iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Top 10 all-time favorite vocalists? Off the top of my head... Florence Welch June Tabor Maddy Prior Amy Ray Nina Simone Jason Molina Damien Rice Mary Fahl Azam Ali Jeff Buckley

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Cannot recommend this enough for metaphysical tidying up before the end of the year...or, really, for use at just about any time in These Recent Years Of Someone's Lord. ESPECIALLY if you can manage it in a group, with lots of percussion/noisemaking.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

The piece I received in the Yuletide fic exchange this year is delicious for nerds of Eliot, Arthurian, and Tarot varieties...plus the fans of @themountaingoats.bsky.social 's *All Eternals Deck*, which I now I need to go listen to. And, apparently, read the liner notes for!

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Dear #witchsky and #pagansky, please behold the wonder that is @satyrmagos.bsky.social 's work! I needed a new chain for my beloved pomegranate pendant AND for my Meter Theon pendant. This allows me to swap easily between them, whilst being beautiful and an utter delight to wear.

A closeup of the necklace on my neck. The chain is made of satisfyingly large, round, bronze links, with garnets in the center of the first two links on either side. There's a centerpiece shaped like a shield and decorated with a kylix on a field of honeycomb. From the centerpiece dangles a large pomegranate pendant - bronze, with garnet seeds.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

I watched Men (2022) tonight, and my immediate response was, "Wow, that was really transphobic...I think. Probably? I wonder who's written about that?" A quick search gave me @judedoyle.bsky.social 's newsletter about it, which was a delight, so thank you for your generosity.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

10 horror movies to get to know me by: 🧶 Pan's Labyrinth 🦢 Black Swan 🐌 The Wicker Man ('73 - Summerisle cut for preference) 🎶 A Dark Song 🎸 Sinners 😈 The Devils 📖 Byzantium 🩰 Suspiria (2018) 🐻 Midsommar 🧑‍🎤 The Hunger

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Top Five Pies: Chocolate pecan pie Coconut cream pie Tomato pie Key lime pie Peach pie ONLY IF made with fresh, in-season peaches - otherwise, apple.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Introduce yourself with: One book 📚 - Susanna Clarke, *Piranesi* One movie 🎥 - *Suspira* (2019, dir. Luca Guadagnino) One album 💿 - The Decemberists, *The Hazards of Love* One TV Show 📺 - *Russian Doll* (2019, 2022)

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

My grandmother gave me both *Jane Eyre* and *The Mists of Avalon* in my sixth grade year. (She didn't really know what she was giving me, with the latter, just "Oooh! Arthurian book from the women's perspective!") ...and the rest is, well, me.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

We made a few different attempts at/iterations on *kykeon* as described in the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. This is a thing I've been wanting to fuck around with for a goodly while - not as a scholar or even a reconstructionist, but as a sometimes-pedantic text-nerd. SO. 🧶

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Beginning @thewordwitch.bsky.social 's *Queer Devotion* tonight, and I love that I'm reveling in the chapter on Aphrodite after spending the day thinking on last year's Pride month ritual dedicated to Kybele...and planning for this year's to Inanna.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

The biscuits and gravy from a little place in the then-rundown downtown area of my hometown. The sausage had *permeated* the gravy, and it was worth getting up early to have it before school. I've never since had their equal.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Third night of having @thewordwitch.bsky.social 's Gay Marseille deck among my offerings when reading at @arcanadurham.bsky.social . Third night of saying, to myself and my clients, "I am so glad I have this deck, for this particular moment." (I hate that I need it. But I'm glad I have it.)

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Today is Rejoicing In Witchy Shit Day! Both my armband from @satyrmagos.bsky.social and my linen GORGEOUSNESS from @morningwitch.com arrived today!

Joy is staring at the camera, face scrunched in delight, doing a pseudo-Rosie the Riveter pose to show off a bronze armband. The armband has two spirals - one on top and one on the bottom, with a loop of wire in between.

Joy is peering coyly at the camera, modeling a black linen tunic with silvery grey trim. There are embroidered flowers on the chest and arm, and an extremely detailed embroidered canine skeleton on the lower corner of the tunic.

Joy is grinning with near-maenadic delight about the black linen, long-line cardigan she's wearing. It's trimmed with oxblood linen, and decorated with lush embroidery of birds and berries on the chest, pomegranates on the sleeves and sides, and pomegranates intertwined with a purple snake on the lower front panels.

She would like to ask you to excuse the clutter in the background.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

A collection of my basic, most-used tools. A collage icon I made for Kybele, for a Pride Month ritual in Her honor. Me, all garbed up, post-solstice ritual at the queer/lesbian tarot-themed bar where I read and do community ritual.

A collection of objects used in my magical and divinatory practice, spread out on a hardwood floor. The objects include: a pair of wooden spoons, a bowl of water and a glass of water, an open jar of sugar scrub, a dish of salt, a black rock, a small spray bottle, a package of lentil crisps, prayer beads, an altoid tin shrine, and a ceramic mug.

A collage in honor of Kybele. The image is colorful and very busy, featuring festive people, an illustrated horned figure in the foreground, a lion, a statue of Kybele, pride flags, and intersex genitals in a tree, like almonds.

Me, in a patterned mask, wearing a sleeveless golden robe, open, over a sleeveless black dress. On top of the dress, I'm wearing an oxblood chest harness, featuring a design of a serpent coiled around a pomegranate. The background contains vintage furniture (including pink velvet Queen Anne chairs), lit with multicolored lighting, as one might expect at a queer, tarot-themed bar.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Hated list, first: Lord of the Flies, All Quiet on the Western Front, For Whom The Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, Heart of Darkness, The Great Gatsby, The Good Earth. I REALLY hated Hemingway, ok.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Gonna (non-traditionally) wassail some (non-apple) fruit trees tonight. Thinking of you and yours, @lissaharris.bsky.social . <3 Well may you bloom and well may you bear!

A small green bowl and a tiny gold chalice decorated with red roses sit on a granite countertop. The bowl contains sections of pomegranate and a piece of brownie. The chalice contains dried figs and a gummy coated in sugar.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 10/09/2024

@rahaeli.bsky.social - IF you have time and energy, do you have any thoughts/resources on balancing the drying effect of antihistamines with caring for/increasing vocal strength and fluency? I remember you talking about your vocal training for theater, and thought you might have Opinions.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 07/09/2024

This homegrown version of a classic brought to you by my rain-swollen gals who were literally bursting with enthusiasm to be plucked.

Two brown figs on a black cloth, labeled Fig 1 and Fig 2

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 05/08/2024

List five things you wanted to be growing up: 1. Ballet dancer 2. Nurse (very short-lived) 3. Physical therapist (because ballet dancer was unlikely) 4. Professor of English Literature 5. Priestess of an ancient order

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 31/05/2024

Now that I've dried my eyes and thoroughly blown my nose, I can tell y'all how wonderful, hilarious, painful, hot, and comforting @meakoopa.bsky.social 's *Dayspring* is. Or, I can't, really, there's too much to say. But it was one of those books that felt like it was written just for me.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 06/03/2024

This is one of my absolute favorite pieces of ritual tech, particularly for group rituals. It does what it says on the tin, every time - all the better if the participants have rattles/other hand percussion. It has also helped me think about how else to use high-energy call and response liturgy.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 31/01/2024

Did I *expect* my meeting with a local hospital chaplain re: resources for supporting pagan patients to result in being gifted a copy of this article? No. Am I thrilled about it? EXTREMELY.

Picture of the header and title of an article from "Religions" accessed through MDPI: "Do Not Despise the Discipline of the Almighty: God as Leather Daddy and Reading Job through Althaus-Reid" by Joseph Rogers

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 24/01/2024

Tell me where you were born using just one image of food. (My preference is a chipped ham with cheese and cheddar rounds, but I couldn't find a picture of that.)

A shot from above of: a brown paper bag with "Pal's" (the name of the local chain) printed on it in a large, whimsical font; frenchie frys in a paper pouch, with "frenchie fry" and "Big Pal" and other text printed on it; and a hot dog with chili and onions, all sitting on white paper with more branded writing on it.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 23/01/2024

My friend: Please send good vibes that I find my lost keys! Me, an utterly normal person: I am figuratively holding the baby Jesus hostage until St. Anthony helps you find your key.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 14/01/2024

Spouse and I were looking at excursions for the trip we're taking (gods willing) later in spring. Me: Oooh, this one about Jewish culture in Prague looks good! Spouse: *reserves it without question* 1/2

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 19/12/2023

10 (musical) artists to get to know me: The Watersons The Doors The Indigo Girls Azam Ali/Vas/Niyaz The Decemberists Florence + the Machine Songs:Ohia Dead Can Dance Patti Smith CSNY (And so, so many more)

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 04/12/2023

Seriously playful mythopoeic bacchant (aspiring)

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 21/11/2023

My stickers from @unknownbinaries.bsky.social arrived (bottom left and top right), and I'm really delighted with them. The quote from *The Invisibles*, in particular, is important to me.

A black laptop with stickers arranged from bottom left corner to top right: a biblically accurate seraph, with an open hand, fingers down, in the middle; a blonde woman in a burgundy robe, against a background of flames and pomegranates with a golden, rose-bearing seal underneath; a rainbow bat adorned with flowers and leaves, featuring the words, "It's not a war, it's a rescue mission" from *The Invisibles* by Grant Morrison.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 17/11/2023

This is not particularly flirty, but I enjoyed the silliness of it. I am, here, demonstrating the use of an oft-overlooked tool in the practice of Kitchen Witchery: Þe Olde Wande ov Carrotte.

I - a white lady with blondish hair tied back from her face, wearing glasses and a black tshirt with a white, fangy ouroboros on it - am looking at the camera, seemingly unimpressed with its shenanigans, whilst brandishing a long, thin, orange carrot as though about to use it for spellcasting, as one might a wand.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 13/11/2023

There are many poems I love, more that I like, and more still that I can appreciate. But there are a few that I carry, in their entirety, in my head and heart. One of them is "Love Is Not All (Sonnet XXX)" by Edna St. Vincent Millay

$Text of "Love Is Not All" by Edna St. Vincent-Millay Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise and sink again; Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death Even as I speak, for lack of love alone. It well may be that in a difficult hour, Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, Or nagged by want past resolution’s power, I might be driven to sell your love for peace, Or trade the memory of this night for food. It well may be. I do not think I would.$

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 12/11/2023

It's late in the season for first fruits, and SUPER late for figs, but please don't tell that to my new little fig tree. I'm so deeply delighted by how gorgeous this fruit is.

A halved fig sits on a wooden cutting board, one half propped against the other. The innards of the fig are a deep, bright, fleshy red, fading to white near the skin, which is a greeny-brown. The blade of a serrated tomato knife is visible in the background.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 06/11/2023

There are SO many, from C.S. Lewis (I KNOW, but once a Queen in Narnia, etc.) to the fanfic writer whose work left me much better prepared to be a good friend and support to my plural friends, when I eventually met them. But I think I wanna talk a little bit about Sierra Simone.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 06/10/2023

Ritual outfit from a few days ago - but I was *very* happy with it.

A white woman faces the camera, one finger to her lips. She has blondish curls, blue eyes, and is wearing a horned bronze crown. She's wearing eye makeup, and has five asterisk-style stars drawn on her forehead, like a tiara of stars. Her dress is a black, Grecian-style thing, but largely obscured by an oxblood leather harness, featuring a vesica-shaped central patch decorated with a snake wrapped aroudn an open pomegranate.

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Reposted by Joy

Emmett Nahil @emnays.bsky.social · 31/08/2023

Carmen Maria Machado: “Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror”

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 24/09/2023

Introduce yourself with three books you love: (Novel version - impossible to choose ONLY three, etc.) *Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Brontë *Till We Have Faces* by C.S. Lewis *Spear* by Nicola Griffith

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 22/09/2023

It's overcast and cool (by my locale's standards), so it's clearly Soup Season. I get so excited every time I get to pop out into the front yard for fresh herbs.

A pot of soup-in-progress viewed from above, in a pale grey pot. Visible in the broth are a sprig of rosemary, one of thyme, a dried chili, as well as various chunks of carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and sausage.

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Reposted by Joy

Megan Goodwin @mpgphd.bsky.social · 22/09/2023

Friday reminder that: - you deserve pleasure today - the call to freedom is never an individual call and -when we love, we survive need a sermon about it (featuring some Janelle Monae exegesis)? @solomonmissouri.bsky.social's got you check out "Reframing Sex" on Patreon (no sub req!)

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 17/09/2023

I do not remember the last time I had a Large, Ugly Cry over a book like I recently had over *Wrath Goddess Sing*. I'm full of questions I'd like to pelt the author with, but more than that I'm really grateful to both the author and audiobook narrator for ripping my heart wide open.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 16/09/2023

When one's profession is, in part at least, 'diviner', this is about as professional as it (currently) gets.

Picture of a white woman from about the bust up. She has curly blondeish hair and is wearing an ivy crown and a green, short-sleeved top.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 10/09/2023

Finished? I think? I'm pretty proud of how this came out, even if the shape leaves something to be desired. I know how I'd fix it, if I tried it again, but I'm pretty content with it as it is, for now. Please excuse my eternal clutter.

Basket-thing, closed on one end and flat/open on the other, lined with black linen, sewn to it with red thread. Held in an open hand, against a cluttered backdrop of craft supplies.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 10/09/2023

@lissaharris.bsky.social It's a relief to me that you sealion about being the swordfighting consultant on Gideon, because I DEFINITELY tell everyone about that very fact, at the slightest chance.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 01/09/2023

Ok, this is more soup witch than herb witch, but my front yard made this, and I'm ridiculously thrilled.

A bay window, giving onto a front yard overrun with ivy, holly bushes in the foreground. On the curtain rod hang several bundles of herbs, of various sizes and type.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 25/08/2023

Second attempt at a liknon - I like this one mostly better than my first attempt. The construction's better, even if the shape of the flatter part is less flared and therefore less pleasing, so far.

A rough grapevine basket-thing, inspired by Greek winnowing baskets. It's enclosed at the end, moving to an open, flatter surface as it goes. Hardwood floor background.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 21/08/2023

This is a whole thing, and something that's both near and dear to my heart...aaand tells you a goodly bit about me. So there I was, fresh out of high school, summer before college in upper East TN. One of the churches I was attending was doing a Chronicles of Narnia Bible Study that summer. 1/?

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 18/08/2023

It's too early for this kind of callout. ...she says, desperately attempting to ignore her list of probably-manageable tasks.

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 09/08/2023

I watch a fair amount of horror (in recent years - I'm latecomer!), but I think Chuck Tingle's *Camp Damascus* is probably the first proper horror novel I've ever read. I enjoyed and appreciated so many things about it - not the least of which was the way the depiction of the church rang so true 1/2

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 01/08/2023

Ok, I've been really enjoying Ariana Serpentine's *Sacred Gender* - and then I got to this bit, and stopped cold. It's so *obvious*, except that...I don't *think* about this with deities I'm uncomfortable with. FINE. I suppose I'll Deliberately Examine Things. Including Myself.

Screenshot of text reading: "How would you relate to a deity you admire if they had been presented to you as having a different gender than the usual one they are shown with? How would you relate to a deity you were uncomfortable with if their gender was different?"

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Joy @joy-shines.bsky.social · 30/07/2023

OnlyJoys, and I hope you enjoy enthusiastic yelling about queerness in myth and folklore, fucked-up folksongs, and eroticizing the shit that scares me.

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