A note of appreciation with plans for the future.
Dearly Beloved,
I love this aching world.
I recently hit 250 subscribers and I am so grateful to all of you. Thank you so much for being with me.
I started this blog two years ago with a hymn to my Lady Aphrodite, and no other explanation of myself or my larger goals. I thought it was a way to make clear who I am and what I stand for in a medium appropriate to my calling. While I was known in the occult community before this, both before and after my transition, other than what people saw while I was working at 13: Real Magick and then while I was one of the co-owners of The Sacred Grove, I didn’t talk much about my own practice or my own mystical experiences. This was a rule I generally kept to for many years. I started breaking that rule with that first poem, a mystical poem expressing my love and dedication for my goddess, and I haven’t regretted the choice.
About a month after I published that first poem, I began publishing the rough draft of “Towards A Philosophy Of Magick” chapter by chapter, in which I began to output the philosophical work I have been doing since my days at UCSC. Over the next year and a half I finished that first draft and now the expanded and revised book version is in the works. Response in certain quarters has been strong. It seems that plenty of mages and mystics out there are interested in philosophically grounding, analyzing, and interrogating magick and mysticism. I hope to see more work like this soon from others. Both magick and philosophy benefit immensely from many diverse voices, and I would love to hear yours.
That next Imbolc I published my first homily, “On The Blessedness Of Brigid”, which began my public work as a priestess of Aphrodite. In that homily I first sketched my version of a naturalized theology, where I try to look to the processes and features of the natural world as the basis for my theological positions. I also invited all of you to join me in prayer to Brigid and in celebration of the return of warmth.
Since then I have become increasingly personal in my writing—which some of you have noticed and mentioned to me—as I have prepared my heart as one would till the soil for a fresh planting. At a certain point Aphrodite made clear that I was to lead with my vulnerability and endeavor always to abide in love, so I have shared my softness, my care, and sometimes my suffering with you as much as I am able.
But another part of that vulnerability has also been sharing my darkness with you all. In my poetry published here, mostly mystical but also some personal and narrative poetry, I have tried to show you all the parts of me that are harder to explain, that are messy, the darkly shining parts that live in the temporary tensions and the in-betweens. I have begun to tell the story of Beatrice, the multi-faceted spirit who first came to me when I was 8 years old. This story, as with so many stories I have told you all over the last two years, revealed parts of my heart that were raw and sore, parts of my heart that I have kept hidden for most of my life.
Admittedly, this push towards increasingly personal work has sometimes led to a certain amount of vulnerability fatigue. When you wear your heart on your sleeve all the time, sometimes that heart aches. It’s just part of the job. But the overall response from you, my dear readers, has been wonderful. I have met some amazing people and my readership has steadily grown. While 250 readers isn’t much in the larger scheme, magick and mysticism is a small field and I am not a public teacher. I do take students within the order, but I do not teach classes anymore. I also don’t usually do instructional posts or posts meant for beginners to magick and mysticism. My work is generally meant for the people who have been doing magick for a while, and frankly, there just aren’t that many of us.
Recently, I began to reveal my spiritual agenda of Theiatry and my aeonic word of Ζένη. There is a certain audacity in this, of course, and I recognize that. I am claiming to be a magus of an aeon. I will not waste energy jumping up and down and trying to somehow prove my credentials as a mystic. The Xeno Current either resonates with you or it does not. Judging by the response I have gotten since I first revealed the notion of Theiatry in my homily “On The Blessedness Of Family”, it seems like some of you are interested. Rest assured, more material on Theiatry and the Xeno Current is forthcoming, including ritual rubrics. It will take time and energy, but I believe that we can heal this family together.
So thank you, everyone. I am so grateful have you all with me. Let’s all walk forward into the future together, one step at a time.
In love,
Soror Alice
🙌🏻
Congratulations!