Aright, so
dividing fae into “courts” is really a cultural thing.
The
fae-like creatures of many cultures have no categories at all beyond the
different species of creature. Dutch/Germanic and Scandinavian stories don’t as far as
I know. There are “dark elves” (Dökkálfar) and “light elves” (Ljósálfar) in
Norse mythology, but they are very different from fae.
Most modern
ideas about fae, however, are based on root Celtic mythology (which was spread
across Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the western part of England) and the Seelie
and Unseelie Court are a distinction specifically made in Scottish folklore.
As it is
used now they are the “seelie” happy fae and the “unseelie” unhappy fae, or
“blessed” and “un-blessed”. So there is one “Seelie Court” to which the fae
belong that are usually benevolent, and one “Unseelie Court” for the fae that
are usually malevolent. Sometimes individual fae are described as either seelie
or unseelie as well.
In actual
fairy tales and folkloric legends, however, the courts are rarely addressed as
such.
When Irish
stories speak of a “court” they usually mean a small court, the seat of which
is in a single fairy hill, ruled by a king, queen, lord or lady of the fae. And
in Scottish stories it happens more often than not that all the fae are addressed with “the Seelie Court”.
This makes much more
sense, really, when it comes to fae. As almost all old stories show, fae are
unpredictable. They might harm you or help you and the best you can do is try
to not offend them. You also don’t want to call them by their name, because
that might summon them. So what do you call them? In England, the “Fair Folk”.
In Wales, the “Tylwyth Teg” (the Fair Family). In Ireland, the “Daoine Maithe”
(the Good People). And in Scotland, “the Seelie Court”, the blessed court, that
surely would do this humble human no
harm.
The
introduction of two separate courts, might have been introduced by (19th century) folklorists
and scholars more than it showed up in oral tradition. Especially when trying
to make a coherent whole of very diverse stories the Evil/Good dichotomy is
easily made, particularly when Christian lore became more dominant. Even more perhaps because the Queen of the Faeries features a lot in old stories, but then you also
have powerful male figures like the Green Man showing up. These different pieces of
folklore never quite fit together, so I guess courts were a good way to
explain it away. And if you want to give the fae more human politics (like
Shakespeare did with Titania and Oberon), courts are the way to go.
Where the
practice of calling the Unseelie Court “the Winter Court” and the Seelie Court “the
Summer Court” came from, I really cannot find. This divisions might have
started as a folkloric idea of nature spirits keeping the seasons in tune (I’ve
seen Spring and Autumn courts mentioned too), but I’ve honestly only seen these
in more modern creations, not in folklore.
So
basically, as far as I can tell, calling an individual fae seelie or unseelie
would probably be more in line with folklore than attributing them to a specific court.
But we’re all suckers for some light versus dark imagery and the idea of faerie
courts is just too pretty to let go~
i’m AWARE this is a stupid hill to die on, but like. trope vs theme vs cliché vs motif vs archetype MATTERS. it matters to Me and i will die on this hill no matter how much others decide it’s pointless. words mean things
trope:1) the use of figurative language for artistic effect; includes allegories, analogies, hyperbole, & metaphors, among others. 2) commonly reoccurring literary devices, motifs, or clichés. Includes things like the medieval fantasy setting, the Dark Lord, enemies-to-lovers, and the Chosen One.
theme: the reoccurring idea or subject in a work of art. Death, life, rebirth, change, love, what it means to be human, the definition of family, the effects of war, etc.
cliché: an element of an artistic work that has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even becoming annoying or irritating. (Most clichés are tropes but not all tropes are clichés.)
motif: a distinctive repeating feature or idea, such as the green light in The Great Gatsby. May overlap with tropes and is often used to further explore the theme.
archetype: a constantly-recurring symbol or motif; it refers to the recurrence of characters or ideas sharing similar traits throughout various, seemingly unrelated cases in classic storytelling. E.g. rags to riches, the wise old mentor. Again may overlap with tropes, clichés, and motifs, but they’re not the exact same thing.
Named after the Moirai, the Fates, in Greek mythology
The 3 Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) decided the destinies of every being, including the gods
How long one would live, what trials a person would have to go through in their life to fulfill their destiny
In mythology, the 3 sisters would visit a baby 3 days after it was born to determine its fate
Klotho 97
the beginning…
Named after Clotho, the first of the 3 Fates and the spinner of human life
She determined when a person was born and whether or not a person could be saved
Lachesis 120
…how it’s going…
Named after Lachesis, the second of the 3 Fates and the measurer of Clotho’s thread
She determined how long a person would live and could choose the person’s destiny
Atropos 273
…how it ends
Named after Atropos, the third of the 3 Fates and the cutter of the thread
She determined how someone died and would be the one to end a person’s life by cutting his/her life thread
The Norns in Norse Mythology
Urda 167, Erda 894
Past…
Named after Urd, the first Norn associated with the past and the decider of people’s fates
The name means “fate” in Old Norse
Werdandi 621
…Present…
Named after Verdandi, the second Norn associated with the present and things that were happening or becoming
The verb “verda” means “to become” or “in the making” in Old Norse
Skuld 1130
…Future
Named after Skuld, the last Norn associated with the future and debt
What could this look like in a birth chart?
I know these asteroids have to do with heavy things like mortality, but you can also see these asteroids as the “life span” of a passion, purpose in life, relationship, whatever it is. Look at aspects, house, sign, and any other asteroids around to figure out what the Fates and Norns are telling you.
Examples in my chart
Golden yod formation with the first Norn
Urda makes a golden yod with Chiron biquintile Midheaven.
Funny since yods are also called the finger of fate. I have yet to write a proper post about yods, but I’ll dip my toe here. In my Urda golden yod, MC is the apex. Urda is quintile Chiron. Maybe this has to do with developing knowledge/skills that have to do with my past or destiny or other people’s pasts/destinies. Whatever it is will affect my career/how the world sees me. Once again, I have to live through some more life to get a better idea…
Another aspect pointing to my destiny with the first Norn
Erda is conjunct Moon/Juno and trine North Node/Chiron.
Erda aspects my NN, the path we are supposed to take in this life. It also aspects my Chiron like my Urda golden yod mentioned earlier. This one, however, is conjunct my Aquarius Moon and Juno in 6th House. Oh boy…I think I briefly talked about this in another post, but here is another marker that I am supposed to be in a marriage/long-term relationship. Either that or my marriage is to my work (6th), and this my fate?
Endings on my Angles
Atropos in Scorpio 4th House conjunct IC.
Skuld conjunct Sun-Mars-DC conjunction.
Skuld is conjunct my Sun-Mars-DC conjunction. It is a wide orb with the Sun and DC. It is also conjunct Iduna 176 (eternal youth). Hopefully, this means I’ll live a long life, or I’ll at least look youthful even in old age. It is also conjunct Devience 21419. The results of anything I do will end up deviating from the expected?
OKKKK so Atropos is literally sandwiched between my Moon/AC midpoint and Juno/AC midpoint. Moon-Juno themes happening again here.
It is also interesting that Atropos is conjunct Fantasia 1224 and Skuld is conjunct Morpheus 4197. Both can be associated with dreams and non-reality.
Other Aspects
Lachesis is sextile Mercury/Uranus and trine Pluto.
The Mercury/Uranus/Pluto theme is coming back from Klotho. I am destined to be someone who wants to uncover truths? Astrology isn’t my professional career, but I guess I am so into it because, in the end, I want to know just how real it can be.
Moira is sextile Venus.
Moira is also conjunct Polyhymnia 33 (liberal/fine arts, creative spirituality). Fated for a more creative pursuit? In Gemini 10th House too…
Werdandi is biquintile South Node.
Falling back on already “mastered” life lessons and traits and creatively using them? Perhaps my past/past lives are helpful to my present.
Overall something about the past/beginnings (Klotho, Urda, Erda, SN) is very important in my life.
Find your fates and destinies! (but know that you are also not locked into one type of life forever)
look: our neanderthal ancestors took care of the sick and disabled so if ur post-apocalyptic scenario is an excuse for eugenics, u are a bad person and literally have less compassion than a caveman
Yes but they also when extinct which implies whatever they were doing at the time wasn’t fit for their environment.
So, it’s been awhile since I took a human evolution course, so some of this might be a little out of date, but
1) Whether or not Neanderthals went extinct is still kind of up for debate, and seems to hinge largely on whether you think that Neanderthals are a H. Sapiens subspecies or not, which often seems like a mildly pointless argument to me since it’s largely a fight about which definition of “species” to use
2) Even if we argue that Neanderthals are our direct ancestors and never went extinct, several Neanderthal *traits* (like their noses and their forheads) *have* left the population. Care for the disabled is not one of them.
Saying “Neanderthals cared for their sick and injured and are now extinct, therefore care for the disabled is maladaptive” is like saying “Dodos are extinct therefore beaks are a terrible idea”
Statements about “less compassion than a caveman” still stand.
–Peter
I teach human evolution to college students, so in addition to that, here’s what we know. There’s some citations (and footnotes) behind the cut, if you’re interested.
So Neanderthals aren’t our direct ancestor- more like a branch of the family tree that didn’t lead to us. Close cousins- close enough to breed- but they evolved outside of Africa about 400kya, while our species evolved in Africa about 200kya*. This is important because it means that altruism can’t possibly be a Neanderthal trait that left the population during the evolution into modern humans; we didn’t evolve from them, so it’s not like we can say “well, this was maladaptive in our ancestors.” This is a behavior you see in two temporally coexisting species (or subspecies), and I do mean two, because it wasn’t just Neanderthals practicing altruism. We did it too.
We have really good evidence that early Homo sapiens sapiens (i.e., us, just old) also took care of their injured, elderly, and disabled. At Cro-Magnon in France, a few individuals clearly suffered from traumatic injury and illness during their lives. Cro-Magnon 1 had a nasty infection in his face; his bones are pitted from it. Cro-Magnon 2, a female, had a partially healed skull fracture, and several of the others had fused neck vertebrae that had fused as a result of healed trauma; this kind of injury would make it impossible to hunt and uncomfortable to move. This kind of injury can be hard to survive today, even with modern medical care; the fact that the individuals at Cro-Magnon survived long enough for the bones to remodel and heal indicate that somebody was taking care of them. At Xujiayao, in northern China, there’s evidence of healed skull fractures (which would have had a rather long recovery time and needed care);
This evidence of altruism extends past injured adults, as well. One of the most compelling cases is at Qafzeh, which is in Israel. Here we see evidence of long-term care for a developmentally disabled child (as well as a child who had hydrocephaly and survived). Qafzeh 11, a 12-13 year old at time of death, suffered severe brain damage as a child. Endocasts (basically making a model of the inside of the skull, where the brain would be) show that the volume of the brain was much smaller than expected; likely the result of a growth delay due to traumatic brain injury. The patterns of development suggest that this injury occurred between the ages of 4 and 6. They very likely suffered from serious neurological problems; the areas of the brain that were injured are known to control psychomotricity. This means that the kid may have had a hard time controlling their eye movements, general body movement, keeping visual attention, performing specific tasks, and managing uncertainty; in addition, Broca’s area might also have been damaged, which likely would have affected the kid’s ability to speak. Long and short of it, without help, this kid wouldn’t have survived to age 12-13.
But they did. They lived, and they were loved. When they died, they were given a funeral- we know this based on body position and funeral offerings. Mortuary behavior was common among both Neanderthals and archaic Homo sapiens, and this burial was particularly interesting. The body was placed on its back, its legs extended and the arms crossed over the chest. Deer antlers were laid on the upper part of the chest; in the archaeological context, they were in close contact with the palmar side of the hand bones, meaning it’s likely that they were placed in the hands before burial. This points to Qafzeh 11 being valued by the community- why go to the effort for somebody you don’t care about? Compassion is a very human trait, and to call it maladaptive is to ignore hundreds of thousands of years of human experience.
♇ if you dont know, tattooing clearly permanent ink on your body will effect you and the energy you bring to yourself and the energy you bring to what is around you.
♇ evidently, there’s people who don’t realise there are benefits and drawbacks from every single planet in astrology. even though there are sides of malefic and benefic planets.
♇ benefic ⟶ sun, mercury, venus and jupiter.
♇ malefic ⟶ mars, saturn, uranus, neptune and pluto.
♇ inmy opinion, i do believe that it is true, they are called benefic planets because they are most likely going to give benefits and positives to the house and sign it relies in. [the aspects you have heavily influence the planets behaviour], and they are called malefic planets because they are most likely going to give drawbacks and negatives to the house and sign it relies in. [the aspects you have heavily influence the planets behaviour].
♇ on one hand, what people do wrong is believe that benefic planets can never give a disadvantage and that malefic planets can never give out something positive. they can. and the influence these planets give can impact your tattoos.
♇ on the other hand, the impact the tattooed planet can give all begins with you. if you are someone that naturally carries negative energy or can have an negative outlook on life you will attract the pessimistic dynamic, wherever you like it or not, but if you are someone who is trying to become more positive and affirmative you will attract the certain and conclusive side to the planets.
☼SUN
☼tattooing the sun can give the individual many positive outcomes, for example, feeling more confident with your life, knowing your life path. having the sun tattooed on your body can make other people feel that you have the energy of an authority. you will become more recognised and feel more powerful and assured than you than you were in the past.
☼however, it can cause someone to become more arrogant and selfish. you can feel like you’re self-entitled to receive anything you want from anyone. and if you are someone who doesnt want to be in the spotlight, the sun tattoo will give you attention wherever you go. doesnt matter what scenario it is, people will see and gossip about you.
☾ MOON
☾ people won’t think there can be negatives with tattooing the moon on your skin, but once again, it all relies on the energy you bring to yourself and other people that can influence the moon’s motives for you. though, first positively speaking, tattooing the moon on you can make you someone who is more intuitive and balanced than you were previously. you might find yourself being more nurturing to other people or finding other people nurturing you more. maybe there’ll be moments when people are more interested in you than usual, popularity wise.
☾ howbeit, the negatives it can bring is you unintentionally being two-faced to the people who are genuine to you, or you attracting people like that to you. it can also make one deluded, manipulative along with being irritable. you’ll find yourself being too secretive to others, and being more insecure. however, you might realise others becoming more secretive towards you and projecting their insecurities onto you.
☿ MERCURY
☿ tattooing mercury on your skin can make someone more communicative than usual, if you want to become less shy and more outgoing than you are. having mercury permanent on your skin can be very helpful. it can also help you process information more, becoming more multi-talented along with being courageous. if you want to become better at delivering speeches mercury can help as well.
☿ though, a mercury tattoo can make that person anxious, their mind becoming more jittery. you’ll find people being very nosy to you and there will very likely be people who are gossiping about you. people might find you being unreliable or you will find more unreliable and two-faced people infiltrate your surroundings, high likely chance of becoming someone who cannot pay attention to important stuff.
♀ VENUS
♀ just like the moon, individuals dont see the negatives venus can bring. but before i get into that, i’ll speak about what venus can energetically and physically bring to you when you tattoo it. you will most likely attract love and self-love towards yourself, attracting self love towards yourself will help you become more physically attractive because you’ll begin to understand what suits you. venus will also help you attract connections, money, romance and glamour. this can also attract more feminine energy around you.
♀ nevertheless, the destructive side of venus can be terrible. it makes someone arrogant and empty-headed. the destructive side of venus can also make someone power-hungry when it is tattooed to them, can make them use people for connections and can make one very shallow to the point of thinking that everything is never good for them. you can become very ungrateful when venus is tattooed onto you and your energy is falling into unfavourable pits.
♂ MARS
♂ as you’ve been reading this post and reading the planets i’ve informed you about prior, i feel like there’ll be a better understanding on why you should beware on having a mars tattoo on your skin. nevertheless, having a mars tattoo can make someone way more passionate and enthusiastic compared to their previous selves. they can find themselves being more powerful and having a further ardent and drive to become successful at whatever they want to achieve. this can also attract more masculine energy around you.
♂ yet, due to mars being a planet that usually does what it wants or is reckless, the native who has the tattoo might find themselves being like that. being someone who has less patience or more of a temper. they might find themselves attracting drama and violence into their lives. it is an indicator of attracting more men into your zone but be careful of the intentions/motives they have up their sleeves; tattooing mars can be a beacon of getting into accidents as well.
♃ JUPITER
♃ we can all agree that jupiter is the most abundant and positive planet in astrology. it can give people so much blessings, someone tattooing jupiter on their skin can make them more wise, intelligent, philosophical and generous than the average person. the person can also find themselves attracting suitors more often, you might find people looking up to you more and asking for advise. the taste for travelling might amplify along the interest with foreign and unique antiques.
♃ anyhow, jupiter can give, but it can also give too much, spoken about in the astrology sanpaku eye theory as well. it can over-give you with enemies, problems, responsibilities and [keep in mind, the house your planet, in this case jupiter; also impacts the energy it’ll bring into your life] so for example, having jupiter in the twelfth house can give you an increase of hidden enemies if you tattoo it onto your body. tattooing it onto your skin helps it manifest into the physical realm easier.
♄ SATURN
♄ the positives of having saturn tattooed onto your body involves being more respected and understood by the people around you. you can find yourself accomplishing and receiving things you didnt expect to receive. it can also help you achieve more of a control over things you didnt have control over before. you will inherit the ability to become more patient and ambitious then you were before. you can find yourself mastering skills you pick up better than others.
♄ unfortunately, when it comes to saturn, the negatives do outweigh the positives, but you have to be careful of the spirit and power you have and the spirits and energy you allow into your space. having saturn tattooed can cause someone to attract restriction, longevity on objectives that shouldnt take as long as it should. it can also attract negativity, people being more cold around you and authority figures trying to take advantage of you, can also manifest of someone being more fearful of life and their future.
♅ URANUS
♅ i believe that we can all comprehend that tattooing uranus can bring all sorts of things due to its unpredictable energy. though uranus tattooed on someone’s skin can make them come up with more ideas, it can also make people not know your motives as you become more unpredictable than before. it can give you a very “genius” energy, becoming someone who can seeks out freedom and liberty, becoming someone who becomes more socially aware and independent. this can help you become more intuitive than before. if you wish to seek out more connections, fame and friends, uranus can help with that. and give you a unique energy.
♅ i also believe that without reading this paragraph, we could comprehend that uranus can bring negative effects to someone’s life when someone gets it tattooed onto themselves. it can cause your life to become very chaotic, you might find people turning their backs on you or just rebelling against you for no reason. people might begin feeling very extreme towards you that it gets very uncomfortable for you, clearly. you’ll also find your life to pick up an erratic pace life style. attracting weird energy and people to you. you can also give off weird and odd energy.
♆ NEPTUNE
♆ this planet can bring knowledge of spirituality and the unknown to you way faster than it usually would of an average person. it can also make you aware to things you thought you were knowledgable of, could also make you learn the secrets and the motives of people. it can assist you to be more glamorous than before, [remember that neptune is a higher octave than venus] so the beauty it can bring is endless! but dont get a tattoo just to attract beauty, you need to be ready for it. tattooing neptune can make you more psychic as well.
♆ per contra, having neptune tattooed on you can make you turn more delusional and ditzy in situations you’re supposed to use your logic in, and just generally. you can also attract all types of spirits towards you, making you someone who’ll need to cleanse your energy and your area a lot. you’ll find yourself developing more enemies and wanting to run away from situations you have to face. you could also feel like a prisoner in your habitat. you could lose yourself in things, lose yourself in drugs, alcohol, trying to be pretty etc.
♇ PLUTO
♇ tattooing pluto onto your skin is controversial, and it is a case where you have to be very careful because it can go bad. withal, tattooing pluto can cause you to become more mesmerising and alluring. people will find you hypnotic and you will find yourself indulging in darker things and topics. people will find your energy to be mysterious and captivating; you’ll be carrying an attractive and brooding energy and it can cause people to find you more intimidating and hard to approach. it’ll give you a very powerful energy.
♇ in spite of that, pluto on your skin can make you someone who can become easily obsessed or have others obsess over your energy. attracting stalkers and people with just bad motives. it can bring destructive energy to your life and make yourself your worst enemy as you become self-destructive and destructive to the atmosphere around you. pluto on your skin can bring in a lot of dark energies, beware of how you are mentally and spiritually when you get this on you. as it can cause you to behave manipulative and abuse/misuse power, or people might behave that way towards you.
