#occulttalk #spirituality

*lights a metaphorical cigarette*

I've talked about Loki a bit here, and how I inadvertently invited them to my workplace with my secretive sacred space in the corner of the factory, marked with an "elhaz" run (_vide infra_)

I didn't _mean_ this place as a shrine to Loki, mind you, and in fact I remember telling myself, "really do I want Loki's sort of 'help' at a factory job"

https://occult.camp/media/f_VXbWZ-92b0JlJjlJQ

#spirituality #occulttalk

but...

I _did_ use a Norse rune, I didn't _have_ to use a rune like that...my first inclination as you might imagine was paint the #Undertale symbol but was swayed by someone's recommendation here to use a rune, as it had more archetypal weight

the elhaz was one of their suggestions. I liked it, it suggested a tree to me, it suggested life and growth, so up on the wall it went, with a can of silver spray-paint I "borrowed"

well

some while after I put that up, I had a spiritual experience with Loki (they drop in on me maybe every couple of weeks, at least...it's not a certain thing) and they _said_ that, whoever else I'd been intending to honor in that spiritual space, the fact that I was doing it sneakily, basically doing a crime, meant that they were now involved

as I've mentioned before, Loki seems to have some interest in shaping and taming my tendency to lawlessness and petty theft

but more generally, Loki seems to have an interest in teaching me to be more mindful, to use time and actions more efficiently, to be more careful and forethoughtful (because that's how you get to be a better sneakthief)

and I have to admit, that's a pretty nice skill to polish up at a job like mine that, although it has its routine side, consists largely of dealing with the unexpected

well, I got a little lesson in that earlier today, and so did this particular coworker!

so there's this guy at work I've complained about before

red-haired beardy gamer geek, appalling taste in entertainment that I get to find out about every night shift—and he _always_ works nights. I've been kind of afraid of him because he complains about little things all the time

lately though I've been getting on better with him. HRT has helped there, because now I find it simply easier to talk with people in general instead of storing it up

this morning I'm in the little chem lab at the factory, sittiing and waiting for some titration or other to finish, and the ginger guy is there, and of course he finds something to complain about

someone had left a beaker with a bit of biodiesel in it lying around after using it to prep the stuff for the gas chromatograph. "Why don't people clean up after themselves blah blah"

I don't like it either but it's like a minute to do the cleanup myself

anyway I say some commiserative thing and then head out to the factory floor

well

we got these big columns filled with ion-exchange resin beads for "dry washing" the crude biodiesel, removing soap and glycerol from it. it's a shitty system IMO but whatever

the glycerol gets entrained in the beads and has to be washed out with water periodically (and eventually the beads go bad)

red-haired guy was setting up to wash one of these columns