"And to die you must be reborn, but without love you may not be born among your own."
With so many of us not of Italian lineage being drawn to Stregharia, this particular passage stands out. Are we not Italian and not born into a Strega family because somehow, in a past-life, we failed to love as completely as we should have? Or perhaps, we loved in some way that was less than acceptable to the Lady and Lord? How can we possibly know? I supposed all we can really do is try to love to the best of our ablity and hope to get it right this time around.
In order to understand more completely, it is necessary to look at this passage within the context of the rest of the passage:
"To fulfill love, you must return again at the same time and place as those whom you loved before. And you must meet, recognize, remember, and love them anew. But to be reborn you must die and be made ready for a new body. And to die you must be reborn, but without love you may not be born among your own."
The last line does bring up the question, as another suggested, of "Who are our own?" and as he pointed out, 'our own' doesn't necessarily have to mean Italian or among the same familial relations. These things are insignificant when compared to the criteria of 'those whom we love and have loved before'. So then being born among our own may very well mean being born into a different culture or race, the important thing being to be born among those whom we've previously loved. In this way we can continue to learn and help learn the lessons we need, not only individually, but also as a group.
The passage also seems to bare a warning that those who do not live their lives with love will not again be born among those whom they love, but instead are "as a leaf that is blown in the wind, not knowing where we might land". Therefore, we see that one of the greatest challenges any human being on this earth faces is the setting aside of anger and hate. Yet we are not to 'turn the other cheek' and allow others to continually hurt and harm us through their own hate and anger. That means, imho, that we should not seek vengeance in anger, but we should take whatever preventative measures might be necessary to prevent that type of harm from occuring again. Life, death and rebirth are in themselves an infinate cycle that ever turns back upon itself. Maintaining that balance between love of self and love for others is crucial to our happiness in future lives.
Copyright 2000, Lioness_of_Mystery, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED