Gnosis and Theosis

Half thoughts and ramblings of a heterodox Christian

[gnosisandtheosis]

I wanted to throw together a bit of an intro before I start using this blog properly.

45/Enby/Australia. I've been a member of a Gnostic Christian church for almost 15 years now. I'm a seminary dropout (though that door may reopen again one day). My interests are primarily in the mystical and contemplative aspects of Christianity.

I enjoy exploring both orthodox and heterdox Christian traditions, so I'm as likely to be inspired by the Philokalia as I am the Nag Hammadi Library. My church is open canon so we are free to explore what we find spiritually edifying so you can expect some references to other faiths here.

This blog will mainly be me reblogging stuff I like, and occasionally using it as a place to ramble my hot and tepid takes, and my half thoughts. I just want to explore what it means to live a life in connection with the Divine and how that translates into a life following Christ's commandment to love one another ass He has loved us.

Reblogs and asks are welcome.

Things I'm not interested in discussing however: 1. What is or isn't heresy. Everyone is a heretic to someone 2. The existence vs non-existence of God(s). The atheism vs theism debate is just painfully dull

Not sure if anyone will end up following me but if you do I hope my posts aren't too painful to read.

[thehmn]

Foxes disguised as monks. On the left from Japan and on the right from Denmark.

[crabs-and-bedbugs]

It was a global problem

[archiveroll]

“Dymphna and Saint Lucy” by Goswin van der Weyden (1505)

[divorcedwife]

💀💀💀 saw three very fashionable guys in what looked like dark, goth, androgynous fashion. i assumed they were fashion students, the kind who mixes issey miyake and thrift store finds and handmade pieces. that’s right, they were actually young catholic priests

[chernobyl2]

[patrickrennie]

@apocrypals

[akashicrecord]

the lesbian computer from portal was right. given the circumstances ive been shockingly nice

[ivy-connivy]

insane like/reblog parity on this post btw

[baskinginthenoondaysun]

“Whenever this appears on your dash, we at Aperture request that you like AND reblog to preserve the insane like/reblog parity. For science.”

[belltothethirdpower]

[gnosisandtheosis]

[weepingchoir]

it’s really funny that “tradcath” means the exact opposite of what you’d expect etymologically speaking

[weepingchoir]

A “traditional Catholic” is any randomly generated Mexican that has attended Sunday mass and thoughtlessly agreed with papal writ their entire life. A “tradcath” is a United States Protestant

[sailermoon]

james baldwin was so right when he said “the children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”

[heartbeatsallah]

إذا أرهقتكَ همومُ الحياةِ

ومسَّكَ مِنها عظيمُ الضرر

If the worries of life have exhausted you,

And its profound hardships have touched your soul.

وذُقت الأمرينِ حتى بكيت

وضجَّ فؤادُك حتى انفَجر

And you have tasted bitterness until you wept,

And your heart cried out until it burst.

فَيَمِم إلى اللهِ في لَهفةٍ

وبُثْ الشكاةِ لربِّ البَشر

Then turn to Allah in deep longing,

And pour out your grief to the Lord of mankind.

[janepaulina]

"Atom-bombed Mary", also known as Our Lady of Nagasaki.

It is a part of a wooden statue of Mother Mary that survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945. It was found in the ruins of Urakami Cathedral.

[a-queer-seminarian]

I'm interested in recording conversations with non-monogamous / polyamorous people of faith that can help showcase:

how many of us there are!

connections between non-monogamy and the divine

gifts and wisdom we can bring to our faith communities (and beyond)

struggles we face within faith communities and broader society

ways faith communities have worked to embrace their non-monogamous members

the diversity of our thoughts and experiences

If you are polyamorous/non-monogamous and engage in any religion / practice spirituality (or have left religion due to anti-polyamory views or actions), hit me up! If you're unsure you qualify, chances are you do.

I'm aiming for most conversations to go into a YouTube video series, but we can also do audio-only or even text-only to accommodate everyone and protect anonymity where needed.

I'd also love for many of the conversations to involve multiple people of the same polycule, but one-on-one also works!

[woodenrosary]

Tradcaths and orthobros should kiss eachother

[woodenrosary]

God make me more faithful and more queer. Amen.

[gendercensus]

The 2026 Gender Census is now open!

[ survey.gendercensus.com ]

The 13th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is now open until 13th August 2026.

It’s short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.

After the survey is closed I’ll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like we’re part of a huge and diverse community.

If you think you might have friends and followers who’d be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!

Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com

The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesn’t fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.

Thank you so much!

[ Link to survey ]

[gnosisandtheosis]

Today has been weird. After this morning's trans right march I got into arguments with multiple people in one thread on Reddit about whether being queer is compatible with Islam and whether Muslims support queer folk or want to kill us (throwing off roofs was predictably mentioned). Notably this was non-Muslims I was arguing with.

Then this afternoon Instagram served me a sponsored ad for a forthcoming app for Muslim reverts, which is at least partially AI. I commented on the app "You lost me at AI", which apparently triggered the creator of the app. She stated that the app "Tarjumah is designed for reverts, children and anyone learning the Arabic text" and then made a snarky comment about my pronouns before blocking me. After about half an hour she unblocked me to comment offering to send me a copy of the Qur'an.

[maeril]

Hi everyone! This is an illustrated guide I made as part of my co-admining work at The Middle Eastern Feminist on Facebook! It will be published there shortly.  The technique that is displayed here is a genuine one used in psychology - I forgot the name and couldn’t find it again so if you know about it, feel free to tell me! Some could say: “Yes but you can use that technique for instances of harassment other than Islamophobic attacks!”, and my reply is: Sure! Please do so, it also works for other “types” of harassment of a lone person in a public space!! However I’m focusing on protecting Muslims here, as they have been very specific targets lately, and as a French Middle Eastern woman, I wanted to try and do something to raise awareness on how to help when such things happen before our eyes - that way one cannot say they “didn’t know what to do”!  I’d like to insist on two things: 1) Do not, in any way, interact with the attacker. You must absolutely ignore them and focus entirely on the person being attacked! 2) Please make sure to always respect the wishes of the person you’re helping: whether they want you to leave quickly afterwards, or not! If you’re in a hurry escort them to a place where someone else can take over - call one of their friends, or one of yours, of if they want to, the police. It all depends on how they feel! For my fellow French-speakers: I will translate it in French and post it on my page as soon as I can :) Please don’t hesitate to share this guide as it could push a lot of people to overcome bystander syndrome!! Lots of love and stay safe! PS: I you repost this cartoon of mine on twitter or instagram, please add me in the post so I can see it, with @itsmaeril :)

[cognitiveinequality]

An important reminder today, and every day.

[cucheallaigh]

This is based off of the Non-Complementary technique in psychology - also known as ‘flipping the script’.

It is a legitimate tactic for defusing a situation that could otherwise escalate to become quite nasty.

Kindness as self-defence – the power of ‘non-complementary behaviour’ | Aeon Videos

People instinctively reciprocate anger with anger and kindness with kindness, but what happens when someone breaks this ‘complementary be

[analog-knight]

Teachers using gen ai to come up with assignments, students using gen ai to complete said assignments. Everyone's offloaded their critical thinking to the computah.

[mindofserenity]

— Surah al-Ma'un (Small Kindnesses), 107th surah of the Holy Quran