bc at this point, why tf not

About

I may have been born smack in the middle of Generation X... but, with a West Coast mom that was a closeted hippie (a copy of "Sun Signs" on her nightstand, no less), my fate was sealed.

There was a framed picture on the wall above my crib with my birth details surrounded by illustrations of all the zodiac signs. In middle school, I inherited her tarot deck and a book about witchcraft.

I mean... come on. I didn't stand a chance. All the "Reality Bites," Depeche Mode, theater class and brooding teenage nihilism in the world couldn't have kept my dreamy mystic side down.

I studied color theory, voodoo and santeria, astronomy, astrology, and the symbols of ancient Egypt. The Kumari, dharma, Gnosticism, ayahuasca, Shinto... yep. I have superstitions for days. Energywork, horseshoes, numerology, the Triple Goddess... I have opinions.

The Eleusinian mysteries? I didn't even have to look that up to spell it right just now.

I wear a red Kabbalah thread, have a mezuzah on my door, and am usually carrying an evil eye. I traveled to see the April 2024 annular eclipse in totality. Runes, tea reading, palm reading, mommy mushroom retreats... you get the idea.

And all the major world religions, of course. Want to talk about transubstantiation? The wife of Jesus Christ? The threads uniting the Abrahamic religions--and how shameful it is that we let politics tear those links apart? Opus Dei? the Stations of the Cross? the ecstasy of St. Teresa and why her body was exhumed last week in Spain?

I'm your girl. Shoot it all straight into my veins.

It's a big wild world--and as humans, what we know pales in comparison to what we don't. Who is to say what among all these mysteries, beliefs and rites is real or not?

So I study and absorb everything mystical, even while my cynical, pragmatic, rational side (the one that works for government officials, has a 401K, and carries strong opinions about the Oxford comma) knows that much of our human mysticism is just fable and campfire tales.

But not all of it.

So let's play with what appeals to us, and let the nihilists and evangelists sort out the rest. Life is hard enough to go without any magic at all. Embrace your curiosity and your sense of "why tf not," and see where it leads you.

tl;dr Rational, middle-aged, productive member of society likes to use mystic symbols and concepts to help make sense of a crazy world for herself and her friends... and nobody gets hurt.

bc at this point, why tf not

About

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“It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.”

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