#vivisextion

[skogmord]

Commission for my friend @vivisextion!!! <3<3

[drwcn]

Chinese diaspora here! We have a server for CN diaspora people if you’re interested. We also spotlight works by diaspora at @mxtxdiaspora on tumblr and twitter.

Ooh okok, interesting. I will check it out! Thanks friend :D 

[jiangchengstherapist]

Your url sent me for a second I -

when i tell you i choked-

[daryaspace]

Hey we love your art! You are a pillar in the slipknot fan art community here! Every time you post something my day is blessed!! I just wanted you to know!! 🖤🖤🖤

oh my gosh I’m so happy and grateful !!!

I absolutely love the Slipknot community here. Last year seeing other people draw the boys inspired me so much and it’s so nice to know that others care about things I draw as well. 

I’ll do my best to keep making art and bless your day dear :) Thank you for reaching out, it means a lot to me, it really does. 

[freedoms-call]

I had this idea for a Anders fanfic being like “the Warden Commander would never give up on Anders” And “why is Zevran, Alistair AND Nathaniel Howe all in Kirkwall in 9.37?” Long story short I made this whole mind map timeline of DAO and DA2 showing what happens to Anders and I’m literally like [that screenshot of Charlie day conspiracy theory board]. I have to yell about Anders. This fic is turning into Saving Private Anders.

Oh wooooow that sounds fantastic!! Will you publish it somewhere? I’d love to read it! Sorry for taking so long to reply, I was down with the flu and wasn’t checking tumblr (the blog runs from a queue) but wooow I would sell my soul for a consistent and nice bridge from DAO/Awakening to DA2, please please show me when you are done writing it, I’m already a fan of Saving Private Anders! ❤️Also, about the thing with the conspiracy board, that’s a really good mindplace to be in my opinion, it’s the heart of every fandom ever. :D Thanks for the lovely ask, I’m all fired up now! Cheers!

[theoryofmagick]

Hey, I’m Chinese and I know a lot of the resources you have are of the western kind (Scandinavian). I was wondering if there are resources for asian magic?

Hello hello! So the majority of my Chinese craft comes from my mom/family, in the form of what Westerners call spirit work, divination, and herbalism, if only because that’s what my family/cultural region mostly does or knows about (Han Chinese from the Southeast/city). The best resource for Chinese and East Asian magic is to find your nearest Chinese ancestor, ideally one who’s grown up on the Mainland, in Hong Kong, or Taiwan, and grill them over tea and biscuits about everything, everything, everything they know. If you don’t have a handy grandma or parent, here’s some ideas for getting started (keep in mind this is very broad and only skimming the surface on where to start):

- Divination: We’re biiiig on divination. If you’re into that, the easiest Chinese method accessible in the Western world is to learn the I Ching. It was originally meant to be read in the palace to determine broad scale subjects, so you may be getting some generalized ancestral answers. There are also a TON of regional divination methods - I can’t remember what it’s called in English, but in my grandma’s town there was a thing where an old lady made a canary pick out your fortune on a bamboo stick, which was the widely accepted “pop” fortune method out in the nearby-Shanghai area. Your specific area of origin will have a fortune-telling method specific to it, as well.

- The Elements: Unlike in Western magic, we’ve got five of them. Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Metal. Get to know these guys because the whole fundamentals change when you consider the components on a five-point shift.

- Ghosts Ghosts Ghosts: You probably know by now that Chinese magic is hugely dominated by ancestor and spirit work, pretty much the “fundamentals” of Chinese spirituality. This is probably why I recommend finding your nearest grandmother. You probably have a place where your ancestors lay, and it’s culturally important to bring them the right presents and offerings. Generally you’ll want to figure out what your family’s ancestor sitch is, where they are, and make nice with them. Your family probably also has a religious or semi-religious tradition in place for honoring your ancestors, but if not (or for my Asian Americans out there): Rule of thumb, you gotta burn it so it gets up to Heaven (Tian). The releasing of the matter into the air as smoke and ash releases it into the ancestor’s plane, much like the fundamentals of many Western and Eastern magical theory. Ancestors like receiving gifts they liked in life, like a special pastry or cigarettes. Paper money (folded money facsimiles) is also burned, because, and I’ve never figured this one out, ancestors need money in Heaven to spend. If you’ve never been to pay respect to your ancestors, spend a day finding burnables of things they liked fold some facsimiles or money, and buy or use the incense sticks (which are joss sticks) provided at the crematory/graveyard (not sure what the word is here, the place with all the urns and your ancestors in shelves and stuff outdoors. Chinese Outdoor Cremation Graveyard? Ahem.) Once you’ve made nice with incense and offerings, you’ll be doing the most important work in Chinese spirituality, and have your whole line of ancestors having your back. You may also like to have an ancestor shelf in your house if you can’t access their resting place. 

- Energy Work: Both tai chi and kung fu utilize the same methods to find, center, and move your chi, which Westerners refer to as energy work. Find some old ladies practicing Tai Chi in a park, probably near Chinatown, or see if your local gym or YMCA has classes. It’s a great way to keep connected with your energy and learn to move it as if it’s second nature, and I consider this one of the fundamentals. Most folks growing up in China don’t even realize this is energy work, as it’s so common (think “yoga in the park”).

- Superstitions: I say “superstitions” like I mean “unreasonable facts”. Ghosts can’t walk in a straight line. Dragons and monsters hate noise and the color red. Hang your Fook sign upside down This is kind of a nebulous category, but you’ll find many Chinese cultural beliefs fall neatly into your correspondences and rulesets.

- Festivals: All Chinese festivals use the Lunar calendar. Get in the swing of treating Chinese New Year like the rebirth of your year, and participate in things like the New Year and the Midsummer Festival. Do all the prerequisite traditions per holiday like eat mooncakes, light firecrackers, set out a candy box, give out lai see, etc etc. This’ll help you get attuned to the Lunar year cycle, which, you’ll handily find, is the basis for almost every magical calendar in the East and West.

- Herbalism: TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine, is pretty much herb healing. It’s some weird intense shit though, and works best in conjunction (def not in place of) Western medicine. If you can, find a TCM practitioner in your town and ask for a check-up. They’ll give you a full body scan and recommend which herbs and traditional materials work best with your personal physiology, and you’ll also learn some basics about how to fend off a cold, make a soothing poultice, etc. You might have to dig a little hard to find one of these guys if you’re outside Asia. If you’re not ready to have an old due tell you to smear root paste on your spine, start with something lighter: Tea is an age old tradition, and while not considered strictly magic, there’s a special set of ceremonies and correspondences that teach basic elements of respect and ritual that you can look up.

- Astrology: If you were born in Asia and your parents were Hella Chinese ™, chances are, you got a birth chart done by an astrologer. My mom’s essentially the WASP of Chinese Moms and she still got my date of birth checked out by an astrologer. See if you can find any clues about your lineage by asking your parents if they picked your date of birth for a special reason.

- Court Magicians: There’s a WEALTH of info here, even though a lot of it was destroyed or moved during colonialism, WWII, and the Cultural Revolution. Court Magicians were in the employ of the emperor for a whooooole lotta dynasties, and you’re gonna have to learn Mandarin and read a scroll top-down-right-to-left, but a lot of it is recorded by well-meaning British Empire scavengers who have no idea what it is they have on their hands. Look at old calligraphy, and examine the dynasties to get a handle on the evolution of what was considered the basics. Some of the dynasties overlap with trade in the Middle East and Europe, and this is when the juiciest stuff gets written.

Apologies if this is all stuff you’ve heard before! I don’t have any reading materials, unfortunately, as all this is from growing up in Hong Kong before moving to Singapore & my mom/grandma/heritage. I’m super happy to answer any more questions, or talk more about it, or offer more resources - I just don’t wanna step on any toes if you’ve got a parent or auntie waiting in the wings to tell you all about Chinese culture! If not, hit me up anytime, and I’ll blast you with facts!

Note: I speak Cantonese, not Mandarin, so some of the phonetic translations are, uh, very Cantonese. For my English speakers, that’s like me typing stuff out with a heavy phonetic Valley Girl accent and I am very sorry.

[hugo-appreciation]

Someone please draw Hugo without the damn pornstache

I’ve got an edit for you

(and since I had this from when I made an edit of Hugo looking like Harry Potter, I just can’t not link that edit as well - link) 

[lgbthenry]

You are making me want to watch this shadowhunters show SO BAD WHO IS MAGNUS AND ALEC they look so good?? Queer Asian representation too?? Gasp

@vivisextion OMG please watch it!! There are two seasons so far and the third will start in April. FYI, the writing in the first season is very not good, but Magnus and Alec make literally everything worth it! Magnus is an incredible character and he is the bi poc rep the world needs. Also Alec’s coming out storyline is so well done and it’s really great to see him come into himself and gain confidence in his identity and his relationship. They’re also by far the most functional relationship on the show. They are so important to me, like as a queer man it’s so nice to see such a quality mlm relationship shown on TV.