Well, I did it

I gone and got myself published in a webzine.

Well, its a start. I have more stuff on the back burner I need to get fleshed out.

Speaking of which, I must have had my head shoved way far up my ass to have missed this article. I must say I like it, and I do agree that ‘true alchemy’ isn’t just laboratory work…but it does involve work. It isn’t just a spectator sport, from my experience. I do perform some minor spagyric work and experimentation here and there however, though my skills aren’t where I’d like them to be. I’m working on this though.

Salvia, entheogens, and my opinions

So I took advantage of IAmShaman.com’s sale on salvia and scored myself an ounce of oaxacan prime harvest. I’m really pleased, because places like SageWisdom.com charge exhorbitant prices for the same damn thing. I tested the waters a bit by taking a couple leaves as a chew, and the only effect being that I felt a heightened sense of things. Textures where far more apparent than usual. It was interesting. In any case, I think I’m going to find myself a nice menstruum and start making tinctures from these leaves. Speaking of which, I really should invest in some distillation equipment and some filters. In the meantime, I’ll squirrel everything away until my ducks are in a row.

That said, I’m not the type of person that depends solely on entheogens for heightened experiences. Shit, I’ve gotten high simply on my own momentum alone. I’m the type of person that really doesn’t need these sorts of things to achieve gnosis. Ever since I was a child, one of my coping mechanisms for dealing with stress was turning on my walkman, rocking back and forth and slipping into a meditative state, wriggling out of my body and ‘going somewhere else’ for awhile. I’m also a bit of a synesthete, words, colors and patterns already jump out at me like I’m some sort of junkie on a bad trip–and this is just how my brain is wired. However, I never try to hamstring myself to new experiences. I experimented with pot in Jersey, but it wasn’t ever something I was addicted to. I won’t deny in saying that I enjoyed it yes, but it isn’t something I crave or obsess over, or need to reach heightened levels of consciousness. I try to expand my horizons whenever possible, but I try to set reasonable limits for myself just the same.

With the right tune, the right attitude and the right frame of mind, I can achieve my escape velocity with no help. In fact, one of the most effective ways for me to achieve gnosis is my iPod–it has proven to be an excellent tool for this sort of thing, and at least one other person reading this has attested to the wonders of iPodmancy. They are indeed useful gadgets. I should start finding recordings of wild dogs howling to include on my iPod…I find they’re quite potent when it comes to certain workings…then again this should come to no surprise, those of you reading this who know me well enough.

Hermetic Dogs

In June of this month I will be attending Wolf Intensive Weekend at WolfPark. This is a very important trip for me, something I have been eagerly awaiting for awhile. I’ve always wanted to visit WolfPark, and I’m strongly considering adopting one of their coyotes there as an offering to Coyote. To me, the coyote has always been a very alchemical animal, the ‘Hermes of the West’, and ‘God’s dog’. It is also my primary totem, one that has been with me for my entire life and has helped shaped much of what made me who I am today. The way I work with Coyote and coyote-energy is my own amalgam entirely, though I do enjoy the aboriginal stories of Coyote and how he’s honored, depending on the tradition. My two coyote pelts, ‘Maya’ (a western coyote) and ‘Nigredo’ (an eastern coyote) are very important to me in connecting with these energies. An example of just how transformative the coyote can be is how it seems to endure despite overwhelming human assault, and how it has transformed itself as it moved farther east across the U.S. This to me is something that was always inspiring.

This is a mostly random post that I could elaborate on, but a brewing migraine is preventing me from doing so currently. Joy.