goddessing
cosmology, consciousness, contrarinessgoddess religion: pagan blog
www.goddessmystic.com
goddess religion: pagan blog
www.goddessmystic.com
Are there men witches? Or only women?"
"There are men who serve us, like the consul at Trollesund. And there are men we take for lovers or husbands. You are so young, Lyra, too young to understand this, but I shall tell you anyway and you'll understand it later: men pass in front of our eyes like butterflies, creatures of a brief season. We love them; they are brave, proud, beautiful, clever; and they die almost at once. They die so soon that are hearts are continually racked with pain. We bear their children, who are witches if they are female; human if not; and then in the blink of an eye they are gone, felled, slain, lost. Our sons, too. When a little boy is growing, he thinks he is immortal. His mother knows he isn't. Each time becomes more painful, until finally your heart is broken. Perhaps that is when Yambe-Akka comes for you. She is older than the tundra. Perhaps, for her, witches' lives are as brief as men's are to us."Serafina Pekkala's answer to Lyra Belacqua's question, p. 275, The Golden Compass
My nephew's brief season ended four years ago. Time passes. Acute grief subsides. Memory and longing remain.
kitty in blue
Even in Heaven
But I know I shall be homesick for you, even in heaven.Beth March to Jo in Robin Swicord's screenplay of Little Women
It's been too cold and rainy for the gardening I had planned to do with J, and my beloved has spent the weekend at the computer, struggling with some gnarly problems in a freelance editing job.
Sometimes, often, we don't get what he hope for. Lost spring days outdoors, after such a long, frigid winter, are especially hard to endure, as are lost weekend days with my beloved.
Bird-watching from indoors, the view of the lake, crochet, reading: small pleasures. I'm grateful, but melancholy. Gillian Armstrong's movie version of Little Women brings warmth, comfort, and the peculiar sense of companionship that comes with familiar storytelling.
Labels: quotes / quotations
Premature Capitulation
Sexism is the story of this election year. The fact that so many otherwise intelligent people are utterly insensible to the problem is an indicator of how deeply rooted it still is.
My beloved still makes me nuts when she rants about how Nader voters are responsible for the fact that we haven't had eight years of Al Gore in the White House. When I trot my logic out on her -- responsible: all the people who voted for Bush, election fraud, legislating from the [Florida Supreme Court] bench (and, oh yes, all the Democrats who stayed home and didn't bother to vote or, worse yet, crossed party lines and voted for Bush) -- she concedes my points, but the "Blame Nader" meme recurs.
Generally speaking, her logical abilities are far superior to mine. It's just that her limbic brain, traumatized by the events that unfolded around Election 2000, holds onto this misconception that Nader and his supporters lost the White House to the Republicans in 2000. She's not alone in this.
She's a feminist, so she won't be joining the "Blame Hillary" bandwagon, which has already started warming up [1, 2, 3, 4].
But back to Dr. Sock's (and other's) notions about sexism, let's just set the record straight. We really can Blame Hillary for everything bad that's happening in the world. There's no need to limit Hillary-blaming to any problems that may or may not be occurring in the Democratic Party, or that may or may not crop up in the general election this fall.
The only thing, I think, which we can't blame Hillary for is something that some blamed Kerry for in 2004: premature capitulation.
So why is Hillary persevering? That's what I asked myself on Wednesday morning, when I found myself thinking like so many others that it was, finally, time to give it up.
Knowing that Hillary is the opposite of a fool, that in fact she is brilliant and savvy, I began trying to imagine why she was holding on. Eventually, I came up with these things: (1) she has the huevos to eschew premature capitulation; (2) she's not afraid to break the gender rules and hang in for a fight, like other (male) party hopefuls have done; (3) she's not being obtuse; she can do the math and can also analyse the weighty social and political implications of superdelegate decision-making in this unique situation; (4) she's got political (and personal) agendas which most of us can only guess at (and excuse me y'all, but all people running for elected office are by definition politicians and political beings, Obama included); (5) she just might be hanging on for the good of the party and the good of the country, even though the throngs see her hanging-on as just the opposite.
And it occurs to me that regardless of her intentions, her machinations might deliver us the Dream Ticket that many were clamoring for a few months ago.
Whatever the case, I continue to admire Clinton. She's waded through a river of sexism during this campaign, with grace. And whether or not she's on the ticket in the fall, she'll continue to work for the party and for the people.
Wisdom
We'd just remodeled the kitchen, and Sophy insisted we should have a dedication. She said the kitchen was as close as people in our culture ever got to the sacred hearth, so we ought to dedicate it as holy ground.Carolyn, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
Many the paths and no gates, ever. Many paths to allow for meandering, for as the water flows, so will we, but no gates, for every gate has a toll collector. Go through none, and none can close behind you to trap you in a place you don't belong. Track by your star; but keep an eye on your feet, for stones are set in the road to make you stumble.Laura, quoting the teachings of Sophy, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
Some of us set up places of refuge... Some of us went to the brides in India, and the girls being cut, and the mothers told to kill their baby daughters. Some went among women who were alone, teaching them to join together, for there is hope in two women, help in three women, strength in four, joy in five, power in six, and against seven, no gate may stand. Some even went among men, to tell them of the battle coming, to explain that it is not male god against male devil, nor is it female against male; it has nothing to do with gender but with dominion... Some lived, some died, but all kept a place to stand. Once you stop trying to go through the gates, it seems so much simpler. Find your sun-warmed stone, she used to say to us, find it high in the sun, dance there, build your house there, then reach down to pull others up.Ellen, explaining Sophy's First Dispersal of women in the war against dominion, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
We call her Sovanuan, Essence of Knowing... Your people might call this goddess Wisdom, or Sophia, as she was once called, when your women had a right to a female goddess. Wisdom is mysterious and hard-won. We portray her as veiled, for we can never know what she looks like, and every veil lifted shows us others behind it. We veil ourselves when we come to revere her, to remind us that Sovanuan dwells within us also, and even there is veiled from our clear sight.Tess, one of Sophy's people, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
Since you were in the trees, your people have contended, one with the other, making battles and then making peace, and then battles, and then peace again. You have been proliferate and violent, and have demanded dominion over all things. You have fought language against language, culture against culture, convulsion after convulsion. Still, even very early in your history, we saw some of you following the path intelligence must follow as it evolves, the path all thinking races follow: You were gradually learning ways that would lead to wisdom. Ways of respect for nature, ways of peace, ways of quiet cooperation.Tess, one of Sophy's people, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
Labels: Gibbon's Decline and Fall, quotes / quotations, Sheri S. Tepper
Gaia Sings to Us
The earth is humming ... a deep, astonishing music.
...a giant, exceptionally quiet symphony.
Labels: Gaia, music of the spheres
Om
Goddesses
Priestess Path
Site Links
Contact Me
My computer time is limited by my physical disabilities. It's
a precious commodity I manage carefully across various web interests,
projects, and communities. Please forgive my slow responses to emails,
my all-too-frequent nonresponses to blog comments, and the inconsistent
rhythms of blog posting and site updates. I am heartened by your visits
to my site and read everything you have to say with interest and appreciation.
Blogroll
goddessing
cosmology, consciousness, contrarinessgoddess religion: pagan blog
www.goddessmystic.com
Are there men witches? Or only women?"
"There are men who serve us, like the consul at Trollesund. And there are men we take for lovers or husbands. You are so young, Lyra, too young to understand this, but I shall tell you anyway and you'll understand it later: men pass in front of our eyes like butterflies, creatures of a brief season. We love them; they are brave, proud, beautiful, clever; and they die almost at once. They die so soon that are hearts are continually racked with pain. We bear their children, who are witches if they are female; human if not; and then in the blink of an eye they are gone, felled, slain, lost. Our sons, too. When a little boy is growing, he thinks he is immortal. His mother knows he isn't. Each time becomes more painful, until finally your heart is broken. Perhaps that is when Yambe-Akka comes for you. She is older than the tundra. Perhaps, for her, witches' lives are as brief as men's are to us."Serafina Pekkala's answer to Lyra Belacqua's question, p. 275, The Golden Compass
My nephew's brief season ended four years ago. Time passes. Acute grief subsides. Memory and longing remain.
kitty in blue
Even in Heaven
But I know I shall be homesick for you, even in heaven.Beth March to Jo in Robin Swicord's screenplay of Little Women
It's been too cold and rainy for the gardening I had planned to do with J, and my beloved has spent the weekend at the computer, struggling with some gnarly problems in a freelance editing job.
Sometimes, often, we don't get what he hope for. Lost spring days outdoors, after such a long, frigid winter, are especially hard to endure, as are lost weekend days with my beloved.
Bird-watching from indoors, the view of the lake, crochet, reading: small pleasures. I'm grateful, but melancholy. Gillian Armstrong's movie version of Little Women brings warmth, comfort, and the peculiar sense of companionship that comes with familiar storytelling.
Labels: quotes / quotations
Premature Capitulation
Sexism is the story of this election year. The fact that so many otherwise intelligent people are utterly insensible to the problem is an indicator of how deeply rooted it still is.
My beloved still makes me nuts when she rants about how Nader voters are responsible for the fact that we haven't had eight years of Al Gore in the White House. When I trot my logic out on her -- responsible: all the people who voted for Bush, election fraud, legislating from the [Florida Supreme Court] bench (and, oh yes, all the Democrats who stayed home and didn't bother to vote or, worse yet, crossed party lines and voted for Bush) -- she concedes my points, but the "Blame Nader" meme recurs.
Generally speaking, her logical abilities are far superior to mine. It's just that her limbic brain, traumatized by the events that unfolded around Election 2000, holds onto this misconception that Nader and his supporters lost the White House to the Republicans in 2000. She's not alone in this.
She's a feminist, so she won't be joining the "Blame Hillary" bandwagon, which has already started warming up [1, 2, 3, 4].
But back to Dr. Sock's (and other's) notions about sexism, let's just set the record straight. We really can Blame Hillary for everything bad that's happening in the world. There's no need to limit Hillary-blaming to any problems that may or may not be occurring in the Democratic Party, or that may or may not crop up in the general election this fall.
The only thing, I think, which we can't blame Hillary for is something that some blamed Kerry for in 2004: premature capitulation.
So why is Hillary persevering? That's what I asked myself on Wednesday morning, when I found myself thinking like so many others that it was, finally, time to give it up.
Knowing that Hillary is the opposite of a fool, that in fact she is brilliant and savvy, I began trying to imagine why she was holding on. Eventually, I came up with these things: (1) she has the huevos to eschew premature capitulation; (2) she's not afraid to break the gender rules and hang in for a fight, like other (male) party hopefuls have done; (3) she's not being obtuse; she can do the math and can also analyse the weighty social and political implications of superdelegate decision-making in this unique situation; (4) she's got political (and personal) agendas which most of us can only guess at (and excuse me y'all, but all people running for elected office are by definition politicians and political beings, Obama included); (5) she just might be hanging on for the good of the party and the good of the country, even though the throngs see her hanging-on as just the opposite.
And it occurs to me that regardless of her intentions, her machinations might deliver us the Dream Ticket that many were clamoring for a few months ago.
Whatever the case, I continue to admire Clinton. She's waded through a river of sexism during this campaign, with grace. And whether or not she's on the ticket in the fall, she'll continue to work for the party and for the people.
Wisdom
We'd just remodeled the kitchen, and Sophy insisted we should have a dedication. She said the kitchen was as close as people in our culture ever got to the sacred hearth, so we ought to dedicate it as holy ground.Carolyn, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
Many the paths and no gates, ever. Many paths to allow for meandering, for as the water flows, so will we, but no gates, for every gate has a toll collector. Go through none, and none can close behind you to trap you in a place you don't belong. Track by your star; but keep an eye on your feet, for stones are set in the road to make you stumble.Laura, quoting the teachings of Sophy, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
Some of us set up places of refuge... Some of us went to the brides in India, and the girls being cut, and the mothers told to kill their baby daughters. Some went among women who were alone, teaching them to join together, for there is hope in two women, help in three women, strength in four, joy in five, power in six, and against seven, no gate may stand. Some even went among men, to tell them of the battle coming, to explain that it is not male god against male devil, nor is it female against male; it has nothing to do with gender but with dominion... Some lived, some died, but all kept a place to stand. Once you stop trying to go through the gates, it seems so much simpler. Find your sun-warmed stone, she used to say to us, find it high in the sun, dance there, build your house there, then reach down to pull others up.Ellen, explaining Sophy's First Dispersal of women in the war against dominion, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
We call her Sovanuan, Essence of Knowing... Your people might call this goddess Wisdom, or Sophia, as she was once called, when your women had a right to a female goddess. Wisdom is mysterious and hard-won. We portray her as veiled, for we can never know what she looks like, and every veil lifted shows us others behind it. We veil ourselves when we come to revere her, to remind us that Sovanuan dwells within us also, and even there is veiled from our clear sight.Tess, one of Sophy's people, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
Since you were in the trees, your people have contended, one with the other, making battles and then making peace, and then battles, and then peace again. You have been proliferate and violent, and have demanded dominion over all things. You have fought language against language, culture against culture, convulsion after convulsion. Still, even very early in your history, we saw some of you following the path intelligence must follow as it evolves, the path all thinking races follow: You were gradually learning ways that would lead to wisdom. Ways of respect for nature, ways of peace, ways of quiet cooperation.Tess, one of Sophy's people, in Sheri S. Tepper's Gibbons Decline and Fall
Labels: Gibbon's Decline and Fall, quotes / quotations, Sheri S. Tepper
Gaia Sings to Us
The earth is humming ... a deep, astonishing music.
...a giant, exceptionally quiet symphony.
Labels: Gaia, music of the spheres
Om
Goddesses
Priestess Path
Site Links
Contact Me
My computer time is limited by my physical disabilities. It's
a precious commodity I manage carefully across various web interests,
projects, and communities. Please forgive my slow responses to emails,
my all-too-frequent nonresponses to blog comments, and the inconsistent
rhythms of blog posting and site updates. I am heartened by your visits
to my site and read everything you have to say with interest and appreciation.
Blogroll [an error occurred while processing this directive]
From somewhere
DJSwa.com
DJSwa
The Bar Corporation
Carlos Cool Corner
From somewhere
DJSwa.com
DJSwa
The Bar Corporation
Carlos Cool Corner