What is a commonplace book
Commonplace books are a method of compiling knowledge into one place, traditionally by handwriting but more recently with computers/word processors. They’re different from journals in that rather than containing exclusively personal thoughts or feelings, they’re a collection of external writings, informations, or other snippets of things recorded whenever it is encountered + usually organised.
To simplify – a commonplace book contains anything that captured it’s owners attention! Poems, extracts of fiction & non fiction writings, remarks or comments by others, anecdotes, observations, pertinent images, or other things along the same lines are all things that belong in a commonplace book!
Commonplace books have quite the history – their uses range between reading logs, reference books for students, and historically they were required by young women to demonstrate their upbringing.
How do they work
The exact system you use in your commonplace book is entirely up to you and what you will remember to use. Usually information is organised under themed/topic-based headings, but this can be as flexible or stiff as the keeper desires. My personal commonplace book is organised by source material – all of my book extracts & notes are kept together and demarcated by paperclips.
A commonplace book has no requirements in terms of physical format, size, page type, etc. As long as it is something you will be able to keep using happily! There is also no rules around decorating any pages with stickers or washi tape, or any rules around using sticky notes to add information on the go.
A commonplace book can also be as expansive or restricted as possible in terms of subject matter. For example, I keep a specific commonplace book for Babalon & Sekhmet. Nothing else enters this book.
What’s their use in religious practice or witchcraft?
A commonplace book can function as an in-between for a Grimoire (a book of magical knowledge and instruction, usually written by someone else and usually for transmitting knowledge within a specific tradition or branch of religion/witchcraft) & a Witchbook/Book of Shadows (more akin to a magical/religious journal for recordkeeping). They’re also exceptionally useful if you read a lot of metaphysical, occult or spiritual/religious books and want to keep organised notes in a hard copy form!
Commonplace books can be used to record interesting information from other, non-metaphysical but useful sources too, foraging notes and recipes are an obvious choice to keep a record of, along with notes about celestial events from astronomy sources.
In some cases, a commonplace book can also be a devotional activity, or a shrine of sorts. Commonplace books as a devotional activity is easy to parse – collecting and mindfully recording information about an entity, deity, divinity or other spirit is a good means to show care and interest.
A commonplace book as a shrine has a similar function to an e-shrine on tumblr, by collecting things that remind or represent an entity, deity, divinity or other spirit, a notebook can be made into a shrine or sacred object. This can also be a useful way to have a sacred touchpoint with an entity and keep it relatively out of sight, for those who are not open about their practice.
Examples
More reading on Commonplace books
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book - The wiki page for Commonplace books that delves into their general & regional history, along with more variations on memory/infokeeping under See Also
https://notebookofghosts.com/2018/02/25/a-brief-guide-to-keeping-a-commonplace-book/ - A brief history & how-to on commonplace books, along with notable people that kept one.
https://bookriot.com/commonplace-book/ - An informal look at commonplace books, including using a tumblr blog/other digital formats as a commonplace book.
https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book-ea80e25b63f1 - Information about commonplace books, alternatives to notebooks, and a small guide.
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Begging Tumblr users to finally discover Linux
Everyone keeps complaining about Google and advising to use Firefox etc while still using OS produced by Microsoft which is just like Google maybe worse. Linux is literally free and out there, there are so many different distributions produced in different countries and so much free open source software. Go grab yourself a flashdisk and do yourself a favour. Tbh if you get Ubuntu it is very easy to set up(seriously if you managed to download firefox and add Ublock you probably are very much capable of installing Ubuntu), has shit ton of support online, comes with many useful programs preinstalled and you can even get an add-on to make it look more like windows. Nothing is stopping you
Edit: people are also recommending Linux Mint a lot so you can give that a try! (Personally I have never used it but it looks very windows-like at least when it comes to the UI layout)
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talking to a friend about getting back into art and i think the #1 most important piece of art advice i could ever get or give is just "figure out what is FUN to you"
like i think there is sooooo much emphasis on how to build SKILL in art but a lot of it really treats art like a job or like video game grinding, like it's this thankless job that you have to work at in order to reach a Threshold and i know it's not EASY to make yourself have fun but like
imo a solid 70% of the reason i create art is because the Act of Drawing is fun to me. it's fun problem-solving and planning and putting down lines and playing with colors and tools. it's fun to depict little scenes in my head or to create outfits or to find ways to fill the canvas. never forget that creating can be fun. sometimes it's hard and sometimes you have to battle through your own blockades to get there but the ultimate goal should always be to ENJOY it, to find what you enjoy doing and then do it forever. improvement will follow enjoyment.
i think especially with all the debate about ML image generation it's more important than ever to embrace FUN. if you're only focused on the end result it's so easy to get in your own head- to think about what doesn't look good or what skills you don't have yet or to compare yourself to other artists. but photography didn't kill the art of drawing and AI won't either because, simply put, there will always be people who want to do the physical act of making art because it's fun to do! using paints and markers, splashing colors around, doing shitty pen doodles, using the symmetry tool in your art program to do abstract mandalas that are just squiggles formed into patterns. do art like you're 5 and you've been handed markers to pass the time. do art like you're bored in class and you're keeping your brain entertained by drawing stick figure comics in the margins. do art like an absent thing, do art because it satisfies your brain. the goal is not to make something beautiful and perfect, the goal is to make something because your hands need to make and your body needs to make.
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a head-canon of mind is i think post-oda’s death dazai 100% “doesn’t allow” himself to get attached to people, bc he thinks eventually everything he has will be lost. this manifests in him constantly keeping a persona with everyone he interacts with and never showing true emotional vulnerability.
HOWEVER. i also think that dazai-post-oda’s-death compulsively fills his hours strategizing on how to protect those people he “doesn’t care about” from harm. i’m talking notebooks upon notebooks crowding his dorm filled with data and analysis on the ada and select port mafia members’ strengths and weaknesses, who and what might threaten them, and how he would prevent that threat before it could even happen.
i think dazai believes he’s a curse on everyone he knows, and he has to expend his only asset (his mind) on ensuring he’ll be able to thwart the curse before it ever comes to fruition. because last time he kept someone close to him and damned all the consequences, they died.
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Imagine riding subby nomad Steve like this big hunk of pure muscle and strength but your riding him making him cum so much that your overstimulating him and he’s just begging “mommy please fuck, please cum for me mommy can’t take it anymore” and you lean towards his ear and choke him saying “be a good boy for mommy and take it, cum inside mommy again, I know you want to you fucking slut” as he lets out wimpiers and whines crying from overstimulation but he can’t stop cumming in your tight hole because “mommy feels to good around my cock”
Subby. Fucking. Men. What a dream. But like, overstimulated subby men?? Beautiful.
I feel like Steve would fucking adore repeating all the filthy little things you say to degrade him though. He'd call himself names and fuck himself half stupid, then let you fuck him until he's babbling and begging. He absolutely loves it.
He can hardly think straight, he's cum so many times. All he knows is that he doesn't have much energy left. He's exhausted and overworked but still rock fucking hard. His stamina is a curse sometimes and even then, he struggles to keep up with you.
"Mommy please. I can't cum anymore. It's too much. Feels too good." He knows you won't want to stop yet. You've gotten off plenty already, trying to hide your pleasure from him each time but he doesn't miss those telltale flutters of your body. Knowing you get off on using him just makes him cum harder because he's nothing if not a good little slut for you.
"You don't think you can cum anymore? Are you serious Stevie? You're such a little slut I bet you wouldn't be able to stop. You know as well as I do that you can't help yourself. You just live to keep your mommy stuffed full." He knows you're right. In fact, he almost thinks that if you ordered him to cum then and there, he could probably manage it just by getting lost in how your body feels around his.
"Be a good boy, Stevie. Cum for me again. Cum in me like it's all you're good for. Just a dirty slut who can't help himself." Steve's moans sound so broken, grinding himself against you because you sound so slick and messy it makes his mouth water.
"I'm a filthy slut for you, mommy. So p-pussy whipped. I'm a slut. Oh God, I'm a slut." He's whimpering, lost in the way his own voice sounds as he degrades himself.
Your hand clamps around his neck, your fingers flexing and oh God, he's gone. His cheeks are blazing, his muscles tense and strained.
"I can't cum, mommy. I can't cum. Please don't fucking make me cum." He sounds distraught as his head falls forward onto your shoulder.
"Colour, Steve." You demand and it almost takes him by surprise because he's shocked you can't see how much he's loving every second of this.
"Green. So fucking green." He pants. His head is empty, his body almost feeling like he's floating.
"Oh, you're sluttier than I thought. You almost had me fooled but I should've known better. Little whores like you love to be treated like this, huh? Love to be used." He's nodding in agreement because that's all he's got. Your body is still rocking back and forth on his length, a little faster than before but with the way you're squeezing his throat, he knows he can't last.
"Mommy, I'm gonna cum. Oh f-fuck, I need it. N-need to feel you cum first mommy, please." He begs but you can't give him the satisfaction, no matter how badly you need to.
"Do as I tell you, baby boy." You whisper, nibbling his ear before choking him just a little harder. "Cum inside mommy and don't fucking stop." Despite the fact he really can't handle it, he does. It seems like he's cumming for minutes on end, letting his sticky mess drip from you as he just pumps you full of more.
"I'm such a slut." He whines, seemingly cumming harder after admitting it and it's such a beautiful sight, you don't think you're close to being done with him yet.
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