She Continues
A friend had bugged me ages ago about writing on “ritual dramaturgy,” and the idea made sense, got me thinking, but despite making an outline and starting to draft something, it fell by the wayside because it got boring. I was approaching it in the wrong way, and I was very much overthinking it or […] … Continue reading…Ritual Dramaturgy
It has been a May of sun and high sky thus far, and as my schedule opens up for a couple of months, I have had the chance to venture forth again. Despite the bugs biting—the mosquitoes seem rather darker and larger than I remember when I was younger—the wind and trees and sky and […] … Continue reading…Border Crossings
At the suggestion of someone whose opinion I’ve come to value, I started reading Peter Grey’s Lucifer: Princeps, and the book is less about “Lucifer” as a definite presence and more about sovereignty, the Dead, and how we enchant our selves and worlds. Early in the book, Grey points to models of sacred kingship–& that […] … Continue reading…Jail-breaking Machiavelli 1: Lucifer, Elizabeth, Machiavelli
In the place I use for my ritual space, there’s a closet. For the longest time, I kept it shut unless I needed to get into the closet for something. I always felt off having it open and dark when I was trying to do something else. I always had the sense that something might […] … Continue reading…Exorcising Neo-Platonism 2: Modalities & Magical Images
Okay, so here’s the always fantastic Alkistis Dimech of Scarlet Imprint talking at Trans-States: Now, as I listened to her talk about butoh and how dance describes a space we create and then intersect with the world, I couldn’t but help thinking of creating magical/sacred space, ritual, and art in general. What I love about […] … Continue reading…Exorcising Neo-Platonism 1: Space & Movement
I don’t get enough time outside—work and other business occupies time that I try to reclaim for myself again when I am able. And I’m hoping I’ll have a bit of time here in the autumn to do more outside. If nothing else, for me, sitting and reflecting while outside leads into a kind of […] … Continue reading…Nemetona & Self & Enchantment & Other
Sundry notions below– I read Mircea Eliade recently—Myths, Dreams, & Mysteries and The Sacred & The Profane. I feel Eliade offers interesting notions that need grounding in political realities. Indeed, the kinds of arguments that Eliade makes about sacralization and ritual reflect what many others make, all the while folks claiming that, because their religions […] … Continue reading…[NB: Notes on Eliade, Politics, Sacred & Profane]
After a point, I also began asking myself why directions matter in the first place. And as I pondered these questions, a constellation of ideas began to coalesce. Those ideas include sacred space, enclosure, and ultimately disenchantment & disciplinary discourse. … Continue reading…Directionality, Enclosure, Space
I remember reading Francesca de Grandis’s Be a Goddess!, and I remember coming across her notes on devotional offerings to the gods. De Grandis tells readers to “feed” the gods, that doing so is essential. And being the contrarian I can be, I stopped and questioned this need. Surely the gods don’t need to be […] … Continue reading…Gods & Devotion
In my experience of Shining Flame, he has tended to be more no-nonsense, brusker, incisive, cutting through bullshit even as he moves you to do so as well. Where Star Seeker would ask me “What have you learned,” Shining Flame tells me, “Speak truth to me, Crowess.” My call for Shining Flame is built on […] … Continue reading…The Guardians: Part Three: Shining Flame & Water Maker