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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 23h

Every time I go to the Asian grocery store, I always get a box of these little cookies. They're decent sweets, and I am also a very mature adult

a display picture of Crown "Coque d'Asse" cookies

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

And cooking done! Offerings are made to the orisha and ancestors, and now I get to partake of it myself. The cleaning will be...done eventually.

Two serving dishes, the left of scrambled eggs with turnip greens and shrimp, the right of seasoned beef cooked with a mushroom onion gravy.

Several half-gourds arranged between candles, with offerings of Cinnamon Toast Crunch vanilla cheesecake pudding, fried spicy pork meatballs on a bed of corn chips and drizzled with molasses, a small slice of chocolate cake, coconut cardamom rice pudding with golden raisins, and a small serving of scrambled eggs with turnip greens and shrimp drizzled with honey.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Ten years ago today (what a way to start my Saturn return!), Ogun was seated on my head at the hands of my godfather, making my heart to beat with a loving fierceness of strength and service. Maferefun Ogun, the Great One In Iron and the Great One Of Iron, all the time of my life! ⚔️🔥🛡️💚🖤💚❤️💚🖤💚🛡️🔥⚒

A painting entitled "Ogum Mege" by Rodolfo Carvalho, depicting the orisha Ogun with six arms in various postures wielding weapons.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Sure, let's design a flag for Hermeticism, why not. I've been chewing on this for a while, but I'm satisfied with the design in the end. Also I have this new flagpole mounted on my house (replacing one that snapped off several years ago in a strong windstorm) that I should eventually use somehow.

A horizontal 3:5 flag that is a horizontal tricolor, the top third being white, the middle third being a deep sky blue, the bottom third being black, with the middle third having seven golden stars arranged horizontally.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Sorry, I can't do anything else for the rest of time now

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Just in case, I put loose PVC pipes up for extra structural support for the skhakh, but otherwise, lights are up, table and chairs are in, and I tied the loose front ends of the tarps to the poles with some extra rope so that they're taut. I daresay it's ready, at least—and a learning experience!

A sukkah seen from the front, with canvas tarps for walls and a PVC pipes for a frame, covered in American burnweed and banana leaves on tops, completed with table and chairs inside and lights strung up.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I admit, I have concerns about structural integrity for the week, but the sukkah is assembled. I'm hoping that, as all the skhakh dries out over the week, it'll get bit lighter. Also, turns out American burnweed smells rather pleasant. I'll get the lights, table, chairs, and other stuff in later.

Several armfuls of stalks of American burnweed layed out on pavement.

A sukkah made from PVC pipe for the frame, white canvas tarps for the walls, and American burnweed and banana leaves for the skhakh, seen from the front.

An interior upwards view of the sukkah looking up at the skhakh of American burnweed, supported by thin railings of wood.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

So I got a wild hair up my ass last week and ordered supplies to make a sukkah. While I've yet to gather greenery from the forest I live in to cover it with, I guess it's not the worst first attempt to start with. (also lol building this during the forecasted "wettest week of the year" for my area)

A three-walled canvas pavilion with a stick frame for a flat roof yet to be put in place, the beginnings of a sukkah.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I just saw a leaf fall outside in the backyard. I declare it now Autumn Time for me, right as the smell of clove and cinnamon and allspice and nutmeg and ginger fills the house from the tsimmes in the crockpot.

That one "I'm so pumped for Autumn l'm gonna fill my ass with leaves" anime screencap

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

They've blocked me now, presumably for making such an observation out loud.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

How I know a ritual did a thing to me: you know those videos of wolves laying down and making only lazy, half-hearted howls? That's been me all day after my Mercury exaltation ritual based on the Hermetic text "Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth". May we all walk in light and life on our Way.

An altar in a dark room with eight candles, with four to the left and four to the right in columns, flanking a book with a small bowl of honey on top.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

At the end of the Hermetic text "Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth" (NHC VI,6) describing a cosmic initiation into the highest spheres of divinity, an election is given: Mercury in its degree of exaltation between sunrise and midday. That's coming up today for many of us! Make good use of it.

A threefold depiction of Egyptian Thōth, Greco-Roman Mercury, and a Renaissance depiction of Hermēs Trismegistos.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

It's a rough time, both in the skies and in the lands, but today is the Mercury direct cazimi and next Tuesday is the Mercury exaltation. May this be a time of purifying, of clarifying, of the opening and closing of doors as and however needed, of light and life and goodness on the way for us all.

A shrine to the god Hermēs with lights and other offerings, the god playing among the shadows in a dark room.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

the only Atlantis I stan for and accept is the one from the classic point-and-click adventure game "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis" (1992, LucasArts)

cover art for the classic game "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis"

a screencap of the classic game "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis"

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Here's a screencap of the draft Stoiba website; the main chapter organization is on the left with a search bar, and sections of the current chapter is on the right. The PDF is also organized similarly with bookmarks. Thank goodness for Sphinx to make the same content presentable in so many formats!

A screencap from a page of the draft Stoiba website, showing the organization system of the website.

A screencap from a page of the draft Stoiba PDF, showing the organization system of the PDF.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Yup! I've already got this one asked in a different way:

Do I have to convert religions or leave behind my existing traditions?

Not at all. The Hermetic Synaxis is a non-exclusive spiritual practice, and as such does not require conversion, forsaking of existing religious obligations or practices, or anything like that. So long as you yourself are willing to engage in the Hermetic Synaxis, you are free to engage in anything else as well as you like.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Whodathunk that it'd be Hermeticism to get me to finally learn how to play around with CSS and fancy modern-yet-simple website designs. Alongside my work on formatting the main text for my Hermetic Synaxis stuff, I still need a place to host it, and I guess I could stand to make it look nice.

A prerelease screenshot of a draft design for a "Hermetic Synaxis Network" website

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I have been online for a while and sometimes you just know you have to save them for the right mood

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I also did the smart thing and broke it down into batches once I had all the basic components prepped, so that the main pot I used wouldn't get too crowded. And even then, each batch was like 2.5 servings.

Mise en place of scrambled eggs, green onions, shredded cabbage, onions, and mushrooms

A mess of cooking for preparing noodles while steamed vegetables are already prepped and chicken is cooking in a large pot

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Multiple pots, yes! Seasoning was easy; the noodles were just Maggi ramen (spicy Korean BBQ flavor) augmented with garlic, ginger, sambal oelek, and Sason Goya (coriander + annatto). Chicken was marinated with soy sauce + Shaoxing wine; eggs were scrambled with Domino's garlic oil dipping sauce.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

so I made some yakisoba (thank goodness for the concept of "meal prep")

12+ servings of freshly cooked chicken yakisoba, which is honestly more than I anticipated or wanted but who am I to meaningfully determine what a "serving" is anyway.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Sometimes all we need is a really good bagel sandwich. Or two.

Two bagel sandwiches, consisting of spinach, smoked salmon, Colby Jack cheese, tomato, red onion, mayonnaise, and cream cheese on toasted everything bagels.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

I went outside to make an offering to the land spirits, and woof, that smoke has reached the DC area in full. Be safe, folks, wherever you are.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

so I remembered I have beads and string at home and tried making my own set of komboloi, except the only beads I had in an appropriate size + shape + number are these bone beads carved into little skulls, so that's just what I'm using now apparently. also snowflake obsidian and some evil eye beads.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

new favorite pizza topping: SWAD Hot & Sweet Sauce

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

*fusses with his hair ever more frustratedly, pushing it away from one side to the other* ugh, it is *too hot* to have hair *leans back in exasperation, eyes fall on his set of clippers* …yeah, it's depilation time, it's been too long since I've felt the ecstasy of the breeze upon the scalp

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I have ordered a new bumper sticker as Mars in Gemini remediation

A bumper sticker with the words "MALICIOUSLY GAY AND I AM SO GODDAMNED TIRED ALL THE TIME" in spooky font on a flame background

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Sure, it's horribly hot, so I may as well enjoy driving to work from taichi class with the windows down and with my shirt off. If I have to suffer, I may as well luxuriate and look good about it. (Some habits never change; I was doing the same thing nigh twenty years ago growing up at the beach.)

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Besides being able to produce HTML *and* PDFs via LaTeX (which is what I use anyway for my ebooks), which is a godssend since I dreaded having to do such a conversion myself, because it compiles documentation, I can build up whole pages from simpler included files, making it much easier to maintain.

a screenshot of a terminal running tmux with two panes, both running vim, the left pane showing the source for the Iasis file using reStructuredText markup and the right pane showing a small snippet of a single prayer included in the Iasis file

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I was thinking of making a wiki or an old-school Geocities-esque website, but I *am* a software engineer, and a lot of programming websites for APIs or user tutorials use documentation engines to produce them. And, like…that the one I'm using is called Sphinx is just an unintentional bonus.

a screenshot of Chrome browser with a preliminary version of the Stoiba showing the first part of the Iasis ritual page, as produced by the Sphinx documentation engine using the Furo theme in dark mode

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

good morning, have a hearty breakfast of pb & jeggs

an array of hard-boiled eggs cut in half with the yolks removed and the yolk-holes filled with red jelly and creamy peanut butter, put on a decorated waxed paper plate. pb & jeggs.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

One of those Reddit threads where someone is showing themselves to be a fascist and also to lack reading comprehension skills—but I repeat myself. As always, thank you @gi66let1ts.bsky.social for this gift of a meme.

The Simpsons "Apu takes a bullet" meme, with "Crypto-fascist dipshits" taking a bullet for Julius Evola from the quote "Evola was a fascist in deed, if not in name (though also in name)".

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Conference presentation look today, talking about classical Hermeticism to a lodge of Masons. Almost worthy of a being my new headshot photo.

A photo of polyphanes wearing a red plaid shirt and a white headset in front of a Japanese-style paper-and-dark-bamboo folding screen, lit by spotlights.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Now that my taichi instructor is teaching us a fan form, I have made the horrible realization that I could start bringing in a variety of custom fans to practice with alongside all the post-retirement ladies in the class.

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polyphanes, spooky mystic fruit 𐠎 @polyphanes.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

god and gods, multiple rounds of cooking and I'm finally done with preparing for a potluck tomorrow with spinach stuffing balls.

a massive pan heaped up with baked spinach stuffing balls, next to a few cans of Mountain Dew Zero and some serving utensils for scale

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