Spiritual Update!

[mdehners]

Actually, the best is that Mike's going to restart the Havamal discussions on Yahell again. Unfortunately, the Wimpy-Siders are complaining about too many English translations....as is they'd be bothered to even look up let alone learn Old Norse! I've always found the more translations of ANY non-Native(to you) language, the more likely you'll get a closer "feel" for the intent of the writer...even if the stanza is attributed to a God;>! Nothing Pisses me off more than an Odinsman telling me they don't need them because the Old Man'll tell them what they need. Oh, I think He'll "teach them a lesson", probably not the one they thought though....
Tina has a Ritebook available on E-bay that I'm putting money away for next month. Even if there's nothing new in it for me, I'll be supporting both a fellow Heathen AND a person I happen to Respect. Maybe it'll get me out of the sloppy habit of "spontaneous" Rites...as if something that happens every yr at the same time since probably the Proto-Indoeuropeans were wandering arround the Streppes can be called so;>.
Summer's Heat and Humidity(not to mention rain around here!) has pretty much put the kybosh on most N. European crops and food processing. The last Ferment I did....DIDN'T. Chuck tends to not be particularly thrilled by these hobbies but he doesn't have a good nose but the last batch he could! Even Bread has been problematic.There's some Heirloom crops from the old USSR that Baker Creek has got a hold of and most of them'll do well here in Fall and WInter, as long as I keep the frostcovers handy.
On the "Woo" side, nothing really new has happened since Chuck saw the little girl Spirit last month. We still have those big honk'n Wights(twice as tall as the town watertower)to the East slowly wandering around and they don't match ANYTHING I've seen or read in Mythology so their probably something local and those People's were wiped out by Smallpox before the Spanish got to this part of Florida. They do a little bit look like one of the Native cooking pots if it was stretched in a funhouse mirror to a couple of stories....
Cheers,
Pat

Comments

[herlander_refugee]

We need to put the last two batches of mead into new carboys to lose the yeast deposit at the bottom. Here, the warmth helped rather than hindered, since at the beginning we had to wrap the carboys to keep them warm ENOUGH, lol.

Not an issue now. I want to find some ripe wild black currants to make a batch.....but unsure if time and such will allow.

[herlander_refugee]

Oh....almost neglected part of post topics! On "wights".....many years ago (back in about 1996?) we took a trip cross the Cascades to a pretty little tourist trap called Leavenworth. Wandering around shops there, I suddenly found myself in one filled with Indian stuff...and not the Nor'west buttons on black and red stuff, either. It was Southwestern things like kachina dolls and pottery!

The pottery didn't move me, it was all glitzy trashed. The kachina dolls were not utterly traditional either, but none-the-less, on the top shelf one fascinated me and I couldn't look away from a very pretty Crow Mother.

In spite of the sign, I reached up to touch her and an electric current seemed to go down my arms. I had to take her home with me.
On the long drive home across the mountains, a ferocious storm of rain came in upon us. And out of the corner of my eye, at every abuttment and overpass...long stalking leg-like shadows flanked my car. It seemed very wight-like. I got my new kachina home and set her in a dish of blue cornmeal; I knew little about her save she was in charge of initiations.

And I had one, that very weekend. When I look at her on my altar now? I swear she is still laughing.

[mdehners]

It's generally better for those not a member of a particular Peoples NOT to have a traditional, historic or authentic item IMO. Those tend to be FOR Their People and tend to have too many "Learning Experiences" attached to them for my comfort. IME those that aren't are a little like dialing up someone you don't know who has Caller ID; they can choose not to Answer or Do but it's not like you showed up in Their Living Room asking Personal and/or Stupid Questions;>
Cheers,
Pat

[herlander_refugee]

I agree that it can be a bit of risk. However, none of us is exactly homogenized ancestrally. I actually do have a few drops of Amerindian blood in amidst my personal melting pot. I've spent some time in the Southwest and felt a great amount of ....oh, what would be the word? I was drawn and got damn near tranced out in some of the old kivas there, this is far outside the norm for me.

Also, my daily work deals with people of many ancestries. I rather too often get odd "dial ups" not of my choosing or making, when some ancestral deity or other wants to ascertain that I AM dealing appropriately with "their" people. THEY are the ones that show up in MY living room!

It requires me to be somewhat more flexible, on occasion, than my own comfort zone would prefer.

[mdehners]

More speaking in general. There are other people reading this than just us;>.....
Cheers,
Pat

[herlander_refugee]

True. But then, I don't personally think of my own posts as teaching posts. But hey, lol, I am a bit of the 'If you can, DO at need!" school. Those who dare, lol, and all...

[weofodthignen]

Good for Mike :-) Especially if he can keep it going. There is such a lack of energy in online heathenry now - I fear it's all been sucked away by theodism and such :-( Or just by Facebooking .... And it's way hard to discuss lore on an e-mail list, or even in a chat. There's always going to be at least one person who finds the language imepenetrable (like not getting kennings) and at least one person who wants to lecture, and you don't have the same sort of crowd control and pacing tactics available you have in a physical classroom/discussion. But otoh everyone can see the text and/or translation :-)

I suspect the criticism of having too many translations come from those who think Hollander (or Rydberg '-) ) is the Word of Odin. Hah. I better not follow that thought or I'll hear what he thinks of that.

M

[mdehners]

Let's face it, we're both one step from yelling at kids to get off our lawns;>! I DO get razzed a lot about my frank distaste of a lot of alt.rel.WHATEVER's lack of Energy or Ability to work on anything that requires...WORK. 'Course, I can also NOT carry a cell everywhere AND actually enjoy Silence without feeling a need to fill it with Noise....
While the Theodisc brouhaha did cause a lot of Anger and Hurt, esp. for those that didn't "Take the Koolaid", I think a big part is that most Heathens I know have been so for yrs if not decades and really have little Interest in most lists which tend toward those with less "mileage";>. Even though I post more than most folks I know(other than you;>), I don't even a tenth that I did even 5 yrs ago....let alone how much I did back in the BBS days. Honestly, I just don't have the temperment to deal with those that find "Google" too much work! Also, a lot of lists/groups/etc tend to be Moderated with folks that find "Discourse" a Bad Word. If someone says something blatently false or claiming UPG as Godspell Truth isn't Called on their Stuff, what is the point? Remember, I watched Wicca go from a religion of focused studious folks to one so "Inclusive" that terms like History, Mythology and Acheology are pretty much Dirty Words.
On most of the lists/groups/etc I'm still subbed to I keep it pretty Social. I've discovered how unfriendly folks can get like when they find out one of their "traditional chants" were written by an old boyfriend's ex in the late 70's-early 80's(or even that he was Gay;>!!!!). Or pretty much any experience you may have had since the 70's "Out" of both Closets;>
Cheers,
Pat

Random bits of amusement

[brock_tn]

I am amused by people who don't understand that no two translators will produce the same text when translating the same source. Ergo, if you don't read the language in which the original was written, you need to read multiple translations if you want to get a real sense of what the original text had to say. This is particularly true with the Q'ran, where the most widely available English version is widely viewed as not having been well translated. I see no reason why it should not be true of the classic Old Norse texts as well.

I am also amused by people who claim to be Odinsmen who do not seem to understand that the Allfather has an agenda, and that that agenda almost certainly DOES NOT include doing Nice Shit for them.

Re: Random bits of amusement

[mdehners]

IME "Tru" Odinsvolk tend to be a bit Cynical. After all, when you Know your Patron, if it'd further His Purpose(s) to have you and your family die long, lingering and very painful deaths He'd not BLINK...you tend that way.
The Old Man is the Ultimate Pragmatist. Everything is 2ndary to His Work. You Know in the long run it'll be for "The Best" but when you're the "Cannon Fodder" you tend NOT to be all that focused on the Rightness of The Cause when the "Sharp and Shiny Bits" are Ginsuing those around you;>
Cheers,
Pat(who doesn't have a Patron/ness but does have a few he Feels close to;>)