I often wake with a song in my head but today it was e. e. cummings' poem "anyone lived in a pretty how town", an oddly beautiful and moving reflection on life. "(and only the snow can begin to explain / how children are apt to forget to remember / with up so floating many bells down)"
Well, I'm alive. So are 90 million people in Iran. Now, Edmonton is a 2nd or 3rd strike target so I would have time to hear about WWIII before evaporating. In a less-drastic scenario, I have enough food to last a couple months so long as the water and electricity held out.
Getting more frustrated with idiots. Nothing new, but I think I need to ignore more randos. Oh well.
"You can never hold back spring /You can be sure I will never stop believing/ .... / Winter dreams the same dream every time/
... /And even though you've lost your way / The world is dreaming, dreaming of spring" Although, -14 and light snow today in Edmonton...
It's cold today but I believe in spring. So, I'm opening up, getting out of the house, being social. I voted in the NDP leadership race for three of the candidates (ranked choice vote) although things are looking pretty dire for the party right now.
I'm just about half-way through Xiran Jay Zhao "Heavenly Tyrant", the sequel to "Iron Widow". Revolutionary Marxist feminist hard sci-fi drawing from Chinese culture, YA, fast pace. Characters not as well-developed as "Iron Widow" but more complex and interesting than much hard science SF.
And now, after a bit more than a week, 32 K. I'm amused and puzzled.
Living my life, having weird algorithymic blips - I do recommended reading videos that usually get 20 or so views (which is okay since I just like talking about interesting books) but the latest one has almost 6 K and I did nothing different! Oh well, just keep doing them.
Being aware of the state of the world as it is currently unfolding, it is difficult for me to have hope.
On the individual level, my life is going okay. I have enough money, a decent place to live, a sweetheart, good health. But I cannot live isolated from other people or the world around me.
The USA has kidnapped the President of a sovereign country, Venezuela. Should Canada's PM worry as well? We have natural resources the billionaires could loot, like Venezuela.
Despite Trump's glee, the USA has not installed compradors yet. Can anyone spell Afghanistan, or Vietnam?
May the candle I light at sunset burn all night to keep the light of hope alive through this longest night of the year. May the sun, unconquered, rise again tomorrow, renewing my life and carrying me forward into the new year.
All Hail Sol Invictus! All Hail the Unconquered Sun!
A little Christmas music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9_Y...
Mourning the horrific anti-Semitic attack in Australia. Celebrating the courage of Ahmed al-Ahmed, who disarmed one of the murderers and was shot several times by the other.
#booksky Just a reminder of the excellent 'alt-spirituality' book review site Facing North. www.facingnorth.net
Bluesky started off with such promise but appears to have fizzled right out. That's a pity. We need alternative social media and lines of communication to those the billionaires own. I'll see what I can do to spark discussion and move things forward.
#esotericbookchallenge Now that winter is beginning, I'm hunkering down in my library with a substantial pile of interesting new esoteric books to read. Writing reviews for the 'alt-religion' review site Facing North enriches my library.
Samhain is coming and I'm pulling together a list of dead from the Pagan communities over the past year for my coven. We will recite thir names (and those of our personal Ancestors and Honoured Dead) because what is remembered lives on.
Arrived home to 7 new esoteric books to review! I know what I'll be reading in the next month or two. Autumn has set in, winter is coming, and I have tea and books to keep me going.
Thrifting, bought nine books! Schroeder's Theosophical classic "Man - His Origin, History and Destiny", Kelley's "The Black Donnellys", Atwood's non-fiction "Moving Targets" with reflections on the writing process for several of her finest works, including Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake!
#antifa History lesson about the last time the fascists were organizing (in the 1970s in the UK) and some tactics that worked to defeat them. (warning to liberals - it wasn't polite 'debate').
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeHv...
Met with two Priestess apprentices yesterday and I am very pleased. As an Elder, my task is not to lead but to mentor this next generation, and I am delighted to be able to do it. Autumn's starting, too, a less outward, more contemplative turn of the Wheel.
The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not.
I am a fan of the True Blood TV series and I was a little reluctant to really get into the books (sometimes awful books make good adaptations, and I've been burned in the past) but I picked a couple up at a thrift store and then a friend gave me a bunch of her stuff. I like Kelley Armstrong, too.
Sort of nice to be back as an avid reader. Really just needed a series to devour, Charlaine Harris' Southern vampire series down in a book-a-day binge and I have a nice big TBR urban fantasy pile here still.
One of my favourite things - I performed a wedding / commitment ceremony today. It's been a couple years since I've had the honour. I was glad to have a Priestess-in-training help out, part of what she'll eventually have to do in service to the Wiccan communities.
Edmonton Fringe theatre festival this week. Taking it easy - only one play a day. An assortment of interesting looking stuff - drag kings, burlesque, Electra rethought, Witchy punk rock MacBeth. Senior's discounts! (Even full-price this is a bargain!) So, if you see us out and about, say hi!
Went out to our MP's summer BBQ today - relocated indoors because of the rain and was crowded. Heather McPherson is an excellent MP. The "Forever Canadian" petition team turned out in force, ten of them, and I signed up. They've got to collect 300K signatures in 90 days, but seem to be doing well.
