My word is firm: firmer than sleep or the strength of heroes.
Feeling crappy, can't work, can't write, can't concentrate on anything; I'm starting a cold which involves a sore throat that feels like someone has kicked me under the chin. I'm slouching in bed, under the Wendigo blanket (I'll explain that later), feeling very sorry for myself and planning on going to bed early. I owe posts and e-mails and other communications to some of you, and I'm sorry to falter like this. It's a shame that a raging cold is the only thing that can get me into bed before midnight.
On the plus side, continuing my obsession with the Sanderson sisters, I just noticed that Winifred's spellbook has some extracts from the Kalevala. Evidence. (Look at the left-hand page in the second gif.)
I said on Tumblr: Obviously Winifred Sanderson was a folklorist as well as an epic-level witch, and absorbed many different traditions into her handmade spellbook. Either that or the prop creators needed filler text and grabbed the first volume of poetry that came to hand, but I like my version better.
Also, here's a screencap of the old and badassed creed of witchcraft; it's from a papyrus, and Wikipedia says it's ancient Thessalian without really citing a source for this:
"If I command the moon, it will come down; and if I wish to withhold the day, night will linger over my head; and again, if I wish to embark on the sea, I need no ship, and if I wish to fly through the air, I am free from my weight."
(Just to go from the sublime to the practical, there's a lunar eclipse coming up on October 8. Local times and dates to be found here.)
On the plus side, continuing my obsession with the Sanderson sisters, I just noticed that Winifred's spellbook has some extracts from the Kalevala. Evidence. (Look at the left-hand page in the second gif.)
I said on Tumblr: Obviously Winifred Sanderson was a folklorist as well as an epic-level witch, and absorbed many different traditions into her handmade spellbook. Either that or the prop creators needed filler text and grabbed the first volume of poetry that came to hand, but I like my version better.
Also, here's a screencap of the old and badassed creed of witchcraft; it's from a papyrus, and Wikipedia says it's ancient Thessalian without really citing a source for this:
"If I command the moon, it will come down; and if I wish to withhold the day, night will linger over my head; and again, if I wish to embark on the sea, I need no ship, and if I wish to fly through the air, I am free from my weight."
(Just to go from the sublime to the practical, there's a lunar eclipse coming up on October 8. Local times and dates to be found here.)