Your own . . .personal . . .cosmogram

So, my PEH (platonic Euro husband) Gordon was recently talking about Cosmograms and I was super excited because lately my blagosphere has been v. v. theory heavy and . . . I have nothing of import to contribute there due to my lack of book learnin' and my complete inability to retain any of the information involving very theory heavy discourse in magic. So I've been feeling sort of uninspired and lackadaisical in posting, as my little piece of the egregor is basically out to lunch while the rest of the egregor is working like busy worker bees. Also, my sister pulled a triple word score (she's buying a house/getting married/having a baby) which has been distracting though happy making for all involved.

And like so many other things that he talks about, Gordon talked about something that I've had lazily slowly drifting through my habitrail brain for quite some time. In ADF/GoG, we talk about spirits of place. And I've gotten a pretty good handle on the spirit of New Brunswick, NJ but the rest of it for me . . .is sort of lip service (for me! Others seem quite sincere which is why I always feel like a bad pony there!). And I think that's because I haven't drawn a map. And OMG, I love maps like whoa.

New Hope, PA: My first exposure to magical stores, an lbgt/alterna friendly (though now more yuppie) boho place that has restored my faith in magic and the cosmos 75% of the time I've been there. In that 75% of the times I've been there, I've felt my heart open up in ways that I hadn't felt. I've fallen in love there numerous times. They made a New Orleans style restaurant out of an old church that still has the church fixtures in them, only now (gently and politely) saucy. Whatever clothes I wanted to wear, whatever person I wanted to be, I could be there. Also, a v. kink friendly area with the gorgeous Chateau Exotique. I would be remiss in not mentioning Wildflowers, which will always be *my* restaurant, not mine and another person. And the Wildflower Preserve, just big enough and woodsy enough for an indoor cat like me to feel outdoorsy.

Cafe du Monde, New Orleans - I love New Orleans, all of it. The glamour, the rundown, the ecstasy, the sadness. Loved it so much I volunteered with the Red Cross to go and help after Katrina, even though I was scared shitless to. Cafe du Monde is where the whole world meets over beignets and everyone goes, no matter how fancy or plain or rich or poor you are.

Avebury, UK - I thought my mind was blown at Stonehenge, but Avebury is way better. You can touch all the stones and see all the covert offerings left, sheep run through all foot loose and fancy free, tourist dowsing just for the hell of it, teenagers were doing a ritual in another language when I was there and they sounded like fairies singing.

The Maze in the Garden of Versaille, France - In my first big European adventure after college, we managed to have a picnic there inside it. Bottle of wine and cheese and meats and pastries, it felt so glamorous and grown up and the world felt so impossibly big and wonderful.

Palmyra's Teahouse Boundbrook, NJ (now defunct) - So glam and goth with a whole library of books and new bands for us to listen to with wall scones and damask everywhere and an art gallery always full of outsider art. All my teenaged dramas happened there over pots of oolong. My friends that I still have from that time still day dream about it.

New Paltz, NY/The Hudson Valley Wine Trail - J. and I love to pretend to be posh and go wine tasting. It's a boho town with lots of local and organic food and beautiful beautiful scenery.

The Sea Gypsy, The William Morris Loft, Wildwood, NJ - It was such an amazingly romantic suite in the attic with lots of cozy window seats and romantic but not fussy furniture. Though we were already in love, the Loft sealed it for Jow and I.

The Rutgers Gardens - A place for wine tasting, cutting class, rolling down hills, and falling in love.

Mahogany on Walnut - An old boys' style club that enjoys it when girls go to smoke a stogie and toss back some kind of port or whiskey. L. and I liked going there.

Little Italy in NYC - Because we all need to eat until we die and light some candles at the church and go to a seperate restaurant to be stuffed full of desserts sometimes.

My nodes all seem connected to: eating, drinking, falling in love, glam'rous (as my tiny charge used to say when I was a nanny), boho, and breaking the rules. That seems about right for me.