Of Ganesh and Sagacity

One of my good friends recently returned from a trip through India and Nepal. We got together for lunch so she could fill me in with all the details. And of course, she brought me some souvenirs.

Among the stack of goodies she had accumulated for me was a postcard of the elephant-headed god, Ganesh.

I knew that Ganesh was "the remover of obstacles," which made him a common symbol of good luck.

Beyond that, however, according to the back of my Ganesh postcard: "His elephant head is believed to be an emblem of wisdom and his mouth am emblem of sagacity."

Sagacity?

This was a word I had never seen or heard before, but I was suddenly very curious as to its meaning. I suspected it was a spin on wisdom, but couldn't be sure.

Upon looking it up in Merriam-Webster online, I found this frustrating definition:

"the quality of being sagacious"

With flashbacks of seventh grade English class in my mind, I searched next for "sagacious" and found my suspicion confirmed with this definition: "of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment: discerning"

I also discovered sagaciously and sagaciousness. What a wonderful grouping of words I must now figure out how to use!

And another thing I must now figure out is what to do with my Ganesh postcard because besides my search for the meaning of sagacity, I also did a Google search of Ganesh.

As it says on Wikipedia (and who knows if this is correct):

"He is honoured at the beginning of rituals and ceremonies and invoked as Patron of Letters during writing sessions."

Hmmmm. If Ganesh is the remover of obstacles and the Patron of Letters, does that mean he can demolish writer's bloc?

And if so, perhaps I should be tacking his photo next to my keyboard.