Storing Magic: Twelfth Night

The ability to utter testifies to the fact that we are far removed from the vast array of meaning that is our home... At the Source, words would not be necessary, for meaning would be produced instantly... Those who can't stand to be trapped in a place where language tends to distort move into poetry, chant, rhythm, and ritual to speed up their journey home. Poetry and ritual evoke the world behind words, the world of meaning that resides, in its fullness, in nature.

Malidoma Somé

The merciful word, the singing word and the good word: May the power of these three sacred things be on men and women for evermore.

Irish Blessing

The Many-Skilled Poet

The many-skilled poet will be wise and clever if they be given to questioning;
clear is the skill of which you hear:
enquiry is the door to knowledge.

Madh fiarfaigh theach badh feasach glic an éigse ilchleasach; solas an cleas-sa ad-chluinidh:
doras feasa fiarfaighidh.

from Féilscríbhinn Torna

Three things that give amplitude to a poet:
knowledge of histories, the poetic art, and ancient verse.

Tri pheth a beir y gerdawr uot yn amyl:
kyfarwydyt ystoryaeu, a bardoniaeth, a hengerd.

from the Red Book of Hergest

…the poet is occupied with the frontiers of consciousness beyond which words fail, though meaning still exists.

T.S.Eliot

Storing Magic

Thursday 5 January 2012

Twelfth Night

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