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April 28th, 2008
10:46 am - Grove Blog, Books, and Pride
The new version of WordPress is a tad different, so I'm forgetting to actually "publish" the ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) 3cg_blog posts after writing them on occasion. I caught it earlier this time than I did last time. Still, it just showed up on LJ.
I ordered a book the other day from Miami University of Ohio, called Ecstasy: Trance, Dance, and Transformation. I thought this would be a great resource for my Trance 2 work, figuring that a book like that would be wonderful for more information about trance.
Well, it's not about trance. Or dance. Or even transformation. It's about the damn drug ecstasy. Quite honestly, I can't figure out why anyone would want this particular book. The author is trying to be some sort of Tim Leary and not doing a very good job of it at all. I find myself shaking my fist at MUOhio and thinking smoldering thoughts in the direction of Oxford, as if it's somehow their fault.
 Last Thursday, I attended a Pride organizational event. Three Cranes Grove, ADF, has been asked to help with the intertraditional service before Pride this year, and I'm very excited about this. As a result, I find myself with a dire need to accessorize my ritual gear (no, I'm not kidding at all). I was thinking that I need either a rainbow stole or perhaps a rainbow sash to replace my usual belt, but something with the ADF sigil on it. Anyone willing to give me a hand and help me by making it (or keying me into where I can get such a thing)?
I really enjoyed the Pride meeting, by the way. As I reflected back on the meeting, I wondered if I should have felt out of place, or if I had felt out of place. I really didn't, and I suspect that because there was a representative from Green Faerie Grove, I didn't feel as out of place as I had in the initial meetings I had during my last interfaith foray for World AIDS Day (where I was the only Pagan in the room and service, though my discomfort cleared up quickly in that setting). I've always really liked the Pride movement, but involvement isn't always easy for allies. I'm very happy that I've been offered this particular chance to show my support (and my Grove's support) for the movement.
It's clear to me that I'm going to have to get over my general discomfort with certain terms, though, particularly "queer," which is a term that I've known most cleary from its use on the playground during my primary education in Kentucky, really, so those connotations still stick in my head. I'm not sure that the word had passed my lips since at least 1999, when I last mentioned playing the game "smear the queer" on the playground to my girlfriend (who was appalled I had played it: I'm pretty sure I hadn't thought of the socio-political impacts of the game's name before that). This is an entirely different community with a very specialized vocabulary that I'm not at all used to, and I'm pretty darn sure that the vocabulary isn't agreed upon by the entire population.
Ah, well: it's an adventure, and one that I'm very eager to take part in.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) cheerful
Current Music: "Bama Breeze", -JB
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April 23rd, 2008
02:49 pm - Skip's Ogham Book
Thanks to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) smithing_chick, I see that Skip's book on Ogham is out in a new edition. Go pick it up!
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: working
Current Music: "False Echoes [Havana 1921]", -JB
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April 4th, 2008
08:57 am - I thought for years that Socrates had a guy named "Playdough" on the payroll
I have been reading an interesting argument that Plato's work doesn't fit with Indo-European religious worldviews (or, using a term I prefer, "cosmovision"), and that they are a complete 180° turn from the basis of IE religions.
I find this freakin' hilarious, for a variety of reasons. Later work based off Plato doesn't really fit with IE religious norms, anyway: theurgy, for instance, leaves behind many IE norms and stops making sense pretty quickly in IE religious contexts, and his cosmological understandings affect add to the speed at which later theories take off (anyone who has suffered through the cave metaphor in his Republic will know what I mean).
I think I like this most because getting out from under the burden of Greek philosophers is pretty darn tough, and it really does help make sense of why we do ritual when we sort of step away from them and reconsider things more objectively.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: "Beyond the End", -JB
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April 2nd, 2008
08:45 am - The Fire on Our Hearth - A Devotional of Three Cranes Grove, ADF
 Three Cranes Grove, ADF, is proud to release our first book, entitled The Fire on Our Hearth - A Devotional of Three Cranes Grove, ADF.
Thirteen different people are represented in the pages of this book, only three of whom are not current Grove members. The first sixty pages are prayers for all occasions (the bulk of which are original to this book, though a couple have been published elsewhere). There are also eight chants that were created by Three Cranes members which are not on the ADF website or available through other means.
Significant events from our history are recorded, too: not only in our Grove poem, "Clutiā Trion Garanonon," but also in the evocations and rituals included: the poetic drama of last year's ComFest, the Ritual for Healing after Hurricane Katrina, the prayers to Belenos at Summerset, and our Grove Inception Statement are all included.
Prayers don't only appear in English, either: there are a few prayers in Latin and a couple in Spanish, too (translations provided)! There's also a table for translation of the Coligny Calendar month names into English.
In short, The Fire on Our Hearth does an excellent job of capturing the Voice of Three Cranes.
Rev. Kirk Thomas, ADF's Vice Archdruid, supplied us with a marvelous quote for the back of the book, saying, "This is a great book for solitaries, new Groves and Protogroves interested in investigating new rites and traditions for their personal and grove practices." He also informs me that he has submitted a review to Oak Leaves!
You can purchase The Fire on Our Hearth at the Three Cranes CafePress site, or via this direct link. We expect to bring copies to the ADF Festivals that Cranes attend, too, but don't wait: get them while they're hot!
The book is $16.99 from CafePress. Please do help support our Grove: the profit from this book all goes back to the Grove for ritual space rentals, ritual gear purchases, and all those little things that just aren't free when you're running a church. And thank you in advance for your support, as well!
This book is not available on my CafePress site, but only on the Grove's CafePress site.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Coconut Telegraph", -JB
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March 30th, 2008
06:00 pm - The Dedicant Path Through the Wheel of the Year has been updated!
 A new edition of The Dedicant Path Through the Wheel of the Year (often known simply as "WotY") is now available. Resources have been added, some sections have been expanded, typos have been found and fixed, and submission information has been updated.
For those looking to finish the requirements for the DP documentation, this book will walk you through all eleven requirements in a 52-week period, offering homework, resources and reading for every requirement, and explanations and breakdowns of the requirements to help you understand exactly what the exit standard is asking.
Hard copies are available for $12 on my CafePress store, and they come wire-bound so that they lay flat for easier working. Buy it here:
http://www.cafepress.com/chronarchy.35511346
The book is *still* free for download from the ADF site, too! You can find it among other supplemental publications here:
http://www.adf.org/members/training/dp/publications/index.html
[The .pdf file at the above address is also now full of live links: no more copy/paste from the document! Just "click and go!"]
Thanks to all those who have offered feedback, encouragement, and support on this book over the years, and a *huge* thank you to all the Dedicants who have taught me so much over the time I've been in ADF!
(This isn't the only book announcement you'll see from me this week. . . Watch our Grove site, 3cg_blog, ADF-Announce, and Oak Leaves for the next announcement!)
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: "Off to See the Lizard", -JB
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December 18th, 2007
04:08 pm - Priests in a People's Church - A Short Review
I recently picked up a copy of the book Priests in a People's Church from the library. Well, I technically picked it up from the Univeristy of Dayton, who loaned it to OSU, who I borrowed it from.
Anyway, I really, really like this book, despite the fact that it's written for priests in the Anglican communion. A number of the concepts expressed are certainly relevant to all clergy, regardless of path or tradition.
Here are some key concepts from the book (with some personalization):
- The Priest as Focus: the priest is the person the congregation most depends on. S/He also depends on them, but the congregation has the ability trust that the priest will always be there, while the priest cannot always rely on the congregation to be there. S/He has to do some things even when no one else wants to do them.
- Clergy as Center of the Vortex: at the center of many converging lines, the priest doesn't have the luxury of exiting the religious sphere. This has a double-meaning in ADF and Paganism, where clergy truly do stand at the Center.
- Clergy as Outsiders: No matter how integral the priest is, s/he is not part of the "normal" world. Priests are seen as "apart" from the normal community, despite the reliance the community has on them. There are feelings that the priest's place is not in the social setting, but rather in the Grove. Many priests find themselves very lonely very often. On top of this, the vision of a priest is different; their worldview changes with ordination/consecration. Seeing things differently is not only a spiritual thing, but a job requirement, too, as it takes real work to see multiple sides of an issue.
- Clergy as Exemplars of Virtue: Priests are held to a different standard. It's not conscious, and no priest will actively complain about it, but even in traditions without absolute morals (like our own), priests are expected to live up to a higher standard. In this sense, clergy ceases to be about personal development along a religious path, and is replaced with expectation of achievement of (near) perfection along that path.
- Priests are Easy Victims: It's easy to blame clergy for things, mostly because they take it so well and they often feel they have no recourse when a person becomes angry with them. They can't get angry, nor can they respond in kind, they feel, because they are aware of being always in the spotlight.
- Priesthood as Externally Defined: what a priest "does" has less to do with what s/he actually does than what people say/perceive s/he does. What does a priest do? Congregants often think they know exactly what the clergy is doing. Generally, they're wrong. But that simple fact doesn't change their impressions or expectations.
Of course, none of the above is me complaining about the state of things, and I'm not much of one to have been turned into a victim or held to a high standard all that often, but I have experience with each of these things, and I can see how these things can easily get out of control very, very quickly if the priest is not equipped to deal with them.
There are many other wonderful things in this book that can help priests (or perspective priests) of any tradition, including dealing with violence, narcissism, and even the media.
Really, if you get the chance to grab this one, about 80% of the book is directly pertinent to any sort of clergy, with the remaining 20% being applicable just to Anglican clergy (but still very well written).
And now, I'm off to return the book: it's 50¢ per day that it's late, and it was due yesterday!
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: "Today's Message", -JB
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December 17th, 2007
06:05 pm - "Three Books? Nobody said anything about three books!"
Well, chalk it up to my usual . . . usual-ness. Seems that this coming holiday weekend, I'm going to be spending as much as possible in front of a computer, finishing up the rough drafts of at least three books (two of which, I believe, will go up for sale at some point; the third is for Grove members).
3cg_blog is doing quite well at this point. I'm really, really enjoying writing this blog, "Leaves of the Willow". I think this is a function of how much I really love to talk about my Grove (yeah, you heard me: I love my Grove). *grins*
It's even got a solid, Druidical "9" as the number of LJ subscribers (of course, don't let that stop you from adding it to your own friend's list)!
Last night, Saturn was unbound in Tucson, and I daresay I felt it all the way over here in Columbus. I love Saturnalia, and I think I need to find a way to continue to do Saturnalia here in Ohio, now that our romandruid is gone.
As it stands, I'm off to get home and eat dinner. I'll think about these books more on the other side of this Thursday's liturgy meeting. Until then, I'm collecting treasures for Tuesday night's escapades. . . Chocolates, BloodRayne 2, Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, and a little somethin'-somethin' for my hostess. . .
Mmmm. . . Hostess. . .
Okay, it's obvious I need dinner now. . . And to call my girlfriend. . .
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Music: "Why You Wanna Hurt My Heart?", -JB
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November 1st, 2007
09:09 am - Transcription Project
Something I've always wanted to do but never really had the time for is to get all the omens from all our rites posted so that folk could see them, which would help with their DP writeups.
I think that, if I can find the time this weekend, I'd like to get on that, and start transcribing the Book of Three Cranes over onto a page on our site. I'm not sure if I'd just make the omens public, or if I'd make the writeups public, or if I'd just make the whole thing "members-only" on the site.
But I've realized that each Grove Dedicant needs this information, anyway (as does anyone doing the DP who might attend our rituals), so why not make it available? I get enough questions (usually about one per ritual) within a week of the rite to know that it's something we need.
Plus, given our history with losing sign-in books (and then subsequently finding them after we've changed to a new book), it wouldn't be a bad idea to actively keep another copy.
So, that's my weekend project. Well, aside from continuing to fill in the 1 ft. x 1 ft. hole in my house. And watching the Buckeyes with tesinth. And maybe getting a bit of sleep.
Heck, I haven't even had time to do my own Samhain rite yet. I'll be working off of last year's ritual, but I want to take the time to sit down and modify it, too.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Carnival World", -JB
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October 30th, 2007
11:19 am - An Ancestor Prayer
I wrote this prayer not long ago, and I'm thinking about it over time, trying to figure out where to improve it and think through it. It may be that it's just "done," as is.
Ancestor Prayer
When you were born,
The earth became your body,
The stone became your bone,
The sea became your blood,
The sun became your eye,
The moon became your mind,
The wind became your breath.
When you passed to the Otherworld,
Your breath became the wind,
Your mind became the moon,
Your eye became the sun,
Your blood became the sea,
Your bone became the stone,
Your body became the earth.
When we were born, you did the same for us:
You called forth the earth and rocks;
The sea arose and the sun descended;
The moon shone down and the winds sang.
For those who come after, we shall do as you did for us
When we are gone, we shall do as you did before.
Ancestors, we honour you.
I spoke part of this prayer at Samhain for the Grove (all of it, simply put, felt like it would have been too long, and it was cold). But I wanted to post it here, before Oct. 31, in case anyone else liked it as much as I did.
The prayer is particularly influenced by general cosmos creation patterns in IE mythology, and also by a couple of essays by Bruce Lincoln, which can be found in his excellent Death, War, and Sacrifice.
Enjoy!
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: working
Current Music: "Wonder Why We Ever Go Home", -JB
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October 23rd, 2007
08:33 am - Meditations on the Ancestors
As I was reading the other day, I began to think about our ancestors as a long cycle of cosmic recreation, the microcosm becoming the macrocosm becoming the microcosm, and on and on. Stone becoming bone becoming stone becoming bone.
I even wrote a little preliminary chant (I'm showing my age):
"Bone to stone, stone to bone:
Never end, always change.
Breath to wind, wind to breath:
Rising up, crashing down.
Eyes to sun, sun to eyes:
Ever seeing, always knowing."
Really, I actually just wrote that down on the fly while writing to someone last night. It's not even thought out, honestly. I haven't thought of a rhythm or melody for the chant, or even checked it to see if it scans reasonably. I think it's really just an idea, not an actual attempt at any sort of chant.
But this led me into doing something I actually like to do, which is writing prayers, evocations and presenting pretty liturgical language.
I suspect I'll have my final version of what I wrote last night (much better than the chant) posted here by Samonios.
My eyes opened last night in such a way as they haven't before, to the way the Ancestors and the cosmos interact.
Can't wait to see all those "Pagan New Year's Resolutions" start floating about LJ. . . My own resolution? Well, it's more of a hopeful desire: I want to get back to updating my website, Chronarchy.Com, with more regularity. I'm already started, and things are going well. I'm working particularly hard on my Dedicant Path documentation, updating that with better-quality essays. And yes, my old essays will remain available (part of the value of my website is to show that even a monkey with a typewriter can do the DP); I really did want, though, to provide some decent essays, especially after discovering that some of my essays which would not pass under the current requirements have been held up as "examples" of "what could pass." Even notes on some things saying, "This passed under the old requirements, and would not pass under the current Preceptor or requirements," haven't stopped folk from pointing to it. Just because I'm mediocre (at best) doesn't mean your work shouldn't be excellent.
So, I expect that to be a major update. But, now I've typed more than I intended, so it's back to the grind: I have so much to do today, and so little time to do it!
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "California Promises", -JB
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July 9th, 2007
02:47 pm - And On the Sixth Night, the Druids Harvested the All-Heal
 So, I spent last night working on this ritual.
The Grove requested that we do more rituals at our last business meeting. I am, of course, happy to oblige them, and so I started doing research.
One of the specific requests was that we start doing rituals based on the cycles of the moon. Somehow, I had the brilliant idea of doing a sixth night of the new moon ritual.
Of course, this meant digging through sources, since I was suddenly of the idea that maybe I should try and have some real grounding in what happened in Gaul on said night.
So a problem arose: the original rite, according to Pliny, involves a golden sickle and sacrificing two bulls. As I can't afford a golden sickle and blood sacrifice just really isn't my cup 'o meat (especially a holocaust sacrifice, as it appears was done), I've had to find a way to take the spirit of the rite and translate it into a more modern ritual.
Fortunately for me, I'm feeling inspired recently.
( A bit on the process )
So as I worked on the ritual, I decided that the purpose would be two-fold:
- It would be our welcoming ceremony for new Grove members
- It would also do more inner work (trance and potentially ecstatic work) and help create a stronger Grove identity
I also decided that I would work outside the usual ADF Core Order of Ritual. Because this isn't a High Day ritual, I'm under no constraints, and while I have the COoR to work with for general ideas of structure, I'm completely free to exit it and abuse it (as, I feel, is proper for a list of items).
The rite itself will involve four key things: 1) Gaulish names for months (and variations on themes for them, such as Cantlos [song month] in September/October; this is an adaption from Kondratiev); 2) A more central role for Garanus, the Crane, in our Grove's hearth religion; 3) mistletoe, and actually giving it a strong functionality within our Grove; and 4) an actual mystery that simply can't be described (partially because I am not sure if I'm able to do it yet, though it's all worked out in my head).
I'm doing this whole "welcome to the Grove" thing without any oaths or real ritual terror; I'm not as interested as some folk (and traditions) are in hazing new members, no matter how much in fun it might be to the guy with the knife. Really, I just want us to affirm, ritually, our identity as Grove members, and to give some tangible benefit to those who join.
I'll have to find someone, at some point, to go over this liturgy with me and discuss it. I find, though, that I can't bounce ideas off people in my Grove, because if I'm going to try and work mystery and mysticism into a ritual, the element of surprise is crucial. It interests me how much I truly rely on their feedback in our usual rites, and how much I notice when I don't have it available.
At the next Liturgy Meeting (this Thursday), I'll get more verbose about my plans when I speak to the Grove. But, as a taste, I want all our current members to go through this as a "Grove welcoming", too, so that we obtain that shared experience.
Now, I just need one thing: a source for sprigs of mistletoe. Part of the issue is that I need them before August, when we will do our first of these rites: that's well before the holiday season (where you can sometimes get ahold of it).
Does anyone have a source for sprigs of mistletoe?
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: productive
Current Music: "Frank and Lola", -JB
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March 29th, 2007
06:31 pm - Going back to an old lover. . .
 I find it interesting that, according to everyone I've spoken to in the military, Bernard Fall's Street Without Joy is no longer read in either OCS or ROTC courses. It was required reading in my Vietnam War class, and I picked it up again because I just didn't have the time to really absorb it the first time through.
And all I can say is, "Wow."
I understand better now, my father's constant insistence that this Iraq war is nothing like Vietnam. He's completely right. Reading about the destruction of Groupement Mobile No. 100 (GM 100) alone shows the relief sharply. (Of course, this doesn't make Iraq right, but I expect that comparisons to Vietnam are going to bug me worse than Sept. 11th's comparisons to Pearl Harbor.) Road 19, Mang Yang Pass, and Chu-Dreh Pass are like nothing we have seen in Iraq.
When we became involved in engagement in Vietnam, after the French left, Street Without Joy was required reading. It described the French debacle perfectly, explaining why better armoured and armed troops were at a serious disadvantage to an army that walked everywhere, carried everything on its back, and had few outside sources of supply. "The picture he draws is not a pleasant one," the foreward to the book reads. "He presents for critical inspection two widely divergent military philosophies, one built on the mobility of the individual soldier, the other resting on the mobility of armies." And there was the central, pivotal point that Fall makes.
Had Fall not died in 1967, victim of a Vietcong explosive on the Street Without Joy, I wonder what he would have said about the fall of Saigon in 1975.
I know it would not have been kind, regarding our policies.
But I find myself happy to have picked this book up. I've been in religious studies, a love of mine that has come from my need and want to understand what I'm doing as a priest, too long. I needed to get back to my roots, my love of military history, a love long forgotten and gathering dust on the shelves.
It is, of course, just a past love, one that will return to the shelves soon in favour of more religious studies work. But for now, I needed it.
Now, the object is to finish the last 150 pages of this book before next Thursday, so I can take something lighter and easier to carry to Greece.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/thinking.gif) contemplative
Current Music: "Live is Just a Tire Swing", -JB
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March 27th, 2007
06:40 pm - Take it Back
"We ain't stealin', we're just takin' back; very simple plan of attack: It's our job and a labour of love; take it home to the up-above. . ."
Damnit, Norman: why you gotta be such a role model?
There are a few books you need to read if you want to really "get" me. No one who hasn't read them has ever really understood why I make a lot of the choices I do.
- Don't Stop the Carnvial by Herman Wouk - I am Norman Paperman on my best days
- Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - "Peter Pan would understand his schemes, dreams and ploys"
- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - It's the sword in the stone, don't you see?
- Where Is Joe Merchant? by Jimmy Buffett - Frank Bama and I are kindred spirits, with the same problems and the same god-damned resolution issues.
- A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett - That wasn't Tully Mars checking in. It was me. I hope I check out half as fortunately as he did.
That's the required reading for the course that is "WTF-MJD 101"
There's also some optional reading, as well as a set of required films and songs you need to hear, but you gotta get through the above first. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find a copy of Peter Pan in Scarlet before PSA tonight. I'm suddenly in need of a certain fix.
"We ask ourselves when we get in a fix, "What would Popeye do in a tight spot like this?" He'd race for his true love and easily win it, in an old spinach can with a mast stuck in it!"
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Take It Back", -JB
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March 7th, 2007
10:42 am - The Wheel of the Year, She is A-Turnin'. . .
Since I put the Wheel of the Year document (WotY) on my CaféPress site in late October of 2005, I've sold 37 copies of it. I made $3.02 off of it before I revised it and published it at cost last July. 15 copies were then sold at no profit to me. I've only once held an actual published copy of WotY, thanks to _crow365__: I don't even own a copy of my own book. It's kinda funny, thinking about how much work I've put into it, and what the return has been.
That return has been amazing.
It's interesting: the monetary return has been so darn low (so low I can't even collect it from CaféPress), but the value I place on the experience and the comments I've gotten back from it has been extremely high. Watching Dedicants use the plan (even if only for a month or two) has been very good, and a fairly solid indication that the program is helpful to at least some people.
My original, stated goal with the WotY was this: "If it helps one person, it will have been worth it."
I think WotY has surpassed that original goal.
The highest validation I got that it was a Good Idea™ was from Ian, who said he saw the next edition of the DP as including the WotY, possibly as an appendix, or even as a "book two". That, of course, was before the newest call for DP revisions* took place.
( Now, WotY is in an interesting fix )
* - FYI: These DP "revisions" don't affect the exit standards, so don't worry about work you're doing somehow becoming obsolete. The booklet is just being cleaned up.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Tonight I Just Need My Guitar", -JB
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February 7th, 2007
01:41 pm - Piety on the pilgrimage
"A mountain temple, Senyuji stands out for having had its main image carved by a woman. The figure of the thousand-armed Kannon was carved in the seventh century by a young woman, who is supposed to have prostrated herself after every cut of the knife. Several of the temples where the main image was carved by the Daishi also claim this kind of reverence during the making of the image. The next level of holiness in carving requires prostrating and reciting a prayer before each cut, as well as the post-cut recitation."
-Temple 58, Senyuji1 This particular quote is one I stumbled across while bringing mazisexton a copy of the book it's found in. There's something about this sort of action that speaks to me deeply.
The Shikoku pilgrimage interests me quite a bit: architecturally, spiritually, and academically. To say nothing of the fact that I promised mazisexton that I'd make it happen sometime with her.
But today, I ran across the paper I'd written that quote down on, and I remembered how much I just wanted to share it, to mention it, particularly to ADF Dedicants working on their understanding of piety. And I remembered how good that felt. And I certainly remembered the fact that that's really all I want to do on so many days. And that felt good to remember.
1 - p. 195: Readicker-Henderson, Ed. The Traveler's Guide to Japanese Pilgrimages. Weatherhill:New York, NY. 1995
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/wink.gif) quixotic
Current Music: "Little Miss Magic", -JB
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December 15th, 2006
10:38 am - Book shopping for myself and the Grove
Last night, I went to Borders, since the Grove liturgy meeting got canceled.
There, I picked up three things:
- The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
- A Moleskine notebook for a project I'm working on
- A blank book to replace (if necessary) our current Grove sign-in books.
The first book, of course, is self-explanitory. The entry I wrote yesterday, along with the amazingly fruitful (and still on-going) discussion in the comments with ferrelux should sum up most everything I have to say about that book.
The second book I picked up because I realized that I really don't journal enough. Part of that is because I never have paper when I want to. What I would like to start doing is taking quick notes that read something like this:
12/15/06; AM
religious: 3
magical: 5
chaos magical: 7
Druidic: 4
Discordian: 2 I want to indicate how I feel, on a scale of 1-10, about my worldview: when is religion, magic, chaos, and any other factor at its highest? Can I chart it over time? Does the cycle vary by time of month, phase of moon, or day of week? If I can grab these vital stats, I think I can get an interesting outlook on things.
The third book stems from the idea that we might have lost our sign-in books for the Grove. Which is mostly okay: they'll turn up, I'm sure, eventually. I'm working on the theory that someone accidentally took them home at the last rite and will bring them back. But rather than see this as a net loss, I want to look at it as a net gain: we can do things we have never done in the past, things that we really ought to be doing. I sent this email to my scribe the other day:
If we are still missing the sign-in books on Saturday, I think I'd like to pick up a new one.
I have just realized that we can turn the loss into an opportunity for growth:
The book should be a sign-in book for each rite, as it has been.
But after each rite, we should pass the book to a) the person who took the omen and have them write out the omen, b) the person who led the rite to write out how they think it went, and c) the SD (or another member if the SD led the rite) to give their impressions.
I think we could get a lot more out of the rites if we did that, plus we'd find ourselves with a solid history.
Presuming, of course, that we didn't lose the damn books again. :) As I was thinking more about this, some things dawned on me: we can generally model it after the Book of Ceaderlight and the Book of Sassafras.
There is a lot going on in my mind now about this, but again, we can turn loss into real gain for the Grove. I'll show the Grove the book I bought on Sunday at the Yule rite. It really is nice and well-bound. Plus, if we ever need to scan it in, it'll lay flat enough to do that.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Music: "Makin' Music for Money", -JB
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December 14th, 2006
01:45 pm - Seeking the Sunset City
Altogether, it was not well to meddle with the Elder Ones; and if they persistently denied all access to the marvelous sunset city, it were better not to seek that city.
-H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath I've been reading the stories Lovecraft references in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and remembering why the Cthulhu mythos interests me so deeply. This started when I picked up a copy of Phil Hine's Pseudonomicon and started reading again. I like Hine's work, really, even if it is more than a little weird sometimes.
Last night I read Pickman's Model and The Cats of Ulthar. I started on The Other Gods and will likely finish that tonight. Also on the list is Celephais. None of these are long stories (The Cats of Ulthar is the shorest), but I am hoping to understand The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath a bit better through reading them, and perhaps one day seek the sunset city on my own.
I am not sure I can explain why Lovecraft's horrors fascinate me so, but they do, probably because Cthulhu, Yog-sothoth, and Shub Niggaruth are not, to me, "real" entities, but rather embodiments of real things that we as humans have not and never will explain. They are not "real" like my gods are, even when I work directly with (or, as the case is more likely, succumb to) them, which is rare in its own right.
Really, it was Hine's article Cthulhu Madness that sparked this interest. Each step into the mythos creates a thirst for a deeper step. The mythos explains things perfectly: the age of a place, the depths of what humans are capable of, and the raw power of primeval nature. In this mythos, answers are not given. In this mythos, answers are felt. Cthulhu does not bring madness; he brings clarity and perspective that are otherwise inaccessible. It is the clarity and perspective that is gained that others believe to be madness.
I like to think of my interest as more sophistocated than the teenager who buys the paperback Necronomicon and tries to scare his parents or friends with it. I don't know whether it actually is. Working with Lovecraftian mythos is strange, in that it draws you in. The world as Lovecraft describes it doesn't make sense to those outside of it, who never enter it. Slipping into the mythos has been described to me as "stupid", "immature", "poorly thought through", and "frightening."
The thing about the Lovecraftian mythos, though, is that it doesn't have any power over those who don't choose to step into its world. When Lovecraft bumps against your world, you can escape easily, so long as you, personally, don't take that first step into the darkness. It's an easy dismissal, an offhand acknowledgement of its fictive and imature nature. It can be written off as simple stupidity or weirdness. Nothing can force you into the Lovecraftian mythos; indeed, the sanity of Thurber, who viewed Pickman's model, is not truly in danger: he avoided the madness merely by refusing to take that first step.
Entering the mythos is something that is done voluntarily. You cannot and will not be dragged in. In every story, as in every initiation into every mystery, everything begins with a voluntary step.
In other news, perhaps Slepnir was a deer, not a horse?
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: "Nautical Wheelers", -JB
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December 7th, 2006
01:02 pm - Paying the dues and reading about infantry warfare
Crap: I have to re-buy the Pals book now. He added a theorist.
Eight Theories on Religion
What used to be "Seven Theories on Religion" is now "Eight Theories on Religion". Personally, I liked the flow to the title better when there were only seven theorists, but whatever, right? I found out about the change when updating my Amazon.com wishlist this morning. (Figured if I posted it yesterday, I should bring it up to date.)
I paid my OSU parking fine today. $25 they charged me for being at an expired meter just before I left for Walking With Fire this year. I consider it the cost of doing research, because the OSU Center for Epigraphy Studies was so helpful. They even let me make several hundred copies at no charge, so escaping with only a $25 parking fine is well worth it, I think.
I spent some time this morning remembering, which is what one is supposed to do today.
I have recently been re-reading The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece by Victor Davis Hanson, a man I heard speak about the battle of Delium, one of the most horrific battles in history and the first recorded example of fratricide in battle. I still shudder thinking about his description of the Athenian realization that they were killing each other.
The thing about Hanson's book (and others like it) is that it does not focus on strategy or tactics, but on what the individual experienced: why he fought, how tactics and strategy influenced the experience of battle, and the way these things focused themselves directly into theory of war that the west embraced and still holds as the highest form of combat.
It's books like this that got me into military history. Well, books like this and Stan Czaplak, but that's a whole other story.
Current Location: South
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown", -JB
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August 8th, 2006
02:32 pm - What am I doing?
My lunch break was spent at the library, grabbing books off the shelves in the Indo-European language section of the stacks. I came up with the following items:
Friedrich, Paul. Proto-Indo-European Trees: The Arboreal System of a Prehistoric People. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 1970
Nussbaum, Alan J. Head and Horn in Indo-European. New York, NY: Walter de Gruyter. 1986
Watkins, Calvert. How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995 And these articles:
Carruba, Onofrio. "Searching for Woman in Anatolian and Indo-European." Perspectives on Indo-European Language, Culture, and Religion: Studies in Honour of Edgar C. Polome (Vol. 1) McLean, VA: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1991
Lyle, Emily. "Markedness and Encompassment in Relation to Indo-European Cosmogony." Perspectives on Indo-European Language, Culture, and Religion: Studies in Honour of Edgar C. Polome (Vol. 1) McLean, VA: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1991
Weitenberg, Jos. "The Meaning of the Expression "To Become a Wolf" in Hittite." Perspectives on Indo-European Language, Culture, and Religion: Studies in Honour of Edgar C. Polome (Vol. 1) McLean, VA: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1991
Buchholz, Peter. "Ancient Lore: Oral Tradition in Medieval Scandanvia." Perspectives on Indo-European Language, Culture, and Religion: Studies in Honour of Edgar C. Polome (Vol. 2) McLean, VA: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1992
Zysk, Kenneth G. "Reflections on an Indo-European Healing Tradition." Perspectives on Indo-European Language, Culture, and Religion: Studies in Honour of Edgar C. Polome (Vol. 2) McLean, VA: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1992
Barber, E. J. W. "On αιγ- as 'Protection'." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part One: Ancient Languages and Philology. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Fisher, Robert L. "The Lore of the Staff in Indo-European Tradition." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part One: Ancient Languages and Philology. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Huld, Martin E. "Magic, Metathesis, and Nudity in Indo-European Thought." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part One: Ancient Languages and Philology. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Jones-Bley, Karlene. "Red for the Dead." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part One: Ancient Languages and Philology. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Mallory, J. P. "Some Aspects of Indo-European Agriculture." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part One: Ancient Languages and Philology. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Streets, Cheryl. "Ajahad u dva mithuna: A Note on Rgveda 10.17.1-2." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part One: Ancient Languages and Philology. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Brennemann, Walter L. "The Drunken and the Sober: A Comparative Study of Lady Sovereignty in Irish and Indic Contexts." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part Two: Mythology and Religion. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Dexter, Miriam Robbins. "Born of the Foam: Goddesses of River and Sea in the 'Kingship of Heaven' Myth." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part Two: Mythology and Religion. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Epstein, Angelique Gulermovich. "The Morrigan and the Valkyries." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part Two: Mythology and Religion. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997 (I'm sort of "blah" about this article, personally. . . Talk about a dull topic!)
Miller, Dean A. "In Search of Indo-European Inter-Functional War." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part Two: Mythology and Religion. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Polome, Edgar C. "Some Reflections on the Vedic Religious Vocabulary." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part Two: Mythology and Religion. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Sayers, William. "Psychological Warfare in Vinland (Eriks saga Rauða)" Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part Two: Mythology and Religion. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997
Strutynski, Udo. "The Sins of Siegfried: Echoes of Indo-European War Crimes in the Nibelungenlied and its Analogues." Studies in Honour of Jaan Phuvel: Part Two: Mythology and Religion. Washington, DC: Journal of Indo-European Studies. 1997 I've been working pretty hard on the Liturgist Guild Study Program recently. It's a decent program, but it has a book required that is listed as "recommended" and the .pdf file could use an update to reflect some current membership statuses. I also reformatted my entire Study Program page to include the Second Circle CTP programs that I'm going to have to do, as well as a link to the LGSP work I'm doing/have done. Raven has promised to inform me by the end of the week whether I've passed the GSP or not (he says if I haven't heard by Friday, I can start "pushing").
Coinciding with that, I'll be updating my webpage, I think. I will also be starting a new journal regarding "domestic cult practice" for the Liturgist Guild's SP.
In other news, Fifth Third Bank has put a stupid, annoying javascript ad over my account balance. "Learn How to Protect Yourself Online" it says. The "close" button doesn't work because the javascript seems broken, meaning that I can't access my online banking unless I hit the "stop" button on the browser before the java ad opens but after the page has loaded.
Well, let me tell you: being completely unable to access your account when you log in legitimately to view your balance is a very good security measure. I just hope that if someone cracks my account, they can't figure out how to crack the javascript load.
( Because at least one person reading this would be interested in the failure code for the JS that Mozilla is returning. . . )
This make it very difficult for me to determine if I do, indeed, have the cash to make it to Chicago this weekend, which is rather annoying.
It's a good thing I know how to turn off JavaScript in this browser. Too bad I have to reactivate it to do anything else.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: "The Stories We Could Tell", -JB
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July 24th, 2006
08:48 am - Bibliographies, the occasional movie, and friends. . . A good weekend
Well, at six pages, I have part of my GSP Bibliography done.
Had I realized I had more than six pages to put in that bibliography, I wouldn't have put it off quite so long.
Actually, I might have waited longer.
I still have two shelves of books that I referred to for my ADF Generalist Study Program work to go through. Not all of it makes an appearance as a citation, but if I have to show everything I've worked with, well, that's nearly every book I own on Celtic/magical stuff, plus anything in a generally IE category, plus a few lecture notes and websites I frequent.
For reference, here's what my desk looked like when I was writing up the GSP work:
It still kinda looks like that.
If you browse through my list o' titles on that bibliography, you'll find a few strange titles, like "Archeoastronomy in the Americas" and such. No, they're not there to fluff the bibliography. I actually used them in a paper I wrote for the GSP. Doesn't say that your reserach has to be done on an IE topic, you know.
I'm spending the night in with Tina tonight, who rented A History of Violence and asked if I wanted to see it, too. I did (I've had a few conversations with perlgirlju, with whom I still need to have a good evening of bad vampire movies with in the near future), so we'll be watching that tonight, and I'll be trying to finish this bibliography.
Then. . . Oh, my friends, then I get to chop it up into sections so that each resource matches a course or the "general" category.
It was a busy weekend, but I got to spend some time with tesinth and Maggie at the movies (we saw Clerks 2), go to the zoo with singingwren, and even got something from druidkirk delivered to me. In all, it was a very good weekend.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Captain America", -JB
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