Sonneillon V.

Y’all, it’s come to my attention recently that my filter hasn’t been all it should be.

By this I mean my filter, which is usually pretty keen and helps me avoid both saying and reblogging problematic things, is on the fritz.  I’ve said and passed on some things lately that I either didn’t think through sufficiently or didn’t vet as well I as I should have and some of my followers have been hurt or lost faith in me because of my lapse.  

I sincerely apologize.  

So if you spotted something on my blog and you hesitated to call me out, either because we’re friends or because you weren’t sure of my response, please don’t be afraid to let me know.  I am trying to address anything that I missed and I don’t want y’all to ever feel unsafe or hurt.

PSA: If the Pagan community has image problems, it is because of our racism, our cultural appropriation, our cissexism and heterocentrism, general credulity, and our insistence on repeating widely debunked cultural myths about our own history. Throwing Satanists under the bus and claiming they aren’t part of our community won’t fix any of those problems.

Most of you could stand to learn a little bit more about the various facets of our community before you start spouting off on who is and isn’t a part of it.  It is NOT all Wicca and Neo-Wicca, it is NOT all love-and-light, it is NOT all Eurocentric or duotheistic or panentheistic, or monolatrous (go ahead, look them up).  When you start spreading this kind of misinformation, you alienate parts of our community.  There is no reason for it - those Satanists, Luciferians, Chaos Mages, Lokeans, Discordians, Zoroastrians, Setites, Canaanite and Babylonian Recons/Revivalists, and Lovecraftians aren’t actually doing us any disservice, nor are they casting us in a bad light by acting like assholes out there in the big world.  Y’all are so afraid of the devil I’d have mistaken you for Christians.  Cut it out.

People who say ‘axe’ instead of ‘ask’:

tea-and-anthropology:

didyoudrinkmygingerale:

pagemaster90:

gtfo

shhh, it’s called metathesis and it happens all the time pookster. this urbandictionary entry actually explains it quite well.

from said entry: 

“The /aks/ variant is an example of the natural switching of sounds called metathesis. This occurs usually because in the speech sound patterns of that language or dialect that pronunciation may be easier. This is not a degenerate way of speaking. All languages and dialects are linguistically equal as they are all systematic and rule governed.

Racist motherfuckers.”

(Source: elizabethmarten)

meowmeggie:

I don’t care how long you’ve been together or how much you “love” each other, when you have sex with someone over 18 while you’re under 18, it’s statutory rape.

It’s wrong, it’s immoral, and it’s stupid. So please stop. They could go to jail and be registered as a sex offender for the rest of their life if you have sex and someone reports you.

/endrant

… Um, no.  Not necessarily.  Many states have what’s called “Romeo And Juliet” laws that stipulate that if the two people are within a certain age span of each other (usually two years) it’s not statutory.

Thinking about having sex with a vampire this Halloween?

plannedparenthood:

Hey, vampires can rack up a lot of sexual partners over the centuries. So if you’re going to jump into bed with a vampire, you’re going to need more than a clove of garlic to stay safe. Here are some things to think about before you enter into a sexual relationship with a vampire:

• Vampires might be immortal, but you’re not. So get tested for STDs regularly.
• Just because a vampire says he can’t get you pregnant, it doesn’t mean he can’t give you an STD. Likewise just because a vampire says she’s on the pill, it doesn’t mean that you can’t get an STD. Use a condom correctly every time. 
• Don’t wait until you’re in the heat of the moment to bring up safer sex. Vampires have been known to “glamour” people to get their way, so make it clear right from the start that you won’t have sex without a condom. 

Remember, a vampire who doesn’t care about protecting your health is not the kind of vampire that you want to get involved with. Not sure if you’re dating the right vampire? We can help you figure it out.

Also remember: Even if a vampire doesn’t show the physical symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection, they may still be a carrier!  Just because everything looks okay or they swear they don’t have anything, that’s no excuse to risk your health!

In addition: It is possible for some STI’s to be transmitted from mouth-to-groin contact, so if they request to feed on your femoral artery (or if you have oral sex) make sure you use a dental dam!  You can create one easily by cutting a condom (the non-spermicide kind) once lengthwise.

yukidama:

The Roma who lost their homes to make way for the Olympics

themisanthropichumanist:

The construction of the athletes’ village broke up a community that had been on the site legally since 1972.

As athletes settle in to the Olympic Village in East London, a “home away from home” for officials and competitors, some may wonder who lived there before them. The complex now is studded with luxury flats for the 17,000 Olympic athletes and the 4,500 Paralympians who will follow them. With karaoke facilities, an on-site gym with more than 50 treadmills and a 5,000-seat dining room, the architecture has a watery theme “accentuating the closeness of the River Lea”.

The site’s previous inhabitants also prized the proximity of the Lea, as well as the meadows where they used to graze horses, the cycle track where the kids played and the hill where the older residents sat watching the horizon. More than 15 families of Gypsies had lived here legally – on land no one else wanted – since 1972, paying rent to the council and for all their utilities.

“Clays Lane weren’t much to look at,” says Esther Smith, 31, a mother of four whose extended family had lived on the site for over three decades. “But it was home. There was a strong sense of community. You had room to think.” Her cousin Lisa Smith, 36, nods. “It wasn’t like living in London. It felt very safe.”

For the Clays Lane families, the journey since London won the Olympic bid on July 6th 2005, has been one long nightmare. “The first thing we knew about it was a big notice stuck on the gate,” says Tracie Giles, a mother from Clays Lane who became a campaigner for the families evicted by the Olympics. “It was a compulsory purchase order from the London Development Agency.”

Alternative sites proposed by Newham Council horrified the residents. “They wanted to put us on Jenkins Lane, a terrible place underneath the A406 by a sewage gully and facing Burger King,” Tracie remembers. “Another one was directly under the flight path for City Airport.” For a while, the families were poised to move to Chobham Farm, next to Westfield Shopping Centre. But after months of consultation, the offer was withdrawn.

“Meanwhile, Clays Lane was getting worse,” Tracie says. “Demolition was going on all around. We were fenced in, choking with dust, surrounded by massive machinery. There was nowhere safe for the kids to play.

Backed by the London Gypsy and Traveller Unit, Tracie and the other families fought the closure of Clays Lane with a legal challenge in the high court and a judicial review. “I really thought we’d win,” Tracie says. “But we didn’t. They said we were moving to Parkway Crescent.” In July 2007, five months after the building work had begun, families were given a month’s notice to move. “We packed up all our belongings,” Tracie says. “The council cut off the street lighting and stopped the postman coming. But still we didn’t move.” Their leaving date was postponed 11 times. “The new site wasn’t ready. We were prisoners on a building site.”

The families finally moved in mid-October 2007. “I remember waking up the last morning,” Tracie says. I just felt this huge sense of loss, looking at all the empty pitches.” The new site was next to the athlete’s entrance to the Olympic complex, surrounded by busy roads. Each family had a pitch with space to put a caravan and a ‘shed’ – a prefabricated block with a bathroom and kitchen.

“The water comes in the windows when it rains, the rain was coming in the front door,” Esther Smith says. “The boiler went, I had a water leak that went on for months. Plug sockets were held on by an elastic band. Baths aren’t sealed properly. There’s no privacy. The tube runs underneath – it’s so loud!”

Tracie’s sister Lisa shakes her head. “We’ve been four and a half years now living on Europe’s biggest building site. I’m 36, and I feel 100. I’m out of breath. Two minutes after you’ve cleaned it’s dusty again. Kids round here have developed asthma. The stress has been unbelievable. Just for two weeks of sport.

“I was happy about London getting the Olympics, but we haven’t been treated right as a community. They wouldn’t have done it to any other people. No-one’s even offered us a free ticket.”

Once the Olympics and Paralympics end, Parkway Crescent will be prime land for legacy development. “We’ve never been given a permanent licence, they’ve just kept renewing a temporary one for four and a half years,” Tracie says. “Will we get moved somewhere even worse?”

Newham Council declined to comment on the families’ future at the site or their experiences since being forced to move from Clays Lane. Elsewhere, speaking about the Athletes’ Village, British Olympic medallist Colin Jackson called it “the heart and soul of everything… a place that you feel comfortable, where you feel there’s a sense of belonging.” Five years after London won the bid for the Olympic Games, the Clays Lane Gypsies can still only dream of such a place.

(Source: samantaics)