Small Devotional Acts To Ægir

Paladin Suit Tutorial  

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http://cosplayforall.tumblr.com/post/82642772514/texanona-i-was-telling-people-id-link-them-to

I was telling people I’d link them to a lot of cosplay help things over the weekend, but I forgot who for what and everything. So I’m just going to make a big post with all of the tutorials that I reference a lot/just think are very informative in general.

TRIM/HEM STUFF

Putting on Bias Tape

Cornering Bias Tape

Seamless Trim

Ruffles with Horsehair

Frills

DESIGNS ON FABRIC

Stenciling

Applique

More applique

Multi-color panels

Even more applique

GENERAL COSTUME STUFF

Centered zippers

Easy stretchy gloves

Torn edges on fabric

Patterning sleeves

Easy thigh high boots

Easy binder

Circle skirts

PROPS/ARMOR

Model Magic armor

Craft foam armor

Casting resin jewels

Flexible jewelry (it me)

Foam board weapons

More craft foam armor

WIGS

Keeping heavy wigs from slipping off

Curling

Spiking

Detangling Wigs

More detangling

How to wear a wig cap

Washing

Use your craft to help the protesters

Now normally, I don’t make big posts or have calls-to-action. I’m supportive of the ones I see, and share posts on my social media’s, but don’t often make my own posts about them. But this is too big for any of us to remain silent about. The murder of George Floyd is yet another example of the society we’re living in. It’s one where marginalized groups are constantly attacked and subdued by the actions of the ruling (rich, white) class. We can’t just sit by and let this continue. BLACK LIVES MATTER and to not speak out or act when something so heinous is happening in front of our eyes cannot continue. Want to help the protesters, but can’t march or donate? Use the skills you’ve learned to make a change.

Cast protection and prosperity spells for the protesters:

If you’re able to cast spells, use what you’ve learned to protect the protesters from the violent tactics of the police. Give the protesters the strength and reassurance they need to continue the fight. Help them in gathering the courage needed to face such horrible backlash. Protection is one of the best ways to help if you’re hesitant about directing your spells towards the violent police forces. Let your spells be felt in some way rather than not acting at all.

Bind the police to prevent them from causing more harm:

This one is something many of us can do and if you’re against cursing then this can be a way for you to help even further. Binding the police who are attacking protesters can help protect them even more. Stopping them before violence starts or continues will be incredibly helpful for the protesters who are marching in the streets. It’s been seen that in many instances during these protests, police officers have been the ones instigating violence or harassing protesters to the point where they have no other choice but to react in a way police categorize as violent. Don’t let them do this. Bind their actions to where they can’t continue the violence we’ve been seeing.

Cast curses and hexes directed at police attacking the protesters and causing them serious harm:

Now I’m pro-cursing, but I make sure I have a clear target in my mind whose face I can clearly see. It’s important to also get a name of the target of your curse if you can. This makes it so curses can’t rebound somewhere else or harm the people trying to make a change. Make your target feel the negativity their actions are causing. Make them realize the hate they are causing and the grief they are responsible for. Demoralize them and give them repercussions for attacking protesters

Create sigils that you can share with your friends to family to protect them if they are protesting:

Protective sigils made by you with the intent to help the people around you are a great way to have your work out in the protest. They can help those around the person carrying the sigil and spread the intent of the sigil throughout the protest. You can also create a sigil to do the same thing and burn it or dispose of it in a way which destroys it to send your intent out if someone can not carry it in a protest.

Work with your gods and goddesses to protect the people marching:

Pray to the deities you work with, especially the ones who are associated with protection. In the Norse pantheon, these can be deities such as Thor (especially), Tyr, Freyja, and Odin (among others). Look into the pantheons you work with and the deities you know to see if you can ask them to give their blessings to the protesters. Always be respectful when you’re doing this and give them offerings if that’s how you honor you deities or dedicate some actions to them as thanks for their help.

As people who are part of marginalized communities, it is our duty to support these protests and bring about the change that is so desperately needed. We need to stand with our brothers and sisters to fight against the brutality that is so prevalent in so many areas of the world. Even if you don’t identify as part of a marginalized community, not speaking out against the brutality happening is the same as supporting its continuation. We need to do what we can. Add ways to help the movement that I haven’t mentioned. BLACK LIVES MATTER

Mythology Edits | Rán

Norse goddess of the sea

Top 6 Apps for Learning Mandarin Chinese

Last summer, while I was supposed to be studying French intensively, I accidentally started studying Mandarin instead. These things happen! The best thing about Mandarin compared to some other languages I’ve studied (specifically Persian and Korean) is that there are a huge number of resources available to help learners, including a lot of very well-designed apps. After months of obsessively checking the iTunes store for the best apps and trying them out, these are my favorite six (plus a few more worth mentioning). They appear in ascending order from my least favorite to my most favorite.

Worth mentioning: A couple of apps not included on this list but worth mentioning are Pleco and Skritter. 

Pleco is a highly-regarded Chinese dictionary. I have it on my phone and do use it, but I left it off the list because I prefer another (#6 on this list). Since I’m still very much a beginner, a thorough dictionary isn’t quite so important to me right now. However, it seems like every advanced student of Mandarin recommends this app, so I had to include it.

Skritter is another app that’s highly regarded among serious students. I believe it focuses on helping with character recognition and writing. It has a subscription service that is a bit expensive, which is why I’ve never tried it; however, everyone seems to rave about it. If you’re a serious student, you should definitely look into it.

Also, I recommend downloading some Chinese-language apps designed for preschoolers. I found several of them online in the iTunes store, and a lot of them include short stories with simple words, practice with basic characters, etc. Using these apps gives you some immersive listening practice, which is fun. They can be kind of hit and miss, so I recommend downloading all you can find and seeing what you can figure out and what you like. They won’t replace any of the apps below, but they still serve a purpose.

6. WCC Dictionary This is the dictionary I use instead of Pleco. I like it primarily because of its beautiful design (something Pleco doesn’t really have). This app is mainly a dictionary, but it offers a lot more than that. For example, it has a character scanner (so you can look up words you find in books by taking a picture of the character). It also has a “story library” with a few simple books to read (with Pinyin, the characters, an English translation, and the ability to listen to the story being read). Characters are color coded if you use that as a device to help you with tones. It has a flashcard program with pre-created word lists, extensive example sentences, a section on radicals with example words, and stroke order animations. It also offers a “character of the day” and daily “homework” to motivate you to use what you learn. The dictionary itself is free, but there’s a lot of content that you have to pay to unlock, although there’s also a way to buy the content using “coins” that you earn through using the app.

5. Mindsnacks Mandarin A lot of you are already familiar with the Mindsnacks app because it’s offered for a lot of different languages (and a few school subjects like geography). This app uses games to teach Mandarin, mostly focusing on vocabulary (not grammar or sentence construction). It’s a bit limited, but it can be a really fun way to learn. After a while, the games start to feel repetitive and can get boring, but the app also has you move through levels (which allow you to unlock new games) and uses other incentives to keep you playing. The audio is an actual human, too, which is a big benefit since many apps and programs rely on Google Translate robot voices. This is a paid app, which could be a drawback.

4. FluentU This app is the reason I started learning Mandarin in the first place. I tried using it for French, but I felt like my French was too advanced to gain much from it. Even though there were advanced-level videos with vocabulary I didn’t know, FluentU doesn’t do a good job of adapting to your level and guessing which words will give you trouble. That’s perfectly fine for a beginner, though, since every word will probably give you trouble, which is why I used it for Mandarin. I think the makers of FluentU are Chinese speakers, and they seem to have focused more on Mandarin in their app. They have a built-in course you can follow, using videos they made themselves for teaching the language. The videos are pretty good, and you will feel like you’re learning a lot. There are also a lot of other videos if you want to branch out, including some catchy songs and clips from commercials or TV shows. The built-in flashcard system is a good way to review, but there’s no way to adjust their algorithms, so you might end up reviewing the same words way too often. I stopped using the program when I had 400+ words to review every day, and I just couldn’t keep up and continue advancing. This app is also very limited in the free version, and the paid subscription is VERY pricey, in my opinion, especially considering that there are other apps out there that offer more features. All of the videos are on YouTube anyway, so you can still use them to learn as you advance (or if you have a friend who can help you). I recommend this app if you want to pay for one month and use it to study intensively and advance quickly. That’s what I did, and I think it helped me out a lot.

3. ChineseSkill This is the first app that was designed to be a “Duolingo for Mandarin,” and it has a lot of great features. There’s the typical “tree” like in Duolingo, where you advance through different lessons one by one. It teaches character recognition, pronunciation, and grammar. The lessons can be really challenging for a beginner (sometimes too challenging, I thought), but it covers a lot of material. I’m not completely happy with the order in which lessons are taught (for example, there’s a lesson on shapes near the beginning that has you learn words like “triangle,” which seemed unimportant to me). The other drawback is there isn’t an easy way to review what you’ve learned (like on Duolingo when your gold-level lessons start to fade). It’s possible, but not super easy to access. Other interesting features include a tone game, a pinyin chart, a “survival kit” that’s like a travel phrasebook, and practice with stroke order. Also, this app is 100% free, which is amazing! I definitely recommend this app.

2. Social Language This app is really different from the others and is probably the most useful if you believe in speaking a language as soon as possible. I don’t think a lot of English speakers know about it because it seems to be marketed mostly to Chinese speakers. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try my best: basically, there’s a tree like you have for Duolingo, but the exercises are all to improve your speaking and pronunciation. You work through the lessons, and Chinese-speaking users rate and comment on your recordings. They can even leave voice messages to help you improve. You can do the same for them (in fact, you have to if you want to unlock higher levels). That alone makes the app worth downloading, but even better is that it includes a CHAT FEATURE that makes it very easy to interact with native speakers. You can see the profiles of hundreds of Chinese speakers who are online at any given time of day, and you can send a text or voice message to them and later add them to your friends’ list. What’s more,the ratio of Chinese to English speakers heavily favors English speakers. You will find hundreds of Chinese speakers eager to practice their English, and often you will be one of only a handful of English speakers on the app, meaning you have instant access to a chat partner any time of day or night. Have a question about your homework, something you read, or a phrase you don’t know how to pronounce? Instant, free tutoring is available 24/7 on this app, which is also FREE! I met some really nice people here without the pressure of a more formal language exchange. You can have a casual conversation any time you want, and it’s like text messaging so there’s less pressure if you’re shy about speaking Chinese. The only drawback is the same as with all language exchanges, which is that it’s sometimes difficult to balance the two languages. Also, I had problems with sending voice messages in chat, which can be frustrating. Overall, though, I’d say Social Language is a must-have.

1. HelloChinese This app didn’t exist last summer when I was looking for a Mandarin version of Duolingo, but I discovered it last week and fell in love with it. It actually has fewer features than ChineseSkill, but the pacing seems much better, and it focuses more heavily on pronunciation (though the speech recognition software isn’t perfect and you will sometimes need to skip a speaking question just to keep moving forward). It comes with some good grammar explanations and a really basic flashcard program for review. Honestly, I feel bad for rating it higher than ChineseSkill since ChineseSkill has been around longer and offers a lot more features, but I feel like HelloChinese just makes more sense and is easier to stick with than ChineseSkill. Like ChineseSkill, it’s also 100% free! I consider HelloChinese to be my “core” app for casual study, with the other apps acting as supplements. If you’re a more serious student, HelloChinese might not be your #1 pick, but it’s great for beginners who like the structure of an app like DuoLingo.

— Tiwaz —

Tiwaz is the rune associated with the god Tyr, and as such it represents much of the same qualities as him. It is a rune of victory and honor, but also of justice and sacrifice. It embodies the idea of the phrase “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one”, and can be used to represent sacrificing now in order to prevail later.

⚠EVERYONE PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN DOING SPELLS AND OTHER WORKINGS TONIGHT. THERE IS A MUCH HIGHER CHANCE OF THINGS BACKFIRING/ GOING WRONG. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE STRONG WARDS AND PROTECTION UP⚠

The second sigil was made by Laura Tempest, the photo/instagram post gave credit to the wrong person