Ritual

Alice: How long is forever?
White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second.


Some of us believe in ritual. This can either be the mundane ritual that we each do nightly, or it can be more... complex. Some of us wake at sunset every night, find food immediately, and then continue about our regular business until right before sunrise where we return to our haven and do our usual pre-sleep rituals.

Ritual can be as usual as nightly activity like this or more complicated. Acolytes of the Circle have their rituals. Supposedly we Dragons do as well. The Lancia Sanctum certainly have their rituals. Ritual affects us all. Being creatures that are effectively immortal, we tend to develop ritual as part of our lives without realizing it. We sometimes live our lives in cyclical trends again without realization. Rituals can enforce this behavior or help us break free from it.

I believe in studying the stars and developing rituals as well as rites that help us interpret them. I use star charts focused on specific dates and times to help me interpret events that are currently happening and predict events that will happen. I understand that a lot of folks have a hard time believing in the scientific merit of portents and signs much less astrology in general. These skeptics should review material throughout the ages. Some of the most influential occult groups have found the merit in astrology; some going so far as to use it for predicting and planning for the future.

I use ritual to seek guidance in the tumultuous world around us. For example, I predicted that there would be death and fire and blood throughout the year last year. There was. Lucas Pritzker the pyro-kinetic or fire mage caused numerous trouble throughout Chicago. In addition to this, there were more found outside the city. Apparently there is also and 'Old Man' leading them. All of this magic around us and still some doubt the power of ritual.

The two charts included here are of tonight. the circular one shows the convergence of the astrological signs with the planets and astrological bodies for tonight. The black map of the world shows the path of them across the world. This information is readily available to anyone with access to the internet. However, knowing what to do with the information and the best ways to interpret it is what takes dedicated study and knowledge. I love teaching others about the occult and the stars. There are things that live in the black of space that make us look like a simple bacterium living on the flesh of a kine. Through watching and understanding the movement and effect of the heavenly bodies we can see the effect of such things like witnessing a black hole by seeing the effects it causes on the things around it.

Anyway, I rambled on for a while. The point is that if we use ritual correctly we can better learn about and interpret the continually evolving world around us. All kindred should find some way to better understand the world that they live in. While a crucible lasts, we need to better understand the changes that occur abnormally quickly in all of us. There is also a need to better understand where these changes will lead us. Historically crucibles are short. However in this short period of time so many things happen.

I feel like I am being abnormally direct. Also, I'm pretty sure I have Cherophobia.

With that out of my system, I'm off to our gathering tonight.

-L

Therapy: Good for Everyone

Every new beginning is filled with hope.

Had another session with Ollie. He hates it when I call him Ollie, but he is such a... child. I suppose he could be older than I was when I died. He is positive without being annoyingly so. He points out how death and grieving are necessary facets of our temporary temporal existence. That my funeral home has a social need in the community. I find his dress deplorable, but I suppose it is excusable.

Know what the best part about him is? He is a mortal who listens. I can just rant about all my problems and as long as I'm careful to just make my stories from history sound like delusional thoughts or dreams, I'm fine. Oh, and also no comments about eating people. I avoid those and any real masquerade breaching topics. I am not a vampire, I am a young small business owner in today's economy. There are reasons I am unhappy. I explain how my friends are extremely petty and bicker and push and pull for just a wee bit more of social standing within our circles. I explain how it all gets to me. How exhausting it can be. I used a phrase I've heard before from the television: "I feel like I'm back in high school." He smiled at that and wrote more. I effectively explained the issue with Clay as a work story.

I have to say I felt the impulse tonight to reveal the truth about what I am. I thought about doing the whole Interview with a Vampire thing. But that would have been too cliche. Plus, I don't want to kill Ollie yet. I'm sure he will eventually disappoint me. Oliver is a decent mortal. He is someone to talk to. He makes good points to think about.

Although I do always feel like he is just doodling on his yellow college-ruled legal pad. I wonder if he writes things down for real. I wonder what my clinical diagnosis is. I had better not be a case study used in a class project.

-L

Balloons

Balloons. What can you say about them. They fill with a liquid or gas and if too full they pop. If they are too cold they are extremely brittle and can crack. When too hot, they melt. When left alone in the ravages of time, they dry rot. However, the point of a balloon is to contain things. That is it's purpose.

Most of us are used to seeing balloons filled with some lighter than air gas, prancing around on a string or other tether. If the balloon gets loose, then it soars into the sky headed for certain disaster an awful lot like Icarus. However most balloons stay grounded by their tethers until the ravages of time and osmosis make the trade and they sink slowly earthwards.

Then again, some balloons are untied. This looses all of their internal pressures out into a short lived rage where they fly about and burn brightly before once more falling to the ground. Others untied and held abusively; the internal pressure making all sorts of rude noises. Others yet are untied and held carefully so that they may rid themselves of their internal pressures and balance the aethers within.

Das dab ka i roata le neve vurdoneski

I have realized a need for balance. I understand that perhaps the equilibrium that others seek isn't for me. I just need to feel closer to balanced.

I know many kindred with cracks, others whose psyches have melted, and plenty who just rot. Luckily I don't know any who have popped. Some try to soar too fast, others just sink back to the ground.

I've been looking for a mortal therapist. Perhaps Oliver will work out.

Nashti zhas vorta po drom o bango

This should go well...

-L

Elections

Our exalted leader has decided that the traditional position of a Primogen is due for elections. This tedious exercise should be fun. My opponent is my friend Joe Diparma. I will win of course, but I appreciate him running against me. He is an opponent not to be underestimated.

Ahh, Politics... O xonxano baro.

-L

News

Kai zhal o vurdon vurma a mekel

At our usual bi-monthly dinner Alec my business manager mentioned an interesting story in the news. Something that caught my attention. Apparently Wicker Park's suicides spiked in the month of December. Now, around the holidays things like this are common, but Wicker Park's numbers are especially high. This concerns me for a number of reasons.

First, Wicker Park is a smaller neighborhood within the territory of West Town. West Town is mine. Second, Jonathan Clay is responsible for Wicker Park in that he eats there. He should be keeping up his feeding grounds. I should talk to him about it. But now that we've just begun to repair our friendship I am hesitant to reprimand a friend for a simple mistake for which I strongly doubt he is responsible.

Oh, what to do. What to do.

Sometimes I feel like establishing myself here was a mistake. However, I often feel that establishing myself elsewhere would be just as big of a mistake. With all of my successes here, I feel doomed. I feel like the tangible blackness that is the night reaches out to entangle me and hold me down. Mater Tenebrarum haunts my day dreams. A being of shadows perhaps from the depths of the black between the stars itself. Perhaps if she comes for me I could ask her questions before the end...

Reminds me that I should either sleep or get back to my experiments.