Dark Moon Observances

Every so often I've fretted that I don't do enough in the way of regular, "official" observances in my spiritual life. That is: I don't have a sacred calendar that I follow. Most of the celebrations of the Wheel of the Year really don't resonate with me, and despite lots of thinking about it I've never actually put together an official sacred calendar. Every time I read posts by friends who *do* have such structure in their paths I sigh in a mixture of wistfulness and admiration and continue on my own unstructured way. (I don't put my daily practices in the same category as observances.)

I have two rites which I do on a regular basis: a Tuesday night ritual with Tiwaz at my household altar, and a twice-a-day cup ritual with LM.

Over the weekend, Ereshkigal let me know that She wants me to start doing 'something' for her at each dark moon. She's not being specific about the details right now (although I did get an image of one possible activity involving Lucius as a fellow participant), and I get the sense that the specifics of the observances are going to be fluid, in response to what's going on in my life -- or simply what She is in the mood for or wants me to experience.

This feels far better to me than creating an observance "because I should." I hate "make work" -- which is essentially what such an observance would have been if it had not been in response to the call of a deity, or to a feeling of need or devotion rising from within myself.

Writer's Block: Best book ever!

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I'm not sure how much there is left to mine of these books, but each of them has a compelling story, sympathetic characters, and writing styles which really works for me.

My Big Three:
The Lions of Al-Rassan, by Guy Gavriel Kay
Beloved Exile, by Parke Godwin
Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Bujold

Others I Love:
Banewreaker/Godslayer, by Jacqueline Carey
Waiting for the Galactic Bus, by Parke Godwin
Lammas Night, Katherine Kurtz
Summer of the Red Wolf, by Morris West
Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors, by Guy Gavriel Kay
The River Why, by David James Duncan
The Moon Under Her Feet, by Clysta Kinstler

Pagan-Kink Negotiations

Lucius and I have a date Friday night that will probably involve comparing the contents of our toybags and doing some experimenting, so I sent him an email this afternoon asking if he wanted to start the negotiation conversation now to save time.

The last item on my hard limits list is:

* No invoking deities except by prior agreement.

And yes I include this because of actual past experiences.



I lead an interesting life. . .