"I am the true green and golden lion, without cares; in me lies hidden all the secret [knowledge] of the philosophers."

"Leo Viridis (The Green Lion). It is Mercury (☿): and you should know that it is cold and moist. From it, God created all minerals. For it is the element and the Spirit, fleeing from the Fire (△)... it is the foundation in every body, raising it up, illuminating and converting it from one state to another; from color to color. It is the Living Water and the Water of Death, and the Virgin's Milk. And its operations are one way when it is alive, and another when it is dead. And it is the Dragon."

Art: Miscellanea Alchemica XXI, c. 1746, Wellcome Historical Medical Library

12 years ago when I joined Telegram, long ago that I had an entirely different username, phone number, etc, much of my content revolved around edginess. Contrariness, standing against the tide, whether Left or Right. And much of my time being on the Left continued that trend.

But now I am a parent, and I want nothing more than a kinder world for them. And I have lost enough people I claimed to care about with "tough love" that didn't need to be. And in the past few months I've asked, more often that I'd wanted to, "would I be embarrassed to admit what I'm posting here?"

I am exhausted by the weight of a face that isn't mine. The world is already ugly enough.

So this year I resolve to be fearlessly kind.

Taken at Stonehenge during the 2025 Winter Solstice. What a beautiful omen for the coming year.

I did realize this morning that I am, unironically, a part-Jewish, part-Romany, and nonbinary leftist druid, and I'm sure to a right-winger this definitely sounds like the psyop from hell.

I was going to say the only box I don't check for them is I'm not disabled, but FUCK, I'm autistic, too. 😂