Happy anniversary, Jax! And readers! To date we have posted 96 gen-u-ine entries (not including introductory or vacation posts). Please come out next week and help us celebrate one year online. We’ll be at the Butterfly Bar on Friday the 26th (rsvp’s are most appreciated). Jax took a stroll down memory lane on Tuesday. To close our anniversary week, I am following her down that path. These are some of my favorites from my Partner in Princessing. 😉

5.

“But in order to effect change in a democratic world, we need to have strength in numbers. So to the outside world, I will take the most recognized name and be counted: I am pagan.” – Pagan, Heathen, Druid… What’s in a Name?

This passage is a testament to Jax as a FtbRW (force to be reckoned with). It demonstrates her strength, conviction and commitment to being publicly pagan and, in doing so, contributing to a positive image of Pagans and of the wider Pagan community.*

4.

“Yule, to me, is the great celebration of the resiliency of the human soul. On the day of the year when we should most be huddling terrified under the covers, Yule is humanity saying, “Eff you, universe, I’m throwing a party.” Yule is our blind, unrelenting faith that the universe will one day right itself combined with our blind, unrelenting faith that we are strong enough to endure until it does.” – GG Gives You Science, I Give You Unfounded Meditations on the Nature of Chaos, AKA WTF is Yule?

This isn’t the first time Jax waxed poetic on our site, but this is a great example of her doing it with a smile and a wink. She communicates the depth of her thinking and the breadth of her meaning without being verbose or exclusionary. (Like I might have just done in this last sentence.)

3.

“[Spoken with a vaguely sinister-sounding Eastern European accent] This smells like actual food. Ridiculous human who ruins my life, you may have gotten something right. For once.” – Health Food for the Cat

This post is a hoot! I can read it again and again and it still makes me smile. This quote is actually Jax quoting her cat Seas (pronounced SAY-ahss). We have all had conversations with our <insert your pet species here>. We’ve imagined their voices, what they’d say, what they’d sound like. And in this post, we get to “witness” such a conversation between Jax and her two cats. She magnificently gives her cats voice with a bit of photojournaling to help tell the tale.

2.

“During those nights when I find myself fearing the darkness, I turn to watch you sleep – and I find peace. Each morning I wake to the sound of your voice, and the ritual starts my day with joy. When my faith is stretched to its limit, you still give me something to believe in, a reason to hope, and a motivation to grow.” – Love Letter

This excerpt is taken from a letter Jax published to her husband on their 10th wedding anniversary. *sigh* It’s beautiful. Jax, it has been a blessing to know you and TheScott for all of your married life.

1.

“Faith got me into this stupid chair, and so I call on faith to keep me in it. I remind myself that I am descended from vikings and valkyries – I can handle a blood donation.” – Calling on Faith in the Most Mundane Places

And here we have the heart of Jax. She is “keepin’ it real” in this post like nobody’s business. (Do people still say that?) While we may clamour about what is fair, what is right or what is good when it comes to faith, Jax reminds us what is important. Faith is a resource. We keep faith because we need it…even if we are descended from vikings and valkyries!

What a year! Thank you for the encouragement, support and the relentless editing, Jax. One year down, ∞ (infinity) to go!

Feel free to chime in realm! What are you favorite quotes from Jax?

*Jax has posted a number of articles that follow the theme of being a public (and positive) pagan. I highly recommend them.

♕ Convert and Convict – The Incredible Difference of Two Letters, or “No, Seriously, They’re Different Words”

♕ The Handkerchief Assumption

♕ The Case for Living Out of the Broom Closet

♕ Winning PR (Or… Not)

♕ The Trouble with Capital Letters