{"id":470,"date":"2024-12-22T20:56:40","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T20:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/?p=470"},"modified":"2025-08-15T01:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T01:40:12","slug":"the-altar-of-the-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/?p=470","title":{"rendered":"The Altar of the Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Around age 14 I developed an affinity for a certain area of the woods in a park near my home. I started exploring the area, and I discovered that there was an old creek bridge foundation there. The central support remained, as well as the retaining walls, but the bridge itself was long-gone. That central support looked like a stone altar. To add to the environment, there was graffiti of a winged eyeball painted on one of the retaining walls, as well as a number of other symbols. I felt like I had discovered the ruins of an ancient temple. It felt like hallowed ground. I named the place The Altar of the Eye<\/em>. One day, I found a feather in the woods. Something motivated me to leave that feather on the Altar, along with a quarter. I performed an impromptu ritual, my very first, speaking to the spirits of the place, who had provided what felt like a haven for me. Over the following years, whenever I needed a place to step away from the outside world and focus on looking inward, I would come here and feel the woods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This photo was taken several years later, after someone broke one of the top stones from the Altar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Altar of the Eye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Closeup of the Eye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the summer of 2025, I returned to visit the Altar. Time has not been kind to it, but I still managed to fit in a bit of wizarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Wizarding at the Altar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around age 14 I developed an affinity for a certain area of the woods in a park near my home. I started exploring the area, and I discovered that there was an old creek bridge foundation there. The central support remained, as well as the retaining walls, but the bridge itself was long-gone. That central … Continue reading The Altar of the Eye<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":562,"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spikevision.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}