Lughnasadh '08

[greygirlbeast]

I slept about ten hours, which is really nothing short of amazing. All day yesterday was spent getting Sirenia Digest #32 out, six or seven hours work after four and a half hours sleep the night before. I will say that I think this issue of the Digest is one of the very best I've done, in terms of content and appearance. My grateful thanks to Sonya, Geoffrey, Vince, Rick, Gordon, and Spooky for making it work. Yesterday, somehow, I managed to proof and edit "Derma Sutra (1891)" (which I really am pleased with, by the way; I think I found a new flavour of me with it), proof Geoffrey's very excellent interview with Richard A. Kirk, and deal with the layout, in a state of consciousness that can best be described as zombiefied. There were a couple of lines from the interview with Rick I wanted to post here, because I just found it brilliant:

Our perception of the universe is like a tiny house floating on an endless sea. We sit inside this thing we have constructed, completely unaware of what lies outside, hoping that whatever is out there never gets curious enough to poke its nose under the door.

And if you'd like to get #32, subscribe sometime in the next week, and you'll get it.

And today is Lughnasadh. Spooky and I had planned to do a ritual out at Beavertail, but I think we're both still pretty exhausted from yesterday's Big Push, so we're playing it by ear. We'll at least bake a loaf of something, at the very least. I so desperately want to find a coven, and one reason is so that we do not have to be solely responsible for the details of ceremony on every sabbat and esabat. But, that brings me back around to either facing the not insignificant problem of finding a group that is comfortable with my unorthodox views (and vice versa) or trying to found my own coven built upon those views (Panthalassa, diminished emphasis on gender polarity, inclusion of a Divine Androgyne aspect as part of the "tripartite" Goddess, a move away from anthropomorphic deities, removal of the distinction between left- and right-hand paths, and so forth).

Anyway, when the work was finally done yesterday, I lay down on the chaise with Dr. Muñoz to try to read a few more pages of Fraser's Triassic book while Spooky fixed dinner (a stirfry of green beans, red bell pepper, zucchini, fresh basil, and ground chicken), but I dozed almost immediately. Spooky woke me for dinner. Later, but not too late, there was a really excellent bit of rp in the "Kingdom of Sand" sim (thank you Badra, Lina, Hela, and Sev), that pretty much exemplified what it is I've come to SL looking for and which sort of renewed my faith in the inherent potential of SL as an interactive story-telling tool, just when that faith was at an all-time low. In fact, I may clean up the transcript from the rp, add a few embellishments here and there, and post it behind a cut in this journal. It was really a splendid little series of scenes, first in the throne room of the palace in Ireem, then, later, in the Tower of Serpents (where the Magi practice). Nothing too profound. No fireworks. No sex. Just simple, good, solid rp/story telling. Anyway, about one a.m., I was falling asleep at the keyboard, and I crawled away to the front parlor and put Danny Boyle's Sunshine in the DVD player, as it has become one of my "comfort films." I dozed while it played, awakening for bits here and there. I remember waking to hear Cassie say, "Only dream I ever have...is the surface of the sun. Every time I shut my eyes, it's always the same." And finally I awoke near the end, as Capa is struggling in the bulky EVA suit to reach the payload, and, half awake, I lay there and marveled at the score and what a beautiful thing this vastly underrated film is (my next Mac will be named Icarus). Then I went to bed. And slept and slept and slept.

I should wrap this up. I've been ignoring email for two days, and I should ignore it no longer. Please have a look at the current eBay auctions (two of which end this afternoon), and please, please do pre-order a copy of the mass-market paperback edition of Daughter of Hounds. The platypus will probably thank you. I know that I shall.

Postcript (2:26 p.m.): It just occurred to me that I neglected to note in the new issue of the Digest that "Derma Sutra (1891)" was written entirely to just one song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds —— "Lovely Creature." I did manage to work the title into the story, but wish I'd remembered to acknowledge the song in the issue itself. I kept count (thank you iPod) of how many times I listened to the song while writing the story —— 104 times in 4 days (that's about seven hours worth of the song).

Comments

[vulpine137.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading #32, and I have to agree, that was very well done. Your story was nicely creepy and erotic, plus any mention of Tsathoggua in a short story makes me smile (For some reason he's my favorite of the Great Old Ones). I also enjoyed Sonya's story as well, at the end of it I wanted the story to go on, which is a good sign with short stories.

Thank you for the Lammas reading.

[tinkbell.livejournal.com]

I really hope that such a coven exists, as it should. I've tried to come to terms with gender polarity throughout my life but always feel, when completely honest with myself (with a sense of heightened awareness) that I've just adjusted to what is most convenient, as a survival method.

I practiced witchcraft on my own ten years ago and went to some gatherings and rituals, one of which was very important to me (Candlemass), and continue to study it, along with Buddhism, and talk to people about those things on an individual basis and privately, but have felt a sense of group spirituality and direction of will and love through music and underground shows (for one thing, it's basically all an exchange without money). If I didn't have that, I would be hungry for something like what you're describing, and am sure there are others who need it.

[sovay]

Yesterday, somehow, I managed to proof and edit "Derma Sutra (1891)" (which I really am pleased with, by the way; I think I found a new flavour of me with it)

It's going to be one of my favorite stories of yours. I love it.

Low Red Moon

[jmoyer.livejournal.com]

I'm reading Low Red Moon for the first time. The story thus far is intense and unnerving. I really enjoy the way you're telling the story and I thought the first chapter with the coffee shop scene followed by the playing out of the scene that Deacon and the Detective were just discussing was really well done.

I found myself having difficulty sleeping after I first began reading it a few days ago, even just the prologue affected me. You see my room was just too dark and I thought there were things...

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Should we ever get the chance to speak more, I am going to have to remember the subject of Paganism, since your take and mine have more in common than not.

as it has become one of my "comfort films."

Likewise. I saw it for the second time last week and it lost nothing for me. I'm very glad to own a copy.

[scarletboi.livejournal.com]

I need to buy Sunshine. It really is an amazing film.

I finally got to watch Doomsday (the unrated cut) last night... And boy is that a glorious mess. The dialogue is hilariously bad in a way that should inspire drinking games, and there are problems with the plot... (they ran out of food so they started eating each other but the first thing the team runs into is a herd of like, a million cows? Whiskey Foxtrot Tango? They could have just made the Marauders cannibals because it's frakking intimidating, and the ending shatters into a million nonsensical pieces.) But I think I loved it anyway.

The use of music in the film was so schizophrenic it made me laugh, too.

But the tattooed chick was way underused.

[skippen.livejournal.com]

Daughter of Hounds pre-ordered. I can't wait to read it. I am slowly getting caught up on all your fiction. Good stuf.

[oakthorne.livejournal.com]

The problem is, of course, that any group practice is going to draw on the most accessible symbol set, so as to extend to the largest group of folk.

Since polarity of some kind (liminality as expressed as a "tool," if you will) is a core part of most traditional witchcraft practice, one of the most common ones is that of gender.

Which isn't to say that you're expected to use that in your own personal practice, of course, any more than if you end up with a group that is part of a trad they expect you to use that symbol set in your personal practice.

That's the problem with trad practice, of course. It's orthopraxic, rather than orthodoxic. Instead of "you must believe this, but express that however you want," it's "practice like this, but bring your own beliefs."

I do know a number of British Traditional covens (all Alexandrians) in the area you moved to - my home coven is descended from the covens there, and I've attended the occasional Alexandrian Tea held in Connecticut.

I don't mind saying - as a gay man, I was very hesitant about dealing with assumed polarity in my practice. Of course, finding a large number of other queer folk in the Alexandrians helped me wrap my own experience around it in a meaningful fashion. Obviously, I'm not saying that's going to be automatically the case for everyone; everyone has their own experience.

Just something to think on, though.

Regards,
Joseph

[wolven.livejournal.com]

or trying to found my own coven built upon those views (Panthalassa, diminished emphasis on gender polarity, inclusion of a Divine Androgyne aspect as part of the "tripartite" Goddess, a move away from anthropomorphic deities, removal of the distinction between left- and right-hand paths, and so forth).

I find, increasingly, that if you want anything in this world, and if you want it to be as close to perfect as you imagine it, you have to make it yourself. Someone else's concept will always be Almost, and that will always leave you with dissonance, at best, and a hole, at worst.

I think the coven you made would be a wonderful thing, and would do a lot of important workings.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

We're doing a Lammas/Lughnasadh/August 1 thingy here. (Ravenwood's Owl's the real expert.) There will be a circle at the beach, followed by eating. Should be cool.

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

I'd be in your coven, and I'm not even Wiccan, as such. Your ideas re: wicca/magic are AWEsome. There's just a hemispherical issue of physical distance.