shed all you are, instar.

Fran. 29. She/her/hers. Chicago, IL.Neither a Roman Catholic nor a poet—only a thief and an alchemist who believes. Following from blossomingink.

[opencommunion]

Duane Michael, Christ in New York, 1981. "Christ cries when he sees a young woman who has died during an illegal abortion," "Christ eats dog food with an old Ukrainian lady in Brooklyn," and "Christ is beaten defending a homosexual."

[iamhavingsomuchfun]

catastrophe is next to godliness by franny choi

[luz-de-luz]

I strongly suspect that the close friend who wreaked havoc on my life for years was, in fact, subjecting me to n*rcissistic abuse. I've had four therapists since 2017: I moved away from the city in which I was seeing the first, the second experienced a loss in her family and stopped seeing clients, I fired the third after a terrible administrative / billing blunder, and now I have a fourth. And only the first suggested that my experience with this friend might have involved n*rcissistic abuse. The others have shrugged when I've asked about it or dismissed it outright as not being helpful to my healing.

Speaking candidly, I feel like I'm being gaslit by my own unfounded suspicions, which no one else will validate because I'm just nuts--or perhaps I'm not adequately conveying to my therapist(s) the specific details, the depths, of the emotional harm I sustained at this person's hands. The erosion and eventual bulldozing of my boundaries, the self-professed lack of empathy, the obsession with appearances, the incessant self-centering, the discombobulation of my self-esteem and identity, the visceral, anxious response I have to things that remind me of this person... In some ways, this friendship damaged me in ways that even my eleven-year relationship with an abuser failed to do. I got away from that abuser. But this person still gets under my skin, years after I last spoke to them.

I don't wish they were dead. But I wish I'd never met them at all.

[ultraviolet-techno-ecology]

Every corporation that puts “please recycle” on their plastic package is a corporation that is actively choosing to use plastic despite acknowledging the environmentally damaging consequences. 

[ultraviolet-techno-ecology]

Plastic is not in fact the default material of reality.

[sex-death-rebirth]

The first chapter of Genesis written on an egg

[goobra]

my unpopular opinion is that i hate tiktok because now people just publicly watch loud ass videos in public spaces with no regard for anyone else. 100% it was not this bad with youtube, it’s such a different thing with tiktok. put on headphones. you are grown.

[fairypage01-deactivated20221018]

Girl……

[byjoveimbeinghumble]

This is it! This is what social media/smart tech have done! They’ve rotted away any distinction between private and public.

Yes, we do have the right to make demands on public behavior. Of course we do. Have you never heard of laws and etiquette? I’m not allowed to grocery shop naked. You can’t rummage through my purse. I can’t have a work meeting in the middle of a movie theatre.

I remember when it was taboo simply to answer your cell phone in public. The person answering would apologize and try to go to a more private area. Then public calls were normalized. Then putting people on speaker. Then listening to music without headphones. Do you know how many times I have hiked up a mountain or driven to the beach, only to be met with someone blaring shitty top 40 music from their portable speaker, because Heaven forbid you go one hour without noise?

Old woman yells at cloud and all that, but I can’t believe someone is not only admitting this behavior, but saying it’s a good thing! No one likes you! You’re a menace!

[renthony]

I have known atheists who genuinely believe vaccines cause autism, tout the benefits of essential oils, and replaced a Christian fear of the Devil with a fear of "chemicals."

I know religious people who work in healthcare and STEM, do regular labwork, author scientific papers, and speak at universities as experts in their field.

Equating atheism with "science" and religion with "anti-science" is inaccurate, bigoted, and shows ignorance about religion outside (typically American) fundamentalist Protestantism.

[kuutamosonaatti]

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) | dir. Céline Sciamma

[ijaazat]

im a milf… mentally ill & lord’s favourite 

[coldfruits]

Tracey Emin

[heavensickness]

Shame is the Shadow of Love

Claire Schwartz, Bound

Pj Harvey, "Shame"

Richard Siken, "Little Beast"

Fanny Howe, Second Childhood: Poems

[the-real-numbers-deactivated202]

You already know the rabbit hole we goin down Tonite

[the-real-numbers-deactivated202]

Bread spectrum

[firstfullmoon]

was listening to an excerpt from a toni morrison interview with the paris review and had to pause and take a breath because she said “I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don’t think it’s a privilege or an indulgence, it’s not even a quest. I think it’s almost like knowledge, which is to say, it’s what we were born for. I think finding, incorporating and then representing beauty is what humans do. With or without authorities telling us what it is, I think it would exist in any case. The startle and the wonder of being in this place. This overwhelming beauty—some of it is natural, some of it is man-made, some of it is casual, some of it is a mere glance—is an absolute necessity. I don’t think we can do without it anymore than we can do without dreams or oxygen.”

[apenitentialprayer]

So, as a reminder, November is dedicated to the Souls of the Holy Dead; traditionally, the Octave of All Souls (first eight days of November) are special in that you can get one plenary indulgence for a soul in Purgatory every day during this time simply by visiting a grave and praying over it (assuming you are in a state of grace and receive the Eucharist within a week before or after each individual visitation). Now, last year Pope Francis extended this opportunity to the entire month of November due to a desire to spread this out a little; so the churches wouldn’t be packed in the middle of the pandemic as people tried to get the indulgences. I am not sure if this is still in effect, even with the ongoing pandemic. But! Regardless, the rest of the month is supposed to be a special time of meditation on death and working as midwives to release souls from the process of Purgatory. So visiting cemeteries, praying for the dead, and splashing holy water on graves throughout the month is encouraged. I basically say the above every year, but here’s another, new suggestion; I don’t know if this is a global phenomenon, but all the Catholic cemeteries in my region also have shrines scattered about in them. November might be a good time to cultivate a relationship with the saints who have been entrusted the protection of the souls of those now interred in the cemetery; consider trying a novena to that saint on behalf of the dead, of planning a mini-pilgrimage to one of the shrines on a given Sunday, maybe spend the month doing a litany to each saint enshrined in your local cemetery. Especially during the Octave of the Holy Dead, but throughout this month in general, this is a time where the three states of the Church (those on earth, in Purgatory, and in Heaven) feel very deeply connected. Let’s take advantage of that.

[missouriangothic]

Trad nationalist dudes be like "HONOR YOUR ANCESTORS" and then disrespect their mothers...... wyd

[jazinedraws]

It is still a balance of trying to let go and not be rigid despite knowing this. I am not expecting to reach perfection, but just getting through every day,  a day at a time, and knowing that bending is okay. 

[beguines]

I learn to say I'm interested in religion instead of I'm desperate to feel close to God. I explain, I'm attracted to ritual instead of I know something transcendent happens when I pray a Hail Mary; I can actually feel the air heat up around me.

Molly McCully Brown, "Bent Body, Lamb"