If you’re an asker, you’ll be a knower:Poetry’s knotty and wily –The riddles you hear are windows,And the door is enquiry…– Gofraidh Fionn O Dalaigh There is certainly a fair bit of hoopla going on in the mundane world about today’s lucky numbers. So I thought I would suspend our exploration of the Ruby Realms, … Read more
Dorothy: Well, I-I think that it, that it wasn’t enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em, and it’s that if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard because, if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with. … Read more
She asks for pomegranates.Her husband plants rubies on her neck.They are not the same. She is too shy for her thirst,but the butterfly inside is a desert aching for the sky.There is never enough sweet in her water. An old herbalist, neck heavy with corals,advises in search of zamzam and for the desertthat holds this … Read more
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody will see it. — Mahatma GandhiThe ruby is July’s sacred stone. It is a gem that is associated with the base chakra, the vortex of energy that is at the base of our spine and relates to … Read more
They brought me rubies from the mine,And held them to the sun;I said, they are drops of frozen wineFrom Eden’s vats that run. I looked again,–I thought them heartsOf friends to friends unknown;Tides that should warm each neighboring lifeAre locked in sparkling stone. But fire to thaw that ruddy snow,To break enchanted ice,And give love’s … Read more
The linden, in the fervors of July,Hums with a louder concert. When the windSweeps the broad forest in its summer prime,As when some master-hand exulting sweepsThe keys of some great organ, ye give forthThe music of the woodland depths, a hymnOf gladness and of thanks.— William Cullen Bryant, Among the Trees The first day of … Read more
Whenever you have need of anything,once a month, and better it be when the moon is full,you shall assemble in some secret placeand adore the spirit of Me Who is Queen of all the Wise.— from The Charge of the GoddessTraditional by Doreen Valiente This is the Full Moon, when the Sun is in Cancer … Read more
We are the power in everyoneWe are the dance of the moon and sunWe are the hope that will not hideWe are the turning of the tide. — Starhawk As we explore the meaning of magic, it seems impossible to discuss it without also talking about ritual. In the rituals and magic that are woven … Read more
I will keep the magic-The magic that hidesIn the greens of leaves,In the flight of birds,In the smell of fertile earth. I will keep the magic- The magic thatGlows in fire,Falls in rain,Blows in wind,Rests in stone. I will remember who I am and what I keep holy,And that all else will pass like frost … Read more
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,The holy tree is growing there;From joy the holy branches start,And all the trembling flowers they bear.The changing colours of its fruitHave dowered the stars with merry light;The surety of its hidden rootHas planted quiet in the night;The shaking of its leafy headHas given the waves their melody,And made my … Read more