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Articles tagged with: etymology

Chiasmus--named after a letter

bolstering the cliche

Chiasmus--named after a letter

We love our cliches and jingles, but there's something really satisfying about words and phrases that step out and step back, are mirror images of themselves--"level"--"radar"--"madam I'm Adam." These are palindromes, which means (in Greek) that they "run backward." In Latin the word would be "retrocourse."

But "it is what it is" isn't quite a palindrome, and so "palindrome" is not the word for this spell.
The word is "chiasmus"--a word named after a letter.

Moment is Movement

moment and my newt

Moment is Movement

Equinox is like twilight: midway point on the way to solstice, or to midday/midnight, point at which momentum has built so the energy is solidly toward more light, more heat, more day (or, in September, more dark, more cold, more night).

If you're paying attention, you can feel the energy change over. But, as I said in the equinox post, it doesn't all happen right in the key moment. Momentum builds to that point and continues for some time afterward.

And so this spell's "word" post is dedicated to moment/momentum.

Word of the Spell: Apprentice

catching hold, holding on

Word of the Spell: Apprentice

It seems appropriate that this spell's word should be

apprentice

since we're talking about undertaking an herbal apprenticeship, and about apprenticing to the plants. There's a nice parallelism, word-wise, event-wise, life-wise, with my recent initiation into the Sufi order--both are part of my "spell" nexus, and both involve setting aside my own judgments, preconceptions, and stories, and opening my ears and heart to guidance.

The "surrender" piece is so important, but let's take a look at the etymology of "apprentice" and see how there's another side to the story.

Herb of the Spell: "Rosemary for Remembrance"

remembrance, fragrance, versatility

Herb of the Spell:

Okay, part 3 of our first tripartite spell! Since the mindfulness part was about remembering/forgetting in connection with boundaries and the language part was about the word "remember," you might have expected me to pick "forget-me-not" as the herb for the spell.

But  there was never any doubt for me that I'd be writing about "rosemary, for remembrance." It's such a wonderfully versatile aromatic herb, and although it doesn't have as much associated folklore as parsley or fennel do (stories for another day, perhaps),  it's been used and loved for millennia.

Keep a vial of its essential oil by your desk and take a whiff if your energy flags. Notice the renewed wave of clarity.

Word: Remember, Two Ways

Spell: Part 2

Word: Remember, Two Ways

Since the first part of this spell was about remembrance as a tool for creating boundaries, the spell's word is

remember

*The picture is of Mnemosyne, the ancient world's personification of memory, as portrayed by Rosetti.
This looks like an easy one, doesn't it?

  • Re = "back"/"again"
  • Member = "a part of an organized whole; literally a limb"

And with dis = "apart" and dismember as an apparent opposite, meaning "to break down into constituent parts," we can tell a fine story of how "remember" is a process of putting things back together, taking the separated parts and putting them back together, how all parts of a memory are essential constituents.

It's a great story, and I think it can be a valid story, but it's not the actual etymology of "remember."

Word of the Week/Almost Wordless Wednesday

"touchstone"

Word of the Week/Almost Wordless Wednesday

Last tangent from the Gem Show:

As a person drawn to bright shiny objects and who picks up rocks, it's easy for me to think the word "touchstone," and to think it as a stone that you touch, and so a talisman, a symbol of go(o)d luck, a reminder. And of course it is all those things.

But there's more to it--more to it literally, and therefore more to it metaphorically--in a way that calls me, at least, to level up, up!

Word of the Week: Frame

seeing in the best light

Word of the Week: Frame

"Frame" and "reframe" have been a recurrent theme lately.

  • Trying to provide for family, or wanting to deplete fossil fuels to the point of no return?
  • Dressing provocatively, or wanting to maximize vitamin D absorption?
  • Sharing the benefit of hard-earned knowledge, or trying to sell more books by whatever means?
  • Deepening my mindfulness, or starving myself?

I'll be writing more about this, but let's start by looking at the word "frame" itself.

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