Influenza & a Book Meme.

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Cat, over at Quaker Pagan Reflections, tagged me to participate in this book meme that's been going around. Speaking of what's going around, I'm currently knocked flat by a rather icky case of the flu. Yesterday was defined by splitting headaches, inflamed throat, feverish... er, fevers, and frequent vomiting (for those of you who really wanted or needed to know).

Now it seems the worst is over, though I'm still left feeling a bit faint and fragile. So here's that easy book meme to keep you entertained until I'm up to writing something substantive again:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Technically, the nearest book to me is Ross Nichols' The Book of Druidry, which gives us:

Generally, the use of stones, although impressive, limits the mobility of Gorseddau or circle meetings; the modern stones idea was started by Iolo Morganwg and, whilst good to emphasize continuity between past and present and the true nature of that for which stone circles were made, it may now be rather backward-looking when we realize a circle as a structure mentally realized for the operation of psychic faculties.

Playing through the three chiefs on the eastern side are the triple forces of light, which in some stone circles have been marked by pointer stones outside. The centre stone to the due East represents the rays from the equinoxes, the times of balance; the stone to the North-east is the high force of light at the midsummer solstice, that to the South-east is the place of rebirth of the sun in midwinter.

But I haven't actually started reading that one yet (it's in my to-be-read pile currently), so how about the next-closest, Ronald Hutton's Witches, Druids and King Arthur, which I'm about half-way through:

This in itself, to Iamblichus, justified the heavy investment in ritual, material trappings and sacrifice characteristic of traditional paganism, and which acted as part of a process of correspondence and reunion. The cannier pagan was distinguished by knowledge of the precise nature of the material substances, numbers and incantations which should be used to contact and work with particular deities.

Even among canny pagans, however, to Iamblichus theurgists were definitely superior.

I'm not lucid enough to tag anyone, and besides I think almost everyone I read has already participated. See, this is why the kids don't ask me to play tag--I'm very bad with the concept of passing it on.