Depressive episode induced writer's block is awful.

 Dear Reader,

Before I go on my rant, here's something pretty for you.

If you want the story behind the fan, just drop a comment on this post.

I've come to the conclusion that I've been depressed for a long time and over the last few months that's beginning to lift. I spent a month swinging between depressed and mixed episodes where I was Fighty McFightface. Obviously, during the mixed episodes, I stayed off social media and only did my off line writing.

Because my brain was scrambled eggs for most of this time, I wasn't sleeping well. That didn't help anything. I've been working with my care team to try to get this sorted out. Next step is seeing a sleep specialist. This, I'm pretty sure is going to suck.

I've been headblind most of the last while. Which lead to a crisis in confidence with  my abilities to do anything occult. My aunt A. talked me down out of my tree on that one. It was both relief and joy that when I finished the fan above last Saturday, I could feel my late paternal Grandmother's approval and delight in it.

Since the business with Covid, I've developed mild agoraphobia. It sucks. My gardens were the reason why I was getting out of the house. But, this year, I have new and pretty awful neighbors who have been throwing trash into the gardens and attempting to take them over. I said fuck it, I'm not doing a garden this year and I'm focusing on my indoor plants. So, now I'm trying to force myself into daily walks, but that's real hard to do because of my exhaustion during the day due to my night time difficulties sleeping.

Egregore project update.

 My life has become so disordered that I only know that the moon is waning and I've no idea what sign it is in or how far along it is in waning. We're not officially at drought status but if things keep being weird, we may hit it. We're in the Filianic month of Rosea (officially we are on the 7th day of Rosea). It's been a weird bit of time since my last post. My brain tried to go 'splody again and I'm sleeping real badly. I am trying to get things back onto an even keel but it's proving challenging.

Which brings me to the Egregore project. The doll contained in the jar is the charged object for the egregore to inhabit. It was in a black velvet bag and things kinda went haywire on the magical front. The egregore wanted some visibility and for me to stop avoiding it. I recognized that there was enough volatile, chaotic energy in it that I had to contain it. The times I left the doll out in the open, weird things that were generally triggering my c-ptsd kept happening. 

The glass jar is a compromise. The doll gets seen and acknowledged with a prominent place on the desk as the jar contains some of that energy that is pent up in it. I haven't done a conversation with the egregore in a while because I just haven't been up to it. It has been lurking, waiting for me to work with it again. As we hit the dark phase of the moon this month, I'm going to attempt another conversation. I'll post it up here like I did the last one. (Because my book of shadows is a mess and I have no where to put the transcripts right now.)

Now, the contrast between the doll and myself is dramatic. The doll, however, is a very accurate representation of how my younger self viewed themselves. If I were able to find a dark haired Cinderella with her apron and kerchief, it would have been perfect. Still, you work with what you have. The egregore is designed to access buried memories and repressed emotions. There's a lot of ugly stuff beneath the surface due to the high degree of trauma that I experienced when I was younger. The goal of the work with the egregore is to process this stuff.

It's gotten complicated as my trauma responses went into overdrive last August and my brain tried to go 'splody. This has also delayed the active work with the egregore. So, I know that the next few weeks are going to be interesting on the magical front. 

Godspousery Notes: 3 / 2 of 2022

 Story time. Way back about two years before the pandemic hit, Freyr asked me to sacrifice my long hair to him. Now, at the time, my hair came down to my hips and was a lot darker. I attempted not too long before this request to dye my hair royal blue and nothing happened, it was a waste of time and money. The only place it showed up was in the witch's streak of white that I have over my left eyebrow and then it didn't show up that well. (I've had this streak of white hair since I was a kid. Got picked on about it. I literally laughed when I found out that they were called witch's streaks many years later.) I agreed, figuring it was hair. It'll grow back and it's not a big deal.

Cue two years where I couldn't stand the feeling of hair longer than my chin. Cue two years where I struggled to find a look that suited me. Last September, I found the perfect look. Then Freyr was asking me to wait a little bit on getting it cut. My hair barely came down to my shoulders and was frustrating me. I couldn't really do anything with it. It got in my eyes all the time but didn't work well with the different styles I had for scarves and veiling. And, the greatest insult, it was thinning and coming out because it was too long for the roots to do a good job of holding on to it. So, the last weekend of September, I got my hair cut.

In the top picture is what my hair looked like before I got the big cut. Freyr was worried that I was going to be distraught about losing my long locks. I was of a mind that this didn't count as long. After all, when I first had cut my hair for him, it came down to my hips. He really didn't want me to make a decision that I was going to regret. His anxiety over it all was sweet. 

I was frustrated with my hair and ready for a change. I was unhappy that I was having hair falling out. I didn't like the way it looked and the fact that I couldn't do anything with it but throw a kertchief on and hope it didn't get too annoying. It was barely long enough to put into a ponytail again. The change to my hair style was a matter of quality of life for me. It was a matter of doing my best to live authentically. I wasn't sure how it was going to change my veiling practices but I knew that I had to do something different. Loki was wildly excited about the new look I wanted and insisted it was perfect for me.

This lower picture is what I got done a few weeks later. For the first time in a long time, I was really ecstatic with my hair. Sure, the grey showed up a lot more. My head was chilly when the wind blew, but I felt like myself more than I had in a long time. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to manage veiling when I went out into public. I aside from the assortment of scarves, I have a good number of hats. Suddenly, my options were larger because I didn't have to worry about hair peeking out from beneath the hat if I decided to wear one out as my head covering.

I was also delighted because it further obscured my recognizability from people who had previously been in my life that I had cut out for sanity reasons. Between the faux hawk, the goth look, and a mask, they could be standing right beside me and not recognize me at all so long as I kept silent. The last time those people saw me, I didn't even have glasses. All good things in my opinion.

Today, I finally figured out how to make a blue and gold pashmina that I love work as a headscarf. It did wonders for keeping my head warm during this cold day. I was happy with it. I am struggling with depression but I'm working at getting better with self-care and being persistent in my effort to be authentic. Freyr came around on the hair style when he realized how happy I have remained with it. He was pleased when I managed to do this wrap, because it meant that I had figured out a way to veil with out getting frustrated with my hair.

I'm still getting used to my new bifocals. But, that's a story for another day. Loki is still insisting that I look 'kick ass' with the faux hawk. He's been trying to talk me into letting it grow out and become a real mohawk. He thinks that it would be awesome on me. I'm not quite convinced. But the fact that Beloved, Freyr, and Loki all agree that happiness looks good on me and (even with my current depressive episode) the joy that I have in this hair style is exactly what I needed.

Mental health disability equates to life problems.

 I'm too low on spoons to look up the moon phase/age/sign. The weather is stupidly hot and humid for our region. We're not in drought status at the moment, though folks who are west of us and in the north country are. I've been just trying to catch up on everything that fell through the cracks over the last few months and it's not going so well.

I was deeply worried that I had pissed off Freyr because things had gotten so quiet. It then came to the fore that there was interference in the connection because of my severe depression and anxiety. (This happened a while back between Loki and I, lasted about a year before it cleared up.) I got my medications adjusted and the change was like night and day. I was suddenly sleeping through the night (which was my initial problem, or so I thought), the deep depression cleared up, and the choking anxiety eased. I also found the passive self harm ideation that I had lived with all my life was gone. Not even a whisper of a thought on that front since the med change. I thought that everyone was like that, clearly I was wrong. There is a better life possible and I am now living it.

It is, however, a very busy one and exhausting. My preteen/teen boys have a ton of school stuff going on that I've been trying to stay on top of but not doing so great because of poor communication with some individuals and my forgetting to update my planner. Loki, in his mischievousness, likes to remind me to work on it while I'm in the middle of something else. He's helping, sorta. I just forget or run out of energy before I get to it.

I've been struggling with writing because my brain is acting funny again. There's some kind of trauma memory getting ready to surface. Both Loki and Freyr are insisting that I need to stop fighting it and lean into it. But I'm tired of trauma work. They, however, are getting progressively more demanding that I do this because it will be good for me. At one point, Loki said that I was acting like a kid who didn't want to eat their vegetables. I retorted that I was the kid who loved vegetables. He answered "You love writing, so why aren't you doing it?" I didn't have a smart answer for that one.

When I have the flashes of connection with Freyr, and he's not insisting that I have to do *something* for trauma work, he's been reassuring me that my efforts to be more authentic in my self presentation and expression is a very good thing. Just a few weeks ago, I decided that I could finally embrace my love of goth style. And that I could embrace more expression of my sexuality. Two points that Freyr has been trying to get me to just stop restraining myself on for the last year. He said to me "At 42, you have earned the right to wear whatever you want and if that means goth clothes and a bdsm collar, so be it. What you wear and how you wear it is an expression of yourself, you're allowed to express yourself."

Beloved has been enthusiastic about supporting and encouraging me in this. (The kink thing between him and I has been a thing almost as long as we've been in a relationship. And that's 20+ years.) I've been happier and more secure in myself over the last few weeks than I have been in a long time. I just am struggling with the writing because I hate trauma work. It's my ptsd and bipolar that are the reason why I am disabled. They have taken away my career in education and my ability to tolerate a full day's work. I'm not sure how many functional hours I have in a day, because it fluctuates. 

I'm trying to get everything sorted out, but there's a lot going on and a lot of moving parts. Loki throws a wrench into things when I am getting myself worked up and distracts me from that. Freyr calms me down when I get panicky over things. It's been a team effort to get life back on to an even keel. Beloved is always at my side, helping as best he can. I couldn't do this with out them.

Regarding Déa: the Daughter

 Waxing gibbous Cold Moon (Age: 14 days)
Sign: Leo
Weather: Seasonably chill, partly cloudy skies
Snow pack: ?? (It melted some today.)
Drought status: N/A
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So many Filianists and Déanists of the orthodox sort argue that the Daughter is passive. This makes no sense. How can she be passive when she is actively acting as her three cosmic roles? As Princess of the World, she governs the action of the world and intervenes for the mortal children of Déa. As Priestess of the Sacrifice, she actively enters into the incarnate world, confronts temptation (and rebukes it), battles suffering (and retains her faith in her Mother), and walks through the realm of the Dark Queen, willingly giving over that which is demanded of her before she is slain. The only passivity that happens in the narrative of the Daughter as Priestess of the Sacrifice is when she lies in the abyss awaiting her Mother to raise her from death. After that moment, she resumes leading and acting. As Queen of Heaven, she holds court over all souls passed beyond the wheel of werdë and governs the actions of the forces of Heaven and the World, even as she acts as the mediator of her Mother's light/force.

Where, in any of this, except in her time as a corpse is she passive? I have read the holy texts and found them lacking any proof of the Daughter as the 'passive' force in the universe. It is my thought that this argument that the Daughter is 'passive' is a false argument used to force believers into following along a charismatic (or less than charismatic) leadership figure. In the wisdom texts, there are passages that were written for Madrian households with a focus on obedience and implied passivity towards the will of leadership figures. I find those who uphold those passages as the correct way to interpret the Daughter repulsive.

To do so is to demean and attempt to diminish the Daughter. She chooses her course of action. She is not ordered to go off into the abyss, nor is she banished. The Daughter walks into the Dark Queen's hall by her own free will and this is an act that we would spit upon if we were to say she is passive in any way. A passive person would require an external force to act upon them to move them to action. This is not the Daughter, she is the force acting upon the situation.

I know there are some who are going to read the accounting of the Daughter's descent into the Dark Queen's realm that is in the edition of the Filianic holy texts that I worked on and they are going to find fault in how the Daughter is depicted. She does not simply carry the moon-axe but wields it as her weapon against the forces of suffering. She may be overwhelmed but she does not simply fall prey of these forces. She takes arms and advances against them. There is a decidedly more martial aspect to the Daughter in this accounting because of it, but this is an element of the Daughter that people elect to ignore.

The Daughter has within her all the force of the Mother. She is one with the Mother, even as she is separate. As the Mother has a martial aspect, it stands to reason that the Daughter has one as well. Indeed, Sai Vikhë is as much a lesser aspect of the Daughter as she is of the Mother because the Mother and Daughter are one. Reason demands that we look upon this martial aspect of the Daughter and revere her in the same way we revere the Mother's war-like nature.

I recognize this argument and the changes that were made to the narrative because of it will sit poorly with many. I did not make the changes to satisfy the will of people or out of vanity. I made them under the guidance of Déa. I prayed a great deal as I worked on this project. I did divination and consulted other diviners who were unaware of this project as to Déa's will. All signs pointed to these changes being necessary. I am not so arrogant or foolish as to ignore the will of Déa when it is made clear by multiple sources. I am her priestess and I serve her will, not that of the world. If others choose to take offense, that is upon them. I know that Déa will guide and watch over this work (and all who have contributed to it). 

Untitled rambling.

 Waxing Crescent Cold Moon (Age: 8 days)
Sign: Taurus
Weather: Cloudy, light snow
Snow pack: 4 in, approx.
Drought status: n/a
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I've been trying to prepare for Moura, the Filianic month/season of discipline, abstinence, and purification in preparation for the high holiday of Eastre. Loki threw me for a loop two days ago when he said that he was going to observe Moura with me. Generally, we don't talk about my involvement with Filianism. It's a non-issue. He thinks that the path I'm on with the blending of Heathenry and Filianism is good for me. He encourages me in my devotions to Déa. He says that it's healthy for me to have Déa in my life.

But he hasn't expressed anything along the lines of his participation in any of the rites or rituals that I engage in for Déa. I mistakenly figured 'not my pantheon, not my business' but Loki blew that out of the water with him telling me quite seriously that he wanted to participate in Moura. I would have thought it a jest but he's been talking about how he wants me to abstain from putting out alcohol for him. He gets a pretty regular libation of whiskey from us in this household. He does a lot of good for us, so we give him some strong drink to express our appreciation.

When I asked him what I should pour out for him instead, he insisted it should be plain water. I asked if the prohibition against alcohol included if Beloved decided to pour out for him and Loki paused for a moment. He asked me if Beloved or the boys would be observing Moura with me. I answered no. He then said that they can give him what ever offerings they felt were appropriate then, even if it was alcohol.

Moura Eve is to Filianism what Mardi Gras is to Christianity. I am going to try to do something fun with the kids. I'll be making a point to dress in somewhat festive attire, or at least something colorful. Saturday is the start of Moura. In many Filianic traditions, Moura Day is observed as a fast day. I am exempt from fasting because of medical reasons. Many people in Filianism give something up for Moura as a practice of abstinence and self-discipline. It's popular to give up sweet foods. I can't eat sweets. My diet has become even more restricted because of my medical condition. So, I don't know what I'm going to do about that part of the observance.

I know with the self discipline part, I'm going to continue my effort to get more exercise, eat healthier, and stick with a daily schedule. I've been 'practicing' for about a month now on that front. The weather has not been kindly towards going out walking. I've been bored pacing back and forth through the apartment. Maybe I'll try taking up yoga again if I can't go out and walk. I don't know. I have no bright ideas at this hour of the day.

Loki and Freyr have both insisted that I must be more active in my priestly work. As such, I am going to be becoming more social as I engage the Fililianic community more. That's going to be a bit hard because I'm a social phobe, but I am oathed to Déa as a priestess and should start doing more than writing devotional literature.

P.S. Loki's been making noises that he wants me to start my writing for him by writing a Lokean rosary. So, that's going to be a thing. I'm just glad that he's finally given me some kind of direction for where I should begin this massive project.

Projects: Oracle deck of My Own.

Waning Wolf Moon (Age: 28 days)
Sign: Aquarius
Weather: Stupidly cold, fair skies
Snow pack: approx. 3 in
Drought status: N/A
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm posting here the pictures of my badly drawn oracle cards. I still have to play around with them a bit to get a feel for how to lay them out and such. It's a much smaller deck (on worse card stock) than my cheapest Tarot deck. But, I used blank index cards to make them and pencil to draw things out, so this is no surprise. This is basically the starter version of what I am working on. I don't plan on selling this thing just developing it into a useful cartomancy tool to use alongside other things, like the deck of rune cards that I put together because my rune tiles are getting fragile. Don't mind the mess or the rusty filing cabinet in the background, everything here is in flux right now.

 

Attempting to make my own Oracle deck.

 Waning Wolf Moon (Age: 26 days)
Sign: Capricorn
Weather: Stupidly cold, fair skies
Snow Pack: approx. 4 in
Drought Status: LOL
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I had a dream a few years back that I was using tarot cards but they looked nothing like what a standard tarot deck looks like. I wrote down the symbols and the words associated with them. Then I stuck it in a drawer and promptly forgot about it. Here it is about five years later, I have a pack of blank cards and I drew up the deck. It's about thirty cards, including three querent cards (one male, one female, and one that is gender neutral).

I'm going to have to play around with these things to figure out/remember how they work. Once I get a handle on that, I will likely redraw the artwork on another set of blank cards so that they look better. What I have right now is basically stick figures. (And I have contemplated making a stick figure Tarot deck. That, however, is on the back burner as I get other projects done.)

I am going to use some of the other blank note cards to make myself a set of rune cards. I have a feeling that if I use them as cards, I will get better results. I tend to be sharper with cartomancy than other forms of divination. It doesn't hurt that it's my favorite form of divination.

My brain is giving me emotional whiplash and They're not happy.

Waning Wolf Moon (Age: 16 days)

Moon Sign: Leo

Weather: Very cold, light lake effect snow

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm not swinging back and forth because of my Bipolar II right now. Or at least, I don't think that is the case. But, what ever is going on with me, I've been super anxious for about a week right around sundown. Like, so anxious that the sound of one of the kids unexpectedly tearing a piece of paper almost made me jump out of my skin the other night.

Loki and Freyr are not pleased with this development. They're both of the mind that I really should work on finding a therapist sooner rather than later. I have been a few years now with out a therapist to help me keep my head glued together. My psychiatrist is wonderful. He's been exceedingly helpful and compassionate. But, when the psychiatrist, deities, and your mortal spouse are all in agreement that you could use a bit of time with a therapist again, it's probably time to think about it seriously.

Freyr is of the opinion that my problem is my complex post-traumatic stress disorder acting up again. He's rather firmly told me that I need to stop shoving my feelings into a box. I didn't think I was doing that. But, this year of Covid-19 has brought up all kinds of things from the past. And the weirdness going on with my body due to the diabetes has been bringing up more things from the past. I really guess I fell back into some bad habits. (And Loki says snarkily 'ya think?' as I type this.) 

They have both been pushing me hard to make health changes in my life. This ranges from "It would be good for your mental health to have regular contact with other adults in the world. So, you're going to go back to doing tarot readings on Keen for the sake of your brain. The money doesn't matter." to "This is your new daily schedule, see how you're going to be exercising EVERYDAY." It's been a challenging couple of weeks adjusting to the new schedule that we negotiated. 

The exercise has been probably the hardest part. The weather has been so cold that I'm doing light aerobic exercise as I pace the apartment because it's too cold to walk outside. I over did it the other day and Freyr's been a bit peeved with me for that. I believe his exact words about it was, "Just because you can do it doesn't mean that you should do it." I was really bored pacing and did 300 arm curls (with 2.2 lb weights in each hand) in the span of 20 minutes. It's taken me a week for my arms to stop hurting.

He and Loki are plotting something that involves my exercise stuff. As in, I've been getting random things about 'here's how to train for a marathon' in my email. My search history has been about tarot decks, goddess worship, and my local news. But, I think they want me to get myself back to the point where I could walk 3 miles at a brisk pace with out a problem.

 

 

 

 

Low confidence right now.

 I feel like I'm doing everything wrong. I know it's my PTSD creeping up on me. At the same time, I feel terribly alone and like I wouldn't be so alone if I were like everyone else. It's been rough over the last year. Everything went on hold for 2020. Everything except for my scumbag brain insisting that I was a weakling and a coward for hunkering down and avoiding going out because of Covid-19.

I am attempting to restart a whole bunch of things. Yesterday was on one hand a good day. I made a little bit of money on Keen and I reconnected with some old clients. On the other hand, I just felt horrible most of the day and like I wasn't doing enough. I am struggling to reestablish healthy habits that I fell out of last year. I am struggling to get back to using a schedule, which I haven't done in over a decade. And I am struggling to figure out what in hell is going on with my diabetes because my blood sugar has been stupid. It's all left me feeling afraid and like I'm not good enough.

I guess that means it's time to do more Shadow Work. I should really replace that copy of Timothy Rodrick's book on Shadow Work. It's more of a workbook than anything else. Maybe I should go through it again and see what happens this time.

Conversation with my personal monster.

So, I'm going to try this experiment where I hold a conversation with the Egregore I created. I'm not sure how this will go. Text in a different color denotes the construct's part of the conversation. I don't know if it is sufficiently potent enough to hold some independence or not. This will be interesting.

Q: What is your purpose?

A. To assist in processing traumatic memories.

Q: Is your construction part of the reason why I have been having difficulty sleeping and more frequent emotional flashbacks?

A. This is my primary purpose, to bring material to the surface, sort, and categorize it for assessment.

Q: What is the process that is required to alleviate the trauma memories?

A. Identify the trauma, integrate the memories, and release the pain.

Q. Is there a hierarchy of trauma memories that must be processed?

A. Chronological assessment is the current mode of operation.

Q. How do you sort the trauma memories?

A. The most pervasive are first addressed.

Q: What is the integration process?

A. Repeat exposure of the memory until the dissociation response is extinct.

Q: Why do you have a menacing aura?

A. I am a repository of trauma from an early age.

Q: What information do you have for me at this time?

A. You are not your mother. You are worthy. Your problems sleeping are because you are reliving past events or projecting your fears onto future events. 

Q: How might I make the integration process less arduous?

A. Write exhaustively about the experiences and your responses to them. Detail what your triggers are and how to handle them.

Egregore update.

Dear Reader,

I've been haphazard in feeding energy into the doll over the last several months. Been sick and busy with household stuff, like a lot of stuff for the family. The other day, I took the doll out of the bag and did some meditation on feeding energy into it. That was when it took on something of a generally creepy energy. Given that this doll is for shadow work, the creepy energy is appropriate. Even so, it was sufficiently uncomfortable that I put the doll back into the bag and set it aside.

Apparently, my passive feeding the doll by just focusing thought upon it when I saw the bag (which was sitting on the desk by my computer) was an effective thing. The goal of this poppet is to draw out the shadow aspects of myself so that I can work with them. I won't say that the poppet is disturbing. It's a cheapy Belle doll from Walmart that's at best three inches high. But it's starting to take on a quality that I've heard people describe dolls having - some sense of intelligence to it and an alien quality. I didn't exactly expect that to happen.

We're in the last quarter of the February moon. So, this is the time to be working with the poppet. I don't know how to go about that, now that it's picked up something of a spark. I do know, however, that the All-Father wouldn't have suggested this if it wasn't going to be helpful towards my goals. I'm probably going to sit down and have a 'chat' with it during this waning phase. I'll record that here.

Progress?

I'm sick with a sinus infection. I can't be arsed to look up what age the moon is or what it's sign is. It is enough to know that it is waning and it was full on Sunday. The weather's shit right now but it's at least not snowing. The wind's been howling pretty good and I think the jetstream is just above us from the sound of it.

The Egregore experiment has it a few snags. Depression got in the way of actively working with the construct. Despite that, I am finding that I am having a better internal dialogue going on with the different parts of my psyche. I think this indicates that there is progress happening. It would be doing much more if I weren't sick right now. I spent most of today asleep and the afternoon will be my stumbling along in an attempt to keep up with the kids.

I've cast a few spells for healing for friends of mine and their loved ones who are unwell. I'm waiting to see how they manifest.

The spell that I cast for a little more financial security is beginning to manifest. I have a bit more work to push it into full fruition, but I think that it's going to work out well. I just have to get through the waning moon.

An experiment in Shadow Work

Waxing gibbous Milk Moon (Age: 10 days)

Sign: Libra

Weather: Rainy, cool, light breezes

Drought status: 0

~*~*~*~*~*~

I picked up a doll to represent myself in some shadow work. I am not happy with this thing. It has glitter on it. It isn't anything like the doll I was going to make but I just don't have the spoons to make the doll. But, I'm going to try to channel my anxiety into the doll and when I have anxiety issues talk to the doll to work through them.

Gods only know I'm going to look like a crazy woman. But, maybe I can make some forward progress in this mess that is my psychiatric health through a little shadow magic. The next step is going to be making masks for the different 'selves' I am trying to sort out. I'd do the paper mask but I need something more durable. Time for a run to the craft store.

My plan is to make the masks for these different pieces of my psyche and wear them as I write in a journal to facilitate expressing what is going on in my head. The journal work I have been doing is not going to well because I'm finding it hard to write due to depression. Maybe this artistic stuff will break through that wall and get me moving forward on this.

I knew this...

I knew this month was going to be bad. I had seen signs of it. Lots of them. I did not dream it would be this bad.

I am despondent with grief. Depression has been a beast for months.

I lack words. And so I pray. I am not even sure what I am praying for, only that I am praying. I don't even know which deity to turn to, all of them?

Book review: The Cloud of Unknowing

Title: The Cloud of Unknowing
Author: Anonymous, 13th Cent.
Translator: [I failed to note this.]
Publisher: [I failed to note this.]
Date: [I failed to note this.]
I've started to read the Cloud of Unknowing. The historical context of this text has made for facinating reading, but a part of me wants to skip a head to the real text. I'm ging to finish reading this context setting preface, though. A lesson in patience is necessary if I am finding this fustrating. This preface is that lesson.

Grace is hidden in us all. Few learn to (or attempt to) uncover it from the mound of daily cares and falsehoods that creat a placid seeming life.

Carelessness as a part of sin? An interesting concept that isn't voiced much.

[Edited to add: I read this and the other texts on Christian theology as I was exploring Christianity and seriously considering conversion to that faith.]

Originally Published: 8/23/06 on LiveJournal

Note: I have a copy of this. I will be re-reading it and updating notes and such. But, here is the original book review/notes in their terrible spelling and equally awful editing. I found this book to be really useful. So, I'm going to be going over it again. This time, I will have all of the info for the book because I actually own it and I'm not borrowing it from the library.

Booted from the plane.

Waning Blue Sap Moon (Age: ???)

Sign: ???

Weather: Unseasonably cold, flurries with sun

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So, a while back, my friend L. gave me a reading. I was cautioned that I needed to 'jump out of the plane or be booted out of it before it crashes' to paraphrase the entire reading. Since then, the theme of jump or be kicked off keeps popping up. 

I'm a hard headed idiot sometimes. The gods are not patient with hard headed idiots for very long. There were warnings that something was coming along. Then they gave me a very direct object lesson in the importance of self-care. So, I learned from that lesson. I had fawn's legs but I was starting back on the road to good health and proper self-care.

Then I got diagnosed last week with diabetes. It was a combo of jumping from the crashing plane of bad habits and getting booted out of it, because I'll confess that I faltered. I got scared that I was going to fuck up my healthy habits again, like I have pretty much every time my mood goes haywire (thanks bipolar, may Loki show you what he finds funny). The day I walked into the doctor's office was a harried day that I had missed doing my morning yoga and dropped a cup of coffee on the counter (didn't break the mug just covered the counter with coffee).

I'm scared but I'm doing my best. Hence why I am typing slowly due to fingers having been pricked for blood sugar testing multiple times over the last several days. I put a lot of effort today into not having stuff that is filled with carbohydrates. It seems a bitter irony that a godspouse of Freyr can't have carbohydrates. The gods, however, have their sense of humor and I'm sure will help me find something amusing in all of this.

Rambling brain prating.

Last Quarter Harvest Moon (Age: 21 days)

Sign: Cancer

Weather: Seasonable, cloudy

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There were a ton spiders in my home. Most of them, I suspect, were baby brown recluse spiders. I'm honestly terrified of them. I had a bad experience once (didn't get bit but did get the hell scared out of me) and I developed something of a phobia. The time of the spider infestation was curious. Shortly before hand, a few days at best, I asked for help mastering my fears. My anxiety had been getting the better of me and I was handling it less than well. I'm pretty sure it was connected to the dreams that were total wtf as well. Dreams of things like being trapped in a burning house where I had to swim out of the attic on the spring bubbling up in it. Of visiting my brother in law's house (which doesn't exist) and getting trapped in there as I spotted a forest fire on the way and being unable to get out. And having everyone vanish in the time between looking out the window and turning around. That dream ended with waking up choking on smoke and Loki taking my hand saying "It isn't real. You're going to be fine."

NOTE: I had thought I posted this last month. I apparently was wrong. The spider thing is not as much of a problem now since we've had a few good cold snaps. I'm also making a point of getting rid of them as I find them. Spiders are fine outside, but I am not able to handle them indoors. Makes my skin crawl and I start to panic about being bitten and having limbs rot off. I'm told this is a fairly normal phobia. I don't enjoy it at all.

That moment when...

Waxing Gibbous Thunder Moon (Age: 14 days)

Sign: Capricorn

Weather: humid, seasonable temps

Drought status: n/a

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Last few weeks have been rough. As I find myself on more even footing, I am sitting here looking around at a loss for where to begin picking up all the threads left laying about when I was in the worst of the last depressive episode. It was daunting and, honestly, disheartening. Last night, I was feeling poorly about myself and frustrated with ALL THE THINGS.

As I was laying there glaring at the wall, Loki started to toy with my hair. At first I wasn't focused enough to realize it was him. I just felt my hair getting moved about and the feeling of something moving against my scalp. This was making my skin crawl because earlier I saw ants running around in the bathroom and I was envisioning ants running over my head. I brushed my hand through my hair a few times and then I felt that strange static electricity feeling that comes when my hand touches his. (Envision a ball of static electricity that you pass your hand through. There is no shock, just that feeling of your skin being very sensitive and all the hairs on your skin standing up. Kinda like if you put your hand near a static ball. That's what it feels like, to me at least.)

I put my hand down and gave a sigh of just.. that combination of all of those feelings I was having. The sigh that goes with 'I am all out of fucks to give.' and 'What the fuck is going on here?' (all said with tired exasperation). Loki settled himself beside me and told me that I was being too serious. I grumpily responded with something, I don't remember what. But then Loki said to me something that I had been hearing from others on the spirit plane (I'm looking at you, Crow.).

"Why did you stop doing magic?"

I just lay there in silence. I wanted to reply with "I don't know." but I knew that it did not count as an answer. If I said the next thing that came to mind - I'm afraid. I don't think it works right anymore. - I knew that Loki was going to demand a better answer. Because feelings, while valid and important, are not entirely accurate for stating why something happened, at least not on this topic.

I don't remember my answer. I just remember Loki saying to me, "You need to have faith in yourself. You know this works. You have tons of evidence it works. You can't take the word of a liar seriously when they're lying to you about your truth. They don't know a damn thing about it." There was some awkward silence for a bit. And then he added the following:

Your lack of faith is because you were beaten for it.
Your lack of faith is because you were castigated for it.
Your lack of faith is because you were conditioned into it.
Your lack of faith is because you were wounded for it.
Strike a child, and they will fear the blow. Strike them for the same thing and over time that fear transfers to the thing. And what comes later is persistent fear and a hobbling. You are bound. Because you dared to stand up and have faith in yourself.

I'll be honest, having him say that was both validating and it hurt me. I tried to compensate for this by doing my best to ignore my hunger (as I had a small dinner out of an attempt to stick to a healthy diet). As this got more uncomfortable, Loki sighed and said "You're doing it again." I tried to argue with him that I couldn't go eat something then because I had brushed my teeth, because I needed to sleep, and some other thing that I can't quite recall. He shut those arguments down with one word, "Needs."

So, after I got up and had a snack of blueberries. I found myself suddenly feeling tired. Now, moments before, I was awake and anxious. After eating, I felt calm and sleepy. I wasn't even grumpy. I tried to will myself to go brush my teeth but that sense of exhaustion just got stronger. When I stretched out in bed, Loki said to me, "You are not disgusting. You are not worthless. Your life is not a mistake. You are competent and damn talented. You deserve love. And happiness. And your feelings and memories are valid." There was something else like that but I don't remember it because I fell asleep as he was speaking and rubbing my back.

But, Loki made a point last night of addressing some trauma issues that I had only recently realized were a problem. It all made sense. And it hurt. But, I think this is the hurt that comes with cleaning out an infection. I think it is going to lead to my getting healthier.

Aside from that, Loki today said to me 'Sit and spin.' and then started snickering. So I don't think he's upset with me, just upset with what happened to me and how much it has hindered me.

Ugh.

Waning Gibbous Rose Moon (Age: 18 Days)

Sign: Aquarius

Weather: Cloudy, precip. expected later

Mild temps

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I don't feel that great right now. My head hurts kinda bad, my body is generally just stiff and uncomfortable, and my lady bits are somewhere between hating me and indifferent to our mutual existence. I'm still depressed. It has made getting things done much harder.

But, I am making the attempt. A part of me says that it is going to do no good. Another part of me wants to bitch-smack the one saying terrible pessimistic things. It's a quiet conflict that happens in my head just about all the time in the background. When I'm depressed, the part that says horrible things to me is a bit louder. (And I know I am downplaying this, but I've been writing so much about feeling awful, I'm just tired of it.)

Loki has given me work to do. I'm trying to do it. But I'm not doing very well. At least, I feel like I'm not doing very well. He, however, says the fact that I am making the attempt is what is important. (This was after a few weeks of not making the attempt and him sending a bat at my head. As in, a literal little flying bat that got in the apartment and had me shrieking 'just go away' and 'leave me alone' as it kept swooping me. It was a fiasco to get it out, and it was acting strangely by doing things like attempting to land on me and crawling across the floor - and under my front door to get back into the apartment, it was alarming.)

I am exhausted. Today was a very ... uncomfortably warm day. I did some housework and stuff, but nothing too physically demanding because of my asthma acting up. I feel like a failure because I didn't get all the things done. I am trying not to indulge in that everything or nothing way of thinking. But it keeps tripping me up. I wish I was better. I wish that the bipolar just wasn't here. I wish that I could have my life back. I was going places, I was making things happen.

And then, one of my worst depressive episodes of all my life happened while I was pregnant. Which then turned into postpartum depression with psychosis. At which point, I was hospitalized and got the diagnosis of bipolar II. It was kinda a relief to know that I wasn't 'crazy' and that there actually was something going on for all those years that I was just told that I was being 'moody' and 'lazy'. But, between the BP, my cPTSD, and what feels like a metric ton of just my brain is broken now, I feel like there's no hope for me. I get afraid when I start feeling 'too good' that I'm going to launch into a manic episode and horrible things will happen. I don't know what horrible things would happen, but I'm afraid that they will happen.

I spend a lot of time depressed or numb. I'm sick of it. I want it to stop. Somedays I fear that it will only stop if I am dead. And, for maximum fail, my migraines are worse and slowly becoming more frequent. I look around and I ask, what did I do wrong to have all this happen to me? It is not a question of 'what gods did I make angry?' as much as, 'what are the things I've done to create this situation? how can I correct it? is correcting it even possible?'

Loki tells me I am taking the wrong perspective. He's likely to be right. I am just having a hard time seeing clearly now on multiple levels. And struggling with despair. I am doing my best not to let myself get sucked into that thinking but it is getting harder daily. I am scheduled to see my psychiatrist in a little over a week. I'd go sooner but he's completely booked. I struggle with the feelings that I have some how earned divine wrath versus I am just that much of a fuck up that I made myself sick like this. Both perspectives are wrong, I logically get that. But my emotions and bad brain chemistry are insisting otherwise.

I hate this.