City of Legends

My son, Elric, who has taken a deeply philosophical turn of late, dabbling in theology and metaphysics, asked me for my perception as to what the difference is between a prayer and a spell, beyond the purely theological notion that prayers are to God and spells invoke other powers.

I fumbled a bit  for a moment, looking for the right metaphor, but then this one struck me:

It is the difference between asking someone to pass the salt and telling someone that you are entitled to the salt because you followed the niceties of the request form.

I agree with him that a lot of people treat prayer like a spell, that if they ask for something the right way God is obliged to give it to them.  That’s ridiculous, and those who tell or teach or preach a guaranteed intercessory prayer is missing the point and poisoning the spirituality of not only their own soul, but of others touched by it.

I just wanted to take a few moments and thank a few of you, all of you, for the blessings I enjoi.

I want to thank my sons and my daughter for just being alive and well and strong.  I don’t get to see Peri as much as I would like, and our relationship was badly fractured by any of a thousand insults, real or imagined, that happened along our paths, but she is still a wonder to me.  The boys?  While each has certain traits of mine, it is miraculous to see their lives unfold before them.  Elric and Dante, more homework, less Warcraft.

I want to thank my parents and my siblings, my grandmother, who at 97 is in her waning years but still confronts life with the fire and determination I have always known her for.

I want to thank God for my life and the paths I have trod.

I want to thank the American people for choosing change in a time when they could have easily played it safe and condemned us to four more years of madness.  Pray for the new President and his administration.

I want to thank those who have moved in and out of my orbit in this past year, some for a time, some for all time.  Love to all, even those who cannot and will not embrace the possibilities of life.  Peace, and may your path be as joyful for you as you can accept.

Thanks for the long-time friendship of such people as Theo Huffman, Dan McTaggart, Bob Wasson, Barb Holmes and Jazz, as well as new friends like Liza Lorraine, Annette Kennealy, Guru Prasad and Axilea.  Special thanks to those who are just beginning to enter my universe.  Welcome to the colours of chaos and delight, I will be the experience you are able to comprehend, for I am just a mirror or lens. If you see darkness, it is your own darkness.  If you see joy, it is proof of the beauty within you.

Thank you to everyone who returned my calls, answered my emails and put up with my moods and my jokes.  Truth requires communication.  Lies embrace the violence of silence.

Thanks to Vox for facilitating me in giving the most important performance I will ever give.

Thanks to the Nancies, Lauri, Ann, Jan, Tigana, Dar, Robin, Karla and Aubergine for the time you spent in my sphere and allowed me into yours.  I am richer for it and hope that you are well, strong and content.  My loss is my gain, for in grief I find truth and beauty and motive force to express these things.

Just thank you, all of you.  I know I have been petulant, demanding, confusing, difficult and occult at times, but my intentions are good and I am still learning.  Let me find more ways to be good to the world and those in it.

Amen.