The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson, 2003

Heya! I'd known about your comic vaguely for a while now but never got around to reading it until a couple days ago. Binged the whole thing and loved it! I have a couple questions, sorry if they've been asked before: Are the other animals (besides deer and birds) sapient? If so, do they have their own gods? If not, how did they come about? Did deer god/his kids make them?

Some are more sapient than others, but because the comic is from deer POV, they can't understand other animals and that's why they appear way more mindless than our characters, like the wolves in the beginning. All animals definitely have their own systems not explored in the comic.

Here's a bit from an old QnA to answer the rest:

I think one of the great misunderstandings about religion is that it is somehow a response to the fear of death, i.e. belief in God assuring an “afterlife” of some sort which is soothing in the face of the unknown. And that could be true for many believers and no doubt belief in something like the resurrection is a neat alternative to total annihilation.

But what I think gets confused a great deal of the time is the symbolism of life vs. death in religious texts, like even if we go back to Deuteronomy and God repeatedly saying things like, “If you believe in me there will be rain and your crops will grow and you’ll have a nice time and if you don’t your crops will fail and things will generally be awful.” Now that seems like a higher power metaphorically holding a gun to your head BUT you have to remember these scriptures were written responsively, hundreds of years after the events they describe. When humans collectively get together and say things like “Existing without divinity is trash,” it’s not an assertion or command but rather an observation.

Why this is and why this is so prevalent around the world despite running against human social norms - i.e. ”Get stuff; be happy!” - is one of the great mysteries of humanity. But it isn’t about comfort in the face of death so much as it’s about turning away from “Get stuff; be happy!” and noticing wow, looking at the sun shining through trees is nice; a drink of water when I’m thirsty is nice; I pet a dog today; my life feels full and rich because the barista and I had a cute exchange at the register; why do I feel such plenitude when I’m just talking to a friend on the front porch in the evening; how can I watch the whirlibirds come down off the trees and be happy forever?

Oh my god these scenes gay

I have my best prayer times walking around. I grew up in an orchard so I would spend a lot of time wandering around the trees praying after I became a christian. I’d go to school early and walk around the campus and pray and listen to music.

I struggled when I first moved into my grandma’s house (where I now live with hubby and son) because I felt so confined not being able to just walk out the door and have a whole orchard to meander in. I have since worked out that it works to walk around a big split brick path in the back yard. I basically walk in circles and pray and listen to worship music. It works for me.

It’s become a little routine for me that my son and I will go outside after breakfast and he explores the yard and I do my circles, keeping an eye on him of course, and pray and listen to and sing worship songs.

Well, today I opened at work then took a nap when I got home so it wasn’t until after lunch that we tried to go outside and through a series of falls involving water of various degrees of ick, my son was wet and cranky so I got like two laps in before we had to go back in the house. So I decided to clean the kitchen and my husband took my son in the other room to play.

I was so irritated and cranky and I had just been thinking how much less irritable I am lately so I was even more irritated about being irritated. Haha!

I turned on my worship music, opened my bible app and had some quiet time while washing dishes and cleaning up my kitchen and wouldn’t you know, God of all creation came and met with me in my kitchen.

Thank You God for meeting me wherever I am willing to lay my will down to seek Your face.

actually here is a somewhat condensed character desc of ani mortedeus. tw: not really much, lots of god talk, some violence

ani mortedeus is a omnipotent, divine being of nightmares, darkness, death, punishment/retribution, and fear. her alignment is lawful evil. she takes the lawful part very seriously.

she will not attack anyone, anything or anywhere unless provoked, and given the vast power she has, she never really has to. most other gods or other divines know to not mess with her. she is civil to the ones who are civil to her. the ones who decided to threaten her, or worse, attempt to steal her realm/dimension get taken over almost immediately, and their reign is replaced by her own; the previous owner is banished to punishment under her rule.

displays of dominance are crucial when you are a god. ani genuinely hates this; and just wants to be left alone, but will teach a lesson to those who try to come after her, or her home(s). her power comes from ALL fear, that includes divines as well, which is what makes her one of the most powerful gods to exist.

ani does have a rival. it is some god of light (no name yet) that, oddly enough, causes more harm than good, even though the thing is supposed to have a good alignment. anis left eye is scarred from a fight with said light god. they were in a fight of whether or not to kill all life on a planet for "The Greater Good", as described by the Light one; And... ani had an issue with that. Her eye was damaged in battle, but the Light was hurt so badly it had to retreat into "hibernation", where it still is. ani has had a seal put on the chamber Light God is in.

on to the helpful stuff.

ani has become a presence for those who need help via summoning. the ritual for her to be summoned has been passed around for a while, no one knows who started the whole thing. it doesn't take much, really, just a simple prayer for her to help you. there is no written, specific ritual. usually, this rumor is passed on around kids.

ani is a positive but dark presence, especially to those who summon her. you are a child with abusive presences? pray to ani. she will come save you. and if you want...you may beat up your abusive parents/guardians as she punishes them. and then, after, she will find you a good home (usually hers unless you want to go somewhere else.)

reaching out to a guy i used to work with at Youth For Christ. hurts, seeing that i messaged him in 2008 clearly desperate for spiritual guidance, and he never replied. and then i didn't follow up for years because i was scared my loss of faith would be contagious.

but i want to talk to him, and whatever happens happens. we'll see i guess.

sorry ive been dead! ive been busy with commissions and college 😭 anywayss enjoy the redesign

Imagine spending all your energy being cool and mysterious 24/7.

What an idiot have I mentioned I love him?

Idea came from a cool post @nouverx made about Alastor’s possible sleeping habits. 💕

Journal entry for today in left hand writing of course

If she's got a rosary hanging from the rearview and Lady Gaga blasting, you know she's doing gods work

She hates robots. She fucking hates robots and she's coming to kill you.

“Human nature is not a duality of body and soul; rather God’s breath animates the dust and it becomes a single living being.”

- The New Oxford Annotated Bible, 5th Edition, p. 14

Accidental aro flag in thing, the best thing to find

My Church has been doing a series which is going to last the entire year called Under the Influence and it’s all about spiritual practices and disciplines with scriptural support/explanations, and practical applications.

It has been so helpful.

Some of the practices so far have been simple things like fasting, praying three times a day (preferably on your knees), sharing a meal with someone each day (not eating alone every meal), turn your phone off for an hour a day, scripture before phone and taking a sabbath.

I have been trying to put these practices into my life and it’s made such a big difference. Especially the Sabbath. One of the episodes of The Kingdom Vision Podcast was talking about the sabbath and how it’s so significant that it was implemented by God for us before sin entered the world. We are made for a sabbath rest and I find that rhythm of pausing each week helps keep me from straying too far from the path ‘cause some weeks are rough. My son won’t sleep, getting my time in the word and prayer gets difficult, the house gets messy and I just get so distracted but when sabbath comes again (which I take on Sundays), I get a reset.

I’ve been trying to replace lesser things with greater things also. I listen to a fair amount of political podcasts ‘cause I find them interesting, but I started replacing them with Christian podcasts and worship music. Keeps me from getting too far off in the weeds about politics. I put timers on all my apps that waste a lot of time and it’s freed up a lot of time to keep up on other more important things like my house family and faith walk.

But man, these spiritual disciplines and practices are so important. I never really thought about the sabbath or fasting but since I have been practicing them now, I feel the power of it in my life.

I feel the desires of my heart changing and I love it.

all i have is this doodle of anahita enjoy :’)