Proverbs of the Old Way
These doors are for your opening.
Every bloom and leaf
Is another book of secrets
There are many secrets in shadows,
But only one sun in the sky.
The gate of awareness cannot be closed.
Abundance is assured.
None of us walk alone.
The Art is simple, but not easy.
Dedication is always rewarded.
Truth never dies.
If you find your heart, you find your home.
There is no peace without the Truth.
Wisdom is the light of the world,
But it springs from dark places
And even darker experiences.
The key to your chest is in your hand.
Let love in.
Truth is a candle
That even the blind can see.
They say that day follows night
And time is just an arrow,
Flying from new to old:
I say that day and night are just a story,
And time is just a bowl.
You, and all that is seen,
And all that is unseen,
Do not have a separate destiny.
Pile the apples, bake the bread,
Neatly and timely:
This pleases the dead-
And it's better than pitch on your head.
Love can make the cowardly man brave,
The brave man a hero,
And the wise man into a fool.
Live by your heart:
Those who matter, won't mind;
Those who mind, won't matter.
Creativity, like spirituality, has winters and summers.
If you cannot see what needs to be seen,
Then no one can;
If wisdom was ever a possibility for one person,
It is for us all.
Only things that can't be stolen are worthy of our deepest love.
There are haunted places,
But far more haunted minds and haunted hearts.
The Eyes of Truth never look away from us.
A life of Wisdom is the only life well lived.
Curses, blessings, and chickens always come home to roost.
She stood and pounded her feather bed, the Old Dame:
And down the snowstorm came.
When Fate closes one door, She opens another.
One moment of true peace is worth a lifetime.
Real love never abandons its own to the grave.
Life is short to the greedy, long to the miserable,
And neverending to the wise.
Whatever your life becomes will be an Art of its own.
The life in a man is not different
From the life in the Land.
Never give advice that you wouldn't follow.
For everything that is seen, nine things are unseen.
We are those who lived before.
Soon, we will be those who will live again.
Forgetfulness is the real death.
If you know where you belong,
Settle for nothing more or less.
The truly cunning know the limits of cleverness.
The true worker of Art is a lover of wisdom and a friend of pain.
A forest must be very dense to hide the truth.
A person must be very brave to uncover it.
If you are not willing to risk everything for love,
Human is something you cannot claim to be.
Real wisdom, like real love, is ruthless.
Fear and Love do not live in the same house.
Do not shy away from sacrifice.
Giving up something for a worthy other does not diminish you;
It increases you many times.
Beware the curses that are born more than the curses that are made.
No man or woman was ever turned into a toad for good,
But many toads have been mistakened for men and women all their lives.
The songs we teach our children are the sounds that echo in the caverns of Fate.
Nature is the great teacher, and She is never silent to the ears of the wise.
Learning to see the world in a new way
Is like boiling your head in a kettle.
Nostalgia feeds the fire; fear stirs the pot.
Let go; fear not; get used to the path:
Fate may send you peace, but She won't let you settle.
There is no greater evil than greed, and no greater folly than misplaced trust;
There is no greater good than love returned, and no greater pleasure than real friendship.
Wisdom is the power to see what is real, rather than what seems real.
An acorn contains within itself a forest without end.
A book of mystical art is just a tool; the human being is the fertile ground of real magic.
None who know real love can call Fate unfair or unkind.
What is taken is truly given, and what is given is truly taken.
Sleep is the nightly grave; waking the daily distraction.
The wise consider Fate in all things,
But they never use it as an excuse.
Death is the great repayer of all men, and the teacher of the wise.
You are only a wicked oaf as long as you think and act like one-
Or as long as you don't think about your life at all.
The eagle and the hummingbird both fall to the same ground, in the end.
You can't kill a God by kicking over an altar.
Try not to live as though you must change the world;
Fate has Her own way; let the world change through you.
The hammer that builds a cradle also builds a coffin.
If you've not celebrated something in the last month, you aren't living properly.
Death, like a broken mirror, gives a thousand new perspectives.
Doubt and despair are the common foes of mankind;
Bravery and innovation the common allies.
Love is a madness; those mad with it want no cure, and they need none.
Love demands life. Life rushes to it, ready.
It takes three for anything to begin.
John Barleycorn is in the fields as much as he is in the people and in loaves in ovens.
He isn't the spirit of corn; he is the spirit of life.
We are not just "in" our bodies; we are in the fields as much as in other people and in the food we eat.
We aren't the spirits of bodies. We are spirits of the weave of Fate.
No net nor any trick can catch a true Master. If you think you've caught him, he's actually caught you.
Real wealth is not kept in a vault.
The spirit scorns a suitor of lesser birth three times.
An unbroken oath is a glory to the heavens and a bridge over death.
Let the devil take the enemy of your family;
Let his dame take the enemy of the land.
A farmer may harvest many grains and sheaves, but the real harvest is wealth and abundance;
A man may collect many coins, but the real wealth is security and peace.
We do not smile because we feel joy. Smiles are joy.
The moon is the mirror of our dreams; The sun is renewer of our hopes.
To say to another person "be whole", really means "be aware of your natural wholeness which has never passed away".
No man is so wealthy that he can afford to waste friends.
Only they who suffer for others have the right to boast of concern.
Everyone gets the devil- or the sunlight- that they deserve.
Life is a sacred unfolding, connected in countless ways like the countless sprouts on a massive and ancient tree.
Do not ever imagine that your actions mean nothing; what you do affects the whole.
Do not disrupt life without a reason of great importance.
If a river is sacred, then so are its rapids, its shallows, its tributaries, its falls, and its source.
We are all bound to this life. What we do to it, with it, and among it, lays a doom on us in the years to come.
Gold must pay for gold, and silver for silver.
A man born to hang will never drown.
Justice demands exact returns, and She takes them in her good time.
Nothing you can think or feel is alien to your humanity.
Fear is never profitable.
The stars and planets command the currents in the heavens;
Emotions and will command them on the earth;
The Spinner commands them below.
A star fallen to earth is drawn there by One who is within the earth.
Kind to the kind,
Deceitful to the deceitful,
Helpful to the helpful,
Wary of the stranger,
Dismissive of the hateful,
Patient with the dim-witted,
Understanding with the grief-stricken,
Hospitable to the guest
And loving to your increase always be.
No amount of politeness can conceal real hate.
When facing death, do not prefer to see one thing or another; accept whatever appears, and remain a quiet observer.
Like a dream, what is terrible will eventually vanish, as will what is beautiful- so don't hold on to them.
Your only duty is to know in your heart that it is best for others to live in beauty, and be free from what is terrible.
This is another mask of Love, perhaps it's final mask.
This is how to pass through death's visions and into the world of peace; it is also a way to live life everyday.
Still water swells eventually.
Enemies are great teachers, but that doesn't mean you should ever stop trying to stamp them out.
You cannot give the truth to another person, but you can point out a road.
Imagination is the only real sustenance of a true human being.
The country that your soul wants to see does not appear on a map.
People spend very little time living their true lives.
Seeds placed in bitter soil will never profit the sower.
If a child's innocence does not deter a person from wrongdoing, they have no claim on humanity.
How a man treats beasts tells you something about how he can or will treat people.
Dark ale is a sympathetic ear for most problems, but if you burden him with your problems more than once a week, he'll stop listening.
The world is full of tragedies. If there was ever one moment of real beauty in the world, one could say that the tragedies were worth it.
Just as no wall can stop the wind, no boundary can stop the true seeker of wisdom.
When someone places their heart in your hand, hold it lightly.
If you need help, the spirits of oak trees are very willing to listen.
Let their roots drink a splash of ale, and they'll return the favor.
No bed is softer or warmer than the arms of a lover.
If you think your learning and your knowledge is sufficient enough
To allow yourself the indulgence of ignoring the words of others,
You will become your own deceiver.
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Site last updated: September 12, 2007