I imagine that Portlandia wonders sometimes how Athena managed with Athens. Portland wants desperately to be a city of art and craft, of good food and progressive politics, hip and clever, full of small businesses and neighborhoods that are still full of neighbors, a beautiful city full of art and nature. And it is thoseRead more
Just recently I saw my first carnival of the season. As I see Wodanaz in both the Hunt and the Carnival, the first carnival of the year is a moment like the first farmer’s market, where I am seeing a power shift from their winter self to their summer self and I stop to acknowledgeRead more
It was a good day for walking down to the river on my lunch. A guy could get used to this routine, I really could. Today I gathered all the prayers in a word document, and now I’m trying to decide what I want to do next. I’ve done the same prayer for Velos andRead more
Every week Tuesday has rolled around and I’ve somehow been sans prayer, despite having working models for everyone else, despite being completely sure I’m going to work on it this week. On one hand, considering I knew almost nothing about Tuesday when I started, the fact that I now can contact him, interact with him,Read more
Sometimes happenstance makes things obvious. Last Thursday it seemed like pure luck I ended up at the confluence of two rivers to call on Pechak and Velos – I hadn’t given any thought to the fact that I knew those two rivers met near there, and it didn’t even seem relevant enough to mention inRead more
This morning was pretty unremarkable – I got dressed, started the dishwasher, took out the trash, said morning prayers on my way to work, got on the phone. The usual. I started playing with the new to-do tracking in my bullet journal. Then around 11:30 I noticed something was weird on the edges of myRead more
I’ve got a definite weekday routine again, a rhythm for praying and offering to Mara and the local spirits on my way to work, short as the trip is. This morning I noticed that when I’m walking in that direction from my apartment, my mind automatically slips into the words now. I thought about BrhentiRead more
Another lesson in finding the places and times that are right. I come before you on your day in this sacred place. After work I went to the library. I needed to return a book. But once I was there it occurred to me that I could offer my prayers and energy there too. IRead more
I’ve been offered a different position at work, and I said yes to it. It’s got some downsides in the short term, but it’s good positioning in the long run. I’ve really been pushing myself to be The Guy Who Pitches In at work, after my last office job ended up pigeonholed into a cornerRead more
Last year I spent six months working with the Dark Lady, a practice that included daily mantra repetition and meditation. On one hand, it was sufficiently intense that I barely saw Mara for most of that time. On the other… Well, she was great, and I accomplished a lot, and she introduced me to RedbirdRead more