The Crafts: Wixes, Spells, and the Weaponized Placebo Effect

Fedelm is a poetess and satirist who plays a part in the Táin. Namely she's called upon by Medb to offer a poem concerning the outcome of the coming war with Ulster. Her poem involves the ever so happy words "I see it bloody, I see it red," and Medb wasn't too happy about this. Fedelm refused to back down on her pronouncement though because, no, that's the truth she saw. Fucking deal with it.

 

The Morrígan connection here being that Fedelm is a fili. The Morrígan herself is a fili and shows up at different points in the myths to give prophecy via poem. Both in the form of blessings, curses, and readings. Most of hers regard the outcome of wars and the prosperity of the land. Fedelm is providing the same service, in the same lieu, with words that mirror some of the Morrígan's own formulas. Or rather formulas that are in the poems attributed to her.

 

I recently got myself the absolutely gorgeous COSMOS Oracle & Tarot by the Light Grey Art Lab (who made the Light Grey Tarot, my first tarot deck and still one of my faves) and I'm trying to go through the cards and LWB and NONE OF THOSE MAJOR ARCANA MAKE ANY SENSE. They're gorgeous, and each card corresponds tk a constellation which is a REALLY COOL IDEA, but... for example, The Wheel of Fortune is framed as being about linear growth, but that makes no sense because the whole point of it beig a wheel is the idea of cycles of change! The Star is the constellation Gemini, and it's described as being about, quote, "stimulation, interaction and communication"... and, what the fuck does that have to do with The Star? It's so frustrating, because the meanings of the cards work pretty well as long as I don't try to do what they did and superimpose the actual major arcana over them.

 

I'd jsut run with what instinctively makes sense to you then, honestly. Maybe that's what they get out of the deck, but that won't be the same for everyone.

Sidenote: Who here has shadowscapes and how do you like it? I'm considering picking up a copy eventually but I'm indecisive about it because PASTEL WATERCOLOR HELL.

 

@Anomal(eee) has Shadowscapes - I'll tag her and poke her to come give a short review once she's off work :) afaik she really, really loves it, though.

 

The baby just grabbed my Bastet plush off my altar/computer area and ran off to play with her. I would be upset but it being Bast I doubt she'd mind.

 

...pff.

 

good baby. good cat.

 

still soliciting opinions on shadowscapes ftr

also last night I discovered that I can make my earthbound oracle literally give me an error screen card when I forget how to shuffle in the middle of using it

 

I have shadowscapes and I like it a lot, but it's also my first deck and still kind of new at tarot, plus I love pastel watercolor hell, so there's also that to consider. My deck is pretty positive in general, but is mostly useful for introspective stuff. Also not sure if the interpretation book is any good. It's been fine for me but I don't really know what to expect.

 

I really wanna curse someone because they're awful and there's nothing practical I can do :(

 

Possibly go for it? I am a bit ergg about doing it myself because I mean that's tough work and serious too. But i have done it before. Namely with satire. I may be able to get a satire written for you. If youd be fine with that. Id need details on the situation though.

 

It involved false child abuse allegations while the accuser was mistreating the children themselves. Complicated situation.

I'm not sure I want to leap right into cursing before I've managed anything else.

 

Yeah that makes sense. Which is part of why i offered to do the work for you if you were comfortable with it. Its entirely up to you if youd like me to do the cursing for you though. Either way i hope things go well for you.

 

Should I PM the details? This thread isn't really for that kind of thing and it's pretty awful.

Since I'm the one asking you to do this, if the karma issue is a thing, it would presumably bounce back on me more than you; are there protections against this? Should I just do a bunch of good stuff to balance it out? Does it not do that if one's just trying to make their own actions work against them?

 

PMing would work yes. I will say that I wont get the composition done tonight because of holidays. But i can say that if you do get the details to me i will get you a poem soon. Just want to let you know that.

 

I'm back to indecisively thinking about gods again. I'm just so conflicted about the idea. I don't trust gods on a gut level. I don't like the idea of someone I can't see or hold accountable telling me what to do.

And prayer and meditation just don't work for me. I get anxious and swirling thoughts when I have to be alone inside my own head, even if I have a plan going in. If I try to imagine myself walking through a field, my mental body ends up clipping through the ground like a buggy simulation game. If I imagine myself flying, I end up shooting off towards the edge of my mental skybox or weighted down to just a few feet off the ground. If I try to reach out and have a conversation with an entity, I just end up talking to myself, or fantasizing about what I want them to say.

But people make it sound so fulfilling to have a relationship with a deity, and I like the idea of getting to interact with cool divine broskis. I really like some of the gods, even though i'm not sure how much they exist. I want to feel connected with them, if I can.

 

I understand that feeling
Don't really have any advice, but I getcha

 

That makes sense, yeah. I had an issue with Christian God because he'd never shown himself to me and part of what I was used to was the idea that he was perfect and could not be questioned. I couldn't be right in a gripe with him. Lugh showing himself to me, on multiple occasions, was a big part of why I ended up Gaelpol and devoted to him. Because there it was. A god. Before me. And he helped me too and was generally just worth the respect. But Lugh isn't perfect or all powerful. He's perfectly skilled in all arts equally, but Lugh cannot do everything. He isn't like some sort of super powerful omnipotent god like Christian God.

And they like people who stand up to them. The Morrígan has rightfully called me out on shit and I've come to accept that and work on it. However she's also whispered things that weren't true to me. Things that weren't faults I had and to which I stood up to her and said "No, that's not true. And now let me show you how right I am". She likes that about me, I feel. That is a common feeling among people who have relationships with her from what I've noticed.

But then to me "seeing Lugh" was "I had a very blatant and weird dream about him". Which you've stated probably won't work for you and I just don't know what to suggest for that.

 

I'm sure there are gods somewhere who don't tell you what to do, or who only want you to do what you were doing anyway. Dunno which ones though.