The Tower and the Virus

My first guest column at The Wild Hunt.

I have been anxious for months, years even. I have watched with growing horror the rise of right-wing populism, the melting of the icecaps, the burning of Australia, the beginnings of wars over water and resources, the seemingly inexorable destruction wrought by climate change. The protests of Fridays for Future and Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion gave me some cause for optimism, but it is also obvious that governments have not been doing enough to turn the economy around to stop the production of carbon emissions. So when everyone suddenly swung into action to deal with the coronavirus crisis, it gave me some hope that perhaps now the needful actions to deal with climate change (many of which, it turns out, are quite similar to the actions needed to flatten the curve of coronavirus transmission) would seem doable. It also feels like now everyone else is as anxious as me.

Continue reading at The Wild Hunt.


If you enjoyed this post, you might like my books.

Ritual to the Asklepiadae

In addition to the recommended precautions like hygiene, social distancing, self-quarantine, and so on, it’s also a good idea to strengthen your immune system by keeping well hydrated, taking plenty of vitamins and herbal supplements. It’s also important to maintain your regular spiritual practice, in order to keep your spirits up, as much as anything else. Magical and spiritual interventions can also be helpful here. So here is a ritual to Asklepios and his family, the Asklepiadae.

Continue reading

Hugging while 2 metres apart

Many people are going to be deprived of touch and hugging while self-isolating during the coronavirus pandemic.

About fifteen years ago, I went to a dowsing workshop in Bristol, UK, led by a guy called Jason. He got us to think of a happy memory and then dowse the edges of each other’s aura with dowsing rods. The aura expands when you’re happy or thinking of a happy memory. Thinking happy thoughts may also release serotonin (happy hormones).

If you don’t believe in auras, think about mirror neurons instead. The way these work is that if you see someone else performing a physical action (such as lifting their arm), the neurons that would activate lifting your arm fire in readiness to imitate them.

There’s also the muscle memory of actual hugs.

Two metre hug

In order for this to work, you do need to explain it to the other person; this means consent is automatically part of the hugging process. Yay!

You can explain either with mirror neurons, muscle memory, or the aura depending on your preference and/or audience.

If you’re doing a virtual hug over online video, it has to be mirror neurons, serotonin, and muscle memory.

Step 1. Stand two metres away from the person you want to hug. (For online video, stand so they can see the upper half of your body.)

Step 2. Think of a happy memory (if you don’t have a happy memory, think of something that would make you happy). Take a bit of time to build up this memory or happy thought. It’s probably good if the happy thought involves the person you’re air-hugging.

Step 3. Move your arms as if you were hugging the other person. Spend at least thirty seconds in the hug position.

Enjoy.

Stay healthy, and blessed be!

All images from Pixabay (public domain).


If you enjoyed this post, you might like my books.

What we have in common

I dreamed that I was in an Anglican or Episcopalian Church in North America and had been invited by the vicar to introduce a hymn. She handed me the order of service which already had a hymn picked out, and it had been annotated to change “him” to “her”, so I introduced it and encouraged people to sing “her” where appropriate if they wanted to. One of the congregation said they didn’t really know the tune for that hymn. So then I suggested we sang Morning has broken and changed “him” to “her” in the second verse, and “God’s” to “Her” in the third verse. Then I woke up.

Continue reading

Notable and quotable: coronavirus (1)

Continue reading