In early May, I received a plastic transparent plaque from my workplace in honor of my ten-year service anniversary, which is coming up in late June. Also in the box was a card linking me to the website where I could redeem a gift. There had been no gift for my five-year anniversary, just a … Continue reading Why Is the Home Decor Crowd Trying to Sell Us All On “Cluttercore”?
Author: kaye
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: A Review
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry (Jack Kornfield) was published in 2000, the year I turned 13. I ordered the book in January 2021 on Alibris from ThriftBooks, fully intending to read it at some point when I wasn't reading Platonic commentaries. That never happened — until now. Here is the description on Goodreads (note: I'm … Continue reading After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: A Review
On the soul’s descent; or, a cosmic web of thoughts and ideas, barely arranged
Know thyself is the maxim that is given to us by the God at Delphi. Plato’s Alcibiades I and the commentary tradition surrounding it establish that the self is the soul, hereafter interchangeably described as the soul or the psūkhe (IPA: /psiˈçi/), which is using the body as an instrument. Plato’s Republic and the Platonic … Continue reading On the soul’s descent; or, a cosmic web of thoughts and ideas, barely arranged
Why worship Gods?
And now for the text version, which might be better here — WordPress degraded the image quality of the infographic. Why Worship Gods? Platonists are fond of saying that the world is full of Gods, quoting from a pre-Socratic philosopher named Thales. Platonists like Proclus add that everything prays, each in its own way, just … Continue reading Why worship Gods?
April 2022 Update: Shifting
I started out the month being very tempted to write a post about how my female leadership role model is an orca just so I could have plausible deniability if it went over poorly (April Fool's Day). It has become increasingly clear to me that the city of pigs that Socrates references in the Republic … Continue reading April 2022 Update: Shifting
☀️ For Belesama 🌬
Luminous Belesama, solar-formed, bearing bright nourishment, I pray to you, O Goddess of light and water. Your crown is the gleaming solar corona, …
Gods, Theurgy, Philosophical Schools, and Community
There is a lot of weirdness in contemplation. After I pray to Apollon in the mornings, I simply breathe. If everything inside can be calmed (not halted, but calmed), it is possible to rest in an inner place, where light seems to stream and where I know there is something true waiting to be coaxed … Continue reading Gods, Theurgy, Philosophical Schools, and Community
Platonizing Alan Watts’ “Spectrum of Love”: A Listen-Through
Spotify introduced me to Hælos' Full Circle last year — first, via a song called "Alone," and then a transitional piece called "Intro/Spectrum." Perhaps I had heard the piece before and had just skipped it. I know that it started appearing on playlists in November 2021, when I noticed it for its poignant words — spoken, set to music, from some kind of lecture. This post analyzes that lecture through a mildly Platonizing framework.
March 2022 “We Are Individuals in Communities” Divination
Obligatory context: In 2020, due to feeling a lot of social burnout, pessimism, and pain about our wider polytheistic communities, I started doing a divination reading every three months about Western polytheistic communit[y/ies]. The point of this divination, like most divinations I do, is to highlight growth areas that we may be missing that prevent … Continue reading March 2022 “We Are Individuals in Communities” Divination