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Sunday, May 30th, 2010
_4:48 pm_[zahdi] Hi all, I started a website that's mostly local to here but is intended to start "coming out" to identify myself as what I am; to open up about what I think about the world and the spiritual realms; and to start providing service-for-profit based on my learnings. Let me know what you think: http://warrior-witch.weebly.com/Thanks, cross-postedP.S. If you would like to submit an article about spiritual stuff or other content, email me. (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
_10:01 am_[kingtycoon] Tips for concrete wizards So it came to me yesterday – I had some times going on, bad things – hurt thoughts. Shook them off though – the sun was out and the sky was maybe perfect. Clouds like fingers over the transmission lines so you'd think that lightning might spiral between them – helical even. The wind was just right too – pushing off the snow which had come hard and fierce – insistent, but not strong, not enduring earlier in the week. It seemed like spring, overcoming – a tolerably helpful portent. So out of the morning haze I got it together to finish my chores and it turns out that my unemployment had been deposited in the bank – which is not quite like a paycheck – which thing may as well be a wand of lapis or a sword of fire to the contemporary wizard – but close enough – money and assurances, Pentacles. So I practiced my discernment, woke up my wintery blood and drove around a while. Down into unvisited portions of the metropolis and found some looked for places, talked to those who expected me because of earlier telephone conversations – Which is Amazing though maybe only sort of. People typed messages at me, little birds, and I made more phonecalls thinking I'd see or be seen by people because an electric snake bit them. It calls them into being. That's what I said to myself. Then I came home to read a while, Pekar's biographies of the Beats, thinking Old Harvey P is from my town just like me. I like him for that if nothing else, that and that he made a thing. Making a thing is an act of will, admirable, being from here is an act of contrition, noble.But then I was thinking – I'd be out later for dollar drafts and that's magic too! Spirits and Economical. Or anyway it's a boon and not one to look at lightly. Still remembering twenty-five cent pabsts in the lurkier corners of my demesne but accepting fortune. My friend was getting older last night – today I suppose. Night is the change of days not the chime of some clock – nevermind the electric snake that bites and says otherwise. Out of jokes and affection and bitter contempt I'd fashioned him a painting a ways back – He'd asked for it, A vagina, I'd painted it for him and then proudly unfurled it and waved it around like a flag trying to get girl's phone numbers. It worked only a little. But I figured it's his birthday I aughta get him a thing, and then thinking Fuck That I aughta make him a thing. So I decided to make him some magic.I'd done this thing once before – The Hundred Abolitions – it's a thing that I think is maybe only for me cause it's got to do with a few special feelings that I have about specific manufactured goods. Manufactured goods are manufactured and not exactly of the sort of thing that you maybe can work the old Will over – but that's part of it isn't it? Making a thing from anther thing? Buying something is basically finding it in the wilderness cause there's more paper laying out for use on store shelves in my neighborhood than there are leaves – it's gathering and there was discernment involved the 3.5 x 5 inch cardstock, the Sharpie pen with just the right tip – discernment. Like picking the stones out of a stream – you find the right kind and you'll skip it five times – find the right pen and the right paper – you might make a thing that's magic. I did. The Hundred Abolitions is just a list, one item per card, you Tell what can't be done. I phrase it like this: Do Not _____ This Man and fill in the blank with versions of 'harm' or 'kill' and think of a hundred bad things I wouldn't like to happen to my friend. And I think pretty hard about it – go into a little trance – suck down some magic smoke that I learned about - native to the New World and famous for making peace, and then I imbibe a potion of secret origin, fashioned from the rarest ingredients of the Amazon and the Congo – a jungle nectar! Empowered thus I got to writing, mainly on the steps of St. Mary's Polish National – down the block…Oh and there was this – walking. Walking's good – straight and narrow, the sidewalk, cars rush by, putting the wind at your back and in your face both at once – leaf in turbulence, it brings you up and awake – and just at the edge of sunset – just where the sun is starting to eat up the horizon – again there are the transmission lines, telephone poles, the jumble of fabricated houses, industrial smokes, commercial lots, For Sale – Commerce – leaf in turbulence. I leave my house walking out thinking hard and saying: "I'm the best wizard in this town." Which is true because you say it, that's a thing to say – self reinforcing feedback loop – say what you're going to say – if you don't believe that when you say it – well it isn't true. Not another wizard in the world begrudges you thinking you're the best except that when you say it to them? Well you've got no business being a wizard if you don't think you're the best in town. So I say what I want to say and I go out- up a hill down a walk, straight and narrow and I want to be strong because I want to do some magic - so I say to myself walking down the road – Leaf in Turbulence – except not, because it's turbulent but I'm under my own power, not guided – not pressed, not flowing – But Going. Going My Way. That's a thing. I know it's all right because the traffic lights are with me, don't break pace not once, people walking their dogs, they can see I've got purpose, out of the way, out of the way. Saying to myself- "I could make a better world, I could make a world better than this." Which I do think is true –but then I see a Robin and I get a little shook up because I don't think I have it in me to think up Robins and what they mean and how good they are – and then I figure I'm okay because the Robin is important to me and I saw him hop hopping down my path and I took it for a good sign. So I get my materials and I sit on St. Mary's steps – the old church that isn't old – just ugly – I could tell you that they moved it here from Poland brick by brick and that it was built in 1964 and if you saw it you might believe me, Soviet. Anyway it's got two staircases one facing south and home and toward a lot of good places in my life, and one facing north and to the city's heart – but also across the street from a personal symbol of bad vanity and overreaching – so I sit with my back to the bad sign and start my composing. I could, well I guess I could try to appeal to better angels? Decent powers and wish for my friend all kind of good things –but I doubt I'd know a helpful spirit if it were helping me. Meanwhile I'm vindictive and mainly know from cursing people – So I figure I put together the list of bad things I'd rather didn't happen to my pal and then I put it together- the Hundred Abolitions and mark it up with a little bit of the Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis – old acquaintance in there who owes me a little – I mark the name, not much bigger than my own – that for flattery's sake not cause he's better than me. Wrap it up in some red ribbon I keep for that purpose and drip a bit of the old Saturn Oil – appeasing Saturn since he's the fucking plague god and needs appeasing- maybe a few months late. Spilled a beer in honor but made it seem like a mistake – try that one out by the way! Works strong, you're getting ahead of yourself and maybe wanna make sure you're getting home tonight? Tip one down it's worked for me. Leave a cigarette to go in the ashtray – one for dear old granddad who loved em like I do and maybe can't get them but I leave one for him and give my friend his hug and his beer and his magic spell and we'll see if the world's not kinder. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
_6:28 am_[andaisnicessus] Soul? Cross posted. I really want other opinions here. What is your opinion on Soul or Spirit? Here is why I ask.My BF is reading a book called "The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence". My BF is an Agnostic, and basically believes we are all meat, and our personalities, and who we are, is all chemical reactions based on chance and genetics. In this book, super smart people with all sorts of accreditation (I guess) are talking about nanotechnology, and how in the future, we are all going to be like the characters in Appleseed or Ghost in the Machine or Robocop (what I mean is, we will eventually have smart chips through out our body taking over our very CELLS on every level). He is VERY excited about this. The whole idea that I will have computer chips injected into me replacing my genetic makeup makes me wonder... how does this affect the soul? At what point do you STOP hosting your soul. If we are all metal and computer chips, are we still human?I don't think we are. Other people think this is the next step in human evolution. Frankly, it makes me queezy. I don't have fake boobs. If I needed a knee replacement, yes, I guess I would have the silcon part replace my biology. And yes, I can see a parallel between knee relacements and inserting microchips into your brain to make you think faster and better. My question is... to what end? What does this do to us? What happens to our soul is our base material is substituted for man made biology?What is your opinion? (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
_5:35 pm_[kingtycoon] Behold my lack of Maintenance It's true- at my last review I said: "frankly considering the lack of effort and thought I put into my job I do an amazing amount of work."This, well, it's true- it was and might be a lovely little community - I'm not especially opposed to trying, heck, I'll actually try.Here's some of the 'ol shamanism that I've worked out lately.The Opera - The Opera's an urban achievement you know- it's the alchemist's artform they invented it on account of their wish to unite the arts to one magical art - the urban spectacle. Nowadays of course your experience at the opera might suggest to you the ruthless nonsensical foolishness of the world of money and finance - I have to point this out because I always see the empty seat three rows up that the ushers prevent you from moving to becuase they cost $50 more - foolish! Opera means Work in italian - cause it was the "Work" of the Alchemists - it's their magical labor and not for nothing is it part of the SATOR square. So and thus to my point (although I could make subsidiary points here and now about maybe you should aughta give the Work a chance if you can - it's not right to listen you know- you need to go- the Spectacle's the Work, is the Alchemy - and likewise- what's the place of it? Film? Any notions?)But my thing here is the SATOR square- or really any magic square - chances are- if you live in an urban environment like I do you live in a grid of squares. So why not generate the beneficent effects of the Magic square for your neighborhood- give it a try anyway. Ten Square blocks can do it and maybe you'll walk your own labrynth or mandala as you go - stations of the city so to speak. (Comment on this)
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
_11:09 am_[nocturnafae] Beans, Leaves and Deities Beans, Leaves & Deities Pagan Coffee Talk Date: Saturday, October 11, 2008Time: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pmLocation: Portland New Church - 302 Stevens Avenue****( Details under the cut.Collapse ) Topic: DivinationThis was on one of our most popular and talked about talks last year. Divination is used in nearly every Pagan tradition and there are nearly an infinite variety of tools and methods: tarot cards, astrology, runes, geomancy, bones, reading omens and signs, and the list goes one. Please join us of a one hour discussion on the topic of divination.Be sure to bring your favorite divination tool for a reading swap to take place after the discussion. We will have tables set up for readers to use.Now what comes after? Here is a list of the 2008 – 2009 topics. November 8th: ChantsDecember 13th: Ancestors & Heritage PotluckJanuary 10th: Making the Wheel of the Year PersonalFebruary 14th: Pagan Parables and Personal MythologyMarch 14th: PlantsApril 11th: Community RitualPagan Celebrations and Rites of PassageWe have lots of other exciting news to share, so please stay tuned for more updates.**We look forward to seeing you there! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
_8:43 am_[nocturnafae] Beans Leaves and Deities When: Second Saturday of each Month Where: Portland, Maine Pagan Coffee Talk! Event Details: It's that time of the year to celebrate cool days and colder nights, warm mugs and good friends.2008 – 2009 Beans Leaves & Deities season will now begin! On September 13th at 2:00 pm at the Portland New Church, 302 Stevens Avenue, folks will gather to kick off another year of community, conversation and caffienation.( If you're in the area, stop on in for a cuppa....Collapse ) Website: http://beansleavesdeities.blogspot.com/ (Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
_10:16 am_[nocturnafae] Ouroboros As I was walking in the evening heat the other day, a parasol in one hand and a coffee in the other, I stopped suddenly on a busy road with cars _whoosh_ing past me and bringing with them the vengeful breezes of exhaust, dust, and tar.( Two steps in reverse; pause, and stare.Collapse ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
_2:38 pm_[evanoah_sea] .Inner Zen a few peaceful moments to share with you...warm embrace,evanoah (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
_9:57 pm_[doomsandwichx] Evil Graffitti Lately there has been a local graffiti artist known as Eyesore who has really been concerning me. His art is filled with upside down pentagrams and crosses, daggers, latin verses and things written in latin. At first I didn't think much but some nasty shit has been happening and getting worse since I noticed his tags. Last night I found another one of his tags and the evil energy coming off it was freaky, even my less spiritually minded friend got an eerie feeling from it.I`m going out with my can tonight and doing some counter-action in the form of positive haiku and some bind-runes. Anybody have any other ideas for counter magic? I want Winnipeg to go back to just being fucked up as opposed to violent. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
_5:28 pm_[dreamingdeer] Shamans and Old An introductory thing, always such a gamble, no?I am a follower of the Egyptian Pantheon, mainly, and I incorporate many beliefs from various religions that seem to work for me, including Buddhism and Taoism.I also live in Winnipeg, Canada, and am closely affiliated with , as a matter of fact.Yes, one of my patron gods is Anpw, but I ask that I not be lumped together with the majority of those who claim to worship him because in my experience, the majority of those who do have turned him away from what he is into a purely sexual god. Of course, almost all the Gods are sexual, but that's not solely what Anpw is about, and I find it disrespectful to see him solely in that light.I am brother to Heru, son of Anpw and Basti, and all around learned-up urban shaman.I have a deer skull whose name is Rannok, he still has his spirit inside of his skull and speaks and offers guidance in the matters of nature and other realms. He oft comes with me on my excursions.As I have explained to many before, I am an Akh-Ker, translated as "Older Brother." I give advice, but will never tell anyone to do or not to do something, as I believe that we are all through our lives sent blundering and but guided by a knowing hand. How would we learn if we were simply told the right answer? But there are always suggestions.Indeed, there isn't anything special about me other than having been 'round the block a few more times than most -- Which simply means that I just don't learn as fast! Haha.I have seldom been anyone of much importance, except for my time in Egypt, whereupon I was a head Priest for a few lifetimes in a temple. Not the head Priest, a head Priest. Just to clarify that! Several times as head of the Temple of Anpw, and once as head of the Temple of Heru. I was also a soldier, born as the illegitimate son of the Pharaoh, so I wasn't very important. I had an alright rank though, I suppose. Well-off enough and worth a mention, haha.But other than that I seem to just favour animals, as I don't like people too much!I don't claim to have Power Levels OVER NINE THOUSAND, and I'm not claiming to be the personificae of Death. I'm just a boy who's been around for a very long, long time, and as such I more often than not have an idea of what I'm talking about. In this life and as of this writing, I'm 19, though.Nice to meet you. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 28th, 2008
_9:37 pm_[shauna_aura] Sacred Fire: Keepers of the Flame, Kansas City MO, Feb. 2 Greetings all, I wanted to forward along this event announcement that you might be interested in.Ringing Anvil Productions presents: Sacred Fire Keepers of the Flame A day-long event for spiritual seekersFebruary 2nd, Kansas City What is the Sacred Fire in your heart? How do we build the Clan-fire of community?Will you become a Keeper of this Sacred Flame? http://www.ringinganvil.org ( Read more...Collapse ) (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
_9:39 pm_[doomsandwichx] Yay another newbie! Well just great, here's another newbie post! I was going to put it in another newbie post below to save space but decided nobody would see it so here we go.My name is NathanI live in Winnipeg Canada I'm a follower on Thor(some would say his child) and Odin. Just don't call me an Asatru, nothing against them, I just shun organized religion and feel it somewhat defeats the purpose of paganism. Those are just my views though and I'll never impose them upon people, merely speak of them.I've always felt at home in the city and feel that nature has it's ways of coming through, it's not always obvious but we'll always be surrounded by nature and its sprits. Next time your walking down the sidewalk in summer or spring look down at the flower bursting through the cracks for proof.This place seems like my kind of online hangout.Cheers! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 25th, 2008
_9:51 am_[byrdie] Urban gargoyles. Within the last decade I've becoming increasingly enamored of graffiti monsters. Most tag-art doesn't affect me very much, but there's something rather comforting about finding a colorful alien or whimsical skull peeking out at me as I'm hurrying about my day. It reminds me that we're being looked after. Current Mood: mellow (1 Comment |Comment on this)
_12:23 pm_[kingtycoon] Magic Rivers Are Too I imagined a secret ocean under the continent - the northwestern passage - for how long was there a north american and for how long was it nothing more than an obstacle to ships. They never wanted it they wanted an ocean here & now all the ships come to us - it's a species of the northwest passage - the hidden place you always wanted to be but wasn't. I think of the hidden rivers under the earth - they are the magical streams of a continent's thoughts - the flow of identity and the power of the continental imagination. (Comment on this)
Monday, January 14th, 2008
_9:31 am_[shauna_aura] Midwestern Mystic Greetings all,I'm new to this LJ community. I'm something of a midwestern nomad at the moment. I usually identify as pagan, though many days that seems to be broadening more to a general mystic rooted in earth-based spirituality. I believe in ecstatic ritual, I believe in the value of spiritual growth and sustainable living. Currently I'm working to plan events, classes, and rituals to bring spiritual work to an urban audience. I'm interested in traveling around the country to build sacred sites, shrines, temples, and someday perhaps a seminary for alternative spirituality. I'm interested in meeting like-minded folks. Thanks! (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 30th, 2007
_12:05 pm_[kingtycoon] How can I moderate when I'm so immoderate? The IncomparableAstrokaiju has handed off the moderation of this little scene to memyselfandI.Here's what I have to say (this be my testament may it save & not condemn me)So my shamanism is shabby right now. It's true - there is the matter of persistent change, of the only constancy being transformation. In the long view there's no saying just what changes will be or what they'll bring but it's plenty good to speculate about what'll come of them - my temperment tends toward the Jeremiad form of prophecy. I walk my mandala in the Cleveland metropolitan area - 18th biggest in the nation of the States United. It's the buckle of the rust-belt & comes in first in all the sorts of polls you don't want to be first in - mortgage forclosure rates, murder & obesity - I like to call it the wasteland and it's fine with me that it is exactly that. Sometimes you might imagine that it might improve or change that way and maybe it does, but my eyes aren't built for seeing the best in anything and I'm like a grindstone noticing everything that could go bad in a dozen centuries of a current trajectory. That's the fantasist in me thinking & I must say that when I make my labrynthine pilgrimages to the stations of the city or else when I weave my mandala walk through just my neighborhood - I do my best to see it all in a different way. Sometimes it really is the wasteland that it could be - power flickering in the too-many signs, all broken up with rocks and shotguns broken down cars with a hundred people riding shotgun. Sometimes it doesn't look too different from that at all. Sometimes. And sometimes I see the after-world, my favorite version of the city, grown over with trees and almost empty of people. The indians abandoned this place before the new nation of connecticut decided to establish their own xanadu here - it's not hard to see that later inhabitants might do likewise, walk out on the bad weather and malicious air, fierce pollen count and snow belt & lake effect - there's not a lot to keep anyone here, I've learned that to my dismay, friends & fellow travelers all gone off to the brighter spots on the map. And what's left when it's all gone? Overgrown and weedy, dogs in packs running after the few remaining residents living in the top floors of the tall buildings gone to seed and everything always green. I like that vision of what the city could be. It's conflated with another vision and that's of the city never been - the forest primeval never been touched, the glacial till plain and the passenger pigeon and what would it be like to walk here only a thousand years ago? My people aren't from here, my people come from a place that still has some of the same streets from 1,000 AD and 1 AD and 1000 BC - some of them anyway. So there's that - the new land burned and flaring out young and pretty and fierce and now grown old ahead of its time. That's now. There's plausible futures - ones that I should think about a little harder since I'm going to be in them, part of them. On the radio they talk about everything - psychic & single path, the best kind, thinking of McCluhan and cold & hot and what's the radio Marshall? Never can remember and barely understood - but the media shamanism's not for the simpleminded. They tell me that the county of Cuyahoga - the crooked & burning river - that'll join together sometime soon maybe and we'll all be in a bigger better city - I've no doubt of the bigger and better, I wonder what it'll really be though? And another tower goes up out of nowhere? And some new sports calamity to rally and enrage and maybe another departure and another arrival - comings and goings - that's the nature of the city & young and aged before its time - that's the Wasteland/Cleveland - getting in line with the changes- that's the hardest part of your shamanism, or mine anyway.Think of when it all glowed inside you, when it was like a pearl in your palm - the best time ever when you were synched to your city and it to you and maybe you were the best wizard you'll ever be. Well it has to go another way - it's not going to stand still for you and it's not as if you'll stand still yourself. They dam up the river, change the course, knock down dams and dredge up streams to help the parklands grow- what's that do the chakras then? And they is everyone else getting by and sometimes noticing what the city even means - the unity of people, hands and heads bent toward simultaneous action - all in a row - deeply lined up - and you'd never notice it in anyone's life but that's what their life is - seen from the right angle and the right eyes. So wake yourself up and don't guess at what your city has become but see it for yourself and be ready to be in it and of it. You are surrounded. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 19th, 2007
_2:04 pm_[nonentityb] UPDATE: Who wants to be the new maintainer?? Congrats, kingtycoon. You are the new maintainer of sacredinthecity.As your first order of business, you might want to do something I forgot to do before I took away my own maintainer privileges: change the part of the community profile that names me as moderator...Good night, and good luck. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, November 16th, 2007
_10:12 am_[nonentityb] Who wants to be the new maintainer?? I started this community shortly after moving from a rural town to start college in the city of Boston, hoping that it would help me deal with the alienation I felt as a country girl in the city. I moved back to the country a long time ago and have long since lost any interest in even thinking about city life, much less talking about it. So, shamefully, I have let a perfectly good community lay to waste.I would love to transfer this community to someone who actually lives in the city and has any kind of enthusiasm for this subject. So, if you would like the job, please post a reply with a short description of why you think I should pick you as the new maintainer. I'll basically be looking for someone who is competent, reasonably well-mannered, and thinks they would really enjoy this gig and do a much better job than I ever did. Feel free to include any extra credit stuff: you know, special talents, empty promises, things like that.I will pick someone on Sunday, November 18th and then be done with the community forever. The new maintainer will be free to do whatever they like and make whatever changes they want. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
_12:21 pm_[bruhinb] Please sponsor me! This is just a reminder that I am raising money for DELAWARE VALLEY PAGAN NETWORK INC and would really welcome your support. I'm actively supporting the Delaware Valley Pagan Network, Inc / Phactory, LLC Community Garden Project Our goal is to transform an abandoned factory lot into an urban oasis. The site is over 30,000 square feet of open space, right in the heart of Kensington. Along with the Phactory building itself, this site will be a gathering place for local community groups. The site will include a mix of practical urban agriculture along with more artistic landscapes to feed the body, mind and spirit . Project Goals include: -Sustainable landscaping -Use of pollinators and companion planting -Use of recycled materials -Organic growing practices -Water conservation and correction of stormwater runoff -Use of solar power -Planting trees to help clean the soil, air and water table -Planting an orchard and vegetable gardens If you are interested in learning more or getting involved, check out these web pages for more info: http://dvpn.org/ - Home page for the Delaware Valley Pagan Network http://dvpn.org/blogs - Information and updates on the Garden Project http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phactory/ - Discussion list for the Phactory, LLC mailto:garden@dvpn.org Please take a moment to visit my online fundraising page and make a donation. It's really easy - you can donate by credit card and receive a record of your donation. Here's my page: http://www.firstgiving.com/dvpnAll donations are secure and sent directly to DELAWARE VALLEY PAGAN NETWORK INC. Please join me in supporting DELAWARE VALLEY PAGAN NETWORK INC and a fabulous cause! Thanks!! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
_4:23 pm_[suzanna_o] "In Cities Is the Preservation of the Word" I thought some of you here might find the article at this link interesting.http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2007/01/09/price/index.html?source=daily"Write about Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, London, Athens, Nairobi, Beijing -- because in the city, you could say, is now the preservation, as well as the great power, of nature writing."How true do you think this is? (Comment on this)

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