Temple Of Bugsnax @templeofbugsnax - Tumblr Blog

Intro post!

[cue 'You're The Journalist!']

Who are you?

A longtime bugsnax fan - I got into it not long after release - and a longtime dabbler in the religious, spiritual and occult. You can call me Acolyte, and I prefer he/him and they/them pronouns.

What do you do here?

On this blog, I'm developing and sharing my own personal journey and experiences with worshipping and working with Bugsnax as a pop culture pagan practice. I'll be talking about rituals, prayers, offerings and the like, and the day to day business of being a snak worshipper. To my knowledge I'm the first to do this (genuinely, please prove me wrong!) so I'm really building this practice from the ground up, so I'm also looking to communicate with others on the same or similar paths and find inspiration.

What is pop culture paganism?

Pop culture paganism is working with and/or worshipping entities from pop culture as a spiritual practice. That's the basics of it, but it can mean a lot of different things to different people. I recommend reading around.

What are Bugsnax?

Bugsnax are creatures from an excellent game by Young Horses - they are chattery, googly-eyed bugs that look and taste like food, but better. I highly recommend playing the game (or watching it) before you read too much of my blog, or really much more of this post - as well as in general, but of course I'm biased. It's probably available for your platform of choice and well worth your money.

That doesn't seem very worshippable. What are Bugsnax really?

Bugsnax are shape-shifting, mind-altering parasites, and are the motile, edible part of a vast hivemind known as Snaktooth Island (and its smaller, connected sister, Broken Tooth Island). They reproduce by turning the flesh of creatures that consume them into snakmatter until they are entirely bugsnax, at which point they disintegrate and join the hive. It is strongly suggested by canon that the island itself is at least sentient, possibly sapient.

But what are they to you?

To me they are a collective entity significantly larger than a single island on a single planet.

At the least, they are an Interplanetary species in another universe that makes for some powerful symbolism and imagery.

Getting a little funkier with it, I feel that they are a particularly powerful emanation of something very primordial at the heart of nature - the nutrient cycle, predation, symbiosis, decay, creative destruction/destructive creation... And lots more. I intend to elaborate in another, dedicated post at some point about the domains I feel Bugsnax preside over. I'm any case, there is power in that, whether it's real metaphysical power or just personally impactful.

Do you think that Bugsnax are real?

No. Not in the tangible, physical, in-this-universe sense, anyway. Part of the challenge (and fun) of all this is figuring out how to work and worship with them when they aren't physically present to participate.

You contradict yourself a lot.

I do! My beliefs are constantly in flux. I feel no conflict there, though - snax change their forms and behaviours all the time, after all. Plus I'm not really interested in proving the veracity of anything to anybody.

I want to try this too. Where do I start?

The boring, obvious, vague answer that you probably don't want but is nonetheless correct: wherever feels right to you! I'm also very fresh here and only going with my gut. I can't easily give clear answers just yet.

However, if you want to talk about it together, absolutely DM me or send me an ask! I'd love to hear about what you're doing or would like to do.

I have more questions.

Again, don't hesitate to DM or drop me an ask. I'll happily answer just about anything asked in good faith. I might take a little while to get back to you as I like to really mull things over, though.

#bugsnax #pop culture magic #pop culture witchcraft #pop culture paganism #intro #thoughts #this is pretty quick and dirty and i might expand it

jasper-pagan-witch

Jasper's Energyform Zine

Hey. I made a zine about thoughtforms, servitors, and energyforms. It's free. It's yours now. Print it out. Eat it. I don't care. Just don't pretend you wrote it when I did all of this and screamed at the formatting and paid for Canva shit to accomplish this.

Download it as a PDF here.

#inch resting #reference #pop culture magic

tiny-frog

starting off with some bugsnax i drew the other day :)

cinnasnail is my favorite✨

#bugsnax #imagery

dunglizard

I take one sensible edible on a thursday night and the grubhub doordash (sorry) Sheetz menu starts looking like that one bit from Annihilation (the book) (have not read it) (but I know about it)

dunglizard

do you see what I mean

#silliness

I've been dealing with some personal life stuff but bugposting will resume once I feel a bit less decrepit.

#thoughts

princemellificus

Sleepy Mewon Famiwy

#bugsnax #guardians #mama mewon #imagery

elminx

Wild Crafting: Violet Syrup

I am so excited to say that I made violet syrup for the first time this week! I love wild crafting and have tons of local wild sweet violets so I couldn’t wait to try out this wonderful experiment. Plus, its gorgeous and came out amazing!

A word of wild crafting: if you are going to consume any wild plants, please make sure that you know and understand the risks. Eating plants that have been sprayed with chemicals = eating the chemicals. Also, be careful of leeching of other chemicals. For instance, I love in an old mill town and wild flowers grow in many ditches on the sides of the roads. These are NOT SAFE TO EAT because they likely have absorbed mill chemicals from the soil. I collected the violets from the yards of two friends who I know care for their lawns without the use of toxicity.

Firstly, you need wild violets. I collected 4 cups worth. The original recipe called for 3-3.5 cups. The first step is to make a violet “tea”. Boil one cup of water and let the water sit for 5 minutes - this is so that you don’t burn the color out of the violets with boiling water. Then let the violets sit for 12-24 hours - the longer you let the violets steep, the better the color and flavor. I wanted to make mine during the sunlight to get good photos, so I let mine steep for about 36 hours.

Once your violets have steeped, you need to strain them out of the water. As you can see, the leftover “tea” was a beautiful deep indigo color. This is normal - violet syrup is almost always blue at first. You can make it purple again later in the process…we’ll get to that.

Next, take your cup of violet tea and combine it with 2 cups of sugar on a VERY LOW HEAT to make a complex syrup. This will take a while - be patient. Do not increase the heat as this will burn the color out of your syrup and (I at least) think that the color is a wonderful addition to this recipe. You want to stir this until the water becomes see through again. Your syrup will most likely still be blue though as you can see, the sugar turned mine back to a lighter shade more reminiscent of violet.

If your violet syrup is too blue, you can add a dash of lemon juice to it to color it purple again. Be careful here - a little goes a long way - I made the mistake of trying it with a bit and turning it bright pink, not violet at all!

Then, let you violet syrup cool on the counter. This is so that the sugar doesn’t crash back out of the mixture, undoing all of your hard work. When cool, store in an air tight container in your fridge - complex syrup can keep for up to 2-3 months. What should you do with your violet syrup? It can be used in Spring cocktail recipe, as a drizzle over pancakes or waffles, or in any other culinary way that you see fit! It is sweet and floral and pairs well with gins as showed below.

If you’d like to learn more about the magical properties of violet, you can check out my post here. And as always, if you’d like to support my work, you can Buy Me a Ko-fi.

Because I believe in credit where credit is due, I got the idea for this recipe from this video by The Green Witch on Youtube.

elminx

I made this yesterday along with some violet jelly from violets that we picked on May Day. My syrup is so much darker than in years past because Dora’s lawn was entirely filled with dark purple violets whereas, in the past, it’s been a mix of purple and white.

I’d like to get in at least one more violet project and one more dandy project before wildflower season is over but we’ll see.

Also - lilac, I have my eyes on you.

#recipes #flowers #snax

jonnysinsectcatalogue

Autumn Meadowhawk - Sympetrum vicinum

When discussing this insect in the early days of this blog, I noted how temperature may hold some sway over its coloration. Following up on the matter now, I'm not sure how much significance temperature actually has as I have no way to compare individuals in such a manner. If I had to speculate however, if temperature changes due influence color, it's likely that the males would be more greatly affected. A bright red color may act as an advertisement of fitness, but it also advertises itself to predators! Typically, while the males of this specie are more red, the females appear in shades of brown or yellow. Nevertheless, both have unremarkable yellow to brown-yellow legs and relatively plain wings which house a red pterostigma spot. Today, we have more something of a unique individual sunning on a fence-intertwined tree. At first glance, it looks to be a male individual, at least if all we consider is the individual's red coloration as it perches and enjoys the sun.

However, when you turn your attention to the tip of the abdomen of this individual, you will notice that there are no rear claspers. Therefore, this individual has to be female Dragonfly! Looking at her more closely, you might also notice (particularly in Picture 3) that the right side of her abdomen is dulling in color, seemingly changing from vibrant red to brown. Fascinating! Talk about variation between individuals; it's likely that the red for this one will gradually fade away to brown over time. While late in the season for this individual, there was plenty of sun to enjoy, and many small Flies to catch midflight! With many of the larger insects overwintering or gone, these Skimmers get the skies to themselves for a good while before the cold sets in. My word, it's not even December yet, and I'm already nostalgic for the warmer days autumn gave this year. Of course, it is also possible that this is an entirely different specie of Sympetrum Dragonfly given how similar they are to each other, but not many specie last into the later days of autumn like this Meadowhawk does.

Pictures were taken on October 21, 2024 with a Google Pixel 4.

#bugs

pigeonflavouredcake

Witchcraft isn't all chanting around a bonfire, communing with the old gods, sometimes it's burning bay leaves in your kitchen while listening to Abba's 1976 hit: Money, Money, Money.

#also recently did a money spell which involved dancing to a specially created playlist. which was 90% disco #silliness

youngmoviemaker

The Birth of Naturae

#imagery #bugsnax #grumpuses #avatar #rituals #hive #mother naturae #ancient grumps #<3

What if I did a series of posts sharing possible correspondences/associations for different bugsnax? Would folks be interested?

#thoughts #bugsnax #pop culture paganism #pop culture witchcraft #pop culture magic

confettiwhiskers

berryy

#bugsnax #imagery

goldring

Marble statue of Dionysos seated on a panther, François Duquesnoy, 1st–3rd century CE

#allies #imagery

popculturealtar

bun's week-long pop culture spirit work exercise:

monday: create a playlist for a pop culture spirit. play it for them and write down any feelings, sensations, or events that emerge.

tuesday: look up their iconography and anything inspired by them. take notes, and see if you can make a sigil from what is significant to you.

wednesday: look at a list of their tropes. write ones that stand out to you down, and see how you can judge what they might reside over, their personality, try to conclude some information. if you need confirmation or validation, see if you can confirm with a form of divination.

thursday: write a prayer inspired by one of the songs, their iconography, or their tropes. say it (or think it) to them while imagining the sigil you made for them, and write down any feelings, sensations, or events that emerge.

friday: it's time for offerings! based on what you've figured out, use your best judgment for deciding what you think they'll like. you can use a perishable offering, a votive offering, devotional acts, whatever suits! write down anything you learn during.

saturday: do a reading with them. this will require a divination deck, a pendulum, charms or bones, a playlist, a book, or anything you're comfortable using to talk to them. take this as a conversation, rather than an interview - talk to them as you get your responses, and write down anything that you find out.

sunday: finally, it's time to write down a correspondence list or basic guide. write down anything of importance. i tend to write down information about them, concepts they reside over, signs and symbols, offering ideas, and devotional acts - but go bananas here! jot down what you think is important.

bonus ideas: hanging out with their energy, doing a spell inspired by them, doing a spell with them, the sky's the limit! you don't have to do any of these activities if you don't want to, but i just thought i'd shed some light into how i organise myself with spirits and organise my thoughts regarding them. have fun!

#reference #rituals

crazycatsiren

30 Days of Deity Devotion

(Originally created by Arrin Deuognatos, who is no longer on Tumblr.)

A basic introduction of the deity

How did you become first aware of this deity?

Symbols and icons of this deity

A favorite myth or myths of this deity

Members of the family – genealogical connections

Other related deities and entities associated with this deity

Names and epithets

Variations on this deity (aspects, regional forms, etc.)

Common mistakes about this deity

Offerings – historical and UPG

Festivals, days, and times sacred to this deity

Places associated with this deity and their worship

What modern cultural issues are closest to this deity’s heart?

Has worship of this deity changed in modern times?

Any mundane practices that are associated with this deity?

How do you think this deity represents the values of their pantheon and cultural origins?

How does this deity relate to other gods and other pantheons?

How does this deity stand in terms of gender and sexuality? (historical and/or UPG)

What quality or qualities of this god do you most admire? What quality or qualities of them do you find the most troubling?

Art that reminds you of this deity

Music that makes you think of this deity

A quote, a poem, or piece of writing that you think this deity resonates strongly with

Your own composition – a piece of writing about or for this deity

A time when this deity has helped you

A time when this deity has refused to help

How has your relationship with this deity changed over time?

Worst misconception about this deity that you have encountered

Something you wish you knew about this deity but don’t currently

Any interesting or unusual UPG to share?

Any suggestions for others just starting to learn about this deity?

#reference

shouldhavestayedawayfromhere

Things To Work On With Your Deities

"I want to do rituals and spells and deity work but don't even know about what!"

You've come to the right place, I had this issue for almost two years before actually getting into regular deity work.

If you want a regular magical practice with your deities or even without them, you gotta stop seeing it as a practice that's disconnected from your every day life. Witchcraft/deity work is just another way of dealing with things, just in a spiritual way.