Where's Tess?

When I was a kid, I watched this show. Tess hardly had any lines after the first season. I thought it was racism, but there was a TV Guide article that explained she had some issue that kept her off the set. Anyway, this blog has nothing to do with that. I was just thinking of that when writing this description.

[homuraham]

Hamster Escapes the Most Dangerous Prison Maze 🐹

[xylophonetangerine]

[weefidan]

While this seems cute I'm pretty sure it's stressful to the hamster

Does anyone know more about this?

[alex51324]

The hamster does not watch movies, and therefore is unaware that the cardboard and plastic props in his obstacle course are references to well-known cinematic deathtraps.

[basiliskonline]

@lingerie_addict has a really cool thread on ancient fashion over on twitter.

Those source links are here

cambridge.org

Youtube

ucl.ac.uk

[jeanjauthor]

THIS, writers. Unless your characters are very wealthy (can pay people to be very industrious in growing, spinning, weaving, sewing on their behalf) or live in a post-textile-industrial-revolution world (aka modern/futuristic), they're not going to have that many clothes.

What they will have is protective outerwear. Aprons are a very real necessity for a lot of jobs, from cooking to blacksmithing and beyond.

Women wore aprons and housecoats into the 1940s and 1950s when doing cooking & cleaning because it was still a bit expensive to own a lot of clothes...so this is within 100 years. Within living memory for many folks.

Coveralls were created to protect clothing, and were handed out as uniforms by factories because the workers complained that their own clothes were getting damaged by their workplace. (Unions helped with this, strongly encouraging the companies doing the damage to their regular clothes to step up with replacement garments that could get damaged and then replaced by the company whose work was damaging them.)

Businesses started having their employees wear uniforms to make them look good and as a signature of their company (UPS brown, for example), but unless the design teams are idiots, those outfits are going to be stitched in ways that you can move easily & comfortably while doing your assigned tasks.

In corporate culture in Japan, the salarywomen are often given a uniform dress to wear, and I know of one business that held a work-slowdown because the way the sleeves of those dresses were cut and stitched, they literally couldn't bring their arms forward to type on their computers in a comfortable way. The company balked at replacing the uniforms, until a section manager agreed to let his female workers wear their own "office-dressy" clothes for a day...and productivity leaped forward by over 200%, literally because they could move their arms and position them comfortably.

Another example of those who effed it up are the officers' uniforms for the Germans during WWII, which were focused on looking fashionable--and they were!--but were horrible to don quickly, awkward wear in actual combat, etc, and it took them far too long to "drop trousers" to use the bushes in a swift, efficient, and safe manner. (Not saying they didn't deserve to be shot for supporting such an evil regime, but you should be able to go to the bathroom without worrying that it'll take you over a minute to put your clothes back together enough to run for cover in summer.)

Prior to the 1700s, servants in manor houses & noble estates often did not wear a uniform; they just wore whatever they had, and depended on aprons and watchcoats and whatever to protect their clothes. Then it became a status symbol to put one's servants into uniforms, also known as livery. If you could afford to do that then, by gum-golly, you were wealthy, and people could literally see that you were wealthy!

As for those famous black maid's dresses with white aprons that every manga loves to draw? Black dye was still a bit expensive, but black hid most stains. White aprons were protective, and were to be changed out frequently...and it was far easier to bleach cloth than it was to dye it black, plus the stark contrast was very eye-catching, and since the aprons could be swapped out frequently (very small amount of cloth compared to a whole dress), the fact that your maidstaff were wearing clean aprons was another sign of how wealthy you were, rather than just making the maid wear the apron all day long, progressively getting dirtier and dirtier.

With all this said, how valuable clothing was also affected how armies moved. Throughout most of recorded history, armies were composed primarily of men...but there were almost always 2 categories of women who followed them on the campaign trail. One, of course, was sex workers (for obvious reasons), but the other was Laundresses...and the laundresses would be ransomed first, ahead of the sex workers, if captured by enemy forces. (Not all were women by any means, btw, but the majority were, so I stuck with that gender.)

They worked hard to get the clothing clean, helped with getting leather armor clean, and provided other grooming services such as lice-combing. "But Jean, why would getting the soldiers' clothing clean be that important?" Dudes, dudes, my dudes...if you need to take a piss or a shit, combat will not stop for you. Peristalsis will happen mid-sword-swing. This was one of the sources of "deadly infections killed many of the fighters who went to war," and laundresses literally cleaned that shit up.

When you're a warrior in an army, marching off through the forests of Gaul, you can only carry so many spare sets of clothes because you're also carrying your armor, your weapons, and your rations, etc, etc. You will want to take care of your clothes, because you don't have many replacements, and you won't get many replacements.

So, writers, when you're writing about pre-industrialized cultures...go easy on how many clothes people own. Also realize that accessorizing can make an old outfit look new, which includes small parts of the clothing that can be swapped out for other pieces in a mix-and-match style.

...One last note:

The most expensive, time-consuming part of building a Norse ship to go a-viking on wasn't the actual ship, which took many men 2+ years to craft. It was the sails, which took many people, males and females, 3+ years to spin and weave and stitch together. There are literal stories of brash sailors robbing other norsemen of their sails because thieving it was faster & easier. (It also explains a lot of the fury of certain blood feuds between clans & holdings, if you think about it.)

[thaylepo]

Bringing this back to writers again, your period fantasy or historic characters are also going to know how to do upkeep and basic repairs on their own clothing. Laundries and tailors might be a thing in their world, but spot-cleaning and being able to mend small tears before they become big ones is crucial when off doing quests or campaigns or world-saving missions or what have you. Garments are expensive to replace. It may be sexy to have your hero discard their bloody, torn, and ruined shirt after a fight, but even if the garment is ruined beyond repair or wearability, woven cloth is still so valuable that it's worth keeping and cleaning to be turned into something else (legwraps, bandages, resewn into a hat, or used as patches to repair other garments, etc.).

We live in an unprecedented era of wastefulness, where our clothing is often so cheap (and cheaply made) that it's barely worth the efgort of repairing once it begins to wear out, and so easy to replace that we end up amassing more than we need of it. Even less than a hundred years ago, this kind of frivolity was reserved for the EXCEPTIONALLY wealthy. Even fairly well off people would continually recycle their old garments again and again. (Think of Cinderella's mice making that old pink dress into something new with just bits and pieces of the sisters' discarded accessories.... taking ribbons or lace or whole sections of an old dress to use in a new one was very common until quite recently!)

And never underestimate the usefulness of rags. If the clothing is beyond all repair or salvage, it has a new life as rags. You can wrap food in them, stuff them in your shoes for warmth and fit, pad your pillow with them, use them for cleaning, for bandages, for tying and belting your drawers, for patches.... rags are invaluable in a world where paper towels and disposable hygiene products do not exist.

[alex51324]

This, and I'll add, vast secondhand market in clothing. That one simple tunic would cost the equivalent-in-labor of a new car today, and it would change hands as many times as one.

People in Ye Olden Times--the earliest garments we have evidence of, up through the middle ages (and well beyond, for all but the wealthiest people)--didn't wear simple, box-shaped garments because they didn't know how to sew anything fancier.

They did so because a Big Rectangle had the most resale/re-use value, since it could be tied, laced, belted, or otherwise fastened to fit a wide range of bodies. The same garment could be worn throughout pregnancy, as well as before and after. If it was no longer needed, it could be passed down or sold to virtually anyone. And when it became worn at the seams or hems, it could be re-sewn as a slightly smaller rectangle, and still fit a lot of people.

In Renaissance Europe, clothing got a lot more structured--and to a significant degree, this was as a status symbol. If you wore a fitted, short jacket over tights and those silly-looking puffy shorts (or a doublet, nether-hose and trunk hose), everybody who saw you would know that you could afford to buy all that fabric and then waste a bunch of it by cutting it into very specific shapes.

And if it fit well, then they'd also know that you were (probably) the first owner of said garments. Because the clothes were still expensive, they'd still be passed down, but there was a lot more need for clothing resellers, where secondhand clothes could wait for a buyer whose body they would fit. (Used clothing was a common gift or tip for servants, and if it was something they couldn't wear, they'd sell it.) In this way, clothing styles would percolate their way down the class ladder, both in the form of actual garments that had once belonged to a very rich person, and dupes made with simpler/cheaper materials and techniques, and perhaps modified for practicality.

And that's how you get fashion cycles: once something starts showing up on too many of the common people, the rich would move on, either exaggerating the trend to a point that, outside of that fashion context, looks ridiculous--

Like these silly, silly shoes:

(Note: these are probably exaggerated; the name of this picture is "Young Man Meeting Death," and we're presumably supposed to see him as a frivolous type of person who is about to find out why he should have lived a more serious and pious life.)

--or going in a different direction entirely.

So yeah, if you're writing secondary-world fantasy, give some thought to where the clothes are coming from, and how that's going to affect the styles and choices the characters make. If your working-class character in a Vaguely Medieval Fantasy Land is wearing fitted clothing, either that society has magic spinning and weaving technology, or your character is a serious fashionista/o, who is putting in a lot of time and effort into the project.

Similarly, if that type of setting has courtiers in a dazzling variety of impractical and elaborate garments--and several different outfits of it apiece--that implies a significant degree of urbanization and upward mobility, driving a secondhand market for those items, as well as providing the skilled labor to make and maintain those types of clothes. (You know these?

There was an entire trade centered on washing & ironing these things. Separate from actually making them, I mean. It involved tiny, specially shaped irons, and buckets of starch. Royalty or major nobility might have a servant dedicated to this highly specialized labor, and people a little lower on the ladder would send them out to be done. Ideally, you'd have each of your ruffs washed and re-set every time you wore it; people did re-wear them to save money, but they got droopy fast--hence the emphasis, in paintings featuring this trend, of crisp stiffness.)

[nerathul]

How would this all compare to leather and hide based clothing? As the material doesn't need spinning and weaving, only tanning, cutting and sewing would it be cheaper and more common?

[quill-of-thoth]

So. Not a tanner or a cloth maker here but - tanning can be very chemically specific. For those curious my perspective is of an animal pathologist's assistant. I have cut up several cows.

You do have the opportunity to amass a lot of leather if you hunt large animals, but post the adoption of farming and herding, most people are not feeding themselves that way. And there is just more small game overall. Leather is not necessarily easier, quicker, or less expensive to make than cloth, it just depends on what resources you have that are most abundant.

So the steps to making leather are as follows:

(Under the cut because, uh. I know this stuff from my job, which is “open a dead animal and let the doctor see what’s wrong with it” and most of it is messy.)

1) Kill and skin animal. This means removing the whole skin, in as intact a piece as possible, which while harder than it seems would be something your fictional leather-working society would be way better at than me.

Actually, scratch that. Step 1 is know what kind of animal gets you the type of leather that you want. Cowhide and horsehide are thick and tough but provide a lot of usable skin. Young goats are supposedly great for thinner, softer leathers, but my professional experience doesn't give me a lot to go on there. The phrase "kid gloves" means that they are leather gloves made from young goats, aka kids, which tells you that the leather is thin and flexible. The main cost of this step is having enough of the animals you need to slaughter. If you’re hunting, then it’s all meat to you, but if you are a farmer pre-industrially, meat might be a byproduct of animal husbandry and not the point of it. One of the main reasons to keep a herd mammal – horses, cows, sheep, goats, llamas – is milk. Milk is liquid protein and once you figure out how to make cheese it can store for longer than meat can, at least without a fuckton of salt, which is often worth its weight in gold historically. (You could also smoke it but fuel is expensive and smoking things is technically a little trickier than salting them.) If you kill too many of your female animals, you don’t get milk, and you don’t get baby animals. If you keep too many male baby animals until adulthood, they start fighting and may injure you, your valuable female animals, or the structures you have built to keep your valuable herd animals in your possession instead of your neighbors. As a herder, your reliable access to meat and hides is mostly culling immature males from your herd, which tends to lead to smaller amounts of usable hide.

2) Scrape that shit. Harder. If you do not remove literally all the connective tissue beneath the skin, your hide will rot. Your hide may still rot if you don’t tan it properly or wait too long to tan it. Or if you tan it wrong by dumping shit in water and waiting for the magic of fermentation to work right without even knowing the difference between an acid and a base.

The scraping is also a great way to tear the hide or put holes in it. If you, for example, want to make leather out of a cow that has been lying around in the summer for a day because you wisely prioritized the meat… it can get kinda fragile, depending on what the bacteria do. I have to sharpen our 21st century steel knives literally every time we do a cow or a horse, just to get through the hide at all, and I have still seen cowskin tear like thin cloth if it’s deteriorated enough.

3) Assuming you have completed steps 1 and 2, you need the chemicals to tan the animal. Historically brains have been used a lot. DO NOT DO THIS if you are a modern person who wants to hunt for meat or leather. Prion diseases like CWD live in the brain, as do a lot of viruses that will kill or disable you painfully and slowly. It’s a relatively low risk (compared to things like accidents with your hunting gun) but it’s a risk you do not have to take. Yes, this is why some states want you to turn in the heads of any deer you shoot, regardless of how many points they have. This is part of how we tell you if the deer you shot is actually safe to eat, and not full of said viruses that will kill or disable you painfully. The other thing that you need is a steady location and a fuckton of water, because these bitches need to soak for a long time. Way longer than soak times for retting flax or other plant stem fibers. And in multiple different solutions of the foulest smelling shit that you can imagine: in addition to brains, the steps included soaking in urine, possibly dung if you didn’t have enough brains, salt curing, soaking until the hair is loosened and then scraping all that off, and then the actual tanning, which is soaking it in a high tannic acid tree bark solution until it’s ready. You can skip some of these steps, especially if you are, say, a paleolithic hunter gatherer. But your leathers will degrade faster. They will be less comfortable and less good for your range of motion. So the production of leather is not necessarily less time consuming than cloth. It is also resource expensive at many steps – from start to finish you need animal wealth, mineral and plant resources, time, and a lot of water that you don’t need urgently for something else, like irrigation or watering your livestock. You’ll also want to do your tanning away from where you eat and sleep, because, the odor of fermenting cowhide is not fun. Finally, it is way more difficult at every step to construct a garment out of leather: cutting it, using an awl to punch holes in it so you can actually sew, or boiling it into shape. It’s also a specialized process when it comes to the chemical aspect, more so than cleaning wool or beating flax, both of which you can produce way more of (eventually) as a small household in the middle of nowhere. Spinning and weaving are both activities you can pick at slowly – you can also get a very small child to spin yarn acceptably with practice, freeing up your adult hands to do things like the weaving, while you really can’t bring your tots into your leather working and expect them to do anything but get underfoot. And shitty cloth smells way better than shitty rotting leather. And none of this even scratches the surface of the material property reasons why a society may prefer leather for some applications (saddles, shoes...) and cloth for others.

[jackironsides]

Addendum to the leather reblog above, but salt is also historically very expensive, and pretty crucial to most of the older European methods of hide treatment I was able to find when reading up on tanning a few months ago. I can't remember if you still need it if you're using alum, but alum is still something you're going to have to buy in order to process your skins. (From what I read, tanning with brains was an Indigenous American technique, which was rapidly adopted by the colonisers bc of its efficient use of resources that are easy to hand, but modern American sources tend to drown out everything else when looking at historical stuff online without institution access, so I wouldn't state that categorically.)

The original thread is why I cringe every time I read a fic in my home fandom – which is roughly Fantasy Medieval/Renaissance in technology – that has main characters tear each other's clothing to show how excited they are for boning down.

In a premodern context, if someone tore my clothing carelessly, let alone deliberately, we're not fucking. We're no longer on speaking terms. They're dead to me. A shirt is bad enough; at least those were comparatively disposable, and could probably be repaired in a way that's unnoticeable when you wear it (shirts in most premodern European societies are underwear, not outerwear), but a doublet? Fuck right off into the sun.

‘Ooh, you can tell how ~horny~ I am for you because I crashed your car in order to get into your pants.’ That's what you sound like. Tear your own fucking shirt if you're that keen.

It's such an incredibly modern trope to me. I could MAYBE understand it if it's supposed to be a flex on how wealthy someone is, but my poor as shit blorbo with his hand-to-mouth existence who owns three shirts MAXIMUM should not be doing this. Would not be doing this.

The earliest I could see that trope as plausible in my mind is the Victorian period. There was still a healthy second-hand market for clothing, but clothing production had become far more mechanised than it ever had been before, and tearing a shirt probably wouldn't send you to the poor house. (But please still don't tear a suit jacket or a woman's bodice. That's hours of sewing work alone, even after the advent of treadle sewing machines. What's wrong with you.)

[aetherograph]

Don't forget dyeing, which had to be re-done and was itself a whole fucking profession.

Indigo is one of the hardest natural dyes to start a pot of, especially without a thermometer or indigo white, so once you got that pot started you kept it going. Indigo also has to be processed into a water-soluble form by treating it with ammonia. How do you source ammonia in a pre-industrial world? Well, the local piss barrel at the tavern is full of something that will certainly turn into ammonia if you let it sit. There were almost wars over the argument of whether the dyers should have to pay money to take the piss from the tavern or whether the publican should pay THEM for the SERVICE of taking away the piss, which after all is garbage.

Dark or vivid colours are expensive, and natural dyes are not fast--that is, they fade with washing and sunlight and wear, so you have to keep re-dying them every so often. Black in particular was VERY expensive, moreso than ANY other colour. Certain fibers dye very well and certain ones do not.

Yellow and green were favourite colours of the common folk--bright yellows in particular were very easy to get with cheap dyestuffs, and you see bright sunshine yellow very often in medieval art of ordinary folks. Denim blue was middling expensive. Purple, pink, and orange did not exist as perceived colours--remember, colour is a function of language. Meaning if you don't have a word for the colour, you don't perceive it. Red was difficult and the only thing more expensive than red was, as I said, black.

Dyers and fullers had smelly jobs and worked with piss--their workshops were, like the tanner's, on the edge of town, and downwind if possible.

Oh yes, what's a fuller. Well, wool is full of oils and stuff from the ship, and you need to eliminate those if you want the fabric to be thick and warm and insulating. So you need to soak it in urine and use your feet to rub it over a special textured surface to get all the oils out and shrink and felt the fabric. Loden, felt, and duffel are all fabrics that require fulling in order to become.

Spinning was done by most everybody all the time every day; that's why you see pictures of women with long distaffs leaning on their shoulders as they go about, in some art of ordinary life in the middle ages. You could spin all day while doing everything else. Weaving, however, was a profession, usually male, and weavers were very respected people in all societies that had them.

Pulling the fleece was an activity that you had to do before the wool could be spun. The process for turning a sheep's wool into a garment consisted of many more steps than shear, spin, weave, sew.

Shear

Pull the fleece: this involved sitting around with everyone and pulling the long guard hairs away from the undercoat. A lot of stories, songs, and gossip happened during this process. It also leaves you with very nice soft hands from all the lanolin.

Comb the undercoat hairs with a brush or comb to line up all the fibres in the same direction. This leaves you with rolags or roving.

Spin using a distaff and drop spindle. This takes forever. But there was a very important, revolutionary machine that came up the silk road to Europe and changed--and I cannot emphasise this enough--EVERYTHING.

Spinning wheel - Wikipedia

This machine eliminated the drudgery of spinning, spreading from the East to Europe starting in the late 1200s. It freed up women's time to do more, and made spinning itself a job you could make money doing--the word "spinster" is the term for that profession, and elderly women suddenly could have money of their own, support themselves. This was very important!! This was a labour-saving machine that gave more power to women in Europe and made the making of fabric and fiber faster and easier than ever before!

5. Dye the threads. It's much easier to dye skeins of yarn than it is to dye fabric or garments in pre-industrial ages, so dyeing would be done at the yarn stage. Dyeing the yarn also means you can do things like have the weft be one colour and the warp another. This results in some of the most exciting and beautiful fabric in existence:

Shot silk - Wikipedia

Brocade - Wikipedia

Damask - Wikipedia

6. Weave the fabric. The loom was another piece of technology that was constantly being improved upon, because society was built on looms. In fact, the predecessor to the computer was the loom! Look up a video of a jaquard loom sometime, you'll see it uses punchcards to "program" in the different patterns of the fabric it produces. The song "four loom weaver" is actually "power loom weaver". Power looms were another improvement that made weaving faster. The luddites were the first labour strike and organization, and it was about? That's right, WEAVING.

7. Fulling, polishing, and other finishing techniques. Moire is made by calendaring. Felt is made by fulling. Polishing, waxing, and all kinds of other techniques are used to make all the different varieties of fabric that exist. The way we live now is sad and pathetic, we don't come into contact with much in the way of variety of fabric anymore. Everything is disposable, paperthin and made of plastic or cotton or bamboo, knits mostly. When you get into historical costuming, you meet all kinds of fabrics--lush brocades, velvets, and coutils, and silk. But it's NOTHING compared to the hand-woven fabrics of times past.

Machines can make fabric fast, but it's looser than when a human is doing it. The density of some hand-woven fabrics is so great that you don't need to hem them! Likewise, the translucency of some ancient linens made in Egypt is still a mystery we're trying to figure out how to reproduce, because machine-spinning and machine-weaving meant we LOST these techniques. People who spin and weave and hand-make fiber their whole lives can make it as thin as a spider's gossamer, and not even machines can do that today. Machines are wonderful and humans should not have to labour so much if a machine can do it, but it's worth noting that just because it's made by machine doesn't mean that it's better quality, just that its cheaper and faster to make. I'm sure if we tried, we'd find ways of machines being able to do it, especially with the "sort things and detect things" algorithmic programs software engineers have come up with, the ones that detect cancer and so on.

8. Sewing the garment. I'm putting a note here for sewing bc sewing by hand is a lot easier and faster and better than by machine sometimes. I hand-sewed an entire pair of pants and the hems were utterly invisible when I was finished, it was astonishing. I also used a running stitch for most of it and that's. That's the normal stitch to use, you just backstitch every ten stitches or so and then keep going. It wastes far less thread than a sewing machine. To make those pants I only needed three stitches: running, backstitch, and whipstitch. And I learned by watching Nicole Rudolph when she's sewing, she does the same stitches for the most part! There's speciality stitches for locking in the ends of corset bones (flossing) and so on, but the majority of the long seams are just the running stitch! Needles and pins were precious commodities in pre-industrial times, and there are letters between John Adams and his wife Abigail that illustrate this, which were famously made into the latter half of the song "Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve" in the 1969 musical 1776.

Needles were at first made of bone, hand-carved, in very ancient times; but needles and pines of steel and brass were also produced later on as metalworking tech started being able to do so. These were very precious, and the little tiny strawberry that hangs off a traditional tomato pincushion, the one full of what feels like sand? That was for cleaning the rust and tarnish off your needle, so it would go through the fabric easier. You can still buy bone and brass needles in the traditional style from historical merchants, and try for yourself sewing the historical way!

Many people in fact already practise an ancient form of fabric and garment-making: Knitting and crochet! There's a much older predecessor to these, called nalbinding, that is very interesting and practised with roving rather than spun and plied yarn, and uses a flat wooden or bone needle. It creates very dense, not very stretchy things, and was used by the Norse. Nalbound things are VERY cold-proof, and eventually felt--and that's a good thing, felt is very warm stuff! My mom made me a nalbound hat once and I miss it every winter.

Now, garments were not just fabric of course. People have liked decorating everything since time immemorial, and embroidery, buttons, beads, and other things were used. Another type of decoration, one very popular in the SCA, is TRIM! Trim is made by weaving on an inkle loom, which looks like this:

This one doesn't have the cards visble, but the pattern can be produced with cards that can be turned:

This produces a brocade, and yes, you can weave letters or all kinds of patterns into the "tape" that is produced. Depending on what fiber you use, and how fine the threads, these can be trims or hair-ribbons or shoulder-straps or all kinds of things!

Lace was also a very precious and complex form of decoration, and pieces of lace were so incredibly expensive and treasured that they were passed down as heirlooms. We're used to lace being white or maybe cream, but at certain points in France, blue lace could be found. And nothing is really stopping you from dyeing your lace, or using dyed threads to make it, other than fashion and convention.

Of course, places outside Europe (which is my speciality and has been my whole life) have their own fabric and decoration techniques, from the wax resist of batik to the special tie-dye from Japan called Shibori, to ikat, to the quilling of many North American Indigenous people (not to mention wampum beads, hand-carved of shells!). Everyone likes to decorate themselves and their clothing!

[gremlin-078]

I'd like to add some more information about tablet weaving, the trim that can be made with the cards!

Tablet weaving is an ancient technique, the earliest direct evidence we have of it is also from the bronze age. It is known in almost every continent except Australasia and Antarctica. The technique is a form of warp twining, wherein the long warp threads are twisted around each other and the weft is inserted in between, forming these rows of cords bound together. The warp threads are strung through small square cards or tablets, which usually have four holes, one in each corner. The pattern can be formed through the colour of the yarn put through each hole, whether the threads are inserted from the front or the back, and whether you turn the cards away from you or towards you when weaving.

This diagram is from Peter Collingwood's 'The techniques of tablet weaving'.

There are dozens of techniques in tablet weaving which range from very simple to extremely complicated and time consuming. One of the bands found in the Oseberg ship burial in Vestfold, Norway, dates to 834 CE and is very simple to make - here's a reconstruction of it I made in blue and yellow silk yarn, just like the original.

Some bands however were extremely complicated, like these twill motifs from Hallstatt, which date to c. 500 BCE.

Here's another example I made from a band from Byzantine Egypt:

Some bands from Scandinavia and Northern Europe were made using metal to produce shiny bands, often used as headbands. They were most often made by twisting very fine silver or gold stripes around a core of silk yarn, and using it as an extra weft on top of the band to produce geometric motifs. This was perhaps the most expensive and time consuming technique, even more so than the complicated twill shown above.

This is not my image, I couldn't find the source

Tablet weaving was not purely a decorative technique though. Tablet woven bands were very often used as a starting band for woven textiles, and they could also be used to finish the bottom of the weaving and the sides too - usually on cloaks. Therefore it was a ubiquitous technique found almost wherever the warp weighted loom was, and this also explains why the technique gradually fell out of use after the introduction of horizontal looms in northern Europe. Tablet weaving did still stick around for a long time after, becoming more and more specialised and I believe it still survives today as part of traditional costume in parts of Eastern Europe.

I am writing my undergraduate archaeology dissertation about the labour that goes into tablet weaving, by hand processing a sheep fleece, spinning the yarn on a drop spindle and weaving several surviving examples of tablet weaving from early medieval northern Europe. Tablet weaving has been studied a lot more recently in the last 20 years, but it remains mostly a craft rather than an area of study so I would love to see it better studied in academia (what I am hoping to do with my dissertation and hopefully in my master's!)

[dorothylarouge]

[alariko1]

Souvenir shop

[homuraham]

Hamster Escapes the Most Dangerous Prison Maze 🐹

[xylophonetangerine]

[weefidan]

While this seems cute I'm pretty sure it's stressful to the hamster

Does anyone know more about this?

[alex51324]

The hamster does not watch movies, and therefore is unaware that the cardboard and plastic props in his obstacle course are references to well-known cinematic deathtraps.

[decemberwinter]

what do you mean elon musk did a nazi salute on live tv at the united states presidential inauguration twice and is now erasing the evidence off the internet by replacing the footage with the crowd cheering instead?

would be a shame if people reblogged this, wouldn’t it?

[followed-by-bots]

A ritual I hope to have complete by Thanksgiving/Indigenous People's Day

I made this with North American indigenous people in mind, but this is for anyone who opposes the destruction of indigenous people, their cultures, and their land.

I added angels from the Abrahamic tradition as two major oppressive organized religions stem from that - Christianity and Islam. I think we can add Israeli Judaism to that list, plus extremists of each religion. The angels aren't oppressive, but beliefs in them have been hijacked to form power structures, so those angels can also cut to the heart of the same power structures.

In research for this, White Buffalo Calf Woman stood out as one of the strongest North American native deities for this. I think she can open the way for transfer of power from perverse back to righteous - from colonizer to colonized, devourer to steward.

Gaia is the embodiment of all earth in ancient Greece. She's also well known amongst Europeans and colonizers, so her power can reach into our (colonizer) minds and open pathways as well.

I intentionally keep my blog quiet, but if you see this ritual and like it, please make it your own and perform it on Indigenous Peoples Day.

Ritual for Returning Respect and Agency to Indigenous Peoples

Purpose: To honor the Indigenous peoples of North America, restoring their respect, agency, and leadership. This ritual seeks to invite their wisdom and reverence for the Earth into the ethos of society, empowering them to guide cultural healing and transformation.

Steps for the Ritual

Materials Needed:

 A feather (symbol of wisdom and freedom)

 A small stone or crystal (symbol of Earth and ancestral grounding)

 A white candle (for divine protection and justice)

 A blue candle (for truth and communication)

 Sage or cedar for smudging (cleansing and protecting their rightful heritage)

 A bowl of water (representing emotional and collective healing)

Preparing the Space Begin by lighting the white and blue candles, symbols of divine justice and truth, casting their glow into the sacred space. Smudge the area with sage or cedar, letting the smoke rise as a blessing to purify and protect. Arrange the feather, stone, and bowl of water on your altar, representing wisdom, grounding, and the healing essence of nature.

Raising the Circle Stand at the center of your space, holding the feather and stone. Slowly turn clockwise four times. With each turn, envision a radiant circle of light forming around you as you say:

“I call forth a sacred space, A place of justice, truth, and grace. Within this circle, wisdom shall reign, Healing the world of its deepest pain.”

Let the circle shimmer with energy, a haven for respect, empowerment, and transformation.

Calling the Deities and Angels Invoke each sacred presence with reverence, inviting them to guide this work.

Archangel Michael: “Michael, guardian of justice’s flame, Stand with those history sought to defame. Shield their path, restore their might, Defend their honor, day and night.”

Archangel Uriel: “Uriel, angel of insight’s fire, Illuminate truths that inspire. Reveal the wisdom of nature and land, Guiding the world with your steady hand.”

White Buffalo Calf Woman: “Sacred Woman, bringer of peace, Let unity grow, let division cease. Guide us to honor the Earth’s design, Rooting respect in all humankind.”

Gaia, Earth Mother: “Gaia, nurturer, spirit of land, Your strength sustains, your wisdom commands. Teach us the reverence Indigenous know, To live in harmony, where life can grow.”

Feel their presence enter the circle, their energies intertwining with the light of your intent.

Focusing Your Intent Hold the feather in one hand and the stone in the other. Close your eyes and envision Indigenous peoples standing tall, respected and empowered, their voices shaping policies and cultural values. See their traditions and connection to the Earth becoming integral to society’s ethos.

Imagine a world where people honor the sacred balance of nature, where the wisdom of Indigenous leaders inspires compassion, sustainability, and unity.

Releasing the Energy and Opening the Circle Place the feather and stone back on the altar. Dip your fingers into the bowl of water and flick it outward, saying:

“This healing flows to the Earth and sky, Lifting the voices of those denied. Respect and wisdom spread their wings, Restoring balance to all things.”

Stand at the center of the circle. Turn counterclockwise as you say:

“This circle opens, its light takes flight, Blessing the world with truth and right. What we have nurtured now expands, Flowing to all, through hearts and hands.”

Visualize the energy of the circle sinking into the Earth and radiating outward, carrying the spirit of empowerment, respect, and reverence for nature into the world.

Releasing the Deities and Angels Offer your gratitude and release each presence with words of respect:

Archangel Michael: “Michael, your strength has stood so true, We thank and honor the work you do. Go now with grace, your duty complete, Until we call, your power we greet.”

Archangel Uriel: “Uriel, wisdom’s guiding star, You’ve shown the truths of who we are. Return with thanks to your radiant light, Blessing us still in the quiet of night.”

White Buffalo Calf Woman: “Sacred Woman, your peace we hold, Your lessons guide as they unfold. Return to spirit, your mission fulfilled, With gratitude deep and love instilled.”

Gaia, Earth Mother: “Gaia, nurturer, teacher, and friend, Your care and wisdom never end. With thanks, we honor your sacred way, May your blessings guide us every day.”

Feel their energies gently withdraw, leaving behind their influence to sustain the work.

Closing the Ritual Reflect on your connection to this purpose. Extinguish the candles, holding in your heart a renewed commitment to honoring Indigenous peoples and their wisdom. Pour the water into the Earth to join our precipitation system and spread ritual energy far and wide. Carry their respect for the Earth into your daily life, letting it guide your actions and inspire those around you.

[makingdonalddrumpfagain]

[my-voice-my-resistance]

Just in case you might have forgotten.

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Same. Sign petitions, contact reps, now's the time to make them know you don't agree with their fascist bullshit.

[witchesversuspatriarchy]

What a powerful image

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Misogyny: origins of men's hatred of women

I appreciate having my experiences validated by this interviewee.

Update:  I finished the video, and this seems pretty deterministic.  The channel stated in the posts that they go into the topic further in another video, but I’m not interested in that.

Men can have a hand in nature, nurture, and creation.  Honestly, they can start immediately even if they’ve never seen it in their own lives.  They can break the cycle by carrying half the domestic load in a family.  There are studies that men of newborns have oxytocin released in their brains by spending time around their children the way new mothers do, and that this happens when gay men adopt, as well.  It’s about their actions and the environment - interdependent co-creation.

Misogyny is deeper than culture, and it is deep in the subconscious, but I have long had a theory that it comes from perspective changes in order to domesticate animals - subjugating them rather than revering them - and transferring that to people who are different.  We teach subconsciously and learn subconsciously, so the first domesticators have taught the next ones in a long line until today.  We can change that, too.  We master our subconscious beliefs by becoming aware of them.

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Execration Ritual for Any Witch

Ritual to Contain Destructive Forces and Heal Civilization

This ritual aims to isolate destructive individuals and energies within a containment zone while fostering healing and building a harmonious world for humanity and the Earth.

Deities and Their Roles

Sekhmet (Egyptian): Goddess of war and healing, symbolizing the power to destroy chaos and restore balance.

Hecate (Greek): Goddess of witchcraft and binding, adept at redirecting malevolent forces.

Archangel Michael (Christian): Protector and divine warrior, known for banishing evil and defending justice.

Maat (Egyptian): Goddess of truth, balance, and justice, responsible for determining the deserving through her scales of judgment.

Materials

- Red clay figures or paper effigies (to symbolize the collective destructive forces and individuals)

- Black thread

- A white candle

- A small mirror

- A bowl of salt water

Offerings:

Sekhmet: Red wine or red ale, cooked meat, incense (such as frankincense or myrrh)

Hecate: Bread, garlic, honey, pomegranates, incense (such as lavender or jasmine)

Archangel Michael: Fresh flowers (preferably red or white), incense (such as frankincense), a small candle

Maat: Bread, cool water, incense (such as frankincense or sandalwood)

Building the Circle

Stand in the center of your sacred space. Hold the white candle in your hands.

Turn clockwise and visualize a radiant, protective light encircling the space. Speak aloud:

   'I call upon the light of creation,

   To form a circle of safety and dedication.

   By earth, air, fire, and sea,

   This space is sacred, so mote it be.'

Place the candle in the center of the circle and light it to solidify the boundary.

Invocation and Offerings

Face the candle and address each deity, presenting their offerings:

- To Sekhmet:

   'O Sekhmet, lioness of strength,   Balance the scales of harm and repair.   Let chaos consume itself,   While your healing breath restores our Earth.'

*Offer red wine or red ale, cooked meat, and light incense.*

- To Hecate:

   'Hecate, guardian of crossroads,   Bind these forces to their own darkness.   Guide humanity toward the path of light   And shield us from harm.'

*Offer bread, garlic, honey, pomegranates, and light incense.*

- To Archangel Michael:

   'Archangel Michael, divine protector,   Wield your flaming sword of truth.   Seal the destructive in their own domain,   That we may rebuild in peace.'

*Offer fresh flowers, light a small candle, and light incense.*

- To Maat:

   'O Maat, bearer of truth,   Judge the hearts of the living and guide the unworthy   Into the isolation of their own making.   Let balance and harmony reign,   As we build a world of justice and care.'

*Offer bread, cool water, and light incense.*

Visualization

1. Establish the Location:

   Picture a desolate, uninhabited area of the Earth, such as a barren desert or remote wilderness. This will be the 'Containment Zone.'

2. Call to Maat for Judgment:

   Imagine Maat standing in the center of a cosmic balance. Her scales hold a feather in one pan and the symbolic hearts of individuals in the other. She weighs each person's actions, intentions, and impact on the world. Those whose hearts weigh heavier than her feather are guided toward the containment dome by unseen forces.

3. Visualize the Dome:

   See a radiant, golden dome rising over the Containment Zone. It stretches from the ground to the sky, shimmering with protective energy. This dome serves as an impenetrable barrier for harm and chaos while letting only love, healing, and creativity flow outward.

4. Draw the Shadows:

   Imagine shadowy figures, representing those deemed destructive by Maat, being magnetically drawn into the dome. Their chaotic nature pulls them toward this containment area, isolating them from the rest of the world.

5. Inside the Dome:

   Inside, the figures find themselves surrounded by mirrors of truth. These mirrors reflect their own energy back upon them, amplifying their struggles. They are unable to harm anyone else, and the energy of the dome forces them to face their nature, offering an opportunity for transformation.

6. Outside the Dome:

   Beyond the dome, envision a thriving world—lush greenery, thriving communities, and clear skies. This is the domain of the healers and builders, where humanity and Earth flourish in harmony.

Ritual Actions

1. Write the names or descriptions of destructive forces onto the clay figures or paper effigies. 2. Bind them tightly with black thread while repeating:   'Bound are those who harm and divide,   In their shadows they shall reside.' 3. Submerge the bound effigies in the bowl of salt water, symbolizing purification and containment. 4. Hold up the mirror and declare:   'In your reflection, find your end.   Let love and creation transcend.'

Closing and Thanks

Face the directions of the compass or return to the center of your sacred space to offer thanks: To Sekhmet:   'Sekhmet, warrior and healer,   Your fiery breath brings life and order.   We thank you for your strength,   And for the balance you restore.' To Hecate:   'Hecate, mistress of the crossroads,   Your guidance illuminates the path.   We thank you for your wisdom,   And the power to contain the shadows.' To Archangel Michael:   'Michael, protector of the faithful,   Your vigilance shields us from harm.   We thank you for your courage,   And the justice you uphold.' To Maat:   'Maat, goddess of truth and harmony,   Your scales have restored balance.   We thank you for your fairness,   And the peace you bring to our world.'

Blow out the candle, visualizing the golden dome strengthening. Scatter the salt water outdoors to complete the purification.

Discussion of Execration Practices

Execration practices in ancient Egypt were potent rituals designed to symbolically destroy enemies and chaotic forces through acts of sympathetic magic. These rites often involved inscribing the names of enemies—real or symbolic—onto various materials like pottery, wax figures, or papyrus. The items were then subjected to destructive actions such as smashing, stabbing, burning, trampling, and burial, often performed in a ritualized sequence. This symbolic annihilation was believed to neutralize the threats posed by these enemies, whether human, supernatural, or conceptual. The materials and techniques used varied. For example, figurines might be bound and smashed, representing enemies being subdued. Rituals could also include the use of red pots, symbolic of chaos and disorder, which were frequently inscribed with the names of enemies and then destroyed. Some texts, such as the 'Book of Felling Apophis,' guided these rituals to suppress rebellious forces or protect the state and its divine order. Such practices were conducted at both the state level and privately, underscoring their widespread and enduring importance throughout Egyptian history. Significant examples include: 1. Political Protection: Execration texts often listed rulers or cities viewed as threats to Egypt, aiming to neutralize foreign and internal dangers. 2. Symbolic Burial: Ritual objects were frequently buried near tombs or sacred sites, believed to seal the magical act's effects. 3. State and Individual Use: While the state conducted elaborate ceremonies to protect the pharaoh and Egypt, individuals also used smaller-scale rituals for personal protection or vengeance.

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Ritual to Ares: A Call for Courageous Intervention

Purpose

This ritual calls upon Ares, god of courage, strategy, and disciplined might, to inspire the United States’ military and law enforcement forces to rise against tyranny should their leaders enact cruel and oppressive measures. It seeks a swift and bloodless resolution, protecting liberty and justice, and the defense of the divine feminine.

Deity: Ares

Ares is the Greek god of war, embodying valor, courage, and the decisive power of action. Though often seen as the fiery bringer of conflict, Ares also represents strategic protection of the weak and the ability to unite forces for righteous causes. His symbols include the spear, shield, and torch of defiance.

Ritual Outline

List of Implements

A red candle (symbolizing courage and bloodless action).

A spear or dagger (symbol of Ares’ will).

A small shield or protective charm (representing defense of the people).

Incense (dragon’s blood or frankincense) to invoke Ares’ presence.

Offerings: red wine and iron-rich food (like meat or beets), symbolic of strength and fortitude.

Draw the Circle

Say:

“By the power of vigilance,

By the steel of the just,

I cast this circle with strength and trust.”

Mark the circle with a symbolic weapon or your finger, visualizing a radiant red aura.

Call the Elements

East: “Winds of the East, carry resolve in your breath.”

South: “Fires of the South, ignite courage in our hearts.”

West: “Waters of the West, cool tempers to avoid bloodshed.”

North: “Earth of the North, ground this nation in justice and unity.”

Call to Ares

Light the red candle and raise the spear or dagger.

Say:

“Ares, god of war and discipline, I call to you. Guardian of the armed and protector of the strong, bring your wisdom and might to this sacred space. Hear my words and lend your presence to this cause.”

Make Request to Deities

Words to Speak to Ares:

“Ares, Lord of the disciplined and armed, you who tread the crimson path of justice and war, I implore you this day. May your influence guide the hearts and minds of armed men, seeding within them this eternal truth: that a nation devoid of compassion is unworthy of their sword. Inspire them to recognize the divine feminine, the wellspring of life and wisdom, and charge them to defend her sacred essence as they would their homeland. Let their hands be strong but just, their hearts fierce but fair, their purpose bound by integrity and sacred duty. By your wisdom and power, so let it be.”

Visualization

Close your eyes and visualize Ares standing tall, armored in red and bronze, holding a glowing spear. See him walk among military leaders, officers, and soldiers, whispering clarity into their minds and resolve into their hearts. Picture them uniting against oppressive orders, acting not with violence but with strategy and solidarity.

Imagine these forces dismantling injustice step by step:

- Protecting the vulnerable.

- Refusing immoral orders.

- Standing as a shield for liberty.

Visualize Ares standing amidst a battlefield, his serpent companion coiled at his side. See him placing his hand on the weapons of soldiers and law enforcement officers, infusing them with the thought of compassion, justice, and the divine feminine. Imagine these thoughts taking root, growing into a sacred responsibility to protect and nurture rather than destroy.

Offering

Pour red wine into a chalice, raising it to the sky. Say:

“To Ares, I offer this gift,

May your guidance uplift.”

Place the shield or protective charm before the candle, visualizing it radiating a protective energy across the nation.

Thank You and Farewell to Ares

Say:

“Ares, I thank you for your presence and your power. May your wisdom guide the armed with justice and compassion. Farewell, mighty god, until we call upon you again.”

Extinguish the candle.

Thank You and Farewell to the Elements

East: “Winds of the East, your breath lingers in liberty.”

South: “Fires of the South, your flame inspires justice.”

West: “Waters of the West, your calm tempers the storm.”

North: “Earth of the North, your strength steadies us all.”

Open the Circle

Say:

“The circle opens but remains unbroken,

May justice reign, and the word be spoken.”

Sweep your hand or the spear counter-clockwise to dissolve the circle.

Closing Thought

Let the ritual be performed with clarity of intent and unwavering resolve. Trust that Ares’ energy will guide those who hold power to act with wisdom and integrity.

This invocation is succinct yet potent, appealing to Ares’ strategic and protective qualities while emphasizing a peaceful resolution to injustice.

Next Three Best Times for This Ritual

November 26, 2024:

Time Range: 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM ET.

Exact Time: 9:20 AM ET, as Mars enters Sagittarius.

December 3, 2024:

Time Range: 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM ET.

Exact Time: 5:00 PM ET, during the Virgo Moon.

December 4, 2024:

Time Range: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET.

Exact Time: 7:00 PM ET, under continued Virgo Moon influence with positive Mars aspects.

These times align with astrological influences that enhance the ritual’s purpose of justice, compassion, and protection of the divine feminine.

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Spell of Unbreakable Freedom and Fearlessness: immunity to global misogyny

Purpose:

To make women and girls of this generation and all future generations unafraid of men, unhurt by boys, and unaffected by global misogyny. This spell will unlock their full potential, ensuring they can contribute to the world with complete freedom and autonomy.

Ingredients:

- A piece of hematite or tiger’s eye (for protection and grounding)

- A feather (symbol of freedom and limitless potential)

- A white candle (for purity, new beginnings, and clarity)

- A red candle (for strength, courage, and power)

- A small mirror (to reflect inner strength and confidence)

- A piece of parchment or paper and a pen

- A bowl of spring water (to cleanse and purify all energies)

Ritual:

Prepare Your Space:

Choose a quiet place where you feel at peace. Set up your altar with the items arranged in a circle in front of you: place the white and red candles in the center, the feather on the left, the hematite or tiger’s eye on the right, the mirror in front of you, and the bowl of water directly behind the candles.

Cleanse the Space:

Light the white candle first, saying:

“With this flame, I clear the air of doubt, fear, and hurt. I call upon the energies of purity, protection, and freedom.”

Light the red candle and say:

“With this flame, I ignite the fire of strength, power, and courage within every woman. Let fear dissolve in this light.”

Call to the Elements:

Take the feather in your hand and hold it to the sky, calling upon the air element:

“Air, lift us beyond the limits of this world. Carry every woman’s spirit high, unbound by fear or chains of oppression.”

Dip the feather in the bowl of water and say:

“Water, cleanse the deep wounds of generations, heal our hearts and souls, making them whole, pure, and strong.”

Hold the hematite or tiger’s eye, focusing on the earth’s energy. Say:

“Earth, ground us in our own strength and autonomy. Let no force uproot us. Make every woman and girl unshakable in her own freedom.”

Hold the mirror, reflecting the light of the candles, and say:

“Fire, reveal the truth within us. Illuminate our path to perfect freedom. Burn away the past so we may walk as our full selves.”

Inscription of Freedom:

Take the parchment or paper and pen. Write these words with full intent:

“Fear no longer controls us. Misogyny can no longer touch us. We are whole, unbroken, and free. We contribute to this world as we will. Our autonomy is sovereign, our freedom is unshakable, our strength is eternal. We are women, bound to none, free in all.”

Place the parchment beneath the candles.

Chant of Empowerment:

With both hands over the candle flames, say this chant slowly and with deep conviction:

“By the earth beneath my feet,

By the air that fills my breath,

By the fire that burns in me,

By the water that nourishes all life—

I call forth the power of every woman and girl,

Unafraid, unhurt, untamed.

Misogyny shall pass through us like the wind—

It cannot harm, it cannot bend us.

We are free to be who we are.

We are free to make our mark.

In perfect freedom, we rise,

As eternal flames in the night.”

Seal the Spell:

Let the candles burn down until they extinguish naturally. While they are burning, sit in meditation, focusing on the vision of women and girls around the world rising without fear, contributing everything they desire to the world, living in perfect autonomy. Imagine a world where misogyny fades into the background and women's and girls' strengths shine through clearly, unfaltering.

After the candles extinguish, take the piece of parchment and place it in the bowl of water. As the ink begins to blur and fade, say:

“So it is written, so it is done.

Misogyny is powerless against us,

Our strength is boundless,

Our freedom is ours forever.”

Bury the paper under a tree, returning the intention to the earth.

Final Words:

This spell is ongoing, fueled by the collective energy of all women and girls. Each time you feel the need to renew it, hold the feather and stone, and visualize the power of this spell growing, touching more lives, creating deeper freedom for women and girls everywhere.

So mote it be.

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Pope Francis' Catholic church reform process ends without giving more equity to women

Pope Francis’ yearslong process to reform the Catholic Church has ended with recommendations that fall far short of giving women more equity

They joke about feminism in the Vatican. They call it "the American problem." Their purpose is to control the population for power. They are wolves in shrouds of spirituality. Young people, learn this lesson as early as possible: if their actions don't align with their words, they are lying. They are not confused.

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I'm watching Beyonce's Lemonade yet again, and I'd like to say that I am so glad I'm not stupid enough to think that "Black Lives Matter" is the same as "Kill All Cops." If I were that fucking dumb, I would be perpetuating misery just because I can't be bothered to think about the actual impact of my stupid fucking beliefs.

I have a co-worker who believes this and a friend who's been sucked into the MAGA vortex who also believes this. I'm sorry that my coworker is so dumb, and there's nothing I can do about her life. I've been trying to work logic into my MAGA friend's thought processes, but YouTube rabbit holes are too powerful..

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Your dream seems to reflect themes of unresolved emotions, unhealed wounds from your past, and the struggle to find love and connection in the present. Here’s a deeper interpretation:

1. The Setting: Kitchen Table with Deceased Family Members: The kitchen table where you grew up likely symbolizes a place of nourishment and familial connection, but the presence of your dead mother and elder women suggests a disconnection from these sources of emotional sustenance. The fact that they are deceased could represent parts of yourself or your emotional life that feel cut off, neglected, or stuck in the past. Your question about why you aren’t getting love and not being hugged may reflect feelings of emotional abandonment or a lack of warmth, intimacy, and care in your current life. These feelings could have roots in your upbringing or past relationships, with unresolved trauma and the emotional distance you experienced from family members being carried forward into the present.

2. Exploring the Abandoned Home: The place where you used to live and its abandonment symbolize parts of yourself or your past experiences that have been "walled off" or left behind. The appliances, dishes, clothing, and furniture represent the remnants of your former life — things that were once functional and valuable but are now left to decay. This could signify unresolved issues from your past, perhaps related to love or self-worth, that were never fully processed. The collapsing house represents how these unresolved parts of yourself are no longer sustainable and are crumbling under the weight of neglect. It's like the past is no longer a livable place, both emotionally and psychologically, and is threatening your present well-being.

3. Your Mother's Role: Your mother's return and her comment that science brought her back from the dead suggest that you are confronting your relationship with her, perhaps trying to revive or understand aspects of her influence on you. It might also symbolize your desire for healing or resurrection of lost emotional connections. However, the fact that the place starts collapsing while you’re with her could indicate that holding onto the past — particularly unresolved issues with your mother — is destabilizing your present.

4. Collapsing Structure and Leaving: The collapsing structure represents the unsustainability of old emotional foundations. You and your mother leave, which could symbolize your need to move forward and let go of those decaying parts of your past. It may also reflect your healing process, showing that in order to move forward, you need to release these old wounds that can no longer serve as stable ground for you.

5. Themes of Death and Resurrection: The theme of death in the dream, with your mother and other family members, suggests that you are dealing with grief or loss on a deep level. The mention of science bringing her back could symbolize a part of you that is trying to "rationalize" or "fix" these past wounds, but the collapsing house shows that emotional healing requires more than intellectual understanding. It could be that part of your healing journey involves learning to fully process and let go of these old attachments, in order to create space for new forms of love and connection.

In summary, the dream may be pointing to a need to address unresolved feelings about your past, particularly related to love and emotional nourishment. The decaying house reflects that old emotional patterns, especially ones tied to family and childhood, can no longer sustain your present self. Healing might come from accepting and releasing these elements so that new, healthier emotional experiences can enter your life.

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Missy loved me her whole life, from kittenhood to death, completely and unconditionally. She thought I was amazing and could do anything. (Right back at you, kitty cat ❣️) That was enough for me to heal. She gave that to me. I'm so lucky to have known her. I'm grateful to her. Summer 2007 to summer 2024. Beautiful angel with a boundless heart