Marginalia

The academic press where I work is developing a small list of occult esoterica, of all things - really smart, scholarly books on occult topics. I'm fascinated by this development and by its timing; things are just starting to take off, and I'm new to the press. I've spent the last few weeks working on a manuscript, and part of the work has involved a trip to the rare books collection to page through books on magic from the 16th century.

I've been seeing an unconventional nutritionist with the intention of correcting subclinical weaknesses before they present themselves as disease. Given my family's history of diabetes, we're working on pancreas, spleen, liver, and adrenals. I've had affection for the human liver ever since I held one during my trip to the cadaver lab last fall. It's a large, substantial organ with great texture. Today during my visit I had an "ion footbath," which is supposed to draw out toxins from the body. I'm taking a lot of whole foods supplements, eating a ton of protein, and drinking vast draughts of water.

A member of my spiritual community has become sick very quickly with pancreatic cancer. I've been moved by the outpouring of energy to care for him. He has a great sense of humor and is quite the philosopher, or so I learned while visiting him over the weekend. Saturday night we had a circle and ritual for him; there were 80 people there, including his mother. It was beautiful. He feels content with whatever the future holds for him, death or life. He thinks it's all an adventure.

I'm attending a study group on Monday evenings to learn more about a particular wisdom tradition; Paul Brunton is a big name. I'm struck by how compatible our discussions are to Wicca, although I'm the only Pagan there.

Tomorrow after a half day at work we're off to Starwood! This time tomorrow night I'll be sitting at the campfire with friends, drinking mead, and gearing up for the Druids' midnight ritual. For now, I need to finish packing.