Warring against God is only warring against his creator, Mankind.

[greygirlbeast]

The subject line above sort of squiggled out of my brainmeats just now. It's something left unexpressed in my all night conversation with readingthedark, which ended only as the sun was rising. I do hate sunrise, which is odd, because I didn't used to hate sunrise. There was a time I loved the sight, and it meant nothing more than that the sun was rising. I think it's come to mean, instead, a failure to find the nocturnal sleep of Good Christian Folk. But yes, Geoffrey visited last night. We ate calzones and talked. Mostly, we talked. About books and writing and publishing, drugs and sex and movies, cults and magick and whether or not the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn would turn me away (that's not the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of course, not 1888 to 1908, but the New and Improved Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn). Towards the end, it all became a blur, but I assume he has returned safely to Framingham.

Gloomy out there. Gloomy and wet. Same as yesterday.

Yesterday.

I think the only work I actually accomplished was of the email variety. I think. Yeah, I'm pretty sure of that. My piercing appointment was at 5 p.m., and before then I went with Spooky, out into the drizzle, to the pharmacy (to get my new meds) and then the vet (to get Sméagol's meds). As for the piercing, that part went very, very well. If you're in the Providence area, and I strongly recommend RockStar Body Piercing. It's very probably the most positive experience I've ever had with piercing. My labret had closed, and had to be repierced, and both my ears were pierced again, because the lowermost holes weren't centered quite right for stretching. I've begun with six-gauge glass plugs, and within a year or so I should be up to the 5/8th of an inch plugs I'm aiming for (about the width of a nickel). It's nice having the labret back. It's my original 1995 labret, not the one I wore for a while later on, beginning on March 5, 2006. As soon as Jef was done with my lip, he asked, "How does it feel?" And I replied, "Nostalgic."

Afterwards, Spooky got some new shoes, and I tried on a pair of boots that I love, but can't possibly presently afford. Spooky says of her new shoes, "I like my new shoes. And they have hot pink on them. Which is a masculine color."

She's such a fucking butch.

The editor for whom I'm writing "Fake Plastic Trees" loves the Story Thus Far, so I have to get back to work on that immediately. I need to speak with my agent this evening, because I seem to have a plan. Which is sort of new for me.

Cold Spring is reluctantly giving way to Spring. Many of the trees are showing a spray of green, and flowers are opening. I heave a twice hourly sigh of relief.

This morning, I slept seven hours, and it was some of the best sleep I've had in weeks. Not perfect. There were the nightmares, and they were bad. But, still, better sleep.

This entry's sort of a muddle, kittens. Yesterday was actually a pretty decent day, as my days go. You'd think I could have made a better entry of it. Alas.

Freshly Perforated,
Aunt Beast

Comments

[ceewayne.livejournal.com]

If the New and Improved Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn had any sense they would fast track your membership. You would be a glorious asset to any Magickal Lodge. I wonder what type of dramatic rituals you would create.

[readingthedark.livejournal.com]

I guess one of my many issues with organized religion, including the types that I'm much more sympathetic toward, is that no established Order is seeking new or dramatic anything. They tend to be profit-seeking endeavors that want to sell gear to true believers who will mindlessly quote the party line.

Alan Moore has discussed his short-lived interaction with the Golden Dawn and my thesis is basically that Caitlin's experience would be decidedly similar. She would ask questions. They would tell her to be quiet. That dynamic wouldn't work for more than a few months.

(That said, I wholeheartedly believe that Moore might be one of the great occultists of our era, at least on the level of Chumbley, it's just that following orders is usually part of being in an Order, and the truest and purest seekers tend to be lousy followers.)

[ceewayne.livejournal.com]

My experience is much different than that, but it is not with the Golden Dawn. I can definitely see what you mean though. How do you have an order that allows the individual to flourish while maintaining a community? How can you hold to a set of common beliefs while allowing new things to be created?

Curious isn't it.

[readingthedark.livejournal.com]

My experience is that it comes down to groups of people, who's in charge, and how the group of individuals handle the "organizational culture" of the community. A common problem is that it's (like I hypothesized for Caitlin) a revolving door. You can't really build something stable and innovative if most people are going to get bored with studying all the weird symbols and hand gestures. Even an Order that wanted to slowly build something amazing (though I personally think that the established high magick traditions do tend to be regressive and conservative in order to keep their traditions unadulterated), there is still the problem that very few human beings stick with anything for ten years.
(Quick note: I have a ton of respect for Thelema and O.T.O., I'm not questioning their aims or methods--merely delineating the challenges.)

To actually hold beliefs and also create new things, simultaneously, it (in my humble and often presumptious opinion)can take many years. Yet we rarely see that. To me, the most vital work ends up being single individuals who do a whole lot of occult tourism and then eventually manage to articulate what they've learned or uncovered. I mean, Jack Parsons is no joke, but he didn't lead well or play well with others.

When creative madpeople are the only ones that can do it right and it needs intense organizational skills and detail-oriented labor-intensive work (not even mentioning how it takes a whole lot of time and money), it's a curious balance and it, far too often, becomes impractical. So, yes, I confess to being grounded in my own experience and knowledge and I freely admit that I might be dead wrong, but I certainly share the curiosity and agree that, for those of us who truly understand these things, the community of The Immaculate Order of the Falling Sky may actually be about as good as it gets.