I made a video doing some geomantic "live coding" (actually recorded, but you get the idea). Ever wonder what we are actually doing when we geomantically "sum" two figures? Might be fun and useful for anyone thinking about going through the educational exercise of writing their own geomancy software. Or just nerding out about geomancy and programming!

layout: post title: ‘Mosaic Beta Release’ date: 2023-01-06 hero: /static/img/mosaic-splash.png tags: - post - mosaic

Mosaic, the digital divination project that Heather Freeman and I have been working on for the better part of a year now, has finally shipped! Grab your free copy of the software and/or watch a video of Heather and I nerding out about it.

The second half of the Figma for Magicians class is now up on YouTube. Enjoy!

Figma for Magicians (Part 2)

Just a quick post to let folks know that if you missed my class on Figma for Magicians you can now catch the same content over on the YouTubes. Well, at least the first half of the class. Part 2 is coming soon.

Drawing seals? Making your own grimoire/book of shadows? Creating illustrations for planetary talismans? Designing a new cartomantic deck? Whatever part design plays in your practice, I'm going to show you how Figma will make your life just oh so much better. Stop using crappy expensive software from a company that starts with "A" and ends in "dobe". The design world has moved on (and so should you!)

Very excited to announcement the first class of 2022! Join me and a handful of fellow practitioners next Saturday the 26th at 17:00 UTC (that's morning for you folks in the US and evening for us folks in Europe) to learn the basics of this amazing modern design tool. It'll ease the burden on your creative process (and the burden on your pocketbook).

Sign up at https://hallofdoors.com/forms/class-signup/. It's free, and it's gonna be fun!

Trying to share elements of a personal practice with others is a game of extracting the parts that are useful (the practice) from the parts that situate the practice in a personal cosmology (the personal). It's something that I see a lot of people get wrong and often results in focusing on, as Tayannah Lee McQuillar might say, "the sizzle and not the steak". It's something that I'm going to try very hard to not get wrong here.

After the last couple of years of taking shelter from the veritable shitstorm of a lifetime (and I don't think I'm alone here) the clouds are starting to part and some of the sprouts planted before the shitstorm are beginning to germinate (shit is a great fertilizer after all). I didn't really know what any of those plants were going to grow into, I just buried those seeds in the ground and hoped for the best. Stuff is starting to poke up now though, and it's a very exciting time.

What better way to usher in a fresh new year than a fresh new website! I've talked before about the importance of one's investment into one's personal online presence, but let me just say up front that the new HoD is sparking quite a lot of joy for me right now. I've also got some great classes and new projects coming this year, so read on for all the details!

Looking Ahead

Both 2020 and 2021 were, for a variety of reasons both micro and macro, bottlenecks in my general productivity. A lot of projects slowed down and some just got shelved entirely. Somewhere around November of last year, for a variety of reasons both micro and macro, that started to change. The un-bottlenecking has begun and I'm HERE 👏 FOR 👏 IT 👏.

I know how much you all love nerding out about taking notes! If you missed the prior two videos I’ve done on this topic, they are linked below for your convenience. Taking good notes is a critical part of any practice so it’s worth spending some time on.

In this latest installment I cover yet another excellent option for taking digital notes. This time I skip the whole theory part (assuming you’ve watched one of the prior two videos) and dive right in on the software. If you haven’t yet settled on a system for taking notes as part of your practice, Obsidian should be on your radar.

Just a quick post to let folks know that there is a new update for Urania which adds support for chart rotation, and that the lovely Reverend Erik and I .

Read at HoD: Aspectarian + More

Just wanted to quickly let you know there's a new Urania update over at urania.app with lot's of screen shots and info!

Also, in an effort to reduce HoD spam, I'm no longer sending email updates for the decan walk posts. However, you can find all of the posts so far at: Aries I, Aries II, and Aries III. I will continue posting my thoughts about each decan every 10-ish days for the rest of the tropical year.

Read at HoD: Arnemancy Podcast Discussion

Read at HoD: Aries I: Blastoff

The sun just moved into 10° Aries which means we've just left the decan of Aries I, and have entered Aries II.

As such, and in keeping with my decan walk plans (and hopefully not annoying everyone with too-frequent updates), here are my thoughts about Aries I:

Read at HoD: Sissy That Decan Walk

Whoo damn! It's been a while since the last HoD update. Such is the cycle of things I suppose, particularly when one has, let's say, attention span problems.

This may be a fairly short update as I mostly just want to share my decan walk plans and give you some pointers if you would like to pursue something similar.

Read at HoD: We’re not out of the woods yet…

Read at HoD: Office Hours

Read at HoD: Urania + Swiss Ephemeris

Read at HoD: Urania + Swiss Ephemeris

Read at HoD: Squeak ‘Em If You Got ‘Em

Read at HoD: https://hallofdoors.com/posts/magic-notes

Just a very quick update (text-wise, content wise it's actually long) with links to a couple of videos I put together this weekend. It's a two-part dive into magical note taking, as in, taking notes as part of a magical practice. This is something I've had on the back-burner for a while and a topic I'm passionate about. Taking good notes is the cornerstone of any magical practice, but also something we don't talk about in much detail (at least as far as I've seen). The first video is a presentation covering various aspects of magical note taking, and the second is an example that takes those ideas and puts them into action.

I hope you find them useful. Enjoy.

Read at HoD: https://hallofdoors.com/posts/thanks/

I would like to start by acknowledging that the title of this post is in opposition to the hero image above, in much the same way that today's new moon is in opposition to Saturn. I guess that's intentional? I mean I'm talking about it, and not changing it, which means it must be intentional, right? Are we not in an environment of strange oppositional dichotomies? Fuck it, I'm just gonna go with it.

Thank You So Much

Read at HoD: Did I Say Prometheus?

While you would have a legitimate complaint about the time it has taken me to get this post out, I feel like I have a good excuse. You see, it turns out that I may have been a WEE bit lax in my initial market research for Prometheus and missed an existing astrology software package of the same name. So I got to spend several weeks rebranding.

And if you have been paying attention to prior posts, you know how much I LOVE branding.

Read at HoD: https://hallofdoors.com/posts/black-lives-matter

I know that an update to Hall of Doors, which doesn't currently have a large following, will have absolutely no meaningful impact on the struggle for racial equality. It's also pointless, and self-serving, to talk about the ways in which my husband and I have been trying to help.

One thing I think I can do, that maybe helps, is re-share some of the book recommendations that have recently come my way that you might find useful (if you haven't already read them). If you are white, and wondering how you can get better at being an antiracist, here's some books to get started:

• So You Want to Talk about Race - Ijeoma Oluo
• White Fragility - Robin DiAngelo
• How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi

Well, my weekly update streak lasted for a little over two months. Posting an update every week may have been… hm, a bit of hubris on my part. I’m glad I started with that constraint though. It really helped get the ball rolling and to build up some momentum.

I’m moving to an update cadence a bit more aligned with the natural rhythm of what is happening in my life. Which means—GOOD NEWS—I have something I want to update you on!

OMG YOU ARE A DAY LATE! Yes yes, well simmer down there partner. Yesterday was a holiday, you know, the 1st of May? Does that sound like an excuse? Well, it is. You’re welcome.

Not a ton to update on Prometheus this week, partly due to the aforementioned excuse, and partly due to some other things in the queue that needed clearing out. However, I did implement animations for highlighting and selection, which drastically improves the feel of the app. A highlighted body now smoothly transitions to a highlighted state while the other bodies smoothly transition into the background. I can’t really show this with a gif because the speed of the animation is too quick, so instead you’ll have to take my word for it and instead suffice with this chart of the moment, taken at the time of this posting.

You know what time it is!

This week was the first full week of development since the end of the design sprint. Productivity mostly reflected that fact.

Well, I finally made it out of design mode. And just in time too, because I was about to loose my mind. But, like, in a good way.

Also, this was a bit of a short week due to Easter, so the update is short as well.

Loading Screen

OMG IS IT FRIDAY ALREADY?!?

Well that week went by insanely fast. And also insanely slow, in a way. I think you know what I mean.

It's that time once again! Did you miss me? Of course you did.

It's a shorter update than usual, not because I don't love you, but because I don't have nearly as much to show for my work this week as I usually do. Which isn't to say I didn't work hard, it is to say that what I worked on is hard. Well, hard for me anyway. Is this all too cryptic? Well how about some pictures.

Design!

It's time, once again, for the weekly Hall of Doors update. This is the fourth week in a row, can you imagine? I've been doing these for a month. Who gave me permission?

Let's get down to business.

Transit Filtering and Time Zones

Before we dive in to this week's updates, can I just take a moment to pat myself on the back? I can, and I shall. This is the third week in a row that I have posted an update to Hall of Doors. It's officially a trend people!

This week we've got an update on Prometheus (motherfuckin' transits yo!), an update on Golden Oracle (test print of new cards), and a general message of love, support and community. Let's get to it.

Filtering and Transits

Aspects and Absurdity

In keeping with my promise from last week to post regular updates, I present to you this: a Friday the 13th (ooo scary) update containing features added to Prometheus this week (not scary) and a general rambling about the absurdity of writing astrology software at this moment, in the turning of the age (kinda scary).

Aspects!!

Hey Peeps

I'm moving Hall of Doors from MailChimp to Buttondown for subscriptions and updates. If you get this message, you are already subscribed and all should be good. Nothing to do on your end.

Other than accept my love and gratitude for subscribing. You are the best!