Ferociously Free

The Fool: Beginnings, innocence, spontaneity, free spirit. Reverse: Naivety, foolishness, risk-taking

The Magician: Power, skill, concentration, action, resourcefulness. Reverse: Manipulation, poor planning, latent talents.

The High Priestess: Intuition, higher powers, mystery, subconscious mind. Reverse: Hidden agendas, listen to inner voice.

The Empress: fertility, femininity, beauty, nature, abundance. Reverse: Creative block, dependence.

The Emperor: Authority, father-figure, structure, foundation. Reverse: Domination, excessive control, rigidity, inflexibility.

The Hierophant: Religion, group identification, conformity, tradition, beliefs. Reverse: Restriction, something to shake up routine.

The Lovers: Love, union, relationships, aligned values, choices. Reverse: Disharmony, imbalance, misalignment of values.

The Chariot: Control, willpower, victory, assertion, determination. Reverse: Lack of control and direction, aggression.

Strength: Strength, courage, patience, control, compassion. Reverse: Weakness, Self-doubt, lack of self-discipline.

The Hermit: Soul-searching, introspection, alone, inner guidance. Reverse: Isolation, loneliness, withdrawal.

The Wheel of Fortune: Good luck, karma, life cycles, destiny, a turning point. Reverse: Bad luck, negative external forces, out of control.

Justice: Justice, fairness, truth, cause and effect. Reverse: Unfairness, dishonesty, unaccountability.

The Hanged Man: Restriction, letting go, sacrifice. Reverse: Martyr, indecision, delay.

Death: Endings, beginnings, change, transformation, transition. Reverse: Resistance to change, inability to progress.

Temperance: Balance, moderation, patience, purpose, meaning. Reverse: Imbalance, excess, short term vision.

The Devil: Addiction, sexuality, materialism. Reverse: Detachment, breaking free, reclaimed power.

The Tower: Disaster, upheaval, sudden (brutal) change, revelation. Reverse: Avoidance of disaster, fear of change.

The Star: Hope, spirituality, renewal, inspiration, serenity. Reverse: Lack of faith, despair, discouragement. 

The Moon: Illusion, vision, dreaming, fear, anxiety, insecurity, subconsciousness. Reverse: Release of fear, unhappiness, confusion.

The Sun: Fun, warmth, success, positivity, vitality. Reverse: Temporary depression, lack of success.

Judgement: Judgement, rebirth, inner calling, absolution. Reverse: Self doubt, self blindness.

Dark Academia Moodboards

sometimes we all need to stay up all night, listening to classical music, discussing art and poetry, drinking red wine, while looking at the moon

took Dorian Grey to work with me today 

Study Motivations

The Picture of Dorian Grey

The Secret History characters

General Dark Academia

Dark Academia in various medias masterpost

Favourite love letters

Seeking employment

Perfume associations

Thoughts on writing

do you ever

The Dead Poets Society

Pacific Rim

Donna Tartt

Unintentional talent

i have the urge

adventure-core

reblog if

Guide To Dark Academia

three steps how to become mysterious and weird

become who you’ve dreamed of being

Why people are fond of Dark Academia

Dark Academia Lifestyle

How To Get Your Life Back Together

Dark Academia ask game

On limiting yourself to a single aesthetic

Cute date ideas

Getting into dark academia

Finding Yourself

Dark Notes

Little things to do

How to explore castles

Little ways

Improve yourself through DA

The Problem With DA

Aesthetic Text Posts

i want it to be fall again

Agatha Christie quotes

Work-class academic

i wanna be an anthropologist

Raw Florence & The Machine Quotes

i love wax seals

do we ever get the urge to

If We Were Villains

Date a boy who…

strange discoveries

future me

i deeply desire

the witch trials aren’t a gimmick

i’m sick of not having

keen on rural gothic

An excerpt

i want to write…

I’ve decided to practice witchcraft

hell hath no fury

dreaming about dark academia

regarding Frankenstein

i wish there was a checklist

excerpt

Philip Lombard

menswear

book club

ghostcore

poetry

something to think about

in the mood to be

does anyone feel like

Types Of…

types of academics

The Secret History characters

catholic art

Seasons Girls

decades

types of people as planets

as seasons

Music

Literary playlists

Dark Academia songs

Aesthetics/People as Queen albums

literature playlists

Great DA Blogs

@polymathwrath

@x-carpe-o-noctem-x

@sanguineoath

@thoughtcriminals

@thehistory

Astragaloi

What are they?

Basically, they're Ancient dice with only four sides!

Made of sheep, cow or goat knucklebones (also called the pastern bones of the hind legs) or ceramic replicas of them

They were cast onto a table or dice tray. This tray was set on a table in front of an image of a god/goddess, usually Apollon or Hermes.

Just as dice were used for games, so were astragaloi.

🦴🦴🦴🦴

The sides of an astragalos

Khios

Narrow face; s-shaped depression

Koios/khios/coan/chios

Narrow face

Somewhat flat, irregular surface

Huptios

Means supine

Deep pit in middle

Pranes

Rounder, slightly cylindrical, broad face

🦴🦴🦴🦴

How to do an astragaloi reading

Questions asked are usually asking for advice. Both formats of the divination are more complex than yes/no.

There are at least two ways to do readings, based on two sources: Oracle Bones Divination: The Greek I Ching by Kostas Dervenis (questionable title, but useful book), and John Opsopaus’ book Oracle of Apollo and website. I personally prefer to use Dervenis’ system for astragaloi. I just read a source I'll mention later so this is subject to change.

Standard procedure

○ Roll 5 astragaloi or one astragalos 5x

○ Read numerical value of downward (Opsopaus) or topmost (implied in Dervenis) face

○ Faces marked by shape

○ You can mark the faces with pips or alphabet too

Opsopaus style

○ Add #s of downward faces of all 5 "rolls"

○ Roll with hands, dice cup, or dice tower

○ You can blow into hand after u pick up lots to inspire divination

Dervenis style

○ Add numbers of topmost faces of all 5 rolls

○ Look up the answer by the total number obtained in his book, and by the exact number of each side (i.e. 3 khios, 1 huptios, and 1 pranes)

🦴🦴🦴🦴

Reconstructionist astragaloi

We don't know a lot about how astragaloi were actually used, but we have the possible answers from engravings. Opsopaus references this but seems to take a lot of liberties.

iThis is a table I made from Fritz Graf's chapter "Rolling the Dice for an Answer" in Mantikê edited by Sarah Iles Johnston and Peter T. Struck.

🦴🦴🦴🦴

Tips for using astragaloi

If you use real bones, make sure to thank the animal for the bones! Perhaps also a deity (Artemis, maybe?).

You can also make them from wood/clay!

🦴🦴🦴🦴

Sources and further reading

Fritz Graf's chapter "Rolling the Dice for an Answer" in Mantikê edited by Sarah Iles Johnston and Peter T. Struck

Oracle of Apollo by John Opsopaus

Opsopaus' website

Oracle Bones Divination: The Greek I Ching by Kostas Dervenis

Background image

Scientists discover most relaxing tune ever

Sound therapists and Manchester band Marconi Union compiled the song. Scientists played it to 40 women and found it to be more effective at helping them relax than songs by Enya, Mozart and Coldplay. Weightless works by using specific rhythms, tones, frequencies and intervals to relax the listener. A continuous rhythm of 60 BPM causes the brainwaves and heart rate to synchronise with the rhythm: a process known as ‘entrainment’. Low underlying bass tones relax the listener and a low whooshing sound with a trance-like quality takes the listener into an even deeper state of calm. Dr David Lewis, one of the UK’s leading stress specialists said: “‘Weightless’ induced the greatest relaxation – higher than any of the other music tested. Brain imaging studies have shown that music works at a very deep level within the brain, stimulating not only those regions responsible for processing sound but also ones associated with emotions.” The study - commissioned by bubble bath and shower gel firm Radox Spa - found the song was even more relaxing than a massage, walk or cup of tea. So relaxing is the tune, apparently, that people are being Rex advised against listening to it while driving. The top 10 most relaxing tunes were: 1. Marconi Union - Weightless 2. Airstream - Electra 3. DJ Shah - Mellomaniac (Chill Out Mix) 4. Enya - Watermark 5. Coldplay - Strawberry Swing 6. Barcelona - Please Don’t Go 7. All Saints - Pure Shores 8. AdelevSomeone Like You 9. Mozart - Canzonetta Sull’aria 10. Cafe Del Mar - We Can Fly

Page 50: Punt kick the journal into the middle of a field and do your ritual wherever it lands then write about how it went

-drip wax on this page, write down correspondences.

-press healing herbs here. press luck herbs there.

-dip this page in full moon-charged water. put it in your wallet.

-wrap a rose quartz in this page and put it under your pillow tonight.

-write a wish on this page, fill it with your intent, and burn it.

-use this page to brainstorm sigils

-write down a blessing here. write down a curse there.

-rub different kinds of dirt here and write down where they’re all from.

-meditate on this page, write down what comes to you.

Write down your favourite guises for the fair folk here

Put this page in a jar and cover with salt

Write down shufflemancy lyrics here

Make a collage themed on your favourite celebration

Use this page to write down new moon intentions

Trace your favourite crystals and rocks on this page

Write down weird old names for herbs on this page

I’m making my own wreck this grimoire!!! These two pages are the inside covers, once I get home I’m going to make a cover from recycled cardboard, bind all the pages, then glue these two to the cardboard!:)

Coats of some British and Icelandic sheep breeds:

Dragon Art and Jewelry, by Unicorn Lake on Etsy

Hello, honey bees!  So, as promised, here is my personal Past Life Tarot Spread!  I would like to share it with all of you, so, please, feel free to reblog, like, and add it to your own catalog of tarot spreads if you wish!

I’ve decided that, based on current interest, I’m going to add this spread to my current list of readings I will be doing for purchase.  I plan to charge $25 (CAD) for this spread, which is very reasonable considering this specific spread, and I put a lot of time, care, and thought into giving you a proper, and thorough reading.  

Because I’m lazy and don’t like to monologue while I’m doing a spell, here’s a couple of the single word spells I use in my personal practice.

absum - to make something be concealed from sight

     ↳ def. to be away, be missing

advoco - summoning spell

     ↳ def. to summon

casso - destruction spell

     ↳ def. to destroy, make void

bellus - glamour spell

     ↳ def. beautiful, charming, handsome

explico - reveal information

     ↳ def. explanation, to unfold

mutare - transmutation

     ↳ def. to change

cessabit - calming spell

     ↳ def. to rest, be free of

uro - burning

     ↳ def. to burn, inflame

conturbo - invoke confusion

     ↳ def. confound, to throw into confusion

taceo - to silence