she had spent a few minutes performing her standard thinking-and-calming ritual: eating toast. And yet, not merely eating toast; eating toast as a meditative practice.

Phoenix Baker, Mittens: A story about two women falling in love and doing really weird things to each other [Amazon]

Hermetic quote Baker Mittens thinking calming ritual eating toast meditative practice

Consider also:

  1. “it is human nature to seek simple solutions to complex problems”
  2. “Why did you choose this voice?” “It felt right, and it was the closest match to what I am.” “And what is that?” “Not human. Not gendered. Not at the mercy of human obsession with genitalia.”
  3. Mud and Horn, Sword and Sparrow
  4. “green of the honeyed muse, green of the rough caress of ritual, green undaunted by reason or delirium, green of jealous joy, green of the secret holy violence of the thyrsos, green of the sacred iridescence of the dance”
  5. “one puzzle she couldn’t solve was people. To Ada, they all seemed to be broken in ways she couldn’t make sense of, and couldn’t fix.”