The first few lines occurred to me when I was praying to Apollon, and the remainder followed swiftly. The poem is free-writing because after I finished my prayer beads, I started thinking about the part of the Platonic Theology about Apollon and Helios (and so on); this is where it went. I often rush to … Continue reading Some Verses from Prayer This Morning
I’m Sharing a Divination Thing (it was community-focused)
The divination question was about self-improvement with a community focus. This post contains the divination results and a bit of commentary.
A Miscellany of Quotations — Proclus Discusses Prayer in Book II of the Timaeus Commentary
On Friday night, I hit the second large chunk of text (299.21-303.23) of Proclus' Timaeus commentary that deals with the theological meat that I really enjoy reading. This morning, while scrubbing dirty things in the kitchen, cleaning the shower with an Exciting New Eco-Friendly Scrub that Actually Works As Advertised (lol adulthood), and so on, … Continue reading A Miscellany of Quotations — Proclus Discusses Prayer in Book II of the Timaeus Commentary
Contemplating Aristonoos’ Compositions for Apollon and Hestia
For the past three days, I have been pondering a few lines from Aristonoos' paian to Apollon, written in a Delphic context, as translated by Furley and Bremer in Greek Hymns: Volume 1 – The Texts in Translation. (I put it in the Thargelia ritual.) The translators say that "Delphi awarded Aristonoos and his descendants … Continue reading Contemplating Aristonoos’ Compositions for Apollon and Hestia
Piety, Faith, Unmooring
Today, someone asked me a very hard question about what we do when people we respect say and do things that are awful — how to reconcile someone's piety with bad behavior that leaves our faith shaken without sinking into spiritual disquietude and extreme sorrow. I am going to tackle this question because these things … Continue reading Piety, Faith, Unmooring
Something Beautiful from Plotinus
This week, I ended up reading Ennead I.6, "On Beauty," because I encountered a quotation from it twice, and it seemed like completing the repetition triad was in order. I would like to share the quotation with all of you, which makes a satisfying tetrad. How, then, can you see the kind of beauty that … Continue reading Something Beautiful from Plotinus
Learning Plans and a Few Recommended Readings
I have been a self-directed learner for a long time. The way I pushed myself through school was via convincing myself that everything would eventually be relevant to my creative writing. In 2019, after listening to the grades episode of The Happiness Lab podcast, I processed a lot of feelings (anger, regret, sorrow) about my … Continue reading Learning Plans and a Few Recommended Readings
A Miscellany of Quotations — More from Proclus’ v.1 commentary on the Timaeus
In June, I finished reading Volume 1 of Proclus’ commentary on Plato’s Timaeus. My copy (the translation by Tarrant) is now filled with marginal notes and heavily underlined, some of the notes in all caps, others paragraphs that spilled over the seams of the margin to end in the whitespace at the bottom or top … Continue reading A Miscellany of Quotations — More from Proclus’ v.1 commentary on the Timaeus
Four Drops of Bay Oil
four drops of bay oil three together, the fourth alonecircling as they twistedsmaller circle inspirallinguntil they pressed together in contactlike prayer hummingwithin the mindlight descending victorious When I prayed this morning, the drops of bay oil I gave to Apollon caught the light, three grouped together, the fourth alone. I watched the smaller bit inspiral … Continue reading Four Drops of Bay Oil
