Asking the Beast
It is most silly of this serpent to be indulging in nostalgia especially when this very day in 2001 which marked the descent into three weeks of complete misery with a dozen Dementors for company
Today was a veritable picnic in comparison but still jinxed and miserable. At times it seemed the clouds of doom and gloom would depart but such illusions were soon shattered
Had decided to commemorate the occasion by paying a visit to the old lunatic asylum along with the very cute carriage cafe which celebrates its 100th birthday some time this December.
Neither of those things were on the agenda for Wednesday 12th December 2001 which was so disgustingly hot and muggy that even the anniversary celebrations of Marconi’s radio at Wireless Hill could not tempt this miserable muggle out of the house
The point of the visit to the asylum and the cafe was for a feast of squiggling. Not just a bunch of Christmas cards which should really have been all posted by now. It was supposed to be a ritual for banishing the beastly Dementors. It’s worked wonderfully before and maybe it would again.
But once again the misery magnet was working overtime. Around 2pm while sitting on the deck at the carriage cafe it started raining down in buckets. Had picked a spot with an umbrella but using a fountain pen with emerald ink was tempting fate
This also meant abandoning plans to go to the lunatic asylum from 3 to 5pm since the most inspiring places to squiggle are all outside under the shade of the plane trees. So pottered off to the wonderful New Edition book store instead with its cafe and lots of old fashioned tables and proper wooden cafe chairs and trying to avoid getting soaked in the process
It did help having narrowed down the present problems to one central issue. That dark grimoire four of pentacles with the creepy corpse sitting in a chair clutching a book to his chest with his cold dead hands summed up the problem most magnificently
Many moons ago had made numerous attempts to solve the problem of being very easily upset over the silliest smallest things. Would go completely murderous in the old skull but managed to avoid outward displays of such rage except in safe environments such as at home alone. But one day the old luck might run out and all hell would break loose with some possibly nasty consequences
Absolutely nothing worked at all and every attempt to destroy or dampen this rather short fuse just ended in failure. Until one day it happened with absolutely no effort whatsoever
But nature abhors a vacuum and the inner beasts soon found new ways to channel their evil intent. What used to be the odd spare tyre has turned into the Michelin warehouse, what used to be the well stocked pantry is now full of stuff long past its use by date, there’s a veritable menagerie of cute and cuddly creatures lingering around the lair and as for books. We thinks it was Kaasirpent who found the wonderful quote that books breed like rabbits but book shelves breed like elephants (Izzie would have suggested unicorns)
The serpent has turned into a horrid hoarder and a serious clutterbug. The only thing missing is the ten cats. But those from the neighbours often come to visit so that kind of counts
Been using the beginning of each new calendar year, each financial year, each season, each month etc etc etc to make a new start and to master the art of minimalism.
Most of the time the good intentions to turn over a new leaf last for about two weeks and then it’s back to the old ways.
By far the most successful attack took place this May. Got rather ruthless and dumped lots of stuff long past its use by date but most importantly adopted habits to keep the new stuff coming in under control.
Toss ten things daily is a good and simple habit that keeps the new stuff from piling up and adding to all the old
The weekly junk mail never even gets inside the house and is quickly glanced through and tossed in the bin after a quick peek and not left to be sorted out later
Always been organized with bills and goblin stuff, it’s books and nibblies that present the greatest temptation and threat
By mid June was very pleased with our progress. It did help to change perspective from getting rid of stuff to creating something desirable to be moved towards. Even managed to do a serious sort and dump of the kitchen cupboards. All but one.
The kitchen benches were all organized and tidy and the table too. Was feeling most pleased indeed with this auspicious start for the upcoming new financial year
But then a horrid little Howler landed in the letter box on the second last day of the old financial year. The toxic toad had launched the first attack in her plan to get a certain serpent’s head on a silver platter
All those plans ended up in dust. Totally trashed. Only now is the Izzie slowly picking up the pieces. Figured that with the distraction of November novels out of the way December would be a good time to start. In mid February the Year of the Serpent begins and the Izzie needs to banish the CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome)
But the question still remains. All rational attempts to deal with this stuff seem doomed to failure. It all seems to be different sides of the same coin. Izzie suspects that some other illogical inner beast is accumulating all this stuff to keep the serpent safe from something. One cannot reason with this creature. Looks like the Emissary of The Beast was right. Magical means are called for. Sneakiness and subterfuge. Willpower has not worked so will need to try imagination instead
So where else to consult the beast than in a beautiful old book shop with the aroma of coffee wafting through the air while the rain poured in bucket loads outside?
There was only one deck suitable to be shuffled on such an auspicious date. Went to ridiculous lengths to ensure a truly random result.
The four of pentacles did not turn up. Unlike the usual RWS clones, old Crowley named this particular card not “Mean old scrooge” but “Power” and it did turn up before the second meeting with a certain toad.
The results turned out to be not just spooky and uncanny but quite funny too. But that is a story for another post. Some one is taking the piss out of this serpent and it looks like it might be time to take his advice and ‘lighten up’ in every sense of the word
Suffice to say the card that turned up in the position of solution to the problem at hand was one of the ugly triplets - the Magician. This one was the Peter Pan on a pogo stick who looks like he is throwing away his toys rather than merely juggling them
Every one of his three magicians is even uglier than the RWS version. Funny that two of the eight fugliest cards in this deck happened to turn up. Appearances can be truly deceiving
Today was a veritable picnic in comparison but still jinxed and miserable. At times it seemed the clouds of doom and gloom would depart but such illusions were soon shattered
Had decided to commemorate the occasion by paying a visit to the old lunatic asylum along with the very cute carriage cafe which celebrates its 100th birthday some time this December.
Neither of those things were on the agenda for Wednesday 12th December 2001 which was so disgustingly hot and muggy that even the anniversary celebrations of Marconi’s radio at Wireless Hill could not tempt this miserable muggle out of the house
The point of the visit to the asylum and the cafe was for a feast of squiggling. Not just a bunch of Christmas cards which should really have been all posted by now. It was supposed to be a ritual for banishing the beastly Dementors. It’s worked wonderfully before and maybe it would again.
But once again the misery magnet was working overtime. Around 2pm while sitting on the deck at the carriage cafe it started raining down in buckets. Had picked a spot with an umbrella but using a fountain pen with emerald ink was tempting fate
This also meant abandoning plans to go to the lunatic asylum from 3 to 5pm since the most inspiring places to squiggle are all outside under the shade of the plane trees. So pottered off to the wonderful New Edition book store instead with its cafe and lots of old fashioned tables and proper wooden cafe chairs and trying to avoid getting soaked in the process
It did help having narrowed down the present problems to one central issue. That dark grimoire four of pentacles with the creepy corpse sitting in a chair clutching a book to his chest with his cold dead hands summed up the problem most magnificently
Many moons ago had made numerous attempts to solve the problem of being very easily upset over the silliest smallest things. Would go completely murderous in the old skull but managed to avoid outward displays of such rage except in safe environments such as at home alone. But one day the old luck might run out and all hell would break loose with some possibly nasty consequences
Absolutely nothing worked at all and every attempt to destroy or dampen this rather short fuse just ended in failure. Until one day it happened with absolutely no effort whatsoever
But nature abhors a vacuum and the inner beasts soon found new ways to channel their evil intent. What used to be the odd spare tyre has turned into the Michelin warehouse, what used to be the well stocked pantry is now full of stuff long past its use by date, there’s a veritable menagerie of cute and cuddly creatures lingering around the lair and as for books. We thinks it was Kaasirpent who found the wonderful quote that books breed like rabbits but book shelves breed like elephants (Izzie would have suggested unicorns)
The serpent has turned into a horrid hoarder and a serious clutterbug. The only thing missing is the ten cats. But those from the neighbours often come to visit so that kind of counts
Been using the beginning of each new calendar year, each financial year, each season, each month etc etc etc to make a new start and to master the art of minimalism.
Most of the time the good intentions to turn over a new leaf last for about two weeks and then it’s back to the old ways.
By far the most successful attack took place this May. Got rather ruthless and dumped lots of stuff long past its use by date but most importantly adopted habits to keep the new stuff coming in under control.
Toss ten things daily is a good and simple habit that keeps the new stuff from piling up and adding to all the old
The weekly junk mail never even gets inside the house and is quickly glanced through and tossed in the bin after a quick peek and not left to be sorted out later
Always been organized with bills and goblin stuff, it’s books and nibblies that present the greatest temptation and threat
By mid June was very pleased with our progress. It did help to change perspective from getting rid of stuff to creating something desirable to be moved towards. Even managed to do a serious sort and dump of the kitchen cupboards. All but one.
The kitchen benches were all organized and tidy and the table too. Was feeling most pleased indeed with this auspicious start for the upcoming new financial year
But then a horrid little Howler landed in the letter box on the second last day of the old financial year. The toxic toad had launched the first attack in her plan to get a certain serpent’s head on a silver platter
All those plans ended up in dust. Totally trashed. Only now is the Izzie slowly picking up the pieces. Figured that with the distraction of November novels out of the way December would be a good time to start. In mid February the Year of the Serpent begins and the Izzie needs to banish the CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome)
But the question still remains. All rational attempts to deal with this stuff seem doomed to failure. It all seems to be different sides of the same coin. Izzie suspects that some other illogical inner beast is accumulating all this stuff to keep the serpent safe from something. One cannot reason with this creature. Looks like the Emissary of The Beast was right. Magical means are called for. Sneakiness and subterfuge. Willpower has not worked so will need to try imagination instead
So where else to consult the beast than in a beautiful old book shop with the aroma of coffee wafting through the air while the rain poured in bucket loads outside?
There was only one deck suitable to be shuffled on such an auspicious date. Went to ridiculous lengths to ensure a truly random result.
The four of pentacles did not turn up. Unlike the usual RWS clones, old Crowley named this particular card not “Mean old scrooge” but “Power” and it did turn up before the second meeting with a certain toad.
The results turned out to be not just spooky and uncanny but quite funny too. But that is a story for another post. Some one is taking the piss out of this serpent and it looks like it might be time to take his advice and ‘lighten up’ in every sense of the word
Suffice to say the card that turned up in the position of solution to the problem at hand was one of the ugly triplets - the Magician. This one was the Peter Pan on a pogo stick who looks like he is throwing away his toys rather than merely juggling them
Every one of his three magicians is even uglier than the RWS version. Funny that two of the eight fugliest cards in this deck happened to turn up. Appearances can be truly deceiving