ritual unhinged 'why is the effectiveness of rituals so universally believed to depend on their close similarity to the way they have been done before? why should this similarity of ritual forms in the present to those in the past be regarded as essential to establishing a connection with the ancestors? morphic_resonance offers a natural answer. through morphic_resonance, rituals do indeed bring the past into the present. the greater the similarity between the ritual now and then, the stronger the connection between the past and present participants.' - rs (the presence of the past p.317) 210824 ... tender_square under the closed-eye moon, i dial the tap to hot spring, form a semi-circle of crystals around the drain: lapis lazuli and red jasper, tree agate and green aventurine; a chunk of clear quartz to amplify energies. as flame-flickering tea lights gyrate in the dark, i conduct air with holy wood smoke in four directions, sprinkle water with the desiccated leaves of gingko, mint, and white sage, the dust of osmanthus. the high priestess card looks on from her throne as i displace space with this body divine. give me security, grant me courageous peace, the strength to abide by inner wisdom, and each breath that blesses these bones will carry the perfume of sandalwood and lemongrass, rosemary and the residual ash of every wish burned and whispered to the goddess. 220103 ... unhinged goddess_whispering people in my lineage of buddhism have been talking to tara for well over a thousand years. the power of her mantra seems old indeed 220103 ... tender_square handwritten confessions of what cannot be controlled, folded twice. i’m descending a slope, my bootprints bisecting rabbit tracks in week-old snow. luna won’t appear from behind clouded curtains, she’s getting made up in her dressing room. yet i read to her, voice diminutive at the lip of a melted lake, penny-rich with wish. the solidity of snow submitting to thaw. my paper sailboat of release with a flame-torched tip: the wind licked a red ridge of acid that ate so fast it shed no trace of digestible ash. nothing to bury, nothing left to burn. 220217 what's it to you? who go blather from