In Better News...
Sep. 14th, 2006 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lwoodHey! I got a raise!
2.8% merit-based increase, but still...
Wow. I don't think I've ever gotten a raise before by any other method but getting a new job. Neat.
-- Lorrie
2.8% merit-based increase, but still...
Wow. I don't think I've ever gotten a raise before by any other method but getting a new job. Neat.
-- Lorrie
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2006-09-14 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-15 12:04 am (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2006-09-14 08:00 pm (UTC)-smk
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Date: 2006-09-15 12:05 am (UTC)-- Lorrie matches your sea icon with one of her own.
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Date: 2006-09-14 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-15 12:06 am (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2006-09-14 09:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-15 12:06 am (UTC)Thanks! 8-)
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2006-09-15 02:10 am (UTC)-- /me hasn't had a raise in four years
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Date: 2006-09-15 04:56 am (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2006-09-15 02:33 pm (UTC)And 2.8% beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Congratz!
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Date: 2006-09-15 07:40 pm (UTC)It's a kushtaka, a morally ambivalent shapeshifter from Tlingit and Haida (that is, lower Alaskan) lore.
The Land Otter Men (a literal translation of the name) can take any shape they like as a present from Raven-the-Creator for finding his mother after he'd caused the world to flood, but the gift came with a task: finding people lost in the woods or on the water.
This is fine as far as it goes, and yes, they can lead you home, but "home" can also mean the kushtakas' den, where, due to their powerful magic, the people they rescue are transformed into kushtakas--which can be better than dying while lost.
Transformed people don't necessarily lose contact, or connection, with their former family, either--there are stories of kushtaka coming back, with their children, to use their enhanced abilities to aid their kin.
Their other interesting ambivalence...when kushtaka are bored, they can entice people to become lost just so they can be "rescued". Over and above invisibility and shapeshifting into your nearest and dearest, whose shapes they pluck from your own mind, they can cause inattention and deep slumber, and have sundry other illusion-related powers.
Obviously they have very big juju, and as such are considered the first, and most powerful, spirit that a Tlingit or Haida shaman should obtain for their posse.
Ways to avoid their whammy that are particular to their cultural context include, of course, observation and maintenance of tribal taboos, especially reinforced by eating devil's club root (a spiky, potent, local ginger) and bathing in glacially cold water every day. If you don't happen to be doing that (and who would?) apparently--like the Good Neighbors of Europe--they can be held off with iron, and their power can be negated by touching iron or steel, although it may take several tries to fully disrupt the influence.
Which is more than you probably ever, ever wanted to know when you said, "Nice icon, dude!" but I figured you deserved to know who you were admiring, there. ;)
That particular image is slightly modified from a scan of a book cover (rotated, colors slightly tweaked).
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2006-09-15 07:41 pm (UTC)Now that the LoreDump is done--thank you! 8-)
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2006-09-18 11:14 pm (UTC)-smk
. . . and now . . .
Date: 2006-10-03 04:17 pm (UTC)M
Re: . . . and now . . .
Date: 2006-10-03 05:33 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie