#10142013

[theroadisopen]

When I started this tumblr it was a way to chronicle a crazy, magical year through the lost and found of life.

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These days I'm back to being a regular gal, no longer on the road unless you count splitting my time between Austin and London. These days adventure is staying in and catching up on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

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I wander still but in my mind. If you're so inclined you can keep up with musings (that I promise to update a bit more faithfully) at Afraid of the Park.

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Hope to see you there.

[agirloftheshire]

Roper, Witch Craze Post-Class

Questions brought up in class: 

What are the emotion rules of the time? For example, anger is a forbidden emotion in 21st century America. What emotions are forbidden to the accused witches? 

Roper discusses emotion of the accused witches and reactions (pgs: 50s-60). She points out that some women would think that their suffering was an imitation of the Passion of Christ.  As pointed out in class, this might be the expected reaction of a truly repenting sinner, because the society of the time thought that pain was good.  

Other women would feel despair and alienation from God, and this was the forbidden reaction for the accused witches because through this despair, they would "reveal themselves" as witches, because witches would have had these moments of doubt or despair that had left them open to the seduction of Satan.  

[margoism]

crossing over with a bang

dear 3something-old me, what a year it was eh? things may not have turned out as you had hoped but still, it was happy as it was sad, hence, not bad. this year, i had complained less and forgiving, if not accepting, of more things and personal events than i had ever had in previous years. after all, things happen for a reason even if it may never reveal itself to you. for people who came and went, i do not see why i should reason with them when it's an "it's you, not me" slap to my face. some people feel like it's an accomplishment to accuse you of wrong doing and drop you cold turkey because it's an egoistic bonus...they were determined to leave you in the first place. it doesn't even have to be a romantic relationship either, as someone once said, to be in my company meant having the stomach to tolerate my "weirdness" (because that's how i roll baby). like a good christian, i even offered my other cheek just to keep things peaceful and assure myself it was what they wanted. i did not see it as something shameful, it was simply me being understanding. it rained lemons and lemons are a good source of vitamin c...therefore, i quite immune to any feelings of "being sorry for myself." to be metaphorically "slapped" like that is good, it saved me from having to feel inadequate if it dragged on. my response to one of them, who had posed a question to me upon confrontation, here is my updated reply: no, i do value myself highly and that is why i maintained my distance. it is not my place to force myself in your company if you had described me, in my face, as a disappointment. i know you are not a bad person but i will not accept to be thought of lowly because i was just being human. it would be pathetic of me to try to convince you otherwise. in all respect to you and your really great and wonderful friends whom i could not measure up to, i thank you for the company we had shared, the things i have happily learned from your point of view of the world, and the truth that i am just not good enough to be your so-called friend. your last message to me, some reason to justify why things went south, was not enough to convince me that it was simply "a misunderstanding due to a system glitch" - had you wanted to, you would have initiated a warm invitation prior to having learned about my attempt to reach out to you (my other cheek) and not a cold, "it's you not me" response. while i recognized your initial reaction as an emotional one, the next one was just too much for me to swallow - sure, you just had to rub it on my face because it had to be my fault to ensure that you do not slip from your high and moral horse. i guess, for some of my friends (past and present) i simply exist to be their pseudo something (depending on the moment of their lives) just because i do not seem to mind or that i adapt to their oddities. as it warrants an equal measure of sorry-ness, here i am, including you in my year end note just to unload (right, the internet may seem like the world but i believe that nobody really cares anyway and i embody the shit called "why should i be so conscious of what other people say") a piece of my mind (which i am sure you won't mind since you embody the "if it is not important to me, i don't care") so i may crossover to another year of my life without needing to make mention of it again. also, it is because this is how much i had valued you, i needed to talk about you. i am not complaining, i am just sharing a life experience no one else had to go through. remember that when people let go of you, you did not settle for less...that is how they thought of you as they walked away. whatever good, joy, or happiness you gave them all went down the drain because the truth is, they were simply looking for a good opportunity to run you over because you are no longer useful to them and your company had transformed into a burden. if accepting another person for who they are is considered as "settling," the only real thing about human relationships is that it must be superficial to so-called work. so yeah, whatever, i forgot that for some people, people fall under categories, which, is not bad in itself as true, you choose the company you keep and if one strongly believes in being secretive, don't be angry if you were misunderstood. the people around you are clueless of what you value and usually the "normal" is "abnormal" only to you. well, that was long. it had taken me this long to understand how that worked and sure, thank you. secretive people may be cool company but in the end, they get back at you for something they lack to tell you in the first place. i may not have a lot of friends and not exactly being choosey (as to whom i hang out with) may have been my weakness but that is just me having faith in humanity. i am sorry if i might sound like some old bat about to get a year older but that's the point, never be afraid to be who you are because being another person's expectation is a sadder life, it makes you look forward to be yourself alone, defeating the purpose of "friendship." if, in the previous year, had me lose a lot of material things (due to theft), this ending one saw the end of relationships wherein i had never mattered. i do not deny it had saddened me at first but i could not let it keep me from being happy, appreciative, and carrying on. thanks to a lot of other friends to whom i at least have value + "vitamin c" = coping was tolerable. for any suffering it may have me feeling every now and then, it is because it is still a loss for me (they are free to gloat about it because they are entitled to it as the doer) and i am human. mind you, it is not about being sorry for myself, it is more about having to realize that it is not easy to be understood when you are socially awkward with some eccentricities. but i'll get over it, to the point of repression. by that time, the mud had settled and that is when i can truly smile back at the good times shared. sue me for being human. so farewell in a few for the year it was, you taught me well. love, marJ

[deinabethanymananghayalaggui]

Jump side kick fail!! Laughtrip! #muaythai #10142013

[bach-que-mai]

cuộc sống...

   Chẳng biết là mình đã chịu đựng qúa nhiều hay chỉ đơn giản rằng cuộc sống có đôi lúc phải dzậy!

[agirloftheshire]

Witch Craze

Roper’s Witch Craze gives historical context to the witch hunts in Germany.  The Peace of Augsburg changed the religious landscape of the Holy Roman Empire, declaring that the religion of the prince is the religion of the land.  This treaty caused the territories to be religiously divided, with a Protestant majority, and a Catholic minority.  When a new ruler took over a territory, the religion of the land would change based on the religion of the reigning prince or bishop.  This caused a religious and spiritual anxiety for those living in the German territories.  The witch craze took off as the Counter-Reformation, and the second generation of Protestants came to power.  The confusion and anxiety caused by these religious changes in the territories perfectly sets up the context for the hysterical witch craze in Germany.

What is it about a public, spoken allegation that makes suspicions of witchcraft official? Communities can have unspoken suspicions about people, mutter to themselves about the spells and hexes that person might be casting, but it only becomes official, and the subject of a witch hunt once a public accusation has been made.  What does this say about the power of the spoken word in the baroque period?

While reading Roper’s Witch Craze, the question of why women were the majority of the accused is partially answered by the ideas that the witch craze was influenced by.  For example, women were thought to be lustful, yet idealized in the image of Mary (25). This ideology sets up a no-win scenario for women in the baroque period, as there is a pressure for fertility and childbirth, yet an anxiety that women were easily influenced by the seduction of the devil.  In this context, unmarried women could pose a threat to the ideology of the society, as they live outside the accepted marriage and childbirth lifestyle.  Older women often care for children, and for the sick, so why would they be the subject of witch hunts? The baroque period’s focus on fertility and childbirth helps explain the reason for the stereotypical witch.

Witchcraft seems to have been thought of as something that could be inherited.  Ursula Gotz’s mother had been accused, thus, “witchcraft ran in her blood” (5).  Evidence for familial witchcraft and magic practice can be seen as many of the men who were accused of witchcraft were related to women who had been accused and tried as witches.  These men were thought to have been influenced by their female relatives, but perhaps it was also thought to run in their blood.

In spite of the torture and horrible deaths that were an integral part of the witch hunt, witch hunters’ accounts suggest that they had a certain level of sympathy for these accused witches.  Women were thought to be easily influenced by the devil, prone to “the fall.”  Sex with the devil was an integral part of witchcraft in the trial process.  Sex with the devil could suggest a marital contract, and in the baroque period, sex and marriage were largely about possession. This element of possession to sex and marriage demonstrates the importance of sex with the devil in witchcraft, as exorcism was traditionally a part of the trial.  Fertility became the central force of the witch hunts, which can be seen through the cannibalism craze in Nordlingen. 

Thirty five women were accused of cannibalistic witchcraft, of killing infants and serving them at a feast (69).  Roper suggests that this diabolical cannibalistic act is tied to the communion, and ideas about the desecration of the host, and Jewish ritual-murder.  Cannibalism in witchcraft’s rise also be connected to the European ideas about the New World  In the case of Barbara Lierheimer, in order to make consumption of infants possible, the bodies of infants would have had to been thought of as like a saint’s, as saints bodies did not decay (70).

Roper’s work demonstrates the importance of fertility in the witch craze of the baroque period, and the social and religious context for the witch hunts in the Holy Roman Empire.  Fertility’s importance also explains the reasoning behind the stereotypical witch: the crone.  Older, widowed women were outside of the fertility cycle that marriage and childbirth represented.