Well.....

[mdehners]

Been pretty down since my Emotional collapse last month. Lots of self-examination.
One thing that was clear was that I'd become too dependent Emotionally on the online world. I'd thought about closing my journals but I think keeping them and just not put so much importance to them in daily life. I sign that I'm not the only one with this problem came up recently during a burst of activity on one of my Sourdough groups. It wasn't just that folks weren't Baking because of the weather, they weren't Baking....PERIOD. We were talking about Baking but few WERE(I'm one of the few that still WAS). Like much of my online world, Talk not Action.
Another thing I discovered unsurprisingly was that I'm OLD. Like I should have seen that one;>! Not just the tech(which I'm generally "up" with) but the various online cultures. Esp the alt.rel communities. Not only am I oft unsure what's being discussed, when I ask for clarification it's like being back in high school and asking something from one of the popular kids. Will the stuff I deal with daily in the Real World, I'm not really interested in playing status games with folks that haven't done as much in their lives as I had in mine before graduating high school.
I know it's not very coherent but it's been that kind of month and a half....
Cheers,
Pat

Comments

[weofodthignen]

Glad you're still around.

I sometimes wonder what they're talking about on Facebook and wherever else they're still talking (Tumblr?). So long as they're still talking about the gods, and blóting, I guess I should be happy :-) So you're ahead of me there.

M

[arlie]

I hear you about feeling old. I've worked in tech for 40 years, but I'm no longer "tech savvy" - no one told me the new rules of icons and multi-finger gestures, etc. etc. etc. I was on social media before some of these kids were born, but the media I'm still on (a subset) are no longer considered to be "social media".

I'm glad you have the skills to self examine and cope. And that you are still hanging in there overall.

[mdehners]

What's kind of depressing is that it looks like the old "Psychopagans" WON. The whole God/desses are just creations of the Human Mind period bit so something I "whipped up" in a rite is just as Valid as Something with historical roots. It was an alien view then and still is to me. To me an artificial elemental is just that until it survives the death of it's Creator(like the Wiccan Lady and Lord). Then again, I can see the desire to have a "personal god" that wants everything you want and agrees with you on every point;>....
Cheers,
Pat

[mdehners]

My brother an you hve similar "issues" . He just got back from a week long class with the comment,"Brain Full, Brain HURT!";>.
I consider myself so lucky to have a mindset that is Practical even on Emotional issues. If something can be done, it is. If not, I don't spend Energy whining that I can't. Just do the best I can. Tomorrow I have Pain Clinic and I can expect the usual. My Fear isn't Pain it's Inability. I don't care if it hurts as long as I can walk and do what I could do even a few months ago. If Chuck had Passed I'd probably be less demanding but then again, I've never felt comfortable being Stoned no matter what the cause....
Cheers,
Pat

[weofodthignen]

Sadly the Icelanders seem to have settled for something close to that. I hope we are just missing the real heathens. If we aren't, I'll be so ashamed.

[mdehners]

Sadly, it seems to depend on the "branch". When I left my Universalist Kndred in the 00's, they were already twisting things to allow the "Grande Fromage's" personal International Metaphysical tech to be considered "Heathen". The few Folkish I still have contact with are still as "Lore Nazi" as ever...some considering Saxo Grammaticus Utgardhr.
Me? I'm more likely to use my own UPG's than I used to but since it's just me, it's not like I'm "Corrupting" anyone;>
Cheers,
Pat

[weofodthignen]

Yes, it's really hard to not accommodate too much flakiness while keping in mind that the gods may have called and want the flaky people. It's not like teaching ESLies to use correct grammar rather than an interlanguage only other ESLies and ESL teachers understand; it can always be argued that that thing in the lore is a mistake or that thing not in the lore is only accidentally not there, and heathenry is not about orthodoxy in the first place. (Or about Grønbechian mandatory kindreds, IMO.)

Noil would say "duh", as would many folkish, but I really hope the non-wiccatru sector doesn't now consist of them and a few solitaries (still less them, a few solitaries, and theodisc oathed comitati). It's important for us to talk together; heck, it's important for there to be heathen communities in which children can grow up heathen, even if they are in part online. But the folkish are too often also frighteningly right-wing politically, not to mention very selective in their interpretation of the Germanic right to independence of thought. I hope it's shaken out better than I fear it has; the gods deserve so much better than people practising "self-actualisation" and obsessing about limited kinds of magic, and heathens deserve a less limited life than that.

[mdehners]

It's all very Depressing. It's not fair that Progressives no matter in what the venue spend so much time Pleasing everybody that they never get anything done. I just wish Discipline and Focus weren't considered Bad Words by Progressives.
Another good reason in being our ages. We all did what we could. It's the "The Next Generation"(tm,pat-pending) turn. Personally? I've got the Heathenry that's for me and you probably have your too. It's their world now....
Cheers,
Pat