Reblogged beaniegender
Natural phenomenon of diffraction of light transforms black hummingbird’s wings into tiny rainbows
~photo credit: Christian Spencer~
Reblogged sleepyowlet
Anonymous asked:
Do you know much of a god named Bragi? My family has been cleaning out the house of my grand-aunt how recently died of lung cancer and previously believed to be a very devoted Catholic. We found basically a shrine to a god named Bragi with poems and sheet music she appears to have written herself dedicated to him. We found the hidden shrine when we smelled something rotting--it turned out to be apples left on the shrine. Is he associated with apples? Family is a bit freaked, sorry to bother you.
Bragi? He’s a son of Odin, and the god of music and poetry.
And I’m laughing my absolute ass off that your aunt kept that a secret until she died, and feel like an ass for laughing. I’m sorry for your loss, but yeah, your grand-aunt was a heathen, and I may have to light a candle for her, because damn.
Oh. As for the apples…his wife is Idunna, who tends the golden apples that grant the gods ageless immortality.
Your grand-aunt was hella pagan.
I still cannot get over this. This woman fooled her entire family AND the people at her church into thinking that she was devoutly Catholic for who knows how many years, all while writing poetry to the ancient Norse god of skalds and his wife who she worshiped in the privacy of her own home.
Meanwhile, I almost out myself as heathen approximately every 10 seconds if I have to sit through even one (1) Christian service for a wedding or a funeral or whatever.
What a fucking legend.
devotee-of-anup
In a way this makes me sad knowing she could never come out about her religion but man is Systlin right, she is a legend.
bogganbeliefs
And now she has become a story, a poem unto herself, and that just seems all the more befitting of a devotee of Bragi.
Reblogged actuallyimjewish
so exodus says that aaron stretched out his hand over the waters and the frog came up and covered the land of egypt and while english translators usually render “frog” as “frogs,” today at shul the rabbi challenged us to consider whether it could in fact have been one giant frog so we spent literally forty-five minutes arguing about whether there were swarms of frogs from the beginning or rather a single monstrous godzilla frog that split into multiple frogs once people started trying to destroy it and the congregation got so worked up that even after we’d sung aleinu and were heading out of the sanctuary people were still excitedly debating the moral implications of one frog versus many so what i’m trying to say is @judaism never change
legally-bitchtastic
Why do I always remember it as one gigantic frog who came out of the water and then opened up his mouth and all the other frogs were vomited out?
I remember this too! I’m not sure where it came from though
Reblogged
Since Chanukah is coming up, just a safety PSA from my days at Brandeis, if you live in a dorm or another type of space without a suitable common area, the best way to safely light a menorah is to get one of those disposable foil baking tins from the supermarket, fill it with about a quarter inch of water, and then put your menorah in the middle of said tin. Keep away from flammable objects and enjoy.
Reblogged tikkunolamorgtfo
Selichot in Isfahan, Iran
Selichot are Jewish penitential poems and prayers recited in the period leading up to the High Holidays. Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews traditionally recite the selichot at dawn on weekdays throughout the month of Elul which precedes Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year), whereas Ashkenazim begin at midnight on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah.
Reblogged acejews
Here’s your Sunday #goodread to wrap up the weekend:
Meet Rafi Daugherty, a Jewish trans man who recently gave birth to a new baby, Ettie Rose. This profile is the lovely story of Rafi navigating coming out to a religious community, giving birth, (single) parenthood, and keeping his Jewish faith as a trans man. Here’s how the article starts:
When Rafi Daugherty went to the hospital for the birth of his first child, he posted a sign on the delivery room door.
“I am a single transgender man having my first baby,” it read. “I use he/him/his pronouns and will be called ‘Abba’ (Hebrew for father) by the baby. Papa, Dad, Daddy, Father … are also ok.”
“I didn’t want them to assume that I identified as female because I was having a baby,” he said.
After eight hours of labor, Rafi was holding his 7-pound, 10-ounce daughter: Ettie Rose, named, in the Jewish tradition, for Rafi’s maternal grandmother and great-grandmother.
Rafi, 33, wanted hospital staff to be prepared for what they were about to see: a man laboring in bed.
The story is gorgeous and gives a small snippet of Rafi’s incredible journey. Amazing, truly. Congratulations to this beautiful family.