Bye Week therefore Housekeeping

It's a bye-week for Wheel of the Year, so updates on continuing projects/ assignments/ whatever.

Indo-European Book Review:

So I read the Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory.  I have feels, bad ones.  Not because I disagree with Eller, but because the Matriarchal prehistory folks fail basic feminist thought and logic.  I have never wished so badly that an argument was a strawman. And it's not like I'm well known for my grasp on feminist theory.

My initial review is going to be far too long.  Once I've gotten it written, edited, and privilege checked, i'll post it.  Then I'll edit it down  for DP stuff.  Or, more likely, I'll write an abstract and use that.  

At any rate, it'll be up in a couple weeks probably.  Right now, I'm still in search of sources that back me up on how racist the theory is (I've already got sources on how sexist/ anti-feminist it is).  I love JSTOR and having friends who are in academia who will allow me to abuse them for access to articles.  I've already started the blog post for it twice and it's just not there yet.  So it'll be there when it's ready.  Also, I apparently need to re-memorize MLA since I'm out of practice.  There's been at least one update come out since I stopped using MLA for everything.

Shrine Update:

Luna has been very good about staying off my altar so far.  She nearly burnt herself while I was meditating with a candle lit on it Saturday morning, but figured out that it was hot before she got too close.

I think I'm going to pick up an air plant terrarium to use as my tree.  It's not appropriate for my hearth culture at all, but sometimes hearth culture needs to take a back seat to "something I can keep alive and wont' poison my cat." I might pick up another cedar branch to use if I feel the need (the cedars in my back yard had a couple of branches die over the fall/ winter, so I can harvest those).  And, the more cedar in my wool filled house the better.

Apparently, I decided this week was going to be the week I started my rune set.  Not sure that's actually going to happen, but I'll contemplate it.

Nature Awareness:

My awareness of nature right now comes down to "it's freaking cold.  Frozen got it's EGOT, Elsa, can you please end the endless winter now?"  And making chili and potato soup.  I'm essentially just hiding in my den, and, for the most part, feel no shame in that.

Per the Weather Channel, we're supposed to warm up to the mid-fifties by next weekend.  If that's true, I'll go tramp around in the woods Thursday afternoon.  I really want to go camping, but that's just not going to happen right now.

At any rate, I really need to get the initial write up from week 5 written.  

Holy Days:

I think I need to go re-work the initial Imbolc paragraph back in week 3.  I'm not sure it hits the word count and it's certainly incomplete.

Our spring equinox ritual is going to be Slavic.  I know nothing about slavic cultures other than what I learned in a history course 8 years ago and that didn't focus much on folklore, mythology, or even the pre-christian religion.  I do have a book of Russian folk tales. I should probably pull that out and skim through it just so I have something resembling a base.

May 1/ Beltane is the Norse ritual that I'm creating.  Assuming we're focusing on the fertility aspects and not the German ancestor aspects, GateKeeper will be Heimdall on the Bifrost, DoO will probably be Frey.  I'll have to poke around some more to find the appropriate Earth Mother, nothing is sticking out at me as I thumb through my books. I'm also probably overthinking the ritual itself and need to NOT reinvent the wheel.

Library:

Not really strictly part of my DP stuff, but is happening in conjunction with, and has mental health implications.  I've started the great book purge. I know Goodreads has a scan function to add books to your library.  I need to experiment with it to see if I can get it to tag every book I scan in at a session with "Book Purge" or something similar.  It's that or type everything into a spreadsheet on Google so folks can lay claim to anything they find interesting. None of this can go live until after the divorce is finalized of course.  And I'll probably run most of them through a book buyback to see if i can get any money for them before putting them up for grabs. But expect that to be coming shortly.  There's likely to be lots of art history and books on Martin Luther.

My goal is to clear enough space off my bookshelves that I can have one bookcase (one of the short ones) dedicated to Pagan Library stuff in my bedroom.  This will also give me some more space to spread my altar out if I feel the need.  Which I don't right now but *shrug*.  It'd be nice to have the option.

Meditation:

This is... not going as well as I would like.  I'm trying to average 5 times a week (gives me a couple days to be tired or busy without fretting about it), but I'm at best, averaging 2-3 times a week.  I'm contemplating just not moving my body clock with daylight saving's time next weekend, but I'm not sure how that will work. But I do need to come up with something.  

Unless I decide to bypass meditation and just do a daily devotion.  Which is a possibility.  I don't know.  It's something to think about at least.  The devotionals will also serve to get me more familiar with CoOR. Or maybe daily devotionals and meditation.  That might bridge the gap I'm feeling.  

I think I'll try doing either a devotional or meditation every day this week and next and see which one fits in with my life better.  I'll either pick one or continue doing both throughout the year.  This also means that it's less awkward to excuse myself for 30 minutes when I have company.  I can wait until they leave and even if I'm too tired to meditate, I can at least do a devotional.  Perhaps this is where I should start contemplating prayer beads.