Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections biography has been a great read over the holidays. I've dog-eared pages where Jung refers to other books for future research. Previous discussions of Jung with friends have centered around his willingness to explore parapsychology, astrology and the like - in order to determine the nature of the psyche. When a friend mentioned that he was involved in the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous, I was honestly surprised. I found a letter he sent to Bill W. on the web - interesting stuff. click here to view the letter. click here for an editorial on reading Jung.

In one of the passages, Jung describes the house he built for himself in Bollingen, a stone tower without electricity, running water or heat. I wonder what it would take for me to live with less? Jung states that he came into his own in Bollingen, that the simplicity of life was part of that. As I review the commitments I'd like to make to myself this year, I'm looking at the material things I've carried with me, things once full of potential that I can now let go.

Our home is quiet now, our guests left last night. Jason's parents and brother enjoyed their stay and we enjoyed having them. We took them to the Experience Music Project, the Seattle Art Museum, went to see The Rabbit Proof Fence, played pool and relaxed together. At home, piles of books and music kept everyone occupied when conversation lulled. I don't think they missed the tv. Well, I did hear comments about missed football games, but the pool hall had Sunday's games running, so that should've taken care of that.

One of the perks of having my Mother-in-law in town is that she provided moral support as I tried for the sixth or seventh time to remove stains from my Sema gown (tennure). My good friend Lee made Sema costumes for both Jason and myself. She did an amazing job in a very short amount of time. She volunteered at the ceremony and afterward recommended that I come over for an evening of alterations that would improve the look of the costumes for next year. So I washed our black capes (Hirkas) and the rest of the costumes together and discovered that the black belts (the elif-lam-end) had stained both my tennure and our short jackets (deste-guls). After several failed attempts, I let Lee know that the tennures were stained and I was out of ideas. She ended up testing the remaining scraps of fabric she had with bleach and discovered that they didn't yellow as she had feared. I loaded the costumes into the washer one last time and was pleased to see that only the faintest staining remained at the hem of the skirt.
click here to read about Sema ceremony, especially the music.
click here to see the Sema costumes in action.

New Years' Eve approaches and this looks like a quiet one. Dan called tonight with an invite to a party and I've heard of several others, including one in Virginia that looks promising - but I figure this is my only chance to chill, so I'm taking it.

click here for a bit of holiday interactive cheer.