The least offensive thing on television as I sit down to write, my belly full of my roommates cat-head biscuits and sausage gravy, is The Song of Bernadette. So of course I’m listening to Jennifer Warnes singing Song for Bernadette. Maybe the song and film will bring me some kindness as I write today’s post, which is a topic that can too quickly become harsh and unkind. I spend a significant number of my waking hours considering the Pagan community,... Read more
UK author Sorita D’Este is a fascinating woman, and yesterday she posted a video on UPG that I found very interesting. I find Sorita’s argument compelling, because it touches on an interest of mine: divine revelation. There is this idea that Pagan religions are not revealed religions. It is true that our prophets are few and far between, and often lost in antiquity, but divine revelation was most definitely a component of ancient Paganism, and has it’s place in modern... Read more
The Founder of the US Army was Gay? Cara Schulz brought this fantastic bit of trivia to my attention: Von Steuben was an able field commander and was Chief of Staff to Washington. His efforts during, and after the war, were of such value that Congress gave him a yearly pension of $2500 a year, which was a large sum of money in those days. When he died, he left everything to General Benjamin Walker and Captain William North, who... Read more
My roommates had been talking about building a firepit for months. As the weather grew warmer it was increasingly on all of our minds. So yesterday afternoon we bought bricks, and as the sun set I pulled out a shovel and went to work. What I dug out was an old firepit used for Wiccan ritual, buried for years. There was still a charred log, soft and moldy, beneath the sod. We arranged 4 layers of 13 bricks in a... Read more
The moon is in Virgo today, Libra tomorrow and will be full on Friday. And the world keeps rolling on. I’m surrounded by construction noise, and it’s a beautiful day. I think I’m going to read Marcus Aurelius today, and clean the kitchen. I hope you get a moment to take in some sun, breathe in fresh air, and consider the highest ambition of your soul. Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love... Read more
Last night Georgia Public Broadcasting showed a documentary called Autism: Coming of Age. It focused on three adult autistic men. One was non-verbal, lived with a roommate and spent his time helping his grandfather with projects. Another spoke with a monotone voice and lived at a special boarding school that taught basic job skills. The third man was 31, had a pleasant voice, was fascinated by vacuum cleaners, worked vacuuming hotel rooms at Marriott, lived at home with his parents... Read more
Yesterday Adam Baldwin, best known to you as Jayne from Firefly or Animal Mother from Full Metal Jacket, decided that Wil Wheaton was mocking the Bible in the video he helped create to promote Jenny Lawson’s (aka The Bloggess) new book. What I find interesting about this is that it’s not mocking, but simply stating something so obvious it’s absurd to say. Jenny Lawson’s book is also funnier than the phone book, Stephen King’s The Stand and anything written by... Read more
I racked my brain to try to come up with something to top last year’s April fool’s post, and my imagination failed me. Maybe I can do better next year. However, today does mark the two year anniversary of this blog. This blog has evolved and gone through various stages. I never expected it to end up becoming what it has become, and I’m rather curious to see how it will evolve in the future. The first year was one... Read more
I have a vague inspiration this morning. I will try to craft a post from it, but it may well fall flat. P. Sufenas Virius Lupus has an excellent column this morning on grappling with the concept of new Gods, and Apuleius Platonicus has, whether you agree with his views or not, a rather passionate post that speaks to both the importance of direct divine experience and the tendency to label our mythos in black and white terms. I suggest... Read more
I imagine most of my readers are not bluegrass fans. That’s ok. Wander on off and The Wild Hunt will have something for you shortly. For the two of you who are bluegrass fans, I’m sorry to say that Earl Scruggs has died. I’m listening to Foggy Mountain Breakdown right now, and my heart is breaking a little. Scruggs innovations in banjo playing have practically provided the soundtrack to my life. I’ve spent hours at jam sessions with banjo players... Read more
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