5K Mosey, and a bit

from the step-tracking app on my cell phone

Once for my promise to do so,
and once for someone who couldn’t,
one time for one who wouldn’t do so,
or told himself he shouldn’t. 

As previously reblogged about, I had every intention of taking part in this year’s Worldwide WordPress 5 KM (wwwpk5) event. Since time did not permit me to do this yesterday, I decided to do it today. This actually worked for the best: yesterday I started breaking in a pair of Docs I recently bought off the internet from someone who obviously underestimated the time it can take to break the boots in properly.

What that meant for today was that my feet were quite thrilled at the notion of putting on a pair of trail runners, even if that meant a little moseying! I checked with the strained muscle on the back of my hip; and although moseying wasn’t its first choice for the day, we agreed sitting would be much worse. So off we went.

Where I walked today is a park near the outskirts of the city, with a one-kilometer track around a pond, about five kilometers away from where I live. I have a path there that, if I time things right, I don’t have to stop for annoying pedestrian signals along the way. My timing today was quite good; and my way to and from the park was uninterrupted. When I got to the track at the park, I decided to do five laps as the weather was great (just how I like it: overcast, cool, and breezy), and it seemed as though my strained hip was willing to play with.

The result was a little over 15 KM in about three hours. It was a fun walk, even if I could feel my hip slowing my usual pace a little; and I am grateful to the good folks at WordPress for holding an event like this – I am already looking very forward to the next such event!

Why ‘old?’

This post is mostly addressed to Pagans and to those who write or comment about Pagan gods. I have noticed in a lot of places where Pagan gods are referred to as ‘the gods of old,’ or ‘the old gods,’ or ‘elder gods.’ My question is: why? Is this done because the word lends a certain degree of authority to the gods? Or is this a remnant from Abrahamic religious influences, where the gods are regarded largely in the past tense? If the former, do the gods actually need such a word to lend them greater authority, or increase our regard and respect for them? If the latter, then it would seem this is a habit that should be seriously reconsidered by modern adherents.

I have been seeing this a lot lately, as I already said – it is possible that it is no more than normal, and that I’m simply sensitive to it because I’m looking to the Cailleach, and seeing the Stone Age. But even if she has been in human awareness for so long, I regard her very much as a deity for the present and the future. She is, to me, perhaps ancient – but no more ancient than any other god, at least not by human reckoning. I’m hesitant to regard the gods in a human form as it is, let alone try to assign to them a human reckoning of age. Deity is deity to me, at least as far as age goes.

Join Automattic’s Worldwide WP 5k 2016

This looks like a good cause; and a great reason to get out and move around for a while. If you hadn’t already heard about this event, then maybe now would be a good time to read about it :-)

WordPress.com News

The Worldwide WordPress 5k (#WWWP5k) is back and better than ever!

Any time between Monday, September 19th to Sunday, September 25th, lace up your running/walking/hiking/hopping shoes and join us for the 5k blogged about around the world!

Automatticians are planning to hit the trail on September 19th during our company meetup in Whistler, Canada. This year, we will also be making a donation to Soles4Souls, a charity dedicated to fighting poverty through the collection and distribution of shoes and clothing.

Automatticians laced up and ready to go! Photo by Naoko Takano.

What is a 5k?

A 5k run/walk is approximately 3.1 miles long. That is roughly equal to:

• Twelve laps around a track.
• Approximately 6,000-7,500 steps.
• Approximately 50-60 minutes of brisk walking.

How do I participate?

You can run, walk, or skip — it’s totally up to you. There’s no time limit and there’s just one…

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A riddle from a simpler time

A large portion of my life has been focused on learning to identify polarized ways of thinking and perceiving the world. In therapy, I learned to identify this sort of thinking within myself; and I guess it was just a matter of time until I learned to start recognizing this sort of thinking in others and in society. It isn’t my mission to eliminate this kind of thinking – in my case, it’s how my mind is hardwired – but I do dedicate myself to being aware of this kind of thinking. Usually, from here, I can make the choice as to whether or not I wish to base my actions on a polarized perspective … it is the awareness that provides me with the choice. This whole process is not lost on me when I look at the world around me – from polarized politics down to us versus them mentalities found in all levels of society, right down to bitter arguments between people who prefer to eat one way, and others who do not. In contemplating the things I am learning and discovering about my impressions of the Cailleach, the polarization offered by a Winter (and thus also a Summer) goddess has not been lost on me, either.

Tarot cards

Something I have learned to really enjoy doing this year is reading tarot cards. Thanks in great part to a good friend with a timely post, I started this year with the Wildwood deck; but have since switched myself over to using the Archeon. Both are really good decks – with beautiful artwork and symbolism, each with their own distinct feel, and both seem to be quite accurate for me. I have recently started incorporating tarot cards into my Journeying, so far simply consulting the cards regarding things and ideas I encounter along the way. For me, this is another way to explore and review what I encounter in my Journeywork, another way to seek wisdom. I have begun to wonder, however, whether or not I might benefit from doing this the other way around: meditating on a tarot card beforehand, and using it as a purpose for a Journey? For now, I have other Journeywork that I am doing; but this might be something I revisit at some point.

I leave this post with a newer version of an image I created – originally for a different blog project that never really got out of the planning stage. The image is comprised mainly of two images and one well-known theme. The first image is a modification I made to Magic Circle, a painting by John William Waterhouse (I added in the sword and pentacle images, both in the public domain, to complete the already existing wand and chalice / cauldron elements). The second comes from scans of the original Rider-Waite deck from 1909 (and not the recolored version published in the 1970’s). Both images are therefore in the public domain. Enjoy!