HOZIER: SELF-TITLED

　　　we were always going home ,

yes, i have shifted, more than ten times, if you’re the sort who counts miracles like matchsticks or notches on a headboard. i am not. i do not tally my miracles like debts to be repaid. they arrive not as triumphs, but as returns. familiar. like a song i almost forgot i knew until i was humming it again, accidentally, under the breath of my dreaming.

i do not care if you believe me. i say that without spite. belief was never a prerequisite for truth. you do not have to clap for the moon to rise, nor bow to the ocean to be pulled under. reality does not ask for applause. it simply is.

i shifted after four years. four years of thinking maybe i was broken in some exquisite, cosmic way, cracked just wide enough to want, never wide enough to have. four years of collecting every method like seashells, pressing each one to my ear and listening for home. sometimes i heard static. sometimes i heard blood. sometimes i heard nothing at all. 

there were nights i didn't think i'd live to see morning. i say that with the softest voice possible, not for pity, but because it's true. i don't mean metaphorical dark nights of the soul, i mean the real ones. the kind where your body's still, but your mind is clawing at the walls, begging for a window. the kind where shifting wasn't some spiritual hobby or escapist whim, but a lifeline. a rope thrown into the pit.

i don't know who i would've been if i hadn't believed. not the glowing kind of belief. not the pretty kind. but the cracked, ugly kind. the kind that crawls. the kind that gasps, "please, just let me wake up somewhere else."

so when i say i shifted, i don't say it lightly. it wasn't a party trick. it was a resurrection.

quiet. not cinematic. not some thunderclap of fate. it was a shift like how morning happens, slowly, and then all at once. i remember going to sleep in my room, wrapped in some terrible hoodie, the air stale with the smell of forgetting. and then, like a breath i didn't know i'd been holding: i am there. not will be. not want to be. not maybe one day. i am. right now. here. and there.

it didn't feel like magic. it felt like choosing god, even if you don't know who god is. like giving yourself permission to walk on water not because it's easy, but because the alternative is drowning.

the assumption wasn't loud. it was a hum. a bassline beneath everything. and the moment i tuned into it, the world bent. not to serve me, but to meet me. like it was always trying to.

this is how i got there: i assumed i was there. i used the law.

i wish i had something more elegant to offer. a potion. a spell. a hundred-counted ritual. i don't. i have only assumption. not the performance of it, but the private, unwavering kind. the kind that does not blink. the kind that plants a flag in the dirt and says, "this is mine, because i said so."

i said i was there. so i was. not overnight. not in a blaze of light. it happened like a thread slipping through the eye of a needle, one slow stitch at a time. i told the air around me that my dr was real. i told the silence. i told the toothbrush in my hand, the toothpaste cap i dropped on the floor, the moth blinking against the bathroom light.

i didn't have to fight for it anymore. i didn't have to prove myself worthy. desire is not a courtroom, and the universe is not a jury. i stopped begging. i started being. and slowly, the scaffolding of this reality dissolved.

this wasn't faith. faith is something you carry with trembling hands. this was certainty. this was sitting still long enough for the river to realise it already knew your name. this was recognising that shifting was not a door you unlock with the right key, but a room you have already lived in. the furniture remembers your weight. the walls still echo your voice.

i shifted because i remembered.

and i kept remembering. even when it felt stupid. even when it hurt. even when the forum girls sighed and the scripting girls cried and the cynics said i was lost in a fantasy. maybe i was. but so is everyone. some people just settle for worse ones.

this is what i know: you can get there too. you are not cursed. you are not exempt. the moment you stop performing belief and start inhabiting it, like a house, like a skin, like an inheritance, you will see.

it is not far. it is next. it is with. it is just beyond the veil of doubt, waiting to be spoken aloud like a name that's always been yours.

you do not have to be special. you do not have to be chosen. you do not need a voice in the sky or a star to fall at your feet. you only need to decide. quietly. daily. like it's brushing your teeth. like it's feeding the dog. like it's the most ordinary miracle in the world.

let it be that simple. let it be that unremarkable. you were never meant to earn it. only to remember it. only to open your hands and realise they've been holding the key the whole time.

assume. not with fear, but with fondness. not with hunger, but with homecoming.

and if you don't believe yet, pretend. not out of desperation, but out of reverence. act like you are there not because it will trick the world, but because it will tune you to it. reality doesn't respond to panic. it responds to presence.

so say the toothbrush is yours. say the air smells different. say the cereal tastes sweeter. say the light is warmer. say your name with a little more certainty. you don't need proof. you are the proof.

and do not ask yourself how again. ask when. ask what now. ask am i ready to walk through the door i've been holding shut with both hands all this time?

because the door is open. the light is on. your seat is warm. your name is carved in the table.

come back.

hyperfixation please stay with me long enough to complete the project. hyperfixation do not fade. hyperfixation finish what you started for the love of god

A lot of the people who are so against race changing make no sense. I saw this one that said that “If you shift for empathy reasons, you have low empathy.” And then five seconds later said “you can’t understand because you’re not a poc!” what is it? Do you want me to have empathy, or am I suddenly not allowed to because apparently according to you only black people have experienced oppression and can understand that feeling?

Do they not realize that there are people who qualify as white and still face racial discrimination? People who are German, Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, Iranian and Egyptian, and many more?

The hypocrisy and double standards are annoying and it makes no sense.

Fundamentally, race is a social construct with no scientific or biological basis. To legitimate something we often see in society: that there is only one race, the human race, and the so-called other "races" are just a sign of a superiority complex that has festered far too long in humanity, bringing us nothing but strife and pain. To claim that some individuals who engage in race changing during reality shifting lack empathy is not only hypocritical but fundamentally flawed.

The idea that race-changing is a sign of lack of empathy or moral failing is untrue. It's clear to see that the condemnation of race changers often blurs the context of oppression and suffering, which exists in countless forms over a very wide spectrum.

It is always important to remember that oppression does not form one solid experience solely for any one group; it takes place in many different contexts, and yet all are based on prejudice of physical appearance or place of origin.

Although the following examples do not reveal racial oppression in its classic sense, they certainly can be viewed as forms of marginalization that rely on superficial factors, such as how a person looks, comes across, or where they are from. It needs to be taken into consideration by anyone that while the experience of oppression varies widely for many, there is a shared foundation of discrimination.

The race-changing controversy in the reality shifting community shows a mirror to this hypocrisy and double standard around most of these arguments, especially people who shift into "fictional" races. Many people will shift into races that are clearly meant to be allegories for real-world POC populations, such as the Na'vi in "Avatar," whether in white or BIPOC spaces.

Why is it then that shifting into a fictional race, oftentimes one that serves as an allegory for the struggles of real-world oppressed groups, is considered acceptable, while shifting into a different human ethnicity is considered to be taboo?

A prime example is the Na'vi from "Avatar."

I have seen white people and BIPOC shift into this race, completely unconcerned, because it is "fictional." But, well, of course this race is basically an allegory for Indigenous peoples: fighting colonization, preserving their culture. Shifting into a Na'vi could be described as shifting into the experience of being Native American with some blue paint on top of it.

But when someone is asked what urges them to become Na'vi, most people reply that they want to "discover the culture," "understand what it feels like to resist oppression," or "experience the beauty of their world." But it is because the Na'vi are considered fictional that they don't receive the same attention as the human ethnic group. This is the core of the hypocrisy: those who bash one for shifting to a different human ethnicity are doing the same, only it is in a supposed "safer" context—around fiction.

They overlook the fact that both types of shifting are fueled by similar, often innocent and pure-hearted intentions, only to explore, understand, and relate with experiences other than the ones outside of one's original identity.

By holding such double standards, critics ignore the broader implications of their arguments and reveal more about their own comfort with real-world racial issues than about any supposed moral failing on the part of those who engage in race changing.

Engage in all discussions here, with consistency and empathy; understand that reality shifting—whether it be into a fictional or human race—can serve profoundly in your tool of personal growth, empathy development, and deeper cultural understanding.

me when my s/o breathes

shifting is my hobby. in my free time i am a mermaid, solve murders, have a debate with aristotle, ride a dragon, climb a mountain, relax while watching the stars with no hair pollution. i can do everything when im bored and come back some hours later. living the life.

I don't know who needs to hear this but you're allowed to hate this reality. I remember in early shifttok they would drag YOU if you said that you did, have you seen the state of our world? Who WOULDN'T hate this reality? not too mention telling people not to hate this reality make people feel invalidated for how the perceive this reality.

Shifting has made me realize how much I really want to live. I actually want to do so much. I want to know worlds and instruments and languages and people and careers. I want to experience everything over and over and over again

And after all, it's really possible

Okay I posted this earlier but this image is even closer

somewhere between lumos and leviosa

marauders dr wand breakdown

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if you’re magic, you’re born into this world with a little bit of an itch, just a bothersome little crackle in your fingertips, a tingle in your brain, a need to do something, make something, break something — construction, destruction, transmutation — you were made to create .. but lacked the tool to channel that power

the wand is not only a piece of equipment. it’s a companion, a teacher, an extension of your mind — and the right wand finds you

mine found me after six different attempts, i was growing restless, my eleven year old attention span was wearing very thin and another false positive would have sent me into a spiral

but then i was handed this beauty :

9.5” inches of dark red sandalwood, the kind that is found deep in the forests of karnataka. it encases a mere four strands of mermaid hair, braided together and kept in place by the sturdy celestite crystal near the base of the wood. embedded with both a source of magic (the mermaid hair) and a source of mediation (the crystal), this wand has a power that revels in the extremes, whatever the spectrum, it enjoys testing its limits. and to combat this detrimentally curious nature, the oxidised silver handle allows for a form of equilibrium, balancing the scales of both the wand and the witch that wields it —

red sandalwood :

from a tree that thrives in tropically dry and arid soil, red sandalwood (or sandalwood in general) is deeply paradoxical in its nature, it’s multifaceted, it’s twin layered — on the one hand, it enjoys an environment without much moisture, but on the other hand, sandalwood will always be associated with the moon and water — protective symbols of light and darkness, chaos and consolation — wielders with wands of this nature may find their magic is stronger at night, more acute during a full moon, a little temperamental at a new moon, and ever so inclined to natural, elemental magic … [excels in charms, alchemy and ancient runes]

mermaid hair :

an unusual wand core, mermaid hair reverberates at a level of serene melancholy, it engages well with those that thrive in solidarity. very loyal in nature — it will not be easily swayed to another wielder if stolen or even won in battle. it seeks freedom and exploration and is inclined to wielders that are curious and experimental in their magic. when mastered, this core has a proclivity to enhance the mental stimulation of its wielder and empower some forms of wandless magic, opting to be subconsciously linked rather than practically used. because of this deeply personal connection between the wand core and its wielder, mermaid hair wands tend to be a novelty and passed down between generations of the same family, much like mermaids and their tightly knit bonds, so, if a wielder is randomly chosen by a mermaid hair wand, they might want to look into their family history … [excels in potions, herbology and alchemy]

celestite crystal :

highly vibrational in nature, celestite is both fragile yet powerful. when tethered to something sturdy and dependable, celestite has the ability to transmute and enhance the energy of its host and one needs to only touch it to feel the charge of its power. it is used by many seers and mages, adorned on their person as a beacon of psychic activation, giving clarity to clairvoyant messages, and when used right, it can revolutionise dreams to be more vivid and memorable. on the more practical side, both wizards and muggles alike use this crystal for its flammability — in fireworks and potions, to destroy cursed objects and burn bloodied runes — this crystal can start a flame with just a sliver of a shard, if left uncontrolled … [excels in potions, ancient runes and defence against the dark arts]

oxidised silver :

renowned for its safety and protective properties, silver has been used for millennia to ward off vampires, werewolves and malevolent spirits (though the accuracy of this belief is debatable), it explains the age of the wand itself — a wand encased in silver has lived a long life and has probably been used for many centuries. the element of change and the cycles of life and death pass by, but the power of silver doesn’t diminish, it only evolves — the oxidised nature of silver responds to the temperament of the wielder, the way they hold the wand, the placement of their hand, and it blackens around the grasp — light surrounded by darkness, the shadow beneath the flame, death preceding rebirth … [excels in transfiguration, alchemy, and ancient runes]

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[ marauders dr intro ]

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