Here’s where I would like to try writing… Weekly Recap 12/22/2025

Most of my writing (well, most of my life these days, actually) takes place on a laptop at the dining room table. So far it’s been working out pretty well for me.

But you know what? I’d like to try a typewriter one day. I don’t know how effective that would be since I usually have about 50 references open in tabs as I write. It would be a fun experiment though, especially if I was writing something… well, something that didn’t need referencing.

I can take my laptop pretty much anywhere, so maybe I could just go for a change of scenery. In that case, I’d like to try writing…

• by a lake
• by the ocean
• in a forest
• on a mountain

Yes, I live near the beach. Theoretically, I could accomplish at least one of the above whenever I please, but I’m also terrified of getting my laptop sandy.

Good morning and happy Monday, friends! I hope everyone had a lovely solstice.

Here is some new content for your consumption:

• New Article: From Saturnalia to Santa: The Ancient Roots of Holiday Gift Exchanges
• New Podcast: Same as above, just listen to me talk about it!
• New M3 Episode: Jack Chanek and Tarot for the Magically Inclined

I have officially completed my first semester back at school and grades have been posted. I learned next to nothing… but on paper, it at least looks like I am at least a successful student. And that’s what it’s all about, right?

Our house is now oozing Christmas cheer. I put up our lights and wrapped a ton of gifts.

We used to have an additional hedge, but the HOA removed it a few months ago, so I’m slightly more limited on light placement. Also, I can say that I’m officially sick of wrapping gifts.

On Friday night, we had our coven Yule celebration. It was led by two of our coveners and they did an excellent job! It’s always so much fun to watch students step up and perform their first ritual. It even came complete with a bonfire!

Speaking of bonfires, I finished my submission for Crossed Crow’s upcoming Divination Anthology, which will probably be due out in about a year. I wrote about scrying with the elements, so quite naturally, there is a section on bonfires.

And in more book-related news, I was emailed a small typeset preview of Fluid Condensers. It looks so great! I can’t wait to hold the actual book in my hands.

This weekend, we’ve been traveling to St. Petersburg, Florida for some family time. Actually, as I send you this, we’re still there. We’re celebrating early Christmas. We’ll have regular Christmas later this week once we get back home.

We took a walk down the pier, took a look at the views, walked through the market, heard some music, and grabbed gelato.

And this was our early Christmas dinner… Beef Wellington!

Gordon Ramsey himself would have been proud.

We’ve had kyphi orders flying in. I can only suspect that some people might be giving them as holiday gifts. Well, that works for me! I had to start a new batch to keep up with everything.

I know it doesn’t look like much right now, but once this dough dries, I can start rolling it into tiny little balls and coating them with a special mix of powder. By the time we return, it should be dry enough to flip over at least, but then it’ll need to cure for several weeks. Kyphi is a slow process, that’s what makes it so awesome at the end.

I called this out in the top links, but the final episode of Season 3 has been posted! It features Jack Chanek talking about his new book, Tarot for the Magically Inclined. We had a great chat, answering questions like “what is magic” and “what is divination,” and at the end of the conversation, Jack even shares some tips on using Tarot cards to communicate with angels and demons. Fascinating stuff!

This will be a short week of availability for me. We’ve got Christmas, lots of driving to do, and we’ll be traveling once again this upcoming weekend. So… we’ll see what I’m able to churn out in a short time frame. Regardless, stay tuned for more!

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Perun

In Slavic mythology, Perun is the highest god of the pantheon & the god of the sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility, & oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris (the flower), eagle, firmament, horses & carts, & weapons (hammer, axe (Axe of Perun), & arrow).

The supreme god in the Kievan Rus’ during the 9th-10th centuries, Perun was first associated with weapons made of stone & later with those of metal. The Kievan Ris’ (a.k.a. Kyivan Rus’) was the 1st East Slavic state & later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. It encompasses a variety of peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, & Finnic.

The Primary Chronicle relates that in the year 6415 (907 AD) Prince Oleg (Old Norse: Helgi) made a peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire & by taking his men to the shrines & swearing by their weapons & by their God Perun, & by Volos, the God of cattle, they confirmed the treaty.

In 980, when Prince Vladimir the Great came to the throne of Kiev, he erected statues of 5 pagan gods in front of his palace which he soon thereafter discarded after his Christianization in 988.

Perun was chief among them, represented with a silver head & a gold moustache. Vladimir’s uncle, Dobrynya, also had a shrine of Perun established in his city of Novgorod. After the Christianization of Kievan Rus’ this place became a monastery, which continued to bear the name of Perun.

Perun was worshipped by the Varangian (Scandinavian) warriors hired by Oleg & Igor during the campaigns against Byzantium. In the treaty of 971, the Varangians reenforce with the Slavic deity, Veles.

When the arrival of Christianity, the old gods fared poorly amongst the Slavs. Grand prince Vladimir the Great, who had once been a very vocal & lavish patron of Perun, converted to Christianity.

In 988, the prince & his family & people of the Kievan Rus’ were collectively baptized. He ordered that the statues of Perun which he himself had erected formerly, be dethroned, torn down with great dishonor & dragged through the streets as they were beaten with sticks. The idols were then cast into rivers & not permitted to land on the shore. 3 of Vladimir’s sons are also recognized as saints.

In neopaganism interpretation, the struggle of St. George with the serpent is understood as the struggle of Perun with Veles, who stole cows from him.

According to the book Dezionization by Valery Yemelyanov, 1 of the founders of the Russian neopaganism, in the ideas of the “Veneti” (“Aryans”), there was a “trinity of three triune trinites”: Prav-Yav-Nav, Svarog-Perun-Svetovid, Soul-Flesh-Power.

In some currents, Perun may be the supreme patron god. Since 1992, the 1st neopagan Kupchinsky Temple of Perun has been in St. Petersburg.

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