#genii loci

[thesorceresstemple]

[a-personiftranslator-moved]

vague person-if oc lineup

(greater) new adriac-thymia: used to be my self insert but then i accidentally made em island belgium (complete with the government deadlock). e’s nominally sovereign but also one of tirmu’s freely associated states so they handle a lot of admin functions that NAT should but can’t because of the executive dysfunction, which is a situation neither of them is very happy with but they can’t think of an alternative. highly ritualistic culture. binders are a part of women’s clothing (this is blatantly because i want a binder) though i haven’t decided how that originated yet

tirmu: i haven’t iterated on them enough to obscure who they’re based on so uh

kalan empire: used to hold a mandate over NAT and is half the reason e’s so reliant on tirmu. descended from violetan settlers to the crossroads region, still noticeably paler than their neighbors hashtag endogamy, violet tried to conquer them multiple times and they are Not on good terms. they have a three gender system the third is krin. the reason they have krin is that they’re so gender segregated otherwise if they didn’t have a group of people who could bridge it they wouldn’t be able to function as a unit. there is also state sponsored prostitution which they got from violet. their name comes from me fucking around with the arabic word for citadel

kingdom of violet: kala’s abusive mom. their upper class clothing is made by weaving a bunch of small squares and sewing them together, they had religious prostitution that secularized in kala, i don’t know much else about them. they probably make violet dye that’s probably how they got their name

jing’an: pre-2016 fort mcmurray if he was a gold rush town and also chinese. fire weather by john vaillant was extremely evocative. what they mine requires machines loud enough to cause deafness and like 1/4 of his exchangees were working close enough to feel the effects so he has a very well known sign language and continues to attract/recruit deaf people for that reason. she has a human girlfriend probably because weiward romance by flavor foley is an EXTREMELY personif song and i have 1 chinese (okay analog chinese) girlcity so id better use her. also environmental destruction. i wrote about him dying in a fire for an english assignment once. they were my country in nationstates before my anxiety caught up with me

fort eto: i misspelled for teto (like the vocaloid) realized it was a decent person-if name and then read king leopold’s ghost so they were a slave trading city along something like the congo who i’ll use as a pov for those events. they’re more culturally similar to the yoruba though. they have 15 siblings who are also all citystates (or used to be citystates)

the guy i reverse translated from splitter girl by weevildoing: don’t have a name for her yet. settler colonial technocratic military dictatorship with a policy of self-sufficiency and international isolation. she gets better

these two guys i made an hour ago as a personif prose test but then got attached to:

cefarel: the colonizer, he’s like a cross between belgium and fascist italy and he’s deeply insecure and stupid

fort uryi: the colony, she’s one of eto’s sisters. she regains independence soon after this. she fights a lot with eto because her exchangees tend to be targets for the slave trade (haven’t decided why)

[lifeinpoetry]

No imagination safe enough from love which swears by a map that leads nowhere.

We could drive ourselves and each other out with it, could wave goodbye or wait—we could never stop waiting.

— Maya C. Popa, from "Genii Loci," Wound Is the Origin of Wonder

[coinandcandle]

Spirits of Place - Genius Loci

Ever since I was young I always felt that the world around me was full of energy, of spirit. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized that what I was feeling exists, and there's a name for it. I’m talking about the spirits of place called Genius Loci.

This is going to be a brief guide to Genius Loci. I’ll put links throughout the post so that you can read more if you’re interested!

What does it mean?

Genius Loci is the term used most often and it is essentially a spirit of a place, often cities or towns but can be anywhere.

The name is Roman, the plural being Genii Loci, and they were sometimes depicted in art as human-like beings holding a cornucopia, a patera (libation bowl) or a snake. There would be altars set up for these Genius Loci all throughout the western Roman Empire.

The idea of a spirit of a place exists in so many cultures. In some places like Thailand there are Lak mueang (Thai: หลักเมือง)--or city pillars erected and often placed in shrines dedicated to the city's deity (or deities).

In other places, like in Southeast Asia, spirit houses are created and placed in or near businesses, shrines, and sometimes houses.

The Romans also had household spirits or deities called Di Penates as well as Lares–guardian spirits/deities.

The term Genius Loci is sometimes used in a more modern way to indicate a nonliteral version of “spirit of a place”, similar to the “vibe” or feel of a certain architecture, design, or environment of the place.

How is it different from Animism?

The short explanation of animism is that everything, animal, plant, object, the ground, etc. has a spirit or spiritual essence. The difference lies in that Genii Loci are the spiritual embodiment of a place, meaning they embody all of its vibes and don't represent only one aspect of it.

How is it different from a Tutelary deity?

As mentioned before, a Genius Loci embodies the place, whereas a Tutelary deity/spirit is the guardian or protector of that place. Tutelary deities/spirits can be Genii Loci and vice versa, but they aren’t always one in the same.

Does every place have one?

Yes! Every place can (and probably does) have a Genius Loci, some places may even have more than one. They may have different names for them depending on the culture and lore they come from, though. If you plan on interacting with them make sure to ask what they prefer to be referred to as. (See Types of Household Deities at the bottom)

How do I interact with them?

First of all: you never have to interact with them if you don’t want to. 

If you would like to interact with them, though, there are a few ways that you can achieve this:

First spend some time with them. Hang out in the area that you'd like to interact with the Genii Loci. Get to know them.

Make sure you're being respectful!

Set up a spirit house or shrine.

Leave offerings out (but make sure they are safe to leave outside and are biodegradable OR that you come retrieve the offerings later) and let them know that it's there for them specifically.

Clean up the area. No one likes when their space is dirty!

Listen. What do you hear? The spirits may just reach out to you after you've shown your willingness to hear what they have to say.

You don't have to literally hear voices, there are several different ways that you can talk with spirits and metaphysical beings. You can use divination methods like tarot, runes, oracle cards, or you can meditate and see if you get any visions/information that come to you.

Also, you don't have to wait for them to reach out, chances are they won't try and contact you first. Feel free to let them know that you'd like to speak with them and that you're open to communicating with them.

Ps: A Genius Loci likely isn't going to tell you to hurt yourself or others. If it seems like the spirit you're speaking to is being very hateful and/or aggressive it's probably best to back off. Even if it is a Genius Loci (a really mad one) you should leave them be if they are being aggressive towards you. Especially if you're pretty new with spirit work.

If you’re interested in this, you may want to check out:

Genius Loci: The Ancient Worship of Spirits of Place or Land Spirits

Animism - The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology

Tutelary Deity - Academic 

Lares and Penates - Encyclopedia.com 

Types of Household Deities by culture (not a complete list)List of Tutelary Deities

Edit: When first posted I wrongly wrote that the plural of Genius Loci was Genius Locorum. Since I have changed it to the true plural form Genii Loci.

Genius Locorum is a spirit that presides over multiple places.

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[frenchwitchdiary]

Genius Loci

Vous arrive-t-il de vous balader quelque part et de ressentir une présence, à travers la contemplation d’un paysage, près d’une source timide ou d’un arbre imposant, ou encore en frôlant les vieux murs d’une bâtisse ?

Le Genius Loci, en latin “l’esprit du lieu”, est un esprit élémentaire qui veille sur un endroit précis du monde physique, en a la garde, voire en est le “propriétaire”. (On peut parfois en parler métaphoriquement pour désigner l’atmosphère particulière d’un lieu.)

Chaque rivière, chaque montagne, chaque arbre, mais aussi chaque village, chaque place et chaque maison était pourvu de son esprit protecteur. Au cours des siècles, ces génies sont tombés peu à peu dans l’oubli.

Katharine Briggs rapporte que les élémentaires disaient souvent à ceux qui les contactaient : “Tout ce qui est à vous est à moi, et tout ce qui est à moi m’appartient.” Ce qui signifie que les élémentaires sont les véritables “propriétaires” de la Terre, les humains n'étant que des locataires passagers. Cela s’explique non seulement par le fait que les humains soient mortels et ont une durée de vie très courte, mais aussi parce que les élémentaires sont les gardiens de la vie, ils expriment la Nature elle-même en tant que principe créateur : ils représentent les forces vives de la Nature, sans eux la Nature ne serait qu’une force mécanique sans âme. 

Les élémentaires sont la résurgence populaire des anciennes croyances du paganisme, notamment celtiques. Mais on retrouve également le genius loci dans la religion de la Rome antique, où il est très présent. Pour les Romains, les génies étaient des êtres surnaturels pouvant habiter à la fois les lieux et les individus. Leur rôle était de protéger les lieux et les personnes qui les fréquentaient.

Autrefois, avant de prendre possession d’un endroit, ou avant de bâtir une construction, d’édifier une ville, etc, on devait passer un contrat ou un pacte avec le genius loci, afin d’éviter de provoquer sa colère en se comportant en envahisseurs. Une offrande était faite à l’esprit, sacrifice humain, animal, offrande rituelle et symbolique... Cette offrande a survécu dans les traditions populaires sous la forme de la nourriture que l’on donne au génie familier en échange de ses services. (Si vous avez grandi à la campagne, vous connaissez peut-être cette vieille tradition).

Les genii loci - oui, c’est comme ça qu’on dit au pluriel - ont plusieurs “formes” de prédilection : “lutin”, fée, esprit, monstre, dragon ou vouivre... 

Dans une maison, on peut aussi parler de Genius Domi (l’esprit du foyer).

Pour clore sur une petite anecdote personnelle, il se trouve que mon ancien appartement (situé dans le centre historique de la ville d’Albi) avait un très fort genius domi. Vraiment très présent, j’ai rarement ressenti et observé des phénomènes de la sorte. D’ailleurs, je pouvais sentir quand l’esprit du lieu était mécontent ou satisfait (pensez à leur parler poliment, ne les ignorez pas !). Si vous passez dans cette ville d’Occitanie, allez donc vous promener à l’Echappée verte, on y trouve aussi des esprits très actifs au bord de la rivière. ;)

[foolmarquis]

This was discussed very briefly in the discord server I’m a part of, but I realized that people outside of it might not be aware of the detail either, and wish to know.

I’ve seen the plural of genius loci spelled a few ways, but the correct version is genii locorum for spirits of places. You could use genius locorum for a spirit of a multiple places or genii loci for the many spirits of one specific place, but as an overall plural of locational spirits as a concept, that’s the one.

[skeletonsandwildflowers]

My doings up until sunset.

[unfetteredwood]

My spiritual practice is not Scandinavian-based, but I have been enjoying watching this series on Nordic witchcraft. This video in particular, highlighting the importance of maintaining a good relationship between spirits of the place and nature spirits. Anything that promotes hospitality and reciprocity, I am all for.