The Lunar Revelations, #2

Journal Entry: Thu May 16, 2019, 8:14 PM



Virgil set-top by SinistrosePhosphate

Voice from the Vaults-2 by SinistrosePhosphate

Greetings, my fellow patients and other sundry lost souls:

Last month I have introduced this series to you. So far the results has been lukewarm. But you cannot deter me. I am your interim caretaker, after all. And when I have set my mind on something, you might say I can be somewhat stubborn. Ah... but you'll get to know me in time. All we have is time, isn't it? 

Post separater-4 by SinistrosePhosphate
This month, I bring you: 


Nine of Cups

Nine of cups depicts a man sitting with his arms crossed in a powerful, victorious pose. On a shelf behind him are nine cups/chalices. The number "nine" signifies a complete number, the last number before the count is forced to start repeating itself. Therefore the cups signifies the fulfillment of all desires while the man sits in contentment and satisfaction. 

Contentment in ourselves and our station in life, however, does not always depend on material wealth. To keep our mind healthy and strong, we must learn to celebrate the little victories in life. We can be satisfied with all nine cups... but sometimes even one is something to smile about. 

Tarot-Nine of Cups by wintersmagic  Nine of Cups by Memuii  Tarot 9 Cups by Doberlady  Dandy Arcanum: Nine of Cups by Dandy-Jon <da:thumb id="746021870"/>  ZK Tarot - Nine of Cups by Zakuro-Kona

Post separater-4 by SinistrosePhosphate

A few housekeeping business: 

1. I am looking for people who are willing and able to help me manage this vast place that we call the Madmen Asylum. If you are interested in helping out, please let me know. And I will let you know about the details. 

2. If you have any suggestions on how to make the Asylum bigger and better, or if you have suggestions on what other initiatives that we can start for more engagement, please don't hesitate to drop a line. We are always listening. 

In the meantime, I remain, 

Yours, as ever, 

Syn Signature by SinistrosePhosphate


Virgil set-bottom by SinistrosePhosphate



The Lunar Revelations, #1

Journal Entry: Mon Apr 15, 2019, 7:42 PM



Virgil set-top by SinistrosePhosphate

Voice from the Vaults-2 by SinistrosePhosphate

Greetings, my dear patients and other sundry wandering souls:

This is your Interim Caretaker, Dr. Syn. You may know me as another one of the wandering souls in the Asylum. Welcome to a new initiative that I would like to call “Lunar Revelations.”

First things first, it’s not a fortune-telling service. The first reason why it references the moon is because this is going to be a monthly event. The second reason has something to do with ourselves. Those who suffer from mental instabilities were known as the “lunatics,” the foot-soldiers of the Goddess of the Moon. And so we march on under the sacred name of the moon, step by step, day after day. 

Post separater-4 by SinistrosePhosphate

What, you might ask, is the purpose of these "Lunar Revelations," then? 

Inspired by psychotherapist Jessica Dore who uses Tarot Cards as a way to initiate a conversation with her patients, I have decided to do something of the same. Of course, yours truly is no therapist, but he is invested enough to want to open the conversation to any and all who are interested to listen. Basically, I am here should you need me; I am your resource. 

And if you are looking for more resources, please check out The Guiding Light Project , headed by LadyLincoln and Yuukon here on DA. The Madmen Asylum may be a refuge for wandering souls, but we can be more than that. 

Post separater-4 by SinistrosePhosphate


Without further ado, we start with the very first Tarot draw: 


The Four of Wands

Four of wands depicts a dwelling under the auspicious green canopy held up by four tall pillars. In some decks there are two people dancing underneath. This is true of our mental health as well. Our overall well-being is made of a balance between our biological health, psychological fulfillment, social stability and support from other human beings. The soundness of our mental health, the house of our spirit, is under the protection of these four unwavering pillars.

Post separater-4 by SinistrosePhosphate


A few housekeeping business: 
1. I have been away. If your submission has expired, please send them in again and I will look after them. I am sorry that I was unable to give prior warning for my sudden departure. But I will remedy that as soon as I can. 

2. I am looking for people who are willing and able to help me manage this vast place that we call the Madmen Asylum. If you are interested in helping out, please let me know. And I will let you know about the details. 

3. If you have any suggestions on how to make the Asylum bigger and better, or if you have suggestions on what other initiatives that we can start for more engagement, please don't hesitate to drop a line. We are always listening. 

In the meantime, I remain, 

Yours, as ever, 

Syn Signature by SinistrosePhosphate
Virgil set-bottom by SinistrosePhosphate





Phobic October: A Challenge

Journal Entry: Fri Sep 29, 2017, 11:13 PM



Voice from the Vaults-2 by SinistrosePhosphate
Virgil set-top by SinistrosePhosphate


Greetings, my fellow lost souls: 

October is upon us. And if you are like me, you would think this is most likely the most wonderful time of the year. I would love to be able to do something to celebrate this season. 

The first thing is a little bit of good news. The details have been negotiated and now all of our folders has a limit of one piece of artwork per day. We have decided to open our doors wider to allow more of your creative works in, sooner. 

The second thing is a little big of a challenge. A good number of you would probably have heard of "Inktober". Some of you may be looking for a source of inspiration that would spur you onward and forward. There are a large number of such "Themed Challenges" out there already, but there is always room for one more, wouldn't you say? And since we are all slaves to our passions, what is a better challenge than trying to express ourselves through art and talent? 

Without further ado, here are the prompts:

Post separater-3 by SinistrosePhosphate

The Fears that Drive Us: A Litany of Phobias

Post separater-3 by SinistrosePhosphate

1. Acrophobia: The fear of heights. 

2. Agoraphobia: The fear of open spaces.
3. Mysophobia: The fear of dirtiness/uncleanliness.
4. Cynophobia: The fear of canines/dogs.
5. Necrophobia: The fear of death (one's own death or death in general).
6. Coulrophobia: The fear of clowns.
7. Hemophobia: The fear of blood.
8. Glossaphobia: The fear of public speaking.
9. Nyctophobia: The fear of darkness.
10. Pteromerhanophobia: The fear of flying. 


11. Trypanophobia: The fear of needles/injections.
12. Emitophobia: The fear of vomiting (or watching others vomit).
13. Xenophobia: The fear of outsiders.
14. Aliurophobia: The fear of felines/cats.
15. Nomophobia: The fear of losing mobile connection (internet and/or data).
16. Astraphobia: The fear of lighting and thunder.
17. Carcinophobia: The fear of cancers.
18. Batrachophobia: The fear of frogs and toads.
19. Sociophobia: The fear of social interactions.
20. Vermiphobia: The fear of worms. 


21. Eisoptrophobia: The fear of mirrors or reflective surfaces.
22. Entomophobia: The fear of insects.

23. Somniophobia: The fear of sleep or going to sleep.
24. Ombrophobia: The fear of rain.
25. Globophobia: The fear of balloons (or balloons popping.)
26. Ergophobia: The fear of work.
27. Tetraphobia: The fear of the number "4".
28. Orinthophobia: The fear of birds.
29. Ephebiphobia: The fear of youth and teenagers.
30. Trypophobia: The fear of irregularly-appearing holes.

31. Samhainophobia: The fear of Hallowe'en.



I hope you will find this list both challenging and inspiring. Even if you do not use it for Inktober, or indeed your art is not in the visual field, we still hope that this short list will interest you and inspire you. And if you decide to take on this challenge, please let us know. We would be more than interested to see what you have come up with. 

Good luck, and uneasy dreams. 

Syn Signature by SinistrosePhosphate
Virgil set-bottom by SinistrosePhosphate





When life shuts one door, it opens a window

Journal Entry: Mon Aug 28, 2017, 4:26 AM



Hi, dear patients of :iconmadmen-asylum: This is Dr Psychic talking.
I have some pretty important news to announce, so please leave your delusional world for a moment to pay heed to me. 
I've been serving in this Asylum as staff member since 2014, with great pride and dedication, and watching the halls of the asylum I cannot help but feel so proud of all your amazing works: our activity would have never been so amazing without the enthusiastic feedback of you, dear patients.
But after 2016 died we started experiencing some problems, which started piling up.

-Firstly our beloved Nurse Docali stopped replying to our notes and became inactive. I can only hope she is alright and having a very satisfying and happy life, too much to come back to a world filled with darkness and insanity. She was the most dedicated and merciful of all, and the heart of the asylum.
-Secondly our original staff counted 14 persons (even if there is a pair of us with a double 'personality'), but just me and :iconsinistrosephosphate: were left taking care of the plethora of  patients and even when Docali was still with us it was just three doing all the heavy work. I never hide myself when it's time to work hard, but we needed more than two persons to discuss about future activities, organizing events and offering prizes. Instead Dr Syn had to re-do the whole gallery almost alone, while I took care of the group page organization, a huge maintenance work which left no time to entertain you all.
-Thirdly, our journal skin started giving us problems in July, and I hurried to look for a good replacement, investing my own money: we couldn't use the points collected to make us a Super Group because it belongs to Docali and she disappeared. The result was so good that I instantly posted a blog for the group -a post I eventually deleted for good- but again it was just me and Dr Syn worrying for it.
Annoying and frustrating... but I would have never made the decision which is tearing my whole soul apart if it was just for these details: I would be still going on with the show, hiding the fatigue and the struggle behind a prettified smile.
-The unsolvable problem is that I'm not agree with our principal decision about what the admin role should be all about. As a staff member I'm the one who accepts and refuses a work in our halls, and I refused a bunch of works which didn't fit the group theme. No matter how amazingly made, busty girls and fanservice which are not dark or about madness SHOULDN'T be in group, in Featured least of all. Admins shouldn't take advantage of big groups to show a ton of their own works in the Featured gallery, all works which aren't even related to the group themes... and most of all admins should be ALL involved in making the group better, organizing activities and offering prizes for the contests.
Hairsplitting? Maybe. But in all honesty I think admins should be the first following their own group rules. 

I found out our opinions are irreconcilable, hence my announcement: from now on I won't be your Forensic Psychiatrist anymore. I just couldn't disappear like all the admins in the staff did however, so I decided to bring out this delicate matter with you all, with all the blunt honesty I'm famous for, which often brought me troubles as well. But working here didn't bring me joy anymore, and you all deserve just the most dedicated admins. 
I kept trying to involve all the staff, in vain. And expecting different results doing the same thing over and over again is insanity.
So, I leave. My apologies.

:iconsinistrosephosphate: and :icondocali:, it was a true honour working beside you.
To all the other patients: if you'll ever miss straight jackets and talks with a bizarre Forensic Psychiatrist, :iconthe-lunatic-asylum: gates are open for new patients. Join us for a cup of tea and insanity, I'll offer you a cake: you know I'm great with a whip in my hand.

Have a nice and insane day. With love,

Astrea

General Announcements and Guidelines

Journal Entry: Mon Jan 9, 2017, 7:51 PM



Virgil set-top by SinistrosePhosphate

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen; patients and staff: 

This is your man-of-letters, Dr. Syn, speaking. I am not always an articulate person and I'm definitely not the most representative face for the staff, but I have been tasked with making the first announcement of the new year. Therefore, I am here in front of you to ask you to lend me your ears. 

Over the last several years, we have been dealing with overcrowding in our halls. We have also discovered that we have had problems with registering some of our patients. After all, we are already lost souls gathered under one roof, it would be quite unfortunate that some of us feel even more lost. Therefore, the staff and I have been planning to renovate the grounds and expand our facilities. Now that we have finished our project, I am proud to present the following new wings to you. Please take a look to familiarize yourself with our new layout. And feel free to roam around the expanded asylum:

Virgil set-divider by SinistrosePhosphate

Hallways and Folders

Virgil set-divider by SinistrosePhosphate

0: Featured 

This folder is usually reserved as the personal playground of Dr. Lector and his assorted staff. If you think your work should be allowed entry into this area, please speak to your friendly house staff first. Thank you.

1: Dead Archives

(Completed patient registration form only, please.) 

For all potential patients, please consider registering with the official staff with your very own registration form that can be found here. This is the official archive for our past, present and future patients. We welcome you into our facility with open arms.

Feel free to use our official seal as well.

2: Madness Chronicles

(Written works only. We accept both poetry and prose.)

In here you will find our patient's passionate scribbles and dissolute rants. We welcome our patients to show us their thoughts in written forms in this section and we invite you to come in and explore.

Just be careful. For when you look into the Abyss, the Abyss looks back on you also.

3: Patient's rooms

(Traditional and digital drawings unless designated elsewhere.)
We at the Asylum consider that blank walls are a reflection of the vast void of the human soul. Therefore we highly encourage our patients to take whatever that strike their fancy and mark up their living spaces as they see fit.

"Patient's Rooms" is where you will find both traditional and digital drawings that our patients has deemed important to decorate their lives' stories with. And we cannot approve of them more.

4: Camera Obscura

(General photography; unless designated elsewhere.)

Since time immemorial, humans have looked for ways to record the images and things they observe for their own record. From the very primitive cave paintings to the latest graphic-manipulation technology, our quest for recording our dreamscapes have never ended.

In this folder, we feature the records of our patient's travels through this world. We encourage you to take this journey vicariously with our inmates.

5: Strange Houses and Creepy places

(Reserved for photography and drawings - both traditional and digital - of landscapes and interiors.)

Where we have been both defines and haunts us. The geography of the mind is mapped with snippets of the geography of this world. Therefore, we have dedicated this region to help our patients to map the atlas of their minds.

We accept photographs as well as drawings that are specific for this purpose in this folder.

6: Ars Perpetua

(All photomanipulations - except for landscapes and interiors -)

Some say the human mind is the very last frontier of our exploration. We have the physical geography mapped out to a minute detail but we are still relatively clueless at where to start recording the vastness of the human imagination.

In this folder, we welcome you to manipulate the world as you see fit, and show us what kind of creatures lurk in the depth of your mind.

7: Labor Omnia Vincit

(Artisan crafts and other handicrafts, please.)

As the Romans once observed, “hard work conquers all.” And since "Idle hand are the Devil's playthings", we encourage our patients to wile away their time with handicrafts and other associated endeavours.

This is the place where you get to observe the fruit of their labours.


8: The Mess Hall

(Journals, features, announcements, commissions, etc.)

Every facility has a bulletin board, and this is ours. We welcome you to submit writings and journals for public announcement purposes only. We welcome you to advertise for your own services, features and contests.

But please remember to play nice. Boss Taizo has been itching to teach a few newcomers what it means to play nice.

9: The Hall of Memories

We have been running a series of intermittent challenges and contests. And it's only fitting that we feature the winners of these events as an example to all. Here you will find past winners - both literature and graphic - that has graced our facility. 

10: Most Current Contest: TBA

Here you will find information on our most current contest, including starting/ending dates as well as general rules. We will keep you well-informed of our intentions.

11: Past Contests

Here you will find all past contest entries. Unfortunate we are unable to delineate the specific contests and their dates at this moment. But consider this a Rogue’s Gallery of the sundry souls who have passed through our halls and have left an indelible mark on our walls.


Virgil set-divider by SinistrosePhosphate

And finally, a few words from our lovely and dedicated Dr. Psychic.

Welcome to my profile by IllyDragonfly

Syn Signature by SinistrosePhosphate
Virgil set-bottom by SinistrosePhosphate


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