Author: Avellina Balestri

  • Thank You, Mother

    BY KASHIF QAIMI You are supposed to take care of things you need in your daily life routine, but if Mother is there, she will take care of it, all of it. Read more

  • The Jeweler’s Apprentice: Chapter 23

    BY E. KAISER WRITES “Olayin House is too far away, we’re going somewhere closer. It’s not far now, keep moving!” Read more

  • Burnt: A Harry Potter Serial- Chapter 34: I Want to Try

    ““I don’t know, Singe. Perhaps you only want to hear me? Perhaps it’s a side effect of that spell that Dumbledore used? I don’t know. What I do think is that your ability to read lips–even before being adopted–is nigh impossible without the use of some other gift. Yes, I do mean gift. Most practitioners… Read more

  • Concerning the Irish Sidhe Faeries

    ‘Tis said, that Irish Faeries, (Sidhe) have ideas, how mankind should be, And woe betide the human who, does not do, as expected to! Read more

  • Coming Back to the Meeting Between Shams and Rumi

    BY YA’QUB IBN YUSUF The one who asks the question prepares the ground for the one who’s going to answer, to go beyond his limitations. Read more

  • All Things Visible and Invisible: Chapter 1

    BY ARTHUR POWERS Her glance said “You see. He does have ideas,” as though to justify why she had married Duca in the first place. Read more

  • Jihad In Islam: What Is The Meaning Of It?

    BY KATIE QUIRK It isn’t jihad in war that’s the best form of jihad. It’s jihad by telling the truth. It’s fighting evil through one’s words rather than through violence. Read more

  • The Jeweler’s Apprentice: Chapter 22

    BY E. KAISER WRITES “Her eyes drifted up towards the sky a hundred times a day, at the slow but purposeful gathering of angry clouds.” Read more

  • Burnt: A Harry Potter Serial: Chapter 33: Dumbledore’s Day in Court

    ““Harry Potter. Parents murdered in front of him when he was a just a babe. He was already set up to be a powerful wizard. Gellert and I theorized that a child with the correct background could be coaxed into being even more unbalanced with the use of subtle prompting.”” Read more

  • Ramandu’s Island: A Chronicles of Narnia Poem

    BY LAWRENCE “MACK” HALL Long-fallen stars and quarrelling lords must wait for seasons upon seasons to pass in flight. Read more

  • Christos Razdajetsja! Christ Is Born!

    BY CHRISTOPHER WOODS Christ is born; let us glorify him. Christ comes down from heaven; let us go out to meet him. Read more

  • Honey from a Lion’s Ribs: Thinking and Praying Over Jerusalem

    BY AVELLINA BALESTRI O my God, have you not seen us all here, all of us, Your children? Are we so very different, we who submit to Thee? Read more

  • Burnt: A Harry Potter Serial- Chapter 32: Dumbledore’s Last Stand

    “Puer ignis. Child of Fire. Fire was far more than just a state of burning. It was in and of itself a beginning and an end. Fire cleansed. Fire started and fire ended. He and Gellert had created the spell and then he had further modified its original design into something far more dangerous.” Read more

  • The Jeweler’s Apprentice: Chapter 21

    BY E. KAISER WRITES “Bad news, Brithin,” the fellow said apologetically. “That scoundrel escaped early this morning.” Read more

  • Meeting in the Black Forest

    …We already knew what happened to your parents. We were still in anxious wait for word of your sister. And to hear that … is it not still a sorry fate for a genie?” “A lamp is better than . . .” Read more

  • Slaves, Sons, and Submission: Christian and Muslim Understandings of God

    BY AVELLINA BALESTRI I believe it’s fair to say that all three of the Abrahamic faiths see God as both transcendent and immanent. Read more

  • Snowflakes

    Snowflakes are twirling The wind is whirling All throughout the land… Read more

  • Mandrakes

    The mandrakes had a song, one that started with the world on the third day. They sang of secret places, where the seeds sprouted, where the young would grow. Seven year old Reuben had heard the song, and reached for the berries to give to his mother, Leah. Read more

  • The Jeweler’s Apprentice: Chapter 20

    BY E. KAISER WRITES “I got an apprenticeship, and this sort of happened with it. Father knows all about it, Evin.” Read more

  • Burnt: A Harry Potter Serial- Chapter 31: Dumbledore’s Fate

    By LastCrazyHorn Word Count: 105891 Rating: PG-13 for brief language, violence, and depictions of abuse Summary: A disabled Harry comes to Hogwarts story. Everyone expects him to be like his dad, but how can he be with such a different past? A Slytherin Harry takes on Hogwarts in an unusual way Snape shook off Moody’s hand with Read more