How To Start Pop Culture Deity Research

𝔙𝔞𝔪𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔎𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔰 // 🪦💖✨🖤🔪💕💀⚰️

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Read Vampire Kisses when I was elementary school and wanted to be Raven Madison so badly. I still do.

Gravity Falls Theory 001: Gideon Gleeful and Decarabia

 As most Fallers already know, the symbol that we associate Gideon Gleeful with (besides his unnatural white pompadour, of course) is his star.  

Now, the eye has various symbols within it that invoke the image of another character to our minds.  Single eye in the middle of the shape, several, lightly colored triangles, one of which is yellow. That’s right; it’s Bill Cipher himself.  Now, as we all know, Bill is a dream demon that can only be seen in two ways; either in the Mindscape itself, or when he possesses a body and controls it (ex. Bipper).

Now, Alex Hirsch and the folks at GF HQ didn’t just make us relate the star to Bill for kicks; they were telling us something.  Yes, the evil image told us that Gideon wasn’t going to be a goody-goody Boy Scout of a character, but let’s be honest; none of us expected him to be that way from the get-go.  No, the meaning behind this was far, far more sinister.

After a long night of searching through the “Gravity Falls Theories” Tag and googling random leads for my next theory, I came across this fellow.

DECARABIA.

Decarabia (or just Carabia), is a demon who supposedly is a marquis of hell and has many legions of demons under his command.  At first I was like “oh, ok cool” but when I read deeper into this, some things began to line up.

First off, Decarabia’s symbol.  Can you guess what it is?

That’s right; a star with an eye in the middle.  Kind of like some false psychic’s symbol, huh?

So, I kept reading further and further into Decarabia’s mythos.  Apparently, Decarabia was the 69th demon out of Solomon’s 72 spirits to fall from Heaven, and his most important “infernal duties” tend to include herbs and precious stones.

HERBS

AND PRECIOUS STONES.

Decarabia also is said to be capable of instructing sorcerers in the arts of astral and dream shape shifting.

Seems a bit convinent, eh?

Too convenient?

Now, I know that Gideon read the ritual from Journal #2, but you’ve all seen enough movies where demons are summoned to know that when a ritual is improperly prepared, the results are disastrous.  Gideon may have gotten the ritual from Journal #2, but who’s to say he didn’t get the experience of summoning spirits and demons from another source?  Say, Decarabia?

Now, this also further encouraged by the Bill Cipher AMA that occured on April 1st, 2015.  In it, “Bill” stated that, “EACH IMAGE OF ME ACTS AS A PEEPHOLE FROM MY DIMENSION TO YOURS.”  Now, if we make the assumption that Decarabia operates by the same basic rules as Bill (since they are both demons), he too can see out of his image; a pentagram with an eye in the middle.  Now, who would spread this image around but a follower of Decarabia? 

Also, despite not containing Decarabia’s symbol, Gideon passes out pins during the Season 1 Finale, all of which contain a hidden camera within so that he may spy on Gravity Falls to further cement his position as town psychic.

“EACH IMAGE OF ME ACTS AS A PEEPHOLE FROM MY DIMENSION TO YOURS.”

Gideon had to get the idea for his secret pins from somewhere, right?  Perhaps from his demonic master?

Now, I’m not saying  that Decarabia is even a character on Gravity Falls, let alone that he’s definitely up to some thing with Gideon, but the similarities match up too often for this to be anything more than a coincidence, or a real happening.

And as you all know, in a town like Gravity Falls, there’s no such thing as a coincidence.

Go nuts!

gonna attempt to shift tn but i haven’t came up with what method i’ll use 🤕

just beautiful

IM BACK YEAH YEAHAHWHH

turns out the only problem I had with drawing him this whole time was his pin straight hair…………i literally could’ve started cutting it w/ a razor and gotten out of my willblock or whatever

[244] There is 1 day left before The Book of Bill releases!

Hoodoo, Rootwork and Conjure sources by Black Authors

Because you should only ever be learning your ancestral ways from kinfolk. Here's a compilation of some books, videos and podcast episodes I recommend reading and listening to, on customs, traditions, folk tales, songs, spirits and history. As always, use your own critical thinking and spiritual discernment when approaching these sources as with any others.

Hoodoo in America by Zora Neale Hurston (1931)

Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston (1936)

Tell my horse by Zora Neale Hurston (1938)

Let Nobody Turn Us Around: An African American Anthology by Manning Marable and Leith Mullings, editors (2003)

Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition by Yvonne P. Chireau (2006)

African American Folk Healing by Stephanie Mitchem (2007)

Hoodoo Medicine: Gullah Herbal Remedies by Faith Mitchell (2011)

Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System by Katrina Hazzard-Donald (2012)

Rootwork: Using the Folk Magick of Black America for Love, Money and Success by Tayannah Lee McQuillar (2012)

Talking to the Dead: Religion, Music, and Lived Memory among Gullah/Geechee Women by LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant (2014)

Working the Roots: Over 400 Years Of Traditional African American Healing by Michele Elizabeth Lee (2017)

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston (2018)

Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals by Luisa Teish (2021)

African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions by Lucretia VanDyke (2022)

These are just some suggestions but there's many many more!! This is by no means a complete list.

I recommend to avoid authors who downplay the importance of black history or straight out deny how blackness is central to hoodoo. The magic, power and ashé is in the culture and bloodline. You can't separate it from the people. I also recommend avoiding or at the very least taking with a huge grain of salt authors with ties to known appropriators and marketeers, and anyone who propagates revisionist history or rather denies historical facts and spreads harmful conspiracy theories. Sadly, that includes some black authors, particularly those who learnt from, and even praise, white appropriators undermining hoodoo and other african and african diasporic traditions. Be careful who you get your information from. Keeping things traditional means honoring real history and truth.

Let me also give you a last but very important reminder: the best teachings you'll ever get are going to come from the mouths of your own blood. Not a book or anything on the internet. They may choose to put certain people and things in your path to help you or point you in the right direction, but each lineage is different and you have to honor your own. Talk to your family members, to the Elders in your community, learn your genealogy, divine before moving forwards, talk to your dead, acknowledge your people and they'll acknowledge you and guide you to where you need to be.

May this be of service and may your ancestors and spirits bless you and yours 🕯️💀

Bill Cipher stimboard!!

nice book

literally how i am in the gc n i KNOW they sicka me

Part 2