It’s a milestone which made me stop and take a look back at my life. I assessed where I wanted to be by this age and where I am currently. I looked at everything I accomplished and all the things that are still left for me to do. And most importantly I thought about all the things that I learnt.
“There are two kinds of pain in this world … pain that hurts and pain that alters” ~ Denzel Washington.
STRENGTH. In the Rider-Waite deck a woman is … squeezing a lion’s mouth shut? Team Biddy says she’s petting the lion, taming the Beast with her feminine wiles (because raw sexual energy is problematic?) in such a way that she’s, “Channeling her inner strength to subdue and subtly control the lion” … which for me is still a form of coercion and one of the reasons I’ve never related to this particular card all that much.
For me, Strength is about growth and growth hurts. We don’t call them, “Growing Pains,” for nothing. Strength is our ability to alter ourselves, to transform into something new. Any Initiate quickly finds out that there is sacrifice involved (often physical) if one desires new knowledge. Odin sacrificed his own eye in order to gain divine wisdom from the god Mímir. Because Sedna has no hands the Inuit Shaman(Anatquq) must journey to her home under the sea and offer to comb out her hair for her if they want her gifts. Writing in, Shamans,Spirits, and Faith in the Inuit North, Kenn Harper talks about how it might take decades for a Shaman to train in order that they’re strong enough to survive the journey. Not everyone is willing to push themselves to such a degree. Malidoma Patrice Somé recounts, in Water and Spirit, that the initiation process for becoming a Dagara healer had a rather low survival rate and only those willing to test themselves in the Spirit World could succeed. That is the sort of strength that I was thinking about when I designed this.
In the card the Spiritual aspect of the Novice, call it her Higher Power (Jung talks about the psyche being, “Outside the Body”), rises up to the challenge that transformation will bring through her Shamanic initiation. From out of a Bastet-like goddess a ghostly cat pounces on the Novice, consuming her so that she might be re-born with a better understanding of how to harness her Unconscious. Freud was convinced that what takes place in the Unconscious shapes our everyday life and determines our behavior. Her two guides, cat-like nightmares, might take her to the Spirit World but it will be on her own inner-strength which will determine if she’ll return home or not. In order to learn such Mysteries the Novice must sacrifice who she once was completely.
Often when I hear people talk about wanting to learn Magic of one sort or another they say things like, “Which book should I read?” “Which spells should I try?” “Which Spirit should I pray to?” As someone who loves books I’ll never say that reading is a bad idea but it does not surprise me when such people give up in frustration because nothing happened. Of course nothing happened, there is no risk in reading a book, no test of willpower, no use of strength. Magic is an action verb, which is what moves it from the realm of Philosophy into an actual Science. Odin gave up his eye for wisdom. It is not hyperbole to ask, “What will you sacrifice in order to learn something new?”
Me: Throws a party, tells everyone it’s a potluck.
Me: Spends two days cooking. Menu: Three quiches (spinach, zucchini and feta; mushroom, asparagus and gruyere; crab, artichoke and smoked gouda); homemade sweet and sour chicken, chips with homemade guacamole and tomatillo salsa, salad with homemade raspberry lime vinagrette, devil’s food cupcakes with cheesecake filling, assorted nuts and chips.
Boyfriend: Why are you cooking so much? You told people it was a potluck! They’ll bring food!
Friends: Show up with no food, but many bottles of wine and bourbon, because they know me.
Summary: It’s hot, both Dave, Georgia’s dad’s dark, tall bodyguard and the weather. Dave was always there, in her house and in her mind, as if it was his job to guard her thoughts instead of her dad’s well being.
Happy birthday, @danniburgh! Hope you enjoy my little adaptation of your fic — starring Dave and Georgia exploring their dark sides. Lots of love, bby!!
what
WHAAAAAATTYTTTTTSHFLXJEKCJSJFKDJD
ok yeah yes ajá yes okay alright IM FINE IM FINE
i screamed and I couldn’t stop screaming at this ejxnrjxkfjd
this is more like a second part to the whole fic and i love it and i just UGH THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER KAYLIE THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
So, as a present from me to you guys, I will rec sixteen fics tonight since I’m now sixteen! Send in requests of what types of fics you guys would like to see! xx -Kaitlyn x
Happy Birthday! Wait, no. But for reals, I’m gonna be out of town next week, so idk if I will have an opportunity to share this on June 1st, so I’m dropping it today! And because it’s my birthday you all have to read it and leave a nice comment. My birthday powers say so. Also, also I commissioned art from the one and only @yunyin of this AU, so go reblog it and support her! Okay, I’m gonna shut up now and just let you guys read it!
Tags/Warnings: angst, Ladrien, Adrinette, enemies AU, Adrien meta, character exploration, canon rewrite, what if, Gabe tells Adrien his plans from the beginning, Adrien is not Chat Noir in this AU, TW: child abuse (psychological, emotional, pretty much on par with canon, but just in case)
Summary:
When his father tells him of nefarious plans to revive his ailing mother, Adrien falls head first into a fight he can’t afford to lose, but things change when he’s saved from one of his father’s monsters by Paris’s beautiful new superheroine. Is Adrien willing to risk his mother’s life for the girl he loves, or will he betray his heart to restore his family?
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Chapter 1
The elevator was cramped. Cold chrome walls encased every side, barely wide enough for one person, let alone two. Adrien huddled closer to his father, heart pounding, but his father didn’t look at him. He stood straight and stiff, eyes distant and pensive—typical. His father always seemed to be looking somewhere else ever since Adrien’s mother disappeared. Adrien never dared to imagine that those eyes kept secrets hidden beneath the surface. Secrets, he supposed, he was about to become privy to.
“Adrien, there’s something I need to tell you.”
When his father entered his room that morning, Adrien hadn’t anticipated being led to a secret elevator in his father’s studio. All of it felt like a secret agent movie. Was his father working for the government? Or maybe he had a secret lair full of gadgets and monitors like Knightowl. It was fun to think about, but the further the elevator dropped, the heavier the pit in Adrien’s stomach became. Where were they going? And what was his father hiding?
The elevator slowed to a stop, and Adrien stepped out as the door opened, wincing against the dim lighting. The cavern was cool and damp, stretching higher than he would have thought possible. How far underground had they gone? And how long had this been below their feet?
His father stepped out after him, pacing up the long runway without hesitation. Whatever the room was, his father must have come down often, for he didn’t seem to share Adrien’s unease.
Adrien scurried after him, working double time to keep up with his father’s long legs. He attempted to peek around him to see what lied ahead, but the aisle was too narrow and the cavern too dark. Goosebumps pricked his arms, and Adrien rubbed them with a ragged breath.
“Father,” he said, finding his voice, “where are we?”
“Somewhere I should have taken you a long time ago.”
The metal gave way to soft grass underfoot, tall plants and vines framing a large pod in the center. His father ran a hand over the top, his touch delicate, tender almost. A sad smile curled on his lips, and Adrien stiffened when he turned to him.
“I hoped we would never have to use this place. Your mother and I prepared it a few years ago.” His father’s smile faded. He pressed a button on the side, and the front of the pod opened, parting to reveal a glass box underneath. Lights clicked on, illuminating what lay inside.
