Posts by siin@pagan.plus
(DIR) Post #ATNXhIzl3vR7Ets0BM by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-06T15:26:18Z
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How do you ask your Gods for the things you need? How do you step outside each morning? Blindly? Or basking in holy reverence of the morning sky, of bird calls, of breath, of crisp air, of grass or soil or city streets or sand, of Their creation? How do you nurture? How do you cook, clean, groom, build, sand, finish, paint, feed, pet, speak to? How do you pray? At an altar on your knees? Howling to the moon, to Sirius, basking naked in the sun, whispering to the trees in their lignin-cellulose-photosynthesis language? How do you read? With hurried thoughts, barely paying attention? With total absorption, meditation, understanding?How do you sleep? In dark nothingness, barely rested? With astral journeys, visions, a second set of eyes? How do you ask your Gods for the things you need? Or do you realize you already have everything?#Meditations #Worship #Ecstasy
(DIR) Post #ATNXhLOI9gFWfZMchU by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-06T16:21:10Z
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You must live in a state of ecstasy. You must find ecstasy in the mundane, in the horrible, you must find ecstasy in absurdity. You must! Ecstasy is outlawed and sold to us through Approved Vendors: as sugar rush junk food poison, as mind numbing "experiences", as social credit and dopamine rush from likes on Instagram or Netflix originals that make you feel totally validatedBut it isn't real! It isn't yours! Don't you feel degraded? Don't you long for an escape? It's there, in your own consciousness, it's free! You're free! You have the right - no - the imperative to be ecstatic! To smile down the barrel of the gun, to skip with glee down rotten streets, to hug other human beings, to take drugs, to release your own endorphins, to control your own dopamine, to find peace in the lack of material belongings, to find peace in the lack of the kind of social credit they want to sell you for a price. Your Gods know! They urge you! Stop begging them for release, they gave you the tools! Use them!
(DIR) Post #ATNcSLtYUur5f0eqie by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-07T18:02:37Z
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@blackenedgreen Despite the fact that it was the *wrong* Jack Parsons who produced it, did you find anything interesting about the ritual scenes?
(DIR) Post #ATNkssnLbAcUrNuqNE by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-07T19:37:22Z
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@blackenedgreen ahh yes typical lol
(DIR) Post #ATNkzG06EWWSZJv6ae by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-07T19:38:31Z
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@blackenedgreen oh same, I guess I wasn't looking for any particularly specific read, just any details that you found interesting since you said you were paying close attention. I just think it's neat what we notice when we decide to hone in on any one particular thing
(DIR) Post #ATRqB1Wd9eCPYJPEI4 by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-09T18:55:31Z
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@blackenedgreen this one is my favorite
(DIR) Post #ATRxusOU8WCuERPJZI by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-09T20:22:14Z
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@blackenedgreen it's an excellent focal point. It feels like an exhale, like laying down after a long day
(DIR) Post #ATVrokOj89h6bP3Qyu by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-11T17:32:43Z
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@blackenedgreen are they nice at least
(DIR) Post #ATVs4dZQHaWI3odNuC by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-11T17:35:34Z
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@blackenedgreen well darn
(DIR) Post #ATVsTePoHJPJv946kq by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-11T17:35:21Z
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One day you just wake up, in your own home, surrounded by people you love. You cook breakfast with friends, you eat and laugh, you toss open curtains and windows and let in the smell of yesterdays rain.You listen to the sound of them working on projects while you work on projects, all towards a common goalYou go on walks and point out which flowers smell the sweetestYes, this is what I suffered for. It was well worth it. #Meditations #Reflections #BuenosDias
(DIR) Post #ATVsjzOm1xU9dHN5HM by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-11T17:43:03Z
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@blackenedgreen damn I'm sorry. All kidding aside that does really suck. Does anything help? Turning on music, etc?
(DIR) Post #ATYEBZ7vmvVVc9P6Aq by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-12T20:48:59Z
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Potentially being called back to (live in) LA (would still find a way to maintain the desert sanctuary) Should I do it?
(DIR) Post #ATYIFWUjuqTcQTDNxo by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-12T21:38:20Z
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@blackenedgreen ugh yeah to be honest since I learned of this opportunity I've cycled wildly between "absolutely the fuck not will I go back" and "but closer to the beach and friends and more economic & apprenticeship opportunities for me" soooo I don't know
(DIR) Post #ATg3I7nt8DuKmufp44 by siin@pagan.plus
2023-03-16T15:28:24Z
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@blackenedgreen in my head this one is either:Sitting on the rocks, feeling the sea spray, silently crying into the indifferent storm OrStanding triumphantly beside the sea, breathing its mist, hands outward as though to capture the energy by which the waves surge, a shouted or spoken prayer swallowed by its sound reminding you in all your infinite power that you are still nothing compared to the ocean
(DIR) Post #AUYPMGey6l0sNEXF9U by siin@pagan.plus
2023-04-11T03:41:49Z
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@salad_bar_breath here to say that Session is more secure for individuals genuinely worried about being found out by powers that be. Nothing is ever stored on any central server and it's not tied to your phone number like Signal is (anything tied to your phone number is also tied to your legal name and address).Everyone is so welcome to make their own decision, just providing another option to look into for individuals who may want ithttps://getsession.org
(DIR) Post #AYCueoWTkDQlOPB1Oq by siin@pagan.plus
2023-07-30T01:56:55Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
I've been wanting to do a meditation on psychedelic use for a long time, but it's just never felt timely or communicable enough, but I'm going to try because I feel like whether or not you resonate with this, it's useful food for thought if you're using psychedelics at all. Psychedelics are not a shortcut to awakening or spiritual attainment. Psychedelics will not change your life. I will sit and brace myself for the white commentators who will come into the replies on this post and tell me "no, but really, psychedelics DID change my life!". So in preparation for that moment, I will say, gently, kindly, that no. Psychedelics will not change your life. Not in the way that you mean, at least. Psychedelics in the "West" are severely misunderstood and misused. Specifically, I'm referring to the naturally occurring psychedelic compounds that have been in ceremonial use by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. These substances, psilocybin likely being the most abundant and well known, are often misused for a few general reasons: a) People looking to connect with All, Leary style. In other words, people looking for a spiritual shortcut and/or an easy transcendent experience they think will bring them peaceb) Festival-goers and partiers who use psilocybin because they like the visual effects and the way that it gives them a little more energy to dance c) Modern Western psychiatric therapeutic use, usually under the guidance of someone with a degree in psychiatry or psychologyIn my opinion these uses are all incorrect. I don't seek to gatekeep the use of psychedelic substances. I have no interest in regulating or pretending to regulate the bodies or minds of other human beings. The only reason that I bring this up is because psychedelics are powerful, sacred compounds that DO have the ability to bring us into higher awareness and to heal, if they're used within the right context. The reason that I feel all of the above uses are incorrect is that the context around them isn't one that is recognized by the living beings that produce these substances. Whether your preferred psychedelic compound comes from a toad, a mushroom, or various tropical plants, these living beings evolved to contain these substances for their own reasons within a very specific ecological and cultural context. The symbiotic relationship that these organisms had with the shamans and peoples who used them can not be discounted as being a significant factor in their usefulness. We, in the Western world, with our modern science that is brilliant in so many ways but fundamentally unable to comprehend holistic systems, assume that it is only the chemical composition of a thing that holds power. But why did Leary's ilk need to use LSD and psilocybin constantly to feel tuned in? Why wasn't that first glimpse behind the veil enough to spur them into the Middle Path of right action and right passivity. In other words: why are Westerners so apt to use psychedelics and talk about how eye-opening they are, but then so unwilling to become spiritually disciplined and sacrifice convenience for true transcendence and spiritual attainment? This is an example that I think encompasses a lot of the Western problem with psychedelics. We're really adept at lying to ourselves. We are programmed for consumption and easy experience, but also to feel Really Good about ourselves when we do simple, low-effort things that we're taught make us better people. The experience of a psychedelic trip is one thing. Whether or not you're willing to connect with the All for that period of time and then actually go and honor that knowledge, that vision afterwards is a different story. Ultimately there is no easy, quick fix to disconnection or suffering. There are no easy answers. Even constant psilocybin or DMT use won't bring you closer to God(s) (you'll feel like it does in the moment) unless you listen to what their Flesh is telling you. Psychedelics cannot change your life. They can provide space to heal, if properly used, honored, and guided. They can provide a glimpse behind the veil and prove that you are connected to All. But that is it. The rest is up to you. #Psychedelics #Psilocybin #DMT #Meditations #Spirituality
(DIR) Post #AYCueqOOnE9jBvPb5E by siin@pagan.plus
2023-07-30T02:03:38Z
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And I mentioned LSD just because it's relevant to the Timothy Leary example. But I personally haven't come to any conclusions regarding LSD. I've had one quasi-spiritual experience with LSD back when I was unaware and still using psychedelics basically recreationally, but in general it doesn't feel like a spiritual substance to me. Perhaps it gives a little of the same glimpse of connection, I won't claim it's without usefulness, but I'm just trying to express that this is where my knowledge ends and that this post is specifically about naturally occurring psychedelic compounds. Quite frankly, I think that this approach matters when attempting to use any plant medicine. This includes other psychoactive but not psychedelic substances like Iboga, kratom, kava, etc. but also generally accepted herbal remedies like skullcap, holy basil, chamomile, etc etc. Ultimately I think that the takeaway from this too-long post is that the entire holistic system must be honored and revered, not just one chemical part of it. To claim that we can extract one single compound and gain the same benefits as peoples who tended to, harvested, prayed to, and ritualistically consumed the creatures/parts of creatures containing these substances is a Western idea that has no basis in thousands of years of written and oral history of Indigenous peoples. In other words, that approach has no basis in reality and I don't know a single person who it actually works for.
(DIR) Post #Ab3NX9R4975lsplwiu by siin@pagan.plus
2023-10-22T20:25:37Z
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I've been on BlueSky for 10 minutes and... (An Essay)I get it now. I used to be like "Why can't people just stop using Twitter/Instagram/WhateverTheFuck? If they need social media, why can't they just use Mastodon? Why doesn't Pixelfed get more users? It's literally the same UI".But I get it. I've been on BlueSky for what? 10 minutes? And I can feel my brain chemistry changing. Mastodon is a coffee shop. It doles out caffeine. You still get the little dopamine hit when you get notifications, you get that kind of substitute for human interaction that feels nice. But Twitter and BlueSky and Instagram and these apps from companies with access to inordinate amounts of data to build algorithms designed by psychologists to literally be As Addicting as Possible? These apps are dealing meth. But they've pressed it like ecstasy and made it cute. They've made it socially acceptable. But let me tell you something. Ever since I logged onto BlueSky, I've been thinking about it. I don't *think* about Mastodon all day. "Oh my god what should I post next? What will get me followers? Would this be funny? Is this on brand?" I don't think about it. I come here because I have interactions with people without the pretext that they're engaging with me to get engagement in return. Because sometimes in my life I feel isolated and because this substitute for human interaction feels nice. I thought I'd get BlueSky (despite their horrifying privacy policy - more on that later) because there are some Things Going On that make me need to get a little more serious about making money. But fuck, if this is the only way? I'm taking a vow of poverty, or getting a day job. Because then there's their privacy policy. Access to websites you visit before and after, identifying information about your device, purchases you make, and it goes on. But even that level of invasive access should give us pause, right? I have a lot of things set up on my computer that mitigate *some* of that access, but then let's think about how we give the app access to our photos and videos (all of them, not just what we post in the moment), our device's camera and microphone (not just while we're using it) and so on. And then think about how our society grooms us to believe (and maybe in some circumstances this belief is true) that we *need* these sites for access, for engagement, to make money. The price of not working in a warehouse is every piece of information we can reasonably gather about you to use and sell however we please, for whatever purpose, indefinitely, and it never expires and we don't pay you for it. This *is* exploitation and my ancestry makes me pause, horrified, at what this information *will* eventually come back and do to us when inevitably the wrong person/group gets ahold of it. And that's pretending like we even know who has our data and what they're doing with it, right? Because we don't know. We really don't. Call me paranoid, say that I shouldn't worry if I have nothing to hide, give me all of the excuses you've been programmed to give about why we *should not* worry about a surveillance state that *we* pay for. Then come online and rant about how dangerous governments are and fail to see the irony in it all. And I'm a hypocrite. I bought in, too. For personal gain. After criticizing others for years for doing the same thing. It's true. But the interesting side effect is that I've gained so much insight into why we're so addicted to sensationalism, why we're so addicted to these sites, why we're so unwell in general. The kinds of things my feed is inundated with, especially since I haven't curated it yet and it's showing me what it wants to? My god. We cannot have a healthy society when this is what we're consuming all day every day. There is no way to be a healthy person, I believe, when consuming this all day every day. So anyways. As always, perhaps a bit sanctimonious. But I'm a little dumbfounded at the experience of all of this after years off of corporate social. #BlueSky #Meditations
(DIR) Post #Ab3NXP5fwPUMR7t5bU by siin@pagan.plus
2023-10-22T20:35:38Z
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And I just want to add some things. This is one of those things where people who use it and have a positive experience are going to maybe feel defensive, and I just want to be clear that I really don't have any stake in what choices you make, personally. This is my own rumination on a choice that I made and the resulting experience. I recognize that there are reasons why some people have a better time on apps like BlueSky than on Mastodon, or why for one reason or another they choose to remain on a platform that has a larger user base and is likely to bring them more benefit. I've done a lot of thinking about this, and I recognize that factors that lead us to make the choice to engage with these platforms. Do I agree with the underlying ethics of the platforms themselves, or the people who create them? Absolutely not. Do I sit here and declare them Absolutely Horrible and Off Limits? Also, no. Very few things in life require such a severe value judgement, and I hope if you read this you can recognize that I'm meditating on my own ethical conflict here and my own experience, and not yours.
(DIR) Post #Ab3NXRYSmLhk4zN6ki by siin@pagan.plus
2023-10-23T01:57:18Z
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(Also 10 minutes was hyperbolic on purpose. I spend a day and a half or two on this platform, made several posts, found some feeds, got some followers, commented on things, etc. I didn't just log in and "nope" off the website.)