Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist
Bio
I fell in love with speculative fiction and poetry many years ago, but I have precious little time to write any. Then, I went crazy and started a cult called metAlchemy, or meta alchemy. I revere energy of all brands, esp. good, kind chaos.
Achievements (1)
Stories (184)
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The Difference a Month Makes
Last month, around this time, I was sitting in a homeless shelter typing up an update on the status of my ongoing melodrama with my reflexively abusive husband. Today, I'm curled up in my and my hubby's home and happy to report that the worst of the storm is past us now. No more 2:30am mornings, no more putting ten thousand miles on the car in a month, no more strangers touching my laundry in shared machines or my food in a shared kitchen.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist11 days ago in Journal
what i should have said
follow-up to what i'll never get to say — top story, october 2025 no. when my husband asked me if you were someone he needed to worry about, i should have just said no and left it alone. but some part of my brain reads things like these as dares. and for all my strength, i am as weak to my own witless urges as the next impulse-impaired adult. it screamed "prove it" until i did something drastic and reached out to you.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist13 days ago in Confessions
Practical Magick: Applied metAlchemy
How wonderful it is that no one need wait one moment before starting to improve the world. -Anne Frank This simple, profound sentiment of personal responsibility and change underlies the second mantra of meta-alchemy. When energy is sufficient to facilitate it, grow and evolve as a person, as a professional, as a creator, and as a functional member of society. Take a class, go to therapy, work in your garden—evolution has myriad faces, determined only by the one you wish to see in the mirror. Just remember that you cannot take sustenance from stone; if you don't ensure sufficient energy to sustain your growth, it will fail to take root due to inhospitable conditions.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemistabout a month ago in Humans
Looking through Glass. Content Warning.
Darkness. Everywhere, darkness. I can't open my eyes! Why can't I open my eyes? My eyes feel like they're sewn shut, but I think they're just caked with something that's tearing out my eyelashes when I try to pry them open. Same difference in the moment, big difference in the end. My clumsy, cold fingertips claw at the crust until the tears flow freely and I can see reasonably well through the deluge.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemistabout a month ago in Horror
Solstice Status Updates
Hey there folks, it's been a while. I've had a busy, busy past few weeks and have had precious little time to sit and write. Truthfully, I should be out working right now instead of sitting at my kitchen counter on my laptop updating a handful of relative strangers and a smaller handful of relatives and close friends on the goings on in my life, but the kid and I can use a break for the day before we get back to the grind tomorrow.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemistabout a month ago in Humans
Practical Magick: Applied metAlchemy
“If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words, we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths. Our limitations and joys begin in our hearts. We can always replace negative with positive.” -Betty Eadie
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist2 months ago in Humans
Here I Sit, My Foot Tap-Tap-Tapping
I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't the quiet, dense, anxious space between breaths I found myself waiting in. My arms are tired from the clenching of my fists and holding my elbows to the sides of my body in an effort to shore up what is soft with what strength I can muster. My feet are bouncing in a chaotic anti-rhythm of panic as I play the words over and over in my head where they echo in my heart. His pleas, my goodbyes.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist2 months ago in Confessions
The Real Colors of Racism. Content Warning.
Here we are again, with my face on a piece to prove I have the exact demographic makeup to make me a honking goose of self-righteousness and the portfolio to prove I have the self-awareness to curb my mayo sapiens tendencies while I have a chat with my own for a moment. Hey there, peeps and skeeps. Last time, I just wanted to talk to the white Americans with Trump Voter Remorse (TVR) or Protest Voter Persecution Syndrome (PVPS). This time, I'm ditching the alphabet soup.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist2 months ago in The Swamp
The Path to Redemption
This is not an article; it's a contingency plan. Tomorrow morning, I embark on a journey to begin the next chapter of my story. Of that much, I am absolutely certain. Today is the last day of this era of my life, no matter what comes of tomorrow. This is a bittersweet realization, and one I couldn't bear to carry all alone, but the loneliness is part of what is ending, and writing this will help.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist2 months ago in Confessions
Return to Self
Do you know who you are? I think I am finally figuring out who I am again. Under the layers of ego and logic that I project to the world, the real core id entity that is me. Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to become driven by my id. But everyone should be able to find theirs in the sea of somethings that is the self, and I lost track of mine for a while. It's one thing to not know what you want; it's quite another to not know if you can want anything anymore. One of those things is definitely scary, but the other is existentially terrifying.
By Maia Gadwall the metAlchemist3 months ago in Humans
