What's The Difference Between American Red Foxes And English Ones (appearance Wise, I Guess)? What's

What's the difference between American red foxes and English ones (appearance wise, I guess)? What's the best/easiest way to tell them apart? They look really similar to me!

The most obvious difference is in the fur. European red foxes (Vulpes vulpes crucigera) have fairly short, stiff and densely packed guard hairs that are designed to protect them from wet weather. American red foxes (Vulpes fulva) have much longer, finer guard hairs, giving them that classic soft and fluffy look. Their fur is designed to keep them warm and protect them from the snow.

European foxes on the top/left, American on the bottom/right

American foxes also have much fluffier tails than European ones, often with rounded tail tips, while European foxes often have tails that taper to a point.

Another way to tell is the colour. Putting aside colour morphs, normal red coloured European foxes have a lot of different colours and tones mixed into the coat. Some can be fairly solid, but a lot have varying shades of red, yellow, brown, grey and black. Frosting, the silver guard hairs over the hindquarters, (and sometimes forequarters and face), and usually more prominent on European foxes. American foxes tend to be fairly solid in colour and don't have a lot of different colours mixed into the coat. The shade of red can vary depending on the subspecies, but the overall the colour will be pretty even.

As for colour morphs, the cross morph is only found naturally in American red foxes. There are a few regions in Scandinavia, Russia and Hokkaido, Japan where cross foxes can be found but those are all the result of farmed American foxes being released or escaping and breeding with native foxes. In the UK you will never see a wild fox with this cross colouring

In Europe the equivalent of a cross fox is the smokey or coal morph. They vary from a yellowish colour through to a dark brown with a lot of black and grey in the coat. Throat and belly may be white, dark grey or black, or a mix of all three and they lack the black faces of a cross.

Silver foxes do exist in Europe but they are exceptionally rare, and usually referred to as black foxes. They are often darker than American silvers with less silver hairs, although American silvers can very a lot in darkness.

Although this can vary a lot by region/subspecies and even individual, European reds tend to have quite blunt, rounded facial features. American reds tend to have sharper features, such as pointier muzzles and ears. American foxes are also smaller than European ones, but this is hard to tell from photos alone.

American red foxes also have longer legs than European foxes. This is most obvious when they’re in their short summer coat. European foxes also tend to have less black on the legs than American foxes.

⛈️ Weather Lore ⛈️

Part I

Weather patterns have been noted and studied for hundreds of thousands of years. Meteorology has transformed from folk lore and observation to a well-understood science. However, Weather Lore remains an ingrained characteristic of many cultures. Some longstanding beliefs about weather patterns and weather predictions include:

1. “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.”

This popular nautical saying is used to predict poor sailing weather. A red sunset indicates that sunlight light from the west is shining through the clouds to color the sky. This means that precipitation-heavy clouds are not present. A red sky at dawn, however, can be the result of light reflecting off of cirrus ice crystals in the clouds in the upper atmosphere, signalling incoming precipitation.

2. “Sharper the blast, sooner ’tis past.”

This old piece of weather lore refers to cold fronts. The belief dictates that the colder and/or harsher a front comes in, the sooner it will end.

3. “If there is a halo round the sun or moon, then we can all expect rain quite soon.”

This is a pervasive saying that is regarded as accurate. Meteorologists have determined that the so-called “halo” seen around the moon and/or sun is caused by light reflection off of cirrus ice crystals in high atmosphere clouds. Cirrus clouds are often the first sign of oncoming precipitation.

4. “If in the sky you see cliffs and towers, it won’t be long before there is a shower.”

Vertical clouds, referred to as “cliffs and towers” in the saying, are a sign of unsettled air in the atmosphere. Unsettled air is a sign of imminent active weather.

5. “If woolly fleeces bestow the heavenly way, be sure no rain will come today.”

This saying refers to fluffy white (cumulus) clouds in the sky. Generally, when cumulus clouds are present it is a sign of calm weather. Hence the nickname for cumulus clouds; “fair-weather clouds.”

6. “When the icy wind warms, expect snow storms.”

The arrival of warm air during the winter can signal a low pressure system, which often brings active cold precipitation.

❣️

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nox-does-stuff

2 years ago

I feel like I’m a bit fucked in the head sometimes, but then again, I’m sure most people do. I love how I can read about a really gory crime scene and just be like “huh, ok.” But I’m afraid of touching content where people have to actually process their emotions and deal with consequences. I fear it while also hate when people in fiction don’t get affected after watching their families die.

Then there’s a piece of fanfiction that’s like, “this guy got skinned and had his organs removed while he was alive! The killer made his skin look like wings! The killer is also a religious cannibal with more than 26 murders in 6 months! His eldest son is a killer and cannibal that likes to decapitate his victims, who believes that bloodshed is honour. He’s also the protagonist’s coworker, they work for the FBI. The youngest son killed and ate his best friend’s stomach, because he believed the world wasn’t worthy of said best friends. He also force fed the protagonist his best friend’s lungs.” And I’m just like “oh lol ok”

Or sometimes when a I read gross out horror like body horror, I end up just appreciating it like an art piece in an art gallery. Which makes sense cuz I do enjoy body horror sculptures that could be found in art museums or smt. Like the one grease manga comic, the one where a family of people are obsessed with grease or whatever? I’m not sure if it’s the dialogue that’s scary because I read a version in a foreign language. But like, the images aren’t really bad, kinda just the type of stuff that makes you wanna go “ok, that’s was something. Anyways-“

It’s only ever like this when it’s gore in a podcast, book/articles/written work, or just things that don’t force you to look at the real thing or an attempt at making it look real. Or gross out in comic, manga, art work, written work, sculpture and, actually most gross out stuff is fine as long as it’s not the actual thing in front if me, (like if it’s body horror then I get grossed out when someone actually starts growing wings and antlers)

But the second a character feels guilty for killing their friend while either dissociating or sleep walking, I become too uncomfortable to keep reading it. People feel emotions, I feel emotions, I shouldn’t have such a problem with people feel negative emotions. Why do I feel like this?

Spell Record Worksheet

For people who want to record their spells in a grimoire or elsewhere and enjoy having an outline like I do. This is designed to make it as easy as possible to look back and see what elements may have effected the outcome for better or worse.

✒️Name of Spell: Self-explanatory. ✒️Intent: What do you want to gain from this? What’s the goal? ✒️Time Cast: Date, day of week, moon phase, etc. ✒️Ingredients/Materials Used: Consider adding their relevant correspondences or WHY you chose them in particular. ✒️Actions: What did you do? What did you say? ✒️Notes: Did anything strange or interesting happen while casting? Relevant music come on? Were you interrupted? Are the candles acting weird? Make note. ✒️Outcome: Follow up with the results! Did it work in the way you expected, or do you need to tie up loopholes next time? If it didn’t work, what elements of the spell could be improved?

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nox-does-stuff

2 years ago

Hi there... Kind of shy about asking this so sorry if my question seems a bit all over the place. I kind of lost myself a few years back and stopped working with the goddess I was before. I've tried recently to slowly get back into my shadow work and loving myself again. Fortuna made herself known in ways I didn't expect. I think she wants to work with me but I don't think I should be working with anyone because what happened last time. How do you get over such self doubt and forgive yourself?

Hi!

please don’t worry about being shy and I apologize for taking so long to reply, my school is often very demanding of my time and my summer SADs make it hard to work in the summer. .

It is not uncommon for someone to lose a connection with gods.

I myself have experienced this on so many occasions, and it was even the reason why it took Aphrodite so long to convince me to start working with Greek Gods in the first place after I lost touch with a different pantheon.

Losing a connection with the gods is a lot more common than most followers will have you believe.

It teaches us about ourselves, our limits and the need for spiritual boundaries and clearer communication, not so much for the gods but for ourselves and how we approach the gods and expect the gods to communicate with us because everyone is different with different limits and needs.

According to the ancient Greeks, everything came from Chaos which birthed the first primordial gods: (LINK)

This is the reason why chaos tends to be a lot easier to reach, while order takes more effort.

This is also why intention is important when addressing the gods. Between the social noise of the media, personal expectations, social pressure, capitalism, surviving etc, it's easy for our thoughts to get muddled, so it's important for us to be clear about our plans with the gods so we create order within ourselves instead of letting life get a hold of us and lead us back to Chaos.

Setting spiritual boundaries can help you develop a clearer communication with the gods.

This applies to everyone but it is especially important for people who are disabled (physically, neurodivergent, a spoony with energetic limits, people that are prone to depression or anxiety which latch on to negative self talk and thus add confusion to life, etc.)

One of the main reasons why acknowledging and honoring your own limits and conditions when working with the gods is important is because not acknowledging them might affect how you view your relationship with the gods and might lead to feelings of guilt.

For example; I grew up catholic with undiagnosed ADHD and when I was going to church, I’d often get pinched whenever I got distracted.

As someone that finds it hard to focus, I assumed I was unfit to follow a god I couldn’t even focus on and the pinching I received for having ADHD incorrectly taught me that "my disability was bad and unfit for gods."

I didn't deconstruct my christian expectations, and accidently carried those same expectations with me when I started working with pagan gods and assumed I was never going to be able to work with pagan gods for the same reason.

It took me a while and a lot of self reflection to accept that paying attention to gods was going to be a lot more difficult for me, versus someone who was neurotypical.

One of my personal boundaries with the gods is asking them to patiently repeat something I forgot they said or gently guide me back to something I forgot to do.

The gods are a lot more patient than I'll ever be able to explain.

It's also possible that any guilt you experience could have potentially come from personal expectations that were not met. These kinds of expectations are common and have the potential to lead followers into developing imposter syndrome:

Imposter syndrome manipulates one into assuming they are not good enough to work with the gods, or have them wonder why the gods are bothering with them in the first place. Or have them worry that they might be bothering the gods.

It also encourages them to assume they are not doing enough to keep the gods happy and forces them to go beyond their limits.

Failure becomes inevitable and the devotee suffering from imposter syndrome comes to the conclusion that they are a terrible follower and shouldn't ever work with gods without ever realizing that they were going beyond their limits until they finally reach a breaking point.

Breaking points look different to different people but it often leads to a disconnection between the person and their gods.

The gods understand humans have limits and they also know the shadow self influences a lot of how we see them and how we expect ourselves to behave around them including the consequences we give ourselves for not abiding by that, or negative experiences from not having others respect our boundaries.

You are not a terrible follower because it's very common to fall out of relationships with gods, please don't let anyone guilt you into thinking this is a rare and personal problem.

May Fortuna help re-establish and enrich your relationship with the gods and help you find your voice within your own spiritual journey.

Hi There... Kind Of Shy About Asking This So Sorry If My Question Seems A Bit All Over The Place. I Kind

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nox-does-stuff

2 years ago

“Touch grass” they said. “It’d be good for you” they said.

Sing this in the “all around me are familiar faces” song’s tune. I don’t remember what it’s called. All around me are fucking bigots. Racist bigots, ableist bigots, queerphobic bigots.

I get that they’re jokingly walking up to me, an Asian, and saying “asian people have weird eyes” then proceeding to pull the side of your eyes to to make it longer is just rude.

Holocaust jokes made infront of jews, queerphobic jokes infront of queers, ableist jokes infront of disabled folk. They’re not ok.

They’re not even one of the people they’re making jokes about, so they’re just making fun of communities that already deal with enough shit. They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with that.

Also, saying that you’ll “catch autism” from autistic people isn’t funny

A Deep Room Cleanse

The state of my room is extremely important to me. It’s a direct reflection of my mental health, so when it’s messy, my energy levels are low and I just feel yucky. There’s no way I’m getting any kind of work done, magical or mundane. When it feels good and clean to be in, it’s a lot easier to deal with my symptoms and be productive. You don’t have to do every step every time of course, but each step has helped me so I figured a list like this might help someone.

Change the lighting. Use natural sources of light (like pulling back the curtains and letting the sun in) over artificial ones. If you have salt lamps to turn on, those are still very nice. If you need artificial light to keep it from being too dark, try to prioritize light bulbs you like the color of, and ones that don’t whistle quietly when they’re on.

Change the airflow. Open a window, if you can. Often our rooms feel yucky because the air is stale. Get some fresh air moving. If it’s too cold, it’s okay to only keep it open for a few minutes or put on a coat while you work because you’re stubborn like me.

Change the sound. Put on your favorite cleansing music. Let it soak into the room. I tend to go or ambient spa stuff, or playlists that sound built for a rainy day. (Note: the music that helps you cleanse the best may not be the same as what you like the most. The playlist should keep you focused/uplifted while you work and reflect the vibes you want your room to have.)

Change the smell. Take out the trash, maybe refresh the sheets on your bed. Light a scented candle, some incense, heat up some oil, something to make your room smell distinctly different from the mucky-feeling room from before. (If your method of choice is something short like a room spray, I actually like doing it at the very end.)

Actually clean and organize. Nothing junks up the energy of a room more quicker than actual junk. Organize everything as much as you can (this might mean finally gutting your closet, even if you can close the door and hide it.) Wipe down any surfaces that need it, get everything fresh and functional again. Do some laundry while you work. If you have clothes or trinkets that are just collecting dust, extra points for purging them!

Cleanse any sacred spaces by themselves. A lot of us have altars or shrines in our rooms. A sacred space can also be just an extra important area of your room, like a reading nook. Make sure to give them extra attention! You don’t need to wipe the board energetically (and probably shouldn’t), but taking a little extra time to clean surfaces, straighten up, and make sure everything feels okay on them goes a long way.

Cleanse in your regular way. Bust out the herb bundles, the bells, the ribbons, the broom, whatever you usually do to cleanse a space! The room is SUPER primed for it now, most of the negative energy probably already feels removed if not broken down. A good once-over with your favorite cleansing method should finish it off nicely.

Refresh any wards or protections. Self explanatory. If you maintain energy borders in your room, now is a good time to check in on them and zhoosh them if needed. Keep the space clean for longer!

Practice self-care. Take a shower, a nap, eat some food, whatever you need. You’ve put in a lot of work and you deserve it.

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