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quinnred · 3 months

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Tilshek: God of the Ugly Rage, WindRammer, He-Who-Drums-The-Summit.

Tilshek is the embodiment of warm storms, tantrum, frenzy, spasm, drunken fury, and unjust punishment. He is represented by the Urchin and Cactus in the South and by the Porcupine and Thistle in the North. Berserking warriors may don quills to evoke Tilshek in their rages, while others may wear a flower of a thistle or cactus to evoke his merciful servant, Mahtaa.

Tilshek was born from the abuse of two Feather Gods within the halls of The Sun. He emerged stillborn, fused with the bestial Jak that all Feathers Gods are pregnant with, and was denied feathers by his reckless parents. The babe was tossed from the sky and quickly forgotten upon the land. No god dare claim parentage as even they know shame.

Abandoned and with no guidance, the naked and pained god became a wild storm of knuckle and claw, scarring the land and terrorising all that lived on it. Only one, a young Manava named Mahtaa, would recognize this mindless wreaking as the divine bawl of a newborn god and calm it with soft word and tenderness and succour. The beaked giant would ever seethe, but placation allowed Mahtaa to guide Tilshek to the home of the Shell Gods, The Mesa.

The Shell Gods were impressed with the mad orphan’s strength and the wisdom of his guardian, asking what drove the new god to such a rage. He cawed to them that he was born of poor love and left naked and wronged, wishing that he could return to his home if only to pluck and maul his kin until The Sun hung red. The chief of the Shell Gods, mighty Zridtara, was greatly amused and sympathetic to Tilshek’s rage against their rival pantheon, welcoming him into his Mesa home as an honorary Shell God. Being too rowdy to live within it’s halls, Tilshek was appeased by sitting atop The Mesa, tended to by often smashed Godler servants and the soothing Mahtaa as he stared at the ever enraging Sun.

While the Godlers would serve their master divine boozes and sacrifices (and suffer pummeling due to minor grievances), Mahtaa’s role was to herd the ram skulled god away from fool furies. He became most needed whenever Tilshek was sent on an “errand” by his new kin, a distraction so the Shell and Feather god pantheons could visit and negotiate without conflict. As Tilshek would rampage across the mortal lands, Mahtaa would outwit his master and aim his rages away from innocent mortals, earning him the title “Storm-Guide”.

One day the tantrummer had been told of a piece of the moon that held Jak yolk, as it was the egg that The Mountain and The Sky conceived the Jaks from, and that it may yield him god feather. Mahtaa did not take this seriously, seeing it as yet another teasing of his master, yet Tilshek was ecstatic that his solar massacre dreams may yet be fulfilled. As they travelled Mahtaa would ponder that, if the moon yolk was real, should his idiot charge receive such a boon, even if it was his birthright as Feather God and as a Half-Jak? Surely he would not only kill his sun kin but also be slain himself in such a mad fervour?

And so Mahtaa would deny Tilshek his prize upon it’s discovery, allowing it to be taken and hidden by Godlers of the Feather Gods. In confusion, the normally unhesitating Tilshek paused for once in his life before striking down an offender. In those moments Mahtaa stood strong and loving, even as his god sprouted a pair of arms to strangle him with. But rather than suffocate, his head bloomed into a kind flower, his godhood blossoming into a champion of mercy due to his many good deeds. From then on Tilshek would ever carry the flower faced god as punishment for his betrayal, and in part as a comfort, like a child may clutch their blanket.

This arrangement would only end upon the coming of the Deiomachy, when peace between gods eroded and fate grew hungry for war. Tilshek silently granted his one and only mercy, releasing his beloved and loyal prisoner so as to spare him from the doom-drum of divine combat.

The Mesa would be capped by a false peak as Tilshek flung himself with a rising storm towards his twin-by-fate: Shrileket the Sun-Dropper. Their clash would announce war between the Feather and Shell, booming as only gods could for days until they fell upon each other’s impalements.

#slaughtermauch #tilshek #gods #quinn red #art #fantasy

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probablybadrpgideas · 1 month

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Lycanthropes in ascending order of unmanagability and CR:

Weredog (as werewolf but herds sheep instead of mauling them)

Werespider (huge and horrific but basically an ettercap at the end of the day)

Weregaroo (jacked. pugilistic. better pack your silvered brass knuckles or you don't stand a chance.)

Wereapotamous (run.)

Werewhale (you don't need adventurers, you need a convention of ordained clergy to discuss why a caring pantheon would allow this thing's existence)

Werebeholder.

��Here me out:

Werewerewolf

#submission #enemy idea #fantasy

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coinandcandle · 1 month

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Hermes Deity Deep Dive

This was a requested deep dive on Hermes, you can request a deep dive on my ko-fi for $5!

Hermes is one of the 12 Olympian Gods and is known as the herald or the messenger of the gods. Often depicted wearing winged shoes and holding a staff or wand, he was known to be the patron of heralds and messengers.

As with many deities, Hermes is the god of many things, such as poets, athletics, luck, travel, trade, omens, animal husbandry, and thieves. This multi-faceted god was often conflated with the Roman Mercury, though there are some key differences.

With that, let’s get to know Hermes!

Parents and Siblings

Zeus (father)

Maia (mother)

Lovers or Partners

Theses are the more common lovers found referenced with Hermes.

Aphrodite

Brimo

Daeira

Peitho

Persephone

Penelopeia

Children

These are all of the cited children I found, there may be some discrepancies depending on which myth you read and who tells the story.

Evander

Pan*

*The primordial god Pan has many origins, being the son of Hermes and Penelopeia is just one of these origins. The next three are thought to be aspects of Pan that may also be personified separately. Pan may be a tripartite deity, this will have to wait until Pan gets his own Deep dive.

Agreus

Nomios

Phorbas

Hermaphroditus

Abderus

Autolycus

Eudoros

Angelia

Myrtilus

Palaestra

Aethalides

Arabius

Astacus

Bounos

Cephalus

Cydon

Pharis

Polybus

Prylis

Saon

Epithets

The Greek gods have massive lists of names, here are some I’ve found on multiple lists.

Atlantiades

Argeïphontes

Cyllenian

Kriophoros

Notes

One of the more popular myths of Hermes is the myth of him stealing Apollo’s cattle as a baby. Hermes was freshly born, escaped his crib and stole his half-brother’s herd of cattle. In order to avoid getting caught, Hermes plays some devious and clever tricks, though the tricks he plays depends on the myth-teller. At some point on his journey with the cattle he finds a tortoise whose shell he turns into the very first lyre. Inevitably he gets caught by Apollo but the sun god is so charmed by the lyre that he allows Hermes to keep the cattle or at least forgives him.

Not only this myth, but others depict him as a trickster who enjoys a good prank.

Hermes was known to be the patron god of Arcadia as he was born in Mount Cyllene in Arcadia according to Homer.

Philostratus places Hermes’ birthplace in Olympus, however.

Hermes is also a psychopomp, a traveler between the realms of the living and dead who aides souls headed to the underworld.

It’s possible that Hermes’ name derives from the Greek herma which meant “heap of stones” or “cairn”. These heaps of stones, or cairns, were roadside markers for travelers and may have also acted as small shrines for the deity.

Hermes was notably charming even as a baby, considered a darling of the gods (ref) where many of the deities in the pantheon would teach or entertain young Hermes.

Hermes was said to have invented wrestling and racing.

One of his more prominent cults was in Attica during the Classical period. By this time he was considered to be the god of travelers and sailors.

Thoth was another deity conflated with Hermes.

Hermes in many myths and traditions is seen to be a liminal deity. Not only is he able to travel between the underworld and overworld with ease, but he is often depicted as both young and old, as a mediator between god and man, and as a dream bringer.

It’s possible that this ties into his involvement as an initiator for young adulthood.

The Hermea were festivals held in honor of Hermes.

Hermes’ staff or wand, the caduceus (staff with two snakes wound around it), is often mistaken for the Rod of Asclepius (staff with one snake wound around it).

Modern Deity Work

Explanations are placed next to each item on the list.

Correspondences

Rocks/Stone/Crystals

Copper - I couldn’t find a source for this but I’ve seen it on multiple posts now and my friends who follow Hermes cite this as well so it is worth a mention!

Gold

Silver

Rocks - Just rocks, specifically stacked rocks from the roadside. Cairns were

Herbs/Plants

Crocus flower - based on the myth where he accidentally kills Krokos and turns him or his blood into a flower.

Strawberry Trees (botanical name Arbutus unedo) - he had been nursed under one according to some myths.

Animals

Hare - he placed the hare amongst the stars as the constellation Lepus.

Tortoise - created the lyre out of a tortoise shell.

Cattle - stole Apollo’s cattle as a baby and is known to be a god of cattle rearing.

Hawk - he transformed two men, Hierax and Daidalon, into hawks.

Symbols

Caduceus - the name of the staff or wand he is depicted as carrying.

Shepherd’s Pipes - he created the shepherd’s pipes.

Winged shoes - the type of shoe varies by myth or artistic depiction but the “winged” part remains the same.

Winged hat - he is often depicted wearing a winged hat.

Traveler’s hat - he is often depicted wearing a traveler’s hat.

Offerings

Shepherd’s Pie - This is purely based on the fact that it’s similar to shepherd’s pipes and I find it amusing, I’m sure a god who enjoys jokes would enjoy this too but that’s my bias.

Koumara - I found this post by @grecowitch explaining that while strawberries are often cited as offerings for Hermes, this misconception comes from the misleading name of the “strawberry tree” which actually produces fruit called koumara! That said, I imagine Hermes wouldn’t be upset at receiving delicious strawberries.

Animal skins - Hermes

Coins - he is known to be a patron of not only merchants but thieves!

Other standard offerings to Grecian deities are olive oil, honey, cheeses, various fruits, milk, and candles.

Acts of Devotion

Write poetry - he is a god of poetry.

Travel - he is the patron god of travelers.

Learn how to play the lyre - he created the lyre.

Play sports - he is known as a god of athletics and during his festival days people would play sports.

Play pranks - I won’t advocate for harsh pranks, personally, but he is known as a trickster so do with that what you will.

Pray to him - pretty standard devotional act.

Go to the gym or otherwise exercise - he has been cited as the patron deity of gyms.

Build a cairn - DO NOT STACK ROCKS IN NATURE as it disrupts the natural environment! However, feel free to build one on your porch or in your house with rocks you may already have.

Celebrate Hermea - I was unable to find a set date-range for these festivals. Some suggested around the beginning of August, possibly due to his conflation with the Irish god Lugh’s holiday Lughnasadh; others suggested May 15 due to the Roman god Mercury’s holiday Mercuralia. That said, he was known to be worshipped during other holidays in Greek tradition alongside other deities.

References and Further Reading

Encyclopedia Mythica

The THEOI Project

Wikipedia

Britannica

#Deity Deep Dive #Hermes deity #Hermes #Hermes god #greek mythology #hellenic polytheism

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talonabraxas · 5 months

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Io Pan! Io Pan! Pan, Great God of Nature Talon Abraxas

In Greek mythology, the great god Pan ruled over the domain of the wild. His name originates from the old Arcadian word for rustic, but in later ancient Greek society, his name came to be associated with the Athenian word “παν” meaning “all.” He was born with hooves, shaggy legs, a furry tail, and horns – in a manner of ways, he was part goat.

Pan was raised by nymphs, spirits of nature, whose life force are attached to things such as trees, rivers, and plants. Pan was welcomed into the divine pantheon by all the gods. Just as the gods were delighted to welcome Pan, so were they delighted by nature itself — the gods often had sacred living spaces found in rural places all around Greece. Mount Olympus itself, the collective home of the gods, is the highest mountain in Greece, a place where nature thrives.

Arcadia, “the land of many springs” was the most rural place in ancient Greece; it was the god Pan’s home – and the most popular place for worship of the god. Here Pan took part in leading the nymphs in dances, or was found chasing them, and reveling in the beauty of the wild. He is often depicted wandering through valleys, mountains, and glades. In Greek mythology, his essence as the God of the wild, imbued his surroundings with life and vitality. Nature was at its most bountiful when Pan was present.

The great god Pan also enjoyed music and so was often found playing melodious tunes on his reed pipes. Nonnus captures the rural life of Pan: “Melodious Pan sat beside herds of goats or sheepcoates playing his tune on the assembled reeds…” (Dionysiaca 45. 174 ff)

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jasper-the-menace · 6 months

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A quick summary of the MTG cookbook that dropped yesterday:

Ravnica: Krenko got hired by Jace to gather one recipe from each of the ten guilds.

Dominaria: Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar travels Dominaria looking for cool mortal fare for her new cookbook.

Eldraine: Storytelling with the Kenriths, Garruk, and Oko involved.

Innistrad: Tibalt being a little slut who is getting in the middle of everything.

Kaldheim: Tyvar preparing a feast for the valkyries to impress them. Also Toski helps.

Kamigawa: Recipes left by Tamiyo to her family, complete with stories that go with them.

Theros: Xenagos starts daydreaming about a new planeswalker pantheon.

Zendikar: Bruse Tarl driving his herds all over Zendikar and picking up meals from everywhere.

Kaladesh: Chandra reminiscing on her life on Kaladesh, featuring Saheeli and Huatli.

Ixalan: The culinary adventures of Vraska and Jace while they were looking for the Immortal Sun.

#jasper post #magic the gathering #ravnica #dominaria #innistrad #eldraine #kaldheim #kamigawa #theros #zendikar #kaladesh #ixalan #cuisines of the multiverse #magic the gathering: cuisines of the multiverse #cookbook #lore

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kariachi · 1 year

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Xenofiction Concept: Wolves and deer have similar pantheons, and no shared language. The deer worship their own deer-shaped god, yes, but also a lupine goddess of death, regarded as a guardian against starvation and disease who sends her children to kill some so that most may live. The wolves, meanwhile, worship their mother goddess, but just as much a cervid god of plenty who provides the deer they hunt so long as they only kill what they need and focus those already ailing, such that his herd may grow fatter.

#concepts #xenofiction is one of many things on the brain #and this has been puttering around for days

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paladinbaby · 1 year

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journeying back into the woods.

owl and pussycat some years later, margaret atwood / andrew joseph white / the language of the birds, richard siken / stay gold, first aid kit / @creacherkeeper / reliable narrator, chase petra / tommy olofsson (tr. by jean pearson) / ribs, the crane wives / @petrichor-moss-and-lightning / mercy, rudy francisco

[Image Description: Ten images of text.

1: “Anything can become a saint if you pray to it enough -”

2: A tweet from Andrew Joseph White (AJWhiteAuthor) that reads “building a pantheon for a story, and the monstrous trans forest deity who specifically protects queer and disabled children is, imho, very very cool”

3: “The night sky is vast and wide.

They huddled closer, shoulder to shoulder, painted themselves in herds, all together and apart from the rest. They looked at the sky, and at the mud, and at their hands in the mud, and their dead friends in the mud. This went on for a long time.

4 To be a bird, or a flock of birds doing something together, one or many, starling or murmuration. To be a man on a hill, or all the men on all the hills, or half a man shivering in the flock of himself. These are some choices.

The night sky is vast and wide.

A man had two birds in his head—not in his throat, not in his chest—and the birds would sing all day never stopping. The man thought to himself, One of these birds is not my bird. The birds agreed.”

4: “What if our hard work ends in despair? / What if the road won't take me there? / Oh, I wish, for once / We could stay gold / What if to love and be loved's not enough? / What if I fall and can't bear to get up?”

5: A discord screenshot. The message is typed in all caps. “They both wanted to be friends 😭😭”

6: “Now we’re circling around the ring / It’s 1v1 and here’s the thing / You may be better in a fight / But I’ve got more to lose tonight”

7: “Let’s be the same wound if we must bleed. / Let’s fight side by side, even if the enemy / is ourselves: I am yours, you are mine.”

8: “The dark doesn’t frighten me / I chose to close my eyes / It is mine, it is mine / The night doesn’t frighten me / I chose to let it thrive”

9: “i don’t know where others end // where I begin. i’m more patchwork than human. a mosaic of every person i’ve ever known; threads of love made manifest.”

10: “If I am ever caught in the wrong place / at the wrong time, just being alive / and not bothering anyone,

I hope I am greeted / with the same kind / of mercy.” End ID.]

#litstack #web weaving #quotes #personal #onion #c: lost township

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rionas-path · 2 months

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Tale Portrayed on Ancient Pottery

Greatness is never granted. It must be taken, stolen. There is no other path, And so too, in the age’d age of yore, In the age which followed myth. All things people-folk could not remember. All things important. Great but never granted.

That is what the old glyphs represent. A defeat: an end to a lost era. Alas, thou hast found me Amidst an old man’s rambling. Withal, I shall share with thee What the old glyphs represent All things people-folk could not foresee. All things important. Great but never granted.

The Primeval Order. The first pantheon of which we know After the age of myth hath concluded. Gods ruled by the communion. No kings, no lords, all equal And remained true to their word! Those virtues were their insignia. All things people-folk could imitate. All things important. Great but never granted.

The great ones guarding the walls. Herding them! Advising them! They were the guardians Of the natural, of the corporeal. All things people-folk could not control. All things important. Great but never granted.

Those who stood on this boundary Commanded such grace. They bridged gaps greater than time. Brought with them bountiful hauls. All things people-folk could find. All things important. Great but never granted.

They sought to perfect perfection. Create a world to come! Each one of them an artisan, Moulded and shaped their crafts So they could employ them flawlessly. All things people-folk could not perform. All things important. Great but never granted.

A spearhead, a compass of faith Into the union of the worlds. A solemn reminder of their service. Marvel at their achievement! All things people-folk could achieve. All things important. Great but never granted.

The guise of brotherhood. The lie of the fellowship. The god of ore, Korou Sought the world for himself Through steel and stone, He cast all out. All things people-folk had feared. All things important. Great but never granted.

#fantasy #dark fantasy #lore #poetry #epic poetry #epic poem #literature #world building #fantasy pantheon

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 2 months

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By: Michael Shermer

Published: Mar 8, 2024

Leaked documents from World Professional Association for Transgender Health practitioners reveal a medical profession in the grips of an ideology-driven social contagion

In an early study of crowd psychology, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (originally published in 1841 and still in print), the Scottish journalist Charles Mackay documented such delusions as alchemy, fortune-telling, haunted houses, magnetizers, religious relics, and prophecies, and the mad crowds that fell for economic bubbles like the Dutch tulip mania, the Railway Mania, witch crazes, and the South Sea Bubble. “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds,” Mackay observed, “while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.”

The redux of my title includes such such popular delusions of the past half century as the Subliminal Messages scare, the Satanic Panic, the Recovered Memory mania, the Self-Esteem movement, the Multiple Personality craze, the Left-Brain/Right-Brain fad, the Mozart Effect mania, the Vaccine-Autism furor, the Super-predators fear, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program that increased teen drug use, the Scared Straight program that made adolescents more likely to offend, the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) programmed that worsened anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and many more that have plagued psychology and psychiatry.

The latest of what is likely to be added to this pantheon of popular delusions embraced by mad crowds is the trans movement as a whole and Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria in particular, as revealed on Tuesday March 5, 2024 by Michael Shellenberger, Mia Hughes, and their colleagues at Environmental Progress in a 242-page document titled The WPATH Files: Pseudoscientific Surgical and Hormonal Experiments on Children, Adolescents, and Vulnerable Adults. “The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) enjoys the reputation of being the leading scientific and medical organization devoted to transgender healthcare,” the authors note. However, after reviewing hundreds of leaked internal documents revealing shocking levels of uncertainty, ignorance, and devotion to outdated and debunked pseudoscientific theories, therapies, and practices, the report’s authors conclude that the opposite is true:

Newly released files from WPATH’s internal messaging forum, as well as a leaked internal panel discussion, demonstrate that the world-leading transgender healthcare group is neither scientific nor advocating for ethical medical care. These internal communications reveal that WPATH advocates for many arbitrary medical practices, including hormonal and surgical experimentation on minors and vulnerable adults. Its approach to medicine is consumer-driven and pseudoscientific, and its members appear to be engaged in political activism, not science.

We devoted an issue of Skeptic to “Trans Matters” (Vol. 27, No. 1) that included an especially thoughtful, sensitive, and deeply-researched cover story by Lisa Selin Davis, “An Overview of the Debate, Research, and Policies”, documenting the massive spike in patients reporting gender dysphoria over the past decade (this data is from a gender clinic in British Columbia but rates are comparable elsewhere). Before 2015, most trans were young boys who identified as female; after 2015 most trans were adolescent girls identifying as males.

As I read the research, the Before Time (pre-2015) was very likely recording real instances of gender dysphoria (GD) in very young children and at a vanishingly rare rate well below 1%; the After Time (post-2015 to today) is very likely a phenomenon called rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), a label coined by the physician and public health researcher Lisa Littman, after she discovered in her exploratory study based on parental reports that entire peer groups of adolescents and teens were declaring themselves to be transgender, after immersion in social media or exposure in classrooms in which sizable proportions of students identified as anything but cisgender and straight. With watchful waiting and compassionate support for these adolescents, and dealing with their underlying issues of body dysphoria from puberty, autism, anorexia, and normal teen anxiety, sadness, and stress, the vast majority grow out of their self-identity of “being in the wrong body” and/or realize that, in fact, they are gay or lesbian.

Unfortunately, watchful waiting and compassionate support is not a practice that WPATH appears to recommend to medical and psychological practitioners; instead, “gender affirming care” calls for them to go along with whatever their (almost always) underage patients tell them that they want, which is often invasive, irreversible, and life-changing Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and/or surgery, including the amputation of healthy breasts in females (a double mastectomy, or “top surgery”) and the surgical removal of otherwise healthy genitals and reproductive systems that will never again function normally (“bottom surgery”). Detransitioners—those who transitioned then changed their minds and sought to return to their “assigned at birth” sex (a number that is growing by the month)—are discovering that they can never have biological children (they’re told “don’t worry, you can always adopt”), can never breast feed (they’re told they can “strap on” milk-delivering faux-breasts and become “chest feeders”), and can never experience the full range of normal sexual functioning, including orgasms, not to mention numerous drug side-effects, surgical complications, infections, mounting medical bills not covered by insurance, and the like. As the authors of the WPATH Files note:

This report will show that this is a violation of medical ethics and, as is revealed by its own internal communications, WPATH does not meet the standards of evidence-based medicine. It will further show that the ethical requirement to obtain informed consent is being violated, with members admitting that children and adolescents cannot comprehend the lifelong consequences of sex-trait modification interventions, and in some cases, due to poor health literacy, neither can their parents.

Before I review some of these documents, let me note that I have covered this topic before in this column, for example, answering the question “What is a Woman, Anyway?”, on the trans swimmer Lia Thomas in particular, and on trans athletes in female sports in general. I personally know two (MTF) trans adults who transitioned well into adulthood and are happy they did so, I recognize that there are people who genuinely experience GD (which is different from ROGD), and I stand by my statement in the last column that:

Of course we should support trans rights for the same reason we support the rights of people of color, women, and gays: it is immoral (and in many cases illegal) to discriminate against someone based on such immutable characteristics as skin color, gender, and sexual preference, so gender identity should be included in our ever-expanding moral circle and our ever-bending moral arc. The problem arises when there are conflicting rights claims.

In the WPATH Files what we see is the rights of underage adolescents and vulnerable adults being violated by the very people tasked with protecting them, so I agree with the authors’ call for “the U.S. government to oversee a bipartisan national inquiry to investigate how activists with little respect for the Hippocratic Oath could have risen to such prominence as to set the Standards of Care for an entire field of medicine, leading to the medical abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.”

What follows are some of the more revealing—and in many cases egregious—examples of uncertainty, ignorance, and embrace of pseudoscientific ideas revealed in the “semi-private conversations inside WPATH’s internal online forum for discussing specific medical cases,” along with my comments (below each screen shot)

Note that this post is from Marci Bowers, often tagged as “the world’s preeminent ‘gender-reassignment’ surgeon” and who self-identifies as “a woman with a trans history” (i.e., a Male-to-Female [MTF] trans), revealing that medical professionals had no idea of the consequences of transitioning youth. The correspondent inquires about the consequences for fertility and orgasmic response post transition. “The fertility question has no research that I’m aware of,” Bowers admits, but suggesting that puberty blockers will “preclude those opportunities.” Oh is that all? What about orgasms? Again, Bowers is “unaware of an individual claiming ability to orgasm” after puberty blockers. Say again?

Here is a man (AMAB = Assigned Male at Birth) who self-identifies as a non-binary female who is taking Cialis/Viagra (presumably to enhance his—sorry, her—erections) who wonders if they breast feed their 7-month old will the meds get into the infant’s system. Apparently the amounts would be so small that the infant would not experience “any adverse effects” such as, what, erections?

Here's a therapist who practices EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), the long discredited treatment for PTSD/trauma. These people are years behind the science. A 2022 literature review, for example, concluded: “Taken as a whole, this small body of work suggests that eye movements do not reliably affect susceptibility to misinformation, nor do they appear to enhance memory, but they do seem to increase spontaneous false memories.” False Memory Syndrome is the correct interpretation of what was happening in the 1990’s Recovered Memory Movement in which adult patients in psychotherapy were convinced by quack therapists that they had been sexually molested as children, even though the patients had no memory whatsoever of such abuse, nor was there any corroborating evidence such crimes ever occurred. Astonishingly, there were cases of aging parents who were tried, convicted, and imprisoned for sexual molestation based on nothing more than bogus “recovered memories,” a mass hysteria that came to an abrupt end when lawyers sued therapists for malpractice. See Carol Tavris’s account of this madness here.

Here is a discussion of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), explaining that consent for transitioning must be obtained from each "alter" (alternative personality). DID and MPD is a bogus diagnosis. There is no such thing as multiple personalities, so there can be no "alternate" personalities to give consent. The entire diagnosis was founded on two famous cases that turned out to be fraudulent: Sybil and Eve (as in The Three Faces of Eve). The real Sybil—Shirley Mason (played by Sally Field in the film version)—admitted she made it all up: "I do not really have any multiple personalities. I do not even have a 'double.' ... I am all of them. I have been lying in my pretense of them." As for Eve, the real woman was Chris Costner Sizemore (played by Joanne Woodward in the film rendition), and her three faces eventually transmogrified into over 20, until a book revealed that the psychiatrist who diagnosed her was sexually and financially abusing her. Nevertheless, such quack diagnoses didn’t stop this surgeon from cutting off the healthy breasts of a DID woman, or carving out fake vaginas in two DID men:

For a complete debunking of these and additional bogus psychological theories, therapies, and treatments, see 50 Great Myths About Popular Psychology by the late Scott Lilienfeld and colleagues, and his more scholarly debunking in Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology. Skeptic’s own columnist Carol Tavris has debunked these and more quack psychology in our pages (for example, see her article on trans issues here).

This post-op trans woman (a man) later "discovered that I was not suffering from any actual pathology related to being trans.” Yet, she claims to still experience cPTSD, ADHD, anxiety, and depression. O-kay.

This exchange shows a practitioner reasonably conflicted about starting a patient on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) with so many problems, but is nevertheless told it’s “the right thing to do”!

Here a WPATH member complains that their client was denied insurance coverage for surgery until completing a year of HRT, stating that they think the patient needs surgery “for her physical and mental health, along with her safety.” Safety?

This surgeon isn’t sure how to handle patients requesting “non-standard” procedures, such as top surgery without nipples (“non-binary” means “non-nipples”?) and “phallus-preserving vaginoplasty.” The latter is non-standard indeed, inasmuch as normal vaginoplasty involves removing the penis, testicles and scrotum. This patient apparently wants both. In a follow-up missive Dr. Satterwhite explains: “With every patient I operate on, I always take a patient-centric approach and I let my patient lead the journey (not me).” Therein lies the problem when you’re dealing with underage patients who are otherwise not allowed to drive, drink, smoke, vote, serve in the military, get tattoos, and more. Why would anyone—much less medical professionals—think that adolescents could make adult decisions about such life-altering treatments?

Note not only the age of onset of this condition (non-binary), 13, or that the testosterone request comes from the child and not a parent, guardian or medical professional, but that on top of all that this kid is purposefully starving themselves to look “more non-binary”. Presumably this means anorexia. Whatever this youngster is experiencing it is not going to be ameliorated by transgender medical treatments. This is medical malpractice, pure and simple, and it has to stop.

I could go on and on with dozens more such revelatory correspondence from the WPATH Files, so let me close with this observation from John Mackay, who presciently put his finger on the problem we are experiencing today: “We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.”

I have little doubt that when the ROGD trans social contagion runs its course it will be replaced by something else, but without politicians or attorneys intervening in the meantime I am not at all confident that the WPATH community is capable of self-regulation and course-correction away from the flagitious path they’ve been on. Still, in the long run, optimist that I am, I hope lessons will be learned from this episode, as they were with the aforementioned previous popular delusions; and with that hope I will give the last word to Mackay:

Let us not, in the pride of our superior knowledge, turn with contempt from the follies of our predecessors. The study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive. As the man looks back to the days of his childhood and his youth, and recalls to his mind the strange notions and false opinions that swayed his actions at the time, that he may wonder at them; so should society, for its edification, look back to the opinions which governed ages that fled.

Amen, brother.

#Michael Shermer #social contagion #WPATH #The WPATH Files #World Professional Association of Transgender Health #medical corruption #medical malpractice #medical scandal

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