The Rowdy Goddess

A Lifetime in Quotations

• The  common-place book: copying passages from other sources including books, poetry, movies etc.

The Book of Shadows

• The sketch diary
• The daily Diary
• The Thought Diary or pensées in which you limit yourself to one sentence that distills all your spiritual knowledge of that day.
• The Poetry Diary in which you write one poem that summarizes your experience of the day
• Vision Diary: a record of your meditations, trances and dreams
• Nature Diary: a record of weather, sketches of plants, birds and other beings that help establish your connection to the environment and the natural world.

I find that I keep a variation of most of them. One of the longest journals I’ve kept is a quotations journal. I bought it in 1972 when I was in college. You can see from the picture that is oh so 70s in style and color. Too embarrased to write down my thoughts, I kept track of the quotes that captured my attention. A common place book, it’s called!

I haven’t been faithful but I have filled it. I’ve filled it with quotations that have captivated me, I’ve pasted in fortunes from fortune cookies, I’ve added the little cards you get with jewelry and other objects. It is a compendium of what I’m thinking about. As I look through it, I can see my growth, both intellectually and spiritually.

The first quote is from a book called The Rising of the Lark by Ann Moray a book, now out of print, I adored in high school.

What is longing made from?

What cloth is put into it

That it does not wear out with use?

Gold wears out, and silver wears out.

Velvet wears out, and silk wears out.

Yet longing does not wear out.

The moon rises, and the sun rises.

The sea rises in vast waves.

But longing never rises from the heart.

It’s an 17th century Welsh poem that I’ve never been able to locate anywhere else. The last quote was added at the end of 2008. “your luck has been completely changed today.”

I started a new quote book today!

May your day and your life be far from common-place!