For those of you reading through a blog reader and have not stopped by the main blog itself recently, I made a theme change. Enough of the water, I need new color and life here. If you don’t recognize the quote, it’s from Midnight in Paris. Which I STILL need to write about here. (And if any of you know how to do good image captures please let me know.)
I’m also still looking to update the blog roll. If you have blog suggestions should check out, leave a comment!
For several years I have been doing rune pulls on Wednesday, as part of the work/community of an email list I am on. There was a time when I pulled a rune daily, and adapted in the list’s ritual and pulling three runes on Wednesday. Eventually the single runes went away as I decided I wanted some more surprise in life. The three have been a good way to continue building my rune skill. Though for some time the runes have re-taken their mystery with me and I have not been able to get much from the weekly pull. Today was a different story. I pulled the following:
Othala
Uruz
Kenaz
and soon after I looked at them I saw what they wanted to say.
Ancestors bring strength to the forge.
This may be a case of repeating myself, but my connection to the ancestors has never been the best. Over the last year (or maybe more, since I can’t remember when I got a separate space set up for them) I’ve gotten better about doing weekly offerings for them. Yet still there is not much in the way of individual relationships formed. With my genetic family, it’s as though I get a collective ancestor in them all. There are also still beloved dead who are not my blood kin, and I felt the presence of two of them with the start of the new year. One especially so. Somehow I also don’t feel one speck of doubt that either was visiting, or that they have become part of my ancestors.
They are here, as I set out into this next stage of my life. May I be able to forge and temper something amazing with their help.
THIS is why I keep up the devotional work so much. For moments and insights like this.
I’ve been trying to write this post since around Yule, but either I’ve been too mentally wiped out to do so, or nothing comes out that I can work with. Whenever I do start to compose something in my head, it sounds really trite. I can’t handle that, I don’t want to be distant from those of you who are reading. Not removing myself somehow. I want to be engaged actively.
What I’ve been trying to say is this:
Now that my Master’s degree is done I can think about actual practice again, instead of just the mostly devotional work I’ve done for the last few years. Not that the devotional should be downplayed, but the active magic, trance work, heka, etc. has been sorely lacking. Now that I can do these things again… I have no idea what to do. I continue my regular practices, try to get meditation back into my life, and am starting to contemplate some more serious hedge riding.
It really feels like another zep tepi, back to the beginning. Each time I have this happen though, I have more and more skills in my proverbial toolkit with which I can work.
I thank my Gods and spirits for being so patient with me, and generally give thanks for having the devotional practice. It keeps that part of my psyche engaged on some level, so when I come back to deeper practice it’s not so difficult to take up again.
I’m also taking the time to seek out more practitioners with whom I can engage and network. Found a few on Twitter. Enough that I am actually thinking of setting up a Twitter account specifically for this blog. We shall see.
It’s nice to be back on this front. Happy new secular year everyone.
I feel like I should say something to note this holy tide, but I’m at a loss. I’m not doing the 12 nights journaling but I have set aside my various fiber crafts in honor of Frau Holda. I also visited Her in trance earlier this evening. What does it say when three Goddesses simply put me to bed for the time I am in that altered state?
I’m turning introspective, and so introspective it’s not ready for any sort of public consumption yet. There is still so much in my head requiring sorting out. This is not a process which can be rushed or forced. Things will come out when they’re ready and as they’re needed.
This is the longest night. From here until June it’s all uphill with the light.
Blessed Yule, my friends.
I wonder if it’s fitting to find out that the next phase of my life is starting on St. Lucia Day. A day dedicated to light, with undertones of Odin and the Wild Hunt to it, and I get the news that my application to graduate has been accepted.
For all intents and purposes, I now have a master’s degree in information and library science.
Ever since I’ve heard the news I have been bouncing around and telling everyone I possibly could that this is the case. Somehow it seems unreal that I have finally reached that point. For a while it seemed like I would just have to take class after class after class. Which means part of my psyche feels like it needs to continue that pattern.
I have sworn this to myself. For the rest of December I am taking things easy. Celebrating this milestone. Getting the rest I could not get enough of this fall. Enjoying my time with friends. Celebrating Yule without any worries. Picking up my practices slowly. Did I mention how much out of the loop I am there? Because I am. There needs to be a lot of dedicated meditation time once the holidays are over. Not to mention Someone new in the Unseen wanting my attention and having to say “Give me a little more time!”
I suppose there are worse problems to have though.
I’m done. Next phase please.
What is difficult is forcing myself to relax and take things easy. There is too much temptation to throw myself back into projects, whether they be mundane or magical.
Last night I turned in the last bit of needed work for my Master’s degree. In theory at least, I am really truly done with that portion of my education. I can’t DO anything more, unless it turns out I have to fill out another form. (Dear Gods, please no, I just want to have them say “yes you graduate” and send the nice piece of paper.)
The next few weeks will have their own level of busy, though not as much as before. I have gifts I want to finish and various holiday celebrations to attend. What I most look forward to is a return to more active practice (and potentially witchy things) as we move into Yule, winter, and Peret, the Kemetic growing season. Yes I do find amusement in the fact that I submitted this last bit of work at the very end of the Innundation season and end of Wesir’s mysteries when He is established as King in the West.
Dua Netjer and Hail all the Gods that I got to this point!
Several years ago I read The Beauty and the Hag by Lotte Motz and wrote down some notes. The book is not exactly easy to find, and for those interested in Germanic goddesses, definitely worth tracking down. I wrote down some notes, intending them to go on another web site but that never happened. Now I am tired of just having them to hang on to, so I present them for sharing here. One of these years I hope to revisit the book with more knowledge under my belt.
Motz is a Jungian, which definitely influences her analysis. Interestingly, she seems very reluctant to expand on motivations for figures mentioned in primary sources, but is very quick to make cross-cultural comparisons. I find this to be somewhat curious in practice.
Chapter 1: The Beauty and the Hag
A cross-cultural analysis of female figures, both in art and literature, exposing their vulvas.
No conclusions were drawn, only the myths and images were presented. Motz mentioned both Mellaart and Gimbutas in the chapter, which would be certain to make a lot of Heathens foam at the mouth.
Chapter 2: Female Figures of Eddic Poetry and Prose
I was sorry I was not more familiar with the sagas when I read this, as a good portion of her material was from them. In this chapter she covered human females in the lore.
Quote, from page 70:
Giantesses and their kin are firmly placed in the northern lands and share many qualities with the numina of the northern regions. One would venture to assume that in these beings they had found their origin. Obviously much was altered in the course of the millennia. Giantesses would have lost much of their religious aspect and would have acquired new dimensions by incorporation into literary texts and by literary embellishment.
Chapter 3: Lady in the Rock
This chapter recounts many instances of non-human, non-deity females in both the Eddas and the Sagas.
Giantesses are mentioned as sexual beings and referenced with their relationships with human men. Also discussed are the disir, fylgjar, hamnyjur (check spelling), with the latter two discussed more as independent being as opposed to souls.
Of note for the Fellowship, Gunnlod receives two short paragraphs about her role as a lover of Odin and the mead keeper. Interestingly, Motz says nothing of Gunnlod being raped and indicates Her more as a willing woman rather than victim.
Chapter 4: The Goddess Freyja
Kennings include Gefn (give), Horn (flax), Mardöll, Syr (sow), Lover of King Ottar—possible reference to divine marriage?
About ten pages of discussion of Near Eastern Goddesses Who may have parallels to Freyja. Includes Anat, Inanna, Ishtar. Warrior goddesses, animal similarities, sexual, jewels.
p. 110. seidr mentioned as a specific northern art.
Chapter 5: The Germanic Goddesses of Women’s Lives
First pages discuss birth goddesses of the Lapps, Greeks, and Near Eastern cultures. Small section devotes to the Fates and related Them again to childbirth.
She sets the stage for discussing the Goddesses and Spirits referenced in the title.
Charm on p. 123:
Three young women came from the Orient (Soli’s note: perhaps it was simply East before?)
The first could spin a golden thread
the second could fix (bind) a woman’s womb
the third could put it in its proper place
I found the book to be lacking in some areas, specifically in connecting the female figures with Germanic culture further and possibly expanding on their roles. It is always possible that by the time these tales were recorded the role of the women often became minor, but with tantalizing clues to probe further. If you can find the book I definitely would say read it. You may not agree with all of Motz’s comparisons or conclusions, but it provides much needed food for thought in an area that is still far too ignored in modern Heathenry.
I don’t think the coming winter will be quite as harsh as the last one, but there’s still a prediction of snow for tonight and tomorrow. It’s not even Samhain! But for my northern ancestors, now would be the start of winter. I think I appreciate it a little more now.
I miss writing, but I am still recovering from fatigue and have too much on my plate. So I will share some writing of others today.
Item one, Thorn’s post sums up my own situation. Just substitute travel for 2.5 years of grad school and a day with many weeks. I wish I could spend a day in bed doing nothing but it has yet to happen. Perhaps next week when I go to Florida I can try this.
My friend Mary has a great post about Hallows traditions in England several hundred years ago. If you haven’t already you MUST read her last book, Daughters of the Witching Hill.
For those of you who recall the big gender controversy at Pantheacon earlier this year, Rabbit posted her full take a few weeks ago. Take note of the comments, since she references the Danballah sevis and there’s clarification of that prohibition.
Blue Druid covers the idea of Hekate devotion being a fad.
I’ve had some new blogs come on to my radar but would still like to hear of some more.
Finally, Lupa has made a headdress for Anupet, a female jackal deity from Egypt who has been turning up on a few radars recently. I wish I had the money for this.
In this case I am curious to find some new blogs related to Heathenry and European witchcraft, especially hedge-witchery. I scour the ones in the margin over there *points right* regularly but I’d also like to see more and perhaps make some new contacts.
They can be formal blogs, Livejournal/Dreamwidth, Tumblrs, web sites, etc. In fact one I hope to poke around this weekend is Kenaz Kindred.
What can you share with me?
There are always candles to be lit, offerings to give, something going on involving the Unseen world. But somehow I still forget that this is a MAGICAL part of my life. When it’s part of the routine and thus considered “normal,” I suppose I can be forgiven for such thoughts.
Today is the start of the Opet Festival in the Kemetic Orthodox calendar. Due to straining my back over the weekend and still feeling sore this morning, I inadvertently heeded the advice for today.
“Do not put the foundation of a house [down today].
Do not put a ship in a shipyard (i.e. begin building).
Do not order any work. Do not do any work on this day at all.”
Well, sorta. I’m taking care of stuff on the home front, while also making time to do cross stitch and also lay on the floor with my knees bent to ease the soreness.
Tonight there will be more candles lit and an offering put out for Hekate. I have missed Her.
I am also going to make my first ever herbal charm, one for dreaming. If it turns out well I will let all of you know.
