Meta Prompts: Occultism/Metaphysics
Eventually, I'll do a set of "religion" prompts. If I'm not careful, I'll do several of them, plus a few posts of religious-fannish meta. Since I don't have the energy for that at the moment, I thought I'd ease into it kinda obliquely.
Canon Prompts about occultism: Astrology--who's a virgo? Who's an aries? If you know characters' birthdays, do you think they "fit" their zodiac signs? Do you think zodiac signs are pure superstition and meaningless, and if so, do you think it can still be an interesting part of canon? If the characters weren't born on earth, how does that change things? Fortune-Telling--do some characters read Tarot cards or consult oracles before major events? If your canon deals with occult themes (SPN, X-Files), how well do you think it manages? Do you find those episodes fascinating, or boring, or so inaccurate you want to tear your hair out? If your canon doesn't deal with those themes, would you like it to?
Fandom Prompts: Ever considered creating a fandom-of-choice Tarot deck? Do you refuse to write fic when Mercury's retrograde? Ever used divination methods for deciding what happens next in a story? Or how to reply to a post? Do you like occult-ish aspects in fanfic, or hate it, or think it's mostly badly done? Can you put together a zodiac of characters from several fandoms? (I suggest a meme with lots of lists.) There's been at least one tarot fic-fest; what do you think about occult topics as fest themes? Could you put together a rec list with an occult theme of some sort? If you do gaming--do you bring these topics into games? How seriously do you think characters should take them, and how much accuracy do you prefer or care about?
Meta Prompts: When astrology/tarot/paganism/ceremonial magick discussions creep into fandom discussions, do you like it or not? Do you jump into those discussions, or avoid them because you don't know enough about the topic, or you think it's stupid or boring, or because you wish the idiots would shut up about topics they clearly don't understand? Does your religion, if any, have any bearing on your thoughts on occult topics in fandom? What do you think "occult topics" are, anyway--is it limited to astrology & other divination methods, or does it include cryptozoology like werewolves and Nessie, and/or weird spiritual or religious practices? Have you ever had a falling out over occult topics that affected a fandom for you--an argument about a character's zodiac sign that ended up with someone storming out of a fic fest, or a severe disagreement about the level of occult info that's appropriate to include in a fic? Do you think it's important for occult info to be accurate (as much as accuracy is possible in such fields)? Or is it unimportant enough that it doesn't matter if people just make stuff up?