Jamie S.

You don't need belief. You just need a connection between your emotional state and some larger-than-you *something* in the outside world.

What are gods but people we invented and attached to Too Large concepts, in a way to bring those concepts down to a human-sized level in a way that we could leverage our social understanding, our social "technology", to understand and interact with them.

If I ever had FU levels of money, I'd fund a Journal of Negative Results.

That is, a journal that consisted of nothing other than well-run experiments that failed to produce meaningful results.

ALL data is good data.

YouTube video by La Femme La Femme - Rock Machine (Full Album)

Here, have some music:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKmp...

My proposed holiday, Valentine's Eve, Red Queen's Night is a holiday for grieving relationships, for toasting empty seats to welcome the loss.

The exhale before we inhale again.

We are emotionally impoverished.

#ritual #liminality #folklore #anticonsumerism

We create adjacent holidays to capture whatever we might be missing: Friendsgiving (Nov 22nd), Galentine's Day (Feb 13th), but these are largely secular and social.

We need mythology and lore to really bring a holiday into focus, to give it identity, to give it purpose.

We need more liminal holidays, imo. The commercial world has metabolized events that used to invite introspection, or honoring the dead, or the turning of the year.

That metabolism has left us with a legacy of hollowed out "holidays" that are largely surface level, performative and obligatory.

We need more liminal holidays, imo. The notion of a lead in to V-day that's all about letting go, putting your past behind you, and found family seems like it could work for people. And another spooky themed holiday is always welcome.

Plus, Red Queen has that whole "Off with her head" thing going

Perfect! I was also thinking of pomegranates and red wine.

I'll detail my thoughts more going forward.

Please, share the idea around. Feel free to take ownership of the idea and make it your own thing.

I would love it if this took root and became something that people actually celebrated.

If any of this interests you, reach out. I'd love to chat.

I have a list of other ideas, but that's the vibe. Practices could scale from individual stuff, up to dinners, or even parties.

Anyway, I wanted to get it out of my head and share, because I think it could be fun. Plus, I want more excuses to put up spooky decorations.

5/

There would need to be mythology for the Red Queen herself of course, but I think it'd be more fun to have a bunch of conflicting stories of her origin and purpose so that people could argue about the finer points of who she is.

4/

Model it after folkloric vibes like Halloween. So lots of small occult-adjacent activities and ritualized stuff. Burning candles, destroying unsent letters to whomever you're letting go, or sharing meals with your found family, while toasting the people or situations you're leaving behind.

3/

Where Valentine's Day is all about saccharine lovey dovey stuff, Red Queen's Night would be about letting go of failed relationships (romantic or otherwise) and found family. But do it with spooky vibes. Something to stand in contrast to Valentine's overly commercialized stuff.

2/

So, Red Queen's Night:

For a few years now, I've been toying with a holiday idea that would take place on Feb 13th, "Valentine's Day Eve".

I'd love to capture the spooky vibes of Halloween, but for a mid-winter holiday instead.

1/

Anybody interested in creating a new holiday for February 13th, Valentine's Day Eve?

We can call it Red Queen's Night.

"Nepal will fall, and they will vote for their leadership on Discord three days later!"

YouTube video by Open Reel Ensemble Tape Bowing Ensemble - Open Reel Ensemble

Here, have some music:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaG5...

To think such otherwise brutish creatures would be capable of such creative work just speaks to the deep wonders the world holds if we just pay attention.

On nights of the full and dark moon, Screaming Maws will gather to howl in complex, haunting harmonies that are equally beautiful, unnerving, and moving.

Collisions are frequent, which usually results in bloody wrestling matches, though the wounds largely appear superficial. Winners of these matches usually feed the best, and will lead charges into battle.

Truly terrifying to witness one charging into a fight, ridden by an equally terrifying div (or goblin in my own tongue).

Leadership changes frequently as it seems to come down to screaming matching between members, sometimes charging towards one another to see who will veer off first.

The Screaming Maw are, by and large, knuckle walkers, but are surprisingly nimble and swift, equalling the pace of a horse at a moderate gallop. Of special note, I’ve also witnessed Screaming Maws that allow themselves to be harnessed up and ridden by members of their sibling tribe, the Trap Jaws.

Another one of my goblin tribe write-ups:

Screaming Maw Clan - Minor tribe; Sibling tribe to the Trap Jaw Horde.

Brutish and hulking, even amongst other members of their species. One is reminded of the so-called great apes from far off lands.

We get so caught up in the spectacle of the every day. How do we create and make meaning for ourselves in our lives when everything around us has been commodified?

We have to give up something to bring this world of ours to life.

An individual *can* put up the trappings as a potential buy-in, an invitation, for others to similarly engage.

It's why it's important to put up outdoor decorations displays for others, at least for Halloween.

If you want the ritual, the magic and engagement, then something else has to give. The day still only has 24 hours. Energy is finite. You can't add without subtracting somewhere else.

The question becomes: what are people actually willing to sacrifice? Is what they'd gain worth what they'd lose?

It's how magic happens. We have to create a liminal connection between spaces in order to provide us a path between the everyday and the experience.