Upright: Innocence, freedom, originality, adventure, travel, foolishness, carelessness, idealism, youth, spontaneity, lack of commitment, new beginnings Reversed: Recklessness, carelessness, negligence, stupidity, distraction, apathy, irrationality, lack of fun, hope or faith
Upright: Power, influence, willpower, resourcefulness, skill, ability, logic, intellect, concentration and psychic powers Reversed: Manipulation, greed, unused ability, untrustworthiness, trickery, conniving, cunning, lack of mental clarity
Upright: Desirability, unattainability, mystery, sensuality, spirituality, thirst for knowledge, mystery, subconscious, higher power, creativity, fertility Reversed: Repression of intuition, blocked psychic powers, unwanted attention, uncontrolled outbursts and sexual tension, lack of self-belief, fertility issues
Upright: Pregnancy, fertility, motherhood, sensuality, nurturing, creativity, beauty, femininity, nature, harmony, art Reversed: Insecurity, infertility, lack of confidence, lack of growth, overbearing tendencies, disharmony, negligence
Upright: Older man, stability, dependability, fatherhood, father-figure, structure, protectiveness, authority, logical, practical Reversed: Abuse of power, excessively controlling, rigidity, stubbornness, lack of discipline, lack of control, absentee father, paternity issues
Upright: Traditional institutions, traditional values, conventional, conformity, marriage, commitment, religion, beliefs, knowledge sharing Reversed: Challenging tradition, unconventional lifestyles, unconventional relationships, reversed roles, non-conformity
Upright: Love, soulmates, kindred spirits, perfect unions, partnerships, relationships, major choices, romance, desire, sexual connections, shared values Reversed: Disharmony, trust issues, imbalance, conflict, disconnection, lack of accountability, disunion, detachment
Upright: Victory, overcoming obstacles, success, ambition, determination, willpower, control, self-discipline, hard work and focus Reversed: Forcefulness, lack of direction, lack of self-control, powerlessness, aggression, coercion, being blocked by obstacles
Upright: Inner strength, courage, bravery, confidence, compassion, taming, control, overcoming self-doubt Reversed: Vulnerability, self-doubt, weakness, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, feeling inadequate
Upright: Spiritual enlightenment, soul searching, self-reflection, introspection, contemplation, inner guidance, solitude Reversed: Loneliness, paranoia, isolation, reclusiveness, withdrawal, anti-social, restrictive, paralyzed by fear.
Upright: Good luck, destiny, change, karma, soulmates, decisive moments, cycles of life, fate, fortune, upheaval, chance Reversed: Bad luck, upheaval, disorder, external forces, lack of control, disruption, unwelcome change, delays, set backs, karma
Upright: Justice, karmic justice, consequences, legal disputes, law, truth, honesty, integrity, cause and effect, life lessons Reversed: Injustice, karmic retribution, dishonesty, corruption, lack of accountability, dishonesty, unfairness, karmic avoidance
Upright: Feeling trapped, confined, self-limiting, uncertainty, lack of direction, needing release, letting go Reversed: Discontentment, apathy, disinterest, stagnation, impulsiveness, negative patterns, detachment
Upright: Spiritual transformation, new beginnings, letting go, endings, change, transition, sudden or unexpected upheaval Reversed: Inability to move forward, fear of beginnings, repeating negative patterns, resisting change, dependency
Upright: Balance, peace, patience, moderation, inner calm, perspective, tranquillity, harmonious relationships, soulmates Reversed: Imbalance, self-indulgence, excess, clashing, lack of perspective, discord, antagonism, recklessness, hastiness
Upright: Addiction, depression, mental health issues, secrecy, obsession, cheating, dependency, bondage, materialism, sexuality, powerlessness, hopelessness, abuse, violence, assault Reversed: Detachment, independence, overcoming addiction, freedom, revelation, reclaiming power, reasserting control
Upright: Chaos, destruction, sudden upheaval, trauma, unexpected change, disaster, loss, tragedy, revelations, confusion, pain, divorce, abuse, violence, bankruptcy, natural disasters, inevitable endings Reversed: Resisting change, averting disaster, avoiding tragedy, delaying the inevitable, avoiding loss, lack of insight, codependence
Upright: Hope, inspiration, creativity, calm, contentment, renewal, serenity, spirituality, healing, positivity Reversed: Hopelessness, despair, focusing on the negative, lack of faith, lack of inspiration, lack of creativity, boredom, monotony
Upright: Intuition, illusion, dreams, vagueness, instability, deception, anxiety, fear, misconception, subconscious, insecurity, clouded Reversed: Releasing fear, unveiling secrets, subsiding anxiety, truth, regaining composure, self-deception, blocked intuition
Upright: Positivity, freedom, fun, success, optimism, vitality, joy, confidence, self-expression, good luck, enthusiasm, happiness, truth, openness, pregnancy Reversed: Lack of enthusiasm, excessive enthusiasm, sadness, pessimism, unrealistic expectations, ego, conceitedness, oppression, infertility
Upright: Judgement, self-evaluation, awakening, renewal, composure, decisiveness, homesickness, snap judgements, apportioning blame, forgiveness, judgemental Reversed: Indecisiveness, self-doubt, malicious gossip, lack of self-awareness, unwillingness to learn karmic lessons, unfair blame, false accusations
Upright: Success, achievement, accomplishment, travel, completion, fulfillment, sense of belonging, wholeness Reversed: Lack of success, stagnation, lack of achievement, disappointment, burden, lack of completion
It was a very very nice letter you wrote by the light of the stars at midnight. Always write then, for your heart requires moonlight to deliquesce it.
Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West (via fuckyeahhistoricalloveletters)
Jungkook taking away Taehyung’s mini heart, they’re so cute
Reblog if you think trans women are real women , and trans men are real men .
I'm trying to prove something to my transphobic father .
“That’s not love” she tells me. “You don’t have to beg for someone to stay. You don’t have to beg for someone to live with you. You don’t beg for them to commit to you and you don’t have to beg for a title. When it’s love, you don’t even think about those things. They happen naturally. This boy is the epitome of everything that love is not. And what a heartbreaking yet wonderful experience to have at a young age, for it opens up more room for the right sort of love to appear”
— my mothers pep talks (ms, 2019)
finding the person that is too perfect, liking them turns to loving them, then finding their flaws and still finding them perfect is the best feeling in the world.
But when you find out that perfect person loves you back, what does that make you feel?
Idiots have a first kiss <33
no but i love the idea that at one point mary and stede start sharing the kids.
Just like. once a month, Alma and Louis go spend one week with Stede and Ed. It's supposed to be safe, like in one week they can't go far, but then anything goes at sea. They got attacked twice. It's a shared agreement to not tell Doug and Mary. Alma starts idolizing Jim because they're so cool. Louis has the whole crew melting and spoiling him. When she's 12, Alma enters a pirate phase and yes, Mary gives a look at Stede "You realize this is because of you, right?" "Yes, sorry" (he's not. he's ecstatic. his heart breaks when at 13 Alma finds pirates are lame now). Meanwhile Louis is learning how to steal and where to stab a man between a cooking and sewing lesson. When he gets interested in fashion, Louis uses the crew as models, and everyone has to be nice and supportive even when he gets experimental. Stede has to stop the crew from teaching Alma how to cheat at poker. She still learns how to cheat at poker. Families of kids being mean to them will find themselves attacked by pirates when they first go on sea after it happened. Alma and Louis are unstoppable.
music-loving aranara…!!
welcome to a series where I analyse the living daylights out of this show
Now, unless Netflix has done my (pitifully monolingual) self a disservice, this translates to “Can we talk?”. And boy, can we talk. There’s been a bit of discussion already about how Simon and Wilhelm’s relationship is so refreshing to watch because of the healthy level of communication between the two. This is excellent writing by an excellent team throughout the entire series, creating a story arc that is realistic and nuanced, with miscommunication not employed for cheap drama. However, I want to talk specifically about the two times Wilhelm uses the exact words “Kan vi snacka?”. Stay with me -
–
The first time we see this play out it’s over text in episode 3, as Wilhelm wants to chat to Simon about their slumber party plans after parent’s lunch:
These three words precede the honest conversation about how Wille has heard August’s plans to stay at school over the weekend and, to keep their little burgeoning I-want-to-hang-out-with-you situation a secret, asks Simon if he can stay at his place instead. First off, this is a brilliant example of not taking the obvious story route, where Wille and Simon stay at school unaware August is there, and August finds out about them that way, potentially using this information in a blackmail fashion - as is seen all too often; the weaponisation of queer relationships in this way. (Keep in mind at this moment the audience is unaware of the events that will follow to close out episode 3, so for most of us I’d bet that stereotypical setup was the prevalent expectation.)
However, what makes this scene so intriguing is when you realise where they are - at the windowsill where their first kiss took place in episode 2. We actually get almost the exact same sequence in both scenes (though the frame is tighter in episode 2 - greater level of intimacy/secrecy?) of Wilhelm alone at the window, and Simon walking into frame to meet him.
(episode 2)
(episode 3)
Most significantly for this parallel though, is that this is the first place Wilhelm tried (and failed spectacularly) to articulate anything of significance to Simon. “I’m not… sorry. I’m not… Wait!” is all we get out of Wilhelm in that scene. He’s trying so hard to tell Simon something, using his words, and he just… can’t. He resorts to carefully kissing Simon back in that moment (which is definitely appropriate and what the situation called for, I’m not trying to say the episode 2 scene was wrong in any way, it was simply not a conversation). It’s also important to note the words we do get out of him aren’t in support of pursuing Simon at all, it seems to be a defense of compulsory heteronormativity.
The contrast between these two interactions at the windowsill is astronomical. By the time we get to the end of episode 3, Wilhelm’s had some time to think, time to process, time to work out what he wants, time to be okay with his wanting. We’re getting full sentences from him! About his regard for Simon (and Simon’s family) and wanting to be involved with the people closest to him! He’s communicating his wants and needs! Which signifies he’s now comfortable with what he wants, and what he wants is hang time with his wittle cwush Simon. Ugh I just love how it’s the same place, it’s brilliant.
–
Now onto the second time we hear the words, this time actually spoken, in episode 5. This is the scene directly after August reveals to Wilhelm that Simon’s the one that provided the drugs. Wilhelm asks Simon to chat; to tell him about Alexander being caught, to ask him about the pills. (Side note: I love this brilliant moment from Omar here, look at how fast Simon’s smile falls away when he gets a good look at Wille’s face. He’s all dimpled ‘my boy wants me’, and then 0.2 seconds later is a furrowed brow and ‘oh no, my boy needs me’.)
This conversation is another example of how this show did not take the easy way out in terms of a plot complication device formed from miscommunication. As soon as we hear August tell Wille about Simon’s role in their illicit activities, an audience raised on stereotypical (generally US) teen dramas would be thinking that Wille’s going to be annoyed with Simon immediately, perhaps take action to spite him, or blow up at him publicly. Or alternatively that this will fester as an unresolved issue and be brought up as an argument later in their relationship. The show does neither of these things, it says to us “Can we talk?” and proceeds to smash all of our expectations to smithereens.
Wilhelm asks point blank what’s happened. Simon is open and completely honest, hard as that must have been. Wilhelm relays exactly the conversation that happened in the little Society meeting. From there the conversation devolves into a… heated discussion - there’s tension, they don’t agree. This is one of the first times, in a conversation between only the two of them, that their class divide hovers like an elephant in the room (as opposed to earlier on, when it’s been other people - August, etc. - pointing out their differences in station). I may be mistaken, but I also believe this is the first time Simon calls Wille ‘Prince’ to his face; which is big, huge, in the narrative of their relationship. Wilhelm was not, in his mind, Simon’s ‘Prince’ before now. Wilhelm likes Simon’s socialist talk in theory, but in this scene he butts up against the fact that he isn’t completely separated from the vaguely anti-monarchist rhetoric of Simon’s. Simon doesn’t dislike the monarchy but likes Wilhelm, Simon dislikes the monarchy and likes Wilhelm. There’s a distinct difference, as with Erik’s death, Wilhelm is now the sole future of the monarchy. What a cross to bear.
And once again, look at where Wilhelm takes him to have this conversation; remember the “Simon. Don’t you know how to read sheet music?” scene? The conversation in episode 5 takes place in the school music room, which we first became acquainted with when Simon tried to talk about their kiss at the beginning of episode 3.
(episode 3)
(episode 5)
We can draw similar parallels here as above - in episode 3, Wilhelm is not really talking to Simon yet. It’s “Because I did say, you know, that I’m not…”, compared to the more developed, mature and nuanced conversation happening in episode 5.
However, the biggest difference here is Simon’s response to a disagreement with Wilhelm. In episode 3, Wille asks if they can forget about the kiss, and Simon nods. He says yes, he says that he gets it. When Wilhelm asks if he’s sure, he says “That’s fine.” (spoiler alert, it’s not fine). At this point the stakes are lower, Simon’s not sure Wilhelm’s in this, he’s not sure what he can ask for. He obviously does not understand in the slightest and is not okay with how Wilhelm is brushing him off, but he says it’s fine and walks away from the conversation.
Contrast this with Simon’s position in the conversation in episode 5, where he stands his ground. He knows now that Wilhelm wants this, wants him. He questions Wilhelm’s assumptions. When Wille talks about his family’s reputation, Simon asks but what about him and his family? Simon’s under the assumption there’s the start of an “us”, that they’re on the same rung of the ladder, and rightfully questions when Wilhelm makes statements contrary to what Simon believed was a shared understanding of their situation. Simon walks out of this conversation too, mind. (Foreshadowing his leaving the relationship stranded?) But we have growth! Development! Communication!
–
So basically, our two “Kan vi snacka?” moments are two (of many) building blocks laying the open and honest communication foundation for Simon and Wilhelm in their relationship. The two scenes they parallel back to are where Wilhelm begins “I’m not…” and then finishes “…not like that, you know?”, and to have him then open up to Simon in the way that we have seen is such good character development; similarly, to have Simon now stating his reality, his significance, his wants and needs when faced with Wilhelm’s frustration and anxiety is such good character development.
(Someone please work out how to bottle the creative genius of this show, we could make millions.)