Tag: animism

  • Campfire sessions — 25aug26

    Campfire
    Photo by Ville Palmu on Unsplash

    There is wood but no flames; striking flint under the overhand seems an unnecessary thing these days and I ask if campfires are what calls the spirits or if the spirits call the campfires and it does not really matter when I ponder it longer.

    Stones and bones and endless lakes do not require flame for light, for warmth, nor do the woods — only the living and those that remember a living think of flame. And sometimes then, only when it threatens their homes.

    So I forego the campfire and sit upon the log someone dragged out to sit on while they watched hungry flames eat the air and dead in front of them. Crow has gone off to do crow things and She will be back soon. Perhaps with another bauble, perhaps with nothing more than words.

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  • Campfire Sessions — 11aug26

    Campfire
    Photo by Ville Palmu on Unsplash

    I emerged from the bramble gate, crawling out on my hands and knees the soft loam giving way to my weight before springing back, erasing any sign of my passing. Thorns teased at my clothes, my skin while rending neither.

    Part of me wished the thorns had taken more liberties with both fabric and flesh.

    You survived, They said as I stood, brushing off decayed leaves and detritus from my palms and trousers. Excellent.

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  • Mild rant

    I recently had a lengthy discussion with someone who wanted to share with me their amazing mind-expanding experiences with psilocybin. This person had “an awakening” after the experience and wanted me to hear their version of “the good word”.

    I won’t go into the details of their belief system, as it is really unimportant. People believe what they will believe and I try not to judge what they believe, although his awakening is based quite heavily on the use of hallucinogens and convoluted conspiracy theories treated as science by merely applying the word “science” to the material.

    Anyway, I think he was trying to get me to join his psilocybin community. Most people would jump at the chance, honestly. Not interested, personally.

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  • Campfire Sessions — 03aug26

    Campfire
    Photo by Ville Palmu on Unsplash

    Seeking new places to set campfires within the wode. The old ones leave the ashes cold even where they gather and that is a sign I am meant to move on. And so I pass their hollows and dream deeper and older to ancient wooden trails where even the night finds it hard to take a hold. Into the before, when even the old ones had yet to be born.

    It is Crow and Ash and Stone. Mountain waters gather in pools that go deep on the forever and the raindrops find their way to this dismal home. Water always finds a way, for it is married to Stone.

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  • Solstice — an explanation of sorts

    The season of withdrawing is upon us.

    The sun slips lower with each passing cycle and we will soon have the longest night upon us — here, in Minneapolis we will see more than fifteen hours of darkness overnight at solstice, while places like Fairbanks, AK will see closer to eighteen hours of night.

    I’ve decided this year to honor this cycle of nature and reduce my online presence over the days leading up to Winter Solstice, which takes place on December 21 — in accordance with the daylight hours and as my professional career allows (I still need to make money to pay bills, after all).

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  • Half-penny thoughts | 12jun25

    a path in the middle of a dark forest
    Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

    I’m doing some spiritual alchemy this morning. You know, calcination, dissolution, separation… yada yada yada. Fancy words for a messy process.

    As most of you know, I don’t have much patience with fancy language to describe simple things. I also don’t have much patience with elaborate processes when the processes themselves should be (and tend to be) simple.

    Stepping back…

    I was thinking again, about this process of rewilding my spirit, getting back to the beginning. Part of that involves taking what you perceive yourself to be and going all Zen by seeking out the face you wore before you were born. Or, as the kōan would have it, before your parents were born.

    [A kōan, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a Zen “public case” meant to help one realize satori, otherwise known as enlightenment.]

    What better place to set as a destination for rewilding your spirit? Your original face, before even your parents were born!

    Before nurture came around… Before your nature evolved…

    What face did you wear?

    And can you find it again?

    Note: For the curious, my philosophy is largely Taoist informed by Zen, my spiritual practice is largely animist, influenced by panpolytheistic understandings (with many of those trappings removed). Confused? Now you know why I think these kinds of thoughts.