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His dad was an alcoholic.

A lost sheep.

The bad guy.

That was the portrait of him painted by the conservative religious (Mennonite) culture that Charlie married into, and which was then framed and hung, as it were, on the wall over his son's childhood. Behold your dad.

In his book, Charlie's Boy, Justin travels back through time to his 12th summer, and he meets his dad all over again. Like, who is this guy? Who am I? And he looks this time with a little different eyes.

Eyes that aren't afraid to love his dad.

Under that kind of look, boy how his dad grows! He becomes a living, breathing, human being no frame could ever hold. Charlie steps out from the pages of the book, steps forth from his frame, a free man.

You can find Charlie's Boy here. Look for seller Stauffer and Sons.

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Song, in part, inspired by Stay In Your Lane by Courtney Barnett.

Hello! This one about how do we become more of who we are more and more grow in time and patience and persistence.

It goes a lot of places: What happens when we die? Is destiny a thing? What about God? Who dat, and what like?

We do some reading too: Moby Dick, Hermetic texts, the Gospel of Matthew.

Also, there's a special guest or two.

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Works Uncited

Fighting My Demons by Ken Carson (Where da fuck my blunt?)

Meant To Be by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line (If it's meant to be, it'll be.)

Tie Me Up! Untie Me! by mewithoutYou (I was looking at the leaves climbing to the tops of the trees...)

New Season of bECOMING MAGIC begins April 4.

Maryn Spangler returns to the show!

Why?

For an adventure in the Mary field.

What?

An energy field of Mary.

Mary who?

Mary.

How?

When?

Just listen when you’re ready, my friend.

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Episode art:

Etruscan sculpture (pre-Christian).

Branch from the stump of Jesse.

It's Struggle Bus Season, aka Advent, The Most Won— Difficult Time of the Year.

Drawing on Anthroposophy, Lisa Del Alba helps us cut through the Christmas clamor to enter a darker and deeper reality that is connected with why human souls choose to come to planet earth in the first place.

Special thanks to Melissa Ramer for the episode art! And special thanks to said art for inspiring the episode title. Take a moment with it, I suggest. It has some things to say.

WORKS CITED

The Depression Suite by The Tragically Hip

(The two little songs I sing are both from this song.)

Psychedelics are one way to trip, but there are other ways too. Imagination is a portal, I'm a tellin' ya, boo.

What are these other worlds beyond the gates of imagination? Who inhabits them? Are they dangerous to visit? These questions are a bit of the ground we traverse on this episode.

Maryn Spangler runs an online school for spiritual education and exploration called The Lorian Association, and her Substack is Love Walks Here.

Music this episode by, the one and only, Patrick Matey.

This episode is about people. Why the hell are they so scary and so interesting at the same damn time?

Expect a very special guest by the name of Lydia! And another surprise guest further in.

Also! We'll have Emily Dickinson, Ibn Arabi, and Jean-Paul Sartre chiming in.

Thanks for listening.

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A person is a window

With insufficient veil—

A dark and yawning opening

Where tattered curtains blow,

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Or where celestial beams

Of brightness run in veins,

To every part from every heart,

To smash the window panes.

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WORKS CITED

Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi by Henry Corbin

Like Eyes That Looked on Wastes +

A Light Exists in Spring +

Ample Make This Bed +

There Is a Finished Feeling by Emily Dickinson

No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre