The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world.

I cannot think that God would be content To view unmoved the toiling and the strain, The groaning of the ages, sick and spent, The whole creation travailing in pain. The suffering God is no vast cosmic force, That by some blind, unthinking, loveless power Keeps stars and atoms swinging in their course, And reckons naught of men in this grim hour. Nor is the suffering God a fair ideal Engendered in the questioning hearts of men, A figment of the mind to help me steel My soul to rude realities I ken. God suffers with a love that cleanses dross; A God like that, I see upon a cross.

I'm a storyteller, and I have really good material to work with: I've been studying magic and the occult since about 1983.

I want a simple, ordinary life . . . like humans enjoy.

Your father says a wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountaintop.

With knot of one, the spell's begun.
With knot of two, the spell be true.
With knot of three, the spell is free.
With knot of four, the power is stored.
With knot of five, the spell with thrive.
With knot of six, this spell I fix.