Selection Ask Game

The Selection Series by Kiera Cass

drawn by me:)

MASSIVE list of book recs

plays

fantasy/fairy tales

non-fiction

poetry

romance

young adult

historical fiction

gothic fiction

parody/satire

science fiction

epics

miscellaneous

thanks for reading! i hope this helped some of you out. hugs, mel ✨✨✨

mormon kids under the age of 18 being told their church is a cult

mormons 18-24 after they go through their endowment ceremony and receive their new name and secret clothing and learn the secret handshakes and passwords and realize everyone around them has been secretly doing this the whole time and now theyre going to be sent away from their family for 2 years where they will literally not be allowed to be alone for 1 second of the day except to go to the bathroom and they have no idea how to get out of what they just got into

one of the only perks of being a mormon woman is that i didn’t get my endowment at age 19 and i had a little extra time to mature and be out on my own. that’s all i needed to make a clean break and i got out at 21 before i wouldve gotten my endowment. 

wait what? can anyone elaborate on this? because I had no idea this was a thing

basically when youre a mormon kid growing up you realize your church is a little strict but you’re like whatever. i have friends at church because i go to church 6 days a week and everyone around me is affirming that this is the right thing to do and we have special knowledge no one else has otherwise everyone would be like this. so youve gotta go teach them & it’s the greatest thing in the world to be a missionary. also the temple is beautiful and amazing and spiritual and holy and everyone wants to go there. but it’s a secret! :) because it’s holy and sacred

then if youre a boy and u turn 18 they’re like wow amazing!!! you get to go on a mission and be like all the great men around you!! and now you get to go through the temple! so #blessed!

and then you go through the temple and all the above mentioned SECRET CULTY SHIT happens (EXPLANATION HERE http://mormoncurtain.infymus.com/topic_templeceremonies.html) and youre shipped off to a strange place where everything you eat, wear, go, listen to and do is controlled, and you’re not allowed to talk to your family or friends (except through a once-a-week email) and you literally are being watched by your companion at all. times. 

some might say “you can leave at any time” but consider that i never went on a mission and i never went through the temple and i still consider leaving the mormon church the hardest thing i ever did. you have no social network outside the church. you are lacking major knowledge and skills. you have to grapple with the fact that you may never see your family again.

I’m reblogging this again bc I have Thoughts.

Leaving is such an isolating experience. No one inside wants anything to do with you anymore and no one outside understands the scale of messed up that Mormonism is. Like it’s easy to point and laugh at the ridiculousness, but it’s literally a cult. There’s so much trauma involved and there’s trauma in leaving.

People on the outside don’t understand how hard it is to leave. I grew up where all my friends were catholic and are no longer religious and they’re like “well everyone hates church, you just stop going” but Mormonism isn’t like that at all. For starters I had to get a lawyer involved to leave and then the ostracization from the entire community that nurtured me growing up was just the cherry on top. It’s effectively being shunned. Everyone you were forced to call sister and brother growing up no longer wants anything to do with you. And you deserve it, because you shouldn’t have fallen for the anti-Mormon lies.

Leaving The Church was the hardest thing I ever did and my family accepts me so I’m a lucky one. But they still ardently adhere to the institution that hurt me and has resulted in the deaths of people I love. I will never understand.

“There’s so much trauma involved and there’s trauma in leaving.”

It’s easy for people looking in from the outside to forget this. Thank you for the reminder. Can anyone recommend resources for young Mormons looking to explore their options?

Please note: this post will be directly addressed to those hypothetical young Mormons

If you know you’re ready to leave, use quitmormon.com. It’s run by the guy from reddit who is now famous in exmormon circles for offering absolutely free legal services to anybody who needs help leaving. You can give your church id number if you know it, but it’s not required (I never memorized mine, and I sure wasn’t going to ask for it). He takes care of everything. This keeps TSCC (the so-called church) from getting all your latest info and keeps them from hassling you or harassing you. They have to talk to your lawyer instead. Pre 2015, it felt almost impossible to try to leave, but it’s a lot easier now! The years of picketing General Conference to force an excommunication trial are over!

Find a support system. Lean on your friends that have never been mormon, any family members who left, anyone you know who left. I’m an exmormon happy to answer any questions, and I’m sure there are plenty others in the notes who would be super willing to be supportive too. Exmormon groups are many and varied now, and it’s best to find the one that vibes for you. There’s a subreddit that’s popular, but I personally used - and I know this sounds weird, since I don’t have kids - a forum called Mormonism & More on the site babycenter.com. It was started several years ago by some mormons who had questions they weren’t allowed to ask on the normal mormon board (because that board required uplifting, mormon-approved answers at all times). It’s since shifted to ex-mormons or people who want to leave but can’t right now because of family situations. Even though the threads were years old, I spent weeks on that forum, reading about what other people had gone through and how they got through it, and to me, that was super helpful.

Research the culty stuff at your own peril. I liked learning about that stuff for a really long time, because I felt learning about all those secrets (I especially liked learning about the truth of the Book of Abraham) … it helped me feel valid in my choice. It helped me keep in mind that this was something that I had escaped, something that had wanted to hurt me. Missing your abuser doesn’t mean you should go back, it means you should keep moving forward. Missing your cult has the same solution. Lots of people fell for the “we’re totally not a cult!” line by TSCC. Some of them will not offer sympathy. If you want to watch the hidden camera videos of endowments and other temple stuff, I would super super recommend you have a trusted friend watch them with you. And bring comfort food. You’ll probably need it.

TSCC put out a series of essays on controversial (read: faith-killing, eye-opening, omg how could I have ever supported the people who did this) issues in mormon history. They are the Orthodox LDS pre-approved responses to a lot of the more incriminating accusations that have been leveled at TSCC over the years. They should be hosted on TSCC website somewhere, and would have been posted around or after 2015. They may reaffirm your faith now that you know TSCC’s defense, but they may push you right out the door. (Or break the shelf? Do Mormons still use the shelf analogy, or is that retired now?)

Lots of mormons become atheists after leaving. Many join mainstream xian churches. Some become witches, some study every religion they can get their hands on, some try to go back and realize all the magic (or holy spirit, if you prefer) is gone. Don’t think you have to know right away. Some people throw away or burn all their mormon stuff, some people keep it to show their kids, but again, you don’t have to make that decision right away. Some people call TSCC a cult after they leave, myself included, but you don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable or it it doesn’t feel true to your experience.

Look up religious trauma syndrome. It’s real. The pain you will probably feel is real, the grief you will probably feel is real, and in many ways, you may have to mourn the death of what you were always told Life Will Be For You.

And learn that the world is not half as evil as TSCC told you. Your coworkers who drink a beer at the end of the day are not evil or abusive. Your friends who wear sleeveless shirts are not evil or promiscuous. You’re allowed to wear short shorts! You’re allowed to drink coffee! You’re allowed to ask questions in a faith community without being silenced or condemned! You’re allowed to not want kids! There’s a lot of unlearning here.

TLDR? You have options. You have freedom. Find nonmormon friends who will support you. Be kind to yourself.

People joke about Mormons but this is the first time I’ve seen anything at all directed towards people who need to get out.

I had a high school friend turned college roommate who left, moved 4 hrs away, and I had to lie to people who showed up repeatedly that he wasn’t home. That’s just the smallest outside perspective of this. They kept coming.

It is a cult. It operates by manipulating people. My aunt, who also left, converted from Catholicism when she was a single mother in her 20s who needed help. The church gave her a network of tangible support and got her through a vulnerable, scary time in her life–and used that

just watch it

UNMUTE

How? Did not miss one beat

Awesome 💕💕💕

I’ve already watched this 3xs! Love it!

If I ever fail to reblog this, alert the authorities, bc something is wrong. 

new tumblr users:

old tumblr users:

i have never seen a more accurate photos set

CNN referred to Native Americans as “something else” on their voter demographic poll last night. The poll on the screen read like this:

We weren’t declared as citizens of our own stolen land until 1924. We didn’t get the right to vote (in all states) until the early 1960’s.

And yet non-natives can’t even refer us as Indigenous people when we’re a part of the electoral process.

Y’all wanna know why Arizona flipped blue?

The Navajo and Pima/O’Odham (one of my tribes!!!) communities have been crucial in flipping this state. the Native vote in Arizona was MASSIVE - no doubt to the impact Covid has had on our communities there. I’m going to look at other blue-flipped states but what I’m seeing so far is that Natives have been critical for the Democratic vote regardless of voter suppression tactics designed to keep Natives away from the polls.

I also noticed that CNN started running ads raising awareness for Covid impact on Navajo territories and my thoughts are: 1) it doesn’t fix the mistake you made by calling us “something else” 2) the Navajo/Diné are not the only natives on that territory and the other tribes (including mine) deserve to be officially recognized.

This! Is what I was talking about. Ugh. Gross.

As a US citizen you should vote to continue to vote in every election for the rest of your life. Someone like Donald Trump should’ve never been voted into office in the first place. But thanks to incredible efforts marginalized communities and voters across the country, we were able to vote him out in record numbers. This has to continue. No person as immoral and incompetent as Donald Trump should ever hold that office again. Show up for elections the same way you did for this one from this point on. The fight is not over, but this is one absolutely massive victory to celebrate. This victory means so much for some people, so cry, scream, hug the people you love, ‘cause we beat Trump and there’s nothing he can do about it.

shut up liberals, capitalism will not be ended by voting, this shit is the most expensive distraction in human history

so do you want your super “i’m too fucking woke for this shit” now or later? shut up and get off my fucking post

new tumblr users:

old tumblr users:

i have never seen a more accurate photos set

This is why baby boomers think we can pay for school while having a part time job

im so mad

this is why they should all shut the hell up forever

Be more like Brandon.

this is extremely good because he’s an outspoken MLB player in a sport where most American athletes are brain-dead MAGAs. Please baseball players be more like Brandon!

He tweeted this while playing for Atlanta, too. 

If a woman has to carry a child to term, whether as a result or rape or accident and forced to by law to carry it to term I define as cruel and unusual punishment. For rape survivors especially, I cannot imagine the psychological effect and pain of carrying a constant reminder of that event, and in turn, how that stress effects the development of a fetus. Men have nothing to compare it to. Stop restricting something you could not possibly understand. 

when people ask where you see yourself in 10 years

JUMPING ON THIS OPPORTUNITY

LAST YEAR WE CAN REBLOG THIS GUYS

Little Women, directed by Greta Gerwig (2019)

Mood Saoirse

So my mom is shopping in a supermarket, wearing a full hijab and jilbab (commonly misnamed as a burka) and the whole time she is there, this kid is staring at her. Won’t stop staring. Just looking with wide-eyed shock. The lil feller isn’t any older than four. She doesn’t think much of it, she is used to far worse than just a few stares. Until the very end when the kid and his mom are behind her in the checkout, and he leans up and whispers loudly: “I LOVE YOU BATMAN”

This is so pure and adorable

Oh the memories. I sorta did this when I was a kid, I was like 5 my mom was picking me up from kindergarten. There was a Muslim boy in my school, so his mother picked him up wearing the hijab and the jilbab, I saw her and I was amazed. Not because she was Muslim. No I deadass thought this lady was a ninja. So I continued to frantically tap my mother and pointed and said “mommy it’s a ninja!” The lady over heard me, my mom tried to quite me, until this lady did an actual ninja pose. I flipped my shit that day in kindergarten.

omg??????

SIS OMGGG