Fall brings things inside.

Fall brings the garden indoors. It also marks the start of my Winter project preparation. Today we spent some time transplanting,cutting, and tending both the hydroponic and soil gardens.

Basil

Oregano

Parsley


Meyer Lemon

Emily's Garden Hydroponic system at day zero. This will be for my indoor herb garden. We will see if that southern facing window will offer enough exposure for the plants. 

"Big Mama: The Marmorkreb"

Though the Emily's garden is sold as a hydroponic system, I consider it a possibility for a prototype tank for the Marmorkrebs. Currently, I have a ten gallon aquarium that we will be housing the full size crayfish and its two spawn. I have yet to determine the ratio between enclosure size and colonization. 

It is hoped that the marmorkrebs will be an excellent alternative for aquaponics. Typically, people are using tilapia or other fish to provide the fertile waste for their crops.  Marmorkrebs may offer another alternative. If farmed in conjunction with fish you could use the marmorkrebs as a feeder. 

Now it is time to review crops and plan the planting cycles. 

Low.

The lapse in correspondence. Not indicative of negative corollaries. Just been laying low and withdrawing momentarily.
All this energy invested into systems. Systems require time to assimilate and this is a natural progressive  activity. Usually stretches over a lifetime. A mild offering of hope is interwoven through the discipline.

Occasionally, my taste for this art turns bitter and I begin to reject it. This is a indication that I have usually crossed my threshold. Not in discipline nor in practice. It is true that cessation motivates me. For this I have no shame. Yet I know that I will return to my systems in time.

I do not condemn myself to hedonism, nor do I reject the suspicions that I am being hoodwinked by schema. I somehow retain an observance that simultaneously allows for subjectivity. This is nothing new to those who have obsessed over duality and polarization at some length.  This process offers the dual representation while allowing for the operator to familiarize intimately with processes that would otherwise remain subconscious.

The theme for late has been low.
Low Magick and High. The Practical and the precise.
Low is a common point of entry, especially for those who's egotism negates their attraction towards the dogmatism of High Magick.

The solar adorations outlined in Liber Resh, remain a daily exercise. Here is an article I found that extrapolates the general: Who And What Are Those Egyptian References In Liber Resh?

In this episode of the speech in the silence, Dr. Shoemaker goes into the visualizations that can correspond with the exercise. This is something I utilize with my ritual.

Interestingly, the visualization experience opened another influential avenue in Tibetan models: The Bardos. The act of envisioning the barque traveling across the surface lends itself quite well to invoking elements of the Bardo Thodol. Here is a good article on the Bardos: From Rest for the Fortunate by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche

Yesterday Cory left for Portland.
I went out for drinks with Bolivar.
I am hungover.

Yesterday's observation of devotion was excellent. I concluded the evening with a run and thirty minute meditation. Today I recuperate and read my cards. Usually I do this every Monday, but Labor Day activities took precedence.

The conversation led through the cards are casting a great deal of insight regarding my subconscious operations. Essentially this is a way of conversing with my own predispositions, schema, and rendering them to objectivity. A relative state where manipulation and change can begin their course. 

Today was Rhys' first day of class in the Montessori program. He was up and ready! After class we went to go get some yogurt. I spent the majority of the day working on a writing project with The Uncondemning Monk. Not sure what direction it is taking. It is heavy on the illustration end so far and bones with text. 

Just finished a thirty minute ritual devotional. These things are better tailored as they develop. Very successful tratak meditation on Ogun.

Liber Astarte

1. Considerations before the Threshold. Ogun, Orisha of war,labor,politics,prophecy, and magick.
2.Concerning the prime method of this Magickal Art. Yoruba source with Brazillian influence.
3.Concerning the chief place of devotion. A shrine has been prepared in the basement of my home. It is safely protected from the profane in a private room, lit by a single northern window.

4.Concerning the Image of the Deity.

5.Further concerning the shrine. A list of offerings: Tabacco,rum,blood,incense, shotgun shells,candles. set before a black canvas with the image of the Deity centered for concentration. Also facing North.

6.Concerning the ceremonies. 

"Ogun, Master of Arms,

take me into battle,

to that distant fiddler's green.

Ogun, demand my strength,

as I attempt to stand beside thee.

Ogun, hear these words, for it is labor for our chance of union.

Ogun, destroy Maya and pierce illusion,

I devote.

I declare.

I invoke thee."

7.Further concerning the ceremonies. Breakdown of a Remington 870 shotgun.

8.Concerning the period of devotion and the hours thereof. Once daily for thirty days.

9.Concerning the Robes and Instruments. A shot-glass will suffice to serve a daily serving of rum. A hooded garment with the mark of the Orisha.

10.Concerning the incense and libations. Rum and Tobacco.

11.Concerning the harmony of the ceremonies. A power amplifier will provide a variety of music and possibly entrainment material to influence the ritual.

12.Concerning the variety of ceremonies. Sharpening with the stone of various blades that I have.

13.Concerning the life of the devotee. Creative force dedicated to a daily rate of production. I will read material on political spheres, a task normally not taken, but rather avoided. A fitness regimine that competes with previous training. 

14.Further..."Let him practice according to the rules of Liber Vel Jugorum"To control thy thought and speech and honor the ruler of devotion.