Lore vs. Personal Experience....

[mdehners]

One thing those not "Woo" Inclined DON'T have to "deal" with is when there is Dissonance between Lore and what you've Experienced about subject IN Lore. Even for someone whose been "hoeing this row" as long as I have, it can be difficult.
The 1st big thing is that if you're just stating out to realize that the Lore gives you a "clue", much like one of those Alerts on your local news. You probably won't be 100% sure who's who but you'll catch the obvious Imposter...something I'd guess 80% of those early on their Path DON'T.
The problem with Lore is that It was written a long time ago by a different culture than yours in a different language and often passed through scribes Hostile TO the material IN the Lore. I side with the faction that thinks the Tivar prevented more than allowed the Christians to meddle with much of the Lore. That means that, for me I have to "deal" with the cultural "stuff" of a Heterosexist Iron Age culture THROUGH my "stuff" as a member of a multicultural(though Christian culture-Dominated)Information Age culture. Needless to say, NEVER a dull moment;>!
One problem that oft comes up is when the "Woo-ster";> considers one or the other "Tru". The person who takes the Iron Age version as "Gospel Truth" will find themselves uncomfortable to personally driven out by their modern cultural world. The one's that take modern Progressive Western values(tm,pat-pending)as such will NEVER truly Understand either the material OR the Beings that Inspired them. What is needed is to Understand the Iron Age AS it was AND see how to apply that/see that through a "lens" of this world.
The Personal Nature's of those Beings doesn't change. Those Core Traits the Lore shows quite clearly. Sadly, a good example of someone who DIDN'T was Edred Thorsson on his material about Freya. The Being he writes about is NOT the one that I KNow or that is in the Lore...Even Aphrodite isn't THAT Playboy Mansionish;>! SHE isn't a Bimbo, SHE's a Warrior Goddess. 'Course, the fact that some guys think with their dicks is hardly news;>.....
Know your subject from what those who Knew Them in the Past BUT remember two IMPORTANT things:
Your World/Culture isn't theirs
THEY aren't Static like old YHVH. Time and Experience(s) change THEM as well as US. Heck, even Names change over time(but not Unrecognizably).

Not surprising there's ALWAYS more "Homework";>
Also I guess it's not that some have chose to avoid the whole thing by creating their own God/desses, myths, etc. Might be workable as a lifestyle but I can See a big drawback come Discorporation.....
Cheers,
Pat

Comments

[weofodthignen]

Yeah it's a pity, because he's a good scholar (better than me, probably), but Edred also has massive issues re: Thor and Odin. Of course, many would now point to his Left Hand Path obsession and ultimate choice of Temple of Set over Asatru. And he was presumably very disappointed in my dissertation. Which was on a topic not entirely irrelevant to the content of your post .... although come to think it, he listed the thing in the bibliography to A Book of Troth! So I guess what I should really say is ... I'm not sure this is entirely a woo-woo vs. lore issue. We all have a responsibility to read and think about the lore. If even concrete-headed me can do that with fewer contemporary assumptions, or let's say post-Crowley and/or post-Gimbutas assumptions, then the others ain't doing it well.

M
in a foul mood because heat and Wikipedia

[mdehners]

Don't think I worded it well. The Heat and Humidity here is pretty bad too. Thunderstorms have both husband and dog firmly attached to ceiling for foreseeable future....esp. adding in the fireworks on the 4th;>!
I think it is a bit harder for the "Woo-ple", esp. those without Experience. It's one thing to argue over competing physical materials, it's a whole different thing when you're "dealing" with an Entity in your Living Room who says they're _____, even if they don't even match up with a Llewellyn or Wiki definition of ____. Most of the Inexperienced are going to "go" with what the Entity says they are. We had two ladies like that in my 1st kindred. The 1st accepted a rather childish Being AS Redbeard, the other a rather Woeful Wight as The Old Man. They wanted a Personal Relationship so bad that they were willing to sacrifice Reality(and in the latter case Sanity) for it....
My Personal Experience with such in the Heathenry was a Being that may have been or related to the one that Thorsson contacted. Perhaps my Sexual Orientation helped because the waves of Raw Sexuality coming from Her didn't Affect me Positively and so I could See how She resembled little the Being described as Freya in the Lore. Truthfully? I've never experienced anything with Freya as strong as with this Being. Then again, I'm Heathen for Power either. If you want that, Laufey's Childe has more than enough and is Happy to "help you" Affect those around you...
Cheers,
Pat