You know, some days it’s just too much effort to make a Burning Bartle, then burn the Burning Bartle. And chant a bit while doing it. It’s the Saturday nearest to St Bartholomew’s Day where the inhabitants of West Witton, North Yorkshire do just that. So today should have been a slam dunk make along the lines of my May Day wicker man. But the mood I’ve been in all day, I didn’t think it was wise to burn what would have amounted to a poppet. Who knows what sort of bad juju might have been transfered.
Due to Other Life circumstances, other, Other Life was a bust today. And once I realised I could not be arsed to make an effigy, I got a bit stuck as to what I was going to do. St Columba chastised the Loch Ness Monster today in 565. 1485 saw the War of the Roses won and Richard III consigned to under a car park in Leicester. It’s Dorothy Parker’s birthday. Nothing was sparking any interest.
So I decided to literally wallow in my ennui and have a bath. And for the first time since deciding Fauxrero Rocher for breakfast was a good idea, my brain kicked in, and I drew myself an anti-apathy bath.
It’s said that certain smells revive the senses. Just as I’ve been using lavender to help me sleep, there are other scents for pep and clarity. The recipe I found sounded perfect, an ‘Overcoming Apathy Bath Blend‘[1] of Epsom salts, peppermint, geranium, and cypress. I didn’t have cypress, so subbed in cedarwood. And then I wallowed.
It was all very spa-like. But it also felt like I was obligated to keep breathing it all in, otherwise my mood wouldn’t change. The cedarwood was rather overpowering, the other two scents getting lost. And after a bit I began to feel a little fractious and unrelaxed by it all. Which I suppose is a change in mood, just not necessarily the one I was after.
Well, you can’t win every day. At least I now know never to sniff cedarwood in order to alleviate my discontent. And as the fable goes, this too shall pass. At least I still have some glorious Fauxrero Rocher left.
And it could be worse. I could feel how my once balloon animals look.
Resources
Cooper, Q. and Sullivan, P. (1994) Maypoles, Martyrs & Mayhem: 366 Days of British Myths, Customs & Eccentricities, London, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
[1] http://naturemoms.com/blog/2015/12/07/essential-oils-for-apathy/
