I Can't Stop Thinking About This Medieval Girl And Her Dog ❤️🥲

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watercolour on arches paper

The Masque of the Four Seasons, c. 1903-1909

Be not defeated by the rain, Nor let the wind prove your better. Succumb not to the snows of winter. Nor be bested by the heat of summer.

Be strong in body. Unfettered by desire. Not enticed to anger. Cultivate a quiet joy. Count yourself last in everything. Put others before you. Watch well and listen closely. Hold the learned lessons dear.

A thatch-roof house, in a meadow, nestled in a pine grove’s shade.

A handful of rice, some miso, and a few vegetables to suffice for the day.

If, to the East, a child lies sick: Go forth and nurse him to health. If, to the West, an old lady stands exhausted: Go forth, and relieve her of burden. If, to the South, a man lies dying: Go forth with words of courage to dispel his fear. If, to the North, an argument or fight ensues: Go forth and beg them stop such a waste of effort and of spirit.

In times of drought, shed tears of sympathy. In summers cold, walk in concern and empathy.

Stand aloof of the unknowing masses: Better dismissed as useless than flattered as a “Great Man”.

This is my goal, the person I strive to become.

Miyazawa Kenji, ”Be not Defeated by the Rain”

Background to Ame ni mo makezu

After Miyazawa Kenji’s death, a single, black notebook was found in a pocket in the lid of his favourite trunk. This is the famous “Ame ni mo makezu” notebook. The poem is written in midst of his repetitious copying of “namu myoho renge kyo”(*)which shows his earnest nature and his reflections on letting go of the desire for pleasure. At that time this poem was written, November 3rd, Showa 6, Kenji was lying sick in bed but his handwriting is not what one would expect from a sick person; it is big, bold, and there are nine pages written on both the back and front. When this “Ame ni mo makezu” was written, we can assume that Kenji probably had a hunch that he was going to die. With such thoughts lingering in his mind, his earnest wish in the last line - “the person I strive to become” - can only strike at our hearts with a deep resonance. In his later years, he formed the “Rasu Farmers’ Association” in order to live in closer harmony with the agriculturists he so admired.

Source: The Miyazawa Kenji Memorial Society Foundation

 Tôshi Yoshida, Lost World, 1964

A Defense of Snow White’s Prince Florian

“He kissed a random corpse in the forest!”

“He’s preying on a child!”

“He stalked her!”

Please, please, you guys, I’m begging you to actually WATCH the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

WATCH.

THE.

MOVIE.

Because the Prince kissing Snow White is, to me, one of the most heartbreaking scenes in Disney history.

And here’s why.

First of all, the Prince is clearly close to Snow White’s age. He is both drawn and voiced as very youthful. He looks and sounds about 16 or 17, at the oldest. He is NOT a “predator”. He’s a boy who loves a girl, like in any good fairy tale.

Secondly, the Prince meets Snow White early in the movie. She’s NOT a complete stranger to him at the end. And their first meeting is significant. The Evil Queen makes a big deal out of Snow White’s looks, being “the fairest of all”, etc. But the Prince is first drawn to Snow White’s VOICE. He’s captivated by her singing and her kindness to the birds. He sees beyond her looks. He sees past the rags she wears and recognizes that this is a good person, a beautiful person on the inside. Then when she’s startled by him, he’s very polite and soft-spoken, apologizing for frightening her. He’s a total gentleman. Then he serenades her, letting her know how much he admires her. (Words that she has NEVER heard from ANYONE else in her life, by the way.) Then he even smiles at and is kissed by a dove that lands on his finger, hinting he has a connection with animals somewhat like hers.

And then there’s a fade to black. So we actually don’t know if she came out again, if they talked for a while. Maybe they didn’t, but maybe they did. The film doesn’t clearly tell us one way or another. But there is a possibility that they did get to know each other a little there. And if they didn’t, something is still beginning between them. They share warm smiles and affectionate looks. They both feel it, and they both hope to pursue it.

Then Snow White finds out her stepmom wants her dead and has to run away. Which means the Prince noticed her absence.

And the narrative text later tells us that he “searched far and wide” for her after she disappeared. (This guy walked so Fiyero could run, let’s be real.) Imagine the person you’ve been thinking about, hoping to get to know, wondering if they may be the one, suddenly vanished without a trace. And she’s the Princess of your neighboring kingdom. And then the Queen of the same kingdom also suddenly disappears. Wouldn’t you be alarmed? There’s a chance the huntsman may have gone to the Prince’s kingdom for help, and warned him of the Queen’s horrible actions. There’s also a chance that the Queen already had a bad reputation in the area, and the disappearances were a confirmation of what was already suspected. So the Prince nobly tries to find out what happened to his newfound love, worried about her safety. Snow White sings about her hope that she will see him again and tells the dwarfs about him … but the full truth of the situation is that he’s been thinking about her too. It’s a mutual young first love, pure and innocent.

Then the Prince FINALLY finds his beloved… in a coffin. After a “far and wide” search, there she is, apparently DEAD! All his hopes and wishes for a possible relationship with her are dashed. A 17-year-old who once dreamed of reuniting with his first love has just found her dead. He knows absolutely nothing about the poisoned apple’s spell or its cure. He doesn’t know a kiss will save her. He thinks she’s gone. Forever. All he knows is that he has found the girl he loves too late, and he couldn’t help her, despite all his searching. So, he kisses her goodbye. He kisses her as an apology, a sign of regret for lost dreams, a chance that he seems to have been denied. A 2-second touch of her lips to show his devotion. Then he bows his head and grieves.

This moment demonstrates than in him, Snow White has found the genuine love she’s been yearning for. While her stepmother tried multiple times to murder her, now she has someone who genuinely values her, so much so that he searched everywhere to find her when she went missing. Who was so heartbroken and crushed at the notion that she was gone forever that he gave her what he thought was a goodbye kiss, his one and only way of showing what she meant to him before he became haunted by the ghost of her memory, of his failure, of his lost chance at love.

This is a deeply and tragically romantic moment that has sadly been widely misunderstood. Do not slander Prince Florian! He doesn’t deserve it!

Daybreak. 74° F, with light rain. 5:45 to 6:10 am. July 29, 2023. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. (@dkct25)

Space.com

Solar storm bombarding Earth now may reach 'extreme' levels, sparking auroras down to Alabama and straining hurricane-weakened power grids

Supercharged northern lights displays may be visible as far south as California or even Alabama.

A severe solar storm sparked by an intense flare from the sun could reach "extreme" levels as it bombards Earth, officials with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned on Thursday (Oct. 10). Scientists with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Group (SWPC) said that a cloud of charged solar material, called a coronal mass ejection, slammed into Earth around midday, triggering a "severe" geomagnetic storm that could impact power grids and GPS and radio communications systems, as well as amplify aurora displays in regions that typically don't see them.

Continue Reading.

mama

CNBC

Meta goes to arbitrator to prevent whistleblower from promoting tell-all book

An emergency arbitrator ruled that former Meta staffer Sarah Wynn-Williams is prohibited from promoting memoir of her tenure at the social m

Hey did you know there's a tell all book about the behind the scenes of Meta and the author is forbidden from promoting it?

The good news is however that it's already published and can't be stifled and whoever didn't sign the NDA can promote it as much as they want.

some things i wish i knew as a baby practitioner:

it’s perfectly okay to change your mind. sometimes the ritual doesn’t line up with how you feel anymore. sometimes you feel pulled in a new direction. it’s all normal.

there’s intense and powerful magic in research. in learning. that doesn’t always mean hours in the library, but it does often mean logging off and learning about your native environment.

let your grimoire be messy. let it contradict itself. add things that are interesting but don’t really have a place yet. it’s your book, and you can always keep going in another one once this book is full.

you will learn upsetting things about parts of your practice. this is mostly for white- and otherwise privileged- witches; it’s important to recognize that the modern witchcraft, occult, and new age movements have a long history of stealing from closed cultures, from marginalized practitioners, and creating synthetic histories to explain modern inventions. if a fellow practitioner presents information like this to you about one of your practices, i implore you to take it to heart. learning more about the origins of your ritual and altering them, removing them, and providing reparations where appropriate are important, vital parts of connecting with your practice.

you may work with deities, you may not. same with spirit, the fae, ancestors, and all other aspects of craft. other people may work with forces you aren’t familiar with or that you struggle to believe in, that’s normal. do more research, talk with other practitioners, accept “no” and “i don’t have the energy to educate you” for what they are: boundaries. trying to subvert them will only hurt you both.

discourse isn’t worth your time. it just isn’t.

not every practitioner is a witch, not every witch is a practitioner. the labels we use to describe our work are historically charged, as magic so often is. what feels good to you may hurt another person, and vice versa.

magic is often closer to jazz than to a well-rehearsed symphony. plan accordingly. learn to improv in each key. learn the core elements of your practice and build from there.

consent. consent. consent. all magic that may touch another being requires it, not just love or romantic magic. healing? get consent first. divination? consent. make sure your subject knows what they’re consenting to. check in often. (think of it like a tea party. you invite them, and they come or they don’t. you offer them tea, they may want it or not. if they aren’t able to respond when you ask, you don’t pour them tea. if they hurt you or something you love, you might throw tea in their face.)

self-care is more than baths and deep breathing. it can be therapy, medication, boundary-setting, any number of really hard things. you deserve that care, though. other people do, too.