Natalya Alas ☿ 𓁛𓁿𓁞 ♄

Today Dada Daagbo Hounon Houna II installed Legba Agbodjowounkoki at the entrance to my abode. Facing the four directions, all who wish to cross the threshold acknowledge this Legba before proceeding. 2026 marks 10 years since my initiation into Vodun Hwendo. March marks 6 living at the temple.

A cluster of irises, with pale purple petals, and vivid yellow stamens.

Greek myths attribute the iris to Hera, along with the pomegranate, poppy, dittany, and white lily. In 1879, Miss Carruthers noted that all these flowers were later transferred to the Virgin Mary.

In Mrs Burke's 1867 Illustrated Language of Flowers dictionary, the iris meant 'message'!

Solidarity with the people of Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and all standing up to imperialist tyranny.

Boot-shaped Rubin Observatory with long white service building and angular silver dome beneath a starry night sky. Above Rubin, the Pleiades shine like a collection of about a dozen bright blue stars.

In the glittering sky above Rubin Observatory shines the Pleiades, or M45: an open star cluster with at least a thousand stars!✨

You don't need to be under some of the clearest skies on Earth (like Rubin is) to see M45! It's visible from October through April from most latitudes. 🌎 🔭

Night sky with the bright stars of Orion and the brightest star caught between branches of a Joshua tree is Sirius.

Last week, EarthSky friend Jeremy Evans caught Sirius - the brightest star in the night sky - shining through a Joshua tree in Death Valley National Park, California, beneath the beloved constellation #Orion. Thank you, Jeremy! 🌟

See more stellar photos at ecp.earthsky.org.

Eclipse Magic and Taboos YouTube video by Orphic Astrology

Eclipse Magic & Taboos

youtu.be/w8h8vdrzF1c?...

a LOT of people don't want liberation, they want privilege

Critical times require a critical lens.

I know my heart, I have gained power over my heart, I have gained power over my two hands and arms, I have gained power over my feet, I have gained the power to do what pleaseth my Ka. (BDB)

A beautifully carved owl from ancient Egypt. It is the hieroglyph for the letter "M". It is unpainted limestone.

Happy #SuperbOwl🦉 Sunday! This is one of my favorite examples from ancient Egypt, the letter "M". Share your favorite Superb Owls.

How Michael Parenti helped clarify the class war With the death of Marxist thinker and anti-imperialist advocate Michael Parenti, many on the left have been reflecting on his life. For anyone committed to the working class struggle, Michael Parenti represented a strong voice against fascism and U.S. imperialism in an academic landscape dominated by State Department mouthpieces.  I read Parenti for the first time in the autumn of 2016 at the ripe age of 23.

How Michael Parenti helped clarify the class war

With the death of Marxist thinker and anti-imperialist advocate Michael Parenti, many on the left have been reflecting on his life. For anyone committed to the working class struggle, Michael Parenti represented a strong voice against fascism and…

Spirits of the Crossroads coming through::::::: boop!

Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1) Astronomy
2) African Cinema
3) Japanese Cinema
4) 16mm Film Production
5) Sanskrit

The Sluts Will Save Us: The Minneapolis Sex Shop Resisting ICE Smitten Kitten, a sex shop in Minneapolis, has become an unlikely community hub for people protesting ICE.

the sluts WILL save us.

That is really interesting! Looking him up, this quote struck me for his Jupiter-Mars in Aqua:

”Psychotherapy theory turns it all on you: you are the one who is wrong. If a kid is having trouble or is discouraged, the problem is not just inside the kid; it's also in the system, the society.”

Because the affliction can represent some experience that leads to seeing through cultural icons, religious or other leaders' facades, if that makes sense. I've seen it in a number of case studies, so the quote you shared of his insights really piqued my interest.

Used James Hollis Books | PangoBooks Save big by buying James Hollis books from readers like you on PangoBooks, including Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, Swamplands of the Soul, Why Good People Do Bad Things and Tracking the ...

This date came up: 14 Dec 1940. If that's correct, he was born with Jupiter Rx conj (but separating from) Saturn Rx opposing by sign Mars-Venus, which I think is interesting because I have a theory about afflicted Jupiters seeing through icons, religious figures etc

pangobooks.com/author/james...

Far beyond the realms of our own Milky Way galaxy lies the large galaxy cluster Abell 1060, beautifully framed by a brilliant pair of orange giant stars. This is a rich cluster located 158 million light years away in the southern constellation Hydra. Abell 1060 is also the brightest galaxy cluster in the Hydra Supercluster, which is 100 million light years long and also contains the nearer Antlia Cluster. The field of view is aimed on the cluster's core where a dominant pair of giant ellipticals are visible in between the two bright stars. The brightest star is HR4162; a fifth magnitude red giant star some 490 light years away, and the other is HD 91964; an orange giant of magnitude 6.50 lying 1000 light years distant. The brightest of the two giant elliptical galaxies, NGC 3311, has a noticeable large asymmetrical halo that seems to also envelop its neighbour NGC 3309. The large bluish galaxy further towards the upper right is the spiral NGC 3312 which is viewed somewhat from the edge, and appears distorted by gravitational interactions with other members of the cluster. Several bright knots of pink HII regions are visible in the spiral arms, possibly triggered by close encounters with other galaxies in the past. Further towards the right lies NGC 3316, a beautiful SB type galaxy with a huge central bar structure and what appears almost as a ring shaped halo. Near the top of the frame is the most unusual feature of this cluster; the overlapping galaxy pair NGC 3314. Her...

The Hydra Cluster (Abell 1060) - From Rolf Wahl Olsen - https://flic.kr/p/Vym1ga

Cover of the book: a read background with two skeletons laid out. Title reads 'Killing the dead: vampire epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World'.

From ancient Mesopotamia to the present day, fears of the restless dead coming back to cause mayhem have abounded. 'Killing the Dead' explores the ways bodies were treated around the world to prevent them from coming back 💀

🆓 in our #NewBookChronicle doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

no dear employer I don't want to go to "ai bootcamp"

i’m fascinated by this new strategy wjere multiple ai company CEOs have been going on tears tours this year so far complaining about how anti ai sentiment has hurt their businesses

Photo of a blue lapis lazuli cylinder seal that is broken, shown from two sides. On the left it looks almost complete, like a cylinder that has a chip at the bottom left. Part of a cuneiform inscription is visible on the left side. On the right of the image is the other side which is more broken, just a fragment. Part of the image of a person is visible.

You may have heard of Enheduanna, the princess, priestess, and poet who is also the earliest named author in history.

Well, a tiny broken artefact made of lapis lazuli preserves the name of Ilum-pālil, her hairdresser. It is a fragmentary cylinder seal, excavated from a tomb in the city of Ur.

Rice students expose ICE raids with new interactive map It's a nationwide digital spotlight on ICE arrests and detention centers.

It's a nationwide digital spotlight on ICE arrests and detention centers.

Does a “reform” further empower your enemies or take power and resources away from them? Some of you need to sit with this question.

ICE are alllll over Harlem right now, 116 & Frederick Douglass, checking IDs and targeting the area’s African community. Multiple people have been detained.

Community members are advising folks to carry citizenship documents - or stay away if they are at risk

Preorder The Edge of Space-Time by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein by 3/30 to Receive a Signed, Personalized copy! ON SALE 4/7/2026 loyaltybookstores.com/preordersspacetime featuring a photo of me, the loyalty logo and the cover of the book

!!!BOOK NEWS!!!

Do you want a signed copy of *The Edge of Space-Time*? Do you want to support a queer/Black and Asian-owned bookstore?

Through 30 March, if you preorder from @loyaltybooks.bsky.social, you are guaranteed a signed AND personalized copy:
loyaltybookstores.com/preordersspa...

😻 📚💙

This is excitinggggggg!!

Today we continue reading 'The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science' by Kevin Van Bladel, picking up with Ch. 5.2 'Hermes the Lawgiver: Hermes as presented by al-Mubassir ibn Fattik'

Time: 18.00 UTC or 19.00 CET / 1PM EDT / 10AM PDT

(Check my Patreon or Discord for zoom link!)

Watching the replay of The People's Forum's class,

The Battle for History: Why Trump wants to Erase the Past

--first part of the series on the Hidden Histories of Rebellion in the U.S.: politicaleducation.peoplesforum.org/histrebellio...

A lot of useful commentary since posting this.

I've since uninstalled Brave due to its liability with CEO Brendan Eich, which I was not aware of.

Others are highly recommending DuckDuckGo (also linked above but has some controversy) and Vivaldi (also on the list).

Thanks everyone for your input!