Maebius Musings

Back in late September, I started seriously playing around with a pendulum I had made, in order to see what sort of latent Divinatory talents were hidden in myself. Since starting, I have used two main pendulums, with varying degrees of success. What follows is a somewhat long and hopefully not-too-rambling look back at the practice.

My first pendulum is a simple string-with-real-acorn, which seems to call to be used for more serious questions that are local to my house, property, or personal “real life” stuff. The fact that it really felt ‘wrong’ to use it for simple practice questions took me by surprise. I hadn’t expected a ‘tool’ to get such a voice of it’s own. Kinda interesting and neat though, and because of this, it has not gotten much use. I do know it will be used further in winter…somehow… so I’ll be sure to post updates with any Great Mysteries revealed in the future.

My main pendulum is described in my original post. I had kept it in my pocket most of the days at work, and often pull it out to do simple yes/no questions during bathroom breaks (too much info, I know!). This jewel-stone tool gets lots of use, and actually broke earlier this week and will need re-threaded.

I understand the concept of a Pendulum to be an extension of your inner psyche/spirit. The pendulum itself, in my paradigm, does not ‘know‘ anything beyond what the user knows, and acts merely as a sort of “answer-magnification-device”. If I ask it if my friend in Pennsylvania was wearing a red shirt yesterday, I could not get an answer due to me know having a clue what coliur shirt they wore. However, I do believe it is possible to use pendulums to help divine answers that you may not know you know, and draw out instinctive information from your inner-brain being in touch with the collective Universe. (See the end of this post, for this concept using Traffic as an example.)

Initially, I stuck with simple yes/no questions for practicing with the pendulum. Was it tuesday? Will I have soup for lunch? Should I post something on my blog today? I did this, with readily known answers, in order to really get used to the movement of the pendulum. When I started, I still had doubts about being able to use it without my hand obviously ‘making it work’ and forcing the answers. Keeping things simple helped train myself to just let the answer come, and show I could get some pretty vigorous movement even when I felt I was keeping my arm perfectly still. I started to feel how to be “in the zone” to properly ask questions and wait for the subtle muscle-twitches to provide the answer. Step one, complete.

Then I began asking more pointed questions, especially regarding my job, my future, and the deep-seated thoughts on the recent presidential election. These were questions I could not readily call out as strictly yes/no in simple terms. This time, I started learning how to ask the questions properly.

Some examples from my private diary, to show this were: Asking “Will McCain’s economic policy help prevent a further depresssion? …yes“. Following up with “Will Obama’s economic policy help prevent a further depresssion? …yes“. Same answer? Hmmm…. This made me think more, and refine the questions along the lines of “Will McCain’s policy be more effective than Obama’s in creating the economic situation I prefer to live in?“

I did this type of back-and-forth questioning on many political topics, as well as things such as “Should I keep my job which seems at-risk now, or start seriously looking with a mind to leave ASAP?” Of course, each “question” became a full dialogue with myself, exploring further specific details and digging deeper into the initial thought.

I always felt amazed at the people who really “grokked” things like Tarot cards, or runes, or palm reading, or astrology, but such activities had this weight of scholarly research attached to them. In order to know the deeper symbolism and intricate interconnectedness of the tool-units, it seemed to require an encyclopedia-brain of knowledge. The results provided by such systems I could relate to, and accept as authentic. I understood that knowing all the sniggly details and esoteric symbolism allowed profound insight into the question/answer results, but felt it far beyond my willingness or means to accomplish with any authority.

But then, just the other night, when I was doing a session of deep-digging and using the pendulum to help refine my thoughts from all angles of a question, I understood…. With a bit of string, a few holey-rocks, and a cheap silver trinket, I was doing “Real Divination”, and had to smile. It’s a form of meditation almost. I always feel more grounded and centered after a practice session. All it took was a bit of time, and a willingness to quit thinking so hard, and let the gravity of a million, billion stars dance with my own arm muscles.
Can I tell the future with my pendulum? Not quite yet.

But, then again, perhaps the correct question is “Do I really need to?”.

1 Comment »

I have been asked recently by one of my readers about my early path,since I’ve made mention of a christian upbringing. So here is the condensed story of my Footsteps… I will try to keep basic jargon to a minimum, but can discuss further questions/details to anyone offline if they wish.

Sit down, this may get wordy…..

When I was young, my family went to the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd each sunday, every sunday. We weren’t totally religious, and saw church as more of a community bonding experience, and a tradition. In some ways, I miss this.

When I was old enough to start really questioning my spirituality, and had gone to Sunday bible school classes, I really did feel there was a deeper energy going on during the services. The hymns, especially the more energetic ones were inspiring, even if the congregation singing was a bit pitchy/offkey. It was, as I’d describe it now, magical. Of course, my only framework for such explainations was to be feeling the presence of God.

This led me to persue extra-curricular activities within the church. I offered to help out, in my young teen years, as an assistant minister. This job mostly involved holding the little carrying case for communion cups (our church used little shot-glasses to drink the wine, which were passed out/collected as the congregants approached the altar). We got to wear the cool white robes with long thick rope-belts. We sat behind the altar along with the real pastors, and we got to process in at the start of service and light the candles on the altar. All the fun cool stuff of ritual!

Eventually, I stayed involved, and while not being ordained as a Full pastor/priest, I took quite a few bible-study classes and delved deeper into a personal relationship with the Higher Power. I earned the priviledge of doing readings from the gospels during church service. The full sermon was done by the head pastor, but I got to read at the altar passages from the bible, usually a good full page or so. I also was able to pass out the bread and wine during communion. (Not quite Bless and make simple bread/wine trans-substantiate, but close enough!)

There were also the little things, like standing near the pastor with towels during baptisms, and such. It was an important ‘job’, and really made my church-life much more solid and community-minded. In many ways, I miss this.

Throughout this whole experience, I expanded my bible and comparitive religion studies. I attended catholic High Mass in Washington DC, I attended two Jewish synagogues, one rather liberal Muslim Mosque, and met with a Bhuddist pradtitioner who came to our church for three weeks sharing his own beliefs.

I learned a lot, and the scholarly study of spiritual practices formed quite a big part of my current Pagan practice. I saw the similarity of all monotheistic faiths, and that once you strip the dogma from them, they easily can easily incorporate the Druidic/Pagan Path in terms of lifestyles and kindness.

Unfortunately, once I went to college I had a momentary crisis of faith, and felt my ‘straying’ from the Church to be a source of guilt. I still felt the spiritual power of church communities, I felt the awe that our natural world has wrought, and I was moved by the magesty of nature, as God made it. But the face of God became less personal, and more immanent, rather than transcendant. Jesus, as taught by the protestant church, was supposed to be important, and I saw him more as a good teacher and inspired avatar of God, in the sense we are all divine, rather than a direct dogmatic “Son of God” and intermediary to the Father. It’s complicated, and could easily be it’s own novel, but that’s a decent summary.

Due to this vague undefined guilt, I threw myself into the born-again movement, having met up with some friends who lived nearby and walked similar social circles outside of thier church. One was an Assembly of God adherent, and a nice girl, until she turned Fire & Brimstone on me. But the group I hung out with was fun, and not overly preachy in general, unless approached about their beliefs. We were more interested in living the Good life, going to movies and playing monopoly rather than smoke and party like our “fallen peers’, and offering a welcome hand to join our weekend bible-debate meetings without forcing our hand into theirs.

My thoughts, as I rationalized it internally, was that by surrounding myself with good Christian folks, my faith would solidify again. I’d re-find that connection with God I lost, and see Jesus as more of a savior again, instead of a Really Inspiring Guy.

It was during this period that I listened almost entirely to christian rock, or easy-listening radio stations. When in Rome, as they say… There is a LOT of good music out there in this genre, and still listen to a “Jars of Clay” CD I have. It’s inspiring decent music. (Seriously, listen to the Flood or Love Song track with an open mind, and it’s good music, though Love Song is a bit more churchy.)

Years passed, I moved to a different university, and started exploring the local wiccan scene. The christian thing just got too false, and I got discouraged. Wicca didn’t exactly match my internal thoughts, but it was new, and completely different from the ‘other religions’ I studied back as a minister.

Through the wicca studies, I found the tools and language of ‘magick’, which made a ton of sense in explaining my feeling of energy and power during church decades ago. I finally had the words to describe how I felt and how I acted, and the path before me suddenly offered branching trails of druidic study, eastern philosophy, and new age spirituality.

I still noticed that many of the younger ‘covens’ seemed to be christians in goth clothing (no offense to wiccans!) where God was replaced by a Goddess, and the rituals changed from candles and bible to candles and elemental circles. Still, it had validity again, and I dove in with abandon.

There was a brief period where I was meeting with a fun pagan girl, partying at their house, and indulging in a bit more hedonistic tendancies, learning all about deeper magic (not sex, Big Cermonial Rituals) and really starting to feel the Power again. It was like a drug, leading me to hang out with them a bit moreoften than I should have, and using drunken wine-evenings and powerful circle castings each week as an escapist activity.

I learned all about ancient herbalism, and how plant-based drugs could open a door to the Otherworld, yet still held back in my own experimentation out of a nagging guilt from church-raised purity. Then, one day, I got dosed without my knowledge, and abruptly cut off contact with that group after waking then ext morning in a drugged stupor. The door had been thrown open, and I definitely saw the Other side, but it was scary and Fierce.

More years passed, and I kinda shut down spiritually for a while. I slowly integrated all the past experiences I had, and re-formed my beliefs into something resembling my current philosophy. I got over the shock and ‘betrayal’ of the flying oil incident, and actualy saw how such things could be useful in gaining a perspective of things if used properly. Still, I didn’t dare seek out that type of thing, and preferred to just Be. I’d light a candle every so often, or stop to watch the sunset, but stopped actively Worshiping in any outward way.

I moved to Philadelphia, met up with a friendly priestess-type girl, and tenatively stepped back into that world, still unsure about where my Path led, and unsure if it even was This path, and not one I’d already stepped off previously. I gained experience with a gentler side of Pagan/wicca-ish spirituality, and divination. I still had a few minor moments of scary-ness, but it was never forced, and made a huge difference in helping my confidence with this subject matter.

More years pass, and I am invited to attend Starwood in 2002. (wow, it’s been that long?!) More so than ever, I found myself surrounded by practitioners of ‘alternative’ spirituality, far outside the bounds of my youthful church-going worldview. It was amazing! Even among the nearby campers who may follow different faiths, it was Safe. There was no judgement, no condescending Guilt from cross-faith adherents, and the possibilities of the universe were nascent and visceral all around me.

The Divine Power of a good congregation-hymn was back, carried now on drumbeats, and by flickering firelight. A sacred tea ritual took on deeper meaning, and the Otherworld door opened wide again. This time, I was more mature, more learned, and more confortable with myself. I stepped through. I spun glow-stick poi until the grey of first-dawn touched the distant horizon. I came Home. I felt God again. He was here. We were him.

I still see a Higher power as a male creator-figure, though only to personalize what is essentially a boundless potential. We are all part of the divine, which is why even back in the church of my youth, I could feel that Power. It is divine to gather, to combine our energy towards the creation of Good.

In some way, my beliefs never really changed from way back in my early tween years. I just have the right words and experience to frame it properly. I can drink in the wonder and Magical Mystery that is Life.

May you never thirst.

2 Comments »

****** UPDATE: Photos added to bottom. ******
This weekend, my nephews came to visit (along with my sister and Brother-in-law of course), for a casual weekend of lounging around, playing outside, and cooking hearty stew for dinner while the leaves danced their chameleon polychromatic samba.

It was lots of fun, and the kids even played pretty well together. (At 6, 5, and 3 there were a few expected melt-downs of I WANT THAT TOY, but overall they got along great!)

We had some fun ‘excitement‘ then on Sunday!
Apply your physics knowledge to the following scenario:

Old building used to be chicken Shed prior to us living there.
Floor approx 1ft deep of dry sawdust and generations of bird poop.
Building used to store paper-trash out of the rain for future bonfire use.
Add long series of misty rainy days which dampened the very bones, followed by unseasonably warm sunny day.
Stir in “raking up the floor-trash” and moving larger bags of paper to proper bonfire area.
Create lovely oxygenizing air pockets under the sawdust/poop mixture.

Result: composting nitrogen-rich kindling starts smoldering, quickly turns to outright Floor O’ Flame, and then the dusty poop in the air catches. >POP< goes the sudden vaccuum, and then the walls ignite. We were dragging the hose out of the cellar for the smolder/mini-fire, but gave up quickly (obviously) and turned to "keep the grass nearby wet".

It was pretty cool, and while not exactly planned, we HAD been considering tearing down that building in two weeks.

Half hour later, the fire trucks show up to help put out the billowing pile of tires and old shingles next to the building’s cement foundations. *sigh*

A few pictures, just for your enjoyment…..

No Comments »

NOTE: seems adding imaged borked the post. Summary = kid loves kindergarden. Will try to re-write and upload pictures that won’t corrupt themselves.. Grr….
The sprog went to the Big House School yesterday for the first time. Kindergarden class!
The first day was a half-day, where parents got to follow along, meet & greet big brothe ..the teachers and administrators.
When we arrived, there was the usual large collection of milling kids, parents hovering nearby, and the staccato strobe of a zillion cameras every few seconds. I’ll willingly admit to adding to the light pollution here. (pictures below). Some kids were crying, some were stoutly ignoring the others in leu of the newfound class-toybox, and such. Our guy proceeded to hit the cubby-spot and hang his backpack, then go find some toys to play with and chatter to one of hte kids from his Pre-K class like old friends.

Second day was great, he was excited to eat “cheesy pizza” at the cafeteria. (More details to follow once I figure out why WordPress is acting up lately…. )

Firstly, is at school the first day, where parents got to visit. Doesn’t he look so big!
Here are a few small images I had to manually crop and fiddle with for some odd reason.

Second, waiting for the bus on Friday, excitedly telling “papa” all about the fun he will be having today!

Lastly, sprogling is getting on the bus for the first time. He did manage to look back through the window and wave, but otherwise, it was “See ya folks, I’m going to school!” in his mind.

At the end, a close-up high-res shot of the big boy from the “schoolyard” image, because it came out so well.

No Comments »

First, sorry for this being quite a bit late for official New Moonage. Been a busy month, both at work and at home. Sit down, grab a drink, because this is going to be Epic wall O’ text time… I’ll wait…..

We watched a movie “What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole” with friends of ours, and got into a rather enlightening discussion about reality, my concenpt of magic, and such. The movie and big debate happened at Watkins Glen (briefly mentioned here) with the frineds we are going to Starwood with, and we plan on re-addressing it further there.

Essentially, the movie tries to explain reality in relation to Quantum mechanics, and add a sort-of meta-scientific aspect to the metaphysical/spiritual world. It seemed (to me) to go out of it’s way to avoid the word GOD, but implied that we are all capable of a vague divinity because we create our world, and are all interconnected. Not in the sense of our souls or spirits as most neopagan or spiritual religions describe, but by the mere fact that our atoms and molecules are governed by quantum mechanics, where time and space break down. Of cours,e it is MUCH more complicated, but that’s the summary I took away from it, funneled down to a single short paragraph.

We also discussed the book/movie “The Secret“, which follows similar teachings about creating your world, and altering reality to conform to Will. …Sounds awefully like Crowley’s definition of Magick, doesn’t it?

The Secret tends to focus more on the “self-help” aspect of conforming reality to your will, and is almost a better “scientific magickal primer” in the fact that it tries to show a method and “ritual” way of viewing the world so that beneficial things happen to you. Concentrating on the Law of Attraction, whereby one surrounds himself with good people and good places, and good thoughts, so that good things happen, is rather similar to a basic description of spellcasting from a wiccan perspective. Remove the spiritual cues and concept, and you’ve got The Secret.

The movie “What the Bleep” tends to focus more on a holistic quantum worldview, and is meant (again, to my perception), to shift how the average atheistic person sees the world, and enable reconciliation of scientific paradigms to the social/ethical questions of “why be good to each other”.
While on the surface, and described in such brief and general terms, both of these movies I can agree with, to a point. However, I feel that they specifically seem to avoid the concept of an Otherworld. Granted, quantum states and such (almost by definition) point towards alternative dimensions, but this is not what I mean. Quantum dimensions are still described as scientific “mundane” levels of reality that are too small to see, yet have an affect on reality. They exist in my personal paradigm, but are still just mathematically relevant structures that comprise the current view of the fabric of reality.

What I think is missing from both of these ideas, is that they avoid questions of Faith, Spirituality, and the like. It’s wonderful to teach a way to improve your life, by stressing personal accountability, yet it still seems a bit selfish. God may not be a man in a white robe and flowing beard, nor may she be a naked dancer leaping around ancient bonfires, but in both these visions of divinity, there is the concept of Other. God/dess exists to the spiritually aware as ‘something outside’ your own soul, though often part and parcel of it as well. The Divine embraces, and is embraced by, reality. It may only be a vague animism, or a full fledged Creator. Yet, to me, is an important aspect to consider.

In the discussions regarding these two movies, my friend posed the hypothetical situation of waking up for work, and Knowing there will be no traffic to delay him. He phrased this idea in terms of The Secret. Asking the universe there be no traffic, sending out his energy to prevent traffic from happening, and then driving to work Believing he will not run into traffic, and then Receiving the drive without the hassle of other cars on the road. Essentially, he cast the spell to prevent traffic, and there was none.

I countered why he didn’t jsut do that every day, and thus never encounter too many other cars, since his 45 minute commute would greatly benefit from such a ritual. He said us humans arent quite perfect yet at “Truly Believing” in such a power, and thus it only works every so often, and sometimes he can’t “raise the energy” properly and convince his brain that “It works”. The more we practice, the less traffic he will get into. It’s only a matter of Will.
My take on the situation of waking up Knowing my drive will be quick and care-free is less active and more reactive. I may go to sleep sending energy out to prevent traffic, but those rare days when I wake up with an honest Knowing, and finding the roads all but empty, are a more complex inter-play of my own energies, and the current State of Reality. In my worldview, I am tapping more into the subtle energies and ripples of Here/Now so that I leave my house at precicely the right time to avoid traffic. I have, in some sense, actively nudged probabilities in my favor, but there is still a reactice/receiving aspect of this “magick” so that my life benefits from my wishes, with minimal disruption of the flows around me.

Another metaphor for our different views is a fish in a stream. Does the fish swim wherever it wants, and leap waterfalls because it’s strong tail allows it, or because the fluid currents allow it to pass through them?
Do we make reality in our own image, or do we make our image into reality?
It’s quite a deep and interesting topic, and one we plan on exploring further during a late-night bonfire and drinks. I think both answers are correct, and diversity is a wonderful thing. I can’t change someone’s worldview with my own, just as they can not change mine. However, compromises and discussion often opens unseen doors to perception which expand our own insights. I’m sure quite a few spoons will be bent as we exchange concepts and thoughts….We’ll see how much each of us bends as well.

No Comments »

This year, we are returning to the Great Festival that started my love of drumming, and fully cemented, solidified, and otherwise convinced me that this Path of mine was ‘Me’. Yep, Starwood. That bastion of revelry and fun, which can be described, as the website so reads: A place where Scientists sit with Shamans and Druids dance with Deadheads. Where African drums jam with bluegrass fiddles, and political activism meets Earth spirituality – where theatre and life meld – where days are spent in exploration of inner and outer space, and nights blaze with laser lights and bonfire flames.

I found this image form the last time we went, in 2002, thus proving my existance there at the opening spiral dance ‘ceremony’. That guy in the white shirt and black shorts? Yep, me. That cute chick in the green shirt and flowery purplish skirt? Yep, the wife. (this is pre-sprogling times of course) The guy in the robes and blue scarf? no clue, but friendly!

This year we are going with some friends of ours, who generally attend the S.C.A. event known as Pennsic. While this wonderful festival is over ten times the size of Starwood, and has all sorts of cool costumes, workshops, and such, I am totally looking forward to the more laid back and spiritual festival event this year. It may not be the most serious spiritual gathering, and have more of a party flair, but I’m really really looking forward to “coming Ohm”.
All night drumming bonfire circles, fireworks one night, and the freedom to go skyclad if one so chooses, is simply indescribable for those who have not attended. (Heck, even this usually conservative person felt no real hesitation to joining the spontaneous “dance naked in the rain shower” that happened last time.)

There are 18 days left as of this posting, which means our next weeks will be full of meal planning, double-triple-quadruple checking the packing lists, and otherwise getting things in gear to spend and entire week living out of our tent with a bunch of strange folks, many hours from our land.

Otherwise, there’s no real deeper meaning to this poist, other than to say…I can’t wait!

No Comments »

We had some wonderful friends of ours stop up to visit recently, and have scheduled out some camping trips, and a Starwood Vacation this summer. He’s an engineer, she is an awesome “The Body Shop” saleswoman. (I love their Satsuma line). They have a 2yr old son, and watching their style of parenting gave me a good pondering for my own…

(The below is not meant to challenge or downplay the discussed strategies in parenting, merely highlight some differences to my own method, and ponder in an intelligent manner. I welcome debate. Please leave egos at the door, ye sibling/friend reading this!)

It’s interesting to see how different folks bring up their children, and if looked at in an unbiased manner, allows me to change our own thoughts and techniques. Parenting is an evolving art, and no amount of books can prepare you for the squiggly details of day-to-day parenting. It’s fun, it’s frustrating, but it’s entirely awesome to go through.

One big thing we do with our son is allow him to sleep in our room, and even our bed, whenever he wants. Granted, I’ve often lost sleep from from blunt-foot trauma to my nether-regions, fought the sleepy cover-theft-tango, and such, but we enjoy nestling in at night with a story and seeing a little face yawn and close his eyes right by the crook of his arm. We also are pretty well entrenched in the “mom or dad goes to bed with him” routine. If we are watching a movie, or playing outside, weekend bedtimes tend to stretch a bit later than “officially recommended”, but we sleep in the next day.

We’ve maintained that when he gets older, and school starts up full-time, there will be a period of weaning from this system, as he will need to get up before our current schedules allow for. I fully expect a week of hell when bedtime shifts closer to 7pm and it’s “Still light outside!”. I’m prepared to sleep in his room on the floor. However, even now, there are days when our little one actually requests to go in his bed. (This usually lasts until the midnight pee-time, whereupoin he’s back in our bed, but that’s easy enough to redirect when we bring him up to lay down again).

I see the Pro of the [perceived] mainstream method of “kid in own room, at own bedtime, good night now, shut door.” It gives the kid a set routine, which is important. It allows parental quiet-time in the evenings to work, chat, or whatever. In some part of my brain, I’d rather like that, but our current schedule with the wife waking at 5:30 is one factor our basic “mom and kid go sleep in bed now”. Yours truly then gets to stay up a bit later and play on the computer, or dry dishes, in peace.

It’s an interesting balancing act, between structure and coddling. There are many other things we do which seem odd and even “wrong” to some folks I know. We play video games for an hour if he’s been good at school. Some say games are just setting him up to be a TV/gamer junkie when he’s older. Yet we do limit the time. What weekend visitors do not see is the mid-week fuss when he wants to play and we enforce the ‘No’. I’m a huge proponent of outside time, whether we work in the garden (which bores him to tears), or run around with a bat playing the current favorite-of-the-week “pretend”.

Yesterday, we walked the entire fence line, just my son and I, at his lead, pretending we were “adventuring dragons”. My legs were not up for it, and there was plenty to do back home, but it was “Daddy hour” so I hiked through tall grasses and dodged ubiquitous thorn clusters. We found such geographic realms as (A)Reed Forest (near the pond), (B)Buttercup Field, (C)Spyro Flower Hill (so named because of unidentified purple flowers), (D)Thorn Path, and (E)Cow Skull Treehouse, and finally (F)Tree Slide Hill. This was a ton of fun, and something we encourage, though a family member expressed concern with encouraging him to wander so far away from the house.

There are many other examples I could toss out, such as snacking throughout the day, eating something different for dinner (Not that we allow just anything for dinner if he doesn’t like what we have, he just gets bigger servings of sides), and such. Yet it all comes down to one point.

Structure vs Freedom.

There are many points along the bell curve, and I’m finding we fall distinctly on one foothill slope. Are we too far down one side? Perhaps. But I’ll hold my tongue and accept that there are many, many other points along the curve. Life is nothing if not diverse. I like how we live, and will support our son, even if he grows to become the complete opposite of us.
…and if you are at all interested in “The Dragon Adventure”, I’ve created a map using Google Earth. Labels are described above.

No Comments »

Two friends and I are engaged in a fun Iron Chef challenge, using Artichokes as our secret ingredient.

See my blogroll (Kwitchery, andalso Nettle’s Blog) for details and updates.

My own entries, are all cold dishes, making a subtle nod the Northern regions we live in (relatively speaking). Simple picnic fare mostly, representing the humble joy of country life, and it’s casual connection to nature, yet still holding within it’s myriad ingredients a mirroring of the complex web of life. Each dish is topped with a fresh violet, symbolizing the spring season, and offering a token of friendship towards this chef’s lovely challengers. (Sound sufficiently Asian/esoteric?!?!)

-=- Appetizer -=-

First, we have a Artichoke Pâté, served on a bed of fresh Romaine leaves, surrounded by various multi-grain crackers and pita slivers. Garnished with a fresh violet leaf and flower. Recipe was mostly followed, with some minor adjustments in terms of slightly less olives, slightly more garlic, and a touch of cilantro-sprout to bulk out a slightly insufficient quantity of Parsley.

* 15oz artichoke-hearts, drained
* 4oz low-fat cream cheese
* 1/3 cup grated parm cheese
* around 3 Tbls fat-free mayo
* 1.5 tsp minced garlic
* 1-2 tsp lemon juice
* 2 Tbls finely chopped parsley
* 2 Tbls finely chopped black olives
* 2 Tbls chopped, roasted red peppers
* Salt and Cayenne pepper, to taste
Process the heck out of all ingredients, then leave in fridge for a while to let flavors blend. (will it blend? Yes!) Serve with starchy/firm accoutrements like crackers, breads, or melba toasts.
The taste was pleasingly subtle, with the initial tartness of the peppers, lemon, garlic, and artichokes offset by the cooling firmness of the cream cheese.

-=- Main course -=-

Artichoke pasta salad with grilled chicken. Grilled chicken tenders, marinated in artichoke juice & minced garlic, rubbed prior to grilling with a mix of paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Served on a nest of linguine pasta tossed with more artichokes, black olives, peppers, olive oil, and cider vinegar, plus the seasoning mix used on the chicken, atop a plate of fresh romaine lettuce leaves. Served cold, except for the chicken, which was added at the last moment steaming hot off the grill.

While using similar ingredients to the appetizer, this meal was quite tasty. More tangy and very full of marinated artichoke flavor. The kid loved this a lot, especially due to “slurpy noodle” potential.

-=- Dessert -=-

I had planned to make an artichoke-based ice-cream (since EVERY japanese recipe seems to involve some sort of frozen treat using almost any ingredient you can imagine), but ran out of time to prepare it again, as the initial attempt did not work right. More of a sorbet, I rinsed marinated artichoke hearts to remove most traces of the vinegar and oil, and pureed them until smooth. Then I added about a quarter cup of table-sugar and some more water (less sweetness than traditional European Sorbets, more like Asian “green tea ice-cream” in palate).

Unfortunately, the making of good sorbet requires a constant freeze/mix cycle that I was unable to work into our schedule properly, and am not submitting without a proper consistency and last-minute tweaks of recipe to ensure a quality entry. My initial result either froze solid and needed quite a lot of blending/refreezing, or started to separate a bit and freeze mostly sugar-water on the top of a denser artichoke-dust.

While this entry may sound rather off-putting, it was not too bad by my initial test. The artichokes, once rinsed, became more of a binding agent than a flavor, and added merely a slight subtle ‘greenish-bitter’ taste to the otherwise sweet frozen sensation. I think removal of a bit more vinegar, or using fresh artichokes blanched/boiled, then powdered, might work better. Still nothing earth-shatteringly well received, but a unique dessert which does compliment the other two dishes in flavor.

Summary, the initial sweeter appetizer, with crunchy crackers, followed by a more hearty and savory-salad made for a fairly well-rounded meal. While the desert course was initially unsuccessful, it was mostly due to time and technique rather than a failure of ingredients, and got a head-shaking (semi-sarcastic) bonus point for creativity and risk-taking.

Bon Appétit!

No Comments »

Inspired, somewhat loosely and somberly by this post, this thought kept bouncing around in my head today for some reason. (note: any sarcasm below is not intended to be directed towards Nettle or anyone else reading this…..consider this post privately cathartic and thought-provoking, not ranting)

Perhaps one underlying cause of a mis-balanced economic, ecologic, and commerce-centric infrastructure is due to overspecialization. In life, very few people want to be sailors; they want to be captains. Why be a soldier when you could aspire to be a general? Why be a slave when you could be a slave owner? Everyone wants to be great, and there simply aren’t enough peasants to go around, so people get frustrated and let their lives fall asleep. I am guilty of having a “great character” complex, so yes, I’m part of the problem.

I won’t pretend to ignore the problems with rising fuel/food prices, shortages, and the spiraling problems that affect not only our country, but the worldwide system. As Nettle mentioned, I too feel a certain fear and sadness that I probably can not do much to help those kids in Haiti who are starving and eating mud. But then I wondered, should I?
Should I rally against the world, selflessly burning my own resources to create some Great Charity which will help re-stabilize the socio-industrial machine? Should I cast off my own greediness and eat only minimal rice and beans so that the 3rd worlders don’t have to export their own meager supplies of grain to my bountiful abode? (a rhetorical question, of course).

Nettle describes her own efforts and lifestyle which certainly aligns with the current trendy ‘green’ lifestyle pushed by the eco-media lately, but I know she does them out of respect and her personal sacred paradigm. These simple efforts may not stop the suffering overseas, even if the entire east coast starts living to the same standards. It might be a start, but I doubt such efforts will resolve those issues within the next few decades, and by that time, Hubbert’s Peak will be a historical news-item, and our own culture will have moved on or pushed away.

But that does not mean the little things like buying local are useless.

It is the overspecialization of industry that makes the little local lifestyles like Nettles stand out and appear somewhat “puny”. Why grow a few tomato plants, a few corn stalks, a row of beans, and the like, when for far less personal investment, and with far greater efficiency, we can dedicate one large farm to beans, many fields to corn, and the like.

Problems like disease and natural disasters aside, monoculture makes real Economic sense in the short term! Even on a local level, my in-laws have a big garden which raises foodstuffs that are not found in my own personal garden. We share the bounty and are both enriched by it. It’s easy to extrapolate this outward to today’s mega-farms.

Yet, there crosses a point where the ‘mega’, becomes a mega headache. Even so, we humans still build and build, and build up each thing until it becomes top-heavy. I’m just as guilty of it.

Business, almost by definition, finds a niche and needs to grow until the niche is the standard. You either grow and expand, or you fail. Yet why should it be failure? Does everyone need to be the biggest best and baddest in the neighborhood? Human nature seems to say yes.
In the medical industry, this effect is being felt.

The AODA’s archdruid reported on this very topic, and it finally clicked with me. And his words are stated far better than my own ranting ones. Go read it if you want. I’ll wait….

But I wonder, what’s wrong with being a peasant? What’s wrong with a bit of humbleness? If we work in some little things every so often, our lives become simpler, and do not really require the existence of overspecialized industry. Walmarts would vanish (Doubt that will ever happen though).

This may sound like a plea for humanity to regress to a pre-industrial world, and in a sense it is…but I would hope it to be an intelligent regress. Having your own garden is a bit of work, true, and it is much easier to go shopping than it is to go weeding. I won’t deny that fact.

Yet, at least on out own tiny scale, the little changes add up. Being humble helps that person, personally. It may not feed the starving kids in Africa ( or elsewhere, since the shortages are felt in the US now), but making similar changes in my life might feed Me.

When it comes down to it, affecting ME is really the only thing I can do with assured success. I can help myself, and hope my own efforts offset the global gestalt so that one other kid gets to eat tomorrow. Maybe being humble, helps.

1 Comment »

(warning: A Looooong glimpse!)

Last weekend (April 12-13th) my son and I went on a trip to the 4-hour-away-now hunting cabin I used to frequent when I was younger. My dad, brother-in-law and his son, and some of the old “hunter gang” were there, plus a few kids I had not seen before. We had a fun time! *** -No Girls Allowed- ***

In talking with everyone, we realized I was last at this cabin around the age of 15 or 16, which is around half a life ago! The other man there, my age, had two kids with him, and while we were never really that close (being simply sons of our father’s friends) it was nice to reconnect on a mutually understood ‘weekend campfriend’ level and discuss random life events and swap parenting stories.

There were 6 younger boys there, ranging in age from 3-14 with all but the teen being under 9 yrs old. They had fun catching salamanders, having adventures in/on/around the broken down pickup in the side yard, and a few impromptu ball-and-bat games that bore no resemblance to anything World Series. The older men, in addition to the three of us 30-somethings, were the three “grandpas” and the group rounded out with “Uncle Bud” who was father to one of the older grandparents there. Bud was fully blind, and had the timeless manner of a different way of life. He was spry in his steps, slow and warmth in his wisdom, and quick with the wit of a practiced cynic.

We joked to him, after catching enough salamanders to feed a third world country, that his rocks on the trails were all overturned, so he should be careful, yet a quick hike to the nearby spring still saw him shuffle with remarkable spryness that defied his years and lack of eyesight. He KNEW that cabin and the woods around it. He may not have viewed it clearly for years, but it was his land, not by property deeds, but in spirit. (Having visited the property for more years than even my own father was alive, this could, I suppose, be expected)

The weather was perfect, with a bit of cool drizzle the evening we arrived, yet cleared up and sunny for Saturday. While I am not really into the hunter-mindset, it was with a fond nostalgia that I watched most of the others go through shell after shell of ammunition. No soda can or plastic water-laden bottle was safe from the .22 rifles. A box of orange clay-disks soared and shattered above the field in a flurry of shotgun pellets. Even yours truly, who has not fired-off anything remotely boom-sticky, took 20-gauge to shoulder and blasted 3 out of 4 clay skeets.

And those flying targets felt good. The shotgun rested tight; the bead steady as I swung towards the sailing clay; and a gentle tug on the trigger. #BOOM# missed the first, then three more broke apart like I had been doing this for years. Pull…aim…Boom. Reload. Pull…aim…Boom. Pottery fragments flew apart. It felt magical.

There was the not-quite-as-fun moments, like breaking up the inevitable child-argument (anyone with young kids knows that playtime sometimes requires adult intervention). There was the late night, sleeping in the room full of military barrack-bunks surrounded by either snoring old men, or wrigging dream-held kids and listening for the ‘THUD’ of gravity finding one outside the cots. There was the alternately cool and over-hot of the woodstove that made dressing a delicate dance of t-shirts and wool undergarments (often within hours of each other). And yes, there was the diet of crackers, soda, and grilled meat for meals (with the standard meat and eggs for breakfast). By sunday night, I wanted something green and leafy. *grin*

Still, even with the ‘challenges’ of camping, it is part and parcel of the experience. Such weekend outings need the minor bumps to make the entirety of the days a wonderful blessing to have attended. It felt deeply -fun- to be with the guys and just do whatever. They shot their guns. I tried a few shots myself. We hiked through the woods, drank directly from the spring, and cooked marshmallows over the coals. We slept in the next morning, and feasted on hearty sustaining camp-food. It felt magical.

And thinking back, as I did my daily meditations today, I realized it was magical.

Perhaps it was reconnecting to the primal hunter mindset. Yet, in some sense, the same thing happens when I visit the old Zen-porch crowd. In that group, no guns are blasted against cans, yet the bond is the same. It goes beyond words and eases into a comfortable silence watching some movie or game. And even in that group, I am blessed that the women are liberal-minded enough that any wise-cracks about their gender, or other male-centric topics (such as gastric processes) are accepted and retort-worthy in their own right.

This past weekend was, to glance quickly at it, a bunch of guys just hanging out at the woodland cabin. To glance closer, it perhaps was a bunch of guys attempting to connect with some primal hunter mentality. As I think a bit deeper on the weekend, it was more powerful, and yet more simple. We bunch of guys hung out at the woodland cabin.

It was something I had not done for a long time, and is sadly missing in a lot of mundane life in today’s culture. I begin to see a hint of why the AODA’s current leader frequently talks about fraternal organizations. There was a sense of deep connection between everyone there. Something unspoken, and brushed off as “girly-talk” if even dared to be mentioned by one of the kids. Yet it was there.

Thirteen men and boys, together in one place for two days. Four generations from varied backgrounds, and two states, sleeping within feet of one-another, sharing the same table, and vowing-without-saying to leave politics, religion, and our outside lives behind for a day. To just enjoy the weekend and Be.

I loved it.

4 Comments »