June | 2015 | bloodteethandflame

June 26, 2015

Pre-Order Announcement: Worshiping Loki – A Short Introduction

I’m so glad (and excited!) that Silence has decided to do this project, and offer this work to our community ❤

The Road, the Walker, and What Comes Next

Today is a most auspicious day for the release of a new book. Worshiping Loki: A Short Introduction contains guidelines for building a fulfilling practice of Loki worship in a polytheistic context.

Presenting material derived from experience and practice, this book sets aside arguments of historicity to provide today’s curious practitioner with practical, applicable information that can be put to work right away. Extending hospitality, building an alter, making offerings, saying prayers, and deepening practice are all covered. Discernment exercises are also provided to help enrich one’s contact with the divine. This slim 18 page volume is comparable to the devotional volumes I offer through Etsy, and extra special book making materials have been chosen to further distinguish this edition.This very special volume is being released in limited numbers. 20 signed and numbered volumes are being issued for sale at $45 each. This batch of books will also be…

View original post 223 more words

June 21, 2015

Questions and answers.

Have you ever played with the Ape of Thoth?

It’s a searchable database of Thelema texts – by verse and chapter, if one knows the number – but what makes it fun is that there is also a feature on the site that is a Thelemic text randomizer.

It’s pretty neat, actually. You type/ask a question, and it brings up a portion of text from the books of Thelema as an answer.

Which makes it so much more interesting than the Magic 8-Ball these days.

So…I have an issue that is quite emotionally-laden for me, and I was having trouble keeping a clear head about things.

So I decided to ask the Ape of Thoth for some guidance, simply typing:

What to do? RE: LOKI

[And this was the answer:]

“Continuation. Further concerning occupation.

Let the devotee transmute within the alembic of his heart every thought, or word, or act into the spiritual gold of his devotion.
As thus: eating. Let him say: “I eat this food in gratitude to my Deity that hath sent it to me, in order to gain strength for my devotion to Him.”
Or: sleeping. Let him say: “I lie down to sleep, giving thanks for this blessing from my Deity, in order that I may be refreshed for new devotion to Him.”
Or: reading. Let him say: “I read this book that I may study the nature of my Deity, that further knowledge of Him may inspire me with deeper devotion to Him.”
Or: working. Let him say: “I drive my spade into the earth that fresh flowers (fruit, or what not) may spring up to His glory, and that I, purified by toil, may give better devotion to Him.”
Or: whatever it may be that he is doing, let him reason it out in his own mind, drawing it through circumstance and circumstance to that one end and conclusion of the matter. And let him not perform the act until he hath done this.
As it is written: Liber VII, cap. v. —
22. “Every breath, every word, every thought, ever deed is an act of love with Thee.
23. “The beat of my heart is the pendulum of love.
24. “The songs of me are the soft sighs:
25. “The thoughts of me are very rapture:
26. “And my deeds are the myriads of Thy Children, the stars and the atoms.” And Remember Well, that if thou wert in truth a lover, all this wouldst thou do of thine own nature without the slightest flaw or failure in the minutest part thereof.”

All I could think upon reading the above is – what remarkably specific advice – even if it doesn’t answer the question that I thought that I was asking.

But sometimes that happens.

Perhaps this is the connection in discovering the meaning of that phrase

Love is the movement that gives substance to the Will

Hm.

7 Comments

June 19, 2015

Rules.

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can get you in a lot of trouble.
Manners are always important.
Smart is good. Lucky is better. (Smart and lucky is the best of all.)
Sometimes the long way around is the best way home.
Never let the truth interfere with a good story.
(Neef’s Rules for Changelings from this book)

1 Comment

June 12, 2015

Funny, that.

Even though I know

Not everything that comes up in my life is a message.

Not everything in my life in my life has a hidden meaning.

And most importantly of all…

I know that if there is a message or a meaning

the message and the meaning aren’t

always

specifically

meant for me.

But then again, certain things show up in my reading and I have to wonder

Just what is the Universe up to?

1 Comment

June 11, 2015

Mixed.

I’ve been meaning to post about several things, the most of which is a very long post that contains a lot of musing about community, polyamory — and of course, Loki.

But as much as I have been wanting to finish it up, I have been down with a seemingly unshakable cold that is kicking my ass, and thus, I’m having trouble generating the level of coherence that I need in order to complete that task.

(So I’d like to apologize to anyone who has been waiting for that promised post. I hope to get it done soon.)

~~~

Meanwhile, I’m focusing on completing several embroidery and beading projects, as I find them rather soothing activities, since I haven’t had much energy to be vertical much these past few days.

As a result, I finished two devotional necklaces that I’d been working on, since I’ve finally received those green kyanite beads that I ordered for them, and I started embroidering the other three borders for that altar cloth.

Here is one of the necklaces:

~~~

And here are the roses that were sent to cheer me up.

3 Comments

June 8, 2015

Finally finished with the rune embroidery on this altar cloth.

I just wanted to post to let those who were asking to see it.

I’ve already gotten the nudge that perhaps I could embroider this 3 more times – as a border for each side.

Though I really hope that that was perhaps not meant as an actual request…as I’m really feeling inclined to embroider something else for a change.

Or I could just look at it as a means to further memorize runes…much like those embroidery samplers of the alphabet that young children were known to make in colonial times.

/end whineage.

10 Comments

June 8, 2015

3rd Blog-aversary

According to WordPress, I have been blogging on bloodteethandflame for three years (as of 28 May 2012), and so I received an email notifying me of my 3rd Anniversary about 10 days ago

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

You registered on WordPress.com 3 years ago!

Thanks for flying with us. Keep up the good blogging!

That took me quite by surprise, since I had thought that WordPress would be counting from the date of my first blog entry (7 June 2012) rather than the date that I had first registered.

And yes, I had been planning to write an entry on June 7th, simply because I did get quite a peculiar reminder on 26 May 2015:

I was riding in the car, and we were driving through Winter Haven, on the way back from my therapy appointment. I was riding in the car with V, and we were talking about our kids’ upcoming summer vacation.

I wasn’t really paying attention the cars around me, until he suddenly remarked something about the car that was directly in front of us.

‘Look, it’s a Loki car,’ he said.

I looked at the license plate, expecting that to be what he was referring to, but there was nothing about the license plate that seemed Lokean.

And here is the photo that I took on my phone…but I was not close enough to capture the detail that I am referring to, so you’re just going to have to trust me on this:

It was a Nissan Altima from a Lokey dealership.

(You can almost see their logo (Lokey) to the left of the license plate under the Altima logo if you magnify the photo 200% or so)

And that seems just a funny coincidence – since the last time I had heard reference to a Lokey dealership was here in this entry — that describes my sleepless night at an event, when V and I were in Clearwater in the first weekend of June 2012.

Which also happens to be the first entry that I wrote on bloodteethandflame. 🙂

It has only been recently that I realize that that this particular reminder arrived perfectly on the day that it was due.

It’s funny how the Universe works, isn’t it?

2 Comments