joey's shrine maiden / tea cleric reading list

inspired by mord and ahava's idea to curate a recommended reading list for your archetrope(s), here's some media that's been influential to codifying mine:

the life changing magic of tidying up — honestly, this might have been the thing that first showed me that taking care of your environment can be a sacred task. i'm enchanted with the way marie kondo speaks so reverently of everyday objects. and apparently she was a shrine maiden herself when she was younger!

the book of tea — okakura kakuzou explains the tea culture of japan to a western audience, and how it intersects with buddhism, japanese values and the arts. i'd been a tea enjoyer for a while, but this book cemented it in my heart as a symbol of hospitality, earnestness, and finding the mundane sacred — basically everything my archetrope stands for! this is why i decided to call myself a tea cleric, specifically.

dungeon meshi — i feel so vindicated to see a story where a normal dude is an essential party member. i love to see heroes tempered by the fact that they have basic needs to take care of — a struggle relatable to many archetropers, i'm sure! seeing a fantasy tale really dwell on the necessity of mundane chores made it easier for me to project my own mundane chores into a more fantastical realm.

the orange — reading wendy cope's poem for the first time, i realized that this is literally all i want in life — and that that's a serious and worthy thing to strive for.