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"Finding balance" by woodleywonderworks; Creative Commons CC BY 2.0

Sometimes we talk about balancing the elements in ourselves: balancing the wild passion of Fire with the practicality of Earth; balancing the emotions of Water with the intellect of Air. It strikes me that that's a bit like balancing by focusing on your limbs. Balance isn't in your arms and legs - it is in your core.

To balance your body, brace your core, focus your eyes, and breathe. If your core is strong, your limbs can be flung in any direction, you can be still or moving, you can be on a small base of support, and still you will be in control.

Maybe to balance your magic, brace your spirit, focus your intention, and breathe.

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Orangutan Woodcut
Public domain

Ever since this past Samhain season, I've kept tripping over information about ancestor worship, working with ancestors, ancestor shrines... These things have never been a part of my personal practice and I still don't feel called to them now, or, at least, not in the ways I've seen them done. There's nothing wrong with those ways; just not my thing. But I do see the power of acknowledging where we come from.

I have two urges: To go very far back and to go very far forward.

I want to go back to the ancestors of modern homo sapiens - Mitochondrial Eve and Y-Adam - and honour our deepest origins and our beautiful shared humanity.

And I want to go forward and explore what it means to be the ancestors of the future, worthy of being honoured.

A shelf of books that have influenced my spirituality.

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Margot Adler at the end of July. Her book, "Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today", was one of my first introductions to Paganism. I read the original edition from my high school library and later bought the "revised and expanded edition". Though I haven't re-read it in many years, it still has a place on my bookshelf. In fact, when I did a purge of all my Pagan books a number of years ago, it was one of the first that I moved to the "keep" pile.

I have never owned a copy of the first book about Paganism I ever read - Robin Skelton's "Practice of Witchcraft Today: An Introduction To Beliefs and Rituals", found at the community library - and I sold and donated a lot of the other Pagan books I owned. They had played their part and I was not going to re-read them. On my religion/spiritual bookshelf, my Pagan books are either sentimental books - local authors, autographed books, etc. - classics like "The Spiral Dance", and a small handful of reference books. My copy of "Drawing Down" fits in both of the latter categories.

When I went to pull my copy and read through the introduction in remembrance of Margot Adler, I had a look at what else was on the shelf and reflected on what and who has influenced me. Most of my books are about labyrinths, community living, prayer (from a variety of religions), Eastern philosophy, Jungian thought, deep ecology, and a few new age books. The greatest influences on my current form of Paganism are probably "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan.

Pagans are good at integrating wisdom and beauty from many sources into our traditions. Maybe that's why Pagans don't quote Pagans1: we're quoting the original sources before they've gone through our filters and creative reworkings. It's an honest practice. But as we combine and create and recreate, our own wisdom emerges, such as, from "Drawing Down the Moon": "Paganism is a gift of life to life herself. ... It's planting gardens, loving the planet, being concerned with truth and honesty, and reclaiming parts of ourselves that have been cut off."2

Thank you Margot.

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As in many things, Steven Posch is right about Pagans not quoting Pagans. I've just spent a couple of rainy weekend hours Googling variations of "Pagan quotes", looking at "Pagan quotes" on Pinterest, and checking out the Facebook feeds of a variety of Pagan groups. I found quotes from Eastern philosophies, from First Nations people1, from Christian poets, from scientists and agnostics and atheists. Many of the quotes are good and many are applicable to Pagans, but few of them are by Pagans. The quotes that were by Pagans were often of the problematic "we're not satanists" types2.

So, a challenge to my creative friends: let's create and share memes using quotes from actual Pagan authors, philosophers, poets, musicians, thinkers, and artists. Photos you've taken yourself or Creative Commons pictures only, please, and please attribute all the quotes right on the picture - we don't want the source lost as it gets shared. Here's my first attempt:

"When we let go of believing we are superior, we open ourselves to the experience of living in the community of Nature." - Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm
Quote by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm from The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. Photo by Mud and Magic.

I know starting Internet memes isn't exactly the same as quoting Pagan during theology and philosophy discussions, but we have to start somewhere! Besides, I don't want Steven to think his work is done any time soon.

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