Saturday, October 22, 2011
rawr
I hate how blogspot doesn't remove deleted posts from your dashboard until a century later. I always see things that interest me, but turn out to have already been deleted.
Friday, October 14, 2011
door hinge
I received a call from someone I hadn't spoken to in a while. It was a good conversation overall, but it dredged up some painful memories. That night I had a rather vivid dream. I was over my friend and her fiance's house eating oranges. But tiny little bugs started crawling out of the orange slices, and then out of the other food as well. I was remarkably calm in the dream even though I was intensely grossed out. I feel like this dream might be more than too much pizza before bed... but I'm not sure how to interpret it other than the obvious - "bad", "decay", "ruin", most likely in regards to the phone call.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
anam cara
I met a very special person on Oct 1st.
That night I dreamt of this person. He was wearing a Claddagh ring with a green stone that matched my celtic knot ring. We were both wearing our rings on our left ring fingers. I remember explaining to him that if the ring pointed outward it meant he was single, and if it pointed inward it meant he was married. He flipped the ring inward and outward a few times, but I don't remember which way it ended up before I awoke.
That night I dreamt of this person. He was wearing a Claddagh ring with a green stone that matched my celtic knot ring. We were both wearing our rings on our left ring fingers. I remember explaining to him that if the ring pointed outward it meant he was single, and if it pointed inward it meant he was married. He flipped the ring inward and outward a few times, but I don't remember which way it ended up before I awoke.
pagan fail
I know everyone was "new" to the craft at one point or another, but please try to use some common sense. Do not burn toxic plants or hallucinogens... especially around company without telling them first. Do I even need to explain why?
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Past Lives
I've always preferred the more concrete realms of magick and the occult. Now this may seem contradictory to some of you (especially if you think everything needs to be tested in a laboratory to be "concrete"), but I assure you - it's legit. I prefer Tarot because it has results I can verify. I prefer spellwork, especially nuanced spells, for the same reason. I have a hard time getting into such nebulous practices as past lives. How do you verify something like that?
I'm not talking about stuff like little kids that remember past lives, including things that only the dead person would know (like something private they shared with their spouse). I actually find that rather fascinating. But what I'm talking about here is past life readings - whether done intuitively, with tarot cards, or some other method.
Most of the time it just seems like one person's word against another's. One reader tells you you were one person, another reader tells you you were someone else entirely. Could you have been both? Sure. But you would think that at least once in a while two of the readers would pick up on the same past life.
The problem I've run into is one reader contradicting what another two readers have said, and what my gut tells me. One person says I've been male 9 times out of 10 in my past lives. Another person says I've been female in all my past lives. So what is the truth? Or are both bullshit?
A lot of times when I hear readings, the ones done for me included, it feels like the reader is telling you either what they want to hear or what you want to hear. I think a lot of readers let their own biases influence the reading. Close minded people are less likely to tell you you were of the opposite sex. Or perhaps they just see you as embodying your gender so strongly in this life that they can't fathom it could have been different. Or maybe they have strong ties to a certain heritage or time period and thus imagine that you were apart of it. Or they just craft an epic story that they know will appeal to you, feeding off what you want to be true and hints you've dropped rather than any sort of true insight. It becomes a matter of one person's "opinion" versus another's - with no way to prove who is right. So whose fantasy will prevail?
I told a friend about my most recent reading. I explained that I felt the reader was wrong because I'd had two readings to the contrary, and my gut has always sided with those readings. He countered that my "gut feelings" could be explained by psychology and brain chemistry. (Well, maybe I was born with such brain chemistry as a reflection of my past lives?) I got a bit annoyed at this point (I'm sorry if I was rude!). Proving that my gut feeling is the result of brain chemistry neither proves nor disproves what may be my past lives. In fact, those readings neither prove nor disprove anything either. All I really have to sway me from believing one person over the other IS my gut feeling (and perhaps a few dreams, as I am not one of those people who claims to remember past lives). And for all I know, there could be absolutely no such thing as reincarnation, and even the little kids with clear memories of past lives could be explained in some other way.
In summation, I just feel like this is such a nebulous and subjective field of study and it really aggravates me when people try to assert what's true or false and get really pushy about it. Especially when it challenges my gut... because there is no objective evidence here. So why would I believe someone else's opinions over my gut (if I'm to believe in any of this at all)?
I'm not talking about stuff like little kids that remember past lives, including things that only the dead person would know (like something private they shared with their spouse). I actually find that rather fascinating. But what I'm talking about here is past life readings - whether done intuitively, with tarot cards, or some other method.
Most of the time it just seems like one person's word against another's. One reader tells you you were one person, another reader tells you you were someone else entirely. Could you have been both? Sure. But you would think that at least once in a while two of the readers would pick up on the same past life.
The problem I've run into is one reader contradicting what another two readers have said, and what my gut tells me. One person says I've been male 9 times out of 10 in my past lives. Another person says I've been female in all my past lives. So what is the truth? Or are both bullshit?
A lot of times when I hear readings, the ones done for me included, it feels like the reader is telling you either what they want to hear or what you want to hear. I think a lot of readers let their own biases influence the reading. Close minded people are less likely to tell you you were of the opposite sex. Or perhaps they just see you as embodying your gender so strongly in this life that they can't fathom it could have been different. Or maybe they have strong ties to a certain heritage or time period and thus imagine that you were apart of it. Or they just craft an epic story that they know will appeal to you, feeding off what you want to be true and hints you've dropped rather than any sort of true insight. It becomes a matter of one person's "opinion" versus another's - with no way to prove who is right. So whose fantasy will prevail?
I told a friend about my most recent reading. I explained that I felt the reader was wrong because I'd had two readings to the contrary, and my gut has always sided with those readings. He countered that my "gut feelings" could be explained by psychology and brain chemistry. (Well, maybe I was born with such brain chemistry as a reflection of my past lives?) I got a bit annoyed at this point (I'm sorry if I was rude!). Proving that my gut feeling is the result of brain chemistry neither proves nor disproves what may be my past lives. In fact, those readings neither prove nor disprove anything either. All I really have to sway me from believing one person over the other IS my gut feeling (and perhaps a few dreams, as I am not one of those people who claims to remember past lives). And for all I know, there could be absolutely no such thing as reincarnation, and even the little kids with clear memories of past lives could be explained in some other way.
In summation, I just feel like this is such a nebulous and subjective field of study and it really aggravates me when people try to assert what's true or false and get really pushy about it. Especially when it challenges my gut... because there is no objective evidence here. So why would I believe someone else's opinions over my gut (if I'm to believe in any of this at all)?
Sunday, September 4, 2011
This is my life
I'm sitting here in my Miskatonic University shirt and VS sweats... because apparently Cthulhu loves Pink? (And I just added Cthulhu to Blogger's dictionary. Really? Why was that not already in there?!)
In other news, I made a good score at Half Price Books yesterday, especially given the extra discount due to the Labor Day sale.
Now to find time to read all of this, plus everything else in my reading queue.
In other news, I made a good score at Half Price Books yesterday, especially given the extra discount due to the Labor Day sale.
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| The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage and Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy |
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Spirit Boards
Most people I run across have some sort of strong opinion on Ouija boards. And most of the opinions tend to be along the lines of "Ewww, they're so evil! I know someone who had some horrible experience (that they won't talk about) but there was [insert unimaginable horror here]." It's rarely ever a calm "I don't want to take the risk."
OK, so yes, Ouija boards have the potential to be dangerous. But that doesn't mean they always are. Or that you'll ever personally experience it. There's also benefits to using one, responsibly. But I'm not here to argue for the use of Ouija boards. No, I'm here to bitch about something ridiculous.
I've been noticing a trend amongst the Pagan crowd of this idea that Ouija boards are ever so evil, but other types of spirit boards are A OK and safe as houses. Dude... really? You think because my Ouija Board was made by Parker Brothers and your spirit board was made by Simon & Schuster that there is any friggin difference?! Look - even though your board is a flaming rainbow circle and mine's just a dull brown rectangle, they serve the same purpose. They attract the same things. Can we please cease with the false sense of security because of cosmetic differences?
OK, so yes, Ouija boards have the potential to be dangerous. But that doesn't mean they always are. Or that you'll ever personally experience it. There's also benefits to using one, responsibly. But I'm not here to argue for the use of Ouija boards. No, I'm here to bitch about something ridiculous.
I've been noticing a trend amongst the Pagan crowd of this idea that Ouija boards are ever so evil, but other types of spirit boards are A OK and safe as houses. Dude... really? You think because my Ouija Board was made by Parker Brothers and your spirit board was made by Simon & Schuster that there is any friggin difference?! Look - even though your board is a flaming rainbow circle and mine's just a dull brown rectangle, they serve the same purpose. They attract the same things. Can we please cease with the false sense of security because of cosmetic differences?
Friday, August 19, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
A bit of philosophy
Magick isn't about necessarily getting grandiose riches and results. It's that when shit hits the fan, you land on your feet and get the least shit on you out of everyone involved.
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