(i ripped this off wikipedia real fast so sorry if it's lib)
In October 1776, the Public Universal Friend contracted an epidemic disease and was bedridden and near death with a high fever. Their family summoned a doctor from Attleboro, six miles away, and neighbors kept up a death-watch at night. The fever broke after several days. The Friend later reported that [deadname redacted] had died, receiving revelations from God through two archangels who proclaimed there was "Room, Room, Room, in the many Mansions of eternal glory for Thee and for everyone". The Friend further said that [deadname redacted]'s soul had ascended to heaven and the body had been reanimated with a new spirit charged by God with preaching his word, that of the "Publick Universal Friend", describing that name in the words of Isaiah 62:2 as "a new name which the mouth of the Lord hath named".
From that time on, the Friend refused to answer to their deadname, ignoring or chastising those who insisted on using it. When visitors asked if it was the name of the person they were addressing, the Friend simply quoted Luke 23:3 ("thou sayest it"). Identifying as neither male nor female, the Friend asked not to be referred to with gendered pronouns. Followers respected these wishes; they referred only to "the Public Universal Friend" or short forms such as "the Friend" or "P.U.F.", and many avoided gender-specific pronouns even in private diaries. When someone asked if the Friend was male or female, the preacher replied "I am that I am", saying the same thing to a man who criticized the Friend's manner of dress (adding, in the latter case, "there is nothing indecent or improper in my dress or appearance; I am not accountable to mortals").
editorial note: I think this is a very cool story and I really love hearing it. We've been around forever and we've been doing variations of this forever. It's really beautiful
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can't sleep, let's have a tea thread.
I like Earl Grey lately for the afternoon for a little caffeine boost (with a bit of oat milk and maple syrup), but I'll also drink sencha or genmaicha.
At night I like camomille, or sleepytime, or Bengal spice, whatever Partner is making.
Since I stopped Spiro we've accidentally ended up with a huge bag of peppermint tea and I'm trying to like it again, because Spiro was gross but I used to like peppermint.
I drink iced roibos in the summer time
A lovely lady on here recommended Lapsang Souchong Shaowu, to me. And I gotta say, it's so fucking good, it's basically a BBQ tea, a smoked black tea.
12/10 would recommend
i'm a big fan of earl grey! my personal favourite is chai, though - i buy loose leaf vanilla chai and it's pretty good, but nothing compares to actually making it yourself with the spices ngl
Chai is one of those ones where I love the smell, but never really figured out how to brew it, so I shpipd figure that out... Making it yourself sounds awesome, actually! Where do you get the spices?
the spices aren't all that hard to come by, at least where i am. the recipe i go by is from a cookbook for a chain of indian restaurants in london called dishoom:
recipe
put tea, ginger, and spices in a saucepan. add boiling water, and simmer for 10 minutes.
add sugar and milk, turn up the heat and bring to the boil (don't stir in the skin that forms, as you will be straining at the end). boil for at least 10 minutes, longer if you want a stronger tea. strain when ready.
Earl Grey is always really good, I also like getting it with lavender added. Also like a lot of oolongs and greens, although I don't have any right now. I try to avoid having too much caffeine, so all I have is a decaf Earl Grey right now, and I usually just add a small amount of stevia to the tea to sweeten it a little bit.
Ooh, I didn't know you could get lavender added! Thats really great... I love lavender, I'll have to try it!