More and more I’m feeling like being human in any meaningful sense – in the sense that gives us the impetus to worship Gods, to know our place, to have respectful relationships with things rather than antagonistic ones – is a series of initiations, and that more and more, this idea of progress is so … More The Human Initiation
It was too late when I found you Gasping and shivering; the cool hand of death was near Your blood ran down my fingers, stained my flesh And I felt the desperation of your small, new heart Then you were still. I covered you with flowers before covering you with dirt Before covering you with … More The Child
I’m not a perfect devotee. I’m not a great devotee, either. Hell, whether or not I’m even a good devotee might be up for debate. This makes a sort of paradox for me, though: the desire to be “right” without being “correct”. That is, to be a natural polytheist without having to think too hard to get … More Can’t Go Home, Can’t Stay Here
I lived on the beach with one foot in fatal salt water and one foot on a billion grains of sand. The brink of the infinite there was too like writing’s solitude. Each sentence hung over an abyssal ocean or sky which held all possibilities, as well as the possibility of nothing. In June and … More
Most of us western polytheists – that is, polytheists who are likely to come out of a society shaped by Enlightenment thinking – say we believe in cyclic time, but actually believe in linear time in practice. For many of us, our notion of cyclic time is bland at its best. It’s the stuff of calendar wheels, … More Cyclic Time for Polytheists
I’m some ways into a book called Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, by Simon Winchester. It came highly recommended from my father, and he lent me the book, so I figured why not. It’s mostly about the colonial history and geology of the region, the sort of stuff that’s interesting to me any day of the … More Gods, Volcanoes, and AI
I’ve never felt more thoroughly animist in my life than from the moment I got in Hutch’s driver’s seat almost two months ago. The ways in which my relationship with him resembles that between any other humans never ceases to surprise me – I guess, like anyone longing for someone from afar for so long, and … More What OS is Teaching Me
