The Philosophy behind Cogs and Cantrips

The basic premise behind the philosophy of Cogs and Cantrips is simply to "make everyday deeper and more meaningful" . In short it's simply a way to make everything we take as mundane and often boring and cast it into a new and more meaningful light; albeit from a Steampunk'd perspective.

So how do we do that?  We do that through the systematic use of rituals in order to (re) establish traditions so that even daily routines are given a more meaningful context rather than just being rote duties, chores, or obligations.

Let me expound on this explanation with a comment on a really great book that helped to open my eyes. The name of that book was "The Power of Myth" by Robert Campbell (with Bill Moyer). It was done in a Question and answer format; almost as if Bill Moyer was interviewing Robert Campbell, and through out the dialogue Mr. Campbell was elaborating how interwoven mythology played an important part in daily life for our ancestors, and even showed how many popular movies such as "Star Wars" used these archetypes of mythology to tell its story.

One of the key things Mr. Campbell elaborated on was the use of ritual celebrate certain facets of life; from coming of age, to courtship and marriage, even to the moment we are interred in the ground. Mr. Campbell also noted that with our increased access to technology and information that some important rituals were falling by the way side. Most notably the rituals involved a boys coming of age into manhood (or even a girls coming of age into womanhood); recalling that these events were once highly celebrated events in the past but have largely been forgotten in modern times. He even noted that major holidays such as Christmas and Easter, which were often highly communal holidays, were now highly commercialized and devoid of any real context or meaning. To him this was a paradigm shift  that was largely due to the absence of a modern Mythology and Ritual, since Mythology, and by extent ritual, often served as a guide for daily life but that context was not fully impressed or articulated into the modern age.

That struck a deep chord with me, both on a spiritual level and on a practical everyday level. Sure, my ex and I had often talked about making our lives feel more sacred, to infuse it with more spirituality, and even took minor steps to ensure that we did but eventually those steps fell into disuse and went on  largely forgotten and ultimately ignored. Why? They were without context.

For an example of context, in the Victorian Age just having company over in the afternoon was a big affair. Usually it took place as afternoon tea, or High Tea, which was held somewhere between three and four in the afternoon just before supper. This ritual, if you will, consisted of a tea service, finger food  and sweets, and could have a few games to play in order to keep guests entertained. The entire point was to entertain your friends and to socialize. Therefore it was a communal event. Thus High Tea was a an important social ritual for the Victorian Hostess. In this sense the ritual of High Tea became a tradition and an important part of life. Ergo, Socialization was the context in which "High Tea" was  done.

So the point, on the spiritual side of things for me and by default Cogs and Cantrips, is to create new rituals and maybe create new traditions in order to give daily life more meaning, and support the context which they will be used because they are ultimately necessary.

We humans are indisputably socially oriented creatures. So much so that our very psyches depend on the healthy creation and maintenance of social connections even if they are just with a handful of people. Thus, our rituals became traditions which in turn, themselves, became the vehicle upon which social connections were formed and solidified, and ultimately became the basis in which life itself was more meaningful and enriched.

So in the end, the philosophy behind "Cogs and Cantrips" is to facilitate This enrichment of life and the enhance context in which it is done through not only the use of Steampunk but Paganism as well by creating rituals and traditions to enable a deeper sense of connection to the experience of life and those with whom we share it (or least provide a source of inspiration for the creation of these things).