Thy fearful symmetry

[pjthompson]

Random quote of the day:


"[If a man believes a heresy], the Inquisition...condemns him to be burnt, because the Orthodox creed must be defended, but the door is left open; they say that the heretic may be right, but that if he wants to adhere to his personal truth, he must accept being burnt for it. They do not claim that he has lost his soul for God may accept him in Paradise, but it is his fate also to be burnt."

—Marie-Louise von Franz, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology













Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Comments

[helios137.livejournal.com]

Your random quote of the day reminded me of this quote:

“Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius."

— “Kill them all, the Lord will recognize His own."

This was the reply that Arnaud, a Cistercian abbot-commander, gave to a subordinate in response to the question of how to tell a Cathar from a Roman Catholic during the 13th Century Albigensain Crusade. During the next twenty-four hours, Arnaud's Crusaders were to kill twenty thousand Cathars or Cathar sympathizers.

I have a couple of entries about the Cathars and of recent trip to the medieval fortress city of Carcassonne, once a Cathar stronghold that you may be interested in reading.

Legend of the Cathars
Mighty Carcassonne

[pjthompson]

I read The Pursuit of the Millennium by Norman Cohn some years back which is something of a classic text on the Cathars and all the other millenarian groups. Absolutely fascinating and comprehensive piece of work. I highly recommend it.

I also did quite a lot of reading on the Inquisition for one of my novels. Horrifying and riveting stuff.

[pjthompson]

p.s. I'm jealous that you got to go to Carcassonne. :-)

[helios137.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the recommendation. I'm still waiting for James Hillman's "The Soul's Code" to appear at one of the used bookstores that I frequent. :)

[helios137.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well if I do recall, you have visited Glastonbury Tor, which is one of my 8 favorite places to visit before I die.

Charleston, SC
Savannah, Georgia
Machu Picchu
Istanbul, Turkey
Fiji Islands
Vienna, Austria
Lisieux, France
Glastonbury, England

[pjthompson]

Yeah, I'd love to visit those first four. So much of Turkey I want to see: Ephesus, Didyma (sp?)... Vienna, also, but for some reason the South Seas has never been a strong pull for me.

[pjthompson]

Don't shop for used books online, huh? It can be surprisingly cheap.

[helios137.livejournal.com]

Any used books websites that you would recommend?

[pjthompson]

http://www.bookfinder.com/

This site is the granddaddy of used book hunting on the net, a consortium of booksellers.

I also buy quite a bit from Amazon used sellers (they're independents). Often the book will be priced from a penny to a dollar, plus 3.99 shipping, but it still often works out to far less than the cover price. I've gotten like new books for under $5 on a consistent basis.

[helios137.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Now if they could only get a high tech smell-o-rama device to give the website that musty old book smell, then I'll be truly happy. ;)

[pjthompson]

I know. There's nothing like browsing in a real store.