APPALACHIAN PAGAN ALLIANCE
newsletter Sept 2004

Editress: Ginger Strivelli.

September as always marks the time of the Autumn Equinox, alas 
with all the flooding from the hurricanes the harvest season 
was a bit dampened this year. I assume due to the flooding, 
the 'you-pick' apple orchards I love to take my family to on 
the Equinox yearly were closed, which broke my heart we had to 
settle on an Equinox cake rite for our only celebration. 
(See the Kids spells page on the APA website for that spell.) 
We like so many people had flood problems, ours thank the 
Gods were minor fallen trees that missed the house, 
electrical outages and surges that fried things like the 
computer. Many other APAers had similar problems. 
However other people in the area were much more impacted, 
so we should feel blessed.
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FROM OUR BOOK OF SHADOWS SECTION: 
(words of wisdom come from at us from all directions, if we but 
stop and listen! Here we offer some random quotes that 
can inspire meditation if you pause to ponder them further.)
---
"The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate 
to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy 
are silent when we should speak, 
the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into 
our souls."
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1890
---
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere."
G. K. Chesterton
---
"Don't you know it?
Life is out to kill 'ya
But you still go getting on with it 
Seen better times than right now
But I'm not running away
No nothing's gonna bring me down
It's just been one of those days
I'm not the only one."
Lyrics from the Duran Duran Song 'one of those days' (2004)
---
 "I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some 
come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a 
big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to 
have troubles with me!"
Dr. Seuss
---
"Every child is an artist. The Problem is how to remain one 
once he grows up." Pablo Picasso
---
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
Albert Einstein
---
"The sword of justice has no scabbard." 
Antione De Riveral
---
 "Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the Gods a man 
should himself lend a hand. 
Hippocrates (460 BC - 377 BC)
---
"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around 
for a coffin. "
H.L. Mencken
---
"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend." 
William Blake (1757-1827)
---
"I'm enjoying their style, shoot first, send flowers later. 
It works." 
Jack O'Neill from the Stargate SG-1 TV show
---
"Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly.
Voltare (1694-1778)
---
"Let them hate me so long as they fear me." 
 Caligula 
---
"Me? I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust 
to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to 
watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going 
to do something incredibly... stupid." 
Capt. Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean Movie
---
We all eventually become who we pretend to be, so you'd 
better pretend to be something you can live with." 
Xena from the TV show Xena the Warrior Princess
---
"When the Gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers."
Ocsar Wilde
---
"I can shoot straight, if I don't have to shoot too far."  
Scarlett from the movie, Gone with the Wind
---
"Hearts will never be practical until they're made unbreakable."
 Wizard of Oz
---
"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever
 situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that 
the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon 
our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances."
Martha Washington (1732 - 1802)
---
"Diplomats and bureaucrats may function differently, but they 
achieve exactly the same results." 
Spock from the TV show Star Trek
---
"Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the 
first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we 
take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers."
Leigh Hunt  (1784-1859)
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SACRED SITES SECTION;
(Since no one submitted one this month Ginger submitted this one herself.)

Cherokee NC has many sacred sites, but a particular favorite of 
mine is the Casino parking lot. (YES! The casino parking lot….
for starters when I'm still in the parking lot I still have 
money, LOL...actually it is the larger than life size statue of 
Selu the Corn Mother, that makes the place so magical! 
For way too long in Cherokee the old Gods have been all but 
forgotten replaced by a church on each block it seems, 
with no monuments or mention of the tribal Gods of 
our ancestors. 
Finally when the casino was built, someone, wisely planned 
for a monument to Selu, the Corn Mother. 
A huge Bronze statue of Her tending her 
corn plants stands proudly atop a traditional-like earthen 
mound surrounded by a rock wall with the tribe's name engraved 
on it. Her name is engraved upon the base of the statue's 
pedestal. It is a beautiful and truly magical sight to behold. 
It is magically placed on a ley line, which I hope was not 
an accident of the mundane but the design of a magical 
designer, whoever they were.
 The mound and statue is worth the drive to Cherokee, even if 
you don't want to hop on the shuttle bus and venture into the 
casino to lose your money!

Picture of the Selu Statue in Cherokee NC 
taken by Ginger Strivelli

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