Getting Weirder in Here

we all inhabit different worlds...

Last time I told what for me is a seminal story, my first undeniable encounter with the wyrd. That funny-looking word, wyrd, resonates with ideas of fate/destiny on one hand, and of strangeness on the other, connecting the two ideas. It’s our weird streaks that make us interesting, after all, and can set us on a fateful trajectory. The way we’re weird is the way we’re wired, after all—nothing we can do about—and maybe we’re that way for a reason.

Sometime after the weird experience with Borges, it came into my head that I would “follow my weird,” as I told myself (probably not anyone else, not for a while). This was before I knew of the word’s etymology or that version with a ‘y’ that explicitly connects it with fate or destiny. I just sensed I needed to honor what was different about me and see where it led.

I’ve largely stuck to those guns, and they’ve taken me on quite a journey. Not one that’s spelled marked success by conventional standards (though, to be fair, I’m not done yet), and certainly not one that anybody would call efficient. Rather, it’s been non-linear in the extreme, full of soul encounters, rich with meaning. Mystery and magic have been features of the ride, though not in an uncomplicated way. Magic’s usually complicated in the end, I suppose, even if not in the beginning.

If you’ll indulge me in a little retrospecting, I would say that following the thread of my wyrd has taken me to some interesting places: from physics to religious studies and on to ayurveda, a Fulbright year in Nepal, herbalism & acupuncture school, a traditional initiation in Nigeria, ancestral healing training, astrological studies, a decade of clinical practice, and what has become Heartward Sanctuary. I met my amazing wife along the way and have ended up in a life I never imagined (shades of David Byrne: ‘how did I get here?’). Psychic exploration, spirit work, ritual and divination, and contact with discarnate entities have been among the themes of my adult life so far.

Along the way I’ve had to let go of caring too much about what other people think. That’s part of the price of following your weird. And my path doesn’t show any signs of getting any less weird. In fact, as my own baseline for weirdness keeps shifting, I may underestimate just how far out there (by most standards) my reality has become. Yet it is my reality, not some passing fancy or delusion.

We all inhabit different worlds to some degree, since our environments and our minds influence one another. It’s not just a matter of perception, but of world-creation. Our convictions and expectations shape what we notice, attune to, attract, and ultimately experience. Small divergences compound over time, so that some of us end up very far indeed from the mainstream. I say, good, since that particular stream is badly polluted, not to mention overcrowded.

Out where I’m camped, the water’s fine, though the imperial aqueduct doesn’t reach out here, and it’s a long way to the nearest grocery store. (#silkhope - if you know, you know).

As you press on into the weirdlands, things that once seemed far-fetched become part of your baseline understanding of reality, the basic rules of the game: things like the existence of working oracles (confirmed on a daily basis these days around here) and kin from other planes (even other galaxies—see The Lavender Files for early explorations in this regard).

I suppose the point of all this is to serve official notice: Seeds from the World Tree is leaning into its wyrd roots. Now that I’ve hung up my acupuncture hat, I’m going all-in with the strange explorations. Feel free to hop off if this is your stop, I don’t expect this cup of tea is for everyone.

There’ll still be a pragmatic side to what happens here, because weirdness can work really well. That, for me, is the beauty of divination, which for me has become a jewel-like talisman of weirdness. That divination works at all challenges the very assumptions that the modern world runs on—but work it does, and it can be life-changing in the insights and guidance it offers. More on that soon.

Wyrdly yours, Djed