Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0
Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.
Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.
Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the SolaAgricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.
Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.
Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.
Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.
Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.
It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.
Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.
In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.
Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.
Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.
"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.
Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?
Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.
Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.
All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.
"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison
Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.
Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.
Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.
Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.
Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.
Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0
Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.
Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.
Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the SolaAgricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.
Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.
Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.
Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.
Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.
It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.
Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.
In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.
Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.
Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.
"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.
Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?
Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.
Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.
All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.
"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison
Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.
Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.
Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.
Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.
Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.
Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0
Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.
Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.
Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the SolaAgricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.
Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.
Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.
Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.
Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.
It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.
Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.
In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.
Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.
Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.
"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.
Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?
Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.
Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.
All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.
"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison
Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.
Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.
Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.
Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.
Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.
Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0
Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.
Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.
Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the SolaAgricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.
Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.
Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.
Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.
Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.
It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.
Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.
In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.
Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.
Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.
"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.
Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?
Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.
Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.
All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.
"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison
Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.
Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.
Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.
Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.
Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.
Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
The ointment that King Creole had given me was not permanent. Much to my shock and horror when I woke up and went to the bathroom I saw the giant scar and stitches staring back at me. Turns out, the ointment lasts only eight hours before it needs to be reapplied. Which was annoying, and forced me to have a timer go off just before eight hours was up to reapply the ointment to my scar. Just another thing forced upon me because of my entanglement with King Creole.
A week or two after my last job for him, I was rudely interrupted by him calling me again. I was in the middle of dinner with my mom, my dad was out at work on a late shift. I stared at my phone for a long time. Everything in me was telling me just to ignore him. It took everything in me to answer him and bring the phone up to my ear.
“My darling Mace!” Creole’s excited voice greeted me, causing an annoyed exhale to come out of my nostrils. “Sorry to interrupt dinner with your lovely mother, but an urgent matter requires your attention. Finish your dinner and then get your lovely self down to the shop. See you then.” He didn’t even bother waiting for a response or let me respond at all. The call lasted probably all of ten seconds.
“Who was that?” My mom asked as he took a sip of her drink. I stuffed my phone into my pocket and picked at the chicken and rice staring back at me. My mom is a great cook, but it was hard for me to feel any kind of appetite when all I could think of was the horrible shit I had seen and had gone through. I had almost been murdered multiple times, one time being at death's door, and I had no one to turn to. Very hard to feel any kind of appetite after all that shit.
“Scam call,” I told her and I forced myself to eat an entire forkful of food. She nodded and kept eating her share of the dinner. After I had eaten enough to pass for a normal amount of food, I pushed my chair back and carried my plate to the sink. Rinsing it out after I placed my leftovers back into the pan that they had come from. “Mom I’m going out for a walk. Do you need anything while I’m out?” I asked her once I had finished with my plate.
“No sweetheart. Just be careful out there. Lots of weirdos out there nowadays,” she said as she passed me with her empty plate. Oh if only she knew the shit I was mixed up with. But I gave her a nod and a hug. I ran upstairs to my room to get my essentials. My lockpicking kit and now a new weapon to my arsenal, pepper spray. It might not exactly work on Creole but it would stop a repeat of a knife ending up in my throat.
As if to harp on that point, my timer went off, prompting me to go into the bathroom to quickly apply my ointment. It seemed that whenever it began to run low and I had to think about having to go back to the shop on my ‘days off’ the container would always refill itself. So I guess that was a nice plus.
With everything ready for my next horrible errand, I hugged and kissed my mom goodbye before leaving my house and heading in the direction of the voodoo store. Despite it clearly being labeled ‘Half Priced Voodoo Store’, my mind constantly wanted to call it a voodoo shop. Something about it just rolled off the tongue better. Maybe Creole had a branding issue or something. The sun was just about to dip below the horizon and the streetlight flickered to life, creepily illuminating my way towards the shitty part of town where the shop/store was located.
This time thankfully I didn’t run into any drug dealers or crackheads. But my hands never left my pockets the entire time. I had my finger on the trigger of the pepper spray ready for anyone that might want to jump me. But I arrived safely at the store and opened the door, the sad rusty bell signaling my arrival.
Waiting for me at the register was Jacob. It hadn’t gotten any easier to look at him. He was in a new outfit, however. Before he had been in a suit similar to King Creole’s, but now he was wearing a bellboy outfit. It was bright red with shiny gold trimmings. He looked like some sort of ornamental nutcracker or something with how new and shiny he looked. His stitched-up mouth was now curled up into a smile as he eagerly waved hello to me.
“Doesn’t he just look positively lovely?!” Creole shouted excitedly, causing me to yelp in surprise as he suddenly appeared behind me. He wrapped his arm around me and led me closer to the register. Jacob took his hat off and did a little bow to me and I awkwardly waved hello to him, more worried about getting Creole off of me.
“He looks…good,” I said, shrugging his arm off of me and letting out a sigh of relief when he finally let me go. If he was offended by my shrugging his affection off he didn’t let it dampen his excitement over how Jacob looked.
“Doesn’t he? I wanted to try something new with him and I’m absolutely adoring how he turned out!” he shouted with giddy excitement. Jacob placed his little hat back on before bowing again and excusing himself to the backroom. He left us alone and I suddenly found the atmosphere much less inviting without him there.
“So…how’s business?’ I asked him, trying to cut some of the awkward tension in the room. He craned his neck down to look at me. I could swear that his head was about to break its stitches and his head would go tumbling to the floor with how he was staring at me.
“It’s great! Can’t complain about it at all actually.” Creole let out a big chuckle before slapping me on the back hard and heading behind the counter as if to escape any imaginary retaliation I might want to do to him. “Don’t worry Mace, I won’t let you kill yourself with small talk,” he said as he sat down in the chair that sat behind the register. “I need you to get me a mirror. A very special one.” His smile dipped a bit, this was something serious.
“What does it do? I assume since you want it, it probably isn’t normal.” I walked up to the counter and noticed that the voodoo template doll was staring back at me.
“You catch on quickly.” Creole snickered at me in a patronizing tone. “It’s best if I don’t tell you what it does. In fact, for your own safety, I’d advise you not even to glance at this mirror.” He raised his arm and fluttered his fingers, a scrap of paper appearing between his index and middle finger. “This place is also quite far away and I know y’all aren’t gonna make it walking. So I’ll give ya some help,” he said as he handed me the scrap of paper.
I took it from him and looked down at it. It was only what I guessed was a room number. “Where exactly is this?” I asked, looking back up toward the register. Only to find him not there anymore. I quickly spun on my heels to see if he was behind me and sure enough, the tall bastard had somehow teleported over to the entrance to his shop.
“An abandoned hotel in Pennsylvania. Quite the walk for you I know,” he said with that stupid smile on his face. That was at least a several-day nonstop walk, and there was no way I was making it there without my parents noticing.
“How exactly am I to get to Pennsylvania?” I asked him, stuffing the room number into my pocket. He giggled a bit as he motioned for me to come closer. I took a few steps over to him and watched as he again fluttered his fingers, soft purple flames emanated from his fingertips. He proceeded to draw on the door, and I watched with a hint of wonderment as it subtly gleaned purple and then died down into nothingness.
“It’s just a simple step away, darling.” He opened the door for me and I was more than a little surprised to see that the door didn’t open to the outside. It opened to the lobby of a hotel. I quickly walked over and stuck my head through the door. The other side was an almost pitch-black hotel room with dust and cobwebs floating through the air.
“You might want this also,” he said as he handed me an electric lantern. I nodded and grabbed it from him. I took a deep breath and entered the hotel. “Remember, don’t look at the mirror,” he warned me before shutting the door behind me. I stared back at the door and stayed in place for a few seconds in the pitch-blackness.
It took me a few seconds to figure out how to turn the lantern on, but when I at last illuminated the lobby I was more than happy. Not a single sound was being made in the hotel. Not a creak in the floorboards, no wind blowing from outside, not even the sounds of rats scampering around. It was absolute silence. The only sound I could hear was my breathing. If it wasn’t for the lamp I might have thought I was in a sensory deprivation chamber.
I fished the room number out of the pocket and stared down at it with the lantern. Room 1145. There were at least 11 floors to this hotel and I knew for damn sure that even if this place had an elevator there was no chance of it working. I walked over to the front desk and stared down at it, there was a bell there to ring for staff but something in my gut was telling me that it would be a terrible idea to ring it. So I simply moved on and headed towards the stairs, following the signs that pointed me the way.
While this place was abandoned it also seemed to be frozen in time. As I walked past the kitchen and dining area I was shocked to see food out and ready to be served. Breakfast foods were piled high and ready to be eaten. The coffee was warm, the milk was cold, and the fruit was fresh and ripe, it was like this place had been abandoned and left in limbo.
“This place is weird,” I mumbled to myself as I continued to walk towards the stairs. I opened the door that led to the stairwell and was immediately blasted with the overwhelming smell of rot. It was enough to cause me to drop the lantern and let out a retch that echoed throughout the entire hotel. I quickly picked the lantern back up and ran back toward the kitchen. I grabbed a cup of coffee, and quickly took a giant inhale of it just to get something else into my nostrils.
“Fuck,” Was all I could reasonably think of saying. Before I could even think about going back toward that stairwell again, I quickly picked up some giant napkins from one of the tables, the kind that you usually put on your lap, and wrapped them around my mouth and nose in a makeshift face mask, making sure to dampen it with coffee to give me at least something else just as strong to counteract the smell.
With my makeshift mask ready, I once again braved the stairwell. It didn’t take me long to find the culprit of the noxious smell. A pile of decomposed bodies was lying at the foot of the stairs. I couldn’t even begin to count how many of them were there, as their limbs were all tangled together. I shoved my mask as close as I could to my nostrils and did my best to focus only on the coffee smell. Time may have stopped for food in this hotel, but dead bodies sure as hell still decomposed just fine.
I was forced to step on them since there was no other way to begin climbing up the stairs. The sickening crunch and snapping of bones were enough to get another retch out of me as I desperately tried to focus on the smell of coffee. I moved as quickly as I could towards the stairs and began running up them as fast as possible. I didn’t dare take off my mask until I reached the 11th floor. Opening the door to the floor I quickly ran into the hallway and shut the door behind me. I took my mask off to see if I could breathe easier and was relieved to be away from the horrible smell of death.
I was never more grateful for the smell of something normal. I stood there catching my breath after running up 11 flights of stairs, and took a look around, moving the lantern up and down to see if anything else was up here with me. The halls were empty, but every single door on this floor had a do not disturb sign on the doorknob. After my breath was sufficiently caught, I started making my toward room 1145. The eerie silence was enough to start playing tricks on me. Every single step I took it felt like something was following close behind me. I would stop and shine the lantern behind me, but there was nothing there. But every time I started walking again I swear I could hear a second set of footsteps just after mine.
When I arrived at room 1145 I was happy to see that the door was an old one. It didn’t have the electronic locks that hotels have now, this one needed a key. And that’s why I had been sent here. I sat the lantern down next to me and got my tools out, ready to work on his lock. I was surprised by how this lock acted. It was almost like the lock Creole used for the Voodoo shop. The tumblers seemed to be changing constantly and every time it felt like I was close to getting somewhere all my progress was erased.
“Son of a bitch,” I mumbled as I fiddled with the lock. I wasn’t about to let some ancient probably magic-infused lock show me up. So with way more brute force than skill, I started attacking this lock with everything I had learned. And to my immense satisfaction, I heard the satisfying click of the door unlocking. I quickly turned the doorknob pushed the door open and clapped with joy over how I had finally gotten through the lock.
I quickly packed up my tools in their bag and stuffed them into my pocket. I made sure to look down at the floor just in case this freaky mirror was just standing there waiting for me to stare at it. I decided to use my makeshift facemask as a blindfold. I wrapped it around my head and reached my arms out to feel out in front of me. I left the lantern in the hallway since I was going in completely blind anyway.
I patted my hands out in the darkness to begin building up my surroundings. It wasn’t easy and I bumped into pretty much anything and everything I came across. Finally, after a few minutes of bumping into things, I got a general layout of the room. But I hadn’t figured out where the mirror was. It was then that it hit me, what size was this mirror? Creole hadn’t said if it was a body mirror or a handheld mirror or the fucking bathroom mirror.
Exiting back into the hallway I took off my blindfold and tried to think of a better way of doing this. I looked back into the darkness of the room and then down at the lantern. I picked up the lantern and then tossed it into the room. Immediately I could tell that there was no mirror right at the entrance so I would be okay to enter at least there with some light. I walked in with the lantern and looked around where the light touched. With that crossed off, I picked up the lantern and looked around for something to cover up a side of it. Lucky for me there were towels just hanging on the coat hanger on the door to the bathroom.
I covered one side of the lantern so that light could only appear on one side. I then extended my arm out into the main room of the hotel and slowly began to rotate the lantern as if it were some sort of makeshift lighthouse. My thinking was that if it came into contact with a mirror then the light would be reflected onto the wall not illuminated by the lantern since that side would be covered by the towel. And to my amusement, I was proven right when after a few turns, the light appeared on the other wall.
“Bingo,” I giggled as I quickly pulled the lantern back and placed it back on the floor. Then I tied my blindfold back on and quickly went out in the direction in which I had pointed my light. After a few seconds of groping in the darkness, my fingers came into contact with the cold and slick surface of a mirror. I must’ve been smiling a big stupid grin when I reached it. I felt the mirror up a bit and figured that it was some sort of standing mirror. I tried lifting it and found it relatively light.
Confident in my abilities I started walking towards the door. Of course, in my excitement over finding the mirror, I happened to have forgotten where I had placed the lantern. I tripped over it and fell with the mirror down onto the floor. I groaned in pain and surprise, feeling like a dumbass over how I had forgotten the lantern. And when I looked up from the floor I was shocked to see my reflection looking back at me. The fall had pulled down my blindfold.
“Shit!” I quickly sat up and grabbed the lantern. I half expected that I would explode or spontaneously combust or turn to dust. But after a few seconds, nothing happened to me. I closed my eyes and reached out to the mirror and sat it up completely. The first time had been an accident but the second time curiosity at last got to me and I opened my eyes to look at the mirror.
It was just my reflection. Nothing horrible about it, just me. I moved my arm around and did a few moves and it followed it perfectly. It seemed like a normal mirror. Had I gotten the wrong one? That train of thought was quickly derailed when I saw that my reflection was smiling at me. When I for sure wasn’t smiling. I backed up from the mirror and yet my reflection didn’t follow what I was doing, it just stared at me with a look of total malice in its eyes.
I watched with complete and utter terror as it began to contort and change. My limbs grew gangly. It looked like some sick funhouse mirror version of me. Her nails grew longer until they had completely turned into claws and my small stature was completely erased into some horrible stretched-out version of myself. It would’ve been scary enough if that was all it did, but then she started crawling out of the mirror.
“Oh fuck this!” I screamed as I quickly turned around and started sprinting towards the stairs. I probably haven’t run that fast since I was forced to run a mile in PE. My gym teacher probably would’ve loved the form I was using, it was probably textbook. I reached the stairs in no time flat. Only to discover that it was locked. “You gotta be fucking kidding!” I screamed and began fighting with the lock.
I looked back down the hall and screamed in absolute terror when I saw my reflection chasing after me on all fours like some skinwalker-looking thing. Her creepy smile was accompanied by some new sharp and jagged teeth that were no doubt ready to tear me to shreds. She didn’t even bother saying words to me, only cackling uncontrollably as she quickly closed the distance between us.
I wasted no more time on the locked door and sprinted down the hallway to my right and was more than happy to see a fire escape warning above the door at the end of the hall. As I was sprinting down the hall though, I could hear that my reflection was rapidly catching up with me. And I could feel that if I ran toward that door there’d be no way for me to make it there in time. I was about to look behind me when I noticed one of the hotel rooms was open. In a split second, I changed directions and ran into the room, quickly slamming the door shut behind me, locking and deadbolting the door. My reflection came slamming into the door but the thick wooden structure withstood her attack for the time being.
I lay on the floor catching my breath for a moment before I started looking around either for escape or for some sort of defence. I fished in my pocket for my pepper spray and got it out. I didn’t exactly know if my reflection would be affected by it but having it with me gave me a little sense of safety. I was also glad that through my blind panic, I had somehow managed to keep the lantern with me.
Any sense of safety was quickly erased when my reflection began banging on the door again, and I noticed cracks beginning to appear on the door. I couldn’t waste any more time. I looked around and tried to find something or anything to get me out of this situation. I thought about calling Creole but when I pulled my phone out I was met with the dreaded no signal. With that idea expended, I looked around the room and discovered it was one of those rooms that was separated by another with a door. If I could pick the lock I could sneak into the other room and maybe make it to the fire escape.
Quickly pulling my tools out I didn’t bother wasting a second and began trying to figure out which tool would do the best job. All the while my reflection was screaming an otherworldly scream and smashing herself against the door. To my immense relief, this lock didn’t seem to have any magic fuckery infused into it. And in no time flat I had picked the lock and had managed to enter the other room. I dimmed the lantern and quietly closed the dividing door behind me.
I waited in the dimly lit room until I heard the sounds of the door being broken down and my reflection entering the room. I was waiting at the door and the moment I heard her enter the other room, I slowly opened the door and exited into the hallway. I could hear her tearing the room apart looking for me. And I started making my way toward the fire exit. As quietly and as quickly as I could. I was about ten feet away from it when I heard her scream. I looked behind me and saw that she had exited the room and had seen me.
I sprinted toward the door and flung it open, I half expected to be put outside but instead, I came tumbling into the voodoo store. I was never more happy to see the dust-filled shop in my entire life. The fire exit had been linked to the front door of the voodoo shop and I had ended up smashing into one of the shelves of shrunken heads.
“Mace? Goodness darling! You in some kind of rush?” Creole asked as I heard his footsteps and cane rapidly approaching me. Before I could even look at him though I looked back at the door and reached out towards it.
“Quick! Shut it!” That was all I got out as my reflection came sprinting towards me. She leaped through the door and was about to lunge toward me when Creole swung his cane like a baseball bat and sent her flying into the glass window of the shop. The hit must’ve knocked her unconscious as she went limp after she hit the floor.
“I see ya looked at the mirror,” Creole said in clear disappointment. I stared up at him and then over toward my corrupted reflection. I quickly put him between me and her and did my best to try and explain how it had all happened. I must’ve been talking a million miles an hour and yet Creole seemed to understand everything completely. “I see so it was an accident,” he said after I was done and catching my breath.
“Yes, sir.” I nodded jumping a bit when Jacob suddenly appeared next to me with a glass of tea. I’m not normally a tea drinker but after what I had just gone through, I gladly accepted it from him and took a big sip of it.
“Well, there’s no harm in a simple mistake. Though why didn’t ya just put a blanket over the mirror once you found it?” Creole asked me as he walked over to my reflection and poked her with his cane. I nearly choked on my tea when he asked me that. The thought had never even crossed my mind and it was such a good idea.
“I…didn’t think of that,” I admitted to him. Embarrassed over having not thought of that. What had my plan even been? Walk down the stairs blindfolded holding a giant mirror? I felt like a dumbass.
“Ah, don’t worry about it Mace.” Just go and bring the mirror back here, I’ll deal with our long friend here,” Creole said as he rubbed his gloved hands together with giddy excitement. I nodded quickly and handed the nearly empty cup of tea over to Jacob before entering the hotel again through the voodoo shop’s entrance. When I rounded the turn to where I had left the mirror standing in the hallway I quickly shut my eyes as tightly as I could and began walking towards it, arm stretched out in an attempt to find it. I finally touched it and picked it up, carefully walking with it until I was back in the voodoo shop. I felt it being taken from me and figured it was Jacob taking it out of my hands.
“You can open your eyes now, Mace.” Creole greeted me with a chuckle after I had stood there with my eyes shut for a few minutes. When I opened them I saw that the mirror was covered by a thick white sheet and that Jacob was carrying it over to Creole’s office.
“Where’s…my reflection?” I asked, seeing that she was no longer crumpled in the corner.
“Oh while you were getting the mirror I tossed her back into the hotel. She shouldn’t be too much of a bother.” Creole let out one of his strange hums at this and beckoned me to follow him back to the register. “That’s four favors done and only one last one to do until you’ve cleared your debt with me.” Creole sat down and held up a single finger to me.
“Sir? What is that mirror even for? Why would you want something like that?” I asked him, really not caring at the moment that I had only one favor left to do for him.
“Call it an insurance policy, my darling Mace,” He said with a grin on his face. “If I ever need a way to come back, why not come back as a nightmare?” He asked me with a series of low and creepy laughs. He shooed me away as he began cackling and I was more than happy to leave him in a laughing fit. After everything I had just gone through, I wanted nothing more than to collapse into my bed and rot away.
One favor left. That’s all I had to do. Then I would be free. If only it had been that simple.

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I don’t know if I’m going insane and coping but it seems like every single time I’ve ranked up from aurodium 1 I’ve received an underranked team and overranked enemy team so I keep vacillating between winning a match in aurodium 1 and losing a match above that (don’t know what the rank above it is called but aurodium 1 has a golden template whereas the one above it has a silver template with a bronze ornament underneath). Is it just me struggling with this?

Hey everybody, i try to make a new successor chapter, i saw on homebrew site that there was a template of primaris space marine, i found the blank on the community site but i don't know if there's another site to fill or to create the color scheme and the ornaments, help me if you know ^^ good game y'all

A Gnome suffering from the early effects of the bleaching has secluded himself in his mansion. In order to stalve off the affliction, he designs, redesigns, and upgrades clockwork contraption after contraption. There isn't a piece of furniture, cutlery, or ornamentation in his residence that hasn't been animated through clockwork. His craft has advanced so far that even the self washing spoons have some degree of sentience.
Have the party select from tiny to medium objects, such as a candelabra, a chair, or a table. Follow the Animated Object modification rules for character creation, and apply the clockwork template. A combination of flaws and benefits will give them a decent amount of customization to work with, each should take at least the haunted flaw, considering themselves to be the spirit.
As an example, a medium table could take the Brittle, Flammable, and slower flaws in addition to the haunted flaw. This gives them 6 CP, while leaving them slow and vulnerable to Fire, Cold, and electric damage (clockwork). They take the Adamantine Trait, giving them 20 hardness and +6 AC. They are the tank of the party. A tiny Candelabra could take the same flaws, but add Augmented crit and 4 stacks of burn, for a larger crit range and 4D6 Fire damage on their slam attack. They're a close ranged mage.
Many of these objects are crazed, some of them centuries old, while your party is the latest batch of creations. After an encounter with a group of unreasonably violent objects, it becomes clear that your group needs to leave if they want to survive long. But the door, also Animated, refuses to open. They are armored and armed to the teeth, and have been given strict instructions to not let the master's experiments leave. After all, he needs as much experimentation as he can get.
In order to improve themselves, survive, and maybe escape one day, the party needs to bring spare parts (experience) to the Master. He'll eagerly make any modification you ask for, and repair you while he's at it. His workshop has several crystal orbs, scrying on each room in the mansion, binge-watching the fights and interactions of all his creations, trying to derive any form of interest to delay his death further.
Each Level the party members gain 2 construction points to spend on upgrades. Encounter after encounter with little story leads to several action packed hours as the party prepares to break down the door, and earn their freedom.
Additional suggestions:
Allow normal construct modifications like additional hit die, runes and shatterstashes, enchanted weapons/armor, converting to a CP cost you think is appropriate for the modification.
Homebrew a Corroded flaw, allowing a vulnerability to Acid Damage for an extra CP.

Batik: A Journey from Wax to Art

Batik, an ancient art form with roots in Southeast Asia, involves creating designs on fabric using wax resist dyeing. Let's explore the magic behind this process:
Techniques:

• Traditional Batik:
  • Waxing: Using tools like a "canting" (spout tool) or "cap" (stamp), hot wax is applied to create intricate patterns.
  • Dyeing: The fabric is dipped in a dye bath, only areas not covered in wax absorb the color.
  • Repeating: This process is repeated for each additional color, with fresh wax applied to protect previously dyed areas.
  • Wax Removal: Finally, the wax is removed using boiling water or solvents, revealing the final design.
• Simpler Variations:
  • Crayon Batik: Similar to traditional, but uses melted crayons instead of hot wax. Great for beginners or kids!
  • Watercolor Batik: Painted wax designs resist watercolor paints, creating soft, blended effects.

Materials:

• Fabric: Natural fibers like cotton or silk work best. Pre-wash to remove sizing.
• Wax: Traditional techniques use beeswax, but paraffin wax is a readily available alternative.
• Dyes: Choose dyes suitable for your fabric (e.g., fabric dye for natural fibers). Start with primary colors to mix your own shades.
• Tools: Canting, tjaps (metal stamps), brushes, double boiler for wax, containers for dyes.
• Optional: Pencils for pre-drawing designs, newspapers for protection.

Tips for Beginners:

• Start small: Practice on a scrap fabric before tackling a large project.
• Work in sections: Divide your design into manageable areas to apply wax and dye.
• Experiment with different tools: Try brushes, stamps, or even toothpicks for unique textures.
• Embrace imperfections: Batik's beauty lies in its organic nature, so don't stress about perfect lines.
• Wash and iron carefully: Follow fabric and dye instructions for proper care.

Inspiration and Resources:

• Books: "Batik: Mastering the Art of Wax Resist Dyeing" by Janet Compton, "Batik for Beginners" by Laura Murray.
• Websites: batikguild.org, [invalid URL removed].
• Videos: YouTube channels like "Batik with Cheryl" and "Indonesian Batik Art".

Remember, batik is a journey of exploration and creativity. Don't be afraid to experiment, have fun, and express yourself through the vibrant world of wax and dye!

The Dazzling World of Beadwork:

Beadwork encompasses a vast and vibrant spectrum of arts and crafts, offering endless possibilities for creative expression. Here's a comprehensive guide to get you started:
Techniques:

• Stringing: Thread beads onto thread or wire, creating simple strands or complex patterns.
• Looming: Use a bead loom to weave intricate designs with warp and weft threads.
• Stitching: Incorporate beads into embroidery, crochet, or knitting projects.
• Bead Embroidery: Sew beads onto fabric to create raised designs and textures.
• Bead Weaving: Off-loom techniques like peyote stitch and brick stitch build three-dimensional forms.
• Bead Fusing: Join beads with heat to create unique shapes and embellishments.

Materials:

• Beads: Diverse materials like glass, seed beads, metal, stone, and even polymer clay offer endless options.
• Thread: Choose thread weight and material based on bead size and technique (e.g., nylon for stringing, cotton for embroidery).
• Needles: Beading needles with fine points are essential.
• Tools: Pliers, scissors, bead stoppers, tweezers, and optional tools like looms and bead trays.

Getting Started:

• Pick your project: Start with beginner-friendly patterns like simple necklaces or bracelets.
• Gather your supplies: Invest in quality materials that suit your project and budget.
• Learn the basics: Master fundamental techniques like stringing, knotting, and stitching before delving into complex projects.
• Practice makes perfect: Don't be discouraged by initial challenges. Regular practice hones your skills and builds confidence.
• Seek inspiration: Look for online tutorials, books, magazines, and craft communities for fresh ideas and techniques.

Tips and Tricks:

• Organize your beads: Use containers, bead organizers, or sorting trays to keep beads categorized and accessible.
• Condition thread: Waxing or using thread conditioner reduces friction and protects your thread.
• Secure your knots: Double or triple knots ensure beads stay put, especially for valuable materials.
• Experiment with color and texture: Combine different bead shapes, sizes, and colors to create unique effects.
• Take care of your tools: Clean and store your tools properly for longevity and optimal performance.

Resources:

• Websites: beadingdaily.com, firemountaingems.com, [invalid URL removed]
• Books: "Beadwork Basics" by Deb Moffett, "The Complete Guide to Beading" by Lark Books
• YouTube Channels: The Beading Gem, PotomacBeads, EriBeads

Remember, beadwork is a journey of continuous learning and discovery. Embrace the joy of experimentation, explore different styles, and let your creativity shine through!

The Art of Bonsai: Miniature Trees, Maximum Creativity

Bonsai, the art of cultivating miniature trees in containers, transcends mere craft. It's a fusion of horticulture, artistry, and patience, allowing you to sculpt living landscapes in the palm of your hand. Let's delve into the world of Bonsai:
Key Principles:

• Mimic Nature: Bonsai strive to capture the essence of mature trees in miniature, replicating natural forms like windswept pines or cascading willows.
• Patience is Key: Growth is slow, requiring years of careful pruning, wiring, and shaping to achieve the desired form.
• Balance is Essential: Proper branch placement, pot size, and foliage density contribute to the overall harmony of the composition.

Choosing Your Bonsai:

• Species: Start with hardy, beginner-friendly trees like Ficus or Chinese Elm. Consider your climate and preferences for indoor or outdoor trees.
• Style: Explore various styles like upright, informal upright, cascade, or literati to find one that resonates with you.
• Pre-Bonsai vs. Established: Pre-Bonsai offer more control, while established trees provide instant gratification but require less shaping.

Cultivation Essentials:

• Potting: Use well-draining soil mix and a pot that complements the tree's size and style. Repotting every 2-3 years is crucial for healthy growth.
• Watering: Water deeply and regularly, avoiding overwatering, which can harm roots. Observe your tree's needs based on species and climate.
• Lighting: Most Bonsai require bright, indirect sunlight. Research your specific species' light requirements.
• Pruning and Wiring: Prune regularly to control growth, encourage branching, and refine the shape. Use bonsai wire to temporarily bend branches.

Artistic Expression:

• Style Exploration: As you gain experience, explore different styles and experiment with advanced techniques like jin (deadwood) and shari (exposed bark).
• Pot Selection: Choose a pot that enhances the overall composition and complements the style of your Bonsai.
• Accessories: Stones, moss, and miniature figurines can add depth and storytelling to your miniature landscape.

Bookbinding Repair: Giving New Life to Cherished Stories

Bookbinding repair, more than just a practical skill, is an art form that allows you to preserve cherished stories and breathe new life into aged volumes. Whether it's a well-loved childhood book with loose pages or a vintage treasure with a cracked spine, here's your guide to becoming a bookbinding repair artist:
Assessing the Damage:

• Identify the issue: Is it loose pages, a torn cover, a broken hinge, or something else? Each requires different approaches.
• Evaluate the materials: Consider the book's age, binding style, and paper quality to determine appropriate repair methods and materials.

Basic Repairs:

• Loose Pages: Apply a thin layer of acid-free PVA glue to the spine edge of the page using a brush or toothpick. Reattach carefully and press flat under weight until dry.
• Torn Pages: Use thin mending tissue and PVA glue to bridge the tear from the back of the page. Overlap the tissue slightly beyond the tear for stability.
• Cracked Spine: Reinforce the spine with archival mending tape applied along the inside. For larger tears, consider resewing the signatures (sections of pages).

Intermediate Repairs:

• Broken Hinges: Carefully detach the cover, preserving any endpapers attached. Apply glue to the hinge area of both cover and text block. Reattach and clamp until dry.
• Damaged Covers: Depending on the damage, you can clean, re-glue, or replace the cover material. For fabric covers, consider using fabric bookbinding tape for repairs.

Advanced Repairs:

• Missing Pages: If pages are completely missing, consult a professional bookbinder for paper matching and reintegration.
• Extensive Damage: For severely damaged books, consider seeking professional restoration services to ensure proper conservation and longevity.

Essential Tools and Materials:

• Acid-free PVA glue or bookbinding adhesive
• Archival mending tissue
• Bone folder for smoothing and creasing
• Craft knife or scalpel (use with caution)
• Ruler and straight edge
• Clamps or weights
• Brushes or applicators
• Fabric bookbinding tape (optional)

Tips and Resources:

• Start small: Practice on less valuable books before tackling prized possessions.
• Work in a clean, well-lit area.
• Use archival-quality materials to prevent further damage.
• Take your time and be meticulous.
• Don't hesitate to seek professional help for complex repairs.

Books and Websites:

• "In-House Bookbinding and Repair" by Sharon McQueen and James Twomey
• "Book Repair Made Easy" by Aldis Browne
• American Library Association's Guide to Book Repair: [[invalid URL removed]]([invalid URL removed])
• Library of Congress Preservation Directorate: [[invalid URL removed]]([invalid URL removed])

Remember, bookbinding repair is a journey of learning and patience. As you delve into this rewarding craft, you'll not only preserve books but also connect with history, stories, and the magic of the written word.

The Art of Calligraphy: Where Penmanship Meets Creativity

Calligraphy, the art of beautiful handwriting, transcends practicality and becomes a mesmerizing dance of pen and ink. Whether you seek graceful lettering for invitations or artistic expression through personalized quotes, here's your guide to embark on this captivating journey:
Choosing Your Script:

• Start with a beginner-friendly script: Italic, Gothic, or foundational script offer good starting points with basic letterforms and manageable flourishes.
• Explore different styles: As you progress, delve into more intricate scripts like Copperplate, Uncial, or even Arabic calligraphy, each with its unique character.

Tools and Materials:

• Nibs: Select a nib based on the script and desired line thickness. Start with a medium-flex nib for versatility.
• Pen holder: Choose a comfortable holder that accommodates your chosen nib.
• Ink: Opt for high-quality calligraphy ink for smooth flow and vibrant colors. Experiment with different colors and inks with metallic sheen.
• Paper: Use smooth, absorbent paper specifically designed for calligraphy. Practice sheets are ideal for beginners.

Learning the Basics:

• Posture and grip: Maintain good posture and a relaxed grip on the pen for optimal control.
• Basic strokes: Master fundamental strokes like upstrokes, downstrokes, and curves, forming the building blocks of letters.
• Letter formation: Practice forming each letter of your chosen script, paying attention to proportions, spacing, and consistency.

Sharpening Your Skills:

• Practice exercises: Regularly do drills and exercises to improve muscle memory and develop fluency.
• Join workshops or online courses: Seek guidance from experienced calligraphers to refine your technique and learn new skills.
• Experiment with composition: Explore layout options, letter spacing, and flourishes to create visually appealing compositions.

Beyond the Basics:

• Flourishes and embellishments: Once comfortable with basic letterforms, add flourishes and decorative elements to personalize your calligraphy.
• Gilding and illumination: Explore advanced techniques like gilding with metallic foil or adding illuminated details for an extra touch of grandeur.
• Modern calligraphy: Embrace contemporary lettering styles with brush pens or markers, incorporating modern design elements.

Inspiration and Resources:

• Websites: International Association of Calligraphers: [invalid URL calligraphy society ON International Association of Calligraphers calligraphy.org], The Calligrapher's Guild:, Learn Calligraphy: [invalid URL learncalligraphy.com ON Learn Calligraphy]
• Books: "Mastering the Art of Calligraphy" by Patricia Lovett-Cooper, "The Calligrapher's Bible" by Heather Victoria Cole, "Modern Calligraphy" by Molly Hatch
• YouTube Channels: The Happy Ever After, The Postman's Knock, Calligraphy with Jennifer

Remember, calligraphy is a journey of continuous learning and self-expression. Embrace the joy of practice, celebrate your progress, and let your creativity flow through the graceful curves and flourishes of your penmanship.

Candlemaking: Illuminating Creativity with Wax and Fragrance

Candlemaking offers a rewarding blend of craft and science, allowing you to create beautiful and personalized candles for yourself, gifts, or home décor. Here's your guide to embark on this illuminating journey:
Choosing Your Wax:

• Soy wax: Popular for its clean burn, natural ingredients, and variety of fragrances.
• Beeswax: Eco-friendly, burns golden with a honey scent, but limited fragrance options.
• Paraffin wax: Most affordable, but can have a stronger petroleum scent and be less eco-friendly.
• Coconut wax: Burns clean and cool, but harder to find and requires specific additives.

Gathering Supplies:

• Melting pot: Double boiler or electric melter for safe wax heating.
• Thermometer: Monitor wax temperature accurately for optimal pouring.
• Wicks: Choose the right size and type for your wax and container.
• Fragrance oil: Opt for high-quality, skin-safe oils designed for candles.
• Candle dyes (optional): Add color to your candles with caution to avoid affecting burn quality.
• Pouring pitcher: Makes transferring hot wax easier and safer.
• Heat-resistant containers: Jars, tins, or molds suitable for candle use.
• Decorative elements (optional): Dried flowers, herbs, or essential oils for personalization.

The Candlemaking Process:

1. Melt the wax: Follow safety instructions and heat wax to the appropriate temperature for your chosen wax type.
2. Add fragrance and dye (optional): Mix carefully, following recommended usage rates to avoid scent throw issues or discoloration.
3. Attach the wick: Secure the wick to the bottom of the container with a wick sticker or hot glue.
4. Pour the wax: Slowly and carefully pour the wax into the container, leaving space at the top for cooling.
5. Center the wick: Gently adjust the wick if needed to ensure it stays centered during cooling.
6. Cooling and setting: Allow the candle to cool completely and solidify without disturbing it.
7. Trimming the wick: Once set, trim the wick to ¼ inch for a clean and safe burn.

Crafting Tips:

• Start small: Begin with simple container candles before trying more complex molds.
• Safety first: Always follow proper handling and heating procedures for wax and fragrance oils.
• Work in a well-ventilated area.
• Experiment with different scents and colors.
• Label your candles: Include ingredients, fragrance details, and burn instructions for gifting or safety.

Resources and Inspiration:

• Websites: CandleScience [invalid URL candlescience com], The Nerdy Farm [invalid URL candle making supply nerdy farm ON [invalid URL removed]], Bramble Berry [invalid URL www brambleberry com]
• Books: "The Complete Joy of Candlemaking" by Abigail Righter, "Candlemaking Mastery" by Erin Prager, "Handmade Soap & Candlemaking 101" by Anne-Marie Failla
• YouTube Channels: Bramble Berry Candle Making, Soap Queen, DIY Candle Making with Sadie

Remember, candlemaking is a creative journey filled with experimentation and learning. Embrace the process, enjoy the beautiful scents, and let your light shine through your handcrafted creations!

Chair Caning: Weaving a Seat of Art and Function

Chair caning, the art of weaving cane webbing onto chair frames, combines practicality with artistic expression. It's a rewarding craft that allows you to restore vintage chairs or create unique pieces, breathing new life into furniture and honing your skills. Here's a guide to get you started:
Choosing Your Cane:

• Material: Natural cane (rattan) is traditional, but synthetic options like PVC or fiber offer durability and moisture resistance.
• Diameter: Thicker cane provides a sturdier seat, while thinner cane creates a more delicate look.
• Pre-cut or skeins: Pre-cut lengths are easier for beginners, while skeins offer more flexibility for complex patterns.

Tools and Supplies:

• Webbing needle: A long, thin needle with a large eye for weaving the cane.
• Awl: Creates holes in the chair frame for the cane to pass through.
• Pliers: Used for cutting and bending cane, and tightening knots.
• Scissors: Sharp scissors for trimming cane.
• Sandpaper: Smooths rough edges of the cane and chair frame.
• Tack cloth: Removes dust and debris before applying glue.
• Chair frame: Choose a sturdy frame with existing holes or predrill them for even spacing.
• Cane adhesive: Choose a water-resistant glue specifically designed for cane.
• Tacking strips (optional): Provide additional support for the cane edges.

The Caning Process:

1. Prepare the frame: Ensure the frame is clean, sanded, and free of debris.
2. Mark the holes: Use a template or ruler to mark evenly spaced holes for the cane to pass through.
3. Start weaving: Begin at the outside edge, threading the cane through the holes and securing it with a knot.
4. Continue weaving: Follow a specific pattern, ensuring the cane goes under and over the frame's rails and uprights.
5. Tighten and secure: Use pliers to tighten the cane as you weave, and secure the ends with knots or tacking strips.
6. Trim and finish: Trim any excess cane and apply glue to the edges for a neat finish.
7. Let it dry: Allow the glue to dry completely before using the chair.

Tips and Tricks:

• Start with a simple pattern: Beginner-friendly patterns like "square" or "herringbone" are good starting points.
• Practice on scrap wood: Hone your skills before tackling a valuable chair.
• Use clear instructions and diagrams: Numerous online resources and books offer detailed guidance.
• Work in a well-lit area with good ventilation.
• Don't be afraid to experiment: Once comfortable, explore more intricate patterns and decorative borders.

Resources and Inspiration:

• Websites: [invalid URL caning chairs ON [invalid URL removed]], [invalid URL seatweaving com], [invalid URL the chair caner ON thechaircaner.com]
• Books: "The Complete Guide to Chair Caning" by John Krall, "Chair Caning Basics" by Barbara J. Kreit, "The Art of Chair Caning" by Pauline H. Innis
• YouTube Channels: The Chair Caner, Caning Chairs with Mike, Heritage Repair

Remember, chair caning is a journey of learning and patience. Embrace the process, enjoy the satisfaction of restoring a piece of furniture, and let your creativity weave its way into your craft!
The holidays are a magical time, and creating your own Christmas ornaments adds a personal touch to your decorations and traditions. Here's a comprehensive guide to get you started on your festive crafting journey:
Choosing Your Project:

• Difficulty level: Consider your crafting experience and desired complexity. Start with beginner-friendly options like salt dough ornaments or fabric scraps, and progress to more intricate techniques like woodworking or stained glass.
• Materials and tools: Select materials readily available around the house or easily sourced from craft stores. Consider using recycled materials for an eco-friendly twist. Gather appropriate tools based on your chosen project.
• Style and theme: Let your personality shine through! Opt for classic and traditional designs, whimsical characters, or modern minimalist styles. Coordinate your ornaments with your overall holiday décor theme.

Popular Techniques:

• Salt dough ornaments: Mix flour, salt, and water to create a dough, shape it into festive figures, bake and decorate with paint, glitter, or fabric scraps.
• Paper ornaments: Use construction paper, origami techniques, or quilling to create snowflakes, stars, trees, or even miniature gift boxes.
• Felt ornaments: Cut out shapes from felt fabric, sew them together with colorful embroidery floss, and embellish with buttons, beads, or sequins.
• Pinecone ornaments: Decorate pinecones with paint, glitter, glue-on embellishments, or natural elements like berries and twigs.
• Clay ornaments: Use air-dry clay, polymer clay, or even cookie dough (baked and glazed) to mold ornaments like snowmen, gingerbread houses, or personalized initials.
• Upcycled ornaments: Repurpose old materials like bottle caps, CDs, wine corks, or even light bulbs into unique ornaments with paint, markers, or mosaic techniques.

Tips and Tricks:

• Plan ahead: Gather materials and tools beforehand to avoid last-minute scrambling.
• Work in a clean and organized space.
• Enlist the help of family and friends: Crafting together can be a fun and bonding experience.
• Supervise children appropriately for safety with tools and materials.
• Don't be afraid to experiment: Get creative and personalize your ornaments!
• Seal your ornaments: Apply a varnish or sealant for durability and added shine.
• Attach hanging loops: Use twine, ribbon, or ornament hooks before storing or displaying your creations.

Inspiration and Resources:

• Websites: Pinterest, The Spruce Crafts, Martha Stewart, HGTV Handmade
• Books: "Christmas Crafts for Kids" by Amanda Formaro, "The Complete Joy of Making Christmas Ornaments" by Heather Mandarano, "500 Christmas Ornaments to Make" by Leisure Arts
• YouTube Channels: DIY Crafts by Nicole, The Craft Shack, Lia Griffith

Remember, creating Christmas ornaments is about the joy of the process and expressing your holiday spirit. Embrace the magic, have fun crafting, and cherish the memories you create with your handmade decorations!

It's described as "used to convert an unlocked armor item of any class to a universal ornament".
I want to use the titan variant of mass effect armor as a warlock. If I were to buy the armor, could I use the templates to let me use the titan variant as a warlock ornament, or is it impossible because the armor itself is already classified as an ornament and therefore locked to their respective classes?