eveningtide

When I walked out of my work today I was hit smack-dab in the brain with a rather-dark-but-still-darkening post-sunset sky, perfect quarter-moon hanging above the ridge of the Santa Cruz mountains visible towards the west. I got a very, very powerful sense of the presence of Whoever Sleeps In That Land, and of whatever Power it is that dwells in that deep sapphire moment when the first stars are appearing in the east. I feel a need to know the name of that Power, and to know whether it is goddess or just powerful spirit (I feel it is feminine). The Maiden Crowned with the Moon... the Queen of the Evening Star... but who is she really?'

That time of day has always been a place of solace and resonance for me. It is my favourite sort of sky, and I love the sky in general. That moment with the moon (later in the moon cycle, it's not as powerful since the moon is further away or hasn't risen yet - the moon's presence is part of the equation) and the evening star and the shadows over earth... Not (I don't think) coincidentally, I was born around sunset myself, although the moon was waning at the time and so wasn't visible in the sky.

eveningtide

When I walked out of my work today I was hit smack-dab in the brain with a rather-dark-but-still-darkening post-sunset sky, perfect quarter-moon hanging above the ridge of the Santa Cruz mountains visible towards the west. I got a very, very powerful sense of the presence of Whoever Sleeps In That Land, and of whatever Power it is that dwells in that deep sapphire moment when the first stars are appearing in the east. I feel a need to know the name of that Power, and to know whether it is goddess or just powerful spirit (I feel it is feminine). The Maiden Crowned with the Moon... the Queen of the Evening Star... but who is she really?'

That time of day has always been a place of solace and resonance for me. It is my favourite sort of sky, and I love the sky in general. That moment with the moon (later in the moon cycle, it's not as powerful since the moon is further away or hasn't risen yet - the moon's presence is part of the equation) and the evening star and the shadows over earth... Not (I don't think) coincidentally, I was born around sunset myself, although the moon was waning at the time and so wasn't visible in the sky.

describe in five

So, I kept thinking about doing that "what five books would you recommend people read to better understand you" thing that was going around... and it occurred to me that it might be interesting to also tack on which five musical albums would be contributory to such an endeavor as well.

Five Books

1. I'm going to cheat here and cram five books into one slot: Douglas Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy. (Yes, that's five books, not three; anyone reading this is likely familiar with that fact already, though.) Very formative to my current sense of humour, although it could be argued that if that sense hadn't been latent in me, I would never have been very amused by the Hitchhiker's books to begin with.

2. Another cheat; not only is this a series and not a single book, it's actually a comic book: WaRP Graphics' ElfQuest. ElfQuest sparked the furthest-back threads of my awakening that I can now perceive in hindsight. Ideas from this series are still with me today, such as its perspective on "soulmates" (called "Recognition"), and the symbol used to indicate that characters were communicating telepathically ("sending") is still a powerful image for me today.

3. RJ Stewart, The Living World of Faery. In fact, any of Bob Stewart's works on the Faery and Underworld tradition might work as well. The flows he is mediating are a lot closer to Home and Real and Truth for me than most humans' approaches to dealing with the Faery realm are, so it's good reference material for understanding part of my headspace.

4. Charles de Lint, Jack of Kinrowan. A fictional counterpart to RJ Stewart: he has about the best handle on the faery-in-the-modern-world thang that I've ever seen. Also in this book is the concept of "drinking the moon's luck", which again is a powerful image that's stuck with me and worked itself into my real life (I even wrote a poem with that as the title).

5. Nigel Jackson, Call of the Horned Piper, or other associated books on more "traditional" forms of witchcraft (contrasted with modern Wicca). For understanding part of my current thought on religion and magic.

( more behind this. )

describe in five

So, I kept thinking about doing that "what five books would you recommend people read to better understand you" thing that was going around... and it occurred to me that it might be interesting to also tack on which five musical albums would be contributory to such an endeavor as well.

Five Books

1. I'm going to cheat here and cram five books into one slot: Douglas Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy. (Yes, that's five books, not three; anyone reading this is likely familiar with that fact already, though.) Very formative to my current sense of humour, although it could be argued that if that sense hadn't been latent in me, I would never have been very amused by the Hitchhiker's books to begin with.

2. Another cheat; not only is this a series and not a single book, it's actually a comic book: WaRP Graphics' ElfQuest. ElfQuest sparked the furthest-back threads of my awakening that I can now perceive in hindsight. Ideas from this series are still with me today, such as its perspective on "soulmates" (called "Recognition"), and the symbol used to indicate that characters were communicating telepathically ("sending") is still a powerful image for me today.

3. RJ Stewart, The Living World of Faery. In fact, any of Bob Stewart's works on the Faery and Underworld tradition might work as well. The flows he is mediating are a lot closer to Home and Real and Truth for me than most humans' approaches to dealing with the Faery realm are, so it's good reference material for understanding part of my headspace.

4. Charles de Lint, Jack of Kinrowan. A fictional counterpart to RJ Stewart: he has about the best handle on the faery-in-the-modern-world thang that I've ever seen. Also in this book is the concept of "drinking the moon's luck", which again is a powerful image that's stuck with me and worked itself into my real life (I even wrote a poem with that as the title).

5. Nigel Jackson, Call of the Horned Piper, or other associated books on more "traditional" forms of witchcraft (contrasted with modern Wicca). For understanding part of my current thought on religion and magic.

( more behind this. )