Dorky bumper stickers and other useless things…

This will go next to Taylor’s bumper sticker on the new Saturn. I figured I needed something cheesy just for shits and giggles. I also should get this, which I find particularly clever and especially appealing to me given my rampant caffiene addiction.

I am attempting to escape from my own loud and angst-ridden brain, something I’m failing sorely and miserably at. To keep myself occupied, I’m immersing myself in reading and note-taking. It seems to work, a little bit. I read something, or get inspired with an idea that gets my heart racing and my mind focused on something other than its current focus. I only wish it where easier though. I feel like I have to fight through a fog, a fog primarily caused by those damn antidepressants. The more I think about it, the more I’d rather not use these as a crutch, fibromyalgia or no. I keep feeling like I was more creative prior to taking them.

Right now in Inner Alchemy I’m reading the chapter on energy work, and noting Taylor’s take on the separatist viewpoint of some Western occultists with regards to Body, Mind and Spirit–which to me translates to Salt, Sulphur and Mercury. All three, regardless of what you call them, are all merely components of the whole that makes up who you are. I think there are advantages to treating them separately, but to forget that they are all part of you, to work with just the physical or just the energetic, you hamstring yourself to other possibilities. So, separatist or not? My answer is yes to both. As long as you don’t focus on only one component to the exclusion of all others. And note, I say this because I admit I have a habit of doing just that with certain practices, and when I catch myself, I try to go out of my way to correct my balance.

..I’m not sure if anything I said made any sense, so I’m going to go back to reading.

Alchemist, Heal Thyself

Started reading Taylor Ellwood’s latest book Inner Alchemy, which is pretty good timing on my part. I’m going through some rough shit right now physically as well as emotionally, so perhaps this is a much-needed read. I’m about halfway through it, and I’ve found some pretty insightful things in here, but also things that make me go “Whoa, what the fuck”, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing really. Sometimes I like it when people throw curve balls at my brain. It makes me think and keeps me on my feet, which is what I feel like I really need right now.

Anyway, I won’t do a full review on this right now because I haven’t finished it, but I’m liking what I read so far is the long and short of it. I immediately launched myself into neurotransmitter work. I deal with chronic migraines and joint pain, so I figured it would be a good place to start experimenting. The concept of neurotransmitters as ’spirit guides’ is an interesting visualization/working concept. I even ended up doing the whole ‘brain cavern’-thing in the meditation process. And, turns out (which shouldn’t be a surprise to me or anyone else who knows me)–all my neurotransmitters appear to me in the form of different breeds of dogs. Yes, my brain is a fucking kennel. So far only two have revealed themselves to me–but I’m not sure which ones they are yet. One is a playful male Cardigan Welsh Corgi. The other one is a very intense ebony female Great Dane. I’m guessing the Great Dane might be Melatonin, but I’m not 100% sure yet. I’ll write more later as things develop.

Oh yes. Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be launching my domain–thehermeticdog.com. Really pleased with it. A good friend of mine, Naryu worked on a really kickass layout for it, and I can’t wait to proudly show it off once I throw everything up and get it running. Another close friend, The Doctor has generously given me use of some of his server space to host it on. This is going to be totally beast once everything is up and running.

Oh yes, before I close this entry off, some pimpage for a friend. Lupa has special where shipping on her artwork is free through the month of March. I’d strongly recommend checking out her stuff, she’s a really talented artist and deserves her props. Lupa is the same author who had the cojones to write A Field Guide To Otherkin, which’ll be out in March. You can preview the first thirty pages of it here.

Anyway, I’m going to do more reading and pain maintenance, and perhaps take some notes on shit. I really need to get back into the swing of writing again, I’ve been woefully stagnant for years it seems.

This is where I will be in October…

The International Alchemy Conference

Looks to be a happening place, especially for someone such as myself. Now all I need to do is get a group of people together to go with. I’ll go either way, but I always find its more fun (as well as cost-efficient) to go as a group. Really looking forward to this. The big issue will be funding. We’ll have to see how that goes. I would definately like to attend the the spagyrics workshop, because my practice in that area is rusty, living in a house with four other people, all of which are twitchy when they see laboratory equipment and ‘weird pagan symbols’. Although, their reactions to things are a bit amusing at points…

Anyway, this conference looks to be filled with awesomeness. And a side-order of awesome besides.

Random

Spruced up the About Me section here. Added some stuff. Wow, I always feel cheesy writing these things. First time I ever tried it from a third-person perspective too. Haha.

In other news, apparently Google is hosting a blog that supports the murder of GLBT folk. Shame on you, Google. The original blog can be seen here, but I’m not sure it would be very worksafe. This only reinforces my view that there are some monumentally fucked up people out there, and that I for one will not tolerate someone who threatens me with death simply because I don’t choose to live up to this society’s standards for the physical gender I was born in. The amount of extreme hatred and obsession on this page astounds me. Talk about having too much time on one’s hands.

In other, more positive news, I recieved an email from some friends and acquaintances about Persephone’s Ball. Seems like a nifty little event. I think I might consider attending. I’m such a goddamn recluse, I guess it would do me good to get out every once and awhile. Though I have to admit, I’ve been feeling far from social lately, the only thing I’m really feeling like doing is staying absorbed in my writing and reading materials. Trying my damndest to pick up that writing kick I left in the dust about a year and a half ago. Depressing.

Exchanging one addiction for another?

Online Gamers Anonymous

Now, this is coming from a person who strongly believes that online gaming can become a serious addiction, but I can’t say I agree with this site. To me, it just appears like its exchanging one crutch or addiction for another, in spreading its dominionist christian rhetoric. So this site was created by a bereaved mother who’s son blew his head off with a shotgun over some chick in Everquest. I can dig that. But I highly doubt using religion as a crutch–and attempting to shove this worldview down the throats of others, is any more productive than sitting on your fat ass all day playing videogames. These people don’t need God, they need therapy, exercise, and a few lessons in social interaction.

Now, before anyone bites my head off, I am not against gaming or gamers. However, I don’t condone those who make gaming the sole focus of their life to the extent of everything else–hygiene, social interaction, employment, etc. I think a large part of it is escapism, and although a little escapism is good for stress relief and sanity maintenance, spending your whole life escaping from something cannot be healthy. Yes, I think some people out there need help, but it should never take the form of religious doctrine.

LibraryThing

Some of my friends have been talking about it so, after having checked it out, I realized that LibraryThing is, or should be, every bibliophile’s biggest wet dream. This site is awesome. Primarily I had wanted to use it to log and track all of my alchemical and occult texts, but I think I might just use it to record everything. This place is great. My profile can be found here, but it still could use some work. I also ended up creating an alchemy community for fellow alchemy and occult bibliophiles.

While I’m on the topic of books, today I recieved Taylor Ellwood’s latest book Inner Alchemy. Strategic timing with this book coming in, as I came back from the doctor’s office today with a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, which kind of pisses me off. I can’t exactly put a finger on it, but at least I have a name to it now, and I can set goals for eventually getting over it, or at least coping with it. Well, it isn’t like I didn’t need a new life focus anyway. My hope is that I’ll be able to learn something insightful in this book to help me in the months to come. I’ll be sure to write a review of it once I’m through reading it. Right now I need to finish getting through Tyson’s Death By Black Hole. I’m almost halfway through it anyway. Has some very good, intriguing stuff in there.

I’ll have more to add later. There is alot going on over here, and my brain feels split into several different directions. I certainly have alot to think about right now.

First Entry: Some Thoughts

I guess you could say I needed a space away from the weirdness that is LiveJournal, someplace where I could really get my writing out and, well, just have a space to myself. I’ve come to the conclusion that I have just way too many thoughts running around in my head to fit into one space. Too many ideas, not enough time or space to get them all down. Like a dog chasing it’s own tail, or perhaps an oroborous, I tend to get nowhere quickly in this vicious feedback cycle of getting jack and shit done. This is going to change. At least, I sincerely hope it is.

Well here we go. I’ll have more substantial information to post later.