Jassy! @milkteaandlavander - Tumblr Blog

I love him, and that’s the beginning and end of everything.

On This Day in Cryptid History

March 11th: In 1995, eight sheep were found dead in Orocovis, Puerto Rico, completely drained of blood and with strange marks in its chest. These deaths were credited as the first victims of the infamous Chupacabra, which would allegedly claim over 150 animals in the months to come.

curiousmiscellanies-blog

curious miscellanies

source unknow

ryebreadgf

I am 24 years old and I feel ancient and I think I need to revamp my skincare routine so I will be easier to love by men who don’t see women as people, but on some Thursdays when nobody is, miraculously, trying to sell me something, not even myself, I manage to forget I am supposed to strive for something and green is just green and light is just light and I am just me and I am not thinking about aging or marriage or children or influencer yoga pants or the world ending in the hands of men who have never stopped, not even once, to look at, out of the sheer heartbreak of it, the beauty of something they cannot own or sell or advertise, and anyway I said I’m not thinking about it so I’m not thinking about it, and I need to tell you that today it rained and then the sun was out and then it rained again and I felt something I haven’t felt since I was seven, and tomorrow I will get angry again but today it is a Thursday and on Thursdays like this I refuse to give the cruelty of the world a chance to reach me, because on Thursdays like this everything green is just green and the summer is creeping in underneath the doorframe, inch by inch

reggiemess

People who ‘love nature’ but violently hate their native coyotes, spiders, snakes, and scavengers are fake.

reggiemess

Here’s the thing about the post. You don’t have to love or even like every animal. You can dislike things! Humane, intelligent pest control is fine and necessary. This isn’t the issue and never has been.

It’s violent, blind hatred and hypocrisy that’s the problem. People who gush over foxes and owls and hawks but want coyotes and snakes dead in the next breath. People who will rescue prey from predators because predation is mean. People who find it appropriate to leave sadistic comments on pictures of spiders or snakes someone is appreciating or owns. People who insist on labeling species as ‘good’ or ‘evil’. This is the sort of behavior that bothers me.

People who only appreciate nature when it’s aesthetically pleasing to them and want to destroy the parts they find ugly and unpleasant don’t truly understand or love it. They love an ideal that isn’t actually representative of reality.

bogleech

I’ve reblogged this before and even added more to it but this time I just want to say that each and every last person who ever added to this post with an “OH YEAH BUT WHAT ABOUT-” kind of response is hereby waking up tomorrow as that exact animal, sorry

nightmarefueler

I understand how messed up it is to want to fuck with the balance of nature just because it doesn’t line up with your subjective morality. I know it’s self-righteous to want to ruin people’s appreciation of certain creatures to make you feel better about yourself…

But are we forgetting the fact that coyotes endanger livestock that people need to survive? Or that snakes and spiders are often venomous and can outright kill you? That’s nothing to say of mosquitoes which are notorious transmitters of diseases like Lyme disease and zika, or bears who deem anything they want their territory and could brutally murder anyone who tries to confront them, or giant hogweed that will cause severe blistering and blindness if you come in contact with it or its sap, among so many other dangerous things.

It’s one thing to observe, study, and respect nature for what it’s worth, but it’s another thing entirely to actually deal with it yourself. Generally, people would absolutely not want most of these things in their house or in their body, and for good reason.

reggiemess

No, I’m not forgetting that nature can be dangerous. Sometimes animals or plants are a problem. Giant hogweed? That’s a nasty invasive in the US and should be removed as much as possible. That said, a lot of issues with wildlife can be avoided with some personal responsibility- back off if an animal throws you a warning, don’t feed wildlife (which includes leaving small pets outside), etc. Lethal removal of problem individuals is also sometimes needed and does frequently stop issues on a local level.

While just saying ‘this is a danger’ without further explanation of why or to what degree can be an acceptable way to deter people from taking unnecessary risks, this can have negative consequences when dealing with wildlife. Creating a negative perception of an animal can lead to overzealous killing and actually create unsafe interactions like seeking out the animals in question to harass or kill them. At the same time, you don’t want people to feel comfortable getting close to wildlife. Getting across that even though an animal CAN be dangerous it’s existence is NOT is a delicate line to walk.

From the USDA’s most recently published reports 5.5% of cattle deaths and 39% of sheep deaths were attributed to predation. These numbers are actually likely to be higher than reality. It’s difficult to get accurate counts of predation because if someone is around to see a predator near livestock, they are likely to prevent an incident. Most reports come from finding a carcass after the animal has died and been partially eaten and assumptions made for animals that have gone missing. While it might be a natural and understandable conclusion that a partially eaten carcass was killed by a predator, it isn’t always true.

Overly aggressive population control methods for canids can backfire. Reducing the coyote population density seems to correlate with increasing the size of litters. Reducing the coyote population also increases the populations of rabbits and rodents (this possibly explains the increase in litter size).

Indiscriminate killing of coyotes doesn’t have a high correlation with reducing predation on sheep. The correlation that does exist is timed in a way that suggests that increased killing of coyotes is corrective- basically, more lambs were killed so there was more effort to kill coyotes.

Most species of snake are not venomous and not dangerous to humans at all. In the US we have around five snake bite deaths per year and that is out of about 8000 bites. Several of those deaths (9/23 from 2010-2018) involve complicating factors such as allergic reactions, existing disease, and avoiding treatment.

@bogleech has written and sourced pretty extensively and repeatedly about spiders here. I don’t need to add to that.

Fatal bear attacks similarly are rare, even with conflicting information and odd ‘common knowledge’ on how to survive bear attacks. Granted, this likely has a lot to do with low incidence of bear encounters in general. I also wouldn’t discount the fact that bears are large enough to be too intimidating to mess with (really, how many people who would try to kill a rattlesnake with a stick would attempt the same on a grizzly?) and how widespread some form of bear safety knowledge is.

Disease vector control is of course a necessity and is done on a case-by-case basis. It should be noted though that eradication of mosquito-carried diseases has be accomplished before- malaria in the US and Europe. Obviously we still have mosquitoes, even though the efforts did involve pesticides and removing sites where they could breed. Total parasite extinction isn’t required to control or even eliminate a disease.

Does knowing any of this make someone who has been hurt by wildlife feel better? …Yeah, probably not. I’d guess it has the opposite effect more often. Not to sound cold, but that shouldn’t be the deciding factor in how a species is treated in policy and public education. That needs to be decided by evidence on what works best for both people and wildlife.

funnytwittertweets

theyovngveins

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alrie Saenz// The Raven King - Maggie Stiefvater// The Beartice Letters - Lemony Snickett// The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller// I Will - Mitski

moniabadir

humortexts

fred-art-95

Professors - A minimum of restraint!

the-ethereal-serpent

🧚🏻‍♀️Protection From The Fae🧚🏻‍♀️

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Iron

Iron in any form or shape has always been considered the very best protection against fae – in almost all legends, the metal is like kryptonite to Superman. If you kept an iron nail in your pocket, you couldn’t be carried away by them. Sometimes iron nails were sewn into the hems of children’s clothing for that reason. A pair of iron shears hung on the wall near a baby’s bed was said to prevent the child from being swapped for an ugly fae baby.

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Steel

Steel is also effective against the faeries because it is created from processed iron. If a faery is cut by a steel or iron blade, the wound will not heal or will take a very long time. In some stories, the Fae is slowly poisoned by such a wound. Steel or iron weapons are among the few things that can actually kill a Fae being.

However, unless it was plainly self-defense (and sometimes even that wouldn’t help your case), you could expect the rest of the faeries to exact a terrible retribution!

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Horseshoes

You can put one above the main entrance of your house and it will help protect the entire home. For added protection, put iron near any opening a person could go through. If you have large windows, you may want to place some nails near it to make a barrier. You can do the same with your dog’s house to keep the fairies out.

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Bells & Chimes

Bells were also said to have frightened off evil faeries in Medieval Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. Specifically the big, deep-sounding Church bells that would ring to draw the people to Church. So this theory can be applied to your home by hanging deep-toned chimes on your front or back porch or by using deep sounding bells during magickal ritual.

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Food

Traditionally, bread and salt provided protection from the Fae. Carrying yeast-risen bread with you had a two-fold effect. It would repel some faeries. Other faeries would accept it as an offering and leave you alone.

My gramma taught me a Welsh tradition of leaving a saucer of milk and a slice of bread or some bread crusts on the back porch as an offering to the faeries, so they wouldn’t play pranks on the family or trouble the livestock. Sometimes, if you were seeking the faeries’ aid, you might add berries, honey, or cheese.

Even humble oatmeal was believed to be a fairy repellent. You could carry a handful of dry oatmeal in your pocket or sprinkle it on your clothes. As long as you didn’t mind looking flaky, you’d be safe.

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Salt

Salt’s association with purity made it an excellent tool against otherworldly beings. Spreading salt across the threshold and along the windowsills has long been the primary method of keeping faeries, demons, and spirits out of houses. If you had to carry food to the farmhands in the fields, sprinkling it with salt was said to keep the faeries from taking it – or from extracting the nourishment from it unseen!

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Offerings

Leave a pail of fresh milk, butter, or cream outside of your front door on the eight holy days to appease the fae and keep them from wreaking havoc on garden and home. Leaving faery offerings and libations dates back hundreds of years, and if you have any Celtic ancestors, you probably have ancestors who partook in this tradition. Some people in Europe still do! This is a preventative method of protection from trickster and evil fairies. Make them happy at the back door so they don’t intrude.

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Plants

Historically, garlands were often made of marsh marigolds and hung over the barn doors to protect the horses from being ridden to exhaustion by faeries in the night. Flowers, especially primroses, were spread over windowsills and hung above the door-posts of the house for safety. Your best bet, however, was a plant called St. John’s Wort. Wearing it was said to provide strong protection from fairy magic and mischief.

Fairies could vanish at will and remain invisible to mortal eyes for as long as they pleased. Carrying a four-leafed clover would allow you to see the faeries – but only once. A Celtic tradition was to sew several of the clovers into a tiny bag to be worn around the neck. You could then discern the faeries once for each clover in the bag. In some legends, the clover was said to allow you to see through fairy glamors and magical disguises.

Red berries were believed to keep fae at bay, especially if they were from rowan trees, mountain ash or holly. So did red verbena (a flower). Daisies were often tucked into children’s pockets or woven into fanciful chains to wear around their necks to prevent them from being taken away by the fae. And if you were walking through the woods, it was best to carry a walking stick or staff made of ash or rowan wood.

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Protection Charm

At this season, the Winter Court is in rule and you will want to look out for malicious, harmful beings in your interactions with the fae. You can make yourself a protection charm using:

St. John’s Wort

Sea Salt

Lemon Zest

Rosemary

Eggshells

An Iron Nail

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Ancestral & Deity Protection

One of the MOST effective forms of protection against evil faeries (and other spirits in general) is to invite your ancestors and gods into your home. Once your guides and guardians take up residence in your home, they do most of the work of keeping out negative forces like evil fairies and the like. In fact, my ancestors are SO good at protection, I have to ask their permission to allow any other spirits inside the home!

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Faery Box

Decorate a small box by painting it and gluing on glitter or plastic gems. Inside place leaves, pinecones, crystals, and plants. Add a piece of felt or fleece in the centre as a soft bed you can add essential oil to. Draw a sigil on it that will protect you from harmful fae. At night, light a fake candle by the box, and leave out some food.

Make sure to protect yourself from negative influence. Then invite those of good intention to see the place you’ve prepared for them to rest in, and stay with you through the night if they wish to. Leave the candle on, as long as it’s a fake one, and then go to bed.

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The Circle Of Light

Another effective yet simple technique of faery protection consists of using one’s mind and energy. If you are used to using visualization in your meditations, rituals, and spells, this method of fae protection should be familiar to you. It’s what I like to call the Circle of Light.

You can do this visualization exercise any time of the day, any day of the week and as often as you’d like. For me particularly, I do it every night as I’m lying in bed and before I go to sleep to continue to build the circle’s strength around my home

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Running Water

Fae folk are unable to cross streams and rivers, so in any pursuit leaping from bank to bank will be a sure escape for the hunted human. Water courses running south are said to be especially efficacious.

Oddly, nevertheless, fae seem to have no objection to still water. They actively seek it out for washing themselves and they are from time to time associated with wells. For example John Rhys in Celtic folklore (1901, p.147 & chapter 6) notes the existence of several ‘faery wells’ in Wales which demanded attention from local people, in the absence of which they would overflow or flood.

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Hag Stones

According to John Aubrey, if a person could locate stones through which natural erosion had created a hole, they could protect their horses from night-riding by fae by hanging the stones over each horse’s manger in the stables- or by tying the stone to the stable key. The fairies would not then be able to pass underneath.

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Sources : http://aminoapps.com/p/4sn2it

cunninggreeneraven

Using Dirt/Soil in Magic Spells

You don’t always have to use Graveyard Dirt. You can use others. Here’s a small list: Bank or Financial Institution: Collect and use this dirt to bring money into your hands or to receive payment of a long overdue debt. Church: Use this dirt for anything even remotely involving legal matters. This could include contracts, court cases, general justice, and even money that’s owed to you. If your intent would benefit from the discerning eye of the law, this is the dirt you need. Educational Facility: Whether it comes from a school yard or a college campus, this dirt is excellent for efforts involving knowledge acquisition and retention. It can also be used effectively in magic to induce study. Enemy’s Home: Granted, gathering this dirt is a bit trickier and may involve some skulking around to collect. But there’s no better way to cut your enemy off at the knees than to use dirt from his own home against him. Just an aside, though: Unless you want to cause possible harm to everyone living on that property, be very careful how you word the related spell. (i.e. in the spell state that only your target is going to get hit with the spell and no one else) Home: Gather this dirt to protect all the occupants of your home and guarantee their safe return. The best way to accomplish this is to sprinkle a bit in every pair of shoes in the house. To ensure that someone else visits you again, sprinkle a bit in his or her shoes. Hospital, Clinic, or Doctor’s Office: Gather dirt from any of these locations for efforts that involve healing. There are a couple of things you should keep in mind, though. First, no magic in the world is a substitute for medical care or prescription medications. And Second, be certain that healing is exactly what you’ve got in mind when you add this dirt to magic, especially if a serious illness is involved and death is a possibility for the recipient. WHY? Because healing and staying alive are two entirely different things. And death is often the best way to heal someone. Garden or Flower Shop: Often used in love spells, this dirt has the tendency to make love sprout and grow roots, bud and blossom. Unless you’re playing for keeps, though, its inadvisable to add this dirt to your magic. Jail: Use this dirt to keep the police away from your door, especially if you’re prone to trouble with them. To make yourself invisible to the police and perhaps, cause them to overlook a bench warrant, add a piece of hematite to the dirt. Shopping Centre or Mall: These areas are always busy, employ many people, and have a reputation for attracting large amounts of cash. For this reason, there’s nothing better than this type of dirt when used in efforts to obtain gainful employment or increase your cash flow. Police Station: Dirt from this area is often collected and sprinkled along the baseboards of the home and along the edges of its structure to keep the family safe from harm. It’s not a good idea to use this dirt if you’re involved in any sort of illegal activity, though, as it could bring the police straight to your door. Workplace: There are lots of uses for this sort of dirt. It works wonders when included in efforts for getting a promotion or raise. But that’s not all. It can also be used to foil a co-worker or for figuratively getting the dirt on the company, itself.

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