Is it dementia, or philosophy?

Well, I'm finally old enough to lie about my age, so I've been coming to terms with little gaps in my memory, of the "where did I put my keys?" variety.

And I've always had a touch of hypochondria, so I've been entertaining dark thoughts of Alzheimer's, diabetes side effects – "Why, yes, Paranoia, I'll be happy to pour you a fourth martini. And your little Black Dog, too."

But I think it's something much more benign. While I was washing dishes, I was deep in meditation on inchoate thoughts about the connections between blame, responsibility, purification, sin, moral failures ... and what the Bible word translated "sin" used to mean, back in the day, and why sacrifices actually worked to ...

You see where I'm going with this? I can't remember why I left the living room and went into the bedroom, because I'm trying to figure out how spiritual purification baths work.

I really am thinking hard about this subject, too; watch this space.

"Don't let her wash your clothes!"

One of my clients told me that her husband was taught that – "Never let a woman wash your clothes!" Why? Because she can put stuff in your laundry!

You can even work this trick on yourself, whenever your spiritual cleansing, luck, or prosperity need a touch-up.

It's a fine old time-tested method for influencing people, and the easiest way to do it is to put things in the laundry rinse water. A few drops of oil, some bath salts dissolved in water - it's easy.

Especially in This Modern Age, when you can soak a washcloth in it and pop it into the dryer, just like a dryer sheet; or pour it into a Downy Ball, walk away and forget it.