Word and Spirit

  • Moss, Mire

    This week we’re in Charleston, South Carolina, visiting the Angel Oak. It’s considerably sunnier and wetter here than it is back in Pittsburgh: the earth is sandier, the blue skies paler, and the waters warmer. In the morning we went out jogging past the stately homes, the gardens lush with semitropical bushes, huge magnolias, and towering Continue reading

  • Rain, Wind

    It’s been a cold, rainy spring here in southwestern Pennsylvania, and though there are lilies blooming in the garden and birds clamoring in the yard, I’m nevertheless wrapped under two blankets, the windows are shut tight and the rain and wind are beating at the glass. 3 AM – I am awake to the downpour, Continue reading

  • Temperance, Terror, Torch, Torture

    My old blog, the Word of the Day, is defunct, and I’m getting ready to take it down. Before I do, though, I’m going to repost some of the best words here over the next few weeks. Enjoy! Temperance Ultimately, temperance comes from Latin tempus, “time”. No one knows where Latin picked up tempus – Continue reading

  • Sphere, Spirit, Stone

    My old blog, the Word of the Day, is defunct, and I’m getting ready to take it down. Before I do, though, I’m going to repost some of the best words here over the next few weeks. Enjoy! Sphere Sphere comes from the beautiful Greek word sphaira, which meant “globe” or “ball”. By the time Continue reading

  • Sacrifice, Sacrilegious, Savior

    My old blog, the Word of the Day, is defunct, and I’m getting ready to take it down. Before I do, though, I’m going to repost some of the best words here over the next few weeks. Enjoy! Sacrifice Sacrifice comes from Latin sacrificium, meaning “sacred action” (from sacra, “sacred”, and ficium, “to do”). It Continue reading

  • Poetry, Prose, Praise, Prayer

    My old blog, the Word of the Day, is defunct, and I’m getting ready to take it down. Before I do, though, I’m going to repost some of the best words here over the next few weeks. Enjoy! Poetry, Prose Poetry began life as the Proto Indo European root kwoiwo, meaning “making”. It entered Greek Continue reading

  • Om, Pagan, Paradise

    My old blog, the Word of the Day, is defunct, and I’m getting ready to take it down. Before I do, though, I’m going to repost some of the best words here over the next few weeks. Enjoy! Om From Wikipedia: OM is a mystical or sacred syllable in the Dharmic [i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Continue reading

  • Language and Gender: the New English Pronoun

    Something in the English language is changing, but not many people have noticed it. Maybe a teacher, here or there, has noticed it on one of their student’s papers, and thought it was an error. Or a pundit has railed against it in their column, or someone has written an angry note about it on Continue reading

  • Words of the Day: Norn, Oak, Objective, Subjective

    My old blog, the Word of the Day, is defunct, and I’m getting ready to take it down. Before I do, though, I’m going to repost some of the best words here over the next few weeks. Enjoy! Norn A Norn is a kind of female spirit found in Norse theology, who can cause great Continue reading

  • Fiction and the Shamanic Journey

    In a series of posts a few years ago, I talked about the function of fiction. What is it for? What purpose does it serve? After all, it’s all a pack of lies — and what’s more, it’s lies that everyone knows are false. In that article I argued that fiction’s primary purpose was to Continue reading