Do I Now Associate Ramen Noodles With Beltane? Yes. Yes I Do.

What I've Done Instead of Shadow Work

This is going to be the last thing I say on the topic of shadow work, because, honestly I'm getting bored of the subject and would rather go back to talking about spirit work, or spells, or any of the many other subjects that I care a thousand times more about. Some folks seem to be hearing “I refuse to do any introspection” when I say "I have never and will never do shadow work". I have done lots of introspection, I've done therapy that follows evidence based practices, I just see no reason do try and guide myself through a method of therapy with little to no scientific evidence. But in case anyone's curious, or wants some tips, here's what I've done instead! Mindfulness exercises: I love mindfulness exercises that train you to think about your thoughts, but not judge them. Consistent mindfulness practice has really helped me become more aware of my internal thought processes, what I get hung up on, what I struggle with, what emotions I’m feeling and what caused them.

The Artist Way & Embrace Your Weird: These are both self help books for creative folks with a heavy emphasis on journaling and self expression. I found both of these helpful in different ways when I felt like I was struggling with creative burnout or felt like I was stuck in the daily grind of my day job.

Journaling: I keep multiple journals! One is a commonplace book that I fill up with on the spot thoughts, quotes, song lyrics, etc. just stuff I want to remember. The other I write in every morning when I first wake up, a continuation of the morning pages from the Artist’s Way, to just unpack and process whatever going on in my head.

Therapy: Actual real therapy with a licensed professional. I specifically see a pain psychologist because most of what we focus on is the impact my chronic pain has on my and developing healthy coping mechanisms for that.

I think what gets a bee in my bonnet the most about the few negative reactions I’ve gotten on this topic is that these folks seem most concerned about the trauma and “inner demons” aspects of shadow work. There’s always something about how dangerous or unhealthy it is for me or even those around me for me to have not delt with my trauma via shadow work. I don’t like that they presume to know my life and mental health history without having ever spoken to me. And I really don’t like the insistance that everyone has the same kind of trauma that needs to be healed in the same way.

as someone who spent a long time in that category of worshippers and is still unlearning some of it, i’ve been making more of an effort to use Theoi vs gods (for more of an anthropological perspective discussion.) i’ve wanted to open more of the barrel of monkeys that is reconstructing ancient religion, but in this current day and age, it’s a little more difficult to trust sources.

do you have any known reliable resources for finding the more historically accurate terms (unfortunately digging through texts isn’t always accessible and google can’t be trusted anymore) or is there terms you prefer to use?

I hate a lot of terms adjacent to HelPol spaces. So many of them are indicative of 1. Being raised with Christianity 2. Lack of deconstruction of those beliefs and 3. Utter lack of research (what I call Tik-tokisms)

I do not like the terms deity, misuse of the term “altar”, ever using patron, “my gods or goddesses”, devotee, “reach out” (as in a spirit is reaching out), “talking to the gods”, offending the gods.

I’ve got some REALLLY unpopular opinions about Ares, some primordial spirits, Khaos, like.

I am selective about the term “god”, (Theos and Theoí are commonly more appropriate to my conversations). I’m also slightly apprehensive around the phrase “work with”, but that being said I don’t care as much.

*whispers* (I’m whispering because it’s very important that we keep this very low key)

hey, you know that ancient grimoire you’ve been searching for but can’t get shipped to your country, is probably on Anna’s Archives. Yeah… you could download it for free… pretty much any text you can think of regardless of how old it is, it’s probably on there… give it a little searchy search and you’ll probably find the entire book for free… just saying.

Having a hard copy is always nice. But when I’m trying to figure out if a grimoire is worth dumping money on… it’s always nice to have a little free trial,…

just saying ….

You're passing through Wonka's factory and through a doorway you see what is distinctly the body of Christ being fed into a big wacky machine

Maya C. Popa, from Wound is the Origin of Wonder: Poems: “All inner life runs at some delay”

[Text ID: “The wound is where the light enters us.”]

I maxed the tags because of how much I love the Dude

Doomscrolling Save Point

hey relax for a second and watch the cat

the Dude will always be the world’s buddy but will also just leave if he wants to be alone and I can never not respect the confidence in this age

also your magic concepts are dope af!