It happened. He didn't deny that. Not like he was a suspect or anything—not yet—but he never denied it to himself. At the same time, this all happened over a decade ago—twelve years to be exact.
He didn't think of it every day; in fact, sometimes an entire month would go by where it barely crossed his mind.
In a way, that whole experience—he thought of all the abductions and murders as a singular event—now felt as if it belonged to somebody else.
It was a time in his life when he was confused, mixed-up, searching; a dark time, you know, like a phase. Who didn't have one of those in their past?
Plus, he was married now. His wife, Dee, obviously didn't know about it and he felt no obligation to tell her. Did he ask about her former lovers?
Sometimes there are things in the past and you just let them be. Whether it was Dee losing her virginity to the quarterback of the football team in the backseat at a drive-in or him using multiple black garbage bags and masking tape on that thing he didn't have time to bury in rural Tennessee, everyone has things they would rather forget about. Sometimes you just leave things where they lie.
So that's what Ned Doyle did.
Until that Sunday morning, November 6th, 1988.
He was a having a glass of Dee's pulpy homemade orange juice, waiting for his coffee to percolate, when he opened his heavy weekend edition of the New York Times (probably Ned's greatest extravagance—he liked its heft; and how the Arts & Leisure section made him feel culturally superior to his Ohio townsfolk, “the Philistines of Findlay,” he called them) when he saw the article buried in the back.
The country was two days from heading to the polls for the General Election—Bush v. Dukakis—so most everything else that week had been relegated to the back.
He read the article twice before he could even begin to make sense of it. It seemed to be a story about something called "DNA fingerprinting" and a 27-year-old baker in Great Britain named Colin Pitchfork who had confessed to raping and murdering two 15-year-old girls, in separate incidents a few years apart, after a new scientific process had been used to extract information from semen which he, Colin Pitchfork, had left at the crime scenes (likely inside the victims) some five years earlier.
Now if they could do all that after five years, why not ten years—or maybe even… twelve?
"Interesting story here," he said to Dee. It wasn't uncommon for Ned to read a news story twice—once for himself and a second time aloud to Dee while she brewed his coffee and burnt her toast. But this was his third reading and Ned acted as if it were his first.
"What do you make of that?" he asked. It somehow got worse each time he read it. After the third time, he felt as if he had been sucker punched in the stomach.
"Science Fiction is what it sounds like," Dee said matter-of-factly, pouring Ned his coffee in a mug that bore the Marathon Oil insignia. Findlay, Ohio was Marathon’s headquarters although there had been rumors circulating about a move to Texas.
"And unconstitutional," he said. "Cops running a dragnet like that, taking blood samples from 5,000 townspeople. Thankfully, that would never pass the muster here."
"They did catch the killer so maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea," she said, buttering her burnt toast. "Otherwise, who knows? They could have convicted the wrong man.”
Ned had already gotten lucky once – astonishingly so. Griffin Gerald Jones, the famed “I-75 Corridor Child Killer,” had claimed responsibility for all but one of Ned’s victims before dying in Florida’s electric chair.
"You can't have police in this country running around, sticking everyone with needles, drawing blood for some sort of science experiment,” he said. “Nevermind the Constitution, what about AIDS?”
“What about it?” she asked.
“There's been hundreds, thousands of cases now where people have been infected by giving blood,” he said. “That's a medical fact. Get accused of a crime and AIDS too?"
"It doesn't sound like any of the townspeople there in England got AIDS, darling. Unless there's more to the story, besides what you read to me."
He watched her spread orange marmalade over her burnt toast and take a bite. She had a dead tooth and he saw it every time she opened her mouth. He loved Dee but had never been sexually attracted to her. Not in the way he had been attracted to others.
"It really is just a matter of time before that stuff makes it over here," she said with her mouth full. "To this side of the pond, as they say." She took a sip of his orange juice. "Isn’t that how it always works? Things start over there in England, or in California, and then phht, before you know it, it makes its way to Findlay."
He held his hand over his stomach. She saw him wince.
"Was it my orange juice again? Was it still pulpy? I squeezed it by hand and even strained it twice this time."
"It’s not your fault,” he said. “I think it’s me. Orange juice is getting too… acidic for me." He looked at the clock on the coffee maker. "I'm going to be late."
He turned the page.
He played the 8 o'clock Mass by rote as he had many a bleary-eyed Sunday morning. It was pure muscle memory at this point. He made a few mistakes here and there, missed a key or two, but it was nothing the organ's sustain pedal couldn't mask – not that anyone would complain (not at the 8 o'clock anyway).
On Sundays Ned had four Masses: the 8, the 9:30, the big one at 11, and the 12:30 for the dilettantes who couldn't get their acts together for the 11.
He turned the page.
Today he was using Glory and Praise, AKA "the blue hymnal" for songs he knew by heart.
Turning the pages of his sheet music, reading each note, he was able to keep his mind off it.
Ned abhorred cliches (especially those involving sports) but he made an exception for “Out of sight, out of mind.” For Ned, that wasn’t a cliché; it was a way of life. He was a man who preferred to be heard, not seen, which made St. Bartholomew (or St. Bart’s) the perfect home for him.
In a spectacular architectural oversight, the church's pipe organ was situated so the organist's back was to the altar and pews. The organist of course needs to see what's going on in the Mass to read certain non-verbal cues but the arrangement suited Ned just fine. The congregation was comprised of many young families who had many young children—boys in particular—and it wasn't so much that he couldn't control himself because he was now firmly in control of all that; it was more that he didn't need any reminders of that time when he couldn't.
Especially during church.
So to see the altar behind him, Ned had installed an actual rearview mirror, the type you'd find on an old Buick, and he used a special type of putty to affix it to the mantle of the pipe organ. Having been the church organist at St. Bart's for nine years, he seldom needed it anymore—he could do it in his sleep—but it came in handy today as he found his attention drifting and he nearly missed the oratory refrain at the 9:30 Mass.
His real problems didn't start until the 35-minute break between the 8 and 9:30.
He was reorganizing his sheet music after the first wave of churchgoers had cleared out, when he began thinking about Colin Pitchfork again. The article said he was a baker in England somewhere—did it say he baked cakes or was that Ned's invention?
Even though no picture was provided in the Times article, Ned spent the balance of the 9:30 service picturing the 27- year-old ex-rapist/murderer working in his small English bakery, quietly going about his business, baking his cakes, when the police (Bobbies?) came.
Was he expecting them?
He played the offertory hymn, "On Eagle's Wings," as the ushers began taking up the collections and a family of parishioners he’d never seen before brought the gifts up.
And what was going through Pitchfork's head when he saw the Bobbies there? When they began asking him about rapes and murders that happened almost five years ago? The article said that he had initially given investigators someone else's blood when “the enquiry” began. Had he somehow caught wind of this “DNA Fingerprinting?”
There was a new usher, Ned noticed, in his makeshift rearview mirror.
The Times article said that one of Pitchfork's co-workers at the bakery had taken the blood test masquerading as Pitchfork because Pitchfork had told the co-worker that ‘he could not give blood under his own name because he had already given blood while pretending to be a friend of his who had wanted to avoid being harassed by police because of a youthful conviction for burglary.’ This story was later overheard by a woman in a pub who immediately went to the police.
Ned realized he had missed the homily twice now. Not that it mattered. Heard one you've heard them all and Ned was pretty sure there would be no surprises. Plus, he'd have two more chances to catch it. He knew he would have to really focus for the 11 o'clock. That was always the main event. He was going to play "I Will Raise Him Up," a complex hymn, which required his full attention. He would scratch that one now if he hadn’t read that article and if the Sunday programs hadn't already been printed. People liked that one –it was a real barn burner, as they say—and if he skipped it, there might be questions.
The last thing Ned needed right now were fucking questions.
Who was this new usher, by the way?

By the start of the 11 o'clock Mass, Ned wondered whether anyone would even show for the 12:30, seeing that it was already standing room only. The 11 was always the most popular Mass, but today felt different; it was packed like Christmas Eve. What was the occasion? Was the predominantly conservative town that afraid of Dukakis winning the presidency? Ohio was a swing state after all and that image of the little Greek man in the tank was unnerving, sure, but was it enough to warrant this sort of turnout for the 11 AM Mass at St. Bart's in Findlay?
Or was something else going on?
Ned didn’t believe they had come to hear his rendition of "I Will Raise Him Up."
Or could there be another reason? Maybe they had all read the same Times article. Maybe there had long been simmering suspicion of Ned in the community and maybe the article finally prompted the townspeople to join together and take arms. With pitchforks.
On March 31, 1892, the only known lynching in the history of Hancock County occurred when a mob of 1,000 men, many "respectable citizens," broke into the county jail in Findlay. They lynched Mr. Lytle, a man who had killed his wife and two daughters with a hatchet the day before. The townsfolk hanged the man twice (first from the bridge, then a telegraph pole) and then, in a classic case of overkill, shot his body over a dozen times. The authorities had intended to transfer the prisoner out of town at 1 o'clock in secret, where a train was scheduled to transport him to Lima, but someone talked.
Ned had only confessed what he had done to one person – a priest eight years prior. The priest was set to retire as he was dying of pancreatic cancer and visiting from a nearby parish. For years Ned had heard this priest was “of the old school” – i.e., your word to God’s ear, and it went no further. He was as safe as they come. Still, even then, Ned used the screened side of the Confessional, lowered his voice a full octave, and spoke of what he had done obliquely and in generalities. They were mortal sins. His penance severe: to repent and refrain from repeating the act again. The priest was now long dead. There’s no way he could have tracked Ned down and told anyone. Was there?
The last one was named Derek. That was the only one left unsolved.
He would play "I Will Raise Him Up" during Communion. Because of the crowds, he knew the communion lines would be longer and would thus require him to stretch the already difficult song a few minutes longer. If he was going to supply the masses, he was going to need a bigger yield. In a way it was like baking a cake, wasn't it?
He met Derek at a Dairy Queen in Paducah, Kentucky. It was Labor Day 1976. It must have been 100 degrees out, but it felt even hotter with the humidity. It was a real scorcher.
Derek had a bicycle with an American flag banana seat. It was the summer of Bicentennial Fever. The Dairy Queen was in an area known as Noble Park. It had a tin canopy that kept cars cool in the shade.
Ned missed a note as he turned the page. He stepped on the sustain pedal and his mistake sounded deliberate and beautiful even.
It was early evening; fireflies were out in full force and Ned was blotto. He had been drinking beer—cans of Schlitz—all day at the picnic of a friend (technically, the friend of an acquaintance so basically a stranger). A born introvert who still lived alone (this was pre-Dee), Ned was very drunk and primed for small talk. You must also remember this was a very different time. This was back when you still opened cans with an opener; drunk driving was frowned upon but not the cardinal sin it is today; and a grown man could still park outside a Dairy Queen and strike up an innocent conversation with a prepubescent boy on a bike.
"What da ya' got there?" Ned asked.
"Butterscotch Sundae," the boy said. The boy was blonde with brown eyes.
"Butterscotch, eh?"
The boy licked his plastic spoon and stared somewhere beyond the pea-green 1974 Buick Riviera Ned had inherited from his old man after he had kicked the bucket.
"For the life of me, I can't remember if I like butterscotch or not," Ned said. "That probably sounds pretty screwy, I bet."
"Get a free sample at the window,” the kid said. “They're free."
"Looks awfully busy over there. Mind if I have a taste of yours? I don't have any cooties, I promise."
The kid dragged his spoon over his ice cream as he mulled it over. Maybe seeing that he was almost done with it anyway, he figured what's the harm. He handed Ned the Styrofoam cup.
Ned looked at the boy as he stirred it a little and then placed the curved side of the spoon on his tongue and kept it there.
"I do like butterscotch," Ned said, giving it back. "Thank you for sharing that with me, that was awfully kind of you—say, what is your name?"
"Derek," the boy said.
"Derek. What a nice boy you are. Do you like dogs, Derek?"
"Sure," Derek said.
"Do you have a dog?"
"Not anymore. Used to. We had a beagle named Eleanor but she went blind and then lame and then..."
"What kind of dog was she?" Ned asked.
"A beagle," the boy said.
"A beagle, yes you said that. You like Golden Retrievers?"
"Sure," the boy said.
"Cause I have a Golden Retriever. It's a girl too. A bitch."
Derek smiled.
"She's pregnant. I mean she was. But… she just gave birth."
"To puppies?"
"You betcha. It was just a few weeks ago. She had a whole litter of 'em. Boys, girls. Cutest little pups you've ever seen. The thing is, Derek, I don't know what to do with them all. You're a nice boy. You just shared your Butterscotch Sundae with me and I'd care to return the favor. Would you… like a puppy?"
"How much?"
"For nothing,” Ned said. “For free.”
"You'll give me a puppy for nothing? And I can pick the one I want?"
"Sure can. They're at my place just down the road. Thing is, it's probably too far to bike there. And you're going to need both hands to hold on to the puppy. Hop in, I’ll give you a lift."
"What about my bike?"
"We could put it in the trunk but we're not going to be long. We'll be right back. It'll be safe here. People don't take things that aren’t theirs around here – especially when there's a lot of people around."
He remembered waking up on the floor of his apartment disoriented. He was late for work. He was still working as a salesman at the piano store. There was a big Labor Day sale still going on. Labor Day was always a big day for retail. The owner was a nice man and Ned wanted to call him and apologize but he wasn't sure what to say yet.
He hadn't planned on sleeping in. Forgetting work on Labor Day. The irony.
He saw the boy's underwear on his floor. They were tighty-whities from Fruit of the Loom. He thought of that every time he saw an ad for that company afterward.
They weren’t bloody but they were torn.
He remembered the sound of the filter on the aquarium he used to keep in his apartment. It was noisy but sometimes that was a good thing. He was very into Japanese Fighting Fish for a while until it became too expensive as they always killed each other.
There were no puppies obviously.
His apartment did not allow dogs.
His sense of disorientation and the ensuing panic prevented him from experiencing any of the usual remorse he felt afterward.
There would be plenty of time for that later.
The boy's body was in the bathroom just off the bedroom and he needed to get rid of it. He needed to get out of town. Out of Paducah. Out of Kentucky.
He placed the boy in a hardshell Samsonite suitcase, carried it out of his apartment, walked down the one flight of steps. He saw no one and he was confident no one had seen him. The suitcase was lighter than it should have been—a detail he never forgot—and he walked out to the carport where he saw his Riviera parked sloppily between the lines. He felt a wave of nausea come over him but he suppressed it. He opened his trunk, placed the suitcase in the back, and then looked around the apartment complex before walking back inside. He cleaned up with bleach. Showered. Hit the road.
There were no police gathered outside the Dairy Queen. It wasn’t a crime scene. He didn't look to see if the boy’s bike was still there; he didn’t want to appear suspicious.
He needed to get out of Paducah so he headed toward the freeway.
For a moment he briefly considered the Shawnee National Forest, which was to the north, but he stuck to his gut and took the newly-constructed Interstate 24 East toward Tennessee. Aside from getting out of Kentucky, he didn't have a plan. The asphalt was brand new and at times he felt as though he were floating across the highway. It took about two hours to get to the state line and once he was over, he filled up at a 76 Station in Clarksville, Tennessee. Only when he was filling his tank and had a moment to reflect, did he think about what was in the trunk. He imagined he had Superman's X-Ray vision and pictured the suitcase in the back, the boy's tiny body folded like a pretzel inside.
He missed both the readings, the Gospel, and the homily again. Then came the Consecration which was over before he knew it. It was time. He began to play "I Will Raise Him Up." In his rearview, he saw the communion lines forming and he thought he caught a glimpse of the new usher staring at him, but he couldn't be sure. He needed to concentrate on the song. People knew this one; people wanted to hear it exactly as they remembered it, and it was a full house, so the sustain pedal wouldn't save him this time.
Once he made it through the chorus, he knew he could relax a little.
The "DNA fingerprinting" in Pitchfork's case came from semen that was left inside of the victims.
Ned had made it to the outskirts of Nashville faster than he expected. He still hadn't checked in with Mr. Cory, the owner of the piano store. He desperately needed an alibi. Old Mr. Cory could probably send Ned to the electric chair if he wasn't careful.
He got on Highway 386 and headed north. After 20 minutes, he exited in Gallatin and drove around until he found an area he thought was remote. There was a road called Cages Bend.
He liked the sound of that.
It sounded hopeful.
He took that until he came to a gravel road, which looked as if it led to an even more secluded wooded area.
In the rearview, he remembered the cloud of dust kicked up by the tires of the Riviera he had inherited from his father, the drunk, who had done to him what he had gone on to do to others.
In the rearview, the communion lines were still going strong. No sign of that new usher.
He came upon a bend in the road that looked totally secluded, as if no one had been there in years. He cut the engine and listened for a moment. The invisible cicadas high up in the trees made it sound as if a giant rattle snake was slithering around him, preparing to strike. He got out of the car.
He didn't know if it was the trees or the fields of tall grass, but something smelled like semen.
He opened the trunk with his keys and pulled out the hardshell suitcase. When he closed the trunk there was a rustling in the tall grass but when he looked, he saw only a herd of white tail deer scattering.
Initially he had planned on dumping the body and taking the suitcase home with him. He didn't think to bring a shovel. Then he heard the sound of a bush hog—a piece of farm equipment with spinning blades that cut vegetation and cleared the land. He couldn't tell which direction it was coming from. He checked to make sure his suitcase didn't have any labels on it or name tags. He then two black trash bags in his back seat and wrapped the suitcase – one bag around the top, the other on the bottom, and secured it with masking tape. Then he carried it into the woods and set it down in some brush. He began snapping tree branches off to make cover but as the bush hog got louder and closer he panicked, leaving it only partially covered.
The communion lines had dissipated. Everyone was sitting now, even the priest.
Everyone always knelt until the priest sat and Ned should never be playing if the priest was sitting but somehow, Ned had missed his cue.
He concluded "I Will Raise Him Up" softly, using the sustain to ease himself out.
He looked in the rearview and saw the priest staring at him.
As was the rest of the congregation.
They would all be coming for him soon enough.
Unless he could make it back down to Tennessee and get rid of that thing once and for all – assuming it hadn’t been found yet.
Somehow, deep down, Ned always knew it was going to happen.
He was raised up, alright.
Now it was just a matter of time.

The Age of the World Picture
In metaphysics reflection is accomplished concerning the essence of what is and a decision takes place regarding the essence of truth*1. Metaphysics grounds an age, in that through a specific interpretation of what is and through a specific comprehension of truth it gives to that age the basis upon which it is essentially formed*2. This basis holds complete dominion over all the phenomena that distinguish the age. Conversely, in order that there may be an adequate reflection upon these phenomena themselves, the metaphysical basis for them must let itself be apprehended in them. Reflection is the courage to make the troth of our own presuppositions and the realm of our own goals into the things that most deserve to be called in question Appendix 1).
One of the essential phenomena of the modern age is its science. A phenomenon of no less importance is machine technology. We must not, however, misinterpret that technology as the mere application of modern mathematical physical science to praxis. Machine technology is itself an autonomous transformation of praxis, a type of transformation wherein praxis first demands the employment of mathematical physical science. Machine technology remains up to now the most visible outgrowth of the essence of modern technology, which is identical with the essence of modern metaphysics.
A third equally essential phenomenon of the modern period lies in the event of art's moving into the purview of aesthetics. That means that the art work becomes the object of mere subjective experience, and that consequently art is considered to be an expression of human life*4.
A fourth modern phenomenon manifests itself in the fact that human activity is conceived and consummated as culture. Thus culture is the realization of the highest values, through the nurture and cultivation of the highest goods of man. It lies in the essence of culture, as such nurturing, to nurture itself in its turn and thus to become the politics of culture.
A fifth phenomenon of the modern age is the loss of the gods*5. This expression does not mean the mere doing away with the gods, gross atheism. The loss of the gods is a twofold process. On the one hand, the world picture is Christianized inasmuch as the cause of the world is posited as infinite, unconditional, absolute. On the other hand, Christendom transforms Christian doctrine into a world view (the Christian world view), and in that way makes itself modern and up to date. The loss of the gods is the situation of indecision regarding God and the gods. Christendom has the greatest share in bringing it about. But the loss of the gods is so far from excluding religiosity that rather only through that loss is the relation to the gods changed into mere experience." When this occurs, then the gods have fled. The resultant void is compensated for by means of historiographical and psychological investigation of myth.
What understanding of what is, what interpretation of truth, lies at the foundation of these phenomena?
We shall limit the question to the phenomenon mentioned first, to science [Wissenschaft].
In what does the essence of modern science lie?
What understanding of what is and of truth provides the basis for that essence? If we succeed in reaching the metaphysical ground that provides the foundation for science as a modern phenomenon, then the entire essence of the modern age will have to let itself be apprehended from out of that ground.
When we use the word "science" today, it means something essentially different from the doctrina and scientia of the Middle Ages, and also from the Greek episteme. Greek science was never exact, precisely because, in keeping with its essence, it could not be exact and did not need to be exact. Hence it makes no sense whatever to suppose that modern science is more exact than that of antiquity. Neither can we say that the Galilean doctrine of freely falling bodies is true and that Aristotle's teaching, that light bodies strive upward, is false; for the Greek understanding of the essence of body and place and of the relation between the two rests upon a different interpretation of beings and hence conditions a correspondingly different kind of seeing and questioning of natural events. No one would presume to maintain that Shakespeare's poetry is more advanced than that of Aeschylus. It is still more impossible to say that the modern understanding of whatever is, is more correct than that of the Greeks. Therefore, if we want to grasp the essence of modern science, we must first free ourselves from the habit of comparing the new science with the old solely in terms of degree, from the point of view of progress.
The essence of what we today call science is research. In what does the essence of research consist?
In the fact that knowing [das Erkennen] establishes itself as a procedure within some realm of what is, in nature or in history. Procedure does not mean here merely method or methodology. For every procedure already requires an open sphere in which it moves. And it is precisely the opening up of such a sphere that is the fundamental event in research. This is accomplished through the projection within some realm of what is-in nature, for example-of a fixed ground plan*6 of natural events. The projection sketches out in advance the manner in which the knowing procedure must bind itself and adhere to the sphere opened up. This binding adherence is the rigor of research*7. Through the projecting of the ground plan and the prescribing of rigor, procedure makes secure for itself its sphere of objects within the realm of Being . A look at that earliest science, which is at the same time the normative one in the modern age, namely, mathematical physics, will make clear what we mean. Inasmuch as modern atomic physics still remains physics, what is essential - and only the essential is aimed at here- will hold for it also.
Modern physics is called mathematical because, in a remarkable way, it makes use of a quite specific mathematics. But it can proceed mathematically in this way only because, in a deeper sense, it is already itself mathematical. Ta mathemata means for the Greeks that which man knows in advance in his observation of whatever is and in his intercourse with things ; the corporeality of bodies, the vegetable character of plants, the animality of animals, the humanness of man. Alongside these, belonging also to that which is already-known, i.e., to the mathematical, are numbers. If we come upon three apples on the table, we recognize that there are three of them. But the number three, threeness, we already know. This means that number is something mathematical. Only because numbers represent, as it were, the most striking of always-already-knowns, and thus offer the most familiar instance of the mathematical, is "mathematical" promptly reserved as a name for the numerical. In no way, however, is the essence of the mathematical defined by numberness, Physics is, in general, the knowledge of nature, and, in particular, the knowledge of material corporeality in its motion; for that corporeality manifests itself immediately and universally in everything natural, even if in a variety of ways, If physics takes shape explicitly, then, as something mathematical, this means that, in an especially pronounced way, through it and for it something is stipulated in advance as what is already-known. That stipulating has to do with nothing less than the plan or projection of that which must henceforth, for the knowing of nature that is sought after, be nature: the self-contained system of motion of units of mass related spatiotemporally. Into this ground plan of nature, as supplied in keeping with its prior stipulation, the following definitions among others have been incorporated: Motion means change of place. No motion or direction of motion is superior to any other. Every place is equal to every other. No point in time has preference over any other. Every force is defined according to - i.e., is only - its consequences in motion, and that means in magnitude of change of place in the unity of time. Every event must be seen so as to be fitted into this ground plan of nature. Only within the perspective of this ground plan does an event in nature become visible as such an event. This projected plan of nature finds its guarantee in the fact that physical research, in every one of its questioning steps, is bound in advance to adhere to it. This binding adherence, the rigor of research, has its own character at any given time in keeping with the projected plan. The rigor of mathematical physical science is exactitude. Here all events, if they are to enter at all into representation as events of nature, must be defined beforehand as spatiotemporal magnitudes of motion. Such defining is accomplished through measuring, with the help of number and calculation. But mathematical research into nature is not exact because it calculates with precision; rather it must calculate in this way because its adherence to its object-sphere has the character of exactitude. The humanistic sciences, in contrast, indeed all the sciences concerned with life, must necessarily be inexact just in order to remain rigorous. A living thing can indeed also be grasped as spatiotemporal magnitude of motion, but then it is no longer apprehended as living. The inexactitude of the historical humanistic sciences is not a deficiency, but is only the fulfillment of a demand essential to this type of research. It is true, also, that the projecting and securing of the object-sphere of the historical sciences is not only of another kind, but is much more difficult of execution than is the achieving of rigor in the exact sciences.
Science becomes research through the projected plan and through the securing of that plan in the rigor of procedure. Projection and rigor, however, first develop into what they are in methodology. The latter constitutes the second essential characteristic of research. If the sphere that is projected is to become objective, then it is a matter of bringing it to encounter us in the complete diversity of its levels and interweavings. Therefore procedure must be free to view the changeableness in whatever encounters it. Only within the horizon of the incessant-otherness of change does the plenitude of particularity - of facts - show itself. -But the facts must become objective [gegenstiindlich]. Hence procedure must represent [vorstellen] the changeable in its changing, must bring it to a stand and let the motion be a motion nevertheless. The fixedness of facts and the constantness of their change as such is "rule." The constancy of change in the necessity of its course is "law." It is only within the purview of rule and law that facts become clear as the facts that they are. Research into facts in the realm of nature is intrinsically the establishing and verifying of rule and law. Methodology, through which a sphere of objects comes into representation, has the character of clarifying on the basis of what is clear - of explanation. Explanation is always twofold. It accounts for an unknown by means of a known, and at the same time it verifies that known by means of that unknown. Explanation takes place in investigation. In the physical sciences investigation takes place by means of experiment, always according to the kind of field of investigation and according to the type of explanation aimed at. But physical science does not first become research through experiment; rather, on the contrary, experiment first becomes possible where and only where the knowledge of nature has been transformed into research. Only because modern physics is a physics that is essentially mathematical can it be experimental. Because neither medieval doctrina nor Greek episteme is science in the sense of research, for these it is never a question of experiment. To be sure, it was Aristotle who first understood what empeiria (experientia) means; the observation of things themselves, their qualities and modifications under changing conditions, and consequently the knowledge of the way in which things as a rule behave. But an observation that aims at such knowledge, the experimentum, remains essentially different from the observation that belongs to science as research, from the research experiment; it remains essentially different even when ancient and medieval observation also works with number and measure, and even when that observation makes use of specific apparatus and instruments. For in all this, that which is decisive about the experiment is completely missing. Experiment begins with the laying down of a law as a basis. To set up an experiment means to represent or conceive [vorstellen] the conditions under which a specific series of motions can be made susceptible of being followed in its necessary progression, i.e., of being controlled in advance by calculation. But the establishing of a law is accomplished with reference to the ground plan of the object-sphere. That ground plan furnishes a criterion and constrains the anticipatory representing of the conditions. Such representing in and through which the experiment begins is no random imagining. that is why Newton said, hypothesis non fingo, “the bases that are laid down are not arbitrarily invented.” They are developed out of the ground plan of nature and are sketched into it. Experiment is that methodology which, in its planning and execution, is supported and guided on the basis of the fundamental law laid down, in order to adduce the facts that either verify and confirm the law or deny it confirmation. The more exactly the ground plan of nature is projected, the more exact becomes the possibility of experiment. Hence the much cited medieval Schoolman Roger Bacon can never be the forerunner of the modern experimental research scientist; rather he remains merely a successor of Aristotle. For in the meantime, the real locus of truth has been transferred by Christendom to faith - to the infallibility of the written word and to the doctrine of the Church. The highest knowledge and teaching is theology as the interpretation of the divine word of revelation, which is set down in Scripture and proclaimed by the Church. Here, to know is not to search out; rather it is to understand rightly the authoritative Word and the authorities proclaiming it. Therefore, the discussion of the words and doctrinal opinions of the various authorities take precedence in the acquiring of knowledge in the Middle Ages. The componere scripta et sermones, the argumentum ex verbo, is decisive and at the same time is the reason why the accepted Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy that had been taken over had to be transformed into scholastic dialectic. If, now, Roger Bacon demands the experimentum - and he does demand it - he does not mean the experiment of science as research; rather he wants the argumentum ex re instead of the argumentum ex verbo, the careful observing of things themselves, i.e., Aristotelian empeiria, instead of the discussion of doctrines.
The modern research experiment, however, is not only an observation more precise in degree and scope, but is a methodology essentially different in kind, related to the verification of law in the framework, and at the service, of an exact plan of nature. Source criticism in the historical humanistic sciences corresponds to experiment in physical research. Here the name “source criticism” designates the whole gamut of the discovery, examination, verification, evaluation, preservation, and interpretation of sources. Historiographical explanation, which is based on source criticism, does not, it is true, trace facts back to laws and rules. But neither does it confine itself to the mere reporting of facts. In the historical sciences, just as in the natural sciences, the methodology aims at representing what is fixed and stable and at making history an object. History can become objective openly when it is past. What is stable in what is past, that on the basis of which historiographical explanation reckons up the solitary and the diverse in history, is the always-has-been-once-already, the comparable. Through the constant comparing of everything with everything, what is intelligible is found by calculation and is certified and established as the ground plan of history. The sphere of histriographical research extends only so far as historiographical explanation reaches. The unique, the rare, the simple - in short, the great - in history is never self-evident and hence remains inexplicable. It is not that historical research denies what is great in history; rather it explains it as the exception. In this explaining, the great is measured against the ordinary and the average. And there is no other historiographical explanation so long as explaining means reduction to what is intelligible and so long as historiographical explanation so long as explaining means reduction to what is intelligible and so long as historiography remains research, i.e., an explaining. Because historiography as research projects and objectifies the past in the sense of an explicable and surveyable nexus of actions and consequences, it requires source criticism as its instrument of objectification. The standards of this criticism alter to the degree that historiography approaches journalism.
Every science is, as research, grounded upon the projection of a circumscribed object-sphere and is therefore necessarily a science of individualized character. Every individualized science must, moreover, in the development of its projected plan by means of its methodology, particularize itself into specific fields of investigation. This particularizing (specialization) is, however, by no means simply an irksome concomitant of the increasing unsurveyability of the results of research. It is not a necessary evil, but is rather an essential necessity of science as research. Specialization is not the consequence but the foundation of the progress of all research. Research does not, through its methodology, become dispersed into random investigations, so as to lose itself in them; for modern science is determined by a third fundamental event: ongoing activity (Appendix 2).*10
By this is to be understood first of all the phenomenon that a science today, whether physical or humanistic, attains to the respect due a science only when it has become capable of being institutionalized. However, research is not ongoing activity because its work is accomplished in institutions, but rather institutions are necessary because science, intrinsically as research, has the character of ongoing activity. The methodology through which individual object-spheres are conquered does not simply amass results. Rather, with the help of its results it adapts [richtet sich ... ein] itself for a new procedure. Within the complex of machinery that is necessary to physics in order to carry out the smashing of the atom lies hidden the whole of physics up to now. Correspondingly, in historiographical research, funds of source materials become usable for explanation only if those sources are themselves guaranteed on the basis of historiographical explanation. In the course of these processes, the methodology of the science becomes circumscribed by means of its results. More and more the methodology adapts itself to the possibilities of procedure opened up through itself. This having-to-adapt-itself to its own results as the ways and means of an advancing methodology is the essence of research's character as ongoing activity. And it is that character that is the intrinsic basis for the necessity of the institutional nature of research. In ongoing activity the plan of an object-sphere is, for the first time, built into whatever is. All adjustments that facilitate a plannable conjoining of types of methodology, that further the reciprocal checking and communication of results, and that regulate the exchange of talents are measures that are by no means only the external consequences of the fact that research work is expanding and proliferating. Rather, research work becomes the distant sign, still far from being understood, that modern science is beginning to enter upon the decisive phase of its history. Only now is it beginning to take possession of its own complete essence.
What is taking place in this extending and consolidating of the institutional character of the sciences? Nothing less than the making secure of the precedence of methodology over whatever is (nature and history), which at any given time becomes objective in research. On the foundation of their character as ongoing activity, the sciences are creating for themselves the solidarity and unity appropriate to them. Therefore historiographical or archeological research that is carried forward in an institutionalized way is essentially closer to research in physics that is similarly organized than it is to a discipline belonging to its own faculty in the humanistic sciences that still remains mired in mere erudition. Hence the decisive development of the modern character of science as ongoing activity also forms men of a different stamp. The scholar disappears. He is succeeded by the research man who is engaged in research projects. These, rather than the cultivating of erudition, lend to his work its atmosphere of incisiveness. The research man no longer needs a library at home. Moreover, he is constantly on the move. He negotiates at meetings and collects information at congresses. He contracts for commissions with publishers. The latter now determines along with him which books must be written (Appendix 3).
The research worker necessarily presses forward of himself into the sphere characteristic of the technologist in the essential sense. Only in this way is he capable of acting effectively, and only thus, after the manner of his age, is he real. Alongside him, the increasingly thin and empty Romanticism of scholarship and the university will still be able to persist for some time in a few places. However, the effective unity characteristic of the university, and hence the latter's reality, does not lie in some intellectual power belonging to an original unification of the sciences and emanating from the university because nourished by it and preserved in it. The university is real as an orderly establishment that, in a form still unique because it is administratively self-contained, makes possible and visible the striving apart of the sciences into the particularization and peculiar unity that belong to ongoing activity. Because the forces intrinsic to the essence of modern science come immediately and unequivocally to effective working in ongoing activity, therefore, also, it is only the spontaneous ongoing activities of research that can sketch out and establish the internal unity with other like activities that is commensurate with themselves.
The real system of science consists in a solidarity of procedure and attitude with respect to the objectification of whatever is - a solidarity that is brought about appropriately at any given time on the basis of planning. The excellence demanded of this system is not some contrived and rigid unity of the relationships among object-spheres, having to do with content, but is rather the greatest possible free, though regulated, flexibility in the shifting about and introducing of research apropos of the leading tasks at any given time. The more exclusively science individualizes itself with a view to the total carrying on and mastering of its work process, and the more realistically these ongoing activities are shifted into separate research institutes and professional schools, the more irresistibly do the sciences achieve the consummation of their modern essence. But the more unconditionally science and the man of research take seriously the modern form of their essence, the more unequivocally and the more immediately will they be able to offer themselves for the common good, and the more unreservedly too will they have to return to the public anonymity of all work useful to society.
Modern science simultaneously establishes itself and differentiates itself in its projections of specific object-spheres. These projection-plans are developed by means of a corresponding methodology, which is made secure through rigor. Methodology adapts and establishes itself at any given time in ongoing activity. Projection and rigor, methodology and ongoing activity, mutually requiring one another, constitute the essence of modern science, transform science into research.
We are reflecting on the essence of modern science in order that we may apprehend in it its metaphysical ground What understanding of what is and what concept of truth provide the basis for the fact that science is being transformed into research?
Knowing, as research, calls whatever is to account with regard to the way in which and the extent to which it lets itself be put at the disposal of representation. Research has disposal over anything that is when it can either calculate it in its future course in advance or verify a calculation about it as past. Nature, in being calculated in advance, and history, in being historiographically verified as past, become, as it were, "set in place" [gestellt]. Nature and history become the objects of a representing that explains. Such representing counts on nature and takes account of history. Only that which becomes object in this way is - is considered to be in being. We first arrive at science as research when the Being of whatever is, is sought in such objectiveness.
This objectifying of whatever is, is accomplished in a setting-before, a representing, that aims at bringing each particular being before it in such a way that man who calculates can be sure, and that means be certain, of that being. We first arrive at science as research when and only when truth has been transformed into the certainty of representation. What it is to be is for the first time defined as the objectiveness of representing, and truth is first defined as the certainty of representing, in the metaphysics of Descartes. The title of Descartes's principal work reads: Meditationes de prima philosophia [Meditations on First Philosophy]. Prote philosophia is the designation coined by Aristotle for what is later called metaphysics. The whole of modern metaphysics taken together, Nietzsche included, maintains itself within the interpretation of what it is to be and of truth that was prepared by Descartes (Appendix 4).
Now if science as research is an essential phenomenon of the modern age, it must be that that which constitutes the metaphysical ground of research determines first and long beforehand the essence of that age generally. The essence of the modern age can be seen in the fact that man frees himself from the bonds of the Middle Ages in freeing himself to himself. But this correct characterization remains, nevertheless, superficial. It leads to those errors that prevent us from comprehending the essential foundation of the modern age and, from there, judging the scope of the age's essence. Certainly the modern age has, as a consequence of the liberation of man, introduced subjectivism and individualism. But it remains just as certain that no age before this one has produced a comparable objectivism and that in no age before this has the non-individual, in the form of the collective, come to acceptance as having worth. Essential here is the necessary interplay between subjectivism and objectivism. It is precisely this reciprocal conditioning of one by the other that points back to events more profound.
[*1. "Reflection" translates Besinnung. On the meaning of the latter, see SR 155 n. 1. "'Essence" will be the translation of the noun Wesen in most instances of its occurrence in this essay. Occasionally the translation "coming to presence" will be used. Wesen must always be understood to allude, for Heidegger, not to any mere "whatness," but to the manner in which anything, as what it is, takes its course and "holds sway" in its ongoing presence, i.e., the manner in which it endures in its presencing. See QT 30, 3 n. 1. "What is" renders the present participle seiend used as a noun, das Seiende. On the translation of the latter, see T 40 n. 6.
*2. der Grund seines Wesensgestalt. Heidegger exemplifies the statement that he makes here in his discussion of the metaphysics of Descartes as providing the necessary interpretive ground for the manner in which, in the subjectness of man as self-conscious subject, Being and all that is and man - in their immediate and indissoluble relation - come to presence in the modern age. See Appendix 9, pp. 150 ff.
*4. Erlebnis, translated here as "subjective experience" and later as "life-experience," is a term much used by life philosophers such as Dilthey and generally connotes adventure and event. It is employed somewhat pejoratively here. The term Erfahrung, which is regularly translated in this volume as "experience," connotes discovery and learning, and also suffering and undergoing. Here and subsequently (i.e., "mere religious experience"), "mere" is inserted to maintain the distinction between Erlebnis and Erfahrung.
*5. Entgotterung, here inadequately rendered as "loss of the gods," actually means something more like "degodization".
*6. Grundriss. The verb reissen means to tear, to rend, to sketch, to design, and the noun Riss means tear, gap, outline. Hence the noun Grundiss, first sketch, ground plan, design, connotes a fundamental sketching out that is an opening up as well.
*7. "Binding adherence" here translates the noun Bindung. The noun could also be rendered "obligation." It could thus be said that rigor is the obligation to remain within the realm opened up.
*10. “Ongoing activity” is the rendering of Betrieb, which is difficult to translate adequately. It means the act of driving on, or industry, activity, as well as undertaking, pursuit, business. It can also mean management, or workshop or factory.]
To be continued...

DEN OF GEEK:
"For Discovery‘s critics, the solution to “Labyrinths” represents the show at its worst. Instead of using logic or maneuvers to solve the problem, Burnham gets in touch with her feelings. These sort of weepy moments have been a mainstay of Discovery, and often carry over into other modern Star Trek shows, including Picard and Strange New Worlds.
Some (well, mostly just me) have argued that Discovery tries, with mixed success, to position emotional intelligence as a viable problem-solving technique. It’s all part of Discovery‘s strange position as more of an experimental take on Star Trek than a mainline show. However, the upcoming Discovery spin-off series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy must abandon the emphasis on emotion.
The Seriousness of Starfleet Academy
Ex Astris, Scientia, reads the Starfleet Academy motto, a phrase that means “from the stars, knowledge.” The motto captures the primary lesson that cadets learn while preparing to become Starfleet officers. Whatever first drew them to the service, be it a sense of adventure or desire for glory, those who graduate understand that Starfleet exists to pursue knowledge.
To be certain, this goal does not preclude emotional moments, as demonstrated in some of the most famous stories with Academy connections.
[...]
Dealing with emotions is a crucial part of the two most important stories about Starfleet Academy.
That’s a key part of the Academy’s most famous assignment, the Kobayashi Maru. First seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the Kobayashi Maru is a training simulation that poses an impossible situation. Taking the role of crew members, the cadets receive a call from a disabled ship within Klingon space. If they rescue the ship, they’ll violate Klingon sovereignty and start a war. If they don’t rescue the ship, then its crew will die.
As Spock explains after his protege Saavik takes the test, the Kobayashi Maru exists to teach future members of Starfleet what it’s like to fail. Or, to put it another way, the test teaches cadets how to manage their emotions. It allows them to feel something, including anger and frustration and even sadness over a no-win scenario. But it also teaches them to put their emotion in the proper place and to hold to the mission, whatever it may be.
[...]
“The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it’s scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth!” commands Picard. “It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based, and if you can’t find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don’t deserve to wear that uniform.”
Picard’s statements don’t ignore the validity of Wesley’s feelings. But they put them into the proper context, as subordinate to the truth. True, that truth can sometimes be emotional, and Guinan knowns that Picard spends a lot of time learning how to admit his feelings. However, feelings are not an end to themselves in Starfleet. And they certainly don’t take precedence over the search for the truth.
Starfleet Academy will take place in the 32nd Century, with a newly re-established school that opened after the reconstruction of the United Federation of Planets. Star Trek: Discovery has largely thrived after moving 900 years into the future, and this different timeline has given the series a lot of latitude to do things differently than other Trek shows.
However, by reopening the Academy, Discovery is also linking back to the past of Starfleet, which means that they also need to include the standards that made the institution the best of the best. The Academy must teach give them the skills to be excellent pilots, engineers, and scientists. It must teach them how to think critically and to explore problems from multiple perspectives.
The first duty of Starfleet Academy will be showing how people work through their emotions, not how to make feelings the one defining mode of problem solving."
Joe George (Den of Geek)
Link:
https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/starfleet-academy-ditch-modern-star-trek-defining-trope/

My father killed my mother when I was just two weeks old. My grandfather adopted me, however, he passed before 7th grade, and my aunt (mom youngest sister) became my legal guardian. For 16 years I didn’t know anything about my mother or father. I was told I was “different” from the time I could talk & ask questions. I’m not even sure if I would’ve found out at 16 if I didn’t open the mail one day to find a letter from my uncle (dad’s brother) wanting to connect. For 28 years I’ve been confused, anxious, and blaming myself for everything wrong in my family’s life & mine. I felt like I was taking on consequences for my father’s actions. Growing up was tough! I was bullied constantly & couldn’t tell my aunt as she was not emotionally available and was a functional alcholic. Her advice was to laugh it off or make jokes back to people because that’s what she did when she would get bullied. We didn’t have a close relationship because her motto was that she couldn’t be my friend & discipliner. So I would try my best to be a “good child” hoping she would be my friend. We look so much alike that people would often ask if I was her daughter & she’d reply “nope, my niece”. That used to hurt 5- 10 yr old me, since I was always wondering why I didn’t have a mom.
I have two older half sisters that I do not have a relationship with. Both have a parent who was not affected by my parent’s actions. They have siblings they are close to and a parent still alive. Both of my parents, I have never known. My immediate family is super close with our extended family, especially on grandmothers side. So holidays & family reunions to see my cousins meant everything to me.
Fast forward, after college I pretty much went into isolation & cut a lot of family off( blocked on everything, no contact at all) all for different reasons but ultimately stimming from the lack of reciprocal support, care, love, time, and effort. I’m the one that is always creating the “vibe” I’m the person you assume is not ok if they’re quiet and out of the way. I always want everyone to feel included & appreciated. That’s my genuine self, but during covid and after college I realized family really wasn’t who I could rely on. Everything happens for a reason so finding out that I was being talked about behind my back with family was tough. Everyone had an opinion on my life, but never called or talked to me to actually know. However no one really knew me. I remember saying “if I were kidnapped or dead, no one would know”. They only knew the people pleasing, putting on a smile while I’m crying on the inside version of me. When I get around my family or even meeting new people, I feel like my teenage self again. No one knew how much a genuine hug, a text, or a simple “I love you” would make me feel seen. I’ve never had a motherly or nurturing embrace. Everyone assumes I’m fine, taken care of, or dare I say not human. It really feels like my family has made it ok for everyone to have vulnerability & emotions except for me because I should be grateful that they adopted. It’s the said, unsaid. Well, it has been said directly by another aunt (I don’t even care to mention her) & sister. They believe I should be the most grateful person in the world. The aunt that raised me would say “you don’t know that if your mother was alive if, your life would’ve been any better”. There’s so much to unpack and yes I’ve started therapy because honestly I just couldn’t find a reason to exist. Thank God for his grace on my life.
Since Covid I’ve been speaking up for myself & setting boundaries. Today, I have absolutely no close friends & no family. I wake up so disappointed and broken hearted some days because I do not know what I have done so wrong to get here. I feel like I’m the black sheep of the family & society. I hide myself & don’t share my story or my feelings. Therapy has just been me venting, but no practical advice I can use.
I’ve been in my current relationship for 6 years now and I know we want to get married soon. These issues are actually preventing me from being settled the way I need to focus on a healthy relationship. I want to be apart of a village. From birth I’ve felt like I’m the problem & alone.
I want to overcome this and I am asking for advice from you Queens on how to stop the self sabotage, make new friends, have a healthy relationship with my family.
Or anyone who has grown up without parents, how have you healed that void, if at all?

Essence Of The Magus. (Nasuverse) • It's a beautiful multicolored liquid that, despite everything, keeps changing to new and innovative colors never seen before, it's very mysterious. • You have a natural body, this means that you are the pinnacle of what the human body has to offer in all its shapes and sizes, you are beautiful and as time goes by those traits will only improve, whether you want the strong beauty of muscles or the very delicacy and fragility of a lily, this will be inclined to your desires and requests, so you will undoubtedly be beautiful to your own preferences and desires, even affect the color of your hair or how your eyes will be, and all this without lowering the capabilities of the human body, with reflexes and senses superior to anyone else, your body is the pinnacle and is always improving to reach new heights, this will always be naturally so no one will suspect anything, everything is decided if you want to stay as you are or become the summit of the body of the human being. • You will always be seen in full elegance, maintaining unparalleled grace and balance, you could be associated with a machine before such a detailed display of pinpoint accuracy, you are graceful and gifted with an overwhelming presence and unmatched charisma, expect to have many admirers unless you voluntarily turn it off or mitigate it, and if you consciously use it to its full force don't expect there will be anyone with enough willpower to resist you, you are nobility in every concept of the word, maybe you will get some title like Lorelei Barthomeloi and her title of 'The Queen Of The Clock Tower' or 'The Queen' for short. • Furthermore, you have what would poetically be called 'The Will To Shatter The Stars'. There is no difficulty, no degree of opposition and no level of pain or suffering that can intimidate your intentions, once you make up your mind about something. You can do this all day long and never stop doing it, except by your own conscious choice. Forget mere 'maximum human' willpower, you are absolutely unbreakable. While remaining mentally flexible enough to not be a stubborn idiot, of course. • Your body can not be infected by any being, supernatural or not, you can not be controlled or damaged by both mental and spiritual means, your body is an immovable fortress, your mind to a library masterfully ordered and maintained, your soul is a perpetual sanctuary you can repeat as many times the change of body as Roa or do something with worms as Zouken and your soul will remain the same, you could say that it is a perfect soul for sorcery, beware, the third magic will be and will remain better by far, your soul is something that will remain the same in the face of the most extreme things, but it is not the true immortality that is the third magic, unless you dedicate your research skills to change that. • Mentally, you are able to modify and alter your mind, you can program your mind to react to whatever you want however you want, leaving mental triggers to move before they react is possible, molding it to create a disguise of some different personality is possible, you can even affect their feelings achieving a masterful mask, creating a state with a completely different personality and state of mind is easy, in case you are not sure how to mold your mind without changing you can leave safety countermeasures to go back to any previous state, if a certain thought or situation happens, you are a magician and as such, your masks to fool others are the best, if you use them wisely you could be in your best state to fight or go into a disguise that even Sherlock himself could not discover, this will not affect your will, and you cannot end up as a brain-dead fool by accident, unless that is your disguise. • A little advice, stay away from the eyes of Atlas, those alchemists will see the holy grail or the root itself, if they get to know what kind of body type you have, you will be a very wet dream for any of their researchers, they even have a motto that fits. “It's easy to get into Atlas, but impossible to get out.” • If I were you, I'd be careful with the gods, a body like yours would have them drooling or hating you, it's funny how you don't know which one is worse, it all depends on which gods notice you, god forbid, the Greeks, although they might not even come close because they're admiring you. • The reason for a mind like you have, is to hide the default personality you have as a magus, a cold being, without morals or ethics, who can do anything, this part of you will make the machines see you as the typical sentimental people, it doesn't take much to scare people in that state, people will wonder what the hell you are, what kind of being is hiding under that disguise of flesh you call skin, you can always change it if you want, although you can always hide it, your mind can never be taken advantage of by anyone other than you. • You can choose to have the potential to have true magic, you decide if you only want one or all five in total, you can decide if you want to reach them through research, that being the case you can get creative about how you carry out your research to play true magic, and, it can help you later, this is more of an option than anything else, if you want, you can appear as a user of the five true magics, although it is not said that there will be no questions of how the hell did that happen, you have a complete control of the true magics, and you know both its maximum capabilities and the smallest details about its operation. • The first magic “Denial Of Nothingness”: The first true magic, known as “The Denial Of Nothingness”, is related to the generation of an ether clusters, this includes the creation of matter and energy from nothing and the total destruction of matter and energy in nothing, the clusters of ether are conductors of magical energy. • The second magic “Kaleidoscope”: The second true magic, known as the ”Kaleidoscope” or the “Parallel Worlds Operation”, this includes traveling to alternate worlds, time travel, space-time manipulation and the ability to decide whether timelines are 'canon' or not, you can be creative how you use this, it's not too far-fetched to overlay different dimensions to play with the environment or use unlimited energy from all your universe versions to make a giant energy cannon, the only thing that What stops you is the creativity of how you could use it, you will have to be attentive because interacting with the dimensions and being able to observe everything that the multiverse can be, it can be a bit maddening, you will be protected in any way, but do not expect it to be a very happy, the dimensions have some that can make any person quite crazy, just look how his previous bearer was with the magical girls. • The third magic “Heaven's Feel”: The Third True Magic, known as the “Touch Of Heaven” or the “Manifestation Of The Soul”. This stops the inevitable dispersal of the soul once it no longer has an anchor in the world, and essentially causes it to transcend into a higher form of existence. It is a magic that realizes true immortality by turning the soul into a flat, high-dimensional being capable of interacting with the material world as a mental body without having to return to Akasha. The Sorcerer will acquire an unlimited source of magical energy because his soul becomes analogous to a perpetual motion machine, just like the previous ones, creativity will help you a lot, although with this who needs creativity when you are truly immortal, enjoy ~. • As a certain person said, I wish I had finished in the third, too bad it didn't happen • The fourth magic “White Ink”: The Fourth True Magic, known as the “White Ink”, in another universe the fourth magic is unknown, but how would you go about selecting a magic without knowing all your options? The fourth is based on the manifestation, manipulation, and alteration of concepts, you could alter the concept of water so that it burns instead of splashing (He, he, he) or you can very well create your own urban legend and add the concept 'real' to it, despite the tremendous power that you can still have to be careful, every being is sensitive, even reality itself, so press hard and don't expect to come out very well, you are powerful, but not invincible, keep that in mind, an example would be the previous user of the fourth magic that in an attempt to erase the concept of the fourth magic ended up being erased, it failed to eliminate the fourth magic, but the world ended up forgetting its capabilities due to certain parts that were erased. (Credit goes to AcausalTrillby at fanfiction.net for the inspiration with his story called White Ink) • The fifth magic “Blue Magic”: The Fifth True Magic, known as the “Blue Magic” allows free manipulation of energy/heat without worrying about the order imposed by the arrow of time of thermodynamics (represented by the Second Law), and, thus leading in particular to time manipulation, as opposed to relativistic time travel, Aoko Aosaki managed to affect space-time with this magic, and you can too if you put your mind to it, just be careful you don't want to extinguish life on earth, right? • “The Sixth True Magic”: Currently non-existent, a path to the Root will be granted. You can get close to him, but you must not touch him. By doing so, you will gain access to a new True Magic. It is speculated that the Sixth True Magic might be a magic that can bring happiness to everyone. This may or may not be the case. The magic has to be something unattainable by mundane or thaumaturgical means, as long as those criteria are met you can create the sixth magic, since you are creating something new and not reusing the five magics, this will be the one with which you connect the most, don't get me wrong, if you choose any of the other five, you will have no limits or problems when handling it, in fact you could take it to heights never seen before, only this being your creation, you will be more connected and you, and only you will be the person capable of using it, you are the creator of the sixth magic be proud. • Note something, the first, and fifth are similar in that a path to the root, an Akasha gate, originated and magic was obtained upon its arrival, while the second, third, and fourth were produced as a half to get to that place, however insignificant it may sound to some, this has its own weight in how your magic interacts with you, you may be able to touch or see the path to the Root, or you may try to recreate the means to reach the Root, be careful with that, people smarter than you tried, and they didn't end very well. • It can be said that magicians have become the adversaries of the planet, and by having magic, as redundant as it sounds, you have become a magician, something that the human mind would not normally be able to carry as a burden. Carrying such a power is the recklessness of changing the world, as such, from the moment you obtain true magic, you are destined to go through great things or most likely to affect the entire world, whether the change is good or bad, it will depend on what you decide. • Becoming a magician is something that must be thought carefully, it is a mantle, and it is raw power that will undoubtedly affect how you see the world or how the world sees you, you are entering forbidden territory for human hands, it is the land of gods, so unless you want to fight against gods or planets, think about it a bit before making your choice, and of course, you have some duties with humanity, it's not mandatory, but you can at least look at them once or twice, so they don't get killed or end up committing suicide. • You can grant one magic per person by creating five or six wizards who will be loyal to you until death, you can remove that magic whenever you want and however you want, although at least tell them what you are giving them, you do not want extradimensional accidents or extinction of life on earth, you can always decide to ignore this advice and have fun with the results. • You are by far the most talented and predisposed being to magic, your talent, ingenuity, and creativity have no comparison, your sense, and intuition regarding magecraft is undoubtedly superior, your mind has a library with all the magical knowledge of the entire verse from TYPE-MOON, whatever reality it is, it can be a bit overwhelming, but you get used to it, god forbid you can follow in the footsteps of Lorelei and focus on basic magecraft or some specific theme and develop it so much that you become the Bruce Lee of magic with 'Repeat a kick a thousand times', of course with your talent that can reach true magic levels very quickly, with any magic. • You can connect and adapt to any existing thaumaturgical foundation, yes, that includes the church, this would allow you to use any existing spell as long as you are connected to the foundation of that respective spell, be it sorcery, from Chinese philosophy magecraft, traditional Japanese magecraft and of course the one practiced by the clock tower, there is no foundation that you do not know and to which you cannot connect, if you do not like any, you can create your own thaumaturgical foundation with the rules and implications that you want and although technically it would be impossible, your own willpower is enough to maintain that foundation, if you decide to make that foundation your primary method of practicing magic, with your willpower involved, believe me, there will be no end to how strong you can become, and that applies to every foundation you connect to, you can revive a foundation on the verge of death to its best moment and take it to something much better. • Established and long-standing foundations will be more likely to connect and improve, they may not be as versatile, focusing only on their field as the church that is dedicated to something more spiritual, so be aware that you would spend a lot of time and resources originating a new foundation that connecting and empowering an existing one, each one has its cons and its pluses. • As a great magus you don't always have to depend on a large mound of magic circuits for everything, you can use the quantifiable energy of the Soul; the pseudo-spiritrons to design organisms or stronger objects, as the alchemists of Atlas do, you can also be like hackers and enter the network practicing their code-cast method, whenever you cannot or do not want to use your magic circuits you will find another way to practice sorcery, very well you can practice some method of “Walk and Breathe” to try to become a Xian, whatever method you choose you can take it to unimaginable heights without relying on your magic circuits, and with your talent you can do wonders. • It is true that you can work without magic circuits, you could very well become the best spell caster without even using them even once in your life, but it is better to use every resource you have and magic circuits are part of those resources, your circuits are special, unique in its kind, you will start with fifty magic circuits “Blue Bloods: Noble Magic Circuits”, being the best of the best, what differentiates it from the others is that your magic circuits are improved and shaped the more you use them, these circuits they will grow, improve and multiply, the very environment where you are will affect them and will affect their growth, they may become a “Magic Nucleus” or for some strange reason a “Magic Reactor”, there is also the possibility of becoming “Regression to the Age of Gods”. Allowing you to reproduce the existing mysteries before the age of man, it is certain that they will become what you want and that they will continually improve, in case they are damaged, or you do not have magic circuits they will begin to sprout or self-repair always looking for a way to advance, they may even be influenced by your origin. • As you have undoubtedly noticed, your magic circuits are not natural, this will not affect your form of sorcery in any negative way, who knows, you may reach some level higher than “Blue Bloods: Noble Magic Circuits” magic circuits are used to connect to the thaumaturgical foundation, you will see a rapid adaptation and improvement, the more you use them with a specific foundation, maybe even adopt some characteristics of said foundation. • You can create magic circuits through research and development and implant them in a host, but such a thing would be for someone else, because yours are already on their way to the best of the best. • This also affects how much magical energy you use, to make a comparison, the average mage has 20 units of magical energy, Ciel had 5000 units, you have 10000, and it will always improve according to your magic circuits, as a respected magus you must have enough energy to sustain any research or spell you want. • You can change your origin, it is true that the origin is the starting point that defines one's existence and directs one's actions throughout life. It is the driving force that comes from within the Root, which has managed to sprout from the Source and take material form, but you can change it, unlike other people you can trace your origin to the Root and exchange it for something that is more convenient, ok to see changes, so you will have to be careful, but at least you can change it for anything you want, be it creature, emotion or concept, you can even keep several at the same time, although you would have to be careful, the origin may end waking up if you swap it too much or if you have several, and they manage to sync up, you're a never-before-seen case, so crazy things can happen. • If a person ends up awakening their Origin, it becomes nearly impossible to deviate from their Origin, if even possible in the first place. It becomes an impulsive behavior that one would follow as if it were an absolute order, it has to be taken into account that if you achieved such a thing you would gain superhuman abilities according to your origin, the defense mechanism that you have will save you at some point after awakening your origin, the defense mechanism returns your origin to its state before waking up, you can program it so that it takes days or months to put your origin to sleep again, keep that in mind, the origin has to be treated with care. • Element, the elements are somewhat easier to deal with and without as much danger as the origins, by default you are an average with the five elements, fire, water, earth, air, and ether and just as before you can exchange and modify them to your liking it is better not to overlap an exaggerated number of elements, but at least you are not in as much danger as with the origins, the element is the type of magic with which you are more predisposed and which one you are better at, it should be noted that different cultures handle in different ways the elements, so there is a variety of elements with the same name, you will have to be more specific when changing the element. • The elements are not so rigid when it comes to making magecraft, if we put as an example that you have water as an element and that you want to learn spells more inclined with fire, you can, but it will cost more, although that is not your case, it should also be remembered that the elements are more than the name of said element itself, water is the fluidity and control of liquids, the other elements are something similar, only with their own peculiarities, there are elements as unique as sword or hollow, so who knows What things can you achieve if you start being creative. • Origins and elements are connected, so if you have the same origin and the same element, you will notice that your magic will have a boost on anything bordering on that field, although you run the risk of over-specializing, an example would be demon origin and demon element, you will find that you could do spectacular things with demonology, although you won't be able to do much with any kind of sorcery not associated with demons. • You are an artist when it comes to creating things, you would fit very well with Atlas, just like them, you are able to create things that could bring about the destruction of the world seven times, there is no limit in what you are able to build, from mystical supergiant codes like the “Foundation of Philosophy” up to the seven weapons of Atlas, it would be possible within your capabilities to start theorizing how to create Noble Phantasms or recreate them, very well you can do like the hikikomori of Caubac and create your own holy scriptures, or you can be like Zelretch troll and create items about magical girls or whatever you prefer, you can create the philosophical keys or magical crests or create something new based on it. • Theoretically, you are able to build anything shown in TYPE-MOON that is supernatural, and this includes everything from a simple pistol to the MOON CELL itself, and always with the ability to innovate, improve, or create something entirely new. • The “Philosophy Foundation” generated by the Xian in the land of China is essentially a simulation of an artificial Root. The Xians worked together as a group to build it. Instead of connecting to the Root using the gods as a relay, as civilizations in the Age of Gods did, the Xian produced their system of magic by building a Supergiant Mystic Code that merges with the planet. That is the Philosophy Foundation. • You are able to break down any magic you see or theorize into its most basic components, you may very well be called the second coming of Waver, for what you can do, with your talents it would not be difficult to dissect any magic you see down to its most basic concepts, being able to recreate it if you decide to do such a thing, you can always see ways to improve or modify it, but there is no magic that you don't see that you don't understand. • It has been said that anything magecraft can do technology can do and vice versa, you understand that principle well, you are capable of achieving anything science achieves through magecraft, any technology you see will only give you new and innovative ideas to achieve it through magecraft. • An example would be Apollo 11, you can imitate such a thing with magecraft, a space teleportation to reach the moon or some strange chimera that can take you, to know if you can do something else with astrology, true magic may end up dying, but magecraft it will be maintained and will continue to advance as long as you exist and science exists. • A magus is a scholar above all else, as a magus your main skill will be the investigation of sorcery in order to get to the root, you are a born investigator knowing every detail of the book by heart, a slight passing glance is enough to remember it whenever you want without need at a second glance, and not only that, you understand them to their very core, anything you don't know, you only need to investigate it to learn, as a researcher your handwriting will be relentless, your notes will be the finer details, and you can always do a thesis about a thousand and one ways to get to the root, you know for shit and giggles. • You unconsciously organize your work space, you will not be the typical researcher with your head in the clouds and with a workshop more messy than your room, no, your workshop is a perfect example of order, organized to the millimeter without you realizing it, this is also gone to all your jobs, no leaving dangerous things lying around unprotected or having all your tools dirty and messy, you know what they say, a tidy space is a safe space, and you have exemplary security. • You are a good teacher, you see the talent of people, their potential, and you can show that by bringing out all that talent, just like Waver you are an exceptional teacher when it comes to teaching, even the dumbest and most talentless person can become even a Lord, a person with real talent and a good head on his shoulders can very well get to Marshall just like Zelretch and Lorelei, of course as long as he listens to your lessons. • In addition to research you can focus your skills to develop many elements in any field you choose, on top of that you will never see any unwanted side effects or stalling your research, you see possibilities in mistakes, small delays in full stalls of a sorcery, potential in drawbacks, every mistake, bump, or snag in your eyes will become a possibility that may very well take your research to new heights. • Example: you can focus on martial arts, create something like the Nanaya killing arts, even recreate the Nanaya arts themselves, use pre-existing martial arts to give them mystical effects, it's very viable, you can create your own mystical martial arts. Assessing an enemy in the middle of a fight is easy for you, developing countermeasures against him or finding weaknesses you can exploit (If you have “The Mystic Eyes Of Death Perception” or something similar, you can find new lines of death or develop them in your enemy yourself) there is no field in which you cannot apply your talents. • Optionally, you can create a workshop, a workshop is a place where the magus carry out their research, it is a sacred place that any self-respecting magus will never let anyone enter, yours is impenetrable and untouchable, unless you allow it, at first you can design it inside as you like either as some ancient place of study or as a modern laboratory, your workshop is a subspace between dimensions, impossible for any being to find, no matter where you go you can access to your workshop from anywhere, be it places as remote as the bottom of the ocean, some forest, or desert forgotten by the hand of God or space itself, you just have to call it the way you want, a door will open where you can enter, you can modify this entrance as you want, needing a key or only access from a certain door when you want, and always having the flexibility so that you can modify it to your g you. • Your workshop has books on every possible sorcery and various ways to implement it, even notes for a beginner to practice little by little and build slowly, along with manuals and various articles for learning, it also has information on magus policy or data from the world both known and not, there is a lot of knowledge that will serve you, and not all of it is necessarily sorcery, at your option, all of TYPE-MOON's knowledge can be here in book formats or any other form you want, the workshop It will have any material or tool you require, and just like before it ranges from the most exotic never thinkable to the most normal, after spending that material it will recharge regularly, so you never have to worry about running out of resources. • In case you want something different, you can create your own workshop in the way you want, building both its defenses and places where you will store your knowledge and carry out your research, when you finish, the construction will gain the same benefits as if you had it. Given, these are undetectable and impenetrable. • Your workshop is a place for any outside creature not to enter and for anything inside not to leave, the workshop is something that you can change to your liking both in appearance, space and time, you can even change concepts within your own workshop, convert your ceiling a gateway to space, so you can admire any star from near or far, you can't be harmed inside your own workshop so the vacuum of space or the sun's rays would do little or nothing to you. • A magician walks with death, you among the many magus out there, you are sensitive to danger, you know very well when something can go wrong, you detect it like a bloodhound, whether it is a migraine, a slight smell or daring visions of the mirrors of what could go wrong, whatever method you choose, you know something will go wrong, and you know what will cause it, there is no longer any danger of experiments or ambushes, your sense of danger will alert you whenever death is near you, there will be no moments either late or too early, this gives you the right time, and also something of how to go out, there is nothing impossible to avoid death here. • You can leave marks on people so that they also notify you if they are in danger, you decide if the same person is aware of the danger or not. • You can say if you want to be like Akiha Tohno and I will become a half-breed with the blood of some mythical or supernatural beast, this will give you certain unique abilities depending on the blood you decide, it will also give you a stronger connection to the mystery, your instincts will be controllable and will not cause any problem, although they can always be useful, it is always curious to know what those senses perceive that is not detectable by humans. • Optionally, you can decide if you want to do some research to fully become that creature, an example being becoming a dead apostle like Gransurg Blackmore did. • You can give people mythical blood if you want to do something with it, you can always control them and take that power away from them if they rebel. • Despite the fact that many magus dislikes it, politics is present within their society, you are the one who governs that, words are an art that you master, you are the best, it is simple to deceive or convince people, you know how people think. People, you know what they want, you know how to guide their thoughts or group a group of people with certain ideas, you know by heart every law, every line, every letter of every word and every political loophole that you can take advantage of with all that, move in the world politician, it's not very difficult, you control it well, you can be considered a control demon for how well you handle everything. • If you don't want to touch politics, that's fine, you know enough to move in society, it's simple to fake smiles or emotions, deceiving people is second nature, making them believe that you are like them, without any problem and with a normal life it's surprisingly easy, if you don't want to fool anyone that's fine, just with the security you show you would eventually have some group of trustworthy friends. • Sometimes it is difficult to know if a decision is good, until after seeing what happens, not for you, the decisions you make, are made under detailed scrutiny, your decisions will no longer have the doubt of whether you did it right, and even if for some strange reason some bad decision goes through your detailed study, you will have a sixth sense that will constantly warn you not to choose it, it will be your decision after that. • If ever it is not enough to stick to the laws, you know how to do everything in a more criminal way, blackmail, extortion, threaten, etc. you know every dirty trick in the book, in fact you wrote the book, you know it backwards and forwards, the underworld has its own laws, and you know them like the back of your hand, your very well can create your own mafia and promote it by the underworld, and when it's not enough to talk, well, it's an easier way to just permanently eliminate every person or group that opposes, not that anyone finds out if you want. • You know people's minds, you know how they think, you know what they want, and you can notice very clearly when some thought of betrayal passes through their pretty little head now condemned, you can tell if they have a plan or if they are trying to influence you, not because of some strange ability but because you simply know how the human being works, there is no person that you cannot understand, just one look and the personality of any person remains in your eyes, abnormal cases like Shirou Emiya is simply looking at them from a slightly different perspective, it is easy to You play with those thoughts, moving some person from one place to another like a puppet is quite a fun hobby, turning the most cowardly person into something much worse than Shirou with his sense of heroism and his lack of self-preservation is simple, the most calm and good-hearted person under your hands can be left as Kirei Kotomine with no moral limit as to how much evil is enough, h woe to whoever makes you angry, you know enough about the human being to create a real hell with simple words, people tend to think that words cannot cause so much damage, after all, words are not as effective as a sword According to them, it is sometimes easy to forget that a few simple words caused the fall of Camelot. • Trade is not so attached to the magus, but it is better to have money and be like Luvia using money from one side to the other, not be like Rin and wonder if you can last until the end of the month paying attention to each expense you make, the world of commerce opens its huge golden doors to you, you know money, you know how money is managed, you know where there are opportunities or how to create them yourself, you know where definitely not to be around to keep the money you have and avoid losses. • You have what can be said, a golden luck, the lottery, prizes, or just finding a dollar on the street, money comes to you passively, you can control how much comes to you, from a simple five dollars to millions, someone can suspect, but you will still be rich, so there will not be so many problems. • You know every dollar, every coin by heart, down to the tiniest penny, you keep it in mind when you do the math, which makes you very good with numbers, but pluses aside, you keep every bit of your money in mind, so that if any bills or coins go missing you'll notice quickly, so it's easy to spot if some fool is having a funny idea about your money. • Furthermore, you are the best at handling money, you can very well copy the Harweys and get 60% of the planet or more, there will be opposition, but if you use this, plus your political skills, you can very well do it without anyone noticing. • Mystery is what allows magecraft, the crystallization of belief, so it is undeniable to say that without mystery there is no magecraft or magic, as time passes and technology advances, the mystery gradually evaporates from this world, a risk for the magus, because their job lies in the very existence of the mystery, that is a danger that does not apply to you, your mere existence revives the mystery, you are like a plant only instead of expelling air, you expel mystery, this is something you can control, such as applying it only to your actions or that it spreads throughout the world or only to an area in general, you decide. • Be careful not to spread it around the world, the revival of the mystery can revive some troublesome things, most likely you can irreparably affect the world itself, the planet itself will be affected by such an action. • If you decide to enclose the mystery in an area, in that small area the mystery will begin to accumulate, affecting everything that is inside, each plant, each animal, each insect, even the smallest being can be affected. • Since the mystery comes from you, every creature that is impacted by the mystery you produce will feel a feeling of loyalty towards you, the probability that they will not be loyal to you is close to zero, they may see you as a divine being, which is god to humans, at worst they will be of no use to you, but they will still refuse to harm you. • You have more security against Gaia and Alaya, they will be softer when it comes to judging whether to eliminate you, you can be much more reckless than the rest of the magicians and unless you do something extreme like endangering the entire planet or humanity itself, none attack, they will stay away and not bother you, they will watch you it is true, but they will never interfere with anything you do as long as you do not go too far, this includes that Alaya cannot prune the timeline where you are, you are an immutable being when it comes to damaging the timeline, the incineration of humanity or the Lostbelt will do nothing to you, you are protected from that by sending you to another time and space, you will be displaced through time to the point of origin where that timeline was damaged, the singularities, very well you can solve it or just observe while you continue with your investigation while you wait to be sent to another space-time, in case it is solved you will return to where you were before all this happened, and in case that timeline is doomed you will be sent to another timeline that is not in danger. • Your powers cannot be stolen, deleted, copied or anything like that, you will have constant protection against negative effects, in case something unexpected happens, you will be randomly teleported, your powers will return, eventually, they always return. • Without perfection, nothing you build is ever perfect, it never will be, nor are you perfect, perfection is a limiting factor, when perfection arrives there is nothing else, that is why you can break perfection being able to grow unlimitedly, there is no limit in terms of you can grow or improve pre-existing things because in principle there is no end for you, and although some may say that there must be an end, a point at which you will eventually reach perfection by not being able to improve anymore, they are wrong, as simple beings, his imagination, his head can only come to that conclusion, that there is a limit, but not you, the limits seen in mortal eyes do not apply, you see an infinite path, the root itself is infinite and constantly growing, because you cannot be equal to her and have no limits in your growth, without perfection, without limits, a perpetual growth.

Thanksgiving may be the most important American holiday, and if you're planning to celebrate it this year, why not go all out?
The Native Americans are some of the earliest settlers in North America. It's believed that they celebrated it long before the Pilgrim settlers arrived.
Some historians say that their celebration dates back as far as 1571! Several foods are widely considered to be traditional Native American thanksgiving foods.
They include everything from fresh fruits and nuts to various meats and even cornbread stuffing!

Pinon Nuts

Pinon nuts are a type of pine nut harvested from the cones of certain pine trees. They have a sweet, nutty flavor and are often used in baking and cooking.
Pinon nut is an important native American Thanksgiving food source for native peoples in the southwestern United States. If you're looking for a traditional Native American Thanksgiving food to enjoy, consider adding pinon nuts to your menu.

Cranberry Relish

Cranberry relish is a tart and sweet dish made with fresh cranberries, sugar, and sometimes oranges or pineapple. It'sIt's a traditional native American Thanksgiving food for many Native Americans.
Also, it's famous as a condiment for turkey and other holiday dishes. This year, why not try making your cranberry relish? It'sIt's easy to make and can be tailored to your taste preferences.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a famous native American Thanksgiving food for many Americans during the Thanksgiving holiday.
However, did you know indigenous people in the Americas first domesticated sweet potatoes? Sweet potatoes are thought to have been introduced to Europe by Spanish explorers who visited the Caribbean.
Today, sweet potatoes are still grown in many parts of the Americas. And are enjoyed as a traditional native Thanksgiving food by many people.

Pumpkin Pie

Many traditional foods are served during Native American Thanksgiving celebrations. One of the most popular and well-known dishes is pumpkin pie.
This dessert is usually made with roasted pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, and spices. The filling is then baked in a deep dish until golden brown.

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is a delicious and easy way to add holiday flavor to your feast. It'sIt's also a great way to get your kids involved in the kitchen.
Combine cranberries, sugar, water, and orange juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the cranberries have popped, remove them from heat and let cool. Serve with turkey or ham. Cranberry Sauce is a very delicious native American Thanksgiving food.

Cornbread Stuffing

There'sThere's nothing quite like a heaping plate of stuffing on Thanksgiving day. And while there are many different ways to make this holiday dish, cornbread stuffing is one of the most delicious. This stuffing is hearty and flavorful and is made with ingredients like cornbread, sage, onions, and celery.
Plus, it's a great way to enjoy some of the traditional flavors of Native American thanksgiving food. If you're looking for a new twist on an old favorite this Thanksgiving, give cornbread stuffing a try.

Pumpkin Soup

There are many traditional native American Thanksgiving foods that Native Americans enjoy during the Thanksgiving season. One of these is pumpkin soup.
Pumpkin soup is believed to have originated with the Wampanoag Indians and was a popular dish at the first Thanksgiving feast.
The soup is made with pumpkins, squash, onions, and beans and is flavored with sage. It is hearty and filling and makes an excellent starter for any Thanksgiving meal.

Fried Turkey

One of the most popular and well-known traditional Native American Thanksgiving foods is fried turkey. While the dish has been around for centuries, it wasn't introduced to the mainstream until the late 1800s.
Many Americans today enjoy fried turkey as part of their Thanksgiving feast, but not everyone knows its Native American roots.
The dish is believed to have originated with the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, who would fry the turkey in large pots over an open fire.
Fried turkey is a bit of a labor-intensive dish, but it's well worth the effort. The key to making a delicious fried turkey is to ensure that the oil is hot enough so that the skin crisps up but doesn't burn.

Smoked Fish Dip

The Native Americans enjoy many traditional foods during the Thanksgiving season. One of these is smoked fish dip.
This dish is made by smoking fish over an open fire, then using the resulting smoked fish to take a dip. The dip is usually served with corn chips or crackers. Other traditional ingredients in this dish include onions, garlic, and cumin.

Roasted Acorn Squash

For many, roasted acorn squash is a must-have on the Thanksgiving table. This gourd was popular among the native Wampanoag tribe and is still enjoyed by many today.
Squash was an essential part of the diet for many Native American Thanksgiving foods as it was easy to grow and could be stored for long periods. Acorn squash is a good source of vitamins A and C and is also a good source of fiber.
If you're looking for a healthy and delicious way to enjoy squash this Thanksgiving, give roasted acorn squash a try!

Fresh Applesauce with Cinnamon and Honey

Celebrate the fall harvest with this delicious, healthy dish! Applesauce is a staple of many Native American diets, and it's easy to see why.
This recipe is a great way to enjoy the sweetness of apples, with a hint of spice from the cinnamon. And a touch of sweetness from the honey. Serve it with roasted turkey, and you have a perfect Thanksgiving feast!

Roasted Vegetables

Another native American Thanksgiving food. The harvest season is a time to give thanks and celebrate the abundance of the land. In many Native American cultures, this means enjoying roasted vegetables as part of the feast.
Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of the vegetables and makes them extra flavorful. Try roasting a mix of squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots for a colorful and delicious side dish.

Fried Corn

Fried corn is a popular dish among the Choctaw people. Frying whole kernels, make the dish of corn in bacon grease. Once the corn is crispy, it is served with salt and pepper to taste.
It is a traditional Native American thanksgiving food in Choctaw. Traditional Choctaw dishes include fried okra, boiled yams, and pumpkin pies.

Blackberries

The wild blackberry is a fruit that grows all over North America. Blackberries are an essential Native American Thanksgiving food.
The blackberry is a symbol of abundance and fertility. Blackberries are also a symbol of Thanksgiving and giving thanks for the harvest. The blackberry is a delicious fruit that can be used in many recipes.

Berry Pudding

One of the best things about the holiday season is all of the delicious food that we get to enjoy. If you're looking for something different this year, why not try some traditional Native American foods?
Berry pudding is a great option. It'sIt's made with dried berries, cornmeal, and maple syrup and it's sure to please everyone at your table.

Frybread

The most popular and traditional Native American thanksgiving food served during Thanksgiving is frybread. It is a type of flatbread that is deep-fried or pan-fried.
It can also be served with various toppings, such as honey, jam, or powdered sugar. Frybread is believed to have originated with the Navajo people in the 19th century. Today, it is enjoyed by many Native American tribes and is a popular dish among non-Native Americans.

Three Sisters Salad

Three Sisters Salad is a traditional native American thanksgiving food enjoyed by many Native Americans during the Thanksgiving season. The salad comprises three main ingredients, representing the three sisters of corn, beans, and squash.
These ingredients are often grown together in the same field, complementing each other's growth. Three Sisters Salad is a hearty dish that will fill you up and leave you feeling satisfied.

Bannock Bread With Berries

Bannock bread is a type of quick bread popular among Native Americans. It'sIt's made with flour, baking powder, salt, and water.
In addition, the dough is then fried in oil or shortening. Bannock bread is often served with berries. Maple syrup can also be added for flavor.

Soynut Soup

Soynut Soup as Native American Thanksgiving Food: Soynuts are peanuts grown by indigenous peoples of South America. Its soup is traditionally eaten on the first day of harvest because it symbolizes harvesting crops, fertility, growth, and life renewal.

Pumpkin porridge

Pumpkin Porridge as Native American Thanksgiving Food has been consumed by natives for centuries because they believe pumpkin helps with night vision during hunting trips.

Salmon on Cedar Stakes

Salmon is a popular dish among the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. The fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, making it a healthy option for holiday meals.
Cedar stakes are used for cooking the salmon, which imparts a unique flavor to the dish. Other traditional ingredients include huckleberries, sage, and cedar bark.
These native American Thanksgiving foods everyone enjoys whether they are of Native American heritage or not.

Pemmican

Pemmican is a traditional Native American food, made initially from dried meat, berries, and fat. It's a high-protein, high-fat food that was once a staple of the Native American diet.
Today, it is still enjoyed by many Native Americans and is also gaining popularity with non-Native Americans. Pemmican is an excellent option if you're looking for traditional Thanksgiving food to try this year.

Poyha

Traditional Native American dishes are rich in history and culture. One of the most popular Thanksgiving foods is poyha, a dish made with cornmeal and beans.
Traditional Native American foods include roasted squash, acorn soup, and venison stew. Enjoying these delicious dishes will help you feel closer to the traditions and cultures of Native Americans.
Conclusion
The origins of the holiday and the exact menu vary depending on which tribe you ask. There are some everyday staples of a traditional Native American Thanksgiving feast.
Of course, no meal is complete without a dessert, and pumpkin pie is a favorite among many tribes. So if you're looking to add a little more flavor to your holiday table this year, consider trying some of these traditional Native American dishes.

So yesterday there was a post about how text for “Fortuna” and “Pronoea” has been in spiral abyss and domains since near the start of the game. Shoutout to OP for reminding me about this text that I looong forgot about. The post pointed out this about Pronoea:

Pronoea means "Providence" in latin, but it also has another meaning: "HESIONE PRONOIA (Pronoea) was the Okeanid-nymph wife of the Titan Prometheus. She was a minor goddess of foresight." … "Pronoia was perhaps identified with the goddess Athena who, according to several ancient writers, was worshipped as Athena Pronoia at Delphoi. As an Okeanid-nymph she also resembles Athena's mother Metis (Good Counsel)." (https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NymphePronoia.html)

I find that really interesting, but there’s a specific usage/aspect of Pronoea (or rather, Pronoia) that I find SUPER compelling. This is still super half-baked, and also perhaps just a huge wall of text, but:
Tl;dr: Pronoia is Divine Providence. Heimarmene is Fate with a cause-and-effect flavor. Depending on interpretation & belief, Heimarmene is either functionally equivalent to Pronoia, creating universal harmony - or at odds, with Heimarmene as a cosmic oppressor. There maaaay be a musical element to this as well, which would make the Musica Mundana of Genshin even MORE interesting.
—
Some general context:
Fortuna: in Genshin, this is the fated fall of civilizations, with new ones rising in the ashes of the old. Sybilla adds more details in Remuria flower artifact: “The unfeeling wheel of fate turns, and no matter how mightily you might struggle, you cannot change the inevitable end.” Given this description of a wheel, this is more akin to the Wheel of Fortuna, or Rota Fortunae.
Heimarmene: From a Narzissenkreuz note: "... To receive a Vision is to sell oneself to the "fate" of this world — to Heimarmene, and to evermore lose the chance to walk the correct path.” On wikipedia, heimarmene is “a goddess and being of fate/destiny in Greek mythology (in particular, the orderly succession of cause and effect, or rather, the fate of the universe as a whole, as opposed to the destinies of individual people).” I will note that in my reading thus far, this is a very personified view/definition, and is usually discussed as more of a concept.
Pronoia: Not in Genshin aside from domains (afaik), but meaning "care", "forethought" or "providence," from πρό, "before," and νόος, "mind.” More broadly I have seen this summarized as “Divine Providence.”
—-
I’m finding that these are pretty hefty topics, so instead of trying to write my own essay or academic article, I’m just going to pull some (very limited) excerpts from some texts and include brief commentary. I’m no expert at all, and my brain is too full, so it’s mostly just observation and note-taking.
From The Five Stages of Greek Religion by Gilbert Murray[1]:

… It requires a certain amount of thoughtfulness to rise to the conception that nothing really happens without a cause. It is the beginning, perhaps, of science. Ionic philosophers of the fifth century had laid stress on the Ἀνάγκη φύσιος, what we should call the Chain of causes in Nature. After the rise of Stoicism, Fate becomes something less physical, more related to conscious purpose. It is not Anankê but Heimarmenê. Heimarmenê … is like a fine thread running through the whole of existence … like that invisible thread of life which, in heredity, passes on from generation to generation of living species and keeps the type alive; it runs causing, causing for ever, both the infinitesimal and the infinite.[1]

This description reminds me of the Lightless Silk String: “In ancient Fontaine, some thought that Fortuna, which ruled the world, was woven from countless fibers, like the strings of a harp. Strings that resonate with the majestic music would bring happiness to all, while discord would destroy the fabric of the universe.”
Another text I’ve looked at (Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism…[2]) echoes these ideas about Stoicism’s view on heimarmene, commenting on its similarity?/equivalence? to pronoia:

Like Poimandres, however, the Asclepius also associates the planets and heimarmene: “The so-called seven spheres have the ousiarchai or heads called Fortuna and Heimarmene, whereby all things change according to nature’s law and a steadfast stability that stirs in everlasting variation. (Asclep. 19)” The ousiarchai in this text are a category of gods; heimarmene acts to diversify the cosmos, but in a manner identical with pronoia—that is to say, according to the divine principles of law and stability. The cosmos, here, is neither enslaving nor malevolent.[2]

So here heimarmene and pronoia are functionally similar - divine providence and order. Also, this is, so far, one of the only references to Fortuna I see in the heimarmene and pronoia discussion. Alsox2, that last line’s mention of malevolence may seem jarring, but it’s also important to note that in a lot of non-Stoic (e.g. Gnostic or pre-Gnostic) thought, heimarmene had distinct negative connotations:

“.... This was no neat world in which Zeus or the providence of the gods saw to it that the just man had a reasonable measure of prosperity and the unjust man of punishment. It might be ruled by a blind Fortune, or again by an unchangeable Fate written in the stars or determined by them.”[2]

With all this context, we can split some hairs:

… the Stoic concept of pronoia, divine providence, effectively and elegantly combined Greek, Egyptian or Babylonian astrological concepts of fate with the Greek concept of harmonia. The heimarmene that was the felicitous product of this marriage [Gnostic scholar] Jonas understood as the harmonious effect of astrologically ordained destiny on “terrestrial conditions and the short-lived beings here.” The Stoics, in equating heimarmene and pronoia, had positively expressed the essential microcosm/macrocosmic relationship of human to cosmos.[2]
In Jonas’s view, however, the development of ‘gnostic cosmic pessimism’ had perverted the providential relationship that, according to Stoicism, the divine could share with the human. In gnosticism as he understood it, “the cosmic logos of the Stoics,” he wrote, was “replaced by heimarmene, oppressive cosmic fate.” Jonas believed that the gnostics, like the Stoics, had borrowed their concept of heimarmene from astrology. But unlike its Stoic prototype, gnostic heimarmene became “tinged with the gnostic anti-cosmic spirit.” Far from the practical action of harmonia on the terrestrial plane, gnostic heimarmene aimed “at the enslavement of man.” The pessimism inherent in gnosticism, Jonas maintained, ensured that pronoia had been completely abandoned as a positive concept; the starry sky’s rule is “tyranny, not providence.”[2]

There are a lot of interesting directions to go with a Genshin lens on this. (You could probably also have a lot of thoughts about HSR OrdeHarmony….) Like, do the gods love us or nah?
The mention of harmonia is also interesting because this idea of order and musicality is super Pythagorean/Platonic. In fact, another interesting component of this is “heirmos”:

The incorporeal providence of the Gods, both for bodies and for souls, is of this sort; but that which is of bodies and in bodies is different from this, and is called Fate, Heimarmenê, because the chain of causes (Heirmos) is more visible in the case of bodies; and it is for dealing with this Fate that the science of 'Mathematic' has been discovered.[1]

So heirmos means ‘chain’ or ‘link' or 'string.' So to the Stoics, Fate (heimarmene) is a string (heirmos) of causes. But if you look it up, you find things like this: "Heirmos - The opening stanza in each ode of the hymnological canon."(Oxford Reference)
Searching for the term on google first brings up the wiki page for “irmos”:

The irmos (or heirmos from Koinē Greek: εἱρμός) in the Byzantine liturgical tradition is the initial troparion of an ode of a canon. The meter and melody of an irmos is followed by the remaining troparia of the ode; when more than one canon is used (as is typical at matins), only the first canon's irmos is sung, but the irmoi of the subsequent canons must be known in order to determine an ode's melody and so, even in canons where it is known that the irmos is never sung, the irmos is nonetheless specified.

This musical element of heirmos - with Heimarmene linking them - certainly makes my mind go to the Musica Mundana, or the music of the world, in Genshin. From the Harmost's Notes (I):

...The Musica Mundana is the music of origin. It is the beginning and end of all music; from it does all spring, and to it shall all return. False and true celestial signs (namely, the inner and outer, lower and upper astrological signs. Euergetia will provide a detailed explanation of this section), the turning of the seasons and passing of time, the defined elements, everything in the universe operations according to the order of this music...

(Shameless self-promo if you want to learn more about Musica Mundana, aka the Music of the Spheres: my video on Musica Mundana.)
Here's my personal tinfoil takeaway: On one hand, with the excerpts from [1] we could draw parallels between historical Heimarmene and Genshin's Musica Mundana. HOWEVER, it seems to me this more describes the specifically Stoic interpretation of Heimarmene - one related to harmonia, one of divine principles and laws, and one more concordant with Pronoia.
Anyway, like I said, just half-baked observations and thinking out loud/banging on my keyboard excitedly. But I felt like this was interesting enough to share, with some interesting connections to the game. Hope y'all enjoyed the wall of text.
References
1 The Five Stages of Greek Religion by Gilbert Murray https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30250/30250-h/30250-h.htm#Page_91
2 Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity by Nicola Denzy Lewis (thanks to Mishri for finding this)

”In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and *said to them, “I feel compassion for the crowd because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” And He *directed the crowd to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them. And He kept giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the crowd. And they also had a few small fish; and after He blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. Now about four thousand were there, and He sent them away. And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha. And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. And sighing deeply in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side. And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, *said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They *said to Him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?” And they *said to Him, “Seven.” And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?” And they *came to Bethsaida. And they *brought a blind man to Jesus and *pleaded with Him to touch him. And taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village; and after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He was asking him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and was saying, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” Then again He laid His hands on his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.” And Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He was asking His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” And He continued asking them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter *answered and *said to Him, “You are the Christ.” And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter openly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”“ ‭‭Mark‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬-‭38‬ ‭LSB‬‬
”And as they *approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He *sent two of His disciples, and *said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” And they went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they *untied it. And some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. And they *brought the colt to Jesus and put their garments on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their garments in the road, and others spread leafy branches, having cut them from the fields. And those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!” And Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late. And on the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. And seeing at a distance a fig tree that had leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And He answered and said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He was not permitting anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. And when evening came, they were going out of the city. And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. And being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered and *said to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. For this reason I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. [But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”] Then they *came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders *came to Him, and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for everyone was regarding John to have been a real prophet. And answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”“ ‭‭Mark‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭33‬ ‭LSB‬‬
”And six days later Jesus *brought with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three booths here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone. And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.“ ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭17‬:‭1‬-‭13‬ ‭LSB‬‬
”And when they had approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” And this took place in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, Lowly, and mounted on a donkey, And on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.’ ” And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their garments on them; and He sat on the garments. And most of the crowd spread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. And the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were crying out, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” And when He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He *said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.” And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things which He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there. Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered. And seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” And when He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd; for they all regard John as a prophet.” And they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered and said, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. And the man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered and said, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even regret afterward so as to believe him. “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. Now when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This has become the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He *was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a prophet.“ ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21‬:‭1‬-‭46‬ ‭LSB‬‬
”Now it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper regions and came to Ephesus and found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. Now there were in all about twelve men. And after he entered the synagogue, he continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some were becoming hardened and were not believing, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he left them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I implore you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Also, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. Now about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen; these he gathered together with the workers of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is from this business. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable crowd, saying that things made with hands are not gods. And not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be considered as worthless and that she, whom all of Asia and the world worship, is even about to be brought down from her majesty.” When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” And the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him. Also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater. So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the meeting was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together. And some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single cry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Now after calming the crowd, the city clerk *said, “Men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven? So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another. But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful meeting. For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no cause for which we can give as an account for this disorderly gathering.” After saying this he dismissed the meeting.“ ‭‭Acts‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬-‭41‬ ‭LSB‬‬

In an alternate world, there was once this man called Vladimir Branovic, an exceptionally bright and good looking fella coming from a not so prestigious, but wealthy dynasty. Growing up in the capital of Serbia, his family managed to help Vlad study stewardship at the royal court, becoming quite the fortune builder. During his study years, young Vlad made the most out of this opportunity and befriended as many important people as possible, such as courtiers, shop owners and even some council members. He knew one’s fate could change just like the weather, so he carefully planned his future – yet, little known to him, his life was about to change forever. Short before his 25^th birthday, the news of the heirless king getting the plague became the hottest gossip throughout the kingdom – and it being so small, they did spread like wildfire. Knowing that the Serbian king had no other relatives, he seized the moment and began making promises to prominent figures, as well as bribing important business owners from the capital. With the help of his parents, two wealthy merchants, Vlad quickly assembled a party that would ensure his position as the new king. And, as the much awaited day came to be, the council gathered and with an almost unanimous vote, they took the Serbian crown and placed it upon Vladimir’s head. As happy as any newly crowned king would be in his place, it was a bitter-sweet moment for his as his parents passed shortly just before they’d see their son on the throne.
First thing he’d do as the new Serbian king is to honor his promises, as he retrieved three titles and gave them to a party made of his biggest supporters: the Rectorate of Ragusa would fall into the hands of no else than a baby, a 2 year old Zdenka, Belgrad would be given to a commander named Rastko and Ras would go to Teodosije, a former steward from the court, who sadly passed away shortly and the title went to his son named after him. You might ask yourself, why would he give Ragusa to such a little baby? Well, as part of the deal with Zdenka’s mother, he did so because Zdenka was the only child of hers to not inherit any titles, so she wanted her little girl to become a lady and also be able to choose her own husband and live a different life than hers. Zdenka’s mom was a good woman.
1. King Vladimir of Serbia (born 1 Jan 744 - died 20^th of August, 789) The newly appointed king decided to focus on trade, hoping that his kids will never have to face the fear of not having enough resources to sustain themselves. Even if he was wealthy, mostly through inheriting his parents’ money, he realized that now, as king, he needs to step up and make a name for himself, and hopefully quickly, because his first ambition as ruler is to get married and have heirs – he learned, as he watched the former king, that any of his efforts won’t matter if there’s no one carrying his name after he kicks the bucket. Obviously, a considerable sum of money will be necessary for raising the many princes and princesses that will soon come to be.
But before all of this, he needed to appoint his council members. And there comes the first sacrifice for the wellbeing of his rule and kingdom – although he appointed Belgrad to Rastko, which made him an important vassal, Rastko wasn’t really talented at.. anything. Therefore, Vlad decided that it’s time to do something risky, so he dismissed Rastko from the council just a day after his coronation, which obviously upset the commander. Hopefully, no more bad feeling will ignite from this move.
He thought the council problem would be over after this incident, however Vlad realized that he’s surrounded by morons. He spent a few nights thinking about this, and came with a pretty nice conclusion: he started looking abroad for servants of the same Slavic faith like his, and wrote down a list of people he thought he could “convince” (with money) to join his court. In just a week, four people with remarkable skills joined his council and now Vlad would rest assured that his country is in actual capable hands. To keep these people happy, he’d ask to be presented 10 debutantes with every special occasion and he’d pick only the most talented and beautiful ones to be wives of his council members and sometimes other courtiers, a strategy that he’ll pass down to future generations.
And speaking of marriage, it was time for him to choose a wife. So as he was doing his homework on the new girls at the court, he asked his chancellor Zvonimir for his advice in regards of who to marry. After weeks of searching, the king was finally enticed by a certain lady Adelheid, the daughter of a chief from Saxony. What attracted him was her similar genius mind and her great skills in statemanship – he knew a lady like her would make an excellent mother and tutor too for his kids, and to be fair, she wasn’t bad looking either. There was only one concern about her which was mentioned by the king’s Diviner, that Adelheid was not part of their Slavic religion, but of the Germanic one. Obviously, they’d prefer if she was of their faith, however the king wafted a hand and sent his Chancellor to ask for the maiden’s hand in marriage. For the first time, Vlad was kinda punched into his male ego because even if he was a king now, his soon-to-be father in law still humble-flirted his way into getting some “attention” (a nice little gift, nothing else) from him. This infuriated Vlad a bit but he sighed and thought to himself “You know, even if this is coming from a chief, at least he’s not giving away his daughter easily.” And right he was, as she was 26, a year older than Vlad, and still a maiden. So he sent the money, and a day after she arrived in Serbia, the wedding took place.
Following the wedding, the king decided to hold a Great Tribal Festival in order to keep the good vibe on and also please his vassals and courtiers. During this time, a fortune teller came in the capital and the king wished for his fortune to be told – and to his surprise, the teller promised an extraordinary future for Vlad, which made him really ecstatic. In fact, considering his wedding took place just a few days before this, from this moment forward he started to look at his wife with more admiration, as he attributed her presence to this promised extreme luck. So much so, that he won’t bed other women and won’t be taking other concubines, a promised he made to himself, as he thought that she might be the woman of his life and he wouldn’t want to upset her in any way.
Yet, to everyone’s surprise, Adelheid was not named the Queen of the Festival, and actually kind of made a fool of herself, earning the nickname “the thin-minded”. Another girl from the court won the title, the wife of the Marshall, Neda. This cringed Vlad a bit, but he decided to ignore this, for the sake of his relationship with Adelheid. After the festival, the king decided to become a follower of Jarilo, the Slavic god of fertility, in hopes of him being granted the honor of becoming a father faster. He followed this by making a food offering to the Gods as he wished for companionship and affection… praying for this as he looking at his wife with the corner of his eye. And guess it worked, as of 13^th of June, Adelheid announced that she is with child.
The news made Vlad extremely happy, but quickly became stressed about money. Although his own struggles, he decided to be a gentleman to his wife and attended to her with everything he could, including hiring women so she could gossip with. On 13rd of January, the most awaited heir entered the world, a little baby boy that took his looks mostly after his Saxon mom. When Vlad first held his child, he looked into his eyes and saw mostly of his wife and little of him – however, this is not what disappointed him most. The wetnurses and other courtiers will later inform the king that his son inherited none of his traits, not even the couple’s common high intelligence… Vlad sighed and kept telling himself that he should be glad that he has a healthy baby, but in reality, there was a little bit of sadness in his heart that stick with him through his life. The king decided to shoot two rabbits with a single bullet, make his wife happy and give the middle finger to his dad-in-law by naming the child after his maternal grandfather… a child with no significant traits, at all. Engelhard is now Serbia’s heir. The child will be taught about stewardship, just like his father.
After spending time with his son and seeing just.. an ordinary kid and not some savant, the king made the mistake of drinking too much and instead of going to his wife.. he went to the wife of his Spymaster… and the product of that single night would be a baby girl named Jelena, that was just like the heir, born with no spectacular traits. Vlad knew this was a huge, immense mistake and he decided to do the right thing and break it off with Medeni, because he wouldn’t want any trouble with his own Spymaster, who believes the child is his. In the meantime, the queen also became pregnant, and on 13rd of June a girl was born, whose name was to be Antonia. From her birth, she was to be known for her beauty and for looking just like the king. This really did warm Vlad’s heart. In fact, he himself would tutor her in diplomacy… maybe he was meant to be a girl dad?
In order to gain some business connections of his own, and at the advice of his Spymaster, Vlad decided to start a nice business deal with the Sultan of Africa, a young 18 years old Aylal. As he couldn’t possibly refuse him, the king decided to take his Spymaster with him – the trip was painful and awkward, as Vlad had to look him in the eye and act like nothing happened between him and his wife, and the child he’s raising is not his… Luckily, he played it cool enough not to raise any suspicions. He also played it nicely regarding the business trip, as he bought merchant boats and a dozen strong warriors as gift for the sultan. Maybe the fortune teller was right, because both his Spymaster and his Steward made a show out of themselves, but the king was able to not only sign a very profitable contract, but also to become the sultan’s friend. The two will continue to write each other letters from now on.
Vlad is now thriving, and once he returned home he was welcomed not only by his wife and courtiers, but also by amazing news: a new royal baby is on the way! Yet, just a few days passed since Vlad returned home and he was met with a very uncomfortable situation – apparently, the Greek orthodox Despot sent a preacher to teach about their religion and while doing so, the preacher managed to insult everyone, calling the Slavic religion a dangerous and sinful cult. This angered Vlad, who placed the preacher into his dungeon – move which made the Greek Despot pretty unhappy.
Inspired by this incident, the Spymaster Yaropolk suggested the king shall erect a monument of Jarilo to not let the people of Slavic faith to be disheartened by the orthodox infidels. The king sighed but nodded to the suggestion, once again getting coin from his pockets and giving it away, but it was for the good of the realm. After all, better be safe than sorry.
The monument seemed to please the god of fertility, as not only a beautiful, but also a genius baby boy was born. The king hold the baby in his arms with such pride, that his good mood radiated in the whole castle. During that day, he was in such euphoria that he sent gifts not only to his wife, but to his dad-in-law, his council members too. He named his second son Vlastimir, and it was evident he saw himself in that child. Not only that he made himself his tutor too, in the arts of diplomacy, but also named him his heir. Little Engelhard is only six years old by this time and he doesn’t understand much of what is happening, and to be honest, no one has the heart to do so. But the king is happy and shines like the sun. So happy, that once his Spymaster told him of a disgusting plot of his wife, which was to kill the Rector of Ragusa, little Zdenka of ten years old now, he forgave her and just told her to stop putting her nose where it doesn’t belong, and did not imprison her. Afterall, she just delivered the son he always desired.
His good mood lasted for months and it made Vlad encourage a new hobby, gardening. Not only he built a gorgeous fountain, but also arranged a beautiful maze, planted exotic plants and placed statues of religious figures around his castle – his new interest will make him a pretty renowned gardener, and in this very same garden he will meet someone pretty interesting – a Breton young guy, that presents himself to be a court healer ready for employment. Yet, the Spymaster will soon find out he is in fact a missionary from Brittany that has been trying to preach the Christian faith to his people. Infuriated by his daring, Vlad gave the order for this man to be executed. Under no circumstance will he upset the Gods. Riualtr has been burned at stake, for all to see and to fear the wreath the king has for infidels that try to preach nonsense to his people!
Six months later, Jarilo blessed Vladimir once again as his wife comes to him and announce her fourth pregnancy, which makes something click in his mind – the more infidels he burns, perhaps… he will be more blessed. Therefore, that day he took the decision of offering the orthodox preacher as a sacrifice to the gods as soon as time permits it, as long as he won’t die by that time in prison. On the 13rd of November, a beautiful girl of Saxon looks has been born. Just like her sister, she will be tutored in diplomacy – but this time by another woman from the court, as Vlad is busy teaching his second and third children. He decided not to let Adelheid teach any of his kids despite her brilliant skills in diplomacy, fearing they might start believing in the Germanic faith and not correct one.
The day Vlad had to put on his armor and ride to battle for the first time came as orthodox neighbors from Dioclea decided to raid his lands. The man was fearless, and with the help of the Gods, he wins the first duel of his life against the High Chief of Dioclea, Godimir. He did not manage to kill him as he wished, but the man was never the same after the beating – he returned home with a black eye and a severe wound that would later get infected… Some people applaud Vlad for his first victory, but some others remained cynical as everybody knows Godimir is an old and fat lord, with no reputable fighting skills. Yet, Vlad returns home even more confident than ever, and to celebrate his victory he honors his promise and offers the orthodox preacher as sacrifice to the gods, as he prays for the wellbeing of his realm. And this decision didn’t go unrewarded, as a few months later the members of the council present the king with an incredible plan that will boost Serbia’s economical development like never before – moment in which Vladimir remembers the fortune teller’s words, about how he will be extremely lucky and thrive and his wishes will come true. This man was perhaps at the peak of his career right now, yet.. just two weeks later, he faces a harsh reality – he becomes impotent, as he is unable to “get up” anymore with his wife. A million questions pop into his head.. it is her? Surely, giving birth to four children won’t let anyone unchanged and she doesn’t have the same body as she had when they married. Is it him? Perhaps the stress that has been adding up these years have finally said their word after all. But this was a tragedy for Vlad… as he wanted nothing else than another child right now! And as a tribal leader, they do not have a place for a healer at the court… at least not a legit one. He knew he had to do something quick, so he assigned a commander that read a few more books than your average 780 AC courtier as his court healer and he’d immediately follow his treatment, which was drink made of several herbs that although tasted gross… they worked! Vlad is now back in business, and Vukasin is not only a court healer now, he’s a just married guy with his pocket full of gold.
Life tries Vladimir once again as he, in the same year as he had that private problem, he is haunted by nightmares in which he relives the many soldiers he slaughtered during the orthodox raids in his realm. In a winter morning he wakes up and starts throwing away with objects around his bedchamber, scaring his wife Adelheid. The stress and the bad memories made Vlad become pretty wrathful, and his new behavior started to show up during council meetings where he just sometime zaps, yet no one has the courage to say anything to him… For some reason, he decides to bully Vukasin, the same guy that gave him the cure for impotency, as he learned that he’s a follower of Morana and not of some other more masculine god. All of the court will have to listen to Vlad’s complaining about how his healer is a measly coward little guy, and as most believe the king, Vukasin’s reputation has to suffer and the ladies won’t like that at all… not even his own wife.
In 783, Engelhard is now 12 years old and is quite talented at intrigue, something that will certainly be useful for him in life. However, as he won’t top his little brother in his father’s eyes, all electors submitted to the king’s will and decided that Vlastimir will be heir instead. Yet, Vlad does everything within his power so that his first son marries well, so a betrothal takes place between Engelhard and the Princess of Vladimir, Slyugan’ka, nicknamed “the Heavenly” for her renowned beauty and surprisingly, also possessed quite the intellect too. Vlad hopes that at least she could give Engelhard children worthy of a royal dynasty.
Perhaps karma finally hit Vlad, or it was just bad luck, as his stress went away and made him become quite… strange. Lunatic even. When he was young, Vladimir was a charming and ambitious young man ready to face the world to fulfill his dreams, yet.. this massive change, going from pretty much a commoner to king, his first son not being the heir he wanted, him having an unwanted affair while drunk, with his spymaster’s wife and having a secret bastard, all the papers and duties, the fight that haunts and gives him nightmares… all of that made Vlad break down and he has lost his mind, for good, at only 40 years old.
Years passed by quick, and Antonia is now 12 years old. Being a decent student in diplomacy, her father wants her to be something even more prestigious than he could ever be – in an imperial court. Therefore, she is promised to the Polish Khagan, Maslaw, who falls in love immediately with her portrait. Vladimir is completely happy with her first princess, who will represent the dynasty in such a prestigious court, and who will give birth to a future Khagan.
In 786, the Arabian Sultan, the king’s friend sends word as he is desperate and needs help – the war against him is going incredibly bad and, at the advice of his new Chancellor, Vlad decides not to send troops, but money instead, as he shouldn’t be openly seen supporting someone of a religion outside his. Either way, the Sultan gladly accepts the money.
At 9^th of June 788, Engelhard becomes a full grown man and marries the princess of Vladimir. Although he showed some talent in intrigue, his skills are barely enough to ever be hired as a spymaster, who further disappoints Vlad. He hopes that at least his grandsons from him will become something better than Engelhard. For this occasion however, the king holds a second Great Tribal Festival, for the sake of his son and also to give a grand welcome to the princess. Vlad remembers how Rashka, his capital used to look like when he first hosted this event… and now it is unrecognizable, in the best sense of the word! Not only his capital city is flourishing, but his other counties as well. Surely, his stewardship skills and the Arabian trade contract had a lot of impact on this achievement. The festival is won by Adelheid the Queen, who amazed everyone with folk stories from her home country and, although everyone is in good spirits… Vlad looks at her with suspicion. What is this woman trying to do? Is she trying to promote her gods instead of ours? He is convinced he took a very wise decision by not letting her tutor their children, and from time to time he gives her doubting looks. And, just by the end of the festival, Antonia becomes 16 of age… however, she completely failed her education, which makes Vlad not disappointed in himself, as her tutor, or in her daughter… but into his wife. What if she had something to do with this? The king is convinced the queen secretly taught her daughter Saxon manners instead of the correct ones.. but there’s no proof. Even if he cannot even start a legitimate fight, he grows colder and colder to his wife, who was once a woman he deeply respected. Antonia stays just a few more days in Serbia before she is sent off to marry the Polish Khagan.
Vlastimir also has his 12nd birthday on 13rd on March 789, and for now he is neither a failure or a grand success in his studies. The king, feeling guilty that he isn’t that skilled in diplomacy and maybe this is why Vlastimir isn’t reaching his potential, hires a tutor to look after him. In addition, his father decided to also plan a betrothal for him, and will specifically look for someone of Slavic religion, so his future wife won’t try to do whatever Adelheid is trying to do. Katerina, the daughter of the deceased reigning Khatun of Bohemia and a Khan is promised to Vlastimir, and the king is especially pleased with this pairing, as Katerina is exceptionally gifted just like him and his heir.. and he seeds his wife in her, but… the young girl is a way better version of Adelheid, from Vlad’s perspective. The king of Serbia goes to sleep happy and relieved, knowing his much loved heir will marry someone worthy of him. He falls asleep… forever, as he dies in his sleep of severe sleep, at 45 years old, in 20^th of August, 789. He is remembered at the “Wise”, people probably wanting to remember his glorious younger days, and not his lunatic episodes.
The legend himself, pretty sigma if you ignore the lunacy
She used to be funnier before her menopause

Found this in an old amsterdamtrader blog comment and thought it was pretty interesting. It seems to be translated with Google Translate which was pretty bad back then, but it's still understandable. Couldn't find the original article in Dutch anymore unfortunately so this will have to do. Quite interesting how they went from pit traders to automated electronic trading.

The Optiver Empire Paul van Riessen, Cees Jan Siersma, Martin Dijkstra October 2009
After the blood red trading year 2008 a lot of private financiers are licking their wounds. Optivers traders came unharmed out the struggle. In fact: thanks to their speedy trading system they made a record profit of nearly three hundred million. How the farmers from the Achterhoek became master of the exchange.
Seven years after the start-up of the Amsterdam exchange ‘the right of the strongest’ still counts. The trader with the biggest mouth, the sharpest elbows and the most effective push of the shoulder has the biggest chances to go home richer at the end of the day. All tricks are pulled out of the closet. So do some of the multi-coloured coats exclusively eat spicy curries, to make sure their competitors are mislead on a crucial moment by a well planned fart. Former exchange director Ulf Doornbos remembers well how he drew yellow cards for such dirty tricks and sometimes he even had to throw people off of the floor. ‘Not all of them knew how to keep themselves standing in the pit. I’ve seen boys who were way faster in calculating than others, but couldn’t get used. They were just snowed under by the attitude on the trading floor.’ Doornbos didn’t have much faith when the then 26 year old Johann Kaemingk and the 35 year old Chris Oomen came to tell they wanted to play along in 1984. ‘They were two very modest boys.’
FARMERS Chris Oomen wanted to become a doctor, but since he couldn’t stand blood, he choose pharmacy. Since making pills gets boring eventually, he applies at Health Insurance Company DSW in 1978. There he grew up very fast. He had quite some money left in the eighties, which he, among other things invested in gold. ‘Until one Friday Afternoon, I couldn’t get rid of my position. Every time I offered the offer price, or wanted to leave the bid price, the prices were simply adjusted. I couldn’t get in or out. Then I found out that the responsible market maker already sat down with a fat cigar in his mouth and didn’t feel like trading anymore. Then I thought: I want to sit, down at the other end.’ He got his buddy Ruud Vlek interested in the idea and together they decided to establish Optiver. ‘That wasn’t that easy,’ says Oomen. ‘In order to get a chair, you needed to be a member of the exchange. And to become a member, you needed a chair. This impasse lasted for two years. By that time the bank Pierson, Heldring & Pierson was willing to give me a chair on loan. That’s how it started.’ Oomen and Vlek got to know Johann Kaemingk via others, who had shortly been working at ABN AMRO back then. With Vlek on the background and Oomen in an advisory role, Kaemingk has to bar on everything. Initially the bruisers don’t take it very seriously on the trading floor, tells Jeroen van Rooden, who was hired as the first trader. ‘We were nothing of course. We were almost literally a lone wolf that had to make sure we kept standing between all the big force of the others. The stock exchange was already a bit fixed and no one was waiting for more players.’ Henk Beltman, who was shortly hired after Rooden by his friend Johann Kaemingk, remembers the plain contempt. ‘Johann and I are from the Achterhoek. The others called us the farmers.’ In fact, the peasants from Optiver are only taken seriously when Pierson takes an interest a short year after the foundation. ‘By then we were able to trade sharply’, says Beltman. ‘The resident class didn’t like that. They had to have it from the big margins, while we on the other hand traded because of our discomfort about the high commissions that were paid to brokers. We shook matters up.’ With the boarding of Pierson, Heldring & Pierson there was finally serious money available. For that time, as the story goes, Kaemingk feels the need to visit the local butcher and baker in his home town Lochem, to ask them to provide money. The ones who said yes back then, are now amongst Hollands richest retailers. Today, Optiver is the country’s most biggest and successful trading company. In 2007 they made a profit of 217 million Euro, last year, under the line, so after the pay out of all prominent bonuses, 295 million Euro remained. It’s Optivers best year ever. ‘Pretty funny actually’, contemplates a former employee. ‘In my days some of the option guys kept big positions themselves and we took big risks. In a year when the entire exchange collapses, they’re supposed to lose a lot of money. If we had a similar crash ten or fifteen years ago, Optiver would have gone bankrupt, same as other parties.’ But luckily for Kaemingk, Oomen and the other employees, who in 1998, after the cancellation of a initial public offering, again all shares pull to themselves, times have changed. In 2002 the last market makers leave the floor and the trading transfers towards the computer screens. The money is still being earned by the purchase and sale of stocks, by which the profit is made by the difference between the bid and offer price. Fast systems, programmed in a way to think like traders, make sure that sequel transactions are made immediately and automatically to cover risks. Whoever does that the fastest – and a milli second of thinking time does make a difference – can’t actually lose. However, if you want to make a lot, than you have to place big volumes, since the margins are minimal. The three hundred million Euro profit of 2008 is therefore the sum of a lot of pocket money. Nowadays, mostly computer nerds instead of market makers make the difference for Optiver. And no other company was able to stand the bending from floor to screen this good. Henk Beltman thanks Kaemingks vision, who as a good chess player is able to think a few steps ahead from the beginning. ‘Honestly, I thought to myself: we do a good job, so why should we be concerned? Let’s try to keep it a bit how it is, then a few people are able to make a living out of it. But Kaemingk always wanted to move forward, he is no pirate who wants to make a quick fortune. He kept on about being focused and disciplined. That meant we were always present at the trading floor.’
MANIPULATION The boys from Optiver remain obvious outsiders. While traders from other companies come together at the end of the day to celebrate their successes or to drink or sniff away the hangover from losing, the Optiver boys keep their cool. Of course, they go for a drink every now and then, but always only with each other and always in moderation. Possibly that also has to do with the fact that Optiver is already in a early stage very critical about what people should be hired. Where other parties if necessary get their traders from the Albert Cuyp, Optiver prefers graduates. ‘Preferably I wanted to hire theoretical physicists, since that’s the most difficult study that exists’, says Oomen. ‘Those are the people who are extremely suitable to build models. To my opinion stock trading is purely technical, as long as there is enough volume. And with the years, this has shown.’ Oomen is looking for smart guys who want to outshine in their business. Mostly the brilliant spirits aren’t in it for the money in the first place. Within Optiver there is no showing off. Even if millions are being earned, employees behave modest and steady manner. ‘I remember the time that a trader licked his bonus cheque and stuck it to the wall’, says a former employee on a base of anonymity. ‘Me remembering this, inclines its seldom. Furthermore, no one showed off with his money. The trader who came to work in a Ferrari after cashing in his bonus received a signal that this didn’t fit in Optiver’s culture.’ Optiver motto ‘behave ordinary’ means also not talking to journalists. The request of cooperation with this article is being decisively declined. The stock exchange director Doorbos also notices the decency of the boys from Optiver. And Johann Kaemingk in particular. ‘Johann is charming, honest and a pleasant human being. ‘Let me say it like this: If I created a rule implicating that certain things weren’t allowed, there were always some people who would just cross the border. Johann never joined them.’ Extra painful is the news in 2008 that Optiver is under suspicion from the American exchange watchdog CFTC saying they manipulated the trading in energy contracts. Not only is the company being sued, but also former Director Bastiaan van Kempen, Manager of the American branch Chris Dowson and Trading Director Randal Meijer, currently CEO. According to the commission they agreed in March 2007 on a recurring basis what is known as the TAS contracts. In those contracts, the price hasn’t been agreed on, since those are being calculated according the average rates from the last minutes of trading. By getting in big or stepping out, Optiver influenced the price in 5 cases, so is the opinion of CFTC. The company is supposed to made a million dollars with this technique, called ‘banging the close’. In order to support their plea that this is a purposeful tactic, the public body publishes intercepted e-mails and sound fragments from listening in, showing the accused discussing the deals. They do discuss it in terms like ‘bullying and whacking the market’. Literally translated: how can we torture, whipping the market. The gentlemen also discuss what to say in case someone asks whether this is a case of manipulation. Although this doesn’t sound entirely proper, insiders doubt if the accusations will survive in court. ‘At that time, we were dealing with the high oil price of 150 dollar a barrel. A lot of people had troubles with it and American politicians told the exchange watchdog to act upon it, since they thought it was all the caused by speculation, says an anonymous share holder of Optiver. ‘This was of course the case. There were a lot of speculators active. And they picked one: Optiver. But probably, what they did is not even illegal. I’m certain that the big American banks worked this way as well. Presumably they made sure a foreign party has been caught. The annoying part is that all traders who ever lost in oil trading, now claim. In America you don’t want lawyers chasing you.’ And indeed: at the moment, three class action cases took legal proceedings against Optiver. One of them is Roberto Gracey, whom over the last years has proceeded with at least three similar cases and is known overall as a privateer. It is uncertain how many people already joined some procedure, but for its own safety Optiver has already reserved seventeen million Euro for the completion of the legal claims.
WHIZ KIDS For journalists and other voyeurs, the accusations are fun to read because in spite of their proper image, Optiver employees turn out to be like ordinary people. So still Dowson daydreams about possessing an even bigger boat. The transcripts handed in as evidence, provide more insight on the proportion of the possession within Optiver. Van Kempen takes in 2007, besides his regular salary of 55 thousand dollar, according to the CFTC, 1.7 million dollar in his share of the profit of Optiver. That’s not all he has to live from, he also regains a bonus. And that isn’t a small one at Optiver. In illustration: in 2006 a HR recruiter told de Volkskrant that new employees are expected to get a bonus of twenty thousand Euro in their first year. After the second year that triples and afterwards the counter continues goes up to even more than €200,000. A lot of people use their bonus to buy shares in their own company, which ties the connection with Optiver. Also good for the team spirit is the habit to not level the traders on their own results but to share the profit resembling with all employees. ‘The fact of bonuses is, if different incomes are put in place, the people who are working towards a shared goal will be prized apart’, says Oomen. Traders need to be prepared at all times to accept loss if this makes a colleague able to make an even bigger profit. At trading company Van der Moolen it works differently: there was it one for one. It’s exactly this culture that created the recent downfall of the company, so claim insiders. Also on another level Optiver does work differently to its competitors. Take All Options from Allard Jakobs. With a profit of 220 million Euro in 2007, he is absolutely not a small player, but he thanks this profit to one deal which made him able to earn 217 million Euro. ‘Allard is absolutely the smartest kid from the year, but also an enormous gambler. This made him go bankrupt before. Although nowadays it went well in several occasions, it can’t be any different than this guy going down’, judges a trader. It’s no big surprise Jakobs wasn’t able to get used to his former employer at Optiver. The questions arise whether he would be employed nowadays. Traders not only have to pass a numerical test (with questions of the level: what is 10,3 divided by 2,8), they also have to take a psychological test. ‘Our people have to have an enormous amount of self-discipline and be able to accept their losses fast. This seems to be easy, but as a matter of fact, is very difficult. If we had two hundred applicants, it was a lot when we hired one or two of them’, clarifies Oomen. He wanted to prevent fortune-hunters from joining the company in an early stage. Other trading companies were less focused on this. Because of this, last year, the Amsterdam market maker Intal went bankrupt when a trader found a way to avoid the alarm systems and took irresponsible positions. Oomen: ’Risk Management is our first priority. And our second, third, fourth and fifth. We have known this for a long time, but other companies just found out in the recent crisis.’ Optiver still needs less and less traders and more IT people. The proportions nowadays is two whiz kids on one trader. They built trading systems with names like The Hammer and F1, that outshine in speed and are able to give an automatic trading price in a split second. Optiver is the most valuable company in the business thanks to this technological lead. This also brings us to the futures risk: you are able to lose a technological lead. This was found out by the Australian branch of the company, where Tibra Trading’s traders knew how to beat Optiver’s systems several times in a row. According to Optiver, who hired private detectives, this was only possible because of the newcomers –all coming from Optiver- stealing the source codes. Evidence exists of employees who, shortly for their departure, sent information on the system to their private e-mail addresses. It’s now up to the judges to decide whether there is enough clues that Tibra deals with stolen technology. The demand for the comparison of the two source codes by experts has already been assigned. In general, these are exciting times, since the Australian judge only has to decide that this is a case of theft or Optiver loses its leading position. And there is the case of competitors who are trying, at own strength, to match the systems. That day is inevitable, as the speed of traders will reach its maximum. Optiver therefore looks for different markets. In the beginning this brought us an example in our own country. Optiver launched trading system TOM in close cooperation with Binck Bank. If clients from Binck want to trade stocks or derivatives that are traded by Optiver as well, both parties can trade outside the exchange. This increases the amount of transaction costs. Competitors were pretty disappointed to only be able to join TOM in more than two years. Optiver was able to create a lead of two years on itself in this subarea. In spite of this cleverness, Optiver is unlikely to beat its profit of 2008. It will probably be known as one of the best years ever, so traders think. ‘We experienced some special circumstances. The exchange moved heavily. It felt like the Wild West, a lot of trading took place and this made us able to earn a lot. But it’s unlikely to experience a year like this again. In the mean time, it’s really quiet on the exchange. Especially with the index going up very slowly, like it’s happening at the moment, with say, half a per cent each day, this is killing for the trading. In Optiver’s case it’s better to drop down very hard.’

I saw this previous post (The Amphisbaena) by u/ThroneofLies190 but I noticed it didn't get as much love as it should. So, I want to take their idea and run with it a bit.
There's been a lot of speculation recently that Mesmer's inspiration comes from a Mesopotamian Deity, Ningishzida. While I agree there are many compelling reasons to make this association, I do not think it fully explains WHO Mesmer actually is, what his goals may be or how he fits into the wider Elden Ring universe.
Enter the Amphisbaena. I believe this creature from Greek mythology provides an alternative source of inspiration for the character of Mesmer AND gives us some context for what Mesmer's role may be in the DLC and what Miquella might want from him.
I want to make a note that I'll be drawing on the link between Elden Ring and ancient alchemy to support some of this theory crafting, so if you haven't already looked into that, I recommend you do so. Otherwise, this post might not make much sense.
What is an Amphisbaena
The amphisbaena is a creature from Greek mythology depicted as a snake with two heads, one at the top and one in the direction of the tail. The name Amphisbaena is a Greek word and means "to go both ways."
The Amphisbaena was sometimes called the Mother of Ants as it was said to eat these creatures.
According to myth, the creature was spawned from blood that dripped from Medusa's head after she had been slain by Perseus.
In Medieval depictions, the Amphisbaena was shown as a horned or dragon-like creature, sometimes with feathered wings or scaled feet.
Of note, is that the Amphisbaena was described as having eyes which glow like candles and had the ability to hypnotise its prey.
In Greek culture the Amphisbaena was said to symbolise duality but more interestingly, conflicting selves existing together and "the seamless merging of opposing ideals."
There are many other references to Amphisbaena being linked to regeneration and its ability to heal as well as its other associations with the desert, heat and fire.
Connections to Elden Ring
Where do I start. . .
Since the DLC has been confirmed as beginning in Mohgwyn's Place, where he arises from Miquella's(?) spilled blood, the fact the Amphisbaena is stated as also being born from spilled blood is a possible allusion to this.
The fact that the Amphisbaena is the Mother of Ants and eats ants is also striking. The Queen Ants drop Numen runes and there's definitely some hints that the DLC will explore Marika's origin story and what that meant for the other Numens.
We also find those same ants in the branches of the Haligtree, near the City of Nokron and of course in Deeproot Depths. All places that either provide information about life in the Lands Between before the creation of the Erdtree and the Lands Between as we know them in the base game (as with the Crucible Knight set and Siluria's Tree in Deeproot Depths) OR are alternatives to the Erdtree itself (the Haligtree). Maybe this is where the Ants (corrupted Numens?) felt most safe.
The golden eyes of Mesmer in the DLC story trailer are a direct like for like reference to the description of the Amphisbaena and the fact in some descriptions it 'hypontised' or mesmerised its prey, speaks for itself.
Alchemy & Mesmer
Finally, the idea of two entities existing in one body is not an unusual idea for Elden Ring as with Marika and Radagon.
There have been lots of theories linking Marika's and Radagon's hermaphroditic existence to the alchemical ideas of the Rebis as well as the Red King and White Queen (Rebis - Wikipedia). In fact there are so many references to not just metals but also amalgamation, transformation and transmutation throughout Elden Ring that it's undeniable (to me at least) that this alchemical mythos is the main inspiration for the game. What is grafting or the creation of the graven mass scholars if not poor attempts at alchemical amalgamation.
So how does Mesmer fit into this? There's a common theme that runs throughout our interactions with Malenia and Miquella and Radagon and Marika.
The red headed aspect of the identity has agency, whereas the white or blonde headed aspect is inert. We only ever hear about Miquella's or Marika's deeds, we never see them take action.
In fact, when we enter the Erdtree Marika must turn to Radagon to defend themselves. We also see this with Malenia who acts as the Blade of Miquella.
It's surprising to me that the Story trailer appears to show Marika creating something similar to a rune arc so this might work to discredit this characterization but maybe it just narrows the scope. Marika cannot 'fight' or react, she merely exists and through that existence, the world changes around her.
This juxtaposition of red and white(gold) as reaction and inertness, Empyrean and Consort, leads me to think a neat twist for the DLC would be having Mesmer as both an empyrean and consort unto himself. Both inert and active at the same time. In alchemical terms he might be what could be considered Cinnabar or mercury sulfide (known for its scarlet hue). This would tie in neatly with the idea of the Amphisbaena, the creature that can go both ways. The seamless integration of two opposites. This combination would also make Mesmer threatening beyond anything we've seen so far or at least the potential to become so.
Crazy speculation
With this in mind, I believe we can infer more about the main plot of the DLC if we treat Mesmer's inspiration as being that of the Amphisbaena.
Firstly, I believe we are witnessing the destruction of the Numens by the first born of Marika and Radagon and their eldest child, Mesmer.
Perhaps letting Mesmer off the leash and witnessing the aftermath was why she/he didn't create another child until it became necessary to do so (and create an empyrean). Even then, the child needed to have its red and white aspects split (Miquella and Malenia). It may be that Mesmer is identical to Radagon and Marika in that there are two aspects of him, with his white gold aspect yet to be revealed.
I also believe Marika needed the sacrifices of the numens to make the Erdtree in a way akin to grafting (perhaps influenced by the Greater Will to do so).
So, Mesmer was seduced by Marika (yes I know but its GRRM remember) to kill the Numen's and then betrayed by her, being left in the Land of Shadow maybe because he was too powerful and potentially a threat to her new order. He might not fully appreciate the betrayal which is why he still calls out to "Mother" in the Gameplay Trailer. The idea of a sociopathic mommy's boy is not an unfamiliar archetype in GRRM's work.
Miquella's role in all this is a little murkier but I believe his intention is to "extract" a new body from Mesmer. Mercury is refined from Cinnabar and it would not surprise me if Miquella's intention all along was to escape his curse by using a viable body. Maybe his attempts to cure his sister was not done out of love but merely a first experiment to remove her rot for this purpose. Failing this, he used her as his blade.
It may be the case that we are being led by Miquella to Mesmer for the purpose of weakening him or making him vulnerable enough for Miquella to subsume.
Mesmer being a tragic figure, used by his mother and then indirectly murdered by his younger brother would certainly be in keeping with From Software's story telling aesthetic.
Final thoughts
I think there are parts of this theory which are quite thin and I haven't really touched on how Saint Trina or the God Slayers fit into all of this. However, I think the links between Mesmer and the Amphisbaena are too strong to simply be a coincidence.
Let me know what y'all think.

My new mechanic will be known as reawakening. This allows them to tap into the legends they were associated with reaching new potential. This power is caused by the third box art legendary which I have not fully decided on as well as the minor legends which are the true legends group. They are basically the pokemon equivalent of Greek legends for example a hydra and this is what these forms are based on. Basically if kyurem is the original dragon blank is the original hydra blank is the original Gorgon, blank is the original pegasus(hint to the starters having these forms). In progression through the game's gym's you get all orbs for each type of legend as Key items the first one and gym determined by your starter. You can equip these to your pokemon as held items similar to z crystals and unlike z moves, the only limit is that you can't have 2 of the same category(and some don't work for certain pokemom). These can cause 2 effects, stat boosts or heal, and change the pokemon's ability to their respective legend's ability. This in some cases may seem more broken than Megas but there is another thing other than having the stone equipped. It is to fulfill certain conditions whether to use a certain move enough times or use it under specific conditions. If anyone is confused about the gimmick then ask what you're confused about. All pokemon from Zanda will be listed as brand affiliate since they are part of my region. Sometimes I might forget but if it looks like it is part of Zanda or I talk about Zanda in context to it then it is probably part of Zanda. I plan on doing a poll to see if people want me to do the starter next or one of the 2 lovers of the current poll. It will give me enough time to do the winner and the Mimikyu regional form and evolution(or just regional form) before it closes. Speaking of which, pokemon based on Greek monsters to some extent so no mimikyu reawakening form.

A study showing the JEWISH roots of Christianity, and how the first Christians were Torah-observant Jews.
Dec 11, 2021: christianity: a sect of judaism! starts at ~33 minutes in.
Notes taken on Jan 17, 2024
Formatting Key
Bible VerseItalicsArticles Number text in verse. Jesus talking. using KJV unless noted otherwiseNotes on the verse Not necessarily relevant to the current class, but still importantArticle link Quote from article {{quote removed later}}
Christianity today is a watered-down, bootlegged version.
Jesus Christ was a devout Jew and his message was from/originated among Judaism.
There were jewish sects during the time of Jesus before he began his ministry. This would make christianity a sect of Judaism. Everybody at the time understood christianity as a sect/denomination of Judaism.
Christ is a latinized version.
The word christianity comes from the gentiles.
Messiah is the transliteration from the Hebrew roots.
True christianity is a sect of judaism.
Judaism: britannica.com

• Judaism, monotheistic religion developed among the ancient Hebrews. Judaism is characterized by a belief in one transcendent God who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, and the Hebrew prophets and by a religious life in accordance with Scriptures and rabbinic traditions. Judaism is the complex phenomenon of a total way of life for the Jewish people, comprising theology, law, and innumerable cultural traditions.
  
• It is a religion.
  
  • monotheistic=belief in one God that you worship
• Anything that comes from this monotheistic religion is a SECT of Judaism
  
• If you are a christian, you are a follow of christ
  
  • Christos is greek for messiah
    • If you follow this person, then you are following a man that was a Jew/Hebrew

Hebrews -> Israelites -> Jews (name progression over time)
It was prophesied that the religion would get corrupted, which is how it came to today. Most things in modern “christianity” are pagan customs that are not originated by the hebrew man.
Jesus is a greek to latin to english word. “Jesus” wasn’t his original name.
Modern day christianity has hidden the Hebrew roots of where their religion comes from.
There is nothing Hebrew about Christmas, Easter, or new years.
What Jesus said about his jewish faith…
Mat 5:17-20 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (19) Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

• Jesus is setting the record straight. He is speaking as a teacher
• For christians today, “fulfill” produces the same results as destroy.
• The second coming is even in the prophets
• “Fulfill” means to carry out
• Paul uses the word “fulfill” a lot to mean carry out
• Jesus is going into his Hebrew roots. God would often use the celestial bodies and how we can depend on them being there, using the dependability, as an analogy of how long something is in effect. (example: Jeremiah 31)
• Jot
  • G2503
    • ἰῶτα
    • iōta
    • ee-o'-tah
    • Of Hebrew origin (the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet); “iota”, the name of the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, put (figuratively) for a very small part of anything: - jot.
  • This is coming from a hebrew word with a “y” sound
  • The tenth letter of the hebrew alphabet: yodh
• Tittle
  • G2762
    • κεραία
    • keraia
    • ker-ah'-yah
    • Feminine of a presumed derivative of the base of G2768; something horn like, that is, (specifically) the apex of a Hebrew letter (figuratively the least particle): - tittle.
  • Apex = top

Mat 5:17-18 NIV “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (18) For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

• Not everything has been accomplished.
  • Heaven and earth are still here.
  • If he did fulfill everything, why are people waiting for the second coming

Mat 5:17-18 NLT “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. (18) I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.
Mat 5:19-20 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

• What commandments are he referencing?
  • Answer: The Law and the Prophets
• Why would you shoot to be the least in anything?
  • Being least here means you don’t enter the kingdom
• The scribes and Pharisees taught the law, but were hypocrites because they didn’t do it.
• If you break the law of moses and teach others to do so as well, you won’t enter the kingdom

The law of moses is associated with the hebrews.
Jesus was white washed. He would have looked much much darker than depictions today.
Mat 8:3-4 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (4) And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

• After jesus healed the man of leprosy, he said to go to the levites and do what Moses commanded
  • (leviticus 13)
  • Jesus is telling the man to go and to what the law says to do when a man with leprosy is cleansed. He is teaching Judaism.

If people were teaching the Jesus of the bible, there would be so many more Jewish converts.
Modern day christianity has nothing to do with the Jews or israel.
“Christians” want to eliminate everything Hebrew about jesus. In the sunday church, they never want to talk about the law of moses, but somehow the tithes survived…
Bear your cross means bear the hardship that comes with following him. He never said to put a literal cross on your neck.
Luk 10:25-28 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? (26) He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? (27) And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. (28) And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

• A lawyer = an expert on the law (of Moses)
• Eternal life = salvation
  • Being part of the resurrection of the just
• He asked because jesus was preaching the message of eternal life
• The man quotes the law to jesus, then jesus says he has answered right
  • These two commandments are always used to summarize the entire law of moses
    • This was mentioned first in the old testament

Even the catholic church acknowledges that the real Jesus was black.
Mat 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

• He equipped them to do this

Mat 10:5-6 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: (6) But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

• Don’t go to the gentiles to heal the sick or whatever; don’t go to the samaritans
• Jesus wanted them to go to Jews/Hebrew Israelites
  • This was just for the beginning
• This is a sect started by a Jew
• It was for the hebrews first
• Jesus taught the gospel and true obedient to the law
  • gospel=good news=the messiah is here

“Christianity” doesn’t want anything to do with the hebrew roots.
At this time, the Samaritans were the most hated in israel…
Joh 4:21-22 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. (22) Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

• He told her (and all the samaritans) that they don’t know what they worship
• Salvation is of the Jews
  • From the Jews

Joh 4:21-22 NIV “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (22) You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

• Jesus said this
  • This salvation is eternal life
  • If you want eternal life, you have to go to the Jews
    • This is, keeping the commandments

Joh 4:21-22 NLT Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. (22) You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.

• Our lord and savior says this

If salvation is through the Jews, why are “christians” following the romans. Everything from modern day christians do comes from the romans. Martin Luther only left because of his issue with the infallibility of the pope. He kept most of the catholic doctrine. The catholic church was the one that promoted the crucifixes and crosses.
Jesus is sending you to his people. He said WE.
The great commission, what he commissioned them to do…
Mat 28:18-19 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

• The mission has now spread beyond just the hebrews; but it still is a jewish religion

Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

• What did jesus command them concerning the law
  • He said to follow it and do it (the law of Moses)
  • This is judaism

“Salvation is of the Jews” means you have to do what the hebrews did.
Not only do you have to do what the Hebrews did, but what the Hebrews that believe in Jesus do. The only people that do this are black hebrew israelites. They are in the right direction.
If you want salvation, you have to go to the real hebrews (or the ones that are teaching the real doctrine).
What christianity was called before it was called this…
Act 9:1-2 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, (2) And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

• He was threatening to have them killed
• “This way”
  • The “this” is italics in KJV

Act 9:2 NIV and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

• It is capitalized
  • Because it is talking about a specific religious believe
  • It is a person, place or thing

Act 9:2 NLT He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.

• They didn’t have a name for it

Act 9:2 NASB and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

• “The Way”
  • Called this before called christianity

“The Way” was a sect of Judaism because it started with the jews and was first preached to the jews.
Act 19:8-9 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. (9) But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

• Divers were hard-headed and didn’t want to know
• “That way”
  • This is what they called the belief

The Laws of Moses is judaism
Act 19:21-23 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. (22) So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season. (23) And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.

• There was a riot that broke out about teaching people of the way

They called the sect “the way”
Act 22:1 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.

• This is paul speaking of his defense

Act 22:3-4 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. (4) And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

• He was a Jew (a blanket word for hebrew israelite in the 1st century)
  • Tarsus is a gentile city
  • Gamaliel is a hebrew teacher
  • Taught of PERFECT manner of the LAW
• He is comparing himself to the other jews
• Paul is giving his whole background
• He says what he did before he was converted
  • He persecuted “the way”

Act 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:

• “The way”
  • His fellow jews called his new belief system heresy
• He believed all things in the law and prophets

First he said “the way” was believing in Jesus and then also believing in the law and prophets.
Thus, THE WAY is belief in the law and prophets AND belief in Jesus.

• The law and the prophets started from the Jews. and it comes from the jews

If you are a true christian, you are another sect of judaism.
People today call the Passover, the eucharist or communion. Communion is in the new testament but it has no hebrew roots. The eucharist or communion is nothing but the Passover. And the Passover started with the Jews. Why don’t christians call it the passover? THEY DON’T WANT ANY HEBREW ROOTS.

• The roman catholic church took over the true faith and bastardized it. This is what it is today. A Jesus Christ completely divorced from his hebrew roots in every way imaginable.

Act 24:22 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter.

• “That way” aka the way
  • Luke keeps referring to the newfound sect as “the way”

One of the labels they were given…
Act 24:1 And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.

• Tertullus was accusing them

Act 24:5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:

• SECT of the Nazarenes
  • Thus, a jewish sect

Act 5:17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

• Sect of the sadducees means it is a religious jewish denomination or a branch
  • A branch grows out of something. They branched from judaism

Act 26:4-5 My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; (5) Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

• They know he believes; he is a jew
• Straitest SECT of the religion
• Pharisees was one sect; sadducees was another; ebonites also

All depictions make Jesus look like a european.
People stripped Jesus of his hebrew heritage. God referred to the law/statutes/commandments as the children of God’s heritage.
Nazareth, Nazarene: Holman Bible Dictionary

• Nazareth did not possess a good reputation, as reflected in the question of Nathanael, himself a Galilean (John 1:46 ). The early church received similar scorn as the Nazarene sect (Acts 24:5 ). Such lack of respect was likely due to an unpolished dialect, a lack of culture, and quite possibly a measure of irreligion and moral laxity.
  
• The early church was the nazarene sect
  
• They received scorn.
  
• (nothing to do with the nazareth vow)
  
• (naz' uh ruhth; naz uh reene') Place name meaning, “branch.” Nazareth did not enjoy a place of prominence until its association with Jesus. It does not appear in the Old Testament. As He became known as “Jesus of Nazareth” (Matthew 26:71; Luke 18:37; Luke 24:19; John 1:45; Acts 2:22; Acts 3:6; Acts 10:38 ), His hometown became fixed in Christian memory.
  
• Nazareth was located in lower Galilee about halfway between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. It lay in the hill country north of the Plain of Esdraelon. The hills formed a natural basin with three sides, but open toward the south. The city was on the slopes of the basin, facing east and southeast. Cana was about five miles to the northeast. A Roman road from Capernaum westward to the coast passed near Nazareth.
  
• Nazareth was in israel
  
• They don’t want to call us Nazarenes because it still takes you back to israel
  
  • This shows the hebrew roots

In Dr. Suess’, the person was trying to force sam I AM to eat ham/pork the whole time, then he finally eats it at the end.

• I AM belongs to God

The Grinch is very pagan, first rejected then was brought back and liked by the children.
Nazarene: Smith Bible Dictionary

• an inhabitant of Nazareth. This appellative is applied to,Jesus in many passages in the New Testament. This name, made striking in so many ways, and which, if first given in scorn, was adopted and gloried in by the disciples, we are told in ( Matthew 2:23 ) possesses a prophetic significance. Its application to Jesus, in consequence of the providential arrangements by which his Parents were led to take up their abode in Nazareth, was the filling out of the predictions in which the promised Messiah is described as a netser i.e. a shoot, sprout , of Jesse, a humble and despised descendant of the decayed royal family. Once, ( Acts 24:5 ) the term Nazarenes is applied to the followers of Jesus by way of contempt. The name still exists in Arabic as the ordinary designation of Christians.
  
• Some arabs still call christians, nazarenes
  

When the disciples were first called christians…
Act 11:19-20 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. (20) And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.

• The ones that were scattered abroad is regarding the believers
• They were preaching the word to JEWS ONLY!
  • This would make it a religion of the Jews.
  • They did this because they were getting persecuted.

Act 11:25-26 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: (26) And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

• Christian just means follower of Christ

Christian: Easton Bible Dictionary

• the name given by the Greeks or Romans, probably in reproach, to the followers of Jesus. It was first used at Antioch. The names by which the disciples were known among themselves were "brethren," "the faithful," "elect," "saints," "believers." But as distinguishing them from the multitude without, the name "Christian" came into use, and was universally accepted. This name occurs but three times in the New Testament ( Acts 11:26 ; 26:28 ; 1 Peter 4:16 ).
  
• They aren’t sure if it was given as an insult or not.
  
• Christian became the more popular name. And by the time the roman empire took over, the belief system was completely bastardized
  
  • It was practiced with idolatry and paganism. The original people were being persecuted.

If you don’t want to accept the hebrew/israel roots, then Jesus doesn’t want anything to do with you.
The whole bible is semitic doctrine.
A study showing the JEWISH roots of Christianity, and how the first Christians were Torah-observant Jews.
Dec 11, 2021: christianity: a sect of judaism! starts at ~33 minutes in.
Notes taken on Jan 17, 2024
Formatting Key
Bible VerseItalicsArticles Number text in verse. Jesus talking. using KJV unless noted otherwiseNotes on the verse Not necessarily relevant to the current class, but still importantArticle link Quote from article {{quote removed later}}

I find considerable confusion abounds when certain terms are used imprecisely. This seems to occur most often in discussions of a particular encyclical, the liturgy, the Pope, particular sins, etc. So I hope this can provide a little clarification for a few of them.

• Valid / Invalid - This is one that maybe results in the most confusion. We speak of validity most often when we speak of the sacraments. Something which is valid has the "intended effect." So a baptism is valid when it is performed using water and the Trinitarian formula or the Eucharist may be invalidly confected in the absence of bread and wine or without a priest, for example.
• Licit / Illicit - You might also think of this in legal terms: lawful/unlawful. This covers a wide range of areas, but essentially anything subject to canon law. Something can be illicit and still valid when talking about the sacraments: a laicized priest that offers absolution does so illicitly, but may still do so validly, which is to say he is in abeyance to Church law, but that the sacrament of penance is still efficacious. A layperson that performed a baptism outside an emergency does so illicitly, but the baptism itself may still be valid if it otherwise conformed to the norms of the sacrament. Masses celebrated by the SSPX, for example, are valid in that the priests possess valid ordination, but illicit as they do not possess the legitimate faculties to celebrate the Mass. Speaking of the Mass, unless we are speaking of actual confection of the Eucharist, we are speaking in terms of licit or illicit, not valid or invalid.
• Regular / Irregular - We're largely dealing with the same territory here as licit and illicit. A marriage might be deemed irregular or a particular Catholic fraternity might be deemed canonically irregular (like the SSPX), but in either case the term indicates a legal deficiency.
• Ordinary / Extraordinary - These terms cover a large swathe of diverse topics, but you might think of this as "usual" and "special case / exception." We might note how St Dismas the Good Thief was a recipient of extraordinary means of salvation as Christ Himself conferred salvation upon him with the ordinary access to the sacraments, chiefly baptism. The Novus Ordo is the ordinary form of the Mass as it is licitly celebrated everywhere in the Roman Rite, whereas the Tridentine Mass is an extraordinary form of the liturgy requiring special permission to be celebrated. The priest is the ordinary minister of Holy Communion, though he may task a lay person as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion (EMHC) to assist with distributing the blessed sacrament.
• Approved / Unapproved - Most often, you'll encounter this language in reference to particular personal devotions / revelations / apparitions / miracles. Approval usually means a particular authority, often a local bishop, conference, or Vatican body has deemed a particular devotion or belief as sufficiently bearing fruit without apparent contradiction to Church teaching. Sometimes the term "worthy of belief" might be employed. In either case, apparitions and devotions are not binding on the faithful and the Church does not definitively or infallibly weigh in on their occurance. The new Vatican guidelines on reports of the supernatural now range from "without objection" to "prohibited / not supernatural" as "approval" has previously generated some confusion. Approval is also frequently used for topics such as Bible translations.
• Grave Mortal / Venial - These speak to the severity of a particular sin. In fact, it is often not possible (perhaps impossible) to conclusively know if one is in mortal sin as opposed to a venial (lesser) sin. What we can determine is if we have committed a sin involving grave matter. Mortal sin requires 1) Grave Matter, 2) Full Knowledge, and 3) Active Consent. The latter two requirements may be only known fully by God, but we are obliged to confess those activities which constitute grave matter (and generally prudent to confess our venial sins as well as they often lead to grave matter).
• Obligation / Recommendation - Essentially "must" vs "should." Depending on your jurisdication, a Friday penance might be obliged or recommended; Sunday Mass is obliged everywhere, while praying the rosary is frequently recommended. Willfully neglecting obligations constitutes sin.
• Roman Latin / Eastern / Church Rite - The Catholic Church is actually comprised of 24 particular churches: the Roman, Coptic, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Armenian, Albanian Greek, Belarusian Greek, Bulgarian Greek, Greek Byzantine, Hungarian Greek, Italo-Albanian, Macedonian Greek, Melkite Greek, Romanian Greek, Russian Greek, Ruthenian Greek, Slovak Greek, Ukranian Greek, Chaldean, Syro-Malabar, Maronite, Syriac, Syro-Malankara, and Greek Croatian and Serbian Catholic Churches. Roman is used interchangably with Latin and it is by far the largest with over 1.2 billion of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics. The other 23 churches are often collectively referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches (and the Latin Church sometimes called the Church of the West for historic reasons). Rites are another term for liturgies and you could broadly divide them between the Latin Rite and the Eastern Rites. While the term Mass is used in the Roman Church, many of the others prefer the term Divine Liturgy. You may also see Rite when speaking of a liturgical expression of a particular order, like the Dominician Rite.

I find considerable confusion abound when certain terms are used imprecisely. This seems to occur most often in discussions of a particular encyclical, the liturgy, the Pope, particular sins, etc. So I hope this can provide a little clarification for a few of them.

• Valid / Invalid - This is one that maybe results in the most confusion. We speak of validity most often when we speak of the sacraments. Something which is valid has the "intended effect." So a baptism is valid when it is performed using water and the Trinitarian formula or the Eucharist may be invalidly confected in the absence of bread and wine or without a priest, for example.
• Licit / Illicit - You might also think of this in legal terms: lawful/unlawful. This covers a wide range of areas, but essentially anything subject to canon law. Something can be illicit and still valid when talking about the sacraments: a laicized priest that offers absolution does so illicitly, but may still do so validly, which is to say he is in abeyance to Church law, but that the sacrament of penance is still efficacious. A layperson that performed a baptism outside an emergency does so illicitly, but the baptism itself may still be valid if it otherwise conformed to the norms of the sacrament. Masses celebrated by the SSPX, for example, are valid in that the priests possess valid ordination, but illicit as they do not possess the legitimate faculties to celebrate the Mass. Speaking of the Mass, unless we are speaking of actual confection of the Eucharist, we are speaking in terms of licit or illicit, not valid or invalid.
• Regular / Irregular - We're largely dealing with the same territory here as licit and illicit. A marriage might be deemed irregular or a particular Catholic fraternity might be deemed canonically irregular (like the SSPX), but in either case the term indicates a legal deficiency.
• Ordinary / Extraordinary - These terms cover a large swathe of diverse topics, but you might think of this as "usual" and "special case / exception." We might note how St Dismas the Good Thief was a recipient of extraordinary means of salvation as Christ Himself conferred salvation upon him with the ordinary access to the sacraments, chiefly baptism. The Novus Ordo is the ordinary form of the Mass as it is licitly celebrated everywhere in the Roman Rite, whereas the Tridentine Mass is an extraordinary form of the liturgy requiring special permission to be celebrated. The priest is the ordinary minister of Holy Communion, though he may task a lay person as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion (EMHC) to assist with distributing the blessed sacrament.
• Approved / Unapproved - Most often, you'll encounter this language in reference to particular personal devotions / revelations / apparitions / miracles. Approval usually means a particular authority, often a local bishop, conference, or Vatican body has deemed a particular devotion or belief as sufficiently bearing fruit without apparent contradiction to Church teaching. Sometimes the term "worthy of belief" might be employed. In either case, apparitions and devotions are not binding on the faithful and the Church does not definitively or infallibly weigh in on their occurance. The new Vatican guidelines on reports of the supernatural now range from "without objection" to "prohibited / not supernatural" as "approval" has previously generated some confusion. Approval is also frequently used for topics such as Bible translations.
• Grave Mortal / Venial - These speak to the severity of a particular sin. In fact, it is often not possible (perhaps impossible) to conclusively know if one is in mortal sin as opposed to a venial (lesser) sin. What we can determine is if we have committed a sin involving grave matter. Mortal sin requires 1) Grave Matter, 2) Full Knowledge, and 3) Active Consent. The latter two requirements may be only known fully by God, but we are obliged to confess those activities which constitute grave matter (and generally prudent to confess our venial sins as well as they often lead to grave matter).
• Obligation / Recommendation - Essentially "must" vs "should." Depending on your jurisdication, a Friday penance might be obliged or recommended; Sunday Mass is obliged everywhere, while praying the rosary is frequently recommended. Willfully neglecting obligations constitutes sin.
• Roman Latin / Eastern / Church Rite - The Catholic Church is actually comprised of 24 particular churches: the Roman, Coptic, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Armenian, Albanian Greek, Belarusian Greek, Bulgarian Greek, Greek Byzantine, Hungarian Greek, Italo-Albanian, Macedonian Greek, Melkite Greek, Romanian Greek, Russian Greek, Ruthenian Greek, Slovak Greek, Ukranian Greek, Chaldean, Syro-Malabar, Maronite, Syriac, Syro-Malankara, and Greek Croatian and Serbian Catholic Churches. Roman is used interchangably with Latin and it is by far the largest with over 1.2 billion of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics. The other 23 churches are often collectively referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches (and the Latin Church sometimes called the Church of the West for historic reasons). Rites are another term for liturgies and you could broadly divide them between the Latin Rite and the Eastern Rites. While the term Mass is used in the Roman Church, many of the others prefer the term Divine Liturgy. You may also see Rite when speaking of a liturgical expression of a particular order, like the Dominician Rite.