Hi It's Black History Month And I Happen To Be Black And Trans And Neurodivergent And Im Saving Up To

I’m about to scream in random people’s faces for next 5 months that I’m gonna see Eric Nam live so be prepared! 😍

Poseidon rapes Medusa. Rape is evil. Therefore Poseidon is not a god. Correct?

Not really.

There are many things implied with this logic. The first thing that's wrong is that it assumes ancient myth literalism.

Myth literalism is a normal thing in our society because of christianity's fundamentalism. The bible in christian traditions is read sometimes literally, and even if its not, the stories told there are of vital importance to the religion. However, this doesn't happen in all religions, specially in pagan religions.

The second thing that's wrong is that it assumes the specific context of the myth. We may have a myth that uses the element of “rape” as we understand it to mean something else. But what we today understand as “rape” in ancient Greece meant probably these two things: 1. Abduction, 2. Sexual relations without the consent of the parents.

The importance of not reading myth literally (I mean, not regarding the Gods' actions in myth as factual, or their behavior as true to their nature) is that of independence. Being able to interpret myth metaphorically helps us arrive at different conclusions regarding the true nature of the Gods, and it also influence us philosophically.

See, a God cannot make evil; Poseidon is a God; therefore, Poseidon cannot make evil (he cannot “rape” anyone). But if Poseidon cannot rape, then the actions of Poseidon in myth are 1. False, or 2. Symbolic.

If Poseidon's actions in the myth of Medusa are false, then the myth serves no purpose but to entertain. However, if Poseidon’s rape in the myth of Medusa is symbolic, then it is illustrative of the God's power: perhaps, in the temple of Athena, one could experience Poseidon's presence unwillingly.

Remember what some historians used to say about Pythia’s moment of invocation? When the Priestess got possessed by Apollo? That sometimes she would get seizures? That the possession was so powerful her body could barely bear it? I imagine this is what “rape” myths refer to; experiencing a God (specially a deity regarded as “male” traditionally, for some reason) in an overwhelming rapture, perhaps randomly, without expectation. But this is a mystical reading of the myth.

There are not just mystical readings. Doing them takes time and attention, but they're often very illuminative. However, moral readings also exist. And even natural or physical readings. For example, in a moral reading, we could say the myth’s lesson is to not have sex inside Athena's temple, because that's a holy place, and it belongs to a virginal goddess. On a physical reading, we could say that Poseidon represents the fury of the ocean, and that Medusa is perhaps the earth, getting moved and assaulted by the tides. Or anything of that nature.

Understanding those conclusions is better than reading myth literally and ending up thinking those gods are evil (and therefore are not gods, and therefore must be demons; which is indeed one of many christianity's premises regarding pagan religions. These types of premises, as you may understand, feed intolerance and supremacy).

Arriving at satisfactory and philosophical conclusions with myths is a hard task, but it's really worth it. Even in ancient times, these incorrect ideas about the gods were widespread, and it was the philosopher’s, and the priest’s, task to teach people how to actually understand myth.

So, in summary; no, Poseidon is not evil, because Poseidon is a God and therefore cannot rape; furthermore, Poseidon's myth with Medusa is symbolic of a deeper, more mystical truth.

Ultimately, the myth of Poseidon and Medusa is explicative of Athena's and Poseidon's power when it gets intertwined. Oh, and, I forgot; you can also make a historical reading about this myth, or at least how it originated. The Athenians, who first told this myth, used to be devoted to Poseidon on a city-state level, until the cult of Athena arrived, and they instead made her their patron deity, removing Poseidon (there's another myth that tells this story, in which Athena and Poseidon compete for the patronage of the city-state, and Athena wins). Often times different city-states would create infamous stories about another city’s patron god in a political attempt. There's a theory stating that in other city-states Zeus’ wife would be Dione, instead of Hera, but in Athens it was Hera, and so some athenian would find it funny to imagine the god cheating over Hera (as a silly explanation of why theogony differed accross Greece).

Often times, myths are incredibly ironical. Like all of Zeus’ myths cheating over Hera as I stated before; Hera is the Goddess of marriage, so it is laughable that her own husband would go around cheating on her with literally anyone. So it is clear here that the myth is implying something deeper than what's is being told. One might have to think and reflect on why the greeks would choose to portray their Goddess of marriage in such a light, and their God of morality too. Perhaps they were hinting at something bigger with the use of hyperbole and irony; Hera never cheats on Zeus. On the other hand, Zeus is the Big Papa. So basically the whole world is of his descendence, because he is the Father of humanity, and putting it that way the greeks were explaining this.

Conflicting things about myths have always been conflicting. The greeks didn't like their gods going around raping people and killing others in those stories either, but the stories existed nevertheless. So they wrote a whole ton of treatises trying to explain to themselves the deeper truths of those myths, one of them was On the Gods and the World by Sallustius, which I recommend a lot when trying to understand both the importance and the metaphorical narratives of myths.

i’ve got this urge to go back to the two thousand teens and make an aesthetic rp blog. no i don’t want to rp with anyone i just want to hyperfixate on a character with a pretty color palette, unnecessarily complicated tags, and a scrolling blog theme from hell with a music autoplayer

Probably not relevant at all on tumblr but if anyone has spoken to @mbrth @calvinqh or @thenesicha pls pls let me know. They have all been missing since around 2am (CEST). Thank u.

even more concept playlists <3

i too, like a character from a wes anderson film, wish for nothing but a gentle escape from my reality, for a chance to run off into the woods with the love of my life until our legs burn and we reach a field of wildflowers situated below the most picturesque sunset visible to our mortal eyes

the time is well past midnight and whilst you don’t want to leave the party entirely, you need a moment of rest as you sit outside on your best friends parents patio listening to the violent thump of the music muffled through the glass screen door

perhaps there is more to life than late nights huddled under an itchy blanket on your family couch but, if we really are being honest, is there anything more comforting than that though?

here is a cordial invitation to join me and the gang by the coastline pier where we can skate across the boardwalk and steal ice cream right out of the plethora of stands lined along the shore 

the summer, as always, approaches slowly yet with little warning before the heat overtakes suburbia and it’s golden rays begin to entice vibrant flowers out of their buds and into the warmth of the day, that same warmth that melts ice cream down your fingertips as you walk barefoot across the burning concrete

despite the fact i managed to drunkenly confess my love to you last saturday without reciprocation here you are, still being nice to be whilst i absentmindedly tug at your sweatshirt

gazing across the abandoned factory in which you sit atop empty crates, you accidentally make eye contact with the ghost that watched the world turn to ruins. their stare is somewhat vacant but the way they wrap their non-existent arms around your bruised torso in a slow waltz to the vintage tunes playing between the radio silence makes you feel more alive than you did shooting at those bastard runaways 

Dawn do u have any advice for people starting skz writing blogs?

Oh! I definitely do! I’ll put them under the cut uwu <3 These are all tips I wish I knew, ranging from garnering readers to how to deal with other happenings. <3

!!!; this is a fairly long post! also, I am no way qualified enough to be giving advice, these are just things I've learnt in my term of experience.

#1: Write what you want to see on this platform, basically build a niche for yourself.

So this is a pretty obvious and often said point, but write what you want to, and when you want to. If it's domestic AUs that you're the most comfortable with, write that! Of course, you can dabble into new genres to discover what your other interests are, but don't for yourself to write something just because it's a popular topic. When people find a fic of yours that they like, they'll most likely go to your blog expecting the same kind of stuff. <3

#2: Develop your own distinct style, be it in your blog, in your writing in your layout, etc.

Make your blog's aesthetic/layout as distinct as possible, so that it's identifiable. This just gives a sense of uniqueness to your blog, which oft attracts readers. Ofc by this, I don't mean you need to be a master at photoshop/editing to create amazing aesthetics — you can just use simple elements and blend them together in a way that stands out well. Personally, if I'm to be honest, aesthetics, general neatness means a lot to me. I usually wish for a blog to be de-cluttered have a good and efficient way of navigation without having to search through or dig in a lot myself.

#3: Use tags! On all of your posts.

Like I said in the previous section, I wish for a new blog I'm going through to have a good and efficient way of navigation. Use tags, not just on your writing, but all your posts. This can facilitate easier viewing of same posts grouped under one tag, plus if someone prefers to not view something in particular, they can choose not to by blacklisting. Untagged posts are honestly a huge pet peeve of mine dihfuyrharieuhr. That being said, use the correct tags on your post! This post has a good note on how to garner readers as well as tagging.

#5: It takes time for you to gain attention for your work, and it takes time for your writing style to develop into something unique.

This is honestly something I wish I knew when I started writing. I'd see all these blogs get so much interaction and anons and notes on their writing, and while I was happy for them, it made me feel insecure that maybe I wasn't as good enough for them...? fast forward to six months later, I had nearly the same amount of interaction as they did. So it's really all about working towards your way to create a distinct writing style, all whilst improving yourself. Don't be demotivated when you don't get interaction at first, because it takes time for your style to be recognizable and it takes a while to improve, so as and when you write, you'll get better and better! <3

#6: Interact with other writers' writings!

This is also something I wish I knew. interacting with other writers is a way to make new friends, plus give your blog some exposure. of course, that's different from clearly exploiting a blog's status for follows. Make friends with other writers, and reblog their writings (ofc, only if you read them and you liked them, don't force yourself to)! 99% of the time, whenever someone leaves feedback on my writing, I check their blog, and if their writing is something I like, then I follow them! So yeah, this site literally thrives off interactivity, so don't be afraid to interact with writers!

#7: When you're posting your writings, make them clean to look. They should be pleasant to the eye.

What I mean by this is that your layout should not be too compact, hard to read, or straight up painful to look at. Don't use those 𝓈𝓌𝒾𝓇𝓁𝓎 ass fonts, because half the time, they won't render on most devices, and they're often horrible to look at + impossible to read for someone who uses a screen reader. Don't use tinie font on your posts for the same reason.

And! Banners! They're a great addition to a fic, and make it attractive to look. I can't tell you how much a good, well made banner can affect my view on whether I want to read the fic or not. However, i have some negative points about it too. Don't make banners if you don't know how to, only for the sake of making them. This doesn't mean you shouldn't experiment, hell, my first banners were total crap. It of course takes time to learn editing (provided you have an interest in it), but my point is: a banner is used to attract attention to your fic, yet if you have a bad-looking banner, bad layout, bad presentation, (coming from me) I tend to not want to read the fic.

I think a lot of people don't tell new writers that layouts are very important. Most of the stuff is covered in that post I liked, but having a distinct, unique, neat (emphasis on neat — you don't need fancy banners and fonts, just make sure it's not painful to look at) layout really helps. Don't use overly contrasting color combos like this and make sure it is neat, and pleasant to look at. You want to attract attention to your fic, not make it hard to read. While banners and aesthetic photos are not very important, a neat lay!!!!!!out is very essential, to increase your reader count and actually ensure that your fic is readable.

#8: Just know that the number of notes your fic gets is all in your luck.

Just because you get less notes doesn't mean you're any less of a writer! Hell, I know so many phenomenal writers that deserve so many more notes. Your note count can depend on several factors, including (but not limited to) your posts not showing up in the tags, the genre you've written is not a very popular genre (that doesn't mean you shouldn't write it! There will be biases towards genres in the fandom, but write what you want), or the fact that this site is often treated like instagram. So if you get less notes on a fic, don't be demotivated! You have every right to ask for more interaction on your fics from your followers, but don't let it think you're any less of a writer.

That's it! If you have any specific doubts, feel free to send another ask, or a dm! <3

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minho ♡ stay in london

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