What a wonderful essay to wake up to and to enjoy over my coffee before the day begins. I wondered through the whole of the letter if Wicca had the same origin but it appears that is not the case. The use and function of words are fascinating. So much power in so few syllables. Thank you for starting my day out peaceably.
Veronika, thank you. To wish. Thanks for unwrapping this one today. I live into this word with lots of questions. To me it overlaps somehow with hope and faith, blessing and prayer. Wanting and knowing. I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free. The epitaph of Kazantzakis’ tomb echoing the sentiments of the Buddha -When wishes are few, the heart is happy. When craving ends, there is peace. Being present. Now of here. Is that faith? A deeper knowing? Not religious yet beyond a belief. For dreams without belief are always out of reach? Yet do beliefs cling? Does faith let go? Mystery may be the ultimate knowing. A blessing. Is a prayer a wish? Is hope only a prayer? The words trying to lean into what language may never be able to say.
I think this is the perfect season to ponder these words... to live into the questions of wishing and perhaps hone our skills for wishcraft.
Wish in the Roman languages translates into words that sound more like desire...
from desire we can fly off to the stars or get itchy to stretch an arm down some rabbit hole of longing...
Wishing overlaps with so many other words, wanting, dreaming, fancying, desiring... To me it is fascinating to learn how wishes carry their own fulfilment ~ for blessings or for curse 🧚🏽
I've reread this terrific essay a number of times and keep coming back to it. I've been reading Elizabeth Bishop again and again and her Sestina for some reason seems to fit here, though the paste of it will not format it correctly. I add it with my thanks, Veronika for your being here and my knowing you in some virtual way:
Elizabeth Bishop ~ what a wonderous story poem. I love the imagery of the grandmother singing to her stove, the child drawing pictures of houses, against a backdrop of rainfall and tears ~ equinoctial tears no less, tears falling as little moons, tears of the teakettle dancing on the stove, tears hidden, disguised as buttons, watering a flowerbed, and foretold in the almanac, tears, all perfectly explained by the 'tear planting season'...
that you associate my humble Wishing Tree planted into the wildwordwoods of Symbiopædia (because it's wishing season') with Bishop's masterpiece is an incredible honour. 🫶 I am moved to tears
Hi Veronika, Oh ... I love this ... wishes are magic 💫 and bridge worlds as you so wonderfully point out. I feel like I am going on an adventure when I read your essays. What a treat — fairytales and folklore. Thank you 🙏💜🧚🏼♀️🧙🏻♀️
"In folklore and nature religions, wishes restored health, provided prosperity, and made dating apps pale into insignificance." --- What? 😂😂😂
Ah, the significance and power of THREE wishes, the number three and wishes in general! Perfect post for the holidays, for the season of renewal around the calendar year, and that John Lennon quote needs a fresh circulation.
I'm so glad you picked up the dating apps, Lani 😉 no idea where that came from... 🤔💭 but of course THAT is what I love so much about writing. It keeps surprising and entertaining myself 🤭 Isn't that a great gift we have as writers? Never a dull moment.
And thank you for lending John Lennon your wings too.
Many blessings and good wishes to you and your loved ones for this wishing season xxx 💗🙏 🕯️
Each of us can begin, or continue to fulfill this wish right now, if we choose to do so.... (something tells me you already know how ~ creating unity within ourselves and in our own lives as a daily practice)
There is wishing upon a star; a genie granting three wishes; and the tradition of two people grabbing on the wishbone of a fowl. All show that we lack control, that we seek outside forces to make our desires come true.
Humans have made wishes as long they had awareness that life could be better: a better hunt, better crops, a better marriage, healthy children. More money. A cure for a deadly disease.
What is the difference between wishing and praying? There might be no difference. Wishing can lead to severe disappointment.
Yes, absolutely ~ that's why I skipped those and chose the more ancient version of 'three wishes' (which represents the human connection with a divine superpower). Most fairy tales (which have now been disneyfied) and superstitions are only a couple of hundred years old. I haven't looked into the origin of the 'wishbone' yet. Do you know where that comes from?
If wishing originally means connecting with a divine supernatural power, then it must have once been the same as praying. Our contemporary 'wishing' has lost its primordial superpower. No wonder it's disappointing.
Yes, so very interesting and makes sense. I can truly understand why our ancestors looked to birds for answers. I do think birds can teach us humans, if we are ready to learn, that they hold some ancient truths. They date back to the dinosaurs, some 150 million years.🕊🦜🐦
Maybe not an accident that “wish list” and “anxiety disorder” both landed in the dictionary in the same year? Like the word hope, too often tied to expectation and condition over a more open immediacy with natural unfolding, wishes and wish lists feel too based in the future to foster relationship with what is. I realize this is also a blind spot in me, very rarely can I strategize or envision long-term goals. I learn kinesthetically so anything that isn’t immediate is hard for me to wrap my head around!
indeed! 'Wish list', in my mind, reflects the inflation of the original power bestowed to us by the primordial 'supernatural wishing', and 'anxiety disorder' goes hand in hand with that 'shrinkflation'. It's always interesting when words appear in synchrony.
My intention here (as always) is to reconnect the word with its original identity ~ 'wishing' as a kind of 'super-power' which is granted in the moment, and still survives partially when we exchange well-wishes (= blessings).
It's the disempowered utopian wishing that makes not much sense anymore. And all those lists speak of the emptiness of such wishing...
Wishes in primordial myths or old folktales come in threes at most, I think the purpose 3 is to give the wisher a chance to tap into that supernatural power. Contemporary wishing has lost this power.
What a wonderful essay to wake up to and to enjoy over my coffee before the day begins. I wondered through the whole of the letter if Wicca had the same origin but it appears that is not the case. The use and function of words are fascinating. So much power in so few syllables. Thank you for starting my day out peaceably.
Thank you Tim! What an interesting thought ~ Wicca ~ witch and wish... this makes me wonder and my mind wander...
I have touched upon the word 'witch' in 2 previous wordcasts: The Art of Magic https://veronikabondsymbiopaedia.substack.com/p/the-art-of-magic and Fascinating Fascia https://veronikabondsymbiopaedia.substack.com/p/fascinating-fascia
But wicca / witch definitely deserve a wordcast of their own!
Your joyful reading makes my day too! 💗🙏 🕯️
Aw, thank you for that. And that's fantastic! I will dive into those today. Appreciate you linking them for me. :-)
Veronika, thank you. To wish. Thanks for unwrapping this one today. I live into this word with lots of questions. To me it overlaps somehow with hope and faith, blessing and prayer. Wanting and knowing. I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free. The epitaph of Kazantzakis’ tomb echoing the sentiments of the Buddha -When wishes are few, the heart is happy. When craving ends, there is peace. Being present. Now of here. Is that faith? A deeper knowing? Not religious yet beyond a belief. For dreams without belief are always out of reach? Yet do beliefs cling? Does faith let go? Mystery may be the ultimate knowing. A blessing. Is a prayer a wish? Is hope only a prayer? The words trying to lean into what language may never be able to say.
"The words trying to lean into what language may never be able to say."
This sentence sums it up beautifully, capturing the essence of wishing!
Thank you so very much for reading and responding and your continued visits and wanderings into the WildWordWoods of Symbiopædia, Jamie.
With all my best wishes for a blessed kiva season, and many questions to live into on our next orbit around the sun. 🎄 🕯️✨
And to you and to Josh…Blessed Kiva. Keep writing. We need you. 🙏❤️
I think this is the perfect season to ponder these words... to live into the questions of wishing and perhaps hone our skills for wishcraft.
Wish in the Roman languages translates into words that sound more like desire...
from desire we can fly off to the stars or get itchy to stretch an arm down some rabbit hole of longing...
Wishing overlaps with so many other words, wanting, dreaming, fancying, desiring... To me it is fascinating to learn how wishes carry their own fulfilment ~ for blessings or for curse 🧚🏽
I've reread this terrific essay a number of times and keep coming back to it. I've been reading Elizabeth Bishop again and again and her Sestina for some reason seems to fit here, though the paste of it will not format it correctly. I add it with my thanks, Veronika for your being here and my knowing you in some virtual way:
Sestina
September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.
She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,
It's time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac
on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.
It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.
—Elizabeth Bishop
Oh thank you so much Mary! 💚🙏 🧚🏽
Elizabeth Bishop ~ what a wonderous story poem. I love the imagery of the grandmother singing to her stove, the child drawing pictures of houses, against a backdrop of rainfall and tears ~ equinoctial tears no less, tears falling as little moons, tears of the teakettle dancing on the stove, tears hidden, disguised as buttons, watering a flowerbed, and foretold in the almanac, tears, all perfectly explained by the 'tear planting season'...
that you associate my humble Wishing Tree planted into the wildwordwoods of Symbiopædia (because it's wishing season') with Bishop's masterpiece is an incredible honour. 🫶 I am moved to tears
You are such a love. I love you from afar!
Hi Veronika, Oh ... I love this ... wishes are magic 💫 and bridge worlds as you so wonderfully point out. I feel like I am going on an adventure when I read your essays. What a treat — fairytales and folklore. Thank you 🙏💜🧚🏼♀️🧙🏻♀️
such a lovely comment to read with my lemon and ginger tea this morning, and warm my heart, thank you! 🔥❤️🙏
It's true, the words I write about take me on an adventure every time, and I'm glad it shows through in the reading. My best magical wishes to you 🐦🔥
Thank you Veronika … 😊. I am off to the magic of the dreamscape, have a fabulous day 💜🙏
"In folklore and nature religions, wishes restored health, provided prosperity, and made dating apps pale into insignificance." --- What? 😂😂😂
Ah, the significance and power of THREE wishes, the number three and wishes in general! Perfect post for the holidays, for the season of renewal around the calendar year, and that John Lennon quote needs a fresh circulation.
Thank you, Veronika, for a brilliant essay. xo
I'm so glad you picked up the dating apps, Lani 😉 no idea where that came from... 🤔💭 but of course THAT is what I love so much about writing. It keeps surprising and entertaining myself 🤭 Isn't that a great gift we have as writers? Never a dull moment.
And thank you for lending John Lennon your wings too.
Many blessings and good wishes to you and your loved ones for this wishing season xxx 💗🙏 🕯️
✨✨✨
I wish we all wish for unity.
What a great wish, Sammie! 💗🙏 🕯️
Each of us can begin, or continue to fulfill this wish right now, if we choose to do so.... (something tells me you already know how ~ creating unity within ourselves and in our own lives as a daily practice)
We are kindred spirits my friend. I love how you see the world and you have such a gift with words.
I am a healer but not too great with words. 🥰❤️
There is wishing upon a star; a genie granting three wishes; and the tradition of two people grabbing on the wishbone of a fowl. All show that we lack control, that we seek outside forces to make our desires come true.
Humans have made wishes as long they had awareness that life could be better: a better hunt, better crops, a better marriage, healthy children. More money. A cure for a deadly disease.
What is the difference between wishing and praying? There might be no difference. Wishing can lead to severe disappointment.
Yes, absolutely ~ that's why I skipped those and chose the more ancient version of 'three wishes' (which represents the human connection with a divine superpower). Most fairy tales (which have now been disneyfied) and superstitions are only a couple of hundred years old. I haven't looked into the origin of the 'wishbone' yet. Do you know where that comes from?
If wishing originally means connecting with a divine supernatural power, then it must have once been the same as praying. Our contemporary 'wishing' has lost its primordial superpower. No wonder it's disappointing.
I think the wishbone dates back to the Romans, but I am not sure.
I just did a quick research, and it looks like the Romans got it from the Etruscans, who apparently used birds (and their bones) for oracles.
This would connect the 'wishbone' to the ancient practice of the 'auguries' = reading the oracle from the flight of birds! (popular in Ancient Greece)
Yes, so very interesting and makes sense. I can truly understand why our ancestors looked to birds for answers. I do think birds can teach us humans, if we are ready to learn, that they hold some ancient truths. They date back to the dinosaurs, some 150 million years.🕊🦜🐦
Incredible! Hard to get our much younger human heads around such a time scale...
birds ~ their song, feathers, flight, nests, eggs, migrations, diversity everything about them is fascinating
Maybe not an accident that “wish list” and “anxiety disorder” both landed in the dictionary in the same year? Like the word hope, too often tied to expectation and condition over a more open immediacy with natural unfolding, wishes and wish lists feel too based in the future to foster relationship with what is. I realize this is also a blind spot in me, very rarely can I strategize or envision long-term goals. I learn kinesthetically so anything that isn’t immediate is hard for me to wrap my head around!
indeed! 'Wish list', in my mind, reflects the inflation of the original power bestowed to us by the primordial 'supernatural wishing', and 'anxiety disorder' goes hand in hand with that 'shrinkflation'. It's always interesting when words appear in synchrony.
My intention here (as always) is to reconnect the word with its original identity ~ 'wishing' as a kind of 'super-power' which is granted in the moment, and still survives partially when we exchange well-wishes (= blessings).
It's the disempowered utopian wishing that makes not much sense anymore. And all those lists speak of the emptiness of such wishing...
Wishes in primordial myths or old folktales come in threes at most, I think the purpose 3 is to give the wisher a chance to tap into that supernatural power. Contemporary wishing has lost this power.