“Who upholds the gorsedd if not You? Who counts the ages of the world if not You? Who commands the Wheel of Heaven if not You? Who quickens life in the womb if not You? Therefore, God of All Virtue and Power, sain us and shield us with Your Swift Sure Hand.”

“When heaven joins the battle against you, who could stand?”

“Earth and sky, rock and wind, bear witness!By the power of the Swift Sure Hand, I claim this ground and sain it with a name: Bwgan Bwlch!Power of fire I have over it,Power of wind I have over it,Power of thunder I have over it,Power of wrath I have over it,Power of heavens I have over it,Power of earth I have over it,Power of worlds I have over it!As tramples the swan upon the lake,As tramples the horse upon the plain,As tramples the ox upon the meadow,As tramples the boar upon the track,As tramples the forest host of heart and hind,As tramples all quick things upon the earth,I do trample and subdue it,And drive all evil from it!In the name of the Secret One,In the name of the Living One,In the name of the All-Encircling One,In the name of the One True Word, it is Bwgan Bwlch,Let it so remain as long as men surviveTo breath the name.”

“The Otherworld does not supply the meaning of life. Rather, the Otherworld describes being alive. Life, in all its glory - warts and all, so to speak. The Otherworld provides meaning by example, by exhibition, by illustration if you will. ... Through the Otherworld we learn what it is be be alive, to be human: good and evil, heartbreak and ecstasy, victory and defeat, everything. ... where does one first learn loyalty? Or honor? Or any higher value, for that matter? ... Where does one learn to value the beauty of a forest and to revere it?'In nature?'Not at all. This can easily be proven by the fact that so many among us do not revere the forests at all - do not even see them, in fact. You know the people I am talking about. You have seen them and their works in the world. They are the ones who rape the land, who cut down forests and despoil oceans, who oppress the poor and tyrannize the helpless, who live their lives as if nothing lay beyond the horizon of their own limited earth-bound visions. But I digress. The question before us is this: where does one first learn to see a forest as a thing of beauty, to honor it, to hold it dear for its own sake, to recognize its true value as a forest, and not just see it as a source of timber to be exploited, or a barrier to be hacked down in order to make room for a motorway? ... the mere presence of the Otherworld kindles in us the spark of higher consciousness, or imagination. It is the stories and tale and visions of the Otherworld - that magical, enchanted land just beyond the walls of the manifest world - which awaken and expand in human beings the very notion of beauty, of reverence, of love and nobility, and all the higher virtues.”

“It is the poor man who clenches so tightly to the gold he is given - for fear of losing it. The man of wealth spends his gold freely to accomplish his will in the world. It is the same with life.'Suddenly ashamed of my conspicuous poverty, I lowered my eyes. But Scatha placed a hand beneath my chin and raised my head. 'Cling too tightly to your life and you will lose it, my Reluctant Warrior. You must become the master of your life, not its slave.”

“It is right to pay heed to the stories of our people, for that is how we learn who we are and what is required of us in this life and the life beyond.”

“We will journey in hope, and trust the Swift Sure Hand to guide us.''A little guidance would not go amiss right now,' I confessed, gazing out at the trackless waste of hills and empty sky.'Llew,' he said, 'we have ever been led.”