Here I am, back from the dead again. I know I go on these long bursts of hiatus on this blog, only because I allow burnout, despair, and apparent depression to hold me hostage. Today's entry is another vent piece where I need to type out another issue I'm dealing with at this point in my life. So please bear with me as I compose this rant for all to see. I'll try to come up with more interesting topics in the future, and also try to enter something here on a more regular basis.

Something that has been on my mind as of late is my obsessive interest in religion, philosophy, occultism, psychology, and all things spiritual. These in and of themselves are not bad things, usually. Done properly they enable people to be curious and learn differing and various ways to honor the Divine, honor Nature, and live honorable and virtuous lives. However, I'm left wondering about my own approach to these matters. Have I turned this otherwise healthy preoccupation into an unhealthy means to "Escape From the Planet of the Apes," a pseudo-Gnostic attempt to escape the Black Iron Prison of mundane, worldly life? Call me a misanthropic pessimist, but it does seem to me that the world (of Man, of Bread and Circuses, of the Technopathocracy, etc.) is hellbent on slamming head-on into the brick wall of Reality and its limitations as we descend further and further into the Kali Yuga, the Age of Saturn, or whatever one wishes to call the hard times to come (and in some cases has already arrived). How do I know when my desire to pursue Theosis or Sanctification within esoteric and sacramental Christianity and Knowledge and Conversation of my Holy Guardian Angel within the Western Mystery Tradition has turned into unhealthy escapism, that I'm doing (as T.S. Eliot would put it) the right thing for the wrong reasons?

Granted, with the recognition that my present life circumstances are unsatisfactory, with a miserable job that I hate, and no clear vision on how to get out, escapisim would be a natural response. But that escapism needs to become a springboard for finding creative and constructive solutions for improving one's lot in life. Contemplation, meditation, and invoking the Divine and its angelic/eudaimonic intermediaries can certainly improve the quality of one's life. However, it needs to be accompanied with deliberate, pragmatic application to life itself, or else it's like wishing to win the lottery without buying a single lotto ticket. And lately, I've been guilty of this nonconstructive escapism.

I've recently come across a phrase I first read years ago, but have since forgotten. That is the "Path of the Hearth Fire." For those unfamiliar with this term (first coined I believe by the British occultist Dion Fortune) it is the path whereby the student puts aside, temporarily or permanently depending on the circumstance, occult studies (and perhaps other specialized forms of intense spiritual practice) in order to establish a firm foundation here in the material realm of Malkuth. We all have commitments to our families, our jobs, our communities, and all the other responsibilities of life. Bills and debts have to be paid, children need to be raised, and work needs to be done in order to secure a roof over our heads, clothes on our bodies, and food in our bellies. This is not to say that all forms of faith, magic, and applied virtue-ethics need to be abandoned, far from it. What does need to occur is finding that balance of temperance or moderation between spiritual practice and mundane pragmatism. The world has too many would-be-adepts living in their parent's basement with no means or desire to pursue self-sufficiency, responsibility, and independence. Trust me, I know the type all too well. While I am eternally grateful for all the good things in my life I have been strangely complacent, some would say comfortable, with the unsatisfactory parts, like the aforementioned job that makes my life miserable. I've used it to feel justified in my self-righteousness and contempt of the world. I've allowed myself to be miserable and worked to exhaustion in order to play the victim game with no one but myself.

So what's the solution to my dilemma? Honestly the details remain obscured to me, but in general I definitely need to approach what free time I have more constructively. For one thing that means less recreational screentime, less afternoon naps, and more commitment to finding a new means of employment and learning whatever life skills are needed to fulfill the Path of the Hearth Fire, of finding the appropriate balance of spirit and matter in my life. I wish there was a step-by-step instruction manual on how to do this, but half the adventure is taking this one step at a time, not knowing where the next step will take me.

This post has been very self-reflective, and I hope anyone still reading this has been patient with me. There's nothing here I didn't already know deep down in my heart of hearts, even if my conscious mind wasn't aware of it, and I don't know if it was of any value to my readers, save that if they're in a similar situation that they too may reflect on their own lot in life and whether it gives them satisfaction. Advice and encouragement is always welcome. Pray for me in whatever way is appropriate for you, and if need be, I will return the favor. May the Divine, by whatever name and form you dear reader know it by, bless and protect you.

Sincerely,
Sanctuary of the Rose and Chalice

This is another word-vomit prompt where I write out some ideas bubbling in the back of my mind. It's not as thought out as the last entry, so I may return to these themes at a later time.

What is Folk Horror? It's more of an aesthetic or fell than a sub-genre of film or literature. Some of the usual themes involve folklore and the "old ways" of life, a (dis)connection to nature and rural environments, feelings of isolation from both the outside world and the odd community one finds themselves in, the presence of the supernatural (whether real or imagined), and the fear of people (i.e. the folk) and fanaticism. In film the "Unholy Trinity" of Folk Horror include The Witchfinder General (1968), Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), and of course The Wicker Man (1973). If you wish to explore this cinematic and literary aesthetic in more depth there is an entire cult following (pun intended) which has produced documentaries and periodicals delving into its themes.

What does this have to do with Catholicism and Wicca? I'll attempt to answer that by discussing some of the above elements of Folk Horror including one I've yet to mention, the small or secluded town with a secret cult. In these stories the protagonist usually comes from mainstream society (i.e. a society that is modern, urban, rationalist, often industrialized, and conventional in its social and religious norms). For one reason or another they find themselves in a remote village or commune that either continues in its traditional customs (often, but not exclusively religious), or has revived some arcane cult as a reaction to the modern world. If the setting is British or European than the cult in question is typically involves Paganism, Witchcraft, Satanism, occultism, or any combination thereof. If the setting is in America, it's usually some fringe form of Christianity which otherwise deviates from the norm.

The psychology behind Folk Horror stems at least in part from two separate sets of fears. The more contemporary set emerged in the mid-late 20th century as a reaction not only to the occult revival and witchcraft craze that emerged after Britain's Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed, but also due to disillusionment with the hippie and back-to-the land movements of the 1960's and 1970's. This was also the time of the oil crisis, where many people took a serious interest in appropriate technology, doing more with less, and the first wave of the Peak Oil movement.

The older set implicitly hearkens back to the anti-Catholic rhetoric of the Protestant Reformation; to the Puritan there was virtuously no difference between the witchcraft of the pagan and the priestcraft of the papist. On a side note, it's interesting to observe how the rise in Gothic Horror in the 19th century occurred around the same time as the emancipation of Roman Catholicism in the UK, the Oxford Movement and Ritualism within Anglicanism, and a renewed interest in medievalism in arts and literature (e.g. the Gothic Revival in architecture, the Arts & Crafts movement, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, etc.) An excellent summation of this theme can be found in the scholarly work Wicca and the Christian Heritage: Ritual, Sex, and Magic (2007); wherein she discusses how the history of sacramental Christianity since the Reformation has played a small, yet significant role in the beginnings of Wicca in the early-mid 20th century. (I may need to revisit this book myself and write a review on it at a later point).

Here I start to turn inward upon myself and reflect on how these intertwining themes influence my own thinking. I mentioned in my last entry how I've always been drawn to Celtic and English forms of Christianity. Around the time I was in community college I discovered two book series that forever changed my perception of religion, spirituality, and the paranormal (I would argue for the better). These were the Time-Life book series Mysteries of the Unknown (1987-1991) and the encyclopedia series Man, Myth, and Magic (the revised 1995 edition). Both gradually turned me on to the Western Mystery Tradition, Esoteric Christianity, the Druid Revival, and old-fashioned traditional Wicca; these two book series serving as the gateway to other publications on these subjects.

Although I have never joined a coven (traditional or eclectic) or perform a self-initiation I've had a remote interest in traditional forms of Wicca at the same time as my interest in traditional forms of Catholicism (Anglican, Roman, or otherwise). It was reading Pearson's above-mentioned book that I realized why I have this interest in two separate religions. Growing up in a culturally Protestant society I'm drawn to creeds that engage in ritual and theurgical magic (what is the Mass, but the highest form of white magic?). This also dovetails with a realization that the trajectory our society has taken has led to a rather grim and life-denying reality. Both Catholicism (Anglo-, Roman, etc.) and modern Paganism (when it hasn't been hijacked by either the woke-leftist or alt-right agendas) can be life-affirming and creation-affirming creeds, they are fertility religions after all. And yes, I deliberately said that to irritate the Puritans (religious or secular), the Karens, and other killjoys who promote the Technopathocracy we've stumbled into. This is why when reading or watching Folk/Gothic/Lovecraftian Horror media I find myself far more in sympathy with the "sinister" priest/magician/cultist rather than the protagonist who represent rationalism and modernity.

I'm running out of time, so I may need to return to these thoughts at a later time. As always, I appreciate feedback, and if I need to clarify or expand on something let me know and I will try to address it when time permits. Have a wonderful (insert tine of day). peace and blessings to you.

Dear Reader:

My sincere apologies for the delayed response. I know on my introductory post I said I would post once a week every Wednesday, and that obviously hasn't happened. This was not by design; I had the best of intentions to follow through yet failed to do so. My intentions were as they used to say on Top Gear "ambitious, but rubbish." From here on out I'll try to post something more often, but I won't promise any degree of regularity until I get this blogging thing down pat. Any advice from experienced bloggers here or elsewhere would be appreciated, but not expected. I hope dear Reader that you harbor no ill feelings or broken trust in me due to my inactivity. Until next time, I wish you a pleasant evening/morning.

Sincerely,
SanctuaryofRoseandChalice.