Why This LJ

In response to the story I told in my last (friends locked) post, someone wrote

I hesitate to respond to your post with a "oh, something just like that happened to me too!" post...it seems rather self-centered, and I know that really, it's not the same at all.

But that's one of the biggest reasons I created this journal. I want to hear the stories of others, even if they don't match my experiences exactly.

I'm doing this work primarily as a solitary. My teacher is extremely generous with her time and energy, spending hours a week on the phone with me and writing long, supportive emails in response to mine -- but she is my only outer plane companion on this journey. Everyone else is on the inner, which means that every contact is fraught with the need for careful discernment and the ever-present possibility of self-delusion.

Those of you who know me from my primary journal know how much I value the realm of mind, of Air: rationality, self-awareness, clear sightedness, honesty with self. And yet, my passions, my intuition, my love for LM, are intense and deep. How to balance the two, especially in this area? Especially with LM so recently gone?

Every time someone else shares a story like this with me, it validates my own. It doesn't reduce my need for ruthless honesty with myself, but it acknowledges that it is entirely possible that what I'm going through, what I'm seeing, what I'm doing, is valid.

Obviously, I believe it enough on the merit of my own experiences to have made a commitment to this work, but it's lonely. It's good to hear about the expreriences of others.

The other reason I'm keeping this journal publically is expressed by something else this friend wrote:

I guess it's all to say I appreciate your sharing this story, because I've never heard perspectives or experiences like these before, and they make me feel less alone.

I'm writing here so that others who are on similar paths can receive the same reassurance, the same sense of not being alone, that I seek from my friends.

I'm writing so that the curious can read about what I'm experiencing, and maybe begin to consider that there are indeed More things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in [their] philosophy and maybe help shift the overall environment so that it will feel safer to share some of these things more widely.

And, as a I read over what I just wrote, I think: maybe that's part of my vocation as a priestress, to serve my community not by leading a congregation or circle, but by speaking out, speaking truth, and helping create a climate in which those of us who have these experiences are more accepted in the mainstream. This little LJ is a long way from the mainstream, but one has to start somewhere.

Tell the truth, was the directive I received recently.

Yes, and yes, and yes.

Request for Prompts

I'm feeling stuck in a rut, and want to stretch my intellect and creativity, so I'm following in the excellent example of mam_adar and asking for writing prompts.

Assign me an essay, request some fiction, entreat an oracle, invite commentary --- start something with me. I will do my best to rise to the occasion.

Writing Prompt 1 - Religion

jillwheezul presented the following assignment:

So I am at the point of writing the first assignment which is somewhat
open ended. Since I am a visual-spatial learner, I am struggling with
understanding the whole before I can write about my assignment. I have so
much to say about religion but yet don't know what my audience wants to
hear, which is unsettling. He says in his writings "...a truly open mind
appears to demand a kind of naivete which borders on outright credulity",
which I really do believe. There is no emphasis on which style to write,
what manner of citations to use, or even how personal the writing can be.
I perceive that he would like to talk on a higher level, but how to know?

What do you think you would do? How do you start writing about religion
and spiritual matters? How would you define both religion and magic?

( My response behind the the cut )

Thanks, Jill. It's been a long time since I've written about religion in a more theoretical way, rather than just my subjective personal experience.