BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Underground > Temple >

Spending a weekend dead for tax reasons

  
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
00:16 / 21.03.02
After a few less-than-subtle hints from the Department of Synchronicity, I've realised that I need to do a ritual something along the old death/re-birth lines.

The trouble is that I'm just too busy to be dead at the moment, so I'm looking for a ritual that I can put in motion over the course of an evening, which will then run in the background while I get on with the rest of my life. Can anyone help me with this?
 
 
the Fool
03:59 / 21.03.02
Cheating on death? Mordant how could you!

Actually I've got an idea. Make a shrine to Baron Samedi and bake him a cake. He likes cakes apparently. Maybe put a new yummy cake on the shrine for each day of the ritual.

Let the professionals handle the business of life and death while you go about your daily stuff.
 
 
SMS
04:12 / 21.03.02
I wouldn't suggest running the spell in the background. Rather, set your actions on autopilot while "you," or the main portion of you, descends into your subconsciousness or wherever it is you need to go.
 
 
betty woo
10:35 / 21.03.02
The first thing that comes to mind for me is lizards. Some species are capable of dropping off their tail if caught by a predator, in order to escape. The tail then grows back slowly. It's a nice metaphor for dropping off whatever part of yourself needs to die right away, and the ritual could incorporate both the removal of your "tail" and initiate the healing process - which carries on naturally in the background as you work on other things.

That applies mainly if there's only part of yourself you need to kill off. If it's a full-corpse effect you're going for, and time is limited, then perhaps the Baron is your man...
 
 
FatherDog
12:42 / 21.03.02
Personally, I think that this isn't a very good idea.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but to me part of the point of a death/rebirth ritual is to make a clean break, STOP anything and everything you're doing and look at things with a fresh, "newborn" perspective. Having it run in the background while you continue doing things seems to defeat much of the purpose.

You're getting synchronistic hints that you should rebirth yourself, but have you sat down and considered why you're getting these hints? The very fact that you're apparently too busy to even set one evening aside for it would seem to indicate to me that you really NEED to set at least one evening aside for it, and NOT do anything else.

Of course, I don't know that much about your specific situation, so I might be entirely off-base. Just my thoughts.
 
 
Ierne
13:31 / 21.03.02
I've realised that I need to do a ritual something along the old death/re-birth lines.

The trouble is that I'm just too busy to be dead at the moment...– Mordant C@rnival

Heh!

Seriously, it may help somewhat to focus on transformation and change – I'm guessing that you're not interested in dying, you're interested in changing. Death is a great metaphor for change, but there are others that may be more amenable to your specific situation and need.
 
 
grant
13:38 / 21.03.02
You already shave your head, right?
That's the first one that comes to my mind - reshaping the face, leaving something old and no-longer-alive behind.
 
 
cusm
13:55 / 21.03.02
Shaving your head works best if you don't normally do it. The longer your hair before hand, the better with that sort of thing. Drastic change. Having done that rit myself, its powerful.

But yea, even otherwise, the shaving itself is a good focus. A bald head is much like a newborn
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
16:06 / 21.03.02
quote:Originally posted by Ierne:
Death is a great metaphor for change, but there are others that may be more amenable to your specific situation and need.

True, but the signals I've been getting defiantely point towards a strong death/rebirth sort of rite, and soon. Which wouldn't normally be a problem, but rituals like this do tend to put you through the wringer for a few weeks afterwards- all kinds of stuff comes up willy-nilly and you have to deal with that.

Still, I suppose it's a good time of year for it. Spring, and whatnot.
 
 
Ierne
16:24 / 21.03.02
Hmmm... perhaps something a bit Eleusinian?


Dionysos has been known to die and come back from time to time...

The Egyptian Book of the Dead may have some ideas for you too.
 
 
cusm
16:56 / 21.03.02
Ya missed the Equinox, you know.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
20:17 / 21.03.02
quote:Originally posted by FatherDog:
The very fact that you're apparently too busy to even set one evening aside for it would seem to indicate to me that you really NEED to set at least one evening aside for it, and NOT do anything else.

Thanks for the input. Actually, I do plan to put aside an evening for the ritual; it's the psychic and psycological after-effects that concern me- I've still got to function in the real world.
 
 
SMS
22:11 / 21.03.02
I keep thinking about this little bit from the bible in which Jesus asks some people to follow him and they say, okay but let me get my things in order first. And of course this isn't a good thing.

So my gut feeling tells me you should just do the ritual, and let things happen.

I don't know, though. You probably have more experience with this kind of thing than I do.

I have one suggestion for a ritual. Let yourself die by drowning, and let the night be the water that does it. In the daytime, you should then be able to take care of whatever is the most essential business in your life. At night, the aftereffects of the ritual will hit hard.
 
 
Logos
22:27 / 21.03.02
Take all your ID, your car keys, your wallet, your credit cards. Bury them in the backyard underneath a rock with your name on it.

Take a bath, give yourself a new name, a new set of clothes, and wander around for a weekend with a new identity. Then when you're ready, go dig your old self out of the ground.
 
 
Ierne
15:54 / 22.03.02
Take a bath, give yourself a new name, a new set of clothes, and wander around for a weekend with a new identity. – Logos

Hmmm... a Reggie Perrin weekend...

That's a thought!
 
 
penitentvandal
08:31 / 29.03.02
Hmm...'I didn't get where I am today without being dead a few times...'
 
 
penitentvandal
08:34 / 29.03.02
It occurs to me that Easter would be quite a good time for this sort of thing, if you have any kind of subconscious Xtian conditioning: 'kill' yourself today (not literally, obviously), then 'resurrect' yourself on Sunday. This has the added bonus that most people are off over the Easter weekend, so you shouldn't have to do too much work, and you also get to eat loads of chocolate when you're reborn, which is always a bonus...having said that, you'd have to work it pretty much on the fly, starting now.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do...
 
  
Add Your Reply