Zalka Csenge Virág (@fabulatrix) — Bluesky Profile

4 months ago

I loggen on here (from Mastodon) to say I squealed out loud when I saw you are publishing this 🥰🥰🥰

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5 months ago

Romanised Pali manuscript of the Lokapannati

Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India
p. 60
Bhoota Vahana Yanta
Bhoota Vahana Yanta means “spirit movement machine.” The term is used
for several varieties of robot drone assassins and sword-wielding machine-
men mentioned in the Lokapannati, a Pali-language text written between
1000 and 1200 CE by Saddhammaghosa of Thaton, but concerning
events that took place much earlier, around 500 to 200 BCE.
According to the story, robots were first invented by engineers of the
early Roman Republic. These robots were used for commerce, in agriculture,
as a police force, and as executioners. The secret of how to build these
spirit-engines was fiercely protected. If any engineer dared to take the designs
out of the city, one of his own executioner robots would come after
him and kill him.
At that time, in Pataliputra (then in the kingdom of Magadha, now
Patna in the state of Bihar), there lived a young man who had heard of the
Romans’ magical androids. He became so determined to learn the secrets
of their manufacture and share them with the people of Magadha that he
arranged his own death. Then, on his deathbed, he vowed to be reincarnated
as a Roman.
This indeed took place. In his new life, the man grew up to join the
Roman guild of engineers. He even married the daughter of the Master
Robot-Maker, and had a son by her.
Once he learned the secrets of the Bhoota Vahana Yanta, the man resolved
to transfer the information back to Pataliputra. But he was well
aware that now, since he was a member of the guild, he would be killed as
soon as he left. So he cut a gash in his thigh, inserted the plans in his flesh,
and sewed the wound back up.

When I was researching my book Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India, I learned of a 1000-year-old myth about Roman tech being used to build killer robots to guard the Buddha's remains in Pataliputra, and a Hungarian folklorist read my book & got excited about it, & she managed to dig up a🧵(1/3)

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5 months ago

And while on the topic of pop culture: I am deeply angry that Exceptional X-men and Nyx got slashed so soon. No one cares about yet another post-apocalyptic storyline. Let the new mutant teens do their new mutant teen things in peace. Jeebus.

😡
#comics #Marvel #Xmen

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5 months ago

Also, what was people's problem with Marvel's #Echo series? I am only starting it but I really like it ao far. Also, epic fight scenes.

#Marvel #TV #TVShows

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5 months ago

Season 2 of #GenV is off to a strong start

All I'm saying is if they do something to Jordan I'm gonna lose my shit

#TV #TheBoys #TVShows

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5 months ago

Oil painting: Disappointed Love. By Francis Danby. 1821.

💫This week's theme is breakups! Join us Wednesday for #LegendaryWednesday with your romantic anguish legends, your lost lover tales, divorce traditions, grief rituals, heartbreaks, & sorrowful deities. Share a #legend #folklore #quote #fairytale #poetry #film #art #mythology

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6 months ago

Okay unsolicited #Xmen opinion:

If you are hating on Exceptional X-men because you think "the Uncanny X-men teens could beat them", then congratulations, you have missed the points of BOTH series by a mile.

I said what I said.

#ExceptionalXmen #UncannyXmen #comics #Marvel

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6 months ago

Oracle card titled One More Spoon. Featuring a photo of an intricately lace-patterned decorative metal spoon, and several clear crystals

Look :) I got one more spoon

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6 months ago

Hungarian #FolktaleMoment

I just found a folktale that explains why dogs like to eat plums, and cats like to eat mushrooms.

Dog and cat owners, is this a thing?...

#folklore #folktales #cats #dogs #pets

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6 months ago

I don't have it yet, but it's from the Spirit Carrier Oracle

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6 months ago

Incidentally, I just got another card titled "One More Spoon" 😄

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6 months ago

Spectrum Seeker Tarot
It's pretty cool isn't it :D :D

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7 months ago

A tarot card featuring Smokey the Bear sitting on a throne of logs. In one paw he holds a shovel, in the other an apple, and there is a squirrel at his feet. There is a rainbow in the background, and the card is scattered with holographic shiny rainbow colored sparkles.

I finally found an Emperor card I can get behind.

#tarot #MagpieTarot #shiny #cards

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7 months ago

Oil painting of two humans and a dog asleep by a lake with four swans in the background. One human is blond, dressed in white and a rose and green overcoat while the other has dark hair and a white dress with a light blue overcoat. The scene is peaceful and quiet.

Hello, Myth Lovers! Join us Monday for the theme: SLEEP! Which myths feature sleep or slumbering? Write out your story and use the hashtag #MythologyMonday for boosts. If joining from BlueSky: follow @ap.brid.gy so we can interact with your posts. See you […]

[Original post on thefolklore.cafe]

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7 months ago

Photo of 20 tarot cards from various decks spread out on a desk. They represent different art syles from cartoon through embroidery to art nouveau

Two Strength cards from two different tarot decks. One is a collage style card with the vintage photo of a sturdy woman in a pink Victorian (?) dress, with red flowers in her hair, holding a large shark and a snake in her hands. The other is a realistic digital art style card featuring a black man and a lion in a cyberpunk type setting. Both have variois bits of tech built in, including what looks like a prosthetic leg for the man, and the lion has elaborate antlers.

New #MagpieTarot haul came in 😊😊 I am having a great time with this new hobby. And people are very sweet and they send extra cards and stickers along. Such a fun community.

And look at my two new favorite Strength cards!

#tarot

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7 months ago

Also hello fellow #ttrpg players 😊
My top favorite games are:

1. Changeling: The Dreaming
2. Scion
3. 7th Sea
4. Werewolf: The Apocalypse
5. Imma put D&D here because that's mostly what we play 😀

#gaming #games #DnD #WoD

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7 months ago

a zodiac circle with the signs of the zodiac inside ALT: a zodiac circle with the signs of the zodiac inside

Thank you for this week's banquet of #FolkyFriday posts! 🖤

Next Friday on the 15/8 the Perseid Meteor Shower will be a feature of the night sky - the 'House of Perseus.'

Our theme then will be 'Celestial Folklore.'

Tag related lore, art and customs #FolkyFriday for shares from 10am-6pm UK time!

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7 months ago

My favorite thing about Bluesky so far: There are actual Changeling: The Dreaming fans around here!! I have been so alone for so many years...

#ttrpg #CtD #Changeling #gaming

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7 months ago

Alt: A Tumblr exchange. First user, binah-lance, quotes: “You just want every fictional character to be gay!” and replies, “No, of course not, don’t be silly. That would be unrealistic. I want a lot of them to be lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, and asexual, too.” Second user, nurikokairu, responds: “Yeah, exactly. People aren’t just either straight or homosexual.”

Finding films and television shows that portray authentic queerness—rather than a checkbox version of it—can feel like searching for a rare mineral. Too often, LGBTQ+ representation is shaped to reassure straight audiences: the “safe” queer character, the “palatable” romance, the neatly tied arc that doesn’t disrupt the dominant cultural frame. We end up with identities as set dressing, or characters whose queerness exists solely in a subtext that’s whispered rather than spoken aloud. The industry congratulates itself for “inclusion” while keeping queerness comfortably on the sidelines.

When we do get explicitly queer stories, they’re frequently filtered through the lens of trauma, tragedy, or the straight gaze. Joyful, messy, ordinary queer life—the friendships, the inside jokes, the casual intimacy—rarely survives the edit. Queer characters become symbols before they are people, their arcs written to educate or inspire tolerance, rather than to exist as fully human within the narrative. Authentic queerness disrupts these tropes: it is varied, intersectional, and refuses to be flattened into a single coming-out plotline or tragic ending.

And that’s the heart of the frustration behind memes like this one. Real life isn’t a binary where people are straight or gay, cis or trans, “normal” or “other.” The spectrum of identities, orientations, and experiences is vast—and deserves to be depicted with the same range and complexity as straight, cisgender characters have enjoyed for decades. Until then, queer audiences will continue to comb through media, hunting for rare moments that feel like home.

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7 months ago

I spent some time to finally write that blog post I've been thinking about writing for the last month. Here it is - all about my experience at the 2025 National Storytelling Network Conference.
jessicapiscitellirobinson.com/the-2025-nsn...

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7 months ago

Hungarian #FolktaleMoment of the day:

Our hero has to wrestle a fairy prince to get back the moonlight which is hidden under the prince's tongue.

I can see the fanfiction from a mile away...

#folklore #folktales

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7 months ago

I'm divorcing Meta and decided to be more active here because it feels better. So. Hi again!

I'm Csenge, professional storyteller from Hungary. I also publish folktale and myth collections. Interests are books, paganism, magpie tarot, role-playing games, geekery.

#folklore #mythology #storytelling

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7 months ago

So today's #FolkyFriday theme is food, and all I have to say is:

The world of Hungarian folktales includes a Bacon Tree and also a Bacon Castle.

In both stories the bacon is nibbled by thieves, and a prince has to go investigate the crime.

🥓🌳🥓🏰🥓

#folklore #Hungary #folktales

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7 months ago

'King of Drag' Is the Drag Show We Need Right Now - Pop Heist Revry's new drag king competition show is scrappy, hilarious, revolutionary, and more than a 'Drag Race' pastiche.

Revry's new drag king competition show #KingOfDrag is scrappy, hilarious, revolutionary, and more than a 'Drag Race' pastiche.

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7 months ago

a cartoon of snow white holding a shoe and a knife . ALT: a cartoon of snow white holding a shoe and a knife .

Friends, it's #FolkyFriday!

Our theme today is "Folkloric Food!" Let us glut ourselves with stories and fill the day's belly with peculiarity!

From goblin fruit and Lembas bread to gingerbread houses and magic beans, tag related lore, art and customs #FolkyFriday for shares from 10am-6pm UK time!

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7 months ago

Photo of several tarot cards from different decks spread out on a table. They all feature different symbols and art styles, for example, one has Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas as 8 of Swords, and another is just a photo of a yeti crab.

So I recently got into magpie tarot and I have been swapping cards with people which is hella fun! Here is the first batch of traded cards that came in the mail 😊

Anyone else doing magpie tarot around here?

#tarot #magpietarot #cards

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9 months ago

The cover of WERECOCKROACH by Polenth Blake is at an angle on a green background. The cover has hand drawn letters and a hissing cockroach drawn in brown and black wax crayon. Captions surround the cover in a childish messy font with arrows pointing at things.

Captions pointing at the cockroach: wiggly antennae, cute face, little feets, tough outside, squishy soft inside, danger attack spikes, more little feets.

Captions pointing at the title: i love wax crayons, beautiful hand drawn letters.

Captions for the book: friendship, this book is ace, aliens wearing hats, gentle, full of yay, sarcastic, buy this book (trust me i'm a professional).

The cover of EVERYDAY ALIENS by Polenth Blake is on a black background. The cover has a complex doodle of alien life in rainbow colours on black, drawn by the author. The title and author are in a black box in the centre, with an alien worm separating the two. Captions surround the cover in the same rainbow font.

Captions pointing at the book cover read: Xenofiction, Weird, Flash Fiction, Citations, Speculative Biology, Slice-of-(Alien)Life, Poetry, Starfish Aliens and Very Alien Aliens.

A caption points across the cover to the worm which reads: Fred.

WERECOCKROACH has an aroace agender lead, aliens and gentle vibes. Friendship focused.

www.polenthblake.com/words/cockro...

EVERYDAY ALIENS is a flash fiction collection about weird aliens. Often experimental.

www.polenthblake.com/words/aliens...

#PrideBookFair #QueerBookSky #BookSky #Pride

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9 months ago

I think it was Tales of Superhuman Powers

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9 months ago

I talk about them in one of my books

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10 months ago

The moral of 5 entire seasons of #You is that if you manage to knock out a creep, always triple tap them.

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