Biological Basis For Misophonia (Explained In Layman’s Terms)

Creamy Oat Milk Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups water (use less for thicker, creamier milk)

1 cup rolled oats

pinch of sea salt

Optional add-ins for flavor:

1 pitted date or 1 tbsp maple syrup for sweetness

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cacao powder for chocolate milk

1/4 cup fresh berries for berry milk

Directions:

Blend oats, water, salt, and any additional add-ins in a high-speed blender for 30 seconds to 1 minute until well combined

Pour milk mixture over a large bowl or pitcher covered with a thin towel or clean t-shirt to separate the pulp

Transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate

Shake well and serve cold. Will keep for up to 5 days in refrigerator

Spell Casting - Time of Day

✨Dawn - renewal, rebirth, new beginnings, new ideas, creativity, cleansing, purification  ✨Morning - achieving goals, brewing potions, intellect, intelligence, love, relationships, companionship  ✨Noon - solar magick, confidence, success, attainment, wealth, courage, strength, protection ✨Dusk - release, letting go, reflection, breaking bad habits, transformation, banishing ✨Evening - cursing, banishing, binding, dream magick, cosmic magick ✨Midnight - lunar magick, psychic awareness, intuition, spirituality, divination, peace, relaxation  ✨Twilight - astral travel, traveling to other realms, spirit communication

Basics of Astrology

Dates:

Aries: March 21—April 19

Taurus: April 20—May 20

Gemini: May 21—June 20

Cancer: June 21—July 22

Leo: July 23—August 22

Virgo: August 23—September 22

Libra: September 23—October 22

Scorpio: October 23—November 21

Sagittarius: November 22—December 21

Capricorn: December 22—January 19

Aquarius: January 20—February 18

Pisces: February 19—March 20

•

What These Signs Mean:

Aries - Active, Demanding, Determined, Effective, Ambitious

Taurus - Security, Subtle strength, Appreciation, Instruction, Patience

Gemini - Communication, Indecision, Inquisitive, Intelligent, Changeable

Cancer - Emotion, Diplomatic, Intensity, Impulsive, Selective

Leo - Ruling, Warmth, Generosity, Faithful, Initiative

Virgo - Analyzing, Practical, Reflective, Observation, Thoughtful

Libra - Balance, Justice, Truth, Beauty, Perfection

Scorpio - Transient, Self-Willed, Purposeful, Unyielding

Sagittarius - Philosophical, Motion, Experimentation, Optimism

Capricorn - Determination, Dominance, Perservering, Practical, Willful

Aquarius - Knowledge, Humanitarian, Serious, Insightful, Duplicitous

Pisces - Fluctuation, Depth, Imagination, Reactive, Indecisive

•

Your Signs:

- ________ Rising

- ________ Sun

- ________ Moon

- ________ Mercury

- ________ Venus

- ________ Mars

- ________ Jupiter

- ________ Saturn

- ________ Uranus

- ________ Neptune

- ________ Pluto

•

What Those Signs Mean:

Rising: Your rising sign, in short, is you're actual Zodiac. It is based off of time zones in which the day you are born. The names for them are Aries, Capricorn, Gemini, Taurus, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Aquarius, Virgo, Pisces, and Cancer. Your Rising sign might be found easily on first impressions you might give.

Sun: This is who you are in personality, your normal self. This is how you may act if alone, and is your inner traits. How you act can be described with this sign, also as to who you are.

Moon: You may call the moon sign you have your emotions. It influences your decisions. It is how you feel on the inside, whether everyone knows this or just you. It holds your loves and fears, hates and excitements. Anything, really.

Mercury: is how you may be like in time of communication, reasoning, intellect and awareness. It's known for it's power of the brain.

Venus: The sign of Venus is based upon the time you were born and can be called something of Love.

Mars: is in charge of attraction and raw energy for that matter.

Jupiter: The planet of Jupiter is responsible for luck and good fortune. Whether the optimization is for humor or good will, it's going to be a major apart of you no matter what. It's the happy part in your life. You need it there.

Saturn: This sign, Saturn, is here for the parts in life with things like restriction and limitations. Found as you get older, this is known for being you as you grow up.

Uranus: is here for the change in life. The sign can be for the worse or better at times, and it's a part of life you'll eventually come across. Take it, hit or miss, and in the end it might make you better than it seemed.

Neptune: can be called dreamy, for this matter. The sign for this works as great influence, fantasy, and imagination seen in your daily life, so to say. With this, you might find it almost as if a dream.

Pluto: Not the same change with Uranus, but Pluto is part of big change. It's more of transformation. Life challenges thrown your way will lead to this sign, Pluto.

•

I hope that helped! If you have any questions about your signs or how to find them, you can ask me @dxncingblxck or any other astrology blog basically. Have fun and happy astrology-ing!

Zeus/Jupiter

worship/correspondences masterpost part i

***DO NOT REPOST!!! reblogging is fine and encouraged!!!!***

(find part ii here)

Zeus (Roman: Jupiter) is the Greek god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, rain, strangers, hospitality, and kingship. He is the king of the Olympians, the eldest son of Kronos (Cronus), and is said to be the sender of dreams.

—————

Miscellaneous & Random

astrological associations: Sagittarius, Pisces

day: Thursday

elements: air, fire

gender association: male

health/body associations: blood, liver, pituitary gland

numerology: 1, 4

planet: Jupiter

tarot associations: The Emporer, The Wheel of Fortune, swords, wands

—————

Animals

bull, birds (especially eagles, hawks, and other birds of prey), cows, goats, sheep, unicorns

—————

Colors

sacred candle color: gold

universal colors: blue, green, gold, purple, violet, white, yellow

personal associations: grey, dark red/maroon, olive green

—————

Epithets & Cult Titles

Transliteration// Greek // Translation (personal favorites)

Amboulios // Αμβουλιος // counselor

Apêmios // Απημιος // averted of ills

Aphesios // Αφεσιος // releasing (rain)

Areios // Αρειος // of war, warlike

Astrapaios // Αστραπαιος // of the lightning

Basileus // Βασιλευς // king, chief, ruler

Boulaios // Βουλαιος // of the council

Eleutherios // Ελυθεριος // of freedom

Epidôtês // Επιδωτης // giver of good

Euênemos // Ευηνεμος // of fair winds

Herkeios // Έρκειος // of the courtyard

Hikesios // Ίκεσιος // of supplies

Hyetios // Ύετιος // of the rain

Hypatos // Ύπατος // supreme, most high

Hypsistos // ‘Υψιστος // supreme, most high

Ikmaios // Ικμαιος // of moisture

Kataibatês // Καταιβατης // descending

Katharsios // Καθαρσιος // of ritual purification

Keraunios // Κεραυνιος // of the thunderbolt

Khrysaoreus // Χρυσαοπεθς // of the golden sword

Klarios // Κλαριος // of the lots

Konios // Κοινιος // of the dust

Koryphaios // Κορυφαιος // chief, leader

Kosmêtês // Κοσμητης // orderer

Ktêsios // Κτησιος // of the house, property

Labrandeus // Λαβρανδευς // furious, raging

Laoitês // Λαοιτης // of the people

Limenoskopos // Λιμενοσκοπος // watcher of sea-havens

Maimaktês // Μαιμακτης // boisterous

Meilikhios // Μειλιχιος // gracious, merciful

Mêkhaneus // Μηχανευς // contriver

Moiragetês // Μοιραγετης // leader of the Fates

Ombrios // Ομβριος // of the rain

Palamnaios // Παλαμναιος // (punisher) of murderers

Panellênios // Πανελληνιος // of all the Greeks

Philios // Φιλιος // of friendships

Phyxios // Φυξιος // of refuge

Phyxios // Φυξιος // banishing, puts to fight

Plousios // Πλουσιος // giver of wealth

Poleius // Πολειυς // of the city-state

Prostropaios // Προστροπαιος // turner of pollution

Sêmaleos // Σημαλεος // giver of signs

Skotitas // Σκοτιτας // dark, murky

Sôsipolis // Σωσιπολις // city-savior, savior of cities

Sôtêr // Σωτηρ // savior, deliverer

Sthenios // Σθενιος // of strength, strong

Stratios // Στατιος // of war, warlike

Teleios // Τελειος // of marriage rites

Theos Agathos // Θεος Αγαθος // the good god

Tropaios // Τροπαιος // defeating, turning to fight

Xenios // Ξενιος // of hospitality and strangers

—————

Food/Drink

(note: more will be included/repeated in the plant/herb section of part ii)

almond, apple, artichoke, honey, globe artichoke, grape, milk, meats, olive

—————

Magickal Correspondences

Abundance, authority, career advancement, career growth, expansion, fatherhood, fatherly traits, growth, influence, increasing personality, leadership, legal matters, politics, self-awareness, self-confidence, stability, success

—————

Minerals & Crystals

name- correspondences

Amethyst- celibacy, piety, sobriety, luck, marital fidelity, protection, cleansing

Aventurine (Green)- luck, confidence, creativity, prosperity, imagination

Diamond- protection against insanity, wealthiess, leadership

Emerald- banishment, psychic protection, protection from nightmares and violence

Gold- energy, luck, wealthiness, leadership, prosperity, success, enlightenment

Lapis Lazuli- spiritual love, fidelity, relief from depression, psychic awareness, intuition

Lepidolite- peace, communication, serenity, objectivity, new beginnings

Sapphire- balance, love, peace, healing, fertility, self-discipline, overcoming depression

Sugalite- protection, purification, growth, balancing, forgiveness, friendship, eloquence

Tin- luck, expanding horizons, divination, prosperity, business success

—————

(find part ii here)

Understanding Shadow Work: Pt. III

How Does One Prepare for Shadow Work?

Before we get into the different methods in which we can practice shadow work, it is essential to determine how we can (or should, rather) prepare to do so. Be aware that shadow work is not an easy or comfortable process. On the contrary, it tends to be discouragingly difficult and extremely uncomfortable at best and downright horrifying and sometimes even further damaging at worst. 

The Importance of Perspective

With that being said, it is of utmost importance to first evaluate and transform how you perceive the negative aspects of existence– primarily in regards to your own physical, mental, emotional and spiritual states of being. If you believe the negative aspects of existence (and the Self) are only meant to cause harm, to hinder and debilitate you, or are “evil” in any sense, you are going to run into some serious resistance issues– possibly even strengthening and perpetuating your Shadow. Simultaneously, the holding of this view is a tell-tale sign that you are most definitely in need of shadow work. Do not feel compelled to rush into it, however. 

If you do find that you seem to maintain an unhealthy perspective of the negative, start by contemplating duality. Try meditating on the concept of day and night. The sun (our physical source of light) is always ‘there’– burning, casting light in all directions; it is our world, our point of perspective, that rotates and creates a mirage which suggests that it is not. It is always something that stands in the way of the light which casts a shadow and creates the illusion of darkness. Essentially, darkness is an aspect of light. 

Also keep in mind that without darkness, light would not possess the same quality. Without death, [physical] life would have no real meaning. The negative, in part, serves to allow for the positive to be perceived. 

This shifting of perception may take some time and may prove exceedingly difficult for some. But if you cannot understand, accept and embrace the truth and purpose of duality, you will find it even more difficult to face your Shadow. This is when shadow work can be seen as counterproductive and even dangerous. 

The Importance of Knowing Your Limits

Additionally, it is important to know your boundaries, to be in tune with yourself. I feel you should be fairly familiar with grounding exercises, meditation and energy work in general before pursuing shadow work. You should be able to discern when you need to rest or when your state of being is too weak to handle any additional stress. If you are suffering from severe depression, PTSD or other adverse mental conditions, you should proceed with extreme care and discretion. Though, again, if you are experiencing such conditions it is a tell-tale sign that you would certainly benefit from shadow work. Such conditions are very much created and perpetuated by those experiences we have trouble facing– whether it simply be uncontrollable, undesirable emotions or severely traumatic events. By virtue, shadow work is practiced because we are sick and broken; so it is silly to assume we need to be in some sort of perfectly stable, elevated state before pursuing such an endeavor. 

That does not mean, however, that you should rush into it in effort to ‘fix’ yourself. You should be able to become fairly acquainted with and accepting of whatever condition you may find yourself in– again, this has a lot to do with perspective. Also, don’t feel it necessary to do all on your own. Though a large part of shadow work must be done alone, always feel free to reach out for support from others, especially those who have already consciously engaged in shadow work. Don’t feel hesitant or ashamed to share your experiences with others either. Sharing is an integral part of the healing process for most people; not only can it help you, it can help others as well. 

The Importance of Patience

As I previously emphasized, don’t rush. Try not to have any expectations or set forth with the desire to 'conquer’ this entity, the Shadow; this will not serve you. The purpose of shadow work is to befriend and reintegrate the Shadow, not to challenge it– doing so will only strengthen its influences. This requires a great degree of patience. Understand the importance of working slowly and earnestly, heeding to your limitations as necessary. This also means not jumping into shadow work before preparing yourself. It can be tempting to rush into it headstrong and determined to mend your wounds so that other aspects of your life might improve. Again, you are defeating the purpose by having this attitude; in essence, you are still resisting your Shadow because your aim is to use it to incite positive effects rather than to simply understand and accept the negative. Also be aware that shadow work is an ongoing practice; once you begin, you will realize there is no real end to true shadow work. 

For Understanding Shadow Work: Part II, visit: http://unmaskingthedivine.tumblr.com/post/112889344340/understanding-shadow-work-pt-ii

Tips for building mind spaces

Other posts of the series: * Tips on Shadow spaces * On Spiritual Bilocation

Mindspaces, also referred to as inner temples, are a great step between meditation and astral travel experiences. However, they are an amazing multi-purpose standalone tool as well. Especially for undercover witches who need to keep their practice secret!

I divide them into two types: basic mind spaces and shadow spaces. This post is about the basic mind spaces.

Basic mind space.

This is essentially a bubble in the space between this plane and the astral planes. It belongs to you and you can change it around as you see fit. Those are like your accounts in dropbox. Just like dropbox or other cloud services, those are password protected etc etc; you get to keep stuff there, its not 100% break-in proof, but safe enough. And you can generate a link to the bubble and send it to a friendly spirit/deity/any entity really, that you want to hang out with.

This place is great as a safety retreat - you can rest here should things get tough. I feel that energy work and practice can be done easier in the mind space, and you can study the energy more directly and it flows much easier than in physical. There’s also spirit work to a done here.  Invite your spirit friends over, meet with your deities for a cup of coffee, so much potential for fun~  There is a lot of room for experiments, spell casting and learning. And finally you can set up a passage that’ll take you straight to astral planes.

Your mind space is very flexible and it can look like anything. It can be a room, a garden, a house, a mountain top, a metro station, an underwater location, a formless blob of darkness. Anything YOU want. Coming back to energy work - it is easier to work with and shape energy, hence its easier to build structures in your space that allow for anything you can think of. Kind of like Rose’s room in Steven Universe. Although it takes more than a wish to make that structure stable.

Here’s a great post to check out by @stsathyre

How to build a mind space.

An important point to keep in mind is that mind spaces can be re-shaped easily, so just go ahead and try things out! You can always adjust things and make them different/better as you go :)

Think of what purpose it is going to serve. Are you going to mainly use it for spellwork? Is it going to be a safety retreat? It has to be practical for whatever your goals are. Should it have lines of shelves for books and magical tools? A large table for mixing up herbs/energies? A number of seats for guests you are going to invite? An extra door that would take you out into the astral planes?

Sketch a layout. Yes, take a pencil and a sheet of paper and just plan out your space. Do you want that river to pass through the middle of the room? Behind the building? Do you want that huge boulder to be in the middle of the clearing where you can set up your mind-space altar? Think of how it would be most comfortable and appealing. Include some leisure areas, a pile of pillows, a pile of soft autumn leaves, a soft floating cloud you can rest on - it’s always nice to have that :) I would discourage from going into greater detail on your furnishings at this point - you want to go gradually. Plan for a door through which you will enter.

Think of the door and safety reinforcements. I would suggest that your door have some sort of authentication mechanism to check that it is, in fact, YOU who is trying to come in. The best way is probably to include something that would read in your energy signature - while it is possible to fake that, it is hard. And in the majority of cases, there isn’t going to be many beings out there who’d go through much trouble to break in.

Pick your technique for actually GOING there. I should probably make this a bigger point, but.. There are many ways to travel and there are many degrees of depths to it. In other words, depending on what you like, you can go into a deep meditative state and go full-in. This way, your experiences will be intense, you will strongly feel all the sensations. Sometimes there are situations where you might not have enough time or good enough circumstances to go that deep. For such situations, a form of a spiritual bi-location might come in handy, which will make your sensations duller but will enable you to actually do things in physical while you also work in your mind space. (this is my favorite way of handling these things because life circumstances can be a bitch). I am sure duskenpath posted about doing this but I can’t seem to find the post now. 

Use the technique and start working on that door! Seriously, if you still haven’t - go check out this post. Use your technique and take yourself to that door. The basic frame should already be there. Examine it and work with it. It helps to touch and feel the material, contemplate the color. Geez just go read that post x)

Work on one thing at a time. I would advise to start gradually. When you go in, focus on one thing at a time. Shape your item. Make the structure strong, then move on to the next item. Work out all the details of the item, feel it, hell - smell it! Those structures are like wine. Older is stronger. After you create a couple of things - let it rest. Exit the space slowly and go on to do your daily business. Let it sit for a day or two, think of what you’ve completed in your space once in a while, keep it hanging in the back of your mind but do not actively go there. Let it gain strength. When you feel like it’s pretty set, go back in. See how it looks, see how it holds up. You might need to revisit your first structures and add some energy in there, reinforce them. To give you an example: I decided I needed a forest. I started working on it, the general sketch, the basic layout of the forest. I let it sit. When I came back, what was more like a sketch became more of a real thing. I did not have to consciously keep them there or make them work - they were rolling on their own.

A warning of foggy vision. When you are setting up the space, you focus on the details and pay much attention to each item. However, I’ve found that for me, being in the mind space - especially during bi-location feels kind of foggy. It is mostly a problem of focus, since I am working in two places at once. It feels like I should be wearing glasses but I don’t have them on. The details of the objects are gone unless I specifically work with the particular object. Even then sometimes it is cloudy. And you know what? That does not stop me from getting things done in the space. It might slow me down. But it is perfectly fine. For me that is a fair trade-off. I either go there without the really deep submersion, and everything is foggy, OR I don’t go at all. So that’s just something to keep in mind too

Sigils as a structure reinforcement and a gateway. If you feel like giving your space and structure an extra boost, you can make a sigil to represent the space and the changes you made to it. I know, usually the tutorials say to work with words. Apply the same approach to the little layout plan you sketched before. Take the basic shapes you used for your tables, chairs and other itmes and combine them into a sigil. Make changes until you feel that the sigil is a good representation. That same sigil can be used as a point of focus if you have trouble reaching your mental space. However, I would suggest keeping that sigil very and very private. You wouldn’t want to let anyone know your bank account password, neither would you want to let anyone have your apartment keys :)

A bit more on what you can do

You can do witchy business right there. You can cast spells from your mind space. You can set up your altars and shrines there if you have to keep your work/worship hidden. You can also do shadow work by accessing your subconscious more directly (if anyone is interested I will write a post about shadow spaces). You can brew tea and enjoy quiet evenings near a fireplace. You can use your space as a station to create servitors and experiment with energy structures. There are so so many possibilities!

If you have anything to add or questions to ask, my ask box is open and I’d be happy to discuss/help out! :)

spring flourishes in the valley ✿｡*ﾟ𐐪𐑂°*⭑

My Biggest Problem

Miso isn’t my biggest problem anymore. I know you’re gonna be like, 

“Bullh*ck, misophonia is the worst thing that ever happened to me, it’s ruined everything, ect.!!” 

But, my young, young dudes, I have some news. Adulthood is surprising as h*ck and has a lot of bumps and turns and I never anticipated in my whole of angsteenager existence that there would be life after miso.

For example, if anyone’s watched the video (x) I posted a hot while ago, they’d see that I’ve come out as ftm transgender and I’ve left home. I got engaged in December to @living-with-miso, my longtime Tumblr crush and we’re getting married next month.

 My type 3 Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) exploded into wondering each day if I can walk or use my hands. 

My computer broke. I need to buy socks. The milk in the fridge is expired.

And I know that mostly sounds like, 

“Gee, thanks Stephan, so you’re saying everything gets worse?” 

but man, I actually would say I’ve never been happier. 

You see, when you move out, you move away from the people who trigger you the most in the world: your family. You may have new people who trigger you, like a roommate, but eventually, you’re gonna be in a situation where you can more or less have total control over your environment. Make sure you choose a life partner that accepts every inch of you, and don’t settle for anything less.

When you grow up, you’ll be able to manage your life in a way you can control, to an extent. You literally don’t even have to attend classes in person anymore, almost anything is available online! Yeah, you’ll have days where you just want to rip your ears off and replace your hands with chainsaws because you need to attend job training, attend a family BBQ, or hurriedly make an Irish exit to said BBQ, but that’s not going to be the majority of your life anymore.

And that’s where I’m at. I’m out from the influence of more “adult” adults at the age of 22 and am finally the captain of my own life. 

Which is terrifying, but empowering. I decide if I can attend gatherings, I decide if I want to leave, I decide if I want to stay inside and live on the internet, I decide if I can live with my partner, and I decide if I want to eat cookies for breakfast unless Ashley is home and and tells me no cookies for breakfast (#marriage). 

And if anyone (other than my future wife) has a problem with the way I live my life or make decisions, guess what? I can decide to take my Scissors of H*ck You and cut them right the h*ck out of my beautiful rainbow life.

I may not have the power to decide whether or not I have misophonia, whether my hands work on any given day, or whether or not I have sensory meltdowns, but I can decide how I handle these things.

So I guess my point today is that miso life gets better once you’ve grown up. If you can make it that far, you’ll be happier. And god, I wish my teenage self had known how happy I would one day be. Thank god I decided to stick around.

So stick around, guys. Your life may look like shooty macaroni art, but it’s just practice at this point. One day, you’ll be Bob Ross and decide when and where your next happy little tree goes.

Stay Brave Out There, Stephan [soon-to-be] Vomacka

[id: a light pink userbox with a pastel pink border and pastel pink text that reads “this user has no motivation for even basic activities” on the left is an image of a small pink heart. /end id]

i’m pretty sure this twitter account is how sexting works in night vale