76 Week Goetia

norse900

I've decided to start posting my 76 Week Goetia work that I typically post on my blog. I'll be posting it there, too, but I want to help give the forum substantial non-social posts. Not every week comes with a ritual and they are frequently hybrid or energetic with me. This makes sense for my preferred skill set.

The weekly collation will be on my blog and the daily/semi-daily stuff will be here. The difference is that my blog will have one post per "week" and this thread will have many.

I will be starting with Bune and not be posting my earlier weeks that are already on my blog.

The 76 Week Goetia is by S Connolly and can be found on Amazon 76 Week Goetia

Edit - I am starting week 26 of 76 with Bune.

norse900

76 Week Goetia - Bune Day 1

I recited her enn until I felt a super light (metaphysical) kiss on the cheek.

Me: "Thank you for coming." (She nodded and acted like I should continue)

(I got interrupted almost immediately when my wife came into the garage to talk to me about a few parts of her day on her way to check the mail.)

Bune: "You can see why I wanted to wait. I would like some (incense). Sandalwood and that nice Jasmine (from India)."

M: "Of course."

(She started to walk away and turned back towards me)

B: "You need to watch him."

M: "Who, my problematic renter?"

B: "No, at work."

She left. I will. Thank you Bune.

Note- Bune usually comes to me in female form and this is consistent for me over the years I've called on her.

Bune was referring to a situation that straddled my weeks with Naberius and Glasya-Labolas. Happened right before we went to Maui. If something similar to that situation repeats itself, there will be trouble.

norse900

My second entry into this is a bit of a "dud". Why? Because Bune asked for a tealight from me and that was all.

If you are familiar with the 76WG, there's usually a Meditation, Dreamwork, Evocation/Invocation 1, Evocation/Invocation 2, Ritual/Spell work/creation, reflection. and that's basically it.

Why would Bune do this? Because of an earlier action of mine...several...? I posted in the Thanks section about some renters that were handled that could've cost my thousands (more) and were interested in upping the ante into lawsuits and compensation. My Thanks entry involved Belial, Zhao Gongming and a Mysterious (literally) Fox entity that is so advanced she doesn't looks like a Fox anymore.

So, this trio of advanced, very different spirits goes forth and the result I wanted (95%) is delivered in 24 hours. I said 95%, because it's 95% of what I hoped for.

THEY GAVE ME 100% of what I asked for.

So, I am giving thanks and praise. I see a wayward tea light that I had written an "H" on, likely for Helios, but it hadn't been dedicated to him. It was dusty, but "just" a tealight.

Bune wanted it. She wanted the dust. She wanted the "neglect". She wanted the separateness of the candle (hence the neglect). I offered to blood it. No, that wasn't what she wanted. There wasn't a "I want" list. But I could tell it should be linked, but not necessarily by blood. I had exercised not long ago and was still outside, so this was definitely possible.

Sweat from the brow, my neck, face, hairline...other warmer places... THEN it was good. She said she would come tonight in my dreams to collect a "sample" (my words) and I may or may not know it.

I have a 12"+ water dragon statue to Bune that I dust off and keep. This was all that was asked of me and I was told that it was all that was asked of me for the 76WG for this day.

Do I understand? No. And I wouldn't have noted it, frankly, but it's a bit off. REAL, yes, but I don't always understand why they want things sometimes. I can simply feel that it benefits me.

norse900

The Freewrite and the Meditation seem pretty similar, though they could be different to touch different areas. The push for both topics is to consider and cover "change" in general and potentially something more specific, like death or career change.

There's a lot of change with my job. It's part of the job. As things happen in the world, the priority of current projects or the replacement by new ones is common. We typically ay that every country in the world is only one nuke launch away from being the #1 country of concern in the world. While this does get an chuckle, it's because it's unfortunately true. Change happens all the time.

I'm more concerned with things becoming stale, both professionally and personally. I don't do well "treading water" and this is the reason I am usually moving immediately to another area of interest and growth when one is completed. This doesn't mean I don't take breaks, but I don't like to take many or for very long. I want to get as much meaningful work in during this incarnation as I can.

It's not uncommon where I find myself with too much work to do and not enough time. Down time is also necessary to keep from burning out with my schedule. Sometimes I'm told to set things aside so something else can be done. Reasons for this is often vague or simply not given. A good portion of my tasks and schedule is given by those I work with, but the reasons why aren't always apparent and this can be frustrating.

norse900

I was looking at the two suggestions for Invocation/Evocation 1 and I didn't feel like doing them. I was going to hold off to see if those paths seemed better tomorrow or consider one of the other areas when I heard, "Come, have a chat with me." Of course. I'm pretty certain I'm getting sick again, which is typical when I get sick and don't take two weeks off of strenuous to fully get over it, but those are viruses, typically, and this was clearly a cold.

B: "I know you're getting sick. And your birthday is Tuesday. Hope you can enjoy that cake. Let me give you an early gift (she will help me get over this quicker)."

M: "Thank you."

B: "You're overworking yourself. Yet, you feel you should do more. Do you know why you're being overworked at the moment?" (I shook my head)

B: "You aren't delegating enough."

M: "Who am I supposed to delegate to?"

B: "Those that will work on your behalf."

M: "I don't understand. I don't feel like I'm doing too much. I don't feel like I'm doing as much as I used to."

B: "Your friend was right."

(She's referring to a conversation I have had with a friend of mine when they pointed out that the intensity of the work I do seems normal to me and that means I don't acknowledge the toll it can take upon me when I do it. I know she's right, but if I can't feel it, how can I know when it's too much without getting sick?)

B: "By listening when you go to balance."

(She showed me a sign recently I had noticed where I had swept my energetic body clean, but still felt a little tired and sluggish. I figured it was the remnant of this cold I was getting over and left it at that.)

B: "It's more subtle than that, but you're on the right track."

norse900

Dreamwork
Had some really strange dreams last night and I know the Bune was part of it.

There were a series of seemingly unconnected houses in businesses that actually were connected. They housed some sort of underground swingers club that was exceptionally casual. People just kind of dropped in and dropped out. If they felt like going to these other places attached to this network then they could use them. One of them was like a performance theater, another was like a stadium, a third was like a reenactment + outdoor museum or something like that. Some of them were just really old houses with secret passages (and of course tunnels) to connect these things together.

They all seem to represent the same space but yet it was physically different. Each hidden room area or hidden house if you will, the hidden interior of these places all had very distinct feels. Most had puzzles to them that had to be unlocked.

Most the people in this little club were of different ages, body types, and preferences. In one of them I was with (and still married to) my ex-wife, but in the other I was married to my current wife. Yet, the difference in time was one of a couple of days or a couple of weeks which is certainly not true in real life. Somehow they were passive players in this and I knew it was really somehow about me even when in the dream but didn't realize I was dreaming.

I don't know what the purpose of the dream was for. This was never made clear to me. All the puzzles, the styles of the room, or the styles of the buildings containing these rooms didn't really matter. Things were clearly locked away and hidden from view. And me being the center piece suggests this applies to me. There are lots of things all of us keep locked away. The areas this dream touched on are just more to be aware of, I guess.

norse900

I went to crack the book open to read the ritual portion when I heard, "We are done."

M: "Can I get the tablet ready so I can take this down?" She nodded and continued.

B: "I don't want to give you a ritual you shouldn't perform. Your wealth ritual the other night is working fine and I don't want to interrupt it with giving another that could disrupt it. I also don't want to give you a ritual you don't need to try (and won't use due to some of the others)."

M: "Thank you, Lady Bune." She nodded.

B: "Some beer?"

M: "Of course."

Hail Bune!

norse900

Week 27 - Ronove was already here , but I said his enn once before he stopped me.

Ronove: "I am here already. You knew that."

Me: "I did. Thank you for coming."

R: "Your practice is changing. (he was pleased at this)."

M: "It is. I am trying to heed the advice of 'Command' and it's not lost on my that I felt pulled towards Lucifer and the Hidden Demons, which is a bit similar to that encouragement."

R: "(He nodded) It is. And you should heed it. You need to move beyond that paradigm you've been working under and I will help you do that. (I briefly thought of his stations, which can include glamours and presentations) I will help with that, too. It is time to move beyond the Lone Wolf practitioner model in those areas."

I nodded and he left.

In the above conversation, I had thought of his uses in glamours briefly. This is something that has come up repeatedly in the past few days. Not necessarily in a "bad" or manipulative way of using them. More about people being drawn to look into things instead of the face-value Yes or No. I'm typically not going to win those sorts of things.

It's also an area where it's overlapping with some of my current interests - wealth and fortune workings. Not necessarily in an "unearned" sort of accumulation, but more of directing them towards areas I have available for them now. I've started working on bringing interested people towards those things I have. I will overlay that with presenting the things and services in a a better way. I'm not a marketer and I can't spend most of my waking hours hustling without my studies suffering for it.

I've also been actively uncrossing workings that are clearly being done against me. When my traffic on the various platforms suddenly drops, it's pretty obvious that there's something to look into. I will be actively...engaging...those efforts, too, in ways that will not wear me

norse900

R: "And what do those rituals have that I do not?"

(I was contemplating doing some specific glamour workings in a few areas of my online presence through a different book. I haven't worked with Ronove in this capacity, though it is listed as something he excels at)

M: "Not sure. I felt they acted differently, so there shouldn't be a direct conflict if I used both."

R: "(he nodded) True. They do work differently. Some work on the visual level, some past that at the instinctual level. Others can go even deeper. Which would you choose?"

M: "Why does a choice have to be made? They aren't going to conflict, as you said above."

R: "(he chuckled) No, they won't conflict. (But you have to) choose which area you want to target. If you have a choice. Some entities offer them, some don't. Here, I will show you."

(Ritual stub - he showed me that the targeted area are must be linked to the glamour and the glamour linked to the material to enable it - too view, listen, etc... how it is consumed.)

R: "Good, now do it."

norse900

R: "Let's have one last chat and then you are done." (the second evocation is the only thing not completed at this point.)

R: "I like where this is going (the glamour work), but I wouldn't put too much into it quite yet. Let others (spirits) do the work for you. It will help keep your signature off of some things you may not want them on. That's my advice, anyway. I think you should consider it." (I nodded)

R: "I think you should also raise the energy in your work space. It will be needed soon whe manning levels go down due to Holidays and travel. You want that same productive vibe as when everyone else is still there. I would encourage that." (I nodded"

R: "Finally, I wouldn't change your style of magic too much (heavily investing in pathworking). You know there are changes is cannot create in the magician and you are the type to need those changes more than most to deal with the tasks we've been asking of you (and will continue to). You will fail if you only go down that route, compared to a blended path with it being minor. I would encourage that."

M: "Thank you, Ronove."

R: "We are done."

The change he's referring to is something I identified as an area of weakness with the pathworking-only style of magic, but this is largely due to the situations I have a tendency to be tasked with. I need to be in the presence of a variety of spirits to help make sure I stay attuned to various types of energies that I may find myself facing. Facing as in slung my way during a tiff or similar.

When you perform magic on a larger level and find yourself at odds with other magicians that are also willing to cast for things, but also willing to cast against you, then you need to keep ready in a sense. Not in a looking around every corner sort of way, but staying intune with various energies types. It helps make sure you don't freak out when you get hit with a larger version of it, making it easier to weather and sustain your health and operational tempo.

I'm reading my second pathworking book this week and I had contemplated that this would take a hit, this energy adaptation, but wasn't sure if it was going to be pertinent in the near future or not. Guess I have an answer to that, too.

Hail Ronove!

norse900

Week 28 - Berith
Me: "Thank you for coming."

Berith: "The second attempt at the sigil wasn't bad. (I nodded) You typically come to me for changing the metals into gold or preventing the same. Let me tell you this - you need to do more of that work yourself and I will help you do it. Your studies, so sudden, haven't not been without cause. And I will help with this."

He left.

He's referring to my sudden reading and renewed interest in servitors and as he was speaking the above comments, I was shown servitors. As I typically do with servitors, I show them the skill I want them to initially possess and how to do it. He was showing me that I will be learning some of this to a higher degree than I do now. Why? I don't know. But it does have my attention. I was laying in bed last night and it was on my mind again today - thinking about all of the uses I have for them, but that's just it - they don't have to be MY uses for them.

norse900

I'm 2 beers in and I grabbed the 76WG book and I hear, "Not yet." It's a drink an hour, but still.

M: "I will be more than 2 beers in the next time we talk." He indicated that was fine.

I was going to do this earlier when I got off of work early and was told to wait, too. 0 beers in. I sent out feelers over the two hour period before I had to drive for a bit and was told "later", essentially. Including before I exercised.

All right.

He literally waited for me to post that before coming back.

B: "Good, proceed to Evocation 1."

I hadn't read Evocation 1, but once I did, I recognized a similar ritual that I had posted years ago during my Lessons of the Deck thread on a forum. There, something unuseful was put into a cauldron, changed, and then pulled back in to continue as the more useful form. This version was similar, but an invocation to Berith happened first and his energy was used to transmute it and not the cauldron itself, as in my version.

Still just 2 beers. Just saying.

Thank you, Berith.

norse900

B: "That was quite painful, wasn't it?"

M: "It was." (I was reminded last night of how the only person that showed my true, pure love was my grandmother on my father's side. If I was lucky, I got to see her one weekend a month - if my dad picked us up)

B: "And how could that be transformed?"

M: "I don't know that it really can in a practical way. I've already used it to spur me on, but bringing it up for emotional fuel as motivation isn't healthy.

B: "It isn't. And those times when it does peak out, you must handle it productively. Or at least not wallow in it. It's affecting you today."

M: "It is. It certainly affected my sleep. Now, I'm tired, slightly depressed, and largely unmotivated."

B: "Yet, you're still doing things. That is a positive spin on the situation. Just remember what she did for you and carry those memories and feelings with honor and do works of the same when feeling it."

B: "You survived (yesterday)."

M: "I did."

B: "You took my advice and transmuted your attitude (using a combination of learning and doing)"

M: "I didn't realize it was coming from you. Thank you."

B: "(He nodded) You should create a servitor that can do that for others and the rare occasion you need it."

M: "Noted."

He nodded and left. I will have to work on this soon-ish. I have things to do today that are time dependent.

started working on this servitor the following day, using a protocol I haven't used before. There is a suggested period where you ruminate over the proposed features, abilities, etc...and if everything still seems good, then it is given Life and sentience for its work. Today is the day it will be brought to Life.

It's purpose is to transmute excessive thoughts and feelings that are negative or traumatic or lessen them if they are needed for personal growth.

It is to transmute thoughts towards empowering areas, siphon off excessive thoughts and emotions and help replace them with productive activities they can do. It will also encourage someone to seek help when they are overwhelmed.

It will feed on 0.1% of these emotions while transmuting the rest.

There will be several iterations of this servitor as the wording and teaching gets tweaked. Berith will provide some initial training to the servitor, as transmutation like this is his one of his specialities. I was very thankful for his help with supplementing it's initial programming with substantial training.

The servitor's symbol is:

Its name is EmSupTx (Emotional Support Transmute, Transfer, Transform)

Berith indicated we were done.

Hail Berith!

norse900

Week 29 - Astaroth

Astaroth: "There, you finally got it right." (He was amused since I was mixing up Alora and Foren in the enn.)

A: "It is good to see you again. We have some work to do. You haven't called me in quite some time. "

Me: "That is true. Not for anything non-transactional since, what, the Lessons of the Deck a few years ago?" (I did contemplate apologizing, but I don't know why I would. I don't call up entities to waste their time)

A: "No, you don't. I appreciate that. You've had a few matter that could've used my help, but that was then, not now. Well, not THOSE issues." (He knew I couldn't remember everything he was referring to, which he also found amusing.)

A: "Very well. We shall work on both love-related craft and scrying. Scrying first with the ball, please. Write down what you see."

I see a red-haired woman pointing upwards towards the sky, but that's not the direction that I should follow with my eyes. Instead I'm looking inside of her to the place between her stomach and her womb and there I see a mass of some sort. This is looking more like a painting rather than a live person. I don't know why I'm looking at this mass inside of this woman who looks like she's dressed from maybe the late 1800's to early 1900s.

Her attention is towards whatever she's pointing at but she's not pointing directly at item that her attention is on. She is resting her attention on the finger and the fingers pointing towards something else. Then the pointing itself doesn't matter. What does matter is that she is not aware of this growth and so her mind is placed elsewhere

A: "But if she were aware of it, it would..."

M: "Consume her."

A: "Much like some of the things you don't have. You're aware of the loss, the not having, rather, and this becomes a fixation for your attention. Next."

Now I'm seeing a teenage boy also pointing upwards, but he's pointing straight up and that's exactly where his attention is going. Not towards his fingers or his hands, but towards the direction he is looking. He's fixated on something. His clothes was the same or similar time as the woman, but here I can kind of already see what Astaroth is probably getting at.

M: "The focus on the distant horizon, the sky above. It symbolizes me looking past the day and towards the distant future."

A: "It does."

M: "I don't understand how this is, not wrong, but not right?"

A: "I didn't say it wasn't. You must keep an eye on it, like you must keep an eye on the horizon and on the wind when sailing. Be mindful of it. You distant looking is correct in many senses and you sometimes apply it to look past the 'trivial' stuff of today. For example, you have been thinking about one of the games you used to play that is trivial and you've thought of it more frequently lately. Why?"

M: "I'm assuming I'm missing the distraction, the break from reality that one gains from it."

A: "You take breaks from reality all the time. Consuming social media, the news, reading book on various Occult topics. Those also give you breaks. What else would this game benefit you?"

M: "It's different from my typical distractions."

A: "Bingo. See you tomorrow."

norse900

I started gaming again. Well "gaming". I'm not going to lost sleep over it like I used to. Maybe that's my age, maybe it's because a later wakeup will waste more of my time in traffic than I'd care to. I do know that as nostalgic as it is dabbling with Word of Warcraft again an hour or so at a time, I do recognize that I just don't care as much about it anymore. And since I can't put as much of myself into it, I know I won't get as much out of it.

It's a distraction, but a nice one that doesn't involve reading about magic, practicing magic or other rituals, magic, magic, magic, occult, occult, occult... It is a really nice distraction where I get to remember when I first played it in late 2004. I enjoy the memories, for sure. But the game has also changed like I have.

A: "It was good to start again, but you're not spending as much time doing it."

M: "I am not. I still have daily duties (that I mostly get to) for my practice, as you know."

A: "You also don't have the same (need/want) to achieve anything there. In fact, things have changed in that regard, as much as you miss it."

M: "It has. I don't know that I will get to relive it as I used to without building my own computer again and I can't see doing that to use it as little as I expect I will."

A: "You've fallen out of love with it, in a way. That is all."

We were done for the evening.

norse900

A: "You have found some benefit to taking a break, have you not?"

M: "I have thank you and it is still not the same."

A: "You knew it wouldn't be, but for now grab your tourmaline ball and let us scry."

M: "I'm seeing something similar to a battleship or some other military or military-like ship. It's on some noticeable waves and it's not pleasant, but it's not dangerous. I feel there's a mixture of military and civilians on this boat. I want to say it somewhere near Asia but I don't know if that matters or if it's real.

There is contention on this vessel and while the military, likely Navy, person is in charge, they aren't entirely in charge of everything on the ship. Largely the direction and mission, but only the military side of it.

There's some sort of civilian mission on there also that I can't quite see. This civilian mission could be for technical expertise reasons. There are a lot of reasons they could be on that ship. I'm not sure about a nationality either because I feel like there are several on board but I think I mean that ethnically. There are different ethnicities on the boat and maybe that's better description than nationalities. I know it's going to come to a head and the civilian person can't take charge of the ship just as the Navy person can't take charge of whatever this civilian is doing. Neither have the skills alone do both so they are forced to work together in an unhappy arrangement."

A: "You see some of the similarities to the situations that you are currently in with your role. The dual military-civilian situations. The seas aren't typically stormy in your office, but they could be and they may be. Remember those areas of contention that you saw and try to head them off. You will have less time to see them with more people out of the office. That is all."

Strange dream last night inline with the above entry. I was initiating into some sort of "Order" or group that was magical in nature. The kicker was that most of the people I had to prove that I wanted in with are people I currently manage. Not all of them, but a subset of local leadership of them. I had to go through some ordeals to prove how much I wanted to be a part of it.

I don't remember feeling really strongly that I needed to be a part of it in an emotional way. I didn't need it for my job. But it was somehow important. In this dream, it meant laying or standing in one place for hours on end without falling asleep or falling over. More specifically, I was laying at "Attention", like a soldier would stand at attention. This has happened in real life, but there were no blankets to hold me in that position in this dream. There would be times where I would nod off and one of my people would write it down in a sort of ledger that they all shared.

No everyone was there at once. It was like they had schedules they had to keep and were doing this testing on their off time. I was waiting to continue the tests at several points because the person was still arriving at the testing location, which also changed. Some of these were the same tests at different locations, with different employees. A few of them weren't employees of mine, but only after I had passed the lower tests. One of the later tests was being put in a plan cockpit with an actual pilot and I was being tested for not taking control of the airplane to prevent wrecks.

I woke up realizing that it was somehow related to Astaroth and while this was confirmed this morning, there is little to no context of what led to this, why it was necessary, and where it was going.

norse900

got ready for the day's work and was told that we are done for this week. Kind of threw me for a loop, but all right. There's no point in arguing.

Concerning the warning(s) of contention listed above, a similar situation did happen today. I didn't think of the dream or the scrying session, but knew I shouldn't override the decisions of some of our senior people. I had made a decision with incomplete information (which is usually the case) last week and this week they brought it to my attention that they felt differently with the new minor information obtained. This meant I didn't have a business reason to veto their objections. They were then implemented. Didn't affect most people, but did affect a few, so I sought them out to get it sorted on a personal level and this diffused any animosity. Maybe this is why we were done so quickly? Can't say.

Hail Astaroth!

norse900

During my work with Forneus this week, I was largely told to not do most of the scheduled material. He had something else in mind. What that ended up being was a lot of personal and emotional conflict at work for two people that I work for.
One needed me as a confidante and I would give unfiltered advice about the entire situation but this person's emotions were getting the better of them. I was giving the advice, I could tell it wasn't really being taken and I knew throughout all of it that I was largely just here to listen. So that's the majority of what I did.

Part of the lesson for the beginning of this week was that sometimes it isn't about speaking it's about listing and then speaking judiciously. But mainly it was about listening.

Once I had written this out you said that we were largely done interacting directly, but I would see some trickle down from the situation over the next few days and that he was going to be influencing it.

One thing he did recommend that I do earlier this week was that I should get an item and then enchant it to carry with me to bring his ability for language understanding - to bring those energies with me as I went about my day. It will arrive a bit late but I did end up picking up a pendant of his sigil and I'll be enchanting that and carrying with me in my wallet like I do Leviathan and Marbas's sigils.

I waited to see what the trickly down or fallout would be and the situation hasn't really blown over, but isn't in active crisis mode anymore. I have also noticed that even though everyone knows I'm am weighted towards my supervisor (over their supervisor), I'm largely untouched with the whole thing. I'm essentially my Supervisor's Deputy Chief as she's the acting Chief. Despite getting drug to her meetings and the tension spilling over into them, I'm largely not involved as far as those in the conflict are concerned. But I am.

I've seen some of these play out back at Headquarters on a much, much larger scale. I've been able to shield my people from it, despite one of them sitting in our spaces. Fingers crossed that it continues to die down and I thank Forneus for helping to bring some productive conversations back into the entire scenario.

Hail Forneus!

norse900

Foras: "You wrinkled your nose at 'lost treasure and 'good health'. You don't seem those things, but maybe you should."

Me: "Forgive me, but there is little 'treasure' I seek in the literal sense and long life doesn't serve me if the dementia I've seen in 80+ takes hold. I'm one of the few that doesn't see a long life with entities. Why would I want one if I'm unaware of unable?" (There was a nod here. And this is true - why would I want to prolong for bullshit?)

F: "You would/*may for your children."

M: "I have one child, none contested. You're delaying an answer."

(He doesn't have one. There is some VERY conditional potentials for this I'm not banking on. Too different from my current life, but WOULD have been possible with the life I was told I would have by now and 'paid' for in my previous posts)

(He is nodding and accepting of my skepticism. Not much choice in a lot of ways. I'm the faithful sort and this 76WG experiences can boil over, but lasts a week, generally speaking)

He was done at this point. When I reached out, he requested some Cedar incense. I certainly have this.

norse900

I'm not going to pretend to be really far along with my week's work with Foras. Holidays have gotten in the way, I guess you could say. But there have been several things coming to mind that I've noticed repeated. One of these is that I'm noticing more that I don't take enough time for myself and when I do, I feel guilty to some degree. Not, "this sinner needs to REPENT!" level of guilty, but I find myself looking for excuses or making sure that my "work" is done or that I'm not needed for anything at this moment before trying to enjoy myself. Anyone that's aware of my (magical) working schedule would see this as status quo.

It's not something they're looking to break, but the past several weeks in this, they've been pushing me towards a slower pace. The problem I have with this is that I'm no where I want to be and likely won't be for a decade or more. Is that all the more reason to relax a little? Or is that my typical impetus to do more?

Dankquan

norse900 I feel you there! I've also come to see the importance of resting as well. Not everyone can be like the ancient Pythagoreans or many Buddhist practitioners in the Tibetan Kagyü lineage. I think in a way endurance is also a skill you build up. Doing too much work at the start could be quite detrimental, I think.