Almost an Update

I want to apologize for the silence around here the past couple of days and let y'all know that I haven't given up on this (as I have so often before). A weird combination of things has kept me away from the computer, but I'm working on a post about my academic experiences and another on devotion, so I should have one of those up soon.

The new system of meditation is working well, which is one of the reasons I haven't been posting, because when something works well I don't feel the need to complain about it, so I have no blog fodder. ;) Yesterday, as part of my visualization exercises, I started working with the images and sensations of a place, the basis of the Classical ars memoriae. I've been fascinated by this technique ever since I first heard of it, which at its most basic uses a set of elaborate visualizations in sequence to help memorize lists of things -- be it grocery lists or rhetorical points in a speech. The student develops a base location which can be filled in with symbols of what you're supposed to remember; in the Middle Ages they would use the stations of the cross or the architecture of a cathedral. I've decided to use the route I used to take from my flat to Eyre Square to school and back when I lived in Galway. I've been astonished at how clearly it comes back; either my visualization technique is already vastly improved, or the memories stuck much better than I thought they had.

I started this blog in hopes that it would motivate me to do more than just think about my Paganism (I know, I know, start a blog to avoid writing?), so I can't complain about the turn I've suddenly taken, but clearly I need to work more on the balance between doing and writing.