No, it's not the Return of the Cyrillic Spammer. Members of a Ukranian LJ community have translated one of my blog rants into Russian:

Кэтрин Прайс. Религия - о публичном и приватном

I have no Russian, so I'm taking the translators' word here that that's what it is ;-)

It's funny, because I don't think the original rant is among my best writing. I was tired and rambling, and I've always meant to do some editing on the (imho, long-winded) piece, but I got the translation request before I got around to it, so I guess I'll just let it stand. Apparently I'm not all that easy to translate into Russian. I've heard this from translators in other languages, too. Perhaps my colloquial style relies overmuch on... colloquialisms?

It's always interesting to me which pieces people key in on, as it's often not the same ones I pick as my best or most relevant. But I've had the same experience - there have been times where a piece of writing and music that means a lot to me I'll later discover that the creator just tossed it off, while something sweated over will be met with a resounding, "meh".

Oh, and for those of you who aren't in the communities where thewronghands announced it, we've also finished and posted our quaint little article:

KILLYOUANDEATYOU
Or, A Well-Intentioned Celt's Guide to Non-Celtic Bioregions
http://www.paganachd.com/articles/killyouandeatyou.html

(and the death crones even make an appearance)

This was a much easier write than the Tara-Skryne workings. Basically, thewronghands got the idea, and then we started ranting about all our fuck-ups. For your amusement, of course. Pity us.

We made our deadline.

Despite a few last-minute glitches, we got the PDF for the CR FAQ Book uploaded, and all the legal stuff filled out, late Weds night. Our goal was to finish setting up the publication process before the Venus station, and we did it.

We should get the proof copy in the mail early next week. Maybe as soon as Monday. Assuming all looks good, we're in business.

The last-minute glitches were relatively minor. The biggest time-sink, that set us back a day, or, uh two or three (I've lost all track of time) was that right after we thought we were finished on... uh... late Saturday night? Sunday? we uploaded the PDF and the printer informed us we hadn't left a large enough margin at the top of the pages. Oops. The reformatting meant increased page count, and that I now had to go in and reset some of the graphics. paul_hamish also had to regenerate the index and cross-referencing, as many things were now on slightly different pages. Codemonkey type work, for the most part... and it drove us rather nuts as we were so punchy by that point, and we really had thought we were done. Thankfully, we just bellowed and vented a lot and nothing got broken. I have to admit, I now have a hell of a lot more understanding for why publishers take such a huge cut of the cover price. Writing and editing, and even layout of publications, is fun. It's creative. Codemonkeying text for hours on end, and endless proofreading, is not. This is the probably the last time I volunteer so many tedious hours for free (as previously noted, all proceeds from this book are going to charity).

After finally getting the ms back up to spec., we discovered the change in page count meant we needed to add a couple blank pages to the document as, in order to be bound properly, the page count needs to be a multiple of four. So our final page count is something like 204 pages. We also had to tweak the cover size just a smidge for the increased thickness of the book.

( cover... )
( back cover )
( spine )

So, we sent it off and collapsed, gibbering and twitching. All I've been doing since, besides a trip to acupuncture and the vet, is resting and reading Harry Potter.

( Not as strong as a horse... And rescuing Ripples from the K-hole... )

As I have been alluding to lately, I've been very busy. With the help of morlader and paul_hamish, plus moral support, feedback and food(!) courtesy of ivy_rain, I've been finishing up the glossary for the book version of the CR FAQ. Last night morlader and I finished up the last of the language corrections and I sent it out to the rest of the crew.

We're now discussing it as a group, and I'm resting up. There's nothing like pushing to finish something and then waking up the next morning and realizing how much it tired you out. It's a good tired, for the most part, but I'll be glad when I'm a bit perkier.

Still, Whooooooo!

thewronghands and I have written an article on our work with the Crann Ogham (Tree Ogham): http://paganachd.com/articles/treehuggers.html

It was through our mutual interest in the Celtic sacred trees that Raven and I first connected, here on LJ. Since then she has visited here and we have done some ritual together in the woods. Through the process we have become good friends.

As some of you know, I have often gotten bogged down in my writing about the Crann Ogham system I've been developing. I've been working on a book about it for over 13 years now, at times obsessively, but at other times becoming overwhelmed with life, the scope of the project, or the need to do more research, and shelving it for a year or so. One of the great things about working with Raven is she is very energetic and has a work ethic to match my own. We encourage and motivate each other. Though she is much newer to CR, she has worked very hard to get up to speed and is now able to hold her own among people who others might find intimidating. It's been impressive to watch and I'm glad to have someone of her intelligence and skills doing her part of the heavy lifting. While often others have joined the community only to complain about what we are or aren't doing for *them*, Raven dived right in and brought herself up to speed and is now a valuable contributor.

When I'm in agreement with someone, I love working in collaboration; and Raven is fun to collaborate with. She wrote the initial draft of the article, then I added stuff, and we bounced it back and forth until it was done. I'm amazed at how fast it went. Of course, there's many years of research and experimentation that led up to the quick writing process. So the actual time we took putting words on paper is deceptive. We might also expand it for hardcopy publication at a later date.

We'd love your feedback.

ObWebNote: This is the first article to go live on the new site where we will be hosting the FAQ. The links on the page are not yet active, but will go live sometime in the next two weeks. Bear with us as we put the site together. We have some interesting content in the works...

Or, to be more specific, black, dilated, bloodshot, belladonna bowie eyes.

And they are probably toxic, too.

In English? On Monday I went to the Opthamologist. Nothing wrong, just the usual every-two-years checkup, that I last did four years ago. Much to my surprise, my eyes are fine and my prescription has hardly changed at all -- only a smidge different in one eye.

However, as I go to the Excellent Opthamologist, I was subjected to the toxic eye drops. These are the ones they put in your eyes and make you wait half an hour while your pupils dilate out to the edges of your irises, destroying most ability to focus, decimating depth perception, and making any sunlight drive a spike into your head. Yum. They do this so they can shine bright lights into your eyes while your head is in a vice.

Thankfully, I had paul_hamish and then ivy_rain with me, so I didn't have to do anything stupid like drive afterwards. Or walk. OK, I did walk, but I had to hold on to one or both of them due to the aforementioned utter lack of depth perception. What fun, wall-bouncing my way along the streets of Noho, dark dark glasses in place, glazed look on my face.

Once ensconced in the dim restaurant for post-exam fortification, I noticed that my eyes had un-dilated a tiny fraction. Wow, you could actually see color around all that black now. However, either I was reacting to the drops oddly, or I received differing doses of the potion in my eyes, as the pupils were now of uneven sizes. As, despite my behaviour, I actually had not experienced a head injury recently, I decided to chalk it up to random variables in dosing and "enjoy" being Bowie-esque. Albeit in a middle-aged American, curvy female sort of way. I can dream, but Thin White Duke I ain't.

After feeding and wishing the pentacle-clad waitress a Good Beltane (yes, spelled and pronounced that way, as she appeared Wiccan, not Celtic) I staggered over to one of our local academic institutions, hanging onto ivy_rain to keep from stumbling overmuch or wall-bouncing.

Had a long visit with our old friend (and my ex) V, who is a professor at said College, and got to cheerlead one another on our various writing projects. She and ivy_rain are encouraging me to do some writing that's unconnected with obscure, non-paying religious cults. Fascinating idea. And to this end they trotted out many helpful (if sometimes embarrassing) examples of all the weird things in my life they believe people would actually pay to hear. Hmmm... I remember those days, when I actually wrote things read by people who weren't also members of the obscure, non-paying religious cult...

I think those eyedrops are definitely toxic. My eyes are back to normal now, but it took almost 24 hours and I am still kind of draggy. I am not normal. Nor are my eyes. It's ok, there are worse things than being so, er, unique. Wanna pay to hear about it ;-)

Just got online. I am trying to do too many things at once, and feeling like some people and projects may feel slighted. So, to clarify:

My priorities for the near future:

1. Finishing the FAQ.
2. Setting up the website for the FAQ and getting it posted there.
3. Updating my websites.

After that:

I will be prioritizing the other writing projects, solo and collaborative, that I am already committed to.

As the launch date for the Brighid order is next Imbolc, I do not want to rush in that department. I am working on bits of liturgy as they come to me, and will be doing my best to dedicate my writing and contemplative time during my shifts to that project (I am shift 15, Cill Dara, in Daughters of the Flame).

During all this I will do my best to maintain e-mail, feedback on other people's writing projects, and my duties to the communities I mod. I will also be attempting to have a tiny bit of a social life - something I have made sacrifices in to do some of this work.

So, please be patient with me. I have a lot on my plate right now. If I take a while to get back to you, or seem rushed or curt at some point, I apologize in advance. If you notice me complaining too much or being too stressed, I will not be offended by helpful reminders to take some time to chill and take care of myself. I also note that this frenzy of activity does seem to happen to me every spring - tis the season.

Now, back to FAQ-ing.

Love,

-K

p.s. For those who don't want to run screaming at the mere mention of the matter, I added the Giraldus Cambrenis' Topgraphia Hibernie quotes in a comment on my post before last, here: http://caitriona-nnc.livejournal.com/129454.html?thread=542638#t542638. (These are the quotes about the danger to men who cross the hedges around Brighid's flame.)

Actually been getting some writing and research done. Outlines for articles and workshops, more content for the ongoing book projects, and tonight I spewed a bunch of Brighid-related poetry that is partly original, partly adapted from the Carmina.

( writing and research details, the still-neglected website, ritual issues, and yet another anniversary )

It was also twenty years ago now that I took the name Theatana, as part of my Priestess vows. And now, that name no longer feels like me. It will always be a part of me, but it's no longer a front-and-center part. I am now seriously into the process of shedding it. Which is a complicated business after carrying it for twenty years. I look at the website and see that name all over it... and it feels like a different person. I know that, in copyright terms and citation terms, it's probably best to just leave those articles as they are. But I don't want to. I want to go and change the credits. At least on all the even vaguely CR pieces.

So much work to do... May Brighid help me find the energy to take care of it all. And still take care of myself, and my loved ones, in the process.

Imbolc blessings to all of you!

Kathryn NicDhàna

Wind from the Southwest
Streams from the Summerlands
Rushing to us from the House of Donn

Clouds low and fierce
Dark as her face
Storm Hags on the horizon

Cries from the Southwest
I call you by your many names:
Katrina, Camille, Andrew, Oya

Hekua Oya
Slàinte Mhath Cailleachan
I hold my hands out to you

Be gentle with us

Pray for rain, she said
and now my eyes are streaming

I keep expecting to find out it's a hoax. Maybe it's just my own sense of disbelief. Bastard should have run for President instead. Or at least took someone out with him.

I will miss him. *sniffle*

It's quite possible that Hunter Thompson may have been an evil old coot in his personal life. We just don't know, as he was very private, and much of his public persona was actually a well thought out piece of performance art. So it's equally possible he was also a gentle, kind soul. He kept that mysterious inner self for his intimates, and presented the outer manifestations of his life and art for our edification and entertainment. A blistering satirist, a brave snake who ripped away the lies of our culture and made us laugh at the horrors that could be endured no other way; we desperately need him now in these evil, savage times. I am saddened and stunned to have lost him.

His writing had a life-changing impact on me. Right up there with Lester Bangs, Spalding Gray and Patti Smith (only Patti being still with us now). Actually, Hunter may even have been above them all for me... so much a part of my internal landscape that I don't know who I'd be if it weren't for his influence. Today I feel like a sad survivor, with so many of my mentors gone.

Granted, without his example I would have done far less drugs, for good or ill. But neither would I have found the courage to write like a volcano and take the daring leaps and stupefying pratfalls inherent in "wallowing with the eagles and soaring with the pigs." I won't have any children to name after Hunter, but maybe a pet and/or a book dedication (One of my earlier works that never saw publication was dedicated to him, among a fine few others).

And about that drug thing: Let's be honest, in these revisionist days - many of the fabulous, mind-expanding, culturally revolutionary breakthroughs that were brought about during the drug-culture years simply cannot be taken out of that particular context. They cannot be held apart and "just say no"'d into a more comfortable belief that these changes would have happened without the drugs (and the general atmosphere of risk-taking that was part and parcel of life in the sixties and early seventies). The world was a different place before and after those years. And we were different. And the changes we all went through then have had a huge impact, whether or not it's known or acknowledged, on everyone who's come along since. Or everyone who's mattered. Sure, some of it was scary, some of it went too far, some of it eventually burned out into Bad Craziness and way too many tokes over the line (sweet jesus), but those experiences are an inextricable part of the environment that formed many of our best and brightest. It was colorful and dangerous and probably necessary to kick people out of the repression and rigidity of what came before. It was Neptune in Scorpio and all the Sex and Drugs and Rock-n-Roll that implies. And Hunter was a brave commando charting the waters for all who were too timid to take that journey themselves. And for those who got on the bus with him, well, as they say, you just had to be there.

My packmates yuriverse and paul_hamish summed it up well here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/yuriverse/73520.html
and here: http://demiorator.blogspot.com/2005/02/goodnight-mr-thompson.html

Light upon your path, you dangerous old freak. We love you, like the fine mutant you were, are, and in our memories will always be. May there be fine words, fierce courage, and peace and healing for you and your loved ones. Slàinte Mhath, Hunter. May there be a returning for thee.

I have gotten in on the Fluffy Bunny debate over on recons. While I am not fond of the fantasy-prone, the Celtique Shamynnes, or the Celtique Wicces, I am also a mystic. Scholarship is not the be-all and end-all of my path - it's something I came to to *deepen* my spiritual practice. My ancestors were warriors and scholars and politicians, but many of them were also mystics. And mystical experience was such an integral part of the culture, it could be argued that, by the current materialistic standard, they *all* were mystics to one extent or another. If nothing else, mysticism touched all their lives, and the the fruits of mystical experience were interwoven into the fabric of their lives, even if only a few of them in every generation had the calling to go be hermits communing with the spirits full-time.

So it worries me when some people who consider themselves reconstructionists start to loudly disparage mysticism. I'm not sure I said anything in the discussion today that those who read this journal haven't already heard me say ad nauseum. I consider the whole "balance mysticism and scholarship" point all part of CR 101. But when I look at the community, it seems to always bear repeating. Sometimes I'll go many days making long statements in communities and the journals of friends, and say nothing in my own journal. So maybe I should link to more of these discussions, if nothing else so I can find them later.

On the general topic of relative "fluffiness", Isaac has an amusing article here: Making Fauna Pagans. Thanks to firedrake_mor for the link.

On a personal note, I seem to have a bit of a cold. Woke up with congestion and coughing. Ick. So I will have to rest a bit before getting to longer e-mail responses. I meant to go lie down and veg out a while ago, but got pulled into the "fluffy" debate and then felt like mentioning it here. My computer is in the shop, so at least I have an excuse for not getting real writing done today (unlike my usual, more absurd excuses). Off to lie down, shut up, and drink my herbal remedies (is that fluffy?) *cough cough*