Briefly: Check-In

A small break between posts on the Four Gods. I’m currently working on the Laetha’s post, using massive amounts of Pandora and Dr. Pepper to push me through.

There are a lot of interesting posts going around right now. Two of those include a post on what to expect and how to prepare for receiving a reading and another on small sacred spaces.

I am continuing to work on the devotional scrapbook I’m making and have begun experimenting with a new symbol that might become a very important part of the Otherfaith and my own more personal practice.

Each day I wonder how much bad pop music I can listen to before I have had enough. But the music sets the tone for my work, and I am slowly creating larger playlists for my gods and spirits that could hopefully be utilized by others to become closer to the gods – either through inviting the gods to listen and enjoy or through helping individuals better understand the gods through the music associated with them.

It’s 3 in the morning. I need to learn better posting times.

I’m working on a project that one of my gods has been pushing for a long time – makeup, beauty, and self-care. I will likely be blogging rather vaguely about this here on Patheos, rather than in any depth. I’m calling it ‘Project Vanity’, mostly because the god I’m doing this for is a god of vanity and beauty. I am purposefully focusing on the physical aspect of this project in the writing I do post about it. I should also mention Glittery on Tumblr, as I wouldn’t be able to so firmly take this step on my religious path if not for her posts about devotion.

I figure I should give you all a warning about the Otherfaith, since I’ve already chased a few people away with this: in our mythos, we have a figure that is an antagonist. I wrote a bit about this figure, Mircea, here. I’m aware that having an irredeemable figure, one that could very easily be labeled ‘evil’, will make people balk. But either I can acknowledge the story of the Four Gods as it is or contort it to make people more comfortable – and in doing so, obscure the lessons the myths teach and erase useful warnings against a dangerous spirit. Mircea is a complex figure, but no amount of complexity changes that he represents values the Other People do not want to uphold. The story of him and the Dierne is important to our understand of the world, in the Otherfaith, and I’m not going to cut it because it makes people uncomfortable that we have a ‘bad guy’.

Finally, I’m more than happy to discuss my techniques for journeying, discernment, verification, and exploration when it comes to unnamed or new spirits and the gods I speak of, but I won’t do so when the starting point is one of a right/wrong dichotomy. There is room in the world for many religions and revelations.