JunoMagic ~ satismagic

“I always prefer honesty” by MegElizabeth_,
Creative Commons “Attribution”-licence at Flickr.

“We tell lies when we are afraid… afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger.”

– Tad Williams

Henry VIII, king of England (1491-1547)

Passtime with good company

Pastime with good company
I love and shall unto I die.
Grudge whoso will, but none deny,
So God be pleased, this live will I.
For my pastance
Hunt, sing, and dance.
My heart is set
All godely sport
To my comfort.
Who shall me let?

Youth will have needs daliance,
Of good or ill some pastance.
Company me thinketh then best
All thoftes and fantasies to digest.
For idleness
Is chief mistress
Of vices all.
Than who can say
But “pass the day”
Is best of all?

Company with honesty
Is virtue, and vice to flee.
Company is good or ill
But every man hath his free will.
The best ensue,
The worst eschew,
My mind shall be.
Virtue to use,
Vice to refuse,
I shall use me.

(Click me! I am a song!)

“Honesty”
by Alannah Myles

“Winds” by Teresa Stanton “T”,
Creative Commons “Attribution” licence at Flickr.

“To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.”

– Albert Schweitzer

Letter to a Friend

I am your friend
and my love for you goes deep.
There is nothing I can give you
which you have not have:
but there is much, very much
that while I cannot give it,
you can take.

No heaven can come to us
unless our hearts find rest
in today. Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future
which is not hidden
in this present little instant.
Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow.
Behind it, yet within reach, is joy.
There is radiance and glory
in the darkness, could we but see,
and to see we have only to look.
I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver,
but we, judging its gifts by
the covering, cast them away
as ugly, or heavy or hard.
Remove the covering and
you will find beneath it
a living splendor,
woven of love,
by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it,
touch the angel’s hand
that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial,
a sorrow, or a duty, believe me,
that angel’s hand is there,
the gift is there, and the wonder
of an overshadowing presence.
Our joys, too, be not
content with them as joys.
They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose,
so full of beauty,
beneath its covering—
that you will find earth
but cloaks your heaven.

Courage, then, to claim it, that is all.
But courage you have,
and the knowledge that
we are all pilgrims together,
wending through unknown country, home.

And so, at this time, I greet you,
not quite as the world sends greetings,
but with profound esteem
and with the prayer that for you
now and forever, the day breaks,
and the shadows flee away.

Letter written by Fra Giovanni (1513)

(Click me! I am a song!)

“Gratitude”
by Eric Bibb

I have chosen “Gratitude” as the first virtue for various reasons.

I find that when I’m stressed out and worried, I forget what is good and wonderful in my life. I forget all the things I can be grateful for. I become ungrateful, and as a result I get more and more annoyed and frustrated.

When I take the time to remember what I am grateful for, I invariably discover that things aren’t all that bad.

But most of all, I have picked “Gratitude” as the first virtue because I’m grateful for you.

I’m grateful beyond measure that you exist. That you are my friend. That I’ve had the pleasure to meet you online or offline or online and offline.

Thank you very much. You make my life so much better.

Based on pictures by gute, jreberlein, mothrah and niecey at stock.XCHANG.

Song 1:
“Irischer Segen”
by Andy Lang

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

May the rain fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

(St Patrick’s Blessing – traditional)

This is the last blessing of the year 2006. I hope you enjoyed the blessings, pictures and songs I posted to get us through December and into the New Year. And if you missed a blessing, don’t worry! Sometime during the next days I’ll post a YouSendIt to a zipped folder with all the songs and an e-book of the blessings.

Thank you for all your kind words, for all the interesting discussions we had here on lj and elsewhere this year, and most of all, for just being *you*.

I wish for you and your loved ones
that all the blessings of this month
may guide you and guard you throughout 2007.

Based on “Enlightened Praise” by lumix2004 at stock.XCHANG.

Keep us, O God, from pettiness;
let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with faultfinding and leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretenses and meet each other,
face to face, without self-pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous.
Let us take time for all things;
make us grow calm, serene, gentle.
Teach us to put in action our better impulses – straightforward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize
it is the little things of life that create difficulties;
that in the big things of life we are as one.

Oh, Lord, let us not forget to be kind.

Amen.

(Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots)

(Click me! I am a song!)

“The Blessings” by Dar Williams

Based on “Sailing to the Sunrise” by jefras at stock.XCHANG.

In the high halls beyond the West
Beneath the blue vaults of Varda tremble the stars
in the song of her voice, holy and queenly.
Who now shall refill the cup for me?
Hoping that you shall find Valimar and that your cup shall ever be filled.

(a blessing in Quenya based on Galadriel’s song of Eldamar by J.R.R. Tolkien)

(Click me! I am a song!)

“Galadriel’s Song of Eldamar” by The Tolkien Ensemble

I wrote a story about a holy well in Middle-earth once, and for that story I needed a blessing in Quenya. What I came up with is the blessing of this post. In modern days the last line would probably translate as:

“In the hope that you shall find your paradise
and that your cup shall ever be filled.”

You can read the story here, if you want to. (But I warn you, it’s not very good.)

Based on “The Potter” by Zela at stock.XCHANG.

Earth teach me quiet
           ~ as the grasses are still with new light.

Earth teach me suffering
           ~ as old stones suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility
           ~ as blossoms are humble with beginning.

Earth teach me caring
           ~ as mothers nurture their young.

Earth teach me courage
           ~ as the tree that stands alone.

Earth teach me limitation
           ~ as the ant that crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom
           ~ as the eagle that soars in the sky.

Earth teach me acceptance
           ~ as the leaves that die each fall.

Earth teach me renewal
          ~ as the seed that rises in the spring.

Earth teach me to forget myself
           ~ as melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness
           ~ as dry fields weep with rain.

(an Ute prayer)

(Click me! I am a song!)

“Blessings” by Boondoggle