10/11
So while it may appear I’ve been a lazy fucker, I have been working on magick. Not as much as I should be, but I’ve got my reasons.
My temple now resides in my garage. Hence the need to pick up a carpet, as I like to perform most of my work barefoot. So I finally picked it up and set to work inscribing a circle on it. I hate half-assing things and by Thoth I would not half-ass this. Needless to say, it’s taken a bit longer than I thought.
My plan was to masking tape the carpet, attach a string to a marker and use that to trace out a nearly perfect circle. Then cut the circle out and spray paint. Lift up the tape, maybe do a little touch up by hand. Afterwards I would add sigils and words of power.
The tape down went smoothly, except I thought jeans would protect my knees from damage. I now have several scrapes and bruises to prove that assumption wrong. I have since used knee pads. The first stumbling block came with the realization that a tack would not hold my string in place in the center of the circle. No matter how gentle I pulled, it came right out. It took some time to think of an alternate center pole for the string. Arts and crafts not being one of my true talents it left me at a loss until I indulged in something I am good at – cooking. Later in the evening I spied my meat thermometer, and realized I could tape that down in the center and tie the string to it. That problem solved.
Tracing the circle went fairly well. It fell short of the perfection I desired, but in the realm of acceptability. The tape came up easier than I thought, making a nice pattern.
Second big problem. I went cheap on the paint. After reading some websites on how to paint carpet I went to the hardware store. All of it seemed way too pricey for just painting a white line, so I said fuck it, spray paint. After five minutes of applying the cheap spray, I knew it would never give me the coverage I needed. You’ll notice on the top right of the second photo if you look close how well the spray paint worked.
I can’t find the website now, but one recommended mixing ⅓ paint conditioner (a substance that makes the paint thinner so it soaks into the fibers, but also takes longer to dry) to ⅔ paint. I bit back my pride and went to the fucking Wal-Mart where shit is cheap and blew another $20 on paint, and $20 for equipment at Harbor Freight.
This went much better than the spray paint, but still has failed to produce the desired effect. Color me dumb, I didn’t realize how hard it would be to cover a dark color with white paint. So tomorrow, after it dries, I buy another gallon of paint and apply another coat.
Of course this means my temple is out of commission for the duration. I may forgo banishing and meditation until I complete the project, or at least try to do some meditation in the evening.
