Stay Home (if you can) and Cuddle your Pets .

Source:abigail.linn.art

March 23. 2020

I’m spending the day in the chilly basement at my parent’s house in Connecticut. The lighting from extra table lamps collected from around the house is dim, but cozy and what was once used as a dinner table during my childhood is doubling as a desk. This is my makeshift office, “the bunker” as my dad has come to call it, my escape from coronavirus-drenched New York City. I was here last week, I’ll be down here again this week and probably the week after that, too: working, hiding, worrying, looking for answers to the question we’re all asking: how did we get here? How did we get to a place where a mysterious, previously unknown virus is killing people in mass numbers; where we can’t dig graves fast enough for fit all the bodies; where we don’t know when it will be safe to be close to family members again; where doctors are sewing their own masks because there aren’t enough to go around? It’s feeling more like 1820 than 2020 these days. 

Worldwide, nearly everyone is doing the same thing as me: staying put, avoiding other people, and wondering how an invisible enemy hiding in plain sight could send financial markets into freefall, drive thousands from their homes and offices, cancel celebrations large and small, turn lives upside down, and stop the world.  

odinsblog:

“I realized that I am super annoyed, and have been for a long time, with this idea that Bill Gates is some kind of ‘decent human being’ for so-called, ‘giving away’ his fortune. Because that is not what this man does, and a good human being is not what this man is. Bill Gates is a fucking monster. And so I just want to kind of explain why I have so many negative feelings towards Bill Gates.

With everything that’s going on right now with the vaccines, and the fact that most of the world can’t get them, can be traced directly back to that one man. Because back in 2020 when this all started, the world was cooperating. And I think we all remember this. The world was cooperating to study the virus. And scientists all over the world were sharing their findings to discover how the virus works, and they were developing methods for treatment and they were also developing these vaccines at an incredible speed. And they were doing this together in the spring of 2020.

And so by the end of the spring of 2020, the World Health Organization had created a global knowledge base, so that the vaccination effort could be a team effort instead of a competitive race. And their global knowledge base was called C-TAP (COVID-19 Technology Access Pool). And that’s when Bill Gates stepped in, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. What they did is, they created a separate process for managing the world’s COVID response. They called it the ACT-Accelerator (Access to COVID-19 Tools), which is a public-private partnership that included patent protections, so that the companies that figured out the tasks, treatments and vaccines, would be able to keep their discoveries to themselves, prevent other companies from copying them, and profit on vaccines as they sell them around the world. That was the goal of the ACT-Accelerator. It was a competition to the team building approach. So instead of cooperation, Gates sets up this separate thing for corporate competition, with the winners being rewarded with monopoly powers over our vaccines.

And so instead of the technology being figured out and distributed around the world, Gates’ brainchild organization instead created something called COVAX, which buys vaccines from the companies with the monopoly powers over the vaccines. And then they pass out some vaccines to poor countries around the world like a fucking cherry. But even the stated goal of COVAX has always been a weak one. They never intended to distribute more than enough vaccines to vaccinate any more than 20 percent of the populations of low and middle income countries. And they have totally failed to do even that. The vast majority of the vaccines would have to be fought for in the private market by the governments. And at the beginning of April 2021, 130 countries, home to over 2.5 billion people, hadn’t given out a single dose of a vaccine to anyone in their countries.

So, as a human race, I know that here in the United States all of us are able to get the vaccine. Like, great for us, right? But we are not the only humans here that are dealing with the virus. And as humans, we don’t have enough supply because only a handful of companies can [afford to] make the damn things. And Bill Gates is personally responsible for stopping other companies from having access to vaccine instruction manuals. Because that’s what they need. In fact, when the director at Oxford—which is where the science behind the AstraZeneca vaccine was figured out—when Oxford wanted to publish the instruction manual for their vaccine to the public domain for the world to use, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation used their power to pressure Oxford to instead sign an exclusive contract with AstraZeneca, which now has monopoly rights to that vaccine.

Bill Gates and those who are like him are designing global policy on vaccines, so that the private market decides who gets them. And that’s even when the institutions like the World Health Organization, that are generally on board as the administrators of the global economic system based on privatization of everything—even when those institutions are saying, “This is a global pandemic, and this is a time when we as humans should be making an exception to these rules, we should be sharing the technology to end this pandemic instead of putting patents and profits first.”—even when those institutions are saying that, Bill Gates has enough power as one man, to stop the world from doing it. This economic system has created oligarchs that are so rich and so powerful they can shape the fate of the entire world. And the way that that’s possible? Well, Bill Gates, as the founder of Microsoft, he fought politically to protect monopoly patents. This is something he has been a zealot about for the entire time he’s been in the public eye. He used his own patent protections over computer knowledge to become super rich when Microsoft had monopoly powers over their technologies. And then Bill Gates used his wealth to legally bribe politicians with campaign contributions, who then passed laws that created and continually expanded an economic system that funnels the world’s wealth to the richest people on earth. An economic system that funnels the world’s wealth TO HIM. He had so much damn money, thanks to this system, he got to like $150 billion dollars or so. He started a foundation that would spend his money on the things that HE wanted to spend it on. Billions of dollars. And people think that the sun shines out of his ass for this. Like, he’s some kind of noble human being, giving away his savings. But that’s not what this is. When you’re giving out money by the tens of billions, that’s government—just privatized. That’s society altering money. And the way Gates does it? He’s not funding food banks around the world. He’s chosen to use his billions to shape global health policy in a way that protects PATENTS. This insane economic system lets one dude control $150 billion dollars, and has created a situation where so much of our global health research is funded through him, that any organization or individual in the field that dares to challenge the Gates Foundation on drug monopolies will find themselves iced out of funding. And so everybody’s falling in line.

Right now he’s basically using his fortune to act as a volunteer lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry, and he’s been doing this since 1999. He’s using his personal billions—wealth beyond what many governments have—to protect the profits of multinational drug companies, while being branded a hero for donating some drugs to poor countries, to charity wash the entire racket: “Oh he’s giving away all his money! He’s giving away 95 percent of his wealth” … at $150 billion dollars, if he gives away 95 percent of it, he’s still keeping over $7 billion dollars for himself. This guy is a selfish mother fucker. It’s NOT charity. It’s not charity what he’s doing. He’s shaping global policy. He’s governing on his own. His fortune, via the Gates Foundation, stopped the world from sharing information about AIDS treatments two decades ago. And now he’s pulling the same shit with the COVID technologies.

Now this dynamic is being challenged in the World Trade Organization—as it should be—where more than 100 countries, more than half the world is trying to force companies like Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna, to give them the instructions so that they can make their own vaccines and get this pandemic over with. And Moderna is a perfect example of the privatization of government funded science. Because the mRNA technology that is central to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines? That’s been in development since 2016. It’s not new, even though we’re acting like this was invented in the last year. It’s not. They’ve been working on it for years. But it’s an invention of the National Institute of Health, which is otherwise known as OUR GOVERNMENT. So allowing obscene prices and profits for pharmaceutical companies, that did not lead to the research and development that created that amazing technology. It was our tax money that did it. It was our government that did it. We should all be patting ourselves on the back for that because we are the ones who funded it. It wasn’t Moderna, and it wasn’t Pfizer. It was us. The government scientists were working on a vaccine with Moderna for a different Coronavirus, MERS, when they got the information about the COVID virus. And so they were able to quickly tweak the technology they were already working on for 5 years. They gave the instructions for those tweaks to Moderna, and then Moderna did the work of cooking the recipe. But the mRNA technology? THAT’S OURS.

And on top of that, I’ve read every COVID related law, from start to finish. Every word. And starting in early March, 2020, our congress poured billions and billions of our tax money into vaccines. We paid for the raw materials, the clinical trials, we paid for all the renovations needed at the Moderna facilities to make all this happen. Moderna didn’t take on the risk. We taxpayers did. But when the Trump administration signed the contracts with Moderna to be the chefs of the vaccines, they didn’t require Moderna to share the recipes. And so they aren’t sharing. And the Biden administration so far, has sided with the Trump administration and the drug companies, and is refusing to support the effort to lift the patent protections on the vaccines that WE paid to invent. The Biden administration has all the leverage and legal authority it needs to tell these greedy companies, Moderna in particular, to share what we gave them for the good of the world. But instead, the Biden administration is dancing around the edges, choosing instead to donate doses, like a bunch of AstraZeneca ones that we just had stored in some closet somewhere. “Oh we’re donating those! Aren’t we great?” They want to funnel billions of our tax dollars to COVAX, that Gates inspired organization that buys vaccines from the monopoly drug companies, and passes them out to the poor. It’s all charity. But the problem is the monopolies. The problem is requiring the entire world to get the vaccine from these handful of chosen companies, and the ones that can’t afford it have to depend on … charity.

And that’s bullshit.”

-Jennifer Briney

This spell is to be done in a solitary setting but during synchronized times with magical practitioners and witches around the world. The intention of this spell is to offer protection, healing, and security in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is meant to be a simple candle spell ritual so that people of all traditions can feel comfortable performing this in a safe and private setting.

I would recommend reading and reviewing the following sources. 

• “Witchcraft for Coping With Covid-19: Banish, Protect, and Heal” by Cyndi Brannen.

• “Immunity Booster Sigil – Promoting Good Health” by Laura Tempest Zakroff. The “Immunity Booster Sigil” is something that you can draw during this ritual.

• “Coronavirus Anxiety and the Practice of Sitting In Uncertainty” by Lisa Marie Basile.

Important Note

This spell is not meant to be a replacement for healthy lifestyle choices, impeccable hygienic practices, or professional medical attention. Follow trustworthy guidelines put forward by the CDC and the WHO. Currently, many people are practicing social distancing, which means they are staying home as much as possible and avoiding close interaction with large groups of people. Please be mindful to take care of yourself and your household. We are in difficult times and we need to look out for each other – this spell can help spiritually – but if you are experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 please seek professional medical attention. Magic cannot make up for those not following the basic expectations of safety for yourself and others.

Synchronizing Timing Is Tricky

Finding a time that is inclusive the world-round can be a tricky thing to do. That in mind, I am going to suggest two times to do this to try this spell. If you can commit for one of these times, great. If you can commit to doing the ritual twice, for both of these times, fantastic. Or, if there is a different time best suited for you, then that’s fine too. The first time I suggest doing this is at the exact time of the upcoming Equinox where you are – simply begin your ritual at the time of the Equinox, which you can calculate at this site. This will be in the late evening on March 19th for folks in the US, the afternoon on March 20th for folks in Australia, and the wee hours of the morning on March 20th for folks in the UK. If this is too tricky a time to do a ritual, I would also recommend starting this on Sunday, 12pm UTC, when for many the sun is strong or rising.

Preparing for Ritual

Have a space that you can perform this in that is comfortable, clean, clear of clutter, and private. Prepare for your ritual as you would for any other – whether that’s with a purification bath or anointing oil, setting up an altar, burning incense, meditating, lighting candles, and/or creating a crystal grid: do what is appropriate for you to create a safe space to perform magic in. 

What You Will Need

You must have three candles and a piece – I recommend using spell candles if you have them. If you don’t have these exact items use modifications in their place: votive candles, homemade candles, birthday candles, etc.! The goal is to use what you have available.

• 1 White Candle

• 1 Blue Candle

• 1 Green Candle

• An anointing, blessing oil, or a blend you use for candle magic. For this spell I am using a blend of eucalyptus, rosemary, cedarwood, lavender, and frankincense – recipe to follow.

• Candle holders for each candle

• Something small to carve into the candles with (like a toothpick or safety pin – be careful!)

• A piece of paper (letter size or larger) with a picture or drawing of Earth on it

• A pen (I’d recommend using a gold ink, if you don’t have this use your favorite pen).

Opening the Ritual

Begin your ritual with the practices your tradition calls for, whether that is ringing a bell, taking deep breaths (very important right now), singing a song for protection and empowerment, calling your Ancestors, building a crystal grid to work within (I recommend jade, aventurine, larimar, green or blue calcite) , calling specific Gods and Goddesses you work with, calling the Watchtowers, and/or casting a circle. 

Part 1: Crafting Protection

In this part you are going to work with your white candle. Carve the word “PROTECT” into the candle or symbols that represent healing to you. Anoint the candle with your oil. You may also dress it with protective herbs. Hold the candle in your hands and breathe deeply and slowly, envisioning the candle glowing white. As you breathe in and out envision the light growing to encapsulate you, then your house, then your town, your country, and the planet. Hold in your mind’s eye the visual of a white light protective shield. Feel it creating a boundary between yourself and the virus. Open your eyes, light the candle, and say the following:

“I light this candle to protect those from harm. I see white light blocking Covid-19 from those I know, from those I love, from those I do not know, from those around the world. White light surrounds those who are vulnerable to illness, white light surrounds those who are concerned about becoming ill, and white light surrounds all of in need of protection from this virus! I am protected, together we are protected, so mote it be!”

Part 2: Crafting Healing

In this part you are going to work with your blue candle. Carve the word “HEAL” into the candle, or symbols that represent healing to you. Anoint the candle with your oil. You may also dress it with healing herbs. Hold the candle in your hands and breathe deeply and slowly, envisioning the candle glowing blue. As you breathe in and out envision the light growing to encapsulate you, then your house, then your town, your country, and the planet. Hold in your mind’s eye the visual of a blue light healing energy. Feel it creating a soothing and healing energy through your body. Open your eyes, light the candle, and say the following:

“I light this candle to heal those who are ill. I see blue light filling surround those who are sick, those who are battling Covid-19. Blue light surrounds those who are in need of healing energy. Blue light surrounds those who need to boost their immunity. Blue light surrounds all of those who desire peace of mind and a healthy body. And, blue light surrounds our planet Earth, which needs healing during these times as well. Blue light offers us soothing comfort and healing to prevail. I am healed, together we are healed, so mote it be!” 

Part 3: Crafting Security

In this part you are going to work with your green candle. Carve the word “SECURITY” into the candle, or symbols that represent security (financial, or otherwise) to you. Anoint the candle with oil. You may also dress it with herbs of prosperity and/or the element of earth. Hold the candle in your hands and breathe deeply and slowly, envisioning the candle glowing green. As you breathe in and out envision the light growing to encapsulate you, then your house, then your town, your country, and the planet. Hold in your mind’s eye the visual of a green security blanket. Feel it grounding you, rooting you into planet earth where you dwell in balance and harmony. Open your eyes, light the candle, and say the following: 

“I light this candle to offer security to communities who are in need during these troubled times. I see green light growing around those whose jobs were impacted and need financial support, around those who must continue to work in public, to those who are anxious about insurance coverage. Green light surrounds those who in the medical and service industries. Green light surrounds those who need financial prosperity. Green light surrounds all of those who need to feel comfort and security. I am secure, together we are secure, so mote it be!”

Part 4: Completing with a blessing

Take your piece of paper with Earth drawn on it. Using your pen, write well wishes, intentions for healing, personal needs, or expressions of gratitude to others. You can use the Immunity Sigil or enchant with others symbols that are important to you to protect against Covid-19, heal those suffering from Covid-19, and support those who are in need due to Covid-19. Or, you can write the words “Protected! Healed! Secured!” repeatedly. 

When you are done working with this paper, fold it trifold style (like a letter) twice. If you’d like to seal the paper it closed, pour a very small amount of wax on to the second-to-last fold. Fold the final flap over it. Tuck it somewhere important – whether it be on your altar, under healing crystals, or near your candles. If you are performing this outdoors by a bonfire or by your hearth you can cast it into the hearth.

Announce the following: “Even though there is distance between us I send you all blessings of protection, health, and security. Please accept this as a petition for global peace and healing. So mote it be!”

Closing

During your closing, take a moment to think about those you are grateful for. Look at your candles and thank those you are grateful for. Close your ritual as your tradition calls, whether this be with clapping, laughing, singing, meditation, deep breaths, opening the circle, bidding the Watchtowers/Gods/Goddesses/Ancestors farewell and thank you, or so on. Allow the candles to burn down on their own, ensuring they are in a safe space!

A special thank you:

Thank you to Tonya Brown, writer and editor of Witch Way Magazine, for reading this.

The photograph is creative commons, but from photographer David Boca. 

And, thank you to all of those who plan on doing this spell.

Written by Kiki Dombrowski, March 17, 2020

Hey I haven’t been around on Tumblr for a while. Life is crazy and shit.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been working on all weekend. I wanted to make pocket masks for everyone along the lines of this tutorial, but my sewing skills are only intermediate. So I altered it and wrote it up. This is a pocket mask instruction sheet for basic sewers. It doesn’t matter what color thread you use or if you can’t sew super straight, because this is a turn-it-inside-out design where you won’t see any of the seams anyway! Here you go. Hope you find this useful. While this will be faster if you use a sewing machine (I’m trying to turn 10-20 of these out per day) you can also quite easily substitute hand sewing.

What you will need:

• Breathable 100% cotton fabric. Examples: Muslin, cotton jersey, lightweight linen. An old bedsheet, pillowcase or T-shirt will work fine as long as the fabric is loosely woven, breathable, and smooth enough to hold against your face for extended periods of time. It should be 100% cotton so that it can be washed at high temperatures after every use and still hold up. See this link for more info: https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/
• Elastic: ½ inch elastic, Dritz brand. Can be substituted with flat ribbon ties if necessary.
• Filter fabric. This can range from very good filtration (surgical melt-blown non-woven fabric) to good (vacuum cleaner bag filter) to mediocre (craft felt) to desperate but probably better than nothing (paper towels, toilet paper).
• Nose wire (optional). Garden wire or aluminum craft wire suggested, must be bendable and non-tarnish/waterproof.
• Sewing materials: ruler, scissor, needle, thread (any color), pins.
• Suggested: a piece of cardboard, an ironing board and iron to flatten pleats and folds as you work.

Exact dimensions of all necessary material:

• 9”x17” breathable cotton fabric
• 11” of ½ inch width elastic band (substitute: two 16” flat ties)
• 8” of ½ inch width elastic band  (substitute: two 12” flat ties)
• 4” nose wire (optional). 
• 8”x5” filter material (thick nonwoven fabric as described above)

Instructions. See images for illustrations.

1. Start off with a 9x17 sheet of cotton fabric.
2. Fold it roughly in half but create an overlap of two inches.
3. Fold the top over so there is still a distance of two inches maintained.
4. Fold the bottom two inches up on top and pin it in place. This will create a kind of flap pocket which we will use to a) turn it inside out when we’re done b) place and hold in the filter material.
5. You can get rid of the piece of cardboard now. Move the upper fabric edge until it is one-third of the way to the top edge, while the fabric edge underneath is about half the way down.
6. Flip the fabric over, making sure to keep the top folded edge on top. This will become the front of the mask once you are done sewing and turn it inside out. Now you need to create the pleats. It might be helpful to mark off every .75 inches to get started on the pleats, but this is optional. You can probably just do the four front pleats by feel.
7. Reach your fingers inside the fabric tube and pleat the front of the fabric tube. Create about four pleat folds. The pleats should point upwards, because when you turn this inside out again at the final step, they need to face downwards. As you create the pleats, work the bottom of the fabric upwards while keeping the top the same.
8. There should be at least 1.5 inches of unpleated fabric at the top. Once it looks right, pin the pleats in place. If you’re having trouble creating the pleats without wrinkling the fabric in the back of the fabric tube, try putting a piece of cardboard back between the two layers while you create the pleats.
9. You can now take out the horizontal pins that are holding the overlapping flap in place, because the vertical pins are holding the folds steady now.
10. Then sew the sides closed. Sew it close to the edge and make sure to leave at least 1.5 inches on the top and bottom, because that is where you will put the elastic. This seam doesn’t have to be perfect because it’s not the main seam anyway, it’s just to keep the pleats in place while we work on the rest of the mask. Take out the vertical pins after you’re done sewing.
11. Now take the top ½ inch of the mask and fold it backwards. This is not a pleat, this is just to create a small padded pocket for you to place the optional nose wire. Pin the fold in place if you need to, although if you’re using a sewing machine you might not need to even pin it as you sew it.
12. Sew the pocket in place along its bottom edge but DO NOT SEW ALL THE WAY ACROSS. Only sew the central 5 inches and leave a couple inches on either side. That way you can guide the wire in. Don’t worry about the thread, it will not be visible once we turn this inside out.
13. Flip back to the front. Now we are ready to place the elastic. The top elastic is 11 inches and the bottom is 8. This is a comfortable size for most adults and older children. This design can be altered to make earloop masks as well, but those will require a different and lighter kind of elastic. If you don’t have elastic, substitute two 16” flat ribbon ties for the top corners and two 12” ribbon ties for the bottom corners.
14. Guide the elastic bands inside using the flap opening in the back and line them on the left corners. Make sure that the 11 inch is on top and the 8 inch is on bottom. Line them up by feel and try not to get them twisted. If you do find out they’re twisted after sewing them in place, the mask will still work but you will be very annoyed.
15. We are going to place the elastic INSIDE the pocket. That way when we turn the whole thing inside out it will also go inside out and the right way around.
16. When the elastic is lined up, pin the elastic into place on the top left and bottom left corner.
17. You can’t see the elastic but it’s there, tucked between the two layers and lined up with the outside edge.
18. Now that the elastic is safely pinned in place, sew the main left seam. This should be generous, about an inch from the edge, and a very solid seam. Go back and forth on the corners to make sure the elastic is securely sewed in.
19. Now you need to pin the RIGHT edges of the elastic into the right corners of the mask and sew them in with a solid seam. This is kind of tricky because you need to make sure the elastic band is flat and not twisted. Also, because the lower band is shorter than the mask itself, it will cause the lower part of the mask to bunch up a little bit.
20. Now sew the right seam.
21. You’re basically done! All you need to do now is remove the pins, reach inside the back opening and turn the mask completely inside out. No visible seams!
22. Insert the filter into the mask using the back pocket. For the filter we are using an 8x5 inch piece of felt. The idea of this mask is that while the pocket itself won’t stop many particles, the filter will. After every use, the filter should be discarded and the mask should be sanitized (suggestion: throw it in a mesh bag and put it through the washer, then hang dry it).
23. Optional: guide a four inch wire into the nose wire pocket at the top of the mask. This green wire is actually “rose wire” for tying back roses and other shrubs. This will ensure a good fit at the top of the mask.
24. Put on the mask and shape the optional nose wire to the shape of your nose.

Día 2 de la cuarentena: ya extraño a mi ex.

Personal experience time-

With online learning in effect, it is easier to show off student’s work. It may be a helpful tool for the student and the rest of the class. However, when it surpasses the wish of the student, that’s when it is not helpful. It could stress them out and make them feel unwell. This happened to me. I wasn’t asked to show my work, the teacher just did it. I got a 50/100 (figure the actual grade from there, if you wish.) and the class started correcting it. The teacher tried to include me with the corrections, but as a person who has social anxiety this made me feel dread. Even though it wasn’t his intention to do so, it was a matter that he didn’t consider about how the student (me) felt. I actually left the class “early” because I wasn’t going to deal with that snakeshit. Listen, It’s fine if the teacher corrects and helps you personally, it’s actually really helpful. But In front of everyone else, OP says no. I actually always felt really anxious in his class, but this one took the cake

This was French for your information **

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thank God that shitshow of a year is over!

President Xi Jingping brings Coronavirus to us all.