Cathars

Cathars, Bogumili, Templars of Mediterranean Europe and BalkansArt, Education, Symbols and Signs, Spirituality, default

Cathars or καθαρός Ancient Greek “pure ones”

As Egyptian and Ancient Greeks, καθαρός recognised that an Omnipotent indescribable God manifests in male and female divine forces. The female aspect of God is Sophia, “wisdom”. As Pythagoreans, or the founders of Orphism, they believed in Metempsychosis (Reincarnation) – a soul is reborn until it renounces the world. Cosmic Duality with its Chinese Taoist Yin and Yang forces, that are in a constant opposition, is in the centre of their teachings. The purpose of life is re-union with god.

Ta' Pino Church Gozo Malta, Maria Christian Goddess Malta

Couldn't wait for my library to get their shit together so I went out to Barnes and Noble and picked up a copy. Totally worth it.

I basically have the same things to say about book two as I did about book one, which makes sense as Pierce originally wrote the quartet as one volume and broke it up into pieces when it was to be published. The story still zooms through time like it means nothing, and as a result, stuff seems to come out of nowhere sometimes, but especially considering this series was first published over twenty years ago, those complaints don't change the fact that this is a wonderful story. Also, the sex took me by surprise. The first mention of it is a one sentence throwaway ("Soon they were sleeping together -- sometimes.") and you could almost miss the implications if you weren't thinking about it too hard. But then Alanna and Jonathan totally do it and Pierce treats it like it's absolutely no big deal at all. Well, clarification. What I mean is she treats it like sex is a normal part of adolescence. It is a big deal to Alanna in terms of her emotional growth. Still, it was surprising -- most YA books even nowadays don't go there.

Forcing myself to wait for the library to get me the last two books in the series.