Dear Marshall,
Thank you for your reminders- through Tennyson and Shakespeare.  
You have expressed the legacy of the Order so well.  We are indeed spirit warriors. 
I appreciate your reflections.

Grace and peace,
Isobel BIshop. 
On 02/10/2012, at 1:11 AM, W. J. wrote:

In case you missed the famous Tennyson quote from Morte d'Arthur, here it is:
 And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:
 "The old order changeth, yielding place to new
 And God fulfils Himself in many ways,
 Lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
The O:E was what it was for just a brief moment in history.
One could say that the Mystery took it out of being when its brief moment yielded to something new.

The spirit warriors who survive to this day remember that historical moment with awe and reverence as a turning point in human consciousness, and (at whatever personal cost) are among the privileged company that was called to participate.

Quoting Shakespeare's King Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt (1415),

    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Marshall

I was privileged to have a great English teacher in high school, BTW. She's long gone, but her influence was profound and her memory is cherished by her students to this day.

_______________________________________________
OE mailing list
OE@lists.wedgeblade.net
http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net