Le freak c'est chic

@staff

For many years I’ve enjoyed Tumblr; its combination of creative individuals, communities, sub-cultures, and fan blogs have always been the draw, and the freedom of expression they enjoyed a source for inspiration, support, and shared experience. The content, regardless of adult nudity or adult themes (NSFW content), has never been inappropriate; the viewing of such content may be inappropriate for some but it is the responsibility of the individual or, in the case of a minor, their parents to determine what is and is not appropriate and to take the proper action for their individual circumstances.

The new policy Tumblr plans to fully enact on December 17th is an affront to the very community they have created and the social contract to which we as a society adhere. It punishes creators, minority individuals sharing their culture, and their supporters. It harms those peace-loving, personal-freedom-extolling, socially positive individuals whose work and enthusiasm fuels this site and contributes to, celebrates and criticizes culture. This new policy will certainly negatively impact LGBTQ+ individuals, women (whose bodies are consistently policed online and offline), legal sex workers attempting to grow a brand, and artists whose work is Not Safe For Work—great historically and culturally significant work would be unwelcome here if it were created today. In contrast, this does not punish, ban or purge fascists, white supremacists, misogynists, anti-LGBTQ+ groups or any other socially detrimental individuals from posting hate and toxicity. 

@staff - YOU ARE ALIENATING AND PUNISHING THE WRONG PEOPLE. 

Sincerely, 

In Wicca, the divine, or deity, is greater than creation, and yet it is creation. It is immanent in all things, but it is also distant and beyond our grasp. It is too vast for us to comprehend in its entirety, but we can begin to experience it through our relationship with the gods, who are facets of the divine. The two main aspects of deity that Wiccans work with are simply called the Goddess and the God. They are the female and male “halves” of the divine. In Wiccan thought, the union of the Goddess and God creates the universe. The relationship between the Goddess and God is symbiotic. Like darkness and light, each half needs the other to express itself fully. The God represents, among other things, power unmanifest; the spark of life. The Goddess gives this power form.

So are the gods real, sentient, independent deities? Are they masks that humans put on deity to understand it better, as Joseph Campbell suggests? Are they archetypes– symbols for universal themes that tend to pop up in the same way across cultures? Are they thoughtforms that have taken on energy as people have revered them over the years? Are they simply facets of our own psyches? Many Wiccans would tell you that the gods are all of those things– which are by no means mutually exclusive– and more.

The idea of a female and male polarity, which is what the Goddess and God are, is a bit abstract, but the Wiccan gods themselves– the faces Wicca puts on the two sides of polarity– are not abstract at all to those who work with them. Wiccans have a deep love and respect for their gods, but they do not cower in front of them or beg favors. Wiccans work with their gods in a reciprocal partnership. Since in Wicca everyone is his or her own best priestess and no one comes between you and the gods, Wiccans have the responsibility and honor of forging bonds with the gods for themselves. A Wiccan’s relationship to the gods can be very intimate and familiar. This doesn’t mean that all Wiccans will invite Thor and Freya to down a few brews while they watch the Super Bowl and eat Doritos,but it does mean that they talk directly to, work with, and get to know their gods at a level that is not nearly as easy to achieve in the framework of a large, mainstream religion.

The complex multifaceted nature of the Goddess often creates confusion in the reading of myths, and debates rage over the relationship between, for example, Kore (Persephone) and Demeter. In the opinion of some, the first is the virginal daughter, the second the sexually experienced mother. Others hold that the one is a young form of the other, so that both are aspects of a single being. Some scholars argue for the diversity of goddesses- particularly those from different waves of a heterogeneous culture, such as that of India-  claiming that each goddess originates as the expression of the cultural needs or aspirations of a different people. However, the most complex cultures yield the most eloquent arguments for oneness, with examples such as the multiple forms of Kali.