The past few days have been among the worst in my life. I find that am estranged from my brother, most likely permanently -- I have to think that if you don't seek rehab after ending up on a ventilator, you're probably not ever going to. And I'm left much more distant from my beloved mother that I want to be, though I'm going to try to keep the connection open. My heart is heavy. And yet. Read more
Yes, the plague is killing thousands! and Yes, the oppressors are brutal! and Yes, the cities are burning! But Stop Stop and breathe. A slow breath in through the nose, not a quick panicked pant And again, breathe And for the power of three, again. Do you smell it? Do you smell the honeysuckle? The sweet smell of summer is here Because the cycle of the seasons goes on no matter what mistakes we make (And yes, yes, yes it... Read more
The fnords are the cliche phrases and stock tropes that obscure the truth without actually lying. They are whatever black magic has led to Americans seeing accounts of police violence and other crimes of the state in newspapers and on TV news for decades, yet somehow looking past them. Read more
This period of change isn't over and will not be for some time. That means that you, my fellow magician, are in a liminal space where the possibility for deliberate change -- for magic -- is greatly expanded. Read more
But on my shopping trips over the past few weeks I've been struck by how distracted and unfocused many of my fellow shoppers are. So in this post I'd like to use four fundamental concepts from the Japanese martial arts to discuss strategies for safer and smoother shopping. And perhaps in the process give an example of how the study of the martial arts has much broader application to our lives than merely punching and kicking. Read more
If we accept the Way of the Fool, we can keep perfect hope even at the edge of the cliff, even in the depths of perfect doubt. (Doubt and hope are a yin and yang pair: opposites, yes, but mutually supporting and constantly transforming into each other.) Read more
It is Papa Legba (not "the devil") whom we meet at the crossroads. And what are the routers and hubs of the internet, where data packets are sent this way or that way, but crossroads? Read more
A bit more than twenty years ago, after my 30th birthday, I went away for a long weekend by myself. I rented a cabin in the woods, and spent a few days alone (other than my dogs) thinking and writing, doing some divination and meditation and ritual. No radio, no TV, no computer — and this was the days before smartphones. I came away with some insights worthy of the effort, but the most important insight was one I discovered... Read more
We might find each of these groups sympathetic. Artists, poets, nature lovers, advocates for alternative medicine, social reformers, naturalists, wanderers -- these are our people! They pushed for egalitarianism, creativity, and liberty. But these are not the only countercultures out there. Read more
This image brings to mind the way in which the solid, rational, straight-line world supports -- or is infiltrated by -- the growing, curling natural world. The natural world declines to be bound by the grid. Instead it grows around it, curls and bends through it, puts the grid to its own uses. Read more
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