A Little Bit Of This! A Little Bit Of That

A little bit of this! A little bit of that

I have to say that I'm doing a bang up job of overwhelming myself here. I thought that I would have, a lot more down time than I did. Well no! This is not true! As an ARMY cook with my first deployment I had a full team of people who are. Like minded and knew what I knew so the job was not as difficult as it is now!

Now! I have a team but they are contractors who are not American, that are from all over the world. And these are people who are not aware nor do not care about our American culture. So when it comes to food quality or how a dish is made. It's all about getting the job done!

I had to stop one of them from killing us with salt the other day! He used a teriyaki concentrate on one of the meats and I lost my shit! I'm borderline hypertensive. So usually I watch what I eat. One of the things I cannot eat, is surprisingly BBQ sauce. The Amount of salt thats in there is truly crazy to me. Part of my job in the kitchen is to ensure that the food is up to par and that its eatable. But! I'm not the type to make sure that you can just! consume it! Which separates me from the straight men here! They fucking kill me with there sub standards for things that are rather serious. Vers little things like there toys. AKA weapons.

However, I began to get bored with the menu. When you eat weeks and weeks of the same shit, it gets boring really quickly and since well.... I'm the food manger here! I get a say in what happens. I get to deviate from this terrible subpar menu created by a guy who considers cooking "ordering food." Yuck!

The Team that I work with are a team of 5 guys. lol Yes five guys. Not the burger joint but a team of physically small men! which is kind of weird. B/c all of the American men, including myself are gigantic. I'm a wopping 230 pounds and 6'1 . While the average hight among them are 5'4. I do at times feel bad when I get upset with them because they physically look like children to me. But! come on! You can literally taste how salty it is! Then, I had to take a really good look in the mirror and remind myself that not everyone is as aware as I am.

In my years of cooking i had to learn what people do! As in what people do on their down time effects them int here personal life. so if a person works out, they are more likely to be proactive in some areas where physical needs are needed. If a person is artistic, and they paint write and draw on their downtime. That effects how they view the world and will see reality from a more cynical harsh perspective. which at times can create a hostile or rough environment. But! this guy says he has been working in food service for over 2o years. yes! 20 years. which i was surprised by. For a man who's so small and that resembles a child. he's older than I am. I'm currently in my early 30's. but! Him! no he's pushing 50 something. Which is weird as to why he could not taste the salt in the food.

Now! don't get your panties up in a much! Pull them out your asses, he's not the 50 year old who looks, acts or moves his age. So if I say I get on him. It’s because of professional reasons. Not every elderly person is that image of a bag of sand.

What I happen to realize is that, his habit on and off of work is that he's a smoker! Which I should have picked up on from when he smiles. I need to stop giving people the benefit of the doubt. Quick tangent. I one time went over my god mothers house to hang out with her. I happen to be in the kitchen waiting for her to com e out of the bathroom and her man at the time was cooking himself some ramen noodles. So! If you have ver cooked that 25 cent packet of death you know that the little pouch of seasoning it comes with is salty enough. So no! her man adds one of the little red pouches to it along with some soy sauce. Yes soy sauce. I tried my best to hold back the " What the fuck are you doing" look on my face.

I had to ask though. Well...... state that it looks well seasoned. lol he laughed and said he can taste it that way. I figured that it was because of his diabetes. But! he's not the only smoker who has made food that I have seen, over salt things. So in the end when I realized that I had to let him know that he could not use the teriyaki concentrate the same way he uses ketchup. that it needs to be diluted with water. & that I did not care how he used it before, but while i'm here he's not going to do that! because hat they do not realize is that there's a pecking order here! & when the food is good or bad, I get the blame and I get the praise. Not them. I tried t be humble but! they say I make a difference here so I'ma just run with it.

—  Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

Shrines: A Moderately In-Depth Look

So, many people have asked me how to go about starting to set up shrines and how to take care of them and use them. So here’s a big long post!

What is a Shrine?

A shrine is a devotional altar set up for a specific deity or spirit. It is a place, area, or table where you make offerings, pray, and commune with that entity. Shrines are helpful because not only do they help show your devotion to the gods or spirits you venerate, but also having a physical space to routinely make offerings can help keep you in the habit of regular offerings to build your relationship. 

Setting Up a Shrine

Location:

A good way to start setting up a shrine is to pick a place or an area to set it up. It’s important to keep in mind what locations are appropriate for what beings. For example, if you’re setting up a shrine to your ancestors, it’s probably best to do so in a space of modesty (i.e. not a place where a lot of nudity or sex takes place). Furthermore, think about spaces that might be holy to the god or spirit you are setting it up for. For instance, a shrine to your ancestors in a common family room, a shrine for Hekate by a doorway or threshold, a shrine for the spirits of the land in an outdoor setting. All of these things can factor in choosing a location. While none of these are necessarily ‘requirements’, all of these considerations may help you feel more connected or even grant you better access to communicating with your deity or spirits when worshipping at your shrine. 

Picking a Table:

Now that you’ve chosen a location, it’s time to start actually setting the shrine itself. Really anything can be used, an end table, the top of a dresser, a dedicated table, even an entire room if you have the means. However, even the type of structure might lend itself to different deities or spirits. If you’re making a shrine to an underworld or nature deity, perhaps a table that’s closer to the ground, or a shrine to Athena on top of a bookcase. Once you’ve picked your shrine table, it’s important to cleanse it. If you’re going to be setting up a shrine for a deity or spirit, it should be fit for them to present. Then, consecrate the shrine. This can be done by saying a blessing over the table, smoking it with incense, and/or anointing it with sacred oils.

Decorating the Shrine:

Once you’ve picked your table, cleansed, and consecrated your shrine, it’s time to start decorating. A good starting place is deciding whether or not you want an altar cloth. After you have or haven’t placed an altar cloth on the table, start with basics. A good starting place is placing any statues you may have of the deity or spirit on the shrine. Then I like to place any candles I have made for the deity or spirit on the shrine. Next steps could include any sacred items such as bones of animals sacred to the deity or spirit, other candles, flowers, crystals, jewelry, etc. It’s then important to leave space for offerings. One of the main purposes of a shrine is to have a space to leave offerings dedicated to the entities you venerate, so leaving a bowl or a plate and some cups on the shrine to leave offerings in is a great idea. Extra decorations could include things like art of the spirit or deity. Purchasing art from other practitioners or devotees is a great idea. But if you’re on a budget it’s understandable that purchasing prints or comissions might be difficult. I am personally against printing out art that people are selling, and I think that’s theft. But if the artist is dead and it’s a classical painting I say go for it.

For me, the aesthetic of a shrine is important. Colors and themes evoke feelings, and you ultimately want the shrine to bring you closer to the god or spirit you’re worshipping, so making the aesthetic of the shrine match the way the spirit or deity makes you feel is helpful. Furthermore, crafting an aesthetic for your shrine that matches the energy of the deity or spirit is a great plan to help that closeness and show your devotion. For instance, my Hekate shrine is dark but warm. Mixing dark imagery and black with warm, red accents. On the other hand, my Pan shrine features lots of animal parts and goes for a more rustic look to mirror Pan’s divine qualities. You can take any direction you want with your shrine, as long as it evokes the feelings you need it to in order to feel close with your spirit or deity. 

Decorations for a shrine also don’t have to be fancy or expensive. I get a lot of my decorations from thrift stores and the dollar store. Also, taking the time to make your own decorations can be a further devotional act. It’s all about doing what works for you and putting effort and care into making a space for your deity or spirit to commune with you. There’s no one way to organize a shrine, so whatever is done with genuine devotion and care is what is right to do. 

Dedicating Your Shrine

The next step is to perform a ritual of dedication to devote the shrine to the deity or spirit. Light the candles, make some offerings (incense, food, wine) and invite the spirit or deity to accept them and inhabit the shrine. This is an important final step in the initial setting up of the shrine.

Shrine Up-Keep

The shrine isn’t meant to be static, but instead a routinely used and maintained space of worship. That being said, it’s wise to do consistent work on it. 

What to do With Offerings:

Making the offering is pretty straightforward. You leave it on the shrine in whatever receptacle and then pray to your spirit or deity. But what do you do with it afterwards? I usually let perishable offerings sit for no more than a week and usually no less than three days. These offerings can then be disposed of ritually and replaced with new ones. Non-perishable offerings can be left on the shrine and can add to the decorations (art, talismans, sacred objects) or be left in a bowl or plate (i.e. a bowl of money, jewelry, and/or crystals, etc.) on the shrine. 

Adding to the Shrine:

The shrine is meant to reflect your relationship and devotion to a spirit or deity, and therefore should shift with that relationship. Starting out, your shrine will probably be pretty straightforward and simple, but as you grow and build your relationship with your deity or spirit, you should add to your shrine. If you find something at a store that you feel fits your deity or spirit, add it to the shrine! If you begin relating to the deity or spirit in a new way, the decorations can change and you may even feel the need to remove some of them. This is natural and is an important part of any relationship with the divine. When removing decorations, make sure that you ask first and do so respectfully, especially if it is something that has been used as an offering. Overall, the important part of shrine upkeep is that it doesn’t become a place of stagnation, but of growth and transformation.

Cleaning the Shrine:

As shrines are meant to be a space of active worship, they’re going to get dirty sometimes. Incense ashes may fall onto the altar cloth, wax might drip onto the shrine, your statues or decorations might get dusty. If you’re consistent in your veneration of the spirit or deity, the shrine is going to get dirty. So, cleaning your shrine and making sure it is fit for worship and for your god or spirit to be present at is important. It doesn’t have to be an every day thing, or even weekly, but it should be done as a sign of respect and care. I tend to clean my shrines in preparations for holy days or rituals, I try to make sure I do it just generally at least once every month or so.

In Conclusion

Shrines can be an important part of your relationship with a deity or spirit, but it can be hard to know where to start. This post is not meant to be definitive or authoritative in any way, but to help those who might need guidance find some starting points for their practice. Shrines can be anything from a transportable set up, to a whole room, but they are all equal. What’s important to remember is that size, intricacy, or expensiveness is not equivalent to devotion. Any shrine made in genuine care and devotion is equal to another. So when constructing a shrine make sure to do it from the heart and you should be headed in the right direction. It can be really discouraging to see fancy shrines as a beginner, and they can be pretty overwhelming, too. So, always remember that a shrine is to show your devotion to a spirit or god, not to compete with others. As long as you put the effort and care in, you’re golden. I’ve included some pictures of my shrines as examples of how they can differ in their design, and hope that can show that they can be anything you want them to be. I hope this post is helpful and can give some people a way to start their devotional practice. 

Hearts, Angela Strassheim

1. Shot in the Heart.

2. Cancer Heart.

3. Teen Drug Overdose Heart. 

4. Fatty Oversized Heart. 

this is so beautiful

Milky way over the highlands.

Nara natural grassland, Japan.

Bring it on, 2023. May the new year be kind to you.