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azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
neocolonial malcontent chic
@azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
320 followers 82 following 1.2K posts
Making a history for a post-historical self.

✨ Artist, diviner, spiritworker. Seeking root in the stars and flora 🌿

➡️ https://ko-fi.com/azadirachta

Currently closed for tarot consultations.
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azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
Having a bit of a Venus conj. Antares problem: trying to constructively channel my emotional pressure* into a sketch, but holding myself back from worrying the piece too much

*rats are getting into my kitchen, mosquitoes won't let me draw in peace without having a net on

#ArtSky #WitchSky #WIP
A5-sized kraft paper notebook open to a page with an in-progress graphite pencil and ink drawing of a sprig of neem (Azadirachta indica) blossom and buds, amid spring leaf growth. The drawing is framed in a red gel ink rectangle, but the flower and one big leaf directly in the foreground outgrow the frame.
December 9, 2025 at 6:39 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
Have re-committed to art (as praxis, not just a fuzzy concept) this Mercury retrograde. Am still refining my aesthetic, so I'm trying out covering the styles I like particularly

And sketching local flora has reintroduced me to some *very* interesting folks 🗡️ 🎼 💐 ✨

#ArtSky #WitchSky #Herbalism
A5-sized kraft paper notebook open to a page with one partial sketch of a tulsī branch in blue ballpoint pen, and one other partial sketch of an assemblage of herbs and spices for tea in red ballpoint pen, along with handwritten notes in green gel ink. A folded paper towel and my pens, one black and two red, lie on the adjacent corner. The whole thing lies on a blue glass surface. A5-sized kraft paper notebook open to a page with a sprawling ink drawing of curry leaves on the tree with a corner look at a branch of butterfly pea vine on tulsī branches underneath, and handwritten notes in green gel ink. A5-sized kraft paper notebook open to a page with a circularly-framed blue ballpoint pen illustration of a large-ish butterfly pea flower on the vine through a mature and quite bushy tulsī plant. The illustration somewhat outgrows the frame, itself drawn in red ink.
November 27, 2025 at 5:29 AM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
I'm so sorry I completely forgot to reply to this! this week has been a rollercoaster, and not a fun one 🙃 this was what I'd found, and boy oh boy did this manifest! even right now, I realise I'm working through stuff with the combined energy of these three. I had to really sit with the Two of Air —
September 13, 2025 at 3:11 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
oh buddy 🫂 I'm on a much-needed first vacation of my life ever and have been largely off-internet, but I saw this a couple of months ago and had saved it.
August 6, 2025 at 2:51 AM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
current mood: Venus and Saturn, the underrated power duo of the sky, and the gravitative metamorphic brilliance of the Earth

#WitchSky #Flora
A wood-ear fungus (I don't know which type and would appreciate input on this) growing in florid curlicue clusters on the cracked and decomposing stump of a dead jackfruit tree, surrounded by naturally occurring mulch and pieces of concrete debris of various sizes. The fungus is a light-to-medium reddish-brown in colour, with some fine foamy layers of white over and under them. A little jasmine (Jasminium sambac) plant with two fully bloomed flowers and two or three buds, newly planted next to the dead tree. The soil base of the plant has been lightly covered with chunks of debris to conserve moisture and help anchor the plant. The plant is bushy in form, with big, glossy, deep warm green leaves. The plant has been copiously watered, and the leaves are shiny and dripping with water.
May 24, 2025 at 10:33 AM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
Vega was conj. the IC when I began this. Fucked up the scaled placement of the stars here; but the great thing about learning under the stars, I've found, is that you're allowed to fumble and be imprecise. Learning to fail and resurge with grace is such a challenge, and a mercy.

#WitchSky #ArtSky
Pen and ink illustration on brown packing paper: of a rather heavily overcast and light polluted night sky. A big light source on the bottom left corner, from the building, is contributing to the disorienting light level here. This is the east-northeast to eastern horizon, with the darker silhouettes of coconut and tal palms, and the lighter foliar mass of banyan and other trees. Amid the cloud cover, some stars are very dimly visible, and have been labelled on the drawing itself: Vega, Altair, Ras Algethi, Ras Alhague, Sabik, and Antares. Closeup of the centre-top portion of the ink drawing on brown packing paper placed on the ivory white pages of an open book: Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee. Of the drawing, the stars in the clouded sky and the topmost parts of the darker tree silhouettes are in focus. The text in the background reads: "I was a little stung by Babak's dismissiveness, but I later came to understand that it came from the cynicism of experience. The true worth of a ruhker was in long days of hunting and uncelebrated toil. The first manticore kill, [...] holy ashes in the Fire Temple, the royal feast [...] would never hap-".
April 24, 2025 at 2:51 AM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
I found Sirius glimmering in the west-southwest tonight, alone in a rather overcast sky ramping up the humidity. Felt like they'd like to be included here.

Checked the chart for when I began drawing this, and what do you know? Sirius was two degrees off from the ASC.

#ArtSky #WitchSky
Picture of an ink drawing on brown packing paper, of a flowering branch of jasmine (Jasminium sambac) with one freshly opening flower and four visible buds, against a cloudy light-polluted night sky. There's a dark cloud right behind the flowers, and beyond, an eight-rayed star: Sirius. On the top corners, black plastic and steel drawing clips are partially visible.
April 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
I get that the US is supposed to be vested with great responsibility as a global superpower, etc., but these posts seem so... laughable to me?

Don't get me wrong: I understand the sentiment here. But the subtext is insidiously racist, and the people who post and repost really oblivious to it.
BlueSky quote-post with OP identifiers blurred, reads: "I'm just so fucking disappointed in everyone who didn't give a shit about what putting a fascist in power would actually mean, and don't click on the link, because I'm including the NYT in that." The quoted post, by the New York Times, is a headline (with the article linked with preview) that says: "China, Russia and India have dispatched emergency teams and supplies to earthquake-ravaged Myanmar. So have Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. The U.S., the richest country in the world and once its most generous provider of foreign aid, has sent nothing." The article headline in preview reads: "Trump's U.S.A.I.D. Cuts Hobble Earthquake Response in Myanmar".
March 31, 2025 at 4:22 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
I was too sick, too tired the last two days to do this, but I decided to really get down to it this morning. And I'm glad I did.

I could use some words re: The Hermit?
On an old cotton bedsheet, dark yellow with bold paisley + floral patterns in blue-grey and olive drab, three cards from the Rosebud Tarot: Five of Fire (Wands), Ace of Fire (Wands), The Seeker-9 (The Hermit). Handwritten notes (mine) in a lined kraft paper notebook. The notes read as follows: • Five of Fire: actively contend with and question perfectionism as a learned behaviour • Ace of Fire: trial by fire, fire as a means of purification + refinement, learning to work with fire -- preserve desire in its chaste (archaic) and absolute nuclear form.
March 15, 2025 at 4:58 AM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
I was referring to this one!
March 13, 2025 at 8:22 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
I don't love having my nose to the grindstone. (Who does?!) But I do love building a world together with and for my loves.
Closeup of a young and newly planted jasmine tree (Jasminium sambac), with long stems, big glossy green leaves, and two sprays of creamy yellow-white buds (they remind me of white chocolate). One bud, the centre in the photo, has opened into a rotund and bright white flower. Again, not pictured: the dizzying sweet fragrance of the open flower. Dinner tonight: a big steel bowl, with a steel spoon, of jhalmuṛi (spicy puffed rice). There's muṛi (puffed rice), chopped tomato + red onion + cucumber + coriander greens + green cayenne chili pepper + boiled potato, lime juice + pickled lime, bhaja môshla and salt, soaked Bengal gram, and Bombay mix.
March 11, 2025 at 6:44 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
Sustenance for myself so I live to see another spring as beautiful as this one, if not more so. Shared resources with and gifts for my friends: the humans I laugh and cry and love with, the other-than-human kin that tell me stories and give us strength.
Closeup of the lushly flowering curry leaf tree (Bergera koenigii) in the starkly golden mid-morning sun, ironically mimicking the Hollywood yellow filter (the photo itself has no filter). The leaves are a very bright mid-saturated warm green, almost chartreuse in colour. The big clusters of buds and star-shaped flowers are white, tinted light yellow-green in the sun. Not pictured: the incredible savoury-sweet floral fragrance drawing dozens of pollinators every hour.
March 11, 2025 at 6:44 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
I get dispirited when I remember that my professional writing has become mostly an effort to make money these days. It's hard to truly enjoy anything with so much pressure on.

But then I think about why I need that dough.
An attempt at a closeup of a branch of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) full of young green leaves, delicate budding leaves a broody coppery red in colour with a yellow-green undertone, and minute stems of white flower buds. In the blurry background of partial views, there's a neighbouring house painted brick red with pale pink boundary wall, a parking lot with a corrugated iron roof, and a brightly flowering curry leaf tree (Bergera koenigii) in my garden.
March 11, 2025 at 6:44 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, describe your gender ~

(I'd written a 5k-word essay three years ago about gender in this film + Wong Kar-Wai's filmography; but these two continue to live rent-free in my head.)
Black and white behind the scenes photo from the production of In The Mood For Love (2000, dir. Wong Kar-Wai), with the leads Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk in their costumes, sitting at a small table in a Bangkok food stall styled to look like a '60s Hong Kong eatery. Tony Leung is eating and leaning in close to speak to Maggie Cheung, who is sipping gracefully from a tall glass with a straw and looking to the right side corner off-camera. The mood is cozy and contained despite the implied business of film production.
March 10, 2025 at 10:15 AM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
One useful way of not letting perfectionism impede my creativity, I've found, is reminding myself that I'm only scrambling for perfection because I don't yet know what I personally want to see. And until I've figured it out, I'm allowed to wreck things a bit.

#QueerArtist #ArtSky #Sketch
Closeup in the afternoon sunshine of a notebook with a cool brown linen-wrapped hardcover, with pieces of (warm-toned) brown packing paper tucked into and laid on top of the notebook, secured with binder clips. The notebook is held on the lap, dressed in a bright crimson "nightie" (in the local parlance) with a small square white + green + yellow + black print. Of the brown paper on top, only the top right corner and a bit downwards is visible. It contains a portion of an ink pen sketch of a part of a tulsī (Ocimum tenuiflorum) plant, plus a portion of a diary entry: "... quite sick when I began today..." In the lower background, there's a blurred garden lit up gold-green in the 2 pm sun. The full sketch of a portion of the tulsī (Ocimum tenuiflorum) plant, plus some of my diary entry, but this time with two additions: colour sampling (incorrectly labelled "colour swatching" on the page) the tulsī, with notes overwriting a small part of the written diary-work and in the top central-right. The experiment was both overwriting portions of the written diary-work and creating a layered look, and an aesthetic where the sketch itself is not coloured in, but the immediate background of the sketch has the colour sampling.
February 22, 2025 at 5:54 PM
azadirachta-indica.bsky.social
Right the next morning after this Antares-led epiphany, I found the chili pepper that I'd left on the plant to ripen, and been awaiting for weeks on end, has taken on a streak of bright vermilion within the rich toothsome green. This morning, I found it's ripened all the way.
An overgrown garden littered with scrap and debris. A little cayenne pepper plant in the centre, nigh invisible amid the lush growth of cut-leaf false ox-tongue and little ironweed. A ripe chili pepper hangs on the plant, brilliant vermilion in the late morning sunshine. A brown hand (mine) holding the ripe chili pepper, picked from the plant along with a sprig of leaf with it (it came off accidentally).
February 12, 2025 at 5:07 AM