Fri, Sep. 7th, 2007, 10:05 am
Good times

Yesterday evening's Gnostic Boot Camp at LVX Lodge was well attended and a lot of fun. We were doing a "Meet the Saints" night featuring Osiris, Charlemagne, and Valentinus. All three were great presentations that provoked boisterous and insightful conversations, along with some welcome silliness. I was in a bad mood most of yesterday, but by the time I was on my way home last night I felt wonderful.

I think one of the best things about getting older is that you can recognize a Golden Age when it's actually happening. Ten years from now, it's guaranteed that the magical chemistry of the current LVX crew will be gone. A whole succession of other things will have replaced it, some painful, some good in different ways, but none of them exactly what we have now.

When you are young, you think everything is eternal, and thus don't know how much you should savor times like this as they are happening. Only after losing a few Golden Ages do you learn to spot them when you're in them, and to understand how transient they are. Like the Aztecs, I am learning to find that most beautiful which is most fragile. The Aztec idiom for supreme beauty translates as "flowers and song", two of the most ephemeral pleasures in the world. I can't think of a better description for what I feel right now.
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Fri, Sep. 7th, 2007 05:20 pm (UTC)
[info]maeghanne

I love you so very very much, my brother!
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Fri, Sep. 7th, 2007 05:25 pm (UTC)
[info]isomeme

The feeling is quite mutual, my dear.
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Fri, Sep. 7th, 2007 05:42 pm (UTC)
[info]royalbananafish

I LOVE the idea of a "Meet the Saints" series. Would your presenters be willing to share notes?
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Fri, Sep. 7th, 2007 05:51 pm (UTC)
[info]isomeme

Most of them read this journal and can respond directly; I'll ask around among those who don't. But most peoples' notes tend to be pretty informal, since these are roughly half-hour presentations that feature a lot of group conversation time.

We do GBC once a month; for the past year or so, we have been alternating "Meet the Saints" nights with other topics.
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Fri, Sep. 7th, 2007 06:41 pm (UTC)
[info]belladonna93

Just so you know, I am forever a Berryite!
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Sat, Sep. 8th, 2007 12:29 am (UTC)
[info]isomeme

You can launch a strange branch of the sect that puzzles historians two thousand years from now. That would be fun. :)
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Sat, Sep. 8th, 2007 08:17 pm (UTC)
[info]magdalena_lvx: the folly of being human

and sometimes, knowing that everything changes, and everything ends to be replaced by something different, we humans struggle to maintain control. Sometimes that means prolonging a life that is clearly over and sometimes it means authoring a premature end so as to avoid the fear and pain of un-knowing. The moment is the hardest thing to live in.
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Sat, Sep. 8th, 2007 08:57 pm (UTC)
[info]isomeme: Re: the folly of being human

Is there anything about magick that doesn't come down to balance and timing? If so, I haven't run across it yet.

And yes, the moment is so damned elusive -- as soon as you notice it, it's already gone.
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Tue, Sep. 11th, 2007 09:51 pm (UTC)
[info]baal_kriah

Song is a lot less ephemeral now than it was in the heyday of the Aztecs. Most people take for granted the immense change in the musical world that has been created by the ability to record performances.
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