The places where I live have always been blessed by toads. I killed one once whan I was young and did not know any better, and was horrified by what I did; since then, they have been my animal not so much in the deliberatly misunderstood new age spirit animal sense, but probably in a more authentic sense. I am responsible for toads.
In a book on Gypsies that a friend lent me many years ago, there was a whole section of a chapter on toads and their importance both to the Roma and as a symbol in Europe of all people harmed or hated by Christianity and as sort of a symbol of those callously and systematically destroyed. I much respected the author's ability to convey that without invoking the usual implied/explicit OMFG oppressed-by-the-patriarchy!!!11!!! histrionics that tend to cheapen the subject matter.
Said friend is recovering from a month in the Filipines [/jealousy] I'll try and get a Author/Title.
no subject
In a book on Gypsies that a friend lent me many years ago, there was a whole section of a chapter on toads and their importance both to the Roma and as a symbol in Europe of all people harmed or hated by Christianity and as sort of a symbol of those callously and systematically destroyed. I much respected the author's ability to convey that without invoking the usual implied/explicit OMFG oppressed-by-the-patriarchy!!!11!!! histrionics that tend to cheapen the subject matter.
Said friend is recovering from a month in the Filipines [/jealousy] I'll try and get a Author/Title.