“Haeresis est maxima, opera maleficarum non credere” ~Malleus Maleficarum
(The greatest of all heresies is the disbelief in witchcraft)
“My goal is to always come from a place of love, but sometimes I just have to break it down for a motherfucker.” ~RuPaul
“Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades. A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude, and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful.” ~Jacqueline Bisset
…(although with all due respect to the ever wonderful Ms. Bisset, I’d say the same holds true for men as well ~ Geoffrey)
“Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it;
let nothing stop you or turn you aside.”
~From The Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valliente
“The emotional health of a village depended upon having a man whom everyone loved to hate, and Heaven had blessed us with two of them.”
— Barry Hughart (Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was)
“Science is a method of talking about the Universe in terms that bind it to a common reality. Magick is a way of speaking to the Universe in words that it cannot ignore.” –Neil Gaiman
“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.” — Marilyn Monroe
“Don’t be pushed by your problems…be lead by your dreams” ~ Unknown
“In the Midst of Winter, I finally learned there was in me an invincible Summer.” ~ Albert Camus
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
(NOTE: There is, at best, dark irony embodied in this quote given it’s source was a slave-holder. The sentiment remains true however. It is only by confronting the complexity and truths and folly’s and tragic failings of the past that we are able to learn from it move forward from it and appropriately engage with it and with our Ancestors and their legacies.)
“Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted.” ~ Alfred Adler
“There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.” ~ Goethe
“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.”
-William Ellery Channing
“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else, is the greatest accomplishment.” – Emerson
Chrysalis 
I would love to hear more about how you reinvent the Wheel of the Year! I totally think you should… you don’t live in a climate where the European Wheel of the Year was born, so you shouldn’t feel beholden to it. I often wonder about Pagans in the Southern Hemisphere and encourage the ones I talk with to decipher what feels best for them… how do you honor your European cultural heritage but also honor what the earth you are living on is doing right now? Keep us updated on your Florida Festivals… The Festival of the First Cool Night, The Festival of The End of Hurricane Season, The Festival of I’m Dying Of Humidity… haha. Better you than me, brother 🙂
It’s not as bad as all that, living in Florida in the Summer is remarkably similar to having grown up and lived in Alaska during the Winter…
You huddle in your house behind whatever climate controls you have. You go to your climate controlled vehicles and work and stores, you hurry between them actually… and as my ex used to say “You don’t have to shovel humidity!”
Thanks for the encouragement!!
Yes! The Wheel of the Year (IM oh-so HO) should always be based on what is happening in nature where we live. And yet yes, we should still honor our ancestors, and not do the cultural imperialism thing.
Beloved Wife (who is not Pagan) was recently reading a work of historical fiction set in a hot climate in pre-Christian times, and was startled that the Inanna equivalent went underground in the hot time of the year, making Fall Equinox the Festival of the Return of the Goddess, rather than Her departure. She asked me if I’d ever heard of this. I asked her to read me more, and in context it made complete sense (plus, the author really had done her research well). With the fall rains in that land came the return of the land’s fertility; with the spring and the return of the Sun came scorching heat and the loss of the land’s fertility.
I read it when she was done, and for me, it was just really neat to have a completely different view of an equivalent of the Wheel of the Year from the one I’ve come up on and that makes sense in the places I’ve lived — but that makes complete and total sense in that geographical context.
So I’m with you!
The Greeks did this as well.
So Praxidike,
Can you aim me at any good sources for examples?
Are you referring to the general Hellenic world habit of every city-state having their own relationships with the Gods or some sort of documented differences between mother city and colony?
From my studies I know a lot of contemporary Hellenic Polytheists will adjust the dates for some festivals so as to be in tune with the right Season at the local level (Anthestria comes to mind), and that there are some who eagerly create their own festivals and holidays relevant to their times and places…
I am a definite Polytheist with Hellenic leanings, but am too much Witch and have had a couple of ‘oh hey’ moments from Dieties outside the Hellenic Pantheon to feel right labeling myself a Recon. Yet I still delight in the methodology, perhaps that comes from having Lettered in Speech and Debate in HS… I love having ‘evidence’ for my beliefs/arguments!
Thanks for stopping by, by the by!
Hey Stasa, what was the name of the book? …and good to see you here btw…
Hi, Pax!
It’s Black Ships by Jo Graham. It’s an intriguing re-telling of the Aeneid, very readable — for me, a combination of historical fiction and… I dunno how to explain; it spoke to me as a Priestess, even though of a completely different tradition. Plus, I enjoyed spending time with the characters, and wanted to know how things turned out for them.
I liked it well enough that I’ve reserved a much-later sequel at the library.
http://jo-graham.livejournal.com/tag/black%20ships
http://bookelfe.livejournal.com/260713.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Graham
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2192272.Black_Ships
http://www.sfsite.com/03a/bs291.htm
Cheers!
Stasa