Idis

In theory I can appreciate and even agree with this sentiment, but in practice I feel it ignores the various cultural practices that do have rules, specific practitioner labels, and structures.

Like, yes babe, your practice doesn’t have any rules, but mine does, because I follow a cultural tradition.

You have a human need to process the world through narrative, to share meaning with community, to have a path to redemption, to ritualize your uncertainties, to connect with inanimate objects

If you cross your arms and deny yourself this expression, all of those psychological needs will get funneled into a spirituality most unpleasant, like conspiracy rabbit holes and unhealthy obsessions with fandom

If you care about your morality, then you should care how your spiritual needs manifest and ensure they're being met and fulfilled, lest you become one of those people willing to crusade for your discord mod

Being a leftist queer doesn't isolate you from this, you're not immune from latent cultural Christianity (I say as a leftist queer)

Pagan Ask Game

🪞 - Do you practice vesselhood, possession, or anything similar? How does that affect you, your life and/or your practice?

💍 - Do you have any devotional jewellery, accessories or clothes? Did you make them yourself? If not, where did you get them?

🕯️- Do you practice any regular rituals (daily, weekly, monthly, etc)? What are they? What do they do? How long do they take?

🔮 - How many deities do you worship? How many different pantheons do you worship from? What is the highest number of deities you have worshipped at one time?

🎧 - Do you have any devotional playlists or music? Do you play the music yourself? Would you like to share a link to your playlist(s)?

🏷️ - If any, what labels do you use? Do you use a lot, or only a few? Why? If you don’t use any labels, why not? Are there any labels that you don’t like?

🏹 - Are there any hobbies or activities that you do as devotional activities? How often do you do them? Do you find them challenging or relaxing?

🐦‍⬛ - What animals do you tend to view as ‘signs’ from your deities, if any? Are they rare in your area? How often would you have to see an animal before you viewed it as a sign?

🌿 - Are there any herbs that you continually return to in your practice? What are they and what do they do (traditionally or by your own experience)?

🌷 - What has been the most emotionally impactful experience in your practice? How did it impact you? Did you learn any lessons from it?

⭐️ - What is an experience/memory in your practice that you think very fondly of? When did it happen? If you could relive that moment, would you?

⏮️ - Is there anything you wish you’d done differently in the early stages of your practice? Why or why not? What would you have done instead?

🪴 - Is there anything that you would never do differently in your practice? Why or why not? Is it a habit? How/why did you start doing it?

Follow the Vikings eastward as they sought Arab silver and Byzantine gold, forging trade routes across Eastern Europe and helping shape the world of the Rus’.

Amandinea polyspora (syn. Buellia polyspora).

Tiny many-spored buttons lichen

This crustose lichen grows on smooth tree bark and occasionally wood in eastern North America, and a few scattered locations in the South America and eastern Asia. It has a thin, granular to sub-squamulose, gray-brown thallus and small, lecideine apothecia. It is most easily identified by apothecial cross-section revealing the 16-32 spored asci (chambers where spores are produced). That's a lot of little lichens! More work is needed to figure where A. polyspora really belongs in lichen phylogeny, and to figure out the full extent of its range.

images: source | source

I am! I've just decided not to as closely associate with the label, not for any particularly bad reason though. I'm still learning about it very actively and finding a lot of valuable knowledge in that pursuit, but I also realized that I am not going to be able to achieve nor necessarily pursuing complete reconstruction of seiðr specifically. ultimately seiðr is Scandinavian and my people aren't, and I'm looking to create a method based on the historic and living beliefs of my people, so I'm only using seiðr supplementally. it didn't feel right to say that I'm pursuing that identity anymore.

The majority of our water here comes from surface water, particularly from the James River, whose headwaters start all the way over in the Shenandoah Valley

2. We’re at a first quarter moon currently, the full sturgeon moon is due to occur in 9 days. According to some local news, it will also be a blood moon.

3. We live on the Tomotley Series, particularly Tomotley fine sandy loam

4. 20-ish inches, I got ranges between 19 and 23 while looking for this

5. There was a house fire two days ago, however, wildfires don’t tend to happen in this area

6. pre-contact, local communities typically relied on a combination of fishing and farming to sustain themselves. Alongside this, they were a part of an incredibly extensive trade network that made use of the waterways in and leading to this area

7. (for this one, checking your state or region’s native plant society will be a godsend). Some local, edible plants include Black Huckleberry (typically berry in late summer or early autumn), Maypop (part of the flower, which blooms between April and September, is edible), the common Persimmon, which fruits in fall, American Beech, which creates edible nuts in autumn, too. We also have birdsfoot violet, which blooms in the spring. 8. While we do occasionally get snow here, it is not a high level and winter storms are uncommon. 9. The majority of local trash goes either to the city’s landfill or a privately owned landfill, depending on who handles garbage collection. My neighborhood is covered by the city.

10. April to November, approximately.

11. The summer solstice, typically June 21 or 22

12. Usually the second week of october is listed as the peak of rut season. As for fawns, they’re usually born in April through July, and since moving here, I have seen more babies this late in the summer than I have in other areas I’ve lived

13. The two most common grasses here are Bermuda grass and Zoysiagrass, neither of which are native

14. Five resident birds are the Carolina Chickadee, the Cardinal the Red-Tailed Hawk, the Tufted Titmouse, and the Blue Jay. Five migratory species that come here include the Tundra Swan, several warbler varieties, sandpipers, Summer Tanagers, and Ospreys. I also see turkeys semi-regularly.

15. As previously mentioned, it was used as an agricultural and trade area for Indigenous groups. During colonization, it remained agrarian but was forced into a plantation system that used enslaved labor. After Emancipation, the area became industrialized and known for shipbuilding, which is still an industry here, along with its development as a significant area for those studying American colonial history.

16. Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater. I don’t think that requires elaboration, but a 2-3 mile wide asteroid hit and destroyed what would become the tidewater/Chesapeake bay region, directly influencing water drainage and land formation.

17. American Red Wolves. Although there are conservation programs, they are considered extinct in the wild. Canebrake rattlesnake numbers have also been impacted by human interference in recent years.

18. We have a master gardener’s association, the state’s native plant society, and historical interpreters that specialize in farm, garden, or apothecary.

19. I promise i did it