I am trying to see the Quadrantid Meteor shower that is supposedly peaking in the northeast corner of the sky tonight.
I’ve heard it said that the moon being almost full (99% waxing gibbous) will make it too bright to see much
if anything at all
but I am hopeful.
Here’s a nice picture from the above website:
What’s even nicer is that this picture was taken by photographer Jeff Berkes, over the Florida Keys in early January 2012.
Lately, I have been suffering from a lot of social anxiety.
As a result, I haven’t been feeling up to venturing very far from home, unless it is an absolute must.
Today, I resolved to go beyond my routine of just walking my dog, and actually go out in public and allow myself to be around other people for a change.
It all began with my having promised a friend that I would participate in a Christmas gift drive that she began coordinating last week, so I went out to purchase the gifts that she’d requested.
I’d also promised my kid that we’d visit our favorite bookstore while we were out this afternoon, and so, off we went.
~~~
We looked through several stores, but we saved the bookstore visit for last.
So there we were in the bookstore, and we were perusing the gift book tables.
While zie kept busy looking at comic books (hir favorite), a book caught my eye.
In this book, a Maya Angelou quote seemed to jump out at me:
Then, a peculiar thing happened.
Even though I’d heard/read that quote before – and even though the part about changing one’s attitude should have struck me as personally relevant – I smirked and muttered aloud,
“Well we all know that I have problems with change, so…”
But before I could even finish that sentence, I turned
And I immediately stubbed my toe hard against the table.
Then, upon backing away from the table,
I stumbled over the corner of another book display
that jutted out at an odd angle into the middle of the aisle.
O.0
~~~
OK.
Point taken, Sir.
Lesson learned.
❤
This week has been difficult, and full of complex emotions, especially regarding my closest relationships.
Upon leaving the house this morning, this song was the first to come up:
…which struck me as a clue-by-four concerning one of my particularly thorny yet relevant relationship issues.
After some deep breaths, I realized that I might as well let the song play through. It’s not like my issues have ever gone away simply because I’ve chosen to ignore them.
(I can only do that for so long, no thanks to pandoramancy.)
But there is something to be said for Meg Myers’ raw howl in the final chorus, as if she has become aware of the same unavoidable truth as I have.
But I embrace it.
He is in my heart…
and my head…
even though that truth rattles me to the core today.
❤
…
This past Saturday, I went to a local craftsperson/artisan event that was being held downtown from where I live.
Part of the reason for the event was to inspire folks to begin their holiday shopping locally, and I was happy to see that a lot of the shops along the main street were open and busy as a result of this event.
I also discovered a few (new to me) local stores that I realized that I hadn’t even known existed so close to my home.
So, as I was browsing in an antique store that I’d never thought to explore, I came across so many battered (yet overpriced) mundane items that filled me with childhood nostalgia.
One such item was a bulky black rotary telephone that reminded me of the one that sat on the side table in my Nana’s front hall in the early 70’s.
It looked just like the one that I had been warned by my Nana was a Very Important Thing that I must never play with.
It also made a very deep, jangling ring, and I remember being a bit terrified by the look of it and the sound of it when it rang.
I vaguely recall her explanations about how this telephone was a Very Important Thing for Hearing the Voices of Those Who Are Very Far Away, so I chuckle to think of it now, but I remember being entirely convinced in my young child-mind that only God would ever call my Nana on that phone.
And besides, how I understood it, it seemed to me that God was definitely a Someone Not to be trifled with, as well as Someone with a Voice, from Very Far Away.
~~~~
As I was mulling over that particular memory, and clumsily trying avoid disaster as I navigated the narrow spaces between the jumbled collections of antiques and the steady stream of my fellow-browsers, I found myself inevitably being jostled toward china cabinets that lined the farthest wall. I wasn’t the slightest bit interested in looking at shelves of dusty, gilt-edged dishes and bric-a-brac, until something caught my eye:
At first glance, I’d assumed that this brass match-holder (to be mounted near a fireplace) was supposed to depict the face of the Devil or an imp – and I would still say so – but upon inspection of the tag, I saw something else written there.
While I tried several times to capture a good angle that would allow a view of both the face and the tag, I couldn’t get it all within the frame.
The tag reads:
LCH
Brass “Norse Wind God”
Match Holder
$65.00
Doing more research on this piece through the Internet/Google – I went to Amazon sold lists, various antique websites, Pinterest, and eBay – this piece is listed as depicting any of several Beings: the Devil, Pan, Dionysus/Bacchus, and the Green Man.
One seller on eBay refers to it as a ‘Fire-God/Imp Match-holder.’
Another seller on an antique website refers to this face as ‘Zeus’
I was very taken aback to see ‘Norse Wind God’ however…because I know Who I thought of when I read that on the tag.
Hm.
Syncretism, anyone?
(PS: Loki seemed left out of all that reaching for description of ‘the possible Deity’ depicted on this antique match-safe — and I found that surprising, too.)
This. So much this.
Thank you, Dver!
Most people do not understand that their true power lies in releasing resistance, which is the only obstacle to their true power!
We want you to breathe rather than try, to relax rather than offer effort, to smile rather than struggle, to be rather than do.
For your true power is experienced only from inside the Vortex……
~ Abraham Hicks
There is so much that I often think that I might want to write about, but then again, things have been so strange, sometimes I think that it would be best to keep certain aspects of what has been happening to myself.
So, in its place, things such as this happen, and it makes a good filler for something else:
The white candle on my Loki altar had a thick clump in its wick this morning.
It was shaped like the Elder Futhark rune, Algiz (a Y intersected by a third stave):
….or perhaps a figure with its arms raised upright.
When I lit the candle, the wick flamed up very high, and the the three prongs of the wick were striated with a swirling orange glow, as the flame sputtered and danced about.
As I watched it burn, I meditated on the various interpretations of Algiz (or Elhaz)
“Elk-sedge” – (Z, or -R) – Protection, Shield. Wards, or guardians.
-Connection with higher self, or connection to gods; an awakening.
– Can be used to channel energies appropriately, or to protect or to hold a position that has been won or earned.
Then I blew out the candle, and the wick slowly shrank and curled downward a bit, as if the wick was a figure with arms lowered
…or perhaps, a person holding arms outward, as if to embrace another.
Or…maybe I am just overthinking, hmmm?
I am getting the nudge to create two new altars.
One of them is going to be for various things that I am doing regarding ancestors, and perhaps other aspects of death-work, so I ordered a lovely ritual cord from Beth at Fiberwytch on Etsy.
It arrived in the mail the other day, and I cannot say enough how lovely it is.
(While I’m not usually one who is able to sense such things, I will admit that as soon as I held it in my hands, I could sense that this cord was definitely created with skill and powerful intent. The essential oils that she used creating it also seemed to strike me as… incredibly mentally stimulating. She does wonderful work.)
So I set to work on creating the altar space, and I went looking for some other helpful objects.
Like artwork.
You see, I like to have at least one piece of artwork on each of my altars to serve as a focal point for myself, since I sometimes need something to look at in order to focus.
But I was having difficulty finding any artwork of Hela that I liked.
And then this morning, as it sometimes happens, I had a short but rather intense dream…about Hela.
As soon as I awoke this morning, I felt the urgent need to sketch Her myself:
I’m not certain if I really want to fully color it, though I wanted to remember the sharp yellow color of that eye, as I could not seem to bring myself to look away from it.
That seemed to be the focal point of Her face in the dream, unfortunately, and I felt as if I was being rude for staring.
The yellow isn’t well-conveyed here as I realized too late how muddied it would get in being smudged beside the charcoal pencil lines.
Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.
If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
By your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.
Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
And wants to rip to shreds
All your erroneous notions of truth
That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And with others,
Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.
God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.
The Beloved sometimes wants
To do us a great favor:
Hold us upside down
And shake all the nonsense out.
But when we hear
He is in such a “playful drunken mood”
Most everyone I know
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it
Out of town.
(translated by Daniel Ladinsky)
~~~
Hail to that Sneaky Ton of Bricks Himself
❤
bloodteethandflame 