Glossary - The Books of Quintessence

Circles

Communities of care and purpose, at every scale: nations, tribes, villages, households, trades, and even the bond between two people. Circles arise within circles; each one is a steward of its own people and resources, and owes respect to the circles it does not belong to. The Book of Circles teaches how they are shaped well.

Also the name of a book: ◎ Book of Circles

Defined in

Flows

The rituals and rhythms, daily, weekly, seasonal and across a lifetime, through which practitioners echo the Mothers' voices and keep structure and change in balance. The Book of Flows collects them.

Also the name of a book: ➰ Book of Flows

Defined in

➰ Flows, Verse I: Echoes of Balance

See also: Stars, Circles, Heart, Mind, Hand

Hand

also called She of the Hand

She of the Hand, the third of the Three Mothers: the essence of will, effort and endurance. From her came the spark of every struggle and triumph, and she watches for the vow to move, to strengthen and to heal.

Defined in

Also mentioned in 6 other verses

Heart

also called She of the Heart

She of the Heart, the first of the Three Mothers: the essence of feeling, connection and compassion. She sang all emotion into being, and she listens when one chooses to tend a bond.

Defined in

Also mentioned in 6 other verses

Mind

also called She of the Mind

She of the Mind, the second of the Three Mothers: the essence of thought, understanding and insight. Her vision set the first patterns of the world, and she wakes when one seeks new thought.

Defined in

Also mentioned in 6 other verses

Mothers

The Three Mothers, who emerged from the Silence before the world: She of the Heart, She of the Mind and She of the Hand. From their essence came the Shaper and the Quickener. They do not command; they watch, and whisper guidance to conscious minds so that the imperfect world may be mended.

Defined in

See also: Heart, Mind, Hand, Quintessence

Quickener

One of the twin beings born from the Mothers' essence. The Quickener is motion and change: it poured its essence into a field of trembling power for the Shaper to play, and it keeps stirring the world, bringing time, decay, growth, renewal and curiosity.

Defined in

Also mentioned in 7 other verses

Quintessence

The five essential forces from which the world arises: She of the Heart, She of the Mind, She of the Hand, the Shaper and the Quickener. The teachings gathered in the Books of Stars, Circles and Flows are called the Books of Quintessence, and the word is the origin of "Quintism".

Defined in

See also: Quintism, Mothers, Shaper, Quickener

Quintism

The path of care and Becoming that follows the five essential forces: the Three Mothers, the Shaper and the Quickener. Its core precept is to leave the world in a better place than you found it.

Defined in

Also mentioned in 1 other verse

✨ Stars, Verse VI: The Healing of the World

See also: Quintessence, Mothers, Shaper, Quickener

Shaper

One of the twin beings born from the Mothers' essence. The Shaper chooses and gives form: it drew one pattern from the Quickener's field of tension and so began the world, then shaped matter, light, life and consciousness. Its work is structure; its bounds are the commandments of the old faiths.

Defined in

Also mentioned in 9 other verses

See also: Quickener, Mothers, Quintessence

Stars

The Book of Stars tells of the Mothers, the Shaper and the Quickener, and of how the world began and continues.

Also the name of a book: ✨ Book of Stars