“For, indeed, this is the great horror, solitude, when the soul can no longer bathe in the ever-changing mind, laugh as its sunlit ripples lap its skin, but, shut up in the castle of a few thoughts, paces its narrow prison, wearing down the stone of time, feeding on its own excrement. There is no star in the blackness of that night, no foam upon the stagnant and putrid sea. Even the glittering health that the desert brings to the body, is like a spear in the soul's throat. The passionate ache to act, to think: this eats into the soul like a cancer. It is the scorpion striking itself in its agony, save that no poison can add to the tortue of the circling fire; no superflux of anguish relieve it by annihilation. But against these paroxisms is an eightfold sedative. The ravings of madness are lost in soundless space; the struggles of the drowning man are not heeded by the sea.”
― The Soul of the Desert
― The Soul of the Desert
“Within our awe we only know that all we own we owe.”
― Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God
― Thunder in the Soul: To Be Known By God
“It’s impossible for human beings to accurately judge other human beings. So how can we judge God?”
― Why God Why: How to Believe in Heaven When it Hurts Like Hell
― Why God Why: How to Believe in Heaven When it Hurts Like Hell
“Remember that unbalanced force is evil; that unbalanced severity is but cruelty and oppression; but that also unbalanced mercy is but weakness which would allow and abet Evil. Act passionately; think rationally; be Thyself.”
― Magick: Liber ABA: Book 4
― Magick: Liber ABA: Book 4
“O bid these strangers go ;
Turn to my lips till their cup overflow ;
Hurt me with kisses, kill me with desire,
Consume me and destroy me with the fire
Of bleeding passion straining at the heart,
Touched to the core by sweetnesses that smart ;
Bitten by fiery snakes, whose poisonous breath
Swoons in the midnight, and dissolves to death !”
― Jezebel, and Other Tragic Poems
Turn to my lips till their cup overflow ;
Hurt me with kisses, kill me with desire,
Consume me and destroy me with the fire
Of bleeding passion straining at the heart,
Touched to the core by sweetnesses that smart ;
Bitten by fiery snakes, whose poisonous breath
Swoons in the midnight, and dissolves to death !”
― Jezebel, and Other Tragic Poems
Ashley’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Ashley’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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