Stunned By #WalkAway Campaign

A few days ago my sister suggested I look into a new Facebook group.

And me being me, that's exactly what I did.

HOLY BUCKETS!

At that time there were about 58,000 members of that group.

Now there are well over 112,000 with that number climbing rapidly.

So.

What's the big deal about this group? What's it all about?

A guy called Brandon Straka started the whole thing a while back. He walked away from an ideology that has become NOT what it maybe once was.

The group is a place where people can tell their own 'walk-away' stories. It's a place where people can offer their support to those who are walking away, and tell their own stories.

And BOY are people doing just that!!

Here's the link:

#WalkAway Campaign

What are people walking away from, and why?

Partly it's about those who are walking away from the democrat political party - each Story is different but there's a common thread: decent people are sick and tired of being treated indecently. Partly it's about that same theme carried over into whatever arena a person finds applicable to their life. Politics is a key focus of course, but the theme of just plain being decent to one another, showing kindness and even just common courtesy is such an inherent part of the whole that a visit to the group feels very much like walking into a group hug.

I can't explain it adequately and recommend that you go spend some time there yourself.

If you want to join the group, please be aware that they screen everyone first so it might take a while depending on how many folks are 'in line' ahead of you. But you can certainly go visit!

Because of the rapidity with which this is growing, it's gotten some attention. The purpose of the group might also have something to do with that. This is a mid-term election year and the 2018 results matter to a lot of people who might not really want word to spread like wildfire that people are walking away from the democratic party by the thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands.

So.

We've been labeled Russian Bots.

Talk about de-humanizing a large group of individuals!

You would not believe the diversity to be found in that group. Everyone is there, believe me! But, other than being a part of their introduction stories, none of that matters. The thing that seems to matter most to Everyone in that group is that we all love the United States of America and want to be able to say so, openly and proudly. With dignity and respect.

The stories and responses might shock you. They might make you weep. They will most assuredly make your day better, your heart lighter, and your Hope for the Future stronger.

This is one powerful group, I'll tell you that right up front.

It isn't just the 'traditional' Silent Majority finding its Voice but many and many members have been a less traditional Silenced Minority.

The effect the individual stories have on a person is ... high impact might be the term I'm looking for.

The effect of the whole, that's what is going to stun you.

Go.

Read.

Watch.

Remember not so long ago I was talking about that 'thing' that showed up during the 2017 natural disasters hitting us again and again and again with no end in sight?

Yeah.

That.

People stepping up and helping people and nobody checking which hyphen went with who.

That was the real AMERICA showing up full force in a time of need.

Guess what.

You can meet that AMERICA up close and personal.

Go.

Read.

Watch.

 #WalkAway Campaign

RICIMER: Bad Boy of the Western Roman Empire - or was he?

The histories are pretty consistent in their opinions regarding Ricimer.

They don't like him very much.

Me being me, once I found out he's a relative of our fictional family, I took a closer look.

(The Back Story, establishing Ricimer's maternal connections)

Remember when we needed a worthy husband for our own Mamm of Dunnottar? She couldn't go through life all alone, and had a family heritage to add to. She needed a mate.

Fretting about it, I distracted myself by doing one of those on line quizzes: Which Conqueror Are You? Not exactly being 'conqueror material', and not really wanting to be, I didn't expect to find any matches.

Ha.

Up popped the only 'good guy' conqueror in the history of humankind: Alaric.

He did sack Rome in 410, this is true, but he wasn't mean about it. Mamm was at his side, and this was to be their final military campaign together, although they didn't know that at the time.

Alaric gave orders to not hurt anybody except in self defense. He insisted that the holy places be left alone, and everyone who got into them. Rumor has it that some of his men found a cache of wealth in the home of a little old lady. She told them it had come from one of the churches for safe-keeping. They gave themselves an escort, hoisted the wealth on their backs, and themselves carried it across town to return it to the church, with a crowd going along with them singing psalms and such. The other story that has survived is that one of his men found a woman alone. Instead of ravishing her he escorted her safely to the church where her husband had found refuge. Alaric gave his warriors but three short days to collect what they wanted, and then they were off - leaving to Rome almost all of the stores and supplies in the warehouses that had been held secure by his armies, and much of their wealth.

[Bear in mind that in the armies of Alaric were thirty thousand Getae warriors whose families had been ordered massacred by Honorius. Bear in mind that also in the armies of Alaric were tens of thousands of Getae who had been enslaved and earlier freed from their Roman owners by Alaric. So no, the sacking of Rome was not bloodless - but these folk were disobeying Alaric's orders, not going by them,]

Previously, he had held Rome under siege twice in the past two years.

THAT's the significant part, from our current perspective.

One of the negotiators for Rome was Aelia Galla Placidia, half-sister to the Emperors East and West, Arcadius and Honorius respectively.

One of the negotiators for Alaric was his brother-in-law Ataulf (Mamm's brother).

Turns out neither of them ended up being a lick of good in the negotiations, being as the two of them were locked in each other's eyes and busy falling deeply in love.

When Alaric left Rome that last time, Placidia went with Ataulf.

Skipping ahead a bit, Placidia and Ataulf ended up leading Alaric's people to settle in their new homeland: Aquitaine in Gaul. They were married and had a son. Then Ataulf was murdered. Placidia returned to her brother Honorius' household in the Western Roman Empire and was forced to marry the ambitious Constantius (the architect of the murder of Ataulf) and produce two children for her new husband. She ended up being Regent/Empress after Honorius died, while her son was a minor (Valentinian III - he was heir to the throne).

NOW we get to the part regarding RICIMER.

Mamm of Dunnottar, if you remember, has four brothers: Davidson of Chattan, LittleEthan of Tarnos, Ataulf of Dunnottar, and their younger brother Wally of the West (born to their parents after they sailed into the sunset to the Far Western Lands once Davidson, LittleEthan, Ataulf, and Mamm had been settled in where they needed to be).

After the murder of Ataulf, Wally of the West was chosen King by Alaric's people, as had been his brother Ataulf before him.

Wally's daughter Anna married Rechila King-apparent of the Suevii (NW part of what is now Spain, and just across the Pyrenees from Aquitaine).

Anna and Rechila had a couple of sons and a daughter.

Their second son was RICIMER.


[If you think I'm telling you a lot of stuff, you should see what all I'm leaving out!!]


The point here is that Ricimer's grandfather was the younger brother of Alaric's wife Mamm of Dunnottar and their other brothers, including the murdered Ataulf whose death left Placidia a widow. She would have been Aunt to Ricimer's mother Anna.

Family connections frequently made for the fostering of young ones by family members who were best suited to bring up certain young ones to fill certain niches.

Ricimer, being a second son with his elder brother slated to be a king, needed a career.

There's more to it than that, of course, but RICIMER went into Placidia's household during the years that she was reigning as Regent/Empress of the Western Roman Empire.

Placidia was Ricimer's foster mother during his developmental years, from young boy-hood through early adulthood. She was his great-aunt, although young enough to have been his mother as he fell in age smack between her son Valentinian III and her daughter Honoria. He would have been in his early thirties when she died at about age 60.


What most historians seem to dismiss out of hand is that Placidia had left Rome to go with Ataulf, apparently of her own free will as we don't hear of any negotiations having been made at the time for her ransom or return. Later, yes. but not during the first years after she left. What they mention but seem to not find all that significant is that, when she returned to Honorius' household, she was accompanied by a lot of Alaric's warriors as her Personal Guard. She refused to relinquish them and they refused to leave the side of their Queen.

Me being me, fiction writer that I am and having the Characters that we do, my interpretation is that Placidia and Ataulf were a love match from the get-go. She was Queen to his King and together they led the people of Alaric although neither was related to any of them. Placidia was Roman royalty; Ataulf was from Albann (now Scotland). Yet the people of Alaric chose Ataulf, and apparently were just fine with Placidia as their Queen. What does that tell you?

At any rate, Placidia was indeed best suited to prepare RICIMER for what was ahead of him.

Meanwhile ... 

There is, as always, a bigger picture to take into consideration.

Fictionally speaking, Ricimer is born to fulfill a Destiny not many would have been able to handle. Perhaps in reality as well, but fiction is our purview, not reality unless it fits into our Story Line. Just sayin'.

At practically the hour of his birth, our own Ullin of Iona claims RICIMER to fulfill that Destiny. From his earliest memories, Ricimer is well aware of what he will be called on to do, the reasons behind the demands, and the consequences should he fail.

Ullin of Iona, for those unfamiliar with him, is a very tall, very skinny, very bald, and VERY powerful Druid leader. His goal over the entire course of his very long life is to protect and preserve Freedom of Individual Choice for all of humankind, among other things. That he has issues with the Roman Empire is a given. That he might have issues with the direction Rome is taking 'Christianity' is a complex question.

Regardless of his personal take on the matter, Ullin of Iona serves the Mother of the Holy Trinity (The Father and the Son too, by association and the fact that the Trinity is unequivocally and inextricably ONE entity). His sight is far-reaching, to significantly understate, and he knows a lot more than he ever lets on.

When Ullin says something needs to be done, and bothers to explain himself, few are going to argue the point.

What Ullin sees in the future for the Peoples of Europe are the resulting outcomes should History take one course or another.

1) Should the Western Roman Empire revive itself and continue the course it started down so long ago, one outcome could be expected.

2) Should the Church of Rome gain ascendancy and move toward power, and control of Europe, a different outcome would be expected.

3) Should the various Peoples of Europe, the Getae/Celts go to war among themselves, still another outcome could come about.

4) Should the Vandals conquer all, something else would happen.

5) Should the invading folk from the East be given free rein, the result would be entirely different.

As RICIMER grows up in the household of Placidia, Ullin comes and goes frequently, teaching and training the young boy, the young man.


Between what he learns from Placidia about the ruling of an Empire, what he learns from Ullin about exploring options, and what he learns from Aetius the Roman General once his formal military training begins ... Ricimer is pretty darned well educated pretty darned early on.

Given that Ricimer is an apt student, the compelling goal of Ullin (to protect and preserve individual free choice for all) takes precedence. That it is a goal shared by Placidia might be an understatement. That Aetius is in accord with the concept is apparent from the fact that he's got a 'barbarian' for a wife and hasn't chosen a Roman woman. The women of the Getae/Celts bow to no man. Ever.


So all three of Ricimer's primary mentors share a common goal.

The goal itself is clear.

It's how to make it happen that needs to be fine-tuned.


The Peoples MUST forge themselves into strong nations whose people have steel in their backbones - steel powerful enough to turn aside the attacks that are to come, if they are to survive, if their culture of freedom is to survive.


The Future of the Peoples of Europe and beyond lie in the choices, and the hands, of one young man - RICIMER.

How will he choose?

Will he have what it takes to do what he has to do when he has to do it so that the Future will become what it will need to be when it needs to be it?

We'll find out.


NOTE: The five interlocked circles represent what all of our Characters live, fight, and die to protect and preserve:

Faith

Family

Friends

Freedom

Future

FAITH IS THE CENTER CIRCLE

The Authority of the United States of America is WHAT?!?

Me, I think we as a nation have been trying to look through the wrong end of the telescope. 

IMO we ought to ditch that telescope and go with a microscope, start focusing on what we can reach. 

The way things are right now is bass-ackward from the way our nation is designed to be run. No wonder it's not working the way it's supposed to.

Yeah that's kind of a pretty design, but it is NOT the way things are supposed to go.

Me, I cannot believe I'm sitting here on a 'day off' trying to think of how to explain something to people whose educations OUGHT to have drilled this stuff into them years ago. That's a part of the bass-ackwardness I'm NOT going to get into today, not if I can help it.

Mmph.

What I'm hearing from our young folk is that the rich guys have all the good stuff, the government is in cahoots with them, and we poor folk are stuck doing all the work and paying all the bills, with no end in sight. They're torn between getting mad about it and giving up.

Little do they know the whole situation is absolutely nothing new. The whole concept they're experiencing is exactly why there is a United States of America.

So what does it have to do with telescopes and microscopes?

This:

When you look through a telescope from the wrong end, what you wanted to see closer gets further away instead.

The more we of the general population try to get a handle on what's going on nationally or globally, the further away it all seems to get. Even if we were looking through the right end of that telescope, we wouldn't be able to see the whole of the 'big picture'. We're only going to get more frustrated and upset at what we do see. It ain't all that pretty out there these days, folks.

So ditch the bloody telescope for a while. All it does is make us mad and convince us that yeah our government and our world are seriously out of balance. Trying to use it is just going to make us dizzy. Washington and Wall Street are too far away from the reality of our lives for us to fret ourselves about right now. 

True story, folks. I kid you not. 

There's not a damned thing any of us can do in the immediate future to make those things the least bit different, not right now. We can moan and groan and gripe and complain until the cows come home and it's not going to do anything except waste our breath and our time.

So ditch the telescope for the time being.

Grab that microscope and start focusing on things you can do something about. Instead of whining about Big Government and Fat Cats, put your local area under that microscope.

Why?

Because, my friend, the larger picture that we all think we want to have this huge impact on so everything will change for the better is made up of guess what?

Without getting all technical about fractals and golden ratios and all that, I can tell you this:

The whole is but a bigger representation of its parts.

You want to change Big Government?

Look in the mirror because you yourself are a part of it.

Look within your own family.

Look at your community.

Look at your County.

Look at your State.

You know what you're looking at?

Duh.

See, our nation, the United States of America, and its government, is built on the rebuttable presumption that she has a halfway educated populace who KNOW what the heck said government is supposed to be doing, and not doing.

There's a whole lot of rebutting going on right about now regarding that presumption, both here at home and in the world at large. So be it. That's another thing we can't do anything about at the moment. Let it be for now.

We're all at least partway familiar with our three branches of government, right? Legislative, Judicial, Executive.

How familiar are we with another set of three that's even more important than those? Hmmm?

Federal, State, and We the People, which I've listed in REVERSE order of importance for a reason.

The reason is that the above order is the way We the People have been taught about this hierarchy thing. 

For whatever reason, we ordinary folk have become convinced that we're lucky to even be on that list. When it comes to Authority, what do we believe? That the Feds are at the top of the pile, then the States, and then (maybe) us. We really do believe that, have believed it for a great number of years.

That is NOT the design of our Constitution, people. It is NOT the way our nation is built and not the way it's going to function the way it's supposed to.

Back to telescopes and microscopes.

The Authority of this nation doesn't begin out there somewhere, in Washington or anyplace else.

It starts microscopically small, to go with our theme here.

It begins with you. 

And me. 

And all the them people and the us people that make up WE the PEOPLE. 

Think about that for a minute. It's right there in the Constitution that rules our nation, for cryin' out loud. More than once. 

And we aren't only just the starting point - we are the whole of it. 

WE are the ones, you and me and Jane and John over there, and every other citizen of this Constitutional Republic (what? you thought we were a democracy? oh my. well, that will have to be another post I reckon)

Where was I?

Oh yeah, the starting point of the Authority by which this nation is supposed to be governed.

That would be us.

We're also the next point, and the one after that, and the one after that.

Since the outward spiral of Authority seems to have taken a twist somewhere along the way, there's only one way this nation can get herself back into the balance she's designed to have.

We need to quit worrying about telescopes for the moment and turn our focus to the microscope - we have to look at the beginning point.

That would be us.

Quit trying to look 'out there somewhere' for answers and changes. If 'out there somewhere' was going to fix anything, it would have been fixed long since.

And I'm talking to our young folk here. (Us older ones too, but you young folk have a chance of seeing this thing through so I'm passing the buck to you. You'll be the ones to benefit, too - not us old folk.)

YOU are going to look into your mirror. 
YOU are going to look around you at the people you know. 
YOU are going to decide how much of a difference you are going to make.
YOU are going to decide how much of an impact you are going to have on your own Life, your Community, your County, your State, your Nation, and your World. 

YOU. 
The one you see when you look in that mirror. 

YOU are We the People.

The Authority of the United States of America does not rest with the folks in Washington; it does not rest in the POTUS; it does not rest in any of her many branches and twigs and leaves. 

The Authority of the United States of America belongs to her people, the cellular level of the bigger organism.

YOU.

Intimidated yet?

Nah.

All of what we've been thinking about who wields the Authority in this nation is pretty much hogwash.

Me, I don't expect to see any big huge changes, not in what time is left to me here.

YOU, however,  you our young folk, might just find inside of yourselves the 'whatever it takes' to make things get back to the way they're supposed to be.

I can't make it happen. 

The best I can hope for is that maybe one or two of you will have enough common sense to read your own freaking Constitution, think about what it's saying, and realize that YOU ARE THE AUTHORITY OF THIS NATION. 

Yep. And then proceed to exercise that Authority the way you're supposed to.

How?

By understanding that while you all by your lonesome are not the only Authority in this nation, since every Citizen shares that, you can be a darned important part of the whole.

How?

By looking in the mirror.

Huh?

Well?

Are you or are you not committed enough to making things better to step up to the plate and get things rolling in the right direction?

Me? I'm no politician.

Well hallelujah for that! 

We don't want any more politicians. 

It's not anything anybody has ever been supposed to make a career out of. It's something you take time out of your life to do for a while, because you care, because you want to make a difference, and then you get back to your life.

If you aren't 'public figure' material, look around you for someone who is. Then get them voted into whatever office they might be interested in.

Yes.

I said VOTE.

From the microscopic beginnings, the Authority of the people of the United States continues through every step of the way. Those cells are what makes up the whole thing, you know.

Did you know that your County Sheriff, the person YOU your own self voted for (or not) is the ultimate Authority within your County? Well yeah, if you've read recent posts, you know that.

You know WHY said Sheriff has that Authority? Because that person is representing the collective will of YOU and everyone else in the County. THAT's where the Authority comes from. It comes from US, the citizens of the United States of America. That's how come a County Sheriff can kick the President of the United States out of the County, and jail him/her if they refuse to go. Because the Sheriff isn't acting on his/her own Authority but on the Authority of the people who elected him/her.

NOBODY in this nation has any more Authority than anybody else, unless they're acting in accordance with the collective will of the citizens, Authority which has been accorded them BY the will of said citizens. And the Authority so accorded by the citizens can be revoked, you know. By the ones who accorded it in the first place.

That bit of information isn't bandied about much, is it?

If somebody is in a position of Authority, it is because we said so. That makes it our responsibility to maybe take a bit of interest in who and what we have a say-so about.

I tell ya.

We get so wrapped up in trying to look through that telescope at who's in Washington that we totally don't pay much attention to the stuff that actually matters to us on a daily basis.

That 'daily basis' is a whole lot more vital to our health and well-being than whatever we're trying to see by looking through the wrong end of that telescope. 

I tell you this and I tell you true.

Start taking care of things nearby and get that spiral thing going. What happens on a local level, on every local level of this nation, matters a hell of a lot more than anything else right now.

Why?

Because it is from out of the Center of Authority, the Authority wielded by the People of the United States of America, that the Future is going to unfold. 

It is going to be our own local folks paying attention to our own local elections, and choosing folks who are ready, willing, and able to do the job they're elected to do - by the will of their own local folk - that will bring out the leadership we're all looking for.

No, it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take a damn long time, and a whole lot longer than it actually needs to take because we don't realize that we can do it.

'A revolution would be quicker' - and yes I've heard those actual words come out of someone's mouth.

'We need to re-write the Constitution' - that's another one.

'The States ought to secede' - heard that one too.

They're all baloney.

A revolution wouldn't speed anything up any, believe me.

The Constitution is fine just the way it is, which people would figure out if they ever took the time to read it.

States Rights are outlined in the Constitution; when it comes right down to it the States have a lot more say-so than we're led to believe. Not as much of a say-so as We the People, but neither are they the helpless pawns of the Feds like some people seem to think.

Looking through the wrong end of the telescope again here.

Start where you're the most comfortable. That's the way it's supposed to be in the first place so what the heck. 

Pay attention to what you see under that microscope. If there's a problem out there at the other end of that telescope, chances are you'll find the virus or bacteria or germ or whatever's causing it right there in the petri dish of your mirror, your home, your community, your county, your state.

We honestly don't have much recourse at the moment for fixing what ails our nation. That's flat out too big for us to even wrap our heads around.

BUT.

We can start trying to knock out that ailment in ourselves, in our homes, in our communities, in our counties ... do you see where I'm going with this?

The Authority of the United States of America - bottom line - is me. 

It's you.

How are we going to wield it?

F Words : Live on Kindle and Available at Amazon

CLICK HERE TO ORDER DIRECT

It is in this little book that we begin to discover some of the directions the coming books of SONG might be taking and the Characters who will people them.

We also get a chance to fill in some of the bits and pieces from the Mamm Books. 

 - Sass and her travel companions of her Pilgrimage Journey (Sampson the horse and David and Goliath the Dogs of War) take a detour on the Spiral to stop in at the Dimension of the Ancient Greek Gods ... 

 - Talorc and Caileen are outraged at the behavior of a town they happen across on their own Journey ... 

 - Alianora and Drustann run into a 'situation' but it is Dothann who takes charge when the adults hesitate ... 

 - The Warrior Twins take a day just for themselves for once ... 

 - Rua wants to know where the snow comes from and starts out to find the answer for herself - but Danann has a Story for her ... 

 - On the day they meet Kalann Aine remembers the day Brann's father died, and Brann's own bloody birth ... 

 - A rare scene with young Danann and Sidhelagh, newly married and on their Journey, as they meet up with Mamm who is itching to send Attila packing once and for all ... 

 - What happens when far in the future Loki and Aduan team up with the Giants of the Nors, looking to come to the Realm of Earth for a bit of a rampage? ...

 - A sneak peek at what LittleMamm and David, Samm and Sarr, are finding in the Far Western Lands ...

 - Again far in the future, our Family takes to Pioneering - in the Stars - and a young Alianora is left as Keeper of the Faith and a task she does not want ...

 - Merri and Sidhelagh are in the branches of the Grove; by the time Danann catches up with them they are with the Geats in Sweden, flying there on the wings of Eagles. But is this story in the ancient Past ... or the Far Future ... ?

 - Ullin is called to Stonehaven when some lost-looking youths show up. We find out what those giant Worm droppings are all about, but the youths don't.

 - In their twenties, Brann, Dothann, and Rua take a break from their studies to start a town near Lindesfarne down in Britannia ... 

 - At fifteen Rua questions Mamm about Family Matters and learns a bit more about the Family's origins ... 

 - Diann and Corrbed take the young cousins Colum, Saorsa, Marra, and Mamm the Younger to the 'play pretend' clearing in the Forest. We find out a little more about the roles of Dedan and Saba, and see what these four young cousins are like at age ten or so. Since we haven't seen them since they were infants, the change is considerable.

 -- Also included are some of the adventures of the Younglings of Dunnottar from their own books: 

 - Catan takes Brann to meet some of her own Kin; 

 - Diann and Brann save an infant of the Sea Folk, and get an earful; 

 - Corrbed, Brann, and Diann find themselves in the Court of Croesus and Thales teaches them a thing or two or three; 

 - Rua drags the lot of them along with her to Skye because she wants Scathach to make her a Warrior, only to find trouble that dragons have to get them out of; 

 - and we are with the Younglings as they struggle to find their way through the anger and pain their young lives have already brought to them. They are devastated when their Heroes fail - even Hera, Loki, Scathach, Alexander the Great, Brann the Blessed, and Boudicca cannot see in the darkness of the world in which our Younglings of Dunnottar must make their way.

What Happens When ...

Indeed.

What does happen when ... Rua, Sass, and Alianora in one of her  ... umm ... moods ... come face to face with a situation that demands their attention in a most emphatic way?

Say, for example, they're visiting someone from a very different culture from theirs, where the only thing that matters is conformity.

Rua runs afoul of the status quo, Sass jumps in to exacerbate everything by taking Rua's unintentional faux pas and exaggerating it to emphasize how ridiculous the situation is, which lands her and Rua both deep in the soup and enrages Alianora's sense of justice, sending her into a word-flinging rage of - well - of Alianora proportions.

Keep in mind that the rest of the Characters are standing by, half amused and half concerned, holding their peace for the time being.

Sass and Rua are perhaps the most powerful of a very powerful Cast of Characters and mild-mannered Alianora is infamous for her infrequent but extremely potent 'temper'. 

Yep.

No wonder everyone else is kind of keeping their distance for the moment. If these three can't handle whatever it might be, which is unlikely, they're right nearby - but not too close.

*laughing*

Sometimes stories pop up out of the strangest of places.

Let's just hope MammTwo stays in the wings, with the Sidhe of the Ages, and doesn't ... umm ... join forces with Alia. What a whopping pair the two of them would be. The rest of them would say, 'Uh-oh' and step back another pace or two but be rattling their swords against their shields, yep.

I tell ya.

Finding humor in truly ridiculous situations can be a life-saver.

Sometimes a person just has to shake their head and sigh.

Strong, Educated, Fierce, Passionate, Disciplined ... PEOPLE ... not women only

This popped up on my Facebook feed and I loved it on sight.

The only thing I would change is the word 'women' - it should be 'people'.

Because these words apply to all, not women only.

If you know me at all you know (and if you don't you will soon discover) that there bides within me a deep longing for peace.

Hear me now because these words are for you.

Peace will not come so long as there are inequalities based on anything except an individual's own choices, which will create for them either happiness or misery, no matter their situation in life.

The words above, the first ones, are beautiful and at one time in my life I would have embraced them with all of the heart of me.

What I notice now is that they appear to imply that the traits mentioned are not currently in effect, not in womankind, and therefore are needed.

The implication that they are lacking in womankind ... without including the other half of the human race ... led me to do the 'edit'.

Knowing me (or learning as we go here) you also know that in the course of the past year and a half or so I have received an unusual kind of education.

When first I saw the words I said to myself, 'Those are the Women of SONG!'

And so they are.

Almost immediately come into my ears the Voices of those Women. From Mamm of Perth all the way down to Rua come the female Voices of SONG, and then come ALL of the Voices of SONG, male and female alike.

'We stand not apart,' they say to me. 'Nor would we if we could.'

And I am humbled.

It seems my education is yet incomplete.

Mamm of Dunnottar : toward the end of the book

AND SO THE LONG DARK PASSES on its way and the days begin finally to grow again rather than shortening.

On one evening at the hearth-circle, Brann has a question.

‘Mamm?’

‘Yes, Brann?’

‘Is our Story over with now?’

‘Oh no, Brann! There is still much to come, and many to tell it!’

‘Well, will we get to hear any more of it?’

‘Of course! I can tell you a little more of it now if you would like.’

‘I would like, Mamm. I really would like.’

Smiling, Mamm asks her question.

‘Where were we?’

Laughing, Dunnottar just looks at her.

‘Your guess is as good as ours, Mamm, and probably better! Aine has fallen into the eyes of Kalann and won’t come out.’

‘Ah yes, that’s true beyond a shadow of a doubt!’

Chuckling, Mamm picks up the Story as best she can.

Dunnottar is blessed with the Peace of the Mother but the rest of the world isn’t all as fortunate.

Although the church of the romans brings some sort of order to the chaos, there is much discord.

Our people thrive here on Dunnottar, in Chattan, in Perth, in Tarnos, in Andorra, in Aquitaine – but we are, I think, exceptions to the rule.

As we hear from our own returning travelers, and from the few Traders who are able to come, divisions, betrayals, war, and politics pervade the land - from the emperors and their new generals to the church leadership to the ordinary person – all are affected.

We here on Dunnottar just do what we do and keep our heads down as best we can.

As it is illegal within the ever-expanding lands of the roman church to disagree with their mandates, our Culdee do what they have to do to protect us and to preserve our Libraries and our freedoms.

If bad goes to worse, and it probably will, the Libraries may not survive at all.

So what will that leave us with? We will have only our own selves, our own ways, to show that Freedom of Choice ever existed in the first place.

And Dunnottar, Iona, Tara, and the so few other places, bide.

It is a dangerous game we play, not a game at all but a deadly serious battle – of a sort that requires not so much Warriors and strength of arms but patience and the Will to continue for as long as it takes.

Generation after generation after generation if need be, we will bide.

The legions of Rome could not manage to completely subdue our people, not in the many hundreds of years they tried.

Here we are, safe and sound on Dunnottar.

And where now the legions of Rome?

What the legions failed to do so too will an army of priests fail to do.

Yes, we fight a different sort of battle now, but it is not less deadly.

Here is Aine, searching the lights of the sky and finding in them wisdom to share with us. She and Kalann are so filled with love that none of us can help but love in response.

Here are Caileen and Talorc, teaching as rapidly and thoroughly as the minds of our younglings can absorb information.

Here is Sass, Healing and praying with all the formidable strength of her not just for the physical Healing of individuals but for the Healing of our world.

Here are Alianora and Drustann so recently returned from the bigger world out there, happy and relieved to be home again within the Peace of the Mother – they lead us with kindness and the Faith they share beyond measure.

Little Merri and Sidhelagh Sing in the Grove as they tend to the trimming and cleaning there – in the branches of the oaks do they chatter non-stop, making up one exciting Story after another after another, and their laughter rings.

Danann is in the smithy, cussing out loud more often than not but producing with the strong muscles and bones of him the things we all need. His Voice too rings in time to his hammers, in Song when not in cussing.

Catan and I rest in the Grove, sometimes reading there and sometimes just listening to the Voices of Dunnottar, happy in the serenity of the days.

Sometimes, it is true, I will mount my old grey mare and we will go for a bit of a jaunt, to survey the crops or to Stonehaven perhaps, and Catan flows as effortlessly as ever at our side.

Life is calm, at Peace, on Dunnottar and we are happy and content.

And yet -

The wheel goes ‘round and ‘round.

     

     Look to the symbol of Dunnottar,

    

    Its Circles of Family, Friendship, Freedom, and the Future are firmly linked by the central Circle of Faith while they also link firmly to one another.

     Just so do the generations of our family, and of all families, link together.

     So too the comings and goings of the nations of the earth. Each will lock with the one before and the one to follow.

     And yet –

     The Trinity has been always and will be always, come what may, the center Circle which holds all together.