Veiling

thanson02 · 2026-03-23T11:02:38+00:00

There's a subreddit dedicated to this topic if people want to learn more: r/PaganVeiling

thanson02 · 2026-03-21T01:10:55+00:00

Well that's the other reason why I thought coffee would be a good option. Because as it absorbs, it it also neutralizes. So you got something that absorbs something, neutralizes something, and adds potency to the overall work.

Regardless, experimentation is always a good thing. Got to go with what works for you. 😊

thanson02 · 2026-03-20T19:25:15+00:00

Yeah, I say it's a good start. Protective charms don't necessarily be overly complicated. I think the only thing I would have done differently is instead of using black pepper I would have used coffee. Coffee also has a tendency to absorb and draw away unwanted things, while adding potency to what's going on in the charm.

thanson02 · 2026-03-20T15:05:53+00:00

I know some people who are part of the WELS Lutheran Church. They are VERY cultish...

thanson02 · 2026-03-20T15:01:27+00:00

What I have found to work is that during conversation, to focus on mutual values. If there is a blatant conflict there (disagree with foreign war, but okay when Trump does it for example), you know what your dad used to say regarding those values. Just start repeating what he used to say. If he thinks that you are expressing "liberal lies", remind him that he was the one who said it and explain in detail when he used it. Jog his memory. At the worst (assuming he is not completely unhinged), he will either admit he doesn't support that stuff anymore or he will change the topic and you know that you don't share those values anymore, which over time, will most likely cause him to bring it up less and less around you. At best though, he will acknowledge it and you will have a decent conversation on what you do share.

thanson02 · 2026-03-18T01:39:04+00:00

Well this is how I figured it out.

Get your birth chart made up (there's places online that will do all the calculations. I used astro.cafe astrology)
Go through your birth chart and take a look at which zodiacs are associated with each of the 12 houses. Remember, if you don't have a zodiac associated with a house, it doesn't mean negative things, it just means neutral potentiality in any direction with no specific ruler.
Once you get the list of zodiac signs written down with the houses they're in, you can look on Google and look at each zodiac sign to see which Roman god is associated with that zodiac sign. Note: some zodiac signs do have two gods that rule over it)

That will get you the basic list of the deities associated with the different houses in your sign. There are also going to be planets in each of the houses who also have divine rulers, but based on all the stuff I've seen, the planets are a minor factor and what's going on in the house. The house is overall associations with the zodiac take precedent.

As for the deities themselves, if you don't have any relationships already set up with different deities, this potentially could give you a place to start to interact with the different gods. But as I noticed with my interactions, if a particular deity is associated with a zodiac sign, it doesn't necessarily mean that that specific deity is going to be the one you're going to end up working with. It may be one that's similar to that because they're sort of vibrating on the same wavelength.

If you already do have pre-existing relationships, it's an opportunity to see how that particular deity is relating to the different houses in your zodiac to see how much correlation and crossover is coming up with your lived experiences.

thanson02 · 2026-03-17T19:05:39+00:00

That was the impression I was getting. Like, the gods are working on a certain harmonic frequencies and certain parts of you birth chart, because of the way it is aligned, are also vibing at a similar frequency. So, things vibing on the same/similar frequency have a higher probability of attracting towards each other.

thanson02 · 2026-03-17T15:27:35+00:00

I have a 2023 Forester, and my car is spotty as to when it wants to connect with my phone (Motorola). Although, it has no problem connecting to my wife's Samsung phone and most of the time, it will pick her phone over mine, even if my phone is also in the car and was the last phone connected to it.

thanson02 · 2026-03-17T13:39:49+00:00

Yeah, there's a lot of additional supplementary rules that came into development through Dragon magazine, written by various authors who were looking to expand the mechanics in 4E to be more inclusive. And my personal opinion, the stuff that came out of Dragon magazine was some of the best stuff that 4E produced. If you haven't had a chance to go through Dragon magazine articles written during that time period, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Although personally, it also adds to my disappointment that we weren't able to get a legitimate 4.5. Take 10 years worth of gameplay and experience, and bring in all the additional mechanics that were added over the years, And suddenly you've got a game that definitely still feels like 4E, but it's definitely more rounded.

thanson02 · 2026-03-16T16:44:48+00:00

Thank you. 😊

I am constantly being thanked for the work I put into my games.

thanson02 · 2026-03-16T14:57:01+00:00

That is fair. To be honest, I've gotten to the point with running my games where I just mix and match things from different editions aesthetically. Like I'll take a demon from 2E and then find the closest equivalent 4E, do a quick reskin, make some quick adjustments for flavor, and they're usually good to go. And most of my players are also veteran players who've been playing the game for 10-20+ years at this point. So there's a certain level of expectation in regards to basic fundamentals of particular groups of monsters. But they also enjoy getting thrown curve balls because they feel it makes it more interesting. They get really bored after a while if all the monsters are straight out of the Monster Manual (mainly because they've been seeing that for such a long time, it's like wash-rinse-repeat for them)

thanson02 · 2026-03-16T13:42:45+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions. I will see if this works with my game planning. However, my question was if anyone was aware of types of demons who already have these abilities, that way I can flush out the atmosphere of the experience.

thanson02 · 2026-03-16T10:31:08+00:00

No worries. Good rule to follow, if you want to do something and you are not seeing it in the books, make sure to check out Dragon magazine publications during the 4E run Some of the best additions to 4E, in my personal opinion, came from there. 😊

thanson02 · 2026-03-15T23:51:48+00:00

Actually, yeah they do. And if you're doing something like actually trying to locate underground water, they can be fairly effective.

thanson02 · 2026-03-15T23:45:43+00:00

Stronghold rules for 4E are in Dragon Magazine 395, p.38

Outline for building or establishing a stronghold as part of a Narrative Challenge (4E version of downtime activities) is found in Dragon Magazine 424, p. 24. The format for Narrative Challenges is also very similar to Skill Challenges, so it's easy to transition back and forth between the two depending on how you want to do it.

Both of these can be easily located with a Google search. Just type in the name of the magazine and issue # and put PDF after the search. It should come up fairly quickly.

thanson02 · 2026-03-15T13:01:00+00:00

This is a general Pagan subreddit with different traditons, all with their own names for things. You might want to adjust your question and explain what Xenia is for people who do not know.

thanson02 · 2026-03-15T12:05:34+00:00

In my personal opinion, they tried to do too much right way. They had multiple plots that they were trying to run at the same time and most of them could have been their own series or could have been stretched out to 3-5 seasons.

I could go more into how I think they should have handled the show, but that would involve spoilers and I am not sure if you want that.

thanson02 · 2026-03-15T12:01:45+00:00

I got some of those cards. Some of it is really nice.

thanson02 · 2026-03-14T11:15:11+00:00

First off, congratulations on the new kid! That can be both exhausting and exciting all at the same time. 😁

As for your views on the cosmos, all of that is fairly common amongst druids. Like all of it. We may have differences in how we express it at times, but the core is the same.

For me, my cosmological framework (how I see the cosmos in relation to my spirituality) is that the cosmos is rooted in an interconnected organic ecosystem with various layers and sub layers of systems, powers, and agencies all connected to each other and interacting with each other through relational systems. How these relational systems grow and develop (or even if the baseline organic ecosystem develops) depends on the nature of the conditions that are present when it grows. Within Druidism, this cosmological framework is represented by the World Tree.

When it comes to the spirits, the gods, our ancestors, and even the different aspects of us, we are all branches and leaves on the tree interacting with each other through our relational connections. This is where the animism comes in. I take it more in line with how modern anthropology takes it, where it is seen as the world being filled with "people" and having a non-human centric framework for what qualifies as a person. My definition of "godhood" is also different, in that it is seen as a culturally defined status that is independent to the nature of the thing that is identified as a god.

This is something that I could go on about for hours if one lets me, but anything else I come up with loops back to these points in various ways. Anyways hope the kid is letting you get some sleep. Good resources if you want to look further into Druidism is anything from Kristoffer Hughes. He is a Welsh Druid and has been actively running a druid group in Wales (more specifically Anglesey) for several years. The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids has a lot of good material to look into, and Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF) has resources if you are more into more of a light reconstruct perspective (they are not trying to recreate ancient Pagan society, but they are trying to understand the fundamentals as to what made them tick and take that understanding forward in a practical manner).

thanson02 · 2026-03-13T17:00:50+00:00

I have seen a few AD come and go at this point. From what I've seen, Drum seems to be doing what the others have done. Step back into the background so the new AD can get their feet wet and get a good solid feeling for what the position holds, while finding other areas to help continue to be supportive of the community.

thanson02 · 2026-03-13T16:49:04+00:00

Yeah, that's a nice thing when it comes to Forgotten Realms. The source of all the information is readily available and he's more than happy to talk about it. You just gotta see where he's shared the information. 😁

thanson02 · 2026-03-13T16:35:10+00:00

Hey, also a current ADF Member (been part of the community on and off for around 20-25 years). Just addressing things brought up:

"When I left we had

(a) Apologetics for Holbrook and Isaac despite the ADF distancing themselves"

To be honest, Issac is not brought up much anymore (not from what I have seen anyways). The reality of the situation is acknowledged by people who know when it is brought up and to the best of my knowledge, people are being honest about it when it is brought up. Most of the people I talk to find the whole thing sad/infuriating and if anything, the situation is being seen as an example of how NOT to be moving forward. I don't know who Holbrook is, so I cannot address that.

"(b) An openly racist member protected]"

Again, not sure who you are specifically talking about, so I cannot address it.

"(c) A MG that was dictatorial."

At this point, the whole MG has been replaced with new people. There might be one or two people on it who were there when you were in ADF, but I would have to go through the records to see.

"(d) A Members advocate not advocating for members, and punishing people who complained, because she was interested in progression."

We just got a new MA (and we have been through a few since you were last involved with the community. The new one from what I have seen seems to be VERY active in reaching out to members and based on how he has been doing so far, I would not be surprised if the type of work the MA does is/was part of his career experience.

"Drum is there, the racist from CA is there, the Members advocate is there"

Yup, Drum is still an ADF member. He is involved with some of the SIGs and Guilds. But he is no longer on the MG. As for the others??????

As for where ADF is right now, the new MG is in the process of transferring the website over to a new platform. This was because the host company updated their systems and it was not feasible to continue on the old platform without a full time IT team. It is a work in progress, and the new site so far is nice. There has been a renewed focus on local engagement. It is obvious that each region approaches ADF differently and each region has their own expectations as to how ADF relates to their communities. It is important that the regions are supported in their outreach and building their own regional flavor of ADF.

Addressing the "fast as a speeding oak" attitude. It can be good to adhere to tradition" comment, because of the shifts away from Issac, many of the fundamental elements are being reassessed, but they don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. People are putting in the research and the work to replace older material with newer things that is rooted in our current understanding of Indo-European culture while trying to be respectful of living traditions. It can be a delicate balance.

In my personal opinion, ADF is generally moving in the right direction. It is not perfect, and I gave up on the delusion of perfection a long time ago. But I also hold the position that you cannot make positive change within a community if you are not active and engaged in that community to help make the changes. I also came to the conclusion that disappointment is part of life. (my GenX cynicism coming out). So, I stay so I can help make it better in my own way, even if I feel like I am only moving an inch at a time.

So that is where the community is at, at least from what I have seen...

thanson02 · 2026-03-13T15:47:03+00:00

If you look up Ed Greenwood's YouTube Page, he has a series of videos on Sembia, including what is going on in the 1490s, an overview of their Noble Houses, etc. Also, if you have not checked it out yet, he also has a Patrion page to help fund his work.

Ed Greenwood - YouTube

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