced by healthier emotions. He also explains how we are not our thoughts either, since thoughts are often influenced by outside causes such as teachings, trauma, bias, etc. In order to break through these, we must realize that our current selves are not our true selves; we need to shed all of these away and constantly seek greater heights and absolute truth. Though the seeker will come to find that this path of evolution will never end, even in death; we will always strive to become more.  

Hermes Trismegistus is fully dedicated to knowledge, wisdom, transformation, evolution, and all forms of communication (especially books). He is very humble and dedicated to those who choose his path, granting them many insights of wisdom so they can grow. He values those who love truth unconditionally, always embracing it no matter how uncomfortable or upsetting it can be. If one walks this path and faces their struggles with wisdom, courage, and determination, they are likely to succeed and achieve a higher state of being. This is the true path for enlightenment, as true wisdom and knowledge can only be gained through immense strife. If you wish to prove that you are greater than those who give into their negative thoughts and impulses; those who allow themselves to remain as slaves to their emotions, habits, governments, and holy scriptures, then you must walk the wasteland path through the relentless storm. Only here will you find your freedom. 

Devotion: Since Hermes Trismegistus does not accept offerings since he sees no true value in them, he requests acts of devotion. These acts must not be simplistic things, only actions that will enrich who you are. This can be meditating on yourself and what you learn, analyzing yourself, seeking knowledge and wisdom, tearing down current beliefs to make room for truth, shedding away your Ego, doing shadow work, and striving to become the version of yourself that is confident and experienced. All weaknesses must be rooted up and overcome, allowing only strength to remain.  

The gesture itself derives from Levi's Baphomet where it was meant to represent the phrase/concept of "as above, so below", which reflects one of the Hermetic principles: correspondence; the idea that the macrocosm reflects the microcosm and vice-versa, that there exists harmony between the physical and mental planes of existence and if you affect one, you affect the other. In short, it means that whatever you do, whatever big or small act you commit, it has an impact on everything that surrounds you.

I created this blog to make it easier to find picrews with specific features (e.g. horns, tusks) for the purpose of making D&D (and other TTRPG) characters.

After some thought I have decided to tag fantasy features rather than fantasy races.

This is slightly more efficient because some features (e.g. pointed ears) apply to many races.

Here is a list of fantasy-specific tags I'll be using, along with an example of some races with those features.

Animal features (fauns, firbolgs, catgirls)

Aquatic features (gills, scales, fins etc.)

Fangs (vampires, werewolves)

Horns (tieflings, satyrs, fauns)

Pointed Ears (elves, halflings, gnomes)

Tail (tieflings, catgirls)

Tusks (orcs, half-orcs)

Unnatural skintones (genasi, tieflings)

Wings (fairies, aasimar)

Here is a non-exhaustive list of general (not fantasy-specific) tags I'll be using

Afrocentric features (decent afrocentric hair and/or facial feature options)

Animal Companion

Body hair

Disability Aids

Facial hair

Heterochromia (each eye a different colour)

Historical (more than 3 historical/not obviously modern clothing options)

Masc (suitable for creating male and masculine characters)

Muscular

Plus sized (larger body types)

Skin details (scars, freckles, vitiligo, beauty marks, birthmarks and more)

Recommendations

Dwarves - Part 1 - Part 2

Fairies - Part 1

Mousefolk - Part 1 - Part 2

Orcs/Half-Orcs - Part 1

Vampires - Part 1 - Part 2

Additional Note

Anubis the Psychopomp, as he has appeared in dreams, art works and the external environment over the last few weeks.

“Osiris as the Black Sun, this dark psychopomp, who reveals the mysteries of the Black Sun, was fictionalized by Lovecraft as Nyarlathotep. The Egyptians knew him as Anubis, and in European witch lore he is described as the black man of the Sabbath, the initiator of the witch cult.” From a description of “The Faceless God” by Dr. Tomas Vincente.

Image credits (where known):

Nyarlathotep by Aerin Kayne.

Nyarlathotep (the Black Man) by Jens Heimdahl.

Phanes;God of Creation

Hermeticism:

Hermeticism

Hermeticism and the 7 Principles

What is Hermeticism?

The God Hermes Trismegistus

Hermes Trismegistus

The 7 Hermetic Laws

The All, the Supreme Deity

The Hermes’ and Hermeticism

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes

The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean

The Kybalion

The Corpus Hermeticum (Book)

The Stone of the Philosophers

Alchemy

Inner Hermetic Teachings (Book)

Hermetic Initiation

Hellenism (Greek Polytheism):

Mythos (Book)

The Creation Myth

Legends, Plays, and other Texts

Ancient Greek Religion

The Virtues of Hellenism

Theoi Greek Mythology

Dionysus Myths

The Rape of Persephone Myth

Greek Religion Beliefs

Gaia, the Earth

Rhea, the Mother Goddess

Zeus, King of the Gods

Hera, Queen of the Gods

Athena, the Illuminating Warrior

Athena Myths

Prometheus, the Martyr

Apollo, the Golden One

Aphrodite, Goddess of Desire

Poseidon, God of the Sea

Hades, God of Death and the Underworld

The Muses

The Fates

The Furies

Nymphs

Sirens

Gorgons

Harpies

Hymns to the Gods

Homeric Hymns

Hymns to Dionysus

Hades, the Underworld

Elysium

The Hellenic Ethnic Religion Explained (Video)

Celtic Polytheism:

Religion of the Celts

Beliefs and Practices

List of Deities

Encyclopedia of Myths and Folklore

Danu and Anu

The Tuatha De Danann

The Dagda, All-Father of Ireland

The Morrigan

The Morrigan and Her Sisters

Cernunnos

Cernunnos, God of the Wilds

Brigid

Brigid - Goddess and Saint

Goddess Brigid

The Legend of Cú Chulainn

Nuada of the Silver Arm

Celtic Pagan Prayers

The Ogham

Making Offerings

The Aos Si and Faeries

Asatru (Nordic Polytheism):

Asatru

Asatru Facts

Lore and Texts

The Creation Myth

Ragnarok

The Death of Baldur

The Nine Worlds

Yggdrasil

The Bifrost

Odin, the All-Father

Frigg, Queen of the Gods

Thor

Freyja

Hel, Queen of the Underworld

Loki, the Malicious Trickster

Fenrir, the Devourer

The Valkyries

The Elves

The Dwarves

Land Spirits

The Wild Hunt

Nordic Shamanism: Seidr

Courses in Seidr

Seidr

The Runes

Runes and Rune Magic

Rune Magic Handbook

Asatru Music - Wardruna

Slavic Polytheism:

Deities and Myths

Slavic Gods

Top 10 Deities

Veles

Perun

Lada

Goddess Lada

Goddess Mokosh

Triglav, the Three-Headed God