Update

After going through the initiation into the sphere of Mars, I've decided to kick things up a notch with the initiations.  I'm going to pursue the initiations every few nights, falling on planetary days, until I've gone through each planet.

As an interesting side note related to my Mars initiation: On saturday I went to a party where a few of the other attendees were interested in esoterica of various kinds.  We all drifted into one room at some point and started talking about astrology and elemental breakdown of personality.  I challenged one of them to guess my sun sign and/or primary element.  He said straightaway, "You seem very fiery."  I was honestly surprised, because throughout my whole life I've never been known to be fiery.  In the past, my primary and secondary elements have been shown to be Water and Air, with those two switching place from time to time.  It makes me wonder how they breakdown now.  But anyway...

Yesterday I completed the initiation into Sol by calling upon Michael.  I'm starting to wonder about my approach, especially concerning timing, as I've had a lot of difficulty "hearing" and "seeing" the angels I've called.  During yesterday's ritual, it was like I could barely even catch whispers from Michael.  Still, he seemed to agree to the initiation, and after giving my request, I felt a surge of euphoria with a certain lightness.  To my spiritual sight, my centers (opened through the Pillar exercise in TSS) each turned into bright fireballs.  Then, light coursed through my channels and spread throughout the rest of me.

The after-effects haven't been anything dramatic.  I've felt (and been) more in harmony with those around me.  My sense of self feels a little stronger.  Interesting so far, but once again I got the sense that Michael was only able to take me so far and that more work is needed, specifically with attaining the HGA.

One other thing for now...

For some time now, I've been considering the creation of an ancestor shrine.  I know a lot of people who have had, at best, dysfunctional relationships with their blood relatives.  So much so that I've felt lucky with the family I got.  My family does have, and has had, its dysfunction...but it's always been personality clashes simply resulting in arguments and verbal fights (at least, to *my* knowledge).  But in regard to me, my relatives (dead or otherwise) have always had love for me, even during times of conflict.

So, after recently reading Moloch's post about working with ancestors...I thought, "Why not?"  'Tis the season for dealings with the dead, and I've been considering it for awhile.  I have the materials to make an ancestral shrine and the know-how to maintain it.  I'll go for it!