An introduction, migrating outwards from tumblr

[lexidius]

-Name you would like to go by:

Lex, Static, BS (they/their/themselves or he/his/himself)



-Present path or tradition:


This one's kind of hard to pin down as it's very loose, eclectic and free-form without being tied down to any one faith. It's fair to say I'm a pantheist following modern polytheism though. A lot of my work seems to gravitate towards Greek/Roman, Celtic, Norse, Egyptian, Australian and Maori, with a strong focus on animal spirits, esoteric shamanism and a sprinkling of Pop Culture Paganism alongside my Personal Pantheon. Important themes and/or recurring figures at the time of writing this include the balance/overlap between polarities (chaos/order, life/death, sun/moon, masculine/feminine, love/fear) and two of my most prominent figures right now are Apollo and Lillith.



-Interests:

Creative Arts (art, photography, writing, music, film/theater), language/culture/travel, urban exploration, speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, alt-history), solarpunk/eco-sustainability, psychedelia in relation to esoteric philosophy (see: Terence McKenna), paranormal/ghost hunting/cryptozoology, anthropology, poking my nose into studying the occult, videogames, cartoons, tabletop roleplaying, otherkin/alterhuman/transhumanism, anthropomorphism, furry (including postfurry).



-Age (not mandatory):


As of writing this, 23 (24 in January 2019).



Brief Bio:


Though my family does have Christian roots on both sides, I was never raised to follow any one single belief and grew up for the most part with open-minded, unconventional parents. My father (now deceased) was a black sheep among a family of undertakers and often found himself exploring the darker, otherworldy sides of esotericism, wrestling with his shadow right up until finding himself through zen pantheism. My mother is a hippie and much of her interests are involved in having a green thumb and reconnecting with nature, though in the past she was more inclined towards new age, neo-spiritualist beliefs - many of which I find myself taking with a grain of salt due to a healthy dose of my father's skepticism. After being diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder in 2017, I came to walk a Middle Path between spiritual and psychological in regards to my alters/headmates and their/our identity/identities. I have considered myself otherkin since early childhood and while there are some psychological reasonings behind this, I consider this to be mostly spiritual in nature. I also consider myself somewhat of a soulbonder.

Comments

[fayanora]

"I see you've also got a broad view of elements and how they influence each other under different deities!"

Indeed I do. It got started with thinking that four elements weren't enough, especially after seeing that the elements for eastern philosophy were different. I started with the main four and then also Light and Metal. But I have something of an obsession with the number 9 (as it's 3 sets of 3) and expanded it to fit that number. Metal, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Void, Consciousness, and Spirit. (In no particular order.)

"And after poking at your profile a little I noticed your path is also based on sci-fi writing and a personal alien-fiction pantheon (unless I've misinterpreted this somehow, but you have definitely peaked my interest here)."

That is accurate. I was pagan in theory for a few months before that, but no earthly pantheons were clicking with me. Then in the world building for one of my sci-fi stories, I fell in love with the culture and the religion central to the story, and adopted it. I've been refining it for almost 20 years now.

"I was flung all up and down the East coast of Australia and briefly to New Zealand, but it's safe to say I'm financially in a position where I can't really get out much so I too am kind of just stuck where I am for the time being. I have plans to visit the United States, Canada and Europe though."

I should probably clarify that I don't travel much now, and I've never been out of the country, but my family moved around a lot when I was younger. Oregon is the fourth state I've lived in, the one I'm currently in. Let's see... born in Kansas when we lived in Nebraska, moved from Nebraska to Iowa, from Iowa to Illinois, then back to Iowa. Visited Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington DC on a class trip in high school. On my way to Oregon, I was in a Las Vegas airport for a layover. And I've been to the coast of Washington state, as well as occasional forays into Vancouver, Washington as it's across a river from Portland. That is the extent of my travels.

It's cool you got to go to Canada, Oz, and Australia's Canada. :)

Actually no, I haven't! Aside from Terence McKenna, my other explorations are mostly along the lines of Alan Watts. I have poked my head into Joseph Campbell though and need to find wherever I last placed my copy of The Masks Of God: Occidental Mythology.

Ah, well Dr. Timothy Leary sounds good from the way Robert Anton Wilson talks of him. Haven't read any Dr. Leary books myself, but they're on my list. Did you know Dr. Leary developed a form of therapy that uses LSD and guided meditation from a medical professional, that resets imprints on the mind. He claimed he could cure PTSD, alcoholism, and a bunch of other stuff with it, and according to Wilson it looks legit. This was all before LSD was made illegal, obviously.

BTW, at first when you said Alan Watts, my mind went to the wrong guy and I thought of Peter Watts. He's a sci-fi writer, writes hard sci-fi. I *love* his books "Blindsight" and "Echopraxia"! Both have some really cool forays into the nature, function, and importance of consciousness. Lots of characters with highly unusual minds, for one, and then the aliens they run across turn out to have somehow developed space-faring tech without being conscious beings!

Unrelated to anything else - I see you listen to Rammstein! Do you also listen to Powerman 5000, Ayreon or Tool? I'm primarily electronic in my tastes but I do love me some punk, metal and ska from time to time.

I listen to Tool occasionally. I only have two of their albums, Undertow and 10,000 Days. Haven't heard of the other two groups you mentioned. As to other Industrial music, I like Marilyn Manson's early work, and I like Angelspit and Otep. Oh yeah, and System of A Down is pretty awesome, too.

Have you ever heard anything by Eisbrecher? Or Joachim Witt? Those two are very similar to Rammstein. Of the two, I listen to Eisbrecher more often.

I have varied musical tastes, partially due to being a Multiple. Pop, classic rock, foreign artists (including some obscure ones like Ome Henk), industrial, folk music (especially Irish and African), and many more. Most of us are fine with whatever, but Molly Elizabeth loves country western and Christmas music, but Alex acts like he's being tortured whenever Molly is listening to one of those genres. Sometimes she deliberately listens to music that Alex finds incredibly annoying, just to laugh at his funny reactions to it.

I also like some artists that I'm not sure how to classify. My favorite new instrument for the past few months has been the hurdy-gurdy. Weird name, cool sound; imagine if a set of bagpipes and a violin had a baby together, and the hurdy-gurdy sounds something like that. It's amazing, and there are two artists who play it that have albums I want. Stormseeker is one, the other is Guilhem Desq. Stormseeker is sort of... folksy pirate rock. Guilhem Desq is basically the Jimi Hendrix of the electric hurdy-gurdy. Seriously, I would love to hear Jimi Hendrix and Guilhem Desq have a battle of the bands with each other, were it possible.

One of my all-time favorites, though, is Blue Oyster Cult. Especially their album "Heaven Forbid."

[lexidius]

But I have something of an obsession with the number 9 (as it's 3 sets of 3)

Same here! I always feel a little awkward telling people that aside from the number 22 (pretty normal), other important numbers for me are 9, 11 and 666. I actually consider 666 to be somewhat of a lucky number for me because of a set of three reversed 9s adding back into 9 again.

[fayanora]

Along with 3 and 9, I like 5, 6, 13, 23, 42, 69, 666, 333, and 616. I also like the times 12:34 and 11:11. The 666 I like because it freaks so many people out. Thirteen I like because everyone thinks it's unlucky and I think it's lucky. And I like 616 because the bit in the Bible where 666 comes from was mistranslated, the true number of the beast is 616.

As to others, 23 and five are important to Discordians because of the Law Of Fives, and 2+3=5. Twenty three is also a number favored by lovers of coincidences, as 23 shows up in an astonishing number of things and coincidental events.

I like 333 because I joke "333, only half evil." Oh for similar joke reasons I like 667.

Forty two is the Answer. And 69 is obvious.

As for 6, it's an upside down 9. And my path has this whole thing in it where my Goddess (pictured in icon) sometimes sends me challenges I can accept or reject in the form of a door with a 6/9 shaped door handle. If I turn the handle so it looks like a six, I've chosen the more difficult challenge. If I turn it so it looks like a 9, it's an easier challenge. Leaving the door alone means I decline the challenge.

"I actually consider 666 to be somewhat of a lucky number for me because of a set of three reversed 9s adding back into 9 again."

*does the math* OMG I can't believe I didn't know that! Cool!