The Oath

[posicat.livejournal.com]

I was just curious how many out there had memorized The Oath. I took it myself when I read So You Want to be a Wizard, and decided it was a pretty good thing to keep in mind when living life from day to day. Well anyways a week or so ago I took the time to commit it to memory and was wondering if anyone else had as well.

Comments

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

\o It's almost like poetry, really.

[caiteydid.livejournal.com]

Not all of it, but parts of it come to mind occasionally. Glad I'm not the only one who secretly not-so-secretly read it out anyway the first time I read the book, -just in case-.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

*high-five* Same here! Because I love the flow of the words and the gorgeous way DD writes, but also because...you never know...

[celebestel.livejournal.com]

I did, years and years ago. I can't remember which version I went with, though. I suspect it was the So You version . . .

[azurelunatic]

I need to re-memorize it. I still have patches.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Memorized it all those years ago and still have it. For a while I was contemplating getting "In Life's name and for Life's sake" tattooed around my wrist...then I realized I'm a wimp and don't like needles. :)

Sometimes, when I'm having a bad day, I still recite it to myself...I think it's a pretty good set of tenets to live by, wizard or not.

[posicat.livejournal.com]

Exactly, you can hardly go wrong using it as a guide to how you live. I've thought about a tattoo too, I'm not a huge fan of them, but perhaps "In life's name and for life's sake..." somewhere easily hidden might be doable.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Also, there's something about the cadence of all the ritual language or commonplace sayings Duane attaches to wizardry that just makes me want to speak them out loud. I've also got some parts of the Song of the Twelve by heart -- and if I'm rereading it on my own, I definitely read it out loud.

I've also contemplated getting a tattoo of "What's loved lives," that simplest explanation of Timeheart that made me go a little teary the first time I read it (because, I think, it's from Dilemma).

[araine.livejournal.com]

I had it when I was younger? Like, when I was twelve-ish, I printed it out and put it on my school binders and the like, along with a bunch of poems and stuff from The Lord of the Rings and other such sources, and I had all of those memorized. I should commit it to memory again, come to think of it.

[speria.livejournal.com]

I used to have it memorized years ago, but I only remember parts now. Like I can remember it in pieces, but just can't have it flow out in one piece. It's a great thing to know, in my opinion. It just reminds you of the right things to do.

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

It's on my computer desktop. So I never set out to memorize it, but I know it pretty well by now.

[independence1776]

I used to, when I was younger, but there's only pieces now, unfortunately. Her writing… It's just fantastic.

[kirinomiaka.livejournal.com]

I have attempted on at least a couple of occasions to fully memorize it, though I'm not sure I've ever managed to get the whole thing down. I'll have to track down enough to pick a favorite version--the ones in SYWTBAW and High Wizardry aren't the same, did you notice?--and write it out a couple times to memorize it.
I have so many random bits of things from various books memorized. I just seem to collect bits like that. Most of what I memorize are riddles or prophecies, sometimes inscriptions... or just a cool poem.

[rare-fandom.livejournal.com]

I don't have it memorized, but I do the lines about setting aside fear for courage and death for life, since that's my favorite part.

And I agree with you, it's a fantastic thing to keep in mind for daily living.

[doranwen.livejournal.com]

I ended up memorizing it when I recorded myself saying it and overlaid it on Amethystium - Autumn Interlude (think I shared it on this comm several years ago). The track turned out really awesome, and every now and then I'll listen to it, voice and all, and recite along with, so I still have it memorized for sure.

*types from memory to show version*

In Life's name, and for Life's sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well, and I will change no object or creature unless its growth or life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, and in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so, till Universe's end.

*hopes she got it all right*

[posicat.livejournal.com]

It matches what I crammed in my brain :)