joey's shrine maiden 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!

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.

for small creatures such as we — sasha sagan's need to find rituals to revere the universe and her quest to square that with her secular view of reality really resonate with me. i'm basically an atheist, which makes me a bit of an outlier in alterhuman communities. but so are many modern shrine maidens in japan, who see their work as a service to their community rather than to spirit. sasha also sees ritual as being about community, sharing our joy, values, and meaning-making with each other. i think i gained a lot by thinking about how i want to embrace my spiritual fellows while reading. a powerfully beautiful book.