I am nearly certain I have read this book before. Or maybe it's more accurate to say I know it?

I know its rituals like I have worked them myself. I read the preliminaries and my visualizations fly forward, capturing the light of the candles glinting, catching on a mask I haven't acquired yet, a shrine I haven't been told must be built.

I am reading, processing, but my imagination - and it must be my imagination, really - rushes away from me. I read, and I see - the fire, the scales, a pyre heats beneath my skin. Crows fly across the pages, and the shadows grow increasingly intent upon my every move. I divine, and I scy, and the answer, the hushed whisper, is always the same: there is no rush. The circle is waiting. The Sabbat is waiting.

In little ways, I have found myself being directed in the first ordeal of the fourteen. Small things that, once written and recorded, are transformed from insignificant findings/ideas into blindingly radiant signs of intercession. Looking back, there are steps upon the path that started even before the physical book was in my hands and I had consciously decided that this was to be the year I took the first step.

The items necessary, the knowledge necessary, the resolution - they have all fallen into place without having to be pushed or thought of. When they are needed, they are there, and that, for now, is enough. Items, people, and practices align around me and draw within my realm of awareness as if I am sitting in the center of my own bubble and the gravitational pull at its core has activated. Things are drawn in and some are pushed out, and while I’m sure in other situations it would seem unnatural or forced, but in this way, in the slow trickling of resources through the barrier, it feels like the perfect opposite.

I’m not sure the “bubble” comparison fits entirely, but for now I’ll leave it at that.

A New Regime

In preparation for November, there have been some changes in my practice. I no longer compile copious amounts of notes on the other books in my TBR list or focus my attentions on comparing variations/similarities to be found in my personal library.

Instead, my mornings consist of a rather simple but fulfilling number of things to be done:

Wake at a regulated time

Burn incense stick(s)

Meditate

Prayer of the Seeker

Take notes/read (at least) 26 pages

Going forward, once I fully establish this basic format into my daily routine, I’ll add yoga and divination. On top of this new format, once all of the junk food in my house has been cleared away, I’ll be able to make the change over to a more healthy, less trashy diet with more fruits/vegetables than processed fats and sugars.

Things Yet to be Done

In the coming months, I’m hoping to find more of the tools - such as the skull, sceptre (in a couple different forms), graal, and arthana. Though I don’t feel particularly pressed to begin the hunt for them quite yet, so they’re not heavily weighing on my “things to do” list.

I’ve already bought a cheap little notebook to keep track of my notes from both the Azoëtia and the DBoE which has been helping quite a bit, but I’ll soon need another as well as a small planner to keep track of progress, goals, rites, and so on.

I also need to decide whether or not I’m going to create a side blog for DBoE stuff or just keep posting it on my main one, as lately I’ve been entertaining the idea of just having all of my posts in one spot away from all the craziness of this one. But I’m not entirely sold on that one so we’ll see.