Magic is an Adventure

Just had an interaction with a white pagan who came onto a post about Judaism to talk about how all the “Abrahamic” religions are the same and have been colonizing the world and converting everyone, and that she holds Judaism partially responsible for this because she holds it responsible for the creation of Christianity. Nevermind that Jews have been on the receiving end of that particular brand of Christian violence and oppression for centuries.

woke: midsommar is a horror movie about a manipulative cult

to preface—ari aster is a Jewish man. he’s writing this story from someone directly affected by white supremacy (and if one doubts this: feel free to look at the white supremacist response to the film! it wasn’t positive)

anyway, the hårga are canonically neo-pagan white supremacists. ari aster has pointed this out in interviews explicitly, but if one pays attention and is familiar with white supremacy, it becomes painfully obvious.

many of the runes used commonly used among white supremacists.

the odal especially is seen throughout the film, down to the tables they sit at being arranged in an odal. this rune is used constantly by white supremacists to denote a love of White Heritage. what’s especially interesting about the use of the Odal is this—the particular way it’s drawn on many tapestries has the inclusion of “wings” or lines on the ends. The odal is most commonly drawn without these wings in modern usage....except, of course, used in the context of white supremacy. the odal with wings was the insignia of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen, and is still commonly used by neo Nazi groups today.

their leader, an old white woman who snarls about The Black One, wears the ansuz, despite them not seeming to worship Odin—this is, of course, another symbol used by white supremacists (hell, there’s a hate group that has a prominent presence in Sweden but exists worldwide calls the Soldiers of Odin). the inclusion of The Secret Nazi Language of the Uthark in the set at the beginning of the movie makes it clear this was intentional

also, there’s not a lot of evidence for the “age old rituals” they use (the ättestupa and blood eagle) actually existing—the idea of them though? absolutely relished by many white supremacists.

just getting into the rest of the movie—the colors are blindingly white, bright, and the characters of color stand out clearly against it. josh, who is the more obviously respectful and dedicated academic, is deliberately passed over in favor of Christian by the harga for information for their dissertations, and Christian outright rips off his topic. they kill the white characters for disrespecting the cult’s heritage—but kill the characters of color to show their devotion.

the movie is a MASTERFUL commentary on how white supremacists grow their numbers—they don’t start out with swastikas and genocide. they start out with a kind word, with a promise of understanding, of community.

“i lost my parents too” pele tells dani. he draws for her, he wishes her a happy birthday. the women dance with Dani, dress her up, comfort her. the cult makes her the may queen. she feels safe with them. she feels comforted, wanted. has an emotional bond with them, even as they slowly isolate her, and prime her to believe what they do.

as a Jewish person myself—this was all intentional. the horror for me isn’t just the cult. it’s that this happens every day, and more often than people would think. the horror is in the knowledge that this is how people are radicalized to scream “Jews will not replace us”, or shoot up a synagogue.

“i do!” followed by me not saying my name, ever, at any point

“do you?”

“i have many” no idea what i meant w/ that one like, sincerely, and that was probably deeply unnerving or at least moderately unnerving

“possibly? who knows”

“that sure is.. a question. that has an answer”

Plant Witch Aesthetic

The Magician!

Super happy with how this turned out! I used Cottage Garden Threads’ “Nightshade” for the crow, and navy blue for the blackwork and text. So satisfying to watch the blackwork come together. Thank you for making the pattern! 

I’m happy so many of you are liking this post our native love god, Lempo.

Unfortunately there are no images of Lempo, only descriptions of him (sometimes her). But Omniverse Battlewiki has a pretty good image of Lempo which goes together with how Lempo is said to look like.

Lempo’s influence is still present in modern Finland, especially in the language. One word for love is lempi which is a direct word from Lempo. In old rimes, lempi wasn’t romantic love but like Lempo, it was erratic, sexual, passionate, consuming and difficult to control. It was possible to bewitch someone under the power of lempi and Lempo himself. One could call out for Lempo to bewitch someone, to make them fall in love with them.

The love Lempo controlled and gave people was All or Nothing. It could easily make people go insane with desire, control, jealousy or heart-break. A woman who is badly depressed over a heartbreak and seems not to be able to heal from this loss (or her love interest not being interested in her) was possessed by Lempo. A man who kills his love rival or his wife when she tries to divorce him was possessed by Lempo.

Women who were in danger of not finding a husband could turn to Lempo and his lempi love, to ask him to deliver them a good husband. Here’s a spell for calling forth such a love:

Rise love to burn wildly honor to shine brightly! Travel the moon, return the day Burn the mind of young men! Let the heart set ablaze the chest into a consuming burn the stomach full with the folk of fire the mind under a scorching hotness So that you can’t sleep during the night nor rest during the day! Burn fire, burn taula-primer Burn the mind of young men! The best for you, not the worst The best among the young men The kindest from the church crowd The strongest one from the warriors The most brisk from above the waters. It’s important to know that native Finns practiced widely witchcraft and were known to be powerful witches (so much that vikings pretty much decided to leave us alone). Spellcasting was common and it was done by singing, mixing later with Christian traditions (as you can see from the spell above; the spell asks for a man who is the kindest among the ones who go to church). In the East and up North, people also turned to guidance and help of different monsters and demons, as they were either kind if treated right or stupid enough to be fooled. This included the devil himself.

From Olympus

Photo: Ana Martinez 

Styling and Creative Direction: Mario Ville (Kattaca) 

Makeup design and make up artist: Lewis Amarante for Kryolan and Pankr0 

Makeup and hairdressing: Sergio Jiménez