Maebius Musing

Well, in case you needed to calculate it yourself…

((19*t+u-w-(u-(u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)+(32+2*x+2*y-(19*t+u-w- (u-(u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)-z)mod7)-7*(t+11*(19*t+u-w(u- (u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)+22*(32+2*x+2*y-(19*t+u-w-(u- (u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)-g)mod7)+114)\31

Happy Easter!

also, for you non-anglo-christian inclined readers, if ye be reading:

Happy Purim (Jewish holiday)

Narouz (Persian New Year)

Eid Milad an Nabi, (Happy Birthday Prophet Muhammad)

Small Holi, (Hindu Festival of Colours)

Magha Puja ( Buddhist “Fourfold Assembly” day)

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In more muse-worthy discussion, spring is officially here in my neck of the woods..er… field?

Every year in March, I start fretting about our garden, and watching outside to see if the nearby farms are ready to start preemptive plowing. I feel like winter is going away, and we need to get outside and do stuff, plant stuff! Yet I know that in early (and late) March, there is still a good chance of snow, and late April is really when things get in the ground around here. In fact, as I type this, mere hours away from our big Weekend involving guests at the house, dining at a huge annual buffet, and egg-hunts, it is below freezing and snow is accumulating on the cars again. I’ll have to de-ice the doors before driving home from work!

I’ve attributed this early anxiety to my being raised farther south than where I live now, and the general climate being slightly ‘off-schedule‘, compared to my fondest childhood memories. (Perhaps my friend Nettle has similar experience, having migrated south to the Big City?) Where I grew up, it really was time to start serious browsing of seed catalogs, and the big amish farms started, if not full plowing, then getting the equipment hitched up and tightened. Within one or two weeks, things will be blooming down there. Around upstate New York now, the trees are only considering the possibility of budding out.

Lately though, in the past few years, started to drift away from specific date-centric celebrations of seasons (with the exception of solstices, equinoxes, and birthdays, etc). More and more, I am building a set of internal correspondences for general seasonality and celebration. The subtly spiritual side of being in-tune with the world around me has taken it’s cues from the local area, rather than the printed dates on my desk. Most notably felt was this past Imbolc, where the feeling of coming spring remained aloof and distant in the midst of our wintery weather.

As a timely example, I can say with authority (at least to my own heart) that spring has arrived. Not because this ball of rock oribting the sun has swung around to a certain point. Not because of the clock on my computer reading off dates similar to 03/21/xx. I know it is spring because of the geese.

This past week, I have seen flocks of waterfowl across the sky in growing numbers. It’s hard to picture, but perhaps even more geese than crows are visible on my evening drives home. Yesterday, I looked out at our pond to see four Branta Canadensis floating around! To me, that is a stronger sign than any easter-themed flowers, eggs, and chocolate.

Going solely on the calendar, especially in terms of Easter celebrations, which tend to fluctuate all across the month of April, seems a tad bit silly as a measuring stick. For the rest of the country, and probably a more useful truism in the European climate which helped create the iconic imagery for these festivals, this time of year is reflected in the return of nature’s growth.

Perhaps this observation is a result of being more in-tune with the place. I’ve lived here, going on a decade now. (Wow, has it really been that long?!!) I’m starting to get used to the changing seasons in a way that is meaningful to my innermost mind. Logically, I still cling to the habitual time-frames I grew up with, and habits die hard. Beyond that though, I think that the semi-conscious thought of marking local signs like our pond-dwellers to the seasons is my brain’s way of re-connecting without having to break up those old habits.

For whatever reason, it’s working, so I won’t dig too deeply into the reasons, other than to acknowledge the observation and enjoy it. Spring is here. The geese came home.

What a great worm moon!

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As a follow-up to this posting, regarding being mindful of food, here are my thoughts after doing that practice for two months.

Initially, the process of stopping for a brief moment was irritating after the first week. Intellectually, I understood that my process for this experiment was going take a bit of determination, but it still seemed that my “monkey mind” rallied against the effort for a few days there. Interesting….

Eventually, that rebellious nature gave up and I actually started to enjoy the vague challenge of tracing foodstuffs to its’ sources. It became almost second nature, and did not require much effort at all. Towards the end of the month, I didn’t even mentally make the connection in compartmentalized terms of Sandwich >> Bread >>Wheat + Sandwich >> Meatloaf >> Hamburger >> Cow + Garnish >> Gardens. ( alternately, Egg salad or marinated chicken strips for the protein part of the sandwich innards)
It became more of a matter of “Sandwich > process” and even that was not so much words and images as it was a vague sense of feeling “I understand the origins of the meal”.

In retrospect, I am very glad I did this little experiment, and while I no longer mentally rationalize the matter, I think it has helped subtly steer me towards a better eating regime. I still do not got out of my way to be totally organic, free range, and all natural, but when faced with a fried chicken sandwich at work or a salad for lunch (on the Rare times I do not pack leftovers) I am leaning towards the salad instead.

A side benefit of this change has made me not nearly so snacky during work. I used to nibble of sunflower seeds, or a bag of popcorn (bulk from this store, not the microwave kind), or more usually, a bag of candy. More recently, I skip the salty nuts and either grab some gorp I made, or just chew a stick of gum all afternoon to cancel the oral fixation of chewing something.

As part of my next experiment, since this one I consider a success, I will begin setting aside 15 minutes a day at work to sit quietly and meditate on some subject or other. At first, I am thinking I will just concentrate on de-stressing and relaxing while at work. I’ve done it for two days this week mostly to see if I could remember to take time out of my lunch and sit quietly in my car, instead of not leaving my desk and surfing the web. Seems like it will work out.

I’ll check back next new moon, to report on the newest incarnation of mindful moon-musings! See you then!

PS: Since twinkies were referenced in my original musing, and I am still an avid world of Warcraft player…here’s an image I found quite humorous.

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On the eve of re-dedicating my blog, and preparing a lovely solitary ritual of Moon-charged spring-ness, the celestial heavens aligned to bring a bit more magic to the night. While a full and glowing silvery disk rose in the southeast, casting the amazing “I can almost read outside” light, it soon began to darken…. [/epic prose]

Yes, this month’s full moon was a total lunar eclipse, which reached peak around 10:15 or so, and thus was quite easily watchable, without resorting to severe sleep-deprivation. It was awesome!Most of the viewing was spent from our enclosed porch, due to the temperature outside hovering around 28 degrees (kelvin) or -2365324.8 F.

Unfortunately, we had some company over, and a surprise sleep-over of one of our friend’s (15yr old) sons so that he could stay and help clean up the barn the next morning. (He has a standing offer, $$ from us, manual labor from him).

Thus, I had a little moon ritual on the porch after everyone else went to sleep around midnight. The eclipse was over, but the feeling in the air was wonderful. The light dusting of snow sparkled a bit more ’sparkly’ than before, and such.

I’m learning after a bit of experimentation that music can play a huge part in getting in the ‘zone’ for ritual work, specifically my recent forays into a sort of “trance-tripping” meditation, where I hold an idea or question, or intent in my head, then turn on the tunes and let myself flow out into the vibe. It’s hard to explain really, and am still playing with the technique, but it’s a fun adventure so far!
Random shuffle of playlist songs for the moon-celebration started off well with two back-to-back songs from Steve MacDonald Sons of Somerled, followed by a strangely trippy song by Kid Loco. After that, toss in Life Giver, one Dido song (”Life for Rent”), and a Freezepop “Just want to Rokk” and it seemed a good place to go back inside where it was warmer.

The meditation was mostly a freeform nature, to celebrate/witness the eclipse, mentally take note of the full moon, and ground out after a hectic start of the week at work.

Results: Formalized my intent for this blog, was inspired for something that’s been bothering me in Warcraft and playtesting resolved it works! (new spell rotation and talent distribution for easier solo play), and generally felt happier and more stress-free the last few days at work by thinking back to watching the eclipse.

Thus, the mini-ritual was a success, in that it brought me to a more balanced and happy day afterwards. Positive lifestyles are the goal of any religion, right? If so, I found my religion. w00t! *grin*

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Sometimes you need to shake things up a bit in life, in order to really appreciate the little joys that make up your experience of this Reality.

Two Examples:

Recent ‘World of Warcraft Drama‘ has evolved into a sizable portion of the guild leaving over an argument regarding ‘proper’ group makeup for a specific dungeon (which I won’t go into details on), and the folks remaining much more focused on enjoying each other’s company, and a solidifying of Who We Are. Things are still in flux, but boiled down to requiring me to re-enforce our policy of “Casual-Social Guild” and not one to require every 5-group to include a ‘tank’, a ‘healer’ and such “standard” roles. We may not dominate the dungeons and often just scrape by…but by the Light, do we have a blast trying!

This fracturing of the guild has led myself (and a few others) to realize how much fun we have, and that our style of gameplay is not one driven by quest loot, and Epic Adventure. I believe now that things are calming down and the group is smaller, we can all enjoy ourselves much more, and just PLAY. There is a time and place for a proper group effort for certain in-game adventures, but we don’t make such things our priority.

Second example: The Maebius Bathroom is currently undergoing an overhaul. Our once-white walls have been painted “Happy Camper” green with a crumpled tissue paper texture, which does wonders to hide the old scrapes, nail marks, and general “oldness” of the walls. The lower portion of each wall now has a lovely Wainscoting of the oak-stained variety! While the whole project is still in-progress, already it has made me feel a bit more excited to clean up the rest of the house.

Amazing how much your entire day can be brightened up, your spirits lifted throughout work/home/etc….just from a simple redecoration and love poured into the project.

Hope you all are cheery, renewed after any recent Drama, and otherwise enjoying this wintery season as we creep ever-closer towards Spring.

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Happy new Year New Moon!

This post is about food. Specifically, the sacred and divine nature of yummy-ness that is consumed to feed our bodies and thus fuel our daily activities, be they mundane or miraculous. Eating is necessary to survive, and most food is taken in to do simply that. but then there is Food. Food with a capitol ‘F’, and is something which is eaten to Nourish us. Things like rich, organic, 80% cocoa, chocolate bars. Things like fresh-baked bread with a drizzle of honey and butter.

But specific things we can eat, even twinkies, can become Food if we are mindful of their consumption, and attach a bit of thought and intent to the process of sticking in in our gut. Granted, some items are better suited for such sacrament, and Twinkies are not really recommended over healthy foods, but they work as periodic treats/rewards if you are so inclined.

Each day, I am trying to be mindful of my eating choices. Instead of grabbing a bowl of Sugary cereal(like Capt’n Crunch) I choose generic Raisin Bran. Instead of a shoveling in a fast-food lunch, I bring leftovers from home, which taste better and are cheaper. Little steps like this, while small, can add up quite well in the long run, and are helping transition my general eating habits. (See prior post regarding salad-craving).

In addition to choosing what I eat, and this choice is by NO means a strict diet, more of a “I’ll skip the soda today and have a tea” type of thing….In addition to that, I am making an effort to really acknowledge my food as I hold it up before my mouth.

The meatloaf leftovers I have…they taste good, and I remind myself this beef is/was part Norman (our cow). The potatoes are from either our garden or my in-laws. The beans, from the store, but once a green living plant.

I know we all realize on an intellectual level that beans are a plant, and beef=bovine, but the sacred part of what I am trying is to Remind yourself that, each and every time you take a nibble on some food. I don’t feel drawn to offering up a prayer and blessing to cows of the world when I eat a burger, but slowly, the more I am reminded that’s where the burger comes from, the more the deep inner bits of my spirit smile. I now am starting to find my food-origin thoughts are becoming a reflex, that the mental this=that connection springs to mind automatically now.

In the case of a Twinkie, I have to stop and think a bit more, realizing in some way, part of the cake was a wheat plant, which has gotten mangled, drowned, and tortured into the current form. It’s not quite as bad as those particular terms, but they sprung to mind when tracing back to the origins of a Twinkie. This process leads me naturally to think, along the lines of “wheat = grain, perhaps a granola bar or actual home-baked cake leftovers would still be yummy and more wholesome than the Twinkie”.

It won’t stop me from treating myself to one from time to time, but it does make the decision be more informed and help avoid mere cravings for sweet and concentrate more on when I’m actually just hungry. (Though actually I have not eaten an actual Twinkie for years, but is a good metaphor for other foods)

As I mentioned before, keeping up this practice for an entire month on something so ‘mundane’ and continually present in my life such as ‘food’, is practice for the habit of meditation.

Referencing what many would consider the more wholesome foods, such as “80% cocoa” or fresh whole-grain bread with local honey, the experience becomes a bit closer to what some might consider a sacred ritual.

Example of today’s meatloaf: we raised the cow which provided the meat in this meal. We dug in the dirt, and grew the spuds which accompany it. Consuming this food completes a circle of life and death. Gifts and effort on our part, returning to us again. Energy sent into the world, to care for and keep healthy a bunch of other living organisms is now providing myself energy and health. Can’t define magick better than that, can we?!

And since magic[k] as I understand it is so intertwined with spirituality, and I do believe that Norman had a spirit of his own, I am reconnecting with the divine Spark of Life by taking in this Food. It’s a subtle thing, and much deeper than my meager words can relate to you, but I hope you readers understand the concept between these words.

What we eat, if it is consumed with a nod to the origins, and with an occasional almost-reverence, is Food. Food nourishes our bodies and spirits. I challenge you folks to try this little practice for one week (or one cycle of the moon if daring). I’d love to see comments about the results.

And to paraphrase Valentine Michael Smith…….May you never Hunger.

-Nate

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