There are books, that one has for twenty years without reading them, that one always keeps at hand, that one takes along from city to city, from country to country, carefully packed, even when there is very little room, and perhaps one leafs through them while removing them from a trunk; yet one carefully refrains from reading even a complete sentence. Then after twenty years, there comes a moment when suddenly, as though under a high compulsion, one cannot help taking in such a book from beginning to end, at one sitting: it is like a revelation. Now one knows why one made such a fuss about it. It had to be with one for a long time; it had to travel; it had to occupy space; it had to be a burden; and now it has reached the goal of its voyage, now it reveals itself, now it illuminates the twenty bygone years it mutely lived with one. It could not say so much if it had not been there mutely the whole time, and what idiot would dare to assert that the same things had always been in it. – Elias Canetti (thanks to Philip Carr-Gomm for sharing this!)
Complete archive of the Pompeiiana Newsletter. From the link:
The Pompeiiana Newsletter was created and edited by Bernard Barcio and ran from 1974 through 2003. Pompeiiana offered a place for Latin students to publish comics, stories, games, and articles, and was a beloved resource for Latin teachers. … It is my hope that Latin teachers, students, and enthusiasts, will continue to return to this blog to mine it for Latin readings, recipes, puzzles and games, comics, and insight into a cornucopia of Classics topics.
We had an interesting discussion over at DruidJournal the other day; I have edited together my responses from that thread into this post. This says a lot of what I originally wanted to say in the previous post, but apparently couldn’t get out without having the question posed explicitly. Continue reading
Rick over at Of Oak And Ivy 2 Torches and 7 Tines just announced that he is accepting submissions for a devotional to Cernunnos. The announcement follows. Continue reading
Sorry for the long silence; I’ve been laid up with a sprained shoulder and extended typing is uncomfortable… hoping to return to more regular posting in the next week or two. [And yes, Dan, it happened on the mat ;) – during koshi.]
On the plus side, I’m extremely proud of my daughter, who aced the National Mythology Exam this year! She received her gold medal yesterday.
I had the opportunity today to attend a Hindu aarthi worship service for the first time, as part of a field trip we arranged with my Saivite satguru friend for the homeschool group. It was… intense, at least for me. It was quite short, just a routine lunchtime puja – but I found the experience, the opportunity to directly touch and see an ancient, living (not resurrected) polytheist worship tradition in action was something truly amazing. And, actually, I think the routine-ness of it was part of the magic.
I’m sure I’ll be going back.
The other day Jeff Lilly began a post with a quote from the beginning of chapter 72 of the Tao Te Ching, as translated by Stephen Mitchell. It sounded a bit odd to my ear, so I compared a number of different translations I have on hand, just out of curiosity. Continue reading
The following is a thought that’s been chasing around in my head for a while; Continue reading
Two quick items:
1. The editors of the forthcoming Zeus devotional from Bibliotheca Alexandrina have extended the submission deadline until the end of April, so there’s still (a little) time to be included. Continue reading
Executive Pagan 